USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 3
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Then let it be remembered that De Soto first discovered the Mississippi river. in April, 1541, in his search for gold and precious gems. The fol- lowing spring, weary of his expeditions, he was stricken with disease and died on May 21st. His party, being disorganized, sailed for Cuba via the mouth of the Father of Waters, but did not claim the goodly country in the name of their King; this was left for that daring explorer, LaSalle. In January, 1682, the latter, with his band. left Lake Michigan, passed down the Illinois river and reached the Mississippi river February 6th. March 13th, the same season, they found their way to the Gulf of Mexico. There LaSalle raised the cross and took formal possession of this vast country in the name of his king. Louis Le Grand.
When it was found expedient to divide the great Northwest Territory, Indiana was the first territory organized by itself, with St. Vincennes as the capital. Gen. William Henry Harrison ( the hero of the battle of the Tippecanoe ) was made its governor. This was in 1800, and in 1805 Mich- igan was created from a part of the territory, and Detroit made the capital. Later. Illinois was cut off, and still later Wisconsin territory. Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821. and the territory north of Missouri was made a part of the territory of Michigan. But two years later Wisconsin was erected, embracing within its limits the present states of Iowa, Wis- consin and Minnesota.
Iowa was made a territory by itself in June. 1838, with much of the present state of Minnesota included in its domain, running to the British line.
It may be said in passing that Iowa was within the territory west of
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the Mississippi river and was discovered by the Spaniards, but later visited and really occupied by the French. It was then ceded to France by Spain, and by Spain back to France again and finally purchased by the United States. For more than a hundred years after Marquette and Joliet looked upon the fair and fertile domain now including Iowa, not a single settle- ment had been made-not even a trading post had been established within its borders. When the territory passed into the hands of the United States, through the Louisiana Purchase, the Sac and Fox Indians and the Iowas possessed the entire country now known as Iowa. This powerful tribe also held most of the lands within present Illinois.
REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS.
In May. 1843. most of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines river above the temporary line of Red Rock, having ceded the remnant of their lands to the United States on September 21, 1837, and October II, . 1842. By the terms of the treaty these Indians had the right to remain on the soil of Iowa until the autumn of 1845. when most of them went to Kansas, the remainder being removed in the spring of 1846.
The first permanent settlement was made by the whites in Iowa in 1788 by Julian Dubuque. at what is now known as the city of Dubuque. when a lead mining camp was established by the founder of the city. A postoff.ce had been established in Dubuque in 1833 and one or two justices of the peace appointed by the territorial government of Michigan. In Sep- tember, 1834, however, the Michigan territorial government created two counties in what is now Iowa-these were Dubuque and Des Moines coun- ties. The north and south line between these counties was run west from the foot of Rock Island. John King was appointed chief justice of Dubque county, and Isaac Leffler, of Burlington, for Des Moines county.
The census ordered taken in September showed that the two counties had a population of ten thousand five hundred and thirty-one. Plans were set on foot for the adoption of Iowa as a state as early as 1844. but, owing to the disagreement in Congress as to the final boundary lines, it was not admitted until December 28, 1846. Monroe, south of Newton, Jasper county, was at first looked upon favorably for the site of the capital of the new state. but it never materialized. as the capital was fixed at Iowa City, John- son county, where it remained until 1857, when it was removed to Des Moines.
To make plainer the various periods in the history of Iowa, it may be
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stated that Iowa was first embraced in what is known as the Louisiana Pur- chase; was then a part of the district of Louisiana; in 1807, was included in the territory of Illinois; in 1812, in the territory of the Missouri until the admission of that territory as a state in 1821; was unattached to any organized territory ("a political orphan") until 1834, when it became a part of Michigan territory, and in 1836 became a part of Wisconsin terri- tory ; in 1838 it was established as the territory of Iowa and became a state in 1846.
CLINTON COUNTY ERECTED.
Clinton county was erected by an act of the territorial Legislature, January II, 1840, and Camanche was named in the act as the seat of jus- tice.
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOL AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R L
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PENTAMERUS OBLONGUS
One-half size. Found imbedded in bank of Mississippi River, above Lyons (now part of Clinton City), near the old Tie Yard.
