USA > Iowa > Benton County > History of Benton County, Iowa. From materials in the public archives, the Iowa Historical society's collection, the newspapers, and data of personal interviews > Part 3
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Two master streams, the Cedar river and the Jowa, control the drainage of Benton county. The northeastern and the southwestern portions of the county are pretty well dissected by stream channels, and consequently have a fairly thorough sur- face drainage. Over a large portion of the intervening area. however, marshes are not infrequent. Many of the sloughs have not yet been converted into corn fields, nor have all of the swales been properly tiled and put under the plow.
These marshes are the contracted remnants of once larger glacial lakes. They represent the last stages in the passing of these lakes from which the water has been banished by the devel- .opment of slight drainage, by the shrinking of the ground water. by filling with material borne by the winds and washed by the rains from the bounding slopes, and by the accumulation of the imperfectly decomposed remains of moisture-loving plants which for many generations flourished around the shallow margin of these prairie pools.
Some of the marshes still furnish congenial conditions for the growth of cat-tails and rushes. The most of them. however support a luxuriant growth of swamp grass and sedges. During the summer months the uniformly rich green color of these grassy
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
patches is broken only where a solitary water hemlock spreads aloft its delicate umbels or a swamp milkweed unfolds its pur- ple flowers. Such areas are usually left by the farmer for native meadow, or fenced and utilized for purposes of pasturage.
THE IOWA RIVER.
The Iowa river receives the run-off from an area of about seventy-five square miles in the southwest corner of the county. It enters Benton from Tama county about the middle of the west side of section 31 of Iowa township. It cuts across the southwest corner of this section and enters Iowa county about the middle of the south side of the same section. After passing south for a distance of one-fourth of a mile, the channel bends northward and once more enters Jowa township near the southwest corner of section 32. It meanders near the south side of this section for one-half mile, then bending further southward it again leaves Benton county and returns no more to its borders.
Along this portion of its course the river flows in a channel of pre-Kansan age, which was probably carved in the indurated rocks before the advent of the Glacial cpoch. Wells that have been put down over the flood plain of the Iowa river, in Benton county, show that the pre-glacial channel was more than two hundred feet deeper than the bed of the present stream. The width of the ancient valley has not been definitely ascertained .. but well borings would indicate that it was probably not less than five or six miles. The waters of the present river flow in a broad flood plain nearly two miles in width. The valley is bor- dered by bluffs of Kansan drift that stand sixty to eighty feet above the hed of the stream. At none of the numerous mean- ders of the river has the current cut away the bordering hills to such an extent as to expose the indurated rocks which formed the banks of the pre-glacial valley.
The only tributary to the Jowa river whose waters are large- ly collected from Benton county is Stein creek. This stream rises in the ill drained swales of the Iowan drift plain near the southern border of Kane township. It flows in a southeasterly direction across lowa township. crossing the county line near the southwest corner of section 36. It drains a few square miles along the south side of the township of Kane, and the greater portion of the surface of lowa township.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
THE CEDAR RIVER.
The Cedar river enters Benton county, from Black Hawk. near the northwest corner of section 6, township 86 north. range 10 west. It flows for about two miles in a direction a little south of east and then bends pearly due south for a distance of three miles. Along this portion of its journey the waters are bounded for much of the distance by abrupt ledges of limestone. Near the middle of the west side of section 21 of Harrison township the river bends westward. debonching in a broad, drift bordered valley, one and one-half to two miles in width, which it follows down to the city of Vinton.
