MERCER COUNTY. 307 



No. 3 of this section is supposed to represent No. 1 coal. It very closely 

 resembles, in appearance and position, the coal which in other localities in the 

 county is referred to this seam. 



No. 6 is reported to have been worked in sections 16 and 20. None of the 

 mines were in operation at the time 1 was there, and I was unable to make a 

 very satisfactory examination of them. In section 16, at Captain Sisson's mill, 

 this seam was worked by means of a shaft. The coal was reported to be six 

 feet thick, but thinned out towards the east. This may be only a development 

 of No. 1 coal in two divisions, a phenomenon by no means uncommon in other 

 and adjacent counties. As will be seen from the section, these seams are about 

 fifteen feet apart, and nearly half the intervening strata are limestone. A 

 broken coal was reported to have been found in section 1, township 14, range 3, 

 in digging the drain, which at that point is quite deep, and this may corres- 

 pond with the lower coal of the last section. 



In section 34, of this same township, along Parker's run, a coal seam is 

 worked, which may belong to coal No. 1, or perhaps to No. 2. There was but 

 one mine open here, and in this, "horsebacks" or slips are numerous, and the 

 thickness of the coal quite variable. The following section was made here : 



FT. FT. IN. 



1. Sandstone. Not measured 



2. Limestone 2 to 3 



3. Black slate 2 to 2 6 



4. Coal 2 to2 8 



5. Sandy clay . 5 



6. Sandstone. Not fully exposed 



This seam more nearly resembles coal No. 2, as it is usually found in tliis 

 county, in quality and thickness, than No. 1 ; but No. 2 is seldom overlaid by 

 black slate or underlaid by sandy clay, and both are common with No. 1. 



Kinderliook Group. The only strata belonging to this group that I found 

 exposed in this county, are in section 5, township 13, runge 5, near the mouth 

 of Edwards river. Quarries have been opened at this point, and in years past 

 much building material has been taken from here. Both limestone and sand- 

 stone, the latter containing considerable magnesia, are found here. These 

 quarries lie but little above the level of the Mississippi, and are overflowed at 

 high water. But little work appears to have been done at these quarries for 

 some time. Fragments of fossils were observed, but nothing perfect enough for 

 identification was obtained. 



Econo-mical Geology. 



Building Stone. Mercer county has, in some parts, an abundant supply 

 of this material, both of sandstone and limestone. With but one exception, 



