HOCKING VALLEY. 667 
Coa eee aire rama eeie acl el atala wets a niaeia ele Sib alse Simin mtecianiceis 8 inches. 
SH ata ota re ncaa RH crn oi SUNRISE OLY Be el RR. i ete SOU 
Coal IEA MS icra is Sm fi a LR Ta ei Sa Re Ba dy BA A AAG Ag ge SCG UN 12—18 *§ 
In some of the neighboring mines there is four feet of good, dry-burn- 
ing coal, with little sulphur and well adapted to smelting purposes. It 
was with coal from.this neighborhood that the first practical tests of this 
seam were made in smelting furnaces. About one thousand tons were 
hauled by wagons to the railroad for the use of the Ohio Iron Company, 
at Zanesville, and gave good results. 
At the new town of Moxahala, several entries have been made into a 
coal which has been regarded as No. 6a, or the Norris coal. It is here, by 
survey, fifty-two feet above the bottom of the coal in the shaft of the 
Moxahala Iron Company, which is regarded as the Great Vein, but which 
is only four feet seven inches thick. This coal is mined by Mr. Black, 
north of the village, and at all the openings is a dry-burning coal having 
all the characteristics of the Great Vein. Explorations for it show that 
it is not continuous; has an undulating roof and floor of sandstone or 
sandy shale, with thin patches of fire clay both at the bottom and top. 
The great sand rock, the Mahoning sandstone, which is a characteristic 
feature in the geology of this region, is just above it, and the interval 
between it and the coal below is filled with the blue sandy shale (con- 
taining comminuted fragments of coal plants) which is ordinarily inter- 
spersed between the same stem and the Great Vein. A section here 
would disclose the following strata: 
De LN 
Mahoningasandstone@esccescor sce celvencinecicieseciesceieciaice alee soies 40 ae 
Coal eae epearis watnalsiscisteseisls sidisienes casi ecieisce heccin Seeisice sO LOlF 
Blue sandyeshaleyeiseen scscrsia = eels soclcisce cist) Nese cane secs so socs 52 ae 
Shabiicoaleeesrmmcs sa cclcs wet cis ea atn sctsiolccacls Licidiae a 's)0 cciciiglacicais eres 4 7 
This massive sandstone, at the top of the section, can be traced south- 
ward to its normal position above the Great Vein coal, and with the 
Norris coal, or No. 6a, above it. The coal at Moxahala, directly below 
the sand rock, extends but a short distance, in undulating patches, north 
or south. At the south-east corner of Pleasant township, its place is des- 
ignated by a narrow, waving band of carbonaceous matter at the base of 
the sandstone, while the Great Vein coal, of normal thickness, is dis- 
closed by boring from twenty to twenty-five feet below its base. Farther 
explorations are required before the true relations of these coals can be 
regarded as demonstrated. All the facts now accessible, point to the con- 
clusion that, at Moxahala, the Great Vein is represented both by the 
shaft coal and the local coal there, fifty-two feet above it. If this is cor- 
rect, a local subsidence interrupted the deposition of the Great Vein coal 
