History of McDonough County, Illinois, together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of the representative citizens, Part 8

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

USA > Illinois > McDonough County > History of McDonough County, Illinois, together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of the representative citizens > Part 8

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).

At Macomb, a boring, carried to the depth of about 160 feet, failed to find any coal of sufficient thickness to be of any economical value. From these ex- periments, it would seem that the lower coals in this county are not very uniform in their development, and probably neither No. 1 nor No. 3 will be found over any considerable area thick enough to be worked to advantage, while No. 2 is also too thin to be worked at some points, though it may be considered the most

1. Soil and drift clays. 36 feet.

2. Clay shale or " soapstone ". 16 66

3. Black shale 12

4. Coal No. 2. 11/2

5. Fire clay 4

6. Shale and sandstone .. .. 12

7. Clay shale. .38

11. Shale 10

66 14. Hard rock. 5

9. Gray shale 34

10. Limestone

11. Shale 1

163

The beds numbered 1 to 5 inclusive belong to the drift, and shown an aggre- gate thickness of one hundred and twelve feet, indicating the existence of an old valley here, in which the coal measures have been cut away down to a point below the horizon of the Colches- ter coal, and which was subsequently filled with drift deposits, and conse- quently that coal which should have been found at a depth of fifty to seventy feet below the surface at this point, was not met with at all. The limestone No. 10 of the above sections is probably the bed overlaying the Seaville coal. The extent and direction of this old valley we have no data for determining at the present time, but it is probably a lateral arm of the Spoon river valley, and most probably trends southeastwardly into the valley of that stream. At Prairie City a boring was carried down to a depth of 227 feet, passing through the following beds, as reported by Mr. T. L. Magee:

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

persistent and reliable seam to be found in this country, and is the one most gen- erally worked, both at and near the town of Colchester, and other places in this county.

ST. LOUIS LIMESTONE.

This divisionof the Lower Carbonif- erous series is probably nowhere in this county more than fifty feet in thickness, and consists,first, of a bed of light-gray concretionary or brec- ciated limestone, laying immediately below the lower sandstone of the Coal Measures; and secondly, of a magne- sian limestone and some blue shales or calcareous sandstones, constituting what' is sometimes called the " War- saw limestone." - On the east fork of Crooked creek, a little north of west from Colchester, the following sections of these limestones may be seen:

No. 1 Brecciated light-grey limestone .. 5 to 20 feet. No. 2 Calcareous sandstone, in regular beds .. 12 « No. 3 Bluish shale.

The magnesian bed, which usually forms the base of this group, is below the surface here and generally ranges from eight to ten feet in thickness. The brecciated limestone is very unevenly - developed, and often varies in thickness in a short distance from five to twenty feet or more. It rarely affords any fos- sils except the common ccrals Lithostro- tion canadense and L. proliferum, sil- icious specimens of which are often found weathered out along the creeks where this limestone out-crops. No fos- sils were seen in the calcareous sand- stone, but the magnesian limestone that out-crops lower down on the creek, and underlies the blue shale in the above

section, usually contains a variety of Bryozoans, among which are the Arch- imides Wortheni, Polypora Varsoeiense, Semicoscinium, Keyserlingi, etc.

KEOKUK LIMESTONE.

This is the lowest rock exposed in the county, and is only found along the bluffs of Crooked creek, in townships 4 and 5, range 4 west, (Lamoine and Ten- nessee). The upper part of this forma- tion is usually a bluish calcareo argilla- ceous shale, containing silicious geodes either filled with a mass of crystaline quartz, or hollow and lined within quartz crystals, mammillary chalcedony, calcite and dolomite. Below this geode bed there is usually from thirty to forty feet of cherty gray limestone, the layers varying in thickness from a few inches to two feet or more, and separated by partings of shale. The limestone beds consist mainly of the remains of organic beings, the corals, the crinoids, and mol- lusca that swarmed in countless numbers in the primeval ocean; and the old quarries of limestone afford a rich field for the student who desires to become fully acquainted with the varied ' and peculiar organic forms of this period. South of Colmar the grade of the C., B. & Q: railroad cuts into the upper part of this limestone to the depth of several feet, and from the material thrown out from this cut we obtained many speci- mens of the characteristic fossils of this limestone in an excellent state of pres- ervation. The upper layers of the lime- stone had been freely exposed to the erosive action of the water during the drift period, and many of the silicious fossils were found completely weathered

