﻿CHAPTER 
  I. 
  

  

  ECONOMICAL 
  GEOLOGY. 
  

  

  Coal. 
  — 
  The 
  extensive 
  area 
  of 
  the 
  Illinois 
  Coal 
  Field, 
  covering 
  more 
  

   than 
  thirty-six 
  thousand 
  square 
  miles 
  of 
  territory 
  within 
  the 
  bound- 
  

   aries 
  of 
  this 
  State, 
  is 
  now 
  under 
  a 
  process 
  of 
  rapid 
  development, 
  

   and 
  the 
  liberal 
  expenditure 
  of 
  capital 
  and 
  labor 
  in 
  this 
  special 
  field 
  

   of 
  human 
  industry 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  decade, 
  has 
  resulted 
  in 
  placing 
  

   Illinois 
  as 
  the 
  second 
  on 
  the 
  list 
  of 
  coal 
  producing 
  States 
  of 
  the 
  

   Union. 
  No 
  other 
  mineral 
  resource 
  within 
  our 
  borders 
  is 
  at 
  all 
  com- 
  

   parable 
  in 
  intrinsic 
  value 
  with 
  our 
  coal 
  deposits, 
  and 
  their 
  complete 
  

   development 
  is 
  a 
  subject 
  of 
  vital 
  interest 
  to 
  the 
  commonwealth, 
  and 
  

   deserves 
  to 
  be 
  encouraged 
  by 
  all 
  legitimate 
  means. 
  

  

  The 
  abundance 
  of 
  coal, 
  the 
  wide 
  area 
  over 
  which 
  it 
  extends, 
  and 
  

   the 
  facility 
  with 
  which 
  it 
  can 
  be 
  mined, 
  and 
  the 
  low 
  price 
  at 
  which 
  

   it 
  has 
  been 
  placed 
  upon 
  the 
  market, 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  leading 
  cause 
  of 
  

   the 
  great 
  increase 
  in 
  our 
  railroad 
  facilities 
  and 
  manufacturing 
  in- 
  

   dustries, 
  thus 
  adding 
  vastly 
  more 
  than 
  the 
  intrinsic 
  value 
  of 
  the 
  

   coal 
  product 
  alone, 
  to 
  the 
  material 
  wealth 
  of 
  our 
  people. 
  It 
  has 
  

   enabled 
  us 
  to 
  compete 
  successfully 
  with 
  the 
  water 
  powers 
  of 
  New 
  

   England 
  in 
  the 
  manufacture 
  of 
  our 
  raw 
  products, 
  and 
  thus 
  saves 
  the 
  

   cost 
  of 
  a 
  double 
  transportation 
  to 
  which 
  our 
  people 
  were 
  heretofore 
  

   subjected, 
  in 
  the 
  transfer 
  of 
  our 
  raw 
  products 
  to 
  the 
  eastern 
  manu- 
  

   facturers, 
  and 
  the 
  manufactured 
  product 
  back 
  to 
  the 
  great 
  food 
  pro- 
  

   ducing 
  centers 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  valley. 
  

  

  In 
  Eock 
  Island 
  county, 
  where 
  only 
  the 
  lower 
  seam, 
  or 
  No. 
  1 
  of 
  

  

  the 
  general 
  section 
  of 
  the 
  Illinois 
  Coal 
  Measures, 
  is 
  found 
  thick 
  

  

  enough 
  for 
  profitable 
  mining, 
  and 
  where 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  relied 
  on 
  for 
  

  

  the 
  supply 
  of 
  the 
  entire 
  region 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Kock 
  Island 
  rapids 
  for 
  

  

  the 
  last 
  thirty 
  years 
  or 
  more, 
  the 
  supply 
  is 
  now 
  well 
  nigh 
  exhausted, 
  

  

  and 
  the 
  counties 
  lying 
  further 
  east 
  and 
  south 
  must 
  now 
  be 
  resorted 
  

  

  to 
  for 
  the 
  future 
  3upply 
  of 
  that 
  region. 
  Eock 
  Island 
  county 
  lies 
  on 
  

  

  the 
  extreme 
  northwestern 
  borders 
  of 
  the 
  coal 
  field, 
  and 
  the 
  Coal 
  

  

  Measures 
  there 
  rest 
  upon 
  Devonian 
  limestone, 
  the 
  whole 
  of 
  the 
  

   —2 
  

  

  