SALIKE COUNTY. 231 



The sandstone at the top of this section forms a cliff that skirts the 

 eastern edge of the village and bassets to the southward at an angle of 

 20°. It is a whitish-brown micaceous rock, easily quarried in large 

 blocks that can be split with wedges, in pieces of any required size. 

 The facility with which this stone can be worked, its beauty and dura, 

 bility have brought it into great requisition for building chimneys, 

 foundations to houses and various other kinds of masonry, for all of 

 which it is well adapted. ■ 



The coal which is marked No. 8 ? has been imperfectly opened on the 

 basseting face of the cliff, and some coal taken out. The quality is uot 

 good for fuel, and consists of alternate layers of bituminous coal 

 and carbonaceous, soft, fissile shale, largely composed of fragments of 

 obscure plant stems, and belongs to a class known as coal rash. 

 Though it is not good for burning it may prove to be a valuable fuel for 

 s-melting and foundry use, as it appears to be remarkably free from 

 sulphur. To properly test and work this coal a shaft should be sunk on 

 the northeastern edge of the village, where it can be mined on the rise 

 of the strata, not on the pitch, as has been attempted. By this means 

 there would be a natural drainage for the water usually met with in 

 coal mines, and admit of operations being carried on with ease and 

 comfort to the miners. 



In the north part of Saline county there are two or more thin seams 

 of coal of indifferent quality, and of but little, if any, commercial value; 

 consequently there has been scarcely any steps taken by the citizens 

 towards their development. In the neighborhood of Gallatin, near the 

 north-western corner of the county, on section 9, township 8, range 6, 

 Mr. L. Karus has opened a thin seam of coal, and was endeavoring to 

 work it by drifting into the hill. 



This coal may be traced all through the northern part of the county, 

 and is not found at any locality to exceed one foot in thickness. 



The section at Karns' mine is as follows ; dip of strata 5° W. of S. : 



Ft. In. 



Covered apace, drift and soil... 22 



Yellow, ferruginous, brecciated limestone, very silicions 8 



Soft, blue clay shale 6 



Coal 8 in. 1 



Bluish, shale, r/ith stems of plants 5 



The limestone is very impure; it has a reddish-brown color derived 

 from the large amount of oxyd of iron with which it is contaminated. 

 It has a brecciated appearance, and seems to be destitute of fossils ; in 

 the former respect it resembles very much the brecciated limestone 

 under the sandstone, at Merom,on the Wabash river, above Viucennes. 



A limestone that is more or less impure, but not nearly so thick as 

 the limestone in the above section, can be traced through the northern 

 part of the couuty, usually in connection with a thin seam of coal; the 



