220 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

CHAPTER II

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

THE topography of Tuscarawas County has been produced almost exclusively by erosion. From the study of its geology, it is learned that the surface originally formed a plain on the southern slope of the water-shed, having a gentle inclination toward the south, In the lapse of ages, this plain has been deeply furrowed by the great line of drainage which traversed it, now known as the Tuscarawas River, The valley of this stream was originally cut to the depth of more than 700 feet below the highest lands of the county, and, though partially filled, it still exists as a broad and deep trough, more than 300 feet below the adjacent highlands. The tributaries of the Tuscarawas are quite numerous, and some of them are of considerable size, such as Sugar Creek, the Conotten and the Stillwater, and all of these, having deeply excavated their channels, have formed a network of valleys, which give great diversity to most of the surface. The relief or relative elevation of some portions of the county may be plainly seen by one, who, starting from New Philadelphia, will pass to a distance of ten miles either east or west. The town of New Philadelphia is located on a terrace, which reaches northward to Dover, and has an elevation of from forty to fifty feet above the bed of the Tuscarawas. This plateau is the old flood plain of the river, formed when it ran at a higher levol than now. It is composed of gravel, as is shown by borings, and is the surface of the mass of drift that occupies the bottom of the old excavated valley. At Dover, the borings made for salt have shown that the rock bottom of the valley lies 175 feet below the present surface of the Tuscarawas. Hence the plains between Dover and New Philadelphia are underlain by 200 feet of sand, gravel and bowlders, which have been filled into the old valley since the remote period when the continent stood higher; the drainage was freer than now, and the Tuscarawas flowed with a rapid stream far below its present bed.

The general topographical features may be gathered from the following altitudes

Above Lake Erie, feet.

Bolivar................................................... 327

Zoar Mills.............................................. 313

Dover (canal)........................................ 300

Dover (railroad)..................................... 313

New Philadelphia (canal)....................... 287

New Philadelphia (railroad depot)........... 331

New Castle (canal)................................. 279

Trenton (canal)...................................... 269

Guadenhutten (canal)................... ......... 251

Port Washington ................................... 244

Newcomerstown .................................. 220

Uhrichsville (railroad)................. .......... 230

Uhrichsville (top of hill)........................ 580

Mineral Point ....................................... 387

Tunnel (C. & P. R. R.).......................... 446

Zoar Station........................... ............. 314

Zoar Station (top of hills)...................... 600

Mt. Tabor ........................................... 775

Hill tops north of Port Washington.... .....725

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 221

In the northern part of Tuscarawas County, the rocky strata are somewhat covered with drift, especially in the valleys, but in all the central and southern portions of the county, the highlands are without drift, the slopes of the hills, ravines and roads showing the geological structure distinctly, and the soil is derived exclusively from the decomposition of the underlying rocks. This difference in the character of the surface deposits is also indicated by the material transported by the streams. Most of those which flow from the north bring down drift gravel and bowlders, and have sandy or gravelly bottoms; while those which flow into the Tuscarawas from the south, southeast and southwest, carry only the wash from the shales of the coal measures, and their valleys have clay bottoms.

The soil of Tuscarawas County, being for the most part of local origin, varies considerably in different localities, and in this respect lacks the unity displayed by the soils overlying the drift gravels of Stark County, and the drift clays of the Western Reserve; but the prevailing character of soil is that of the large territory lying within the coal basin and beyond the reach of the drift. The surface is rolling with rounded hills, separated by broad valleys from 100 to 300 feet lower than the hilltops. Though so much diversified, this surface is nowhere barren; the hills are frequently steep, but almost never broken, and are composed of layers of sandstone, shale, limestone, fireclay, coal, etc., which furnishing material for the soil, impart fertility even to the highest summits. Hence it is not uncommon to see luxuriant crops of corn growing on the most; elevated surfaces, and to find a prevailing productiveness Which is quite independent of the topography; and which is sure to excite the wonder of those who have formed their ideas of agriculture in regions where the valleys are fertile and the hills are barren.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.

Tuscarawas County lies entirely in the coal area, and no rocks come to the surface within its limits except such as belong to the coal measures. These include all the lower groups of coal, with the exception of the lowest, and in no other county of the State, perhaps, is there a better exhibition of the lower coal measures. Many of the highest hills also include a portion of the barren measures, but none rise high enough to reach the Pittsburgh seam (Coal No. 8), the first in ascending order of the upper series of coals.

Beginning with the lowest seam and ascending, it is proposed here to briefly note the various formations of coal, together with the accompanying geological strata of value or interest, including their distribution, character and local development.

Coal No. 1.-The "Massillon" and lowest known seam has nowhere been opened in Tuscarawas County, nor has it been found of workable thickness in any borings: It is, however, very irregular in its distribution, and the limited number of explorations made deep enough to reach it cannot be said to have decided the question whether or not it should be considered as one of the possible sources of Wealth.

222 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

There is little doubt that, if the base of the coal measures was fully exposed in this county, there would be found here, as in Stark and Holmes, a thin seam of coal, No. 2, lying from fifty to 100 feet above Coal No. 1. It is, however, rarely of workable thickness, and as almost nothing is known of its presence or importance in the county, it requires no further notice,

Coal No. 3.-At a distance of about 150 feet above Coal No. 1 is found Coal No. 3, beneath the first of the two limestones, which run almost continuously around the margin of the coal basin, from the Pennsylvania line to the Ohio. The distance between these limestones varies from 30 to 100 feet. In Tuscarawas County, they are usually from fifty to eighty feet apart, and a bed of coal is generally found beneath each-sometimes immediately under it, sometimes separated from it by a few inches or feet of shale. It is only in the northern part of the county that Coal No. 3 and the Zoar limestone, which overlies it, are exposed, and here they may be seen in various localities. At Zoar Station, an arch in the strata raises this limestone higher than in any other part of the county. It is visible just at the station and at the point where the railroad strikes the river.

