USA > Iowa > Jefferson County > The history of Jefferson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war records of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 44
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SEC. 8. That the county of Jefferson shall remain attached to the original county of Henry for judicial purposes until its officers are appointed and elected, and until said county is properly organized, according to law in such cases made and provided.
SEC. 9. That this act shall be in force from and after its passage.
Approved January 21, 1839.
Having thus minutely traced the history of the county from the time the first claims were made by John Huff and his companions in 1835, to the passage of the bill under which the county was organized, we come now to consider its
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, ORIGIN OF NAMES, TIMBER, ETC.
The lands are what are known as rolling prairie and woodland, properly interspersed for farming purposes, building and fencing timber. The landscape from the higher ground is pleasing and attractive to the eye, inviting the stranger to a closer examination of the view before him. The abundance of streams, skirted with heavy growths of timber, give a variety and richness to the prospect. Along the larger streams, such as Checauqua (Skunk), Cedar, Walnut and Competine, the lands are to some extent broken, but none, or but few sections at least, are lost to cultivation.
The central part of the county is the highest ground, the water shedding toward the north, south and east, while the sheds of each township are well defined and reach to all parts of the land.
Few counties in Iowa are so favored as to water and timber, almost all of the streams furnishing sufficient water for motive power, as well as for stock ; while timber for building purposes is to be found in abundance; black, white, burr
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
and red oak, hard and soft maple, hickory, elm, ash, walnut and birch, being the principal varieties.
The streams occupy a prominent position in the topography of the county. Entering the county near its northeast corner, in Section 1 of Walnut Town- ship, is the Checauqua River, which flows through the eastern tier of sections of that township, its course south ; entering Section 1 of Lockridge Township, it changes its course westerly, touching Section 2; reversing its course, it flows through Sections 12 and 13, leaving the county at the half-section line of Sec- tion 13, watering ten sections.
Burr Oak Creek rising in Section 1 of Penn Township traversing the town- in a southeasterly direction, empties into the Checauqua River in Section 2 of Lockridge Township, watering twelve sections. The Indian name of Skunk River was Che-cau-que, and in fact the early white settlers sometimes applied that name to it. In the proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners of this county, January 2, 1843, " Che-cau-que River," is mentioned in connection with the location of a territorial road, the orthography being as here given, written in the bold legible hand of James T. Hardin, Clerk of the Board at the time. The word, in the Sac and Fox tongue, means Skunk. The white settlers of a later period certainly evince no great poetical taste by affixing to that stream the English translation. The pride of the people, however, is somewhat gratified when they call to mind that a certain great commercial emporium of the West derives its name from no better source. Chi-ca-go and Che-can-que are slightly different pronunciations of a word said to mean the same thing.
Big Turkey Creek rises in Section 7 of Lockridge Township, its course eastward, along the boundary line of Walnut and Lockridge Townships, pass- ing through eight sections, emptying into Walnut Creek near the junction of Walnut and Burr Oak. This creek was named by John Huff because of his killing five large wild turkeys on its banks on one hunt.
Little Turkey rises in Section 17, Lockridge Township ; enters Skunk River in Section 11, same township; watering eleven sections.
Brush Creek rises in Fairfield Township in Sections 1 and 2, flowing east- ward across Buchanan and Lockridge Townships, entering Henry County from Section 36 of Lockridge Township, watering twelve sections. This creek was also named by John Huff, because of the thick growth of underbrush found along its banks.
Walnut Creek has three prongs west of Section 23, of Penn Township. The north prong rises in Section 3; the middle prong rises in Sections 9, 17 and 21; and the south prong in Section 29 of Black Hawk Township. The north fork enters Penn Township.in Section 7; the middle prong in Section 18, and the south prong in Section 30, watering nineteen sections in Black Hawk, ten sections in Penn, nine sections in Walnut, and two sections in Lockridge Township, emptying into Checanqua (Skunk) River in Section 2, Lockridge Township. Its general course is east. So named because of the large walnut-trees along its course.
Big Cedar enters the county in Section 18, Locust Grove Township, passing through Locust Grove, Fairfield, Liberty, Cedar and Round Prairie Townships, leaves thecounty from Section 35 of Round Prairie Township, traversing thirty- -one sections, and, in its windings, makes about sixty-two miles in the county.
