COAL MINES OF VINTON COUNTY. 1007 
The coal is hard to cut, has great strength, mines large, and bears 
stocking remarkably well. It is not a clean coal, is quite high in ash and 
sulphur, but it burns well, and is even preferred for locomotive use to 
the upper seam. The residents of the village also prefer it for domestic 
use, it is said. For shipment on the road, the two seams are supposed 
to be mined in equal proportions, both coals being delivered over the 
same chute. Though thicker than the upper seam, it is harder for the 
miner to make wages in it. The average output will not probably 
exceed 2 tons to the miner. The price for mining for both seams is 5 
cents in advance of Nelsonville prices. The number of miners in the 
company’s employ exceed 100. 
The company has now been mining this seam in the large way for 
7 years, and its entries have been advanced to great distances under the 
hills, the coal proving mineable wherever followed. It is a little un- 
steady in thickness, the roof shales coming down in rolls into the coal, 
after the fashion of sandstone horsebacks. Where the roof is thus 
irregular, it naturally becomes dangerous. Several deaths have resulted 
in this mine from falls of slate. 
‘The clay beneath this seam has large volume, and presents a very 
favorable appearance. ‘There are also other horizons in this neighbor- 
hood that promise an abundance of good clay for all common uses. 
The Lower Freeport Coal (No. 6a). 
This seam is found in good development in Vinton county. In 
fact, it often has considerably greater volume than the seam below it, 
and has frequently been mistaken for it. In Volume III, page 918, 
it was described and named as the Hamden Furnace coal. Nothing 
need be added to the statements there given, inasmuch as no further 
developments have since been made. The seam has a thickness of 
3 feet 8 inches in the vicinity of Hamden Furnace, and it lies about 60 
feet above the Ferriferous limestone. 
The Upper Freeport Coal (No. 7). 
This well-known and well-marked horizon is conspicuous enough 
in Vinton county by reason of its limestone and clay, but no single 
locality is now recalled in which the coal is mined. 
