History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 30

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 30

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In the southeast corner of Mill Creek, and in the adjoining lands in the three townships of Keene, White Eyes and Crawford, are several coal banks, all in coal No. 6, which is recognized both by its position (about 100 feet above the gray limestone ) and by its peculiar purplish ash. The outerop of other coal beds is seen at several places on these lands, but the only bed worked is No. 6. The coal is mined only in the winter sea- son, and chiefly on the farms of A. Overholts, in Mill Creek; of Thomas Davis, adjoining this, m Keene; of Scott, Funk, Boyd and Miller in White Eyes; and of Boyd, Graham and Swigert in Crawford. The bed where it was accessible was found varying from two feet ten inches at Davis', and at Overholts' to four feet three inches thick at Scott's; but the openings being all deserted, nothing could be determined as to the quality of the coal. Some pyrites is seen, one seam of it an inch thick near the floor, but the quantity is small. As this group of mines sup- plies the demand of a large portion of the four townships, the coal is without doubt, the best the county affords. It is, moreover, obtained exclui- sively from the bed well known to be the most important one in the county. The summit level in this vicinity is about 100 feet above the plane of the coal bed; and immediately over the coal is a heavy bed of slaty sandstone, apparently not under thirty-five feet thick. On Alexander Hanlon's farm, half a mile northwest from Over- holts', and also on Oliver Crawford's, nearly a mile farther north, are seen a number of expos- ures of coal and limestone beds, which, taken to- gether, give sections not readily explained in con-

nection with the barometrical elevations ob- tained, and which were verified in part in going and returning. Coal No. 6 is opened on the south side of the hill, on Mr. Hanlon's farm about 120 feet below its summit. A bed of lime- stone, about one foot six inches thick, shows it- self sixty-five feet above the coal bed. To the south about one-quarter of a mile and 200 feet below the coal bed, is the top of a great bed of gray limestone, which, followed by successive steps down the bed of a run, presents a thick- ness of about twenty-five feet, as leveled with the hand-level. This may be somewhat exaggerated, as there is a strong dip to the south, and the ex- posure is down the run in this direction for nearly 250 feet. Under the upper layers is seen some coal smut, and under the whole is a bed of coal, said to be two feet thick. The strata for twenty feet below are hidden, and then succeeds a bed of massive sandstone, from thirty to forty feet thick. On Crawford's land, nearly a mile to the north, two coal outerops are seen in two neighboring runs. One is of a coal bed about thirteen inches thick, directly under gray lime- stone, apparently only two inches thick, and 110 feet below the level of coal No. 6. In the other run at twenty fect lower level, is a bed of coal three feet thick, of which the upper portion is cannel, and the lower partly cannel and partly bright coal. No limestone is exposed near the coal. It would appear that these two coal out- crops are continuations of the beds on the south side of the hill, though they are ninety feet higher, and nothing is seen of the great mass of limestones that there lies between them. The coals are probably the representatives of Nos. 3 and 4, and the limestones that overlie these have here run together. The unusual high elevation of coal No. 6, on the south side of the hill, may be a barometrical error. The dip, which is certainly very great here, woukl account for a part, at least, of the discrepancy in the height of the coal above the two outerops of limestone on the opposite sides of the hill.

Crawford .- Beside the coal banks on the edge of Mill Creek Township, there appear to be none worked in Crawford. The outerop of coal was observed on the north line of the township, near New Bedford, but over all the rough coun-

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

try from thence to Chili, through the center of the township, no one appears to have given any attention to obtaining coal elsewhere than from the locality in the southwest corner, already described. It is probable that No. 6 disappears to the north, rising faster than the surface of the country in this direction, and the lower beds have not been found worth working.

