USA > Iowa > Warren County > History of Warren County, Iowa : from its earliest settlement to 1908; with biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 10
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In the long gentle slope to the north of the river are but few well developed ravines. The few that exist are in Jefferson township. The bluffs along the south of the river are cut by numerous trenches, some running three to five miles into the uplands where they originate in numerous smaller ravines be- tween the gently rounded knolls. One of these. Clanton creek, is of considerable importance, having a well developed valley of its own which in direction and size is analogous to that of Middle river. Only a portion of this stream, however. lies within the county. In the lower course of the river Butcher ereek is de-
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veloped parallel to the general course of the main stream, but reaches it only as that river is about to join the Des Moines. Butcher creek then, in the rank of its development, corresponds to Middle river rather than to a lateral ravine. With the exception of these two creeks, especially the latter, all the ravines extend laterally from the rivers.
This description of Middle river stands in a general way for both North and South rivers, excepting so far as relates to the particular lateral ravines that exist. From the uplands south of South river flow three large ereeks, Coal creek, Otter creek and Squaw creek, while the river itself flows parallel to these creeks along the west side of White Oak township.
ESCARPMENT MAKERS .- At Spring Hill, a sandstone which lies a few feet above the railroad track, contains so much lime that the lower part of it well deserves to be called a limestone. This lower portion is especially resistent to atmospheric action and prevents the rapid wearing away of the hillsides. In the hills south of South river, especially in Otter township, is a layer of very desirable stone which occupies a position similar to that of the Spring Hill sandstone, and likewise aids much in protecting the underlying shales.
In the central and eastern part of White Oak, high sandstone bluffs again appear. While easily decomposed, they form a conspicuous feature in the sections referred to, and seem to supply the material underlying the drift through the entire western part of White Oak. This sandstone is also to be found at various points of the county east and south of the bluffs here men- tioned.
Across the central parts of Virginia, Squaw and Liberty townships, a heavy arenaceons limestone of about five feet in thickness outerops. Here again the underlying soft strata are well protected. Where thus protected the strata stand out more prominently along the rivers and ravines, forming escarpments especially marked in comparison with those found elsewhere in the county.
EXPLANATION OF PHYSIOGRAPHY.
Since a correct interpretation of the physical geography of this county must stand in accord with all that surrounds it. it is to be regretted that the de- tails of the physiographie development of the large area to which the southwestern part of Iowa belongs, have not as yet been thoroughly worked out; but the following eonelusions reached by geologists here mentioned present the best information at present obtainable concerning the part of the country in which Warren county is situated.
First .- It is commonly recognized that throughout cretaceous times a part of Iowa and a vast region to the west was the bottom of a large sea extending from what is now the Gulf of Mexico, northwestward possibly to the Arctic ocean.
Second .- As stated by Upham, there is evidence of a general uplift of the country at the close of the cretaecons period.
Third .- Todd infers from evidence he finds that southwestern Iowa was at a low elevation up to the beginning of the glacial epoch.
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Fourth .- In the article mentioned by Upham, the next general uplift is referred to the beginning of the tertiary period, and the next, "between the general tertiary cycle of baselevelling and the glacial period."
Fifth .- Westgate, in tracing the "Geographic Development of the Eastern Part of the Mississippi Drainage System," presents the conclusion that up to the close of the cretaceous period, the upper part of the Mississippi river, which is older than its more southern extension, had an outlet toward the west; and that from the close of the cretaceous period the Mississippi came to flow in its present valley east of Iowa. While the uplifts mentioned affected nearly all, if not all, of the United States, they were more marked in the western than in the eastern part of the country.
To the above conclusion may be added another; whatever changes in altitude may have occurred since what is now Warren county first emerged from the waters in which the strata were deposited, the changes did not affeet in any marked degree the horizontal position of the strata in central and southwestern Iowa. It is probable that the direction of drainage over the whole of the central and southwestern part of Iowa was toward the southwest, till the close of the cretaceous period.
