622.33 oa33r I DWE'N EX'. 5t OF R_. -tfT ON PRQ- RT IES OF , .E SALINE COAL CO. AMD 01 THE RTHA IRON , PROPERTIES LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF DR. DAVID DALE OWEN ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE SALINE COAL COMPANY LOCATED IN GALLATIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS, (ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTH OF SHAWNEETOWN,) AND THE MARTHA IRON PROPERTY LOCATED IN HARDIN COUNTY. (ABOUT 18 MILES SOUTH OF SHAWNEETOWN.) ACREAGE OF THE SALINE COAL COMPANY. Land owned in fee, about 3,262 acrez Mineral rights, 1,760 acres Total, 5,022 acres ACREAGE OF THE MARTHA IRON. In fee, 1,000 acres Mineral rights, 2,880 acres Total, 3,880 acres For information respecting these properties, apply to * C. E. JACKSOX, MlDDLETOWN, CONN. I 6^2.33 EXTRACTS FROM Dr. David D. Owen's Geological Report ON THE LANDS - OF THE - SALINE COAL COMPANY. The lower coal measures of the Saline have a vertical thick- ness of about 850 feet, extending from the conglomerate of Dutton Cliff to a sandstone, which forms a conspicuous mem- ber, capping the hills above the Chamberlin mine, and gener- ally known throughout this country by the name of the "Anvil Rock." In a vertical height of 112 feet, extending from the base of Anvil Rock to within twenty feet of high-water mark, there are embraced three workable beds of coal. Their thickness and relative distance apart will be seen by the following section: ist. Coal under the Anvil Rock, or Chamberlin Coal, - 3 ft. 9 in. Space, - - - 45 ft. 2nd. Coal under the Anvil Rock, or middle bed, - - 3 ft. 2 in. Space, - - - - - - - - - 54 ft. 7 in. 3rd. Coal under the Anvil Rock, main Saline or Wood- ward Coal, - 5 ft. 2 in. in ft. 8 in. From the five feet, or main coal, down to the bed of the Saline, below the Fish Dam in Sec. 34, T. 10, R. 9, about one mile south of the Woodward opening into the five feet bed, the vertical height is 223 feet. This space includes two more workable beds, and a third which is probably 2^ feet thick, besides two other thin beds. The thickness and distance apart of these coals is given below: MAIN, OR FIVE FEET COAL. Space, - - - - - - - - - -98 ft. Coal struck in well below the Woodward opening, - - 2 ft. 6 in. Space, - - 29 ft. 8 in. Coal, 4 in. Space, --- - - 54 ft. Coal, 3 ft. Space, - - 32 ft. Coal, 4 ft. 223 ft. 6 in. There is said to be still another thin seam of coal in these measures, between the five feet coal and the coal struck in the bottom of the well, about 50 or 60 feet below the main coal. This is on the authority of the man who dug the well, who communicated the fact to Mr. Samuel Casey. The last, or four feet coal, crops out in the bed of the Saline on its east bank below the Fish Dam, 9^ feet above low water of the Ohio. Thus in a vertical height of 335 feet, and a horizontal distance of 1,830 feet, these two sections on the Saline have been obtained, in which no less than five workable beds of coal crop out between the base of the Anvil Rock and low water. The united thickness of these five beds of coal is from 19 to 20 feet, and this does not include the 2^ feet coal, nor any of the thin interstratified seams. For the quality of these coals, I refer you to the table of chemical analyses, made since I returned from the Saline mines to my laboratory. Assuming the data arrived at by Johnson, Hayes, and Rogers, from experiments performed by them on coals of nearly the same chemical composition as your main five feet coal, the practical properties of that coal may be thus expressed. The weight of a solid cubic foot will come within a fraction of 80 pounds, but broken 'in lumps, only about 48 pounds. To stow a ton, it will require about 46 cubic feet of space. When burn- ing about eight pounds of coal per hour on a square foot of grate, it will require 45 to 50 minutes to bring a boiler into full and steady action, while the semi-bituminous coals require nearly an hour and a half, the semi-anthracites two hours and a half, and the anthracites over three hours to accomplish the same effect. It will evaporate thirteen and three quarter cubic feet of water per hour. For every pound of coal consumed, it will produce eight and a half pounds of steam at 212 degrees, one cubic foot of coal will furnish about 440 to 450 pounds of steam. For completeness of combustion, it takes a rank above the average, there being only about 7 to 8 per cent, of waste, in the form of ashes, cinder and coke. For rapidity of