HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
CHAPTER XVII.
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.*
Topography-General Geological Structure of the County-- Local Geology.
COSHOCTON county lies wholly in the great bituminous coal field, reaching close to its western margin. Its surface is, in appearance, very rough and hilly; yet, there are no ridges, and rarely any point of considerable elevation above the general summit level. This level, which is that of the great plateau of Eastern Ohio, and the neighboring country farther east, varies little from 1,100 to 1,200 feet above the sea. By the excavation of the valleys below it, the surface has been carved into hills, *,he slopes of which descend to the general depth of 350 to 400 feet. That the surface of the great plateau once stood considerably higher, is rendered probable by the occasional occurrence of a mound of hard strata, standing like a monument above the general level. A very conspicuous one of this kind, rising about 80 feet higher than the summits of the highlands about it, and composed, apparently, of beds of conglomerate (loose pieces of which cover its top and steep sides), is seen near Coshocton county, in Tuscarawas, opposite Port Washington. Another, of similar appearance, is seen in the north-east part of Coshocton county, just north of the road between Chili and Bakersville.
As the highlands of the county appear to have once been considerably higher than now, so the bottoms of the valleys were obviously once much deeper than at present; for below the surface of
*From the State Geological Report of 1878.
the valleys are frequently accumulations of sand, clays and gravels, reaching to the depth of more than 100 and sometimes to nearly 200 feet. The gravel beds of the rivers, made up of pebbles of sienitic, porphyritic basaltic and other more ancient rocks than are found in Ohio, and the same class of bowlders in the sand hills and terraces bordering the streams, point to the currents of the Drift period as the agents of this denudation; while the great width of the valleys, which is sometimes four to five miles, bear witness to the long time these currents must have been in action to have produced such astonishing results. Sometimes, indeed, it appears that a broad valley, once formed, has been blocked up and deserted, while another, as extensive, has been excavated in a new direction, and is followed by the river of the present day.
In Coshocton county such an ancient valley is seen to the south of West Lafayette, extending from the Tuscarawas valley, south southeast to the valley of Will's creek. When far enough from the Tuscarawas valley not to be confounded with this, it is seen, in places, to be full three miles wide, varying from this to one mile. It is a valley of diluvium, somewhat sandy, with hills of sand from thirty to forty feet high, the beds of which are sometimes seen exposed to this extent in the cuttings of present streams. Hills of the stratified rocks of the coal measures project into it from its sides, as irregular-shaped peninsulas, or stand in its midst as islands. A remarkable single hill of this character is seen directly north from West Lafayette, on the edge of the Tuscarawas river, opposite the mouth of White Eyes creek. This ancient valley is known as White Eyes Plains. It is nearly all under cultivation; and from the
166 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
elevated points that overlook it, especially where it blends with the broad valley of the Tuscarawas, it affords views singularly beautiful and picturesque. Toward the south the White Eyes Plains are lost in the valley of Will's creek. By these two valleys and that of the Tuscarawas, the larger part of the townships of Tuscarawas, Lafayette, Franklin and Linton are encircled and isolated.
Opposite this valley, and north of the Tuscarawas, a similar valley, but of much smaller dimensions, extends north-westwardly through the south-west part of Keene township, and toward the Killbuck, in the center of Bethlehem township. Possibly it may be found on further examination, that this was an ancient valley of the Killbuck.
Geological Structure.-Besides the diluvium in the valleys of the streams, no other geological formation is found in Coshocton county, except the carboniferous; and of this the range is limited to the lower half of the coal measure (comprising a thickness of some 350 feet), and the upper portion of the Waverly group-the lowest subdivision of the carboniferous. The lower carboniferous limestone, which belongs above the Waverly, appears to be wanting; and the conglomerate, which, in places, forms the floor of the coal measures in massive beds, often several hundred feet thick, was seen in place only in one locality, and there in a small layer not more than two or three feet thick. The almost total absence of any fragments of it, where one would look for them, near the base of the coal measures, indicates that this stratum is, also, generally wanting. The bottom of the coal measures is marked by its lowest great bed of sandstone, commonly about a hundred feet thick; and in places directly under this, the lowest coal bed is seen, sometimes of workable thickness, and sometimes pinched and insignificant, and separated from the well marked Waverly shales by only a few feet of clayey strata.
These beds are all so nearly horizontal, that the dip is imperceptible at any locality. It is detected only by tracing them for several miles in the direction of the dip, which is toward the southeast, or in the opposite direction as they rise. Owing to this general inclination of the strata, the subcarboniferous group is only seen in the northern and western townships of the county; and in these, only in the deep valleys, where the Waverly shales form the lowest portion of the marginal hills, and rise in them sometimes to the height of over two hundred feet; as on the east side of the 'Mohican river, and on the upper part of the Walhonding. The top of the group comes down to the level of the canal, near the junction of the Killbuck and Walhonding, a little over twelve miles, in a straight line, from the Mohican river. The canal, in this distance, has descended, by nine locks, so that the total fall of the strata is over 270 feet, and may, perhaps, be 320 feet in the twelve miles; as, on the south side of the Walhonding, toward the town of Newcastle, the top of the Waverly is about 250 feet above the level of the canal.*
The brown and olive-colored shales, and light-colored sandstones of the Waverly, are seen in most of the branches of the Walhonding river, and in all the runs in Tiverton township that discharge into the Mohican river. In the bottoms of these, the group is exposed within a mile, or a little more, to the town of Tiverton, toward the south. From Warsaw, it is traced up Beaver run into Monroe township; but the valley rising faster than the strata, it is lost to view above Princeton. On the other side of the Walhonding, the group passes under the valley of Simmon's creek, within about a mile of its mouth; and the same is true of Mohawk creek, the next branch above. It stretches up the valley of the Killbuck into Holmes county; and near the mill in the great bend of this stream, in Clark township, it forms cliffs of shales and sandstones forty to fifty feet high, in which the peculiar fossils of the group are found in great profusion. It forms here, altogether, perhaps 100 feet of the lower portion of the hills. Doughty's Fork, a branch of the Killbuck, also runs in the Waverly shales, as they were found with their fossils in the bottom, two miles south-west from Bloomfield. Over the line, in Holmes county, near the north-east cor-
* Later observations show that Coshocton is near the bottom of a synclinal trough, the dip, south-east from Tiverton to Coshocton, being about 500 feet; while at Bridgeville, fifteen miles farther on the line south-east, the strata have risen 135 feet from the bottom of the basin.
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 167
ner of Tiverton township, the Waverly is exposed in the valley of Wolf run.
This group of the carboniferous formation contains little of economical importance. It affords no coal nor iron ore. Some of its beds of sandstone may prove of value, especially for flagging stones. The coal measures are very deficient in these, and the want of such stones is already felt at Coshocton and the other principal towns situated in this formation. The brown and olive colored shale produce, by their decomposition, soils of great fertility, as is seen everywhere through the bottoms where they occur. Probably no more productive corn fields, for their extent, are to be found in the State, than those in the Waverly soils of the western township of Coshocton county.
Small quantities of galena are not unfrequently met with in the Waverly, and they have led to the conviction that this metal might be found in abundance in this and adjoining counties. There are, however, no facts yet known that justify this belief. The lead of the Waverly forms no connected veins or beds, but is found replacing fossil shell, or, in isolated crystals, scattered in small numbers through the rock, Hence, while the reports of the existence of lead in Coshocton county, are "founded on fact," there is not the slightest probability that it will be ever discovered in sufficient quantity to pay for working.
That portion of the coal measures found in Coshocton county, comprises, altogether, the seven or eight coal beds in the lower half of the series; but only a small number of these occur of workable dimensions in the same vicinity; and it is not often that more than one bed has been opened and mined in the same hill or neighborhood. The relative position of these coal beds and of the accompanying strata may be seen from the subjoined general section of the rocks of Coshocton county, which exhibits the general manner of their arrangement:
Sandstone and shale. Limestone and mountain ore. Blackband. Coal No. 7. Fire-clay. Shale and Sandstone ........................ ................. 80 to. 100..feet.
Iron ore, local. Coal No. 6. Iron ore, local. Sandstone and shale. Black limestone, local. Coal, local. Fire-clay, local........................... 8 to 25 feet.
Gray limestone. Coal. Fire-clay...... 10 to 50 feet.
Sandstone and shale........................ 20 to 30 feet.
Limestone, local. Cannel coal, local. Fire-clay, local. Sandstone and shale.......................... .............. 20 to 30 feet.
Blue limestone. Coal No. 3. Shale, with nodular iron ore................. 10 to 20 feet.
Shale or sandstone........................... 50 to 80 feet.
Coal No. 1. Fire-clay. Conglomerate, local Waverly.......................... 200 feet.
Every farm in the county, that lies above the Waverly strata, contains one or more of these coal beds beneath its surface; and those localities that contain the uppermost beds, also contain all the lower ones. But while each coal bed can almost always be found and recognized in its proper place in the column, it does not follow that it should always maintain the same character, even approximately. On the contrary, it is not unusual for it to change in the course of a few miles-sometimes even in the same hill from a workable bed of several feet, to a worthless seam of a few inches in thickness. Hence, there is no safety in figuring up an aggregate of so many feet of workable beds in any locality, until these beds have there been actually opened and proved. The indications afforded by borings, are generally of a very uncertain character, as respects the thickness of the coal beds and the quality of the coal. It is, without doubt, often the case that the beds of black shale passed through are called coal, and when one occurs as the roof of a coal bed, it serves to add so much to the thickness of the latter. By remarking, in the description of the townships, how rare it is for two workable beds to be found in the same locality, and how seldom any bed at all is worked below the sixth bed of the series, it can hardly be safe to estimate the total average distribution of the workable coal in the county at much more than the thickness of this one bed; and this, taking into consideration the probability that some of the lower beds will yet be worked below the level of the valleys, where their range is unbroken. It is to be hoped, that the lowest bed of all, about which very little is now known, may be found as productive and valuable as it is in the counties to the north, in which event the estimate given above would prove too low. The sixth bed is a very remarkable one for the regu-
168 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
larity it maintains, not only through this county, but over several others-even to the Pennsylvania line, and into that State. It here varies but little from four feet in thickness, and is everywhere depended upon as the most valuable bed of the lower coal measures. Throughout its great extent, even into Holmes county, and to the Ohio river, at Steubenville, it may be recognized by the peculiar purplish ash. The heaps of it seen by the farm houses show to the passer-by, almost always without fail, whether it is this coal or some other bed that supplies the neighborhood.
