USA > Indiana > Perry County > Cannelton > Cannelton, Perry County, Ind., at the intersection of the eastern margin of the Illinois coal basin, by the Ohio River : its natural advantages as a site for manufacturing > Part 10
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*Dr. D. Dale Owen is of opinion that this is the same stone as that from an analogous forma- tion in Scotland, and used in the construction of Metrose Abbey, "which is 700 years old, and whose cornices are still as sharp and as perfect as if they had been carved only a few years ago."
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ed, but it is considered by the best judges as belonging to the bituminous variety.
No. 7. Is sand-stone, about eighty feet thick. The lower half of it has a dou - ble stratification in the highest degree, showing that the state of the water which deposited it was exceedingly agitated. It also possesses numerous contorted veins of iron ore, which being much more durable than the adjacent sand-stone cause it to present a very jagged appearance where it is exposed to the weather. This circumstance is very characteristic, and furnishes an easy guide to the posi- tion of the coal in the hills. The upper part is regularly stratified, but will not bear exposure to the weather. I have not observed any organic remains in any part of it.
Above this sand-stone lies another bed of coal, but too thin in this vicinity to admit of being worked, though it obtains a workable thickness in other places.
No. 10. Is a bed of very impure limestone, but it is probably not continuous, as I have not detected it elsewhere.
No 11, Is sandstone, and tops out the hill in the lower part of the section, but it possesses nothing of any particular interest. It is seen only on the tops of the highest points.
Cannelton is about one hundred and twenty miles below Louisville, by water, and abour half that distance on a straight line. The section above described, is at the commencement of the great coal field, and the bed represented is the first, or, geologically speaking, the lowest in the series, which consists of four worka- ble beds in all. None of them, however, possess the advantages that are found at Cannelton. either in respect to the quality of the coal, the ease and conse- quently the cheapness with which it can be worked, or in proximity to the river.
Respectfully yours,
B. LAWRENCE, Geologist.
QUANTITY, QUALITY, AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CANNELTON COAL.
The section of the coal seam, at Cannelton, cut by the Ohio, and above low water mark, is somewhat over four miles in width, and ex- tends northwardly at about the same width and elevation, and along the outer edge of the basin; as it increases in thickness where it is cut by the Eel, White, and Wabash rivers, it is believed that it will prove from six to ten feet thick within a few miles of the Ohio; where now worked, each acre yields about 120,000 bushels; a section of four by ten miles would yield over three billions of bushels-a supply for a city of! 100,000 manufactures of cotton, wool, and iron, for six or seven hun- dred years; and besides, when the price of the coal in the hills advances two cents a bushel, the section under the water level will be worked so as to give a front of eight or ten miles. There can be no doubt, then, as to a permanent supply.
As to the quality and characteristics of the coal reference is made to the following reports:
Louisville Gus Works, October 28, 1841.
"Carbonized 2700 lbs. of Hawesville (the Cannelton coal opposite is more free of' slate and sulphur) which produced 9940 cubic feet of gas, 54 bushels of coke weighing 1413 lbs., and about 30 gallons of tar. The gas produced was re- markably free from sulphur.
"J. JEFFRIES, Superintendent."
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ABRIDGEMENT of the Report of JOHN H. BLAKE, Esq., Superintendent of the. Boston Gas Works, of experiments and analysis, made by him on the INDIANA CANNELTON COAL, from the mine of JAMES BOYD, Perry county, Indiana.
" James Boyd, Esq .: With this I send an account of the results obtained from any examination of the sample of coal brought by you from the mine at Cannel- ton, Indiana, by which you will perceive that the middle portion of the rein* is as valuable as any description of coal which is brought to this market. It is partic- ularly to be recommended for the manufacture of illuminating gas, and for burn- ing in parlor grates."
"In the quantity of gas which it can be made to yield, and in the proportion of bicarbonated hydrogen afforded, it will be found to be fully equal to the best coal which is brought here from Newcastle, England; while the small proportion of sulphate of iron, with which it is contaminated, renders it in this respect much enore valuable."
" It differs, in structure, from English cannel coal, which, in chemical compo- sition, it closely resembles."
"So far as my experiments enable me to judge, it will afford as large a quanti- ty of illuminating gas, as the Cannel coal of Lancashire, and in the parlor grate. kindles nearly as readily, and produces an equally agreeable fire. The small quantity of ashes which it leaves in the grate, renders it for the latter use, partic- ularly valuable."
