544 } GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
tween the Muskingum and Ohie waters in the county extends north- 
ward through Somerton township into Warren, and thence more easterly 
through Goshen township, nearly to Burr’s mills, and thence northward 
to the north line of the county. The Central Ohio Railroad, after follow- 
ing the valley of the Leatherwood from Cambridge eastward, enters Bel- 
mont county in the extreme south-western corner of Warren township, 
and from that point rapidly climbs to the summit of the ridge, or divide, 
at Barnesville. From this point the road keeps along the ridge at about 
the same general elevation to Belmont, in Goshen township, where the 
head of McMahon Creek is reached, and then follows that stream to the 
Ohio River. The highest point of the divide in Belmont county visited 
by me is a knob on Mr. A. Millison’s farm, just above a heavy railroad 
cut, called, I think, Gregg’s Cut, about five miles east or north-east of 
Barnesville. The summit of the knob is about one hundred feet above 
the level of the railroad. By Locke’s level the summit appeared to be a 
little higher than any other point in sight. Some of the hills along the 
Ohio River are very high, but they were not measured for altitude. 
The general geological range through the south half of Belmont 
county is in the Upper Coal Measures, extending down to the Pomeroy 
seam of coal, which, having been traced through from Meigs county, is 
believed to be the same as the lower Barnesville coal, which is also the 
Wheeling or Bellair seam. In the south-west corner of Warren town- 
ship we obtained a section in the valley of Leatherwood reaching one 
hundred and twenty feet below the lower Barnesville or Bellair seam, 
but in the lower space no seam of coal was found. Toward the mouth of 
McMahon Creek an exposure of forty-five feet below the same seam was 
obtained, but no other coal was seen. The Bellair or Wheeling seam is 
the most important one in the southern part of the county. It is the © 
thickest, and the one usually worked. Another well-developed seam of 
coal lies from eighty-five to one hundred feet higher, and is known on 
the Ohio River as the upper Bellair, and at Barnesville as the upper 
Barnesville scam. | 
After much investigation I am convinced that these seams are iden- 
tical. On the west side of the Barnesville ridge the upper Barnes- 
ville seam is separated from the lower seam by a somewhat greater 
distance than are the two corresponding seams near the Ohio River. 
This is especially true where the limestones are replaced by heavy sand- 
rock. Mr. Nathan Bundy made a careful measurement of the vertical 
distance between the two coals on Leatherwood, in Warren township, 
and found it one hundred and five feet. In the valley of Stillwater 
Creek, north-east of Barnesville, the distance is only ninety feet. On 