Newcastle .- The northern half of this township is in the Waverly, excepting only the upper part of the hills in the northeast quarter. The highest lands, near the town of Newcastle, on the south side of the Walhonding, are about 420 feet above the bottoms of this river, i. e., 780 above Lake Erie. The highest and only coal bed worked in the township is No. 4, under the gray limestone, and from seventy to eighty feet below the highest elevations. Coal No. 1 is seen on descending the steep hill from Newcastle to the Walhonding, in a bed only eighteen inches thick, beneath the great sandstone bed at the base of the coal measures, which is here about thirty feet thick. Kidney ore, with a little shale from six inches to a foot thick, separates the coal from the sandstone. For fifty feet over the sandstone the strata are concealed, except that the smut of a very small coal seam is observed below the dig- gings for fire-clay, at the top of this interval. Over the fire-clay, which is three feet to four feet thick, is coal (seen here only in the outcrop), and over the coal a fossiliferous gray limestone, two feet thick, overlaid with blue chert. The fire- clay is dug for the supply of a pottery at New- castle. Though the gray limestone is met with most everywhere near the summit of the town- ship, the openings of the coal beds it covers are not very numerous. One of these is James Smith's, half a mile northeast from Newcastle. The limestone is here several feet thick, and forms the roof of the coal. This is two and a half feet thick, and much mixed with small seams of shale and pyrites.

At Calvin Scott's, one and one-half miles south- east from Newcastle, the coal is found two and one-half feet thick under six feet of the gray limestone. It is here of better quality, compact and bright, with not so much sulphur.

higher bed may perhaps be found near the line of Jefferson, on the road to Jericho.

The following section, from summit of hills at Newcastle to the mouth of Owl creek, will show the general geological structure of this portion of the county :

1. Interval covered 45 feet.

2. Blue chert 66

3. Gray, rotten limestone .. 2

4. Blue chert

5. Coal No. 3. 212"

6. Fire-clay worked for pottery. 4

7. Slope covered 85

8. Sandstone. 30

9. Iron ore .. 6 to 8 in.

Io. Coal No. I 1 1/2 ft.

II. Waverly shales. .225 "

The cherty limestone over the upper coal is traccable several miles along the banks of Owl creek into Knox county. It abounds in fossils, which include nearly all the species found in the famous locality on Flint Ridge, near Newark. The lithological character of the rock is the same, a blue, earthy, sometimes cherty limestone, weathering light brown. The horizon of the two loaclities is doubtless the same. The base of the section is 300 feet above Lake Erie.

Jefferson .- The north half of this township is in strata probably too low for any of the worka- ble coal beds except No. 1, which may be looked for with good prospect of success, as it is worked just over the line in Monroe, as already described. On the south side of the township, coal No. 3 a has been opened upon several farms, and being found of large size and cannel character, rich in oil, large preparations were made to work it for the supply of oil distilleries, when the great developments of the petroleum wells put a stop to the business. On the farm of John Taylor (west side of Simmons' creek), the bed is opened about fifty feet below the top of the hill. It is about five feet thick, sound, cannel coal, with a little pyrites scattered through it. The coal abounds with impressions of coal plants, and in the shaly blocks from the roof are remarkably fine specimens of stigmariæ, with lateral rootlets. On the other side of the same hill (to the west),

This bed may be opened in numerous places, and is the best the township affords; yet the next | is Lyman's opening in the same bed. The roof

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

is here exposed, and consists, next the coal, of blue limestone six inches, over this chert eighteen inches, and limestone at top, making in all over three feet. The coal bed is full six feet thick. Sharpless' mine, across the valley, in Bedford township, belongs to this group. 'The gray limestone is found scattered near the top of the hill above Lyman's opening, but the coal bed under it is not opened. Its outcrop is observed in the road toward Newcastle, overlain by a thick bed of shale. Chert is very abundant, associated with both the limestone beds, and also at higher levels than the gray limestone. Descending the hill toward the Little Mohawk, the gray lime- stone is scen not far below the summit, about four feet thick, with coal smut below, and shale beds containing kidney ore, above it. The coal bed is opened on the farm of James Moore, Sr., close by this outcrop, and was worked for oil, the coal yielding forty gallons to the ton. The bed is seven feet thick, the lower five feet cannel and the upper two feet bright coal, overlaid by gray limestone and chert. On the opposite side of the road the same bed was worked by Wm. Gibbons. The descent from this point to the bridge over the Little Mohawk, at Jericho, about a quarter of a mile to the west, is 180 feet by barometer. This should reach into the Waverly shales. There are no exposures of any strata to be seen. The hill to the west rises nearly or quite 300 feet above the Little Mohawk, beyond the township line, in Newcastle, and the next coal bed above the gray limestone is probably carried in, an outcrop being scen, supposed to belong to this bed.

Section between Simmons' run and Jericho, Jefferson township :

Gray shale. 40 feet.

Gray limestone ·3 to 4

Coal

Fire-clay and shale. 50

Blue limestone ·3 to 4

Cannel coal 5 to 7

Fire-clay, sandstone and shale. 30

Bituminous coal.

