USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio. Embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the county and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy families and individuals > Part 3
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inches at another point about a mile east from Mr. Menefee's, where it is worked. It is economical value.
highly esteemed by some, as it makes a cheer- Like Adams, Salem township lies at such ful fire. A layer of bituminous coal, three an elevation as to be without available coal. inches thick, is found at the bottom. The The crinoidal limestone is seen on nearly all limestones are all bluish. The gray limestone the roads, with Coal No. 76, eight to ten inches is apt to be shaly, is less tough, and more gran- thick, about twelve feet below it. In the ular than those below. It has been used suc- southern portion, on Salt Creek, there are one cessfully as a flux. The middle limestone is or two openings upon the "Norwich" coal, which are worked irregularly during the winter. The coal used here is obtained chiefly from Madison and Monroe townships, where Coal No. 6 is mined. In Monroe township we have the following section:
cherty, with the flint irregularly distributed through it. Near Mr. Matthews's coal works the limestone is absent, being replaced by the flint. The ore, so well marked in Madison, Jackson, Licking, and Muskingum, is absent here, or rather is traceable only by means of a few scattered nodules accompanying the chert. The ore resting upon the gray limestone is of no value, being imbedded in sandstone. The sandstones of the section along the river, be- tween Nos. 4 and 6, are compact, and would doubtless be excellent for building purposes.
FT.
IN.
1. Crinoidal limestone.
2
0
2. Shale.
3
0
3. Coal No. 76. 0 8-10
4. Shale and sandstone. 120 0
5. Coal No. 7. 6 to 8
6. Sandstone. 60
0
7. Shale. 10-15 0
8. Coal No. 6. 4
0
Coal No. 6, but are not in quantity to be of
23
HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
FT. IN.
3 0
35 0
7. Coal. Clay
1 2
0 1
9. Coal. 1 3
0 0
Coal No. 76 is nowhere of any value, and is 10. Fire-clay. seen only occasionally with the crinoidal lime- The same bed is worked in Section 8, in Sec- stone, and then on the tops of the highest hills. tion 9, and near the road from Otsego to Lib- The limestone is very shaly, and contains few erty. Its thickness in these banks is nearly molluscan remains, being made up almost en- four feet. tirely of crinoidal fragments. Coal No. 7 is Coal No. 4 is known, locally, as the "lime- usually very thin, and can be traced only with stone coal," though the gray limestone is rarely the utmost difficulty; but one mile south from seen. It is usually a cannel, of little value, and Otsego, on the farms of C. Buker and C. B. is not mined. Many years ago it was worked Painter, it is developed, locally, to a very con- by stripping in Section 8, on property now be- siderable thickness. There it shows coal, four longing to Mr. Oscar Riney. It may be seen feet; clay, one foot; coal, one foot six inches. in a run, near Johnson's mill, where it seems to The upper coal is of four feet; clay, one foot; be about twenty inches thick. At Johnson's coal, one foot six inches. The upper coal is of mill, as well as at Otsego, the lower layer of only moderately good quality, as it contains the sandstone over Coal No. 6 is, in the bottom much cannel of low grade, but the bottom coal two feet, a conglomerate of iron ore and sand- is said to be very fair.
Coal No. 6 is the important bed, and is worked ity, but its association with the sandstone is at and near Otsego. At one Mr. Smith's open- such as to render it worthless. It is referred ing we find: to here only because some might be led to ex- FT. IN. 1. Fissle shale 30 0 pend money in exploring it. Any money so spent will be wasted.
Coal
3
0
3. Clay
0
1
4. Coal
1
0
5. Fire-clay 5
0
No slaty coal is here seen on top. Streaks of pyrites are not uncommon in the upper bench, but they are thin and not persistent. The thick- est is one foot and one-half below the roof, and one inch thick. The coal is regarded as ex- ceedingly good, and some rude attempts have produced a coke of apparently fair quality. A specimen of the coal yields the following:
Specific gravity 1.287
Moisture 3.30
Volatile combustible matter .. 37.50
Fixed carbon. 57.30
Ash
1.90
Total 100.00
Sulphur
1.97
Sulphur remaining in coke
0.87
Sulphur forming of the coke 1.46
Fixed gas per pound, in cubic feet .. 3.72
Character of coke ..
Color of ash
Compact Reddish
At Johnson's mills, in Sect on 5, the same coal is worked. There it is badly cut up by partings, as follows:
FT. IN.
1. Clay. 0
0
2. Black Shale
0
4
3. Coal
4. Coaly shale. ..
0
15
5. Coal. 0 11
FT. IN.
