USA > Iowa > Story County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa > Part 2
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13
HISTORY OF IOWA.
to become the seat of extensive manufactures in consequence of the numerous mill sites of immense power, and the fact that the main val- ley traverses the entire length of the Iowa coal fields.
Skunk River has its source in Hamilton County, and runs almost its entire course upon the border of the outcrop of the lower coal measures, or, more properly speaking, upon the subcarboniferous limestone, just where it begins to pass beneath the coal measures by its southerly and westerly dip. Its general course is southeast.
Iowa River rises in Hancock County, in the midst of a broad, slightly undulating drift re- gion. It enters the region of the Devonian strata near the southwestern corner of Benton County, and in this it continues to its conflu- ence with the Cedar, in Louisa County. Be- low the junction with the Cedar, and for some miles above that point, its valley is broad, and especially on the northern side, with a well marked flood plain.
Cedar River is usually understood to be a branch of the Iowa, but it onght really to be regarded as the main stream. It rises by nu- merous branches in the northern part of the State, and flows the entire length of the State, through the region occupied by the Devonian strata. The valley of this river, in the upper part of its course, is narrow, and the sides slope so gently as to scarcely show where the lowlands end and the nplands begin. Below the confluence with the Shell Rock, the flood plain is more distinctly marked and the valley broad and shallow. The valley of the Cedar is one of the finest regions in the State, and both the main stream and its branches afford abun- dant and reliable mill sites.
Wapsipinnicon River has its source near the source of the Cedar, and runs parallel and near it almost its entire course, the upper half
upon the same formation-the Devonian. It is 100 miles long, and yet the area of its drain- age is only from twelve to twenty miles in width. Hence, its numerous mill sites are unusually secure.
Turkey River and the Upper Iowa are, in many respects, unlike other Iowa rivers .. The difference is due to the great depth they have eroded their valleys and the different charac- ter of the material through which they have eroded. Turkey River rises in Howard County, and in Winnesheik County, a few miles from its source, its valley has attained a depth of more than 200 feet, and in Fayette and Clay- ton Counties its depth is increased to 300 and 400 feet. The valley is usually narrow, and without a well-marked flood plain. Water- power is abundant, but in most places inacces- sible.
Upper Iowa River rises in Minnesota, just beyond the northern boundary line, and enters Iowa in Howard County before it has attained any considerable size. Its course is nearly eastward until it reaches the Mississippi. This stream has the greatest slope per mile of any in Iowa, consequently it furnishes immense water-power. In some places, where creeks come into it, the valley widens and affords good locations for farms. The power of the river and the small spring streams around it offer fine facilities for manufacturing. This river and its tributaries are the only trout streams in Iowa.
Mississippi River may be described, in gen- eral terms, as a broad canal cut out of the gen- eral level of the country through which the river flows. It is bordered by abrupt hills or bluffs. The bottom of the valley ranges from one to eight miles in width. The whole space between the bluffs is occupied by the river and its bottom, or flood plain only. The river itself is from half a mile to nearly a mile in width.
14
HISTORY OF IOWA.
There are but four points along the whole length of the State where the bluffs approach the stream on both sides. The Lower Silurian formations compose the bluffs in the northern part of the State, but they gradually disappear by a southerly dip, and the bluffs are contin- ued successively by the Upper Silurian, Devo- nian, and subcarboniferous rocks, which are reached near the southeastern corner of the State. Considered in their relation to the present general surface of the State, the rela- tive ages of the river valley of Iowa date back only to the close of the glacial epoch; but the Mississippi, and the rivers of Northeastern Iowa, had at least a large part of the rocky por- tions of their valleys eroded by pre-glacial, or perhaps even by paleozoic rivers.
The lakes of Iowa may be properly divided into two distinct classes. The first may be called drift lakes, having had their origin in the depressions left in the surface of the drift at the close of the glacial epoch; these have rested upon the undisturbed surface of the drift deposit ever since the glaciers disappeared. The others may be properly termed fluvatile or alluvial lakes, because they have had their origin by the action of rivers while cutting their own valleys out from the surface of the drift as it existed at the close of the glacial epoch, and are now found resting upon the al- Juvium, as the others rest upon the drift.