ignition, it takes a high rank, being six times greater than that of anthracite, and about twice that of semi-bituminous coals. The coals belong to the dry and not very adhesive varieties of fat or soft free-burning bituminous coals, such as occur in the coal basins of Scotland and Yorkshire. For evaporative power, under equal weights, they will rank along with the Liverpool, Newcastle, Scotch and Yorkshire coals, and the three and five feet beds, and perhaps the four feet beds, seem to be equally well adapted for furnace opera- tions and manufacturing purposes generally, as far as can be judged, by a comparison of their respective chemical constit- uents. The three upper beds of coal underlie the lands of the Saline Coal and Manufacturing Company, situated on Sections 7, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26 and 27, T. 10, R. 9, comprising an area of 2,840 acres. It is probable that the five feet bed may be found also on Sections 17 and 20, T. 10, R. 9. Putting the united thickness of the three upper beds, under the Anvil Rock, at eleven feet, and the number of acres over which these beds extend on your land, at 2,840, and the weight of a cubic foot of solid coal at 80 pounds, which is the weight of a coal having a specific gravity of 1,282 within a fraction, the yield would be 108,865,152,000 pounds or 54,432,576 tons, or 1,360,814,400 bushels, allowing 25 bushels to the ton. Throwing off one-fourth for waste and slack, this would still leave 40,824,432 tons; this at a profit of four cents per bushel or $1.00 per ton, would equal amount of tons in dollars. By sinking shafts from 200 to 236 feet, the two other beds of coal, under the five feet bed, could be reached over the same sections of land, which would yield more than half as much more coal. But this is by no means the total amount of coal lands in the Company's property. Still beneath the four feet bed, there are numerous other beds, three and perhaps four of which are workable; these beds could also be reached by shafts extending from three to six hundred feet, under the four feet bed on the east side of the Saline; but on the west side, they rise rapidly towards the surface by reason of the northeasterly dip, and can be reached in succession, at or near the surface, in a space of less than one mile included between the Fish Dam on the Saline, and the Button Cliff, on the southwest quarter of Section 2, T. ii, R. 9. I subjoin my measurements of thickness and intervening spaces, taken where there is the best opportunity of studying them in detail. FOUR FEET COAL,. Space, - 95 to 100 ft. Curies coal with clay partings, - ... i ft. Total coal, 2 to 2 ft. 6 in. Space, 1 20 to 140 ft. 6 in. Ice-house coal, - - - - - - - 2 ft. 6 in. Space, .... jflHHi: - - Io ft- Bell's, 3 to 4 ft. Space, 75 ft. Cook's coal, - - - - - - - 3 to 4 ft. The last in the section (Cook's coal) lies some 30 or 20 feet above the top of the conglomerate, which caps the millstone- grit series. This rock contains still another bed of coal, seen in the bluffs on the Ohio River, at various places between the mouth of the Saline and Battery Rock. Its thickness is vari- able, but usually in these bluffs, 26 inches. This is the coal of Battery Rock and the Union Mines of Livingston County, Kentucky. These lower coals, including the three and four feet beds, are accessible over an area of about 5,720 acres. Putting their united thickness at eighteen feet, and the weight of a cubic foot at 80 pounds, the yield would be 358,795,308,000 pounds, equal to 179,389,504 tons, or, 4,484,937,600 cubic feet or bushels of 80 pounds, which is four pounds over the legal standard. Throwing off one- fourth for waste, slack, etc., and allowing a profit of three cents per bushel on this coal, as being less accessible than the upper beds, we still have $100,- 911,084. In this calculation, I have not included the numerous thin coals interstratified in these measures. The vertical diagram, together with the geological section accompanying this report, from the highest coal of the Saline Mines to the conglomerate of Button's Cliff presents, in one connected view, the details of this stratification. Many of the intervals occupied by shales, include also iron- stones. I would here especially call attention to five of these spaces, filled with shales, including iron-stones, the twelve feet of space over the four inch coal, the shales under the Curlew coal, the shales over the ice-house coal, the shales above and below the