History of Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois : together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of representative men, History of Illinois, Part 67

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical
Number of Pages: 1150

USA > Illinois > Greene County > History of Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois : together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of representative men, History of Illinois > Part 67

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560

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

sandstone intervening between this seam and the eoal on Bireh creek; and a similar bed, though perhaps a higher one in the series, is well exposed in the bluffs of Maeoupin ereek, at Roek- bridge. The exposure here is from 35 to 40 feet in thickness, the lower part consisting of blue sandy shales, which are overlaid by a massive brown sandstone, passing upward into a brown, sandy shale. The sandstone is partly eoneretionary in structure, the conere- tions being quite hard and forming a durable building stone. On Birch creek a similar sandstone is well exposed, overlying coal seam No. 1, with a thick- ness of 25 to 30 feet. Nettle's coal bank is on the northeast quarter of Sec. 25, T. 12, R. 11, about four miles east of Roodhouse. The coal aver- ages about three feet in thickness, and is overlaid by from three to five fret of bituminous shale, which forms a good roof to the coal. Above the shale there is a bed of massive sandstone, 20 feet or more in thickness, similar to that at Rockbridge. Under the coal, there is a bed of shaley clay, not more than a foot or two in thickness, which rests upon a hard steel-gray nodular limestone about four feet in thickness. The bed crops out along the creek for a distance of about three miles above Nettle's place, the fall of the creek being just about equal to the dip of the coal. and in the same direction, which is to the southeast. On Wolf run, about a mile and a half east of White Hall, a seam of coal outerops along the creek for the distance of a mile or more and has been opened at several points. It is from two feet to two and a half in thiekness, and is a clear, bright coal,

breaking in regularly shaped blocks, and quite free from sulphuret of iron. It is overlaid by about two feet of bi- tuminous shale, which passes upward into a blue clay shale, which is overlaid by sandstone. Below the coal there is an excellent bed of fire clay, from 8 to 10 feet thick. The upper openings on this ereek are on the lands lately owned by David Rankin, and the lower one on the lands of Isaae Tulison.

On the southeast quarter of Sec. 36, T. 11, R. 12, about four miles northeast of Carrollton, a coal seam has been opened on the west fork of Whitaker's creek, which, with the associated rocks form the following seetion :

Coal measures : Feet.

Brown sandy shale 10 to 12

Bituminous shale. 2

Coal .. 112

Shaly coal, sandy conglomerate. 10 to 15

Band of iron ore.

112

Hydraulic limestone. 4 to 6

Keokuk limestone. 15 to 20

The beds above the bands of iron ore in this seetion belong to the eval meas- ures, and those below to the lower car- boniferous limestone. It will be ob- served in this section, that the St. Louis limestone, upon which the coal measures usually rest in this county, are not represented, unless it be by the bed of hydraulic limestone. The Keokuk limestone is well marked, representing the usual characteristics that distinguish it at other localities. The iron ore above the hydraulic limestone is an earthy- brown hematite of good quality. This coal seam is only about 18 inches in thickness. This coal has been opened the east fork of Whitaker's ereek ; and also on Bear creek, on Mrs. Blaneh-

561

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

ard's place, about a mile and a half above the mouth of the creek. Blanch- ard's eoal bank is on the northwest quarter of S. 14, T. 11, R. 11. The The eoal varies in thickness from two to three feet, and is overlaid by bitu- minous shale, and massive sandstone. This seam appears to be the same as Nettle's coal, on Birch ereek. A mile and a half below Blanchard's, the St. Louis limestone is to be seen on the bluffs of the creek; but the intervening beds between the coal and limestone are not exposed. In sinking the well for the steam mill in Carrollton, a thin seam of eoal, about six inches thiek, was passed through at a depth of about 70 feet below the surface. Although the coal measures underlie nearly all of the eastern half of the county, they comprise only the horizon of the lower eoal seam, over a considerable portion of this area; and, along the extreme western borders of the coal field, even this is too thin at many localities to be worked to advantage, and the eastern range of townships must be mainly re- lied on for a supply of eoal. The measures in this county comprise the whole range of the productive coal measures, as they are developed in this portion of the state; but the two prin- cipal coals, No. 5 and 6, only extend a little over the eastern line of the county, and consequently underlie but a very small area in this eounty, while the lower part of the measures, which underlie all the eastern portion of the county, only have two of the four lower seams developed, and these range in thickness from 18 to 36 inches. The seam at Nettle's mine, on Bireh creek, and at Blanchard's, on Bear creek, are

probably the the same as the Exeter eoal in Seott county, and Tulison's bank, two miles northeast of White Hall, may be referred to the same hor- izon. Burrow's eoal probably holds a a higher position, and perhaps repre- sents either No. 2 or 3 of the general section of the coal measure in eentral and northern Illinois.

