USA > Iowa > Davis County > History of Davis County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 39
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This is the " Red Man's Summer," of which the poet # sings:
When was the red man's summer? When the rose Hung its first banner out? When the gray rock, Or the brown heath, the radiant Kalmia clothed ? Or when the loiterer, by the reedy brooks,
Startled to see the proud lobelia glow Like living flame? When through the forest gleam'd The rhododendron? Or the fragrant breath Of the magnolia swept deliciously O'er the half laden nerve ?
*Mrs. Sigourney.
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
No. When the groves
In fleeting colors wrote their own decay, And leaves fell eddying on the sharpen'd blast That sang their dirge; when o'er their rustling bed The red deer sprang, or fled the shrill-voiced quail, Heavy of wing and fearful; when, with heart Foreboding or depress'd, the white man mark'd The signs of coming winter: then began The Indian's joyous season. Then the haze, Soft and delusive as a fairy dream, Lapp'd all the landscape in its silvery fold.
The quiet rivers that were wont to hide 'Neatlı shelving banks, behold their course betrayed By the white mists that o'er their foreheads crept, While wrapped in morning dreams, the sea and sky Slept 'neath one curtain, as if both were merged In the same element. Slowly the sun, And all reluctantly, the spell dissolved, And then it took upon its parting wing A rainbow glory.
Gorgeous was the time, Yet brief as gorgeous. Beautiful to thee, Our brother hunter, but to us replete With musing thoughts in melancholy train. Our joys, alas! too oft were woe to thee; Yet ah! poor indian, whom we fain would drive Both from our hearts and from thy father's lands, The perfect year doth bear thee on its crown, And when we would forget, repeat thy name.
GEOLOGY.
They are compartively few who pause to question Nature; and fewer still are they who stay to question the inanimate roek. On the landscapes and beneath the surface are indications of a history that challenge investigation ; on every hill and in every valley are facts waiting to be noticed and inter- preted, and whether the mass of men notice them or not, the story they il- lustrate still has its charm. The hills were here when men eame; the rills and creeks bubbled as merrily on their way to the sea then as now; the broad rich aeres of prairie land were as fruitful then as now, and the prom- ise as great. Why then stay to study these familiar rocks? or why panse to discuss their origin? Let the following facts answer these questions, and answering arouse intelligent interest.
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
The geological history of Davis county is one of peculiar moment, and affords some very suggestive facts relative to its past vicissitudes. It ex- tends in point of time over many thousands of years, and embraces periods of repose and periods of remarkable change. Its history, climatologically, has been one of deep interest, and embraces changes so radical and so directly at variance with one another as to be almost incredible. There have been long ages when it basked under a torrid sun; and then these ages gave place to others; remarkable for polar frosts. Life, in all the lux- uriance and variety of a tropical climate, gave place to the desert wastes of an Artic zone. Nor were these changes sudden. They are there; stamped in the very rocks at your doors, or limned upon the landscape of your val- leys, not as great and far-reaching catastrophies, but as gradual transitions, indisputably marked as such by the fossil forms that roll out from the rock you crush, or see traced with a delicacy no draughtsman can imitate.
There have been times when Old Ocean, heedless of his doings, dashed against the rocky barrier that dared dispute his way, or rolled in solemn conscious might above its highest point; times when a beautiful and varied flora thrived upon its surface, and times when there was naught save a waste of desert water. We strike our pick in the shales on the hillsides, and behold! there in the coal that gives us warmth and drives our engines, are the fairy forms that made the fern paradise of the coal period- beautiful arguments those of changes that thousands of years, as we measure them, would not compass.
In presenting the following principal facts in the geology of Davis county, enough only has been given of the lithological characters of the varions rock strata to enable the interested reader to identify them. Many points of interest trom a geological stand-point, have necessarily been omit- ted; their introduction would have unduly lengthened the chapter, and scarcely possessed any general interest. To trace, briefly, the changes that have occurred, and to note their probable causes are the main purposes of this sketch. There has been given a detailed account of the various strata from above downwards, hence each formation is to be considered later than the one next succeeding it. Cronologically, this method of treatment takes us backward in time, and as we reach successively the older strata, we are gradually approaching earth's morning; geographically we thus deal first with the entire surface of the county; subsequently, and with particular reference to the Lower Coal Measures, we have to do with local outerops of rock strata.