Fire-clay and sandstone

70 Sandstone.

Bethlehem .- This township is very largely in the Waverly and the lower undeveloped coal measures. The coal found to the north was

noticed in the account of Clark township. It is probable that coal bed No. 4 may be found of good size and character in the extreme south- west corner, as it is worked in the northwest corner of Jackson.

Keene .-- The eastern half of Keene township has several openings of coal No. 6, which appears to be the only bed now worked. That of Thos. Davis, in the northeast corner, has been referred to in the account of the coal beds of Mill Creek. In the southern part of the township, James Boyd has worked the same bed to considerable extent, by three openings on his farm, about one and a half miles north from Lewisville. The bed lies about 150 feet above the level of the canal at Lewisville, and 100 feet below the summit of the hill. The canal is about on the same level as the railroad at Coshocton. Fifty feet above this is an outerop of the gray limestone near Lewisville. In one of the openings the coal is found three feet nine inches thick, with a parting seam of either fire-clay or pyrites, three inches thick, nine inches above the floor. In another, on the west side of the same hill, the bed is four feet thick, including four inches of fire-clay, eight inches above the bottom. The overlying strata are slaty sandstones, thirty feet thick. The coal appears to be of excellent quality, is of brilliant, jet-black color, and is mostly free from sulphur. It is not in demand by the blacksmiths, probably from not melting well to make a hollow fire, but is sold wholly for domestic uses.

On the adjoining farm of W. Hanlon another coal bed was opened sometime ago, sixty feet higher up, and is said to be three feet thick. Other coal openings are reported in the south- east corner and also about two miles cast from Keene Center; they are supposed to be in coal bed No. 6. Keene Center, though on very high ground, does not, apparently, quite reach up to the plane of coal No. 6; and no openings are made in the lower beds. To the north of the town the strata are well exposed by the side of the road, from the top of the hill down into the valley of Mill creek, presenting the following section : near the top, at the town, slaty sand- stone; shales, mostly olive-colored, forty feet, limestone (gray ?), coal-smut, and fire-clay, under- laid by olive shales, sixty feet ; several layers of

174

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

kidney iron-ore, ten feet above the bottom of the shales; coal outerop under the shales; five feet under this, to top of great bed of chert, associa- ted with blue limestone, and coal outerop beneath. A large bed of massive sandstone, supposed to be that at the base of the coal measures, lies not far below the blue limestone, its upper layers about twenty feet below the top of the chert and blue limestone This group of about 150 feet affords little promise of any workable bed of coal; and some portions of it occupy the greater part of the township.

White Eyes .- The only coal openings visited in this township, are those in the northwest corner, noticed with the coal beds of Mill Creek. The developments there have had the effect of dis- couraging other enterprises of the kind, es- pecially as the demand for coal is so limited. In the northeast part of the township, along the road from Chili toward Bakersville, the lands lie near the plane of the two limestone beds, with no promise of workable coal.

Adams .- Throughout the north part of Adams, the coal bed most worked is No. 4, under the gray limestone. It is a bed of inferior character, both as regards the amount and quality of the coal. It is commonly known as the "double bed," from a seam of fire-clay, about a foot thick, in the middle of the bed. It has been worked half a mile west from Bakersville, where the whole bed was four feet thick, the upper part mixed with cannel coal. About twenty feet above the gray limestone, which covers the coal bed, isa bed of black limestone, of slaty structure, perhaps two feet thick. It contains fossil shells, but in poor condition. This bed corresponds, in position, with the "black marble" found in the western part of the county. Near the western part of the township, the double bed is worked on the farms of Powell, of Fillibaum and of others in the neighborhood ; and further east on Zin- kon's. At this place, the next upper bed (No. 6) is also opened ninety to one hundred feet higher up, and too close to the top of the hill to be worked to :Ivantage. It is a little over three feet thick, contains no slate seams and but little sulphur. On Vance's farm, lying next south from Zinkon's, the same bed is again opened near the top of the hill, and has, so far, been worked by stripping. It

appears to be about three feet thick, of sound cu- bicał coal, very black, the upper portion sulphur- ous. It is overlaid by black shale, two feet nine inches; sandstone, one foot three inches; and over this shaly sandstone, a thick bed, to the top of the hill. The lower part of the bed, and the strata below, are hidden. In a run near by, at about fifty feet lower elevation, is a bed of chert and " black marble," some of the latter of con- pact structure, and some of it shelly; and thirty- five to forty feet below this, is the outerop of the gray limestone, and coal No. 4 (not opened), the strata between being mostly slaty sandstones. There are numerous coal openings to the south- east of Vance's, all in No. 6 coal bed.