The features of the county already described find their most probable ex- planation in the following outline of events. Throughout cretaceous times the surface was that of a low plain draining to the west, with lateral streams develop- ing along the outerop of the soft shales. These lateral streams would be called subsequent streams. At the close of the cretaceons period the elevation, espee- ially marked westward. gradually changed the drainage over a considerable portion of the state to the southeast, the lines of drainage following the direction of the subsequent streams already developed along the strike of the soft strata. To this group of subsequent streams flowing to the Mississippi as the master- stream, belong, among others, the Des Moines and the lower course of Chariton river. From these subsequent streams, other streams worked their way back on either side, those on the south working their way as obsequent streams in the valleys that formerly drained southwest. To this group of obsequent streams belong North, Middle and South rivers of Warren county. also Butcher creek and Whitebreast creek. At the present time the divide between these streams and those still flowing southwest, extends through Clarke county, southwestern Madison and through Adair.
The course of Chariton river exemplifies particularly well the results of such a history. It has worked its way back along the strike of soft strata to the city of Chariton as if beheading one stream after another. Above Chariton the course is from the southwest. The beheaded stream still continuing toward the northeast is Cedar creek. In Warren county a similar tendency to develop valleys parallel to the strike of this same outerop of soft strata is observed in all the streams. From the Whitebreast creek a ravine now extends along the strike of the soft strata with the head of the ravine even between Chariton river and Cedar creek. South river flows north along the west side of White Oak township and then turns east along the same series of soft strata, while another ravine just beyond a narrow divide continues the northward course to Middle river.
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During the glacial epoch the land received its superficial deposit that clogged all the river valleys. Into this deposit the rivers have since cut their present trenches, though not to the depth of the preglacial valleys. The rivers and their larger tributaries are still in the preglacial valleys, but many of the smaller ravines have no relation to preglacial ravines.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
PLEISTOCENE.
The surface deposits of the county belong to two epochs. The alluvium represents the recent epoch, and the glacial deposit, consisting of loess and drift, the glacial epoch.
ALLUVIUM.
Upon the low ground along the streams a considerable amount of silt has been deposited. Over the higher portions of the low ground this deposit is very thin, scarcely more than enough to mix with the loess and obscure the character of the latter. In the lower parts of the river valleys there are numerous swampy places, the partially filled lagoons left after the rivers have formed new trenches in the vicinity. These low grounds have received sediment washed from the adjoining higher ground or brought in by occasional overflow of the river. The material is frequently rendered black by abundance of vegetable material. All of these deposits may be classed as alluvium.
LOESS.
On the hilltops and in the valleys, even to the very banks of the river trenches there is a fine, light, yellowish-brown deposit, largely made up of clay and fine sub-angular quartz. The upper portions are black because of vegetable mould, the carbonaceous remains from decay of various plants. The fine ma- terial of the loess seems to have been washed from material brought by neighboring ice masses.
The exposure of loess at the Indianola Brick & Tile Co. plant, just north- east of Indianola, may be taken as a typical exposure. At the surface two and a half feet are rendered black by vegetable mould. Beneath this mould there are two distinct deposits, the upper one. five feet thick. containing fossils character- istic of the loess (Succinia obliqua and Mesodon multilineata. as identified by Professor B. Shimek). Beneath this loess, at a distance of about seven feet from the surface, is another elay deposit. that for the present is here called the lower loess deposit. This lower deposit appears darker than the upper loess as seen in place. It does not contain fossils. The line of separation between these two deposits has a peenliar wavy appearance, suggesting a possible downward limit to present oxidation, or a disturbed surface on which the upper loess has
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been deposited. There is no dark line between the two to indicate a previous land surface, such as is sometimes found in deposits of loess.
The two deposits differ in composition in one important particular-the silica of the upper deposit is nearly all free, while that of the lower deposit is combined. This contrast is very marked when the two deposits are examined under a microscope. Samples collected from different levels above the line of separation between the two deposits present a uniform appearance, each sample containing an abundance of fine sub-angular quartz fragments. Below the line separating the two deposits the quartz fragments are far less numerous, the field of the microscope being largely occupied by dull, clayey material.
