WILL COUNTY. 213 



Mr. Andrew Binney, of Braidwood, for the following section of the Eagle shaft, 

 on the southeast quarter of section 8, township 32 north, range 9 east : 



FEET. IN. 



Soil and Drift 22 6 



Sandstone, water-bearing 24 



Clay shale, "soapstone" 27 6 



Coal 2 ft 10 in. to 3 10 



Fire clay 7 to 8 



Coarse, porous, water-bearing sandstone 12 



Fire clay 3 



Coarse sandstone 6 



Greenish fire clay 15 



The section below the coal was obtained while boring in search of another 

 seam. I have suspected that the "greenish fire clay," at the foot of the section, 

 may be the green shaly clay of the Cincinnati group, but have, at present, no 

 means of deciding the matter. 



From other deep borings in this district, I have been unable to get any accu- 

 rate measurements. I understand, however, that at Keeversville, on the west 

 half of section 5, in the same township, several openings have found a portion 

 of the main seam, varying from six inches to two feet in thickness, separated 

 from its lower side by from eight to twelve feet of fire clay, and itself still over- 

 laid by fire clay. At Cadysville, in the east half of section 5, Mr. Wm. Henne- 

 bury has bored, and reports the seams split into two or three portions, each of 

 workable thickness. A company of miners was preparing to sink a shaft at 

 this spot, in the fall of 1868. I have not been able to learn what success they 

 had. 



The soft, shaly sandstones along the Kankakee, above Wilmington, which 

 have been supposed to belong to the Coal Measures, are really part of the Cin- 

 cinnati group, and will be noticed under that head. 



Niagara Limestone. The Sub-carboniferous and Devonian rocks being en- 

 tirely wanting in this part of the State, we find the Niagara group appearing 

 next in order. The limestones of this group underlie fully four-fifths of the 

 area of the county, but the outcrops are somewhat limited, in consequence of 

 the great extent of the Alluvial and Drift deposits. It is difficult to form any 

 very accurate estimate of the beds exposed, because the outcrops are so discon- 

 nected ; but it probably does not much exceed two hundred feet. 



I choose to consider as the uppermost beds, those thin-bedded but compact 

 layers which are slightly exposed near the center of the south half and on the 

 west line of section 13, and in the southwest quarter of section 15, township 35 

 north, range 11 east. The outcrop at these points is inconspicuous, and has never 

 been developed. It could probably be made to yield a sufficient supply for all 

 local uses. 



