USA > Indiana > Greene County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 52
USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > History of Greene and Sullivan Counties, State of Indiana > Part 52
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THE SULLIVAN OIL WELL."
Soil. Feet.
5.0
Gray clay, with thin partings of white sand and pebbles. 8.0
Glacial "hard pan " 2.0
Limestone.
3
Black slate.
.8
Coal. .2
Gray silicious fire clay. 8.0
Clay shale, iron ore nodules. 70
Brown sand rock .. 20.0
Gray sand rock, sharp. 10.0
Clay shale. 10.0
Soapstone.
20.0
Coal and slate, N
.9
Clay .
5.0
Sand rock 15.0
Soapstone 20.0
Flint (?) iron ore. 1.6
Shaly clay 8.0
Soapstone 40.0
Coal and slate, M . 1.6
Clay .. 10.0
Soapstone. 50.0
Double limestone, flinty.
3.0
Soapstone.
20.0
"These measurements are given from the recollection of the Superintendent, no record having been kept-
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449
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Coal and slate, L ..
4.0
Clay.
10.0
Soapstone.
30.0
Sand rock.
20.0
Shale.
10.0
Soapston
30.0
White sand rock.
8.0
Clay.
8.0
Soapstone.
35.0
Sand rock.
30.0
Clay.
10.0
Soapstone. 50.0
Hard rock. 10.0
20.0
Slate.
1.6
Coal, K.
7.0
Total
544.4
OUTCROPS OF LIMESTONE AND SANDSTONE.
East of Sullivan, a considerable stratum of limestone crops out on the Hamill farm. This stone furnishes good materials for foundations. In an early day, it was burned, yielding a fair article of dark-colored lime. Below the limestone, fragments of coal were observed in the bed of the branch, but no section could be obtained. It was evidently seam N in the bore. More characteristic ontcrops of this coal are found on Conner's land northwest quarter, Section 28, on R. Thornhill's land, northeast quarter, Section 32, both Township 8, Range 9, and on Boon's and Kel- ley's, southeast quarter, Section 5, Township 7, Range 9, with a thickness varying from one foot to twenty inches. For local purposes, sand rock has been quarried at Hamill's quarry, Section 26; at Thornhill's, Section 32, both in Township 8; and at Ferree's, Section 4, Township 7, Range 9. A section at Ferree's quarry, following up Buck Creek against the dip, shows the following strata:
Feet. Inches.
Hard, flaggy sandstone, with shelly layers interchang- 20 0
ing.
Compact flagstone. 0
10
Ferruginous sandstone.
1
8
Shaley soapstone ..
1
8
0
Soapstone, dark pyritiferous partings. 9
6
Silicious flags
0
10
Soapstone
0
'10
Irregular sandstone.
0
4 (Continued on Boon's land).
Shelly limestone, with Crinoid stems and arms, Cya- thaxonia prolifera, Fusulina cylindica, Spirifer lineatus, Athyris subtilita. 8 0
Calcareous shale. 4 to 2 0
Black slate .1 to 0
0 Coal, N.
1
2
Fire-clay to creek 5
2
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Soapstone.
4 Good " pepper mix " S. S.
450
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
POWERS' BORE OF 1866.
Feet. Inches.
Shaft in drift.
9 6
Double limestone.
1
Soapstone, bituminous partings.
7 10
Gray shale. 19 9
Sandstone (argillaceous ?)
33
8
Soapstone.
5
6
Dark clay sbale
3
0
Soapstone
18
6
Coal, L.
4
4
Fire clay
0
0
Total. 104 7
Beyond New Lebanon, undulating knolls of the " Loess, " here highly silicious, crown the bluff ridge. A valuable gravel bank of modified drift was observed near the center of the prairie. Merom is situated upon the crest of a bluff, whose altitude of one hundred and seventy feet above low water in the Wabash River, * gives one of the most attractive views in the State.
SECTION AT MEROM HILL. .
Toot. Inches.
Loess and drift.