five feet coal, and the shales under the building stone, and between it and the shales that cover the two inch coal overlying Bell's coal. The three first of these are probably the most important receptacles of iron-stones on the property of the Saline Coal Company. The ores included in these spaces are principally carbonates of the protoxid of iron, more or less bituminous, and contain- ing variable quantities of earthy matter. The best section exposed of the shales overlying the four inch coal, is in the bank of Turkey Creek, near its confluence with Saline Creek, on Section 20, T. 10, R. 9. In a space of 12 to 14 feet, immediately over the four-inch coal exposed on that stream there are no less than five bands of carbonate of iron, amounting in all to from 14 to 17 inches in thickness. 1st. Carbonate of iron, 2^ in. Black shale, 2 ft. 6*4 in. 2nd. Carbonate of iron, from 4 to 6 in. Black shale, - 6 ft. 3rd. Carbonate of iron, 3 in. Black shale, - - - I ft. 4th. Carbonate of iron, - 3 in. Black shale, 4 ft. 5th. Carbonate of iron, 2 in. Black shale, 2 to 3 in. Coal, - 4 in. At this locality tons of carbonate of iron might be collected at present in the bed of the creek, which have fallen out from the disintegrating shales. All the heads of the branches, and many of the ravines on the east side of the Saline, between the mouth of Turkey and a point opposite the Chamberlin Tip, show debris of these iron- stones, washed out from the shales, extending over the greater part of Section 20. It is also to be remarked, in regard to this locality that there is very little earthy covering over the shales, so that, in many places five or ten feet of stripping would suffice to lay bare the iron ore. I found large quantities of the same kind of ore amongst the loose rocks in Round Hill branch, above where the four inch coal is exposed which proves the existence at this localit}', also, of the same bands of cal- careous iron-stones, disseminated in the shales occupying this geological horizon on the north side of the Saline; these can be reached also in many places, between the Chamberlin Mine and Round Hill, from 15 to 20 feet under the subsoil of the bottom land skirting the base of these hills. For analysis of iron ores, refer to accompanying table. This ore is essentially a carbonate of the protoxid of iron, which is capable of yielding from 27 to 28 per cent, of metallic iron. If these bands of carbonate of iron are coextensive with the shales overlying the four inch coal, which there is every reason to believe from the data already furnished, this deposit of stratified ore is sufficient in itself to supply a furnace. With this description of ore may be classified an ore which we discovered on 1 the south side of the Saline nearly opposite the sawmill. To prove the quantity of this ore, a pit was sunk to the depth of six or eight feet in the shales, and the iron- stones being taken out and thro\vn into one pile, and the bed- ding shale being pitched to itself in another heap, in the first four feet, the whole excavation was estimated to yield from one-fourth to one-sixth of ore, chiefly in the form of flattened spheroids weighing from a half to two or three pounds. Of gray color internally, having external concentric coatings of a pale ocher) 7 hue. In the lower three or four feet of the excavation where the shale was blacker and more bituminous, the included iron 9 stones were mostly of a dark, leaden gray color, but more abundant, about one-half of the excavated mass. (For analysis see table. ) One variety of the ore in the shales over the ice-house coal is very similar in appearance to the ore analyzed from the shales over the four inch coal, but has rather less specific gravity, viz. 133; another variety of a coarser texture and of a lilac gray color, has a specific gravity of 3.340, while a third variety of a fine texture, has a specific gravity of 3.591. (See table.) These ores will yield from 30 to 43 per cent, of pure iron. The quality of iron which these carbonates produce, is similar to the metal brought from Jackson and Lawrence Counties, Ohio, and Greeuup County, Kentucky. Where I have seen the best section of the matrix of these ores, they lie in uninter- rupted bands, varying from one to four inches thick. In the ten feet of gray shales immediately overlying the ice-house coal, there are from seven to eight bands which have an average thickness of two inches to two inches and a half, i. e. , about one-sixth of the ten feet