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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ILLINOIS.
A. H. WORTHEN, Director.
WOE WIS) ts
GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY.
CoE. © On Gv By A. H. WORTHEN, and Ass’ts G. C. BROADHEAD and E. T. COX.
PALAONTOLOGY, By ORESTES St. JOHN, 4. H. WORTHEN and F. B, MEEK.
ILLUSTRATED BY JULIUS MAYER & CO., BOSTON, MASS.
L, ED BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE OF ILLINOIS.
Si OF
TO THE
HON. JOHN L. BEVERIDGE,
GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS.
Sir:
The sixth volume of my report on the Geological Survey of Illinois, the publication of which was provided for by the 28th General Assem- bly, is herewith submitted. Its appearance has been delayed by causes beyond my control, and mainly by the length of time required to engrave the plates and map accompanying this volume, the work in this instance being assigned exclusively to one engraving establishment instead of being divided between two or more, as was done with the preceding volume.
Although the Paleontology of the State is by no means completed, and some departments, especially those of the corals and bryozoans, remain almost untouched, while many of our most common fossils have never been fully illustrated, and the descriptions even have not been published in any work now accessible to the general student, yet, in consequence of the manifest desire on the part of the law-making power to cut off all appropriations not deemed by them as absolutely neces- sary, I have not thought it advisable to make any provision for contin- uing the work beyond the publication of this volume, which includes the geology of all the counties in the State not heretofore reported on.
Moreover, important facts are constantly being developed in regard to our coal resources, by experiments with the drill, and by shafts sunk in various portions of the Illinois coal field, which should be collated and made available for the information of the public; for it is quite impossible that a State survey covering so large an area as that pos- sessed by the State of Illinois, could be carried on with the detailed accuracy with which such work is prosecuted in the older countries of
1\/ LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR.
Europe, without an expenditure of means far beyond any sum hitherto appropriated for scientific purposes in this State; and, consequently, very much yet remains to be learned in regard to the distribution of our coals and other economical deposits.
The large collection of geclogical specimens accumulated by the Sur- vey reniains in the condition it was left by the fire in the Masonic Hall building, where it was formerly kept, no proper place having as yet been provided for its reception, and no provision made for its preserva- tion as a State collection. Some disposition should be made of this col- lection, either to preserve it as the nucleus of a State Cabinet of Natural History, or to dispose of it to some scientific institution where it would be appreciated and properly cared for.
In the prosecution of the work I have kept in view two objects that seemed to me of paramount importance, to-wit: First, the development of the material resources of the State, so far as was possible, by mak- ing known whatever matters of economical importance the field explo- rations should bring to light; and secondly, to bring out such scientific results as this rich and comparatively unexplored field made possibie, so that the State of Illinois, through its geological survey, might con- tribute something towards the general stock of scientific knowledge.
Although the scientific results brought out by the survey may not be, and probably are not appreciated by our own people, nevertheless I have the satisfaction of knowing that they are elsewhere, and that the Illinois Reports are esteemed a desirable acquisition to all scientific libraries, both public and private, and the applications for this work since the distribution of the first three volumes, coming mainly from individuals and institutions directly interested in scientific pursuits, would have consumed the entire edition published.
As the alleged reasons for withholding further appropriations to con- tinue the work were based on the necessity of economy, and lest it might therefore be supposed, by those unacquainted with the facts, that there has been an unnecessary expenditure of money in the prosecution of this work, I deem it but just to myself to state in this connection pre- cisely the amount that has been placed at my disposal for carrying on
the Geological Survey of the State since it has been under my direc- tion.
LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. W
When the survey came under my control, in March, 1858, the annual appropration was $5000 per annum, with an additional sum of $500 per annum for topographical work. As the latter amount was entirely inadequate to the accomplishment of any practical results in topo- graphy, it was expended mainly in the construction of the State map accompanying this volume, and in drawing such county maps as the prosecution of the work rendered necessary, so that the first named sum was all the available means at command to pay the salaries of myself and my assistants in geology and paleontology, for chemical work and chemicals, and the traveling and incidental expenses of the survey. This appropriation continued until the adoption of the new constitution in 1872, when by a provision in that instrument it was abolished. In addition to this annual appropriation, the twenty-fifth General Assembly made a special appropriation of $10,000 per annum for two years to complete the field work, and five or six additional assistants were employed for that time, and the sum so appropriated was exclusively devoted to this department of the survey.
After the expiration of the regular annual appropriation in 1872; by the constitutional provision above referred to, the twenty-seventh Gen- eral Assembly appropriated the sum of $2000 to defray the entire expense of the Survey for one year, and the succeeding General Assem- bly appropriated the sum of $3600 per annum for two years to defray the salary of myself and assistant including office and traveling expenses, and $1500 to pay the cost of the drawings required to illus. trate this volume. This appropriation expired on the 30th day of June, last. The two first volumes of my report were published in 1866, the third in 1868, the fourth in 1870, the fifth in 1872, and the sixth in 1875, this latter volume having been delayed nearly a year by causes already alluded to. These six volumes, averaging about 550 pages each and con- taining 175 fall page plates besides numerous wood cuts, were brought out in about nine years on the appropriations above specified. From these facts and figures those best qualified to judge can determine, for themselves, whether or not the Geological Survey of Illinois has been conducted with due regard to economy.
In taking leave of a work which I have had so long in charge, and to which I have devoted the best years of my life, I can but express my
\AL LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR.
grateful acknowledgments to the many good and true friends of the Survey in various portions of the State, through whose influence and encouragement the work has been brought so near to a final completion, and more especially to thoseeminent eastern scientists, Prof. HENRY, of the Smithsonian Institution, Prof. DANA, of New Haven, and the lamented AGASSIZ, for the loan of rare scientific books from the exten- sive libraries under their control, and for their personal influence and assistance freely manifested in various ways, by which the best interests of the Survey have been greatly promoted. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant, A. H. WORTHEN. SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Sept., 1875.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
BETTERIUTOMHETH ON OHN#I) DEVE RIDGE seme see cee sce tecicenacececianeseceece cic ccctiecriccicecicce Page M1 CHAPTER I. COAL MEASURES. IBypAe Hea WViOrtnen sentase ae eree ne me neers cee salsere aaion ace amae ec isrie me ee ce ceciseecne sre ceics Pages J-8 CHAPTER I. GEOLOGY OF CLARK COUNTY. IBYpA PH saVW OLEN CN ean ence neca teen eats mat sate aneeaa saan eecctniccie anecccseceecacareren Pages 9-21 CHAPTER III. GEOLOGY OF CRAWFORD AND JASPER COUNTIES. Bypass Hoa OLENON Seemann nae man eae ne enemas nem atneasiinfeseaeneene aattee ciinisanac cece Pages 22-36 CHAPTER IV. GEOLOGY OF LAWRENCE AND RICHLAND COUNTIES. Ta AL TWO ec eoonesacoScenincinbcen acs non cooSd6oS cso nUOOUT Ba dtaaanbdconceodocosadsan de Pages 37-50 CHAPTER V. GEOLOGY OF WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. Bay Ale T3G WGAUIEN G-coccccosacocondctor ena conSoonaD coocHoacadoo cocdeoccEadEoponaSHconatscaas Pages 51-65 CHAPTER VI. GEOLOGY OF WHITE AND HAMILTON COUNTIES. HEPA IEE VG INE Ne cane scenscecs SopecodosoaduasabassdesooosonHOtoUEonEoSoopeconduSdEsboes Pages 66-81 CHAPTER VII. GEOLOGY OF WAYNE AND CLAY COUNTIES. PAPEL IES WA oe sek pec a cede ep pH OTERO BOOED ECO BOS ABE OLES HORS BeDaboSdddoonpoeBcodooudO 16 Pages 82-97 CHAPTER VIII. GEOLOGY OF CUMBERLAND, COLES AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES. Pip Rode VW WHIGH beceencoocnoccsecceCne pero DciInUcICBeCOROEetaoteHHocaRnedaqosuDEGaEBOBeod Pages 98-111 CHAPTER IX. GEOLOGY OF WILLIAMSON AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES. 57 Lig LEE WOW eee ener cece CCC CORED CAO OCI OO OCR SST HUG HIC ISSR SCRE ROG OCORNQOCOUG0ODE Pages 112-127
By G.
CHAPTER X. GEOLOGY OF BOND COUNTY. GEISER ONCE Ae ericeereaEnnctOOanECoOl ECEDODOSCOLO Dea aDboonE cacducopoacboanousKonds Pages 128-134
vu TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XI.
GEOLOGY OF FAYETTE COUNTY. IByAG CNBroad headee ec aces ceceeme cee sees assiaee sent eee ema eneote ee meres Pages 135-148
CHAPTER XII.
GEOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. By G2 Ch Broadheadss, 2-2 ee so ccs cos ten ccc coe ness cetecens cesses note seen eon ee noes Pages 149-155
CHAPTER XIII.
GEOLOGY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY. By GG: Broadhead: so2--2-sa20 > wae cn oc acco coe senate coed en ane nee econ een ee eneseee Pages 156-162
CHAPTER XIV.
GEOLOGY OF SHELBY COUNTY. ByGuGsBroadheadeeeste- sae ee RON ely ns hs Oi ae pe se as Pages 163-174
CHAPTER XV.
GEOLOGY OF EFFINGHAM COUNTY. By G.jC. Broadhead <s222. cc s2- cs - oo 3 = sao n one See cose eae aoe ee eees ocean teen onsen scenes Pages 175-184
CHAPTER XVI.
GEOLOGY OF MOULTRIE, MACON AND PIATT COUNTIES. : By iGaCoBroadhead soso Se Se ce soo eee re a ee ee ee ee Sener ne Pages 185-196
CHAPTER XVII.
GEOLOGY OF GALLATIN COUNTY. By pi COX os onensaistasessciecee cece teen sere cae ne ae ee eee eee eae cena nee Pages 197-219
CHAPTER XVIII. GEOLOGY OF SALINE COUNTY. 33 AL BAS oe sae EDS OCCCO OG SC CCR BES COC COC ORE RCC OC OSER CE SSC REC SORegcCOSISHOSEOISaN Pages 220-234
CHAPTER XIX. GEOLOGY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY. By H. C. Freeman. ......2--- 22-222 -- 2-2 oe nnn ne nnn eee nee nee ene wenn ee eee cee n nee Pages 235-244
ReACh a tale PALMHONTOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
SECTION I. DESCRIPTIONS OF VERTEBRATES.
By Orestes St.John and A. H. Worthen..........--.-------------- 200-2 ---0--eeeeeen-- == Pages 245-488
SECTION I. DESCRIPTIONS OF INVERTEBRATES. By, A. H. Worthen and F. B)Meek.........-.-.------ --- <= 00 once nnnneenesn enna sseanaane= Pages 489-532
CHAPTER I. COAL MEASURES.
The coal area within the boundaries of the State of Illinois may be safely estimated, in round numbers, at about 35,000 square miles, an area nearly three times as great as that of Pennsylvania or Ohio, and equal to one-fifth of the productive coal fields of the United States, throwing out of the account the lignite basins of the western Territories. A line drawn from Hampton, in Rock Island county, to the junction of the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers, would define approximately the northern line of the Illinois coal field ; but from the junction of these streams the boundary line deflects south to the vicinity of Chatsworth, in Livingston county, and thence eastwardly to the Indiana line. All the area south of the line above designated, except a narrow belt along the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio, and up the latter stream to Battery Rock, is underlaid by the Coal Measures, and nearly all the counties within the above described boundary have afforded some coal, although in several of them the coal lies too deep below the surface to be available without a heavier expenditure of capital than the present demand for fuel would seem to warrant.
The Coal Measures attain an aggregate thickness of about fourteen hundred feet, and may be properly divided into upper and lower meas- ures, taking as a line of demarcation the limestone of Shoal creek and Carlinville, a tough brownish-gray rock that is so persistent in its litho- logical characters and development as to make it a conspicuous horizon in tracing the detailed stratification of the Coal Measures. This lime- stone overlays a thin coal often only three or four inches in thickness, but locally becoming from eighteen inches to two feet or more, as in the vicinity of Highland, in Madison county, where it has been worked in a limited way for many years. Above this limestone there is some seven hundred feet of strata belonging to the upper measures, inclos- ing six or seven seams of coal that range in thickness from six inches to three feet, but none of them attaining to the thickness of those in the lower measures. In Europe a coal seam eleven or twelve inches thick is considered of sufficient value to be worked in the usual way by
2
9 COAL MEASURES.
underground drifting, but in this country seams of less than eighteen inches are generally neglected, except when they can be worked by stripping the coal along the outcrop of the seam.
The following detailed section has been constructed from the most satisfactory outcrops examined in various portions of the State, and is given as an approximately correct description of the most important strata recognized in the progress of the Geological Survey. They are numbered from the bottom upward and may be briefly described in detail as follows, commencing with the highest beds of the upper meas- ures as they were found developed in Effingham and some of the adja- cent counties. The best exposures of these upper coals and associated strata were found on the upper course of the Kaskaskia and its tributa- ries, and to the east and south-east including the counties adjacent to the Wabash river, from Clark county on the north to the south line of White county, where the limestone separating the upper and lower
measures is found outcropping at New Haven, on the lower Wabash :
; Et In: No. 95. The highest strata recognized in the district above described was found by Mr.
Broadhead, in Effingham county, and consists of sandstone and sandy shale, upper part gray, middle brown, with fragments of fossil plants No. 94 Bituminous shales and septaria, with Pleurotomaria spherulata, Spirifer plano-con-
: verus, Rhynchoneila osagensis, Nautilus occidentalis, N. ferratus, etc.-...--..------- 6 INO393 se eDarkaclay/Shalesteeeeesscse tensor starenerse cea cse eee er eeen en eeea tears eae eee eee 4 No. 92. Dark ash-brown shaly and nodular limestone, containing Myalina sub-quadrata,
Aviculopecten occidentalis, Bellerophon Montfortianus, Edmondia, Leda, Macrodon,
OTC. eee nee nee en rere tenn eres e ee te cer enn cee moo Ih Norg91)) Blaeiandiolive shales .sesecs. sce scceessce ese eneeamecccesesccscens > cseiecresmee nee 5 No. 90. Gray sandstones and sandy shales.......-..---2+..--+2----2--- etctesisee te eee ceaene nee 26 IN OBO See Ch intcoalecessciecesesasscenenserensencteramancane sence tarnsenasesnmatememeseemes 6 ANOS GE nA) OE Ws cocoa doco eSdapSCHSAUS CBSSHS CORO DOH ECodSCHOaHOSSseCENnS ReESdSSsdooCKoHOScEODS 5
No. 87. Buff sandstone No. 86. Clay shale with bands-of fossiliferous iron ore containing Leda bella-striata, Astartella vera, Nucula ventricosa, Spirifer plano-convexus, Chonetes Flemingii, Myalina sub- quadrata, Macrocheilus inhabilis, Pleurotomaria Grayvillensis, Bellerophon Mont-
JSortianus, B. carbonarius, and Orthoceras Rushensis...-....--+++-+-------++-------- gH) No. 85. Bituminous shales and pyritiferous limestone with argillaceous shales containing SiliClOUS WOO Cea tecrenisacies aieiaeie ciclsare etal= ate a miata a slolei= Serene ware ee atetate esata ateleteeee 9 No.4. “Gray pyritiferousisandstone =2a.0s sees cee -aneceen = anes eareteecioseeasies settee 30 to 40 Nong3s.Shaleaiwith fucdids)-sesssec~ sneer nesses cesceciciecececissoeaeinesometiorteeessceerarcenes 40 No. 82. Gray limestone with Fusulina cylindrica? Athyris subtilita, Spirifer cameratus, S. (PLOMO=CONVEDUS! OLE fmeeemiemininw's ciel erin annin ew eiwie mein ee wie alae emmerema elalsioe atest 4 toe No. 81. Calcareous shales with Orthis carbonaria and Productus longispinus very abundant .. 1 6 No. 80. Coal No..16,°Nelson’s coal in Effingham, and the coal on the Embarras. in Coles Co..1 to 3 EN On 9 PR ITOEC AYin= sermcieictee aa slew rissa lov asinininine sis slo sinisicies delssinslace mesic ccisetinerteeeeaeeren 1 to3 ‘No. 78. Sandstone and shales... --80 to 90 Nos. eBituminous|shale-<: 5.22. -cec-sssescce ree ceseee ne sieaceccsecccaenen ane conse een eeene P} INOs:76.) = CoalpNow1o, Shelbyicoal isc con oo oceoeesicnnacnicaseee ces ece cee sete eee eter 1to3 INOS fore Bre Clayscccnccecacceeceacacinesiqnorcissccachasesceencesicasescestsecem cites acaccee 2to5 Noni 4:, eBuftilimestoneycoce=acecneaccccs saacacne sector ssnneiseseciciccssincieee se eeimacermeeeien 4
No. 73. Sandstone and shales----. --15 to 50 INo=/2)-Shalesi partly: calcareous 5.---sasc~ [cere cen e penins peers eee eee nate ee tee eee eee 10 to 15 No. 71. Caleareo-bituminous shales passing into shelly bituminous limestone, fossils abun-
dant, Huomphalus sub-rugosus, Chonetes Flemingii, Productus costatus, P. longis- pinus, Hemipronites crassus, Retzia punctulifera, Lophophyllum proliferum, Ortho- ceras Rushensis, Erisocrinus typicus, Zeacrinus? mucrospinus, and Peripristis SCMNMUCUCULATIS seanecnencieces celoeee macs canes come slesee seme ee enee ene 2to4
No. No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. 62
No. No.
A iA o°9o
. 53.
. 1.
. 48. . 47.
. 46. 45.
. 44. 0. 43. - 42 Al. o. 40. 0. 39.
COAL MEASURES.
Ft. CosleNoml4ePanaxcoahiumecssceusecseccesssericencecsescenestocemoccecmesece obonbboode 1 Hire: clayandaclayesShale asec eee ae ee merle oeweeecisece site soc ces ances sce secemsenes 3 to5
~ Calcareous sandstone -- ---2to05 Sandstone and sandy shale..-.......-----..---. RERCOQSeSHOgoG 50
Shaly limestone with fossils similar to those of the bed below.-.----.----------------- 4
Hard gray limestone containing Syntrielasma hemiplicata, Meeckella striato-costata, Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, Spiriferina Kentuckensis, Athyris subtilita, Tere- bratula bovidens, Hemipronites crassus, Productus longispinus, P. costatus, Stenopora
lepidodendroides, Lophophyllum proliferum, Polypora, Synocladia, etc.....----- 5 to 25 BLA ES) once che nanacocncnadca accor addaccasaanaacdasesuososnoucnnaccupaussosgucaacongadoss 6 COoaliN ofp 3 deme = sete ee en nee ea are se wante Som maine ne nent nie sec ceneasteceees 1tol
Bituminous and argillaceous shales locally fossiliferous, containing Plewrotomaria spherulata, P. tabulata, P. Grayvillensis, Macrochetlus inhabilis. Goniatites globulo- sus, Orthoceras Rushensts, Bellerophon carbonarius, Leda bella-striata, L. Oweni, Nu- cula ventricosa, Astartella vera, Euomphalus sub-rugosus, Polyphemopsts per-acuta and Conularia.--...-..----- : ---6 to 8
Sandstonesiandisandyshales sees esos nore sea eee ee nesaiecnivis cine steleieiceicnwicciale 75 to 85
Dark shaly limestone and calcareous shales with Hemipronites crassus, Athyris sub- tilita, Spirifer cameratus, Spiriferina Kentuckensis, Synocladia biserialis, Productus punetatus, P. Pratlenianus, P. costatus, P. longispinus, CLC ee caeset eee eos 2to4
Coal No. 12
BITEIGS co-ceecendce dacs asnocnasesasqutoocsoonanonoanccbecuenaneasndccsgucacdaupneode 10
Gray or buff limestone, partly shaly, with Productus Nebrascensis, P. longispinus, Spirifer cameratus, Spiriferina Kentuckensis, Synocladia bierialis, Polypora, ete.5 to 20
Bituminous shale, locally fossiliferous
Coal No. 11
Arenaceous and argillaceous shales. ....- Caleareo-bituminous shales containing eereninn carbonarius, Pleurotomaria sphe- rulata, Productus longispinus, Chonetes Verneuilianus, and’ Lophophyllum prolif-
Band of cone in cone replaced in White county at,Carmi by a band of brown iron ore filled with a minute bivalve shell, probably a Posidonia........----0---+--+----++5 Argillaceous shales with flattened iron stones.------------------+------------+-2e--+ 20
Dark ash-gray or chocolate colored calcareous sandstones with Aviculopecten occiden- talis, Productus Nebrascensis, P. Prattenianus, Myalina sub-quadrata, M. Swallovi, Evomphalus sub-rugosus, Pinna per-acuta, Avicula longispina, Meekella striato-cos- tata, Bellerophon crassus, CtC..-------- 000002 eee ence eee ene e renee nee nen e reece eee 2to5
This bed outcrops in the bed of the creek in the south part of the town of Carmi, in White county, and also a mile and a half north of New Haven, at Mr. Murphy’s place in the south-east part of Clark county,at the old Joliff mill site on Crooked creek in Clinton county, and was penetrated in the shaft at Centralia, at a depth of abont a hundred feet;from the surface.
Sandy shales and sandstone..-------------------+-- 2-22 e eee cere eer rteee esc eeess 30 to 60
Hard brownish-gray limestone of Shoal creek, Carlinville and New Haven, and the recognized boundary line between the upper and lower measures. ° Lacally the upper layers are shaly and contain numerous fossils, among which are Productus longispinus, Spirifer cumeratus, Sp. lineatus, Sp. plano-convexus, Terebratula bovi- dens, Rhynchonella osagensis, Retzia punctulifera, Athyris subtilita, Ohonetes vario- lata? Hemipronites crassus, Platyostoma Peoriense, Ohonophyllum, etc..-------- 4to7
Greenish-drab and blue shales : Sancdnanbsaqdacs -4to 6
_ Bituminous shale.......-------0---22--- nee neers ene renen cere ce ecen seer ecer err scesc ce: 2
Blue shale, with flattened concretions of iron..-... ---8 to 10 Coal, No. 9.--22- -2-- 20 nnne cece ccc en mene rene cceenecreenne rece reernessecs ---4to 2 Fire-clay. .---2--2-22-- 2002 ener enncenneeennceen renee nmermnnccecccercene A Sandy shales and sandstone......------+-+++++----+ seatieeeiaseesissici == sie eoeeee----39 £0 65
a
No.
No.
. 38.
2 Bde
COAL MEASURES.
Ft. Calcareo-bituminons shale, passing locally into an argillaceous limestone abounding
in fussils, among which the following are the most common: eda bella-striata, Nuculu ventricosa, Astartella vera, A. varica, Bellerophon carbonarius, B. Montforti- anus, B. per-carinatus, Macrocheilus inhabilis, M. primigenius, M. ventricosus, Pleurotomaria spherulata, P. Grayvillensis, Productus longispinus, P. Nebrascensis, P. Prattenianus, Phillipsia Sangamoensis, P. scitula, Polyphemopsis per-acuta, Orthoceras Rushensis, Zeacrinus ? mucrospinus, Erisocrinus typicus, Lophophyllum
TERED TTA) CO BERS RSIS O OSE ECU BOO SOU OSS SS SOROS GEGOE DOC RESHORBHCHORSESSS 3 CoallQNOn 8 Secs neal aoa onan na ann asain = ene see sa nee ee eee 2 Dark ash-gray fire-clay 3 Nodular shale passing locally into a hard silicious limestone ...................-. 3to 4 Sandy shales and sandstone ---40 to 75 Dark ash-gray silicious limestone containing Athyris subtilita. Spirifer cameratus,
Chonetes mesoloba, joints of Orinoidea, etc........-...-...-------------- soealiry 7 (Bituminous! Shale es ses acces sa csies amen ineee cece nents -lto 3 CoaltNontteccs 2to 9 Hin-Clayy<wapjo we ec nine one nino alm anim wielnialninisloecinneasisin niacin eeeaissasaaeete seeee eee ee 2to 3 Sandstone/and'sandy-shalejse--sescesn-inecnannt com een enna ae e = ee esee eeeeeeeeae 30 to 50 Gray argillaceous limestone, with the Fusulina figured in vol. 5, pl. 26, fig. 8. It is
associated in Fulton-county with Phynchonella Osagensis, Spiriferina Kentuckensis
and! Hemipronites(crassus:. -.2-2---\orerecnn cerns sore antes ecee en eaeeeeeeeesneeee 3 Laminated bituminous shale, with Lingula umbonata, and Cardinia ? fragilis...-. 2to 4 COTE IN (i oe coca nS SSeS 505055600 ad SURE CCOODCUCIS EROS ASS ASCOEaScEnCOSSaSSESSaHS ito 5 2S) GEN foo acSas sono cu acd QO SU SuESoUSH BS cODCHDacROSSanoEHoSHSosossoso¢sesies ---lto 3 Sandstones and shales --25 to 75
Hard black shale, with concretions of limestone containing numerous fossils, among which are Productus muricatus, Clinopistha radvata, Nautilus, Orthoceras, etc..1to 5
(OtHIL IN Ope SosobcoupScERSanSncotacpccsaacneDoodoSHSaO CU SaSEsoDacoccomonbooacHassce 4to 7 TONNER cecocodcood saoconeaS Cassa canaoaaSkonaaLaadacoacecdacdsosodacccccscesces lto 3 Sandstoneand sand yshalo}----.--- cose cisiccee rms c os senee se ocean ae seeeam areas 30 to 75 Bituminous shale and argillaceous limestone.........-..---..--2-2--------- eee eee 2to 4 (OD RIB IN? peas aacocesoscRnaeCoCHCObOdOUSCDaGoU oeHoSa caccaccconsnccsoasncadedosd 2to 4 Mire-clayand(claysnal eleesssceceenaesesctesecseae asta eeaee = aeaaeanatsecmecieccesaae 2 to 10 Sandstoneland sandy shale:-os-sacesenrace cena sce sana seeeen aeaincmclscsmmice seas 50 to 75
Bituminous shale passing locally into dark blue limestoneand concretions of septaria filled with fossils, Cardiomorpha Missouriensis, Discina nitida, Productus murica- tus, P. Prattenianus, with two or three small species of Goniatites and Nautili..3 to 6
Coal, No.3 - - 3 -2to 4 Wire-claynesssesectee cesses eee eececeasiseccesiewesact ocean eeeeceniscece sees eine 1to 3 Hard, tough steel-gray limestone weathering to a rusty-brown color, and containing Spirifer cameratus, joints of Crinoidea, etc ......-.--------++-----+--+-------- 1s to 3 Sandstone/and siliciousshale=--os-sescccancesessees asec reeeerececesnecisecernes 25 to 30
Blue clay shale filled with fossil plants. At Murphysboro, Colchester and on Mazon creek, in Grundy county, this shale contains concretions of iron ore inclosing
fossil plants, insects, crustacea, etc... -..--..------ 2-000. 2-3 - cen ene anne e- 2to 3 (GHEE NO ees ecconooncobEoaaaabatooccdecccsonasanas senocdencsoocsaabsacsssdaoas 2to 5 Light gray fire-clay.---.---.-------------------------- 3
Sandstone and silicious shales, about fifty feet in thickness, on the northern and western borders of the coal field, but in Gallatin county attaining a thickness of about one hundred and forty feet, with some thin seams of coal...-...-..---- 50 to 140
Dark argillaceous limestone, sometimes highly silicious, and in Rock Island county associated with a band of dark steel-gray chert, from six inches to a foot or more in thickness. At some localities, as near Seaville, in Fulton county, it contains numereus fossils, among which are Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, S. opimus, Nautilus occidentalis, Productus Prattenianus, P. costatus, P. nanus, P. punctatus, Macrocheilus, etc. This limestone is replaced in Southern Illinois by silicious BLAS oss cSabessasosscncebopdaasaonood sooSssanes cece is J aes Aa eel SR 3to 8
Bituminous ané silicious shales forming the roof of Coal No.1. In Gallatin county this shale is generally silicious, but in the northern portion of the State it is usually bituminous, and contains Spirifer cameratus, Athyris subtilita, Aviculopec- tenn Or thocervas) OuG~ sos see aaa nee eee e een enero een eee 3to 3
COAL MEASURES.
