USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 10
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They followed the buffaloes to the identical spot where Hampton now stands, and when night came on the party gave up the chase which they intended to resume the next morning. They now felt sure of bagging the big game next morning and as a matter of pre- caution built no camp fire that night for fear it might scare away the buffaloes. They ate a scanty meal of cold corn bread, tethered their horses and lay down to sleep away the June night on the Hampton prairie with dreams of great sport in store for them the next day. When morning came, the buffaloes had disappeared, but the herd of elk were quarried near Tharp's Grove, and a fine day's sport the hunters had from there to Van Horn's Grove. During the day they killed seven elk, four of them with horns measuring six feet from tip to tip.
CHAPTER V
GEOLOGIC FEATURES OF FRANKLIN COUNTY-ITS ROCKS, STREAMS AND HILLS-WOODS, FRUITS, SOIL AND COMMERCIAL CLAY-TO THE STUDENT THIS IS AN INTERESTING CHAPTER.
EARLIER GEOLOGICAL WORK
The area now within the confines of Franklin county was traversed previous to 1852 by parties under the direction of David Dale Owen in tracing the boundary between the Devonian and Car- boniferous systems.
Dr. C. A. White states that the Kinderhook limestone outcrops along the Iowa river in Franklin county. Careful search at the present time failed to reveal any exposures of this formation along the Iowa in the county. In Volume II of White's report published the same year, a general review of the geology and natural resources of Franklin county is given. All the indurated rocks exposed in the area were by this author referred to the Kinderhook. The pres- ent study indicates the presence of Devonian rocks in West Fork and Ingham townships. Exposures of shales and limestones may be frequently observed in the neighborhood of the west fork of the Cedar river, which bear typical Devonian fossils, thus leaving no question as to their identity.
The surface features of Franklin county are such that it can primarily be separated into two fairly distinct districts. The boun- daries of these districts have been determined by the deposition of glacial detritus from the two ice sheets last to invade the territory. Essentially the eastern tier of townships and the two upper members, Ross and Mott, of the second row, are included in the area of Iowan drift. The remainder of the county, approximately five-eighths of its total area, is covered with the more recent Wisconsin glacial till, and its topography is, as a result, characteristically immature.
The boundary line between these two provinces is somewhat irregular, but with few exceptions the differences in surface con-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
figuration are so marked that there arises no question as to its loca- tion. Its course across the county is in general from west of north to east of south. Entering two and a quarter miles from the east border of Richland, and passing one mile to the west of the city of Hampton, it divides Reeve township diagonally nearly into halves and detaching somewhat more than one and one-half square miles from the northeast corner of Grant, makes its exit into Hardin county two and one-quarter miles east of the western boundary of Osceola township. To the suspecting observer, who is already familiar with the trend of this dividing line in the counties to the north and south, there is much of suggestion as to its probable course in Franklin county to be obtained from the ordinary civil map which shows only legal boundaries, railroads and streams. Perusal of such a map will show the prevailing courses of the streams within the Wiscon- sin area to be eastward. Just before breaking through the moraine these streams, wtihout exception, assume a northeasterly direction, with many sharp turns and windings, as though seeking a vulnerable point of egress. Outside of the Wisconsin they at once assume the uniform south of easterly direction of flow.
On closer inspection of each of these two areas, it will be found that they again break up into more or less well defined districts according to, and depending on, the particular type of land form pre- dominating. The Iowan drift area may be considered in two parts, first, that portion whose surface features are due to the materials of the Iowan drift; and second, that part whose topography depends on the earlier erosion of the limestones and shales of the older forma- tions and later modifications by loess deposition. The Wisconsin drift area is separable into the Altamont moraine and the more level portion of the drift surface to be designated the drift plain.