The regions to which the drift lakes are principally confined are near the head-waters of the principal streams of the State. Conse- quently they are found in those regions which lie between the Cedar and Des Moines Rivers, and the Des Moines and Little Sioux. No drift lakes are found in Southern Iowa. The largest of the lakes to be found in the State are Spirit and Okoboji, in Dickinson County ; Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo County, and Storm Lake, in Buena Vista County.
Spirit Lake in width aud length is about equal; and it contains about twelve square miles of surface, its northern border resting directly on the boundary of the State. It lies almost directly upon the great watershed. Its shores are mostly gravelly, and the country about it fertile.
Okoboji Lake lies directly south of Spirit Lake, and has somewhat the shape of a horse- shoe, with its eastern projection within a few rods of Spirit Lake, where it receives the out- let of the latter. Okoboji Lake extends about five miles southward from Spirit Lake, thence about the same distance westward, and then bends northward about as far as the eastern projection. The eastern portion is narrow, but the western is larger, and in some places 100 feet deep. The surroundings of this and Spirit Lake are very pleasant. Fish are abun- dant in them.
Clear Lake is situated in Cerro Gordo Coun- ty, upon the watershed between the Iowa and Cedar Rivers. It is about five miles long and two or three miles wide, and has a maximum depth of only fifteen feet. Its shores and the country around it are like that of Spirit Lake.
Storm Lake rests upon the great watershed in Buena Vista County. It is a clear, beauti- ful sheet of water, containing a surface area of between four and five square miles.
The outlets of all these drift-lakes are dry during a portion of the year, except Okoboji.
Along the watersheds of Northern Iowa great numbers of small lakes exist, varying from half a mile to a mile in diameter. One of the lakes in Wright County, and another in Sac, have each received the name of "Walled Lake," on account of the existence of embankments on their borders, which are supposed to be the work of ancient inhabitants. These embank- ments are from two to ten feet in height, and from five to thirty feet across. They are the
2
HISTORY OF IOWA.
15
result of natural causes alone, being referable to the periodic action of ice, aided, to some ex- tent, by the force of the waves. These lakes are very shallow, and in winter freeze to the bot- tom, so that but little unfrozen water remains in the middle. The ice freezes fast to every- thing upon the bottom, and the expansive pow- er of the water in freezing acts in all directions from the center to the circumference, and what- ever was on the bottom of the lake has been thus carried to the shore, and this has been going on from year to year, from century to century, forming the embankments which have caused so much wonder.
The soil of Iowa may be separated into three general divisions, which not only possess dif- ferent physical characters, but also differ in the mode of their origin. These are drift, bluff and alluvial, and belong respectively to the de- posits bearing the same names. The drift oc- cupies a much larger part of the surface of the State than both the others. The bluff has the next greatest area of surface, and the alluvial least.
The stratified rocks of Iowa range from the Azoic to the Mesozoic, inclusive; but the greater portion of the surface of the State is occupied by those of the Paleozoic age, viz .:
The Sioux quartzite is found exposed in natural ledges only upon a few acres in the ex- treme northwest corner of the State, upon the banks of the Big Sioux River, for which rea- son the specific name of Sioux quartzite has been given them. It is an intensely hard rock, breaks in splintery fracture, and a color varying, in different localities, from a light to a deep red. The process of metamorphism has been so complete throughout the whole formation that the rock is almost everywhere of uniform texture. The dip is four or five degrees to the northward, and the trend of the outerop is eastward and westward. This rock may be quarried in a few rare cases, but usu- ally it can not be secured in dry forms except that into which it naturally cracks, and the tendency is to angular pieces. It is absolutely indestructible.
Potsdam sandstone is exposed only in a small portion of the northeastern portion of the State. It is only to be seen in the bases of the bluffs and steep valley sides which bor- der the river there. It may be seen underly- ing the lower magnesian limestone, St. Peter's sandstone and Trenton limestone, in their reg- ular order, along the bluffs of the Mississippi from the northern boundary of the State as
SYSTEMS.
GROUPS. PERIODS.
FORMATIONS. EPOCHS.
THICKNESS. IN FEET.
AGES.
( Post Tertiary
Drift.
10 to 200
Cretaceous
Inoceramous bed
50
[ Lower Cretaceous
Woodbury Sandstone and Shales
130
(
Nishnabotany Sandstone.
100
Upper Coal Measures
200
Coal Measures.
Middle Coal Measures.
200
Carboniferous .
Lower Coal Measures
200
St. Louis Limestone
75
Subcarboniferous.
