The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-09-04
rOhio State Journal.l
The Geology of Jackson County, o.

AAC OCVIOSy VI OdCASuu COuutyS We
To the Editor of the Ohio State Journal:
There have been three surveys made
of the geology Of Jackson county by
the authority of the State during the
past fourteen years, and yet Professor
Orton, the State Geologist, tells us
that clear and satisfactory statements
cannot be made as to the order Of the
geological elements of economic value
comprised within this county. Many
Of the questions, he tells us, which
were unsettled at the time this survey
was begun in 1869 remain unsettled
still.
The first survey Of Jackson county
was made in 1969-7O by the late Pro-
fessor Andrews, and the result of his
labors are published in the first two
reports of progress of the Geological
Survey. These reports brought to
light the fact the lower Goals Of the
county were beds Of great economic
value; the extraordinary developments
Of the mineral resources Of this coun-
ty during the past six. or eight years
are largely due to the light which
Andrews work shed broadcast over
the land. As whole his work was
we'll done; in fact the later surveys
of the county by our geologists have
tended to confuse rather than clear up
the unsettled questions involved in
the lowermost 200 feet Of the coal
measures.
When, in my annual report as State
Inspector of Mines for 1876, I called
in question the identity of the lime
stone GOAL Of the Hanging Rock re-
gion with the great vein bed Of the
Hooking Valley which Professor An
drews had supposed mere iterated
strata, and all the State geologists
had accepted as facts in the case. DR..
Newberry directed Professor Orton to
resurvey the Hanging Rock region
and establish the true order of the ge-
illogical elements in dispute. Profess
sor Orton, after careful and extend
ed examination of the region in ques-
tion, reached substantially the same
conclusions which l had advanced,
but he affirmed in his report new
and strange theory in regard to the
true order of the two lower Goals In
Jackson county. He insisted that the
Jackson shaft coal and the Wellston
coal were geologically lower and older
strata than the Macksville limestone
that these Goals were interglomerate
beds of sub-carboniferous age and had
no equivalents in other portions of the
Ohio coal fields.
This fact was heralded as a geolog-
ical discovery Of vast Importance and
fresh interest to geological science.
The new facts in regard to the Max
Vile limestone Dr. Newberry declared
(see Vol III Geology, page 24) would
explain IN an unexpected way all the
mysteries that have hung around it
and prove beyond question of doubt
that the lower Goals Of Southern Ohio
are of lower carboniferous age. A
few months later, however, Professor
Orton was obliged to admit that he
was mistaken in this matter, and he
recalled what he had written on the
subject; the mysteries of the Maxville
limestone fell back among the rocky
strata Of Jackson county, and lie bur.
led there.
In the volume now being published
Economic Geology of Ohio, Vol. W
the advance sheets Of which are nov
before me, Professor Orton speaks o.
the Jackson and Wellston Goals al
still disturbing element in the geo
logical scale. 1t is unfortunate tina
Professor Orton did not find time t.
visit this part Of the coal field befor'
he sent his report on the Goals O.
Jackson county to press. The youns
, men whom he employed as assistant
, seem not to have been able to throw
) any satisfactory light upon the unset
, tied questions involved in the lower
most two hundred feet Of coal-bearins
strata and the individual Judgment O
l different private observers are ofse
2 by different conclusions Of other pri
vate observers. The few remark
which the Professor ventures upol
the unsettled questions are timid ant
hesitating. He insists that it will
S take few weeks work carried on il
: a methodical way with the aid of in
strumental measurements before tn
many questions unsettled in 1870 cal
be settled satisfactorily.
4 Referring to the Wellston an
S Jackson Goals, the Professor says
:. almost all those whose judgment i
regard to the question is entitled t
respect, consider the Jackson shat
I coal and the Wellston coal as two dis
r tinct seams, but now and then an IL
telligent person is found who sti