"The specific gravity of two portions selected from the middle part of the vein-the one selected as being the lightest-and the other the most dense part, was found to be 1,230 and 1,244, the mean of which, 1,237, is probably the aver- age weight, compared with pure water of the mass. A solid cubic yard, there- fore, would weigh 2,087 lbs."
"100 grains of this coal, after being thoroughly dried. afforded
Charcoal 61.93
Volatile combustible matter
35.96
100.00
"Of the earthy matter above mentioned, 0.322 parts consists of iron pyrites, which would be equal to less than six and a half ponnds in a ton of coal.
"A quantity of this coal, subjected to destructive distillation, at a bright heat, in i close iron retort, afforded four and a quarter cubic feet of illuminating gas for each pound of coal, which is equivalent to 11,475 cubic feet per chaldron, as- uming the weight of the chaldron to be 2,700 lbs. The specific gravity of the jas was .523."
"The coke produced in this experiment was found to be lighter, to kindle hore readily, and to burn more freely than that obtained from most of the varie- es of coal."}
"By comparing the results obtained in the above mentioned analysis, with those
*NOTE. The middle is the only portion of the vein that is mined as merchantable. The oth- parts, the extreme top and bottom are never brought out of the mine. Yet Mr. Blake, hav- : the entire strata submitted to him, (a column of some 1500 lbs.) analyzed all the parts and ds that portion (the top and bottom) which has hitherto boen rejected, to be very good coal, tier than the Virginia Midlothian.
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Silicia, alumina, sulphate of iron and oxide of iron 2.11
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obtained from coal from other localities, as shown in the annexed table, the com. parative value of the Indiana C'annelton coal will be readily seen."
1
Charcoal.
matter.
Volatile combnsitble
1. Earthv matter.
Specific gravity.
In 100 parts of dry coal.
61.93|35.96 2.1]|1.237
Indiana Cannelion coal.
62.22 35.28 2.50
English Lancashire Cannel coal
48.36 47.01
4.63
English Derbyshire Cannel ccal
61 28 32.52 3.20!
English Newcastle coal
39.43 56.57 4.
Scotch Cannel coal
60.03 30.94 8.95 1.293
Virginia Midlothian
54.20 30.80 15.
Nova Scotia Pictou
Signed,
JOHN H. BLAKE.
Boston, October 8, 1843.
Under an Act of Congress of 1841, Prof. Walter R. Johnson was employed by the Secretary of the Navy to institute a series of experi- ments to test the relative values of different coals; these were made at the Washington navy yard with great care and at great expense-every known test was applied to forty-four kinds, including the best of Nova Scotia, Scotland and England-the results were published in a large volume in 1843-4-U. S. Senate doc. 386.
Under a mistaken impression of the precise purposes for which the coal was desired by the government, an entire section of the Cannelton seam (including the top and bottom shale and an intermediate band of several inches thick, containing a mixture of slate, sulphur, dirt and iron pyrites, and called " dunt" by the miners, and which are throwr aside in the mine) was forwarded to the Department,-notwithstanding these impurities, the coal is placed in the tables-
No. 1. In the order of rapidity of combustion.
10. In the order of completeness of combustion.
66 2. In the order of freedom from waste in burning.
10. In the order of tendency to form clinker.
17. In the order of maximum rapidity of evaporation.
Pittsburg coal (of which selected samples were sent by Messrs. Hep & Co. of New Orleans,) ranks lower in each of these particulars e: cept the fourth, and, as every engineer who has used both knows, th Cannelton is decidedly superior in this respect to any other known i this country, except the pure cannel found on the Kenhawa and Sand rivers.
Compared with the best Liverpool coal, the tables show that the Ca. nelton coal is heavier, has less earthy matter, less tendency to for clinker and has near eight per cent. more of fixed carbon.
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The relative value of the three kinds is perhaps more fairly given in the "table of cubic feet of water evaporated per hour during steady ac- tion," the quantity of each being the same.
Liverpool 13.43
Pittsburg 10.56
Cannelton. 15.05
The only coals that exceeded Cannelton in this table were:
Coke of Neff's Cumberland coal. 16.50 Atkinson & Templeman's and Pictou on the eastern slope. 16.47
In his preface, Prof. Johnson remarks:
"The question of the value of coals for the purpose of generating steam is, of course, mainly dependent on their heating power; that is, on the weight of coal, burned under a given evaporative vessel, can convert into steam, while under- going combustion."
In the tests applied to ascertain its efficiency for making chains it ranks low in the tables; at the mine the smith selects particular layers in the seam, which are easily distinguished and separated, as in England at Sheffield; these are found to be as well adapted for the purposes of the forge as any other bituminous coal.