IOWAN DRIFT AREA
About three-eighths of the county is covered with drift of Iowan age. But the materials of this sheet of drift are not alone responsi- ble for the topographic features of more than one-third of this area. The Iowan till sheet is relatively thin wherever observed in the state, and it becomes more attenuated near its southern border, which crosses eastern Hardin county some nine miles south from the Frank- lin county line. The thickness of this deposit in Franklin county is, over considerable areas in Ross, West Fork, Reeve and Osceola town- ships, sufficient to disguise largely pre-existing features and to exert
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a ruling influence on the present topography. Away from the streams in the townships mentioned the land surface is in general level, often monotonously so for miles, the characteristic Iowan drift plain. This is especially true of portions of Ross and West Fork townships. The surface is occasionally broken by the trenching of the smaller streams whose valleys are seldom cut to any considerable depth however, without exposing the underlying shales or limestones. The landscape is occasionally varied by the presence of the usual large fresh granite boulders which characterize this drift.
In the vicinity of the larger streams and in fact over a good share of Mott, and especially in Ingham and Geneva townships, the land surface is more hilly and rugged. This would be expected as a re- sult of the down-cutting of the streams no matter what the material in which they had to work; but here the relief is due very largely to the outcropping or barely covered ledges of Kinderhook limestone. Along the west fork of the Cedar river the Devonian strata are responsible for many of the prominent topographic features. East of this river hills of limestone underlain with shales form the bound- ing walls of the valley, and outcrops are common in the northwest part of West Fork township. The area westward from this stream to the border of the Carboniferous rocks has the characteristic mild topography of the Lime creek shales, somewhat modified by the Iowan drift and loess, and is in contrast with the more pronounced reliefs imparted by the Kinderhook limestone as will be later noted.
The practical absence of the earlier Kansan drift as a factor of topographic importance may be accounted for by erosion prece- ding the Iowan stage. The indurated rocks are therefore the chief determining factors, but these, while commonly outcropping on the hill slopes and along the borders of the river valleys, are universally capped with a thin layer of drift and a greater or less thickness of loess.
The occurrence of loess overlying Iowan drift has been recorded by Calvin in Mitchell county, by Beyer in Marshall and by Savage in Tama and Fayette counties, and is known at various other points in the Iowan drift area. It is usually but a thin veneer and seldom sufficient to exert a controlling influence on topography. In the por- tion of the Iowan drift area in Franklin county just outlined, how- ever, the characteristics of typical loess topography are unmistak- able. While the Iowan is in most places in this county covered with a loess-like material, it is here only that its presence becomes con- spicuously noticeable. A series of loess-covered hills, growing in
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prominence northwestward, extends from the county line in east Ingham to the southeast corner of Ross township. The hills are sup- ported by limestone and represent the extreme northeasterly outliers of the Kinderhook. The more prominent eminences rise frequently fifty to sixty feet above water in the streams. A similar series of hills extends across northern Geneva into the southern part of Mott township. They are also to be found south of Mayne creek in Geneva and north Osceola townships. In general, the larger streams are skirted by loess-erosional hills of this type.
In some respects these land forms resemble the paha described by McGee as occurring in Delaware, Fayette, Bremer, Benton and other counties in this section of the state. The nuclei of such eleva- tions are of indurated rocks, they are always crowned with loess and stand at times considerably above the level of the surrounding drift plain.
WISCONSIN DRIFT AREA
Essentially five-eighths of the area of the county is included in the region occupied by the Wisconsin drift. This region dis- plays two types of surface, the hilly, knobby tracts of the Altamont and Gary moraines and the relatively level drift plain.
The Moraines .- The eastern border of the Wisconsin area is in general marked by a belt of hilly country varying in width from two to seven miles. In Richland and north Marion townships it has an average width of four to five miles, broadening southward so as to include practically the southern half of Marion and nearly three square miles in the southwest corner of Mott township. This outer zone of hills narrows in its course to the southeast across Reeve, and in Grant and Osceola townships is but two and a half to three miles wide.
