USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 12
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The country round about this region has the prairie surface approximating a general level which is so characteristic of the greater part of the State, and which exists irrespective of the character or geological age of the strata beneath, mainly because the drift is so deep and uniformly distributed that it frequently almost alone gives character to the surface. The valley sides of the Des Moines River, in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, are somewhat abrupt, having a depth there from the general level of the upland of about one hundred and seventy feet, and consequently presents somewhat bold and interesting features in the land- scape.
As one walks up and down the creeks and ravines which come into the valley of the Des Moines River there, he sees the gypsum exposed on either side of them, jutting out from beneath the drift in the form of
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ledges and bold quarry fronts, having almost the exact appearance of ordinary limestone exposures, so horizontal and regular are its lines of stratification, and so similar in color is it to some varieties of that rock. The principal quarries now opened are on Two Mile Creek, a couple of miles below Fort Dodge.
The reader will please bear in mind that the gypsum of this remarkable deposit does not occur in "heaps " or "nests," as it does in most deposits of gypsum in the States farther eastward, but that it exists here in the form of a regularly stratified, continuous formation, as uniform in texture, color and quality throughout the whole region, and from top to bottom of the deposit as the granite of the Quincy quarries is. Its color is a uniform gray, result- ing from alternating fine horizontal lines of nearly white, with similar lines of darker shade. The gypsum of the white lines is almost entirely pure, the darker lines containing the impurity. This is at intervals barely sufficient in amount to cause the separation of the mass upon those lines into beds or layers, thus facilitating the quarrying of it into desired shapes. These bedding sur- faces have occasionally a clayey feeling to the touch, but there is nowhere any intercalation of clay or other foreign substance in a separate form. The deposit is known to reach a thickness of thirty feet at the quarries referred to, but although it will probably be found to exceed this thickness at some other points, at the natural exposures, it is seldom seen to be more than from ten to twenty feet thick.
Since the drift is usually seen to rest directly upon the gypsum, with noth- ing intervening, except at a few points where traces appear of an overlying bed of clayey material without doubt of the same age as the gypsum, the latter probably lost something of its thickness by mechanical erosion during the glacial epoch; and it has, doubtless, also suffered some diminution of thickness since then by solution in the waters which constantly percolate through the drift from the surface. The drift of this region being somewhat clayey, partic- ulary in its lower part, it has doubtless served in some degree as a protection against the diminution of the gypsum by solution in consequence of its partial imperviousness to water. If the gypsum had been covered by a deposit of sand instead of the drift clays, it would have no doubt long since disappeared by being dissolved in the water that would have constantly reached it from the sur- face. Water merely resting upon it would not dissolve it away to any extent, but it rapidly disappears under the action of running water. Where little rills of water at the time of every rain run over the face of an unused quarry, from the surface above it, deep grooves are thereby cut into it, giving it somewhat the appearance of melting ice around a waterfall. The fact that gypsum is now suffering a constant, but, of course, very slight, diminution, is apparent in the fact the springs of the region contain more or less of it in solution in their waters. An analysis of water from one of these springs will be found in Prof. Emery's report.
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Besides the clayey beds that are sometimes seen to rest upon the gypsum, there are occasionally others seen beneath them that are also of the same age, and not of the age of the coal-measure strata upon which they rest.
Age of the Gypsum Deposit .- In neither the gypsum nor the associated clays has any trace of any fossil remains been found, nor has any other indica- tion of its geological age been observed, except that which is afforded by its stratigraphical relations ; and the most that can be said with certainty is that it is newer than the coal measures, and older than the drift. The indications afforded by the stratigraphical relations of the gypsum deposit of Fort Dodge are, however, of considerable value.
As already shown, it rests in that region directly and unconformably upon the lower coal measures ; but going southward from there, the whole series of coal-measure strata from the top of the subcarboniferous group to the upper coal measures, inclusive, can be traced without break or unconformability. The strata of the latter also may be traced in the same manner up into the Permian rocks of Kansas; and through this long series, there is no place or horizon which suggests that the gypsum deposit might belong there.
