308 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



the quarries are in strata belonging to the Coal Measures. Nearly all the most 

 important sandstone quarries appear to belong to one horizon, which is but a 

 few feet above coal No. 2. This bed is worked in section 21, township 13, 

 range 2, section 9, township 14, range 3, sections 35 and 36, township 15, range 

 3, and in some other places. When first taken out, the stone is quite soft, and 

 is easily cut into blocks of any desired size, but on exposure becomes harder. 

 So easily is this stone worked, that an old ax is frequently used, and is all that 

 is necessary to dress the more irregular and uneven beds into shape, and is also 

 frequently used to split the larger ones. These quarries have been opened 

 along the slopes of the hills where but little material has to be removed to reach 

 the rock, and when heavy stripping is required, the quarries are abandoned and 

 new ones opened. Though this sandstone bed is not continuous, frequently 

 changing into sand or sandy shale, still the workable portions are sufficiently 

 extensive to render the supply inexhaustible. 



Another extensive sandstone quarry is in section 19, township 13, range 2 

 This is probably below coal No. 2, and appears to be near the base of the Coal 

 Measures. 



In sections 3, 4 and 5, township 14, range 2, there are extensive quarries of 

 gray or drab colored limestone. The rock is mostly quite thin bedded, very few 

 of the layers reaching eight inches in thickness. It is, however, largely used 

 and much liked. This bed is from ten to fifteen feet in thickness, and is sepa- 

 rated from coal No. 1, which lies below it, by two feet of blue limestone. The 

 quarries of H. Boone, Esq., in section 34, township 15, range 2, are in this 

 bed. Large amounts of building material have been taken from these quarries, 

 and still the rock has only been worked back for a few feet along some of its 

 outcrops. 



A hard, calcareo-arenaceous rock has been quarried to some extent in the 

 northwest quarter of section 15, township 15, range 3. Building stone has 

 also been obtained from the Coal Measure rocks at a number of other places. 



The Kinderhook group affords a fair article of building stone, which has been 

 quarried on section 5, township 13, range 5, just north of the mouth of the 

 Edwards river, and on the point of land formed by it and the Mississippi. Both 

 sandstone and limestone are found here, and considerable material has been taken 

 out in times past, though at present the quarries appear to be nearly abandoned. 



Limestone for Lime. Some of the blue limestone, No. 2 of the last section, 

 found above coal No. 1, has been burned, and produces a fair article of lime, but 

 generally needs to be screened before using, and the amount thus obtained is 

 comparatively small. 



Coal. Mercer county has an abundant, though unequally distributed, supply 

 of coal. The upper seam, No. 3 (?), has been found only in sections 31 and 32, 

 township 14, range 2. The coal is from three to five feet thick, and at the 