Keokuk Limestone
90
Burlington Limestone
196
Kinderhook beds
175
Devonian ...
Hamilton.
Hamilton Limestone and Shales.
200
Upper Silurian
Niagara
Niagara Limestone.
350
Cincinnati
Maquoketa Shales
80
Trenton
Trenton Limestone.
200
Lower Silurian.
St. Peter's Sandstone ..
80
Primordial
Lower Magnesian Limestone.
250
Potsdam Sandstone.
300
Azoic
Huronian
Sioux Quartzite
50
5
Galena Limestone
250
16
HISTORY OF IOWA.
far south as Guttenburg, along the Upper Iowa for a distance of about twenty miles from its mouth, and along a few of the streams which empty into the Mississippi in Allamakee County. It is nearly valueless for economic purposes. No fossils have been discovered in this formation in Iowa.
Lower magnesium limestone has but little greater geographical extent in Iowa than the Potsdam sandstone. It lacks a uniformity of texture and stratification, owing to which it is not generally valuable for building purposes. The only fossils found in this formation in Iowa are a few traces of crinoids, near Mc- Gregor.
St. Peter's sandstone is remarkably uniform in thickness throughout its known geographical extent; and it is evident it occupies a large portion of the northern half of Allamakee County, immediately beneath the drift.
· Trenton limestone excepted, all the lime- stones of both upper and lower Silurian age in Iowa are magnesian limestones-nearly pure dolomites. This formation occupies large por- tions of Winnesheik and Allamakee Counties and a portion of Clayton. The greater part of it is useless for economic purposes, yet there are in some places compact and evenly bedded layers, which afford fine material for window caps and sills. In this formation fossils are abundant, so much so that in some places the rock is made up of a mass of shells, corals and fragments of trilobites, cemented by calcareous material into a solid rock. Some of these fos- sils are new to science and peculiar to Iowa.
The Galena limestone is the upper forma- tion of the Trenton group. It seldom exceeds twelve miles in width, although it is fullo 150 miles long. The outerop traverses portions of the counties of Howard, Winneshiek, Allama- kee, Fayette, Clayton, Dubuque and Jackson. It exhibits its greatest development in Du-
buque County. It is nearly a pure dolomite, with a slight admixture of silicious matter. It is usually unfit for dressing, though sometimes near the top of the bed good blocks for dress- ing are found. This formation is the source of the lead ore of the Dubuque lead mines. The lead region proper is confined to an area of about fifteen miles square in the vicinity of Dubuque. The ore occurs in vertical fissures, which traverse the rock at regular intervals from east to west; some is found in those which have a north-and-south direction. The ore is mostly that known as Galena, or sulphuret of lead, very small quantities only of the car- bonate being found with it.
Maquoketa shales occupy a long and narrow surface, seldom reaching more than a mile or two in width, but more than a hundred miles in length. Their most southerly exposure is in the bluffs of the Mississippi near Bellevue in Jack- son County, and the most northerly yet recog- nized is in the western part of Winnesheik Coun- ty. The whole formation is largely composed of bluish and brownish shales, sometimes slightly arenaceous, sometimes calcareous, which weather into a tenacious clay upon the surface, and the soil derived from it is usually stiff and clayey. Its economic value is very slight. Several spe- cies of fossils which characterize the Cincin- nati group are found in the Maquoketa shales; but they contain a larger number than have been found anywhere else than in these shales in Iowa, and their distinct faunal characteris- tics seem to warrant the separation of the Ma- quoketa shales as a distinct formation from any others of the group.
Niagara limestone occupies an area nearly one hundred and sixty miles long from north to south, and forty and fifty miles wide. This formation is entirely a magnesian limestone, with in some places a considerable proportion of silicious matter in the form of chert or
17
HISTORY OF IOWA.
coarse flint. A large part of it is evenly bed- ded, and probably affords the best and greatest amount of quarry rock in the State. The quar- ries at Anamosa, LeClaire and Farley are all opened in this formation.