5
Ft. In. INOSE4S ¥ Coaliin on linea eco c one ciate Soran cw cioe se aa se ace soe eat oloe valbcatecscuacenees sucess 1} to 5 No. 3. Silicious shaly fire-clay, containing Stigmaria jicoides .....:.------+.2+220seee-e- 2to 3 No. 2. Silicious shales, with concretions of carbonate of iron. In Gallatin county this bed
is from sixty to seventy feet in thickness, but is not found at all in the northern
MOTEOMOfAtNE SbALGkseee ane cae eee Sconces Senet ecninceiee se ecee sector ciescrens 0 to 70 No. 1. Coarse sandstone or conglomerate forming the base of the Coal Measures. In the
southern portion of the State it is largely developed, with,an average thickness of
more than a hundred feet, but in the northern portion it is seldom found attaining
a thickness of more than twenty-tive to thirty feet, and is often wanting altogether.
It appears at several localities in Whiteside county, as outliers, of considerable
thickness. several miles beyond the present boundary of the coal field. Its thick-
Messuauall wran Zest rom eseeenaseaseesti-csecieseeeseriose sens ciscioecisnerseissces 20 to 110
Stems of Sigillaria and Lepidodendron are almost the only fossils it affords, and even these are seldom found in a condition to be specifically
determined.
The deepest Shaft yet sunk in the State is the oneat Centralia, which commences about the horizon of coal No. 11, and has been carried down to the depth of 576 feet. The following is a correct copy of the record kept of the thickness and general character of the beds passed through in this shaft, and is inserted here for comparison with the general section, and with others that may hereafter be sunk through the corre-
sponding strata in other portions of the State.
Shaft at Centralia.
Drift clay and soil Soapstone (clay shale) -. TOE Bice cocnene con Seon secnO Cc Ceca Bacon TECoOCO Bono SeBdaScacianocedonoBadestoasesad
b ° eso Ct EO it n ot g eo : t : ‘ ' ‘ ' ‘ ‘ : H ‘ : : H : H ‘ : ‘ : ‘ ‘ : o
1 2 ~
Soapstone (clay shale). -.-...--.-- IGE URINE Cecocesoosasoossceepsnoda NOs Ue Har dsa ns WONG te aera enn sere adele cle eens davienn senincmlan en cinceanaeni-aeiaees
No. 16. Soapstone (clay shale) IEP, LATTE QereccesdenccedbcosaosSacncossococuecHoosinsnlcso casonséebecssocodgnedpedenccoo te iGs RenGRian® -codectosnecssocerccaccigaa¢asae yoscad seecenucocossconRSEaSceaccBosEaboogcad P INOS SOR UG LOCK asses sencecesancesa=cnaeclee=
INO 20zeeKire-Clayennacessee sae acloe nee casle
No. 21. Soapstone (clay shale) No. 22. Blue shale
No. 23. Whippet RIO --eeeeceteeeseereeaceons IN Oy ONC OMe eee eee nes omen sae acne
No. 26. Clay shale No. 27. Sandstone
No. 28.
NPA MATCH Gs =—seconssccdenteonnooceoncotb po bocbodabasSqodosoppobesososoddsanCagahaqooE 1 Ii, Shik SAIC ee cece eee cece COR CREO CORT REBT Ode Roce ACE ce doSudbenSe posaaeDosdsEoaaboonodad 2 Rape Gagner GESHEIEIG) coceoseceaconcacco CSAS eo DEES CEC LSEHOSeS Boor seeonoLSCboocasagao™ 3
6 COAL MEASURES.
Ft. In. INOYSES, THD GIE EB gon6sccusdaseccdspaoconmcooE co coc cE Readies ce sEeoHesOSh snacossacccoscocesoss ee 79 No. 34. Coal......-.. wee WOrSH OBR RAS ceceasccaasosss5eSscen pacStonsccocouscoosceeeosce No. 36. Lime conglomerate No. 37. Light-co ored shale -. INON 38. SANUS LONG oem rinem cle nina an ceivess nae ecaciamcicineine same teiae ssa eee sean anaes INO 39 eDarkishale:<cenwenmcsien=sacieeannmiewecnsticcisieaines sce ret aan seen seniaae ee etneee
ww
No. 40 6
No. 41 1k iN0.142:)5 Clayishaloswithesulphuretiofpronsssecsesece ce sence seems ee ee ee 3
No. 43. Limestone, kidney ore and fire-clay mixed.. Seculit
No. 44). sandstone: withisulphuretiofirony sac seeerincce ces ees seine tee eee eee eee 1
No. 45. Black slate ..-. 1
No. 46. Fire clay---.---- eee 5 at 6
No. 47. Gray limestone - No. 48. Variegated shale...
(os)
2
3
5 2
No. 52. Gray limestone . -4 No. 53. Black shale...-.. os -3 6
54. Gray limestone: ---------.----- 4
Nooo. Black shale. i222 ocicc since 2
7
2
7
a
. 56. Blue limstone No. 57. Bituminous shale 5
Potalidep th ececwecocecwenciaesececere sc acetiose cise ee see ee eee nea eaten ae eee 576
No. 9 of this shaft corresponds with No. 47 of the general section, and No. 23 is probably the Carlinville limestone, the equivalent of No. 45 of the general section. This shaft is nearer the center of the coal field than any other in the State, and there seems to be a general increase in the thickness of the strata from the borders of the coal field east- wardly, which carries the lower seams to a greater depth from the surface than they were supposed to be, judging only from the exami- nations made at points remote from the center of the basin. In San- gamon and Macoupin counties the main coal is found generally at a depth of 200 to 240 feet below the Carlinville limestone, while at Cen- tralia the first workable coal reached in their shaft was 373 feet below this limestone, though it is quite possible that the coal found there belongs to a lower horizon than the seams opened in the more northern counties. The borings at Pana, Vandalia and Decatur have not reached any workable coal, so far as reported, though the one made at the two former points was carried far enough to reach the Springfield coal, unless there is a greater increase in the thickness of the overlay- ing strata than could be reasonably anticipated. The boring with the diamond drill at Decatur was stopped from 80 to ty) feet above the horizon at which the coal should be found, and hence Afforded no evi- dence in regard to the development of the main coals in that county. A single boring is, however, in no case a satisfactory test as to the development of coal at a given point, as the drill might strike what the
COAL MEASURES. 7
miners term a “horseback,” and pass below the coal without showing any indications of the existence of a workable seam.
On the eastern borders of the State, in the counties adjacent to the Wabash river, several borings have been made that failed to find any coal thick enough to be of any value, and it is possible that there are some local areas where there are no heavy beds developed; but this is a point as yet unsettled, and only to be determined by careful experi- ments at many different localities. It is certainly not a well recognized principle in geology that the central portion of a coal field should be barren, and only the borders productive, and there is no good reason to suppose that the Illinois coal basin will prove an exceptional case in this respect. Sir CHARLES LYELL suggests, in his ‘“ Principles of Geology,” that the facts seem to “imply the existence, during the car- boniferous epoch, of islands, instead of an extensive continent, in the area where the coal was found.” If we accept this as probably one of the prevailing conditions of the coal-producing epoch, we must expect to find certain areas in the coal fields where the surface was not ele- vated above the ocean level long enough to yield a forest growth suf- ficient, when again submerged, to form a coal seam, and consequently local areas of greater or less extent where no workable coal can be found.
It is now a very generally accepted proposition that the vegetable matter necessary to the production of a coal seam grew upon the spot where the coal is found, and was not, as formerly supposed, drifted from an adjacent shore into the ocean’s bed, where it was finally cov- ered by sediments and transformed into bituminous coal through the slow chemical processes of succeeding ages. Hence coal would only be found where the conditions requisite for a dense growth of tropical plants prevailed, and near the ocean level where the land was liable to submergence. All the remains of animal life found in the limestones and calcareous and bituminous shales that are associated with the coal in this State are of marine origin, showing conclusively that the beds from which they come have been formed beneath the ocean, and not under fresh water, as formerly supposed, and hence our present coal fields must have been low peaty and boggy lands adjacent to the sea shore, and subject to frequent and long continued submergencies,. during which the sandstones, shales and limestones separating the various seams of coal were deposited, inclosing the remains of fishes, molluses and other marine organisms with which the ocean was filled at that period.
In defining the boundaries of the coal field on the State map, we have been compelled to rely mainly on the reports of borings for the counties of Kankakee and Iroquois, as there are few or no natural out- crops of the strata along the borders of the coal area in these counties,
8 COAL MEASURES.
and this is also the case with regard to the character of the formations upon which the Coal Measures rest in the counties above named. So far as is known at the present time, no Devonian or Lower Carbonifer- ous rocks are known to exist in these counties, and the whole area east of the coal field is supposed to be underlaid by upper and lower Silu- rian strata; but it is by no means improbable that beds belonging to the Devonian or even the Lower Carboniferous may yet be found in these counties, as these formations are known to underlay the Coal Measures on the Upper Wabash, in the vicinity of Williamsport, in Indiana, in considerable force, and unless they thin out rapidly to the northwest- ward, should extend into this State.
CHAPTER II. CLARK COUNTY.
Clark county is situated on the eastern border of the State, and is bounded on the north by Edgar and Coles counties, on the east by the Indiana line and the Wabash river, on the south by Crawford, and on the west by Cumberland and Coles counties. It contains ten full and eight fractional townships, making a total area of about five hundred and thirteen square miles.
The surface of the country in the western portion of the county is generally rolling, though some of the prairies are rather flat. The east- ern portion is more broken, especially in the vicinity of the Wabash bluffs, where it becomes quite hilly, and is often broken into steep ridges along the courses of the small streams. The general level of the sur- face of the highlands above the railroad at Terre Haute, which is a few feet above the level of high water in the Wabash, is from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty feet. The principal streams in the western part.of the county are North Fork, which traverses the western portion of the county from north to south, and empties into the Embarras river in the eastern part of Jasper county ; and Hurri- cane creek, which rises in the south part of Edgar county, and after a general course of south 20° east, discharges its waters into the Wabash river near the south-east corner of the county. In the eastern part of the county Big creek, and two or three of less note, after a general south-east course in this county, empty into the Wabash river. The North Fork, throughout nearly its whole course, runs through a broad, flat valley, affording no exposures of the underlaying rocks, and the bluffs on either side are composed of drift clays, and rise from thirty to fifty feet or more above the valley, and at several points where wells have been sunk these clays and underlaying quicksands are tound to extend to an equal depth beneath the bed of the stream. ‘The creeks in the eastern portion of the county are skirted by bluffs of rock through some portion of their courses, and afford a better opportunity of determ- ining the geological structure of the county.
—3
10 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
The Quaternary system is represented in this county by the alluvial deposits of the river and creek valleys, the loess of the Wabash bluffs, the gravelly clays and hard pan of the true drift, and the underlaying stratified sands that are sometimes found immediately above the bed rock.
The drift deposits proper vary in thickness from twenty to seventy- five feet_or more, the upper portion being usually a yellow gravelly clay, with local beds or pockets of sand. The lower division is mainly composed of a bluish-gray hard pan, exceedingly tough and hard to penetrate, usually impervious to water, and from thirty to fifty feet in thickness. This is underlaid by a few feet of sand, from which an abundant supply of water can be had where it cannot be found at a higher level. A common method of obtaining water on the highlands in this county, where a sufficient supply is not found in the upper por- tion of the drift, is to sink a well into the hard pan, and then bore through that deposit to the quicksand below, when an unfailing sup- ply is usually obtained. Bowlders of granite, sienite, trap, porphyry, quartzite, etc., many of them of large size, are abundant in the drift deposits of this county, and nuggets of native copper and galena are occasionally met with, having been transported along with the more massive bowlders, by the floating ice, which seems to nave been the transporting agency of our drift deposits.
Coal Measures.
All the rocks found in this county belong to the Coal Measures, and include all the beds from the limestone that lies about 75 feet above coal No. 7, to the sandstone above the Quarry creek limestone, and possibly coal No. 14 of the general section. These beds are all above the main workable coals, and although they include a total thickness of about 400 feet, and the horizon of five or six coal seams, yet none of them have been found in this county more than from 12 to 18 inches in thickness. The following general section will serve to show the relative position and comparative thickness of Coal Measures in this county :
Ft. In. No. 1. Sandstone, nowhere found well exposed...........---.------------2------------- 30 to 40? No. 2. Quarry creek and Martinsville limestone................0.0--022 22 scene eee e eee 20 to 30 No: 73oe Shales lower) parti bituminous =-- ==. cess sese ones sesces esas esreseeceseces ose esee 10 to 15 INOsar4 5 -Coall (NO1458) 2 sa onceee eee eaten eas neces lee sane ee inene eae ee eee 1 NOs sos hal yanre | Clayroasecenscesan es acterec cece mere eernenee set eae asecae mene amea eee 2to 3 No. 6. Sandstone and shale, some bands of iron carbonate.....-....-.----.------------ 18 to 20 No; (2) Bituminous Shaletescs-sacceensscesne ne seep oan ere seco eee see tee se neneeene 2 aNKos. GB COE (Os Te ee ceo casbadascoc ad ooo So SS CSc OOSAESIEY BEERS KCOnSHas soobonbass 14 No.) (9:8 Clay shalejand | fire(clay-—--~ sce so- se necsee ene sane See eleemee ater cereemee eee eee No. 10. Cinuamon-brown limestone. ....-.-.. No. 11. Coal (local ?).22---------2-- Pe Se ere ee ee oe ee pa 9 No. 12. Sandy shales passing into massive sandstone below
CLARK COUNTY. 11
Ft. %In No. 13. Dark shales with nodules of arg. and fossiliferous limestone.......--.--------- 5 to 8 No. 14. Hard black shale approaching cannel coal........----.-----.+-- -lto 3 No. 15. Evenly bedded sandstone. .........-..-.--20.-e. ee cee eee nee nee -20 to 25 No. 16. Greenish arg. and sandy shales...........--..-..--2-------- -30 to 40 TNs Th) RENEE sacoaccosscedcosScecnnoacceosquecoEbeSseebeReces - 8 to,10 No. 18. Gray limestone (upper division of Livingston bed) ..-...- 5 to 8 No. 19. Shale enclosing a 6 to 10-inch coal (No. 12 ?)..-.---.....-.-- -Tto 8 No. 20. Limestone, lower bed at Livingston.......-.......--..------- - 7to 8 No. 21. Argillaceous and sandy shales. -.. : -30 to 35 NO oD Se CORE CN OnELnS) eo reete se sree caine nina cine sae eee eee cone eee 4 to 1 No. 23. Brown and gray sandstones. ...........---..-----2-ee-----e 20 seencercceccscnns 24 No. 2£ Shale; lower'part bituminous: ------ <<< <<... <5. .- oecicece ccc ccc scererosseneees 25 No. 25. Coal, local 5 0 7 NOs Os DILGILOIOlS yaa aaaeee ene mee aac eaince ae nisee sisccemecinmasccinecscscererecsccants a @ TE PTE. (GREG GEA RTA -coeecbescescancEndoa SHEccencanconboooestodaecooaocesspdecenon 3.6 No. 28. Shale and sandstone 36 No. 29. Chocolate-brown impure limestone.......--......22.-- 2-22 e sence cece eee eee ee 3to 4 Nows0see Ditnin nous shal@seasers sentence aan aceanacinces scloccinsciscinestccciseececcses 3 to 6 INO SEan COMEN Onl O meen aaoteciese ec ereconenccecsecneteactocccoes reece or eton 1506! No. 32 Drab colored shales... ..... 2.2.2.0... 2. sce cee cence nen eees ---30 to 40 No. 33. Compact brownish-grey limestone..-----2-------- eee e cee cence cece eee cence nee 4to 5
This limestone is about 75 tu 80 feet above the coalin the shaft just across the river from Terre Haute, which is No. 7 of the Llinois section, and the intervening beds would give the following con- tinuation of the section, if carried down to the horizon of this coal; but they do not come to the sur- face in Clark county:
Not. 34>) Green; blugiand red clay (shales s-secces << cee o-sern ec cccce soe ermseeennemcerier sense 10 to 12 No. 35. Sandstone .........--.-----.----- -12 to 15 No. 36 Argillaceous and sandy shales... No. 37. Bituminons shale.........--..-.- 5 tp BS8 CURT TeodeastacacScdatonet baschecesa decd seb oneCoooaeoocasacHododospobodagasoarien 5
The coal afforded by this seam is a rather soft, fat, caking coal, of fair average quality. The lower part of the seam contains two or three partings of shale. This seam would be the first workable coal that could be reached anywhere in Clark county, and its approximate depth at any point where it was desirable to bore for it may be determined by reference to the foregoing general section. From the horizon of the Quarry creek limestone to this coal it would be from 350 to 400 feet, and from the horizon of the Livingston limestone from 250 to 300 feet.
In the north-west part of this county several borings were made for oil during the oil excitement, some of which were reported to be over 900 feet in depth; but as no accurate record seems to have been kept, the expenditure resulted in no general benefit further than to determine that no deposit of oil of any value existed in the vicinity to the depth penetrated. The following record of the ‘Old Well,” or “'T. R. Young well,” was furnished to Prof. Cox by Mr. LINDSEY :
12 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. '
Clay shale (soapstone so-called).......---------------+--+ +222 20+ -e- SacoRESoocaSDO CoE ase SS oHSeHaEsOs ¥ 3 Black shalotscsososck foe wie oo eek a be Se Sect ses ee Sowa ne De Tae Jae See Soe eeecee eae eee eee 9 Sandstonesacs ae sa aechen soo aceocee coe a cess Sele Sere ccince aa seine seean ace nessa asses Se eee 12 (OS EB peep coSce SE EESSo LSD SUSE Rabo BSHOCOD OOo sacoopasouesosesSogpanthpscucancrecessescorestestoee 1 Sandstones-c- ae seen ia ec wked conse cones nes cece bonaeetene does seas see ace senate ashe eee ee 90 MMuditstone ¢*ss-cacecoccace cease ececesnecac cee ccceeericce es lesencale see ee ee seat e nee eee eee 2 TEU Gana agg apo c od SaG CHECK E Se ESB Da CE BOCO RECS URS ScconnEHoodsaaoomocdchichonscandsecacodsoreascc 1 Sandstone sesseeseneseeneee cece ener sa cena een cen eeer eee saeemecinan maaan eens Sod ee eee 52
314
The upper part of this boring corresponds very well with our general section, except in the absence of the Quarry creek limestone, which should have been found where they report 20 feet of “mud stone,” but whatever that may have been, it seems hardly probable that such a term would be used to designate a hard and tolerably pure limestone.
This well was tubed with gas pipe for some 8 or 10 feet above the surface, and water, gas and about a half gallon of oil per day was discharged. All the wells, so far as I could learn, discharged water at the surface, showing that artesian water could be readily obtained here, but it was all more or less impregnated with mineral matters and oil, sufficient to render it unfit for common use. The 900 foot well must have been carried quite through the Coal Measures, and, if an accurate journal had been kept, the information it would have afforded would have been of great value to the people of this, as well as the adjacent counties. It would have gone far towards settling the question as to the number and thickness of the workable coals for all this portion of the State, and the depth at which they could be reached from certain specified horizons, as for instance, from the base of the Quarry creek or Livingston limestones, or from either one of the thin coals of the upper measures that were passed through in this boring. As itis, the expendi- ture was an utter waste of capital, except in so far as it may have taught those directly engaged in the operation the folly of boring for oil where there was no reasonable expectation of finding it in quantities sufficient to justify such an expenditure of time and money.
The beds forming the upper part of the general section in this county are exposed on Quarry creek south of Casey and one mile and a half east of Martinsville, on the upper course of Hurricane creek, and the Blackburn branch south-east of Parker prairie. At the quarry a mile and a half east of Martinsville, the limestone is heavy bedded, and has been extensively quarried for bridge abutments, culverts, etc., on the old National road. The bed is not fully exposed here, and seems to be somewhat thinner than at Quarry creek, where it probably attains its maximum thickness, but thins out both to the north-east and south-west from that point. The upper part of the bed is generally quite massive, affording beds 2 feet or more in thickness, while the lower beds are thinner, and at the base it becomes shaly and locally passes into a green
CLARK COUNTY. 13
clay shale with thin plates and nodules of limestone. These shaly layers afford many fine fossils in a very perfect state of preservation, though they are neither as numerous or as well preserved here as at the outcrops of this limestone in Edgar county. The most character- istic fossils of this formation are Meekella striato-costata, Pleurotomaria turbiniformis, and Platyceras Nebrascensis, associated with Athyris subti- lita, Spirifer cameratus, 8. lineatus, Spiriferina Kentuckensis, Orthis carbonaria, Platyostoma Peoriense, Terebratula bovidens, Chonetes Ver- neuilanus, numerous corals like Heliophyllum, and large joints of Crinvidea. Possibly the apparent thinning out of this limestone to the northward in this county may be due to surface erosion, as we nowhere saw the overlaying sandstone in situ, and Prof. BRADLEY gives the thickness of this bed in Edgar county as about 25 feet, which does not indicate a very decided diminution of its thickness in a north-east- wardly direction.
Below this limestone, in the vicinity of Martinsville, there are partial outcrops of shale and thin bedded sandstone, with a thin coal, probably No. 4 of the preceding section, and south-west of the town, and about three-quarters of a mile from it, there is a partial outcrop of the lower portion of the limestone in the bluff on the east side of the North Fork valley, where we obtained numerous fossils belonging to this horizon.
West and north-west of Martinsville no rocks are exposed in the bluffs of the creek for some distance, but higher up partial outcrops of a sand- stone, probably overlaying the Quarry creek limestone, may be found.
At Quarry creek, about a mile and a half south of Casey, on sec. 28, T. 10, R. 14, this limestone appears in full force, and has been exten- sively quarried both for building stone and the manufacture of quick- lime. It is here a mottled gray, compact limestone, locally brecciated, and partly in regular beds from six inches to two feet or more in thickness. At least 25 to 30 feet of limestone is exposed here, and as the overlaying sandstone is not seen, its aggregate thickness may be even more than the above estimate. At its base the limestone becomes thin bedded and shaly, passing into a greenish calcareous shale with thin plates and nodules of limestone, abounding in the characteristic fossils of this horizon. At one point on this creek a bed of green shale, about two feet in thickness, was found intercalated in the limestone. A large amount of this stone was quarried here for lime, for macada- mizing material and for bridge abutments on the old National road, and this locality still furnishes the needed supply of lime and building stone for the surrounding country.
At the base of thé limestone here there is a partial exposure of bituminous shale and a thin coal, probably representing the horizon of No. 4 of the preceding section, below which some ten or twelve feet of sandy shale was seen.
14 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
At Wm. Howe's place, on sec. 3, T. 9, R. 14, we found the following beds exposed below the Quarry creek limestone :
Ft. Clayishalessnesce senses esac etre anata oe ace males se else nies aaa seeacntee a maisisrattaseteea setae ateme eet 4to 6 BILMMINOUS ANAlO san cea acento meee meses eeeenecacicas= eecine en ccees cleacineas snore aaseac eer 2 Goalie mecciiseciesceetec a cebsiscieitecninesnencios scincene sence sine cmeiieemcninec sina cnanememscinetta samme aera 1 Shalysfire-clayrecscon seco ses cece ieee seer emee scenes cer eer ene ete anata nce rece aee eee ae see ae 2 Sandstone and shale with bands of carb. of iron....-....22--2.2-22 222-2222 eee een ee eee een ee eens 20 SOTEO=206 I} COVE? GLE Ge pe eag anc OS HES OS UOMO ROSCOE SE CHOSE OSI SS IOS SEE SOO DS OOOO SE CESHE DOBRO HOS OSSETO ODO 3to 6 Gompactibrownish-cray limestones ---5- << --se rinse naneeccecceecsaicer sere este cceciceecceceoesose 3to 5 Black shale and fire-clay partially exposed..---.------ 222225. 22. son conn en seencenemnneseccnns one 2to 3 Sandy shaleand:sandstone.-- ccc cen = sees seen so saaee cen ecnese mee ee ee ene en seat ee eae 25 to 30
Both the coals in the above section have been worked here, mostly, by stripping in the bed of a small branch. The quality of the coal is good, but, unfortunately theseams are too thin to be successfully worked in aregular way. They are the equivalents of the two upper coals in the general section of the rocks of this county.
