SCHUTLER COUNTY. 79 



The beds comprising the upper part of the foregoing section, are found well 

 exposed in the vicinity of Rushville, and also on a small branch, which heads 

 near Pleasant View, and runs eastwardly into Sugar creek. They enclose coal 

 seam No. 4, one of the most persistent and valuable in the Illinois Coal Field, 

 which outcrops in the vicinity of Pleasant View, and from thence trends north- 

 westwardly to Rushville, underlying an elevated plateau around and between these 

 points, that forms the water shed between the tributaries of Crooked creek and 

 Sugar creek. The seam ranges in thickness from four to six feet, and in this 

 county averages about five feet. The roof is generally a bituminous shale, which 

 often contains large nodules of dark blue or black limestone, filled with marine 

 shells, among which are Productus muricatus, Clinopistha radiata, Pleuropho- 

 rus soleniformis, P. radiatus, Cardiomorpha Missouriensis, Distinct nitida, 

 Schizodus curtus, etc. Above the black shale, there is usually a bed of bluish 

 gray limestone, containing joints of crinoidea, and a few small brachiopods, 

 among which the Spirifer lineatus, and a small variety of Atkyris subtilita, are 

 the most common. The shale and limestone forms an admirable roof to the 

 coal seam, so that it can be worked with perfect safety, and in the most eco- 

 nomical manner. Below the coal, there is usually, first, a thin bed of shaly 

 clay, and then a bed of septaria, from two to four feet thick. Messrs. M. Far- 

 well & Co., have been mining this coal in the vicinity of Pleasant View, for 

 many years, for the supply of steamboats at Frederick four miles distant, on 

 the Illinois river. It was first worked by tunneling into the hill where the 

 coal outcrops, on the breaks of a small stream running into Sugar creek, but is 

 now worked mainly by shafts sunk from the general surface level down to the 

 coal. I am indebted to Mr. J. Watson Webb, assistant engineer on the Rock 

 Island and St. Louis railroad, for the following elevations : 



FEET. 



Eight of the coal seam at Pleasant View, above the high water level of 1844 190 



Above the river bank, opposite Beardstown 202 



This seam has so great an elevation, that it will probably be found under- 

 lying only the highest lands forming the water shed already mentioned, and 

 consequently, extending over only a limited area in the southern part of town- 

 ship 2 north, range 1 west, and the eastern portion of 2 north, 2 west. 



In the vicinity of Rushville, this seam has been worked for many years, and 

 on my first visit to the county in 1854, I found it opened about a mile north- 

 east of the town, where the seam outcrops in a small ravine, on the land of 

 Mr. Rose. Subsequently, this coal has been worked at various points in this 

 vicinity, and during the past year, a shaft has been sunk about a mile northeast 

 of Rushville, and the coal was found at the depth of twenty-five feet. The 

 coal presents the same general character here as in the vicinity of Pleasant 

 View, and the business of coal mining has been greatly extended, since the 



