ECONOMICAL <;i:<>LOGY. 53 



Ft. In. 



11. Dark slate ............................................................................. 4 



12. Fire clay ............................................................................... 3 g 



i:i. Coal ................................................................................... i 2 



14. Fire clay .............................................................................. g 10 



1"'. Limestone ............................................................................ 4 



Hi. Blue slate .............................................................................. 2 1<> 



17. Limestone ............................................................................. 4 4 



18. Dark slate ............................................................................. ! 6 



1!'. Black limestone .................................................................... 4 



A>. Blat-k slate ............................................................................ 7 



21. Clay shale ........................................................................... 9 



i. Coal .................................................................................... 9 2 



To-al depth of shaft ............................................................ 129 



This is probably the same coal that outcrops four miles north- 

 east of Ora. on Rattlesnake creek, which I have referred to the 

 horizon of coal No. 1 of the Illinois section. The reported thick- 

 ness of the seam in this shaft is greater than it has been found 

 elsewhere in the state, but it is usually a very irregularly 

 developed seam. 



One of the most important developments of coal in Southern 

 Illinois within the past two years, is the opening up of the out- 

 rrops on Rattlesnake creek in Jackson county, referred to above. 

 near the renter of township 7 south. 3 west. This outcrop was 

 mentioned in the report on Jackson county. Vol. 3, page 74 of 

 these reports, but no attempt to work the seam, except in a 

 very limited way. was made until recently, for the want of 

 proper facilities for transportation. Since the construction of 

 what was formerly known as the St. Louis and Cairo Narrow 

 Gauge Railroad, now known as the Mobile and St. Louis Rail- 

 road. a tramway has been constructed two miles north of Ora, 

 extending from the above named railroad to the mines, a dis- 

 tance of about two miles. 



This was done by Messrs. J. C. Bryden & Co., who have estab- 

 lished a plant on the outcrop of the seam, capable of furnishing 

 from three to four hundred tons of coal per day, with a mining 

 force of one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five men. The 

 M-am varies in thickness at the several outcrops in this town- 

 ship from four to seven feet, and is enclosed between two beds 

 of sandstone. Sometimes the upper sandstone rests directly on 

 the coal, and at other points is separated from it by a thin bed 

 of argillaceous shale. 