Of all the strata, the limestones are the most persistent, and serve as the best guides for identifying the coal beds that accompany them.
There are two bands of these, in particular, that are most useful in this respect. Both are fossiliferous, often abounding in crinoids and shells. The upper one, called the gray limestone, is found varying in thickness from one foot, or less, up to six feet ten inches. It lies immediately on the coal bed known as No. 4. The lower one, called the blue limestone, has about the same range of thickness as the gray, and is sometimes only twenty feet below this.
In some localities in the county, two other beds of limestone make their appearance: one, dark gray, or black, above the" gray limestone" and coal No. 6; the other a local bed, between the "blue " or " Zoar " and " gray " or "Putnam Hill" limestone. In one place-Alexander Hanlon's farm, Mill Creek township-these lower limestone beds seem to run together, forming a nearly continuous mass, twenty feet in thickness. Usually, the persistent limestone strata-the "blue " and the "gray" are fifty to eighty feet apart. A coal seam (No. 3) generally lies immediately under this limestone, also, but is rarely of any value; and the same may be said of the bed above it (No. 3 a), and also of the next below it (No. 2), both of which seem to be wanting in this county. The limestones in the western and central parts of the county are frequently accompanied by large quantities of the hard, flinty rock, known as chert. There is often a great display of it, in loose pieces, in the roads above and below the outcrops of these calcareous strata; but natural exposure of it in place are very rare.
In several instances, the limestone beds are seen intermixed with chert, and it is also noticed that chert sometimes takes the place entirely of the limestone.
A few other limestone beds have occasionally been noticed at a higher position than the gray limestone, and are also between that and the blue, but they are of rare occurrence, and have only a local interest, except in their relation to limestone beds in similar part of the series in other counties.
The sandstone beds are sometimes developed to the thickness of 70 to 100 feet of massive layers. They are very apt, however, to pass into thin bedded sheets, and again into shales. Rarely do they become even slightly calcareous, and no instance was observed of their passing into limestone. The most persistent of the sandstone beds, so far as it could be traced before it disappears under the overlying strata, is the great bed at the base of the coal measures. The bed over coal No. 6 is also very uniform.
No iron ore, in any encouraging quantity, has been met within the county. It is seen scattered in kidney-shaped pieces among the shales, but never concentrated sufficiently to justify drifting for it. There may be one exception to this on the farms of James Boyd and W. Hanlon, in Keene township, near Lewisville, where an exploration has developed, just below coal bed No. 6 (or it may be the one above it) ferruginous layers resembling the black-band ore, mixed with kidney ore, from three to six feet thick. Kidney ore of good quality is also found between Linton and Jacobsport, in the southeast part of Linton township.
The gravel beds of the rivers may be mentioned as among the useful mineral products. At Coshocton they furnish an excellent material for covering the streets of the town, or the clean pebbles might serve well for concrete work.
Local Geology.-In describing the localities visited, it will be convenient to take them up in the order of the townships, beginning at the northwest, and attention will be directed chiefly to the coal beds as of principal importance.
Tiverton.-The highest range of the coal measures in this township is but little above the gray limestone. Its outcrop is seen on the high
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 169
plateau in the neighborhood of the town of Tiverton, and that of the blue limestone about forty feet lower down. The " blossom " of a coal bed is occasionally seen in the road to the north of the town; in one instance, about a mile north from Tiverton, five feet below a, bed of "black marble," a black, compact limestone, which has been found in the same relative position at a few other localities in the county. This rock appears as if it would take a good polish, and be serviceable for ornamental purposes. There are coal beds in the northern part of the township, but they are small and unimportant, and the coal is of little demand. It is probable none of the beds above No. 1 are worth working, or there would have been more development made. No. 1 might be hooked for ' to advantage at the base of the great sandstone bed, and between that and the Waverly shales, for about 200 feet above the Mohican river. This coal bed is opened, and appears well, so far as it could be examined at McFarland's, in Monroe township. It is very variable in thickness, often being cut out by the sandstone that always overlies it. In Mahoning county it is known as the Brier Hill coal, and is regarded its the most valuable bed in the State for blast furnaces. It should be hooked for in the deep runs below Tiverton Center, and on the slope of the steep hill down to the Mohican.
Monroe.-The coal seams of this township have been developed but little more than those of Tiverton. There is here the same range of the coal measures, with the addition of one higher coal bed, the outcrop of which may be recognized chose to the town of Spring Mountain, which is on as high hand as any in the township. The gray limestone is seen about sixty feet lower down, half a mile to the south. The only coal mines opened in the township, of which we have any knowledge, are Cooper's two mines, northwest from Spring Mountain, and McFarland's, on the south line of the township. Our examinations of these, as of most of the other coal beds of the county, were made under very unfavorable circumstances. As they are worked only in the winter season, the localities are commonly found with difficulty, and when found the drifts are flooded with water, so that they can not be entered, and no one is about to give any information.
Cooper's bed was found in this condition. The coal seam appears to be four feet thick. It is overlaid by a confused mixture of fire-clay, shale and limestone, the last chose to the roof, and supposed to be the gray limestone. Over these strata, which are sometimes more than ten feet thick, are massive sandstone rocks, much tumbled, the bed of which is not less than twenty feet thick. McFarland's coal mine, as already mentioned, is in the lowest bed of the series No. 1. It appears to be three feet thick, and is overlaid by slaty sandstone, of which eight feet are visible. The coal seems to be partly cannel. In the run, about fifteen feet below the opening, are the Waverly shales, recognizable by their fossils.
Clark.-The principal coal mines of this township are in the southeast part, near the line of Bethlehem, on the farms of Thomas Elliott, John Moore and J. Shannon, all in coal No. 6. Jas. C. Endsley's coal bank in Bethlehem belongs to the same group, and is the most important one, having been worked eighteen years, and supplying a large part of the two townships with coal.It is forty feet above the gray limestone, under which is said to be a coal bed two feet thick; and it is about ninety feet below another coal seam eighteen inches thick, struck near Mr. Endsley's house, over which the hill still rises some seventy or eighty feet. The bed worked is three feet nine inches thick, less a seam it contains of six inches of pyritous fire-clay. The roof is black shale, of which five feet are exposed. The coal is in good repute for domestic uses, but does not answer for blacksmiths.
Thomas Elliott's coal bed, just over the line in Clark township, is probably a continuation of Endsley's. It is two feet ten inches thick, under a black shake roof, the shales abounding in fossil shells, but too fragile for preservation. The coal appears to be too pyritous to be of much value. The other beds we did not succeed in finding. On the highlands northeast from the mill at the great bend of the Killbuck, a coal bed is worked which, from its elevation, we suppose to be No. 6. These northern townships seem to be the most hilly and uncultivated in the county. They lie along the heads of many of the branches of the Tuscarawas, and the general course of the streams is not far from the dip of the strata.
170 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
The greater elevation of the plateau in this region accounts for the occurrence of the higher coal beds in the summits. Though unusually hilly and rough, the surface exhibits few outcrops of the coals and limestones for long distances. From the bend of the Killbuck, northeast toward Bloomfield, the road ascends 350 feet to the first mile. The first coal outcrop observed is about two miles southwest from Bloomfield, just after crossing the small branch of the Killbuck, running on the Waverly shales. This must be the outcrop of coal No. 1. Descending toward Bloomfield, on the other side of the summit, the gray limestone is met with at 170 feet higher elevation by barometer, with large coal outcrop immediately under it. Forty feet below this is another outcrop of coal, and about seventy-five feet below this a third, and a sandstone bed beneath this, with no appearance of the Waverly to the bottom of the valley in which Bloomfield is situated. This group, however, must be very near the surface at this place. None of the outcrops noticed above appear to have been followed up to ascertain the character and thickness of the coals. This neighborhood is supplied with coal from beds in the adjacent township of Mill Creek.
Recent explorations disclose the fact that in Bethlehem and Clark townships, near the line separating them, coal No. 7 is in places four feet thick, and of good quality. At Mr. Durr's bank, it has this thick vein, is an open, burning, white ash coal, containing little visible sulphur, and giving better promise of being a good iron-making coal than any other examined in the county. A coal was disclosed in a well near Mr. Glover's residence, without cover, showing eighteen inches of the bottom bench, which may be No. 7 or perhaps No. 7 a. On the east half of the southeast quarter of section 23, Clark township, an out crop of coal No. 6 is thirty-seven inches in thickness, with a heavy body of shale above it. Other outcrops in the neighborhood are reported to show three feet nine inches of coal. At the opening examined, the coal increased in thickness as the drift was carried into the hill. The coal is hard and black, with a brilliant, resinous luster, containing a large percentage of fixed carbon, and is evidently of excellent quality. At the Imley bank, on section 25, Bethlehem township, the coal at an outcrop measures forty-three inches, and is reported to reach a thickness of four and one-half feet in some of the rooms worked. It is, by the barometer, twenty-five feet below the coal on section 23, Clark township, and about one-half a mile distant. This coal in Bethlehem township I am inclined to regard as below No. 6 and, as that which is disclosed a little farther north, capped with the black limestone.. The coal is of superior quality, and there is quite a large territory underlain by it.
At the place of these openings, all the rocks of the coal measures are in their positions, and the horizons of seven coals and two limestones can be determined. About one mile north, on Mr.. Glover's land in Clark township, the following section was obtained:
Coal No 6, 10o feet from top of hill.
Shaly sandstone........................... 30 feet.
Black limestone........................... 3 feet.
Coal .......................................... 2 feet 6 inches.
