Coal South of Le Claire 1873

SUITER

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 4/3/2017 at 19:26:05

Coal- Close by the Mississippi, three miles below LeClair, a seam of coal twenty-eight inches thick has been discovered. It is on land owned by Wm. Suiter. There were coal cropping’s by the edge of the bank about 300 yards from the river, and they dug into it for about thirty feet and came upon this good coal. A singular quality of the coal deserves mention. It is more of the nature of cannel coal than anything else. It burns with a blue flame, gives intense heat, very little smoke, and leaves nothing but white ashes. You can cut it with a knife as you can fire clay. The existence of the bed has been known for years, but everybody supposed it to be nothing but slate.