Again, no Tertiary deposits are known to exist within or near the borders of Iowa to suggest that the gypsum might be of that age; nor are any of the palæozoic strata newer than the subcarboniferous unconformable upon each other as the other gypsum is unconformable upon the strata beneath it. It therefore seems, in a measure, conclusive, that the gypsum is of Mesozoic age, perhaps older than the Cretaceous.
Lithological Origin .- As little can be said with certainty concerning the lithological origin of this deposit as can be said concerning its geological age, for it seems to present itself in this relation, as in the former one, as an isolated fact. None of the associated strata show any traces of a double decomposition of pre-existing materials, such as some have supposed all deposits of gypsum to have resulted from. No considerable quantities of oxide of iron nor any trace of native sulphur have been found in connection with it; nor has any salt been found in the waters of the region. These substances are common in association with other gypsum deposits, and are regarded by some persons as indicative of the method of or resulting from their origin as such. Throughout the whole region, the Fort Dodge gypsum has the exact appearance of a sedimentary deposit. It is arranged in layers like the regular layers of limestone, and the whole mass, from top to bottom, is traced with fine horizontal laminæe of alter- nating white and gray gypsum, parallel with the bedding surfaces of the layers, but the whole so intimately blended as to form a solid mass. The darker lines contain almost all the impurity there is in the gypsum, and that impurity is evidently sedimentary in its character. From these facts, and also from the further one that no trace of fossil remains has been detected in the gypsum, it seems not unreasonable to entertain the opinion that the gypsum of Fort Dodge originated as a chemical precipitation in comparatively still waters which were
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saturated with sulphate of lime and destitute of life; its stratification and impurities being deposited at the same time as clayey impurities which had been held suspended in the same waters.
Physical Properties .- Much has already been said of the physical proper- ties or character of this gypsum, but as it is so different in some respects from that of other deposits, there are yet other matters worthy of mention in connec- tion with those. According to the results of a complete and exhaustive anal- ysis by Prof. Emery, the ordinary gray gypsum contains only about eight per cent. of impurity ; and it is possible that the average impurity for the whole deposit will not exceed that proportion, so uniform in quality is it from to top to bottom and from one end of the region to the other.
When it is remembered that plaster for agricultural purposes is sometimes prepared from gypsum that contains as much as thirty per cent. of impurity, it will be seen that ours is a very superior article for such purposes. The impu- rities are also of such a character that they do not in any way interfere with its value for use in the arts. Although the gypsum rock has a gray color, it becomes quite white by grinding, and still whiter by the calcining process nec- essary in the preparation of plaster of Paris. These tests have all been practi- cally made in the rooms of the Geological Survey, and the quality of the plaster of Paris still further tested by actual use and experiment. No hesitation, therefore, is felt in stating that the Fort Dodge gypsum is of as good a quality as any in the country, even for the finest uses.
In view of the bounteousness of the primitive fertility of our Iowa soils, many persons forget that a time may come when Nature will refuse to respond so generously to our demand as she does now, without an adequate return. Such are apt to say that this vast deposit of gypsum is valueless to our com- monwealth, except to the small extent that it may be used in the arts. This is undoubtedly a short-sighted view of the subject, for the time is even now rapidly passing away when a man may purchase a new farm for less money than he can re-fertilize and restore the partially wasted primitive fertility of the one he now occupies. There are farms even now in a large part of the older settled portions of the State that would be greatly benefited by the proper application of plaster, and such areas will continue to increase until it will be difficult to estimate the value of the deposit of gypsum at Fort Dodge. It should be remembered, also, that the inhabitants of an extent of country adjoining our State more than three times as great as its own area will find it more convenient to obtain their supplies from Fort Dodge than from any other source.