It is to be remarked that this coal is just now coming largely into use, and that its working peculiarities are not yet understood; our grates, stoves and furnaces are all constructed for the burning of Pittsburg coal, and most of the engineers on our western boats have yet to learn that each requires a different management-the one burns with more rapidi- ty and evolves more heat, and, of course, a less quantity is required in the same time. Experience, however, will soon give all the practical information on the subject that we require.
Sixteen years ago, scarcely a bushel of coal was used on steamnboats, and engineers were very positive in their belief that it never could be used to advantage in steamboat furnaces; now from ten to twelve bush- els of bituminous coal is found to make as much steam as a cord of the best wood, -on the Ohio the one costs from 50 cents to $1 60 and the other about $2 25; the cost of the latter is constantly increasing, and every improvement in the construction of boilers and furnaces is likely to increase the difference in the effectiveness of the two kinds of fuel.
The following extracts are from pages 538 and 598 of Prof. John- son's Report.
"In an office grate, a lump" (of Cannelton coal) "15 inches in diameter was laid on a mass of ignited coke. It immediately took fire and in three minutes was giving off a brilliant flame. From its flaky texture, it speedily disinte- grated into flat masses, burning with little intumescence and scarcely any ten- dency to agglutination. This property allows a free passage to the air, favors rapid combustion, and causes the exhibition of an exceedingly brilliant light. When the white flame had subsided, it was followed by one of a bright blue or purplish tint, (cyanogen?) which having subsided. left a light, porous, glowing fcoke, falling readily into small fragments, which preserve, to some extent, the original lamellated appearance of the coal. On the grate, under the steam boi- ler, it was observed to ignite readily; and it took only half an hour to bring the
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boiler into steady actian from the time the wood was withdrawn and the charg- ing with coal had commenced. No serious inconvenience was felt from the passage of fragments through the grate. ITS PROMPT AND RAPID ACTION SEEMS TO ADAPT IT, IN A REMARKABLE MANNER, TO THE PURPOSES OF WESTERN STEAM- BOATS.
"Experiments appears to demonstrate that for the purposes of rapid evapo- ration, and for the production of illuminating gas, the coal of Indiana, (Can- nelton) though neither very heavy nor very durable, is inferior to none of the highly bituminous class to which it belongs; since in heating power, and in free- dom from impurity, it surpasses the splint and cannel coal of Scotland."
Extracts from Dr. Jackson's Analysis of the Coal. "BOSTON, July 30th, 1836.
". To the Agent of the American Cannel Coal Company :
"DEAR SIR: I have made a chemical analysis of the Indiana coal which you sent me, the result of which you have below:
"The coal is of a brilliant shining black color, and breaks with a conchoidal fracture. Its structure is stratified, and between the layers of coal are found carbonized remains of vegetable fibres. It gives a black streak when rubbed on wedgewood ware, and its powder is black. The coal does not soil the fin- gers when rubbed upon it, and is remarkably clean and free from dust. No traces of pyrites were discoverable in the coal.
Composition of the coal in 100 grains,
Carbon. 48.4
Bitumen. 48.8
Oxide of iron, alumni and silicia 2.8 Ashes.
100.0
"From the above analysis it appears, that your coal is of a highly bitumin- ous nature, resembling more nearly the cannel coal of England than any other variety.
"It is highly valuable for domestic use and is admirably adapted to produce coal gas, which it will yield in great abundance; the bitumen being of a nature resembling petroleum mixed w.th a little asphaltum.
"It is evident that the coal, when burned in the grate, will give a large yel- low flame, and will leave a small quantity of red ashes, consisting of peroxide of iron and a little clay.
"Owing to the abundance of bitumen in this coal, it is admirably suited for locomotive steam engines, and for steamboats, where a rapid and powerful flame is required.
"I have no doubt the Indiana cannel coal, such as yon sent me, will com- mand as high a price in the market as the best cannel coal of England.
"C. T. JACKSON, M. D., Chemist."
BOSTON, April 4th, 1850.
WM RICHARDSON, Esq.
Respected Sir :- I have made a geological investigation of the coal lands belonging to the American Cannel Coal Company, of Cannelton, Indiana, and found them lying upon the southeastern edge of the Indiana and Illinois coal field embracing the saliferous rocks, beds of pure cannel coal, iron ore, and a great variety of beds of sandstone; the whole group compos- ing the lower series of the western coal formation.