ST. LOUIS LIMESTONE.

This formation is quite variable in this eounty, both of regards its thick- ness and its lithological characters. On Link's branch, south of Carrollton, and about a half mile east of the state road from Carrollton to Jerseyville, a fine quarry has been opened in this limestone on the lands of Joseph Stohr, and leased by Michael Shallue. The thickness of the roek at these quarries is about 15 feet; and the lower 10 is a heavy-bedded magnesian limestone, some of the layers being from two to three feet thiek. The prevailing colors are light yellowish-gray and brown; and these eolors often replace each other in the same stratum. The rock is even- textured, free from chert or other siliceous material, and dresses easily ; and these quarries afford most of the cut stone used at Carrollton. The lowest strata at these quarries ap- pears to be hydraulic limestone, and is about 18 inches thick. At the eross- ing of the state road, a half mile or more, further up the creek, the rock is not so even-textured, some of the strata being too hard to dress read- ily, and others too soft to stand ex- posure to the atmosphere. The whole thickness of the beds exposed, from the state road to Stohr's quarries, may be

562

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

estimated from 25 to 30 feet. In the upper part of this group, near the state road, there is also another stratum of what appears to be a hydraulic lime- stone, about two feet thick. On the road from Carrollton to Turpin's mill, this limestone is found outeropping in the beds of the small erecks that empty into the Maeoupin. Turpin's mill is on Sec. 16, T. 9, R. 11, and the St. Louis limestone is found well exposed on a small branch about a quarter of a mile west of the mill. The lower part of the bed, as it appears at this locality, is a brown arenaceous limestone, while the upper is of grey and mottled color, and sufficiently pure to be burned for lime, though not a very good material for that purpose. The entire thickness of the beds exposed here is only about 15 feet. At Thompson's mill, on the northeast quarter of See. 10, T. 11, R. 11, there is an exposure of about 12 feet of this formation. The upper four feet is a brown magnesian limestone, and the lower eight feet, an earthy, gray- ish-brown, hydraulie limestone, exactly resembling in appearance the hydraulic layers of this formation at other local. ities. This is the thickest bed of this kind of rock found in the county; and if it should prove on trial to be as good a hydraulie rock as its appearance would indicate, it will become valuable for the manufacture of cement. It is no doubt the equivalent of the hydraulic lime- stone noticed at the coal mine on the west fork of Whitaker's creek, and is here nearly twice as thick as that loeal- ity. Fossils are quite scarce in this formation, at nearly every locality ex- amined in this county. Some interest- ing forms of bryozoa were obtained at

the quarries on Link's branch, and a fine specimen of conularia, probably (. verneuiliana, is in the possession of Dr. Farley, of Jerseyville, that was found at this locality.

KEOKUK LIMESTONE.

This formation, with the overlying St. Louis limestone, occupies a belt im- mediately beyond the western bor- ders of the coal measures, and intervening between them and the Burlington limestone in the vicinity of the river bluffs. This belt is from three to four miles in width; and the Keokuk limestone which forms the greatest portion of it, outerops on the tributaries of the Macoupin and Apple ereeks, and on the last named creek it- self, a half a mile below the bridge, on the main road from Carrollton to White Hall. On the small creek a half a mile south of White Hall, the upper part of the Keokuk limestone is found outcropping for the distance of a mile and a half or more on each side of the ereek. The rock is here a thin-bedded, cherty, gray limestone, with thin part- ings of calcareo-argillaceous shale. It seldom affords strata more than six inches thick, and is therefore not a de- sirable building stone, except for light walls. It affords some characteristic fossils at this locality, among which are Archimede . Owenana, platycerus equit- atera, agaricoerinus Americanus, pro- ductus punctuatus, spirifer cuspidatus and S. Keokuk. The fossils of this formation are not so numerous or well preserved at the localities examined in this county, as they are in the same beds in Jersey county. On the west fork of Whitaker's creek, these same beds are