30 0
Soft sandstone, upper beds disintegrating. 20 to 25 0
Massive sandstone, "Anvil Rock," with ferruginous
seams and veins. 10 to 25 0
Conglomerated pieces of shale, coal, pebbles and sand-
stone, bedded in calcareous material. .2 to 8 8 Productal limestone, with Productus punctatus, P. longispinus, P. cora, Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, terebratula, crinoid stems. 2 to 4
0
Dark clay shale.
2
0
Rash coal.
2
0
Black slate. 1
2
Fire clay, with pyritized pebbles.
4
Light drab clay shale. 5
0
Bituminous shale, small iron ore nodules. 6
7
Crinoidal limestone, crinoid fragments very abund- ant, with Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, S. Ken- tuckensis. chonetes mesoloba terebratula bovi- dens, pinnœ Bryozoans (3 Sp.), serpulæ very abundant, and a large cephalopod (Indt.). 2
0
Marl clayt.
1
6
Drab clay marlt.
1
2
Dark bit. and calc. shale, softt. 6
2
Black sheety slate. 1
6
Coal N, fat coking. 1
8
Good fire clay
8
Fire clay, pyritous.
1
6
Dark soapstone, iron stone pebbles. 3
0
*By calculation (Charles Ellett's report, Vol. II, Smithsonian Contributions), low water in the Wabash at Merotn is 401 feet above the level of the ocean.
+These strata, a marly clay or shell marl, in the north part of the county, change at Merom, Palestine, and the Busseron section west of Carlisle, to a clay marl ; eastward they become white, or blue olays.
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1
451
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Silicious flagstones. 2
0
Light blue argillaceous flagstones. 8 0 Light blue clay shale, with nodules containing denta- lium obsoletum and macrochelius fusiformis. 5 0
SECTION IN SHAFT.
Feet. Inches.
Laminated sandstone.
6
0
Quarry sand rock.
10
0
Hard silicious shale, large nodules
6
0
Gray silicions shale .. 4
0
Soapstone.
5
0
Coal M:
Choice coking coal
2
0
Clay parting.
0
10
Clay parting
0
01
Rash coal.
1 2 4
BROTION IN BURE.
Feet. Inches.
Fire clay.
4
0
Hard rock (double limestone).
2 0
Clay shale.
0
4
Hard rock (double limestone).
6
0
Shale and soapstone. 18
9
Hard rock.
4
O
Soapstone
4
0
Soft rock
1
0
Soapstone.
1
6
Sand rock
9
0
Total to bottom of bore. 230
8
BARNES-LADD SECTION. Southwest quarter Section 8, Township 8, Range 10.
Feet. Inches.
Soil, etc. 20
0
Anvil rock, ferruginous. 80
0
Productal limestone, rich in fossils
8
0
Calcareous shale.
1
0
Dark bit. shale
5
0
Coal, rash
1
0
Fire clay
2
0
Dark clay shale
4
0
Coarse, hard, S. S
2
8
Crinoidal limestone, shelly
10
Place of Coal N:
Fire clay
0
4 .
Flaggy sandstone.
8
0
Drab shale, large iron nodules 10
0
Gray shale, pyritous partings. 25 Quarry sand rock. 15
0
Hard silicious soapstone.
4
0
Sil. soapstone, large iron ore nodules. 7
0
Light colored soapstone, small, round iron nodules. 5
0
Digitized by
0
Slaty coal.
452
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY ..
Coal M:
Choice B. S. coal, 2 ft .; clay parting, 1 in .; black slate,
5 in .; clay, 1 in .; rash coal, 1 ft.
3
7
8 Dark slicken clay. 0
Fire clay, light blue. 4
0
Bed of Turman's Creek. 0
0
Coal M is here thrown up by a horseback, or rather exposed by the termination of a ridge, which enlarges to the north. The dip of strata southwest is about eleven feet to the mile, and to the south and east, forty feet to the mile. Kidney iron ore in considerable amount and good quality was noticed a few yards east of Turman's Creek Bridge in Sec- tion 9, and also in a ravine in the northeast part of Ladd's farm, sup. posed to be southeast quarter Section 9, both Township 8, Range 10, but not in quantity to justify mining at present.
SEOTION AT DICK'S BANK.