Hamilton limestone occupies an area fully as great as those by all the formations of both upper and lower Silurian age in the State. It is nearly two hundred miles long and from forty to fifty miles broad. The general trend is north westward and southeastward. Although a large part of the material of this formation is practically quite worthless, yet other portions are valuable for economic purposes, and having a large geographical extent in the State, is one of the most important formations, in a practical point of view. At Waverly, Bremer County, its value for the production of hydraulic lime has been practically demonstrated. The heavier and more uniform magnesian beds furnish ma- terial for bridge piers and other material requir- ing strength and durability. All the Devonian strata of Iowa evidently belong to a single epoch, and referable to the Hamilton, as recog- nized by New York geologists. The most con- spicuons and characteristic fossils of this for- mation are brachiopod, mollusks and corals. The coral Acervularia Davidsoni occurs near Iowa City, and is known as "Iowa City mar- ble," and " bird's-eye marble."
The area of the surface occupied by the sub- carboniferous group is very large. Its eastern border passes from the northeastern part of Winnebago County, with considerable direct- ness in a southeasterly direction to the north- ern part of Washington County. Here it makes a broad and direct bend nearly eastward, strik- ing the Mississippi River at Muscatine. The southern and western boundary is to a consid- erable extent the same as that which separates it from the coal field. From the southern part of Pocahontas County it passes southeast to
Fort Dodge, thence to Webster City, thence to a point three or four miles northeast of Eldora, in Hardin County, thence southward to the middle of the north line of Jasper County, thence southeastward to Sigourney, in Keokuk County, thence to the northeastern corner of Jefferson County, thence sweeping a few miles eastward to the southeast corner of Van Buren County. Its area is nearly two hundred and fifty miles long, and from twenty to fifty miles wide.
The Kinderhook beds have a southerly expos- ure near the mouth of Skunk River, in Des Moines County. The most northerly now known is in the eastern part of Pocahontas County, more than 200 miles distant. The principal exposures of this formation are along the bluffs which border the Mississippi and Skunk Rivers, where they form the eastern and northern boundary of Des Moines County, along English River, in Washington County ; along the Iowa River, in Tama, Marshall, Ham- lin and Franklin Counties; and along the Des Moines River, in Humboldt County. The eco- nomic value of this formation is very consider- able, particularly in the northern portion of the region it occupies. In Pocahontas and Hum- boldt Counties it is almost invaluable, as no other stone except a few boulders are found here. At Iowa Falls the lower division is very good for building purposes. In Marshall Coun- ty all the limestone to be obtained comes from this formation, and the quarries near Le Grand are very valuable. At this point some of the layers are finely veined with peroxide of iron, and are wrought into ornamental and useful objects. In Tama County, the oölitic member is well exposed, where it is manufactured into lime. It is not valuable for building, as upon exposure to atmosphere and frost it crumbles to pieces.
The remains of fishes are the only fossils
18
HISTORY OF IOWA.
yet discovered in this formation that can be referred to the sub-kingdom vertebrata; and, so far as yet recognized, they all belong to the order selachians. Of articulates, only two species have been recognized, both of which belong to the genus phillipsia. The sub-king- dom mollusca is largely represented. The radiata are represented by a few crinoids, usually found in a very imperfect condition. The sub-kingdom is also represented by corals. The prominent feature in the life of this epoch was molluscan, so much so, in fact, as to over- shadow all other branches of the animal king- dom. The prevailing classes are lamellibran- chiates, in the more arenaceous portions, and brachiopods, in the more calcareous portions. No remains of vegetation have been detected in any of the strata of this formation.
The Burlington limestone consists of two distinct calcareous divisions, which are sepa- rated by a series of silicious beds. Both divis- ions are eminently crinoidal. The southerly dip of the Iowa rocks carries the Burlington limestone down, so that it is seen for the last time in this State in the valley of Skunk River, near the southern boundary of Des Moines County. The most northerly point at which it has been recognized is in the northern part of Washington County. It probably exists as far north as Marshall County. This formation affords much valuable material for economic purposes. The upper division furnishes excel- lent common quarry rock. The great abun- dance and variety of its fossils-crinoids- now known to be more than 300, have justly attracted the attention of geologists in all parts of the world. The only remains of vertebrates discovered in this formation are those of fishes, and consist of teeth and spines; bone of bony fishes, like those most common at the present day, are found in these rocks. On Buffington Creek, in Louisa County, is a
stratum in an exposure so fully charged with these remains that it might with propriety be called bone breccia. Remains of articulates are rare in this formation. So far as yet dis- covered, they are confined to two species of tribolites of the genus phillipsia. Fossil shells are very common. The two lowest classes of the sub-kingdom radiata are repre- sented in the genera zaphrentis, amplexus and syringapora, while the highest class-echino- derms-are found in most extraordinary pro- fusion.