This broad valley continues toward the southeast from Vin- ton, past the town of Shellsburg and beyond the limits of the county. It is bordered on the north by rather abruptly sloping hills, but on the south the bed of the channel merges by a gentle gradient into the undulations of the Iowan plain. Justead of fol- lowing the direct course in the channel already formed, the bed of which is only a few feet higher than its own flood plain. the Cedar river swings northward at Vinton and continues to flow in that direction up to the southeast corner of section 9, of Taylor township. It then changes to a southeasterly trend for two and one-half miles, when it again bends to the northeast for one mile, and then, with a swing to the southeast and east. it reaches the old town of Benton City, about the middle of the west side of section 20, Benton township. At this point. once more an opportunity was presented for the Cedar river to ap- propriate an old pre-glacial channel. With inexplicable perver- sity, it again turns aside from the ready formed waterway and choosing the longer course and more difficult route, it swings in a broad curve two and one-half miles farther north. carving a new channel one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty feet in depth in the hard limestones of the Cedar Valley stage. The river leaves the county near the middle of the east side of sections 13 of Benton township. It again meets the pre-glacial channel not far from the town of Palo, a short distance east of the Benton county line. By the erratic course which it follows from Vinton to Palo the river traverses a journey of eighteen miles to shorten the distance to its mouth by one-half that number of miles. It carves a channel to a depth of more than one hundred
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
fret in hard limestones, in order to avoid the shallow cutting and ready erosion that would have been required by the more direct route.
PRAIRIE CREEK.
Prairie creek drains a larger area in Benton county than any other tributary to the Cedar river. It rises in the marshes of Kane and Homer townships. It flows a little east of south for a dozen miles. in a direction nearly parallel with the channel of Salt creek, which lies ten miles to the westward. and with the valley of Stein creek nearer at hand. However, instead of con- timming parallel with those streams and rendering tribute to the lowa river, its channel bends abruptly towards the cast near the northwest corner of seetion 16. of Leroy township. It swings two miles to the southward as it crosses near the middle of Saint Clair township. and again bends an equal distance to the north as it passes across the township of Florence. From the elbow in Leroy township the channel of Prairie creek maintains a trend that is practically parallel with the valley of the Iowa river up to the point where it leaves the county, near the southeast cor- her of section 12 of the latter township. Its waters meet those of the Cedar river about a dozen miles further eastward, in Linn county. Prairie creek has a longer flow in Benton county than any other stream, traversing a distance of over forty miles. It embraces in its basin the larger portion of Kane township, the southern part of Big Grove, the northeast corner of Iowa, prac- tically the whole of Union and Saint Clair, the larger portion of Leroy and Florence and the southern part of Fremont and Eldorado townships. Ii drains an area of more than one hunt- dred and eighty square miles.
Throughout the whole of the eastward flowing portion of its course in Benton county the bed of Prairie creek follows par- allel with, and only one to two miles distant. from, the divide that separates its basin from that of the Iowa river. Its attuents from the south are short, insignificant branches, none of which are of sufficient consequence to merit a name. From the north it receives tribute from Weasel, Buffalo and Mud creeks. the latter being more than a dozen miles in length. Prairie creek is a typical representative of a class of streams in lowa that have devel- oped unsymmetrical basins, the channel of the master stream lying very close to the south side of the area which it drains.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
Of the other streams that owe allegiance to the Cedar river. and which flow for the greater portion of their courses in Benton county, the largest are Bloe. Prairie and Bear creeks on the north. and Mud. Bear, Pratt. Hinkle and Rock creeks on the south. These are generally simple, consequent waterways. with- ont any complex series of secondary branches. They range in length from ten to fifteen or eighteen miles. They are all prairie streams. Their beginnings can be traced back to the swales and marshy meadows of the lowan drift plain. Out from these boggy slonghs the water slowly filters, forming perennial springs. These unfailing fountains feed the larger streams with a con- stant supply of clear. pure water.
For some distance from its source the water follows lazily along shallow. grassy depressions that are bordered by no erosion formed bauks. After a few miles, each stream becomes estab- lished in a wide, partially drift- filled valley that was formed prior to the advent of the Kansan glacier, and which neither that ice sheet nor the subsequent Jowan succeeded in completely obliter- ating. Even here. however, the bed of each of the present streams lies but a few feet below the general level of the region through which it flows. Along this portion of their courses there is ex- posed at rare intervals ledges of indurated rock. Such outerop- pings are exceedingly infrequent. however, and are limited to the north half of the county, with the exception of a small area adjacent to the town of Shellsburg.