Feat. Inches.
Glacial and modified drift. .20 to 5 0
Soapstone, good flat iron nodules. 8 0
Crinoidal limestone. 3
0
Covered. .80 0
Silicious and micaceous shale. .10
0
Quarry sandstone. 8
0
Light colored soapstone.
5
0
"Black clod," softened pyrites with Leda bellastriata, Cardinia fragilis, Nacula inflata, Cyathaxonia abun- dant .
0
6
Same, but softer cardinia, leda and astartella. 1
0
Rough, black, sheety, shale-fish fins 1
8
Cannel coal, slaty
1 0 Black, sheety shale. 8
1
Coal, fat, coking 1
0
Fire clay, gray
4
0
Soapstone.
8
0
Soapstone, with band of mammillary iron nodules. 2
0
This locality is interesting to the paleontologist on account of the number and good preservation of the fossils mentioned, especially leda and nucula inflata. The crinoidal limestone connected with coal N fre- quently crops out along the Wabash bluffs, north of the mouth of Tur- man's Creek, in thickness averaging three feet.
SECTION AT THE NARROWS.
Feet. Inches.
Soil, etc
10 to 20 0
Productal limestone, fossils
8
Covered .6 to 10 0
Silicious shale and covered. .15
0
Crinoidal limestone, fossils.
2
6
Marl clay.
1
8
Black, sheety shale.
1
0
Coal N
0
6
Fire clay
8
0
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY. 458
Bit. clay, shale. 4 0
Drab clay, shale. ·5
0
Quarry sandstone. .15 0
ELOTION AT VAM JOBBEN'S MILL.
Feet. Inches.
Drab silicious shale. .5 to 8 0
Shelly limestone, crinoid stems 0 10
Blue and drab clay marl. 1
2
Black, bituminous clay marl with fossils 1
4
Black, sheety shale.
0
5
Black shale .
1
4
Dark, bituminous clay shale.
1
8
Black shale.
1
0
Coal N. fat pyritous
1
8
Fire clay.
5 10
Soapstone, with iron nodules at creek.
PIONEER SHAFT AND BORE.
Foot. Inches.
Soil
8
0
Hard pan
6
6
Silicious shale, pyritous partings 18
0
Soapstone, "slickened" 19
0
Coal M.
0
8
Dark bit. clay, slickened
10
0
Fire clay, sandy
8
6
Brown limestone, compact
8
7
Green clay
9
8
Blue limestone, Spir. lineatus
8
6
Blue clay shale, pyritous
16 0
Argillaceous shale, with plants. 15
0
Silicious soapstone, with thin layers of small iron-stone concretions, two to three feet apart, some parts compact argillaceous sanarock. 80
0
Light colored soapstone, containing Pecopteris arbores- cens, Neuropteris rarinervis, N. hirsuta, Annularia sphenophylloides, A. longifolia Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii, Asterophyllites equisetiformis, Cor- daites borassifolia, C. angustifolia, Lepidodendron trunks, cones, or terminal spikes, Sigillaria reni- formis trunks and leaves of stigmaria ficoides. Paleoxylon and Calamites 1
Coal L:
Choice coal 1
0
Smut trace.
0 0
Good coal 1
6 Smut trace 0
0 Laminated coal 8 0
4 6
Fire clay.
5 0
(Bottom of shaft-Bore.)
White sandstone
8
0
Soapstone, bands of iron ore.
84
6
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6
4
Fire clay, plastic
454 HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Coal K, Block:
Coal.
4
1 Clay parting 0
4
Coal ..
0
5
Fire clay at bottom
0
0
SECTION AT SHELBURN SHAFT.
Test. Inobes
Soil
8
0
Yellow clay of hard pan.
8
0
Shelly sandstone and clay shale with bit. partings 0 Hard quarry sandstone .. 2 0 Water vein sixteen pounds per hour,
Soapstone with plant remains. . 11 0 "Black clod," with Productus longispinus, P. cora, · Athyris, Cyathaxonia, Aviculopecten, Bellerophon carbonarius, B. percarinatus, Nautilus, 2 Sp. Mac- rocheilus, Loxonema, Pleurotomaria, Cardinia, Or- thocerata, Dentalia, Phillipsia, Crinoid stems and arms of many species very abundant. 7 0
Coal M.
