[13]
REPORT.
In the report on Sullivan county, Prof. Collett has shown that coal N, which, in the wetern 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. 
                     ANALYSIS OF CHAMBERS' COAL.

       Specific gravity, 1.206; one cubic foot weighs 75.37 lbs.
                                 { Ash, light brown,   -   -   2.00
     Coke,    -    -     50.50   { Fixed Carbon,    -    -    48.50
                                 { Water,    -    -    -   -   4.50
     Volatile matter,    49.50   { Gas,    -    -    -    -   45.00
                       ________                             _______
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke has a metallic lusture, and is so much swollen that the original shape of the coal is quite lost.
On the other hand, coal M, which only appears as a thin seam in the former counties, underlies nearly the entire area of the latter county, and attains to the grand dimensions of a nine foot seam on Pitt's farm, section 3, township 9, range 8.

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The subjoining analyses of specimens from this coal seam, taken at various localities, indicate that it is a good caking coal, suitable, in some places, for gas and coke. 
                        B. & L. BURK'S COAL.

       Specific gravity, 1.210; one cubic foot weighs 75.62 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,   -   -    -    1.50
     Coke,     -    -    52.50   { Fixed carbon,    -     -   51.00
                                 { Water,    -    -    -   -   3.50
     Volatile matter,    47.50   { Gas,    -    -    -    -   44.00
                       _______                               _______
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke is puffed, brilliant and porous.
This is a good white ash coal, contains a large amount of gas and will make fair coke.
DICKS COAL, six feet two inches thick, section 30, township 9, range 8. Upper part of the seam. 
       Specific gravity, 1.258; one cubic foot weighs 78.62 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,    -    -    -  1.50
     Coke,    -     -    52.00   { Fixed carbon,    -    -    50.50
                                 { Water,    -     -    -   -  4.50
     Volatile matter,    48.00   { Gas,    -    -    -    -   43.50
                       ________                             ________
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke is puffed, amorphous, glossy, and somewhat swollen.
DICKS COAL, middle part of the seam. 
       Specific gravity, 1.252; one cubic foot weighs 78.25 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,    -     -   -  0.50
     Coke,   -   -       55.30   { Fixed carbon,    -    -    55.80
                                 { Water,    -    -    -   -   4.50
     Volatile matter,    44.70   { Gas,    -    -     -    -  39.20
                       ________                             ________
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke is slightly swollen, amorphous, compact and glossy.

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DICKS COAL, lower part of seam. 
       Specific gravity, 1.278; one cubic foot weighs 79.05 lbs.
                                 { Ash, red brown,   -   -     2.50
     Coke,     -    -    54.50   { Fixed carbon,    -    -    52.00
                                 { Water,    -    -    -    -  3.50
     Volatile matter,    45.50   { Gas,    -     -    -    -  42.00
                       _______                              _______
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke has a metallic lustre, is slightly puffed, amorphous and compact.
The middle part of this coal is very free from earthy matter, contains only .5 per cent. of ash, yields a compact, glossy coke, and a fine quantity of quite pure gas.
The upper and lower portions, though very pure coal, are not nearly so good as that taken from the middle part of seam.
PIGG'S COAL, section 36, township 8, range 8. 
       Specific gravity, 1,271; one cubic foot weighs 79.43 lbs.
                                 { Ash, red brown,   -    -    2.50
    Coke,     -     -     51.50  { Fixed carbon,    -     -   49.00
                                 { Water,     -     -    -     6.00
    Volatile matter,      48.50  { Gas,      -     -     -    42.50
                        ________                            ________
                         100.00                              100.00
The coke is very much swollen, amorphous and lustreless.
This seam is five feet two inches thick; the quality of the coal, as shown by the analysis, is very good.
ST. JOHN's, section 29, township 9, range 8. 
       Specific gravity, 1.287; one cubic foot weighs 80.43 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,    -     -   -  2.50
    Coke,     -     -     51.50  { Fixed carbon,   -     -    49.00
                                 { Water,     -     -     -    3.50
    Volatile matter,      48.50  { Gas,     -     -     -     45.00
                        ________                            ________
                         100.00                              100.00
The coke is puffed and vitreous.