Here are four distinct beds of coal, one of which has been mined, success. fully, for some years, and is mined at present to a great extent by James Boyd. Esq., and known by the name of "Boyd and Mason vein." It is 3 feet 9 inch. es in thickness, and has a number of openings into it upon the Company's
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lands in various directions back in the hills, and in many places exceeds 4 fect in thickness.
The American Cannel Coal Company own in fee simple about 7000 acres of good arable land, and well timbered; and, of this amount, after deducting a proper per centage for the area of ravines, I may fairly state that the said Company have nearly 4000 acres of cannel coal land. The coal, lying in nearly a horizontal position, affords the facility for making a nice calculation as to the probable amount of coal contained within these lands. The Ameri- can Cannel Coal Company, according to my calculation, have in one single bed upwards of 400.000,000 bushels of cannel coal, and about 150,000,000 bushels of common bituminous coal in the smaller beds, making in all 550,000- 000 bushels of coal.
The quality of the coal of Cannelton is undoubted. During my stay at Cannelton I observed its combustion in the parlor grates, and under the steam mill boilers, and saw that it made a beautiful fire, and for cleanliness was su- perior to any coal I had ever seen of the bituminous character, and for readi- ness of ignition and yet economical use, surpasses all of the coals of the biti- minous character of the West. By reference to the able and impartial Report of Professor Walter R. Johnson upon American Coals, one may see that the cannel coal of Cannelton, Indiana, rates first in the list of experiments as regards ignition, generating steam, and for domestic purposes.
It mines ont in beautiful blocks of a merchantable character, and can be stowed to great advantage. I therefore recommend it to steamers sailing from, or touching the port of New Orleans. The steamboats upon the Ohio river consume nearly half a million of bushels per annum of this valuable article of fuel, and it is obtained at Cannelton of James Boyd, Esq.
John R. Blake, Esq., of Boston. analyzed the coal of Cannelton, Indiana. and experimented upon its combustion, and found it to surpass in quality all American cannel coals which had as yet been found, also to he superior to the Scotch and Derbyshire cannel coals, but finds it equal to the Lancashire cannel coal of Great Britain.
Immediately under this main bed of coal is a good bed of fine clay, varying in thickness from 5 te 10 feet, suitable for pottery and fine brick, and which is now beginning to be extrensively used. High up in the hills and back from the river are several smaller beds of coal, but not developed.
The sandstones of the hills are an excellent quality of building stone, com- posed of a great variety of brown. grey, and reddish brown sandstones. mostly free from mica, except some of the grey beds which contain it in very fine particles. The layers are easily quarried, and there are some magnificent quarries in the Cannelton hill. that have been opened to obtain the stone for the erection of the Cannelton Cotton Mill.
The coal crops out upon the lands of the American Cannel Coal Company, and has a general inclination to the N. W., with a series of swells in the line of direction of its plane (strike), keeping up the coal for some distance down the river, extending through lands of Stephen M. Allen, Esq., of Boston, and into lands belonging to Judge Ihuntington. The Ohio River passing through the coal formation a few degrees north of northwest. Such physical features present the idea at once, to every practical collier, that these mines are upon the best bank of the river as regards the facility for mining coal, quarrying stone, and the obtaining of timber from the hills.
Timber :- Oak, walnut, maple, cherry, beech, poplar locust, ash, hickory, sycamore, pawpaw, and grape vines in wild abundance.
The soil of the country is of an excellent quality and finely divided, charac- teristic of the soil of the West, and extends up to the top of the hills. In many places there is a more highly mixed soil, composed of the older soil and the disintegrated particles of a lower member of the new red sandstone, creating spots of land in the back hills more suitable for wheat and oats than the gener- al soil of the county. The deposites of iron ore add a per centum of iron to the soil, enriching it for many purposes of agriculture. In fact almost any soil may be found here to snit the farmer. There are also spots particularly adapted for the culture of the grape, and the climate is peculiarly so.
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I was particularly struck with the fine sites for cotton and woolen factories, iron rolling mills, glass factories, machine shops, potteries, &c., by the side of navigation in the central West.
That such mineral resources, productive soil, salubrious climate, variety of timber, all in proximity to the cotton growing district of the South, should re- main untouched so long, and that now, within a year, there has been a substan- tial stone cotton factory of 10,000 spindles, erected at Cannelton and almost in operation, proves conclusively that the mind of man is at work, seeking for cheapness of power, cheapness of living, extensive market, and salubriousness of climate. Cannelton must ere long prove to be an oasis in the great desert of manufacturing enterprize of the West.
