USA > Iowa > Lee County > Story of Lee County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 2
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As early as 1858 geologists noted the great development of glacial material along the west bank of the Mississippi in the vicinity of Fort Madison. Twenty years later Maj. G. K. Warren first made known the existence of an old river valley in that locality. In 1890, without knowing of Warren's work, C. H. Gordon prepared a map showing the course of the river in ancient times, his conclusions cor- responding in every particular with those of Major Warren. Gor- don's map shows that from the mouth of the Skunk River to Montrose the old channel was not materially different from the present one. From Montrose the old valley swept with a broad westward bend to the Des Moines River, a short distance below the present Village of Sand Prairie. Concerning the evidences of this, Gordon says: "The comparatively narrow rocky gorge within which the river now flows from Montrose to Keokuk is itself suggestive of its more recent origin than the broad valley above and below bordered for the most part by drift covered slopes."
The width of the preglacial channel of the Mississippi is about six miles, which is about the width of the valley at the present time above Fort Madison. It is quite probable that the preglacial river was no larger than the present stream. After cutting its early chan- nel it then continued the work of erosion until the valley was widened to the limits indicated upon Gordon's map.
The existence of a buried channel through the western part of the county-probably the preglacial course of the Des Moines River -was first observed by geologists in 1893. This old valley is ap- proximately marked by the present course of West Sugar Creek. Geologists find abundant evidence that the present channel of the
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
Des Moines River above Sand Prairie is of comparatively recent date and are inclined to the opinion that the river once flowed farther eastward than now, joining the Mississippi near Sand Prairie. Then came the Ice Age, during which the underflow of waters started a change in the course of the streams, and after the ice melted the rivers were forced to cut new channels through the drift.
CHARACTER OF THE DRIFT
At the bottom of the glacial deposits is the "lower till," which in Lee County averages about twenty-five feet in thickness. It is com- posed of a blue clay, filled with bowlders of various kinds and sizes, with deposits of sand at intervals. These sand beds often constitute the source of water supply in wells on the upper levels. Above the blue clay is a yellow clay, which also contains bowlders. At what are known as the "Yellow Banks," on the Des Moines River, the lower till is seen to consist of "twenty-five feet of sand resting upon blue clay and over this fifteen feet of silty clay, dark above and overlain by eight feet of yellow clay, which in turn is capped by a thin veneer of loess."
The sand varies in places to a fine gravel and along the east bank of West Sugar Creek, near the mouth of the stream, it gradu- ally merges into a coarse, incoherent sandstone. The yellow clay deposits also contain much sand, as may be seen in the cuts along the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad where it cuts through the main divide between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers.
Loess consists chiefly of a fine, ash-colored silt and is distributed over all of Southeastern Iowa in deposits varying in thickness from two feet to fifteen feet or more. A little south of New Boston, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, it has a development of fifteen feet, somewhat marly at the bottom, and at Keokuk the bowl- der accumulation is covered by stratified white and iron bearing sand grading upward into pure loess. Here the thickness of the silt and stratified sand is about thirty feet. The loess is also seen in the exposures along Soap Creek and in the terraces above Montrose.
Above the loess lies the aluvium or soil, which is composed of the lighter materials carried by the glacier and decayed vegetable matter that has been deposited since the close of the glacial epoch. As this portion of the drift constitutes the surface and is seen in all parts of the county, it is not deemed necessary to give any extended account of its character or the manner in which it was deposited.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
While a general discussion of the structure and formation of Lee County may be of interest to the student of geology, there is no doubt that the average reader will find much more interest in the subject of economic geology-that branch of the science which treats of the commercial and industrial importance of the various mineral deposits within the limits of the county. Probably the most important of the minerals is
BUILDING STONE
Lee County is well supplied with stone suitable for nearly all classes of construction, every stratum of the Lower Carboniferous limestone affording a good grade, though varying greatly in texture and quality. In at least thirteen of the sixteen townships quarries have been opened and profitably worked. The Burlington lime- stones are durable, easily quarried and readily dressed. The thick ledges of this formation are well adapted to dimension work of all kinds. In the Keokuk limestone is found a hard, compact rock, which breaks evenly and is quarried without difficulty. The upper part of this formation, often called the Warsaw, is principally a magnesian limestone, some sand and small pebbles. The largest quarries of this stone are on the east side of the Mississippi, at Sonora, where it is quarried under the name of Sonora sandstone. Build- ings in Keokuk erected of this material more than half a century ago are still standing and the action of the atmosphere has not eradi- cated all the tool marks upon the stone, which attests its durability. The St. Louis white limestone is fine-grained, compact, usually bluish or gray in color. Some layers have been used for lithographic purposes.