1. Shale 3
5
2. Coal.
1
9
3. Clay 0
ยท)
4. Coal. 0
5. Fire-clay. 6
6. Limestone
The coal is compact and hard, and meets with much favor. Blacksmiths use it, and pronounce it a very fair coal. Near the road from Bloom-
FT.
IN.
1
9. Fire-clay 10. Shale ...
11. Coal No. 4.
2 0
6. Coaly shale 0
stone. The ore is apparently of average qual-
In Highland Township, on the Adamsville road from Norwich, Coal No. 76 is seen at several places, lying a few feet below the crin- oidal limestone, but is nowhere worked, as its thickness seldom exceeds sixteen inches. At Mr. Tait's, on this road, the Norwich coal is seen at the roadside, and is mined near by, by stripping. As nearly as could be ascertained, the thickness is two feet. The limestone is absent. About a mile north, the same bed is from two and one-half to three feet thick, with six inches of slaty coal. At both localities Coal No. 7b is seen, barely one foot thick. Along Limestone ridge, which coincides with the Norwich anticlinal, the crinoidal limestone and the buff limestone, underlying the Norwich coal, are frequently exposed, and the interval between them varies from twenty to fifty feet. The latter disappears before reaching Bloom- field, where the crinoidal limestone appears in the Otsego road. Near that village an open- ing in the Norwich coal, gives the following section:
0 0
0
61/2
24
HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
field to New Concord, the Norwich coal is worked on the old Murphy farm. We there find:
FT.
1. Sandstone.
0
IN. 0
2. Dark Shale.
2
6
3. Coal.
2
9
4. Fire-clay.
0
0
5. Limestone 7
0
This bank seemed to be of very fair quality, and to have no great tendency to disinte- grate on exposure. Specimens were submitted to analysis, with the following results: No. I is from the Rankin bank, and No. 2 from the Murphy bank.
Specific gravity
No. 1. 1.305
No. 2. 1.314
Moisture
2.90
3.20
Volatile combustible matter.
34.70
33.00
Fixed carbon
57.80
56.40
Ash ..
4.60
7.40
Total
100.00
100.00
Sulphur
2.60
2.96
Sulphur remaining in coke.
1.09
1.37
Sulphur forming of the coke ..
1.74
2.14
Fixed gas per pound, in cubic ft.
3.72
3.40
Character of coke.
Color of ash.
Compact Light gray
Reddish
In Union Township, at New Concord, we reach the bottom of the boat-shaped synclinal. The Norwich limestone and coal are exposed here, near the village. In a boring for oil, made here several years ago, the following section was obtained :
1. Soil.
6
0
2. Shale.
16
0
Coal No, 76.
1
6
4. Not determined.
20
0
5. Sandstone ..
22
0
6. Coal (Norwich)
0
6
7. Shale ..
9
0
8. Flint rock
8
0
9. Fire clay
0
10
10.
Blue sandstone
5
0
11.
Shale .
4
0
12. Shaly sandstone.
4
0
13.
Sandstone
20
0
14.
Blue clay
2
0
15.
Sandstone
12
0
16.
Shale 4
0
17.
Black shale 13
0
18.
Sandstone
7
0
19.
Blue clay
5
0
20.
Shale ..
2
0
21. Sandstone.
20
0
22.
Black shale
11.
0
23.
Shale.
10
0
24.
Sandstone.
7
0
25.
Coal No. 7.
3
0
26.
Sandstone 28
0
27. Shale.
14
0)
29.
Coaly shale
5
0
30. Coal No. 6.
6
0
31.
Shale.
13
0
FT.
