USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside county, Illinois, from its first settlement to the present time, with numerous Biographical and Family Sketches > Part 3
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19
PEAT.
45.6. To this type, the precise amount of magnesia varying, all our limestones conform. The hydraulic limestones, as will be seen from the following analysis, from same work, page 75, also contains some magnesia, carbonic acid 34.2, lime 25.5, magnesia 12.35, silica (flint) 15.37, alumina (clay) 9.13, sesquioxyd of iron 2.25-specimens from Rondout, New York, a locality noted for the manufac- ture of cements. It is claimed by some of the highest authorities that a certain per centage of magnesia is essential to the excellence of water limes, those containing it setting more readily, especially under water, than those in which it is wanting, and also becoming harder in time. The Utica, Illinois, water lime is composed of water 3.00, carbonate of lime 43.56, carbonate of magnesia 30.07, clay, alumina, 20.00, free silica 1.00, carbonate of iron 2.00, potash .18. (Geological Survey of Illinois, Volume III, page 151.) The limestones of White- side are of very different quality, even the different strata of the same locality possessing very different properties. Mr. Cochran informs us that he has at least three grades of stone in his quarry about a mile north of Morrison, and that they differ greatly as to the time required to burn them properly, their slacking, &c. With one variety of it air slacking seems to be advantageous, as we were shown a wall, the lime used in making which had been air slacked, which is sound and hard, while another made of the same lime, not air slacked, is cracked and soft. A study of the chemical composition of these rocks would probably richly repay the owners and save them some expensive and unremunerative ex- periments. Mr. Cochran informed us that a stratum which another gentleman had asserted would not make lime, makes an extra fine article, when properly treated, an intense heat being required to prepare it. Lime is the oxyd of calcium-a yellowish metal, harder than lead, melting at a red heat, and very malleable. It soon tarnishes from its great affinity for oxygen and is seen only as a chemical curiosity. With this oxyd carbonic acid very readily unites, forming limestone-carbonate of lime. It is a widely diffused substance-one of the most common in nature. It is the base of bone, coral and the shells of Mollusks. It is found in the waters of the ocean, in most hard waters in com- bination with many other substances. Carbonate of lime subjected to a strong heat looses its carbonic acid, which passes away as a gas and becomes the oxyd of calcium, or lime.
PEAT.
In the Cat-tail Slough in Union Grove Township, is found an immense de- posit of excellent peat. The bed probably occupies what was once a small lake and is over six miles long by about a mile wide. A large part of this area is a peat bog or " moss " over twenty feet deep, and a large area furnishes peat of a superior quality. It has long been used as a fuel by the people of the vicinity to a limited extent, and for some years efforts have been made to bring it into the market by preparing it on a large scale. The old method of preparation- cutting it into blocks like brieks and drying them in the air-does not fit the article for carriage to any considerable distance, the bulk being much too great in proportion to the combustible matter contained. It was therefore determined to reduce the volume by pressure, and machinery was provided for the purpose. but as the material of peat, partially decomposed vegetable fibre, is very clastie and also absorbs a large quantity of water, it was found impossible to either re- duce it in bulk as much as was desirable or to deprive it of any considerable quantity of the water held in combination. It was then determined to grind it, and to press the pulp or mud thus formed into blocks. This plan was more successful as the water was now more perfectly expelled, and the material was turned out in a much denser form. But the cheapness of coal, the much greater
20
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY.
amount of combustible matter a given bulk of it contains, and the consequent ease of carriage have conspired, with the for years comparatively high price of labor, to render the demand small, and to confine the use of peat to a small territory.
Peat is partially decomposed vegetable matter, derived from the mosses of the genus Sphagnum, or in parts of our country of the genus Hypnum-spongy mosses of rapid growth, common in wet lands which die below while growing vigorously above. Their stems or roots, and especially the last, are densely matted together, and with grasses and other plants found in such localities form in a comparatively short time, a large mass of material, and when partially protected from the action of the atmosphere by water is slowly changed to a semi-bituminous mass, a half coal so to speak, requiring only time and pressure to become coal. We give below an analysis of peat and also of bituminous coal from Dana's Manual of Geology, page 361, 2d edition.
CARBON. HYDROGEN. OXYGEN. NITROGEN. 33.0 2.0
Peat ..... 59.5
5.5
Coal .. .... 81.2 5.5
12.5
0.8
Moss ..... 49.88 6.54
42.42 1.16. This moss was a Sphagnum.
