206 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



Goal No. 2, or " fonr-foot seam," as it is generally called here, is the 

 next workable coal in the ascending order; it has been reached by a 

 shaft on the Saline river, in Gallatin county, at the Independent Coal 

 Company's mines, where, as well as in Union county, Kentucky, it is 

 uniformly four feet thick, and of fine quality for steam and manufac- 

 turing purposes ; the color brownish-black; it has a laminated or splinty 

 structure, with carbonaceous partings, and appears to he remarkably 

 free from sulphur. The space between Nos. 1 and 2 is about one hun- 

 dred and forty (140) feet, and contains, on the Kentucky side of the 

 Ohio, two or more thin seams of coal, but no bed that is thick enough 

 to be worked. 



The Independent Coal Company work both No. 2 and No. 3 from the 

 one shaft, which commences just below No. 4, or "Well coal," and is 

 one hundred and fourteen feet deep. The following section, made from 

 this shaft, will exhibit the character of the strata passed through : 



Section of the Independent Coal Company's shaft, sec. 35, T. 10, R . 

 9 ; coal dips N. 10°, E. about 3° : 



Ft. la. 



Soil and clay 10 



Sandstone 6 



Blue argillaceous shale 8 



Silicious sbale, "with iron-stone 18 



Coal, thin 4 



Fire-clay 5 



Silicious shale, with iron-stone 40 



Gray, sheety -sandstone, with bitumen 3 



Coal, No. 3 3 



Fire-clay 6 



Sandstone 8 



Silicious shale, with iron-stone 10 6 



Black, bituminous, hard slate 5 



Coal, No. 2 4 



121 4 



The space between No. 2 and 3 coal is only twenty-four feet in this 

 shaft, but it is nearly double this depth at Shotwell's mines in Ken- 

 tucky. 



Coal No. 3. — Is of fair quality, but it contains some sulphur, and its 

 reputation in the market is not quite so good as that of the seam 

 below it. 



In drifting or running an entry to the west in this shaft after coal No. 

 3, a serious fault was encountered ; the coal was abruptly terminated 

 by a solid wall of sandstone, and was not recovered up to the time of 

 my visit. No. 2 was being worked in the same direction, with a view 

 to learn if it also is affected by the fault, and to endeavor to discover 

 its nature. My opinion is that the coal will be found above the level of 

 the entry, as the sandstone which occupies its place appears to be the 

 same as the rock which underlies this seam. 