IN
32. Sandstone 20
0
33. Shale .. 11
0
34. Blue clay 8
0
35. Shale ... 8
0
36. Brown shale
4
0 0
37. Not described
34
No. 3 of this section was at one time mined by Mr. Speer, under the depot at New Con- cord, by means of an incline. It is there thirty inches thick, and overlaid immediately by the crinoidal limestone, five feet thick, and exceedingly hard. The coal obtained here was of excellent quality, but the bed is too thin to be profitably worked. The same coal is worked at Norwich quite extensively. It is about two feet thick and of very fair qual- ity. The crinoidal limestone is there seven- teen feet above it, and the interval is occupied by shaly sandstone. The Norwich coal has been worked at Norwich, but the banks have long been deserted, and no measurement could be made there, but it is said to be two feet thick. In a run north of Norwich, crossed by the Adamsville road, it is seen twenty inches thick. The limestone, nine feet below it, is blue on the fractured surface, but weathers buff, is fossiliferous and very tough. It is the " flint rock," No. 8, of the oil boring. The ab- sence of Coal No. 7a in the boring renders somewhat uncertain the identification of Nos. 25 and 30 of the section ; but the Norwich limestone is present in the western portion of Guernsey county at from one hundred to one hundred and fifteen feet above the Cambridge coal (No. 7). The interval in the boring be- tween the limestone and No. 25, is only about one hundred and twenty-five feet, so that Mr. Stevenson was inclined to regard No. 25 as the Cambridge coal. The interval between Nos. 25 and 30 is one hundred and five feet, which is greater than is usually seen between Nos. 6 and 7 in Muskingum county, though about the same as in Guernsey and Tuscarawas counties. The intervals between the coals of the Barren group, that portion of the series between Coals No. 6. and 8, seem to diminish westward and northward from a line running through Mus- kingum, Tuscarawas, and southern Carroll coun- ties. The interval between the crinoidal lime- stone and Coal No. 6 varies in Carroll county from two hundred and fifty to less than one hundred and fifty ; in Guernsey, from two hun- dred and forty to two hundred; and in Mus- kingum, from two hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and eighty. The opposite state- ment is true respecting the relations of the lower coals, as has already been shown re- specting Coals Nos. 4 and 6 in the report upon
28. Sandstone. 58
0
Compact
FT.
IN.
25
HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
Guernsey county. The coals in Union town- to be any large demand for it, aside from the ship are not much esteemed for manufacturing accessible portions of the cannel coal, under purposes, and supplies are obtained mostly the conditions that now prevail, as it cannot from Coal No. 8, in Belmont county.
compete with the better seams around it so
Coal is found in sufficient abundance for long as they are produced so cheaply. The domestic use in nearly every portion of the other seams of coals, Nos. 7, 6 and 5, are insig- county north from the railroad, but of the nificant as sources of fuel. Their chief interest numerous seams mentioned in the general sec- is in their occurrence as geological elements. tion, only Coal No. 6, is of persistent import- A small mine has lately been opened in the ance. Each of the others is workable at some coal below the Putnam Hill limestone (the point, but is liable to such variations in thick- Brookville coal, Coal No. 4; Coal No. 36) ness as to render it unworthy of general note. within the city limits of Zanesville, but the Coal No. 6 is fully available along Wills creek thickness of the seam is small, and it cannot and the Muskingum river, where it is within reach support any continuous or extensive operations. of transportation. Analyses from three town- South of Zanesville, in the river hills, the ships show the percentage of ash to vary from Lower Kittanning coal nowhere appears, 1.6 to 1.9 per cent .; of sulphur, from 1.59 to though its companion seam is everywhere 1.97 per cent .; and the yield of fixed gas per present and worked. At the horizon where pound from 3.7 to 3.8 cubic feet, while the coke the lower coal is due, a buff limestone bearing in all cases is compact. One analysis from an orc and also a bed of fire-clay is often found. Washington township shows a somewhat infe- This series is also well shown on Putnam Hill, rior coal, containing 3.02 per cent. of sulphur, opposite Zanesville; the limestone is here and an increase of ash. The coal throughout twenty-seven feet below the Middle Kittanning is an excellent fuel, and the low proportion of or No. 6 coal. The limestone is fossiliferous sulphur makes its coke comparatively good for and contains well-preserved forms, among which use in smelting iron. The gas from this coal large bivalve shells are especially noticeable. is said to be somewhat inferior in point of bril- The coal of this basin, so far as it has been liancy. worked, is a two or three-benched coal. The
In Hopewell township, along the line of main, and sometimes the only, parting is a sul- the National road, there are several small phurous band two or three inches thick, and mines opened in Coal No. 3, which have yielded eighteen or twenty inches from the top of the fuel to the immediate neighborhood for a num- seam. Nodules of pyrites are often found near ber of years. This coal has been generally this partingalso. At a little less than a foot from referred to the Putnam Hill limestone horizon, the bottom, a "bearing-in " slate is often found. but the reference originated in the error that Theseam is mined by under-cutting and blasting, prevailed for some years as to the place of this one pound of powder being expected to bring limestone, it having been confounded with the down twenty tons of properly prepared coal. Lower Miner limestone. This Hopewell coal Rooms are worked fifteen feet wide. There is is probably No. 3. It has been mined on sev- often found a thin band of slaty coal at the top cral farms in the neighborhood. In the adjoin- of the seam. The irregularities in the seam ing township of Hopewell, in Licking county, occur mainly in the bottom. The seam is is the celebrated Flint ridge. The flint applied to all ordinary uses. Its composition belongs to the horizon of the ferriferous lime- as sampled from Harper's bank and given by stone, but at the northern base of the ridge is Prof. Orton from Lord's analysis, is as follows:
the finest development of No. 3 coal in this portion of the state. It is the well-known Flint Ridge cannel coal. The cannel has been found in full thickness at but a single locality. It is upon the southeastern side of the ridge that the mines in Muskingum county arc located. The coal here is ordinary bituminous coal, divided by a number of partings, and
Moisture.