At Mrs. BRANT’S place, on sec. 10 of the same township, we found the following section, which varies but little from that above given:
Ft. In ITE) GN Oke escape ade ShG Qo SCS ECHO AT OOO SCOTIBC AOSD ESS ad aa Sat aoonoSdo DSSS CaS SeHaaadeaeSSse6 10 ‘Ritaminous Shalessscs=stemesesenecaseresccceme aces terscree wee sete se eeerans seas amenen see 1 3 (OE Ce ononesasaHdcaS nus cogSsecdocan a AddoScoSceBd psbaTogo Sha CesObacoSscH cddudanbadoceoSdasaande 1 LOTTE ER 7b pci aod COB HOE CE HIOHE GEO COS CERISE ES CS OOCOS OO COCHISE Aa SECHI SOS EOSESOERORES HGRSHSES 2 Shalejand|sandst0n@s-cecccccasecseeasenneean sa ae sere nensiaceonemaseeanacceeaneceeteeaeeeetacaete 20 Bituminous shale..... FOSS trad ON Te Noro 2 Sane et Coe Se 1 (OO Lone cosa pend Oo RH RSb qo SSB aS CaS SR SCO QSOS OCHOS ROSSA USES AIC FOBASECESRAOROCOatOO a Sodsaqaa 1 3 HELE Rp ono ack dea cena n SS EO SUU SHI SO UCD ORSOOIUDSCHECROORGECEO ScoscodeseSoncasacesandaceos 6 BLOWN MeStONnGsemeccsececaas sas ccetesesteeccocancerseosceacccsesoce nosSunoacacbadccnaécencsds 3 Shalejandisandstoneen--senssanec sce seems nsececsteoroseee tenements a sere ate ee aaa 25 BitumMOUS|ShalOsscasseasosescec cesar ncese sess eaece te eesaeoe cmon eee cee mee Ree nee eee 3to 4 (Ott a Se sR ao oubes Sad ase SoOaHisadonados Hasabeasoadtdosd nocsoboodsaococtdcBsbdbsacsonaseadcdasss Q 9 Sand yjshaleiand sandstone... -ssecese oo ene ese teens arsesricconacocesceeacaens eeeeeaaeaee 3C to 40
Tumbling masses of the Quarry creek limestone were found here as well as at Mr. Howe’s place, immediately above the blue shale, at the top of the foregoing sections, and there is probably only a few feet of sandy shale or sandstone intervening between the limestone and the upper shales of these sections. Considerable coal has been mined at Mrs. BRANT’s place, and these two seams formerly furnished the greater portion of the coal used by the neighboring blacksmiths. It is a true splint coal breaking freely into cuboidal blocks two or three inches in thickness, and free from pyrite. At Mr. JOSEPH HOWE’s dwelling house the limestone was found at the bottom of his well, not more than ten to fifteen feet above the upper coal which crops out near by.
On Hurricane branch, commencing on sec. 14, T. 10, R. 13, and extending down the creek for a distance of two miles or more, there are continuous outcrops of sandstone and sandy shales, No. 12 of the county section. The upper portion is shaly with some thin bedded sandstone, passing downward into a massive, partly concretionary sand-
CLARK COUNTY. 15
stone that forms bold cliffs along the banks of the stream from 20 to 30 feet in hight. At the base of this sandstone there is a band of pebbly conglomerate from one to three feet in thickness, containing fragments of fossil wood in a partially carbonized condition, and mineral charcoal.
The regularly bedded layers of this sandstone have been extensively quarried on this creek for the construction of culverts and bridge abut- ments in this vicinity, and the rock is found to harden on exposure and proves to be a valuable stone for such uses. Some of the layers are of the proper thickness for flag-stones, and from their even bedding can be readily quarried of the required size and thickness.
This sandstone is underlaid by an argillaceous shale, anda black slate which, where first observed, was only two or three inches thick, but gradually increased down stream to a thickness of about fifteen inches. The blue shale above it contains concretions of argillaceous limestone with numerous fossils, among which were Plewrotomaria spherulata, P. Grayvillensis, Astartella vera, Nucula ventricosa, Rhyn- chonella Eatoniceformis, Orthis carbonaria, and Lophophyllum proliferum. These fossils indicate the horizon of No. 13 coal, and in Lawrence, White and Wabash counties we find a well defined coal seam associated with a similar shale containing the same group of fossils, but possibly belonging to a somewhat lower horizon.
On Blackburn branch, commencing on sec. 24 in the same township, and following down the stream for a mile and a half, we have a repeti- tion of the same beds of shale and sandstone seen on Hurricane creek, underlaid by the clay shale and black slate, Nos. 13 and 14 of the county section.
Near the center of section 4, T. 9, R. 12, the following beds were found on Joe’s Fork, above the site of the old Anderson mill:
Massive sandstone, the same seen on Hurricane creek..-.......---.----- 2 ene ne ence eee ence e ee en eee z Be Dark shales with nodules of arg. limestone -....-------- 2-3-0. scece- eee cence ee cece ee nen ncoencee- 5to 8 Blacks Bla Gms aeeeee sean scene nected eae eae mete c nce ne ceo n teeter eee a corencce steno eoencee lto 2 Sandy shale and evenly bedded sandstone...---...-.-- SepoeconemoquacaabconuaccnaanonbSasosasdes 20 to 25 Greenish) colored|sandy/and) arg: shales: --- << -<cecclecen eo eccece ee cecencs -ecnccsascnccerc~ee ss 35 to 40 Hard concretionary sandstones with softer beds below.-.......-...--.--------------e-e--e-ee---- 8 to 10 Gray /sparry limestones: s22 css. sic ccein stat pola ces scene sae ercec ron ccn eee ceeeece cuseancns deecccocteese 5 Shale with)1 Otinch seamof) coalis-saseccesseecses 2s so ceeseccoc cine ese cine ee cies clos cle salamicieseciem sieciniceiee 8 BrowiMish-Pray, Nard Drittle im GStONO 22. sajenae cease ce see ae see e near enneccenenesssscee ns: Tto 8
The above includes Nos. 12 to 20 of the county section. The lime- stones at the base of the above section are the equivalents of the Livingston limestones hereafter described, and they pass below the bed of the creek here about a mile above the old mill. The sandstone overlaying the upper limestone here, when evenly bedded, is quarried for building stone and affords a very good and durable material of this kind for common use. At the mouth of Joe’s Fork the lower limestone is partly below the creek bed, the upper four feet only being visible,
16 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
and above it we find clay shale 2 feet, coal 10 inches, shale 5 to 6 feet, succeeded by the upper limestone which is here ouly three or four feet thick. The upper limestone at the outcrop here is thinly and unevenly bedded and weathers to a rusty-brown color. The lower lime- stone is more heavily bedded, but splits to fragments on exposure to frost and moisture. It is of a mottled gray color when freshly broken, but weathers toa yellowish-brown. Fossils were not abundant in either bed, but the lower afforded a few specimens of Athyris subtilita, a coral like Heliophyllum, Productus costatus, and Terebratula bovidens.
At Mr. SPANGLER’S place, on sec. 12, in Melrose township (T. 9, R. 12), a hard, brittle, gray limestone outcrops on a branch of Mill creek. The bed is about eight feet in thickness here, and is underlaid by a few feet of partly bituminous shale and a thin coal from six to eight inches thick. This is probably the same as the upper limestone at the old Anderson mill, or No. 18 of the county section. The rock has been quarried here for lime, and is said to yield a fair article.
On sec. 5, T. 9, R. 10, Prof. Cox reports the following section :
Ft. In Covered slopwesecese cs nieceaeeinernac cence con ccins anesinccn mse siscinacisasieretsstatselarclansemtcctentsetele 20 Grayishalejandishalysandstonewe-ce-emseseeniecsessctaleciecistemere teimema eaten ela sellers siete 10 HATTIE TE hoa Sona SboadsedboadrccrecqbastaLodaddacescoossbedocdoodaddasiasdoanabosdanosodoass 4 Graystossiliferousishaleteacsesane sees deen aa tear ea acne aan ame eee ace mice te aiae eal aee are aerate 0 6 ‘Coall(impure) Woden sce ete sae nirae nine caer eines see coe acres na aaine teeta cies encleaeeeenctete 6in.to 1 DE THIER caer eq GosrHa SIO COSI INIO0 SOROUTIOU SON C DCORB SE So un BORIC IS oUsadODDOONEAASSONOSIO ORG Gray/shaleito thei bediofsthe: creeks ..cs secs cet nemieeeeceeneecemeceeceesecisescencececiaciesssis 2
The fossils observed here in the shale below the limestone were Pro- ductus Prattenianus, P. semireticulatus ? P. punctatus, Chonetes mesoloba, Spirifer cameratus, Athyris subtilita, Lophophyllum proliferum, and Mya- lina peruceformis. The limestone and coal of this locality probably belong to Nos. 10 and 11 of the county. section.
At the railroad bridge north-west of Livingston the following section may be seen:
Ft. In Gray sparry, limestone: <. < cee ci-nsece cos esccs ceive sinvne cenieeseceeene caches chor een ee ece eee { Blue shales. <52 foc cesscnc re cscceccce cee scat) Mecee catedee weceiscenescececarocsecinsse seeeet ones 6 Gray limestone: heavy beddedice st --oeccc crac se ele snes cece sees acceso sate cote ee eeeeeee 8 Sandstonejandisandy;shaless-s-cse sn once ae eciststee cee ciomectclenenis tesa nema ciseaeecet 30 to 40 Mhinicoals (reported) ea cc asasae teste ses cectecce cieelssiesecciscceeitemasicenmace mec emcsiecse seitsteciaetels 0 6
The upper bed of limestone (No. 18 of the county section,) is traversed by veins of calcite and brown ferruginous streaks, that give the rock a mottled appearance when freshly broken. The upper layer of the lower bed is about thirty inches thick, and is a tough, compact, gray rock, that breaks with an even surface and has a slightly granular or semi- oolitic appearance. The lower part of this bed is a mottled-gray fine grained limestone, and breaks with a more or less conchoidal fracture. The fossils found in the limestone here were Athyris subtilita, Productus costatus, P. Nebrascensis, Pinna per-acuta, Spirifer cameratus, S. plano-
CLARK COUNTY. 17
converus and joints of Crinoidea. The upper division of this limestone thins out entirely about a mile above the bridge, and passes into a green shale like that by which the limestones are separated. The following section is seen about one mile above the railroad bridge in the creek bluffs and adjacent hill tops:
Covered slope, with tumbling masses of Quarry creek limestone...-.-.---------++---+-+2--- essences 20 Sandstone, upper part massive, with shaly beds below. Pebbly sandstone. .-.----.-------------------+--+----+--- Green clay shales, with a streak of coaly matter Limestone, upper division of Livingston bed Greentshal ose ee cece sella aime niefaisln atalino tala (aiaiefalneininniay=lne semetaietatelale(el Limestone (partial exposure)
The tumbling masses of limestone that are found in the hill-tops hereaway, no doubt belong to the Quarry creek bed, which is found in ‘partial outcrops not more than half a mile back from the creek, and from 80 to 90 feet above its level. The intervening sandstones and shales which separate these limestones in the north-eastern part of Clark county are much thinner than where they outcrop on Hurricane and Mill creeks, in the southern portion, indicating a general thinning out of the strata below the Quarry creek bed to the northward. Some- times I have been inclined ‘to believe that this upper limestone was unconformable to the beds below, and its disappearance beyond Parker prairie to the south-west, where the apparent trend of its outcrop would naturally carry it, seems to strengthen this conclusion, but the outcrops of the underlsying beds are so partial and widely separated that it is difficult to determine this point satisfactorily. At any rate, the thick- ness of the beds between these limestones north of Livingston does not exceed 75 or 80 feet, while south of Martinsville they are from 125 to 150 feet apart, at least, showing that they thin out rapidly to the northward. The upper division of the Livingston limestone can be seen to thin out entirely about a mile north of the railroad bridge north-west of Livingston, and the other division must also disappear before reaching Edgar county, as Prof. BRADLEY failed to find it there, as will be seen by his report on that county in Vol. [V of these reports. The Quarry creek limestone is undoubtedly the same bed described by him as No. 3 of his Edgar county section; and if the Livingston beds extended into that county they would be found not more than 60 to 75 feet below his No. 3. Possibly this lower limestone may be represented there by his No. 11, which is described as a ‘‘sandy argillaceous limestone, containing pebbles of black limestone and fragments of fossils,” as we have nothing in Clark county that can be correlated with that unless it is one or both divisions of the Livingston limestones. The distance from his No. 3 down to coal No.7 he makes from 185 to 250 feet, while in Clark county
the distance from the limestone on Quarry creek to this coal is from 350 to 400 feet.
18 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
At Mr. MurpHy’s place, near the mouth of Ashmore creek, on sec. 29, T. 11, R. 10, a bed of shelly, chocolate-colored, impure limestone, is found outcropping by the roadside at the base of the Wabash river blufts. The section seen here is as follows:
Ft. In. Massive brown sandstones: =. -/:ss2--- 2222 onsesc snes cowa ese sececeseeaccncmeaoneecesecene 30 to 40 iBrownvearth yjlimestone=sseeeme cence eee se se eee eee eee aee eee eee saae eee 3 to 4 IBitUMINOUS:ShalOsanssestese tases] nace ceca amass een eine ae ee aia eeatne ale marae oe eee 4 to 6 (ON Sena gecoto peso EccOCeR ACO DE GDS BESO REO CHGS OSCR COC HES HOD EOCO NOSSO Se aH BEcneEbocnaaepaabobesos 1 6 Mire-clay andishal@\scnccescereclseesea sos ereaenne sense eee ee eae ee ee ea eee aes ae ee ase aaa meee 4
These beds are equivalent to Nos. 29 to 31 inclusive of the county section, and the coal at this point is coal No. 10 of the Illinois section. The limestone above the coal here contains a fine Naticopsis and a Macrodon. It weathers to a rusty-brown color en exposure, but when first broken the color is a chocolate-brown, mottled with dark bluish- gray spots. This limestone resembles the brown arenaceous limestone subsequently found two and one-half miles north of New Haven, near the south line of White county, and also in the bed of the creek at Carmi, and I am inclined to believe it belongs to the same horizon, though fossils are by no means as numerous in it in Clark county as at the localities mentioned in White county. If this conclusion is correct, it would bring the New Haven limestone on a parallel with that num- bered 33, and forming the base of the Clark county section, and they agree very well both in their lithological and paleontological characters.
The coal seam at MURPHY’S averages about 18 inches in thickness, and affords a coal of fair quality.
Tracing the bluff north-eastwardly from this point, the beds rise rapidly, and about half a mile from MurpHy’s place there is about 30 feet of drab-colored shales exposed beneath the limestone which is here found well up in the hill.
At the foot of the bluff on Clear creek, near the State line, a mottled brown and gray limestone 4 to 5 feet in thickness is found, underlaid by 10 or 12 feet of variegated shales, which are the lowest beds seen in Clark county. Wxtensive quarries were opened in this limestone to supply material for building the old National road, and in the debris of these old quarries we obtained numerous fossils from the marly layers thrown off in stripping the solid limestone beds that lay below. The fossils found here comprise the following species: <Athyris subtilita, Retzia punctulifera, Spirifer lineatus, 8. plano-convexus, Terebratula bovidens, Platyostoma Peoriense, and two or three undetermined corals. The limestone is a tough, fine-grained, mottled, brown and gray rock, in tolerably heavy beds, which makes an excellent macadamizing material, and also affords a durable stone for culverts, bridge abutments and foundation walls.
CLARK COUNTY. 19
The beds intervening between this limestone and coal No. 7 do not make their appearance in this county, but by visiting the shafts now in operation on the west side of the Wabash river, one and a half miles west of Terre Haute, I found a portion of them outcropping at the surface, and the remainder had been penetrated in the shafts and were reported to me by the gentleman in charge of the work. The section from the limestone to the coal would be as follows:
Ft. Brownish-gray, compact, fine-grained limestone...........-.--.------- <2 ee ene ene ene een eee eeen ne 4 Green, blue and purple shales -.--.-.-----.--- 10 to 15 Sandstone, locally in tolerably heavy beds. ......-.--...2-- 2-2 2-2-2 cece ne ene e een ne een ence ncnne 12 Argiliaceous shales, with bands of iron stone..-.....--.--------- 2 ee eee ene e ene ee nee een e eee 40 to 50 TUTTO STEN a ne Seacce conse ceo occucd oSedos Saosro scan SScocsacssionscuppasnoouccarcassdds lto 2 OEY INOS 7 coca soeakoccnesond Sodas pecstoc dase sd osceoS ssacoccos ssc cecHHSDnEscs aassuSacoUbSaodSoSosssos 5
This is undoubtedly the “ Danville coal” which has been extensively worked at Danville and at several other points in Vermilion county, where it ranges from 4 to 7 feet in thickness, and is equivalent to No. 7 of the Illinois section. There it is overlaid by a soft black shale filled with fossil shells in which the calcareous matter is replaced with pyrite, giving to the fossils a beautiful metallic lustre, but unfortunately in many cases the pyrite decomposes if not protected from the atmosphere, and the fossils are soon destroyed. Locally No.7 is overlaid by a heavy bed of limestone, as at the Equality and Bowlesville mines, in Gallatin county. At the mines opened west of Terre Haute, we found no well preserved marine fossils in the soft shales over this coal, although a careful search was made for them. Fragments of fossil wood, either silicious or replaced by pyrite, were abundant in the debris taken from the shafts here, as well as at Bowlesville.
In any attempts that may be made in Clark county to mine coal by shafting to the lower coals, this would be the first seam reached, and its approximate depth at any given locality may be determined by the remarks already made, and especially by reference to the county section. In the northern portion of the county the distance from the Livingston or Quarry creek limestones to this coal would be considerably less than in the southern part, for reasons already stated, namely, the thinning out the intervening beds to the northward, and consequently this variation in the relative thickness of the beds in different parts of the county should be duly considered in estimating the probable cost of any extensive operations for coal mining.
Economical Geology.
Coal.—_F rom what has been already stated in the preceding pages, it will be inferred that there is no great amount of coal accessible in this county except by deep mining. In the thin seams outcropping at Mr.
20 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
MURPHY’S place, near the Wabash river, and at Mr. Howk’s and Mrs. BRAN1’S, south-east of Casey, the coal varies in thickness from a foot to eighteen inches, and though of fair quality, the beds are too thin to justify working them except by stripping the seams along their outcrop in the creek valleys. The coal at Mr. MurpuHy’s place has a good roof of bituminous shale and limestone, and could be worked successfully by the ordinary method of tunnelling if it should be found to thicken anywhere to 24 or 30 inches. The higher seams, found at the localities above named, south-east of Casey, are thinner than that at Mr. Mvrpuy’s, though one or both of the upper ones are said to have a local thickness of 18 inches. I see no good reason to believe that the main workable seams that are found outcropping in the adjacent portions of Indiana, should not be found by shafting down to their proper horizon in this county, notwithstanding the reported results of the oil well borings in the north-western portion of the county. I have observed that in borings made for oil or for artesian water, which are expected to come to the surface whenever they are reached by the drill, it is only in exceptional cases in this State, that any accurate knowledge was obtained even by the persons in charge of the work, of the character of the rocks passed through in the boring; and in many cases the work is placed in the charge of those who are utterly incom- petent to determine the proper characteristics of the strata through which the drill was passing. Hence, when the enterprise was abandoned, the expenditure proved to be utterly valueless, for the want of a correct and reliable record of the strata penetrated, which, if kept and preserved, might have been of great value to the public at large, as well as to those for whose special benefit the work was prosecuted.
Building Stene-—Clark county is well supplied with both freestone and limestone suitable for all ordinary building purposes. The sand- stone bed on Hurricane creek, south-east of Martinsville, is partly an -even bedded freestone, that works freely and hardens on exposure, and is a reliable stone for all ordinary uses. The abutments of the bridge over the North Fork on the old National road were constructed of this sandstone, which is still sound, although more than thirty years have passed away since they were built. The sandstone bed overlaying the limestone at the old Anderson mill, below the mouth of Joe’s fork, also affords a good building stone as well as material for grindstones, and the evenly bedded sandstone higher up on Joe’s fork, which overlays the green shales, is of a similar character, and affords an excellent building stone. Each of the three limestones in this county furnish an excellent macadamizing material, and the Quarry creek limestone, as well as the beds near Livingston, furnish dimension stone and material for foundation walls of good quality.
CLARK COUNTY. 21
Time.—A fair quality of quick lime is made from both the limestones above named, and on Quarry creek the kilns are kept in constant operation to supply the demand for this article in the adjacent region.
Potters’ Clay.—An excellent article of white clay, suitable for pottery or fire brick, was found in the shaft near Marshall, about 80 to 85 feet below the Livingston limestone, and about fifty feet above the coal in the bottom of the shaft, which was probably the same coal found at Mr. Murpuy’s. This bed of clay would probably be found outcropping in the Wabash bluffs, not far below MuRPHY’s place.
Soil and Timber.—The soil is generally a chocolate-colored sandy loam, where the surface is rolling, but darker colored on the flat prairies, and more mucky, from the large per cent. of humus which it contains. The prairies are generally of small size, and the county is well timbered with the following varieties: white oak, red oak, black oak, pin oak, water oak, shell bark and pignut hickory, beech, poplar, black and white walnut, white and sugar maple, slippery and red elm, hackberry, linden, quaking asp, wild cherry, honey locust, red birch, sassafras, pecan, coffee nut, black gum, white and blue ash, dogwood, red-bud, sycamore, cottonwood, buckeye, persimmon, willow, etc. The bottom lands along the small streams, and the broken lands in the vicinity of the Wabash bluffs sustain a very heavy growth of timber, and fine groves are also found skirting all the smaller streams and dotting the uplands in the prairie region. As an agricultural region this county ranks among the best on the eastern borders of the State, producing annually fine crops of corn, wheat, oats, grass, and all the fruits and vegetables usually grown in this climate. Market facilities are abun- dantly supplied by the Wabash river, and the St. Lonis, Vandalia and Indianapolis railroad, which passes through the central portion of the county, furnishing an easy communication with St. Louis on the west, or the cities of Terre Haute and Indianapolis on the east.
Before closing my report on this county I desire to acknowledge my obligations to JOHN IF’, LAFFERTY, Esq., of Martinsville, for valuable information, and personal attention and assistance rendered me, while prosecuting my examinations in this county.
CHAPTER IIT.
CRAWFORD AND JASPER COUNTIES.
Crawford county contains seven full and several fractional townships, making an aggregate area of about 438 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Clark county, on the east by the Wabash river, on the south by Lawrence and Richland counties, and on the west by Jasper. Located on the western side of the Wabash, and traversed by several small streams tributary thereto, the surface is generally rolling, and was originally mostly covered with timber. Subsequently a considerable portion of this timbered area has been cleared and brought under eculti- vation, though there is still remaining an abundance of timber to supply the present, and also the prospective demand for many years. The south-west portion of the county from the Shaker mills, on the Embar- ras, nearly to Robinson, is quite broken, and there are also belts of broken land of greater or less extent on all the small streams. The principal water courses 1n the county tributary to the Wabash river, are the Embarras, which runs diagonally across the south-western corner of the county; the North Fork, traversing its western border from north to south; Crooked creek, also in the southwest part; and Brushy fork, Lamotte creek, Sugar creek, and some other small streams, in the eastern portion of the county.
The prairies are generally small, and are for the most part rolling, and are mainly confined to the northern and western portions of the county, and to the bottom and terrace lands adjacent to the Wabash river. One of the earliest settlements made in the State was on one of these bottom prairies in the vicinity of Palestine, in this county.
Quaternary.—The beds referable to this formation in this county con- sist of buff or drab marly clays belonging to the loess, which are found capping the bluffs of the Wabash and attaining a thickness of ten to. twenty feet or more, and from twenty to forty feet of brown gravelly clays and hard pan, the latter resting upon the bed rock, or separated from it by a thin bed of stratified sand or gravel. If these beds were found in a vertical section they would show the following order of succession :
CRAWFORD COUNTY. 93
Buff and drab marly clays or sands.------.-------22-- 2-0-0 ssw e ose e een ene ee eer ee eens Brown and yellow gravelly clays..----- Bluish-gray hard pan x SET SP GEG bec necc ce connco cane cEncsoec sat SS SESS Peau CE Seca soccoeS EERE EdoscuSorssDondaopeds
Generally, these superficial deposits are thin in this county, and at most places the bed rock will be found within fifteen or twenty feet of the surface. Small bowlders are frequently met with in the branches, but large ones are quite uncommon, and they are more frequently derived from the limestones and hard sandstones of the adjacent Coal Measure beds, than from the metamorphic rocks beyond the confines of the State, though some of the latter were seen.
Coal Measures.