The hills in this morainal area are not prominent, and the topog- raphy grows milder to the westward, gradually merging into the drift plain. This is especially true in Richland, Marion and Grant townships. Passing from the Iowan to the Wisconsin drift there is a rise in elevation of from twenty to eighty or ninety feet, the most noticeable relief being in the northern part of Reeve township. Here the rise is rapid to the summits of conspicuous ridges of drift that were deposited close to the ice border, and beyond which a fairly high slope leads to the level of the drift plain in north Hamilton township. Throughout this morainal tract the surface is one of
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mounds and rounded hills, knob-like in places, composed mostly of gravelly drift, and interspersed with ponds and marshy depressions. In fact, the presence of the latter must in some localities, for ex- ample west of Hampton in southwest Mott township, be largely de- pended on to establish the position of the edge of the Wisconsin. Occasional kame-like hills are found in portions of the moraine which, where they have been dissected, prove to be composed of partially stratified gravel and sand. Such are common in southwest Marion township.
The belt just described may be termed the outer moraine in con- trast to the more pronounced marginal topography in the southwest townships of the county, and marks the extreme limit of the east- ward advance of this ice sheet. To the west, and occupying por- tions of Morgan, Oakland, Hamilton, Lee and Grant townships is a series of crescentic ranges of morainal hills which exhibit on a grand scale the features of a terminal moraine.
From the main range, which enters the county at the middle of the west side of Morgan township and is two miles wide, spurs lead off into north central Morgan and into west Hamilton townships. A more or less connected series extends from northwest Grant into southern Hamilton township. The central range extends through southern Morgan, across the northeast corner of Oakland and then swings due eastward across central Lee township where it joins with the spur from the northwest already mentioned. A crescentic spur from the main chain extends southeastward into east Oakland, and a similar though more prominent one, through south central Lee and into Hardin county.
Warren Upham has the following regarding the nature of this portion of the moraine: "This belt is very rough, with many hillocks and short ridges, generally trending in the same direction with the series, composed of till with abundant boulders, and divided by de- pressions which often contain sloughs or lakelets. Its height is fifty to seventy-five feet above the smooth areas of till on each side, and about one hundred feet above the Iowa river." The series of hills comprising this inner moraine is conspicuous for miles when ap- proached from the north and especially so where they cross Lee township. In the northern part of this township is an area five or six miles long by one mile wide known as the "Big Slough." A body of water of some size seems to have been confined here at some former time by the wall of high drift hills to the south. One of the head- waters of Mayne creek now flows through this depression.
Vol. J-7
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
Wisconsin Drift Plain .- Outside of the morainal belts the sur- face of the drift is substantially a plain varied only by occasional low ridges of drift or knobs of sand and gravel and the usual numer- ous ponds and marshy places. Drainage is practically lacking, ex- cept in close proximity to the larger streams. Such is the topography of Wisner and Scott townships. Portions of Morgan, Hamilton, Oakland, Lee and Grant townships are to be included in the drift plain, but the relief is in general greater because of the more or less promiscuous disposition of the morainal hills in these townships. South of the Iowa river in Oakland township the surface is unusually level, and shallow ponds and "sour" places in the land are common.
DRAINAGE
The drainage of the county may be considered with reference to the two drift sheets which occupy its territory. There is a marked difference in the development of the streams in these two provinces. With the exception of the Iowa river, all the streams of any con- siderable size are practically confined to the Iowan drift area. Some of these head in the ponds and marshes of the Wisconsin drift but the areas drained by such headwaters are very limited.
Viewed as a whole the general direction of the streams indicates the slope of the country to be to the southeast. The figures given in the table likewise suggest an inclination in this same general direc- tion. The maximum difference in elevation between any two points mentioned is 270 feet between Alexander and the county line at the east side of Ingham township, giving a gradient of approximately ten and one-half feet to the mile.
All the streams in the county, excepting the Iowa river, belong to the Cedar river system. The west fork of the Cedar is the parent river and, while not the chief drainage way, is joined before it reaches the Cedar by Hartgrave and Mayne creeks, the most important waterways in the county. Beaver, with its branches, which tap a small area in the southeast corner of the county, flows directly into the Cedar in Black Hawk county some distance below its confluence with the West Fork.