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CHAPTER II.
GEOGRAPHICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL AND GENERAL NATURAL FEATURES.
(By H. F. Bowers.) ..
[This article on geology was compiled from recent surveys, and can be relied upon as accurate. It is the work of investigating the various geo- logical reports and from the personal observations of H. F. Bowers, of Clinton, Iowa, a gentleman who is looked upon as authority in such sciences as he here treats upon .- EDITOR. ]
GEOLOGY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
The area of Clinton county is eight hundred and eighty square miles and is located midway, or nearly so, between the north and south boundaries of the state of Iowa, along the Mississippi river. It extends farther east than any other county in Iowa. "Its greatest length in an east and west direction is thirty miles; from north to south it measures twenty-one miles, joining Jackson county on the north, Cedar and Jones counties on the west, and Scott county on the south. From the latter county it is separated by the Wapsipinicon river. Its east boundary is the Mississippi river. Clin- ton county is the fifth of the counties along this great waterway, counting from the north and the sixth counting from the south.
To local and visiting geologists and the surveys of the state, but espe- cially Clinton county, the geological surveys of Clinton county by our state authorities -we therefore are permitted to quote fully from these authori- ties and pleased to do so because of the correctness we have found in them.
J. D. Whitney published some notes on the drift and outcrops of rock along the Mississippi and Wapsipinicon rivers, in Hall's first report on "Geology of Iowa.". Dr. P. J. Farnsworth, of Clinton City, now deceased, published an account of the pockets of fire clay, which were noticed in the limestone in the Vicinity of Clinton, There are some fine specimens of fire clay in the private collections of Clinton City. Dr. W. J. McGee made observations on the drift in this county and published an account of his studies in his "History of the Northwest." He describes the Goose Lake valley and different drift sheets in This monograph entitled, "The Illinois Glacial Lobe." Others have studied the drift in a number of places in
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Clinton county, especially those bearing on the earlier course of the Mississippi river in the Goose Lake channel. There seems to be no existing doubt among scholars of recent years that Clinton county, with the entire state of Iowa, was at one time a vast sea of water inundating what is now beautiful cities and fertile farms. Subsequently the receding waters left the higher de- posits of sandbars and composit animal and vegetable matter. There is little doubt but that the Mississippi river at one time made the bed of its course through Goose Lake in Deep Creek township.
TOPOGRAPHY.
The topography of Clinton county presents several clearly distinguished areas. The lowlands of the Mississippi, the lowlands of the Wapsipinicon, the Goose Lake valley, the uplands of the Iowan drift, and the uplands of the older drifts, each is marked by different topographic features and is best described separately.
MISSISSIPPI LOWLANDS.
At the north boundary of Clinton county, the Mississippi lowlands are a little more than a mile wide on the Iowa side of the river. They widen out nearly two miles in sections 7 and 8 in Spring Valley township. In section 18, in the same township, the bluffs again turn toward the river and reach out to its bank in the north part of section 20. This and the extreme northeast corner of the county are the only places where there are no lowlands between the river and bluffs. All the way from below this point to the Wapsipinicon river the bottom lands continue to increase in width and at the point where the two streams meet they extend two miles away from the Mississippi. The surface of these lowlands is that of a level. alluvial plain, twenty-five or thirty feet above the level of the river, sloping to the south at less than one foot to the mile. Near Camanche and near Follets there are remnants of old terraces which rise about thirty feet above the level of the flood plain. It is evident that the entire valley of the Mississippi river, which reaches a width of six miles, was once filled to this height. The river has again removed nearly all its old deposits down to the present level of the alluvial plain. Another remnant of the same old terrace lies in the southwest corner of section 30 about one mile north and one-half mile west of Midland Junction. To the southwest of Clinton an island, like part of the uplands, is cut off from the main upland to the
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west by a valley about one-half mile in width. This valley connects with the Mississippi bottoms at both ends, and it is drained by a small stream known as Hart's Mill creek. Its origin dates back to a time when the drainage of the Mississippi was impeded, and its waters flowed over several long and low sags to the east. The strip of upland extending to the south- west of the city of Clinton was at one time a high island in the midst of the Father of Waters.