For want of direct railroad communication between this region and other parts of the State, the only use yet made of the gypsum by the inhabitants is for the purposes of ordinary building stone. It is so compact that it is found to be comparatively unaffected by the frost, and its ordinary situation in walls of houses is such that it is protected from the dissolving action of water, which
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can at most reach it only from occasional rains, and the effect of these is too slight to be perceived after the lapse of several years.
One of the citizens of Fort Dodge, Hon. John F. Duncombe, built a large, fine residence of it, in 1861, the walls of which appear as unaffected by exposure and as beautiful as they were when first erected. It has been so long and successfully used for building stone by the inhabitants that they now prefer it to the limestone of good quality, which also exists in the immediate vicinity. This preference is due to the cheapness of the gypsum, as compared with the stone. The cheapness of the former is largely due to the facility with which it is quarried and wrought. Several other houses have been constructed of it in Fort Dodge, including the depot building of the Dubuque & Sioux City Rail- road. The company have also constructed a large culvert of the same material to span a creek near the town, limestone only being used for the lower courses, which come in contact with the water. It is a fine arch, each stone of gypsum being nicely hewn, and it will doubtless prove a very durable one. Many of the sidewalks in the town are made of the slabs or flags of gypsum which occur in some of the quarries in the form of thin layers. They are more durable than their softness would lead one to suppose. They also possess an advantage over stone in not becoming slippery when worn.
The method adopted in quarrying and dressing the blocks of gypsum is peculiar, and quite unlike that adopted in similar treatment of ordinary stone. Taking a stout auger-bit of an ordinary brace, such as is used by carpenters, and filing the cutting parts of it into a peculiar form, the quarryman bores his holes into the gypsum quarry for blasting, in the same manner and with as great facility as a carpenter would bore hard wood. The pieces being loosened by blasting, they are broken up with sledges into convenient sizes, or hewn into the desired shapes by means of hatchets or ordinary chopping axes, or cut by means of ordinary wood-saws. So little grit does the gypsum contain that these tools, made for working wood, are found to be better adapted for working the former substance than those tools are which are universally used for work- ing stone.
MINOR DEPOSITS OF SULPHATE OF LIME.
Besides the great gypsum deposit of Fort Dodge, sulphate of lime in the various forms of fibrous gypsum, selenite, and small, amorphous masses, has also been discovered in various formations in different parts of the State, includ- ing the coal·measure shales near Fort Dodge, where it exists in small quanti- ties, quite independently of the great gypsum deposit there. The quantity of gypsum in these minor deposits is always too small to be of any practical value, and frequently minute. They usually occur in shales and shaly clays, asso- ciated with strata that contain more or less sulphuret of iron (iron pyrites). Gypsum has thus been detected in the coal measures, the St. Louis limestone, the cretaceous strata, and also in the lead caves of Dubuque. In most of these cases it is evidently the result of double decomposition of iron pyrites and car-
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bonate of lime, previously existing there ; in which cases the gypsum is of course not an original deposit as the great one at Fort Dodge is supposed to be.
The existence of these comparatively minute quantities of gypsum in the shales of the coal measures and the subcarboniferous limestone which are exposed within the region of and occupy a stratigraphical position beneath the great gypsum deposits, suggests the possibility that the former may have originated as a precipitate from percolating waters, holding gypsum in solution which they had derived from that deposit in passing over or through it. Since, however, the same substance is found in similar small quantities and under similar con- ditions in regions where they could have had no possible connection with that deposit, it is believed that none of those mentioned have necessarily originated from it, not even those that are found in close proximity to it.
The gypsum found in the lead caves is usually in the form of efflorescent fibers, and is always in small quantity. In the lower coal-measure shale near Fort Dodge, a small mass was found in the form of an intercalated layer, which had a distinct fibrous structure, the fibers being perpendicular to the plane of the layer. The same mass had also distinct, horizontal planes of cleavage at right angles with the perpendicular fibers. Thus, being more or less transpa- rent, the mass combined the characters of both fibrous gypsum and selenite. No anhydrous sulphate of lime (anhydrite) has been found in connection with the great gypsum deposit, nor elsewhere in Iowa, so far as yet known.