In this section, Coal No. 3 is not more than eighteen inches in thickness, and nowhere in the county, as far as known, is it workable. At the Dover salt well, the lower limestone was struck somewhat below the river, and at Trenton it is said to occur in the river bottom, with a thin seam of cannel beneath it.

Coal No. 3 a.-At Zoar Station, where a rock cutting was made along the river side, to form a track for the railroad, the upper, or Putnam Hill limestone, is seen just at the top of the cut, with a coal seam, No. 4, two feet in thickness just below it. Beneath the fire-clay of this seam lies a heavy bed of sandstone; under this, in some places, four or five feet of shale, then a coal seam three feet in thickness; below this, fire-clay and shale to the lower or Zoar limestone. The lower coal seam is No. 3 a. It lies just at the grade of the road, and was opened for a hundred yards in the excavation referred to above. Thence to Dover it runs nearly with the railroad level, and its outcrop may be seen at a number of localities. Its maximum thickness is about three feet; its quality poor, from its softness and the quantity of sulphur it contains. this is a local seam, not found much further north or west. It is, however, possibly the margin of a coal seam, which has its greatest development south and east, where it is deeply buried beneath overlying rocks.

Coal No. 4 is the " upper limestone coal," and generally lies immediately beneath the Putnam Hill, or gray limestone. In this county, it is of comparatively little economic c value, but it lies at such a level as to be of great importance as a guide in searching for the upper coals. As the dip of all the rocks in the county is southward. nearly with the draining streams, it happens that the gray limestone lies at about the same relative level, just above drainage, in the Tuscarawas Valley, all the way from the northeastern to the southwestern corner of the county. Hence, in all the hills bordering the main valley or its tributaries, it is generally easy to fix the place in the series of any

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 223

stratum of coal exposed by referring it to the Putnam Hill Limestone, and to Coal No. 4 as a known base.

This seam is traceable from Sandyville northward, up the valley of the Nimishillen and up the valley of the Sandy. Going south, it is seen with the accompanying limestone at Zoar, about fifty feet above the river; the coal is thin, and the limestone, as usual, from three to four feet thick. At Mineral Point, the coal lies below the railroad, and at Zoar Station fifty feet above. At Canal Dover, the limestone crops out on the hillside, between the Sugar Creek salt well and the mouth of the mine in Coal No. 5, which supplies the feel for the salt works. At New Philadelphia, the limestone maybe seen along the base of the hills east of the valley, but the coal is either thin or absent. In this road, from New Philadelphia to the Goshen salt wells, it becomes much thicker than usual, and more shaly, breaking up into thin plates, which, by exposure, lose their blue color, and become brown or yellow. Here, as elsewhere, it contains many fossil shells, among which may be mentioned chonetes mesoloba, spirifer cameratus, productus semi-reticulatus, athyris subtilita, spirifer lineatus, etc. In the valley y of the Conotten, Coal No. 4 is found outcropping at the bas of the hills all the way fr m Scott's Mills to New Cumberland. At Trenton it lies some twenty feet above the railroad, and three miles below Port Washington, twenty feet above the canal.

The coal is exceedingly variable in thickness and quality. At Sandyville. it is from two to four feet in thickness, and of medium quality. At Kelley's Point, it is a good cannel coal, two and a half feet thick; near Mineral Point, it is one and a half to two feet thick, and bituminous; in the valley of the Conotten, three miles above its mouth, it is five feet thick, slaty and worthless: at Lock 17, it is one foot in thickness. In the Dennison Well, it is reported to be five and a half feet thick; in the Uhrichsville well, seven feet It exhibits a strong tendency to pass into cannel coal, and while in some places it may be of considerable local importance, it cannot be estimated as an important element in the resources of the county.

The Zoar and Putnam Hill limestone, which overlie Coal Nos. 3 and 4t are very variable in composition, Over the greater part of the county, both are fairly pure, but from the quantity of earthy matter and iron which they con tain, they produce a brown lime when burned. This is unfit for the finishing coat of plastered walls, but it makes a good and strong mortar, for which purpose it is largely used, It is as valuable as any other for fertilizing, but it generally happens that in the region where this is most readily obtainable, the soil is already well supplied with calcareous matter, and naturally fertilized from the decomposition of the limestone strata in place. Lands that are deficient in this important ingredient will derive as much benefit from a dressing-with the brown lime as any other,

An important use of the limestone of both the strata which have been mentioned, is for furnace flux, a purpose Which it serves well. where the purer varieties are used. Both limestones are prone to run into chert, and in some places consist largely of flinty matter. These are, of course, unfit to be used

224 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

for either lime or flux, but they serve an excellent purpose for road-making, supplying, indeed, the very best material for macadamizing.

In certain localities, both limestones contain so much earthy matter as to be unfit for burning into quicklime, This is especially true of the Putnam Hill limestone. Where this phase is assumed, and the quantity of silica and alumina is not too great, a hydraulic limestone or cement rock is found. No specimens of either limestone were found in Tuscarawas County, which seem to promise to produce a cement of first quality, but not the hundredth or thousandth part of the outcrop of the strata have been examined, and since the limestones are very variable, there may be many deposits of the requisite character, which are as yet unknown.

The surface of each of these limestones almost always carries some iron ore, generally in flattened concretions or nodules, sometimes forming continuous sheets of plate or block ore. It is not known that either of these ore beds is of sufficient richness anywhere in Tuscarawas County to pay for drifting, but in many places on the slopes of the hills one or the other may be profitably stripped. It is possible, also, that in some localities the bedded ore may be of sufficient thickness to warrant systematic mining.