THE WAPSIPINICON LOWLANDS.
The Wapsipinicon river enters Clinton county in section 7 of Liberty township, is a mile wide and runs down to the village of Toronto. Below this the channel widens to two miles, and is contracted to one mile near the boundary of Scott county, east of Dixon, and descends at the rate of about two and one-half feet to the mile towards the Mississippi.
THE IOWAN DRIFT PLAIN.
About two-fifths of the uplands of Clinton county consists of a plain which has an average elevation of about six hundred and eighty feet above the sea and which ranges from six hundred and twenty to seven hundred and sixty feet. On the west it enters the county in Liberty township. Its south- ern boundary lies in section 31, extending to the east-southeast for three miles to a point about one mile north of Wheatland. .
THE OLDER DRIFT PLAIN.
North of the Iowan drift plain in the north part of the county, and south of the Wapsipinicon river in Spring Rock township is built up land from older drifts and has a different topographic character. Most of its relief lies from seven hundred to nine hundred feet above the sea level. The drainage joins in ridges between these. The highest points lie in this drift plain. These are in section 34 in Brookfield township, where the eleva- tion exceeds nine hundred and twenty feet above the sea level, and in section 8 in Hampshire township, where the elevation is about nine hundred and ten feet. Both of these points lie in the line of the divide between the Wapsipini- con and the Maquoketa basins. In the small tract of the older drift plain which occupies the southwest one-half of Spring Rock township, the most elevated point is located in section 30, and reaches a height of eight hundred and sixty feet above sea level.
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THE GOOSE LAKE CHANNEL.
Goose Lake channel is one of the most interesting features in the topog- raphy of the state. It consists of a large stream valley, which crosses the two drift plains from north to south, in the east half of the county. Start- ing from the Maquoketa river, in Jackson county, it enters Clinton county in sections 5 and 6 in Deep Creek township and extends from there in a direction a little east of south to near the center of Center township. At this point it turns to a course a little west of south and joins the lowlands of the Wapsipinicon in the southwest corner of Eden township. This valley averages one and one-half miles in width. Its flat bottom lies about one hundred feet below the nearest part of the uplands of the older drift, and from twenty-five to seventy-five feet below the plain of the Iowan drift. It is limited on either side by a well marked line of bluffs. The highest point on the floor of the valley is to the south of Goose Lake, where its eleva- tion is six hundred and ninety: feet. From this point the surface descends north as well as south. In the latter direction the descent is about six feet to the mile.
DRAINAGE.
Only a small part of Clinton county drains directly into the Mississippi river. This is a strip adjoining the river nine miles wide at the north boun- dary and narrowing to five miles near its south end. It includes the town- ships of Elk river, Hampshire, Spring Valley, Clinton, Lincoln and Ca- manche. The south end is covered by the Iowan drift. There are several sections of marshy land north and east of Low Moor. · The history of the development of the present drainage in this region is: exceedingly complicated, and far too much involved to be satisfactorily made out in all of its details at the present. time. There are a few general indication, however, that some features of the drainage date back to the time preceding the glacial epoch. There can be no doubt that the main course of the Mississippi river follows a preglacial channel of some considerable stream. 'So does the Wapsipinicon river. Many of the creeks in the region of the older drift also occupy valleys that: existed before this drift was de- posited .. . Prairie: creek, Elk creek, and probably. Sugar creek, are: example's of this kind. : The Wapsipinicon valley is evidently also following: some old and filled channels throughout the greater portion of its course inthis county.' In the region between Calamus and Wheatland water stands on its
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SEA URCHIN
Full size, with spikes over a portion of the shell. This is a marine animal of the Pacific.
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PETRIFICATION OF THE SEA URCHIN
Found at Ringwood, in the city of Clinton, while digging for a cellar. Denuded of spikes and shell. . Seven-eighths of natural size.
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TILBEY FO. NDA ONS R L
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
bottoms for weeks during rainy seasons. At some points the river almost entirely disappears during stages of low water.