Lick Creek rises in Section 16 of Des Moines Township, passes through Liberty Township, and makes its exit from the county from Section 32 of Liberty Township, watering eight sections. This stream derived its name from saline spots along its course that were frequented by deer.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
The western branch of Crow Creek rises in Section 24, Fairfield Township. and the eastern fork in Section 20, Buchanan Township. These branches flow in a southern direction and unite in Section 30, Buchanan Township ; thence south through Cedar Township, and empty into Cedar Creek from Section 18. Crow Creek and its branches waters eight sections. This creek was first known as Balalrd's Branch, after the name of the first settler on its banks, whose name is elsewhere mentioned as one of the "squatters " of 1836. When the settlement and society began to encroach on Ballard's domain, and he " pulled up stakes " and moved on west, it came to be known as Dyer's Creek, but W. B. Culbert- son and John A. Pitzer rechristened it and named it Crow Creek, from the frequent gatherings of large flocks of those birds in the timber skirting the course of the stream.
Little Competine rises in Section 18 of Polk Township, and empties into Big Competine in Section 6 of Locust Grove Township, watering five sections.
Big Competine enters the county in Section 31 of Polk Township, flows south through Locust Grove, emptying into Cedar in Section 21, watering seven sections.
An old Indian, among the Sacs and Foxes, of the name of Competine, * had a child that died in the western part of the county, near where Daniel Morris then lived. The child was buried on the east bank of a small creek which passes through Locust Grove Township, and from this circumstance, and in honor of the Indian Competine, the settlers called the creek Competine, by which name it is still known. The meaning of the word Com-pe-tine, in the Sac and Fox tongue, is-a small office. Competine, however, had two other names-Ma-cul-wah and Mich-la-wam-pa-tine.
Coon Creek rises in Sections 7 and 9 of Polk Township, flowing into Com- petine in Section 21 of Locust Grove Township, watering thirteen sections. This creek was so named because of the large number of raccoons that were found along its course in early days.
Smith Creek rises in Section 24 of Polk Township, flows south, emptying into Coon Creek in Section 3, Locust Grove Township, watering six sections. This creek was named after the first settler on its banks.
Richland Creek rises in Section 18 of Black Hawk, flows north, leaving the county from Section 5 of same township, watering three sections. No origin for the name of this creek is recorded, but it was probably so named because of the exceeding richness of the land through which its course is directed.
Rattlesnake rises in Section 13 of Cedar Township, flows through Round Prairie Township, emptying into Cedar Creek in Section 33 of Round Prairie Township, watering seven sections. This creek was so named because of the large number of yellow rattlesnakes that used to den among the rocks along its course. A son of Henry Simcoe, an early settler, was bitten by one of the reptiles, from the effects of which he died soon afterward.
Wolf Creek rises in Sections 26 and 27 of Buchanan Township, flows eastward, crosses Section 1 of Cedar, passes through Round Prairie, and
* After the Indians had removed west beyond the houndary line, parties of them frequently visited the eastern part of the county, for the purpose of making sugar, and hunting along the Checauque River. At one time, in 1839, Competine and his wife were on their way to the Checauque-the squaw mounted on a pony, with camp-kettles and all their wick-e-up (tent) paraphernalia. They stopped at the cabin of a settler in the neighborhood of the present village of Salina, where a white man's horse was tied to the fence. Mrs. Competine, unable to guide her overloaded pony, ran her wick-e-up traps against the white man's horse, hadly injuring him. This so enraged the owner of the horse that be took hold of Competine's gun and wrenched it from him by force. Competine went to the Indian Agency and made complaint, and the white man, learning that he was about to get into trouble, gave a friend $5 to take the gun to its owner. The messenger proceeded as far as Fairfield, where he took a spree, lost all his money, aud could go no further. In the mean time, a squad of dragoons came on from the agency, and finding Competine's gun in Fairfield, returned it to him, and let the offender off, a badly-scared man.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
makes its exit from the county from Section 1 of Round Prairie Township, watering thirteen sections in its course. James McCoy, an early settler, spent much of his time hunting wolves, his most successful excursions being along & small tributary of Big Cedar, in the southeast part of the county. He there- fore called it " Wolf Creek," by which name it is still known.