The fire-clay, which underlies Coal No. 3, in many localities is thick and of excellent quality, and forms the basis of a great industry in pottery, firebrick, etc., but in this county little is known of the character of this bed of clay, since it is almost universally below drainage, and has been but rarely exposed to view.

Coal No. 5.-From fifty to eighty feet above the Putnam Hill limestone is found in most parts of Tuscarawas County a coal seam, which is of very considerable importance, It is extensively worked in the northern part of the county, especially at Mineral Point and at the tunnel of the Tuscarawas Branch Railroad. Its maximum thickness here is four feet, though generally it is somewhat thinner. The quality of the coal is usually good; it is hard and bright, partially open burning, contains a moderate quantity of sulphur, and about 5 per cent of ash, kindles readily, and holds fire to a somewhat remarkable degree, Some varieties of this coal make an excellent coke, hard, bright and silvery, containing 10 per cent of ash and a little over 1 per cent of sulphur, More generally, however, the quantity of sulphur is greater, and to make a first-class coke the coal should be washed.

Coal No. 5 is the seam worked many years near Bolivar; it is there from three to three and a half feet in thickness. About Zoar it is found on both sides of the Tuscarawas, showing very much, as at Bolivar, in the mines belonging to the Zoar Community, west of the river, worked for some years by Mr, Medill. This seam at one point was folded upon itself and thickened to thirteen feet. At Mineral Point it shows a similar disturbance in the mines of Mr, C. E. Holden. This peculiar phenomenon was occasioned by the forcing out of a belt of coal from its natural position over another part of the same seam. The force by which this displacement was produced seems to have acted laterally, and affected the coal in a belt about one hundred feet

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HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 227

wide, In driving one of the entries in the mines at Mineral Point, a " horseback " was encountered, formed by the descent of the roof shale, which had evidently been forced downward, and was very much broken up. After cutting through this the coal was regained, but here refolded on itself. In some places, a layer of shale was interposed between the two strata of coal; in others they were in immediate contact. After passing beyond the disturbed belt, the coal seam resumed its normal position and thickness.

On the south side of Huff's Run, at Mineral Point, Coal No. 5 has a thickness of about four feet, and appears better than in any other locality where it has been opened in the county. Here it underlies a broad-table-land, and seems capable of supplying a very large amount of excellent coal.

At the old Fairfield Furnace, three miles below Mineral Point, this coal is found to be two feet in thickness; at Dover, it has a thickness of about three feet. From this point it runs through the hills on the west side of the Tuscarawas all the way to and below Port Washington; it is generally thinner, however, in this direction, rarely exceeding three feet in thickness. It is opened at the furnaces below Port Washington, and here shows a thickness of two and one-half feet a moderately good coal. On the river bank, near Burton's ore-shoot, it was formerly worked, and is said to have been four feet thick. At Lock 17, Coal No. 5 is two feet in thickness, about twenty feet below Coal No. 6 and seventy feet above the Putnam Hill limestone. At Trenton, it is thirty feet below Coal No. 6, and has been worked for many years. At Uhrichsville it is found in the valley of the Stillwater from twenty-five to thirty feet below Coal No. 6; it is here and at Dennison, according to the borings, ninety feet above the limestone.

On the east side of the Tuscarawas Valley, below New Philadelphia, Coal No. 5 seems to be thin, and is scarcely worked at all. The same is true of all the region lying between the valley of the Tuscarawas and that of the Conotten, and it is doubtful whether this coal has much value south of Zoar Station and west of the Conotten.

Beneath Coal No. 5 is the most valuable bed of fire-clay in the series. It is always of good quality, but exhibits considerable diversity of character. In some localities, it is quite plastic, while in others it is "non-plastic" or " flint " clay, is free from injurious ingredients, and has been found to form a very superior material for the manufacture of fire-brick. This hard clay may be recognized by its having somewhat the appearance of flint, and instead of softening down into a paste, like most fire-clays, it breaks into small, angular fragments. In this respect it resembles the clay from which the famous Mt. Savage fire-brick is made, and it seems to be of equally good quality. When used for the manufacture of brick, it is coarsely ground, and the fragments are then mixed with from one-sixth to one-tenth of plastic clay, by which they are made to adhere and hold the form of the mold. Large fire-brick factories are in operation at Dover and Mineral Point, and a considerable quantity of the "flint " clay is shipped for manufacture in other counties.

Coal No. 5 is usually over-lain by a black or gray shale, which contains a

228 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

notable quantity of iron, and this horizon has furnished the greater part of the kidney ore that has been used in Tuscarawas County. It is doubtful whether the quantity is sufficient to pay for the expense of drifting, but in the valleys and on the slopes of the hills it has been largely and profitably mined by stripping.

Coal No. 5 a.-About Mineral Point, a thin seam of impure cannel is found, eighteen to twenty feet above Coal No. 5. It is of no economic value, and is apparently a local seam, though it may be identical with some of the coal seams in the southern part of the State.

Coal No. 6.-At a variable distance-twenty to fifty feet-above Coal No. 5, lies one of the most important and widespread coals in the Ohio coal basin This is the "Big Vein" of Columbiana County, the Osnaburg of Stark, the Steubenville and Rush Run coals of the Ohio Valley, and the main seam of Holmes and Coshocton Counties. It is also identical with the "Great Vein" of Perry County, there assuming its most important development. In Tuscarawas County, this coal seam is more extensively mined than any other, though in the northern townships it is less thick and valuable than in some of the neighboring counties.

