SCHUYLER COUNTY. 83 



two divisions form but one seam. On the same branch, a little higher up, the 

 bituminous shale of coal No. 3 is about three feet thick, underlaid by a few 

 inches of impure coal. The shale contains large concretions of dark blue arena- 

 ceous limestone, containing fossil shells, among which were Aviculopecten 

 rectalaterarea, Cardiomorpha Missouriensis, two or three species of small Gonia- 

 tites, Productus Prattenanus and Chonetes mesoloba. The hard gray limestone 

 which intervenes between these coal seams, at Chadsey's place, and at many 

 other points in this county, was wanting here. It is usually from four to six 

 feet thick, and more or less concretionary in structure, and resembles, in its 

 lithological characters, the concretionary member of the St. Louis group, but 

 may always be distinguished by its fossils, which consist of two or three species 

 of Naticopsis, Spirifer lineatus, Pleurotimaria sphserulata and Athyris subtilita. 

 The lower division of the Coal Measures, embracing the horizon of the 

 three lower coal seams, underlies nearly all the highlands in the central and 

 eastern portions of this county, and are found outcropping on all the principal 

 streams and their tributaries. In the western part of the county, on Crooked 

 creek, and the region lying west of that stream, the beds rise so that the Lower 

 Carboniferous limestone, and the conglomerate sandstone, form the principal 

 outcrops in the bluffs of the creek, while only a few feet in thickness of the 

 lower portion of the Coal Measures, sometimes including coal No. 2, are found 

 underlying the adjacent highlands. It is not probable that any coal, except 

 No. 2, will be found west of Crooked creek, of sufficient thickness to be of 

 any economical importance. 



The upper seam developed in this county, or No. 4 of the general section, is 

 found in the vicinity of Rushville and Pleasant View, and is by far the most 

 valuable coal in the county, and will furnish an abundant supply of coal, suffi- 

 cient to answer all the demands of the region adjacent to its outcrop, for many 

 years. Its position in the series, is about one hundred and seventy-five feet 

 above the base of the Coal Measures, and consequently, it is only found under- 

 lying the most elevated portion of the county, comprising a belt of country from 

 two to four miles in width, extending northwesterly from Pleasant View to a 

 point a few miles northwest of Rushville, where the surface level gradually 

 slopes away towards Crooked creek, and soon sinks below the level of this coal. 

 No deep mining will be necessary to reach this seam, for if found at all, it will 

 be at a depth varying from fifty to seventy-five feet, or less, below the surface, 

 and it is found outcropping on the head-waters of several of the small streams, 

 that serve to drain the elevated region which it underlies. The seams below 

 this are generally too thin to be worked at the present time, except along their 

 outcrop, where tunnels can be driven into them, and the coal taken out without 

 the expense of sinking a shaft down to the coal, through the overlying strata. 



