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:
|
986 (17 acres in the Danville Coal, 346 acres in the Herrin Coal, and 622 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
| Danville A microfilm map (document 351372, reel 03135, frame 410) shows room and pillar mining near the shaft from March 1933 to May 1934. The seam is not designated on the map source. Because the map shows the workings in the last two years of operation, the room and pillar mining may actually be mining of the large block of unmined coal surrounding the shaft bottom in the longwall part of the mine (in the lowest seam, Colchester Coal). However, the configuration shown does not precisely match the un-mined block. The map may show operations in what was termed the “1st Vein”, or Danville Coal. Because of the uncertainty, the accompanying map for the Danville Coal may not accurately depict the mining that took place.
|
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)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total Production: 5,342,504
|
Production Notes
Coal Report production (if available)
Sources of Data
| Microfilm, document 351372 (frame 404)
|
1-1924
|
1:2400
|
1:5131
|
Not final
|
| Microfilm, document 351372 (frame 406)
|
after 3-1909
|
1:2400
|
1:5131
|
Undated
|
| Microfilm, document 351372 (frame 410)
|
5-2-1934
|
1:2400
|
1:3972
|
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.
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| Mine notes (Bureau County) - Mine type, shaft location, thickness, geologic problems.
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| Microfilm map, document 351372, reel 03135, frame 404 - Shaft location, mine outline (Colchester Coal), mining method.
|
| Microfilm map, document 351372, reel 03135, frame 406 - Mine outline (Herrin Coal, “middle vein”), mining method.
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| Microfilm map, document 351372, reel 3135, frame 410 - Mine outline (Danville Coal or un-mined block at the shaft bottom in the Colchester Coal).
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Mine Notes
Mine Images
Photographs