The differences in the composition of the two deposits suggest a possible difference in the sources of the material. The upper material may have been derived from a more loose sandy deposit, while the lower may have been derived from the disintegration of granite. Such a difference suggests further that the lower deposit may have been derived from the Kansan drift formation, which underlies the loess throughont the county. If it be true that the lower deposit is derived from the Kansan drift, the disturbed line between the two deposits rep- resents an unconformity from which all evidence of vegetation, if such evidence existed, has been removed under the conditions which immediately preceded the deposition of the upper loess.
DRIFT.
In the eastern part of Greenfield township a sandy deposit extends southward to the divide between North and Middle rivers southeast of Spring Hill and a little to the north and west of Indianola. In Richland township the central sections are capped by a sandy material as if the deposit were a continuation to the south of a drift ridge east of Des Moines, considered to be an esker. Between the two localities mentioned lie the gravel beds at Avon, just north of the Warren county line. How much the early character of these deposits may be due to the soft sandstone and sandy shale just beneath the glacial deposits it is not possible to state. The drift under the loess consists of a boulder clay or till containing pebbles of various sizes and shapes. These pebbles are of various kinds, gran- ites, porphyry, quartz. agate, red quartzite and sandstone. The smoothed surfaces of some of these boulders are marked by peculiar scratches and gouges. A typical boulder may now be seen just northwest of Mrs. Watson's residence in the northwestern part of Indianola (Sec. 24, Sw. qr., Nw. 1-4). This rock is a dense red quartzite with a rounded somewhat rectangular shape. It contains numerous pebbles revealing distinct planes of stratification dipping at present southwest, while on the eastern face the hard stone is scratched and gouged along lines at present almost perpendicular. The whole surface. scratches and all, is polished thoroughly. It is notable that this rock does not resemble the native carboniferous sandstones ; its planes of stratification do not correspond to the planes of stratification of the neighboring strata, and the glacial scratches are at right angles to the slope of the nearest ravine. While this boulder, selected as a type, resembles Sioux quartzite. most of the boulders appear to be of granite. They are not very numerous on the surface of the
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ground, but, where the loess deposit is cut through, the boulders from the drift accumulate in the ravines. The boulders mentioned are characteristic of the Kansan glacial formation that extends over the southern and western part of Iowa.
CARBONIFEROUS.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
In the preceding description of the physiography of the county the strata were referred to as an old shore deposit. The strata are in general elayey, or sandy shale, with here an arenaceous limestone and there a sandstone. The sandstones are generally ferruginous, sometimes dense and concretionary, some- times soft, sometimes cross-bedded. The whole formation belongs to the great system of coal-bearing strata which extends from Iowa southwestward into Indian Territory and Texas.
RELATION OF STRATA TO THE FORMATION BELOW .- Immediately beneath the carboniferous shales exposed in this county, lies the Saint Louis limestone. The borings put down at several points indicate that the surface of this Saint Lonis formation, on which the coal measures were deposited, is uneven, like an old landscape with hills and valleys.
CONDITIONS OF DEPOSITION .- During the deposition of the coal measures the conditions were at times favorable to the formation of swamps, and the vegetable material accumulated from the lepidodendrons, sigillarids and ferns that crowded low swampy places. At times the region received fine elay sediment brought down by streams. At times conditions favorable to limestone formations spread a calcareous deposit over all. Again, the deposits, raised till exposed to erosive action were worn away here and there, only to again receive a deposit laid unconformably on the surface.
RELATION OF STRATA TO THE FORMATION ABOVE .- As the seas advanced the heavy limestones of Madison and other counties west were laid down, marking a condition of deep water more constant than had existed during the deposit of the shales. These limestones are, however, classified with the coal measures; for, while these were forming. Pennsylvania was receiving her stores of future wealth in the vegetable deposit which later became eoal.