West Fork of Cedar River .- This river with its several small tributaries, of which Bailey creek is the most important, drains West Fork and Ross townships. It is the largest stream in the Iowan drift area, and traverses a broad depression excavated in this drift and the shales of the Lime creek formation. It has long since ceased
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
down-cutting and is now widening its valley by a process of tortuous meandering. The stream is skirted in places by narrow belts of alluvium which is found to overlie stratified sand and gravel. Broad gravel terraces border the stream channel throughout its course in the county. At the north line of section 2, Ross township, where West Fork enters the county, this terrace is twelve to fifteen feet above the flood plain and lies to the west of the stream. In section 18, West Fork township, it is ten feet and although it is in evidence in places as low ridges in the stream valley until the east county line is reached, it thins almost to disappearance.
Bailey creek enters the county near the northeast corner of Rich- land, and, flowing southeastward across northern Ross, joins the west fork of the Cedar in section 19 of West Fork township. It is normally a small stream and occupies a narrow alluvial valley, but it has the reputation of rising very rapidly at times without warn- ing, and accomplishing considerable damage by its overflow. A level gravel terrace flanks this stream to the north. The town of Sheffield is situated on this terrace which is here over a mile in width. The gravels border Bailey creek to its union with West Fork, and the coalescence of the two gravel benches here forms a very level wedge- shaped tract of considerable extent. Several smaller branches effect the drainage of southern Ross township and enter the West Fork below the confluence of Bailey creek in West Fork township.
Hartgrave Creek .- Hartgrave creek is formed by the union of Otter, Spring and Squaw creeks in southwest Ingham township.
The headwaters of Otter creek come from the Wisconsin drift in the northwest part of the county. Within this area they are aim- lessly meandering prairie streams which accomplish little more in the way of drainage than to connect a series of swales or marshes. Buffalo creek, which rises in southeast Wisner and flows across northern Marion township, is the most important branch. Outside of the moraine Otter creek is confined within valley walls of Kinder- hook limestone, which is found outcropping at intervals along its entire course.
Spring creek takes its rise in southeast Scott and leaves the Alta- mont moraine in western Mott township. It has a flood plain of moderate width outside of the moraine through Mott and into Ingham townships and is rock-bound with frequently outcropping ledges of limestone.
The source of Squaw creek is in the morainal belt. It meanders amongst the limestone hills of the southwest Mott township as
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
though leisurely seeking a line of least resistance. This stream seems not to have been an important waterway during the melting of the Wisconsin ice nor to have been long established in its present posi- tion ; for there is no sign of the usual gravel deposit, and its channel is immediately bounded by Iowan drift which, with a loess cover- ing, overspreads the pre-glacial features of the Kinderhook.
Otter and Spring creeks, outside of the Wisconsin drift, occupy pre-Iowan depressions and their valleys are marked by the presence of Wisconsin gravel trains. As a general rule the gravel benches disappear at the Wisconsin border, but conspicuous terraces are to be observed along both Spring and Buffalo creeks in Marion town- ship some distance within the border of this drift. It is to be noted also that the gravels grow finer and are more perfectly assorted as the distance eastward from the moraine increases. In sections 23 and 24 of Mott township a broad flat connects the valleys of these two creeks which here approach each other to within one mile. A spur of loess-covered limestone hills along the east edge of section 24 intervenes and the streams separate to join some four miles be- yond to the southeast.
Again in section 33, Ingham township, a broad flat leads south- ward from the valley of Hartgrave creek across sections 4 and 9 of Geneva township and merges with the valley of Mayne creek. This flat-bottomed depression is bounded by losss capped limestone hills. It lacks drainage, and ponds are so numerous that cultiva- tion is for the most part impossible. The gravel terraces become broader and more conspicuous along Hartgrave creek proper in the southeastern part of Ingham township, but their height above the flood plain level of the creek diminishes to practically zero at its exit from the county. This stream occupies a very wide erosional depression, out of proportion, it would seem, to its present volume and capacity to do work. This, the main stream, together with its two principal contributary branches, flows in an ancient valley which the deposition of detritus by the Iowan glacier failed to ob- literate.