0
7
Hard sil. fre clay
2
0
Soapstone, bit. partings 28
0
Fossiliferous limestone
2
0
Argillaceous L. S. "marble"
10
0
Dark argil. shales 18
2
0
Soapstone.
12
0
Compact sil. soapstone 85
0
Blue Soapstone. 10
0
Light soapstone with many species of Pecopteris, Cor- daites, Lepidodendron, Stigmaria, Sigillaria, Sphen- ophyllum and Asterophyllites 6
0
Coal L 84 to 6 ft. av.
4 0
Total depth 176 0
STANDARD SHAFT-HANNA'S.
Teet.
Inches.
Soil and glacial drift 25 0
Clay with iron balls. 5
0
Clay shale thin bit. partings 10
0
Compact sandstone 10 0
Banded soapstone-carb. remains. 5
0
Black calcareous "clod" with Cyathaxonia, Chonetes
mesoloba, Nautilus decoratus, Athyris, Productus longispinus, Crinoid stems and arms, Spirifer cam- eratus, Macrocheilus, Pleurotomaria, Bellerophon carbonarius and montfortianus, Cardinia fragilis,
Leda bellastriata, Nucula inflata, Orthoceras, etc .: 0 Black slate with Discina, Lingula, etc ..
8
Coal M.
9
Fire clay
5
0
Hard limestone. 2
6
5 Clay.
0
Digitized by
9.
0
Choice fire clay
455
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Mottled limestone. 8
2
Green clay
7
0
Red clay 6
Green and red clay mixed "Slickened " clay 8
0
Soft S. S. carbonaceous partings 80
0 Compact, silicious, white soapstone 6
0 Sandy soapstone, plant remains with coal one to two inches thick 25
0
Hard soapstone 18
Fern bed, gray soapstone, containing Lepidodendron elegans, Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii, Pecopteris arbor- escens, Alethopteris loschii, Asterophyllites longifoli-
um Cordaites angustifolia, Neuropteris hirsuta .. 1
8
Coal L:
Good coal 1
1
Choice coal
1
8
Fair coal
2
1
4
10
Fire clay
9 0
BANHOLZER'S SHAFT.
Foot. Inches. 8 0
Soil and clay
Silicious shale and flaggy sandstone, with carbonaceous partings. 10
0
Hard sandstone, nearly compact. 7
0
Light drab soapstone. 10 0
Coal M:
Soft coal. 1
6
Clay parting.
0
8
Clay.
0
2
Coal.
1
0
Parting
Coal ..
0
8
0
Fire clay, with Stigmaria. 6
0
Soapstone, with silicious layers 8
0
Brown lime rock, Crinoid stema, and Spirifer lineatus. 1
8 Fino white clay, soft. 0
8 Hard stone, mottled limestone. 5
0
0 Blue clay shale. 5
Coal L: Coa 2
0
0 2 Slate.
Coal
9
0
Slate
0 Good coal. 0
0
2 Coal.
1 6 6 8 0 Fire clay 6
8
8 Smut parting.
Digitized by
Soft coal.
0 Light drab soapstone, with small iron nodules. 29
0
0
456
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
SECTION AT MAHAN AND STINETT FARMS.
Fest. Inches.
Soil slope
Yellow sandstone. 25
0
Soapstone.
4
0
Black slate.
(?)
Coal M
8
0
Fire clay.
0
Soapstone.
20
0
Silico-calcareous band.
0
4
Soapstone, with silicious flags
40
0
Limestone.
2
6
Parting
Limestone.
2
0
Black sheety slate.
8
2
Dark clay marl " clod "
1
6
Coal L, 2 to 11 feet, average. 6
6
Fire clay ..
4
0
Drab soapstone.
8
0
Hard sandstone. .0 to 8
0
Compact pyritous soapstone. 6
0
The Alum Cave, Section 24, Township 9, Range 8, is frequented by animals to lick the saline efflorescence on the rocks. It is beneath the hard sandstone, and its origin is due to the more rapid decomposition of the underlying pyritous soapstone at the base of the above section.