The change to peat it will be seen involves a loss of oxygen, in 100 parts of almost 9 parts, so that the relative proportion of carbon is made to appear greater. The change to coal involves a further loss of 30 parts of oxygen in 100, and a consequently great increase in the relative quantity of carbon. There is also some loss of hydrogen as well as of nitrogen.
The growth of peat is confined to temperate climates, as in tropical regions the process of decay is so rapid as to render the change to the semi-bituminous condition on the surface of the earth impossible, and if found under mud or sand the pressure and time would produce a true coal. Hence peat bogs are never found in warm regions.
As peat is essentially of the same composition as coal it possesses all its heating qualities, and is only inferior to it in requiring a greater volume to pro- duce the same results, that is to heat or raise the temperature of a given quantity of any substance, as of water, to a given degree. It is quite free from sulphur; hence no sulphurous gasses are evolved. The combustion is perfect and very little soot is produced. It is thus for household purposes a much more desirable fuel than any ordinary bituminous eoal, making much less dirt, and creating no unpleasant smell. It burns freely either in an open grate or a stove, and makes a cheerful hot fire. It is now manufactured at the point where the Albany road crosses the Cat-tail, very powerful machinery being used to press it into blocks. Besides the Union Grove deposit there are others in this low land tract, of less extent, said to be of equally good quality. A deposit of small extent exists in the north part of Sterling, another in the township of Portland. Others of limited area are probably scattered about the sloughs not only of the lowlands but also of the prairies, for peat is by no means confined to low lying lands-moderate tem- perature and abundance of water being the only requirements of its formation, and where these conditions exist, whether in the valley or on the mountain, there peat bogs are found. In many cases where it has been removed it has been known to again accumulate to a depth sufficient to be workable .. Its rate of growth is slow and may of course vary with the conditions. Pieces of wood, stems of trees, leaves, bones, human bodies, the works of man, are found in these marshes. The waters of such morasses have the property of arresting the pro- eesses of decay and preserving substances, that under ordinary circumstances, would soon perish, and from them many curious articles have been exhumed.
21
MINERAL SPRINGS.
In this County we are not aware that any relies of much importance have been obtained up to this date. some bones of the Buffalo or Bison, as far as we ean learn, being the only vestiges of animal life revealed.
With a high price for coal, cheap labor and perfect appliances for com- pressing the peat, it must become an article of great commercial importance and prove a source of wealth and prosperity.
The sphagnous mosses from which it has been formed yet flourish in these marshes, forming thick, tangled, spongy masses of a greyish green color, inter- spersed with scattered blades of a coarse, light green grass or narrow sedge about four feet high, and some orchideous plants, that at times enliven the dreary plain with their brilliant and peculiar flowers. Some tracts are covered with large dark green rushes-Juncaca-and the pools with a tall, somewhat oval leaved-ovate, acuminate-grass. This great bed at any season, as seen from the highlands bordering it, has a dreary, forbidding aspect, which the frosts of autumn intensifies by stripping them of the little variety of color they possess during the summer season. It is invisible to the traveler until he reaches its very border and then bursts upon him, like the creation of a dream. The com- paratively narrow valley extending from near Fulton to the valley of Rock River. in Fenton, has much the appearance of a great river of greenish water sweeping with a slightly sinuous course toward the south east. It probably was at one time the bed of a great stream, and the cliff on which Fulton now stands and the mass forming a part of Albany, Garden Plain, Fenton and New- ton townships, were islands in its channel. The Mississippi we believe, at one time, in part through this valley, in part through the Marais de Ogee or Meredosia, flowed into what is now a part of Rock River, but was then the Mississippi, until some convulsion shattered the rocky barrier that now forms the Rock Island Rapids, and the great River worked out for itself a more direct but less navigable channel. It seems to us that the rents in the rock of the Rapids clearly indicate a forcible rupture, rather than the gentle, wearing action of running water, and are themselves a record of their origin in nature's own language, too often strangely perverted in meaning by her self-constituted in- terpreters.
MINERAL SPRINGS.