The stratified rocks of this county all belong to the upper Coal Measures, the lowest beds appearing in the bluffs of the Wabash river and the highest along the western borders of the county, and include the horizon of coals Nos. 11, 12 and 13, of the Illinois section. The only knowledge that we have of the underlaying formations is derived from a shaft and boring made at Palestine landing. The shaft passed through the following beds, commencing about six feet above high water level in the Wabash river:
Ft. In
Soll erarelan( Cla Vie setae o sa caesarean a aaee sees a eee se eene sen ce eaclecie eee conieinet 8 dose Sand rocks saceee aman ne a COC EE CEE RCO COS SORE TERED O DEC UE QUCEMOOO EHD SGHDOGsaRS 0 4 NIE Chater peoe cece COCKE RED CARE ROC CORE CECE HEC BOEL COO DOR EDOD Coc ceD Oa COC COCDHCOUSSbSDCHESEdOBeE Q1 8 Coal, No. 107-. 6 IDG EN A cee teste oe eer Rese C COCR ESE H OCLC AES CECE ESS CSE ROOOUCOB DS COC ECBCOE ABACDEBHHMGRaboeessE Hardelim ston Gress sase- s soe owes see ae at oda cece ce so ace ace onesees cone snes adslecececes SG. Sandstone ---- Brown shale 6 SIM eEStONe mw UM LOSSUS = apace soe eae rnc aca cine ane eininscince aa ciiccessjseccincninrlsisieins cise eis 0 6 Gray sandy shale 2 1B CSL he Seine corm ce BI TORE RHE OL DOC EE DET ECS HCOn BE CERO SUCRE ODOLenOo CSO DACeHABOrCEES pode 0 8 (QE) GUA Crees aaasdec coanteeecese saccade neacs AROSE Sac bRO Soon RAnAdconeSHocpetpdaraacadsa 4 Limestone. -..-..-------- 6 Sandstonesands shaleses a2. oo ss cee ae aoe ee see ons oe eee tae eee eee ee ecisciser sewesieises cocci 6 VEO GUE G < ees eee cee tee E COREE CEC EEE BOE HE SO CO CHCEC BOCES CBORD OCHOSOOS EpCODABUSaDeSeGsnec” CoskeNoa9 \tisa cscs cece oie tr eter ee ace Pao waaaws edocs ae ooo ae sodama Avon selec ces maeeee sess 0 6
Fire-clay, not passed through. 123 6
This shaft was sunk to reach a coal seam reported in a boring pre- viously made to be four feet thick, and at a depth of 123 feet. The bore was made about a mile and a half north-west of the shaft, and commenced 15 feet below a thin coal which outcrops in the hill above. The bore was made for oil, during the oil fever, and no great reliance can be placed on the reported thickness or character of the strata pen- etrated. The shaft mentioned above was sunk to the horizon of a coal
24 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
seam reported 4 feet thick in the bore, but on reaching it in the shaft it proved to be 2 feet of bituminous shale and 6 inches of coal. The report of this bore is as follows:
ae pp
COD Ba Gs Cee Spee soccer CoDS OHSS SocHSanaEsascacHacoscHancoddtoondossaboaneceeas 1
Mire-Clayz-escsenceciscs ease ice cscs ececeincine can cltserc nes ecco memen ee ama eee tema Limestone. --
onmnrtonu
a o 77) B 2 oO
fete ett mow nn ae es) eyes i Gym peo efay Ba? 545 nce
ran or =) = - n p i=} a iz ct ° =] o
a a n By 2) ©
Gray sandstone. .....-.-
BITS cosasnc Sodse 6 SSC SH ECHO ED ons S aR mSHanbSSuos5 SoonaoMaSoSn sobopaSodnonEDoogNEaecnSocass 19) ACoalSroported ccc s sect cc cosone cece eee ere eae race ee ee ee a eee eee 20. Fire-clay 21. Pebbly shale. 22s Darkishaleecsscaeo== 23. Gray sandstone...-.-.- 24. Darkshale -<-----.2---- 25. Gray sandstone........ 26: (Black shale:.---------<--
et m= c
Sandstone 32. Soft variegated shale 33. Shale, with tarry substance and fetid odor 34-5 Hard sandstone wseeeaw ccm accam cena sse saci cnecocsasicns sevice ese ciocecinciessccieteecceeectees 4
If any reliance can be placed on the reported section of this boring, it must have passed through coals Nos. 10, 9 and 8, of the general section of the Hlinois Coal Measures, and it is noticeable that in the shaft sunk at the landing, they found two thin beds of limestone over the coal at the bottom of the shaft, coal No.9, showing that although this limestone has thinned out very much from what its outcrop shows in Clark county, it has, nevertheless, not quite disappeared. This coal was reported in the boring at 4 feet, without any recognition of the bituminous shale above it, while in the shaft that was sunk down to this horizon in the anticipation of finding a good seam of coal, the bituminous shale proved to be 2 feet thick and the coal only 6 inches.
The rotten coal No. 27, of the foregoing section, probably represents coal No. 8, which, in Gallatin county, is from 50 to 75 feet above No. 7, though no trace of the latter was reported in this bore. The coals
CRAWFORD COUNTY. 25
=
intervening between No. 8 and 15 are seldom found of sufficient thick- ness to be worked to advantage except where it can be done by stripping along their outcrops, and hence they are of: but little value as a resource for fuel. In the western portion of the county but little coal has been found, and only in a single mine, hereafter to be mentioned, has there been any attempt to mine for coal in a systematic way.
The exposure in the bluffs just below Palestine Landing shows the following beds:
Feet. No-nl-= Covered slopeofloessiandidtitts: asecnsssrseoe mec res sete nee nee oees coer ar ence worences 15 to 20 No.2. shelly brovnilimestone swith fossussoncccesenac an sna c sea ccces essen sens cinn erence ceases 2 No. 3. Bituminous shale and thin coal—No. 12. ..........-. 2-2-2022 20e- ee ween ee eee e ce cannes 1 to 2 No. 4. Sandy shales and sandstone. --...-.--....... gaan ns neon aise win ween elnnesasemeaweaaen ces 45 to 50 No. 5. Bituminous'shaile, with numerous fossils. .--.----- 2-5-2 pec ceecnwcecsecececcneeccsece 2to 3 GNOm Gam COal—N Os 8 Pere enero a eee eee een eee _cabnboodjasancocoodaconsebsace 1 No. 7. Hard, dark-gray bituminous limestone........- 2-22-2222 222 eee eee e cece eee c ecco eee nee 2to 3 NO G5 RUGS sca ceqooscocososcn One HOSS COB CHE QSOS BASES DECEEISOS COHADSSERGobouoEBEooosadsod 15 to 20
The shelly brown limestone No. 2, of the above section, contains numerous fossils, among which I recognized Spirifer cameratus, Pro- ductus costatus, P. punctatus, P. Prattenianus, P. longispinus, Chonetes Flemingii, joints and plates of Crinoide, Orthis carbonaria, and some undetermined forms of bryozoa. Farther west in this county, and in Lawrence also, No. 12 coal is overlaid by a buff, calcareous shale, in which Orthis carbonaria and Lophophyllum proliferum are conspicuous.
The bituminous shale, No. 5, of the above section I found well exposed at the bridge on Lamotte creek, on the road from Palestine to the land- ing, and the following group of fossils were obtained from it at this locality : Plewrotomaria spherulata, P. tabulata, P. Grayvillensis, Bellero- phon carbonarius, B. per-carinata, etc., corresponding with the beds at Lawrenceville and Grayville. Numerous bands of carbonate of iron occur in the shales at the base of the above section, both on Lamotte creek and in the river bank at Palestine landing.
Robinson is located on a sandstone deposit overlaying all the rocks found in the bluffs at Palestine landing, indicating a decided dip of the strata to the westward. The outcrops of sandstone on the small branch of Sugar creek, which drains the section on which the town is built, show from 15 to 20 feet in thickness of soft brown rock, in which a few small quarries have been opened. This portion of the bed affords sandy shales, and thin-bedded, rather soft brown sandstone, with some thicker beds towards the base of the outcrop, which are rather inaccessible, from the amount of stripping required to reach them, as well as from the fact that they are partly below the water level in the branch.
At Mr. IsAAc C. Houe’s place, north of Robinson, on the N. E. ar. of sec. 16, T. 7, Kk. 12, more extensive quarries have been opened in this sandstone, and a much greater thickness of strata is exposed. The quarries are ov @ branch in the timber, but there is almost a continuous
I
96 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
outcrop along the branch, nearly to the prairie level, showing the fol- lowing succession of strata:
Feet- Shaly, micaceous sandstone, becoming thicker- bedded and harder towards the bottom, and con- taining broken plants.........---- REPOS ASS ee eHOSTCS A 2oScTIO =e CEES SS DNaoSochasodeatiseecsss 30 to 40 Massive bro. sandstone, (main quarry TOCK)....--.2.--- 220 --- cece ew ee ees noe ween een e ene ne 8 to 10 Merroginous/pebbly DEW aces caacc eee mma nee meee me eee ieee ase cane ane eee 3
The massive brown sandstone quarried here is locally concretionary, the concretions being much harder than other portions of the bed, and afford a very durable stone. This sandstone, with the shales usually associated with it, probably attains a maximum thickness of 60 to 80 feet. and fills the intervening space between coals Nos. 12 and 13 of the general section. It has been penetrated in sinking wells on the prairie at many places north and north-west of Robinson.
LAw’s coal bank, formerly known as Havon’s bank, is on the 8. W. of the N. E. qr. of sec. 12, T. 7, R. 15. The coal is a double seam, about three feet thick, with a parting of bituminous shale from two or three inches to two feet in thickness. It is overlaid here by shale and a hard, dark, ash-gray limestone, destitute of fossils. One mile up the creek from this mine the coal is said to pass into a bituminous shale. The coal obtained here is rather soft, and subject to a good deal of waste in mining; but as the mine was not in operation when I visited the locality, I had no opportunity of judging of its average quality. A section of the creek bluff at the mine shows the following order:
Ft. In Gravellyiclaysiof.thedriftsecessseoseaseensnaaeseeceeeees sera acesecee sts tee eae seer 10 to 15 HHardNdarkvash-crayslinlestone@==. csceces seco eine aaa nee anne eens eens ee eee ene tole le G) iHardsilicious'shales; with nodules=.-..-.- se ccc cece erence ce cnn see e ees tenn eoenee eae eee 0 6 Coal)-withishaleparting—NO13 tienssesncanseaccecosnacesacce sss orceeeescnnineceeetacsenas 3
A boring was made here by the proprietor, and a thicker seam was reported to have been found some forty feet below; but if this report 1s correct, the sandstone usually intervening between coals Nos. 12 and 13 is here much below its average thickness, and no such coal is known to outcrop in the county. However, local coals are sometimes developed which only cover very limited areas, and this may be a case of that kind.
Four miles south-west of Robinson a bed of hard, dark-gray bitumin- ous limestone outcrops in the bed of Turkey creek, and has been quar- ried for building stone, for which purpose it is but poorly adapted, as it splits to fragments after a limited exposure to the elements. The rock occurs in a single stratum about eighteen inches thick, overlaid by a brown calcareous shale, filled with nodules of argillaceous limestone. The shale contained numerous specimens of Lophophyllum proliferum, associated with joints of Crinoide. The foundation stone for the court house at Robinson was obtained here. This limestone may overlay a thin coal, but I could not learn that any seam had been found in
CRAWFORD COUNTY. 27
this vicinity, and I could find no outcrop of the beds below the lime- stone in this neighborhood. In the western portion of the county outcrops are rare, and so widely separated that no continuous section could be made.
On section 4, in Hutsonville township, at Mr. W. D. LAms’s place, a bed of limestone is found underlaid by five or six feet of blue shale and a thin coal. In a well sunk here the limestone was found to be five feet in thickness, a tough, fine-grained dark-grayish rock, containing no well preserved fossils. On Mr. Evans’ place, just over the line of Clark county, on sec. 34, T. 8, R. 12, heavy masses of tumbling limestone are to be seen along the creek valley. It is a massive, gray, brittle rock, and contains Athyris subtilita, Spirifer cameratus and Productus longis- pinus. A mile and a half further up the creek this limestone is found in place, and is burned for lime by Mr. DRAKE. I believe these lime- stones belong below the sandstone which is found at Robinson and at HO.Lge’s quarry.
At LINLEY’s mill, on the N. W. qr. of sec. 7, T. 8, R. 13, a hard, dark gray limestone was found in the bed of the creek, only about two feet in thickness of its upper portion being exposed above the creek bed. A quarter of a mile south of the mill, at Mr. REYNOLDS’ place, coal is mined by stripping along the bed of a branch. The coal is from 15 to 18 inches thick, overlaid by two or three feet of blue shale, and a gray limestone filled with large Producti, Athyris subtilita, etc. Productus costatus, with its loug spines, seemed to be the most abundant species. This limestone, and underlaying coal, I am inclined to believe represent _ the horizon of the upper coal in the bluff at Palestine landing, and No. 12 of the general section.
Hutsonville is located upon a bench of sandstone, the lower part of which is concretionary, and the upper part which outcrops in the hills back of the town, is more evenly bedded, and affords some toler a- ble good building stone. The sandstone extends below the average water level of the river, and is probably altogether not less than 50 to 60 feet in thickness here, and is the equivalent of the sandstone at Robinson and vicinity in the central portion of the county.
At MARTIN’S mill, on Brushy Fork, near the south line of the county, the limestone and shale found at the Lamotte creek bridge, and also at Lawrenceville, representing the horizon of coal No. 11, is well exposed , the creek bluff showing the following section :
Feet.
No. 1. Brown sandy conglomerate and concretionary sandstone, found a quarter of a mile east
OF UD TU Remeee ceOCEO DSC HET COCO CES EOD BCD D2 UC RE HIEEHEIO DUC OOO REO OLE Rae aDOBOS 10 to 15 EN OAc mS DACOILO LSC OU eae ste satan ee moan och aceite sealers stim sinee ricisiceisnenctelsiccenae sls 0 No. 3. Micaceous sandstone and shale, top of the bluff.......-.-... botlodbidooodoaotossOGs Eas 6 No. 4. Brown and bluish-gray micaceous shale.-.-.-.-... 22-2. -ee ne een ne eee eee eee nn ene- 18 Wo. 5. Blue shale, partly calcareous, with iron nodules, rotile numerous fossils-..--..--..----- 4 Nicol, LE lito nope OG Oe ap coee con eSs eC COOCEOOECL EE? GOCHUBOCHEOHOOBC LO BSeCUROOSEOE
28 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
The upper bed in the above section was found about a quarter of a mile from-the creek, and at a somewhat higher level apparently than the sandstone, No. 2, forming the top of the bluff; but the inter- vening space could not be more than ten or fifteen feet. Pockets of coal were found here in the concretionary sandstone; but although dug into for coal, they proved to be of very limited extent. The micaceous sandstone No. 3, of the section, affords some very good building stone, and some of the thin layers are distinetly ripple-marked.
The calcareous shaleZafforded numerous fossils of the same species found at the Lamotte bridge.
At Mr. NETTLE’s place, on the N. E. qr. of sec. 24, T. 5, R. 12, coal has been mined for several years. The coal is about 18 inches thick, and has a roof of fine black slate, resembling a cannel coal, nearly as thick as the coal itself. The black slate is overlaid by two or three feet of calcareous shale, containing Orthis carbonaria, Retzia punctulifera, and joints and plates of Crinoide. This coal I believe to be the same as that uear the top of the hill at Palestine landing, and No. 12 of the Illinois section.
Prof. Cox reports the following outcrops in this county, at localities which I did not visit: “In the hill east of the Shaker mill, se¢ 32, T. 5, R. 12, a soft, yellowish, massive sandstone, forming cliffs along the ravines, and in places weathering into ‘rock houses,’ or oven-like cavi- ties. Section here as follows:
Ft- Sciliand(covered space =~ avn. cinmniieneele nie mn sane nam emsinn eee ae eae eens anlenn lee eee 5 Flaggy sapdstone in two to eight inch layers...-....----..-...---.---------- BaHeEcdsAcecoonsconenises 8 Solidibeddedtsandstone Se.certeca=oclnem=lh one awcem ce aeecice win ceieste sein ecleetciaa sleet lectin eames 13's
Sandy shales, flagstones, and an occasional showing of massive soft sandstone form the prominent geological features of the southern and western portions of the county. Around Hebron, four miles south of Robinson, massive sandstone forms cliffs 15 to 20 feet high, probably a continuation of the rock seen at the Shaker mill. Two miles and a half south-east of Belair, found the following section at Gooden’s coal bank:
Ft. Slopolofithojhill & soso oe sooo an ceenn mncen mean aecnnaracencseneeaecnecenmase ance sns= == mememsannae 20 Hard blue argillaceous shale ----10 Coal\(breaksiintsmall'fracments) © cos cores cen senie= selena ana sana = lela lm male nimnin mini ean 1 to 14
This mine is worked bya shaft. A quarter of a mile below, on Willow creek, the same coal is worked on Mr. MATHENEY’S place by stripping, where the'coal is of the same thickness.”
This coal must be as high in the series as No. 13 or 14 of the general section, and may be the same as the coal mined near Newton and New Liberty, in Jasper county.
CRAWFORD COUNTY. 29
Heonomical Geology.
Coal.—As we have already stated, on a preceding page, all the strat_ ified rocks in this county belong to the apper Coal Measures, extending from coals Nos. 11 to 14, inclusive, and as these seams are usually too thin to be worked in a regular way, no valuable deposit of coal is likely to be found outcropping at the surface in the county. The seam at Mr. Law’s place, north-west of Robiuson, is said to attain a local thickness ot three feet, and may be successfully mined where the coal is good. When the demand for coal shall be such as to justify deep mining, the lower coals may be reached at a depth of four to six hundred feet. Their nearest approach to the surface is along the valley of the Wabash river, and the depth would be increased to the westward by ge dip of the strata and the elevation of the surface.
Building Stone—The best building stone to be found in this county comes from the heavy bed of sandstone above coal No. 12, which out- crops at various places in the county, and especially at Mr. Houn’s quarries north of Robinson. At some localities, a fair article of thin bedded micaceous sandstone is found between coals 11 and 12, as at Martin’s mill, on Brushy Fork, near the south line of the county. These sandstones afford a cheap and durable material for foundation walls, bridge abutments, etc. The limestone four miles west of Robinson, that was used in the foundation walls of the court house, is liable to split when exposed to the action of frost and water, and although seeming hard and solid when freshly quarried, will not withstand exposure as well as the sandstone, if the lafter is carefully selected. The limestone at Reynolds’ coal bank, nexr Linley’s mill, stands expos- ure well, and will afford a durable building stone.
Lime.—We met with no locality in the county where lime was burned, but just north of the county line of Clark county, at Mr. DRAKE’s place, a fair quality of lime is obtained from a limestone apparently the equivalent of that at Reynolds’ coal bank.
Tron Ore—The shales associated with coal No. 11 usually contain more or less carbonate of iron, and at the locality below the bridge on Lamotte creek, near Palestine landing, the quantity seemed to be suffi- cient to justify an attempt to utilize it. The shale in the bank of the creek shows a perpendicular face of fifteen to twenty feet, and the bands of ore towards the bottom of the bed would afford from twelve to eighteen inches of good ore in a thickness of about six feet of shale. At the river bank, just below the landing, this shale outcrops again,
30 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
and the iron nodules are abundant along the river bank, where they have been washed out of the easily decomposed shale.
Sand, Gravel and Clay.—The materials for brick are abundant almost everywhere, and can be had wherever wanted. Good brick clay can be found in the subsoil of the uplands, and sand is found both in the loess deposits of the river bluffs and in the beds of the streams. The second bottom or terrace land along the Wabash river affords an abundance of gravel for road ballast, u.aking cements, ete.
Soil and Timber.—From Hutsonville south, there is a belt of alluvial bottom and terrace land, from one to three miles in width, extending to the mouth of Lamotte creek, a distance of about ten miles. This is mostly prairie, and the soil is a deep, sandy loam, and very productive. The upland prairies have a chocolate-colored soil not so rich in humus as the black prairie soils of Central Illinois, but yielding fair crops of . corn, wheat, oats, clover, ete. On the timbered lands the soil is some- what variable. Where the surface is broken the soil is thin, but on the more level portions, where the growth is composed in part of black walnut, sugar tree, linden, hackberry and wild cherry, the soil is very productive, and yields annually large crops of all the cereals usually grown in this latitude. The varieties of timber observed in this county were the common species of oak and hickory, black and white walnut, white and sugar maple, slippery and red elm, honey locust, linden, hackberry, ash, red birch, cottonwood, sycamore, coffee nut, black gum, pecan, persimmon, paw-paw, red thorn, crab apple, wild plum, sassafras, red bud, dog-wood, iron-wood, ete.
Indian Mounds.—One mile south of Hutsonville, on the gravel terrace, and about 200 yards from the river bank, there is a curious group of mounds, 55 in number, and from eight to ten feet in hight. One of the largest mounds is surrounded by a wall of earth raised about three feet above the surface, and from five to six feet in width, inclosing a space of ground about a hundred feet in diameter. This was undoubtedly the site of an ancient village belonging to that mysterious people whom we call the ‘‘Mound builders,” for the want of some more distinctive appellation, and who once, and probably for a long series of years inhabited the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries, as is proven by their earth works scattered over the whole area of the western and southern States. But little is at present known of the character and habits of this ancient people, whence they came or whither they went, and the study of these ancient works, and the ornaments and implements belonging to those who built them, is perhaps the only available clue to their history.
JASPER COUNTY. 31
JASPER COUNTY contains an area of 484 square miles, and is bounded on the north by Cumberland, on the east by Crawford, on the south by Richland, and on the west by Clay and Effingham counties: The Embarras river traverses the whole extent of the county from north- west to south-east, and drains nearly the whole of its surface except the south-west corner, which is drained by Mud creek, a tributary of the Little Wabash. About one-third of the county was originally tim- bered land and the remainder prairie, the latter occupying the broad areas of upland between the valleys of the streams, and elevated from sixty to eighty feet above the water courses. From Robinson to New Liberty the country is rather low and comparatively level, seldom rising more than twenty or thirty feet above the beds of the small streams. The Embarras river runs through a low, flat bottom, from three to five miles in width, with some swampy areas, though generally dry enough to admit of cultivation, but subject to overflow from the high water of the river. Rock exposures are but rarely to be met with in the county, owing, in part, to the soft and yielding character of the sandstones and shales that form the bed rock over the greater portion of the county, and in part to the wide valleys in which the streams have their courses, seldom impinging upon the bluffs sufficiently to expose the stratified rocks.
The superficial deposits of this county consist mostly of brown, grav- elly clays, and a bluish-gray hard-pan, the whole aggregating from twenty to forty feet in thickness, and presenting the same character as in Crawford county. These beds thicken to the westward and are con- siderably heavier in the western part of the county than in the eastern. Small bowlders of metamorphic rock are frequently met with in the creek beds or on the hill sides weathered out of these deposits, associ- ated with those derived from the sandstones and limestones of the Coal Measures.
Coal Measures.
From the limited exposures, and the widely separated points where the bed rock can be seen iu this county, no general section of the strata was possible, but enough was seen to indicate their general character, and to determine very nearly their relative position in the Coal Measures. The main water courses traverse broad alluvial valleys which gradually slope up to the level of the adjacent highlands, rarely impinging upon the blufts on either side so as to show the character of the underlaying formations. The lowest beds in the county are probably the shales and shaly sandstones outcropping on the lower courses of the North Fork, and on the Embarras in the vicinity of St. Marie, which probably
32 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
belong to the heavy shale deposit passed in the boring at Greenup, and belong between coals Nos. 14 and 16 of the general section. The highest outcrops will be found in the north-west corner of the county, where the Fusulina limestone that outcrops at Churchill’s place, near the county line in Cumberland county, may be seen.
At the crossing of North Fork, on the old Palestine and Vandalia road, a blue, sandy shale has been penetrated by a shaft to the depth of about thirty feet in search of coal, but without suecess. The upper part of this shale bed outcrops in the bank of the stream at an old mill just below the bridge. About a mile further down the creek, a bed of brown, calcareous sandstone is found from 18 to 20 inches thick, which contains Pinna per-acuta, Spirifer plano-convexcus, Productus Prattenianus, Orthoceras, Myalina, ete.
In the bank of the Embarras, at St. Marie’s, a thin bedded micaceous sandstone is quarried at low water, but it splits into thin layers on exposure, and is of but little value as a building stone. A well was sunk here at the steam mill, to the depth of ninety feet, through sandy shales and sandstone, without finding either coal or limstone.
Newton, the county seat of this county, is located on the bluff of the Embarras, and the outcropping beds that form the lower portion of the bluff consist of 25 to 30 feet of soft micaceous shales and sandstones extending below the river bed. About two miles south-east of the tewn, on Brush creek, a sandstone is found that furnishes most of the build- ing stone used in this vicinity. The quarry rock is from eight to ten feet thick, in layers varying from six to twelve inches or more in thickness. The stone is rather soft when first quarried, but becomes harder on exposure and makes a very durable rock for ordinary use. Locally it has a coarsely concretionary structure, the concretions being harder than the surrounding rock, a character frequently observed in the heavy bedded sandstones of the Coal Measures. Below the sandstone there isa variable thickness of shale that becomes bituminous towards the bottom and forms the roof of a coal seam that has been opened and worked to some extent at this locality. The seam was covered up by the falling in of the roof, so that I could not see the quality of the coal or measure its exact thickness, but it is said to be from 23 to 3 feet thick, and has a shale parting like the seam at the old Eaton mines north-west of Robinson. This is probably coal No. 14 or 15 of the general section. This coal probably underlays the town of Newton at a depth of eight or ten feet below the bed of the Embarras river, and might be easily mined anywhere along the bluff, by driving an inclined tunnel into the base of the hill above high-water mark down to the level of the coal. A mine could be cheaply opened here in this way, aud if the quality of the coal should prove to be good, it would no
JASPER COUNTY. 33
doubt become a profitable investment in supplying the steam mills and other local demands for coal.
Three miles east of Newton, on the road to New Liberty, the same . sandstone is met with on the east side of the Embarras valley outcrop- ping in the base of the low hills bordering the valley, and continuing in occasional outcrops to the coal bank one mile west of New Liberty. This coal is probably the same as that on Brush creek a mile and a half south-east of Newton. The seam is divided by a bituminous shale varying from six to eighteen inches in thickness, and only the lower division of the seam is mined here, the upper part being too soft and shaly to be of much value. <A section of the beds above this coal, as seen between Newton and this point, would be as follows :
Ft. In. Micaceous sandstone thin bedded at the top and more massive below..--...----.--------- 20 to 30 Sandy shale with local layers of thin sandstone. ../......-...---2. 22222. cee eee eee ee ee ees 5 to 10 ISTP ATED) RIG) ene ne spec aoec Eos Sec COB ERE: UC Ose CGaCEQnac nc Da SHabe Bad oconSSHaSneHSsousa 1 to 3 Goalsratherisoftiand poorseceseec soccer ee cece alee rie ee aele saat elatictotnisieccinteleteisicnsisintets 1 tol 6 Shalejpartin pe sece see sae seca carat seta ceete ne ey ierines saa ce te ce cree ee tusinie eeiscisieteeteeisicla 4 to 1 6 Coat Pod erase esc crema cc cree enone Sasa ose e eo aeee eee ee cas si aetescon ene eictiwicts sineleeecle ciclo ste 1 6
We found no fossils in the shale overlaying this coal on Brush creek, but west of New Liberty we noticed imperfect examples of Bellerophon carbonarius and Spirifer plano-convexus.
South of Newton a prairie ridge extends for several miles in a south- erly direction, along which sandstone is said to be found, and most probably this ridge shows the trend of the sandstone formation in this part of the county. ;
On Limestone creek, in the south-west corner of the county, there is an outerop of light-gray limestone, that is quarried for building stone and is also burned for lime.
The following sections were found by Prof. Cox at localities I did not visit : “‘In the north-west corner of the county, on Island creek, an out- crop of heavy bedded sandstone and flagstone commences on sec. 16, T. 8, R. 8, and may be traced northward to the county line. The sand- stone is brownish colored and makes a fair building stone. On Mint creek, sec. 1, T. 7, R. 8, the following section was found :
Ft. In SUTOCTORMIES cmeneaccecconetece ConCEC CODS Ce SISOS OCACOT SENODO NAIBODOOCH0 SCCOCOSSSUCOECACCOCSOHSS 20 Gray pyritiferous shale, passing into limestone...........2.-22-222 22 cee cece een eee eee cece cece 2 Jet black bituminous shale with fish scales and spines......-....-.--22--2-02eeececeeeeeeee es 6 Coal ibreakinesintolsmalcnbesies-eesemecsa soa ccendeetdcna cre csceeece secieececesce ce ccnicnnc cer 6 HIV G- CLA Year Mtomiaeta re rameters tata eta ale sae ae ete oer aeinreleic mila siete (nae ataelomarleniersicesieteaeelme 3 Grayjailicious shalejandiflac stone a= nacesicec oe oleisina=)-eiisne eisaeeieiseecisccnacisasisiscllecene 329.8
This thin coal was sometimes found split by a hard bituminous shale, leaving only about an inch of coal in each division.
