CUMBEELAXD, COLES AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES. 103 



Economical G eolo g y . 



Coal. — Xo workable coal outcrops in this county, unless the seam 

 mentioned above as occurring on the waters of the Little Wabash just 

 over the line in Shelby county may be found in the north-west corner 

 of Cumberland. The coal below the Fusulina limestone in Coles county 

 seems not to have been developed in Cumberland, and the seam above 

 the limestone is too thin to be of any practical value. For deep mining 

 in this county a shaft would have to be carried down from six hundred 

 to a thousand feet to reach the main coals of the lower measures. This 

 would require an expenditure of capital that the present demand for 

 coal in this county would scarcely justify, and hence it will probably 

 be some years before any serious effort to reach the lower coals will be 

 made. In the counties laying west of this, including Bond, Fayette, 

 Montgomery and Shelby, according to the report of Mr. Broadhead, 

 it is about six hundred feet from the Shelby ville coal (No. 15) down to 

 the Danville seam (No. 7 ?), which would be the first one of the main 

 coals that would be reached here, and if that failed to be well developed, 

 about a hundred feet more would have to be penetrated to reach the 

 next workable seam below. 



Building Stone. — The best building stone met with in this county is 

 the sandstone south and southwest of Jewett station, and that quarried 

 in. the vicinity of Greenup, in the bluffs of the Embarras. The former 

 is a hard, gray, micaceous sandstone, that stands exposure well, and 

 may be relied upon for bridge abutments and culverts, as it will proba- 

 bly resist successfully the influeuce of frost and moisture. The other is 

 a rather soft, brown saudstone, that will answer well for dry walls, but 

 liable to crumble on long exposure to the elements. The Fusulina lime- 

 stone, where sufficiently thick bedded, will also furnish a fair quality 

 of stone for rough walls, and several quarries have been opened in it in 

 the northern and western portions of the county. 



Lime. — The limestone just mentioned, which is the only rock of the 

 kind found in the county, is too impure to make a good lime, though we 

 saw one or two points where an attempt had been made to burn it, but 

 evidently with indifferent success. At some points it looked as though 

 it might possess hydraulic properties, and it is quite probable that by 

 burning aud grinding a very good water lime might be made from it 



Iron Ore. — Bands of kidney ore or carbonate of iron of a fair quality 

 were found at several points in the shales over the Fusulina limestone, 

 but in too limited quantities to be of any practical value for smelting 

 purposes. 