Sandy shale with coal streak at base 20 feet.
Unevenly bedded, massive, coarse
sandstone, with steak of coal
near base.......................... ......... 280 feet.
Conglomerate.
This section shows that after the deposit of the lower coals there was an upheaval of 280 feet, and a channel plowed by the water to the base of the coal measures. The thin conglomerate in this neighborhood is cherty, and from one of these fragments of cherts I have obtained a fair sized crystal of galena, the best specimen of lead ore I have ever seen obtained from Ohio rocks.
Mill Creek.-Low's coal bank, in the northwest corner of this township, one mile east from Bloomfield, lies directly under the gray limestone, a seam of fire-clay, seven inches thick, separating the limestone from the upper layer of coal. This upper layer is bright coal, five inches thick, under it cannel coal seven inches thick, and under this two feet five inches of good, bright coal. In the next hill west is Evan's coal bank, at thirty feet higher elevation. This has been opened, but not worked much, and was in no condition to enter. The bed is said to be" three feet thick, the coal to be of good quality.
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 171
It has a good covering of sandstone, making the summit of the hill.
Through the western part of Mill Creek, by the "grade road," exposures of strata that can be recognized are very rare; and no openings of coal are met with. Near the south line of the township the blue limestone is seen at several places along the road, sometimes with the "blossom" of coal beneath it. Chert in considerable quantity is often associated with it. At one place the blue limestone appears to be seven or eight feet thick. Immediately over it is a large bed of chert, and about forty feet higher up the blossom of coal, but no appearance of the gray limestone.
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 outcrop 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 season, and chiefly on the farms of A. Overholts, in Mill Creek; of Thomas Davis, adjoining this, in 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 supplies the demand of a large portion of the four townships, the coal is without doubt, the best the county affords. It is, moreover, obtained exclusively 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 Overholts', and also on Oliver Crawford's, nearly mile farther north, are seen a number of exposures of coal and limestone beds, which, taken together, give sections not readily explained in connection with the barometrical elevations obtained; 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 limestone, 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 thickness 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 exposure 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 outcrops are seen in two neighboring runs. One is of a coal bed about thirteen inches thick, directly under gray limestone, apparently only two inches thick, and 110 feet below the level of coal No. 6. In the other run at twenty feet 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 outcrops 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, would account for a part, at least, of the discrepancy in the height of the coal above the two outcrops of limestone on the opposite sides of the hill.
Crawford.-Beside the coal banks on the edge a of Mill Creek Township, there appear to be none worked in Crawford. The outcrop of coal was observed on the north line of the township, near New Bedford, but over all the rough coun-
172 - 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 hereabout 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 diggings 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 Newcastle. Though the gray limestone is met with most everywhere near the summit of the township, 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.
This bed may be opened in numerous places, and is the best the township affords; yet the next 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.................................. ...... 1 "
3. Gray, rotten limestone........................ 2 "
4. Blue chert......................................... 1 1/3"
5. Coal No. 3 ....................................... 2 1/2 "
6. Fire-clay worked for pottery............... .4
7. Slope covered.................................... 85 "
8. Sandstone........................................ 30 "
9. Iron ore.......................................... 6 to 8 in.
10. Coal No. I .......................................1 1/2 ft.
11. Waverly shales.................................. 225 "
The cherty limestone over the upper. coal is traceable 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 workable 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 stigmariae, with lateral rootlets. On the other side of the same hill (to the west), is Lyman's opening in the same bed. The roof
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 173
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 s 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 limestone is seen 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 seen, 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.......................................2 "
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 southwest 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 outcrop 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 southeast corner and also about two miles east 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 sandstone; shales, mostly olive-colored, forty feet, limestone (gray?), coal-smut, and fire-clay, underlaid 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 outcrop under the shales; five feet under this, to top of great bed of chert, associated with blue limestone, and coal outcrop 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 discouraging other enterprises of the kind, especially 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, is a 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 Zinkon'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 he worked to advantage. 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 cubical coal, very black, the upper portion sulphurous. 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 compact structure, and some of it shelly; and thirty-five to forty feet below this, is the outcrop of the gray limestone, and coal No. 4 (not opened), the strata between being mostly slaty sandstones. There are numerous coal openings to the southeast 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, frequently, 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 uncertainty about its continuing far without being encroached 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 Jefferson. In the northwest part of Bedford, at the
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 175
coal openings of John Little and Jos. Freese, a greater number of coal beds are seen in one section 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 workable size, but nothing nore 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 exposed.
The following is a section near Freese's mine in Bedford township:
Ft. In.
Soil and drift...................................................
Buff limestone..................................................
Sandstone and shale partly covered .............. 100 0
Coal outcrop....................................................
Shale.............................................................. 30 0
Gray limestone................................................. 5 0
Coal No. 4......................................................... 2 4
Shaly sandstone............................................... 30 0
Coal, J. Freese's (No. 3a?) ............................... 3 11
Blue calcareous shale....................................... 20 0
Coal outcrop (No. 3) .................................................
Space partly covered, mostly sandstone............. 80 0
Coal No. I (?).................................................
Freese's coal is a compound seam, consisting of
Bituminous coal................................... 18 inches.
Cannel coal......................................... 10 inches.
Fire-clay .............................................3 to 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 outcrop of another coal bed of cannel character, the thickness not known. Over this coal is a 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 outcrop 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 anywhere else in the county.
No other coal openings are seen between this place and the village of West Bedford. The village stands some fifty feet above the gray limestone, 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 -ray limestone is a large outcrop 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 limestone. 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 outcrop (No. 6), eighty feet up. Above the school house: coal outcrop 124 feet up; top of the hill, 180 feet above the blue limestone, 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............................................... 8 feet.
Cannel coal.................................................... 3 feet.
Fire-clay ...................................... ............ .........
Space, mostly covered, sandstone below ...... 100 feet.
Coal No. 1............................................... .........
176 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
Jackson.-In the northwest corner of this township 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 scams. 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 imperfect section was obtained, showing the blue limestone at bottom three feet thick, and thirty feet above it the bottom of a bed of massive sandstone 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 outcrop of the uppermost bed. On the next road to the south of this, a mile and a half west from Roscoe, 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 overhanging rock and extending entirely across under the road. The bottom of the sandstone 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 inferior kind of cannel coal under it. A blue limestone 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 township 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 township 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 southeast, 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 limestone, which is locally found over the next coal above.
Tuscarawas.-The lowest strata in this township are those near the blue limestone. It lies near the level of the railroad, and of the canal near the aqueduct to the north of Coshocton. Where the highway crosses Mill creek, in the northeast part of the township, the following section of 165 feet may be observed: At top of the hill, massive sandstone, extending down about 100 feet; 125 feet below the top of this sandstone, gray limestone, four feet thick, with much chert inter-
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 177
mixed and overlying a coal bed, the thickness of which is not known, only about fifteen inches seen in the outcrop; thence down to the level of the bridge over Mill creek (165 feet below the top of the sandstone), is a bed of shales, about thirty-five feet thick. The blue limestone was not seen in place, but a loose piece of it was found below the level of the bridge and of the road. These strata produce no workable coal beds. The mines to the south and east of Coshocton are altogether in coal No. 6. Those of the Home Mining Company, a mile southeast from the town, are situated on the west side of a high hill, near together, and are worked by means of twelve separate entrances. The bed is about 150 feet above the level of the railroad; its thickness three feet eight inches; the coal is very free from sulphur, bright, hard and compact, and breaks with clear and brilliant, smooth faces; is better adapted for steam and domestic purposes than for blacksmith's use, not having the melting and coking qualities to the extent they require; still, it is in demand for this purpose, and is, in fact, the best this part of the country affords. It is worked by large chambers, the roof being strong. A thin seam of shale divides the bed into two benches, and the upper bench supplies the best coal. It is overlaid by gray shales and sandstones; and 115 feet above it is the outcrop of another coal bed (No. 7), not opened, overlaid with limestone and some iron ore-the position 'in which to look for the black-band iron ore. The gray limestone is about sixty-five feet below coal No. 6.
In the hill northeast from the last described locality, toward the coal mines worked on that side, and discharged on the railroad, the following section is obtained from coal No. 6, down:
t. Coal No. 6........................................ feet.
2. Fire clay...................................................
3. Sandstone......................................... 30 "
4. Black marble......................................6 "
5. Gray shale......................................... 10 "
6. Gray limestone........ .......................... 3 "
7. Coal outcrop...................................... ........
8. Fire clay....................................................
9. Blue shale........... ............................. 60 "
10. Blue limestone................................... 7 "
11. Cannel coal, thin and poor...................... ...
12. Fire-clay .......................................... ... ....
13. Shale to railroad, three miles from Co- ........
shocton.. ............ .......................... 30 "
In the central part of the township, the summit level is, for the most part, high above the plane'of No 6 coal; the tops of the hills full 200 feet higher. Indications of the black-band ore were looked for in these higher strata, but none were met with that can be considered encouraging. No. 7 coal must occur considerably below the general summit level, but the only bed worked appears to be No. 6.
Sections southeast of Coshocton:
Nodular calcareous iron-ore. Gray limestone. Coal outcrop (NO. 7).
Ft. In.
Gray shale and sandy shale ........................ 115 0
Coal No. 6 (Home company's)...................... 3 8
Fire-clay.................................................. ... 20 0
Gray shale............................................... .... 45 0
Gray limestone. Coal outcrop....................... 3 0
Shaly sandstone and shale (railroad at Co-
shocton)................................................. 80 0
Blue limestone. Coal outcrop....................... 3 0
Fire-clay ....................................................... 5 0
Shale, to low water in river............................ 15 0
Lafayette.-The greater part of this township is alluvial bottom land. No coal openings were encountered in the township. The higher parts of it, however, must contain what appears to be the only important bed of this region, viz: No. 6. The ancient valley or river bed, extending through it from northwest to southeast, has already been noticed.