Jackson Township leads all the others in the amount of stone quarried. Along the Mississippi at the base of the bluff, imme- diately north of Keokuk, and in the western part of the city, along Soap Creek, there are several large quarries in operation, most of the stone being of the blue Keokuk limestone, though some Warsaw stone is also taken out. The stone is shipped over the railroads cen- tering at Keokuk to all parts of the Central United States. In the northern part of the city several small quarries have been opened in the St. Louis limestone for sidewalk, street crossings, etc.
In Des Moines Township there are quarries near the station of Sand Prairie, from which stone is taken for local use, and the Atchi-
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company has a quarry near Hins- dale. In the same vicinity the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Rail- road Company has a quarry, from which stone is taken for bridge abutments, etc.
Near Ballinger station, in the southeastern part of Montrose Township, a quarry was opened about twenty years ago by McManus & Tucker in the Warsaw magnesian limestone. It was from this quarry that the stone for some of the additions to the state peniten- tiary at Fort Madison was taken. Other additions were built of the dolomite limestone from the Schafer quarries across the river in Illinois. The Fort Madison High School and the building of the Fort Madison Canning Company are also constructed of this stone. There is another quarry in this township directly south of the Town of Montrose, but the stone produced there is chiefly for local use.
In Jefferson Township the Wemmer quarry, on the west side of Sugar Creek, near the northwest corner of the township, was opened about 1880 and has been operated on a small scale more or less con- tinuously since that time. The stone from this quarry hardens greatly upon being exposed to the weather. None has ever been shipped, the output being used in the surrounding country for foundations, bridge abutments, and similar purposes.
There are but few exposures of the bed rock in Charleston Town- ship, owing to the fact that there are no large streams. About a mile southwest of Donnellson, on a small tributary of Sugar Creek, is the Donnell quarry, the output of which is used locally for foun- dations and retaining walls. At a few other points along the creek there are exposures of a white oolitic limestone, which is believed to belong to the St. Louis formation, and on Panther Creek, in sec- tion 13, near the eastern boundary of the township there are some out- crops of the St. Louis stone that have been quarried to some extent.
Near Crotton, Van Buren Township, a quarry was opened some time in the '6os, during the days of slack water navigation, in a de- posit of massive yellow sandstone belonging to the lower coal meas- ures. Stone from this quarry was used in the construction of the locks and dams in the Des Moines River. It is not much used at the present time. There are outcrops on Lick and Mumm creeks and near the mouth of Monk Creek from which stone is taken for local use, but no regular quarry is operated.
Near the Town of Franklin, in the township of that name, there are several small quarries in the white, granular ledge of the St. Louis limestone. At the Graner quarry, about a mile east of the town, a good quality of flagging is quarried. A mile north of this
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
is the Pardall quarry, from which stone has been sent to Fort Madi- son after being dressed at the quarry. The church at St. Paul is built of this stone. White limestone is also taken from quarries along Sugar Creek and some of its tributaries, and sandstone is ex- posed at various points in the coal measures.
In West Point Township the building stone is nearly all of the St. Louis limestone. Most of the quarries are in the western part of the township. Some of the beds dress well and are used in making tombstones and bases for monuments. Considerable lime is manu- factured in this section of the county. In section 30, on Little Sugar Creek there is a deposit of fine white sandstone which hardens upon exposure and is quarried to some extent. There are several other deposits in the township where quarries might be profitably worked if suitable transportation facilities were provided.