of ferruginous shales may be regarded as calcareous iron-stones. Besides the above ores interstratified in the coal measures of Gallatin County, Hardin County affords extensive deposits of hydrated brown oxide of iron or hematites, forcing the various varieties known to the iron masters under the names of honey- comb ore, pipe ore, pot ore, etc. These ores occur in a differ- ent geological formation from those previously described, being uniformly in connection, though never interstratified with the subcarboniferous limestone lying west of the coal measures. In this district of Hardin County, there is a belt of country two or three miles wide, ranging in a N. E. and S. S. W. curve through these townships towards the mouth of Grand Pierre Creek, which is the northern extension of the great contem- poraneous ferruginous belt, situated between the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. The ores of this region of Illinois have only recently attracted attention. But two furnaces have been established as yet in Hardin County for smelting this ore, the Martha and Illinois. The former of these belongs to the Saline Coal Co. 10 The ore banks of these furnaces are situated on Sections 2, 3, n, and 12, T. 12, R. 8. Facts which have been disclosed during the working of the ore banks of the Martha furnace, situated on Sections 2 and 3, T. 12, R. 8, have most fully con- firmed an opinion which I have long entertained in regard to the origin of this ore, which has an important practical bearing on the question regarding the quantity and enduring supply of these ores of Hardin County. It is well known throughout the corresponding iron regions of Kentucky that the deposits are locally irregular as to the quan- tity, so much so that until the ore banks are fairly opened, it is always unsafe to rely on the amount of ore which the ore bank will furnish, even if the surface indications are favorable. Still I had observed, in exploring this iron region of Kentucky, that there was, nevertheless, a remarkable uniformity in the bear- ing of the principal ore banks, and that the ore was invariably found on the declivity of hills which had a nucleus of subcar- bouiferous limestone; and generally of those particular beds of that formation characterized by peculiar organic remains, viz. , Lithostrotion (Stylina) of Lesneuer Syringopora ramulosa of Gold. That, moreover, in no single instance could the ore be traced into horizontal beds, interstratified with the limestone. My inference from these observed facts, was, that this ore had its origin in vein fissures, or crevices, traversing this lime- stone formation in determinate lines of fracture; that the ore existed deep in the interior of the vein as specular oxide pass- ing downward into magnetic oxide; that for a long period of time these iron bearing crevices in the limestone permeated by heated carbonated waters, which found a vent at the opening of the fissure, and poured over the edges of the adjacent under- lying calcareous beds mingling with the debris and talcis formed by the wear, disintegration and chemical decomposition of the exposed ledges forming the walls of the fissures. That these mineral waters, charged as they were with carbonic acid, had a solvent power on the deep-seated iron ores, and brought the iron to the surface in solution as bicarbonate of the protoxide, in the form of strong chalybeate water, which as it filtered through the chert gravel fallen out from the decaying lime- stone, and permeating the ferruginous clays and earths washed out from the crevices, joints and seams of the limestones, lost the carbonic acid, while the protoxide of iron, combined there- with, gradually oxidized and consolidated in its passage down the declivity of the hill, and finally in filtrated ore banks such as we now see them more or less rich, according to the copious- ness of these ferruginous waters and the continuance of the chemical and mechanical action through a longer or shorter period of time. When the chalybeate waters dripped slowly into vacant places, it produced the so-called " pipe ore" a true ferruginous stalactite, analogous in form, though not in com- position, to the calcareous stalactite often seen pendant from the roofs of caves, and having their origin from dripping waters holding lime, instead of iron, in solution. When these chaly- beate w ? aters oozed through coarse gravely earths or lumpy clays, they often coated with concentric layers any silicious or argillaceous