The mineral springs of the county do not seem to have attracted much attention. We have heard of but few, and these have no reputation as far as we can learn for medicinal qualities. The most widely known is located in Newton township, and near it was bored a well in exploring for oil. A copious flow of water, clear, cold and sparkling was obtained, the same as that of the spring, charged with iron and sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The well is at the bottom of a ravine, the rock of the bounding hills being a coarse-grained sub- carboniferous sandstone, soft, friable and full of water. The well, we believe, is about 70 feet deep. A greasy film often seen on the surface of such waters, where they are collected in pools, led to the belief that oil was to be found here. We advise our readers to leave the search for petroleum in this region to those who have nothing else to do and money which they are anxious to get rid of. A similar spring exists near Hough's mill in Clyde. These waters would prob- ably be found valuable in some diseases, but so far have been neglected by health seekers. We are not aware that an analysis of either has ever been made. About two miles east of Sterling there is a spring owned by Mr Albert- son, the water of which is said to contain soda, iron, magnesia, potassa in the form of bicarbonates-lithia and silica, and some chlorides and phosphates.
22
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY.
ARTESIAN WELLS.
In several places in the county artesian wells have been tried, but the results achieved have in several cases been much below the expectations of those who projected them. An acquaintance with the conditions requisite for success seems to have been wanting, and the thought given the subject to have related only to the cost of the work. The reasoning adopted seems to have been much as follows: "Wells are bored at Chicago, and a plentiful supply of water is obtained, therefore the same result may be obtained in the same way at Morrison, or any other place." Water cannot rise above the level of the fountain that supplies it, hence to make an artesian well a success there must be a head of water higher than the place where the well is bored. Then below and above the strata containing the water there must be strata through which water cannot pass freely, as if it can it will flow away in springs, and not rise higher than the point at which it escapes.
The character of the rocks, their slope or dip, and the source from which they derive their supply of water, are, of course, very important features in the problem, and go far toward enabling us to settle the question of success or failure. In the valley of the Illinois, water is obtained at from 230 to 400 feet, rising from thirty to fifty feet above the surface, while on the prairie to the north of the river the only successful well is 2180 feet deep, while the boring at Mendota, 2160 feet deep, is not a success. The deepest boring in the world is that at St. Louis, Missouri, 38432 feet deep. The water does not rise to the surface. At Sterling, a well 1655 feet deep, owned by Joel Harvey, flows a large quantity of water of good quality. The boring at Morrison, 1200 feet deep, does not flow, the water not rising to within twenty feet of the top. Dr. Pennington has bored near his residence, in Jordan, to the depth of 2200 feet, the water rising to within thirty-five feet of the top. At Utica, La Salle County, in the well of James Clark, there are three horizons of water-bearing rock in about 200 feet. The well penetrates the Potsdam sandstone about seventy feet, this being the water-bearing rock. Below are given the strata as pene- trated in several wells:
Morrison Artesian Well.
Soil and Clays 50
60 Boulder Clay.
first water at 110 fect.
Niagara Limestone 75
Cincinnati Slates and Shales. 295
Trenton Group .- Trenton Limestone, White. 100
Gray 120
Chazy, St. Peter's Sandstone. .200 ( Gray Limestone. 120
Potsdam. { Calciferous. Brown Sandstone 100
Grey Limestone. So
Total
1.200 fect.
Boring about 200 to 250 feet deeper would probably improve this well. It should be carried into the Potsdam sandstone. 1
Dr. Pennington's, Jordan.
Soil and Clays. 20
( Rock .. 30
Trenton - Cincinnati Limestone. 100
( Trenton 550
( St. Peter's Sandstone.
300 Chazy.
Potsdam - Calciferous.
500 Probably Quebec.
( Potsdam Sandstone 700
Total
.. 2,200 fect.
Ist rise of water, raised 50 feet.
2d water raised to 35 feet from top.
23
MINERALOGY.
J. Harvey's, Sterling.
Earth, Clay, Sand and Gravel.
First water 33.
Yellow Limestone. ..
Brown Mineral
5
Blue Slate and Shale
195
Light Colored Limestone
100
Grey or Dark Limestone
265
Light Sandstone
95 2d water 700 came within 18 ft. of top 00
White Sandstone ...
S5
White Limestone
35
Hard Limestone ..
35 3d water 900 overflowed.
Medium Hard Limestone
120
Loose Hilly Limestone
40
Hard Limestone
270 4th water 1150 flowed Si above top.
White Sandstone
100
Shaly Limestone.
50
Brown Sandstone.
15
Blue Shale.
50
Total
1,665 feet.
Jas. Clark's, Utica, La Salle Co.