SULPHATE OF STRONTIA.
(Celes'ine.)
The only locality at which this interesting mineral has yet been found in Iowa, or, so far as is known, in the great valley of the Mississippi, is at Fort Dodge. It occurs there in very small quantity in both the shales of the lower coal measures and in the clays that overlie the gypsum deposit, and which are regarded as of the same age with it. The first is just below the city, near Rees' coal bank, and occurs as a layer intercalated among the coal measure shales, amounting in quantity to only a few hundred pounds' weight. The mineral is fibrous and crystalline, the fibers being perpendicular to the plane of the layer. Breaking also with more or less distinct horizontal planes of cleavage, it resem- bles, in physical character, the layer of fibro-crystalline gypsum before men- tioned. Its color is light blue, is transparent and shows crystaline facets upon both the upper and under surfaces of the layer; those of the upper surface being smallest and most numerous. It breaks up readily into small masses along the lines of the perpendicular fibers or columns. The layer is probably not more than a rod in extent, in any direction and about three inches in maxi- mum thickness. Apparent lines of stratification occur in it, corresponding with those of the shales which imbed it.
The other deposit was still smaller in amount, and occurred as a mass of crystals imbedded in the clays that overlie the gypsum at Cummins' quarry in
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the valley of Soldier Creek, upon the north side of the town. The mineral is in this case nearly colorless, and but for the form of the separate crystals would closely resemble masses of impure salt. The crystals are so closely aggregated that they enclose but little impurity in the mass, but in almost all cases their fundamental forms are obscured. This mineral has almost no real practical value, and its occurrence, as described, is interesting only as a mineralogical fact.
SULPHATE OF BARYTA. (Barytes, Heavy Spar.)
This mineral has been found only in minute quantities in Iowa. It has been detected in the coal-measure shales of Decatur, Madison and Marion Counties, the Devonian limestone of Johnson and Bremer Counties and in the lead caves of Dubuque. In all these cases, it is in the form of crystals or small crystalline masses.
SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA. ( Epsomite.)
Epsomite, or native epsom salts, having been discovered near Burlington, we have thus recognized in Iowa all the sulphates of the alkaline earths of natural origin ; all of them, except the sulphate of lime, being in very small quantity. Even if the sulphate of magnesia were produced in nature, in large quantities, it is so very soluble that it can accumulate only in such positions as afford it complete shelter from the rains or running water. The epsomite mentioned was found beneath the overhanging cliff of Burlington limestone, near Starr's mill, which are represented in the sketch upon another page, illus- trating the subcarboniferous rocks. It occurs in the form of efflorescent encrus- tations upon the surface of stones and in similar small fragile masses among the fine debris that has fallen down beneath the overhanging cliff. The projection of the cliff over the perpendicular face of the strata beneath amounts to near twenty feet at the point where epsomite was found. Consequently the rains never reach far beneath it from any quarter. The rock upon which the epsom- ite accumulates is an impure limestone, containing also some carbonate of mag- nesia, together with a small proportion of iron pyrites in a finely divided con- dition. It is doubtless by double decomposition of these that the epsomite re- sults. By experiments with this native salt in the office of the Survey, a fine article of epsom salts was produced, but the quantity that might be annually obtained there would amount to only a few pounds, and of course is of no prac- tical value whatever, on account of its cheapness in the market.
CLIMATOLOGY.
No extended record of the climatology of Iowa has been made, yet much of great value may be learned from observations made at a single point. Prof. T. S. Parvin, of the State University, has recorded observations made from 1839 to the present time. Previous to 1860, these observations were made at Mus-
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catine. Since that date, they were made in Iowa City. The result is that the atmospheric conditions of the climate of Iowa are in the highest degree favor- able to health.
The highest temperature here occurs in August, while July is the hottest month in the year by two degrees, and January the coldest by three degrees.
The mean temperature of April and October most nearly corresponds to the mean temperature of the year, as well as their seasons of Spring and Fall, while that of Summer and Winter is best represented in that of August and December.
The period of greatest heat ranges from June 22d to August 31st; the next mean time being July 27th. The lowest temperature extends from December 16th to February 15th, the average being January 20th-the range in each case being two full months.
The climate of Iowa embraces the range of that of New York, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The seasons are not characterized by the frequent and sudden changes so common in the latitudes further south. The temperature of the Winters is somewhat lower than States eastward, but of other seasons it is higher. The atmosphere is dry and invigorating. The surface of the State being free at all seasons of the year from stagnant water, with good breezes at nearly all seasons, the miasmatic and pulmonary diseases are unknown. Mortuary statistics show this to be one of the most healthful States in the Union, being one death to every ninety-four persons. The Spring, Summer and Fall months are delightful; indeed, the glory of Iowa is her Autumn, and nothing can transcend the splendor of her Indian Summer, which lasts for weeks, and finally blends, almost imperceptibly, into Winter.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
Iowa, in the symbolical and expressive lauguage of the aboriginal inhab- itants, is said to signify " The Beautiful Land," and was applied to this. magnificent and fruitful region by its ancient owners, to express their apprecia- tion of its superiority of climate, soil and location. Prior to 1803, the Mississippi River was the extreme western boundary of the United States. All the great empire lying west of the " Father of Waters," from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to British America on the north, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. was a Spanish province. A brief historical sketch of the discovery and occupation of this grand empire by the Spanish and French governments will be a fitting introduction to the history of the young and thriving State of Iowa, which, until the commencement of the present century, was a part of the Spanish possessions in America.
Early in the Spring of 1542, fifty years after Columbus discovered the New World, and one hundred and thirty years before the French missionaries discov- ered its upper waters, Ferdinand De Soto discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Washita. After the sudden death of De Soto, in May of the same year, his followers built a small vessel, and in July, 1543, descended the great river to the Gulf of Mexico.
In accordance with the usage of nations, under which title to the soil was claimed by right of discovery, Spain, having conquered Florida and discovered the Mississippi, claimed all the territory bordering on that river and the Gulf of Mexico. But it was also held by the European nations that, while discovery gave title, that title must be perfected by actual possession and occupation. Although Spain claimed the territory by right of first discovery, she made no effort to occupy it ; by no permanent settlement had she perfected and held her title, and therefore had forfeited it when, at a later period, the Lower Mississippi Valley was re-discovered and occupied by France.
The unparalleled labors of the zealous French Jesuits of Canada in penetrating the unknown region of the West, commencing in 1611, form a history of no ordi- nary interest, but have no particular connection with the scope of the present work, until in the Fall of 1665. Pierre Claude Allouez, who had entered Lake Superior in September, and sailed along the southern coast in search of copper, had arrived at the great village of the Chippewas at Chegoincegon. Here a grand council of some ten or twelve of the principal Indian nations was held. The Pottawatomies of Lake Michigan, the Sacs and Foxes of the West, the- Hurons from the North, the Illinois from the South, and the Sioux from the land of the prairie and wild rice, were all assembled there. The Illinois told
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the story of their ancient glory and about the noble river on the banks of which they dwelt. The Sioux also told their white brother of the same great river, and Allouez promised to the assembled tribes the protection of the French nation against all their enemies, native or foreign.
The purpose of discovering the great river about which the Indian na- tions had given such glowing accounts appears to have originated with Mar- quette, in 1669. In the year previous, he and Claude Dablon had established the Mission of St. Mary's, the oldest white settlement within the present limits of the State of Michigan. Marquette was delayed in the execution of his great undertaking, and spent the interval in studying the language and habits of the Illinois Indians, among whom he expected to travel.
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