Troy's Branch rises in Section 27, Buchanan Township, flows south through Cedar Township, empties into Cedar Creek from Section 28 of Cedar Township, watering ten sections. Named after Troy, the first settler on its banks.
GEOLOGY.
In the general history of the State which is given in this volume, will be- found a somewhat elaborate description of the geology of Iowa, from a scientific standpoint. It remains for us to limit the circuit of our work in connection herewith to the actual boundaries of Jefferson County. We shall attempt to popularize a most interesting but not generally studied theme, and endeavor to. explain, in simple form, what is too often rendered obscure to the uninitiated in scientific methods, by technical terms and expressions. Since those who wish to do so can turn to the general chapter and learn of the geologic structure of the State, let us now bring to a focus the more practical ideas relative to. the subject of the recent or superficial formations of Jefferson County. This is designed to be only a short popular treatise, so as to interest every man and woman of good observation who shall peruse it, and to call their attention, at least, to the surface formation of the earth, so that in a few years there may be hundreds of observers of interesting geological facts where there is but one at the present time.
That geology commends itself to us as a truthful science will be very readily elucidated by a simple statement of a fact within the comprehension of all.
To illustrate : A certain kind of rocks are called Archæan or Laurentian. These are the most ancient rocks known to geologists; at one time they were supposed to be destitute of fossils. In all the systems of rocks, they occupy the lowest, and consequently the oldest, position ; but in whatever part of the earth found, they are always recognizable by the geologist. So the Devonian rocks are distinguished by certain fossil fishes that are found in them, and in them alone. The Carboniferous rocks are known by certain fossil mollusks; the. Cretaceous, by certain reptiles that occur in no other formation ; and so every geological period has its characteristic fossils, by means of which the formation and its comparative age may always be accurately determined.
The geologist will always know the coal-bearing rocks from any other class ; and this knowledge ought to be possessed by every one interested in explora- tions for coal.
The geologic history of Iowa is but a page in the general history of the continent of North America. This continent has been demonstrated to be the oldest portion of the earth, notwithstanding the misnomer, "New World." It is new only in civilization. The geologist reads is the rocks evidences of age that are far more reliable than those which are placed on perishable scrolls by the pen of man. The oldest groups of rocks are not found in Iowa, but are visible in the Canadas. The first system, underlying all others, in this State, is the Azoic, seen only in a small section of the northeast portion of Iowa. Next come the Lower and Upper Silurian, the Devonian, the Carboniferous
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
and the Cretaceous systems. Of the earlier formations we shall say nothing, as allusion to them necessitates a far more extended article than we desire to prepare.
The scope of this paper extends back only to the Carboniferous system, at the period known as the Subcarboniferous group. In plainer terms, this refers to the limestone which underlies the coal formations, and brings the subject at once to the visible formations in the valley. This section is rich in coal deposits, and a glance at the method of creation will be both interesting and instructive.
FORMATION OF LIME BEDS.
Limestones have mainly been formed in the bottom of the ocean; the older and purer kinds in the deep, still sea ; the more recent and less pure in a shal- low and disturbed sea. When the great limestone deposits were made in the Mississippi Valley, a deep salt ocean extended from the Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. This was the age of mollusks (shell fish), and the sea bottom swarmed with them. Many of the rocks seem to have been wholly made up of conglomerate shells. In this age of the world there was no creature living with a spinal column or a brain ; but corals, a low order of radiates, as crinoidea, several varieties of mollusks, crustaceans. called trilobites (somewhat corresponding to the river crawfish), and some lowly worms ! These were the highest development of animal life when the earlier limestone rocks were being slowly formed.
This Silurian age was succeeded by the Devonian, characterized as the age of fishes, during which were deposited the Hamilton and Carboniferous lime- stones. Then came the Subcarboniferous period, during which were deposited the limestone beds. These were formed in a comparatively shallow sea, a fact proven by numerous ripple marks in the rocks, also by their sandy composition in some layers, and farther, by an occasional thin layer of clay intervening between the strata of rocks. These were uneasy times on the earth's crust, when it was given to upheavings and down-sinkings over large areas. Then it was that the whole northeastern and eastern part of the State was up- raised.
