The Geological Survey locates and maps limestone and dolomite deposits and analyzes and tests samples to determine the best possible uses for the stone. Many reports have been published about the character and general use of the deposits in various parts of the state. Other reports deal with the use of limestone and dolomite for specific purposes such as cement making, building and decorative stone, rock wool, terrazzo chips, and lime.
Lead mining was one of the earliest industries of Illinois. The early settlers’ need for bullets for procuring food and for defense of their lives and property made lead an important commodity, and the deposits of lead ore in the northwestern corner of Illinois were quickly exploited. The ore was the mineral galena (fig. 5), for which the city of Galena in Jo Daviess County is believed to have been named.
[Illustration: Figure 5—Galena with cubic cleavage blocks in foreground.]
Galena is a dark, shiny mineral that breaks readily into cubes or combinations of cubes. It is composed of lead and sulfur (PbS). Galena itself is not suitable for use as a metal; the lead must first be separated from the sulfur.
The earliest method of recovering lead from galena was crude. A pile of logs, smaller pieces of wood, and ore was built on sloping ground. Just below it a pit was dug. When the wood was set on fire, the heat caused the lead and sulfur to separate, and the molten lead trickled down into the pit. The smelting process was later improved, and stone “furnaces” were built to house the operations.
_Crevice Deposits and Residual Deposits._—Most of the lead ore mined in the early days of the northwestern Illinois mining district came from crevice deposits in the dolomite bedrock and from residual deposits at or near the surface of the ground. The crevices were vertical narrow joints or fissures. Ore was not continuously present along them but occurred from place to place in “pods” (fig. 6 and fig. 7). Dimensions of the pods varied, but typical ones were about 3 feet wide, 5 feet high, and a few to a few hundred feet long. The galena, for the most part, occurred in a mixture of clay and weathered dolomite that filled, or partly filled, the crevices.