Mine Index 0010 Cherry Coal Mining Corporation, Cherry Mine

Mine Index Number: 0010

Company Name:	Cherry Coal Mining Corporation
Mine Name:	Cherry Mine
Start Date:	1905	End Date:	1935
Type of Mine:	Underground
Total acres shown:	979 (17 acres in the Danville Coal, 332 acres in the Herrin Coal, and 630 acres in the Colchester Coal).
Acres after map date:	The area mined after the map date can not be estimated. Production was never reported by seam, and the area mined cannot be compared to the reported production.	General Area of mining acres shown:

Shaft, Slope, Drift or Tipple Location(s)

Type	County	Township-Range	Section	Part Section

Main shaft

Bureau

17N 11E

27

SE SW NW

Air shaft

Bureau

17N 11E

27

NE NW SW

Geology

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

Danville

280

1.0-3.0

RP

Herrin

317-321

4.4

6.5

5.0

RP

Colchester

485

2.0

3.5

LW

Geological Problems Reported

This mine was the site of the Cherry Mine disaster in 1909, when 256 men lost their lives in a fire. The fire started on a hay wagon near the stables, and the fire spread to the timbers and thence to the coal. A further 8 fatalities were caused by falls of the roof, which was unusual for Bureau County (the other mines having two or fewer such deaths). In at least 5 of the falls, the failure was because a portion of the roof separated from the layers above, along a parting that was about 2 feet thick in most cases, and tapered to a feather edge. The mine notes also indicated the roof was bad, with many slips and rolls. (Note: The seam that the roof failures occurred in was not specified, but the descriptions tend to indicate that most of the roof failures were in the Herrin Coal. However, one large roof failure did take place at the shaft bottom in the Colchester Coal, although that may have happened only because of weakening due to the fire.) The immediate roof for the Herrin Coal was a sandy gray shale. Some slips were seen that extended down into the blue band. “The percent of impurities at those places will often exceed 50%, rendering the coal absolutely worthless”. Large round concretions were also present immediately above the coal. Pyrite lenses from ½ to 2 inches thick were present, and these were difficult to remove. The most persistent bedded impurity was the 3 inch blue band of bone coal that was 7 inches above the floor. Two more bedded layers occurred 20 and 29 inches above the floor. These consisted of stony pyrite, and they thickened and thinned laterally, but were present as far as observers followed them. Two more lenses of bone coal appeared at 37 and 57 inches above the floor and pyrite nodules were common at those horizons. The nodules adhered to the coal, and were discarded at the face while mining. Fracture facings of calcite and gypsum were noted at the face, but they were not conspicuous or plentiful. Bone coal was present in quantity sufficient to add considerable ash. At least one horseback was seen. The roof of the Colchester Coal was 0 to 12 inches of gray shale (averaging 5 inches thick), with 20 inches of black shale above. The Colchester Coal had a 4 inch layer of pyrite-rich coal that would spontaneously combust when exposed to air on the mine dump pile.

Production

Company

Mine Name

Date

Production (tons)

St. Paul Coal Company (add)	St. Paul No. 2 (add)	1905-1928	5,288,204

Cherry Coal Company (add)	Cherry (add)	1929-1935	53,500

Cherry Coal Mining Corporation (add)	Cherry (add)	1935-1935	800

Total Production: 5,342,504

Production Notes

Coal Report production (if available)

Sources of Data

Source Map

Map Date

Original Scale

Digitized Scale

Map Type

State archive, IL_1050_01

1-1924

1:2400

1:2400

Not final

State archive, IL_1051_01

after 3-1909

1:2400

1:2400

Undated

State archive, IL_1043_01

5-2-1934

1:2400

1:2400

Not final

Annotated Bibliography (Data source - brief description of information)

Coal Reports - Production, ownership, years of operation, seams, depths, mining methods.

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

Mine notes (Bureau County) - Mine type, shaft location, thickness, geologic problems.

State archive, IL_1050_01 - Shaft location, mine outline (Colchester Coal), mining method.

State archive, IL_1051_01 - Mine outline (Herrin Coal, “middle vein”), mining method.

State archive, IL_1043_01 - Mine outline (Danville Coal or un-mined block at the shaft bottom in the Colchester Coal), mining method.