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This coal is very similar to the above, but probably contains less sulphur.

HON. HENRY K. WILSON'S COAL, section 33, township 9, range 8. 
        Specific gravity, 1.228; one cubic foot weighs 76.75 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,     -     -      0.80
    Coke,     -      -    52.40  { Fixed carbon,     -     -   51.60
                                 { Water,     -     -     -     2.35
    Volatile matter,      47.60  { Gas,     -     -     -      45.25
                        ________                             ________
                         100.00                               100.00
The coke is puffed, somewhat porous, and has a brilliant metallic lustre.
This is one of the best caking coals that has come under my notice in the State. In appearance it is of a glossy, jet black color, vitreous fracture, and will soil the hands little more than cannel coal. The ash is white, and does not amount to one per cent. The coke is of fair quality, and the gas is 6.1 per cent. greater than I found in a sample of the best gas coal from Pittsburg.
I understand that Mr. Wilson is making arrangements to build a railroad from this coal to Shelburn or Curryville, on the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad. There is but little doubt, when proper facilities are afforded for transportation, of its meeting with a ready market for manufacturing gas; such a character of coal being very much needed in the West, which is now almost entirely dependent on the Pittsburg district for coal suited to this important and growing branch of manufactures.
Mr. H. WILSON'S COAL (Cass township), section 15, township 8, range 8. 
       Specific gravity, 1.249; one cubic foot weighs 78.06 lbs.
                                { Ash, bluish white,   -   -   2.00
    Coke,    -      -    54.00  { Fixed carbon,    -     -    52.00
                                { Water,     -     -     -     3.00
    Volatile matter,     46.00  { Gas,     -     -      -     43.00
                       ________                             ________
                        100.00                               100.00

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The coke is puffed, glossy and amorphous. This coal is from the same seam as the above; is of very good quality, but contains considerable more ash, though not more than is commonly found in caking coal.
PIONEER SHAFT, Curryville, section 34, township 9, range 9, seam four feet thick; analysis of upper part. 
       Specific gravity, 1.282; one cubic foot weighs 80.12 lbs.
                                 { Ash, rust color,    -    -   1.00
    Coke,    -      -    52.50   { Fixed carbon,    -    -     51.50
                                 { Water,      -      -     -   4.00
    Volatile matter,     47.50   { Gas,     -     -     -      43.50
                       ________                              ________
                        100.00                                100.00
The coke is much swollen, amorphous, and has a metallic lustre.
This is a good, strong coal, and is referred to L, of the vertical section. Has a bright black color; breaks into cubes more or less coated with thin scales of semi-transparent calc spar. A cubic foot of this coal will weigh as much as a cubic foot of Pittsburg coal, and gives a very fair coke and large quantity of gas.
STANDARD SHAFT, sunk by Judge J. M. Hanna, section 36, township 8, range 8; seam five feet thick; lower seam, L. 
       Specific gravity, 1.333; one cubic foot weighs 83.31 lbs.
                                 { Ash, white,    -      -     2.90
    Coke,      -     -   58.10   { Fixed carbon,    -     -   55.20
                                 { Water,     -      -     -   1.80
    Volatile matter,     41.90   { Gas,     -     -     -     40.10
                       ________                             ________
                        100.00                               100.00
The coke is dense, of a dull color, and but slightly changed.
This is the same coal worked at the Pioneer shaft, and the two analyses correspond very closely. The ash is white, but the quantity is rather greater than in the former, and

S. G. R. -- 2

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the quantity of coke is also somewhat greater. Altogether, this is a most valuable seam of caking coal, and is well adapted for household and steam purposes.
Another sample of coal taken from the upper seam, M, in the Standard shaft was subjected to analysis, and the following result obtained: 
                             HANNA'S COAL.

