Mine Index 0366 Orient Number Two Coal Company, Orient No. 2 Mine

Mine Index Number: 0366

Company Name:	Orient Number Two Coal Company
Mine Name:	Orient No. 2 Mine
Start Date:	1922	End Date:	November 1960
Type of Mine:	Underground
Total acres shown:	9,638
Acres after map date:	46	General Area of mining acres shown:

Shaft, Slope, Drift or Tipple Location(s)

Type	County	Township-Range	Section	Part Section

Main shaft

Franklin

7S 2E

13

NW SE SW

Auxiliary shaft

Franklin

7S 2E

13

NE SE SW

Shaft No. 3 (air)

Franklin

7S 2E

1

SE NE NW

Shaft No. 4 (motor)

Franklin

6S 2E

36

NE NE SW

Geology

		Thickness (ft)
Seam	Depth (ft)	Min	Max	Ave	Mining Method

Herrin

480-500

8.0

12.5

9.0

HER

Geological Problems Reported

An explosion in 1951 resulted in 119 men killed, ranking second only to the Cherry Mine fire (Bureau County, 1909) in number of deaths. The mine had been classified as gassy, and had additional safety procedures (rock dusting to alleviate combustible coal dust in the mine, certified examiners monitoring the mine prior to each shift, etc.) An exhaustive investigation of the cause of ignition was narrowed down to two possibilities: an electrical arc from the operation of a motor or personnel smoking underground. The methane gas had apparently migrated from abandoned workings. The roof was at least 40 feet of shale, and generally up to 19 inches of top coal was left to support this roof. Some calcite appeared as fracture filler, and some thin pyrite stringers were present in the top coal. Some small slips were present, but did not seriously affect mining. The northward dip of the bed and the presence of a few rolls required some grading to be performed. The floor consisted of 4 to 18 inches of underclay that heaved “readily but not far”. The microfilm source map shows generally north-trending faults along the west side of the mine, part of the Rend Lake Fault System. In some cases, mining was not badly impacted, but in other areas, entries and rooms were truncated due to faulting.

Production

Company

Mine Name

Date

Production (tons)

Chicago, Wilmington and Franklin Coal Company (add)	New Orient, Orient No. 2 (add)	1922-1959	60,003,670

Orient Number Two Coal Company (add)	Orient No. 2 (add)	1959-1960	810,507

Orient Number Two Coal Company (add)	Orient No. 2 (add)	1960-1960	293,263

Total Production: 61,107,440

Production Notes

Coal Report production (if available)

Sources of Data

Source Map

Map Date

Original Scale

Digitized Scale

Map Type

Microfilm, document 351453

7-1-1960

1:2400

1:5296

Not final

Company, 4103.F7 i5.1-63

1-1-1960

1:12000

1:12000

Not final

Annotated Bibliography (Data source - brief description of information)

Coal Reports - Production, ownership, years of operation, depth, geologic problems.

Directory of Illinois Coal Mines (Franklin County) - Mine names, mine index, ownership, years of operation.

Mine notes (Franklin County) - Mine type, shaft location, seam, depth, thickness, geologic problems.

Microfilm map, document 351453, reel 03136, frames 160-171 - Shaft locations, mine outline, mining method.

Company map, ISGS map library, 4103.F7 i5.1-63 - Shaft locations.