TAZEWELL, Mo LEAK, LOGAN AND MASON COUNTIES. 185 



afforded the following section, after passing through about seventy feet of soil 

 and Drift : 



FEET. IN. 



1. Light blue arenaceous shale 6 



2. Hard, bluish, impure limestone, containing many small corals, etc 3 



3. Black slate 10 



4. Coal 1 6 



5. Fire clay 6 



6. Arenaceous shale 3 



The black slate which had been taken from the shafts was too much decom- 

 posed at the time of my visit for me to obtain from it any well preserved fos- 

 sils, although amongst the rubbish I observed various indistinguishable frag- 

 ments of what had apparently been fossil shells. The coal in this section is 

 probably not below No. 6 of the Illinois river section, and may possibly be 

 still higher. About four miles south of Lincoln, on the land of Mr. J. 

 Braucher, near the center of the south line of sectien 14, township 19, range 

 4, a hole was sunk by boring to the depth of near two hundred and fifty feet, 

 and three separate seams of coal were reported to have been met with. Un- 

 fortunately, however, the particulars of the variation and thickness of the beds 

 could not be obtained, and we are therefore unable to form an opinion as to the 

 equivalents of these seams. In a boring at Atlanta, in the northern part of 

 the county, a seam three feet and six inches thick, was reported at the depth 

 of two hundred and forty two feet, the overlying bed, as reported, consisting 

 of alternating strata of "slate," " soapstone," "rock," (limestone?) etc. This 

 is probably coal No. 6, although, without more positive evidence than is 

 afforded by an isolated boring, nothing can be stated with absolute certainty. 



The two shafts at Bloomington,' which have been mentioned in the remarks 

 concerning the Drift, in a previous portion of this chapter, afford us the most 

 satisfactory section of any of the excavations in the district, enabling us to 

 identify the two seams of coal which they penetrate, with numbers 4 and 6 of 

 the general Illinois river section. The following section, made up from records 

 afforded by both shafts, illustrates well the variation of the strata of the mid- 

 dle Coal measures in this region. This section commences at the base of the 

 Drift, and its upper portion, from 1 to 4 inclusive, was afforded by the Bloom- 

 inton Coal Company's shaft, and the remainder by that of the McLean county 

 Coal Mining Company, a mile farther south, along the railroad track: * 



* Since this report was written, the McLean County Coal company have extended their shaft 

 down to a lower coal, which they struck at the depth of 513 feet 8 inches below the surface. 

 The following is the section below No. 4 coal: 



FEET. IN. 



Fire clay 10 



Slate 3 



24 