neclei intercepting its downward passage, and these produced the various forms of pot ore. Again where it insinuates itself through porous earths, we find the honey-comb structure prevalent, and the interstices numerous and closely set. Such being the process of formation, it is easy to see how, in ore banks usually opened on hillsides, where this process of infiltration takes place with greater or less rapidity and during longer or shorter periods of time, the amount of ore will be variable in quantity and various in structure, but if these secondary. formations of iron ore can be traced to their origin in a vein of good dimensions well filled with ore, then the amount of ore that can be obtained is almost unlimited. While working ore banks of the Martha and Illinois furnaces on Sections 2 and 3, T. 12, R. 8, the ore was followed until it headed between well defined walls of limestone. On these sec- tions the ore has been found filling two distinct fissures running parallel to each other with a uniform bearing of N. 15 degrees E. On Section 2 the width of the fissure was found to be 24 feet. Here the ore was followed to the depth of 60 or 70 feet, when, for the want of the necessary power to drain the accumu- lated water, the working w r as discontinued. On Section 3, the crevice measured from wall to wall 27^/2 feet, and the ore has been followed to the depth of 90 feet. 12 On the side of the hill lying to the N. E. of the ore-bearing crevice on Section 2, ore banks have been opened and partially worked. Already the face of the walls of a crevice can be seen on the east. On taking the bearings across the valley S. 15 degrees W. these were found to coincide with the "prospect hole" sunk in a shallow ravine, having the same bearing as it rises the hillside, where ore has also been discovered, and the same course leads over the brow of the ridge to a locality where abundance of fine pipe ore was obtained for the use of the Martha furnace. Here, then, some 200 yards to the east of the crevice above described in Section 2, is in all probability another parallel ore- bearing fissure. The conclusion which I have arrived at from these facts, is, that though individual ore banks on hillsides may fail in their yield, a thorough investigation will often lead to the detection of the source of the ore in regular fissures of the limestone, where a more uniform and abundant supply may be anticipated, and where it is more concentrated and less mixed with silicious impurities and other extraneous matter. Subordinate spurs thrown off from this main millstone-grit range, interlock with the lower hills of the iron region. These connected spurs are composed usually of alterations of sand- stone, limestone and shale, forming a transition series between the millstone-grit proper and the massive limestones of the sub- carboniferous group. These intercalated limestones are every- where recognized by the presence of particular species of pentremites and Archimedes, and a multitude of beautiful minute species of Terebratula, Spirifer, etc. The true geological position of the ores I have just been describing, is beneath these intercalated masses of limestone, sandstone and shales, reposing on, or enclosed in fissures of the more massive beds of limestone of the subcarboniferous group, containing as heretofore remarked, Stylina, Syringopora, along with Bellerophou Hiulcus, and various curious forms of Gor- gonis and Retapora. These hydrated brown iron ores of the subcarboniferous group limestone formation of Hardin County, Illinois, are es- sentially composed of water and peroxide of iron, with occa- sionally a small admixture of protoxide, and insoluble earthy silicates. 13 This ore, if economically worked in the furnace, should yield from 50 to 56 per cent, of metallic iron. The quality of iron produced from these hydrated oxides of iron is similar to the iron from the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, in Kentucky and Tennessee, and the Housatonic River in Connecticut. Near the Island Riffle on Saline, the millstone grit appears in full force, in ridges of considerable altitude. At the foot of this range is the salt spring, which you were desirous to have me examine. On critically investigating its geological position I discovered that it is situated within a few yards of a remark- able fault, which here brings ledges of the subcarboniferous limestone abruptly to the surface, in juxtaposition with the millstone grit, and only a few