WATER SUPPLY OF BENTON COUNTY
Almost everywhere in the county shallow wells find in the drift a bountiful supply of pure water at a depth ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five feet. The Cedar river and the Iowa furnish an abundant and permanent water supply to the regions through which they flow. The larger tributaries of the major streams have their sources in the boggy springs over the Iowan plain. and their perennial flow supplies stock water of the finest kind to the farms over large areas. The town of Vinton obtains its water from two deep wells which penetrate the Saint Peter and the underlying sandstones. One of these wells has a depth of 1.172 feet, and the other 1.287 feet below the surface.
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IHISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
BELLE PLAINE ARTESIAN AREA. -
The southwestern portion of the county is embraced in the Belle Plaine artesian basin. The flowing wells of this basin de- rive their water from the porous gravels that here underlie the Kansan drift. at a varying depth of from ninety to three hundred feet. A number of such wells occur in Iowa township, and a few are found in Kane and Leroy. These artesian wells furnish an ideal supply of water for farm purposes. The water carries sneh a high percentage of minerals, notably calcium and mag- nesium sulphate, that it is not suitable for drinking or culinary purposes. It possesses no valuable medicinal properties. It eon- tains such quantities of inerusting and corroding salts that it is unsuitable for use in steam pipes and boilers. Some years ago the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul railway company put up a round house and other large buildings at the town of Van Horne. On account of the pipe consuming and inerusting min- erals in the water at this place, the works have been abandoned and the buildings are now unused.
The so-called Belle Plaine area of artesian wells is one of the most famous geological regions of that nature in the prairie states of the west, and has been made the subject of many re- ports, both popular and careless. expert and scientific. Without being unduly technical. we shall briefly describe this interesting section of the county. The facts, as a whole, are taken from the very complete and valuable report made by H. R. Mosnat to the łowa Geological Survey. in 1899.
About forty miles east of the geographical center of the state of Iowa, is an area. about one hundred square miles in extent. oreupying a portion of the valley of the lowa river, and nearly all of the valley of Salt creek. a tributary of the river from the north. This area is apparently like the adjacent conutry, but by drilling to a depth of 110 to 360 feet numerous artesian wells have been found. Non-flowing artesian wells were secured in the high. rolling land to the northeast of Belle Plaine. as early as 1882; four years later a strong flow was struck in the city itself and later, in 1886, the famous "Junho" was allowed to break loose. Thus, for historical reasons, this has been called the Belle Plaine artesian area. The exploration of the basin has not altered the appropriateness of the name, as Belle Plaine is still approxi- mately its center .. In general, the width of the area is about six miles. About three and one-half miles sontheast of Belle Plaine
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
L
ARTESIAN WELL AT BELLE PLAINE
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
the width diminishes to about three miles. and from this point it rapidly increases to twelve miles, which width it maintains as far south as the area has been explored. The field, as far as ex- plored, extends from northwest to southwest. from Vining to Ladora, a distance of twenty miles, diagonally crossing the pres- ent valley of the Iowa river.
The Belle Plaine artesian area is one of the most important of its kind in glacial drift of Iowa. embracing about one-tenth of the whole number of artesian wells so far drilled in glacial drift in the state.
The wells are most numerons in the flood-plain of the Jowa river, particularly in the Salt creek valley and westward of it. and the water supplying all of these wells comes from the same water-bearing layer. making very apparent the reasonableness of Professor Norton's definition of the word "artesian." The very case there supposed actually occurred to the previously flowing wells in the Belle Plaine area, when "Jumbo" broke loose: that is, the other wells ceased flowing and became "deep wells." "deep borings," etc. After "Jumbo" was controlled. the wells which had stopped flowing began to flow again.
As remarked above. the Belle Plaine artesian area was dis- covered about 1882. in the elevated. rolling country two to four miles northeast of Belle Plaine. The water in the first wells drilled rose to within twenty-five or fifty feet of the surface. They were wholly in blue clay, and so were easily drilled and not expensive. It was noticed that the water had a peculiar mineral taste; that it left a red sediment and stain; and, after a time. it was observed that the water rapidly corroded iron pipe: but no one took the trouble to have the water analyzed. The supply of water was inexhaustible and constant. Live stock liked the water after becoming accustomed to the taste. It, therefore. made a good water for stock, and was used for that purpose only, being pumped usually by windmills.
BELLE PLAINE'S "JUMBO."