Section on Slate creek, sec. 9, T. 7, R. 8:
Ft. In Grayish- iy are illaccons) stale messes cles a eetacia lene te aiace erie cine ciceisiiaicacwieelvasine occas elec 5 Calcearao-argillaccousishales with tossils:)sscsesceee rece rece cence dace ccinacsectincisneiesicenecce ss 1 6
—6
34 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
Brownish-black shales.......--.-- SUH EN Ae aB Son SSE EOE Se EERE ARE EERE ee arioae 2 6 Hard black shale 2 Gray argillaceous shale 6 6
The fossiliferous shale in the above section contained Huomphalus sub-rugosus, Pleurotomaria Grayvillensis, Nucula ventricosa, Lophophyl- lum proliferum, Chonetes mesoloba and a leaf of Neuropteris.
Section on the Embarras river, S. W. qr. of sec. 31, T. 7, R. 10:
Ft. In- Covered'slope nc eisosso ios boc tes ceice le oen secininteeneeieeeiee ee nemeecen see Peeps AMA SIA 10 Bluish-brown argillaceous shale. ...-..- 10
Brown and black bituminous shale 3
Wire-clay; j-cs22ssccccses--ss-csneos scene 3
Gray fossiliferous limestone. - 10
Blue argillaceous shale 4 * iBrownish-blackjimpure limestones. - 4-2-2. 2-2 sos-eeer ee aces maec eee sere eeeses 3
Blue shale
emp ragsover
The impure limestone, No. 7, contained Productus longispinus, Athyris subtilita, Pleurotomaria Grayvillensis, Terebratula bovidens, Chonetes mes- oloba and Hemipronites crassus. The shale under the limestone contained Myalina sub-quadrata ? Euomphalus sub-rugosus, Orthoceras Rushensis, fragments of Pinna, etc. Two miles north of St. Marie on the west half of sec. 7, T. 6, R. 11, a shaft was sunk twenty feet to the river level and some fragments of impure limestone were thrown out. About a hundred yards up the river this limestone is just at the water’s edge. It is 8 or 10 inches thick and contains Athyris subtilita, Spirifer camer- atus and fragments of Pinna. It is probably the equivalent of the lime- stone near Newton.
The second bluff or terrace is about forty feet above low water. About thirty feet above low water in the face of the bluff, there are the remains of an old furnace. It is about three feet in diameter, of a circular form and walled with rock. Around it are pieces of burnt limestone, charcoal and cinders. On the top of the bluff there are a number of Indian mounds arranged in the form of an oblong square inclosing a court. The peculiar arrangement of the mounds, and the presence of mica in the sandstone and also in the drift bowlders found here, led to the belief that silver existed in the rocks and could be extracted from them, and the existence of the mounds and the furnace led to the sinking of the shaft in pursuit of the same precious metal.
On Crooked creek, a half mile west of Brockville, the following section was found:
Buff colored limestone without fossils... 4 Blue argillaceous Shaleae 5-7 peenues aba0 Sod Rotten limestone with fossils........ ack 6 Black bituminous shale..-.....----..- Seem
Bluejarcillaccous shaless-s.csecess'-=\cac sec ccses sos ceveceadacoccs- wees sce een eer een ene ee ree 2
JASPER COUNTY. 35
The fossils found in the rotten limestone were: Athyris subtilita, Chonetes mesoloba ? and Productus longispinus. One mile and a half south- west of Harrisburg, on Lick creek, found the following beds :
Ft. In TltTn Aves VACATE: dos osecqasetiocceaosaondossasoottouc a aseccenpocoaseccosSsSecheBessenesn 10 IPs Wim AIA Eo soo scensnsecsopaQ gos r a SSoecoubss canDEcHosenodooce os ceeduecDosa5e0 4 Impure limestone with fragmentary fossils. ...--..-...--..---+------eeceeee eee cence eee ence 6 IN PrRIn aa TOOT SIA aos secceickanecdsenoacnssedesne cog gactesoaceacoadsucdoaeccuondseDanD 2
The water of the creek is slightly saline, and some prospecting for brine has been done in this vicinity.”
All the outcrops given on the preceding pages belong to the upper Coal Measures, and range about the horizon of coals No. 14 or 15 of the general section. From the general trend of the strata it may be inferred that the lowest beds that outcrop in the county are those along its east- ern border, and the highest those upon the western.
Economical Geology.
Coal.—A limited supply of coal may be obtained from the beds out- cropping near Newton and New Liberty, but neither the average thick- ness of the seams nor the quality of the coal they afford would justify an attempt to work them except in a limited way. ‘The main coals are here from five to six hundred feet or more below the surface, and to reach the bottom of the Coal Measures would require a shaft more than a thousand feet in depth. It will probably be many years before the demand for coal will be such in this county as to warrant the opening of mines at this depth.
Building Stone.—Building stone of good quality is not abundant, the supply being mainly from the sandstone overlaying the coal at Newton and in that vicinity. At some points this bed affords a brown sandstone of fair quality, and at others it passes into silicious shales or shaly sand- stones too soft and thin bedded to be used for building purposes. On Limestone creek, in the south-western portion of the county, there is a bed of compact gray limestone in layers of a foot to eighteen inches in thickness, that is quarried for foundation walls, ete., for the supply of the adjacent region.
Lime.—tThe only limestone found in the county that seemed to be at all adapted for use in the lime kiln, was that on Limestone creek in the south-west corner of the county, and a fair quality of lime may be made there for the supply of such portions of the adjacent region as are remote from railroad tranportation.
Sand and Clay.—These common and useful materials are abundant, and good brick may be made at almost any point on the uplands where they may be required. Sand for mortar and cement occurs at many
26 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
places along the bluffs of the Embarras, and may be found in the beds of most of the small streams, and in nearly?every portion of the county.
Soil and Timber.—The bottom lands of the Embarras have a rich alluvial soil, and when cleared and brought under cultivation, produce large crops of corn, to which they seem best?adapted. The soil of the prairie region is a chocolate colored clay loam, similar to that of the adjoining counties, and produces fair crops of corn, wheat, oats and grass. The timbered upland is similar to that described in the report on Craw- ford county, and the varieties of timber noticed here was nearly the same. Although not possessing so large an area of timbered Jand as Crawford county, it has nevertheless an abundant supply for a much larger population than it contains at the present time.
CHAPTER LY. LAWRENCE AND RICHLAND COUNTIES.
Lawrence county embraces an area of about three hundred and sixty- two square miles, and is bounded on the north by Crawford county, on the east by the Wabash river, on the south by Wabash county and on the west by Richland. The principal water courses in the county, besides the Wabash river which forms its eastern boundary, are the Embarras river, which traverses the north-east portion of the county, with its atiluents Brushy Fork and Indian creek, which drain the northern and central portions of the county, and Raccoon creek and the eastern fork of the Bonpass, which drain the southern part. East of Lawrenceville, and lying between the Embarras and Wabash rivers, there is an extensive marsh from two to four miles in width and about ten miles -in length, called Purgatory swamp. Surrounding this on the east and north, there is a considerable area of bottom prairie, the upper or northern portion being known as Allison’s prairie, and the lower portion as the Russelvyille prairie. In addition to this there are some small prairies in the southern, and also in the north-western portion of the county, but the greater portion of its area was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber. The surface is generally rolling, but nowhere so broken that the land cannot be cultivated even along the bluffs of the streams. The elevation of the country above the water courses is nowhere yery great, aud on what may be termed the upland ranges from fifty to about a hundred feet.
Loess and Drift.—In the vicinity of the Wabash river we find beds of brown clay and buff or yellowish marly sands ranging from ten to twenty feet or more in thickness which probably represent the age of the loess. These are underlaid by brown or gravelly clays containing small bowl- ders ranging in size from an inch or two to a foot or more in diameter. On the uplandsaway from the river bluffs there are usually from fifteen to twenty feet of these gravelly clays above the bed rock, and usually in sinking wells, especially in the northern portion of the county, an adequate supply of water can only be obtained by going from ten to forty feet or more below the drift clays into the underlaying shales or
38 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
sandstones. About Lawrenceville there is usually from five to six feet of brown gravelly clay resting immediately upon the bed rock, and above that from ten to twelve feet of buff or brown clays that are quite free from gravel.
Stratified Rocks —AlI\ the formations that outcrop in this county below the superficial deposits already described, belong to the upper Coal Measures, and include a vertical thickness of not more than one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. Onthe Wabash river at St. Francisville there is an outcrop of massive gray sandstone, which I believe to be the same as that found at Hanging-rock Bluff in Wabash county, and the lowest rock seen in this county. The section here is as follows :
Vt RET cas cenpoop aScoqUsESlSERouocTESdootosS cand coacsLocdondosécddasssbodeagcscoddceabosssbsccsdace 8 IGMP NEL aNRN CW oosoH6 KSSHReo BOR TO CORO CE USB ROOSEOCCaCSSCa Sas COC bes Eco oaauas SootuesadOGobSEsdoese 1 Thin bedded sandstone and sandy shale... 35.2916 Massive gray sandstone......---..------- AbacHO coaHEneSoda duc Ssobosdosédna asbocancoteusectascs 20 to 25 Unexposeditoriverilevels tes cismcsaeieacisce cme meena cine states slele sine eieinieeialntatee teeters eee testetaeierets 10 to 15
Just below the dam at Lawrenceville on the Embarras river we find the following section, which I believe overlays the beds seen at St. Francisville :
Ft. Brownand)bluish-cray/arpillaceous shales. cscs... seisecie ne ee eee meses eee once een eee ce seiocets 10 to 12 Biuminous and partly calcareous shale with bands of iron ore and numerous fossils.........--..- Blackislatyishal @eee- sere se rsie= Sor emeecie nem erin sae elea= eel etltacceseantcias Dark gray limestone in the river bed
The fossiliferous bed at this locality contains Lophophyllum proliferun, Pleurotomaria spherulata, P. tabulata, P. Grayvillensis, P. carbonaria, Polyphemopsis per-acuta, Bellerophon Montfortianus, B. carbonarius, B. per-carinatus, Astartella varica, Productus longispinus, Hemipronites crassus, Macrocheilus trhabilis, and joints and plates of Crinoidea.
At the bridge two miles east of Lawrenceville we find a repetition of the foregoing section, but the bluff is much higher and a greater thick- ness of strata is exposed, giving the following section:
Micaceons sandstone and shale passing downward into argillaceous shale Bluish-gray calcareous shale, with iron bands and fossils. ..............-----2-+---eeeceee- Black laminated shale, with concretions of black limestone ..-...--. Brittle dark-gray limestoue, weathering to a brown or buff color... Blue and brown shales, partly argillaceous and bituminous
on wo we
About a hundred yards above the bridge, by an undulation of the strata, the limestone No. 4 of the above section is brought down to, and passes under the river bed. This would seem to indicate a rapid dip to the northward, but the re-appearance of the fossiliferous shale No. 2 of this section on Lamotte creek, in Crawford county, some twenty miles north of this, shows that the apparent dip here is only an undu- lation of the strata, such as may frequently be observed in the Coal Measures of this State. Near the upper end of the exposure here a dike of sandstone from six to eighteen inches in width, cuts transversely
LAWRENCE COUNTY. 39
through the lower bed of shale No. 5 of the above section, having an east and west direction. This would seem to indicate that the undula- tion in the strata here might be due to some disturbing force acting from below. The calcareous shale No. 2 of this section contains the same group of fossils found at Lawrenceville. The limestone contains Naticopsis ventricosus, Nautilus sp ? Terebratula bovidens, Spirifer plano- converus, Rhynchonella Osagensis, Athyris subtilita, Clinopistha radiata, Solenomya radiata, with several undetermined species of small univalve shells. This is a very marked horizon in the upper Coal Measures, and the outcrops extend along the valley of the Wabash from below Gray- ville, in White county, to the central or northern part of Crawford county. The black laminated shale above the limestone contains local concretions of black limestone, with fish scales Discina nitida, ete. Sonth of the bridge, on the east side ot the Embarras, there is an out- crop of micaceous sandstone that affords some building stone of a fair quality, which has been used for bridge abutments, foundation walls, ete., and is probably the equivalent of the upper part of the foregoing section.
At Mr. F. PLUMMER’Ss place, on the 8. E. qr. of sec. 25, T. 5 N., R. 12 west, two wells were sunk, one near his dwelling house, passing through eighteen inches of coal at a depth of eighteen feet, and the other, about a quarter of a mile to the northward, commencing at a level below the bottom of the first, was carried down forty-three feet mostly through sandstone and shale, the lower part bituminous, and ending in the cal- careous fossiliferous beds of the section at Lawrenceville and the bridge two miles east of that point.
At Mr. PoRTER’s place, adjoining Mr. PLUMMER’S on the south, a well was sunk to the depth of fifty-six feet, through the following beds:
Ft.
Drift clay soil, ete Sandstone
Blue shales, bituminous at the bottom
The water was obtained in the fossiliferous layers over the black, sheety shale No. 3 of the section at the Embarras bridge. The coal passed through in the well at Mr. PLUMMER’S house must lay above the sandstone in the Porter well, whicb had probably been eroded away at that point by water currents during the drift epoch.
At Mr. FRITCHEY’S well, a half mile west of Mr. PLUMMER’S, a bed of cellular iron ore occurs in the sandstone near its base, and was passed through in his well about sixteen feet below the surface. The iron ore was reported to be two feet thick in the well, but at the outcrop, a quarter of a mile from the house, its thickness was only about six inches. It appears to be too sandy to be of any value for the produc- tion of iron.
40 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
At Mr. WARRINER’S well, a mile and a half northwest of Mr. PLum- MER’S, the sandstone was penetrated in a well to the depth of fifty-eight feet without reaching the bottom of the bed, and its entire thickness here cannot be less than from sixty to seventy-five feet. Near its base there is a very hard layer about two feet in thickness, which rings under a blow of the hammer like a compact limestone, probably from a small per cent. of calcareous or ferruginous matter in its composition. A similar hard layer was observed at the base of the sandstone at Hole’s quarry, north of Robinson, in Crawford county, of which this is proba- bly the equivalent. The coal under this sandstone is probably No. 12 of the general section, which is somewhat irregular in its development in this county, sometimes affording from eighteen to twenty inches of good coal, while at other places it thins out to a few inches, or is wanting altogether.
At Mr. EMERICH’S quarry, two miles and a half north-east of Sumner, a heavy bed of sandstone outcrops on a branch of the Embarras, that is probably referable to this same formation. The face of the quarry shows from eighteen to twenty feet of massive sandstone, presenting a concretionary structure at the base of the bed, but becoming thinner bedded and somewhat shaly towards the top. This rock has been extensively quarried here for building culverts and bridge abutments on the O. and M. railroad. One mile north of the town there has also been a small quarry opened higher up in this formation, where the rock is thin bedded and shaly, but affords some good building stone near the bottom of the quarry, though the overlaying beds are shaly and worthless.
In the Embarras bluffs near Mr. Wu. H. MIuEs’ place on the N. W. qr. of sec. 33, T. 5, R. 12, there is a massive sandstone exposed forming the lower portion of the bluff in connection with a thin seam of coal. The section here is as follows:
Ft. In. Massive sandstone.............-..-- See eee eee ee eee eee paccace 8 to 10 MErru PINOUS|GONSIOMETALE2 = ace eee cn nen aee asin niente ale sais laiarelaletsterataetal =e ae actetaclete aes 2to 3 Goall(probably local) Msa.cs se scsoe secisce cece ice seceiasiace eerie ccleaticine temenisine see incest cence 0 8 Slope covered to the river level..............---.-.---.-2---- noeeeaees SAU OGONSSECAGONECOCKC 10 to 12
A hundred yards above where this section was seen, the sandstone continues down to the river level with no indications of coal. This is probably the same thin coal found on Brushy creek, near Martin’s mill, just over the line in Crawford county, and as it is there from forty-five to fifty feet above the creek level, it indicates a westerly dip of the strata equal to about six or seven feet to the mile. No rocks are known to outcrop on the Embarras for some distance above this point, and below there is no considerable exposure between this and the dam at Lawrenceville. )
Three miles south of Lawrenceville, on Mr. HENDERSON’S place, on
LAWRENCE COUNTY. AL
the scuth side of Indian creek, and at several other points in the neigh- borhood a coal seam is found which has been opened and worked in a limited way to supply the local demand for coal. It ranges from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness and is mined only by stripping along its outcrop in the banks of the small streams. The seam at Mr. HENDER- son’s place is from twenty-five to thirty feet above the bed of Indian creek, and partial outcrops of soft shale were seen between the coal seam and the creek level. This coal seems to be identical with that at Mr. NETTLE’s, near the south line of Crawford county, and the equiva- lent of No. 12 of the general section. It outcrops also on. Mud creek, three or four miles north-west of Lawrenceville, at several places, and has been worked to a limited extent to supply the neighboring black- smiths previous to the construction of the O. and M. railroad, since which time it has been generally abandoned.
A boring was made some eight or ten years ago at Lawrenceville, to the depth of about four hundred and fifty feet, but no accurate record has-been kept of the beds passed through. A thin coal was reported at the depth of three hundred and forty feet, and another seam four feet thick near the bottom of the bore, but it seems prebable, from all that can be learned at the present time, that the work was not in charge of a competent person, and hence but little reliance can be placed on the reported results. A very good brine was said to have been reached near the bottom of the bore. :
The following sections and notes are reported by Prof. Cox, from his examinations at localities not visited by myself: “At JOHN LEED’s quarry, on Indian creek, one mile west of the St. Francisville road, found the following section :
Ft. In UF Cen eee en ee eed br ase CE COTE HCO O CORB DOCH O ADA nIOHBROE DH ECO AOC GCUDEONScHUECRACEnOGSGQNHIaCS 6 Carhonaccous sidl Qresen sae saew ere sean es enema en mecmese ane naldse ea sees rine nas cement e nee 0 6 SN] Cpeeerteceetecoeeactessesees lama mim nlnininim evil i= elm n wiw= ='a)mimiainim = s\nl=ia alain lals\vie ein (s/olnin aieln ine nla =is' 0 8 Sandstone, in even beds from 4 in. tol foot thick .-....-.-- 02.0.0 cence enn cece enw c cee ce nee r ene: 3
This sandstone is a durable building stone and was used in the bridge abutments on the Embarras river. On the north bank of the Embarras river, at the Shaker mill, on sec. 32, T. 5, R. 12, the following section was found, the massive sandstone being probably the equivalent of that at St. Francisville :
Ft. ) Soiland dviftissseososee east econ earn fates 5 saeses rsounts soe ocea cds eeaccec. @easssieoeaeess 5 Diin-bedded:sandstondn2tO.S un chesese sores seo sciledcececeecertadons daceennesee cso scsceseecesccie 8 ‘Massive sandstone.- 2 2222-2. s<-vercenecec-eeseee See Sara ee eae ae toe eee ne oe te aero oe 13 Section on Indian creek, three miles south of Lawrenceville : Ft. In Soul an Ouilteee ene seer ee ewan res ECA COO CC ISOL CCD OP HD GOI DOOBSO CC ONC CAOReBOBeS 10 Argillaceous shale, with iron bands. .-.-.---- 2-2-0 <2 ---2n ene n arena rnnnnnennn nse cacnennenen ces 25 LT Ci ete pec E CSCC A REESE BELO IIC AOD OGECIDE CUED BOD COD EECEODCONC CIS BCOCOADERHOOHS 0 8 Mare Clty ANG ote YBN Ove amr wae gama sociaise weds ae tein nese a eats 5
Pinishsandstone ithe bediolithe creck... ccc apace cea ciew coeseascccwcenessslcccesisncse ss acs q”
—7
42, GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
The eight inch coal in the above section is below that mentioned on a previous page as occurring on Mr. HENDERSON’S place in this negh- borhood, as that is found from 25 to 30 feet or more above the bed of Indian creek, and ranges from twelve to eighteen inches in thickness. The following is an approximate section of the rocks outcropping in
this county: Feet.
Brown and gray sandstone, the lower part in massive beds.-.--.-....--.-----.---.------------ 60 to 735 COE NOs 1B eece poSctoad aoc Sco SSS SEinObSSSESSua Sooo Se Su SSE Ces ede SS CeO Cosas Sesnus seocessece 1to 1% Shaletswithybands ofsarsillaceousnronlOLresaas- ccs essa nw eeanceledecene senesced saeco ease aan 30 to 35 (Of ANY Ue Bese sonadasosceoad ates os aobueSsacosueTnenaBoS acoocmosSeKesobosccaagesttucosseaes 0to 1 Sandstone, top thin-bedded and shaly, bottom massive.........--....-----------+------------- 30 to 35
The upper sandstone underlays the northern and western portions of the county, and is penetrated in sinking wells nearly everywhere upon the uplands. At its base there is usually a very hard stratum that is sometimes called limestone on account of its hardness, and also a ferru- ginous bed, that passes locally into a sandy iron ore. The lower sand- stone forms the main portion of the Wabash bluff at St. Francisville, and also appears at the Shaker mill on the Embarras; but its outcrop is restricted to the eastern border of the county.
Economical Geology.
Building stone.-—Both the sandstones in the foregoing section afford more or less building stone of fair quality for ordinary use, and exten- sive quarries have been opened in the upper one in the, vicinity of Sumner for the use of the O. & M. Railroad. Small quarries have been opened in various places in the central and northern portions of the county in this bed to supply the local demand for foundation stone, walling wells, bridge abutments, etc. LEEDS’ stone quarry on Indian creek, south of Lawrenceville, and one mile west of the St. Francisville road, is probably in the lower bed of sandstone, and the rock obtained there is in thin, even beds, ranging from four inches to a foot in thick- Ness.
The limestone associated with coal No. 11 at Lawrenceville, and at the bridge two miles east on the Embarras, is somewhat argillaceous, and consequently cannot be depended on where it is to be subjected to the action of frost and moisture, although it has been used in building the Lawrenceville bridge. This is the only limestone that was met with in the county, and being both argillaceous and silicious, it is not adapted either for building purposes or for the lime kiln. ‘
Coal.—The uppermost of the two coal seams that outcrop in this county has been worked in a small way at several points by stripping, and affords a coal of very good quality; but unfortunately it has been nowhere found thick enough to be profitably mined in any other way.
LAWRENCE COUNTY. 43
Just north of the county line in the edge of Crawford county, at Mr. NETTLE’S coal mine, the coal is about 18 inches thick, overlaid by about a foot or more of hard bituminous shale resembling a cannel coal. It has been mined here for several years at intervals, by tunneling into the bank along the line of outcrop, but no permanent entry was con- structed, and when the work stopped the roof caved in and filled the opening so that a new entry was required as often as the work was resumed.
This was the condition of things when I was there, and I was unable to make any satisfactory examination of the quality of the coal, or to determine its exact thickness.
The main coals of the lower measures which are so extensively mined in Gallatin and Saline counties will probably be found here by boring, and if the well bored at Lawrenceville had been in the hands of an expert, and an exact record kept of the thickness and composition of the various beds passed through, the question would have been settled whether there was any thick seam of coal within four hundred feet of the surface in this county. As it is, nothing has been positively determ- ined by this expenditure of money, further than the fact that two coal seams of uucertain thickness were found in the boring, one at a depth of about 340 and the other at 440 feet below the surface. The depth of the seam, when not exceeding four or five hundred feet, is no serious impediment to the working of the coal, if the demand for this kind of fuel is sufficient to justify the investment, and we already have several shafts in successful operation in the State that are over 500 feet in depth. Deep mining is the only alternative in this county for obtaining an unfailing supply of this kind of fuel, as the surface seams appear to be too thin at every outcrop at present known in this or the adjoining counties to be successfully worked for the supply of any large demand for coal. ;
Tron ore.—The ‘shales intervening between coals 11 and 12 contain numerous bands of argillaceous iron ore, but they are too widely sepa- rated at the localities where the shales were met with in this county to be of any practical value for the furnace. At the base of the upper sandstone a ferruginous bed is frequently met with, sometimes appearing as a conglomerate of iron nodules in sandstone; but in Mr. FRITCHEY’S well, on sec. 25, T. 5 N., R. 12 W., it was reported to be two feet thick, and consisted partly of a very good quality of brown hematite ore, but other portions were too much mixed with sand to be of any value for the production of metallic iron. It was found in the well at a depth of 16 feet, and outcrops about a quarter of a mile to the westward, where its thickness is only about six inches.
Soil and Timber —The Wabash and Embarras rivers are skirted with broad alluvial bottoms and level table lands, ranging from two to four
44 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
miles in width. Some portions of the latter are quite sandy, and consti tute the terrace prairies between the Purgatory swamp and the Wabash. The bottoms along the Embarras are heavily timbered with all the com- mon varieties of oak, hickory, ash, elm, maple, black and white walnut, coffeenut, persimmon, cottonwood, sycamore, hackberry, red birch, honey-locust, wild cherry, black gum, dogwood, ete. The uplands are generally rolling, and were mostly originally covered with a heavy growth of timber, though much of the surface has been cleared and brought under cultivation since the first settlement of the county. The soil on the rolling uplands is a chocolate-colored clay loam, usuaily very productive, bringing: good crops of corn, wheat, oats and grass annually.
With a judicious system of cultivation, and a proper rotation of crops, these uplands can be easily kept up toa high standard of fertility. There are some small upland prairies along the western borders of the county, the soi] of which does not differ very much from that of the timbered lands adjacent thereto.
RICHLAND COUNTY embraces a superficial area of about three hun- dred. and fifty square miles, and is bounded on the north by Jasper and Crawford counties, on the east by Lawrence, on the south by Wabash, Edwards aud Wayne, and on the west by Wayne and Clay counties. There are no large streams in the county, but some of the northern affluents of the Little Wabash drain the western, and the western branch of the Bonpass creek the south-eastern portion of the county. The main stream of the Little Wabash also skirts the south-western border of the county for the distance of about eight miles. The surface of the county is generally rolling, and its area is nearly equally divided into prairie and timbered land, the latter forming belts along the courses of the streams from one to three miles in width, and the prairies occu- pying the higher or table lands between the main water courses. The elevation of the prairies above the beds of the principal streams ranges from fifty to about a hundred feet. The south-eastern portion of the county on the head waters of the Bonpass is quite broken, and is under- laid by the heavy beds of sandstone and sandy shales intervening between coals 12 and 13, which attain here a thickness of seventy to eighty feet, or more. In the central and western portions the surface is seldom so broken as to render it unfit for cultivation.