Mayne Creek .- Mayne creek issues from the moraine in section 26 of Reeve township. It has two principal branches in the Wis- consin area which unite in section 29, Reeve township. These are prairie streams with their sources in the hills and ponds of the inner moraine. The course of Mayne creek through the Altamont moraine in Reeve township is somewhat sinuous. It has not only excavated its way through the hills of Wisconsin drift but has eroded deeply
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
into the Kinderhook rocks of the Lower Carboniferous. The valley is densely wooded in this portion of its course. Outside of the mor- aine this stream flows in a wide depression and is skirted by gravel terraces. The latter fail in western Geneva township, and the trend of the valley is such as to lead into the large bayou depression already mentioned as extending northward in northern Geneva township to the valley of Hartgrave creek. The valley occupied by Mayne creek to this point is earlier than, and out of proportion to, the size of the present stream. Through sections 10, 11 and 12, Mayne creek flows in a valley seldom over a third of a mile in width and one of which the stream is unquestionably the author.
It is plain that an adjustment in the drainage lines has taken place in this vicinity during glacial times. The lower part of the course of Mayne creek through eastern Geneva township is not that fol- lowed by its pre-glacial ancestor. The main channel was then through the depression opening northward into Hartgrave creek; and Mayne creek through some exigency of glacial movement has been diverted from this ancient course. The diversion of Mayne creek will also aid to some extent in explaining the lack of harmony between the breadth of the valley of Hartgrave creek and the size of the stream. Doubtless a master stream occupied this wide val- ley prior to the Iowan ice and received tribute from an even larger tributary than the present Mayne creek.
Beaver Creek .- The surplus waters in Osceola township are re- moved by Beaver creek and a number of small tributaries. The source of the Beaver is in Grant township where it effects a partial drainage of the eastern portion. The remainder of Grant township has no well developed drainage lines. Osceola township is but thinly covered with Iowan drift so that the stream courses outside of the Wisconsin are universally eroded in the limestone. Beaver creek itself is the only stream of appreciable size. In it the limestone is obscured by the loess and glacial gravels which skirt it eastward from the Wisconsin border. It has no flood plain of mapable width, but flows over a limestone bed in the lower part of its course in the county as do its tributaries to the north of it, which meet the Beaver in Butler county to the east.
Iowa River .- This river is itself the only representative of the Iowa river system in this county. From its random meanderings among the mounds and hills of the Gary moraine in Wright county, it enters Morgan township, Franklin county, two miles from its southern border and with a bold curve in the southwest corner of
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this township leaves it still one-half mile north of this same boun- darv. The town of Dows is situated in the curve to the west of the river, the main part of the corporation being in Wright county. With minor meanders along the county line on the west side of Oak- land, the Iowa river angles across the southwest corner of the town- ship from the middle point of its west boundary to an exit into Hardin county one mile west of the southeast corner. The Iowa river here is much diminished in size as compared with the same stream outside of the morainal district. It has no confluents of any importance and flows in a shallow channel in the Wisconsin drift plain. In places some alluvium has been put down and at intervals along its course heavy deposits of gravel have been made use of for road materials. From the river the land gradually rises to the north- east to the morainal belt in northeast Oakland and Morgan town- ships; while to the south the level drift plain stretches beyond the limits of the county.
The county has never been very well supplied with timber of a natural growth, although eleven out of the sixteen congressional townships had more or less timber within their borders. The banks of all the streams were skirted by timber, which in many places widened into groves. Mayne's grove was the largest body of timber in the county, embracing over three thousand acres. Otis' grove, on the Iowa river, Van Horn's grove, in the central portion of the county, Tharp's grove, Shobe's grove and Bailey's grove, in the northern part of the county, were bodies of timber containing from one thousand to fifteen hundred acres. Tow Head and Blake's groves in the southeastern part of the county, Four Mile, High- land, Hartgrave's and Allen's groves, near the eastern side of the county, and Beed's grove, near the center, were smaller and not one of them contained over a section. The timber indigenous to and found in Franklin county consisted mostly of oak, which was interspersed along the streams with basswood, water elm, soft maple, honey locust and cottonwood.
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