The entire surface of Davis county, except in the very valleys where the surface soil is called alluvium, is covered with the drift, a formation which
347
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
derives its name from the manner of its introduction over the surface, a method hereafter to be explained. The term "drift," as it is commonly employed in geology. "ineludes the sand, gravel, clay, and boulders oceur- ring over some parts of the continent, which are without stratification or order of arrangement, and have been transplanted from places in higher latitudes by some ageney which (1) eould earry masses of rock hundreds of tons in weight, and which (2) was not always dependent for motion on the slopes of the surface."-Hall. This ageney was ice either in the form of an extensive glacier, or detached masses called iee-bergs. The whole surface of North America, to the thirty-ninth parallel, bears evidence of the denud- ing and transforming power. It requires not a little streteh of the imagina- tion to conecive all the streamns of Davis county tied to their banks by bands of ice. The ice-locked rill ceases to babble over its rocky bed, the forests have gone like a vision, and all is one mass of moving iee, a veritable pala- eocrystie sea. In its progress onward old valleys were filled and new ones dug, rocks were polished, fragments detached and rounded, hills leveled and the entire aspect of nature changed. It left at our very doors masses of rock, large and small, or buried them in the hill-side, to exeite our won- der and arouse us to speculate as to their origin. They were brought hither from some northern locality, where the material from which they were de- rived is found in situ, and hence the general movements of the glacier was to the southward. In this county the drift is exposed in all the valleys and ravines, and sometimes on the hillsides where the surface soil, or humus, has been removed. A few feet of this soil removed by the spade will ex- pose the drift in its upper layers, which are here arranged in a kind of strat- ified manner, and which constitute what is called modified drift, a drift in which the materials have been assorted, in a rude sort of way, and arranged in strata by the action of water. This rearranging, or modification, was . effected after the melting or recession of the glacier which brought the materials here; and perhaps in one of those periods of subsidence or con- tinual depression which made the greater part of Iowa one vast inland sea. In the deepest valleys the outcrops of the drifts are to be seen to the best advantage, and there they should be studied in order to learn all its peculiar features. But wherever seen the same essential features are presented to the eye. It is seen to be a compound of clay and gravel, with occasional beds of sand, and is deposited with considerable regularity of stratification. It usually contains many small and well-worn pieces of gneiss, prophyry, hornblende, and other primary rocks, together with occasional small frag- ments of limestone, sandstone, and bits of slate and coal, which have been torn from rocks and transported from points more or less remote from their
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
present locality. The bluffs along the Mississippi river are almost entirely composed of drift, a most striking difference between them and those along the Missouri, which are, superficially at least composed of the loess.
By far the most important geological formations in this county are the coal measures, with which parts of the county is underlaid. Lying imme- diately below the drift are found the Upper Coal Measure strata, which, though spread over the greater portion of the county, do not often appear as surface roeks; nor do they frequently outcrop in the beds of the larger streams as might naturally be expected. This is due, perhaps, to the very deep deposits of the drift, through which most of the streams of the county flow.
The next strata, those of the Middle Coal Measures, comprise a consider- able portion of the rocks which are presented to view in this county. As studied by Dr. C. A. White," in this county. In this division of the coal measures is found the so-called Panora coal, named from the village of that name in Guthrie county, where it was studied at a fine exposure. This ex- posure, and another one in the immediate vicinity of Wheeler's Mill present the lithologieal character of these rocks in a splendid manner for study. A few feet above the Panora eoal at this locality, appears a second, perhaps local, bed of eoal, which has not been opened in the northern extension of this formation, and to which the name of Wheeler coal has been given. The following succession of strata were there observed:
FEET.
No. 10. Mottled blue and yellow shales 4
No. 9. Wheeler coal 1월
No. 8. Mottled blue and yellow shales 8 No. 7. Grayish impure limestone, two layers 2
No. 6. Blue shales. 5
No. 5. Hard, brittle bluish lime roek.
No. 4. Bituminous, fissile shale. 12
*The work of Dr. White is often condemned as inaccurate and incomplete. The inaccu- racy, if such there exists, is the result of the incompleteness, the latter caused by the short- sightedness of the general assembly which ordered the disorganization of the survey, and the publication of the results obtained, before opportunity was given to correct data and re- sults. Twice has the State instituted a survey, and as many times summarily brought it to a close before its work was fairly begun. Once. under Dr. Hall, the State prosecuted re- searches of this character, allowed the director. Dr. Hall to advance moneys to pay the as- sistants and then repudiated the debt-which to this day remains unpaid-and brought the survey to an end. The time is coming when a survey must be had, and it is to be hoped is in the near future. Dr. White demonstrated enough of our geology to show the necessity of a complete geological and natural history survey, and the sooner this object is brought to the legislature and intelligently acted on, the sooner will the higher interest of the State be served .- Pub.