"Hilton Bros .. of Boston." says Mr. Mosnat, "needed an unlimited supply of water for their ereamery at Belle Plaine. In April. 1886, a 2-inch well was drilled which proved a pleasant surprise. At a depth of 215 feet, after passing through blue clay, water was struck which rose from the well curb with a pres- sure of more than thirty-five pounds per square inch, or to a
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
height of about seventy-seven feet from the surface. This well was located at the eastern edge of Belle Plaine. Immediately other wells were drilled. The flow secured varied with the ele- vation of the surface, the water in all the wells rising to the same head, about 915 feet A. T. A well was drilled on top of a hill in the northern part of Belle Plaine, at an elevation of 918 feet A. T. This well. of course. did not flow, but it was a much more reliable indicator of the head than the strong flowing wells. The head of water rose to within three feet of the surface, showing the head to be. at that time. 915 feet.
"Shortly after the last mentioned well was completed. the most famous of all Iowa artesian wells was drilled. This well. for its brief day. attracted a popular notice almost as wide as the Charleston earthquake, which occurred about three days later. and with which the outburst of water from this well was connected by a romaneing newspaper reporter. Professor Chamberlin remarked that the only similitude of seismic disturb- ance, as the cause of this well, was in the moral faculties of said reporter. Renewed geyser activity in Yellowstone park, a seismi. movement on the opposite hemisphere, the Charleston earthquake and this runaway well at Belle Plaine, were at once connected as factors in a common disturbance of the earth's erust. A relation between the first three may have been possible, but connecting the well with them was as ridiculous as many of the theories advanced as to the source of the water supply.
"The notoriety of 'Jumbo'. of Belle Plaine, was strictly that of a member of the criminal class, and began with his resistance to control. and lasted only until his final imprisonment. The at- rounts of the well given in newspapers were in many instances most sensational, their extravagance increasing directly as the square of the distance from Belle Plaine. European papers published accounts of the water spouting hundreds of feet into the air, with a roar that could be heard for miles, and even pie- tured people being resened by boats from the third and fourth stories of houses.
"As Professor Chamberlin remarks, the record lacks detail, and possible precision. But inaccurate as the record no doubt is, it is the most careful that has been kept, and satisfactorily shows the geological structure which will be considered under that heading. This well is a typical well on low ground. The elevation of the curb is 811 feet A. T. A local history of the well is entitled: 'A complete History of the Jumbo Artesian Well
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
of Belle Plaine, lowa, Known as the Eighth Wonder of the World,' second edition, by A. C. Huston.
"Professor Norton's account of the history of 'Jumbo' is
The
accurate, and is given below with some additional facts.
seventh well 'Jumbo,' was drilled on lower ground than any of the others, and reached the water-bearing stratum of sand and gravel at 193 feet. (A. T. S1].) The beginning of the trouble lay in the fact that the driller attempted to use the force of the flow in reaming out the two-inch bore, which he had put down for want of a larger drill, to three inches, the dimension specified in the contract. This task the water speedily accomplished in the mindurated clays and sands, but. not stopping there, went on and soon enlarged the bore to over three feet in diameter. When the driller saw the result of his inexcusable carelessness; which result he ought to have foreseen, he hastily decamped and was not heard of until the popular excitement had subsided.
"The force of the water was sufficient to throw out two- bushel sacks filled with sand. Through this three foot shaft the water boiled up in a fountain five feet in height-the press reports giving several hundred feet as the height of this fountain, were exaggerated-flooding streets and lawns. and covering them with sand. It was estimated that from 500 to 1.000 carloads of sand were discharged from the well. The quantity was certainly so great that only with the greatest effort could the ditches be kept open to carry off the water. Gravel and small pebbles of the drift. representing a great variety of northern rocks, were thrown out.
"The writer has a flint bowlder weighing two and one-fourth pounds which was thrown ont by 'Jumbo.' There may have Wwen others even larger. It is not necessary to suppose that these larger stones came from the bottom of the well, as bowlders are occasionally encountered in drilling through the till sheets. Pieces of fossil wood, some of them two or three feet long and four or five inches thick, were thrown out. These, no doubt, came from the forest bed which represents the Aftonian interglacial stage between the Kansan and sub-Aftonian till sheets. Small boys, of which the writer was one. put fossil wood, pebbles and sand into bottles and sold them to visitors to the well during the few days of its fame.