THE GREAT COAL BASIN
was formed west and south throughout Iowa, reaching into Missouri and Kan- sas, the Indian Territory and perhaps Texas. Over this vast area there stretched a vast, dismal swamp.
On this vast marshy plain grew the rank vegetation that was in the future to be pressed into coal. It was a wilderness of moss and ferns and reeds, such as can be found nowhere on earth at the present time. Prof. Gunning, in speaking of it, says: "To the land forest of coniferas and cycads, and the marsh forest of scale trees and seal trees and reed trees and fern trees, add an undergrowth of low herbaceous ferns, and you have the picture of a primeval landscape. Blot from the face of nature every flowering weed and flowering tree, every grass, every fruit, every growth useful to man or beast ; go, then to the Sunda Islands for the largest club moss, to the East Indies for the largest tree fern, to the damp glades of Caracas for the tallest reeds, to the Moluccas for their cycad, and to Australia for its pine, to the ponds and sluggish streams of America for their quillwort, and place them all side by side over a vast marsh and its sandy borders, and you will faintly realize your picture of a prim- eval landscape. Dwarf the cycad and the pine, lift still higher the tapering column of the tree fern, multiply by two the bulk of the reed and by three the club moss, lift the quillwort from the water, and to its long, linear leaves
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
add a fluted stem eighty feet high, and you would fully realize a carbon- iferous landscape-realize it in all but its vast solitudes. Not a bird ever perched on spiky leaf or spreading fern of a coal forest. No flower had opened yet to spread fragrance on the air, and no throat had warbled a note of music. Such poor animal life as the carboniferous world then possessed left its imprint on wave-washed shore and in the hollow stems of fallen trees."
This was the beginning of the age of amphibians. Then lived the progeni tors of the loathsome alligator and lizard. La Conte says : "The climate of the coal period was characterized by greater warmth, humidity, uniformity and a more highly carbonated condition of the atmosphere than now ob- tains." We may, therefore, picture to ourselves the climate of this period as warm, moist, uniform, stagnant and stifling from the abundance of carbonic-acid gas.
Such conditions were extremely favorable to vegetable life, but not to the higher forms of animal life. Neither man nor monkey nor milk-giving animal of any kind, lived for many cycles of time after the Subcarboniferous period ; but that vegetation grew rank, scientific facts corroborate ; thus, Prof. Gunning says : " It takes between five and eight feet of vegetable debris to form one foot of coal. A Pittsburgh seam is ten feet thick, while one in Nova Scotia is thirty-five feet in depth. The Pittsburgh seam represents a vegetable deposit of from fifty to a hundred feet in depth, and the one in Nova Scotia between a hundred and seventy-five and three hundred and fifty feet in thickness. A four- foot seam in Wapello County would represent from twenty to forty feet of vege- table debris.
During the growth and decay of this vegetable matter, the surface of the earth did not sink ; but this quiescent period was followed by one of submer .. gence. " The surface, loaded with the growth of quiet centuries, was carried down beneath the sea, where it was swept by waves and overspread by sands and mud." It was in nature's great hydraulic press, where it remained until another upheaval again threw it to the surface, and another long era of verdure succeeded the one of submergence.
Thus, emergence and submergence succeeded each other as many times as the coal-seams and the shale, slate or sandstone alternate-in some parts of Iowa, three times, in Nova Scotia about forty times ! Who can compute the centuries here recorded !
The coal-fields of Iowa are extensive. A line drawn on the map of the State as follows will about define them : Commencing at the southeast corner of Van Buren County, running to the northeast corner of Jefferson, by a wav- ing line slightly eastward through Lee and Henry Counties ; thence a few miles northward from Jefferson and northwestward, keeping six or eight miles north of Skunk River, until the southern boundary of Marshall County is reached a little west of the center; thence three or four miles northeast from Eldora, in Hardin County ; thence westward to a point a little north of Webster City, in Hamilton County, and thence westward to a point a little north of Fort Dodge, in Webster County.