563

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

exposed, between the coal bank and the mouth of the creek, and afford the same varieties of fossils obtained in the vicin- ity of White Hall. On Apple creek, a short distance below the bridge, on the Carrollton and White Hall road, the lower beds of this limestone are ex- posed, affording layers from 12 to 18 inches thick. No point was found in the county where the whole of this formation could be seen in a single sec- tion ; and for a general description of its characteristic features as well as the determination of its thickness, it is necessary to rely upon the results of local examinations of such portions of the formation as could be found ex- posed in different parts of the county. Its thickness has been estimated ap- proximately, at 100 to 125 feet; but it may be somewhat greater even than that.

BURLINGTON LIMESTONE.

The outerop of this formation is con- fined to the western part of the county. It forms the main portion of the river bluffs throughout the whole extent of the county, from north to south, and extends eastward from the bluffs, forni- ing a belt from three to four miles in width. At the south line of the county, where Macoupin creek intersects the river bluffs, the lower part of this line- stone, about 70 feet in thickness, forms the upper part of the bluff, and is un- derlaid by 54 feet of the ash-colored shaly limestones of the Kinderhook group. From this point to the north line of the county, this limestone is seen in a continuous exposure, except where intersected by the valleys of the small streams; and it often presents mural cliff of limestone along the face

of the bluffs, from 75 to 100 feet in height.

At James J. Eldred's place the lime- stone measures 100 feet in thickness, above the road at the foot of the bluff, and is capped by a mound of loess 60 feet high ; and the bluffs very generally culminate in this vicinity in bald knobs, covered only with grass, giving a very picturesque outline to the land- scape. The limestone at Eldred's place is a light-gray crinoidal rock, in quite regular beds, with comparatively but little cherty material, and forms an ex- cellent building stone, which is exten- sively used not only at this locality, but by wealthy farmers occupying the bottom lands at the foot of these bluffs throughout the county, for dwellings and barns, and also for fences. About half a mile below the county line, be- tween Greene and Scott, the limestone bluff's are about one hundred feet high, and are capped with 40 feet of loess. At this point there is a bench of brown limestone, projecting a few feet beyond the face of the bluff, and only a few feet above the base, that is covered with rude figures, cut upon the surface of the limestone by some of the aboriginal in- habitants of this country. Among these figures are the outlines of a human foot, and also that of a bear, several that were evidently designed to represent the tracks of birds, and others that do not appear to represent any natural ob- ject, but seem rather designed to record in hieroglyphics, some historic or myth- ological events. These figures were cut upon the surface of the stone with some hard instrument, to the depth of per- haps one-sixteenth of an inch. The surface of the stone on which they were

564

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

engraved, has been worn almost as smooth as glass, probably by the tread of human feet. The bluffs of the Illi- nois and the adjacent bottoms appear to have becu favorite resorts of some of the primeval races; and their rude an- tiquities, consisting of stone axes and knives, discs, flint arrow-heads, and an instrument resembling a mason's plum- met, made apparently from the com- pact iron ore of the Iron mountain in Missouri, are quite common to the coun- ties of Green, Jersey and Calhoun. Fossils are not very numerous in the Burlington limestone, at the localities examined in this county, but the follow- ing species were obtained: spirifer Grimesi, S. Forbesii, athyrisincrassata, A. lamellosa, productus punctatus, and actinocrinus concinnus.

KINDERHOOK GROUP.

The upper half of this formation, in- cluding a thickness of about 50 feet, may be seen at the point where the Ma- coupin intersects the river bluffs. So far as could be seen, it consists of ash- colored shales and shaly limestone, and afforded no fossils at this locality. Above this point its out-crop along the bluff is hidden by the talus from the overlying beds.

COAL.

About one-third of the entire surface of the county is underlaid by the coal measures; and they include the horizon of three or four coal seams, though but two of these appear to be mined at the present time to any considerable extent. The upper one is the No. 6, or Belle- ville seam, which is only found on the east line of the county, on Hodges' creek. It underlies a very limited area

in this county, and the exposures above named are probably nearly or quite on the western limit of its outerop. Its line of outerop indicates that it might be found on Apple creek, in the vicin- ity of Athens. It is by far the thickest and most valuable seam of coal that is developed in this part of the state, though at points further north the coal immediately below it-No. 5-is equally well developed, and attains an average thickness of six feet. The two lower seams are comparatively thin, and nowhere above three feet, where they have been examined in this county.

