28 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



Tbe upper bed in the above section was found about a quarter of 

 a mile fiom the creek, and at a somewhat higher level apparently 

 than the sandstone, No. 2, forming the top of the bluff; but the inter- 

 vening space could not be more than ten or fitteen feet. Pockets of 

 coal were found here in the concretionary sandstone; but although dug 

 into for coal, they proved to be of very limited extent. The micaceous 

 sandstone No. 3, of the section, affords some very good building stone, 

 and some of the thin layers are distinctly ripple-marked. 



The calcareous shale^afforded numerous fossils of the same species 

 found at the Lamotte bridge. 



At Mr. Nettle's place, on the N. E. qr. of sec. 24, T. 5, E. 12, coal 

 has been mined for several years. The coal is about IS inches thick, and 

 has a roof of fine black slate, resembling a cannel coal, nearly as thick 

 as the coal itself. The black slate is overlaid by two or three feet of 

 calcareous shale, containing Orthis carbonaria, Retzia pwnctulifera, and 

 joints and plates of Crinoidce. This coal I believe to be the same as 

 that near the top of the hill at Palestine landing, and No. 12 of the 

 Illinois section. 



Prof. Cox reports the following outcrops in this county, at localities 

 which I did not visit: "In the hill east of the Shaker mill, sec 32, T. 5, 

 E. 12, a soft, yellowish, massive sandstone, forming cliffs along the 

 ravines, and in places weathering into ' rock houses,' or oven-like cavi- 

 ties. Section here as follows: 



Ft. 



SoiTand covered space 5 



Flaggy sandstone in two to eight inch layers '. 8 



Solid bedded sandstone 13 



Sandy shales, flagstones, and an occasional showing of massive soft 

 sandstone form the prominent geological features of the southern and 

 western portions of the county. Arouud Hebron, four miles south of 

 Eobinsou, massive sandstone forms cliffs 15 to 20 feet high, probably a 

 continuation of the rock seen at the Shaker mill. Two miles and a half 

 south-east of Belair, found the following section at Gooden's coal bank : 



Ft. 



Slope of the hill SO 



Hard blue argillaceous shale 10 



Coal (breaks in small fragments) 1 to 1^ 



This mine is worked by a shaft. A quarter of a mile below, on Willow 

 creek, the same coal is worked on Mr. Matheney's pjlace by stripping, 

 where the coal is of the same thickness." 



This coal must be as high in the series as No. 13 or 14 of the general 

 section, and may be the same as the coal mined near Newton and New 

 Liberty, in Jasper county. 



