USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 2
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
While the soil and clay and gravel is thin on the hills, it is found to be deeper and deeper in the valleys, in places over 150 feet in depth. All over the county wells have been dug and driven, showing everywhere the solid rock bed under the masses of gravel, clays and soils. Every hillside tells its story of how the heavy rainfall washes away the soil, cuts little gulleys through to brooks and creeks which carry much of the soil on down to the rivers and to the sea. It is not difficult to imagine all that sand and clay and soil which fills the valleys and overlays the surface of Stephenson County washed away. There would still be the 573 square miles, but no soil, no grass, no timbers, no fields of grain,
Blue Limestone Cliff
Galena Limestone Quarry, Freeport
Cincinnati Limestone Cliff at Crane's Grove
Niagara Limestone Quarry at Waddams
Wolf's Rock Along Cedar Creek
LIDKARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
11
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
no villages and towns-just 573 square miles of barren rock surface. There would still be the hills, the crags, the ridges and barren plains and valleys, the massive, strong framework of the county.
The hillsides would show that the rock foundation is in layers, placed hori- zontally one above the other, just as they are now observed in the quarries, along the creeks and in the railroad cuts. The geologist would find different kinds of limestone at Waddams, at Eleroy, at Freeport and near Dakota. But it is all in layers or strata. At Waddams, the geologist would call the top layers of rock, the highest in the county, Niagara limestone. It is about 23 feet deep and found nowhere else in the county. At Eleroy and along Yellow Creek he would call the layers, Cincinnati limestone or Cincinnati Shales. At Waddams he would find it just beneath the Niagara layers. Lower than the Cincinnati limestone layers, the geologist would find that part of the county not covered by Niagara and Cincinnati layers, to be covered by the three divisions of the Trenton limestone. First of these is the Galena limestone, which would make up three-quarters of the surface of the barren rocky surface of the county. On lower levels, the Galena disappears and the blue limestone covers the sur- face. Still lower would be found, the Buff limestone. The blue limestone flow would be found around Rock Run; the Buff being found over a small area around Winslow. If all the gravel, sands, clays and soils were removed, the rock floor of the county would be made up of these five kinds of limestone layers : Niagara, Cincinnati, Galena, Blue and Buff.
The records from an oil well bored to a depth of 608 feet near Cedarville in 1865, give an idea of the rock still deeper than the Buff limestone. After passing through 75 feet of Galena limestone, 10 feet of a gray limestone and some shales, the well passed through 207 feet of a soft, white sandstone known as St. Peter's sandstone. The bottom of St. Peter's sandstone is 375 feet be- low the surface at Cedarville. Below that, there are no definite records of the rocks under Stephenson County.
What is true in Stephenson County is true in a certain sense of every county in the state; for every state in the nation; and for the entire earth. If all the soil, sand, clays, gravel and water were removed from the earth, it would be a great globe of barren rock; mountains, valleys, elevated plains and depressions. There would be the layers of limestones and sandstones. The geology of Stephenson County is then seen to be a part of the general geology of the earth. The geologists have studied the rock layers of all parts of the earth. They tell of the Potsdam sandstone still below the St. Peter's sandstone, and yet lower the Silurian and the Cambrian rocks of great thick- ness. All these layers, from the Niagara down to and including the Cambrian rocks, have certain common characteristics. First, they are arranged in lay- ers or strata; second, they all contain the remains of animal life, or the evi- dences of animal life, fossils. Below the Cambrian rock is the great mass of rock, not in layers or stratified form and not bearing evidences of animal life, called Archaean or "Ancient" rock. Beginning with this Archaean rock, the geologists have made a classification of all the layers of rock above it. By studying this table or classification, the relation of Stephenson County geology to general geology can be understood.
1
12
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
1
GENERAL GEOLOGY CHART.
Quaternary
Drift, etc.
SOIL. Loess, clays, gravei, etc.
sand,
11
Tertiary
Limestone
10
Cretaceous
Cbalk Limestone Upper Greensand
9
Jurassic
Oolytic
Bedford Limestone
8
Upper Triassic Middle Triassic Lower Trlassle
Trlassic
Limestones Limestones Sandstone
.
