The rent accruing to government for the same period, is a fraction short of six millions of pounds. The government formerly received 10 per cent. in lead for rent. Now it is 6 per cent.
A part of the mineral land in the Wisconsin Territory has been surveyed and brought into market, which will add greatly to the stability and prosperity of the mining business.
Coal. Bituminous coal abounds in Illinois. It may be seen, frequently, in the ravines and gullies, and in the points of bluffs. Exhaustless beds of this article exist in the bluffs of St. Clair county, bordering on the American bottom, of which large quantities are transported to St. Louis, for fuel. There is scarce a county in the State, but what can furnish coal, in reasonable quantities. Large beds are said to exist, near the Vermillion of the Illinois, and in the vicinity of the rapids of the latter.
Agatized Wood. A petrified tree, of black walnut, was found in the bed of the river Des Plaines, about forty rods above its junction with the Kankakee, imbedded in a horizontal position, in a stratum of sandstone. There is fifty-one and a half feet of the trunk visible,—eighteen inches in diameter at its smallest end, and probably three feet at the other end.
Muriate of Soda, or common salt. This is found in various parts of the State, held in solution in the springs. The manufacture of salt by boiling and evaporation is carried on in Gallatin county, twelve miles west-north-west from Shawneetown; in Jackson county, near Brownsville; and in Vermillion county, near Danville. The springs and land are owned by the State, and the works leased.
A coarse freestone, much used in building, is dug from quarries near Alton, on the Mississippi, where large bodies exist.
Scattered over the surface of our prairies, are large masses of rock, of granitic formation, roundish in form, usually called by the people "lost rocks." They will weigh from one thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, and are entirely detached, and frequently are found several miles-distant from any quarry. Nor has there ever been a quarry of granite discovered in the State. These stones are denominated bowlders in mineralogy. They usually lie on the surface, or are partially imbedded in the soil of our prairies, which is unquestionably of diluvial formation. How they came here is a question of difficult solution.
Medicinal Waters, are found in different parts of the State. These are chiefly sulphur springs and chalybeate waters. There is said to be one well in the southern part of the State strongly impregnated with the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, from which considerable quantities have been made for sale, by simply evaporating the water, in a kettle, over a common fire.
There are several sulphur springs in Jefferson county, to which persons resort for health.