4.93
Volatile combustible matter. 39.72
Fixed carbon.
49.96
Ash
5.39
Total
100.00
Sulphur 3.45
A considerable area has already been worked consequently a dirty scam; but it has good out, but it is impossible to say just how much. thickness and may fairly be counted as a supply As to the extension of the seam to the south- that will at some time be available. There castward, under drainage, no facts are at hand, would seem reason to believe in considerable but the abrupt boundaries upon the open sides area of this coal in these two townships and of the basin led Prof. Orton to expect similar possibly in adjoining ones. There is not likely boundaries in the portions of the basin under
26
HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
.
cover. There is but one other district in the feet ten inches, and occasionally rises to four county where this seam is worked extensively. feet, but from these measures several inches of In Newton township, in the southwestern partings must be deducted. The quality of corner of the county, a valuable field of the the coal is excellent. At Ballou's salt works, Lower Kittanning coal has long been worked. in Section 12, Brush Creek township, mining It is here known as the Del Carbo coal. In has been carried on quite extensively for the southern part of the county the Middle many years. Since the abandonment of salt Kittanning seam known as the Upper Zanes- boiling, the mines have been kept in opera - ville coal, or No. 6, is due above the drain- tion for the river supply of coal. The seam is age levels in Wayne, Springfield, Newton, Clay, thinner than at the Owen's mine, averaging Brush Creek and Harrison townships and in not more than three feet. The direction of Zanesville corporation. The seam falls short the river valley through Wayne, Brush Creek of three feet in parts of the field, and it nowhere and Harrison townships is but little south of yields fully four feet of coal, but it holds with east, and consequently the fall of the strata surprising steadiness a measure ranging from in descending the valley is well marked. The 30 to 42 inches of coal. Its structure is main- coal seam has an elevation of about 200 feet tained with great regularity over large areas. above slackwater at Putnam Hill. At Ballou's The lower bench expands or contracts a little, landing it is only about ninety feet above but the upper is very uniform. To the south- the same level. It lies at the water's edge ward, however, a change occurs. In Newton opposite the lower end of the Taylorsville and Clay there is a considerable thickening of lock. The seam here has the following struct- the lower bench, accompanied by a reduction ure: of the upper bench. The false roof is also False roof. IN. increased, or there is added to it a distinct seam Coal, slaty and inferior. 0) 16-18 of what is called bone coal, a bed six to twelve Parting 2 inches in thickness, and a true coal, but too Coal, lower bench 14 high in ash to be marketable. Also in follow- The seam is verging to its southern limit ing the seam southward, through the deep val- apparently at this point. There is scarcely a ley of the Muskingum, until it finally sinks farm between Zanesville and Taylorsville in below drainage, we find upon the extreme which the coal has not been mined; there is present. The greater thickness of the coal at boundary its measures reduced and its quality not one in which the seam is not known to be impaired.
The general conditions of the seam from the Owens mine has been referred to, but the Zanesville northward are understood. Within further statement is necessary that it is the the limits of Zanesville the coal has been lower bench that makes the principal increase. extensively mined, though in small banks that At Zanesville and northward this bench varies produce each but a few thousand tons in a year. from four to ten inches in thickness, but at the A large acreage has already been worked out, Owen's mine it is fifteen inches thick. The but much remains. Zanesville has cheaper change is an important one, for the seam is coal than any other city of its size in the state. soon to undergo the most marked transforma- South of Zanesville the conditions of the seam tion that is experienced by any coal seam in are gradually changed. Following first the the entire scale, and this is the beginning of it. Muskingum valley, we find the coal at its The lower bench maintains its increase, even proper horizon and with its normal character- where the whole volume of the seam is dimin- istics in the river hills on both sides of the ished, as at Taylorsville, as has been made evi- Muskingum as far south as Taylorsville. Only dent. In Brush Creek, Clay and the eastern country banks are found on the east side, but half of Newton townships, the seam is constant on the west side, which offers the advantage of in its occurrence; whenever it is due there it is working against the dip, and also of nearer found. In Sections 27 and 34 Newton town- approach to the river, there are a number of ship, shipping. mines are opened on the line of shipping mines. Several of them have inclines the railroad. The Del Carbo mines have yielded connecting them with boat landings. Their a large amount of-coal from both the Kittan- product is in all cases shipped to the river and ning seams, but only the upper seam is at pres- mostly to McConnellsville and points south- ent mined here. Numerous farmer's banks are ward.
opened in the coal throughout this territory.