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
FEET.
No. 3. Panora coal
No. 2. Blue shales . 2
No. 1. Yellow, gritty shales 6
These shales and limestones contain numerous fossils, characteristie, some of them, of this strata are of the formation.
The Lower Coal Measure has no exposure in this county, although gelogi- cal indications evidences the fact that it underlies the north part of the county in the same proportion as it does in the other coal counties.
These measures have been divided by geologists, into the Upper, Middle and Lower, for convenience in study, but they are not wholly arbitrary di- visions. It will be noted by the careful observer, that the Lower Coal Measures have numerous and sometimes large strata of sandstones. These are characteristic of this division. Taken in connection with the deposits of fire or potter's clay, which invariably are to be found below the coal seams, they form a most reliable guide as to the horizon to which they should be referred. The strata next above are also arenaceous, but to a much less extent, and have none of the strata of fire clay. The Upper Measures are characterized by the prevalence of limestones among the strata. The Middle Measures are to be regarded as transitional between the first and last. The other lithological differences which should be noted by the student have been pointed out in the sections made at various local- ities. It will be noted also that the heavier or thicker beds of coal are found in the lower, the next in thickness and quality in the middle, while no beds of workable coal are to be found in the upper measures. Aside from these general features that will serve to distinguish these formations, there are other facts, but they are not so patent- Reference is made to the palaeontological features of the rocks in question. These consist in the re- mains of animals, belonging to both the vertebrate and invertebrate classes. The vertebrates are represented solely by the fishes, of which several gene- "a and species are found in the rocks belonging more especially to the mid- lle coal measure strata. The forms of lower or invertebrate life are much nore numerous, consisting of the remains of brachiopods, a elass belong- ng, it is now believed, to the worms, but for a long time and still by nany, grouped with the mollusca. The latter are represented by various pecies of univalves, some bivalves, and an occasional land-shell. The last has been found only in the corresponding strata in the State of Illinois, but without doubt also oceur here. Plants are numerous, as the known vege- able origin of coal would lead us to naturally infer. The crustaceans are epresented by the remarkable genns Phillipsin. The radiates by echino-
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
derms and corals, and the protozoans by the peenliar little form known to scientists as Fusilina cylindrica. This interesting little form is abundant in the limestones of the Upper Coal Measures, and will readily serve to distinguish them. It oecnrs rarely in the Middle, and not at all, so far as known, in the Lower Coal Measures. It may be likened, without doing violence to the analogy, to fossil grains of wheat, and indeed Dr. D. D. Owen, in his report of the geology of Iowa, mentioned this fact as a com- mon one in the belief of many people with whom he conversed. These remains are in themselves very instructive, and offer a fruitful field for in- vestigation. They relate a story which is truly marvelous; one well worth the pains and toil requisite to comprehend it.
The economieal resources of this county are great. Aside from its exten- sive beds of invaluable coal, are the adjacent beds of fire-clay for pottery and tiling; the great beds of blue elay and sand stone for brick mannfac- ture, and the extensive quarries of limestone for purposes of building. These need but to be enumerated to indicate their value. In every respect, geo- logically, Davis is one of Iowa's most favored counties; beneath its surface lie inexhaustible mines of mineral wealth, and within the soil are some of the greatest of agrienltural possibilities.
An interesting feature has been observed in connection with the soils in the region occupied by the coal-measures, and in which the Drift deposits are but sparingly distributed, compared to the region farther north. The comparative paucity of the Drift in this section, which includes the counties of Warren, Lucas, Monroe, Davis, and Appanoose, seems to furnish satisfactory explanation of the origin of the argillaceous soil ocenrring over considerable tracts in the uplands in those counties. We are foreibly struck with the appearance of these traets in passing from the northern counties sonthward, or from the loamy soils of the Drift region, to the argillaceous soil locally found in the southern eoal counties. The clay soil is of a light color, somewhat recalling the Bluff soil in appearance, but differing widely from that deposit in composition, and is very fertile and durable; but it is not as susceptible of tillage. in extreme wet or dry seasons, as are the loamy soils of the Drift. It is probably directly derived from the disintegration of the shales of the subjacent coal-measures.