SECTION AT BARNES' BANK.
Feet. Inches.
5 0 Drift 15 0
1
0
Drab shale, with carbonaceous partings, changing to flagstones.
18
0
Soapstone.
2
0
Limestone, with Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, Produc- tus, semi-reticulatus, P. longispinus, Entolium (?) and crinoid stems. 4
0
Calcareous shale, pyritous.
1
0
Black sheety slate. 1
5
0
Throughout almost the whole of Township 9, three-fourths of Town- ship 8, and the east half of Township 7, north of Range 8, coal M out- crops in many localities. Four sections, selected, one from the southern, two from the middle, and one from the northern part of this area, which fairly present the strata accompanying this seam, will now be given:
SECTION AT PIGG'S BANK.
Southeast quarter Section 86, Township 8, Range 8: Feet. Inches.
Slope 20 0
Drift. 20 0
Shelly sandstone. 10 0
Digitized by
Clay.
Soft, flaggy sandstone. 5
0
8 Coal L.
6 Fire clay. 5
1
-
457
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Compact quarry sandstone. .10 to 20 0 Soapstone. 1 8
Dark calcareous shale 0 8
Coal M:
Good coal. 2
0
Clay
0
1
Cubic coal.
0
6
Clay
0
Choice coal
2
6
5
2
Fire clay
5
0
D. RING'S AND J. EVERHART'S SECTION.
Foot. Inches.
Quarry sandstone
8 to 10
0
Soapstone, with iron nodules. 1 to 2 0
Dark calcareous clay, with Athyris subtilita, Cyathax- onia, and crinoid stems .. 0 to 0 8
Black sheety shale, fish fins and scales. 1+ in to 8
Coal M:
Good gas coal. 0
Clay.
0
1
Cubic coal.
0
6
Clay and pyrites
0
4
Good coal.
8
0
8 5 8 Fire clay, sometimes compact and silicious 5 0 Soapstone. .5 to 0
Brown limestone, containing Spirifer cameratus, Bel- lerophon carbonarius, Pleurotomaria, Cyathaxonia and Crinoid stems. 1
8
DICK'S SHAFT.
Feet. Inches.
Soil and drift
Shelly sandstone 2
12
0
0 Quarry sandstone. 8 0
Creamy colored soapstone. .13
6
Coal M:
Pyrites band, 8 inches; choice coal, 3 feet 1 inch; clay, 2 inches; good coal, 6 inches; clay, 2 inches; good coal, 6 inches; clay, 1} inches; fair coal-sulph. veins, 2 feet; clay, 2 inches; splinty coal, 1 foot .... 6 Silicious clay, with Stigmaria. 8
2
Clay shale. 9
0
SECTION ON LICK FORK OF BUSSERON.
Feet.
Inches.
Soil 7 0 Drift. 8 to 10 0
Shelly sandstone. 8
0 Quarry sandstone. 15 0
Soapstone, with pyritous partings, plant stems and
0 Calamites. 10
Digitized by
0
Slaty fcoal.
0
1
458
. HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
Feet. Inches.
Coal M: Good coal, 2 feet 4 inches; cubic coal, 6 inches; fair coal, 1 foot 5 inches; choice coal, 1 foot 8 inches 6 0
Fire clay. .4 to 6 0
RECENT GEOLOGY.
The Glacial drift comes next in order of sequence. It rests immedi- ately upon the rocks of the coal measures, and consists: First, of blue and gray clays, irregularly mixed with coarse and fine gravel; Second, the same clays with coarse gravel and bowlders of granite, gneiss, quartz rock and porphyry, with a very small quantity of gold, copper, lead and magnetie iron ore, and red garnets; Third, and last at the base, blue and white plastic clay, from two to five feet thick. All these ma- terials are foreign, and have been transported during the great ice flow from the stratified rocks, Azoic and Metamorphic regions at the North- west. From this deposit the bowlders and gravel found in " the ter- race " and beds of creeks and branches have been washed by rain and flood. The soil of the drift is tenacious and somewhat impervious to air and water, and without sufficient drainage cannot be relied upon for good crops. The natural timber, characteristic of this soil, is beech, sugar maple, white, red, black and water oaks, black and shell. bark hickory, iron-wood, dogwood, ash and gum. Native grasses were sedges; introduced: timothy, red top and clover. No animal remains were found in this formation. It varies in thickness from little or nothing at the south, to fifty feet in the northern part of the county.