No. 6 varies in thickness in this county from four to seven feet; while the lower seams, of which there are three, vary in thickness from one and a half to three feet. The two lower seams will probably be found to under- lie nearly all the eastern portion of the county; and they will yield an abund- ant supply of coal for home consump- tion. The seam that outcrops on Birch creek is probably the same as that on Tulison's land, near White Hall, and it may be mined at almost any point in the eastern part of the county, at a depth ranging from 50 to 150 feet below the surface. Where it is desirable to mine it at a point where it does not out- crop at the surface, a boring should first be made to ascertain the thickness of the coal and its depth below the sur- face; and, when these points are de- termined, an exact calculation can be made of the expense of opening the mine and the amount of coal it will afford to a given area. The expense of boring ought not to exceed $2 a foot for the first 150 feet. On Wolf run and Birch creek, where the lower scam is exposed,

565

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

it will average two feet and a half in thickness, and will yield 2,500,000 tons of coal to the square mile. It is the same as the Exeter coal in Scott county, and the coal it affords is better than the average quality, being quite as free from the sulphuret of iron, in this county, as the No. 6, or Belleville coal. The seam at Bassett's on the southwest quarter of Sec. 27, T. 10, R. 11, appears to be of a local character, and cannot be relied on as a productive bed, over a large area of surface.

CLAYS.

The best clay for the potter's use, and for fire brick, is the bed under the coal seam, on Wolf run. At some points the clay is from eight to 10 feet thick, and outcrops at the surface, in many lo- calities. from one and a half to three miles from White Hall. The thickness of this bed, and its proximity to the railroad, makes it one of the most val- uable deposits of potter's clay known in the state; and the near proximity of ex- cellent coal, which may often be mined in the same drift with the clay, makes this one of the most desirable points for the manufacture of fire-brick or pot- tery, on a large scale, that can be found in the state. At Blanchard's mine no exposure of the clay under the coal is to be seen, and on Birch creek the seam is underlaid by limestone, below which the beds were not seen; but in the vi- cinity of Winchester, and at some other localities in Scott county, the limestone below this coal is underlaid by a thick bed of nearly white clay, almost ex- actly like that east of White Hall; and it is quite probable a similar clay may be found underlying the limestone on Birch creek.

HYDRAULIC LIMESTONE.

The St. Louis limestone affords some layers that seem to possess hydraulic properties, at several localities in this county, though they are generally rather too thin to be of much value at the present time. The thickest bed seen in the county is at Thompson's mill, on Apple creek, where it is about eight feet in thickness. This locality would afford a sufficient amount of material to jus- tify the erection of a eement mill at this point, should the rock prove, on trial, to be as well adapted to this purpose as its appearance would indicate.

IRON ORE.

On the west fork, at Whitaker's ereek, there is a seam of iron ore, under- lying the coal at that locality, about 18 inches in thickness. The ore is a hematite of a dark, briek-red color, and appears to be of a good quality. Coal and limestone, for reducing it to a me- tallic iron, are abundant in the vicinity of this ore.

LIMESTONE FOR LIME.

The best material for this purpose that has been met with in this county, is that afforded by the light-gray, semi- crystalline beds of the Burlington lime- stone, along the river bluffs. Some of these are a nearly pure carbonate of lime, and are not surpassed for this purpose by any limestone in the county. The lower part of the Keokuk lime- stone, as it appears below the bridge on Apple creek, will afford a very good limestone for this purpose; but the St. Louis group, which usually affords the purest limestone of all, affords no ma- terial adapted to this purpose at any of the localities examined in this county.

566

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

BUILDING STONE.

All the principal limestone forma- tions in this county afford good building stonefor ordinary purposes; and some of them afford a superior article, suitable for cut-stone work and ornamental architecture. The most abundant sup- ply, as well as the finest material of this kind, will be furnished by the Burlington limestone, which outerops in the vicinity of the river bluffs. The rock is tolerably even-bedded, in strata varying from six inches to two feet in thickness, and can be very easily and cheaply quarried, so that it is now used, not only for all the ordinary pur- poses for which building stone is re- quired, but also for fencing the farms along the foot of the bluffs. Several elegant farm houses have already been built in this county from this material; and, as the wealth of the country in- creases, something like a correct taste in architecture will obtain among the people, and a desire for more substan- tial and elegant buildings will be the result. This will give increased value to our supplies of finc building stone; and quarries that are now reckoned of little value to the owners will eventually become sources of wealth to an extent that can not at present be realized.

