WOODFORD COUNTY. 341 



South of Versailles, in section 33 of this township, there is another quarry, 

 the rock from which is reported to be similar to that above mentioned. Some 

 small exposures of limestone are reported along the Mackinaw river, but wheth- 

 er in Woodford county or beyond its limits, I did not learn. There is an out- 

 crop of limestgne a few miles northwest of Metamora, in section 1, township 

 27, range 3 west. This exposure has been described in the preceding pages. 



Coal. The supply of this -important mineral is quite limited. The only 

 mine that is worked at present, is the one northwest of Metamora in section 1, 

 township 27, range 3 west. The seam worked here is probably coal No. 6 of 

 the Illinois valley section. So far, this coal has been tested at two places in 

 this county, and at each it is from three to three and a-half feet thick, and 

 there is a band about nine inches thick near the middle of the seam, that fur- 

 nishes an excellent quality of coal, while that above and below is very poor. 

 A boring was made from the bottom of this shaft, to see if a more valuable 

 coal could not be found. Coal No. 4 (?) was struck about seventy feet below, 

 but was only ten inches thick. The next seam, if No. 3 is absent here, would 

 be No. 2, and probably lies about one hundred and fifty feet below this. 



This lower coal, No. 2, has been reached at Minonk, by sinking a shaft about 

 four hundred and forty feet and boring about one hundred feet farther. The 

 coal was found to be three feet ten inches in thickness. This seam probably 

 underlies the whole county at a depth of from three hundred to five hundred 

 and fifty feet. Elsewhere, coal No. 4, numbered 24 in the section of the Mi- 

 nonk shaft, may be thick enough to be of some value. In the LaSalle section, 

 reported by H. C. Freeman, this seam is from three to six feet thick. 



Though coal cannot be obtained in this county, except by means of shafts 

 sunk to a considerable depth, still it can be furnished from abroad to those 

 along the line of the railroads at reasonable rates, and hence deep mining has 

 not been largely undertaken. 



Soil and Agricultural Products. The soil of the prairie is usually of a 

 black or dark brown color, and from one to three or more feet deep. Its dark 

 color shows it to be largely composed of humus, which has resulted from the 

 growth and decay of vegetable and animal matter upon the surface for long 

 ages. This admixture of organic matter with the finely pulverized mineral 

 matter, which constituted the upper surface of the Drift, when it emerged 

 from the waters in which it had accumulated, was necessary in order to form 

 the fertile soil which now constitutes the surface of our prairie lands. - The 

 brown clays, which lie immediately below this vegetable, mould, and forms the 

 subsoil, do not readily absord the excess of moisture which filters through 

 the soil, and hence the surface is frequently rendered too wet, where it is level 

 or but slightly rolling, as is the case over a considerable portion of this 

 county, to be successfully cultivated without artificial draining. It is true, 