THE LOESS.
The Loess succeeds the drift in order of time, and is a deposit of comparatively recent date. It consists of obscurely stratified marly clays of a reddish brown color, at the base, but becoming almost pure sand of a yellowish brown or gray ash color. It is sparingly exhibited in the northern part of the county, but is better developed northwest and south- west of Fairbanks, and southwest of Graysville, and at Merom it attains a depth of over thirty feet. Tbence it may be traced, in an almost con- tinuous ridge, to Busseron near Carlisle, and forms a sand ridge along the Wabash bluff, which, although circuitous, was adopted by the early settlers as the army, stage and wagon road between points in the upper and lower parts of the valley. The surface configuration presents a suc- cession of mounds and low ridges. These are often erroneously attrib- uted to human agency. The red marl clay at the base of the Loess forms a rich soil, and is characterized by a heavy growth of poplar, wal- nut, sugar tree, and oak of large size; the upper and more sandy member is impervious to air and water, and bears a meager growth of oak, hick- ory, gum iron wood, dog wood, and grape vines, with some trees of Southern affinities-as sweet gum. The native grasses found on the Less were sedges, blue grass and white clover.
Digitized by Google
459
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY ..
THE TERRACE OR MODIFIED DRIFT.
This is a stratum of sand and gravel resting against or upon all the older deposits. It is sometimes elevated to a height of twenty to fifty feet above the present level of the streams. This material was evidently deposited under water, and its formation is due to circumstances anteced- ent to the present condition of affairs. The Alluvial bottoms along the river and creeks are due to causes now in action. They consist of a rich, sandy clay or loam, formed mainly by the wash from the adjacent highlands, and the sediment deposited by the streams during their annual overflow. The bottom prairies were originally covered with a rank growth of sedges and blue grass; the timber consists of burr oak, hickory, elm, cottonwood, walnut, hackberry, birch and willow. The large admixture of clay in this soil admits and invites the construction of a system of levees to give protection against summer floode.
COAL DISTRIBUTION.
Coal N occupies a narrow belt along the Wabash River and the south- ern part of the county. This seam is thin and cannot be worked except by stripping. It is generally sulphurous, but becomes purer and thicker toward the southeast The average thickness is two feet. Area, one third of the county. Coal M underlies the whole county, with the excep- tion of twelve sections in the northeast corner of Township 9, north of Range 8, and of about two sections at Section 13, Township 9, Range 8, where it has been eroded so as to expose coal L. Along the Wabash, M has an average depth of three feet eight inches Going eastward, it tirst gradually becomes thinner, as at Dix's and Alkire's, Section 35, Town- ship 9, Range 10, until it reaches a minimum of eight inches near the railroad at Currysville; continuing eastward, the coal again gradually in- creases to a depth of twenty-two inches in northeast quarter Section 6, Township 8, Range 9; thence at all points northeast and southeast it becomes a persistent thick seam, ranging from four feet to nine feet thick (on Pitt's Farm, Section 3, Township 9, Range 8), with an aver- age of five feet two inches for Townships 7, 8 and north 9, of Range 9, and for the whole county an average of three feet ten inches. East of the railroad this is a fat, coking coal, rich in gaseous matter, yielding good coke, and desirable for blacksmith's use. The sulphur present in this seam is banded or confined to a single division, consequently can and should be separated from the coal at the mines. A practical test is said to have proved it superior to any Western coal for gas, and but little lees valuable than that of Pittsburgh.