On Lost Creek, in the eastern part of Washington Township, considerable stone for constructional purposes has been taken. The output here is entirely local and is used chiefly for foundations.
Very little building stone has been produced in Green Bay Town- ship, the principal quarry being near the railroad bridge over the Skunk River about a mile north of Wever. The stone here is the Lower Burlington limestone.
Along the Skunk River, in Denmark Township, there is an abun- dance of good building stone of the Burlington, Keokuk and St. Louis limestones in sight and some quarrying has been done. At South Augusta considerable stone is taken from the bed of the river, which here passes over rapids, and at several other points in that neighborhood small openings have been made. There is no doubt that some day this stone will be quarried more extensively, as it is easily accessible and of good quality.
The oolitic bed of the St. Louis limestone is the principal stone quarried in Pleasant Ridge Township. There are a number of small openings from which the stone is taken as needed for local use.
The old Jarret quarry is the principal one in Marion Township. It is located in section 36, near the southeast corner of the township. Farther up Sugar Creek is the Pilot Grove quarry, from which flagging, foundation stone and material for bridge abutments are taken.
COAL
Probably the first mention of coal in Iowa was made by the English tourist, Featherstonhaugh, who went down the Mississippi in a canoe in 1835 and noticed indications of coal in some of the
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
outcrops along the river. Later in the same year Albert Lea, an agent of the United States Government, appointed to ascertain the resources of the Black Hawk purchase, reported "large coal deposits between the mouth of the Des Moines River and Raccoon Forks."
As Lee County lies on the extreme eastern margin of the great coal field west of the Mississippi, it can never be expected to occupy a place among the important coal producing counties of the state. The coal deposits, however, are large enough to be of some commer- cial value, local demand being supplied to some extent in certain sections of the county. The largest deposits noticed so far are in the coal measure rocks in the northern part of the county, particularly in Franklin, Marion and Pleasant Ridge townships. Although the coal measures exist in fully one-half of Van Buren Township no attempt has ever been made to open mines. There is also a small district of the coal measures near Keokuk, in Jackson Township.
Mining has been carried on for many years, but in a rather desultory manner. The largest mines operated are on Sutton Creek, in Pleasant Ridge Township, about five miles northwest of the Town of Denmark. The coal beds here form a portion of the coal-bearing area which extends northward into Henry County. At the old Norris mine a considerable quantity of coal was mined years ago, the output going to West Point and the adjacent country. In recent years none of the mines has been worked systematically, the coal now being obtained chiefly by "stripping" along the creek, where the vein ranges from two to three feet or more in thickness. No doubt, as the better mines of the western coal field are worked out, these de- posits will be developed and mined with profit.
In Marion Township the Stevenson mine, a short distance east of the Town of St. Paul, has been used for a number of years as a source of local coal supply; but it is worked mainly during the winter months when the demand for coal is great enough to make mining profitable. Three miles southwest of the Stevenson mine is a small shaft from which coal has been taken annually for several years and supplied to the people living in the vicinity.
Nearly four-fifths of Franklin Township lie in the coal field and coal has been mined at several places. About two miles from West Point, in the eastern part of the township, is a mine from which small quantities of coal have been taken at intervals for a number of years. In the early 'gos washouts in the road leading west from West Point exposed a vein of coal varying from one to two feet in thickness and this has been mined in a limited way. Several mines have been opened on Sugar Creek, in the northwestern
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
part of the township, the best known being the old Hardwick mine, from which sufficient quantities of coal were taken at one time to supply the local demand. This mine was once worked by means of a shaft, but that method has been abandoned and the coal is now obtained by drifts in the ravine. The vein here is the thickest dis- covered so far in the county, measuring in some places over three feet. Small drifts have been made about a mile down the creek from the Hardwick mine and some coal has been taken from the beds at that point.