7
Coal Layer Shale
Carboniferous
Carboniferous
· Coal Layer Limestone Coal Layer Limestone
6
Sub-Carboniferous
Devonian
Upper Middle Lower
Catskill Portage Hamilton Orlskany
5
Upper Sllurian
Niagara
Lower Helderberg Niagara Limestone Cincinnati Limestone
4
Lower Sllurlan
Trenton Limestones
Galena Limestone Blue Limestone Buff Limestone St. Peter's Sandstone Calciferous
3
Cambrian
Stratified Sandstones
Potsdam Sandstone Acadlan Georgian
2
Archæan
Igneous, Unstratified Rock
Archæan
1
13
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
STEPHENSON COUNTY GEOLOGICAL CHART.
Quaternary
Drift
80IL. Clays, sands, gravel, etc.
11 (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 not found.)
Upper Silurian
Niagara
Niagara Limestone Cincinnati Limestone
4
Lower Silurian
Trenton Rock
Galena Limestone Blue Limestone Buff Limestone
3
Cambrian
Stratified Sandstones
Potsdam Sandstone Arcadian Georgian
2
Archæan
Igneous, Unstratified Rock
1
SKETCH.
So we may begin with the Niagara limestone on the highest point at Wad- dams and go down through the earth, strata after strata, layer after layer, of limestone, shale, and sandstone till we come to the original rock, the Archaean or Precambrian rock of the lifeless or Azoic age. The unstratified, lifeless, original rock seems to be the foundation on which the earth's crust is built up, layer after layer.
We may imagine the earth at a time when its surface was everywhere this barren, unstratified mass of irregular rock. It was a rough, uneven surface cov- ered by the seas and swept by powerful winds. The rocks were broken and pulverized into sands by the forces of nature. The sands settled into layers, became hardened and are called sandstones. In these early layers of sandstone are found the forms or impressions of simple animal life, corals, worms, etc., but no back-boned animals. It required ages and ages for these first layers of sandstone to be formed. These layers, or groups of layers, are called Cambrian and Silurian by the geologists.
Sandstone is found in greater abundance on land than any other rocks. Wind and water wash the sand into great layers or strata. These layers harden and new layers are formed above them. The weight of a number of layers causes a great pressure which often presses the layers of sand into solid rock.
Mud is made up of a material finer than sand. It is carried long distances in water and covers the bottoms of seas. A sea floor may be covered several inches thick. It is subject to pressure by layers above and becomes layers of clay, shale or slate.
Limestone layers are made up of rock containing lime. If we look closely at any kind of limestone rock, we find it made up of fine pieces and occasion- ally small shells and fragments of shells. The sea contains many small ani- mals with lime shells. These shells fall like a shower to the bottom of the seas. After ages and ages a great layer of shells would be found at the bot- tom of the sea. Other layers may be washed over this and by pressure the
14
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
lime and clay is made into a hard compact layer of limestone. The corals are great limestone builders. These, together with myriads of shell animals have been making limestone for ages and ages. In fact, the limestones form about one-sixth of the surface of the earth. Thus we see that animal life has been a great factor in building up the earth's crust. Occasionally there is found an almost perfect shell. Often a cast of a shell will be found. Ordinarily the shells and skeletons of dead animals decay and mingle with the dust and soil. Leaves and wood, bark, skins of animals, likewise, soon decay and are lost in the great mass of material that makes up the earth's crust. But under certain conditions, both vegetable and animal life may be preserved. A tree trunk falling into a pond and sinking to the bottom only partly decays. It turns black and is often preserved for thousands of years. In the swamps may be found preserved also the bones of animals.
SIMPLE CHARACTER OF STEPHENSON COUNTY GEOLOGY.
Comparing the geological formations of Stephenson County with the gen- eral geology chart, the simple character of the county's strata will be readily observed. There are just five divisions to notice. Spread over the surface of the county, we find the Quaternary deposits, the clays, sands, gravels, silt, loess, alluvium, surface soils, etc. The average depth of this superficial deposit is 32 1/3 feet, according to Mr. Hershey. Below the Quaternary deposits, are to be found in geological order:
Feet.
I. The Niagara limestone 23
2. The Cincinnati limestone 40
3. The Galena limestone 75
4. The Blue limestone 38 5. The Buff limestone 40
These thicknesses are only estimates. All of the above limestone outcrop in some part of the county. Below the Buff limestone is the St. Peter's sand- stone which outcrops near Winslow and comes almost to the surface at Orange- ville. The St. Peter's layer of sandstone is more than two hundred feet in depth.
A clear idea of the geological framework of the county may be gained from the following vertical section, made from a study of the outcroppings and deep well borings :
Feet.