Coal L, with the exception of a few acres at the northeast corner, underlies the whole county. It is a thick seam, averaging five feet two inches, and no persistent, that, contrary to all common maxims of pru- . dence, minera shaft for it without a preliminary test bore. For fuel and engine use it is of choice quality. With less volatile matter than coal
Digitized by Google
460
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
M, it is rich in carbon, burns with a small blaze, is free from soot and clinker, and leaves a gray ash.
Coal K has been pierced by test bores at Terre Haute, Palestine, Sullivan, Currysville, and outcrops along the eastern line in' Greene County (Cox's Rep., 1869, fol. 104). These tests indicate a coal of great persistence. It probably underlies the entire county, with an average thickness of five feet. At outcrops in Greene and Clay, K is often splint or block coal. The residuum brought up from the test bores at Currys- ville and other points, it is believed, warrants the hope that in some part of Sullivan County this seam will prove block coal.
The total thickness of the seams practically tested in Sullivan. County amounts to sixteen feet, and the area underlaid by these coals may be safely estimated at 430 square miles, or 275,200 acres. Over this area, after making allowance for horsebacks, refuse coal, waste in mining, and every other contingency, there exists fully ten feet of coal available for market. Every cubic foot of seam yields one bushel of coal, or 436,000 bushels per acre. This, at the usual royalty, one-half cent per bushel, gives $2,118 for one acre, and, for the entire area the bank value of the coal of Sullivan County amounts to $583,297,000.
BEOTION IN CARLISLE WELL.
Fest. Inches.
Surface clay
24 0
Red sand rock
4
0
Fire clay
1
7
Silicious soapstone.
2
6
Soapstone and flaggy saudstone.
18
0
Calcareous shale.
8
0
Coal N
0
7
Fire clay
4
0
Sandstone.
1
0
Black slate.
0
6
Hard gray limestone.
26
11
Gray shale
15
8
Fire clay
6
3
Sandstone.
1
0
Coal M.
8
1
Fire clay
5
0
Limestone
5
0
Parting
Limestone
5
0
Parting.
4
0
Parting.
8
Gray shade and soapstone.
12
1
Coal L ..
6
4
Fire clay.
5
0
Gray flinty limestone very hard to bottom.
5
0
Total
254 8
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Limestone.
Limestone.
8
Gray shale.
461 -
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY.
The well was bored with a hollow drill, and gas pipes for poles, affording an excellent opportunity for accurately determining the quality and thickness of strata. The coal was brought up in cubes from a quarter to half an inch square; compact, glossy, and to the eye of superior quality; that from M, was a fat coking coal affording much gas; that from the lower seam L was more laminated, indicating a semi-coking white ash coal. It will be observed that the double limestone so con- stantly marking the space between coals L and M in Sullivan County, bere divided by partings half to an inch deep, and is thickened by the addition of one or more bande.
SECTION OF PLEASANTVILLE SHAFT.
Feet. Inches.
Surface, clay, drift.
12 0
Soapstone and slate ..
10 0
Coal L, semi-block, having partings of calcite or calc spar enabling the miners to get out the coal without blasting
5
6
BROTION OF JOHN BISSON'S BHATT.
Feet. Inches.
Surface soil and drift ..
8
0
Sand rock.
8
0
Light blue slate ...
6
0
Coal L, in a roll.
8 feet one side and 8
6
.
UROTION OF DUGGER SHAFT.
Feet. Inobes.
Surface clay drift.
9 0
Sand rock, shales.
82
0
Light-colored soapstone.
5
0
Coal N.
8
6
Fire clay
7
0
Conglomerate shale.
5
0
Shaly sand rock
6
6
Coarse sand rock.
7
0
Slate and soapstone.
17 0
.
Coal M.
7
0
EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF E. T. COX.
In the report on Sullivan County, Prof. Collett has shown that coal N, which, in the western part of Clay and the eastern part of Vigo Counties, is of good quality, and from four to five feet thick, is only found in Sullivan County over a small area along the Wabash River, and in the southern part of the county. The quality is, here, generally poor, and the seam too thin to be mined with profit, except where so situated that it may be worked by stripping. A specimen from the seam on Mr. Chambers' land, Section 8, Township 7, Range 8, proved, on analysis, to be a very fair coal.
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