4 
BELMONT COUNTY. 285 
foot thick, is always somewhat inferior, and generally contains a thin 
band of pyrites, together with many nodules of the same. 
Near where the old plank road leading from Wheeling to Mt. Pleasant 
crosses Little Short Creek, we find exposures above Coal No. 8 which are 
of some interest. We find there Coals Nos. 8a and 8c, but Coals Nos. 8 
and 9 have disappeared, though their associated rocks are all present. 
Pultney Township.—The openings in Coal No. 8 are quite numerous in 
this township, but for the most part those in operation lie south from the 
railroad. Near Neff’s Siding we find Kidd’s mines, where much coal is 
extracted. Here the bed is slightly faulted in two places—in one, eighteen 
inches, and in the other, three feet. At three hundred feet from the en- 
trance it is crossed east and west by a “clay vein” six feet thick, which 
is struck again in a breasting three hundred and twenty-five feet from 
the main entry. The coal is from five to eight feet thick, and roofed by 
badly slickensided fire-clay, which is apt to fall. The roof-coal is thin. 
At the bottom there is a layer of cannel four inches thick, crowded with 
crushed specimens of Plewrophorus. 
The coal is dry and quite clean, containing little sulphur. It is a good 
gas coal, burns freely, but does not yield a good coke, and in portions is 
apt to clinker. An analysis of this coal shows it to consist of— 
ISTROS CANON SS erraicia 6 Gass SOREN Cre IEEE EN ne ene ara eT Se OPPO Mees ce 6 D505) 
Wolatilexcomibus tilblesmart teresa. en es eles aie te ee ee ae B78 () 
ASIN 44 Sdesig 6 AB GSS BGT EET A etna ans a oe 1.655 
CORO s'ad4 shsu Gab SSa AS Sey Geese os ee eee 2S cele TR te ae RI eR ety en NY 659.11 °(0) 
At Franklin the same coal is worked at the Stewart, Ball & Meehan 
mine. Here the average thickness is five feet ten inches. On top isa 
three-inch layer of cannel, which is not persistent. The coal is very good, 
and finds a ready market at from five to six cents per bushel. 
SUMMARY. 
Coal.—In this county there are three seams of coal of economical im- 
portance. Coal No. 10 is a thick bed, finely exposed in Warren, Goshen, 
Union, and Flushing townships. Coal No. 8c is of value along the Cen- 
tral Ohio Railroad, from the river to where it disappears under the hill, 
about eleven miles along the railroad, while Coal No. 8 is available in 
nearly every township within the northern portion of the county. The 
amount of coal thus exposed is almost incredible. 
Along Wheeling Creek, for nineteen miles from the river, the Pitts- 
burgh (No. 8) coal lies above water-level, and its average thickness is 
more than five feet. Throughout this distance it is readily accessible on 
both sides of the creek for a mile or more, and the ravines, except in the 
