The boundary on the east is the State line, the same field extending eastward over all western Pennsylvania.* Outline Map of the Geological Formations of Ohio. The coals of Ohio belong to the great Alleghany coal field, which extends from northern Pennsylvania to central Alabama, a distance of over 700 miles. This coal ba *Macfarlane's Coal Regions of America. sin of irregular breadth, has an area of about 63,822 square miles, of which Ohio has more than than 10,000, or about 6,500,000 acres. The coal area of Ohio alone equals that of Great Britain, and is six times greater than that of France, Prussia, or Austria, and about four times greater than that of Spain, which has a greater extent of coal territory than any other nation on the continent. Great Britain owes her greatness as a commercial and manufacturing nation to this sure source of wealth and power, though her mines are many hundred feet deep, and are worked with great labor and risk of life. The average aggregate thickness of the available. seams is 20 feet. (The State geologists say this is a low estimate). There are 27 cubic feet to the ton. This gives 209,733,333,340 tons for the State. At the rate the mines of the State now yield, this amount would not be exhausted in 51,200 years, or would stand the present draft on all the mines of the United States for 4,560 years; or with a yearly product equal to that of the mines of Great Britain, it would last 1,600 years! Ohio coals are all bituminous, and are divided by our State geologists into three classes: first, furnace coal; second, coking coal; third, cannel coal. The first variety has the largest per cent. of fixed carbon, and is best adapted to the manufacture of iron from ore, being used for this purpose in the raw state. Half the iron made in the State is made from this variety. Several coal seams, extending over large sections, including the great seam in Athens and Perry counties, also the lowest stratum, which, at the places of its northern outcrop, is called Brier Hill coal, are of this valuable open burning variety. The second class requires coking before using in the blast furnace, because of its tendency to cement when heated. It has a resinous luster, and breaks into trapezoidal blocks. Cannel coal is very compact, forms an excellent fuel for ordinary purposes, and yields a large quantity of superior illuminating gas. It resembles a dark shale, and contains a large quantityof bitumen.* In Ohio are found in proximity, and in quantities almost inexhaustible, iron ore, coal and limestone-the materials necessary for the manufacture of pig iron-with a good home market, and river, lake, canal, and railroad transportation to markets outside the State. Her superior natural advantages will enable Ohio to maintain her present rank as second of the iron manufacturing States. The mining of iron ore in the State has been confined chiefly to the counties of Carroll, Columbiana, Fairfield, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Muskingum, Perry, Scioto, Stark, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Vinton, and Washington. Questions-Name the counties wholly covered with coal. Name those partially covered. To what great field do the coals of Ohio belong? What is the extent of this field? The extent of the coal basin of Ohio? Average thickness of the coal seams of Ohio? How many cubic feet of coal are there to the ton? How many tons would this estimate give to the State? How long would it take to exhaust the mines of the State, at the rate of their present yield? How long, if they yielded annually as much as all the mines of the United States now yield? How long, if its annual yield was equal to that of the mines of Great Britain? Into what classes do our State geologists divide Ohio coals? Give the peculiarities and use of each class? What is said of iron ore. To what counties has the mining of iron ore thus far been confined? *Report of Hon. Allen T. Wikoff, Secretary of State. CHAPTER XVII. AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS-FRUIT CROPS-LIVE STOCK. The statistics for 1870 show the following in regard to the lands of Ohio: Acres of cultivated land, 15,444,691; acres of uncultivated or wood land 9,815,382; total amount in farms, 25,260,073; number of farms, 195,953: average number of acres of improved land in each farm, 78.8. Of the different varieties of timber with which the State abounds, are black walnut, oak, hickory, poplar, maple, beach, ash, cherry and whitewood. The following table, compiled from the assessors' returns for 1872, will show the agricultural products of the State. The wheat crop of 1874 was unusually large. The returns for 1872 will give about the average yield per annum for a series of years: Dividing the State into three districts, the northern, middle and southern, for the purpose of comparing them as wheat-growing regions, and we have the following result: NORTHERN DISTRICT.-Thirty-three counties; average per acre, in 1872, 14.66 bushels. CENTRAL DISTRICT.-Thirty-three counties; average per acre, in 1872, 9.94 bushels. SOUTHERN DISTRICT.-Twenty-two counties; average per acre, in 1872, 8.72 bushels. The following table shows the average number of bushels of corn per acre in the districts below mentioned, respectively, in the years 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871 and 1872: The production of potatoes in the State in 1872 was as follows: Acres planted.... Bushels produced.. Average yield per acre.. The sweet-potato crop in 1872 was as follows: Acres planted... Bushels produced.. Average yield per acre... 105,896 7,832,297 73.96 3,026 215,023 71. |