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

out from the shaly limestones, and in a most perfect state of preservation. Among the fossils found at this locality, were many specimens of Laphrentis dalii, Spirifer Keokuk, S. lineatus, S. sub-orbicularis, Agaricocrinus ameri- canus, Actinocrinus bi-turbinatus, Cya- thocrinus stellatus, Archimides, Owen- ana, Hemipronites crenistria, Phillipsia, Portlockii, several species of fish teeth, etc. The lower portion of this limestone is usually below the level of the creek bottoms, but the upper portion is well exposed on the main creek in township 4 north, range 4 west (Lamoine), and on the east fork in township 5 north, range 4 west (Tennessee). In the region south of Colmar the geodiferous shales and the St. Louis limestone have all been re- moved by denudation before the deposit of the drift, and the boulder clays now rest directly upon the upper part of the Keokuk limestone. A complete section of all the limestones below the coal measures in this county would show the following order of succession and thick- ness:

Feet.

Light gray brecciated limestone 5 to 20

Calcareous sandstone 12

Magnesian limestone and shale. 10 to 12

Geodiferous shales of the Keokuk bed .. 20 to 30 Light gray cherty limestone 30 to 40

ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.

Coal.

As may be seen from a perusal of the foregoing pages, a large portion of this county is underlaid with coal, and though the seams that are found here are much thinner than some of those that outcrop in Schuyler and Fulton counties, yet they have not only furnished an abun-

dant supply of coal for home consump- tion, but for many years have furnished many thousands of tons annually for shipment south and west to the adjoin- ing counties. The shipment from Col- chester alone for the years 1866 and '67 was about 500,000 tons per annum, and the product of the mines of that place and vicinity has been constantly on the increase. The coal obtained here is. of an excellent quality, if taken out at some distance from the outcrop, where it has not been exposed to atmospheric influences. The coal is tolerably hard, bright, and comparatively free from pyrite, and breaks freely into cubic blocks when mined.

An analysis of this coal by Mr. Henry Pratten, as reported in Dr. Norwood's "Analysis of Illinois Coals," gave the following results;

Specific gravity 1,290

Loss in coking 41.2

Total weight of coke 58.8

100.0

ANALYSIS.

Moisture

5.4

Volatile matters 35.8

Carbon in coke 56.8

Aslıes (light gray)

2.0

100.0

Carbon in coal

60.10

This analysis shows this to be one of the best coals in the state, and its free- dom from pyrite has always made it a favorite coal with blacksmiths of this. and adjoining counties. The coal from the lower seam is usually harder than that from the Colchester seam, and less uniform in quality. Its thickness is also more variable and frequently the coal is wanting altogether, and its place occu- pied by bituminous shales. Neverthe-

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

less, it sometimes attains a thickness of three feet, as at Seaville, in Fulton county, and the coal obtained there is of a fair quality. It is quite probable that this seam may be found in some of the eastern townships in this county as thick as it is at Seaville, and if so, it might be worked to advantage, as its depth below the surface would probably nowhere ex- ceed two hundred feet.

No. 3, if found at all in this county, would be met with in the uppermost lay- ers of the bed rock, and immediately un- derneath the boulder clays, except at a few points, where it might be overlaid by a few feet of sandstone or sandy shale. It is less persistent in its development, however, than either of those below it, but its proper horizon may be readily recognized by the dark blue limestone and bituminous shales that are nearly always present.

A boring carried down to the depth of two hundred feet would probably pass entirely through the coal measures in any portion of the county, and in the western part the subordinate limestone would be reached at a depth of one hun- dred and fifty feet or less, when the light gray brecciated limestone of the St. Louis group is reached, it is useless to bore further in search of coal, and this lime- stone is so decidedly different in its ap- pearance from any of the limestones in the lower part of the coal measures, that an expert would find no difficulty in iden- tifying it, even by the smallest fragments taken up by the sand pump. Hence it forms a reliable guide, both where it out- crops and where it may be reached by the drill, and determines the point below which no coal can be found.

FIRE-CLAY.

The fire-clay under the Colchester coal has been used by Mr. Horrocks, at his kiln west of the town, for the manufac- ture of drain tile, fire-brick, etc., but re- cently he has obtained a better quality fire-clay by sinking a shallow shaft down to the lower or No. 1 coal, which, at his kiln, is about forty-five feet below the Colchester seam. The horizon of this lower coal furnishes an excellent article of fire and potter's clay in various por- tions of the state, and it may, no doubt, be found at many points in this county, besides the one where it is at present worked.

