"The quality of this coal is good, though hardly equal to the best coals of the State, as seen at Duquoin, Lasalle, Danville, and Fairbury.
"It is very compact, in thick layers, with mineral charcoal between, with some thin seams of carbonate of lime, and sulphate of iron in small quantity.
"Vast quantities of small coal lie around the mines, waste and useless, which might be converted into the finest coke.
"The area covered by workable coal in the region of Rock Island is quite limited; and every ton will be needed for the local consumption and the country west in Iowa. It will not be carried north or east, as the Lasalle mines will more naturally supply that demand.
"The coke from this coal is used by John Deer, Esq., in his extensive works at Moline. Mr. Deer makes cast-steel ploughs of such superior excellence that they are even shipped to Europe. They are noticed in a recent Russian paper as being the best ploughs yet introduced into that country. It is also used in a raw state by S. W. Thomas, Esq., at Carbon Hill, in his extensive pottery-works, with success. These mines are of great value, and will be the means of building up extensive manufactures of all kinds at Rock Island and Davenport. The possession of cheap fuel will more and more determine the points to which raw material will be transported, and where the great centres of manufacturing industry will be established. E. D." The foregoing quotation is from one of the late Chicago papers, sent us by a friend. We give it not as a description of the most prominent mines, but to convey an idea of the manner and modes of mining.
The mines of St. Clair county, near St. Louis, are perhaps the most extensive in Illinois, and comprise nearly 50 operations, producing about 300,000 tons annually, besides the local consumption, which has been stated at 200,000 tons. The adjoining mines of Madison and Grundy
counties produced in 1864 over 100,000 tons. The mines of Kewanee are said to produce 6000 tons per month during the winter season, and other mines along the line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad about as much. The annual production may be stated at 100,000 tons.
At Lasalle there are also some important mines. That of Col. Taylor is the most extensive in Illinois, and produces about 300 tons per day. It is mined from a single shaft, which is 250 feet deep. This mine is under the superintendence of an old Pennsylvanian, from the Broad Top and Cambria county coal-region. The value of the coal at the mines is fixed at twice the price paid for mining.
We thus find that the mines of St. Louis or vicinity produce 500,000 tons, those of Rock Island over 100,000, those of Kewanee and vicinity 100,000, and those of Lasalle over 100,000, per annum,—making a total of 800,000 tons. It is evident that over 200,000 tons are mined from the mining-localities formerly named and not here repeated: consequently, the production of Illinois must be over 1,000,000 tons annually.
Figure 129 represents the erosion in a large portion of this coal-field.
The seams are horizontal, and the features of the erosion are similar to those of Cumberland, Maryland, or Kanawha, West Virginia, except that both these regions have an inclination more perceptible than the dip of the Illinois, measures, which dip slightly from north to south at an imper ceptible angle.