The coal-field in Iowa belongs to the true carboniferous system, and is, moreover, the outfield of the vast coal-basin which partly covers this State, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is only in the Alleghanies that subterranean action has converted any part of the coal into anthracite. Every- where else in the immense basin it is strictly bituminous, varying, however, from the article as first prepared by the economic forces of Nature from the block coal of Indiana to the cannel coal found in certain parts of Iowa.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
It appears from the researches of Liebig and other eminent chemists, that when wood and other vegetable matter are buried in the earth, exposed to moisture and partially or entirely excluded from air, they decompose slowly and evolve carbonic acid gas, thus parting with a portion of their original oxygen. By this means they become gradually converted into lignite, or wood coal, which contains a larger proportion of hydrogen than wood does. A continuance of decomposition changes this lignite into common or bituminous coal, chiefly by the discharge of carbureted hydrogen, or the gas by which we illuminate our streets and houses. According to Bischoff, the inflammable gases which are always escaping from mineral coal, and are so often the cause of fatal accidents in mines, always contain carbonic acid, carbureted hydrogen, nitrogen and olefiant gas. The disengagement of all these gradually transforms ordinary or bituminous coal into anthracite, to which the various names of glance coal, cota, hard coal, culm and many others have been given.
In explaining the cause of the freedom of coal from impurities of almost every description, Sir Charles Lyell gives a paragraph which is interesting in this connection. He says: "The purity of coal itself, or the absence in it of earthy particles and sand, throughout areas of vast extent, is a fact which. appears to be very difficult to explain when we attribute each coal-seam to a vegetable growth in swamps. It has been asked how, during river inundations capable of sweeping away the leaves of ferns and the stems and roots of trees, could the waters fail to transport some fine mud into swamps ? One generation of tall trees after another grew in mud, and their leaves and prostrate trunks formed layers of vegetable matter which afterward covered with mud and turned to shale; but the coal itself, or altered vegetable matter, remained all the while unsoiled with earthy matter. This enigma, however perplexing at first sight, may, I think, be solved by attending to what is now taking place in deltas.
" The dense growth of reeds and herbage which encompasses the margin of forest-covered swamps in the valley and delta of the Mississippi, is such that the fluviatile waters, in passing through them, are filtered and made to clear them- selves entirely before they reach the areas in which vegetable matter may accu- mulate for centuries, forming coal, if the climate be favorable. There is no possibility of the least intermixture of earthy matter in such cases. Thus, in the large submerged track called 'Sunk Country,' near New Madrid, forming part of the western side of the valley of the Mississippi, erect trees have been standing ever since the year 1811-12, killed by the great earthquake of that date ; lacustrine and swamp plants have been growing there in the shallows, and several rivers have annually inundated the whole space, and yet have been unable to carry in any sediment within the outer boundaries of the morass, so dense is the marginal belt of reeds and brushwood. It may be affirmed that generally, in the cypress swamps of the Mississippi, no sediment mingles with the vegetable matter accumulated there from the decay of trees and semi- aquatic plants. As a singular proof of this fact, I may mention that when- ever any part of the swamps in Louisiana is dried up, during an un- usually hot season, and the wood is set on fire, pits are burned into the ground many feet deep, or as far down as the fire can descend without meeting with water, and it is then found that scarcely any residuum or earthy matter is left. At the bottom of these cypress swamps a bed of clay is found, with roots of the tall cypress. just as the under clays of the coal are filled with stigmaria."
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
CRETACEOUS.
The next formation above the coal was the cretaceous, or chalk. This formation is not seen in this region, being encountered only in the west and northwest portions of the State. If any ever existed here, it was carried away during the glacial period, which is hereafter explained. The absence of chalk brings us to speak next of the
GLACIAL PERIOD.
That the surface of Iowa, and, in fact, the whole of North America north of the thirty-eighth parallel, is covered by a material known as drift, has become a popular opinion. Strewed all over the country, on the hills and in the valleys and on the level prairies, covering up the native rocks to a depth of from twenty to three hundred fcet, is found this peculiar deposit. The well-diggers and the colliers, in their excavations, encounter it, and the quarryman has to strip it from the surface of this rock bed. It is not all alike; first there are a few feet of sur- face soil, created by recent vegetable deposits ; then a variable depth of clay, or clay and sand intimately blended ; then water-worn gravel and sand, and then blue clay, resting upon the country rock.
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