Sand .... Calciferous 170 70
This subject is well worthy of a careful study, the great outlay involved in boring a deep well, demanding a tolerable certainty of success, before one is justified in commencing so costly a work; and even when all is known that can be ascertained, there is room for more than a reasonable doubt of the result.
MINERALOGY.
Mineralogy describes and classifies the material composing our globe. The system generally followed is that used by Jas. D. Dana in his Manual of Miner- alogy. The classification is based on the chemical composition, the proportions of carbon, sulphur, oxygen, siliea, &e., deciding the place of the species in the arrangement. Hence some ores of metals being of one class and some of another are found widely separated. The numbers occuring after each name is the number of Dana's species as given in the Manual.
The minerals of Whiteside County are not many nor of great interest, yet of some species fair and of some fine specimens are easily obtained.
Copper is found in the drift in its metallic state. It occurs in small quan- tities only. The largest fragment we have seen weighs about ten pounds, and is now in the collection of the Academy of Sciences, Ottawa, Illinois.
Lead does not occur in the rocks of this county, but probably may be found in the drift. The ore found at Galena is Galenite-40-sulphurate of lead. It may possibly be found in fissures in the Trenton limestone in the north part of the county.
Sphalerite-56-Sulphide of Zinc, black-jack of miners-is found in small quantities at Dr. Pennington's quarry in Hopkins.
Iron has several important ores-the most valuable being hematite-180- red oxide, red ochre. specular iron, yellow clay iron stone; magnetite-186- octahedrite, octahedral iron ore, magnetie oxide, black oxide; limonite-206- brown oxide, bog ore; siderite-736-carbonate of iron, brown clay iron stone. Hematite-180-oceurs as a rather soft, easily cut, red stone, a half mile east of Rock Falls, where it is quarried for the use of the Sterling Mineral Paint Company. It is also found at Cochran's quarry near Morrison, and in small quantities at many other places, being generally called red elay. Yellow clay iron stone is quite common in most parts of the county. Limonite forms with gravel a ferruginous conglomerate of a deep brown color. We found large pieces of it in gravels in Ustick township, near the residence of J. M. Williamson,
17 water aft 35, 70 and 200 feet.
Potsdam.
30 S5
Fine Limestone
24
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY.
and a considerable deposit of it exists a half mile east of Morrison station as a ferruginous gravel or soft conglomerate.
Calcite-715-carbonate of lime, limestone, has been described and its localities mentioned. By caleite is generally understood crystallized carbonate of lime. It oceurs as dogtooth spar, having the form of pyramids, generally filling cavities or hollows in the rock; as spar having the form of eubes or rhomboids, when transparent and possessing, as it commonly does, the power of making objects seen through it appear double, it is called Iceland spar. Cavities filled with crystals are called geodes. Calcite is generally white or colorless, but is sometimes yellow, red, bluish, brownish, &c., and the crystals often con- tain small particles of other matter. We found some beautiful, but very small crystals at Dr. Pennington's. They are often highly colored. Calcite is found in all the limestones. We have obtained some good but small crystals in New- ton. A beautiful stalagmite is found in some of the ereviees of the Niagara limestone.
Dolomyte-716-is very similar to calcite. It has a pearly lustre, however, and is not readily attacked by sulphurie acid, while calcite is; that is if you drop a little sulphuric acid-oil of vitriol-upon a piece of ealcite, it will soon foam and eat into the stone; poured on dolomyte there is little foaming and the acid produces little effect on the stone.
Pyrite-75-bisulphide of iron, sulphur, fool's gold, might be classed and really is a common ore of iron, but it is never used in the manufacture of iron, being worthless for this purpose. It is very abundant in the coal measures, being found in the form of scales and flakes of a golden yellow color in the coal itself. It is sometimes found in large lenticular masses, very hard, heavy, and when broken, of a yellowish gray. It also occurs in spherical masses from a half-inch to several inches in diameter, appearing to be engraved on the outside with geometrical figures, formed of a combination of triangles, and of a brassy hue. Its crystals are eubes, very perfect, dodecagons, and many other forms, the two named the most common. Some fine small crystals are found at Dr. Pennington's, and on sections 5, 7, and 8, Ustick, and in the limestones of most localities. It often decomposes when exposed to the atmosphere, sulphate of iron, sulphurous acid and a sulphate of iron and alumina-an alum-being the product.