Oxford.-A considerable part of this township also is bottom land in the broad valley of the Tuscarawas. Coal beds, however, are worked in the northwest corner of the township, which were not visited. They are probably on the same bed (No. 6) as the workings in Adams, not far to the north, and those on the same side of the river, and as near Wit at Newcomerstown, in Tuscarawas county. The valley of Mill's creek, on the south edge of the township, is on the level of 'the blue limestone, and a small seam of cannel coal is seen directly under it in this vicinity; and under the gray limestone, twenty-five feet higher up in the same run, is a coal bed not well exposed, the upper part of which is cannel. Coal No. 6 must be in the hills in the southwest part of the township, but no openings of it were seen.
From Coshocton to the east line of the county,
178 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
the dip has not continued in an easterly direction, but appears to be reversed. At Coshocton, coal No. 6 at the Home company's mine is about 148 feet above the railroad, which is there about 138 above Lake Erie; and at Newcomerstown, the same bed is 130 feet above the railroad, which is there 163 feet above the lake, making the bed seven feet higher at Newcomerstown. The direction is about due east. The effect of this flattening of the dip is to keep the same series of strata. near the surface, and give a monotonous character to the geology. There appears to be no southern dip, either, in the southeast part of the county, judging from the barometrical elevations in Tuscarawas and Mill's creek valleys.
Pike.-This township is altogether near the bottom of the coal measures. The gray limestone is seen very frequently in the high grounds, accompanied by its coal bed No. 4; and as we see no evidence of the coal being worked, it is probably of little importance. At West Carlisle, the sandstone just under the gray limestone contains numerous specimens of what are probably fucoidal stems, in a variety of unusual forms, some bearing a curious resemblance to the fossil sau rian foot-prints. On the west side of the village, is a large outcrop of slaty cannel coal, probably belonging to the gray limestone, but of no value. No particular change is observed in the strata from this point to the southwest part of the township, where the land soon descends down to the Waverly.
No considerable deposit of iron ore was found in place in Pike township, but a number of nodules of ore, of fine quality, were noticed in the valleys of the streams, doubtless washed from the hills in the vicinity. The excellence and abundance of this ore render it highly probable that the important deposits of Jackson township, Muskingum county, extend northward into Coshocton.
Washington.-The only coal mine of importance seen in this township is Parks, in the north-east corner. The bed is No. 6, three and a half to four feet thick, the coal of superior quality very brilliant, of waxy luster, giving a brownish Ted powder, and purplish ash. It is a good coking coal, melting easily. The pyritous seams it contains are small and easily sorted out. The coal finds a ready sale over a considerable region around. The bed lies high up near the top of the hill, but probably may be found in many other places in the eastern part of the township
The following is a section of the strata associated with Park's coal
Ft.
1. Slope covered........................................ 100
2. Coal No. 6 (Park's)............................... 3 to 4
3. Fire-clay............................................... ......
4. Sandstone.................... ........................ 80
5. Gray limestone...................................... 4
6. Coal No. 4............................................ 1
7. Gray shale............................................ 30
8. Blue shale...........:................................ 20
9. Blue limestone...................................... ... ...
10. Coal outcrop, No. 3............................... ......
Virginia.-Coal No. 6 is pretty generally worked throughout the north and east parts of the township-in the northwest part, by Joshua Cornell, half a mile north from Moscow. The bed is here about three and a half feet thick, the coal in sound blocks, with very little waste of fine coal, and very little sulphur. When burned it shows the purple-colored ash peculiar to this bed. This, as well as Park's coal, is in good demand through the neighborhood. From Moscow, east to Franklin, there are numerous openings worked in this coal bed, and thence south nearly to the canal and the railroad. At Michael Zimmer's, two miles northwest from the canal, the bed is about ninety feet below the top of the hill, and overlying a bed of sandstone ninety feet thick, under which is the gray limestone. The roof of the coal is black shale. The coal bed is four feet thick, the coal very hard, black, compact, highly bituminous, melting easily and of excellent quality altogether. What sulphur is found is in heavy lumps and easily separated. A small seam of shale runs through the bed, a foot above the bottom. The elevation of this bed above the canal is about 170 feet.
Two miles south from this, and near the south line of the township, is the mine of James Scott, in coal bed No. 3, under the blue limestone. The locality is near the canal and not far above its level. The coal bed is four feet thick, divided into two benches by fire-clay parting, the upper bench from six to twelve inches thick. The
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 179
mine was opened in 1833 and has produced a large amount of semi-cannel coal of good quality. The roof of the bed is a black, calcareous shale, two feet thick, abounding in fossil shells. The blue limestone resting upon this is from four to five feet thick. The gray limestone is seen about forty feet higher up the hill, and under it a bed of slaty cannel coal, fifteen inches thick.
Section of hills, near Scott's coal mine, Virginia township
Slope covered........................................... 90 feet.
Coal No. 6 (Zimmer's)............ .................. 4 "
Fire-clay.
Sandstone............................. ................... 90 "
Gray limestone........................................ 4 "
Coal No. 4-poor....................... .............. 1 "..
Fire- clay.
Covered...... ............................................ 40. ".
Blue limestone......................................... 3 "
Coal No. 3 (Scott's)................................. 4 "
Fire-clay.
Franklin.-The western half of this township is chiefly bottom land along the valley of the Muskingum. The eastern half rises, for the most part, above the plane of coal No. 6, which bed is worked near both the northern and southern line of the township and in the eastern part. On the north line, by the mouth of Rock run, three miles below Coshocton, the coal bed is four feet thick; the coal in cubical blocks, very black and brilliant, with frequent flakes of charcoal scat tered through it. The coal bed is here 110 feet above the railroad, and the railroad 125 feet above Lake Erie, which proves the coal to be fifty-one feet lower than at the mines of the Coshocton Coal Company, three miles east of Coshocton. Section at Rock run
1. Black shale........................................ ........
2. Coal No. 6....................................4 to 6 feet.
3. Fire-clay .................................... ..3 to 6 "
4. Massive sandstone.............................. 75 "
5. Spring and probable horizon of coal seam .........
6. Shaly sandstone................................. 30 "
7. Black shale and covered space............40 "
8. Blue limestone................................... 3 "
9. Covered to river................................. 10 "
Near the southern line is a coal bank, one mile above the bend of Will's creek, on the east side, and ninety feet above its level. The bed is four and one-half to five feet thick, and yields very sound and black coal of apparently excellent quality. Near the bottom is a thin seam of sulphury shale, which can be easily separated. It has a thin roof of shale, and over this is sandstone. Below the coal is sandstone thirty feet thick, and under this a large bed of shale.
Linton.-Except in the wide bottoms of Will's creek, the greater part of the surface of this township is above the plane of coal No. 6. The road from Coshocton comes down to it near the northwest corner of the township, where an old opening is seen by the run, to the right-hand side of the road. At the school house near by, and below the level of the coal, is a display of iron-ore in oxydized blocks, that might be supposed to indicate a considerable quantity; but these outcrops are little to be depended upon.
The road continues to descend toward the east, following the valley of the run, and in the bed of this, two miles before reaching Jacobsport, the blue limestone is seen, well exposed, over three feet thick. At Jacobsport, over the bridge across Will's creek, the same rock lies ten or fifteen feet above the creek, in a bed measuring four feet ten inches thick. Great blocks of it, of rectangular shape and weighing many tons, have fallen down and lie by the side of the creek. The rock abounds in fossil shells, which, however, are obtained with difficulty. A little seam of slaty cannel coal, four inches thick, adheres closely to the underside of these blocks. The underlying strata. down to the creek are shales, with nodules of kidney ore. A gray limestone is twenty-five feet above the blue, and under it is a coal outcrop. A mile south from the bridge, toward Linton, is an opening in No. 6 coal; and others, also, are seen along the road. At Linton the same bed is found on the land of Mr. Heslip, where it presents its usual features. At this place another coal bed is found fifteen feet below No. 6, and has been worked to some extent, but it appears to be of little value. The shales in this neighborhood contain balls of iron ore of good quality, sufficient in quantity to inspire hopes of their being of value, but little dependence, however, can be placed upon them. They are seen in the road a mile or more north-
180 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
west from Linton. Deposits of bog iron, also, are said to occur in the bottom of the creek.
This locality is interesting from the discovery of bones of mastodons, found in the banks of the creek and in the alluvial bottoms. One of these bones was found a few years ago in excavating the bank for the mill dam at Linton. One large joint, supposed to be a cervical vertebra, with a cavity through it, as large as a man's arm, was taken out, and more bones were thought to be be hind it. Search can be made for these whenever the water is drawn down at the dam, at Jacobsport. This backs the water up eight feet, which is all the rise for fourteen miles by the creek. Another discovery was made a mile below Linton, at the mouth of White Eyes creek, of a large and sound tooth, which now belongs to Mr. W. R. Johnson, of Coshocton.
A third discovery was made about fifty years ago, two and a half miles above Linton, near Bridgeville, in Guernsey county, on the farm now owned by George Gay Mitchell. His father, at that time, in digging a well on the terrace, fifty feet above the creek bottom, found, at the depth of forty-two feet, some large bones in a bed of blue mud. Only two of these were taken out, one described by Mr. Mitchell to be a hip bone, and the other as a shin bone, weighing eight pounds. The well was then abandoned, and the rest of the skeleton is supposed to be still there.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ARCHAEOLOGY.
Mound Builders and Indians-Antiquities-The Different
Classes of Mounds, Effigies and Inclosures-Lessons taught
by These Works-Implements used by the Mound Builders
and Indians.
THE archaeologist has found the territory embraced within the present limits of Coshocton county a most excellent one. It is probably one of the most interesting fields for the scientist and antiquarian in the State. When the wave of white emigration reached the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, the discovery was made of strange looking mounds of earth, here and there, and, after a time, learning that these and other similar works were of pre-historic origin-the work of an unknown race of people-they were called, in a general way, " Ancient Mounds," and in time the lost race that erected them came to be appropriately named the " Mound Builders." There is no authentic history regarding this people. The known records of the world are silent-as silent as these monuments that perpetuate their memory. There are many theories regarding them, but this is all that can be said-nothing of their origin or end is certainly known.
They probably antedate the various Indian tribes who anciently occupied and claimed title to the soil of Ohio. Probably many centuries elapsed between the first occupancy here by the Mound Builders and the advent of the earliest Indian tribes or nations, though this is only conjecture.
This county was once, and, peradventure, continued to be through many passing centuries, one of their most favored localities. The extent, variety, elaborate, and labyrinthian intricacies of their works, still found in many sections of Ohio, clearly indicate the plausibility of this view. Here they dwelt for ages, erected their works and made a long chapter of history, albeit it is yet unwritten-a history whose leading features and general characteristics can be gathered only from those of their works that yet exist. It must be collected scrap by scrap, and item by item, after a thorough examination and patient investigation of their works, and by careful, laborious, faithful study of their wonderful remains. The principal events and leading incidents in the strange career of this mysterious and apparently now extinct people, can be traced out and recorded only so far as they are clearly indicated by those of their works which yet remain, but which, it is to be regretted, are, to a large extent, in a state of mutilation and partial ruin, and rapidly tending to utter extinction under iconoclastic wantonness, and the operations of the plow; also from the devastating effects of the elements, and the destructive tendencies of the great destroyer-Time.
There is no reason to believe that the Mound Builders ever had a written language, and, if they had not, it must be manifest that very few authentic facts pertaining to their domestic and
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 181
local history, can be verified by reliable testimony other than that deduced from their works, which are the sole memorials left by them from which to work out the problems of their origin, their history, habits, manners, customs, general characteristics, mode of life, the extent of their knowledge of the arts of husbandry, their state of civilization, their religion and its rites, their ultimate fate, and the manner and circumstances of their final disappearance, whether by process of absorption from intermingling and intermarrying with other and more vigorous races, by dispersion or captivity, or by extinction through war, pestilence, or famine.
Although generation after generation of Mound Builders have lived and flourished, and, peradventure, reached the acme of their glory, then passed through age after age of decadence and decrepitude into "the receptacle of things lost upon earth," without leaving anything that may properly be called history; and though no records of their exploits have come down to this generation through the intervening centuries; yet their enduring works furnish the laborious student some indications, even though they be slight, of the characteristics of their builders, and afford some data as to the probable history they made during the unknown, perchance barren, uneventful cycles of their indefinitely long career as a nation or race.
As the history the Mound Builders is yet unwritten, it is certainly a matter of gratulation that so many way-marks, and traces of this people yet remain within the boundaries of the State. Their. works in the State, still existing in a tolerably perfect condition, are approximately estimated at ten thousand, but they doubtless far exceeded that number at the time of the first permanent Anglo-American settlement here, in 1788.
Only such monuments, or remains of ancient works can be properly ascribed to the Mound Builders as were really regarded by the Indian tribes at the period of the first settlement at Marietta as antiquities, or as the ruins and relics of an extinct race, and "concerning the origin of which they were wholly ignorant, or only possessed a traditionary knowledge."
These consisted of mounds, effigies and inclosures, which are known and designated as the three general classes of ancient works that can be appropriately regarded as belonging to the
182 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
Mound Builders. Mounds are sub-divided into sepulchral, sacrificial, temple (or truncated); also of observation, and memorial or monumental. Effigies are sometimes called animal mounds, sometimes emblematic, and frequently symbolical.
Inclosures are of several kinds, one class being known as military or defensive works; another as parallel embankments or covered ways; and the third as sacred inclosures.
Under the general title of inclosures, are also walls of circumvallation or ramparts constructed for military or defensive works; while others were doubtless walls surrounding the residence of the reigning monarch; perchance others were erected for the performance within them of their national games and, amusements, and perhaps many also served the purpose in the performance of their religious rites and ceremonies, and facilitated indulgence in some superstitious practices.
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 183
Most of the above named works were constructed of earth, a few of stone, and perhaps fewer still of earth and stone combined. The title each bears indicates, in a measure, the uses they are supposed to have served.
Sepulchral mounds are generally conical in form, and are more numerous than any other kinds. They are of all sizes, ranging from a very small altitude, to about seventy feet in height, and always contain one or more skeletons, or parts thereof, or present other plausible indications of having been built or used for purposes of sepulture, and were, unmistakably, memorials raised over the dead.
By some archaeologists it is maintained that the size of these mounds bears a certain relation to the importance, when living, of the person over whose remains they were erected.
In this class of mounds are often found implements and ornaments, supposed to have been buried with the person or persons there interred, under the superstitious and delusive notion still entertained by some tribes of American Indians, who indulge in similar practices, that they might be useful to them in the happy hunting grounds of the future state.
The practice being one common to both the Indians and Mound Builders, apparently connects the former with the latter, and raises the presumption that the Indians may have descended from the Mound Builders.
That fire was used in the burial ceremonies of the Mound Builders is manifest from the fact that charcoal is often, if not always, found in close proximity to the skeleton. The presence of ashes, igneous stones, and other traces of the action of fire in these tombs, renders it quite probable this element was employed in their burial ceremonies.
Mica, is often found in proximity to the skeletons, as well as specimens of pottery, bone and copper heads, and animal bones.
The name given to this description of tumuli clearly indicates that they were erected chiefly for burial purposes. They generally contain but a limited number of skeletons, indeed, often but a single one; but Professor Marsh, of the Sheffield Scientific School, connected with Yale College, a few years ago opened a mound in Licking county which contained seventeen skeletons in whole or in part.
The most remarkable of all mounds in the State, was one in Hardin county, in which were found about three hundred skeleton's. A doubt has, however, been expressed that these were all Mound Builders' skeletons-some persons entertaining the belief that they were Indian remains, as it is well known that the Indians frequently buried their dead on or near the mounds.
Sacrificial mounds are usually stratified, the strata being convex layers of clay and loam, alternating with a layer of fine sand. They generally contain ashes, charcoal, igneous stones, calcined animal bones, beads, stone implements, pottery and specimens of rude sculpture. These mounds are frequently found within inclosures, which were supposed to have been in some way connected with the performance of the religious rites and ceremonies of the Mound Builders. An altar of stone or burnt clay is usually found in this class of mounds.
These altars, which sometimes rest on the surface of the original earth, at the center of the mounds, are symmetrically shaped, and are among
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY - 184
PICTURES OF MISCELLANEOUS RELICS
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 185
the chief distinguishing characteristics of sacrificial mounds. Upon these altars sacrifices of animals, and probably of human beings, were offered, the fire being used to some extent in that superstitious and cruel performance. Some of this class of mounds seem also to have been used for purposes of sepulture as well as sacrifice; the presence of skeletons, in some of them at least, suggest their sepulchral as well as sacrificial character.
In common with sepultural mounds these likewise contain implements of war, also mica from the Alleghenies, shells from the Gulf of Mexico, obsidian, and in some instances porphyry from Mexico, as well as silver and copper articles, both for use and ornament.
Temple mounds are less numerous and generally larger than the preceding classes, and in form are oftenest circular or oval; but, whether round, square, oblong, oval, octangular, or whatever form, are invariably truncated, having the appearance of being in an unfinished condition. They are frequently surrounded by embankments, and many of them have spiral pathways, steps or inclined planes leading to their summits. They are generally of large base and of comparatively limited altitude.
The supposition is that the summits of these mounds were crowned with structures of wood that served the purposes of temples, all traces of which, however, owing to the perishable nature of the materials used in their construction, have disappeared. They were also used to a limited extent for burial purposes, as well as for uses connected with their religion.
Mounds of observation are generally situated. upon eminences, and were doubtless "observatories," " alarm posts," " watch towers," " signal stations," or "look outs," serving the purposes indicated by their title. They are said by some writers to occur in chains or regular systems, and that many of them still bear traces of the beacon fires that were once burning on them. They are sometimes found in connection with embankments and inclosures, forming a portion, though greatly enlarged, of the banks of earth or stones that compose said embankments and inclosures.
One of this description is situated two miles west of Newark, Ohio, and though somewhat mutilated, is yet about twenty-five feet high.
This, class of mounds is tolerably numerous in some portions of the State.
Memorial or Monumental mounds belong to the class of tumuli that were erected to perpetu-
186 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
ate the memory of some important event, or in honor of some distinguished character. They are mostly built of earth, but some of the stone mounds found in some portions of the State probably belong to this not numerous class.
Effigies or Animal mounds are simply raised figures or gigantic basso relievos of men, beasts, birds or reptiles, and in some instances, of inanimate objects. They are on the surface of the earth, raised to a limited height, generally from one foot to six feet above the natural surface of the ground. Mr. Schoolcraft, an authority, calls this class of ancient works Emblematic mounds, and expresses the belief that they were "totems" or "heraldic symbols." Professor Daniel Wilson, the learned author of "Pre-historic Man," and other writers of distinction, call them symbolical mounds, and hold the opinion that they were erected as objects of worship, or for altars upon which sacrifices were offered, or that they served . some other purposes connected with the religious worship of their idolatrous and superstitious constructors.
Of the three most notable examples of Effigies in the State, two are situated in Licking county. One is the Eagle mound, near the center of what is known as the "Old Fort," near Newark; and the other is called the"Alligator mound," and is situated on the summit of a hill nearly two hundred feet high, near Granville.
Inclosures defensive and sacred; have been briefly mentioned. Most of them are earthworks, though a few are of stone. Defensive inclosures are of irregular form, are always on high ground, and in naturally strong positions, frequently on the summits of hills and steep bluffs, and are often strengthened by exterior ditches. The walls generally wind around the borders of the elevations they occupy, and where the nature of the ground renders some points more accessible than others, the height of the wall and the depth of the ditch at those weak points are proportionally increased. The gateways, are narrow, few in number, and well guarded by embankments placed a few yards inside of the openings or gate-ways, parallel with them, and projecting somewhat beyond them at each end, thus fully covering the entrances, which, in some cases, are still further protected by projecting walls on either side of them.
These works are somewhat numerous, and indicate a clear appreciation of the elements, at least, of fortification, and unmistakably point out the purpose for which they were constructed. A large number of these defensive works consist of a line of ditch and embankments, or several lines carried across the neck of peninsulas or bluff head-lands, formed within the bends of streams-an easy and obvious mode of fortification, common to all rude peoples.
Covered ways are parallel walls of earth of limited height, and are frequently found contiguous to inclosures, sometimes, indeed, connecting them by extending from one to another One of their purposes, at least, seems to have been the protection of those passing to and fro within them.
Sacred inclosures are mainly distinguished
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 187
from those of a military character by the regularity of their form, their different construction and their more frequent occurrence. They are of all shapes and forms, and where moats o ditches exist they are invariably found inside o the embankments. They are generally in the form of geometrical figures of surprising accuracy, such as circles, squares, hexagons, octagon: ellipses, parallelograms and of various others. They are sometimes found within military inclosures, and evidently had some connection with the religious ideas and ceremonies of their builders. Frequently there is situated in the center of this class of works a mound, or elevation, supposed to have served the purpose of an altar upon which sacrifices were offered, or which was, at least, in some way, used in conducting their religious services. Within these sacred inclosures were doubtless celebrated religious festivals, and upon those central mounds or altar, were undoubtedly performed, by priestly hands, the rites and ceremonies demanded by their sacrificial and idolatrous religion.
The very extensive works near Newark, known as the "Old Fort," and situated in the fair grounds, evidently belong to this class. Some archaeologists, however, maintain that many works called sacred inclosures were erected for and used as places of amusement, where these ancient people practiced their national games, and celebrated their great national events, where they held their national festivals and indulged in their national jubilees, as well as performed the ceremonies of their religion.
It may be that there are those (and there are many such) within which no central elevation or altar occurs, which were erected for the purposes last named, and not exclusively (if at all) for purposes connected with religion, and are therefore erroneously called sacred inclosures.
Other ancient peoples, if indeed not all the nations of antiquity, had their national games. amusements, festivals and jubilees, and why not the Mound Builders? Without doubt they had, and congregated within their inclosures to practice, celebrate and enjoy them.
It is natural to indulge hi speculations regarding these ancient works. Probably none of them have been constructed since Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492. About sixty years ago a tree which stood upon the bank of the "Old Fort," at a point where the bank was twenty feet high, was cut down, and its concentric circles numbered five hundred and fifty, thus proving conclusively that the said inclosure was constructed more than six hundred years ago.
Authorities differ regarding many matters connected with the Mound Builders, but a few facts seem to be fully established by their works. There can be no doubt that they were a numerous people. Works so elaborate, so gigantic, could not have been erected by a people insignificant in numbers. This is the more apparent when it is considered that they were probably without iron or any suitable metal instruments or tools with which to perform their herculean labors.
It could scarcely have been otherwise than that they were also the subjects of a single strong government, because, under any other, the perform-
188 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
ance of such an immense amount of, probably, enforced labor could not have been secured. Very likely some sort of vassalage or servitude prevailed. There is abundant evidence that they were a war-like people, and probably, like some savage nations now existing, they made slaves of their prisoners. The number and magnitude of their works, and their extensive range and uniformity, prove that they were essentially homogeneous in customs, habits, religion and government. The general features common to all their remains identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to men moving in the same direction, acting under common impulses, and influenced by similar causes.
That they possessed military skill, and were not without some knowledge of mathematics, is quite evident.
Building their defensive works in naturally strong positions, and constructing many of their other works in the form of various geometrical figures, show this.
The construction of military works would indicate that they were, occasionally, at least, at war, either among themselves or with some other nation or tribe. If another nation, what other? Perhaps with the North American Indian to whom the country may have belonged before the Mound Builders entered it. There are various scraps of history relating to the antiquity of the Indian. For instance, in the annual report of the council of the American Antiquarian Society page 40, occurs this note from Sir Charles Lyell : " A human cranium, of the aboriginal type of. the red Indian race, has been found in the delta of the Mississippi, beneath four buried forests, superimposed, one upon another, implying, as estimated by Dr. Dowler, an antiquity of 50,000 years."
Lyell, himself, estimated the age of the delta at 100,000 years.
It may be conjectured from many historical facts, that the Mound Builders were a foreign people who invaded the soil of America, as there is
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 189
but little evidence that they spread themselves over the continent, but much, that they passed through it from northeast to southwest, covering a broad belt, on which they erected their mysterious mounds. The time occupied by them in crossing the continent can only be conjectured. They probably came in great numbers, attempted to conquer the country, found the Indians too strong for them, but conquered a certain portion of the territory, clung together, moved gradually southwest, protecting themselves on the way by forts and other earthworks, finally disappearing in Mexico, either conquering that country or intermingling with and becoming absorbed by that people.
The Mound Builders were doubtless a superstitious people, cherishing faith in some religious system. The amount of labor bestowed upon those of their works that were erected in the interest of their religion, shows a strong tendency toward a superstitious belief. They doubtless offered up animals in sacrifice, as a part of their religious ceremonies, and it may be that human sacrifices were not unknown among them. Prisoners of war are thus disposed of sometimes by peoples and nations who have attained to as high a grade of civilization as that probably reached by the Mound Builders. The sacrificial character of their religion is clearly established.
The late Dr. Foster hesitated not to say that they were worshipers of the elements; that they also worshiped the sun, moon and stars; and that they offered up human victims as an acceptable sacrifice to the gods they worshiped. He deduced this fact from the charred or calcined bones that cover their altars. Other high authorities also unhesitatingly assert that there is convincing proof that they were fire-worshipers
190 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
It may be well in this connection to notice, briefly, the implements made and used by this people, especially so far as investigation has revealed their character in Coshocton county.
Very few copper implements have been found in this part of Ohio, owing partly to the fact of the unexplored condition of many of the mounds, and to the fact that little, if any, copper exists in this part of the United States. What does exist is in loose fragments that have been washed down from the upper lake region. When mounds are explored, great care is necessary lest these small utensils be lost, as they are commonly scattered through the mass, and not always in close proximity to the skeletons. The copper deposits about Lake Superior furnished the pre-historic man with this metal, and, judging from the amount of relics made of this metal now found, it must have been quite abundant. The population of the country, then, must have been quite extensive, as occasional copper implements, tempered to an exceeding hardness, are still found about the country. These implements are small, generally less than a half a pound in weight, and seldom exceeding three pounds. There were millions of these in use during the period of the ancient dwellers, which may have been thousands of years in duration. The copper implements left on the surface soon disappeared by decomposition, to which copper is nearly as liable as iron. Only a part of the dead Mound Builders were placed in burial mounds, and of these only a part were buried with their copper ornaments and implements on and about them. Of those that were, only a small part have been discovered, and, in many instances, the slight depth of earth over them has not prevented the decay and disappearance of the toper relics.
Articles of bronze or brass are not found with the builders of the mounds. It is evident they knew nothing of these metals in the Ohio valley, nor did they possess any of the copper that had been melted or cast in molds.
Stone relies are very numerous and well preserved. Stone axes, stone mauls, stone hammers, stone chisels, etc., are very plentiful yet. and were the common implements of the pre-historic; man in this part of the west. None were made with holes or eyes for the insertion of a helve or handle, but were grooved to receive a withe twisted into the form of a handle. Under the head of axes, archaeologists include all wrought stones with a groove, a bit and a poll. They are found unpolished, partly polished and polished. The bit was made sharp by rubbing, and the material is hard and tough, generally of trachyte, greenstone, granite, quartz or basalt. Most of them are straight on one edge. In Ohio, it is very rare that stone axes are found in the mounds, indicating that they are modern, or were not so much prized by the Mound Builders as to be objects of burial. Occasionally, axes of softer material are found, such as slate, hematite and sandstone, but these are small in size and not common. They appear to have been manufactured from small, oblong bowlders, first brought into shape by a pick, or chipping instrument, the marks of which are visible on nearly all of them. They were made more perfect by rubbing and polishing, probably done from time to time after they were brought into use. A handle or helve, made of a wythe or split stick, was fastened in the groove by thongs of hide. The bit is narrower than the body of the ax, which is generally not well enough balanced to be of much value as a cutting instrument.
It is very seldom the material is hard enough to cut green and sound timber. The poll is usually round, but sometimes flat, and rarely pointed. It is much better adapted to breaking than cutting, while the smaller ones are better fitted for war-clubs than tools. As a maul to break dry limbs, they were very efficient, and this was probably the use made of them. In weight they range from half a pound to sixteen pounds, but are generally less than three pounds. The very heavy ones must have been kept at the regular camps and villages, as they were too heavy for convenient transportation. Such axes are occasionally found in the Indian towns on the frontier, as they were found in Ohio among the aborigines. The Mound Builders apparently did not give them as much prominence among their implements as their savage successors. Double-headed hammers have the groove in the middle.They were made of the same material as the axes, so balanted as to give a blow with equal force at either
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 191
end. Their mechanical symmetry is often perfect. As a weapon in war, they were, indeed, formidable, for which purpose they are yet used among the Indians on the Pacific coast.
Implements known as "fleshers" and "skinners," chisel-formed, commonly called "celts," were probably used as aids in peeling the skin of animals from the meat and bones. For the purpose of cutting tools for wood, they were not sufficiently hard, and do not show such use, excepting in a few flint chisels. They may have been applied as coal scrapers where wood had been burned; but this could not have been a general thing without destroying the perfect edge most of them now exhibit. The grooved axes were much better adapted to this purpose.
Stone pestles are not plentiful in this county, while stone mortars are rare, indicating that they were made of wood, which is lighter and more easily transported. Most of the pestles are short, with a wide base, tapering toward the top. They were probably used with one hand, and moved about in the mortar in a circle. The long; round instrument, usually called a pestle, does not appear to be fitted for crushing seeds and grain by pounding or turning in the mortar. It
192 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
was probably used as a rolling-pin, perhaps on a board or leveled log, not upon stone. It is seldom found smooth or polished, and varies from seven to thirteen inches in length. In outline they taper toward each end, which is generally smooth, and circular in form, as though it had been twirled in an upright position.
There is almost an endless variety of perforated plates, thread-sizers, shuttles, etc. They are usually made of striped slate, most of which have tapering holes through them flat-wise, the use of which has been much discussed. The accompanying plate exhibits several specimens of these; but there are, doubtless, many other forms and styles. They are generally symmetrical, the material fine-grained, and their proportions graceful, as though their principal use was that of ornamentation. Many of them may well have been worn suspended as beads or ornaments. Some partake of the character of badges or ensigns of authority. Others, if strung together on thongs or belts, would serve as a coat of mail, protecting the breast or back against the arrows of an enemy. A number of them would serve to size and twist twine or coarse thread made of bark, rawhide or sinew. The most common theory regarding their use is, however, lacking one important feature. None of them show signs of wear by use. The edges of the holes through them are sharp and perfect. This objection applies equally well to their use as suspended ornaments. Some of them are shuttle-form, through which coarse threads might have been passed, for weaving rude cloth or bark of fibrous plants, such as milk-weed or thistles. There are also double-ended and pointed ones, with a cross section about the middle of which is a circle, and through which is a perforation.
A great variety of wands or badges of distinction are found. They are nearly all fabricated from striped and variegated slate, highly finished, very symmetrical and elegant in proportion, evidently designed to be ornamental. If they were stronger and heavier, some of them would serve the purpose of hatchets or battle-axes. The material is compact and fine-grained; but the eyes, or holes, for handles or staves, are quite small, seldom half an inch in diameter. Their edges are not sharp, but rounded, and the body is thin, usually less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness.
The form of badges, known as "double-crescents," are the most elegant and expensive of any yet brought to notice. They were probably used to indicate the highest rank or office. The single crescent, perhaps, signified a rank next below the double. In the collection of Mr. John B. Matson, of Richland county, there is a rough-hewn double one in process of construction, the horns of which turn inward. In nearly or quite all the finished ones the points turn outward. The finish around the bore of all winged badges and the crescents is the same, and the size of the bore about the same-from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch. On one side of all is a narrow ridge; on the other, a flat band, lengthwise, like a ridge that has been ground down to a width of one to two-tenths of an inch. Badges and crescents are invariably made of banded slate, generally of a greenish shade of color. The other forms of wands or badges, such as those with symmetrical wings or blades, are also made of green striped slate, highly polished, with a bore of about one-half inch in diameter, apparently to insert a light wooden rod or staff. They were probably emblems of distinction, and were not ornaments. Nothing like them is known among the modern tribes, in form or use, hence they are attributed to the Mound Builders.
In addition to stone ornaments, the pre-historic man seems to have had a penchant, like his savage successors, to bedaub his body with various colors, derived from different colored minerals. These compounds were mixed in hollowed stones or diminutive mortars" paint cups,"-in which the mineral mass of colored clay was reduced to powder and prepared for application to the body. Such paint cups are not common; in fact, are quite rare, but one being known to exist in this part of the State, that in the collection of Dr. Craig, of Mansfield.
The comparative rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the fact that they were not discarded, as were weapons, when those by whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The advances of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor did the whites substitute a better implement. The pipes were
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 193
retained and used until worn out or broken, save the few that were buried with their dead owners. What was the ultimate fate of these can only be conjectured. In very few instances does an Indian grave contain a pipe. If the practice of burying the pipe with its owner was common, it is probable that the graves were opened and robbed of this coveted article by members of the same or some other tribes.
It only remains to notice the " flints," in addition to which a few other archaeological relics of minor importance are found about the country, but none of sufficient import to merit mention, or to throw additional light on the lost tribes of America. Arrow and spear heads and other similar pieces of flaked flints are the moat abundant of any aboriginal relics in the United States. They are chiefly made of hard and brittle siliceous materials; are easily damaged in hitting any object at which they- are aimed, hence many of them bear marks of violent use. Perfect specimens are, however, by no means rare. The art of arrow making survives to the present day among certain Indian tribes, from whom is learned the art practiced that produces them.
A classification of arrow heads is not within the scope of this work; indeed, it is rarely attempted by archaeologists. The styles are almost as numerous as their makers. In general, they are all the same in outline, mostly leaf shaped, varying according to the taste of their makers. The accompanying cut exhibits a few of the common forms, though the number is infinite. They may have been chipped probably most were and some may have been ground. Spear heads exhibit as large a variety as arrow heads. Like arrow heads, spear heads were inserted in wooden handles of various lengths, though in many tribes they were fastened by thongs of untanned leather or sinews.
Their modes of manufacture were generally the same. Sometimes tribes contained "arrow makers," whose business was to make 'these implements, selling them to, or exchanging them with, their neighbors for wampum or peltry. When the Indian desired an arrow head, he could buy one of the "arrow maker" or make one himself. The common method was to take a chipping implement, generally made of the pointed rods of a deer horn, from eight to sixteen inches in length, or of slender, short pieces of the same r material, bound with sinews to wooden sticks resembling arrow shafts. The "arrow maker" held in his left hand the flake of flint or obsidian on which he intended to operate, and pressing the point of the tool against its edge, detached scale after scale, until the flake assumed the desired form.
NOTE.-For more particular information regarding the works of the Mound Builders, in different parts of this county the reader is referred to the history of the different townships in which such works are located.
CHAPTER XIX
INDIANS.
Geographical Location of the Various Tribes-The Dela-
wares-Their Towns in this County-Brief History of the
Tribes in Ohio-Captain Pipe-White Eyes-Wingenund
and Killbuck-Netawatwees-Manners, Customs, Feasts,
etc.-Cabins, Wigwams, Food, etc.-Amusements and
Hunting Removal Beyond the Mississippi.
THE next inhabitants in the form of a human being to occupy the territory now embraced in Coshocton county, after the Mound Builders, were the American Indians. At least such is the generally received opinion, though whether the Indians and Mound Builders were not contemporaneous is, perhaps, an open question. The Indian history, as well as that of the Mound Builders, is a good deal involved in obscurity, and much of it largely dependent on tradition, yet much of it is authentic and reliable. The Indians themselves, however, can be allowed very little, if any, credit for this preservation of their history; it is almost, or entirely, owing to white occupation that they have any history at all.
The day is not far distant when the Indian race, as a race, will become extinct. Supposing this extinction had occurred before white occupation of this country, what would the world know of the Indian race? Where are their monuments? Where the works that would perpetuate their memory? In what particular spot on this great earth have they left a single indelible footprint or imperishable mark to tell
194 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
of their existence? Not so with the Mound Builders. They left works of an imperishable nature, and from these something of their history may be learned, even though personally they do not appear to exist anywhere. They were evidently workers, and much superior to the Indian, viewed from a civilized standpoint.
It is not an easy matter to define the boundaries of the territory of the various tribes occupying the Northwest Territory at the date of the advent of the whites. Nearly all the tribes were more or less migratory in their disposition, and doubtless during long ages in the dark past they all moved about from place to place, continually at war with each other; conquering and possess ing each other's territory; driving out and being in turn driven out; doubtless occasionally exterminating a weak tribe; occasionally becoming friendly and intermingling and intermarrying, thus, perhaps, occasionally consolidating and losing their tribal individuality, and during all changes in all ages leaving no written record of the history they must have made.
Several tribes were found occupying the territory now embraced in Ohio, at the beginning of the present century; among them the Delawares Wyandots, Shawanees, Ottawas, Miamis and some others. These tribes were generally leagued together for self protection and self-defense, all determined to resist the encroachments of the all powerful white race. They were generally o friendly terms with each other and, although each tribe occupied permanent camps or homes in some 'particular part of the territory, and hunted in particular localities, the exact boundaries of the domain of each was not probably known or defined. Each tribe was generally camped upon some stream and claimed for a hunting ground all the territory drained by that stream. Nevertheless they were a good deal mixed, and hunted much upon each other' territory, often establishing temporary and ever permanent camps upon grounds outside of the domain of their tribe.
The Muskingum valley was generally claimed by the Delawares, though the Shawanese and Wyandots were also found here in considerable numbers, camping and roaming over the Delaware grounds with great freedom.
During the latter half of the last century the Shawnees occupied the Scioto country, and sometimes spread themselves more or less over this section; but the Wyandots (also called the Hurons) and the Delawares mainly occupied the country between the Muskingum and Scioto rivers.
In 1785, by the treaty of Fort McIntosh, it was stipulated that the boundary line between the United States and the Delaware and Wyandot nations should "begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river and run thence up said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of Muskingum, thence down said branch to the forks (at the present town of Bolivar), thence westerly to the portage of the Big Miami, thence along said portage to the great Miami of the lakes (Maumee river), and clown said river to its mouth; thence along the southern shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, the place of beginning." By this treaty, as will be seen, they ceded a large territory, including Coshocton county, to the United States. It is certain, however, that many of them continued to occupy this territory many years after the date of the above treaty, which they found little difficulty in doing, as there were then no white settlers to dispute the possession with them.
To the Shawnees was assigned, by the treaty of Fort Finney, in 1786, the country between the Big Miami and Wabash rivers. They also relinquished all claims to whatever territory they had in Ohio, but some of them also lingered here, even within the limits of this county, until the close of the century, or later.
When the English-speaking white man first y came into the territory now embraced in Coshocton county, it was occupied by the Delawares. It is quite certain that just before them the Shawnee Indians were in the land, retiring as the Delawares came in, to the more westerly and southerly regions. The French were then claiming dominion of all the Mississippi valley, and the head of the Muskingum, as an interesting and favored locality, was not unknown to their soldiers, traders .and missionaries.
The Delawares, crowded out by the white settlers about the Delaware river and in eastern Pennsylvania, found a home to their taste in the
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 195
beautiful and fertile Tuscarawas, Walhonding, and Muskingum valleys.
Their language at least will abide in the land as long as the names just mentioned, and also those of White Eyes, Mohican, and Killbuck continue to be accepted as the designations of the rivers and creeks to which they are now attached. Within the limits of the county as now bounded, there were, a hundred years ago, at least six considerable Indian towns, the houses being built of bark and limbs and logs, and arranged in lines or on streets. One of these towns was called White Eyes (Koguethagachton), and was in the neighborhood of Lafayette. Two other towns were located-one three and the other ten miles up the Walhonding and were called the Mousey towns, the more distant being occupied by a faction of the Delawares under control of Captain Pipe, who became disgusted with the generally peaceful and Christian policy of the nation, and seceded from it, desiring more indulgence for his base and bloody passions. The lower town was Wengenunds'. The fourth town was Goschachgunk, occupying that part of the present town of Coshocton (a name said to be a modification of the name of the old Indian town) between Third street and the river. This was much the largest town, and for many years was the capital of the Delaware nation, where the grand councils were held and whither the tribes assembled. It was the residence of Netawatwees, their great chief, and was often visited by the famous councilors, White Eyes and Killbuck, as well as the big captains and braves of numerous tribes. The fifth town was situated about two miles below Coshocton on the east side of the Muskingum river (on the farms since in the possession of Samuel Moore and the Tingle heirs), and was called Lichtenau (" Pasture of Light"). It was occupied by Christian Indians under the direction of Rev. David Zeisberger (and afterward Rev. Wm. Edwards in conjunction with him), the famous Moravian missionary. In addition to these there was also a small Shawnee town in Washington township on the Wakatomica, and perhaps, at various times many others, either temporary or permanent, in different parts of the county. One called Muskingum was said to be located five miles above Coshocton, on the Tuscarawas. A brief history of the principal tribes occupying the soil of Ohio, and of their habits and customs, may be of interest here.
Speaking of the Shawaneese or Shawanoes, Colonel Johnston, a most excellent authority on such subjects, says
"We can trace their history to the time of their residence on the tide-waters of Florida, and, as well as the Delawares, they aver that they originally came from west of the Mississippi. Blackhoof, who died at Wapaghkonnetta, at the advanced age of 105 years, and who, in his day, was a very influential chief among the Indians, told me that he remembered, when a boy, bathing in the salt waters of Florida; also that his people firmly believed white, or civilized, people had been in the country before them, having found in many instances the marks of iron tools upon the trees and stumps."
Shawanoese means "the south," or the "people from the south." * After the peace of 1763, the Miamis removed from the big Miami river and a body of Shawnees established themselves at Lower and Upper Piqua, which became their principal headquarters in Ohio. They remained here until driven off by the Kentuckians, when they crossed over to the St. Mary's and to Wapaghkonnetta. The Upper Piqua is said to have contained at one period over 4,000 Shawnees. They were very warlike and brave, and often were quite formidable enemies.
In the French war, which ended in 1763, a bloody battle was fought near the site of Colonel Johnson's residence, at Upper Piqua. At that time the Miamis had their towns here, which on ancient maps are marked as " Tewightewee towns." The Miamis, Ottawas, Wyandots, and other northern tribes adhering to the French, made a stand here, assisted by the French. The Delawares, Shawnees, Munseys, parts of the Senecas, residing in Pennsylvania; Cherokees, Catawbas, and other tribes, adhering to the English, with English traders, attacked the French and Indians. The latter had built a fort in which to protect and defend themselves, and were able to withstand the siege, which lasted more than a week. Not long after this contest, the Miamis left the country, retiring to the Miamies of the Lake (Maumee river and tributaries), at and near Fort Wayne,
*Howe's Collections.
196 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.
and never returned. The Shawnees took their place, and gave names to many towns in this part of Ohio.
The northern part of Ohio belonged in ancient times to the Eries, who were exterminated by the Five Nations in some of their wars. The Wyandots, who, at the time the French missionaries came to America were dwelling in the peninsula of Michigan, were allowed by the Five Nations to occupy the land of the Eries, and thus came to dwell in Ohio. From Howe's Historical Collections, it is ascertained that the Wyandots once occupied the north side of the St. Lawrence river, down to Coon lake, and from thence up the Utiwas. The Senecas owned the opposite side of the river, and the island upon which Montreal now stands. Both were large tribes, consisting of many thousands, and were blood relations, claiming each other as cousins.
A war originated between the two tribes in the following manner: A Wyandot brave wanted a certain woman for his wife; she objected; said he was no warrior, as he had never taken any scalps. He then raised a party of warriors and they fell upon a small party of Senecas, killing and scalping a number of them. It is presumed the Wyandot brave secured his wife, but this created a war between the tribes which lasted more than a hundred years, and until both nations were much weakened, and the Wyandots nearly exterminated. The latter were compelled to leave the country, and took up their residence on the peninsula of Michigan, as before stated. They were often compelled to fight their old enemies even in this far off region, as war parties of Senecas frequently went there for that purpose. A peace was finally arranged, and the remnant of Wyandots came to reside in Ohio. The Ottat was, another conquered tribe, and one allowed existence only by paying a kind of tribute to .their conquerors, the Iroquis, were also part occupants of this same part of Ohio. This nation produced the renowned chief, Pontiac, who was the cause of such widespread desolation in the West. The Ottawas were often known as "Canada Indians" among the early settlers. Their principal settlements were on the Maumee, along the lake shore, on the Huron and Black rivers, and on the streams flowing into them. These Indian were distinguished for their cunning and artifice, and were devoid of the attributes of a true warrior. They were often employed as emissaries, their known diplomacy and artifice being well adapted for such business. The Wyandots, on the other hand, were a bold, warlike people. General Harrison says of them: "They were true warriors, and neither fatigue, famine, loss, or any of the ills of war could daunt their courage. They were our most formidable and stubborn enemies among the aborigines in the war of 1812." They, like all tribes in the West, were often influenced by British rum and British gold, and found, in the end, as their chiefs so aptly expressed it, that they were" only tools in the hands of a superior power, who cared nothing for them, only to further their own selfish ends."
Of the Delawares, who were the principal occupants of the Muskingum valley and Coshocton county upon the advent of the first white settlers, Col. John Johnson says: " The true name of this once powerful tribe is Ma-be-nugh-ka, that is, 'the people from the east,' or the sun rising.' The tradition among themselves is, that they originally, at some very remote period, emigrated from the west, crossed the Mississippi, and ascending the Ohio river, fought their way eastward until they reached the Delaware river (so named from Lord Delaware), near where Philadelphia now stands, in which region of country they became fixed.
"About this time they were so numerous that no enumeration could be made of them. They welcomed to the shores of the new world that great law-giver, William Penn, and his peaceful followers; and ever since, this people have entertained a kind and grateful recollection of them; even to this day, in speaking of good men, they would say, ' wa-she-a E-le-ne'-such a man is a Quaker;. i. e., all good men are Quakers." Col. Johnson says: "In 1823, I removed to the west of the Mississippi persons of this tribe who were born and raised within thirty miles of Philadelphia. These were the most squalid, wretched and degraded of their race, and often furnished chiefs with a subject of reproach against the whites, pointing to these of their people and saying to us, 'see how you have spoiled them, meaning they had acquired all the bad habits of
HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 197
the white people, and were ignorant of hunting and incapable of making a livelihood as were other Indians."
In 1819, there were belonging to Col. Johnson's agency in Ohio eighty Delawares, who were stationed near the village of Upper Sandusky, in Wyandot county, and 2,300 of the same tribe in Indiana. They had been driven gradually back through Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Bockinghelas was, for many years after the advent of the whites, the principal chief of the Delawares. He was a distinguished warrior in his day. Killbuck, another Delaware chief, whose name is fortunately preserved for all time in the little stream in this county, was one of the principal chiefs in this valley. He was educated at Princeton college, and was prominent among the converts of the Moravian missionaries.
Captain Pipe was a prominent chief of the Wolf tribe, the moat warlike of all the tribes of the Delaware nation. He was a very artful, designing man, and a chief of considerable ability and influence. Captain Pipe was ambitious, bold, and noted for schemes and strategy. He was engaged at one time in plotting for a division of his nation. His ambitious spirit would brook no rival, and he was ever intriguing or engaged in plotting some nefarious scheme. He was one of the many warriors present at Fort Pitt, in July, 1759, at a conference between George Croghan (Sir William Johnson's deputy Indian agent), Hugh Mercer (Commandant), and the Indians of the Six Nations, Shawnese and Delawares. In September, 1764, he appeared at Fort Pitt, with other warriors, manifestly with hostile purposes, and he and two of his warriors were detained as hostages, and were not released until after the return of Col. Bouquet, with his army from the Muskingum in the latter part of November.
In 1765, Captain Pipe was at Fort Pitt, as one of the chief warriors of the Delawares, attending the conference held with the Senecas, Shawnese Delawares and other tribes. He was also present at the great conference held at Fort Pitt in April, 1768, under the direction of George Croghan, with the chief warriors of the Six Nations Delawares. Shawnese, Monsies, Mohicans and Wyandots. In 1771, Captain Pipe (as a chief) sent "a speech" to Governor John Penn, which is printed in the fourth volume of the Pennsylvania Archives.
In May, 1774, Pipe, with other chiefs, went to Fort Pitt, to confer with Captain John Connolly (Governor Dunmore's deputy), George Croghan, and other inhabitants of Pittsburgh, in reference to recent aggressions the murder of Logan's family, and other outrages; the object of the conference being to avert the impending Indian war, which soon followed.
When the revolutionary war broke out and hostilities had commenced, the Delawares divided; a portion of them under the lead of White Eyes and Killbuck (two influential chiefs), making common cause with the Colonies against the mother country, and Pipe, who espoused the cause of the British. Netawatwes, White Eyes, Killbuck and Big Cat labored to preserve peace and to avert war, but in all their endeavors they were always frustrated by the 'restless, intriguing Pipe, who was ever warlike and vengeful, always brooding over old resentments. Captain Pipe, at this time (1775-6), had his residence fifteen miles up the Walhonding, from the "Forks of the Muskingum (now Coshocton), near or at the point of confluence of the Mohican and Owl creek (now Vernon river), where, in 1751, was situated an Indian town, known as Tullihas, and where was located the I