The geological formations of this county comprise a moderate thick- ness of drift clay, sand and gravel, that is everywhere found immedi- ately beneath the soil, except in the creek valleys, where this superficial material has been removed by eroding agencies ; and a series of sand- stones, shales, etc., embracing an aggregate thickness of 250 to 300 feet, which belongs to the upper Coal Measures, and include the horizow of three or four thin seams of coal.
RICHLAND COUNTY. A5
The drift clays are somewhat thicker in this county than in Lawrence, and the bowlders are more numerous and of larger size. Below the brown gravelly clays that usually form the subsoil on the uplands, and range from ten to twenty feet in thickness, there. is in many places a bed of hard, bltish-gray, gravelly clay, or “hard pan” as it is frequently termed, and below this at some points there is an old soil or muck bed, underlaid by from one to five feet or more of quicksand. Limbs and trunks of trees are frequently found imbedded in this old soil in which they probably grew, or in the bluish-gray hard pan immediately above it, but to the present time no authentic specimens of animal remains have been found in them in this State, sufficiently well preserved for identification. Some small fresh water and land shells have been found in the quicksands in other portions of the State, but they did not prove to be specifically distinct from those now living.
Coal Measures—From the meager outcrops to be seen on the small streams in this county, it would not be possible to construct a continu- ous section of all the beds that should be found here, but fortunately a boring has recently been made at Olney which will aid us materially in ascertaining the general character of the formations that underlay the southern and eastern portions of the county to the depth penetrated by the drill. This boring for coal was made by Mr. CRANE, to whom I am indebted for the following report of the beds passed through :
Con aa Gh t GES eco pacrosccEeAcHScccosencSccHooasHoeneconcaeasoch ssoccucQSsennodsoopagasaH
Yellow sandstone Grayisandstone ses. ose ee eee ee ea peas 6 Black shale (horizon of coal No. 13 ?) (OEY MEIC cc sen cencceocoszocosnecccenonon to oscomaceeseticcooncdccogu sspdcdacbapdeoresouaDA 29 Hard rock (probably sandstone) Clay shale with black slate
TRG Ran SAS oon eeceaoce chacuocMSpoceeso nos peToLoTdU HESS coSUoUOQpUUETeDEODSeSsoconataDS ° he OES GHAI @) 225 ape sce rete ccepecemasoococdcemsesdee sastesuecacnSsayantoboce somsencoosneadte
St Sa UNA CO Nts
Go
12. Black shale and coal (No. 12?)..- asoe Olay, Shaler .-------s-- n= 2 = 14° Eimestone!---------- 2. 15. Shale, partly calcareous......--. Gs olMestONe.- ase eae = wats 58
Pie Hard cocks (propablys Sand StOMe) m= otro ete ota mate = wea ermase oaeimin ore alee miele = =lemim =a metalnalol-a
Two miles and a half south of Olney, in the vicinity of Boden’s mill, located on the S. E. qr. of sec. 15, T. 3, R. 10 E., there is an outcrop of a thin coal in the creek bed, overlaid by the following strata :
Ft. In. Brown sandstone. --------------- 22-2 een ene ne nnn en enn eet nnn ee cnet enn n ene nee nee 10 to 12 Black shale with concretions of blue septaria. .-.-.-.-.----.---0----020- 2-2 ee eee eee ee ene e ee 4to6 Blue clay shale -.-.-----.-.-----=--------2-0------ ae) oS noo. a) Hard silicions limestone with broken plants - 2 Clay shale with concretions of limestone..-..--------------+----- +--+ 2 eeee ee eee ee eee eee ee 3
Coal (No. 13 of general section) -.--.--.----------- 00-22 22 ne nnnnn ee een eee nee e nee ene ne a6,
46 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
The black shale in this section is probably identical with No. 4 of the Olney boring, and the thin coal below was wanting there or else was passed without observation. Some of the limestone concretions contain fossils, among which I identified Productus Nebrascensis, Bellerophon carbonarius, Aviculopecten, ete. The band of hard silicious liméstone found at this locality is a very durable stone and has been quarried for building purposes. It is a refractory stone to work, but may be relied on for culverts and bridge abutments where an ordinary sandstone would yield to atmospheric influences.
One and a half miles south of Clermont there is an outcrop of the
following beds, probably representing the same strata seen at Boden’s mill south of Olney :
Feet 1 SEO aaceosisenricore Becher Go SO SCS Sua nEOSOo Ech nS PACES Sac Race nnceaaseatnoacecinse coeneaiteerse 1to2 2. Hard ical careons/Sandstone eine screams satelite cee ee ee eee nT a 4to8 3.0 eBluejshalenvithicalcareoussnodnles aeessese esate ee ase eae eee 3to4 4. Back iaminatod shale extending to the creek level ._---..--.--.--022 2000 ee eee ceneeecesceeee= 4
The quarry here belongs to the O. and M. railroad, and an immense amount of stone has been quarried from the calcareous sandstone No. 2 of the above section, to be used in the construction of culverts and bridges on that road. This quarry is near the center of sec. 16, T. 3, R. 14 E.
On Mr. P. BERRY’s place, on the S. E. qr. of sec. 11, T. 2, R. 14 E., coal has been mined for several years in a limited way by stripping the seam along its outcrop in the valley of a small stream a tributary of the Bonpass. The coal is about 18 inches thick and of good quality, and is overlaid by a few inches of soft bituminous shale, and an argil- laceous shelly limestone which contains Productus costatus, P. punctatus, P. Prattenianus, Spirifer cameratus, ete. The shale contains Chonetes variolata, Orthis carbonaria, Lophophillum proliferum, Trematopora, joints — and plates of Orinoidea, ete. This coal is also mined by Mr. SroveR on the N. E. qr. of the same section. ‘This is probably coal No. 12 of the general section, and must have been passed through in the boring at Olney, and may be represented by No. 12 of the boring at that point.
About five miles north-east of Olney coal has been found on the open prairie at a depth of about 22 feet below the general surface level. It was first discovered in digging a stock well, and subsequently an inclined tunnel has been driven down to the coal and preparations made to work it in a systematic way. If the seam retains an average thickness of three feet, it will prove of great value to the county. The roof consists of clay shale with some limestone in bowlder-like masses, though it is possible the limestone masses thrown out in opening the tunnel may belong to the drift clays, and not to the roof shales of the coal. This tunnel is on Mr. Comps’ place, but the coal has also been found on the adjoining place belonging to Mr. SHooKs. Ou another farm a little
RICHLAND COUNTY. AT
farther to the west, on sec. 18, T. 4 N., R. 10 E., a double seam was reported to have been passed through in a bore but a short distance below the surface, the upper one two feet and the lower one three feet in thickness, with a space of about fifteen feet between them. These coals, if there are really two distinct seams here, must be about the horizon of No. 15 of the general section, and this is probably about the southern line of outcrop for these coals, as no indications of their presence was found in the boring at Olney or in sinking wells about the city, and from the topography of the surface 1 am inclined to believe the surface level where these coals have been found is at least forty or fifty feet above the level at Olney.
Prof. Cox notes the following sections at points I aid not visit: “Section at B. F. Heap’s sandstone quarry on sec. 34, T. 4, R. 10 E.
Ft. RSA Er GF oe ce ec ce etn GOO SeSE ECC OED OCS COREE CH COSC SHE Tac SR EEtON BORG n BOA SconesgBH acHGosOOSEerc 8 Str DP RENT AG) sasccebccoonmaseonyenonsecboeacenbooscs pon AScdecequocHUestadsnoEdsunescesacenes 3 Hardserays Dill dinpistOleseseemese seer see case eam nearer eeiiceeeeetereesmetcrinee since rises sstetsens sac 4
The gray sandstone is very hard and takes a good finish, stands well but is somewhat marred by carbonaceous spots. At Andy Darling’s quarry, two miles west of Olney, the quarry rock is overlaid by 8 feet of buff silicious shale, beneath which is a heavy bedded buff sandstone that was quarried for the masonry on the O. and M. railroad at the time of its construction.
On sec. 18, T. 3, R. 10, on Big creek, found the following section :
Ft. COI GRGM IS OES eo cointescectaSnecCno no DoncH oSHOcSDSnéacanSopoc.qdeSHoodoSopoSSSbHSabonScconeooSpaHou5 25 SLAIN SECIS MIG) Seccocco ap eeees ce syecaton todo aucrHeS canada asobond SoudSisbSeobUdCaSUSOseaSnSBRSSHe 5 Heavy. yAbed ded sandstone acme mere arr aa aie ae late cena sees wale ne elie cee iclalcne ee leeteine saciinta ee necen 10 Blacks pi GuminoUs | SNal Ose ceete a meslew seme emmeweeiseeeee viereioemaiee axial ieee ars Se aaa ety merce 3
A quarter of a mile down the creek a soft buff sandstone in heavy beds from four to ten feet thick alternate with thinner beds of hard bluish sandstone. At Higgins’ mill, on sec. 34, T. 3, R. 14, in his well located on the slope of a hill rising to the north from Bonpass creek, sixteen feet of sandstone was parsed through and a coal seam below it reported to be twenty inches thick. Shaly sandstone and.clay shale were seen overlaying the heavy bedded sandstone a few hundred yards above the mill. The hills along the Bonpass are from twenty to sixty feet high, composed in part of drift deposits consisting of yellowish clay with gravel and small bowlders, the latter seldom exceeding five or six inches in diameter.
At Wilson Law’s coal bank, on sec. 16, T. 2, R. 14, the section is as follows : :
Ft. In SOULE OG Gann eice ae ROc CEE REn CEE EIC ECE COCR OOCIOCODET HEC Ot b BED EEOSEOEEnE coc SU OOUEOCOODOOTEOS 10 Li FENCE CCN EI > emcee teccEe AnDe ED SEE Bane ROUSSE SEE CE BGaEC IOGICan oonanebdonsacoauaS 5 Ip Hees AN CS) pre ceermecemecete CRECO BRECON CEO IE PO HCA CER Oar CaEab He soasoSbbuSdouEdeDeE 2 ign pep ecete ce RARE Ren CoC eC cE CSO RCCHOD RE ALDER UBEBSEHEocS eEOnopedeOd pacondbocevocEooTedace ) >
48 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
The shale over the coal was filled with fossil shells, corals, ete. The limestone over this coal was alsd seen three miles north-west of LAw’s place, where it was formerly quarried and burned for lime.
A quarter of a mile below the Big Creek bridge, south of Oluey, found the following section:
Ft. Soilland drifts see seas eee se sens ee cee cece necls te eee ae cece acca set eee taeeee ae amae ene aanaee 15 Coarse irrecularly beddedisandstone een acm oslo ee cle oe ai iniwiaielnwlninl= 2 =[= e aleelniriielale alee ctnlets eines aie 15 Blacksmarly/shal@jessseee sea aee ees oicee eee meena eae semen seater ae eee saa eee cee ee eee 13
The lower part of the black shale was slaty and contained numerous fossils, Pleurotomaria tabulata, P. Grayvillensis, Bellerophon percarinatus, B. Montfortianus, B. carbonarius, Athyris subtilita, Productus longispinus, Nucula ventricosa, Orthoceras Rushensis, and Lophophyllum proliferum. At JAMES C. STEWAR1’S place, four and a half miles south-west of Olney, a black shale outcrops in the banks of Sugar creek about five feet thick, underlaid by a thin coal. A quarter of a mile below at the bridge saw the same conglomerate sandstone that occurs on Big creek, underlaid by the same black shale, which was sometimes marly and contained the fossils mentioned above. It also contains large uodules of impure limestone.”
This bituminous shale and thin coal probably represents coal No. 13 of the general section, and this same group of fossils occurs in connec- tion with this coal on the East fork of Shoal creek in Montgomery county.
Economical Geology.
Building Stone—Sandstone of a fair quality for ordinary use is quite abundant, and there is probably not a township in the county where good quarries could not be opened at a moderate expense. Many of these localities have been mentioned in the preceding pages, and but little needs to be said farther in regard to them. The quarries south of Clermont, belonging to the O. and M. railroad, afford a very hard and durable rock, and although the bed is only about six feet in average thickness, it is, fortunately, so situated as to require no great expendi- ture in stripping, and the rock has already been removed over a surface of several acres in extent. The rock is a very hard, gray, micaceous sandstone and seems to be but little affected by long exposure, and hence affords a desirable material for culverts, bridge abutments, ete. The sandstones in the northern and western portions of the county are for the most part rather soft, but locally they afford some very good build- ing stone, as at Mr. Heap’s quarry northeast of Olney, and at Darling’s quarry two miles west of that town. The stratum of hard, silicious limestone outcropping on Big creek two miles and a half south of Olney is a durable stone, but is not to be obtained in sufficient quantity to be of much importance as a building stone.
RICHLAND COUNTY. AY
Coal—There are two coal seams cropping out in this county that promise to be of some value in supplying the local demand for fuel, and the upper one, if its thickness at the outcrop should be found persistent over any considerable area, will furnish all needed supplies for the county for many years to come. The lower seam, which outcrops on the head waters of the Bonpass in the south-eastern portion of the county, and has been referred to No. 12 of the general section, ranges from six- teen to twenty inches in thickness, and has only been worked by strip- ping in the creek valleys where it outcrops. It affords a coal of good quality, but unfortunately is generally too thin to be mined profitably in a systematic way The other seam, five miles north-west of Olney, is about three feet in thickness, and an inclined tunnel has been carried down to it, and preparations made for working it systematically for the supply of the Olney market. This is probably the Shelbyville seam, No. 15 of the general section, which is the thickest seam in the upper Coal Measures, and usually quite persistent in its development. In Shelby county this seam affords a semi-block coal of fair quality, hard enough to be handled without much waste, and tolerably free from sul- phuret of iron, but showing thin partings of selenite on transverse cleavage. The thickness of the sandstones, shales, ete., intervening between coals 12 and 15 in the valley of the Okaw is about 235 feet, but in this county it is probably somewhat less, though this point could only be determined approximately from the lack of continuous outcrops of the intervening strata. The main coals of the lower Coal Measures are probably from six hundred to a thousand feet below the surface at Olney, and it would require an expenditure of capital to open and work them that the present demand for coal would not justify. If the seam north- east of Olney should be found to retain an average thickness of three feet over any considerable area, it will furnish an abundant supply for all the present demands for coal in this county.
Lime.—No limestone was seen in this county that seemed well adapted for use in the lime kiln, though some attempts have been made to use the rock overlying coal No. 12 on the Bonpass for that purpose. It is usually too argillaceous to slack freely when burned, and at best would only produce a very inferior quality of lime.
Soil and Agriculture.—The agricultural facilities in this county are similar to those of the counties adjoining, and do not require any extended notice in this place. The ‘surface is generally rolling and pretty equally divided into timber and prairie land. The prairies are usually small, and possess a rich, productive clay-loam soil, that will never require manuring if properly cultivated with a judicious system of rotation of crops. The soil on the timbered lands is less uniform in quality than on the prairies, and its character is generally well indicated
—8
50 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
by the growth of timber. Where this is mainly composed of two or three varieties of oak and hickory, the soil is thin and poor, and will require frequent applications of manure or other fertilizers to keep it up to the ordinary standard of productiveness for western lands. But where the timber growth is largely interspersed with elm, black walnut, linden, wild cherry, persimmon, honey locust, ete., the soil is good, and will rank favorably with the best prairie lands in its productive qualities. A large portion of the timbered land in the county is of this quality, aud when cleared and brought under cultivation, it produces nearly or quite as well as the best prairie land.
I am indebted to Mr. J. B. Wor, of Olney, former county surveyor, for much valuable information, and for personal attention and assist- ance while at work in the county.
CHAPTER V.
WABASH AND EDWARDS _ COUNTIES,
Wabash and Edwards are two of the smallest counties in the State, and laying contiguous to each other on its south-western borders, they may very properly be described together. Their aggregate area is about four hundred and twenty-five square miles, and their boundaries are as follows: Wabash is bounded on the north by Lawrence and Richland counties, on the east and south by the Wabash river, and. on the west by the Bonpass creek. Edwards county is bounded on the north by Richland county, on the east by Bonpass creek, on the south by White county, and on the west by Wayne. The only streams of any importance are those forming in part their respective boundaries, the Wabash river, by a south-westerly course, bounding Wabash county on the east and south, and the Boupass creek, with a course nearly due south, forming the dividing line between them. The latter stream winds its sluggish course through a broad alluvial valley showing no outcrops of the underlaying rock formations except at rare intervals. Along the Wabash, exposures of the rocky strata are more numerous, but as the course of the river is nearly on the trend of the underlaying formations, but a limited thickness of strata can be seen along the bluffs of this stream. The surface of the uplands is generally quite rolling, but there are some limited areas of rather flat timbered lands above the level of the river bottoms, and forming what may properly be termed terrace lamls. Both counties are heavily timbered, though there are some small prairies within their limits. A complete list of the trees and shrubs indigenous to Wabash county has been furnished for this report by Dr. J. Scarnck, of Mt. Carmel, which will be found further on. It is peculiarly interesting because it shows the presence here of some species hitherto supposed to belong exclusively to a more southern latitude.
The geological formations to be seen in this county belong to the Quaternary and the upper Coal Measures. The former is more fully developed along the bluffs of the Wabash than elsewhere, and consist of the buff aud yellow marly sands and clays of the loess, and a mod- erate thickness of the gravelly clays of the drift- formation.
52 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
On the lower course of the Bonpass, in the vicinity of Grayville, and in some of the valleys of the smaller streams, stratified clays are found at the lowest levels seen, which may belong to an older deposit than the drift, and a heavy bed of this kind is reported to have been passed through in the boring south-west of Mount Carmel, but as it was over- laid by sandstone, and no rock of this kind is known in this county of more recent age than the Coal Measures, I am inclined to doubt the correctness of the report. However it is by no means improbable that there are old valleys along the Wabash, as well as the Mississippi and Ohio, that were filled originally with Tertiary or Cretaceous deposits, some of which still remain, and are now hidden by the subsequent accumulations of loess and drift. Indications of the existence of such beds have been found on the Ohio as far north as Louisville, and on the Mississippi for more than two hundred miles above St. Louis, the evi- dences being well preserved shark’s teeth found at various points within the region specified, some of which are too fragile and delicate to have been transported for long distances by drift agencies without destrue- tion. The reported sandstone above the clay in the boring is most probably a Coal Measure bed, and the reported clay beneath it may be a soft clay shale of the same age, such as is frequently met with in the coal-bearing formations. At Mount Carmel the loess and drift clays are about thirty feet in thickness, which is probably about the average in the vicinity of the river bluffs, while on the uplands, remote from the river, their average thickness is not more than fifteen to twenty feet, and at many points much less.
In Edwards county the Quaternary beds present the same general character, and are considerably thicker in the bluffs on the lower course of the Bonpass than in the central and western portions of the county, where we only find from ten to twenty feet of buff or brownish gravelly clays overlaying the bed rock. Near Grayville the creek banks show outcrops of five to ten feet or more of stratified clays, variously colored, and seemingly derived from the decomposition of the clay shales of the Coal Measures, and above these we find from twenty to thirty feet of loess possibly covering a nucleus of gravelly drift clay. To the north and west the loess is not conspicuous, and in digging wells the bed-rock is usually reached after passing through ten or fifteen feet of brown drift clays.
Coal Measures.
In the bluffs of the Wabash river, at Mount Carmel, there is an out- crop of sandstone forming the lower portion of the bluff, underlaid by a blue clay shale but partially exposed.
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 53
The following is a section of the bluff at this point:
TIDES SET CHAE EY BloocondeconsncosSccosaucquesa Seg andosgsanddosbossasoubcnuHeqcac0qbDacSDUnHOCOSCEnSS ¢ Soft, shaly, micaceous sandstone.-.....-....-...------
Massive sandstone, partly concretionary ae iBlueiclayishale—partialiexpoOsureOfsekecsaaneeeenaeeamnc sence ee secs inee teeeccree tsetse
Springs of water issue from the base of this sandstone, indicating the impervious character of the underlaying beds, even where there is no outerop of the shales. Locally the concretionary sandstone contains geodes of oxyd of iron, filled with a greenish or buff co'ored clay. The base of the above section is some fifteen or twenty feet above the low water level of the river, and the intervening beds which are probably shales are not exposed. A boring was made here for coal under the direction of Mr. J. ZOMLERMAN, to whom I am indebted for the follow- ing section of the beds passed through, and as the work was done with a hollow drill and prosecuted very carefully, the section is probably a very correct one. The bore was commenced just above the low water level of the river, and something like fifteen feet below the base of the foregoing section, and passed through the following beds:
Ft. In Gs, Ue RAG cocecacessenscocccnnessscte coc nenbocoDacqUaSTNOus: HedsEeqooHoNoHBOsacoconoacabds 2 IG, 84 SEYGROTD coscnocctocs ssenco sok cess cosungad conadatodoscosodeaqHndocdTodccobpaDSgTS 2 tit Sb (GUNT GIBI On onceccccoccmascansoae cancascoccopacgnoaconsbdnooDaquasonsdeaodoonouNagnagan 4 No. 4. Sandstone 35 No. 5. Micaceous sandstone 0 10 No. 6. Hard, fine sandstone 4 BNOsm me ine-Clayitin ene taae ona cielse tea oem 1 No. 8. Coal and bituminous shale 0 4 Witte fo IRE EN poncecosecoesecconatactabassod ae 2) No. 10. Argillaceous sandstone.....-...-.------ soe 2 Wop iti, THUG IC cece caacssacéchdesccecoaoray 1 4 No. 12. Fire-clay -.-.--.-.- ee B ROACH OS ORE BO OI 5 8h 0 No. 13. Calc. shale and sandstone 32 Nos Calcwshalenwith Dlackispreaks ates ee cinecleee tiem ete isin ee einen ence comes inicieeeisee 20 . No. 15. Blue clay shale No. 16. Blue fire-clay-- 2 No. 17. Coal.....-.- 7 Nous) Eireiclay->------------ INO SaeAr ei laceonaplim CstLONG pees aa cen = cialan ema clsieleetelele.ereie a eal inniaeminin = alamlninintselieralelclaatel= 5 INO: 20° Hard ’sandstone) parting. = co -- = coe - meme wn nn elma annie ewinan imeem snlnnlniel “=n == 0 1 No 21. Hard gray limestone .-- 2 2 RtePeh LER ey COG ee ceos: cecsackecooncHecsecuocccqoceesansosepeacs Umcsyocecnceneadd lf NO, PSE NG EDGING iG a isecencoscecnosocosoccoorosesecoodToudaDoEconuacguenbSesacaoaa 2 No. 24. Calcareous shale -- 1 8 Band of iron stone.. 0 3 Variegated shale... 2 Hard gray limestone. - wu -$3 No. 28. Variegated shale.-..- 0 3 No. 29. Hard gray limestone. 2 4 No. 30. Variegated shale..--- 0 3 No. 31. Hard gray limestone.-..-.---..--2---02-- 2202-200 eee enn ene eee cen nee cee e eee nneees Saas 130 8
This boring was commenced near the horizon of No. 11 coal, and the beds passed through probably extend very nearly to No.7. The
54 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
following is the report of a bore made for oil one mile and a half south- west of the court house, commencing in a creek valley:
Ty 1b SITE GES Ciretsso poscaSandoas coo SonconCCBEe nasa nabsnaccadscos secsHocososemecoreececcns
Wo. 22 Sandstone.. =. 22. - 256 esc ccnn cs so st dee sea o rene sae ee aes oe pees eee see canes
No. 3. Clay ? (probably clay shale)
INO: 45.¢Sandstone) ss 25-2252 oe Sc oe ce cee ete e ae eae ee Se Re ee rae aa
No. 5. Bituminous shale (probably blue clay shale) --....-.---------------------------+------ 32
EN Of OnmisaNOStON© Ga eereecen tena lee eee eee ene eere ees 1 6 Nowe /-mebibuminous(shalesssecsessseseree sas neea en nee 6 Rts GB RENUS20NG) =< ssescSssassccosatescouuscacocess
INO 9S Bituminous shale joa ssae soe eetiaee ane case eee eee
WNosl0h ‘Sandstone): <<. -2=--sscce cece nce en hen cee seen oes ae eeeee
Now115 -Bitaminous|shaleic--22- os eeree sec eeceee
IN OMI2S Sandston@jernce= sce cca te cence ene eee re ee ee eee ee ee eee eee i eeneeeae 4
No. 13. Bituminous shale, showing oily soot.- No. 14. Sandstone No.15. (\Veryjhard:limestones2 2 2ct-scnt-222-= sees ste eee s conse een ee cece a a eee cece eeees 24 Now165>Bituminons)shalesecccenjennce-eeesesen ee ese seeeneecees No. 17, “Sandstone --..05------ +> o-oo eseeececee No. 18g CoalNon9 ccs -ccscene sec eeecoecee seeeee iINo-19;7 eLimestone cee =~ see ea neee eee eeee
ies)
Non2 lee Sandstone ress ase ese see nee ene en ae No. 22. Mixture of sand and limestone ..-....-- ccs INo./23, “Yellow shale: 22-22 — <2 325 Locos sce c cic cess cs sec sae nose ceese ce secs cece oo cee cece reer eroeee IN0.}24> | Sandstone) -< 220 oe c= cates ce secon cee oases cee Soe e re eee ee ne hee eee eee eee 12 No. 25. Clay shale, with pyrites - IN ORDER Sandstone tc sea = sae oo e eee ere eens eee eee eee eae ae ateere eae eens
Ow w ow ww
ry
No. 28. Sandy shale INO: 29:3 Sandstone -2--- ss. eon doeeoes cee
No. 32. Bituminous shale ---
No. 34. Compact limestone - 8 Noj3o; sBLUUMINOUS SNAlOt sees case seas eee ne oe eae sen Se eee ee eee eee eee ane ene 7 No N39 eLimejand (sandstone ic. a- = sea eres ees aaa a cre aa eee ee rea a ree nee aan nee 2 No: 40; (Bituminons|shale7osecs ana ce aces sas seas serene See a ran ee ne nee eee ae cleaee naar 5
It is hardly possible that the beds reported as bituminous shale in this bore could be anything more than ordinary blue clay shales, and as a rule I believe that but little dependence can be placed in the reported sections of oil well borings made in this State. By comparing this section with that made for coal it will be seen that there is a wide dis- crepancy in the descriptions given of the strata passed through in each, and although the oil well boring was carried down to the depth of about seven hundred feet, yet no coal was reported below the three feet seam found at the depth of four hundred and fifty-five feet, which probably represents coal No. 7 or 8 of the general section. The sandstone No. 2 of the oil well boring may be the same as No. 4 in the other, but there is very little correspondence in the lower strata, considering that the distance between the points where the borings were made is scarcely two miles in a direct line.