STRATIGRAPHY-GENERAL RELATION OF STRATA.
The country rock in this county is almost everywhere the Niagara lime- stone. In Spring Valley and Elk River township this has been wholly re- moved by erosion (eaten away) in a few places, and the underlying shale is exposed. On top of the Niagara limestone the coal measures have once rested, but these have been almost entirely removed. A few small outliers are left in some places near the north boundary of the county. These sandstones are the latest sediments preceding the glacial drift. The geest, bowlder clay and alluvial deposits constitute the mantle rock, which usually conceals the underlying rocks of the Paleozoic group.
UNDERLYING FORMATIONS.
The formations enumerated in the above are all that appear in surface exposures. The Maquoketa shale, which is the lowest rock, does not come into view in its entire thickness, only its uppermost strata being laid bare in the northeast part of the county. Nevertheless, the thickness of this shale is known from some deep explorations which have been made. These ex- plorations show the nature of the underlying formations to a depth of one thousand six hundred and thirty-two feet below the base of the Niagara limestone.
THE OLD CLINTON WELLS IN THE CITY OF CLINTON.
No less than five deep wells have been made. Four of these have been reported on by Prof. W. H. Norton in an earlier publication of this survey. His determinations of the formations explored are based on records and sam- ples. The well made in 1902 was several years after Norton's report was published. The driller's log describing the rocks penetrated was obtained from the superintendent of the water works-limestone, blue shale, caving shale and sandstone.
WILLIAM PITCH WELL.
This well is located in southwest one-fourth of section I in Brookfield township. This exploration penetrated the following strata: Yellow clay
(3)
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
(drift), ten feet; limestone (Niagara), one hundred and sixty feet; blue shale (Maquoketa), two hundred feet; limestone of gray color (Maquoketa), fifteen feet; black and soft shale (Maquoketa), eight feet; gray limestone, eighteen feet.
THE DEWITT WELL.
The other well is in DeWitt City and was made by the Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. These wells differ but little in the strata shown in the county, of the shales.
THE SILURIAN SYSTEM-THE NIAGARA LIMESTONE, AREAL EXTENT.
The Niagara limestone is everywhere the bedrock in Clinton county. It underlies the drift over ninety-seven per cent. of its entire surface, and there is only one township in which no outcrops of this rock have been noted, the township of Berlin. In the bluffs of the Mississippi, rock is almost everywhere seen, and north of Clinton it frequently rises one hundred feet above the level of the river. Over the central and western part of the county the drift has not been so extensively eroded (eaten away) and the bedrock appears mostly only in scattered places along the water courses. In order to present the details of the various exposures throughout the county the out- crops for the several townships may be described separately.
DESCRIPTION BY TOWNSHIPS.
Berlin .- This is the only township in the county where no outcrops of the Niagara limestone are observed. The land is low and drift covered and although the rock probably lies at no very great depth, the drift has nowhere been entirely cut through by any of the drainage channels as far as is known.
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Bloomfield .- A little to the northeast of the center of section I there are several exposures in the bluffs of Sugar creek. The rock is a much weathered and disintegrated dolomitic limestone which contains thin layers of gray chert (is an impure variety of quartz or flint of various shades of color), and casts of pentamerus oblongus are found, halysites, catenulata and some individuals of species of favosites. On the north side of the creek and a short distance away from it there are some towers of this limestone with vertical walls, about thirty feet high. These towers are evidently erosion forms which have been buried under the drift and are now again exposed by the
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
more rapid removal of the latter. The Niagara limestone was also seen near the same creek one mile farther west and near the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad in section 18.
Brookfield .- Over the central part of this township the drift is heavy and the bedrock is concealed, but it appears at the surface in a few places to the north. In the northwest one-half of section II, southwest one-fourth of section 12, ledges of withered rock are seen rising on the slopes of some of the tributaries of Prairie creek; also in southwest one-fourth of section I, near the northwest corner of the southeast one-fourth of section 2, and other points in this vicinity. The rock is a yellow, porous limestone unevenly and indistinctly bedded. Halysites, catenulata, pentomerus oblongus and fragments of orthoceras were noted.
