80 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



to a hundred feet below the surface. The seam above it worked by Mr. 

 Jines, north of Wilkie's, affords a harder coal, but it seldom exceeds 

 a thickness of about eighteen inches, aud can ouly be worked by strip- 

 ping. The coal on Hog prairie ranges from eight to fifteen inches in 

 thickness, and is not much worked at the present time. The main coals 

 lay at a considerable depth in this county, and maybe reached by deep 

 shatts whenever thedeniand forcoal shall be such as to justify extensive 

 mining operations. The approximate depth to No. 7 coal would proba- 

 bly not be more than two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet in the 

 south part of the county, and from three hundred aud fifty to four 

 hundred in the northern portion, aud No. 5 may be found about a 

 hundred feet below No. 7. These depths will prove to be no serious 

 obstacle in the way of coal mining whenever the demand for a large 

 amount of coal shall arise. 



Lime. — The thin baud of limestone below the coal on Hog prairie has 

 been burned for lime, but the bed is too thin to furnish au adequate 

 supply for the wants of the county, and the quality is inferior to that 

 obtained from St. Louis. 



Clay and Sand. — Clay suitable for brick making is abundant in every 

 neighborhood, aud may be obtained from the subsoil of the upland 

 almost anywhere that it is required, and sand suitable for mortar and 

 cemeut is also abundant. 



Mineral Springs. — There is a Chalybeate spring one and a half mile 

 east of McLeansboro, the water of which is strongly charged with car- 

 bonate of iron. The water in Dr. DeFoe's well, in McLeansboro, is 

 also highly charged with mineral substances, of which the following 

 qualitative analysis has been furnished by Prof. Cos : 



Kentral to test paper. Sulphate of lime. Sulphate of protoxyd of iron. 



Ch:oride of magnesia. Sulphate of magnesia. Carbonate of lime. 



Chloride of sodium. Sulphate of alumina. Carbonate of magnesia. 



Mr. J. M. McDaniel's mineral spring north of town, is a strong, 

 saline, sulphureted water, that would probably prove beneficial in 

 cases of general debility. The water iu Dr. DeFoe's well probably 

 derives its mineral properties from the shale overlaying the thin coal 

 that outcrops on Hog prairie, as that coal and the overlaying shale was 

 passed through iu sinking the well, aud the two springs above named 

 may derive their mineral ingredients from the same source. Possibly 

 this shale may be the same that imparts its mineral properties to the 

 water at several localities in Wayne county, especially west and north 

 of Fairfield. 



Soil and Agriculture. — On the main branch of North Fork and on 

 some of the smaller streams in this county there are belts of alluvial 

 bottoms of variable width, that were originally covered with a heavy 