Davis county is known to contain large quantities of excellent coal, but since the streams which traverse it are none of them large, they have not exposed inch of it by the erosion of their valleys. The prominent exposures are in the valleys of Soap and Salt Creeks, in the northern part of the county, where the coal measures are about four feet in thickness. This county is bounded on every side by well known coal counties, and there
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
is no reason why it should not ultimately rank among the best eval counties in the State.
The quarries of Sandstone in this county, are a source from which sneceeding generations may draw inexhaustible supplies of building material; the texture of the stone when quarried, though very soft and shaley, and easily worked, soon becomes hard as adamant on exposure to the atmosphere. It is now very extensively used for building purposes.
There are two very fine geologieal collections in this county, one in the possession of Hon. Lyman P. Bates, of West Grove township, and the other belonging to Hon. Samnel B. Downing, of Fox River township, the present representative from this eounty. A great deal of enterprise and geologieal experience is displayed in their collection and arrangement.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY .*
The natural history of this county is almost the exact counterpart of that of all prairie countries. While its forms of life present an infinite diversity, only a few of the many are found to be predominant. With the single ex- ception of the inseets, the birds will be found most numerously represented. The time was, however, when the larger forms of life abounded; when the deer, the elk and the buffalo made these prairies their home. The coming of the white man, attended by all the circumstances of progress, has driven tliese larger forms from the county, and now the smaller kinds alone retain a footing.
There is no record of any attempt at any time made to determine the re- lation of the flora and fauna of this county to the rest of the State. In no counties but those in the eastern portion of the State has such a work been done, and there chiefly in the interests of science and by private individu- als. It is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when the State will order and sustain to completion an intelligent and exhaustive survey of her great domain-a survey, the value of which will become more and more apparent with the growth of years. Twice has the State instituted a geo- logical survey, and twice has it failed to support the same, and brought both to a close while yet their work was in its infaney. All that is valua- ble, all that is best known, of its natural resources has been contributed by the pens and at the expense of men in private life. The following resume of the natural history of the county is by no means a complete representa- tion of its forms, and is to be considered only as indicative of the nature of its resources, both animal and vegetable, In the lists following as much in-
*Exclusive of fishes and insects.
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
formation has been incorporated as is consistent with a simple catalogue of forms. This is especially true of the trees and shrubs. It is manifestly impossible to give either descriptions or life histories of a single species in a work of this nature. For the sake of insuring accuracy in the reader, both scientific and common names are given.
AVIDLE-BIRDS .* TURDIDE-THRUSHES.
1. Turdus migratorius, Linn-Robin.
2. (?) Turdus naevius, Gmelin-Varied Thrush.
3. Turdus mustelinus, Gmelin-Wood thrush.
4. Turdus pallasii, Cab-Hermit thrush.
5. Turdus swainsonii, Cab-Swainson's thrush.
6. Mimus Carolinensis, Cab-Cat bird.
7. (?) Mimus polyglottus, Boie-Mocking bird.
8. Harporhynchus rufus, Cab-Brown thrush. SAXICOLIDE-BLUE BIRDS AND STONE-CHATS.
9. Sialia sialis, Haldeman-Blue bird. .
10. (?) Silia mexicana, Sw .- Western blue bird.
PARIDE-TITMICE.
11. Purus atricapillus, Linn-Chickadee.
12. Parus atricapillus var. septentrionalis, Allen-Long-tailed chicka- dec.
13. Lophophanes bicolor, Bonap-Crested titmouse.
SYLVIIDA-WARBLERS.
14. Regulus satrapa, Licht-Golden-crested kinglet.
15. Regulus calendula, Licht-Ruby-crested kinglet.
16. Polioptila caerulea, Sclat-Blue-gray guat-catcher.
CERTIHADE-CREEPERS.
17. Certhia familiaris, Linn-Brown creeper.
*In the following catalogue the general arrangement of Coues' "Birds of the Northwest " is adopted as being the one most consistent with the great mass of observed facts, and is the one approved by the leading ornithologists of the country. The arrangement is by families. A few species are included which have not been observed in the county but are known to oc- cur in the counties surrounding. Such are marked with an asterisk (*). Species doubtfully referred to the county are indicated by a question mark (?). Many of the following list have not been observed in this county, but are admitted from the fact that they are known in the State, and on the authority of the work above mentioned, which places them here.
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
SITTIDE -- NUTHATCHES.
18. Sitta carolinensis, Lath- - White-breasted nuthatch.
19. Sitta canadensis, Linn-Red-breasted nuthatch; very rare.
TROGLODYTIDE-WRENS.
