Those  available  for  commercial  mining  generally
lie  at  considerable  depth    and    are  reached    by
shafts.     The  coals  are  all  bituminous,  and  furnish
an  excellent  steam-making  fuel.     Coke  is  manu-
factured to  a  limited  extent  in  La  Salle  and  some
of  the  southern  counties,  but  elsewhere  in  the
State  the  coal  does  not  yield  a  good  marketable
coke.     Neither  is  it  in  any  degree  a  good    gas
coal,  although  used  in  some  localities  for  that
purpose,  rather  because  of  its  abundance  than  on
account  of  its  adaptability.     It  is  thought  that,
with  the  increase  of  cheap  transportation  facili-
ties, Pittsburg  coal  will  be  brought  into  the  State
in  such  quantities  as  eventually  to  exclude  local
coal  from  the  manufacture  of  gas.     In  the  report
of  the  Eleventh  United  States  Census,  the  total
product  of  the  Illinois  coal  mines  was  given  as
12,104,272  tons,  as  against  6,115,377  tons  reported
by  the  Tenth  Census.     The  value  of  the  output
was  estimated  at  $11,735,203,  or  $0.97  per  ton  at
the    mines.     The   total  number    of    mines    was
stated  to  be  1,072,  and  the  number  of  tons  mined
was  nearly  equal  to  the  combined  yield  of  the
mines    of    Ohio    and    Indiana.     The    mines    are
divided   into  two  classes,  technically  known   as
"regular"  and   "local."    Of   the  former,   there
were  358,  and  of  the  latter,  714.    Those  :i.-,s  regular


mines  employed  23,934  men  and  boys,  of  whom
21,350  worked  below  ground,  besides  an  office
force  of  389,  and  paid,  in  wages,  §8,694,397.  The
total  capital  invested  in  these  358  mines  was
$17,630,351.  According  to  the  report  of  the  State
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  for  1898,  881  mines
were  operated  during  the  year,  employing  35,026
men  and  producing  18,599,299  tons  of  coal,  which
was  1,473,459  tons  less  than  the  preceding  year —
the  reduction  being  due  to  the  strike  of  1897.