The strata exposed in Warren county belong to the Des Moines stage of the Pennsylvania series of coal measures. While the limestone of the Missouri stage, seen in Madison county almost touch the western border of Jackson township. they nowhere extend eastward across the county line. Consequently all our strata belong to the same subdivision. In the cross-seetions along Middle and South rivers, it will be seen that the limestone of the Missouri stage does not gradually change into shale as would be true if the present "lower coal meas- ures," (Des Moines stage,) were the shore equivalents of the present exposures of the Missouri limestone. While it is undoubtedly true the present exposures of the Missouri limestone did have a shore equivalent of shale when the lime- stone was deposited, that old shore equivalent has been eroded. The shales of the present Des Moines formation are now continued underneath the limestone
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of the Missouri stage. The sections outcropping along South and Middle rivers are of special importanee in their bearing because they are in a direction at right angles to the old shore line.
BUILDING STONE.
Warren county is not well supplied with building stone. Nearly all the sandstone yields readily to oxidation, which, aided by frost, decomposes and disintegrates it very readily. There are, however, three strata that deserve especial notice because of the manner in which they withstand erosion. The first is the stratum of arenaceous limestone, fairly free from iron, that, where not eroded or covered up, may be found outcropping in the ravines from the northern part of Otter and White Oak townships northwestward into Greenfield and Jefferson townships.
CLAYS.
While but little of the stone of Warren county is suitable for building purposes, the clays furnish an inexhaustible substitute. There is no satisfactory reason why the cheaper grades of hand-made brick may not be manufactured in each community to supply the local demand. There is also excellent material for the manufacture of brick of finer quality. The clay that can be used is derived from three sources: First, the loess; second, the alluvial deposits along the rivers; and third, the coal measure shales. Nearly all the soil is a part of the loess, blackened by a large amount of vegetable mould. This vegetable material burns out in the process of firing the brick, causing the latter to be porous. If the black soil be first removed and the loess just beneath used for brick, one cause of the porous condition of the briek is avoided.
THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLER.
Before the year of 1843, the region now composing Warren and adjacent counties had no white occupants. Hunters and trappers had penetrated the Three River country, and to some extent shared the chase with the Indians. Civilization was still hovering along the Mississippi and lower Des Moines rivers. The beautiful groves and adjacent prairies lay in all their pristine beauty. The Indians had sold all their title and interest to Iowa lands, but had reserved the possession of them for three years, or until October 11, 1845, at which time they had agreed to vacate. Here and there, white settlers were stealing in and making claims upon the reservation. A fort was about to be established at the Raccoon Forks, in order to control the Indians, and also to keep back the incoming tide of white settlers. John D. Parmelee, a native of Vermont, made his way to Iowa territory as early as 1840, and was engaged with a company of fur traders. He greatly enjoyed traversing new regions and looking upon the natural seen- ery, untouched by human hands. He also delighted in speculating upon coming
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civilization, and the transformation of the country into farms, and orchards, and gardens. He became enamoured with the Des Moines river and its beautiful valley, and confidentally expected that even in his time, it would be occupied by white men. His first location was on the Des Moines river, about one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, not far from the Indian ageney in Wapello county. Some of his letters, describing his work and his view of the country, were retained by friends, and afterward given to the press for publication. In one of which, he describes the country as follows: "It is one of the most pleasant countries that can be found in the world, and I think very healthful. The Des Moines river is the most beautiful stream that ever flowed. It is about as wide as the Connecticut river, but shallow, with high banks, with gravel or rock bottom, and as clear as the streams that tumble from the mountains of Vermont. The country is well divided into timber and prairie for the conven- ience of the farmer. It is certain that I should be glad to live in the neighborhood of my friends, but the prospects of a young man are so much better in this country, that I have almost come to the conclusion that I shall spend my days, let them be few or many, in this country on the banks of the lovely Des Moines. If I had my friends around me, then would I bid a long adieu to old Vermont; but there is still something that makes the name of old Vermont sweet to me, it is the home of all those who are near and dear to me" In another letter he says. "The Indians have sold their whole country, but retain possession of one half of it for three years more. This will cause us to