20. Sulpinctes obsoletus, Cab-Rock wren.
21. Anorthura hyemulis, Cones-Winter wren.
22. (?) Telmatodytes palustris, Bonap -Long-billed marsh wren.
23. (*) Cistothorus stellaris, Cab-Short-billed marsh wren.
24. (?)Thryothorus ludovicianus, Bonap-Carolina wren; a "rollick- singer. 25. Thryothorus bewickii, Bonap-Bewick's wren; an odd bird.
26. Troglodytes aedon, Vicill-House wren; pugnacions.
MOTACILLIDE -- WAG-TAILS.
27. Anthus ludovicianus, Lient-Tit-lark.
SYLVICOLIDE-WOOD-WARBLERS.
28. Mniotilta varia, Vieill-Black and white creeper.
29. Prothonotaria citraca, Baird-Prothonotary warbler.
30. * IIelminthophaga ruficapilla, Baird-Nasliville warbler.
Helminthophaga celata, Baird -- Golden-crowned warbler.
31. 32 (?)Ilelminthophaga pinus, Baird-Blue-winged yellow warbler.
33. * Dendroecu striata, Baird-Black-poll warbler.
Dendroeca palmurum, Baird-Merely a bird of passage.
36. 37. 38. Dendroecu coronatu, Gray-Yellow-crowned warbler.
34. 35 Dendoocca pinus, Wilson-Pine-creeping warbler; a fall loiterer. (?) Dendroecu virens, Baird-Black-throated green warbler.
Dendroecu cuernlescens, Baird-Black-throated blue warbler.
39 Dendroeca blackburniae, Baird-Blackburnian warbler.
40 Dendroeca castanea, Baird -- Bay-breasted warbler.
41. Dendroeca cuerulea, Baird-Blue warbler.
42. Dendroera uestiva, Baird-Yellow warbler.
43. Dendroera maculosa. Baird-Black and yellow warbler; prairie warbler.
44. Dendroera discolor, Baird-Yellow red-poll warbler.
45. Dendroeca dominica, Baird-Yellow- throated warbler.
46. Seiurus aurocapillus, Swain-Golden- crowned wagtail.
47. (*) Seiurus noveboracensis, Nutt-New York water wagtail.
48. Seiurus lodovicianus, Baird-Long-billed water thrush.
ing"
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
49. (*)Geothlypis trichas, Cab-Maryland yellow-throat.
50. Geothlypis philadelphia, Baird-Mourning warbler.
51. Oporornis formosus, Baird -- Kentucky warbler.
52. Myiodioctes pusillus, Bonap-Green black-eapped warbler.
53. Myiodioctes canadensis, Cab-Canada warbler.
54. Setophaga rutivilla, Swain-Red start.
55. leteria virens, Baird-Yellow-breasted chat.
TANAGRIDE -- TANAGERS.
56. (*)Pyranga rubra, Vieill -- Scarlet tanager.
57. Pyranga aestiva, Vieill -- Summer red bird.
HIRUNDINIDIE-SWALLOWS.
58. Hirundo horreorum, Barton -- Barn swallow.
59. Petrochelidon lunifrons, Sclater -- Cliff swallow.
60. Progne purpurea, Boie-Purple martin.
61. Cotyle riparia, Boie -- Bank swallow, sand martin.
62. Stelgidoptery serripennis, Baird-Rough-winged sand martin.
AMPELIDE -- WAX-WINGS.
63. Ampelis cedrorum, Gray -- Cedar bird, wax-wing.
64. Ampelis garrulus, Linn-Northern wax-wing.
VIREONDLE-VIREOS.
65. Vireo gilvus, Bonap -- Warbling vireo; common.
66. Vireo solitarius, Baird-Solitary vireo.
67 Vireo noveboruconsis, Bonap-White-eyed vireo.
68. Vireo bellii, Audubon-Bell's vireo.
69. Vireo olivaceous, Bonap-Red-eyed vireo.
70. (?) Vireo shslanelphicus, Cass -- Brotherly-love vireo.
71. (?) Vireo flavifrons, Baird-Yellow-throated vireo.
LANIIDE -- SHIRIKES.
72. Collurio borealis, Baird -- Northern shrike; buteher bird.
73. Collurio excubitorides, Coues -- White-rumped shrike.
ALAUDIDE-LARKS.
74. Eremophila alpestris, Boie -- Horned lark.
E. f. Shitton Ma
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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
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