PEORIA COUNTY. 247 



Xo. 7 is tbe only seam outcropping above the level of the streams, and 

 it attains here a thickness of about three feet, which is fully double 

 what it will average in the southern part of the county. 



Below the level of the Illinois river there is also at least two coal 

 seams, as has been demonstrated by the borings of Yoris & Co., oppo- 

 site Peoria, and by the Elinwood Mining and Manufacturing Company, 

 that are of sufficient thickness to be worked successfully whenever the 

 supply from the higher seams becomes exhausted, making in all five 

 x ams underlaying nearly the whole of this county, except the valleys 

 of the Kickapoo and the Illinois river. 



Economical Geology. 



Coal. There are but few counties in the State where so great an 

 amount of coal can be obtained at a minimum cost of mining as in this. 

 Coals Xo. 4, 6 and 7 outcrop on all the streams in the southern part of 

 the county, and can be worked in the most economical way by horizon- 

 tal tunnels driven into the hill sides on the natural outcrop of the 

 seams, while in the central and northern portions of the county, where 

 the two principal seams are below the level of the creek valleys, they 

 may be reached by shafts not exceeding seventy-five to one hundred 

 feet in depth. These three coals have an aggregate thickness of about 

 ten feet, and will yield ten million tons of coal to the square mile. 

 They probably underlie fully one-half of the entire area of the county; 

 and in addition to these there are probably two more, with an aggre- 

 gate thickness of about seven feet, underlaying the whole area of the 

 county, and capable of yielding about seven million tons of coal to the 

 square mile. I know of no other county in the State, except Fulton, 

 where so great an amount of coal can be mined at the same cost as 

 here, and the facilities for transportation over the various railroads 

 centering at Peoria. as well as by the Illinois river, are such as to make 

 this one of the most important coal producing sections of the State. 



The quality of the coal obtained from the three seams now being 

 worked in this county is variable, and even from the same seam the 

 quality varies somewhat at different localities. Most of the coal now 

 mined in the southern part of the county, and on the lower course of 

 the Kickapoo, is from Xo. 4. and the coal it affords is somewhat harder 

 than that from either of the other seams, and therefore a better coal for 

 transportation. The coal from Xo. 6 is not only softer, but freer from 

 pyrite and other impurities, and is an excellent coal for the smith's 

 forge. Xo. 7 also affords a soft coal, generally free from pyrite, but 

 containing a much larger per cent, of ashes than that from Xo. 6. The 

 following analysis, by Messrs. BLAXEY and MARINER, of coals from 