IRON ORE.

There is a band of iron ore, very generally developed in connection with coal No. 1, and indications of its pres- ence were observed at several points in this county, though not in sufficient quantity to justify an attempt to work it at the present time. On the creek be- low Horrick's brick kiln, it is about six inches thick, but too sandy to be of . much value, even if the quantity was greater. On the creek west of Macomb a band of very pure iron ore occurs, about six inches thick, and it is quite probable it may be found somewhere in the county of sufficient thickness to be of some economical importance. In Schuyler county, there are two or three bands of ore associated with the same coal, attaining there an aggregate thick- ness of about two feet, and yielding on analysis about fifty-two per cent. of protoxide of iron. The ore is an argil- laceous carbonate of iron, and compares favorably in quality with the best Penn- sylvania ores.

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

On D. C. Flint's place, in Mound township, a deposit of bog iron ore of good quality is found, which is reported to be several feet in thickness, but the area covered by it has not been ascer- tained. . Should it prove sufficiently extensive and pure as the sample sent to my office, it is a valuable deposit.

BUILDING STONE.

The central and western portions of . the county have an abundant supply of free stone from the sandstone bed inter- vening between coals No. 1 and 2. This is usually from ten to twelve feet in thickness, the upper part thin-bedded and quarrying out in thin, even slabs suitable for flags, while the lower part is quite massive and splits evenly. At Stewart's quarries, two miles west of Macomb, there is about twelve feet in thickness exposed in the face of the quarry. The rock is a rather coarse grained sandstone, nearly white in color, and furnishes a very durable material for foundation walls, and is also easily cut and may be advantageously used for all ordinary architectural purposes.

At these quarries the rock is very massive, but at the old McLean quar- ries, about a half mile to the westward of Stewart's, the sandstone is more reg- ularly bedded, the layers varying from four to twelve inches or more in thick- ness. This sandstone is equivalent of that on the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw railroad west of Seaville, in Fulton county, and is very similar in quality. Some of the.beds seem to be sufficiently even-textured for grindstones. The magnesian and arenaceous beds of the St. Louis group will afford the best ma-

terial for culverts and bridge abutments that can be found in the state, as they are scarcely at all affected by the action of frost and moisture.' The gray limestones of the Keokuk series make a durable building stone if pro- tected from water, but split to fragments on exposure to ordinary atmospheric agencies. The brecciated limestone will make an excellent macadamizing mate- rial for the construction of turnpike roads, or for ballasting our railroads.

LIMESTONE FOR LIME.

Good limestone for burning into quick- lime may be obtained from the lower division of the Keokuk, and from the brecciated bed of the St. Louis group. Where the former is used, it should be selected with some care, as a portion of the beds contain too large a per cent. of argillaceous or silicious matter to slack readily when burned, and would yield only an inferior quality of lime. The light gray semi-crystalline layers are the best for this purpose, and will make a quicklime of good quality. The brec- ciated limestone is, however, in many respects the best rock in the county for this purpose, as it is usually a nearly pure carbonate of lime in its composi- tion and can be burned at less expense, and makes a quicklime of superior qual- ity. This limestone may be found on most of the tributaries of Crooked creek, and on the east fork as far north as the vicinity of Colchester.

SAND AND CLAY FOR BRICK. -

The sub-soil, where it is predicated upon the marly beds of the loess,supplies these materials in nearly the right proportion

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

for the brickyard; and when deficient in sand, this may be easily supplied. either from the creek bottoms or sandy beds interstratified with the drift clays. These materials are so universally distributed that there is scarcely a neighborhood in the county where they may not be read- ily found at hand.

SOIL AND AGRICULTURE.

There is not much variety in the gen- eral character of the soils in this county, and there is no considerable portion of its surface that will not bring good crops of the various cereals usually cultivated in this latitude, without other stimulants than those contained in the soil itself. The prairie soil is a dark, chocolate- colored loam, appearing nearly black when wet, and produces excellent crops of corn, wheat, oats, barley and grass, and where a proper rotation of crops has been the rule, no perceptible decrease in the annual product has been observed, even on lands that have been under con- stant cultivation for the last twenty-five or thirty years. The timber lands are generally confined to the creek valleys, and broken ridges adjacent thereto.