At the tunnel on the Tuscarawas Branch Railroad, it is the "upper tunnel seam," here having a thickness of from three and a half to four feet; the coal is soft and of rather inferior quality. At Mineral Point, it has been opened in numerous places but never worked, being less valuable than the underlying seam, No. 5. On the south side of Huff's Run, it is three and a half feet thick and of medium quality. On the old furnace property, it is four feet thick, and quite good. At the Goshen salt well, it lies one hundred and fifty-five feet above the well-head, is four feet six inches in thickness, with a slaty parting near the middle-a characteristic which marks it over a very large area. Its quality is also typical of the seam--black, rather soft. highly bituminous and cementing.

In the valley of the Conotten, it crops out at a great number of localities. At New Cumberland, it is five feet in thickness, the upper bench remarkably bright and handsome.

Near New Philadelphia, it is mined extensively, is of fair quality, and varies in thickness from three and a half to nearly five feet. South of this, it is opened at numerous places in the valley of the Tuscarawas and that of the Stillwater, showing local variation in thickness and quality, but usually recognizable by its position, its thickness, its slate or sulphur parting, and by its black and pitchy appearance.

At Dennison, the principal mine of Coal No. 6 is twenty-six feet above the railroad track. The bed is three feet ten inches thick, free from slate, but with a small seam of pyrites eighteen inches above the bottom. The dip of the bed is toward the northeast, and about three-fourths of a mile distant in this direction is Morris' mine, an opening in the same bed. in this vicinity, the coal is carried by its easterly dip beneath the surface, and going eastward nothing more is seen of it before reaching Steubenville, where the valley of the Ohio is cut nearly to its level, and it is reached by shafts.

HISTORY 0F TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 229

Between Dennison and New Philadelphia it is opened at intervals in the hills along the east side of the Stillwater. In the district lying between the New Philadelphia road and Rockford. it crops out along the hill gad from Eastport, and still more conspicuously in the valley of Pike Run. Here the coal is from four and a half to five feet thick, but sometimes contains two small seams of pyrites. At Hannatown, it is just above the surface of the valley. and beyond this locality are other mines.

South of Newcomerstown. No. 6 is the only coal bed of importance met with to the county line. It is first seen at the Red Schoolhouse, just south of the river at 135 feet above the railroad, and is only two and a half .feet thick. At the Borth settlement in Oxford Township and along the valley of Bird's Run. there are numerous openings on this seam, which ranges from three and a half to three feet ten inches in thickness. In the valley of the Stillwater, south of Uhrichsville as the strata dips toward the southeast, No. 6 soon passes beneath the surface and disappears. At Newport, it lies just above the water level, and was worked many years ago, but contained so much sulphur as to be almost valueless as a fuel, and copperas was made from the numerous pyrites found in it. Going still further south, it is last heard of at Freeport, where it was struck in a boring forty feet below the bottom lands of the Stillwater.

At Lock 17, it lies 100 feet above the railroad, and is the only bed worked here. It is from three and a half to four feet thick. At a bluff on the canal, about a mile east of the town, a fine section of the geological strata is exposed, extending from forty feet above Coal No. 6 down to twelve feet beloW the Put nam Hill limestone. The Zoar limestone is said to be found in the river bed, and to have a thin stratum of cannel under it.

At Trenton and Newcastle. No. 6 has been worked for many years, and the product sent by canal to Cleveland. It has there established the reputation of being a "strong" coal, well adapted to the generating of steam, but con taining too much sulphur to be used in the manufacture of iron. In this region, it varies from four to five feet in thickness. At Port Washington, it lies about 100 feet above the canal, is from five to seven feet thick, very bright, black and handsome. but contains a great deal of sulphur. In the valley of Stone Creek it is thin and poor. On Oldtown Creek, however, it appears better. attaining a thickness of from four to five feet, and furnishing coal of good quality. In the northwestern part of the county it is opened in various places, and in the valley of Sugar Creek, about Dundee, is -unusually good.

From these facts, it is apparent that Coal No 6 represents a vast amount of mineral fuel in Tuscarawas County. As a general rule, the coal it furnishes is rather soft, contains considerable sulphur and is highly cementing in character. It is evident, therefore, that some method of treatment must be adopted to convert this into a first-class fuel for manufacturing purposes. The importance of this problem cannot well be over-estimated. If by any cheap process of preparation, this coal may be made to supply a pure fuel, it will be a source of great wealth to the county. It will no doubt supply many of the

230 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

purposes of a mineral fuel in its natural state-for household use and for the generation of steam-but for the manufacture of iron it will be necessary to eliminate a considerable portion of the sulphur it contains before the best results will be attained in its use. It forms a strong, adhesive coke, and one that has high heating power and is capable of bearing a heavy burden; yet, if not purified, the sulphur it contains will, perhaps, preclude its use. Hence such methods of coal-washing should be adopted as are found to be efficacious in the treatment of similar coals. It is probable that by adopting methods now in use elsewhere, a good coke can be formed from No. 6 coal, and that this, when so treated, will furnish a fuel which will not only serve for the manufacture of all the iron ore found within this county, but will invite and bring to the source of this fuel the iron ores of Lake Superior.

Mahoning Sandstone.-Above Coal No. 6 in Tuscarawas County is found a mass of strata about 100 feet in thickness, which usually contains little that has economic value. Immediately over the coal is a stratum of black or gray shale of variable thickness, and above this generally, though not always, a massive sandstone, known as the Mahoning sandstone. It varies in thickness from nothing to 100 feet, is usually coarse, and very frequently is in part a fine conglomerate, in which the pebbles range in size from that of a grain of wheat to a bean.