I. Surface deposits (Inaternary) soil, clays, silts, sand, gravel, alluvium, loess, etc., average 32 I-3
2. Niagara limestone 23
3. Cincinnati limestone 40
4. Galena limestone 75
5. Blue limestone 38
6. Buff limestone 40
7. St. Peter's sandstone. 207
8. Red sandstone 109
9. Yellow sand 3
,
15
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
IO. Quicksand
4
II. Slate sand
7
I2. Slaty snuff colored rocks. 19
13. Sharp slate colored sand. 12
14. Dark colored stone. 32
15. Bright red stone, oily,. 22
16. Dark reddish slate, with impyrites 22
The above vertical section follows the outcroppings to the St. Peter's sand- stone, and the remainder is taken from records of the borings of the rocky well near Cedarville. Number 16 is 586 to 608 feet below the surface. The last 100 feet, no doubt, belongs to the Potsdam sandstones.
Comparing this vertical section with the general geology chart, we find this county low down in the scale of geological formations. Below the Potsdam sandstones are the Cambrian rock layers and just below these, the Archaean rocks, known as Huronian or Laurentian. It will also be observed that the Carboniferous or coal bearing strata are above the Niagara in general geology and therefore not to be found in Stephenson County.
THE WORK OF THE ICE PERIOD.
How came this 32 feet of clays, gravels, soils, etc. to be spread over the limestones of Stephenson County. That interesting question has been answered by the geologists. At an early period in the earth's history, great ice fields spread over the northern part of North America. Snows and ice piled up for thousands of feet about Hudson Bay, moved southward in powerful ice fields as far as the plateau that runs from the mouth of the Wabash to the Grand Tower. From the highlands east of Hudson Bay the great sheet of ice swept towards the southwest, across the Great Lakes and over Illinois. The rock surface of the limestones, sandstones and shales had ben crumbled and pul- verized by freezing and thawing and this debris from the north was carried by the ice floes and spread out or piled up in Illinois. This glacial action was so powerful that it cut through and tore into fragments the great upper layers of limestone. Geologists believe that over 400 feet of stratified rock was removed in this way from Wisconsin. The Niagara limestone which is now found only on the top of a few high ridges as at Waddams, once covered almost the whole of northwestern Illinois and Wisconsin. This massive limestone was worn away, carried southward and deposited in the form of boulders, clays, sand and gravel, over the surface regions to the south. Great streams of water fol- lowed up the receding ice fields and by the power of erosion, kept up the work of denudation, sweeping out old preglacial channels and cutting new ones, sometimes through solid rock. The old river valleys were wide and as they narrowed with the ages, they built up the great rich, alluvial plains that now are the richest farming lands of this county. Then later the loess, the fine, gray, sandy sediment was blown into the bluffs. The ice field was deeper and carried and deposited deeper drift east and south of this county. The mar- gin is found over in Jo Daviess County, most of which county was not af- fected by glacial action. Along the margin, as about Waddams, are to be
-
16
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
found great boulders carried to the shore and deposited. Stephenson County, being near the shore of the ice field, was subject to more uneven action of the flow, and consequently is a varied, rolling section, with many knolls, ridges and hills alternating with stretches of level plains.
The enormous transporting power of an ice sheet is well known. It has broken up the solid rocks, reduced them to boulders and carried and distributed them over Illinois. The markings, or striation, on the boulders and the scratch- ing and polishing of the hard rock surfaces are explained by the floating ice with imbedded fragments of harder material, that cut its way through and over whatever it came in contact with.
Dana and other geologists estimate that the glacial ice sheets were 10,000 feet deep in Canada, and several thousand feet deep as they plowed across Wisconsin and Illinois, tearing away over 400 feet of stratified limestone. It is almost impossible to conceive of the power of such a mass of moving ice and the time required to do its work.
The order of geological movements in Stephenson County, and the northern part of the United States as well, are believed to be as follows: First, the grad- ual elevation of the surface above the ocean level at the close of the Carbon- iferous period, followed by extensive denudation of limestones and sandstones, and the cutting of extensive valleys. Next, in order, was the partial filling of the valleys with clay, sand and gravel, and the formation of the lowest bed of ancient soil beneath the boulder clays. This was followed by a partial sub- , mergence of the surface and the accumulation of the sands, clays, etc., which are found below the boulder clays. The next period was a period of elevation of the surface, during which were laid down the marshy swamp soil. Next, follows a second submergence, and the ice sheets and water currents formed the boulder clays. After this, there was another elevation and loess was formed. Then came the present order of things, the rivers, alluvial deposits, etc.
SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS.
Spread over the limestone stratified rocks of Stephenson County' is the drift or Quaternary deposits, varying in depth from a thin layer of dust to over 100 feet, averaging, over the 573 square miles of the county, a depth of 32 1-3 feet. This drift, composed of clays, sands, gravel, boulders, alluvium, loess, surface soils, etc., is valuable in two ways. First, these deposits have a great economic value because they determine the character and the pro- ductive capacity of the soil upon which all other industries are largely de- pendent. Mainly, soil consists of pulverized rock, mingled with such organic substances as result from the growth and decay of animal and vegetable or- ganisms. The drift, being made up of disintegrated limestones, sandstones, shales, etc., contains the necessary mineral ingredients to make up a soil of great fertility. ?
Secondly, the drift deposits are the main source of our water supply and of sand, clay and gravel. Every man who builds a road, digs a ditch or cellar, drives a well or tills the soil, must deal with the drift deposits, and must be in- terested in knowing its possibilities and its origin.
1
17
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
The 573 square miles of drift in Stephenson County with an average depth of 32 I-3 feet is the fact of first importance in the economic and political his- tory of the county. Rivers, railroad cuts and wells show this drift to be made up of several different masses. According to Hershey, fourteen feet of it is silt (Silveria), a finely pulverized sediment carried in suspension in water and deposited on the bottom of lakes of the ice age. Next, is the boulder clays, usually of small size, partly derived from bed rock of adjacent region and partly transported from distant localities. The boulder clays are frequently underlaid by a black peaty soil, filled occasionally with twigs and branches and sometimes with trunks of trees in a good state of preservation.
Another part of the drift is the loess deposits. This is a buff or grayish marly sand, usually capping river bluffs and terraces. Sometimes it is a brown silicious clay. Alluvial deposits are the deposits of fine mud formed by run- ning water. They consist mainly of sand and fine silicious sediment. It forms the soil of river valleys. Along with the boulder clays are great beds and ridges of sand or gravel. On the surface is the soil, containing a large pro- portion of decayed animal and plant life.
Vertical sections of drift would vary with the locality. The following vertical section will give a fair idea of the drift material:
Feet.
Black soil
I to 2
Yellow fine-grained clay
I3
Gravel
2
Silt
6
Boulder clays
I5
Blue clay
3
Sand
II
Clay
5
A table by Leverett, showing distribution by depths, of glacial drift in Illinois follows :
Depth of Depth if distrib- drift. uted over entire Feet. state. Feet.
Area, square miles.
4,160
300
23.50
Area, square miles.
10,975
200
41.35
Area, square miles
3,550
I 50
10.04
Area, square miles
19,275
100
36.32
Area, square miles. 8,190
75
II.57
Area, square miles
6,924
50
6.52
Total
53,074
129.30
The average thickness of drift in Illinois, including everything which overlies the rock, including glacial drift, residuary clay, loess and alluvium, must be be- tween one hundred and one hundred and thirty feet, probably about one hun- dred and fifteen feet.
18
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
As a result of 1,687 borings, the following proportion of drift materials has been approximated :
Tills, including all glacial clays. 69.38%
Sand, gravel and alluvium. 25.25%
Loess and associated silts. 4.25%
Buried soil, residuary clay, etc.
1.12%
Total
. 100%
THE PECATONICA ESKER SYSTEM.
An esker system is a series of gravelly ridges. They are made up largely of coarse gravel, well rounded. It contains also beds of fine gravel and sand.
Several gravelly belts or eskers in Stephenson County have been studied in detail by Mr. Oscar Hershey, and printed in the American Geologist, Vol. XIX, 1897, pp. 197-209, and 237-253. "The main belt follows the Pecatonica val- ley from eastern Stephenson County westward to the mouth of Yellow Creek about three miles east of Freeport; thence it passes up the south side of Yellow Creek to the village of Bolton. The length of this belt is over 20 miles and the ridges are in places scattered over a width of two or three miles. Sometimes there are two and sometimes three parallel ridges, traceable for a few miles. The belt is more extensive than usual at the mouth of Yellow Creek and three miles farther west and at the western end at Bolton." Mr. Hershey believes the gravelly ridges are the boundary lines of glacial fields. At the western end, the ridges are 75 to 100 feet above the surrounding plain. Beyond this there was, no doubt, a lake.