The soil on these timbered ridges is usually thin, but they are excellent fruit lands, and will produce fair crops of wheat, oats and clover, but they require manuring if subjected to long continued cultivation. These thin soils are predi- cated upon the boulder clays, and the timber growth is mainly black and white oak and hickory; and their uneven sur- face does not retain the vegetable and animal matters that are annually depos- ited upon them, but on the contrary, these are swept away by the annual rains

into the adjacent valleys, while on the level prairies they are retained, and add from year to year their fertilizing prop- erties to the soil. The bottom lands on Crooked creek are very limited in extent, and are mostly subject to overflow. They afford some fine timber, the varieties of which have been enumerated on a pre- ceding page.

Although the above will give the at- tentive reader a full account of the geo- logical formation of the county, still more can be added, and we freely quote from S. J. Clarke's history of the county the following items, as being apt to in- terest all:

" The area of the coal fields of McDon- ough is nearly, if not quite, co-extensive with its entire surface, having been found in every township except Walnut Grove. There are a large number of shafts and banks in active operation, af- ording employment to hundreds of men, some of whom work in the banks, while others are constantly engaged in hauling to our home markets and the towns sur- rounding. There is no limit to the sup- ply, as the beds are inexhaustible. An account of the various coal shafts ap- pears in the various township histories.

" The coal of this county is regarded as the best in the state, and is used ex- tensively in the manufacture of gas in several of our large western cities.

"The quarries of McDonough county are becoming justly noted for their superior quality of freestone and sand- stone. As remarked of coal, the supply is almost inexhaustible, and capable of meeting the demand for hundreds of years. West of Macomb a short dis- tance are two or three quarries that have

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

been worked for many years, and the rock taken from them used for building purposes have stood the test of time in a remarkable degree. For years the stone has been used principally for foun- dation purposes, wells and sidewalks. In 1875, Mr. Rowley, of New York, who, for many years had been the proprietor of the quarry known as Stewart's, having tested the stone in every conceivable way, erected a factory for the purpose of manufacturing grindstones. He had in his employ a large number of hands, and turned out an article that gave uni- versal satisfaction. Shipments are being made daily to all parts of the United States, and no doubt in time this will be one of the institutions of the county. John McLean, Esq., of Macomb, fur- nished the following statement of the quarry formerly worked by Hector McLean, Sr., and his three sons, Alex- ander, John and Duncan:

"We commenced work in the Ran- dolph quarry in the fall of 1849, and in 1852 left, purchasing the interest of Swigart & Broaddus in the quarry known 'as Bartleson's, and considered the best freestone or sandstone in the state. The quarry was easy to work, having seams in every ledge,running the entire length. We frequently pried up stones 30x15 feet, flat and smooth, fitted for any kind of pavement, the ledges being from one and a half inches, increasing in thick- ness to three feet, being the lowest ledge we worked.

"We had the quarry rented for four years, at ten cents per perch. In 1857

we purchased 160 acres of land on which the quarry was situated, of a Mr. Airy, of Philadelphia, a brother of the late Mrs. Bartleson, of Macomb, for which we paid $1,600; sold the same to C. N. Harding, Esq., in 1867, for $4,000. We worked in the quarry twelve years, in which time we averaged 1000 perches per year of all kinds of rock.

"In looking over the accounts of some years, I find that we made as high as $3,500 per year, paying for extra labor, tools and powder for blasting purposes, $1,300. In those times this was consid- ered 'big money.' We usually did all the business ourselves, having four yoke of oxen, and a large wagon capable of carrying five tons or four perches. The wagon was made by our former towns- man, Sidney S. Chapman, and a splendid wagon it was, painted on the axle 1852, the year in which it was made. We quarried, hauled and built, receiving therefor $2.50 to $3.25 per perch, accord- ing to wall."

"Besides the quarries mentioned, there is an excellant quality of stone found near Industry, on Grindstone creek, of the same general character as the fore- going."

Clay, suitable for the manufacture of pottery, drain-tile, fire-brick, etc., is found quite extensively throughout the county, and is largely utilized, there be- ing quite a number of potteries within its limits, full accounts of which will be found in their proper places, in the his- tories of the towns or townships wherein they are located.

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

PIONEER LIFE.

