286 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
immediate vicinity of the cut, are rarely cut down to the bed, so that the 
amount of ‘‘crop,” or rotten coal, is comparatively small. As the dip is 
toward the south-east, the available area north from the creek reaches 
quite into Harrison and Jefferson counties. After making all allowance 
for waste of every kind, and assuming the thickness of the bed to be 
only five feet, we find available for transportation, within one mile north 
and south from Wheeling Creek, more than one hundred and twenty 
millions of tons of coal. Along the Central Ohio Railroad, within eight 
miles from the river, there are, on the north side of the road, calculated 
in the same way, twenty-five millions of tons. On these two lines the 
coal can be easily reached., In the western portion of the county trans- 
portation can not be obtained readily, except along the Central Ohio Rail- 
road, where the coal is exposed for about three miles. 
It is ssmewhat unfortunate that, where this coal is present in such vast 
quantity, it contains impurities which unfit it for direct use in the im- 
portant manufactures of gasand iron. The ash varies from 4.6 to 8.2 per 
cent., and the sulphur from 2.19 to 4.11 per cent. Of the sulphur, a very 
large part remains in the coke, so that it is present, in combination with 
iron, as pyrites. The coke is so compact that the experiment of washing 
the coal previous to coking might prove profitable. This bed shows little 
variation in purity throughout the county. ; 
Of Coal No. 8c we have no analyses. At the time of examination ne 
opening was in operation, so that no specimens could be obtained except 
from the outcrop. It is rarely worked north from the railroad, as Coal 
No. 8 is generally reached with ease. 
Coal No. 10, as a whole, seems to be somewhat superior to Coal No. 8, 
though, judging from physical characters alone, one would be led to the 
opposite conclusion. The ash varies from three to eight per cent., while 
the sulphur in no case exceeds 3.2 per cent., and in one instance falls to 
1.56 per cent. The coke every where is compact. This coal is quite as 
rich in gas as No. 8, and, owing to its lower percentage of sulphur, might 
be made available as a gas coal if facilities for transportation were afforded. 
Coal No. 11 is rarely of economical importance, but near Bridgeport, 
in Pease township, it yields an open-burning coal of great purity. There 
it shows only 2.9 per cent. of ash, and 0.68 per cent. of sulphur. This 
coal should prove valuable, as it can be used raw in smelting iron. 
Iron.—No deposit of iron ore, economically important, was observed in 
the county. Here and there are shales containing many nodules, but the 
quantity is nowhere sufficient to be of any value. 
OCement.—The layer of limestone immediately underlying Coal No. 9 
every where yields a lime possessing hydraulic properties. The Barnes- © 