Perry .- The strata here, as in Newcastle, are of the lower part of the coal measures; and, fre- quently, over the surface of the hills, the gray and blue limestone are recognized, accompanied with chert. They are seen in the neighborhood of East Union; but no openings of the coal beds usually associated with these, are met with ; and it is probable these beds are of little or no value in this township. A little to the southeast of the center of the township, near the foot of a long hill, and below a great bed of massive sandstone, is Crawford's coal bank in bed No. 1. The bed is from two and a half to three feet thick, with a black shale roof. The coal is of excellent quality, mostly in sound blocks, very free from sulphur and of "open burning " character. Some of it is of slaty cannel structure, with mineral charcoal intermixed. This is the only really good display of this lowest coal bed met with in the county; and it is an encouragement for hoping that a seam that has proved so valuable as this has in other counties, may be found at many other localities in this, of good character. Its low position gives it an extensive range; but there is always uncer- tainty about its continuing far without being en- croached upon and disturbed by the sandstone above it. Its occurrence here indicates that of the Waverly group in the bottoms of the runs in this township.

Bedford .- The occurrence of cannel coal in a large bed under the blue limestone on Sharpless' farm, on the north side of the township, has been noticed in describing the coal openings in Jeffer- son. In the northwest part of Bedford, at the

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

coal openings of John Little and Jos. Freese, a greater number of coal beds are seen in one sec- tion than at any other locality in the county. At the base of the hill, in the road, and under a bed of massive sandstone not less than thirty feet thick, is the blossom of coal supposed to be No. 1. Fifty feet above this is John Little's coal bank under a bed of blue shale, the lower layers of which are calcareous, and no doubt represent the blue limestone. The coal bed (No. 3) is of work- able size, but nothing more could be ascertained of its character, the opening being flooded with water. In the run close by, and seventy feet above the base is Jos. Freese's coal opening under massive sandstone, of which twelve feet are ex- posed.

The following is a section near Freese's mine in Bedford township:

Soil and drift.

Ft. In.

Buff limestone ..

Sandstone and shale partly covered. 100 0 Coal outcrop.

Shale 30

Gray limestone 5

Coal No. 4 .. 2 4

Shaly sandstone. 30

Coal, J. Freese's (No. 3 a ?) 3 11

Blue calcareous shale .. 20 0

Coal outcrop (No. 3)

Space partly covered, mostly sandstone. So o Coal No. I (?) ...

Freese's coal is a compound seam, consisting of

Bituminous coal 18 inches.

Cannel coal .. Io inches.

Fire-clay .3 4 inches.

Bituminous coal 15 inches. Black shale.

At 100 feet elevation the gray limestone appears in the run overlying a coal seam twenty-eight inches thick, not opened, and at 130 feet is the out- crop of another coal bed of cannel character, the thickness not known. Over this coal isa heavy bed of massive sandstone, and above this to the top of the hill, about 100 feet more, no more exposures are seen. But in the forks of the road near by, and some twenty to thirty feet higher elevation than the uppermost coal bed in the section, is an out- crop of hard, compact limestone, abounding in

fossil shells, the stratum probably not over two feet thick. It is remarkable, at this place, what a change the coals Nos. 3 and 4 have undergone from their much larger dimensions in Jefferson, only about three miles distant. No. 3 a also here assumes a workable character, not observed any- where else in the county.

No other coal openings are seen between this place and the village of West Bedford. The vil- lage stands some fifty feet above the gray lime- stone, which is seen a little to the north; and the range of the strata is, from the summit down into the bottoms, about 240 feet. About forty feet lower than the gray limestone is a large out- erop of coal in the road, which is probably No. 3 a, the blue limestone being met thirty feet lower in a large exposure of massive blocks. At the lowest point in the road, about one-half mile east from West Bedford, where the road forks, is the lower great sandstone bed of the coal measures, about 190 feet below the gray lime- stone. Two miles east from West Bedford is Sproule's coal bank, three feet thick, the coal very sulphury, no cannel in it. Johnson's mine farther east, and Marshall's still farther, exhibit the same characters. The bed is evidently the same at the three places, and is supposed to be No. 4, though the gray limestone is not seen near it. Coal No. 6, found in the northeast corner of Washington township, could no doubt be found in the south part of Bedford, as near the school house, not a mile south from Sproule's mine, the following are observed from the blue limestone up. The gray limestone fifty feet higher, four feet thick; coal outerop (No. 6), eighty feet up. Above the school house: coal outerop 124 feet up; top of the hill, 180 feet above the blue lime- stone, reddish brown sandstone :

Section on Sproule's farm, Bedford township:

Soil and drift.