In this chapter it is the design to pre- sent some of the interesting and pecul- iar phases of frontier life. It is not the purpose to here portray conditions and circumstances that apply to every case, but to pluck from the mass of material . some of the most extreme cases, and be- longing properly to the extreme frontier. While, as a means of variety, here and there are stated occurrences and con- ditions which have existed up to within a very recent day, it is impossible to single out McDonough county as an iso- lated case in the description of pioneer life, for it finds its parallel in almost every county in the state and throughout the entire west. And it is, on the other hand, just as impossible to limit the por- trayal so as to just precisely fit and cover given cases and territory. Pioneer life must be taken as a whole, and as it existed a half century ago in the west. Some of the illustrations may not apply to the exact manner in which this or that particular settler got along-nor is it the intention that it should-but it is at- tempted to show what has been done in the development of the great west.

But a little more than a half century ago, McDonough county was not in ex- istence, the territory comprising it be- ing as wild and desolate as the Indians who inhabited it; and there was not a

white settler within its boundaries. When the determined pioneers of Mc- Donough county settled here, they found an unbroken, uncultivated and uninhab- ited prairie. Wild beasts, and but little less wild savages, roamed at will over the prairie and through the forests. Forests were to be felled, cabins erected, mills built, and the river and creeks made to labor for the benefit of mankind. The beautiful prairies were to be robbed of their natural ornaments, and the hand of art was to assist in their decoration. Who was to undertake this work .? Are they qualified for the task ? What will be the effect of their labors upon future generations ?

The McDonough county pioneers had many difficulties to contend with, not the least of which was the journey from civilization to the forest homes. The route lay for the most part through a rough country; swamps and marshes were crossed with great exertion and fatigue; rivers were forded with diffi- culty and danger; nights were passed on open prairies, with the sod for a couch and the heavens for a shelter; long, weary days and weeks of travel were endured, but finally the "promised land" was reached. Soon the anxious father of the family, with his hands erects a habitation and pioneer life began.

HISTORY OF MCDONOUGH COUNTY.

EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

The young men and women of to-day have little conception of the mode of life among the early settlers of the country. One can hardly conceive how so great a change could take place in so short a time. The clothing, the dwell, ings, the diet, the social customs, have undergone a total revolution, as though a new race had taken possession of the land.

In a new country far removed from the conveniences of civilization, where all are compelled to build their own houses, make their own clothing, and procure for themselves the means of subsistence, it is to be expected that their dwellings and garments will be rude. These were matters controlled by surrounding circumstances and the means at their disposal, The earliest settlers constructed what were termed "three-faced camps," or, in other words, three walls, leaving one side open. They are described as follows: The walls were built seven feet high, when poles were laid across at a distance of about three feet apart, and on these a roof of clapboards was laid,, which were kept in place by weight poles placed on them. The clapboards were about four feet in length, and from eight inches to twelve inches in width, split out of white oak timber. No floor was laid in the "camp." The structure required neither door, window or chimney. The one side left out of the cabin answered all these purposes. In front of the open side was built a large log heap, which served for warmth in cold weather and for cooking purposes in all seasons. Of course there was an abundance of light,

and, on either side of the fire, space to enter in and out. These "three-faced camps" were probably more easily con- structed than the ordinary cabin, and was not the usual style of dwelling houses.

The cabin was considered a material advance for comfort and home life. This was, in almost every case, built of logs, the spaces between the logs being filled in with split sticks of wood, called "chinks," and then daubed over, both inside and outside, with mortar made of clay. The floor, sometimes, was nothing more than . earth tramped hard and smooth, but com- monly made of "puncheons," or split logs, with the split side turned upward. The roof was made by gradually drawing in the top to the ridge pole, and, on cross pieces, laying the "clapboards," which, being several feet in length, instead of being nailed, were held in place by poles laid on them, called "weight poles,"reach- ing the length of the cabin. For a fire- place, a space was cut out of the logs on one side of the room, usually about six feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs, making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone, if convenient; if not, then earth. The flue, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in length, carried a little space above the roof, and plastered over with clay, and when finished was called a "cat-and-clay" chimney. The door space was also made by cutting an aperture in one side of the room of the required size, the door itself being made of clapboards secured by wooden pins to two crosspieces. The hinges were also of wood, while the fast- enings consisted of a wooden latch catch-

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.

History of McDonough County, Illinois, together with sketches of the towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent individuals, and biographies of the representative citizens, Part 8

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

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