MAHONING COUNTY. 7197 
no economic value. Further south it increases in thickness, and is locally 
worked. Whether this coal is identical with Coal No. 5 of the Yellow 
Creek Valley and the more western counties, remains to be determincd, 
but it holds about the same position, and it seems probable that we have 
in southern Mahoning the extreme edge of a coal seam of which the 
basin lies chiefly south and west. 
THE WHITE LIMESTONE. 
A few feet above Coal No. 5 occurs a thick bed of limestone, which only 
caps the higher points in the southern part of Mahoning county, but 
which in Columbiana becomes a continuous sheet, and is a marked fea- 
ture in the geology. Itis from six to eight feet in thickness, generally 
quite light in color, though sometimes weathering brown, and so deserv- 
ing the name given it in Stark county of the buff limestone. In local- 
ities where it has this character it contains an unusual quantity of iron. 
It is generally destitute of fossils, but where purest, as in many parts of 
Columbiana county, forms a nearly white line when burnt, and is largely 
used and much esteemed for building purposes. In going southward 
through Mahoning county this limestone is first seen capping the hill 
between Green Village and Canfield, on the landof Nicholas Goodman. 
It is seen again about a mile and one-half east of Franklin Square, and 
on the highlands, east of Washingtonville, large detailed blocks of it 
are visible. In Beaver township we have not yet found this upper lime- 
stone, but on the farms of Andrew Sidner and George Rock, in the south- 
ern part of Springfield, are outcrops of what seems to be the same bed. 
On the farms of Messrs. Miller and Hoffmeister, in the southern part of 
Poland, and at the head of the gorge above Lowell, a thick limestone is 
found which has been generally supposed to be identical with the upper 
limestone of Green township. It is fully exposed near Lowell, having 
been largely quarried here for use as a flux in the furnaces of the valley. 
The fnll thickness of the bed at Lowell is fourteen feet, but only the 
upper half is worked. The same stratum crops out on the north side of 
the river, above Lowell, and is there twelve feet thick. 
The identification of the Lowell Limestone with that of Green town- 
ship, and hence with the White Limestone of Columbiana county, has 
been questioned by the Pennsylvania Geologists, who claim that the 
‘Lowell Limestone is the continuation of the Ferriferous Limestone of 
Western Pennsylvania, and that the White Limestone of Columbiana 
county is the Upper Freeport Limestone of Rogers, which lies one hun- 
dred feet higher. Without more thorough investigation than we have 
felt justified in giving to this question, it cannot be asserted that the 
