KNOX COUNTY. 323 



spotted by darker slate-colored pebbles. By exposure it changes, on its sur- 

 face, to a lighter and yellowish color that is mellow and pleasing in its effect. 

 It is compact, moderately hard, and makes a valuable building stone. The 

 foundation stone of the " fire-proof" building attached to the court house in 

 Knoxville, was obtained from this locality. 



Sections 27, 33 and 34, township 10, range 2, furnish some building stone. 

 Some of the other localities are section 14, township 10, range 3; section 27> 

 township 10, range 4; and sections 21, 27, 35 and 36, township 9, range 3. 

 Some of these quarries are large, and considerable amounts of material have 

 been taken from them. 



The band of limestone which lies just above coal No. 6, and is from one to 

 four feet thick, has been considerably worked, when so exposed as to be readily 

 obtained. One of the largest quarries in this limestone is south of Yates City, 

 in section 25, township 9, range 4. The bed is here four feet thick, and yields 

 a hard, dark drab or grayish-colored, compact rock, which readily breaks into 

 blocks of good shape for building purposes. 



Limestone for Lime, This is rarely found in any abundance. In township 

 12, range 2, near the center of section 24, considerable quantities of limestone 

 are found, which is manufactured into lime, yielding a fair article. Elsewhere 

 the manufacture has been attempted only on a small scale. For the most part 

 Knox county has to depend upon localities more favored in this respect, for its 

 supply of lime. 



Coal. The best and largest amount is furnished by the upper seam, No. 6- 

 This is principally worked in township 12, ranges 2, 3 and 4, and in townships 

 9 and 10, range 4. This seam is from four to six feet thick, and at many of 

 the mines it is comparatively free from foreign substances, and hence requires 

 but little sorting. " Horsebacks," or slips, which, in some places greatly in- 

 jure this seam, are not so numerous in this county as elsewhere. The coal is 

 somewhat lighter than that from seam No. 4, and is preferred by blacksmiths. 



No. 4* furnishes the northwestern part of the county with a good supply of 

 coal of a fair quality, and the mines in this seam are among the best in the 

 county. Nearly all the coal obtained in township 11, range 2, is, probably, 

 from this seam, and also that from township 9, range 3. It is also worked in 

 some other places, and affords a coal of good quality, and harder than that 



* It is quite probable that No. 5 is also locally developed in this county, but as there is no 

 very decided features pertaining to this seam that will serve to distinguish it from No. 4, un- 

 less both are exposed, it is very difficult to decide positively whether an outcrop of a single 

 seam at about this horizon, belongs to one or the other of these coals. The quality of the 

 coal it affords is more like No. 6, while the roof shales and limestone above it, correspond 

 more nearly with No. 4. In Fulton county, the distance between these coals, when all three 

 are present, is only about thirty-five feet, and when No. 5 is not developed, the distance be- 

 tween Nos. 4 and 6 is about sixty-five to seventy feet. A. H. W. 