The sandstone is well shown in the hill above the tunnel on the Tuscarawas Branch Railroad, and on both sides of the valley of the Tuscarawas from Zoar to Dover.

In places, this sandstone comes down to and even cuts out Coal No. 6. In the hills south of Huffs Run, below Mineral Point, it rests upon the coal, and, as is usual in such cases, this is thinned and deteriorated by it. Below Zoar Station, for some distance along the river, Coal No. 6 seems to be entirely cut away by the sandstone, but about the Goshen salt well it comes in again in full force, and the sandstone thins out and almost disappears. Passing southward along the valley of the Tuscarawas, the Mahoning sandstone is visible at intervals to the Coshocton line, but in many places it is replaced by shale. The changes which occur at this horizon are well shown on the two sides of the Stillwater Valley at Uhrichsville. In the hill south of Dennison, which rises to the height of 350 feet, no heavy bed of sandstone is seen, almost the entire mass being composed of shale, while on the west side of the valley, over and south of the mine of Mr. Andreas, the sandstone is well developed, in places reaching a thickness of seventy-five feet.

Coal No. 6 a.-In most places where the Mahoning sandstone is not very thick, traces of a coal seam may often be found, about fifty feet above Coal No. 6. In the northern and central portions of the county, this is not well shown, but in the southern townships it is thicker and more constant, in places forming a workable and valuable coal, designated No. 6 a. In the hill above Dennison it is seen in the road, overlain by a brecciated limestone, which is un. like anything found lower in the series. The coal is here too thin to be of much value. Further south, at Wallace's, near Newport, it is two and a half

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 231

feet thick. In this vicinity it lies from twenty to thirty feet below Coal No. 7, this interval being filled by the brecciated limestone, argillacious shales and the fire-clay of No. 7.

Coal No. 7 and its Iron Ores.-This coal is quite a constant feature in the sections exposed in Tuscarawas County, but throughout the northern and central townships it has little economic value. On entering the county from the north, it is first seen in the tops of the hills about Zoar Station, and thence southward is continuous in all the highlands to the Guernsey County line. It is locally known as the black-band coal, from the fact that the important black-band deposits of the county rest directly upon it.

On the old furnace tract at Zoar Station, Coal No. 7 is from three to three and a half feet in thickness, soft, sulphurous and poor. In the highlands between the Conotten and the Tuscarawas, it is shown in all the black-band ore mines, and is usually taken out with the ore. It is here from one to two feet in thickness, and generally quite sulphurous. In the highlands west of the Tuscarawas, in the townships of Salem, Bucks, Auburn and Sugar Creek, quite a large territory lies above the horizon of Coal No. 7, and it is opened at numerous localities, in connection with the important deposits of blackband ore found there. Throughout this region, the coal is thin and poor. On the south side of the Tuscarawas, it improves greatly; in thickness and quality, as it does in the east between Dennison and Leesburg. It has, however, nowhere in Tuscarawas County the value that it has in Guernsey, Where it is the "Cambridge coal," the most important of all the coal seams found there.

It is seen in the hills above Dennison, apparently, about three feet in thickness. By barometer it lies just 100 feet above No. 6, or 150 feet above the railroad at Uhrichsville. Further up the Stillwater, eight miles above Uhrichsville, it is seen on the farm of Mr. Wallace. About twenty feet below it, here is coal No. 6 a, two or three feet thick, part cannel; and sixty feet below this, ten to twelve feet above the creek, is the No. 6, formerly worked for boiling brine and making copperas. About a mile south from this point, Mr. William Houck has opened Coal No. 7, where it appears better than at any other place examined in the county. It is four feet ten inches thick, very clean, bright and black, and apparently free from impurities. Higher, up in the valley of the Stillwater, beyond the Harrison County line, this coal is extensively worked.

In going northeast from Dennison toward Leesburg, the rapid easterly dip of the rocks brings Coal No. 7 under good cover before crossing the county line. It is here of unusual thickness, ranging from four to six feet, but is generally divided by one or two partings, and is not of first quality.

From these facts it will be seen that this bed, though widely distributed through the county, is only of local importance, and that its chief interest is derived from the iron ore, with which it is so generally associated. In the southeast part of the county, a thin coal is found above No. 7, but it is nowhere of workable thickness.

As will be seen by reference to a general description of the carboniferous

232 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

system, above Coal No, 7 is a mass of shales and sandstones, with a few thin seams of coal, which constitute what has been called the Barren Measures. Above these lie, first, the Pittsburgh coal with its associated heavy limestones, and then the other members of another and higher group of coals, but these are without the range of Tuscarawas County.

A striking feature in the barren measures is formed by beds of red or mottled shales. No such strata are ever found below Coal No. 7; so that. wherever these red shales are seen, it may be inferred that all the workable coals are below and none above them.

There is also found in many localities above No. 7 a more or less massive sandstone, which is prone to run into conglomerate, though the pebbles it contains are rarely larger than beans. This sandstone, called the Stillwater sandstone, in some places so much resembles the Mahoning sandstone below, that the two have been confounded, and the coal seams, Nos. 6 and 7, which hold the same relative position to these two sandstone beds, have been mistaken one for the other. If is, however, generally not difficult to distinguish the two groups, for Coal No. 7 in Tuscarawas County, nearly always thin, has almost invariably an important deposit of iron over it, either black-band. "mountain" or kidney ore, and at no great distance above it the red shales may usually be found. An excellent exhibition. of No. 7 and its strata may be seen in the, divide between New Philadelphia and New Cumberland. On opposite sides of this divide, the valleys cut down to the Putnam Hill limestone, so that, going from either. the starting point is the same. The best section is obtained from the New Philadelphia side. Here the limestone lies just in the bottom of the valley, above which are Coal Nos. 5 and 6 in their normal places, the first thin, the latter from three to five feet thick, and good. About 100 feet above this, Coal No. 7 may be seen in the road, apparently not more than two feet in thickness: over this the kidney ore, and, in places, the mountain and black-band ores, forms of this iron deposit which frequently alternate.