yards from the fountain head of the brine spring. There can be no doubt that this locality would be a favorable situation for attaining by boring, a strong brine, within a moderate distance of the surface; but it is too far removed from the present coal mines to be manufactured into salt by the slack and refuse coal which they supply. There is, in the immediate neighborhood of the coal mines sufficient evidence of the existence of salt-bearing rocks, within 800 or 1,200 feet of the surface, to justify the expense of boring after salt water, which, if obtained, could be manufactured to great advantage in connection with the coal business. A point somewhere near to where the mill road crosses the railroad, where Mr. Halloway has noticed gaseous exhalations emitted, would probably be as good a point to make the trial as any place near the mines. From the greater abruptness of the rise of the strata after leaving the south side of the Saline in the direction of the millstone-grit range, I am led to suspect the existence of a trough if not a fault in the stratification, which would arrest the filtration of waters along the course of the dip, to the N. E. At any rate it would not be an expensive work to test the inference by boring i,ooo or 1,200 feet, which if successful, would be a great source of profit. Besides there is reason to believe that a greater thickness of salt-bearing rocks would be passed through near the mines, than at the Island Riffle, so that if the synclinal axis of the strata is of a form favorable for the retention of water, more lasting sources of brine may be expected in this part of the valley of the Saline. Near the base of the millstone-grit range, on the waters of Grand Pierre Creek, I examined a locality of potter's clay, derived from the disintegration of the purer shales, interposed between the millstone grits and the intercalated limestone which succeed beneath the same bed outcrops on the Ohio River, on the Company's property. The bed is three or four feet thick where it is exposed, and though not perfectly free from oxide of iron, is so nearly so that it will answer for making the yellow Rockingham ware, and the purest part might even be suitable for the ordinary white queensware. I did not visit the locality of the porcelain clays of Hardin and Pope Counties. The specimens I have seen is a material of similar appearance to the porcelain earths found below Cape Girardeau and elsewhere, in Missouri, which produces a self- glazing ware that can hardly be distinguished from the "marble ware" now much in vogue, except that it is rather more unc- tious to the touch, and more adhesive to the tongue. I have specimens of this self -glazing ware, made from the native ma- terial, taken from a bed on the property of R. D. Owen & Bro., on the Mississippi, a few miles below Cape Girardeau. NEW HARMONY, December 2, 1856. GEO. E. SELLERS, ESQ. DEAR SIR: Since I submitted my report on the mineral lands of the Saline Coal Company, I have had occasion to visit some of the most extensive coal and iron districts of the Alleghany region of Pennsylvania, and am more fully impressed than ever with the great value of the Saline property. Indeed the amount of coal on that property, in a given space, accessible above the water courses, is greater than I have seen in any part of these districts of Pennsyl- vania. Yet I am convinced there is more iron on your property than there is coal to work it up into wrought iron. Taking the total amount of iron ore on the property, I consider there is a larger supply than the very heavy deposits which supply the extensive furnaces of the Great Western Iron Works, and by a union of your carbonates of the coal measures with your hematitic ores of the Martha ore banks, you will undoubtedly be able to produce nearly one-half as much more iron in the same time as can be turned out at the Great Western, with no more blast furnaces and the same number of hands. If so, cast iron can be produced at the Saline at least a fourth cheaper than at the above iron works. Since the publication of the report on the Saline property, several persons have visited the Martha ore banks with a view to investigate the amount of iron ore, all have returned fully satisfied that there is an inexhaustible supply of the 15 very best quality of hydrated oxide, and hematitic ores. One of the parties, probably better able to judge of these matters than any, from his intimate acquaintance with this property, as well as all