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 55
In the bed of the river at low water there is an outcrop of micaceous sandstone No. 2, of the first boring, which contains iron nodules, some of which inclose fossil ferns, and one was found containing Leaia trica- rinata. In the bed of the river, a little further down, an impure argil- laceous limestone has been found below the river level.
At Hanging-rock bluff, about three miles north-east of Mt. Carmel, there is an outcrop of massive sandstone similar to that at the town, which projects into the bed of the river at low-water, and rises above it to the hight of 30 to 35 feet. Three quarters of a mile nearly west of Hanging-rock, at Mr. REEL’s place, there is an exposure of the beds above the sandstone showing the following section:
Ft. In. ROR ORO rat SIRI GE concn sesonsecticoossocssondecuoEadcoouoouaadesnasoersapauacoosaduesancdo 4to 6 TFT OPE (GLEE) comme coce nase oc Sen O SSeS ee HOBecHce orcas cE eacOcOCEReCO QU eSOSeCUeOSCaan lto 3 Wark hardibituminous limestoue=------s----+- = weeee == eee eae octane secineenseecmecine cs 3 Coal==NOsdO tern sence ernie en wc case eee tee tne eae eee sac ce cee s else weniniacitsicie 16 Cla yrshal @eemeree nace rere ee meee eee ee eee ns oe nie ee cleinnis saiceiere sineteceae ito 2 Massive SANOStONG sae see ieee see ine ete teelata cee eterna cetersleceiee steer seiroeaetstescciecyasncis 30 to 35
The limestone here is a steel-gray, passing into black, and weathering to an olive-brown, and filled with crushed shells of small size, among which AKhynchonella Osagensis seemed to be most conspicuous. It is possible that the sandstone at Hanging-rock belongs below that at Mt. - Carmel, as the beds seemed to rise to the northward, so far as we could find the rocks exposed, and this sandstone may be the bed No. 4 in the boring made at the river bank. This seems the more probable from the fact that no trace of the limestone or coal has been found above the Mt. Carmel sandstone, where it should appear if these sandstones are identical. Furthermore the outcrop at Hanging-rock is about a mile to the eastward of the Mt. Carmel bluff, and the general western dip of the strata would naturally bring up the lower beds in this direc- tion. Furthermore the rock seemed harder and appeared to be less affected by atmospheric influences at the former locality than at Mount Carmel. If the sandstone is the same at these localities, the limestone and coal at REEL’s place must be a mere local deposit; but I believe this limestone to be identical with that at Rochester mills in the river bank, which represents the horizon of No. 10 coal. On Coffee creek there is a good exposure of the beds overlaying this limestone, and the following section, commencing in the bed of the river at low-water mark, and extending up the creek for about a mile, shows the general charac- ter and relative position of the rocks in this vicinity :
No. 1. Coal, hard and splinty—No. 13?
Way Fp BRECON IIRGHL cocceeeacassHoconCecnic Sac r RCRD DES CSOacUnEOCHOSSodoceEDSDOnoEAD EN Osa o-me DROW Il) Sal pemeee eel eisa seen sanefet cs iaaeinele iocnineitacteciem tes snacioraciscicen ceeiats Noms shaly impure: Limestone y-sop- sesso sosenena nse cee aces sa eee nce amese mess NG oe Clayashial6s-sss-5 fo ease at core ete oe sane toca eaten ares
hy (ip THEO MIE Ree cecorcce eee peleCe CCE CREED SO CCHOCOCE OE HSOOOEEC
Ite Th CABS 1h I rece en REE ICC HED IO CIEL RIOCR CCE RICCO ORD OL COICO CID OSEROCCODIENOOS
56 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
No. 12. Clay shale...-... scteoussccca na cote ooo --15 to 18 -2to 3 1
No. 14. Dark shaly limestone INS Te: COSI Gy Th sobcccoseasscanboococbse: souncosdosooadaqSosocEcosasesacécchosadstade ° 0 NOG Clayishalonceseaesosseeee eee ase ieee Deon ROS ancacScaasasossane -- 3to 4 No. 17. Hard, nodular, dove-colored limestone... 550 SOLS SROCESOCES : 2 NOs See SOLUSHALCS yaane sees eats nsec eee ee eceee seat a ce maae l= seco sesaa el ORUON2O, No. 19. Hard, bituminous limestone. - memacao QSOS CO SOT a anooaSedone ae bam) 8} DSUs, COGAN GS To 8 So ea Has epee sae HES OSE CER OS RECO ReSaSU cEBOROOSHERHSHEEGaeoS 1 No. 21. Sandy shale, and sandstone in the river bed..............--..-.----------------- 8
The limestone No. 19 of the above section I believe to be identical with that at REEL’s place, and the sandy shale and sandstone in the river bed at Rochester mills to be the upper part of the Hanging-rock sandstone, and the. sandstone at Mount Carmel is probably the equiva- . lent of No. LL of the foregoing section. The upper coal on Coffee creek, No. 1 of the above section, is probably the same formerly worked by Mr. Smonps and others south-west of Mount Carmel, and is either a merely local seam, or a division of No. 12, as there is a heavy bed of - sandstone, usually from sixty to eighty feet in thickness, intervening between coals 12 and 13, of which there was no trace here, the covered space represented by No. 2 of the section not exceeding 8 to 10 feet in thickness. It is possible that the outcrop of No.1, which was only some two or three hundred yards from the outcrop of Nos. 7, 8 and 9, may be only a thickening and reappearing of the same seam at a little higher level. The outcrop at the highest exposure was in the bed of the creek, and no roof but sand and gravel was found above the coal. The shaly brown limestone No. 4 of this section contained a few fossils, among which I noticed Spirifer cameratus, Lophophyllum proliferum and joints of Crinoide. The hard, dove-colored limestone contained numer- ous examples of Productus Prattenianus, Aviculopecten Clevelandicus, and a small branching coral.
The old coal shaft on Mr. Smronps’ place, about three miles south- west of Mount Carmel, has been abandoned for some time, and the sides have fallen in, so that nothing could be learned when I was there in regard to the thickness or quality of the coal, except from those who had worked in the mine when it was in operation. The seam is said to average about three feet in thickness, and lays from 30 to 35 feet below the surface.
Section of Simonds’ coal shaft:
10
In. Drift:clay‘and! soil... so oe occ w cnn ccccceescccsccewsccasse seen s cease arama cee e eater 6 Argillaceous shale. -- ze Limestone....-.. 6
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 57
This seam has been opened by several parties in this neighborhood, but the shafts have all been abandoned. This coal probably corre- sponds to coal 11 or 12 of the general section.
At HERSHEY’s old mill, on Raccoon creek, there is an outcrop of the same fossiliferous shales found at Lawrencevilie and Grayville, asso-_ ciated with coal No. 11. The section here shows the following beds outcropping in the bluffs of the creek :
No: 1. Brown sandy shalesiand sandstone. .-- 2-2 ee nn ne ewe en ee mere encesence- No. 2. Blue and gray shales, the lower part argillaceous. -
No. 3. Blue fossiliferous shale, with iron nodules...............--------------2e--- eee neon eee iINGssameBlackgiaminat ed: sialossameaeese eee eee ar sacar ese aeaecie atessscereetiesceren aes No. 5. Dark, bituminous limestone
No woseBlacklaminatedsshal@senas aes seseeacese coon sedsesrecsc oe casescmceceeccieciecenasecweesis Wie Te UG) GEN) GAG ea ees soo coaster crea oneSacdeSocecooasegnonodscescassenacscs
The argillaceous shales No. 2 of the above section contain numerous bands of argillaceous iron ore, which are more numerous in No. 3, and contain the same species of fossils that occur in the shale. I obtained here the following species: Plewrotomaria tabulata, P. spherulata, P. Grayvillensis, Bellerophon carbonarius, B. per-carinatus, Polyphemopsis per-acuta, Lophophyllum proliferum, Dentalium obsoletum, Orthoceras Rushensis, and Macrodon carbonaria.
At Allendale this fossiliferous shale was found in a well sunk near the railroad, overlaid, as at HERSHEY’s mill, by sandy shales and sand- stone, which is found in sinking wells in the higher portions of the town. In one well near the summit level a thin coal 8 inches thick was passed through, with 2 feet of clay shale above it, and about the same thickness of fire-clay below. In the vicinity of Oriole the sandstone above this thin coal is found at several places, and quarries have been opened in it for building stone, flag-stones, ete. It probably underlays all the highlands in the north-west portion of the county.
At JAMES McNAtR’s well, one mile and a quarter north of Friends- ville, the following beds were reported from memoranda furnished by
Mr. J. ZOOMERMAN : In.
SLEN GG EY ot ce Sats eccOnC COREE ICI CODEECOCE CE COED O REUSCH HED BOGE OC GEOOSHOCL OOO SIEAESCHSDEOIodS Impure coal, (probably bituminous shale)......-....---.--- Clay shale, with iron nodules......-..---.--.----..-------- Hard sandstone Gray sandstone, in even beds, 4 to 8 inches thick...--...... Sandyjahialesseeees- cca se seese sine eee cine cae wel wleciee'e Hard sandstone in two layers....-..--------2--0+-- eee neeeene=> 8 MAW Iban ODE REC cm cemcceceCnCOdEeMOCOle: OG HONC RUD OH SE COR BADD OREO OEHUDIUNU BOODCCOEEeHa
(Sapte GOGH ALS) GT cececdccccotedec COST CECOSL EH NEO CHODODaDpSocHsScEocoODbeRpoEELaccabenEOd Q
57 4
At Mr. GILKERSONW’S well, in the same neighborhood, after reaching
the coal found at the bottom of McNAtr’s well, a boring was made to
the depth of 9 feet below the coal. The material obtained from the boring was a milk-white substance resembling fire-clay.
—9
58 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
At Hamiker’s old mill on the Bonpass, a little north of west from Allendale, a bed of bituminous shale outcrops at the base of the bluff, overlaid by a conglomerate of ferruginous pebbles and a rather soft, thin-bedded sandstone. The section here is as follows:
Ft. Shft-sthinibedded sandstone andishalo!s.sss-s-snse= ss see ceee sores see eee ane en eee eee 15 ernucinous.conglomeraten-- sa. see eas sacs sees eenceeee sane cines eetio ne asiece see emeeeenecineceae 3to 4 Hardiblackishal@seecsscise ce asco eee sae eee ie cine cee neces eee eine Se eceer te roeaeeee eee cece 2to 3
The black shale extended below the bed of the creek, and I could not learn that any coal had been found underneath it here. These beds resemble the outcrop at the iron bridge on the Little Wabash, between Albion and Fairfield.
Prof. Cox reports the following sections at points I did not visit: “On sec. 5, T. 10, R. 12, there is a bed of light-blue clay, very plastic, exposed in the bank of Crawfish creek, as shown in the following section:
Ft. In. Soilcalcareous'shaleand'limestone!=-- os 12 - on ner one in a nee eearae one ene enn ee ee eeenee en eee 16 (OGY) cas sbodeneeocodenanedadeséesoscands onc BacSReeaon Gas oSonooE Sa con ObeS so dactnacuscacHaasoNs 0 8 THING) Bhy She sen oon enacene ceo CSO ceSe CSE COSEO SOBRE SHOSD EGU aSOnAaSsags adoascacodedansessHedaectisdo 4
Sandstone in'thejbediof) the creek. < 22 < os -cnc nope tase nerwene eee emeceeen re seeeeeecoe tase stesee
The caleareous shale above the coal contains the same species of fossils enumerated from the locality on Raccoon creek at Hamiker’s old mill, indicating the horizon of coal No. 11.
“At EMANUEL REEL’Ss place, on sec. 8, T.1S., R. 12, blue limestone at the foot of the hill one foot thick, underlaid by a thin coal. Bluish shale and sandstone in the hill forty feet above. The well at the house went through soil and drift 10 feet, clay shale 4 feet, sandstone 29 feet.
At Little Rock, on the Wabash river, sec. 19, T. 1 N., R. 11 W.:
Ft. Shalejandtcowerod(slopes-ssecscessoascetetseene sence smaes aa senaamaes een ae eee sen ae neat ete 80 Sandstone inisolid\ bed s2-2 2 2. ccccs fae oeu cen) ae as ooa sca as se eane eee mnie soa nee eee cee eere eee 30”
This hill forms a conspicuous land-mark on the river, and the sand- stone at the base is probably the same as that found at St. Francisville, a little higher up the river, in Lawrence county.
EDWARDS County. The outcrops of rock in this county are few and widely separated, and no continuous section of the beds could possibly be nade from surface exposures only. The sandstones and shales inter- vening between coals No. 11 and 13 are probably the prevailing rocks. The following beds may be seen in the vicinity of Albion, in the rail- road cut and on the small creek that intersects the town:
Ft. In Shale and shaly sandstone with a pebbly bed at the bottom..------..----..----.----------- 20 to 25 Sandstone, locally hard and concretionary....--..---------------------+-----+-------------- 8 to 12 Streak of Di tuminous SlalO asec esse sere ae cia = maaan ee ae eler= ame anne ame nr 0 3 Hardimadulanilim estone.--~- <1 —ns=— os ance e sae aw aes aoe a a P3 Shale with bands of argillaceous iron ore. ...-.-.-------------------------------------------- 4to6 Hard shaly sandstone. --.----..-..------- 2-2 nn nn nnn wn nn nnn nen nena Bto4d
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 59
The conecretionary sandstone is their main quarry rock here, and it is sometimes quite hard and affords a very durable material for founda- tion walls. Above this there are some layers of even-bedded sandstone that, although rather soft when first quarried, become harder after exposure and make a fair building stone.
At Dr. SmirH’s place, four miles north of Grayville on the west bank of the Bonpass creek, the hill rises to an elevation of about a hundred feet, but the beds forming its upper portion are hidden beneath a cov- ered slope. A thin coal is found in this hill at an elevation of thirty- six feet above the bed of the creek, which is underlaid by sandy shales and sandstones that form a precipitous cliff to the creek bed. The coal is about 8 inches thick and of good quality, aud is underlaid by a light- gray fire-clay. The sandstone and shale below this coal are the equiva- lents of the beds above the fossiliferous shale in the Grayville section, and the fossil bed of that locality would no doubt be found here a little below the creek bed. The thin coal found here has also been met with in sinking wells at Grayville in the upper part of the town. About half a mile above this, on the same side of the Bonpass, the same beds outcrop again where an old mill was formerly located. At the base of the bluff here there is from ten to twelve feet of blue shales partly argillaceous, and. passing upward into a sandy shale and sandstone twenty feet or more in thickness, with a partial outcrop of the thin coal and bituminous shale still higher up. This coal probably corresponds to the ten-inch seam No. 15 of the Coffee creek section.
At Mr. NaAtLor’s place, six miles north west of Grayville, a coalseam was opened many years since and successfully worked for a time to supply the local demand for coal. It is probably the same seam worked by Simonds and others south-west of Mount Carmel. The seam is said to be about thirty inches thick and the coal hard and splinty, partaking of the block character.
At the ford on the Little Wabash, eight miles north-west of Albion, on the S. W. qr. of sec. 7,T.158., R. 10 E., there is an outcrop of a thin coal associated with the following beds:
2 Ft. In. ie brown terrupinousiclaysnaleses ss. ess eee tem ce or ciercleeesninesecocecenececencesesccee 10 to 12 Pee SUITE beret ceoc ncn osab ee SHEL EA CCODDS CEBI IOC RSPB CSBIOROST CnS ROS CUROCODENOSNeyECBBODSSSD 0 10 BE. CQEN IETS oceereconcpcOncto HO ECeC ne DCD EDOL SICA ECHOES EOE OOTCOOTEA0B00 CEC He EE errr PEE EerE On 58 Gi UG COB eco nc ccd USES CECH ACSI CIE COR OCRECBOCG 9aL ICU LEBEN ETecnocEaSndCHeNSEHaRAEseaS 0 10 5. Shale with numerous bands of iron OTe ...-.-.---. 2-20-02 e enc cnn anne nn ccn cece csececenacens 4 Ga Giayssan dy sSualo seers ee ease = aeeeiccecselencseees seers cllestceetsnscis'= ce snicessccicl- 6 We ILLOMcONnClOMETALG UM Viner DEM ee iclelee ste a ale a slars efersiclei=(n\e=leleja'elare'sl=\oeia)<letisieta's a nm cla eaiolalelsiaiorasstale 1
The shale No. 5 of the foregoing section contains considerable clay iron ore of a fair quality, amounting to nearly or quite one-half of the whole thickness of the bed. If the quantity of iron in this shale should, on drifting into the bluff, prove continuous for some distance, it would
60 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
eventually justify the erection of an iron furnace in this vicinity. At another old ford about a mile further up the river, the same coals outerop in connection with a thin bed of nodular argillaceous limestone of a light-gray color, weathering to a yellowish-brown on exposure.
Five miles north-west of Albion, on the N. W. qr. of sec. 22, T.15., R. 10 EH, an argillaceous limestone similar to that above mentioned, but rather darker colored, is found underlaying a bed of bituminons shale, as shown in the following section :
Ft. In. Sandy shale and thin bedded micaceous standstone.........-..-.------+-2------ +--+ ---ss--10 to 12 Bi tum inous!shalesaeescesesseasteseensesee sees ase en eeeeeneeeseree eeeee eeaeeeneenene ences lto1 6 NodulariarcillaceousplimestonGie~ seme c crocs sce ceeciess scleneaeiseterieeseeee se ees acieneese 2to 3 Gray sandy shale with bandsiof iron stone: - <= << 22 <- ooocicencnececce=seeeeosencssces 3to 4
This outcrop seems to be on the same horizon with the beds at the Wabash fords, the coal found there being represented here by the bitu- minous shale of the above section. The thin bedded sandstone has been quarried here for building cellar walls, foundations, etc., and seems to be the best material in the neighborhood for such purposes.
At Mr. HARTMAN’S mill, on the east side of the town of Albion, there was a boring made for oil some years since, of which the following is a reported section :
Ft. Clayiand sollte see canacncnceciscinnccieccinecesne ster econ: scene camete natn aaete sea eee eaea eee eee 7 Shoal efrecsenacce eae va cecicem seteisc sincere snes sam ceiecinaianctesiieemciseianceccstecic ttre eae eat etree 49 (OO Rss Soacecncasacncssces Gotadoobd codoScecaHESKSScdhoSHbodoDabSa ac usoo a SsEebosmSdsLiasaboosnSduasous 1 Blue shale ..-.-. BOSC S CO SSS SUOSCOS ESO SdC IST Con gSTS CBOE SS GOSO COS HEoH BEC SecIeSSenacodaca cat seenaedos 107
The boring was ended in a hard rock, the character of which was not determined. It was made in the creek valley in which the mill is situa- ted, and the first shale struck was probably the upper part of that forming the base of the Albion section given on a preceding page.
Prof. Cox reports the following section at BEAL’s mill, on Blockhouse creek, a branch of the Bonpass, in the east part of the county :
Ft. In CO rns Sap sept Sqn eoOC BS GSU DE IESE O DES o QO SCE HOda6 SDS DEStOOBBHooSbedoootoocaccenonccosocesesben 5 Grayyshalepwithiclayiron Ore ysasss ea ceanatalscince Je stoeala Caton eelecincien ine ciscistae- ee aeeee eae aes 12 SiliclousilONOre--sess-sseeec ese ase ese Niewice's winaimncinalseisie en semanas sates aceite aes 1 Blue argillaceous shale....-.......-...------- SOROS ONDA CCE DOR OC BSB COOSSELaboSSBaEconSsaenseds 5 BlackabituminonsishalO\s--qce=---2ccce=eneensene denn ae esas soe eae ese eee eee ee 1 6 mM purelimestOne xe. cosa celeem sen asec wceeele cae men ata ae oes e cece eae es coe e eee See eee 0 6 Coaljinsthejbediof) the:creek. at eons cease seeaocin ane eee eneen oe cereeraee cee eee ee eee eee eee OTS
All the beds represented by the foregoing sections in these two coun- ties belong between coals No. 10 and 13, and do not attain an aggregate thickness of more than 150 to 200 feet.
Economical Geology.
Building Stene—A. fair quality of building stone may be obtained from the sandstones outcropping in various portions of these two coun-
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 61
ties as indicated in the sections given on the preceding pages. The best is probably that from the even bedded brown sandstone above No. 11 coal, that is found in the northern and north-western portions of Wabash, and the central and northern portions of Edwards. Quarries have been opened in this sandstone in the vicinity of Oriole, in Wabash county, where a good evenly bedded rock is obtained, the thin layers affording a good flag stone, and the thicker beds material suitable for foundation walls, etc. This sandstone probably underiays all the ridges and highlands in the north-west part of the county and will be found accessible at many points as the demand for building stone increases. The sandstone in the river bed at Rochester has also been quarried to a limited extent, and quarries have been opened at WALDEN’S piace, between this point aud Mt. Carmel, where a fair quality of sandstone has been obtained from a bed that is seemingly the equivalent of the sandstone in the Mt. Carmel bluff.
In the vicinity of Albion sandstone of a fair quality is obtained at several points, some of which is concretionary and very hard, yielding avery durable stone. This concretionary character is not persistent however, but the rock passes locally into a thin bedded sandstone or sandy shale. No limestone was seen in either county that could be recommended as a building stone, although that found at Rochester mills and at Mr. REEL’s place north of Mt. Carmel has been used to some extent in the neighborhood of these outcrops. The rock is argil- laceous and locally highly bituminous, and is liable to split into fragments by long exposure.
Coal.—The upper coal seam in the Coffee creek section was the only outcrop we were able to find in either of these counties that promised to be of any value for practical coal mining. The coal in this seam ranges from thirty inches to three feet in thickness, and appears to underlay a considerable area in the south part of Wabash and the south-western part of Edwards. Several shafts have been sunk to this coal about three miles south-west of Mt. Carmel, where the coal is found from thirty to thirty-five feet below the surface. This seam affords a hard splinty or semi-block coal of fair quality, and with judicious man agement it might be worked to advantage, either by a shaft or perhaps better by an inclined tunnel. The roof seems to be good, and if the thickness of the coal is at all uniform, I see no reason why it may not be made to yield a fair return for the Jabor and capital required to put a mine in successful operation where the coal lays so near the surface. This is probably the same coal worked at Mr. NAILoR’s place in the south-east part of Edwards several years since, for the supply of Albion and the adjacent region. No attempt has as yet been made to reach the lower seams in either of these counties except at Mt. Carmel, where
62 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
a boring was made to the depth of 180 feet, but this did not go deep enough to reach No. 7, which is the uppermost of the main seams. It commenced about the horizon of coal No. 10 or 11, and the depth from this horizon to No. 7 is probably from two to three hundred feet.
Iron Ore.—Bands of argillaceous iron ore are found disseminated more or less abundantly through many of the shale beds in these coun- -ties, but usually in too limited quantities to be of much value. At the ford eight miles north-west of Albion on the 8. W. quarter of sec. 7, T. 158., R. 10 E., there is a larger quantity of iron ore than was seen else- where in this region. The shale bed is four feet thick, and nearly or quite one-half of this thickness is a clay iron ore of fair quality. Several tons of ore may be collected from the debris at the foot of the bluff where it has been washed out of the shale by the river current. Twenty inches of coal of a fair quality immediately overlays the ferruginous shale.
Potters’ Clay.—Potters’ clay of fair quality is found in the bank of Greathouse creek, near Mt. Carmel, and a bed of fine white clay also occurs on Crawfish creek on sec. 5,T.15., R. 12 E. This bed is four feet thick and appears like a good fire clay.
Brick Materials.—Good brick clay is abundant in almost every neigh- borhood, and sand suitable for mortar and cement may be found in the river bluffs as well as in some of the creek valleys.
Soil and Timber.—The soil on the rolling upland is a chocolate col- ored clay loam well charged with humus from the decomposition of organic matters, aud very productive, especially in wheat, oats and grass. In the vicinity of the Wabash bluffs the character of the soil is modified by the sandy marls of the loess upon which they rest, but these soils are very quick and productive, yielding annually large crops of all the cereals usually cultivated in this climate. ~Along the Wabash and Bonpass there are extensive tracts of heavily timbered bottom lands that have a deep alluvial soil with a sandy subsoil. These lands are very productive when cleared and brought under cultivation, and are decidedly the best corn lands in this portion of the State. They are subject to annual overflow from the river freshets, but these usually occur in the early spring time and seldom interfere with the production of the usual crops. These two counties, though limited in area, have a thrifty and wealthy population devoted mainly to agriculture, the Wabash river and the intersecting railroads furnishing all needed mar- ket facilities.
Iam indebted to Mr. J. ZmmERMAN, of Mt. Carmel, for much valua- ble information and assistance while engaged in my examinations in this vicinity, and to Dr. J. ScHENcK for the following complete list of the trees and shrubs indiginous to Wabash county:
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES. 63
A list of the Forest Trees and Shrubs found in Wabash County.
Acer rubrum, L., (Red or Swamp Maple.)
“ dasycarpum, Ehrhart, (White or Silver Maple.)
“ saccharinum, Wang., (Common Sugar Maple.)
“ saccharinum, var. nigrum, (Black Sugar Maple.) Assculus glabra, Willd., (Smooth or Ohio Buckeye.) Alnus serrulata, Ait., (Smooth Alder.)
Amorpha fructicosa, L., (False Indigo.) Asimina triloba, Dunal., (Common Papaw.) Betula lenta, L., (Cherry or Sweet Birch.)
“ nigra, L., (River or Red Birch.) Carpinus Americana, Michx., (Ivon-wood ; Hornbeam.) Catalpa bignonioides, Walt., (Catalpa ; Indian Bean.) Carya oliveformis, Nutt., (Pecan nut.)
“ alba, Nutt., (Shell-bark or Shag-bark Hickory.)
“ microcarpa, Nutt., (Small-fruited Hickory.)
“ tomentosa, Nutt., (Mocker-nut; White-heart Hickory.)
