, 1870-04-16

Its Abundance md Excellence on the
atuo OF the St. LoulA aad Soath-
eastern lsnIIrond Compnny-Eoul.
pnrntivc> Analysis with the Big |
Muddy Con1.
saczu ILLINOIS SALT CONTAIN.
.. EQuALT, Ill, April ., 1907
z c. Ris, Eag., Chitf Enentsr 81 Lonts and SII.A-
onEteTn haf!srdy Company, 81 LOsi1:
DEAR S1R: In reply to your lnq-lsy con, ,eEa-
ing the extent and quality Of the coal b.ds Ia
this vicinity On the line of tho St. L1uls 4
Southeastern Railway, l can state that VIC
and here is to be found the thickes: part Of
tho Western coal measures in tho State. There
are eleven beds Of coal, Bcren OF which can
be worked prodtsbly, and give N aggregate
Of thirty feet in thickness Of COIL The
nppeF bed, ipoTn NOV, 70 geo'ogis;,s, t., as No; Il,
smith work, and identical with the II Big Mud
dy" and the Pittsburgh coal Of PennsyiTania.
Bed No. 10 Is three feet thick, but is not open
ed in this vicinity it ia frequently merged into
accounts for the extra thickness Of that bod a
vArious plaees, RI for instance at Big Mud
dy." Tho 3rc feet bed or No. 9, is tho most
extensively worked, nnd for general purposes
Tue moat valuable coal in The series. It Ia
= bard, black, bright, frec-burningQ btu
minous coal, and Is superior to any othe.
for the generation Of steam, making bat little
ashes Of clinker. Beds No. 6 and no. are,
respectively, three aud four feet thick. TIE
analysis Of No. closely resembles the Wors-
, bo1o furnace coal, and No. 6 closely resembles
the Clyde iron works sphnt coal. Both OF
1rof, .. D. Owens, in his report on these
coaie, eays, that Sor rapidity Of ignition aud
! esapora.ive power they will Iank NTH the
Newcastle, Scotch, and Yorkshire coa!s. and
| seem to be equally we'll adapted for furnace
| operations and manufacturing purposes gener-
! ally" The above four beds arc opened and
tionr, made By Prof. F. Cox, assisted By
Prof. Leo Les9uercu1, have shown that 81 Big
Muddy" is At the top Of tho coal measures,
snd consists Of Noa. 10 and II, separated only
! by thin laser OF sha1os. To show moro clear
" the identity of our coal No. II with the
'7BiE Muddy coal. enclose the analysis Of
| both, made in 1853, BY Professor Norwood,
then illinois State Goologist. The reports and
| analyBes publisbed By those eminent geologiats,
| and E. Coz, speak in tho highest terms Of the
aunlity Of several Of the coals as well ~ the
immense quantity found il this region Pro
fcssor O1ena says tsit would be difficult to
find 70 mnny workable beds Of cos1 concentra'
in 50 limited ed, sss spsce 49, IS naa. II this
their outcrop from tho summit Of the
bluff to low water, aud three OF four more bcde
can be worked in ! mile space" The usua.
estimate Of the contents OF = bed Of coal is on:
million tons to tho squire mile for every FOO
in thickncss Of coal. As we have about si1tcet
feet thickness in tho upper beds already open
Cd and fourteen feet IN the lower beds, ".
nccl not be alarmed about the supply Of coal
Is they now are in Great Britain. Iron or
beds lie about eight miles southwest OF thi
place-and the load bearing veins Of calc. spa
ind f1uor spar, are found cropping out OF th
hill within three milea OF Us. Yours. respect
! fully, Jos. J. CASTLES:
Subioincd are the analyses above referred to