314 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



surface level. The first shaft sunk Lere, that of Messrs. Claiborne & 

 Co., is located in the valley of a little branch about a mile north of the 

 village, and the coal was readied at the depth of about eighty feet. 

 The following is a section of this shaft : 



Feet. In 



No. 1. Drift clay, with tumbling masses of limestone at the bottom 55 



No. 2. Hard argillaceous limestone 8 



No. 3. Blue shale 21 



No. 4. Bituminous shale 4 



No. 5. Coal 6 



At the Pleasant Plains shaft, a half-mile east of the village, the coal 

 was found at the depth of about eighty-three feet, passing through a 

 thin seam at the depth of forty five feet, which probably represents 

 No. 6. The main coal in this shaft averages about six feet in thickness, 

 and has a good roof of bituminous shale and limestone. This shaft, 

 like the one north of the village, is located in a creek valley some thirty 

 or forty feet below the general level of the adjacent prairie. No accu- 

 rate section of this shaft was preserved, and I was unable to learn 

 whether the Eock creek limestone was found in it, but it must underlie 

 the western portion of Saugamon county at no great depth below the 

 surface, unless it has been swept away by denuding forces. All the 

 building stone used in the vicinity of Pleasant Plains comes from Rock 

 creek in Menard county, and hence we may conclude that there is no 

 outcrop of the bed in Cartwright township. 



At Barclay station, on the Gilman, Clinton and Springfield railroad, 

 a shaft has recently been sunk, and the coal was reached at the depth 

 of about 250 feet. For the following section, furnished by Mr. E. D. 

 LAWRENCE, superintendent, I am indebted to L. A. FULLER, Esq., of 

 Springfield : 



Section of Barclay Coal Shaft. Feet. In. 



Yellow clay 17 



Hard pan 20 



Gray shale 10 



Coal No. 9 8 



Fire clay 1 



Gray shale 70 



Black slate 4 



Coal No 8 2 



Fire clay - 3 



Blue shale 6 



Hard, variegated rock 5 6 



Black slate 1 8 



Coal and rock mixed 1 8 



Fire clay 2 C 



Oray shale 26 



Coal (No. 7?) 1 



Fire cl y , 1 C 



Soft sandstone 17 



Black slate 2 



Coal (No. 6?) 



