Coal mining in Illinois . r name. Not atree had been fallen, and everyone went hither and thitheramong the trees, in search of a better path, as his judgmentdictated or his horse inclined. Large and deep holes, stillfilled with water, whose surface was thickly coated with greenslime, continually obstructed our way. Into these were weoccasionally obliged to plunge, much to our own annoyance,and that of our poor animals, who were ready to sink underthe intense heat. The commercial possibilities of the southwest portion ofthe State were estimated by Forrest Shepherd, Esq. in hisreport and map (Se
Coal mining in Illinois . r name. Not atree had been fallen, and everyone went hither and thitheramong the trees, in search of a better path, as his judgmentdictated or his horse inclined. Large and deep holes, stillfilled with water, whose surface was thickly coated with greenslime, continually obstructed our way. Into these were weoccasionally obliged to plunge, much to our own annoyance,and that of our poor animals, who were ready to sink underthe intense heat. The commercial possibilities of the southwest portion ofthe State were estimated by Forrest Shepherd, Esq. in hisreport and map (See fig. 3) in 1840 to the Boston Associationfor purchasing Mineral Property in Missouri and Illinois. HISTORY 29 Having made an examination of the mineral deposits of thesestates he reports on Illinois as follows: To the Boston Association for purchasing Mineral Propertyin Missouri and Illinois. Gentlemen:—It seemed very desirable to add some con-venient workable coal beds to the above valuable deposits of F ay e u JeAfe. Fig. 3. Map drawn by Shepard, 1840 iron ore; and having by repeated and laborious explorations,satisfied mvself that such beds do not exist in the vicinity of 30 COAL MINING INVESTIGATIONS the Missouri Iron Mountains, nor yet between those mount-tains and Mississippi river, I turned my attention to Illinois,where the first thing of its kind worthy of note, was a bedof excellent bituminous coal, very free from sulphur andearthy impurities, and workable 8 feet in thickness with-out intervention of slate. Its covering is a thin band of shale,and above that, a solid limestone rock. No. 13, is the purchase of the east half of the southeastquarter section No. 29, in township No. 6 south, of range west, containing 80 acres. This tract lies a short distanceeastward of Beaucoup creek, and the above coal bed under-lies the surface throughout, a little above the level of thestream. The surface of this tract is for the most part level,and the soil is of the very fir
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcoalmin, bookyear1915