Gray limestone ..

Coal, Sproule's land. 3 feet.

Fire clay.

Shales and sandstones, mostly covered. 80 feet.

Blue limestone S feet.

Cannel coal

Fire-clay.

feet.

Space, mostly covered, sandstone below 100 feet.

Coal No. 1

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Jackson .- In the northwest corner of this town- ship coal No. 4 is worked on the farm of Abm. Haines, near the summit of the hills. The bed is four feet thick, and the coal appears to be of good quality; has no cannel seams. Its roof is shale, three inches thick, and over this is the gray limestone, six feet ten inches thick. From the bottom of this limestone it is twenty-four feet to the blue limestone, exposed in the run below, mixed with chert, and overlying a cannel, coal bed, thickness unknown. As both these coal beds attain large dimensions on the other side of Simmons creek, in Jefferson and Bedford townships, they may be expected to occur in other places in the northwest part of Jackson, also, of workable size; but the only locality in Jackson where either is opened is in the extreme corner of the township. Toward Roscoe, over the highlands to the south of the Walhonding river, the summits are far above the plane of these beds, and between four and one-half and five and one-half miles from Roscoe, the outcrops of two coal beds are observed, one of which is supposed to be No. 6, and the other the next bed above.

In a run near the road in this vicinity an im- perfect section was obtained, showing the blue limestone at bottom three feet thick, and thirty feet above it the bottom of a bed of massive sand- stone full fifty feet thick, with signs of coal six feet below it, with shale between the coal and sandstone. Near the summit, about seventy feet above the top of the sandstone, is the outerop of the uppermost bed. On the next road to the south of this, a mile and a half west from Ros- coe, the upper part of the great sandstone bed, below coal No. 6, forms the pavement of the road, and beneath is a cave formed by the over- hanging rock and extending entirely across un- der the road. The bottom of the sundstone is fifty-five feet below the road, and down the run fifteen feet lower is a fine exposure of the gray limestone, two or three feet thick, with an infe- rior kind of cannel coal under it. A blue lime- stone crops out still further down the run, only about twenty feet under the gray limestone- shales and slaty sandstones occupying the inter- mediate space The hills in this part of the town- ship are quite high enough to catch No. 6 coal, and

also the next bed in many localities. But No. 6 is the only bed known in the township as of much importance, and is opened at a number of places to the south of Roscoe. The bed is from three to four feet thick, and the coal is in good repute. The most important mines in the town- ship are in the southeast part, near the line of Virginia, especially those worked on adjoining tracts, belonging respectively to the Coalport Coal Company and the Summit Coal Company. The coal bed is three feet ten inches thick, with a seam of shale one to two inches thick, fifteen inches above the floor. The roof of the bed is blue shale, and in the shale beds above and below the beds kidney ore is found. The dip is south- east, sixteen and one-half feet in a mile.

Prosser's coal mine is three miles south from Coshocton, and half a mile west from the canal. The bed is close upon four feet thick; contains no visible sulphur but what can be easily sorted out. The upper part is harder coal than the lower, and separated from it by a small seam of fire-clay eighteen inches above the floor. The following is the succession of strata observed in the run below the coal bed: Seventy-five feet below is the bottom of a large bed of massive sandstone, not less than thirty feet thick, some layers of it conglomeritic; under it shale beds (bluish) about twenty feet thick, with balls and layers of iron ore; at ninety-five feet below the coal is fire-clay, and, under this, blue shale and kidney ore; at 105 feet black chert, five feet thick; and fifteen feet below this, black shale and cannel coal, not distinctly divided -altogether about four feet thick. The lowest of these strata represent the blue limestone and coal No. 3; and the black chert is the representative of a lime- stone, which is locally found over the next coal above.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 30

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854