Above this iron horizon lies a bed of red, yellow and mottled shale, of which the colors are bright and striking-a formation characteristic of this level. Over the shale is the Stillwater sandstone, here comparatively thin, but in part a well-marhed conglomerate.

Above this a heavy mass of olive shales. the typical barren measure material, reaches 100 feet higher to the top of lit. Tabor.

Black-band and Iron Ore.-This variety of ore is simply a black, bituminous shale impregnated with iron. The degree of impregnation varies greatly; most black shales contain some iron, but generally too little to have any value as ores. In black-band ore, the quantity of metallic iron varies from twenty-five to forty per cent.

To an uneducated eye, this material has very little the appearance of an iron ore. It is highly charged with carbonaceous matter, and its specific gravity is usually not so high as to arrest attention. To a practical hand, the greater weight of the iron-bearing shales will serve for their detection, but where the quantity of iron contained cannot be conveniently measured, a suffi-

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 233

cient test will be afforded by burning a heap of the shale in the open air or elsewhere, when, if it contains iron enough to be valuable, this will "loop" or agglutinate, and form scoriaceous masses of great density.

When subject to the action of the weather, the black-band ore decomposes, like any other shale, and its carbonaceous matter being removed by oxidation, it falls into a mass of thin brown or rusty flakes, which, though looking no more like iron ore than the unchanged material, should be recognized by the explorer, for this is the only form of the ore which will be exposed to his examination in natural outcrops.

The geological position of the black-band of Tuscarawas County is, as stated heretofore, immediately above Coal No. 7, and at the base of the barren measures. This is a strongly marked iron horizon, although the iron ore found here varies considerably in character,

It would seem that this ferruginous deposit was made by the drainage from a surrounding land area into a circumscribed basin of comparatively shallow water. In some parts of this basin, carbonaceous mud accumulated, heavily charged with iron, which subsequently formed the black-band; in others, clay without vegetable matter, but generally containing considerable iron, and this, as is usual in such cases, subsequently segregated to form nodules of kidney ore. In the deeper portions of this basin, where the Water was clearer, a limestone was deposited, and this also, in some localities, contained iron enough to become a valuable calcareous ore, now known as mountain ore. These three kinds of ore were precipitated almost simultaneously, and they are frequently found to alternate one with another, so that along a somewhat extended outcrop the ore worked will be in one place black-band, in another mountain ore, and in a third shell ore; and also on one side of a hill, Coal No. 7 may be overlain by a sheet of black-band even eight or ten feet in thickness, while on the other side of the same hill no black-band occurs, but instead some other form of ore or even barren material. Wherever black-band and iron ore are found together, as they frequently are, the former is always beneath the latter, and must have been deposited first. Generally, in such cases, the mountain ore is found to thicken in one direction-the black-band in the other-showing that the calcareous deposit extended from a lower level a deeper portion of the basin-up over the carbonaceous mud, which had previously partly filled it. Coal No. 7 is known to have accumulated in a marsh, precisely as peat now forms, by a growth of vegetation in the open air; that is, it was practically a land surface. That this peat bed was subsequently covered with shale and limestone proves that it was depressed and covered, first with shallow water, in which carbonaceous mud and clay were first deposited, the former deriving its organic matter from the disintegrated peat. As the subsidence progressed, the water in the basin became clear enough to permit the formation of limestone, which was naturally purest and thickest in the deeper places, and thinned away to an edge on the muddy shallows.

The black-band ore usually ranges from three to six feet in thickness. At the mines of A. Wilhelmi, in Auburn Township, and in the Patterson ore bank,

234 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

near Port Washington, it is ten or twelve feet thick, and in a few places elsewhere has been reported at twenty feet.

The limestone ore shows equal irregularities of thickness. It is met with at intervals over parts of Stark, Carroll and much of Tuscarawas, and has when present a thickness of four to five feet. Even where not forming an iron ore, it contains so much iron as to assume in weathering a decided buff color, and is frequently referred to as the buff limestone. A great development of this stratum occurs in the hill above New Cumberland, on the east side of the Conotten Valley, where it is apparently nearly twenty feet thick, and is, as usual, nodular in structure, and contains so much iron that some of the nodules are good mountain ore.

The iron found at this horizon, in the form of black-band or mountain ore, where present in full force, constitutes by far the richest ore deposit of the State. Tracts of many acres might be specified, underlaid by a continuous sheet of black-band, eight feet in thickness, and, since this contains 25 per cent of metallic iron, it is equivalent to a sheet of cast iron over two feet in thickness of equal extent. The inhabitants of Tuscarawas County may indeed congratulate themselves that they are the possessors of nearly all this valuable deposit found in the State, and that so large an aggregate area of the county is underlain by it. It has already largely contributed to the wealth of the county, and is destined to be an important source of revenue for many years to come. It is greatly to be regretted that only a small fraction of the original deposit now retrains. This evidently was once continuous throughout the greater part of the county, but, lying as it did high in the series, and near the surface of the plateau, which once occupied all this portion of the State, it has suffered terribly by the erosion that has carved the present varied topography out of that plateau, and left only a meager remnant in the hilltops bordering the broad valleys. The black-band stratum is found in the highlands of central Stark, northeastern Coshocton and western Carroll, while local representatives of the deposit are found in nearly all the townships of Tuscarawas. It is evident, therefore, that the basin in which it accumulated once stretched over all the interval between these limits. It may have reached much farther to the north and west, as in these directions all the old landmarks are cut away by the erosion of the surface : but, on the south and east, its former boundaries may be traced, since, with abundant exposures of the horizon where the black-band lies, no indications of its existence are found much beyond the line of Tuscarawas County.