“ procina, Nutt., (Pig-nut or Broom Hickory.)
“ amara, Nutt., (Bitter-nut or Swamp Hickory.) Celtis occidentalis, L., (Hackberry ; Sugarberry.)
“© Missippiensis, Bose., (Mississippi-hackberry.) o Cephalanthus occidentalis, L., (Button Bush.)
Cercis Canadensis, L., (Red-bud ; Judas-tree.) Cornus florida, L., (Flowering Dogwood.)
“ sericea, L., (Silky Cornel; Kinnikinnik.)
“ paniculata, L’Her., (Panicled Cornel.) Corylus Americana, Walt., (Wild Hazel-nut.)
“ rostrata, Ait., (Beaked Hazel-nut.) Crategus tomentosa, L., (Black or Pear Thorn.)
oe tomentosa var. Mollis.
ob punctata, Jacq.
a cordata, Ait. (Washington Thorn.) a Crus-galli, L., (Cockspur Thorn.)
oe veridis, L.
Diospyros Virgiviana, L., (Common Persimmon.)
Euonymus atropurpureus, Jacq., (Burning-bush; Waahoo.) oe Americanus, L., (Strawberry-bush.)
Fagus ferruginea, Ait., (American Beech.)
Forestiera acuminata, Poir.
GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
Fraxinus Americana, L., (White Ash.) “ pubescens, Lam., (Red Ash.) “viridis, Michx., (Green Ash.) oe quadrangulata, Michx., (Blue Ash.) Gleditschia triacanthos, L., (Three-thorned Acacia or Honey-locust.) Gymnocladus Canadensis, Lam., (Coffee Tree.) Hydrangea arborescens, L., ( Wild Hydrangea. Hypericum prolificum, L., (Shrubby St. John’s Wort.) Ilex decidua, Walt. Juglans cinerea, L., (Butternut.) G nigra, L., (Black Walnut.) Juniperus communis, (Common Juniper.) Lindera Benzoin, Meisner, (Spice-bush; Benjamin-bush.) Liquidambar Styraciflua, L., (Sweet Gum Tree.) Liriodendron Tulipifera, L., (Tulip-tree ; Poplar.) Morus rubra, L., (Red Mulberry.) Negundo aceroides, Mceuch, (Boz-elder.) Nyssa multiflora, Waug., (Black Gun; Tupelo.) Ostrya Virginica, Willd., (Hop-hornbeam ; Lever-wood.) Platanus occidentalis, L., (Sycamore; Plane-tree.) Populus heterophylla, L., (Cotton Wood ; Downy Poplar.) ut monilifera, Ait., (Necklace Poplar; Cotton Wood.) “ tremuloides, Michx., (American Aspen.) Prinos verticillata, Gray, (Black Alder; Winterberry.) Prunus Americana, Marshell, (Wild Yellow, or Red Plumb.) “ “insititia, L., (Bullace Plumb.) “ serotina, Ehrhart, (Wild Black Cherry.) Pyrus coronaria, L., (Sweet scented Crab Apple.)
“ angustifolia, Ait., (Warrovw-leaved Crab Apple.) Ptelea trifoliata, L., Wafer Ash; Shrubby Trefoil.) Quercus alba, L., ( White-oak.)
‘ obtusiloba, Michx., (Post-oak.)
a macrocarpa, Michx., (Bur or Over-cup Oak.) se macrocarpa, var. (?) Lyrata, Michx., (Lyre-leaved Oak.) « prinus, Willd., (Swamp Chestnut Oak.)
a bicolor, Willd., (Secamp White Oak.)
& castanea, Muhl., (Chestnut Oak.)
a tinctoria, Bartram, (Black or Tanners Oak.) a coccinea, Wang., (Scarlet Oak.)
sf rubra, L. (Red Oak.)
a palustris, Michx., (Pin or Water Oak.)
ce nigra, L., (Black-Jack or Barren Oak.)
se Phellos, L., ( Willow Oak.)
“ imbricaria, Michx., (Lawrel or Shingle Oak.)
WABASH AND EDWARDS COUNTIES.
Rhus typhina, L., (Staghorn Sumach.)
“ glabra, L., (Smooth Swmach.) - © copallina, L., (Dwarf Sumach.) Salix tristis, Ait., (Dwarf Gray Willow.)
** discolor, Muhl., (Glancous Willow.)
“ eriocephala, Michx., (Wooly Headed Willovw.)
“ petiolaris, Smith, (Long-stalked Green Osier.)
“« nigra, Marshall, (Black Willow.)
** rigida, Muhl., (Stiff-leaved Willow.) Sambucus Canadensis, L., (Common Elder.) Sassafras officinale, Nees., (Sassafras.) Staphylea trifolia, L., (Bladder-nut.) Symphoricarpus occidentalis, R. Brown, (Wolf or Buck Berry.)
ce vulgaris, Michx., (Indian Currant; Coral-berry.)
Taxodium distichum, Richard, (American Bald Cypress.) Tilia Americana, L., (Basswood ; Linden.)
*« heterophylla, Vent., (White Basswood.) Ulmus fulva, Michx., (Slippery Elm.)
“Americana, L., (American or White Elm.)
“ alata, Michx., (Winged Elm.) Viburnum prunifolium, L., (Black Haw.)
ae nudum, M., (White Rod.)
Zanthoxylum Americanum, Mill., (Northern Prickly Ash.)
65
CHAPTER VI.
WHITE AND HAMILTON COUNTIES.
White county has a geographical area of about four hundred and eighty square miles, and is bounded on the north by Wayne and Edwards counties, on the east by the Wabash river, on the south by Gallatin county, and on the west by Hamilton. The Little Wabash traverses the county from north to south through its central portion, and the Skillet Fork enters at the north-west corner, and after a south- east course enters the Little Wabash near the centre of the county. These streams, with their smaller affluents, and the main Wabash river as its eastern boundary, drain nearly the whole area of the county. South of Phillipstown there is a considerable area between the Little and the main Wabash rivers of rather flat land, intersected by a chain of ponds extending nearly due north and south, through townships five and six south, range ten east, which probably marks the course of an old river channel. This portion of the county is rather flat and heavily timbered. The remainder of the county is quite rolling, and portions of it south and west of Carmi are broken and hilly.
Superficial Deposits.—The alluvium, loess and drift, the three principal divisions of the Quaternary, or most recent of the geological systems, are well developed in this county. Alluvial bottoms of considerable extent skirt the courses of the main and Little Wabash and Skillet Fork, but being subject to annual overflow, the land is only valued at the present time for the fine body of timber which it sustains. The soil, howeyer, is a rich sandy loam, and when cleared and brought under cultivation will prove the most fertile land in the county.
The loess is very heavily developed along the bluffs of the Wabash from Phillipstown to Grayville, and ranges from thirty to sixty feet or more in thickness. Itcomprises a bed of brown clay immediately below the surface, of variable thickness, which is underlaid by the usual ash- gray and buff marly sands, containing the characteristic fresh water and land shells usually found in this deposit.
The drift deposits in this county vary from ten to thirty feet or more in thickness, and consist of brown gravelly clays, with some northern
i
WHITE COUNTY. ~ 67
bowlders of considerable size. In the vicinity of the Little Wabash, north of Carmi, these seemed to be more abundant than elsewhere, and one was seen near the north line of the county, and about a mile east of the ford on the Little Wabash, that was fully four feet in its longest diameter, by two feet or more in the opposite direction. This is the most southerly point in the State where bowlders of this size have been seen.
Coal Measures.
The stratified rocks of this county belong to the lower part of the upper Coal Measures, and the lowest beds appearing in the county are to be seen in the bluffs of the Little Wabash, in the vicinity of New Haven and near Carmi, these two points being on nearly the same geo- logical level. The New Haven limestone appears to be identical with the lowest limestone seen in Ulark county, which there lays about seventy-five to eighty feet above coal No.7. Here the space is probably a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet or more, with two thin coals intervening between the limestone and the main coals below. In the solid portions of this limestone fossils are comparatively rare, the only species we were able to find in an hour’s search at New Haven being Spirifer cameratus, S. plano-convexus, Productus Prattenianus, P. longispi- nus, Terebratula bovidens, Rhynchonella Osagensis, Platyostoma Peoriense, joints of Crinoidea, etc. The rock is hard and brittle, and weathers to a rusty-brown color. The section in the vicinity of New. Haven, com- mencing at the base with this limestone and extending north along the small branches putting into the Little Wabash for about two miles and a half to land adjoining Mr. R. W. Boyp, and belonging to the JONES’ heirs, is as follows:
; Ft. In.
No. 1. Sandstone, forming the bed rock on top of the hills, and penetrated by Mr. Boyp, in
ln nGMenscanescesacecan ds deccedeececdadadecacecabopeucs nocobacsaasdcoBBbodeosaad 13 No. 2. Sandstone and sandy shale, passing downward into arg. shale (partial exposure) ..-40 to 50 No. 3. Ferro-argillaceous limestone, with fossils.....-.-...----------------- 22-22 eee ee eens 0 3 No. 4. Ferruginous shale, with fossils oF 12 No. 5. Chocolate-brown calc. sandstone, with fossils ....-...-...--.-----------+-eeeeeeeee ee LG No. 6. Dark-colored shale Ite [th OnE bedescascentecce 2 Nox 83) Shaly)fire-clay.ve2--2-s2 sec cteer sce escessceseesessteeareseesees 6
No. 9. Hard sandstone, partly in heavy beds...........--..--------- No. 10. Shale and thin bedded sandstone....-...-..-
No. 11. Space covered, probably not more than No. 12. New Haven Jimestone------.-.. 22-022 e ecco ce ee enccensen=
The three inch band of ferruginous limestone, iN, 3 of the above sec- tion, contains numerous well preserved fossils, and we obtained from it Pleurotomaria Grayvillensis, Bellerophon carbonarius, B. Montfortianus, Euomphalus sub-rugosus, Macrocheilus inhabilis, Nucula ventricosa, and
68 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
Polyphemopsis per-acuta. The chocolate-brown calcareous sandstone below it contains a peculiar group of fossils, among which are Myalina ampla, Aviculopecten occidentalis, Avicula longispina, Pinna per-acuta, Schizodus Alpinus ? Edmondia Nebrascensis, Allorisma sub-cuneata, Bel- lerophon crassus, Naticopsis Pricei ? Platyceras Nebrascensis, Productus Prattenianus, and some other undetermined forms. This bed is found at Carmi in the bed of a small branch south of the town containing the same group of fossils.
About three-quarters of a mile from New Haven north on Rock creek, the beds numbered from two to ten of the foregoing section are well exposed, and a fair quality of thin bedded micaceous sandstone is quar- ried for building purposes. From this point to Carmi by the road on the west side of the river the country is quite broken, and frequent outcrops of sandstone and shale may be seen in the hill sides and in the banks of the small streams. On Grindstone creek, seven miles south of Carmi, a bed of sandstone in rather even beds is exposed on a small branch running into the main creek from the south-west. The beds exposed are from twelve to fifteen feet in thickness, and the rock has been quarried for building stone, and some grindstones have also been made from it. Most of the beds are in tolerably even layers, but some portions of the mass show a more or less concretionary structure.
At Carmi we have a repetition of the same beds found in the vieinity of New Haven, with the upper part of the section better exposed, but only extending downwards to No. 5 of the section seen near New Haven, the lower part of that section being here below the level of the Little Wabash. Commencing with the sandstone to be seen in the north part of town, above the dam, and descending from thence along the river blufis to the small creek just south of the town, we have the following section :
No.1. Sandy shales and some sandstone in even beds ClaygshalesSeescosinonsacieece see ainessenesse aces teeeeeecee Two thin coats, parted by a foot or more of clay shale... (Brownisandstone, quarry: rocks. ==) sa. = -na2 see se eciece Bandgof cinnamon-brown shale, with Posidonias.......-. Mark/clay/shalesssescccscsessceeesseres -secase sea eee eee ere
No. 7. Gray sandy shales, passing downward into clay shale, with iron stones........... 18 to 20 No. 8.* Ferro-calcareous chocolate-brown sandstone, with fossils................----.----- 14 to 2
The lower bed of the above section was only partially exposed in the bed of the creek, where it presents the same general appearance, and con- tains the same group of fossils as were obtained from No.5 of the section near New Haven. I was unable to find more than a partial exposure of it in the vicinity of Carmi. The brown sandstone No. 4 of the above section contains numerous specimens of broken plants, is somewhat
A So 99 S's oe ID
* This is equivalent to No. 47, of the general section of the Coal Measures, on p. 2, et seq.
WHITE COUNTY. 69
ferruginous, and affords a good quality of building stone. The thin band of cinnamon-colored shale seems to have been formed from an impalpable brown mud, and on splitting it in thin layers countless numbers of minute shells like Posidonia are found covering the surface of the slabs.
In the bank of Skillet Fork, at Mill Shoals, there is an outcrop of thin coal, with a bituminous shale and limestone, as shown in the following. section :
Ft. Pfardishell yaSand Scone setetaete tatete tals ciate saa ome atatalalatn tale tcc ote laloleteteleioiotalnisise misieteietalcaleicietessteisteleieictnteisictsierereie 3to4 Hard, black laminated slate, passing locally into clay shale. .........-....2-2-. 22-222 ee eee eee eee 6 to8
Shale‘jwathpthinjcoale 2ocen ac sos ceye ne Sia we are Siena Se Aas oe sae eel a celeron ate etieine ina sisee oie we reise ee 2to3 Hard, fine grained limestone : Graenishpoublyshalesea-seecee ese oe asec tee see teeeeieioeacitesaeeiccsececec eens ceteeanes Sandyshalesinicreeky DeQse=soeesoees sees selene eecinecisiscrtescemssaee see rysi=
These beds afford no distinct fossils, but the limestone and black laminated slate bear a strong resemblance to beds found three miles north-east of Fairfield, in Wayne county, and two and a half miles south of Olney, which I have referred to the horizon of coal No. 13 of the general section. The cross cleavage planes of the limestone shows Stigmaria rootlets, and these were the only indications of organic life we could find in it. The rock is fine-grained, of a bluish dove color, the lower portion weathering to a yellowish-buff. The beds in the foregoing section are succeeded in the hills north and east of the station by sixty to seventy feet of shale and sandstone, with a thin bed of bituminous shale near the top of the exposure.
At Grayville, on the west bank of the Wabash river, the bluff rises to a hight of more than a hundred feet above low-water level, and affords a fine section of the Coal Measure beds, as follows:
Ft. In. No. 1. Covered slope of loess and drift...-...-.....-.... pSocaDSsecbonesenoSEssaooseoooe 48 No. 2. Heavy-bedded sandstone.....-........-...-.. Epbiacocoaodancasdocoptcooceso060cse 15 No. 3. Slope with partial outcrops of shale............-.-.-.---.-- oS SR aA AL 25 Ose Ame SCOTS) BIA @ aoe tomes se rele nae st rocia ote[oe semials tattoo cion eee) selec cien 7 to 8 No. 5. Blue argillaceous shale, with bands of fossiliferous iron ore at the bottom....... NOs Gos BILMININOUS {SNAG sae een nee earns noe eee rte te ease len ea pinsserslewcne 6 in. to 0 8 No. 7. Calcareous shale, and shaly bituminons limestone.................-------+------ 0to 3 GE GS IYER Gin - e en seaceoasaenenesie cic BecsUOODEROO SC seenEEoaSoncsonccoad 6 in. to 1 Woe 9:98 Greenyclayshalessormire-clayes=s-ecs en ees ea siease ceca eineee eee etene neeece coee cL bOn Ne No. 10. Sandy shales and sandstone in river bed.........--..--.----------- ee ee eeeneee 10 to 12
This section was taken about 300 yards below the ferry landing, and at the lowest stage of water in the river. The beds here lie in wave- like undulations, the black shale in the above section being at one point 15 feet above the river bed, and in a distance of about fifty yards they come down to within about six feet of the river level. In the calcareous shale No. 7 of the above section there is a thin band filled with crushed and broken specimens of a small Myalina, probably M. perattenuata. This shale is dark-colored and highly bituminous, and contains several species of crushed fossils in addition to that above mentioned, but all
70 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
identical with those found in the clay iron band at the base of No. 5. Local patches of sandstone and conglomerate in lenticular masses a foot or more in thickness come in at two or three points immediately above the black shales, and where this occurs the shales are compressed into something less than one-half their normal thickness. At the upper end of this exposure the calcareo-bituminous shale No. 7 is replaced by three or four inches of blue clay shale. The thin-bedded sandstones and sandy shales in the river bed contain Calamites, and fragments of other coal plants, sometimes inclosed in iron concretions similar to those noticed in the river bed at Mt. Carmel. The'ferruginous band at the base of the blue shale No. 5 of the foregoing section contains many fine fossil shells ina good state of preservation, and the locality has become somewhat noted on this account. The species to be found here include the following: Nautilus occidentalis, N. globatus ? Cyrtoceras eur- tum, Dentalium obsoletum, Pleurotomaria tabulata, P. spherulata, P. Grayvillensis, Macrocheilus inhabilis, Ianthinopsis tumida, Euomphalus subrugosus, Nucula ventricosa, Astartella vera, Leda bella rugosa, Lima retifera, Orthis carbonaria, and Lophophyllum proliferum. This is the same group of fossils found on Raccoon creek near the north line of Edwards county, at Lawrenceville in Lawrence county, and on Lamotte creek near Palestine landing, showing that the Wabash river, from the latter point to Grayville, continues on nearly the same geological level.
The exposure in the Grayville bluff affords an interesting exhibition of the variable character of the beds occurring at this horizon, and if the upper and lower extremities of this outcrop were only to be seen as separate exposures their identity might not be suspected. At the upper end of the hill a seam of pyritiferous shale from one to three inches thick is all that separates the black laminated shales, while at the lower end they are separated by about three feet of calcareous shale and shaly bituminous limestone. Fossils are abundant at the upper end of the exposure in clay iron ore in the lower part of No. 5 of the section, while three hundred yards below neither the iron stones nor the fossils they inclose can be found. Hence the difficulty of constructing a connected section in the Upper Coal Measures from the examination of isolated outerops, which are the only exposures of the strata to be found in this portion of the State.
On the Little Wabash at the ford six miles west of Grayville, on sec. 21>7T.38., R.10 E., the bluff consists of sandstone and sandy shale, inclosing a bituminous shale and thin coal. The section here is as fol- lows:
Feet. ° In Evenly bedded sandstone and sandy shale.............-.--..-------+---------------eee-- 30 to 40 Bituminousishale|and thin’ coal eee ee soe alas anemones qeinicteea sce ene ene eeneeaes eas 6, Clay shale. --..-.-- SESS COSI SCRE SOA CEES SO St SRI BOSRO SSSR ALS SEAS eSadcaceat atone 5 to 8
Massive sandstone, partly concretionary...-.. <2 22. <ceccc cnn n= nee n enon nee nnn seneennswene 10 to 15
WHITE COUNTY. 71
A short distance below the ford the bituminous shale and coal appeared to be wanting, wedging out in a distance of about a hundred yards. The upper bed of sandstone is in part a hard micaceous rock, in even layers of moderate thickness, and will afford a good quality of building stone, as will also the concretionary bed below. About half way from Grayville to this ford, in crossing a ridge, there is from 20 to 30 feet of shales exposed, which probably overlay the sandstones at the ford, though the exact connection between them could not be deter- mined.
Gossett station, on the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad, is located on a high ridge something more than a hundred feet above the bed of Bear creek. At the summit the railroad cut shows about ten feet of coarse, soft, brown sandstone, that decomposes easily on exposure. <A few feet below this sandstone a thin coal has been found at two or three places in the neighborhood, and some digging has been done here in the expec- tation of finding it somewhere thick enough to work to advantage, but so far without success. A section of the rocks seen in this vicinity show the following order : :
Ht! In: Brown clay, Capping the Tidge re. .-coc cen cnes cee cece ew nesccersdarweccncacasacrsesessscs 10 to 15 Coarse Sort, (Drow SAnGStON G22 = — seem ae a sale siecle lesen enone winwieceinemiosniee 10 Space not seen, probably not more than........-.------0-.-----0-----sencen ence eeennccnne 10 to 15 SOTO R ELIA Deane cee a coscoecasses tocceucoconeDoa Teco TeScuCocesusSccoquoucHoUNoneecoCHoe 6 Thin coal.......---. opsece sept oosuasasgne Ss o0b age Sd psocusnoedcoSSuSBESHoaADS CoDasODOOLOsOaS 0 4 SEA SURG coose concrontdccocke acbadctansesdssrandcbesdodescocosttonanepagsagdsocomageson 6 STE CS MINGR Ch cerceanecd pocdiicteosnadccsoce bencoboagoosenstbosodeseocnoonoonscodcanuseda 15 to 20 Nodular argillaceous limestone, without fossils...........-..2.2-.2-22.20222-00-0e- ee eee 1to 2 SEANy GUE UG see oce eee a secicdne see c coe ccoccoctecseteceser EEcecKSericercESbcCoConcEESbaeass 4to 6 Hven-pedded| micaceous SANdStONnG=- 2. -crw ceo occc owen cine we neeine fone saw rcece see e cece cernas 6 to 8
The lowest bed in this section affords sandstone in smooth even layers from an inch to a foot or more in thickness, which is an excellent and durable stone for flagging, foundation walls, etc., and the thickest beds could be easily cut for caps and sills. The rock at this quarry resembles that at MCGILLY’s, a mile west of McLeansboro. No outcrop of coal of any value has yet been found in this portion of the county, and the four-inch seam in the above section is not likely to increase in thickness sufficiently to become of any practical value for mining pur- poses.
The following observations and sections are from Prof. Cox’s notes in this county: “At the Grand Chain, one and a half miles below BLACK’s ferry, the Wabash flows over a hard sandstone, that is here a fine-grained gray rock, excellent for building purposes. It forms a low reef across the stream, creating a strong current, and hence the name, ‘Grand Chain.’ On the Illinois shore the rock is but a few feet above the river bed, and is soon lost under the alluvial bottom. On the Indiana side it forms a ledge in the hills bordering the narrow bottom. At Warrick’s riffle, six miles above, this sandstone is again seen at the
72 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS.
water’s edge, and on the Indiana shore, near the mouth of Rush creek, it is overlaid by a heavy bed of shale, including a soft, calcareous stratum, containing numerous fossils.
At WEBD’S ferry the equivalent of the Rush creek shale, alternating with shaly sandstone, again makes its appearance, and at Bonpass, a little higher up, we have the following section :
Ft. In. Loess awithcharacteristicjfossilsesse acc cincecine carci eet cietnce eeciseciacisee eecimeaeacteeneties 30 Drifticlaygandseraveleanescsceeneenaece cee teeela teeeiaeee nese seamen eee ncaa eee eeae meta 20 BufsandstOnersanscoseciseeaasesiaacne sc eete case aece en ssm ce asaceseeeeseeeetrseecccicenateencie 10 Shaleyand(covered(spacesscsccsesc cess sanees ceclsisciecnionesce csi canes cece eens sere senas eee 80 GUT Cry eS esncinScd onododdaHoUaasdos gasaséoocbsatidcsactsboassoode docnunostascaddcaqgaacacese 0 6 TIS), OE fa qceng soc nes Son DeTOSOS IE SOSA ceNgad doa Soo bNdda0 HESS aSHI baanOtatcoscHdodachdoasenas200 ‘TG Silicious/shalejandisandstoneses-cceewsac cen sececccetecee cloccieealecaeeine a ecisiseie steer eee coeee ate 6 Argillaceous shale. .... ZO GUSHO ce Can pabedadens boson de tnccunsqasesesadcnogsodaposonnaacacaeadossed 25
123
The lower shale in the above section is first seen half a mile below the ferry, and contains fossil plants, Sphenophyllum, Pecopteris and Neuropteris, but too fragile to be preserved.
On the western borders of the county, opposite New Harmony in Indiana, there is a large island formed by an arm of the Wabash, called Fox river. This island is low and flat, and subject to overflow. Soon after crossing Fox river we ascend the Phillipstown ridge, which bears a little east of north, and strikes the Wabash river at Grayville. In this ridge we find the counterpart of the sections at Cut-off, below New Harmony, and at Grayville; but the creeks do not cut quite so deep into the argillaceous shales here, so as to show the lowest beds. Just before reaching Phillipstown, on the New Harmony road, a thin coal is seen in the bank of a branch. Below it there is a few inches of fire clay, and then an argillaceous shale, which is seen in the bed of the branch. Above the coal, which is mostly decomposed, there is a calea- reous band containing fossils similar to those found at Grayville. When first quarried this band is firm and hard, but after long exposure it becomes soft. Above the fossil band there is a few feet of argillace- ous shale and a bed of sandstone, as seen in the following section :
Bt In: sv ellowzcrum bling olayisnnassessesrecateeenacseriseciscicmasanieennscincencclessaneecsaeeaman 20 to 40 MOCSSwWwithi TOSSUS> ce acwerince see sameeren eae saa senate senae stasis saci aasisclesceernemess 20 to 30 Drift, with pebbles and small granite bowlders...........-..22---- eee sence eee eee eee eee eee 35 Silicious'shale Meccesenie sie =ccces cere etc ecsstececisestecsase secs sesesacite sescnseese see emmee eet 10 Sandstonete ac esccecoe alse ace oss e se acinoe ses stclecis se eeeci cat eriacacneineeesee emcee ese ase 2 Argillaceous'shale.cc--s«see<<-Sasneasaceesesaanamcnneceaesenecana saan seem sea= aaa see nace 10
Calcarcous fossil bandice cee ssoceeweeesecesesnessecenceemeee ences menace neenae seen e ee eenaete 3 TES) Eh ee pep cece nS COD ODS 0c GSES CRO UGE SOF CORUIKD OPE SSnenanEEcoDt teccdonseadoccanedecacccones 1 Mhin‘ooaliandifire-clayz-wasta-sssciscanaes cee stsdsnccesee ease samen eee nese e nest eaaneee ee ceeat 5
133 3
About a quarter of a mile south-west of this the sandstone of the above section is ten feet thick without seams. It is micaceous and soft when first quarried, but hardens on exposure and makes a good durable
WHITE COUNTY. 73
building stone. Two and a half miles south-west of Phillipstown this same ledge of sandstone forms a low cliff along the eastern face of the ridge and in places is weathered into caves, locally called rock houses.
On the road to Carmi the loess is replaced by a loose yellow sand, that forms a bluff on the eastern border of a prairie, which is succeeded by a shallow slough or swamp that was probably once