194 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



feet, separated at the outcrop by seven feet of clay parting. These two 

 parts of the seam approach each other under the hill, and unite in a 

 distance of about six hundred feet. 



Shepherd's mines are located about two miles south of Green Elver 

 Station, on the railroad. He is operating two shafts, and driving one 

 drift mine. The shafts are sunk near the base of Mineral creek bluffs. 

 The roof here is stone, same as at Cleveland. The shafts are about 

 sixty feet deep. The coal seam is thickest on bottom or low land, and 

 thins when followed under the hills, same as at Cleveland. One shaft 

 is operated by a steam engine, one by a gin ; both have what the miners 

 call a " sump" in the bottom, for convenience in lifting water out of the 

 mines. The drift is an inclined plane, extending from the surface to 

 the level of the coal. The heavy, overlaying sandstone is higher above 

 the coal than at Cleveland. The shafts and drifts both extend into the 

 same seam. The coal is supposed to be stronger and duller in color than 

 that mined at Cleveland. In Shepherd's mines there is a black shale 

 in places below the coal. 



At Minersville, the mining was all done by driving drifts into the 

 seam from and near its outcrops. These mines are well worked out. 

 Others may be found, when the demand for coal becomes greater. The 

 competition, at .the present time, between Cleveland and Minersville 

 coal on the one hand, and Coal Valley coal on the other, is spirited. 

 The latter has a little, and but little advantage, in the item of trans- 

 portation to market. 



Perry's mines, almost adjoining the latter mines, still furnishes coal in 

 paying quantities. This mine is also reached by drifting into the coal 

 seam. The most noticeable feature here is the basins or "horsebacks," 

 filled with a conglomeration of nodular masses of clay and sulphuret of 

 iron, which are characteristic of this mine. Some of them are several 

 yards in extent. 



The seam under Green river and its valley, in the townships above 

 named, contains a great deal of coal ; but the roof is poor. This has 

 prevented its being strongly worked. 



From what has been said, it will now be seen that there is a large 

 supply of coal stored away in the north-western part of Henry county, 

 for the present and for future generations. The mineral resources of 

 this part of the county will not soon be exhausted, but will, as they 

 now are, continue to be a source of wealth and material prosperity to 

 the county. 



Another heavy coal deposit lies in the south-eastern part of the county 

 about Galva and Kewanee. Between this and the Cleveland and Min- 

 eral creek mines, and over a diagonal strip across the county from the 

 north-west to the south-east corner, which averages from ten to fifteen 