Coarse gravel and cobble were found in the upper portion of many of the ridges. Some of them are composed largely of sand and fine gravel. The peb- bles are chiefly limestone and are largely derived from local rocks.
Another gravelly belt, called the Cedarville belt, begins 11/2 miles east of Rock City, and extends through Cedarville and Damascus to a point 3 miles north- east of Lena. Southeast of Cedarville the sharp knolls rise 80 to 90 feet in height. These ridges have so obstructed the old valley of Cedar Creek that the stream has been compelled to cut a gorge on the north side of the village. The well defined part of this belt is about 12 miles in length. 'It is prominent also near the junction of Cedar and Richland Creeks, two miles west of Cedar- ville.
The Orangeville belt is found best developed south of Orangeville and just north of Winslow. At Winslow there is a very prominent knoll and a number of parallel ridges.
Geologists believe that these gravelly ridges, or eskers, were formed dur- ing a general recession of a nearly stagnant sheet of ice. The gravelly ridges would also indicate that the drainage from the ice sheet was somewhat vigor- ous.
TRANSPORTED ROCK LEDGES.
Leverett and Hershey report several remarkable instances of transporta- tion of limestone ledges in Stephenson County. In some cases, they occupy
19
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
an area of several acres. They have been moved westward from the crest of rock ridges without destroying their stratification. Hershey believes they were swept westward by the powerful action of great glacial ice sheets. He is confident they are not the result of landslides. He also found places where the limestone strata were folded 10 to 30 degrees by force of glacial action.
These transported masses are numerous in Dakota Township, Stephenson County. Within four miles west and southwest of the village of Dakota, Mr. Hershey found at least 30 distinct, transported masses. They are usually coni- cal or dome shaped masses a few rods in diameter, and appeared as though embossed on the top and slope of high rock ridges. The largest transported masses are two or three miles west of Dakota and one of them, about 75 feet high, obstructs the valley in which it stands: The smaller one, about 30 feet high, is composed of Galena limestone with strata dipping steeply in every direction from the center and top. Such masses are scattered widely over Steph- enson County, east of the meridian of Freeport.
Kettle holes are bowl shaped depressions, usually 30 to 50 feet deep and 100 to 500 feet in diameter. Geologists explain that the kettle hole was caused by a huge mass of ice that became detached during the melting of the ice sheets. The ice sheets piled drifts about it, after which the ice mass melted away and left the kettle hole.
In his work in Stephenson County, Hershey found in the drift large quan- tites of silt, which he called Silveria Silt. This silt, it seems, was deposited by lakes formed in glacial times in the valleys. It is found in thick beds, strati- fied and of a nearly uniformly dark blueish-gray color, with bands often sev- eral feet in thickness which are of a lighter tint. The upper portion Is a false bedded, calcareous and ferruginous, light brown fine sand and silt, and ap- pears to represent the shore deposits of an ancient lake in which this forma- tion was apparently laid down. Wells show that this silt is found in nearly all the valleys of the Pecatonica drainage basin. This silt deposit has considerable bulk in Stephenson County. In a well, three miles southwest of Freeport, the silt was penetrated a depth of 150 feet without reaching the botton. This well is in the old valley of Yellow Creek.
Mr. Hershey estimates that this silt would make a uniform layer of four- teen foot depth if spread out uniformly over the county. Since the average depth of all the superficial deposits of the county is 32 1-3 feet, it is seen at once that the Silveria silt is about one-half the total drift material. Anyone who has observed how slowly silt forms in layers on the bottom of ponds, can get some idea of the immensity of time required to build up layers of the deposit or sediment to a depth of 50 to 100 feet.
Several shells and pieces of partly decayed wood have been found in the silt. Hershey found shells in the following proportion: Succinea Avara 50; Pupa Olandi 5; Pyramidula Striatella 2. These were identified by Dr. W. H. Dall of the United States Geological Survey.
STEPHENSON COUNTY VALLEYS.
The direction of valleys and streams may be determined by preglacial con- ditions, glacial conditions, or both. Mr. Hershey says that that part of Illi-
-
20
HISTORY OF STEPHENSON COUNTY
nois, between the Rock River and the border of the driftless area of Jo Daviess County, the drift is so thin that the streams follow in large part the preglacial lines. Yet, there are a large number of deflections caused by the glaciers and the drift period. In some cases, the streams have been cut off and thrown across a divide into another preglacial valley. These streams were forced to cut new courses through rock ledges, forming narrow channels which, because of their high rock cliffs on their border, are called gorges.
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.