The St. Louis limestone will perhaps rank next in value for supplying the wants of the citizens of this county with good building stone. The quarries on Link's branch, near Carrollton, are capable of supplying the wants of that town, and the surrounding country. The rock obtained at this locality, is a yellowish gray, or brown, magnesian limestone, soft enough to be cut with facility, when freshly quarried, and

make a fine building stone, either for cut-work or for heavy walls. Some of the beds are thick enough to furnish dimension stone of a large size. This bed will furnish a good material for heavy walls, at every locality where we saw it exposed in this county. The Keokuk limestone will also furnish a very good building stone, wherever the lower part of the bed is found exposed. This portion of the bed affords layers of light, bluish-gray, compact limestone, from six inches to a foot in thickness, that may be used for all the ordinary purposes for which material of this kind is required. In the upper part of the bed the layers are rather thin and cherty.

The sandstone overlying the coal seam on Birch ereek, has all the charae- teristics of a reliable building stone. It is a massive micaceous sandstone, con- taining considerable ferruginous mat- ter, withstands atmospheric influences well, and forms a bold mural wall along the bluffs of the creek, from 15 to 20 feet in height. It will furnish an abundant supply of building stone for this part of the county. On Bear creek the sandstone is more unevenly bedded, and somewhat unevenly textured, some portions of it showing a disposition to crumble on exposure to the atmosphere. If quarried for building stone, when it presents this appearance, it should be selected with care; and the soft portions of the rock should be rejected. In a word, this county has an abundant sup- ply of building stone, not only for the use of the inhabitants within its bor- ders, but also a large surplus for the supply of the people in other portions of the state.

567

HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.

CHAPTER 1II.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The subject of the early settlement of a county, a state, or a section of our country, possesses an interest for all, but to the keen student of men and events, it presents itself as the source of much thought and investigation. Upon the characteristics of the first settlers in any land, upon their early training and general ways, upon their religious be- liefs and methods, depends, in a great measure, the future life, prosperity and even form of government. The stern, unyielding Puritan, who settled on the almost sterile shores of rocky New England, has left his hard stamp upon the whole of that quarter of our beloved republic, just as much as the jovial, hospitable Cavalier who first made his home on Virginia ground lives again in his descendents, or the French Huguenot of the Carolinas in the easy, polite and cultured people of the southern states.

Most of those who came to Greene county in an early day came from 'neath the genial skies and from warmer clime of the "Sunny South," and the well known hospitality of that favored land was transported to these pristine wilds. Some immigrants, however, came from the New England and Mid- (lle states, and these two diverse ele- ments becoming amalgamated here, has added to the warm-hearted, generous disposition of the sons of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, or the Carolinas- the hard-headed, cool, calculating com-

mon sense of the Yankee, making the best combination possible. With these ideas in our minds, it is with more than ordinary interest that the subject of the early settlers of Greene county is entered upon, and the native heath and training of each is brought to view, seeing the men from so many diverse sections of this country, and the kingdoms and empires of the old world, seeking a home in this earthly paradise, and. all mingling in one homogeneous mass, until it has become one united people.

PIONEERS OF GREENE COUNTY.

To say, at this late day, who was the first to settle within the limits of Greene county, is well nigh impossible. No doubt there were people here as early as 1813 or 1814, but if there were, they left no trace. In 1815, when the trees were just beginning to put on their many hued autumnal foliage, six men, Daniel Allen, his three sons, and James and Paul Harriford came to the northern part of Jersey county and made a settle- ment, as detailed in the history of that county. In the latter part of 1816, Daniel Allen, Sr., and two of his sons, Daniel and James, moved about six miles north and west of their first loca- tion, into what is now Greene county, and settled on land now owned by his grandson, E. W. Allen. John Allen, another grandson of Daniel's, settled also in Kane township. Thus the

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History of Greene and Jersey Counties, Illinois : together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of representative men, History of Illinois, Part 67

Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Number of Pages: 1150

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical
Number of Pages: 1150