The Keokuk limestone is only found in the four counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry and Des Moines. In some localities the upper silicious portion of this formation is known as the Geode bed. It is not recognizable in the northern portion of the formation, nor in con- nection with it where it is exposed, about eighty miles below Keokuk. The geodes of the Geode bed are more or less spherical masses of silex, usually hollow and lined with crystals of quartz. The outer crust is rough and un- sightly, but the crystals which stud the interior are often very beautiful. They vary in size from the size of a walnut to a foot in diameter. The economic value of this formation is very great. Large quantities of its stone have been used in the finest structures in the State, among which are the post-offices at Dubuque and Des Moines. The principal quarries are along the banks of the Mississippi, from Keo- kuk to Nauvoo. The only vertebrate fossils found in the formation are fishes, all belonging to the order selachians, some of which indicate that their owners reached a length of twenty- five or thirty feet. Of the articulates, only two species of the genus phillipsia have been found in this formation. Of the mollusks, no cephalopods have yet been recognized in this formation in this State; gasteropods are rare: brachiopods and polyzoans are quite abundant.
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19
HISTORY OF IOWA.
Of radiates, corals of genera zaphrentes, am- plexus and aulopera are found, but crinoids are most abundant. Of the low forms of animal life, the protozoans, a small fossil related to the sponges, is found in this formation in small numbers.
The St. Louis limestone is the uppermost of the subcarboniferous group in Iowa. The superficial area it occupies is comparatively small, because it consists of long, narrow strips, yet its extent is very great. It is first seen resting on the geode division of the Keo- kuk limestone, near Keokuk. Proceeding northward, it forms a narrow border along the edge of the coal fields in Lee, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Washington, Keokuk and Mahaska Counties. It is then lost sight of until it appears again in the banks of Boone River, where it again passes out of view under the coal measures until it is next seen in the banks of the Des Moines, near Fort Dodge. As it exists in Iowa, it consists of three tolera- bly distinct subdivisions-the magnesian, are- naceous and calcareous. The upper division furnishes excellent material for quicklime, and when quarries are well opened, as in the north- western part of Van Buren County, large blocks are obtained. The sandstone, or middle division, is of little economic value. The lower or magnesian division furnishes a valua- ble and durable stone, exposures of which are found on Lick Creek, in Van Buren Connty, and on Long Creek, seven miles west of Bur- lington. Of the fossils of this formation, the vertebrates are represented only by the remains of fish belonging to the two orders, selachians and ganoids. The articulates are represented by one species of the trilobite, genus phillipsia, and two ostracoid, genera, cythre and beyricia. The mollusks distinguish this formation more than any other branch of the animal kingdom. Radiates are exceedingly rare, showing a
marked contrast between this formation and the two preceding it.
The lower Silurian, upper Silurian and De- vonian rocks of Iowa are largely composed of limestone. Magnesia also enters largely into the subcarboniferous group. With the com- pletion of the St. Louis limestone, the produc- tion of the magnesian limestone seems to have ceased among the rocks of Iowa. Although the Devonian age has been called the age of . fishes, yet, so far as Iowa is concerned, the rocks of no period can compare with the sub- carboniferous in the abundance and variety of the fish remains, and, for this reason, the Bur- lington and Keokuk limestones will in the future become more famous among geologists, perhaps, than any other formations in North America.
The coal-measure group of Iowa is properly divided into three formations, viz., the lower, middle and upper coal measures, each having a vertical thickness of about 200 feet. A line drawn upon the map of Iowa as follows will represent the eastern and northern boundaries of the coal fields of the State: Commencing at the southeast corner of Van Buren County, carry the line to the northeast corner of Jeffer- son County by a slight easterly curve through the western portions of Lee and Henry Coun- ties. Trace this line until it reaches a point six or eight miles northward from the one last named, and then carry it northwestward, keep- ing it at about the same distance to the north- ward of Skunk River and its north branch that it had at first, until it reaches the southern boundary of Marshall County, a little west of its center. Then carry it to a point three or four miles northeast from Eldora, in Hardin County; thence westward to a point a little north of Webster City, in Hamilton County; and thence further westward to a point a little north of Fort Dodge, in Webster County.
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