The largest of this group is the Owens mine, At and about Roseville, in Clay township, min- in Section 7, Brush Creek township. Here the ing is carried on upon a somewhat larger scale, seam measures three feet eight inches to three for the supply of the numerous potteries that
27
HISTORY OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
are established here. The change already re- Rock holds a small acreage on which mining is ferred to in the expansion of the lower bench still going forward. Throughout the whole of the coal seam is especially to be noted here. district the coal lies very shallow. A great From the Owen's mine, in the Muskingum val- deal of it is got by stripping, and when mining ley, to Roseville, the distance is about six is undertaken the character of the work is miles. The lower bench has increased in the everywhere limited by the weakness and treach- direction from fifteen to twenty-six inches, ery of the cover. The coal ranges from three to five while the upper bench has been reduced to the and one-half feet in thickness, and it is rendered extent of six inches or more. In the southern dirty by numerous partings in the seam. To part of Washington, in Perry, Wayne, Salt compete in the general market it would require Creek, Harrison, Brush Creek and Clay town- thorough screening. The coal has a good name ships, the Upper Freeport coal appears as a where it is used, but the limitations of area and workable seam of considerable value. It is of cover will prevent this immediate district mined in many small banks, and in one or from becoming any more important as a min- two of greater importance. The most north- ing center then it now is. Southward, throughout erly of these centers of mining is at Sonora, the northern half of Salt Creek township the and in its immediate vicinity on the western coal is frequently found in good volume and is side of Perry township. The coal is chiefly worked in many local banks. It is known as a mined in Sections 6 and 7, but a few open- four-foot seam. A considerable acreage is ings are to be found in Section. 8" The thought to exist here. The same thing can be coal of Section 6 extends directly into Sec- said of Wayne township. Near Duncan's Falls tion 10, Washington, where it is also mined. a number of small mines are opened in this On the farm of Mrs. Cullins, in Section 8 the coal. The general thickness of the seam is coal is found three feet thick and of fair quali- four feet and in quality it holds to the usual ty. The seam is here one hundred and twelve standard. feet below the Cambridge limestone. At So- Southward from Duncan's Falls, through- nora the coal runs from two to four feet in out the Muskingum valley, the coal is easily thickness. It is very irregular, owing to the followed as far as the south line of Section frequent intrusion of the overlying Mahon- 20, Harrison township, a little below Gays- ing sandstone. The limestone that accom- port, where it falls to the level of the river. panies the coal is strongly developed through- Important mines have been worked near this out this region. It does not seem probable point for many years, the coal being known as to Prof. Orton that the seam will be found the Blue Rock coal, and finding its market a fit basis for large mining operations in this along the river. The immediate cover of the neighborhood, but he states that a local supply seam is very heavy, reaching well up to the of considerable importance will be long main- Pittsburgh coal. The hill above it consists in tained. The same statements will apply to the large portion of the clays and shales of the coal that lies directly southeast of Sonora, Barren measures, making a treacherous series where mining in a small way has long been to undermine. It was here that four miners carried on.
were imprisoned nearly forty years ago by a
The best known basin of the upper Freeport rush which closed up the entries leading to coal in the county is in the vicinity of Jackson, day. They were rescued alive after fourteen in the southeast corner of Washington town- days' and thirteen hours' imprisonment, during ship. The coal is mined here on quite a large which time they had no food except a lunch scale and is sold in Zanesville and to farmers or "check" that two miners had carried in on round about. This is known as the Alexander the morning of the day on which the crush coal, having been worked on the largest scale occurred. The Blue Rock coal, as it now ap- and for the longest time by James H. Alexander. pears, is in marked contrast to the general This field is spoken of as a distinct one; but the product of the seam elsewhere. It is a typical Sonora coal belongs to the same basin, as is "pitch" coal, clear and bright to a higher shown by the Shick and Sherlock and other degree than any other Ohio coal-nearly as mines throughout the interval. Along the clear as anthracite. No mineral charcoal is National road westward from Jackson, the found in the present product of the mine. Its coal has been worked at various points, and it composition, as shown by Prof. Lord's analysis continues as far west as the land is found high of a single block, is as follows:
enough to hold it. The coal has been princi- pally mined on the Clark farm, two miles cast of Zanesville, but the adjacent land of Adam
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