Camanche .- On the lower uplands of this township, rock is usually not deeply covered and outcrops are moderately common. In the bluffs bor- dering the lowlands limestone frequently crops out. Most of the surface is a porous, disintegrated limestone with frequent pockets or crystals of dolomite.
Center .- The drift is thick in this township and the bedrock is mostly covered. It comes up to the surface in the east bluffs of Goose Lake valley, in sections 3 and 10, and is occasionally seen in the bed of a tributary to Brophy's creek, which comes in from the west in section 28. On a farm belonging to C. Kearney there is a quarry near the northeast corner of the southwest one-fourth of section 6 exposing about nine feet of rock.
Deep Creek .- Along Simmons creek, in the northern part of the town- ship, there are a number of small outcrops of limestone, and also in the bluffs of Goose Lake channel, farther south. In the northeast one-fourth of section 15 the limestone forms two columns, which rise some twelve feet above the ground, and are only eight or ten feet wide. It is probable that these columns antedate the time of the deposition of the glacial drift and their intact existence at the present time is evidence that the flow of the ice at this point must have been very slow and gentle, being too weak to tear down these towers. For a thickness of three inches the rock is literally filled with casts and molds of fossils which are more or less distorted as from pressure. These most frequent forms were pentamerus oblongus, halysites, catenula and favosites. The quarry is on the north bank of Sim- mons creek, in the northeast one-fourth of section 14, and it shows the same kind of rock, which is honeycombed by small cavities set with small crystals of calcite. Pentamerus oblongus occur in this quarry.
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DeWitt .- In the east part of this township the bedrock is mostly cov- ered. There are two exposures in section 12, township 81, range 4 east. One of these is just to the north of where the east-west road crosses Cherry creek, and the other outcrop is north of the same road in the west part of section 12, township 81, range 3 east. There are numerous exposures along the bed of Silver creek. In all these places the rock is porous and disintegrated, and fossils are scarce.
Eden .- Most of the land in this township is low and the bedrock is almost everywhere hidden. Some limestone exists in section 6, township 80 north, near the Wapsipinicon river; also a half mile from Malone and at a point near the railroad about three-fourths of a mile east of Brophy's creek.
Elk River .- The uplands terminate in a bluff one hundred and fifty feet high. The face of this bluff consists of the Niagara limestone, with over- lying drift. The limestone rises as high as one hundred feet. The lower twenty-five feet consists of a dolomite limestone, with frequent bands of chert, in thickness from five to twelve inches. This horizon occasionally con- tains abundant specimens of pentamerus oblongus, halysites, catenulata and favosites. Along Elk river the rock rises in towers resembling those seen in Deep creek. On the highest eminence, known as Griswold's hill, was found adhering to a rock a fine and valuable specimen of the protozoa, which is in a Clinton museum. It is the infusoria or lowest class of animals. The term is applied to animals without nerves, the first created.
Hampshire .- A single exposure of limestone was noted on Mill creek in section 34 at a place where a branch comes in from the northwest. The rock was yellow and porous.
Liberty .- The only outcrops of bedrock in this township are in the west half and near the Wapsipinicon river. Yellow limestone appears in the west bank of the river in section 17.
Lincoln .- More quarries have worked here than in any other part of the county. This in the first place is due to local demand for building stone in Clinton City.
Olive .- A single small exposure of limestone was noted along Calamus creek in the southeast one-fourth of section 2. In the south part of the town- ship rock occurs near the bluffs of the Wapsipinicon river.
Orange .- Rock appears in the bed of Barber creek in the southeast one- fourth of section 19. The exposure is small and the ledges are yellow and disintegrated.
Sharon .- This township is covered with a thick deposit of drift and ex- posures of bedrock are not numerous. A considerable thickness of beds
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is exposed in an old quarry in the northeast corner of section 18. Rock has been quarried on Henry Kiel's farm. Near Lost Nation, some fossils were noted such as halysites, catenulata, pentamerus oblongus, caryocrinus ornatus, bumastus sp. and an orthoceras.
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