In Jackson Township coal of good quality has been developed below the City of Keokuk, on the upper side of the Nassau Slough, where the vein is about eighteen inches thick. North of the city, in the bluffs near Rand Park, coal was once mined by means of drifts, but some years ago the entrance was blocked by debris from the falling roof and the mines have not been reopened.
CLAY DEPOSITS
At numerous places in the superficial or drift deposits of the county are beds of good clay, and some of the geological formations also furnish a good grade of this material. Probably the best known clays are those which overlie the coal deposits, but the Warsaw beds have been used successfully in the manufacture of brick, and it has been demonstrated that the Kinderhook shales are well adapted to the manufacture of high-grade paving blocks. The Hubinger Brick Works at Keokuk were utilizing the Warsaw shale at that point more than twenty years ago. Thin bands and nodules of lime rock make the shale difficult to use, as it has to be specially treated to get rid of these ingredients, after which brick of high grade can be made from it.
The shales of the coal measures are found in various parts of the county and in many places they are accompanied by coal suffi- cient to burn the clay products. Some of the light-colored shales, where free from grit, are excellent for pottery, and the drab and yellow shales can be made into brick.
The blue clay of the lower till is seldom well exposed at the surface and is, therefore, little used in making clay goods, although tenacious, fine-grained and well adapted to the purpose. The yellow clay of the till contains too many foreign substances to make it profitable to attempt to utilize it in manufacture.
For ordinary brick the alluvium has been used in some places. The best clays in this formation are found chiefly along the Des Moines and Skunk rivers, and along some of the larger creeks.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
At Keokuk pressed and ornamental brick are made from the Warsaw and Kinderhook shales, though the former is much more extensively used, owing to the ease with which it can be obtained. Fire brick, furnace linings, etc., are manufactured from the clays that lie immediately below the coal seams. Among the early clay industries at Keokuk were the Hubinger Brick Works, the brick yards of R. P. Creel and James Mitchell, and the Spaan and Worley companies.
There are several brick yards in the vicinity of Fort Madison, most of them utilizing the clay deposits in the southern part of Washington Township. One of the oldest is that known as the Reichelt yard, which has been in successful operation for a number of years. The Stellern and Hansmann yards, in the same locality, also manufacture large quantities of brick, and the Wiggenjost and Bartell yards do a good business.
At Donnellson a brick yard was opened in 1891 at the west side of the town, where bricks for the public school building were made by hand from prairie soil. Three miles north of the town was found a bed of clay in the coal measures which was used in the manufacture of pottery, a factory for that purpose having been erected near the junction of the two railroads. After a fairly successful career of two or three years the works were moved to Farmington, Van Buren County.
MISCELLANEOUS
Sand suitable for making mortar for building purposes is found in the beds of nearly all the streams, the Mississippi, Des Moines and Skunk rivers supplying at almost any point an abundance of clean, sharp river sand of a high grade. At various places in the county there are lenticular beds of sand in the drift, which might be utilized for mortar making, and the soft sandstone of the coal measures, when disintegrated by the action of the air, makes a clean, sharp material equal to the best river sand. In a few places a pure, white sand has been found which, it is believed, could be used to advantage in the manufacture of ordinary glassware, and at various points in the drift beds are deposits of sand suitable for molding purposes. So far none of these deposits has been developed to any great extent.
Although the geological survey reports the presence of gravel beds scattered widely over the county, the rivers and creeks especially affording an abundance of this material, and at places in the drift the beds being of comparatively easy access, the deposits have been scarcely touched in an economic way. In the southern part of the
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
county there are a few miles of gravel road, but stone being plentiful in all parts of the county, it is the principal road-building material. It is possible that at some future time the gravel deposits may be developed and their contents used in the construction of highways. All in all, Lee County is as well supplied with road-building mate- rials as any county in the state, and every year the macadam road is becoming more popular.
Some hydraulic rock has been reported from time to time, but it appears the deposits are small and none has been utilized in the manufacture of cement. Lime is burned at several places in the county, the greatest quantities being produced at Keokuk and Mont- rose, where the Burlington and Keokuk limestones are used. Lime kilns have also been in operation at Denmark for many years.
