Mine Index 0059 Old Ben Coal Corporation, Old Ben No. 17 Mine

Mine Index Number: 0059

Company Name:	Old Ben Coal Corporation
Mine Name:	Old Ben No. 17 Mine
Start Date:	1902	End Date:	March 1923
Type of Mine:	Underground
Total acres shown:	1,201
Acres after map date:		General Area of mining acres shown:

Shaft, Slope, Drift or Tipple Location(s)

Type	County	Township-Range	Section	Part Section

Main shaft

Williamson

8S 2E

24

SW NE NW

Air shaft

Williamson

8S 2E

24

SW NE NW

Geology

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

Herrin

208-300

7.0

9.0

8.5

RPP, HERMany pillars were drawn on the east side of the mine; this resulted in surface subsidence a month later. (One death resulted from a roof fall while pulling pillars in 1915.)

Geological Problems Reported

A large fault was noted 2200 feet west of the shaft. This made a “hill” where the floor was 77 feet higher than at the shaft. Faults were also noted on the source map in the southwestern part of the mine. The west side was downthrown 40 feet and halted westward expansion. The roof was gray shale over much of the mine, with black shale and limestone comprising the roof over the eastern part of the mine. 300 feet east of the shaft, a gray shale lens was present (200 feet long and 2 feet wide) that split the coal in two benches, with 75% of the coal below the lens and 25% above. Rolls were present but infrequent, in one case cutting out half the coal seam for a 20- foot length. Some calcareous concretions were present, but their effect on mining was not noted. Some gas was noted; gas explosions in 1909, 1912, and 1920 resulted in three deaths. The floor was underclay varying in thickness from 0 to 4 feet. It was thicker in the east part of the mine, under the black shale and limestone roof.

Production

Company

Mine Name

Date

Production (tons)

Johnston City and Big Muddy Coal Company (add)	Johnston City and Big Muddy No. 1 (add)	1902-1907	626,296

Johnston City Coal Company (add)	Johnston City No. 1 (add)	1907-1917	4,950,073

Johnston City-Big Muddy Coal Mining Company (add)	Johnston City-Big Muddy No. 1 (add)	1917-1919	1,205,234

Old Ben Coal Corporation (add)	Old Ben No. 17 (add)	1919-1923	1,024,643

Total Production: 7,806,246

Production Notes

Coal Report production (if available)

Sources of Data

Source Map

Map Date

Original Scale

Digitized Scale

Map Type

Company, Old Ben Archive Collection

1-14-1928

1:2400

1:2400

Final

Annotated Bibliography (Data source - brief description of information)

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

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

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

Company map, Old Ben Coal Company Archive Collection - Shaft locations, mine outline, mining method, geologic problems.

Microfilm map, document 353183, reel 03142, frame 80 - Geologic problem (fault in southwest).