The black-band ore of this region was first discovered and utilized by the Zoar Community more than forty-five years ago. Their lands, in the northern part of Fairfield Township, include hills that run up into the barren coal measures, and were found to contain valuable beds of black-baud and mountain ore, the former from three to eight feet in thickness, the latter from two and one-half to five. To work these, a charcoal furnace was erected near by, where iron continued to be manufactured for twenty years.

From the Fairfield furnace, the black-band deposits ran through the high-

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 235

lands toward Dover, and south between the Conotten and Tuscarawas. The most important deposits of black-band ore in the county are in Auburn, Bucks, Salem and Oxford Townships. Here the land in some places rises to the height of 125 feet above the black-band horizon, and quite a number of more or less extensive basins or patches of ore are known to exist, some of which have been worked for eighteen or twenty years. The average thickness of the ore in Auburn Township is perhaps five and a half to six feet, though eleven feet have been met with. Like all black-band ore, it is calcined with great facility, scarcely requiring any other fuel than that contained in itself. When so calcined, on an average two tons of ore will make a ton of iron, which closely resembles Scotch pig, is used for the same purposes, and is equally esteemed.

Until of late years, it was supposed the Tuscarawas formed the southern boundary of important deposits of black-band ore; but Mr, A. Wilhelmi has discovered in Oxford Township basins of ore which rival in extent and value any before known. Here he also found, by boring, an important body of ore, unknown elsewhere, lying from forty to fifty feet below the black-band stratum. It is a light gray siliceous ore, shown by analysis to contain thirty-nine ,per cent of metallic iron, and consisting of closely approximating layers or plates, having an aggregate thickness of from three to nine feet.

Though in the preceding notes much has been said of the geological structure of different localities, for the purpose of a clearer idea of the geology of the county, the structure of the different valleys is here summarized:

The Tuscarawas Valley.-At the point where the Tuscarawas enters the county, it has cut through Coal Nos. 3 and 4, and these, with their overlying limestone, the Zoar and Putnam Hill, are visible in the hills on either side. No. 3 is rarely accessible, and is not of workable thickness. No. 4 has been somewhat worked, as previously mentioned. Coal No. 5 is here good; is from three to four feet thick, and has been mined at various places on the south side of the Sandy Valley. The hills between Sandyville and Mineral Point are capped by the Mahoning sandstone and the overlying shales, which are above Coal No. 6, this coal showing frequent outcrops, but everywhere thin and of rather inferior quality.

At and below Zoar, the Zoar limestone lies very near the water level, in some places forming the bed of the stream. The Putnam Hill limestone lies some fifty feet higher, just at the break of the low hills on the east side. Between Zoar and Mineral Point, the hills rise above the level of Coal No. 5, and the band of kidney ore which lies just over it, and which runs all through this portion of the county, has supplied a large amount of ore. On the west side of the river, opposite Zoar, the hills contain Coal Nos. 5 and 6, both of about the same thickness-three and a half to four feet and both have been somewhat worked.

Between Zoar Station and Dover, there is no marked change in the geology. The hills are capped with the shales of the barren measures, containing some valuable deposits of black-band ore. Coal No. 6, partially cut away and

236 - HISTORY 0F TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

replaced by sandstone, comes in on the south side, near the Goshen salt well, and thence extends continuously southward. Coal Nos. 5 and 4 are too thin to be of much value, and between the two is a seam of cannel a foot or more in thickness. Along the railroad grade, Coal No. 3 a is shown at many places, here assuming greater dimensions than anywhere else in this region, but having little value.

At Canal Dover, the nearest outcrop of coal is on the west side of Sugar Creek. Coal No. 5 is there three to three and a half feet thick, and of good quality. The shales above it are thickly set with nodules of iron ore, as usual, and the deposit here has been extensively worked by stripping.

Between Dover and Trenton, Coal No. 6 is mined at frequent intervals on both sides of the valley, and is the chief source of supply of fuel to the inhabitants.

Between Trenton and the line of Coshocton County, the strata lie nearly horizontal. Coal No. 4 lies generally a little above or below the bottom lands; Coal No. 5, fifty feet higher up, and generally too thin to be of much value. Coal No. 6 is worked almost continuously, is of fairly good quality and thickness, in some places of unusual dimensions, but on the whole inferior to what it is at Coshocton or Uhrichsville.

The Valley of the Stillwater. - The dip of the rocks being here, for the most part, southeasterly, and the stream running northwesterly, it crosses in its course a large number of strata, and affords an unusually complete section, reaching from the Upper Coal Measures above the Pittsburgh seam, in Belmont County, to the horizon of Coal No. 4, near Eastport; Where it enters Tuscarawas County, Coal No. 7 is the highest important member of the series. here of unusual excellence. With this coal extending from Stillwater to Newport, and No. 6 so well developed about Uhrichsville, the valley is well supplied with coal.

The Conotten Valley. The Conotten, in ifs descent from Leesburg to Zoar Station, passes down from Coal No. 7 to Coal No. 3, and in a large part of its course it opens what promises to be excellent developments of C al No. 6. In places. Coal No. 5 is also found of good thickness, while the hills on both sides contain more or less important deposits of black-band and mountain ore.

