130 LOWER PENINSULA. 



borings; but none appeared to be valuable enough to induce min- 

 ing enterprises. At Mason, a mile south of the village, the upper 

 coal sandstone is naturally exposed in the bed of the creek, and 

 a thin coal seam has been lately discovered beneath it. In a drill 

 hole sunk in the court-house yard of the village, thin seams of 

 coal were likewise penetrated. 



Four miles north of Mason, a large mass of coal connected with 

 shale and sandstone beds in stratified order, was found standing in 

 almost vertical position in the surrounding drift ; the discoverers 

 entertained great hopes of making their fortunes, and, indeed, 

 succeeded in selling the place at a high price to a speculative 

 genius, who, after I told him what he had bought, vanished from 

 the place, leaving behind a good deal of money and some unpaid 

 debts. In the mineral well of Mr. Frost, at Eaton Rapids, a seam 

 of coal was struck at a depth of 120 feet from the surface ; the 

 incumbent rock beds were alternating strata of shale and sand 

 rock, amounting to 100 feet ; the upper 20 feet were drift. 



In the banks of Grand River, two miles above Eaton Rapids, the 

 upper sand rock of the coal measures projects in bluffs about 12 or 

 15 feet in height ; the rock is of a darker bluish or ferruginous color 

 than usual, and is interstratified with blue shales. It contains 

 Calamites and other vegetable remains, and pyritous concretions. 



In the artesian borings at Lansing, no coal of appreciable thick- 

 ness was found. At the rapids of Grand River, one mile and a half 

 above Lansing, the upper coal sandstone makes an outcrop, and 

 has been quarried on a small scale. Six miles south of Lansing, 

 near the railroad from Eaton Rapids to Lansing, a bed of coal 8 

 feet in thickness was said, some years ago, to have been discovered 

 on the farm of Mr. Minie, but the report did not turn out to be 

 correct. 



At Charlotte, in Eaton County, a boring was made to a depth 

 of 730 feet. In this the sand rock of the coal measures was struck 

 below a drift cover of 50 feet ; some small seams of coal were 

 found beneath the sandstone, but I was not able to find out the 

 details of the boring record. The facts which I mention were 

 communicated from memory by accidental observers of the boring. 

 In the vicinity of Chester, Eaton County, the coal comes close to 

 the surface and often crops out in the ravines of little Thornapple 

 Creek. In one of these outcrops, a coal seam of 3 feet comes out 