Clay .- Clay is the name given to a tenacious earth but sparingly dissolved by water and almost impervious to it. It is of various colors, and its composi- tion varies greatly. Yet common as clay is, it is a substance of great value. Brick, pottery and stoneware are manufactured from it and are impossible without it. Clay is the oxide of aluminum, a metal in color resembling silver, but bulk for bulk only half as heavy. This oxide is called alumina. Clay however is seldom pure alumina. Iron, lime, and silica or sand. as well as other substances are mixed with it and materially modify its qualities. When pure it is almost impossible to melt it, but when mixed with sand and lime, it becomes more fusible, and we often see the surface of bricks looking as if glazed, the heat of the fire having fused the material of the brick, showing that the clay is not pure. The red color of brick is owing to the presence of iron in the form of red oxide. Mineralogically the clays belong to several species. Of these kaolin is one of the most important. It occurs on an island in Rock River, in Coloma township, belonging to a Mr. MeKenzie. Fire clay is found between the strata of the Unionville sandstone in beds of from two to eight inches thick. It is of good quality but limited in quantity; also at Cochran's quarry. Red, yellow and blue clays are found in almost every township in many places. The
25
GEOLOGY.
red and yellow clays are colored by iron and some of them are real ores of iron. They are true hematites, analagous to red chalk and red ochre.
Other minerals occur in the drift as hornblend, orthoclase, albite, mica, quartz, &c., but they are not found constituting strata or parts of any strata that have not been disturbed, and hence deserve no extended notice here.
The rocks have been described. Limestone of many varieties is found over the county, generally magnesian, or dolomyte. Most of the limestone of the Central Plain is dolomyte containing from one-eighth to one-half carbon- ate of magnesia. Sandstone is found in only a narrow tract of territory.
Granite, syenyte, gneis, doleryte, and hypersthenyte are common in the drift in fragments of greater or less size-varying from small pebbles to huge boulders weighing many tons, the largest about 200 tons.
Economical Geology.
The Niagara limestones of Whiteside County are an unfailing source of wealth. They furnish an inexhaustible supply of excellent building stone, it being generally easily quarried, not difficult to dress, of good color, and durable. The quarries of Ustick, Fulton and Sterling have been extensively worked for block stone, while at Albany, Newton and Morrison, stone for foundations, rough work and lime is procured; and in Prophetstown it is also quarried. Near Spring Hill the rock appears, but is soft, friable and worthless.
The Trenton limestone in Jordan, at Dr. Pennington's, and in Hopkins, is extensively quarried. It makes a beautiful building material, being of pleasing color, easily worked and very durable. The Doctor has several fine buildings of this material, which fully demonstrate its capabilities as a constructive material. There are three shades of it, all seeming to be equally well fitted for architect- ural purposes. Some of the strata furnish a very superior flagging, stone of any dimensions being procurable. We saw some immense slabs ready for mar- ket, free from any trace of erack or flaw, and rivalling the best Berea or Batavia flags. The lowest stratum both at the Jordan and the Hopkins quarries is a very hard semi-crystalline stone, wholly unaffected by dampness or frost.
The Unionville sandstones supply an easily worked and tolerably good material for foundations, and when pains is taken in quarrying, blocks of mod- erate size, 2x5x1} feet may be obtained, as well as good stuff for caps, sills, water-tables, steps and small platforms. It varies much in color, but is gener- ally of agreeable tints and wears well. Burr's quarry furnishes from its lowest beds a hard bluish white stone, from the middle beds a yellowish white, and from the upper beds a reddish gray stone. The stone from this quarry is of very good quality.
Lime is burned at Cochran's quarry and at Mason's quarry north of Mor- rison. The lime manufactured here is of good quality, but the different strata are of different composition and produce limes of different character. That from one stratum seems to be improved by air-slacking. We were shown a wall made of air-slacked lime which is remarkably hard and sound, and another wall made of the same lime, not air-slacked, which is badly cracked, soft, and we should say worthless. One of the beds seems to be a hydraulie lime. but the quantity is too small to render it of value. We were told by a gentleman in the lime trade that this rock would not make lime, but Mr. Cochran assures us that when properly burned it forms a lime of the best quality. Lime is the Oxide of Calcium, a yellow metal, which on exposure to the air soon becomes tarnished and in a short time turns to the white substance which we eall lime. This oxide absorbs carbonic acid gas and then becomes limestone. Heating the limestone drives off the carbonic acid as a gas, and the oxide of calcium re-
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