Campus Quadrangle
Mining in the Campus Quadrangle
Mining in the Campus quadrangle was centered around the town of Cardiff. The Cardiff Coal Company (mine index 757) mined both the Colchester Coal and the Cardiff Coal. This is the type location for the Cardiff Coal, which is known to be found only in Northeastern Livingston, southeastern Grundy and western Kankakee Counties. The seam occurs in channels that trend northeast-southwest, and so has a limited areal extent (Willman, et al., 1975, p. 187). The Cardiff Coal is as much as 12 feet thick in parts of this mine. The Cardiff Coal and the Colchester Coal are separated by an average of only six feet of strata. This made it possible to drive blind slopes (underground slopes that do not reach the surface) into the Colchester Coal from the Cardiff Coal.
In 1903, a series of explosions caused the No. 1 Mine of the Cardiff Coal Company to close, and the No. 2 mine was opened. The No. 2 Mine was primarily worked using the longwall method of mining in the deeper Colchester Coal, but some works did extend into the Cardiff Coal above.
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Coal Mines In Illinois Campus Quadrangle