HOLMES COUNTY. 551 
coe’s, in Knox township; on Steel’s land, north of Judge Armor’s; and 
on Carpenters’s land, in Hardy township; in the ravines, south-east of | 
the Strawbridge mine, in Killbuck township; below Mort’s bank, near 
the north line of Prairie township; and, perhaps, in all the townships 
in the county. In most places it is strictly a cannel coal. Near New 
Carlisle, its outcrop is in the bed of Walnut Creek, and throughout the 
eastern part of the county it is exposed only in the lowest ravines. It 
is only locally that it is developed.to a workable thickness. 
Coal No. 3.—The sandy shales and sandstones between the last and 
Coal No. 8, or the blue limestone seam, are ordinarily from forty to fifty 
feet thick, but are often much less. and occasionally reach a ‘hickness of 
from eighty to\ninety feet. This coal has a workable thickness in the 
greater part of the county, and, in places, affords coal of an excellent 
quality. It is very liable to split up into separate seams, by clay and 
shale partinys, which detract much from its value, and render many ' 
openings quite worthless. The blue limestone above it is so persistent, 
as to constitute one of the best landmarks in studying the geolocy of the 
ecunty ; but it is occasionally wanting, a highly calcareous shale, con- 
taining the characteristic fossils, taking its place, and sometimes it is 
separated from the coal by several feet of shale. It is often cherty, and, 
in places, assumes the character of a buhrstone. It is often found in 
large, cubical blocks, and sometimes with mud seams filling the joints. 
When this is the case, and it rests directly upon the coal, it makes a. 
troublesome roof, and sometimes one that is quite unmanageable. On 
Mr. Glascoe’s land, in Knox township, a drift was commencgd under this 
limestone, which is there about three and a half feet thick, and is di- 
vided into cubes about four feet square. The water percolating 
through the mud seams, loosens these blocks, and some of them falling, 
completely blocked the entry. The hazard was so great, that the miners 
wisely refused to go on with the work, and the attempt to open the mine 
was abandoned. | 
One of the best openings of this coal is the. Dagger mine, in Knox 
township. The coal rests upon black shale, is six feet thick, in two 
benches, separated by a clay seam, five inches thick at the opening, 
which has gradually thinned down to one inch as the entry is carried 
into the hill, and will probably thin out entirely. The coal is hard, 
bright, compact, semi-cannel, containing .a rather large percentage of 
ash and but a small amount of sulphur. It is, unquestionably, a good 
domestic and steam coal. 
At Mitchart’s, near the northern part of Knox township, it shows 
about three feet of coal, separated into nearly three equal benches, by 
~ 