The Sugar Creek Valley.- The resources of this valley have thus far been imperfectly developed. The hills rise high enough to include the black-band ore, and it is believed beds exist which will prove of great value. Coal No. 6 is freely opened in the lower part of the valley. and in many places is specially good. At Deardorff's Mill, the stream cuts down nearly or quite to coal measures, and exposes a bed of coal which is supposed to be No. 1. The hills south of this mill rise above Coal No. 7 within two miles, and afford the most comprehensive, though not the most complete section to be found in the county.

Fire-clay and Fire-brick.- The clay under Coal No. 5 varies from three to six feet in thickness. In places, it is nearly all plastic; in others, mostly non plastic; but more generally the bed is somewhat irregularly composed of the

HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY. - 237

two varieties. The non-plastic, or "hard" clay is the more valuable, and especially adapted to the manufacture of fire-brick. It is similar in character to that of Mount Savage, Md., and other points, and fully equal in quality; and articles made from it are equally resistant to the action of fire. The points where this clay is chiefly dug are near Bolivar, at Mineral Point, and at one or two places between the latter town and Canal Dover.

Fire-stone.-Many of the sandstones found in Tuscarawas County would doubtless prove, upon trial, very resistant to fire. One, nearly white, quarried below Zoar Station, in the Tuscarawas Valley, has been used as a fire-stone, and has proved so refractory as to merit special notice and commendation.

Building Stone.-Nearly all the sandstones which occur in the lower coal measures in Tuscarawas County furnish good building stone, and it may be said that no part of the State is better supplied with building materials of all kinds. The white sandstone previously alluded to would make, perhaps, the handsomest of any yet known in the county. There is no considerable area within the county limits where a buff or brown sandstone cannot be easily and cheaply obtained.

Salt.-This article is now produced in considerable quantity from brine raised at several wells in the vicinity of Dover. These wells begin at nearly the same horizon, about 200 feet above the base of the coal measures, and are sunk to nearly the same depth, about 900 feet. The salt water is derived apparently from the same strata in the Waverly group. In the Sugar Creek well, which has a depth of 894 feet, the salt rock, a porous sandstone, was reached at 886 feet, while in the Goshen well, which is 914 feet deep, the salt water was obtained at a depth of 865 feet. The strength of the brine is 10' Beaume. 40' of the salometer, and it is estimated that seven barrels of water produces one barrel of salt, 280 pounds. Bromine.-In the process of manufacturing salt, a considerable quantity of bromine is produced. After the crystallization of the salt, the bitter water is drawn off and evaporated to 45" Beaume; it is then distilled in a special apparatus. The product from 180 gallons of the bitter water (the capacity of the still) is said to be fourteen or fifteen pounds of bromine, and the daily product of one still is seventy pounds. The bitter waters of these wells are said to be much richer in bromine than any of the southern part of the State. The following two sections will exhibit the difference of the geological formation of the northern and southern parts of the county:

SECTION AT ZOAR STATION.

Feet.

Shale and sandstone of barren measures......................... 60

Mountain ore.......................................................... 0 to 5

Black-band iron ore................................................. 3 to 8

Coal No. 7................................................................ 3

Fire Clay................. . ............................................... 5

Shale. ....................

Sandstone..................

Shale .........................................................................120

Coal No. 6 a, thin and local

Sandstone and conglomerate

Shale ......................

238 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

Coal No. 6............................................................... 4

Fire Clay....................................................................... 3

Shale ...................................... .................................. 30

Impure cannel.................................................. ........... 1

Fire Clay....................................... .............................. 1

Dark Shale with iron ore at base................................... 25

Coal No. 5.................................................................. 2

Fire Clay'..................................................................... 4

Shelly sandrock........... ............................................... 35

Shale with iron ore................................................. 1 to 6

Coal No. 3 a................................................................. 2

Fire Clay..................................................................... 4

Shale........................................................................... 6

Zoar Limestone.............................................................3

Coal No. 3.................................................................. 2

Fire Clay and Shale..................................................... 15

SECTION AT AND ABOVE UHRICHSVILLE.

TUSCARAWAS RIVER

Feet,

Shade and sandstone............................... ........:.... .. 60

Coal No. 7 a........................................... . . .. . . .. . . 3

Fire Clay.......................................... ... . .................. 3

Red Shale................................................................ 10

Sandstone. locally conglomerate................................ 30 Shale....................................................................... 10

Coal No. 7 .................................................................4

Fire Clay................................................................... 2

Shade and sandstone................................................. 30

Brecciated limestone.................................................. 3

Coal No. 6 a............... .............................................. 2

Fire clay.................................................................... 2 Shale....................................................................... 10

Sandstone, locally conglomerate... ..............................30

Shale; ................. . .................................................. 10

Coal No. 6....... ......................................................... 4

Fire Clay.................................................................... 4

Shale and sandstone....................................................25

Coal No. 5................................................................ 2 1/2

Fire Clay...................................... . .......................... 10

LEVEL OF STILLWATER.

Sandstone............ .......................................................26 1/2

Dark shale.................................................................. 52 1/2

Putnam Hill Limestone................................................. 1

Coal No. 4. slaty.......................................................... 5

Fire Clay........................................... .......................... 3

Shale .........................................................................13

Coal No. 3 a .............................................................. 3

Fire Clay...................................................................... 2 Shale......................................................................... 10

Sandstone .................................................................. 15

Zoar Limestone........................................................... 1 1/2

Coal No. 3................................................................... 1 ½

Fire Clay....................................................................... 2

Shale........................................................................... 20

White Flint................................ .................................. 1

Shale and sandstone......................................................66 1/2

Coal No. 2............ . ... .. . . . .. ... . . .. . ... . . .. ......... . . 1 1/2

Sandstone (Massillon) containing thin coal... . ................51

Coal and shale............................................................... 8

Shale and sandstone (Waverly)....................................... 62