remove our trading post one hundred miles up the river by the first of May, and there remain for three years. You can see where I have located our next trading post by looking at your map of the United States. We shall be on the north side of the Des Moines, directly opposite to the mouth of the Raccoon river, which is a little more than one hundred miles above where we now are. The winter has been remarkably cold with an immense fall of snow from one and one half to three feet deep. Since the 12th of this month (Mareh), I have been to Raccoon river. I have taken men and provisions for building our post. It is still cold winter weather, very good sleighing and ice from twelve to eighteen inches thick on the river. It is equal to old Vermont, its parallel was never known in this country." About this time Mr. Parmelee was married, and on his first trip, after writing the above, to Raccoon Forks, he withdrew from the fur trading company, having had some difference with them about his salary. He at onee entered into a partnership with Captain James Allen, who was the commander at Fort Des Moines, to build a saw-mill on Middle river about twelve miles south east of the fort. He took charge of the work and completed the mill; and sawed the lumber for the building at Fort Des Moines. He describes this labor in another letter. "The work at that time was just commenced, I took charge of the work, completed the saw-mill that winter, and furnished the lumber to build Fort Des Moines, and since that time have added to the building, suffi- ciently, for a grist mill with four burrs, one of which we now have in operation with a bolt, all of the best quality, shall put in more as the country settles and requires it. Our frame is forty-five by thirty-five and three stories high, as fine a building as any of that size that you can see in Vermont. ",
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Captain Allen was an officer in the First Regiment United States Dragoons, and was promoted last spring at the commencement of the war (with Mexico) to be Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers, and ordered to California; but was taken siek just at the time he was to start and died at Fort Leavenworth. It has been very expensive work as it was done at a time when this was an Indian country, and of course hands and provisions were hard to get; but it is in the flower of Iowa and the garden of the world. I have a farm adjacent with eighty acres in cultivation and about one hundred and forty under fence, but this I will have to pay Uncle Sam for when it comes into market at one dollar and twenty-five eents per acre, though my claim includes three hundred and twenty acres, half timber and the balance bottom prairie, all lying on the banks of the Des Moines, one of the prettiest rivers that flows, and only ten miles from Fort Des Moines, the probable place of our future seat of government, it being within eighteen miles of the center. The commissioners are at this time in the county for the purpose of locating the capital." This letter was written in 1847. Mr. Parmelee was the first white man to permanently settle in Warren county, and no other settler came to remain permanently until 1845, although there must have been several men with Mr. Parmelee, aiding in the ereetion of the mill and sawing the lumber for the fort, possibly the soldiers did part of the work. The further early settlements in Warren county will be noted under the head of the respective townships. After the Indian Reservation expired in 1845, settlers came in troops, and central and southern Iowa was soon occupied by white men. The last session of the Iowa Territorial Legislature defined and established the boundaries of Warren county. We read in section 3 of chapter 82, approved January 13, 1846, as follows :
Seetion 3. That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county, which shall be called Warren, to-wit: Beginning at the northwest corner of Marion county ; thence west along the line dividing townships 77 and 78 to the northwest corner of township 77 north of range 25 west; thence south to the southwest corner of township 74 north of range 25 west; thence east to the south- west corner of Marion county; thence north to the place of beginning. Polk county had been organized some time before and in it a contention arose, be- tween Polk City and Fort Des Moines for the county seat. Fort Des Moines was within four miles of the south line of the county, Polk City was nearer the eenter and based its claim for the county seat upon that fact. Those who favored Fort Des Moines were instrumental in causing the Legislature to detach the north tier of townships from Warren county and attach them to Polk county. Ilence we find that the supplemental act, approved on the 17th of January, 1846, four days after the boundaries of Warren county above recited were established, the north tier of townships were detached from Warren county and attached to Polk. As Warren county continued to settle, dissatisfaction with this arrange- ment increased, but not until 1853 was it decided. An attempt was made in the legislature of 1850, but failed. Dr. P. Gad Bryan, of Warren county, was a member of the Fourth General Assembly, which met in Iowa City in December, 1852. Petitions were circulated among the settlers on the Strip in Contention. Colonel Henderson, Z. HI. Hockett, John S. MeKimmey, James E. Williamson,
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