332 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



The coal from this mine is generally good, and easily worked. At but two 

 mines, as far as I learned, are " Horsebacks," or slips, common. The clay 

 band, which is usually from one to two feet above the base of the coal, and is 

 called the " mining seam," is frequently taken advantage of by the miners, 

 who remove it and then break down the coal from above. This seam is found 

 throughout this coal in this region, and serves as a ready means for recognizing 

 it, there being nothing in the other coal seams that corresponds with it. 



This seam probably underlies townships 12, 13 and 14, range 7, and the 

 eastern part of the same townships, range 6. 



Coal No. 4 ? furnishes nearly all the rest of the coal used in this county, al- 

 though but one mine is at present being worked in this seam, but the coal 

 is from four to six feet thick and of fair quality, and the amount annually pro- 

 duced is large. This seam probably underlies the whole county, with, per- 

 haps, the exception of a portion of townships 12, ranges 5 and 6. 



A coal that is supposed to be No. 2, appears in the last named townships, 

 and has been worked a little. Coal No. 1, which lies some forty to seventy 

 feet below No. 2 has not been reached in this county, but it seems probable 

 that it underlies the whole of it. This seam is generally from three to six feet 

 thick, and the coal of fair quality. 



Of the eight townships in 8tark county, four of them, Osceola, Elmira, Tou- 

 lon and West Jersey, furnish nearly all the present supply of coal, Essex fur- 

 nishing but comparatively little, and Valley far less, and none is obtained from 

 Penn and Goshen townships. As may readily be seen, the present yield is but 

 a small fraction of what might be annually obtained, were the demand suffi- 

 cient to justify more extensive operations. As yet there is no railroad pass- 

 ing within the limits of the eounty. But two are talked of; one of them, the 

 Peoria and Rock Island railroad, is to enter the county not far from the line be- 

 tween Valley and Essex, and runs north to near Wyoming, and from thence 

 northwest through the city of Toulon, to Gralva, in Henry county. The other, 

 the Dixon, Peoria and Hannibal railroad, is to enter the county near its north- 

 eastern corner, and passes south to Bradford, and from thence in a southwest- 

 erly direction to Princeville, Peoria county. Both of these roads will pass 

 through more or less of the coal field underlaid by No. 6, especially the one 

 last named. It seems probable that anywhere in this county, along the pro- 

 posed line of the Dixon, Peoria and Hannibal railroad, shafts may be sunk, and 

 reach this upper seam at depths not exceeding one hundred and thirty feet. 

 According to the miners' estimate, there are one million tons of coal to the 

 square mile for every foot of thickness of the seam. Coal No. 6 is generally 

 from four to five feet thick, but supposing that it will average only three feet, 

 this will give over one hundred million tons of coal to either of the three east- 

 ern townships 



