58 ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 



coals from No. 6 to the bottom of the measures the boring 

 terminating in the pebbly conglomerate which lies at the base 

 of the coal measures in southern Illinois. For a copy of this 

 record I am indebted to the Hon. C. B. Cole of Chester. 



NATURAL HAS AND OIL. 



Deposits of natural gas have been found at various localities 

 in the State, but they were generally in the drift days that 

 overlie the stratified rocks. This fact has led the writer to 

 conclude that such deposits did not originate in the older form- 

 ations of Devonian and Silurian age, from which the main sup- 

 ply of this material is obtained in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but 

 had been generated in one of the old peaty soils, which are in- 

 terstratified with the drift clays, and are found intact over ex- 

 tensive areas in Illinois. 



Since the publication of A r ol. VII of these reports, several dis- 

 coveries of this kind have been made, among which are two in 

 the edge of DeWitt county, eight miles west of the city of Clin- 

 ton, which are worthy of special notice. In the summer of 1885, 

 Mr. James Barnet, who resides at the locality given above, 

 while boring for water, found gas at two localities on his farm. 

 The first well was carried to the depth of ninety-six feet below 

 the surface, when a flow of gas was encountered with a pressure 

 of about twelve pounds to the square inch. Abandoning his 

 search for water there, he moved his tools to another locality 

 but a short distance away, and at the depth of 137 feet he ob- 

 tained another flow of gas with a pressure of thirty pounds 1o 

 the square inch. This hole wa.s tubed and pipes laid to his 

 dwelling, where the gas was utilized for heating and cooking- 

 purposes. When the gas producing stratum was reached, sand 

 and pebbles where thrown to the surface, indicating clearly the 

 porous character of the material in which the gas had been 

 confined. The following beds were encountered in boring the 

 deepest well: 



Ft. 



Soil and yellow clay 15 



Blue clay 30 



Black soil with wood, &c 3 



Drab clay 8 



Black mold and drift wood 8 



Drajb colored clay 20 