the most important iron and coal regions of the country, regards the Saline lands as the most valuable coal and iron property at present known in the West. I take this occasion to inform you that our chemical investigations on western coal show that the five foot bed equivalent to your main bed on the Saline, comes nearer in its properties, determined by ultimate analysis, to the Youghe- gheny coal, than any other western coal yet examined a very important fact, since this is the most universally applicable coal in the West for almost all pur- poses, whether it be cooking, gas-making, or domestic use, or making steam. Yours truly, (Signed) D. D. OWEN. EXTRACT OF REPORT OF J. M. WOODWARD, C. E., ANALYSIS OF COAL. No. I. 4 feet. Volatile matter, Coke, 100.00 Swells up in coking; not disposed to coke in burning. Fixed carbon in coke, 54.45. Ashes white, n.oo. No. 2. 3 ft. 6 in. Volatile matter, ------- 36.6 Coke, --- 63.4 Fixed carbon in coke, 54.4. Swells up still more than the preceding in cok- ing, and forms a cellular coke. No. 3. 6 feet. Volatile matter, ----- Coke, Swells but little in coking. Fixed carbon in coke, 59.5. 38.0 62.0 No. 4. 4 feet. Volatile matter, 35.6 Coke, '- 64.4 Superior gas coal. Specific gravity, 1,309. Fixed carbon in coke, 60.4. Ashes light gray, 4. No. 5. 3 feet. Volatile matter, Coke, Swells in coking, does not coke in burning. Fixed carbon in coke, 50.1. 34-9 65.1 These are crucible analyses, but in pits an increase of 5 to 10 per cent, of fixed carbon is produced, and the 6 feet bed produced 69.60 of coke, a hard, close coke with metallic lustre and a clear ring sound which would bear up the charge of any blast furnace. 16 'RON ORE. The iron ore upon these lands exists in well defined fissures between walls of limestone running parallel to each other, with a uniform bearing of N. 15 deg. E. These fissures are about twenty four to twenty-eight feet in width, and have been followed to the depth of ninety feet, with evidence of being hundreds of feet in depth, and five miles in length. Two of these fissures are estimated to yield 42,820,800 tons of sesque o.xide iron ore. The product of this ore at the Mlinois furnace has been from 60 to 62 per cent, of metallic iron, and is free fiom phosphorous or sulphur. (Signed) J. M. WOODWARD, C. E. The following extracts from letters lately written by Robert Reid, Esq., who is now and iias been for many years the Super- intendent of the Saline proy;erty, will be of interest: The distance from Shawneetown to the Martha Iron Mines is twenty miles. The salt works upon the Saline property were formerly worked by the Gov- ernment, and would now pay, if o 'tied again, as the water could now be boiled by coal at a much cheaper rate tha;i py wood as formerly. The Saline property (coal) in tbaf Counties of Hardin and Gallatin contains 6,680 acres, and the "Martha" p.Aperty (iron) in Hardin County, consists of 3,840 acres. Of the coal property there is now rented for cultivation 1,260 acres, paying an annual rental of $2,770. 300 acres more will come under rental from 1886 to ijBgo. There are five seams of coal upo > the property, easily accessible, which con- tain an aggregate of 21 feet 2 inches of coal. From what is known as the fire pot seam, which was worked by a slope, about 15 acres of coal has been taken. As this slope has been allowed to . al in, another would have to be driven for about 1, 800 feet, which would op^-r up about 300 acres and produce 2,163,000 tons. A shaft on Section 35 is 118 fee; deep, in which there are two seams of coal; the first at go feet, which is three feet thick; and 28 feet below this there is another seam of four feet. From this shaft about 10 acres have now been worked. No work has been done in the shaft since 1874. It is now filled with water, but is in good condition for work when the water is removed. The cost of putting both the slope and s \aft in good order, with all needed machin- ery, would be about $17,000. The iron property, which has been fully described by Doctor Owen, has three crevices running N. 150 E. The western crevice has been worked extensively, but only on the surface; this is 16 :eet wide. The one east of all I did open and went down in it 50 feet, when it was 20 feet wide; 14 feet of it ore and 6 feet small ore and lime. Some yeais since this one was examined by an expert from Springfield, who pronounced i. a good Bessemer ore. DEMCO PAMPHLET BINDER UNIVERSFTY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA