USA > Iowa > Warren County > The history of Warren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics &c > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
Tame plums, peaches, apples, cherries, etc., produce abundantly when cultivated with care, and when the proper varieties are selected. As we
1
273
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
have stated, the early settlers, as a general thing, thought it useless to at- tempt fruit-raising here, and thus the county now lacks many a noble orchard it might otherwise have had. At present, however, nearly every farmer who has not already an orchard is engaged in cultivating one, and thriving young orchards are to be seen all over the country side.
In the early settlement of the county peaches grew in abundance in the northern portion but since the very severe winter of 1856-7, which killed them all, peaches have ceased to be an element in the production of the county.
The strawberry succeeds well, as it does throughout almost all portions in this latitude. They are not cultivated extensively for the markets, be- cause of the remoteness of the county from a large town to create a demand, but with improved railway connections a large and profitable business in this production will doubtless spring up to add employment and wealth to its people.
Raspberries and blackberries succeed well, and are cultivated quite gen- erally over the surface of the county for home nse.
Cherries have become a very important crop, and will eventually add much to the wealth of the county.
But the great, the standard productions of the county are the cereals, corn, wheat, oats, barley and rye. For these the soil is peculiarly fitted, and they alinost grow spontaneously.
Spring wheat is generally grown, and on an ordinary year the average will probably reach fifteen bushels. Winter wheat does well when the ground is covered with a snow early in December, thus giving protection to the crop during the rigor of the winter.
Rye and barley, while quite extensively cultivated, have not attained great importance because there are no local markets. The temperance proclivities of the people also operate as a bar to the establishment of breweries and distilleries.
Oats will probably average about thirty to forty bushels to the acre, one year with another.
Sorghum thrives well, but is not now cultivated to that extent as formerly.
Potatoes grow almost without effort, although the bug has been a pest which has exercised the patience and devoured the crop of many a farmer. The average yield is probably about one hundred and fifty bushels per acre, although many instances are known of a production at the rate of four hun- dred bushels to the acre.
The importance of the tame grasses was not appreciated at an early day so long as the virgin soil of much of the county remained unbroken, because the supply of pasturage was free and plentiful, and the quality of the prairie hay was all that the early settlers desired or needed; but when the time came the soil of the county gave evidence that it was thoroughly adapted to tame grasses. Timothy and red-top and clover, for both pasturage and hay, and Kentucky blue grass for the former, succeed well in almost every portion of the county. As the county becomes more perfectly developed the importance of the tame grasses to the entire production of the other growths from the soil will be greatly increased.
Successful stock-raising here, as in every other portion of the western conntry, has kept even pace with the adoption and increase of the tame grasses, and will, in the future, be the absorbing industry of its people.
18
274
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
The butter and cheese industry has not yet attracted that attention which it deserves, but the success of those inaugurated shows that it may, and doubtless will, be made one of the most important, as well as one of the most remunerative, in this region of country.
Of the details of the history and productions of the county it will be our privilege and duty to treat hereafter. We have seen that the county is " fair to look upon"-may its story warrant this conclusion upon closer examination, and may it continue to be true of its future.
GEOLOGY.
Desirons of giving the best anthorities on this subject, the following has been carefully compiled, and quoted in part from Prof. St. John's account of the geology of the county in that standard authority, creditable alike to its author and the State, Dr. C. A. White's "Geology of Iowa."
Warren county presents an interesting field for geological research, and owing to its position in the region of the coal-measures, the explorations in this section have had an important bearing upon the development of the economic resources of this group of strata. The geological formations which appear at the surface in this region consist of the lower, middle and upper coal formations, and the post-tertiary deposits.
All three formations of the coal-measures are found in Warren county. The lower measures outcrop over perhaps one-third the area of the county, and are confined to the northeastern townships. The middle formation occupies the larger remaining portion of the county, and comprises about eight townships, or one-half of the area, while the upper coal-measures cnt across the southwestern townships and appear in isolated patches in the uplands at several localities in the interior of the county.
It is, doubtless, only the upper portion of the productive or lower coal- measure which appears at the surface; and lience it is we find but one or two coal horizons of any considerable thickness in this formation, exposed to view in the county. The lower heds in the formation can be reached by boring, or by ordinary shafting, though it is exceedingly difficult to direct such practical explorations with assured success when we take into consid- eration the variability in the thickness of the coals throughout this mem- ber of the coal-measures. And, also, the identity of many of the exposures is not well established, for the reason that our knowledge of this formation at the present time is more of a general than detailed character. The formation, as it appears in this county, is made up of argillaceous and arenaceous shales with beds of soft sandstone and coal. A regular band of septaria and occasional layers of brownish, impure limestone occur in various strata of the shales at different localities.
On North river, in Greenfield township, there are a few outcroppings exhibiting at least two beds of coal including a third thin carbonaceous layer. In the spot formerly occupied by Hoover's mill a two to three foot coal-bed is said to appear at low water. It is overlaid by bluish and choc- olate-colored shales which enclose a six inch layer of coal at an elevation of about twenty feet above the lower bed. A thin layer of rather compact, thin-bedded sandstone is associated with these strata, which has afforded a limited supply of building material.
Two miles above Hoover's mill, in the southwest quarter of section 29,
275
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
township 77, range 24, a two or three foot bed of coal has been opened on Mr. George Dillard's farm, where the following section was made:
SECTION AT DILLARD'S COAL MINE.
5. Gray silicious lime rock 1 to 2 feet.
4. Blue and yellow shales. 5 to 6 feet.
3. Black carbonaceous shales, sometimes replaced by nodular, fossiliferous earthy limestone. 1 to 2 feet.
2. Coal. 212 to 3 ft ._
1. Light-blue shales. About 5 ft.
The coal is of a very good quality, and has a large local demand for blacksmithing purposes.
Except at Lockridge's mill, in Allen township, no more exposures of lower coal strata were seen, the formation passing beneath the middle coal-measures before reaching the mouth of Badger creek. Lower down the valley, however, a short distance above the crossing of the Indianola and Des Moines road, a three or foot bed of coal is reported to have been found at a depth but a few feet below the level of the bottoms.
Some two or three miles to the northeastward of Hartford, in the base of the bluffs bordering the right side of the Des Moines valley, several openings have been made in a four foot coal-bed belonging to Mr. Taylor. The coal is probably ten to fifteen feet above the level of the river, and with the associated strata as well as the physical aspect of the bed itself it has an unmistakable resemblance to the Des Moines coal horizon. The coal is quite variable in thicknes, and is divided in two or three layers by thin seams of clay-the lower layer being regarded the best in quality, being freest from pyrite. The mines have been extensively worked for many years.
The first exposure found on Middle river is that at Allen's old mill, three miles northeast of Hartford, where an interesting section of lower coal strata appears in the low bluffs upon the right side of the stream. The coal in this mine is probably the same as that shown in Taylor's mine. Like the coal at that locality, it is separated by two thin seams of shale and presents the usual thickness of that bed.
A section of this coal is as follows:
SECTION AT ALLEN'S MILL, MIDDLE RIVER.
4. Yellow sandstone, shaly below 10 feet exposed
3. Yellow and dark blue shales with nodular limestone band. 71/2
2. Coal. 3 to 4
1. Arenaceous shales, obliquely laminated below, exposed to water level. 12 “
An interesting example of the irregular disposition of material during the formation of these deposits may be seen at the upper end of the ex- posure where the shales No. 3 are replaced by the sandstone No. 4, which rests immediately upon the coal., There is no indication of displacement of strata, such as might be produced by a land-slide, and the thickening of the sandstone, which at this point is thirty feet, still further renders that supposition impossible. The strata has a very slight westerly inclination and the outcrop is very advantageous for mining operations.
At Watts' mill, two miles above the last mentioned locality, a heavy
276
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
deposit of coal is said to occur in the river-bed five to ten feet below ordi- nary stage of water, masses of the coal having been from time to time detached and washed up on the shore by the freshets. The exposure is very similar to that seen at Allen's mill.
Just below the mills at Summerset, in the right bank of Middle river, two thin seams of coal outcrop in connection with layers of shales, sand- stone and limestone. The strata probably occupy a lower position than the Des Moines coal horizon, and the thin deposits of coal may be referable to certain layers found in the valley of the North Raccoon, in the extreme north of Dallas county.
Three miles north of Sandyville, in a ravine upon the right margin of South river, a four foot bed of coal is being mined on lands of Mrs. Par- sons, and a similar bed is reported to have been opened on the farm of David Douglas, a mile or two to the eastward. The coal at the Parsons mine is separated into two layers, of almost equal thickness, by a thin seam of pyrite. The coal bears a marked resemblance to that of Dillard's mine in Greenfield township.
Ascending the valley of South river from Parsons' mine, the lower coal strata are not again seen until reaching a point between the mouths of Otter and Squaw creeks, where they apparently rise again, bringing to view a stratum of coal which is refered to the Des Moines coal, the uppermost coal-bed in the lower measures. The first of these exposures is met with in a ravine on the south side of South river, two and a-half miles south of Indianola, at Helm's coal mine. The coal is here two feet thick, and is overlaid and underlaid by soft sandstone and arenaceous shales. Three miles to the westward, on Mr. Randolph's farm, the following section was obtained :
3. Yellow, arenaceous shales. 5 feet exposed
2. Coal .. 41%
1. Blue and yellow soft sandstone and arenaceous shales, exposed. 15
The coal is separated into three layers by thin clay partings. The upper clay seam occurs eighteen inches from the top, and the lower one five inches from the bottom of the bed. The quality is as good as the average of the coals in the lower measures. The bed is accessible for mining by the ordinary drift or entry process, and when the conditions of transportation are favorable will make profitable returns for working.
The southwesterly dip of the strata doubtless carries these beds below the level of the South river as they again appear in the western portion of the county, although the infrequency of rock exposures in that section has made it exceedingly difficult to procure data by means of which the limits of the productive or lower coal-measures can be accurately defined in that direction.
The only remaining section of the county where the lower coal-measures occur is in Whitebreast township, where a coal-bed of three and a-half feet crops out on Winn's Branch, a tributary of the Whitebreast, and which shows the following section :
4. Soft, yellow, micaceous sandstone exposure. 3 feet. -
3. Bituminous shales 4 feet.
2. Coal . 3 feet 8 inches.
1. Light-colored shales, exposed. 2 feet.
The coal at the above locality outcrops at several places along the
277
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
branch at the distance of half a mile. The quality seems to be good, and the bed can be easily worked during the greater portion of the year. The position of this bed in the series has not been determined. Its proximity to exposures of well authenticated middle coal-measures on the White- breast might seem to indicate its relation to some of the upper horizons of the lower coal formation, but the resemblance to the Lacona coal cannot be overlooked. This is an irregular development of bituminous material in the lower part of the middle coal-measures, although the bed at this locality is nearly as thick again as the Lacona coal at any of its authentic exposures.
It will thus be seen that the measures of the lower coal formation exists in almost every section of the county and makes the supply good without the extreme necessity for transportation great distances, which exists in many other localities. The next to be considered is the middle coal form- ation.
The middle coal-measures, as lias been already stated, outcrop over as large an extent of surface as that occupied by both the upper and lower coal formations, or about equal to half the whole area of the county. The eastern border of the formation forms an irregular line, which may be approximately defined as follows: commencing at the extreme southeast corner of the county the border outcrops, passes northward along the eastern line of the county to a point on Coal creek a mile or two east of Sandyville, embracing the whole of the fine upland tract to the east of Otter creek, in which Coal, Wolf and Cotton creeks take their rise; thence the line retreats up the valley of Sonth river to a point a few miles above the confinence of Squaw creek, when it suddenly trends northeastward as far as Indianola, and, perhaps, even farther eastward in the divide between South and Middle rivers, forming a bay-like area which is occupied by the lower coal-meas- ures; from Indianola a line passing in a northwesterly direction through Greenbush to a point on North river a little below the confluence of Badger creek, from which locality the line pursues a northerly course to the northern boundary of the county. The western border of the forma- tion is not as well defined as are the eastern border limits, from the fact that in that direction this formation, as well as the succeeding upper coal formation, is more deeply buried beneath the superficial deposits so that exposures in that quarter are of rare occurrence.
The first exposures of these strata met with in the northwestern portion of the county appear on Badger creek, a mile above its confluence with North river, where beds equivalent to the lower division of the formation afford a limited vertical section.
The same beds are again shown on a branch of Middle river seven miles due east of the Badger creek exposures, and a mile and a-half southwest of Greenbush, where a very satisfactory section was obtained, as given below:
No. 7. Blue and yellow clays, with indurated bands exposed. 4 feet.
No. 6. Soft, bluish-yellow, earthy limestone, in three layers, separated by shaly partings. 2 feet.
No. 5. Dark blue shales. 6 feet.
No. 4. Rather hard, blue, impure limestone, forming an irregular nodular band. . 1% foot. No. 3. Black, carbonaceous shales. 12 foot. No. 2. Panora coal. 1 foot.
No. 1. Light and dark blue shales exposed to bed of branch. 10 feet.
So far as the geologist was able to discover, no middle coal-strata out- crop immediately along South river, but in many of the small branches and
278
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
ravines upon the south side of the valley, and also at a single locality upon the north side of Ginder's, these strata have been found at several places.
In the uplands to the sonthward of Coal creek, and east of Otter creek, in Belmont and Whitebreast townships, comparatively few rock exposures are met with, and those which have been made display but a limited vertical section. The coal very uniformly averages abont fifteen inches in thickness, and is very good in quality, but none of the banks are extensively worked.
In the south part of Whitebreast township we find the same beds again, with a fine exhibition of the coal-bed beneath the Panora coal, which has been called the Lacona coal from its fine development in the vicinity of the village bearing that name.
The Panora coal may, doubtless, be reached by boring, and it seems not improbable that the coal next below that bed, or the Lacona coal, may be found at a depth of twenty or thirty feet along Otter creek. The latter bed, however, is so variable, thickening and thinning even at short distances, that it is impossible to say with certainty where it exists or where it has entirely thinned out, and is not likely to be made profitable for working until the other mines in the county are more nearly exhausted, or the county becomes much more thickly settled.
The upper coal formation occupies a comparatively limited area in Warren county. Its eastern border crosses Virginia township probably trending eastward from New Virginia through the southern tier of townships, half way across the county, and thence southward into the adjoining counties of Clarke and Lucas. However, outlines of upper coal-measure strata are found in the more central portions of the county, but it is believed that these patches are not continuously connected with the main formation. They are probably remnants that have escaped the denuding agencies which swept away the bulk of the formation in its eastward extension over the county. However, no coal-beds are known in the upper coal-measures within the bounds of this county.
In the development of economical geology Warren county is well sup- plied with mineral fuel. The heaviest deposits of coal are those belonging to the lower coal formation, and which are mined quite extensively in Rich- land and Palmyra townships, as also in a less degree in Greenfield, White- Oak, Washington and Whitebreast. . These coals are not, however, of a uniform economic valne, although for ordinary purposes as a fuel they will continue to supply a steadily-increasing demand as the manufacturing in- terests of the county become more fully developed. Beneath the beds that outcrop at the surface in this portion of the county there are doubtless other and perhaps even thicker deposits of coal, which may be reached by shaft- ing as soon as the demand shall warrant the expense and risks incurred in making such practical explorations. The knowledge we possess at the pres- ent time regarding the distribution of the lower coal deposits is insufficient to enable any estimate approaching accuracy to be made as to the position and occurrence of those beds at localities distant from their known outcrop. But that such deposits do exist beneath the beds already known in this re- gion there can be no doubt, and the depth at which they may be encoun- tered can only be determined after a detailed study of the formation to which they belong, or by the more expensive alternative of practical exploration by means of boring and shafting. Boring for coal so often proves unrelia- ble on the data thus obtained, but, in a region where we are pretty sure un- derlying deposits occur at moderate depths beneath the surface, shafting
279
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
generally turns out to be the most economical method for making these ex- plorations.
The middle coal formation also possesses several coal horizons, some of which are of sufficient thickness for working on an extensive scale. As a rule the'coals of this member of the coal-measure series are remarkably free from impurities, and for many purposes it is far superior to the average product of the beds of the lower formation. There are six coal-beds in this formation, three of which are persistent. The lowermost bed, though it is not a persistent horizon, is usually the best developed bed in the formation, locally reaching a thickness from three to four feet, as in the region about Lacona, from which locality the bed receives its name. The thinner beds, where their outcrop is favorable, are usually worked by stripping off the overlying deposits, and the coal taken ont as in quarrying. But the mines in this measure have not yet been worked to any considerable extent. The general remark may be made, in passing, that, although its thickest and best beds of coal are now found in the northeastern portion, there is good reason to believe that equally good beds may be reached by sinking shafts of moderate depths in almost all parts of the connty, passing through the thinner beds now known near the surface there, and it is probable that War- ren county will some day rank among the best coal counties of the State.
The aggregate thickness of the coal deposits found in the county is somewhere in the vicinity of fifteen feet .. Of these there are at least four workable beds, two in the lower and two in the middle formation. There is no portion of the county where the lower coal-measure deposits may not be reached at the depth of one hundred to three hundred feet from the surface in the valleys, and over much of its area even at less depths.
In natural building material among the mineral productions, the county is not well developed. Good building stone is, therefore, not abundant in the county. Both the lower and middle coal formation afford sandstones; but these beds are generally soft and shaly, and it is necessary to use much care in selecting the rock when it is designed to be used in permanent structures. However, some of these layers are said to harden after removal from the quarry, and being soft when first quarried, the stone is easily fashioned into any desired shape. Probably the most extensive sandstone quarries are those in the vicinity of Hammondsburgh. There are other quarries near Sandyville, and in the right bank of Squaw creek, four to six miles above its mouth, extensive exposures of lower coal-measure sandstone occur, portions of which may prove to be valuable for building purposes. Limestone is much less abundant than sandstone, and beds sufficiently pure for making quicklime have been found at bnt few locali- ties. The limestone bands in the middle coal formation seldom furnish a durable building stone, owing to the facility with which they disintegrate from exposure.
Earth for the manufacture of brick is found in all portions of the county, and from the fact that the county is well supplied with both wood and mineral fuel, the deficiency of rock suitable for building purposes is more than compensated by the cheapness with which a good quality of brick may be supplied. This, added to the great plenty of native timber, has given the county an excellent position in this respect.
It will thus be seen that the mining interest promises to be one of the most important in the county, and, in connection with the farming interest, goes to make this county one of the most fortunate in Central Iowa. This
280
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
interest is not yet developed, is practically only in its infancy, owing to the sparseness of population in the early history of the county, to the presence of such great tracts of timber as to render mining unnecessary for fnel, but it is due principally to the almost entire lack of facilities for transportation. All these difficulties are now fully overcome, and in the growth which the county has made in the past two decades, with the promise which it gives for the future, the coal interest should become one of the most important in the county. Situated, as it is, in the great Iowa coal belt, surrounded by many sections of country to which nature has been less kind in the supply of mineral fuel, with railroads penetrating its every portion, the value to Warren county of this product can scarcely be computed. More extended investigation and experiments will be conducted from time to time, and these resources fully known. It can be little doubted that deeper and deeper down the black diamonds will be found, to show the Creator's wisdom in the distribution of the benefits of earth, and in the distant future in a time of greater need, and under some perfected system of mining yet to be developed, the deep underground regions will be forced to yield up their secrets for the benefit and well-being of man. Wise men predict the failure of the coal-measures of Europe within a century. Then must follow the transfer of empire to this continent, and in the years that follow the mining resources of this country will be developed to an extent hardly thought of now.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.