Respectfully submitted,
THO. S. RIDGWAY, Jr., Geologist.
Extracts of a letter from Prof. F. Hall, L. L. D.
In 1843, Dr. F. Hall, an eminent geologist and mineralogist, and then Professor in Columbia College, visited Cannelton, and in a letter to F. Markoe, Sec. of Nat. Institute, published in Nat. Intelligencer July 22, 1843, gives the following statements and opinions.
"The material immediately above the Cannelton coal is a slightly bituminous shale, of a blue color, that varies from ten to eighteen feet in thickness. The coal in the highest part of the vein, for an inch or two, contains less bitumen than the other part of the coal and decrepitates when burning: it bears a slight resemblance to cannel coal, but is too soft and friable to be turned in a lathe or to bear a fine polish. There is a thin stratum about a foot from the upper sur- face of the vein which, in the language of the miners, is called "dunt" and which is coal embracing allum-earth and sulphuret of iron, and which crumbles to pieces when exposed to the action of the air and moisture .* Two or three inches of the vein at the bottom are bituminons shale, which, however, burns nearly as well as the coal above it and lasts much longer. The coal forming the remainder of the mass is of the finest quality. It comes out in medium blocks, often a foot or eighteen inches in diameter, and almost every block betrays its vegetable origin.
There is one peculiarity connected with this coal field which to me is very striking, viz: the horizontality of the coal vein, and I note it as a singular fact that the vein has no connection with limestone either abore or below. The quan- tity of this combustible which an old world has here treasured up for the use of man is immensely large.
It is not uncommon, sir, as you are well aware, either in England or in the United States, to find in the immediate neighborhood of large coal deposites an ample quantity of another, and in itself the most precious of all the mate- rial substances, viz: iron ore or iron stone. My examinations have led me to the conclusion that the iron existing here is no less abundant than the coal. The ore occurs in detached irregular masses, among sandstone rocks, over almost the entire surface of the hills, showing in many places what I regard as violent igneons action. It occurs also in veins or beds varying from two to five feet in thickness. There have already three of these been opened-one above and two below the coal vein and running, it is supposed, parallel with it.
The ore is of different kinds, but principally the argilaceous oxide exhibiting a great diversity of mitative forms. "1 cannot determine with accuracy its rich- ness, because I have not with me the means of analyzing it. Being acquainted
* As the coal recedes from the river this stratum of "dunt" diminishes in thickness and no Traces of it are seen in a vein opened about a inile from the river.
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ber of the large establishments in Europe and New England, I can, I think, form a tolerable correct estimate of the metal which a specimen contains from its external characters. There is very little even of the surface ore which will not yield from 25 to 35 per cent of iron. Most of that which comes from a vein or bed opened to any considerable depth will, I am persuaded, afford from 45 to 60 per cent. The iron ores of South Wales yield, on the average, says Mr. Forster, 26 per cent, and those of Northumberland 30.
Why, it may be asked, is this ore, so rich and abundant, suffered to lie here nndisturbed? Why do the people of the West, for the purpose of creating rail roads and carrying on other internal improvements, consent to pay to Irans- atlantic strangers so enormous a tax for the very article which lies idle under their own soil? The day is not distant when the iron ore of this region will be ac- counted no less ratuable than its coal fields.
The sandstone in this quarter is of different qualities-some of it is an excel- lent building stone-some, which is white and of a fine grain, is employed for mantle-pieces, &c. Some of it is novaculate or white slate, and is used exten- sively for whetstones. There is a spring a few miles from this place which yields petrolium, but I do not know to what amount. I have visited a spring about a mile from the village which is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen."
No explorations or experiments have been made on a seale suffi- ciently extensive to test the quantity or quality of the iron ore to which Dr. Hall refers. Dr. Owen refers, in his geological report, to the "Iron Hill" baek of Troy and Cannelton, as affording some prospect of good ore by digging. The best iron ore of the valley, however, seems to lie in a lower strata of the coal series. On the Cumberland River the rich iron ore approaches within 10 or 15 miles of the margin of the coal field. Back of Elizabethtown, in Illinois, the distance is still less, while at Bloomfield the coal and iron are almost contiguous. Near Terre Haute the best of iron ore is found entirely within the coal basin. Without more extended and accurate surveys and analyses, it is impossible to determine, with any accuracy, the limits of our available iron deposites. Of this, however we are certain, that there is no reason why our coal should not arrest the pig iron of Missouri, Tennessee and Western Ken. tueky on its transit toward the coal of the upper Ohio.
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