        Specific gravity, 1.281; one cubic foot weighs 80.06 lbs.
                                  { Ash, gray,     -     -    2.50
    Coke,    -     -     56.50    { Fixed carbon,    -   -   54.00
                                  { Water,     -     -    -   5.00
    Volatile matter,     43.50    { Gas,     -     -     -   38.50
                       ________                            ________
                        100.00                              100.00
The coke is slightly swollen with the form of the coal unchanged, and has a metallic lustre. In quality it compares favorably with other samples taken from this seam.
Coal L, appears to be the lowest seam that is worked in Sullivan county, though coal K, has been reported in bores at several localities. At the Pioneer shaft, it was struck at the depth of forty-seven feet below the bottom of L, and is here reported to be over five feet thick. This seam may be found at the other shafts, and, if proved to be of good quality and workable thickness, will materially add to the value of the property.
From the Standard shaft, to the Shelburn shaft, there is a rise of about thirty feet, in the surface of the country, in a distance of two and a quarter miles. The rise of the strata in that direction is still greater. At the Standard shaft we find that it is 218 feet from the railroad track to the bottom of coal L; while at the Pioneer shaft, one mile and a half to the south, it is reached in 181.6 feet; at Shelburn, about two miles and a quarter, at 175 feet, and in the Powers bore, three miles and a half distant, in the same direction, at 104 feet. This indicates a rise in the strata between the two extreme points here given, of at least thirty

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feet to the mile, along the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad, and brings us within four miles of Sullivan, where a bore was made to the depth of 544 feet for coal oil, in 1864-66. Though the above rise appears to be very regular to the south for three miles and a half, it does not follow, by any means, that it continues at that rate to Sullivan; in fact, it rather approaches the general line of strike, for the usual rise is to the eastward; yet, it must be confessed that the dip is very irregular throughout the county. A persistent rise, of thirty feet to the mile, between Shelburn and Sullivan, would run coal L out before reaching the latter point. On the other hand, it is equally perplexing to suppose, where the topographical features of the country appear to be directly opposed to such an inference, than an anti-clinal axis exists between the above points, sending coal L to the depth of 269 feet at Sullivan, a rate of dip equal to forty-one feet to the mile, even though we compute it directly from Powers' bore, where the coal is actually proved to be rising in the direction of the former place. From a general observation, I made Sullivan one hundred feet lower, topographically, than the town of Merom, which is nine miles west and situated on a high bluff overlooking the Wabash river, and could detect no material change in the geological horizon. One hundred and seventy-nine feet below the top of this bluff there is a coal three and a half feet thick, including its two clay partings. If we allow for a slight rise, which exists in the strata towards the Wabash river, from Sullivan, it will make this coal correspond very well to the place of the second coal in the bore at Sullivan, counting from the top downwards. The former seam is referred to M, and the latter to N, by Prof. Collett, whereas, by this study, they are referable to L. It must be borne in mind, that as a general rule, borings made during the oil excitement, are quite unreliable as a guide to the identification of coal seams, especially when they present anomalous features in the general order of the strata, and are given from memory. This correlation of the coals from Curryville to Sullivan and Merom, here

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given, is perfectly natural, and requires no violation of the observed prevailing features in the stratography of the country.
A coal that is 104 feet beneath the surface at Powers' bore is not likely to be 269 feet at Sullivan. Below the seam marked L, in the bore at the latter place, it is my opinion that no workable seam can be found. The seven feet of coal reported at 544 feet, will prove to be a bituminous shale.
These suggestions regarding the equivalency of the coal seams along the Evansville and Crawfordsville Railroad in no way militate against the practical value of Prof. Collett's able report, but are thrown out for the purpose of stimulating research in a field where there is still much to be learned. Though no faults and grand disturbances have yet been found in the western coal basin, we have in Indiana quite as many geological difficulties to encounter from an unequal distribution of the seams over a portion, at least, of the basin, as are to be found in the eastern measures.
Sullivan county is rich in valuable coal beds, and the recent opening of the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad will furnish a good market. Josephus Collett, Jr., the energetic President of this road, is determined that it shall be one of the greatest coal roads in the country. Together with the connecting roads, it has a supply of nine hundred coal cars to start with. The three shafts in Sullivan are doing a fine business. Two mines have been opened in Vermillion county, which, together with the above and the block coal mines of Clay county, already furnish about one thousand tons per diem on this road alone. This rate of freightage will rapidly increase as the coals become known.

1870 Table of Contents

Geology Library, Indiana University, Bloomington