Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-12-19

range from three to thirteen miles i
length, the whole showing as fol
lows: fH -.3a fat
Miles Of straight line l.......-... 6a.s
Miles of curved linc.----. 49,. Al
Total ......................-......6 ...67 8
Total curvature. .696 deg. 10 min
i An equally favorable showing in COS
appears by reference to the accompany
ing general estimate; the quantitie
average than 10000 cubic yards pc
mile, on lightweight miles, which in
cludes one mile of switch from tn
main yard at Black River to reach TIN
level of the proposed docks, from whicl
point tracks can be cheaply constructed
on the meadows on either side of tn
river, as desired. ..- .,I
This descent was made with grad
of one foot per hundred, for thirty-eigh
hundred feet, in order to give you com
mand Of a greater. amount of docl
space than could otherwise be had. /
thought desirable, the descent can b.
made with grade of twenty-six fee
per mile. 1t would, however, involv,
the loss of river.front, and require TIN
paralelling of your track for some thre'
miles, in order to command both sides
as contemplated. f-s
GENERAL FEATURES OF ROUTE.
Owing to the tendency of negOtia
tions with the Marietta & Pittsburs
Road to use i'm common six miles of theil
proposed Walhonding branch, your 10
cation was commenced at 4 point OF
Wallonding River, six miles northwes
from 'Coshocton and Roscoe, in CoshOc-
ton county, and enters at once the val.
ley of Killbuck, which it follows in ;
general direction nearly due north fol
fifty-four miles to the main summit and
head waters of Black River, making an
ascent in all of but one hundred and
/ thirty-nine feet. .-. ..s
| This valley has general depth Of
from three hundred to five hundred feel
below the level of the adjacentcountry
the bed of the stream being uniformly
from forty to sixty feet below the base
of the coal measures. " f.
For the whole distance, the bottom Of
the valley is composed of alluvial de-
posit, generally overflowed in time OF
high water. The side hill bluffs are
covered heavily with DRIFT material,
largely coarse gravel, so that no solid
rock excavation is encountered in the
cuts. .. ..a -
For the first fifteen miles the valley
is narrow and tortuous, and on the ninth
mile in Clark township, Coshocton
county, in order to avoid the loss of
two and half miles of distance, have
located tunnel 1,lOO feet in length
through McNeal's Hill. l have estima-
ted it upon the supposition that the drift
would be made through the soft sand
rock, which shows in the hill above the
height of the tunnel, which, however,
is sufficiently hard not to require arch
ing. Should future examination by
boring prove otherwise, it would be adj
yisable to make additional surveys at
this point, to test morec fully thecom-
parative cost of route around the
point s.it r.gro, f-artF -
From a point three miles south of
Millersburg,l the valley becomes more
direct in its course, requiring but mod
crate curves, and admitting Of tangents
from two to five miles long. rsH -
The summit and head waters of Black
River, flowing into the Lake, are
reached in the marsh south of Lodi, in
Medina county, at height OF three
hundred and forty-five feet above Lake
Erie, and one hundred and thirty-nine
feet above the starting point. From
thence northward the route lies in an
open country, following the general di-
rection of Black River to its mouth.
This stream has no valley in the or
dinary sense of the word--simply
primary channel from one to three hum
dred feet in width and from twenty to
thirty feet in depth below the surround
ing table land, within which the stream
flows, in ordinary water, in secondary
channel winding from bank to bank.
ELEMENTS OF BUSINESS.
In Coshocton and Holmes counties,
the country adjacent to your line con-
sists of a succession of hills attaining
rapidly the height of from four hun
dred feet above the valley of the Kill
buck. The soil, however, is we'll adapted
to the growth OF wheat and other or
binary Ohio products when properly
farmed. The chief wealth of these
counties lies beneath the soil, in the ex-
tensive beds of coal and iron. From the
lake, your great market, you reach the
first kno,en workable veins of coal on
the south side of Paint Creek, in Holmes
county, distance of sixty-fOur miles
from Black River; from this point to
Black Greek, distance of ten and a
half miles, is what the State Geologist
pronounces "the most productive coal
region of the county" tReport for 20,
page 476). Coal can be seen in every
,,s, In, la NJ or to TO-
posed. The upper seams nearest the
hill tops being less covered with drift,
have been more readily discovered and
opened, and having been more than suf-
ficient to supply the demand for domes-
tic purposes (the only one heretofore
existing), the lower seams are but little
known. OF the bottom seam, the State
GeOlogist, on same page, makes these
remarks: 'This is true block coal, of
fair quality, and reasonably free sui
phur. 1t inclines to break up in small
pieces, is quite rusty, and OF rather an
uninviting appearance. The black
smiths do not like 1t, as they prefer n
softer and more melting coal; as their
opinion, where little coal is mined, Is
potent in determining the reputation OF
different Goals, that from this seam has
not had the value it deserves" page
4T.) ''From ten to thirty feet above
coal No. (bOttom seam), is a local de-
posit of coal and iron ore, which have
been able to trace over large part of
the county west of the Killbuck. 1t