In addition to the minerals already mentioned, there are some not now attracting attention which may become of commercial im- portance in the future. Sulphide of nickel has been found in the upper part of the Keokuk limestone at Keokuk and Fort Madison; copper, gold and silver have all been noted in the county, but it is not to be expected that they will ever become money makers. In some of the limestones below Keokuk silver to the amount of four or five ounces to the ton has been shown by assays. Zinc blende, iron pyrites and sulphide of iron have all been found in the county, while in the geode beds quartz, calcopyrite, rutile, aragonite and dolomite are known to exist in greater or less quantities. At the bottom of the geode beds a fine white powder, believed to be the hydrous silicate of aluminum, has been noticed at several points.
THE WATER SUPPLY
In every township of the county, particularly in the hills border- ing the streams, there are springs of good water, many of which are never failing, while others almost dry up in seasons of slight rainfall. All over the county wells of moderate depth yield an abundant supply of good, wholesome water. In the southeastern half, and probably in the entire county, the conditions are favorable for securing a supply of artesian water. The great Keokuk syncline or trough underlies a large part of the county and throughout this area the pressure is sufficient to insure flowing wells at almost any point. The best known wells of this character are at Fort Madison and Keokuk. At Fort Madison six artesian wells have been sunk. They are the old up-town Atlee well, the well at the Atlee Mills, the one in Ivanhoe Park, the well at the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail-
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
road Hospital, the well of the Brown Paper Company, and the city well in the Old Settlers' Park, completed in August, 1914. At Keokuk the best artesian wells are the Hubinger well and the one at the Young Men's Christian Association. The water from these wells is wholesome, though one has "to learn to like it," on account of a peculiar taste, which after a time becomes unnoticeable. There are also several mineral springs in the coal fields, but generally they are too small to supply more than the local demand for water. They contain various sulphates and some of them, no doubt, possess certain medicinal properties.
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Vol. 1 -2
CHAPTER II
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS
THE MOUND BUILDERS-CHARACTER OF THEIR RELICS-DISTRICTS OF IN THE UNITED STATES-THEORIES CONCERNING THEM-MOUNDS IN LEE COUNTY-THE INDIANS-GENERAL DISTRIBUTION AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY-THE ILLINI-THE IOWAS- SACS AND FOXES-CHIEF BLACK HAWK-KEOKUK-HIS REPUTA- TION AS AN ORATOR AND DIPLOMAT-MONUMENT AT RAND PARK, KEOKUK-MATANEQUA.
Who were the first human beings to inhabit the region now included in the State of Iowa? The question is more easily asked than answered. The first white settlements along the Atlantic coast were made early in the seventeenth century. More than a century elapsed after these settlements were established before evidences were discovered to show that the interior had once been peopled by a peculiar race. These evidences were found in the numerous mounds and earthworks. Says one of the reports of the United States Bureau of Ethnology :
"During a period beginning some time after the close of the Ice Age and ending with the coming of the white man-or only a few generations before-the central part of North America was inhabited by a people who had emerged to some extent from the darkness of savagery, had acquired certain domestic arts, and practiced some well-defined lines of industry. The location and boundaries in- habited by them are fairly well marked by the mounds and earthworks they erected."
The center of this ancient civilization-if such it may be called- appears to have been in the present State of Ohio. Iowa may be regarded as its western frontier. From the relics left the people have been given the name of "Mound Builders" by archæologists. Most of the mounds discovered are conical in shape and when ex- plored generally are found to contain skeletons. They have been designated as burial mounds. Others are in the form of truncated pyramids-that is, square or rectangular at the base and flat on the top. The mounds of this class are usually higher than the burial
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY
mounds and are supposed to have been lookouts or signal stations. Here and there are to be seen well-defined lines of earthworks, indi- cating that they had been used as a means of defense against invading enemies. In a few instances, the discovery of a large mound, sur- rounded by an embankment, outside of which are a number of smaller mounds, has given rise to the theory that such places were centers of religious worship or sacrifice.
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