Sherwood Forest
April 8, 1852

My Dear Sir

I have your letter of the 3 April and
have lost not a moment in writing to Corcoran
& Riggs. So soon as I recieve a reply you shall
hear from me again.
I proceed to give you a description of
the tract of land in Kentucky. It is located
on the Ohio River in the County of Union State
of Kentucky contiguous to a small village
called Caseyville. It extends on the river
for about a mile and contains between 14 
and 1500 acres. 900 acres are of river bottom
which is terminated by a range of lofty
hills many of which are fertile to thier summits.
There are valleys of great fertility. Twenty acres
are cleared on the river and when I was there
some thirty or forty acres in the hills. The
timber consists of hickory, Black Walnut,
Ash, White Oak, the tulip tree or American
poplar, the Cotton wood to some little extent
and in short all the varieties of the Ohio River
forests. The coal land is estimated to under
lay three hundred acres. A shaft was opend 
about 3/4th of a mile from the river and driven
in some 50 or 60 feet in a five foot vien of bitum

nous coal, of excellent quality, and a company operating on an
estate in my rear, have open'd the same vien 
and have to some slight extent penetrated under
my line. Thus committing a trespass as for which
they are expressing thier regrets. The rail road
of this company passes through a corner of
the tract but without injury to it as I concieve.
Contiguous to the vein of bituminous coal, a vien
of Kennell coal about 36 inches in depth has
also been partially open'd. Both viens
lie within 3/4th of a mile of the river. This is
suppos'd to the lowest field of coal in Kentuc
ky. The land lies about 90 miles from the 
Mississippi, and I believe that the naviga
tion is unobstructed at all times of the
year. My price for the estate is
$20,000. I should expect $5000 in hand and
as to the residue I would endeavor to arrange
to the satisfaction of the purchasers. Consider-
ing the increasing demand for coal, this land 
must be considered of much greater value than 
I ask for it. It may be proper to add that 
the bottom land lying on the river is to a greater or
less extent subject to the overflows which attend all
the western rivers, but an alluvial deposit is 
made whenever an overflow occurs which adds 
to its fertility. I annex a rough chart if you can
decipher it, and I write you in much haste.
Truly Yrs
John Tyler

Col. D. L. Gardiner