"The maximum flow of water was variously estimated at 5,- 000.000 to 9,000.000 gallons per day, 30,000 to 50,000 gallons Vol. 1-2
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
per minute. Two weeks after the well was drilled Professor Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago, calculated its dis- charge at 3,000,000 gallons per day; 2,000 gallons per minute. The enormous flow rapidly drew down the head until the other wells ceased flowing.
"The attempt to case and control the well continued from August 26, 1886, the date when the water was struck. to October 26, 1887, when the task was successfully accomplished. During this time the well, 193 feet deep. devoured, as the local historian recounts, 163 feet of 18-inch pipe, 77 feet of 16-inch pipe. 60 feet of 5-inch pipe, an iron cone 3 feet in diameter and 24 feet long, 40 carloads of stone, 130 barrels of cement, and an inesti- mable amount of sand and clay.
"After Jumbo broke away. the head of water in the other wells fell rapidly until those on Main street-elevation. 848 and $46 feet A. T .- ceased to flow on August 30th; four days after Jumbo began his escapade. The head diminished 67 feet in four days, an average of ahnost 17 feet per day. By September 7th the water had dropped to 838.5 feet A. T .. a fall of 1.3 feet per day. From that time until September 20th the head diminished at an average of 3 inches per day. of to 835 feet A. T. The Lead remained at this point for about 3 days-24 feet above Jumbo -- and then began to rise until, on November 22d, it was within 5 inches of the surface at Main street. or an average rise of .6 foot per day. The well was then closed for the winter. About 1500 well No. 88 was allowed to break away by careless drilling. and a second Jumbo occurred. This one did not act just like the first one. Instead of coming out in one stream, the water flowed from every gopher hole over several acres. It probably spread out is an underlying bed of sand. This well again drew down the hea l. Little was done to shut it off. It was allowed to run until it had choked itself up, and all the other wells had again ceased flowing
BUILDING MATERIALS.
The foundation of the rich soil from which springs the agri- cultural wealth of Benton county is composed of limestones and shales. Although these form the basic supplies of the chemical constituents of the soil. their out-erops are found only in the northern and northeastern portion of the county and have been utilized. economically, to a comparatively small extent. The ex- posnres of limestone in section 36, Cedar township, and section
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
6. Taylor township. furnished the best quality of building stone found in the county. The rock is yellow. very hard and fine grained, and the ledge onterops almost continuously at the base of a bluff for nearly a mile. Several quarries have been operated in this locality, but lack of shipping facilities is a serious draw- back. At several points near Vinton deposits have also been worked, but, as a rule. the material here has been found suitable only for rough masonry. In the vicinity of Shellsburg the lime- , stone beds have also produced a grade of stone used in cellars and foundations. Blocks of the limestone quarried from deposits on the Cedar river. in the northern part of the county, may be seen in the piers of the Mount Auburn-Brandon bridge; and limestone beds have also been worked to some extent near Garrison. In nearly all cases the supply has been for local demands.
Lime has been manufactured to some extent from limestone beds in Taylor and Jackson townships, kilns in the latter town- ship having been operated near Garrison. At various places in the state. especially in its eastern sections, stone which is similar to that found near Garrison has been manufactured into lime on a large scale.
Materials suitable for permanent road building are abundant, and fortunately located. over the county. The numerous rock ex- posures in the townships of Cedar. Harrison. Polk, Benton, Taylor, Jackson and Canton, would furnish an unlimited supply of stone, which. when crushed. would make an excellent macadam. These outerops are so readily accessible from all portions of the area that no long hauls would be required to cover all of the main lines of travel with this material. Along the north bank of Pratt creek. it Cedar township, is a bed in which the rock fragments are so small that, without crushing. they are ready to be taken out and applied to the roads. While no exposures of indurated rocks oreur in the townships of Bruce. Monroe. Homer, Big Grove and Eden. yet such deposits are encountered but a short distance beyond their borders.
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