USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 27
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Natural Gas .*- The gas of the Indiana part of the field known as the Lima-Indiana has been failing for the last few years until it has gotten so weak in places that it is being replaced by gas piped into the State by the Logan Natural Gas and Fuel Company, of West Virginia. The gas is pumped into the State and reaches it with a pressure of about 125 pounds, but is reduced to a few ounces before being turned into the city lines. The following towns are using West Vir- ginia gas: Muncie, Anderson, Elwood, Alexan- dria, Fairmount, Hartford City, Marion, New Castle, Richmond, Noblesville, Tipton, Lynn and Middletown. The gas is now used mostly for domestic purposes, very little being used for manufacturing, and is sold to the consumer at from thirty cents to forty cents per thousand.
While much gas is being piped into Indiana,
there still remain 2,295 gas wells that are produc- ing some gas and are supplying a great many of the smaller towns and the farmers on whose farms they are located. In Tipton and Howard coun- ties the Indiana Natural Gas and Oil Company has a great many wells, the gas from which is being piped to Chicago. There were sixty-four new wells drilled in the year of 1914, and 147 old wells abandoned.
The Sullivan county oil field produces enough gas, in addition to that used in the field for power, to supply about eighty consumers in Sul- livan.
The Oakland City oil field produces enough gas to supply Oakland City and Winslow with gas.
The remaining gas wells in Indiana have an average pressure of 74.4 pounds, and the av- erage price per thousand, and for which it is sold, is $0.327. The remaining gas wells and mains, not including the plants supplied with West Virginia gas, represent an original invest- ment of about $20,000,000, but in their present condition would be worth about $1,000,000.
PETROLEUM
First Oil Wells; Development of the Field. -While the petroleum industry in the United States dates back to 1859 it was not begun in In- diana until 1889, when a well was sunk on the farm of D. A. Bryson, near the village of Key- stone in Wells county. This was done by a cor- poration styling itself the "Northern Indiana Oil Company" and it was the beginning of an indus- try that became one of the great ones of the State. Two years later the above-named com- pany had fifteen wells and these were multiplied by other fortune seekers, who rapidly explored and developed the paying oil area. This area, which lay northeast of the State's center and south of the Wabash was developed to 400 square miles by 1896. By 1900 it had grown to 900 square miles, and to 1,350 by 1903. The Lima-Indiana oil field for the year of 1914, pro- duced 508,987 barrels of oil from 3,796 wells : the Princeton and Oakland City field produced 151,441 barrels from 285 wells, and the Sullivan county field produced 859,500 barrels from 415 wells, making a total production for the State of 1,519,928 barrels from 4,496 wells, showing an
* Thirty-ninth Annual Report Dept. of Geol.
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increase over the production of 1913 of 549,848 barrels.
The price of oil for the last year has been such that it has not offered a very great induce- ment to oil operators to try to open any new fields, or to properly develop the old ones.
There are a great many counties in Indiana which oil men think are underlaid with oil, but they are waiting for the price to advance a little so that the chances for gain will be greater. Among other places looked upon with favor is the territory around Birdseye, Jasper county ; Gentryville. Spencer county; Foltz. Jefferson county, and Wilkinson, Hancock county. Near Birdseye and Gentryville there were a few wells frilled a few years ago, in which there was a good showing of oil. but for the want of capital it that time there was no more drilling done. In Hancock county, the oil for several years has been showing up in the old gas wells, and there have been several thousand acres leased recently with the expectation of drilling deeper for oil.
In Jefferson county there was a strong gas well drilled, considering its depth, near Foltz. The rock producing the gas is thought to be the Niagara limestone, which in itself may not be of much importance but may be an indication of something deeper at that point.
There were a few fair oil wells drilled in Shelby county, on the west edge of the old gas field in that county.
Illinois geologists claim to have traced an anti- cline southeast through eastern Illinois to the In- diana line, and Kentucky geologists claim to have traced one northwest through Kentucky to the southern Indiana line, and that being the case it is very evident that it will cross the southwest- ern corner of Indiana, covering some points al- ready mentioned as being productive of oil.
In the territory mentioned, near Bruceville, in Knox county, there have been some light gas wells producing for several years. The Prince- ton field in Gibson county has been a very pro- ductive oil field : the Oakland City and Peters- burg fields in Pike county have been producing oil for several years, and in Spencer county, near Gentryville, several years ago, one oil and one gas well were drilled which showed a fair flow of oil and a good volume of gas, but were not developed further for the want of capital at that time. While Warrick county is in line of the
same anticline, no drilling has ever been done The above counties will doubtless be developed as soon as the price of oil is sufficient to offer the proper inducement to operators.
QUARRY STONE
Quarrying Area .- By far the greater part of Indiana is covered by a sheet of glacial drift brought from the north and spread over the bed- rocks at varying depths. In the counties south of the glacial boundary and along the Wabash and some other streams, where erosion has cut through the drift, the bedrock out-cropping or approaching the surface is available for quarry- ing. The State has no granite, except in the form of boulders that have been transported in the glacial drift, but among the various lime- stones and sandstones certain kinds have an eco- nomic value for building, flagging, lime, whet- stones, grindstones and other uses.
Building Stone; the Oolitic Limestone .- It has been said that no State in the Union pos- sesses better stone for building purposes than Indiana, and the quarry product of particular excellence for such purpose is the Oolitic lime- stone from Lawrence, Monroe and adjacent counties. It is often called "Bedford" stone, from the extensive quarries near that city. This, again, is said to have "a wider sale and more extended use than any other building stone in North America, its wide reputation being due to its general usefulness in masonry, ornamenta- tion and monuments, its abundance, the ease with which it can be quarried and dressed, its pleasing color and its durability."*
The Oolitic stone in Indiana extends from Montgomery county to the Ohio river, though north of White river it largely loses its value as a building stone. In the geological report of 1874 is mention of a quarry in the southwestern part of Jackson county, and again, in 1878, we find a description of "the well-known Stockslager Oolitic quarry" of Harrison county. As an indus- try of real commercial value, which gives the stone rank as one of the important resources of the State, it is, however, chiefly identified with Lawrence, Monroe and Owen counties. This area
* "The Indiana Oolitie Limestone Industry," by Raymond S. Blateliley and others; Geol. Rept. 1907. See also long treatise on the Bedford Oolitic Limestone of Indiana, by T. C. Hopkins and C. E. Siebenthal, Geol. Rept. 1896.
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has been worked for many years and since the quarried for building purposes, but the sandstone close of the civil war vast quantities of stone have field, about 175 miles in length, considered as a commercial resource, is but imperfectly devel- oped. been taken out. At Bedford. Lawrence county, are the largest quarries in the State and among the largest in the United States. At the northern limit of the worked field is Romona, in Owen county, and between it and Bedford are at least a dozen districts, each with its group of quarries.
The output of building stone for 1912, accord- ing to the U. S. Geological Survey of Mineral Resources, was 10,442,304 cubic feet. There was a waste of fifty per cent., of which 18,000 cubic feet were turned out as crushed limestone and 8,500 cubic feet was made into lime.
Quality of Oolitic Limestone .- The Oolitic stone has various merits that give it highest rank as a quarry product. Being comparatively soft when taken out of the beds it is easily sawed and dressed. It is especially adapted for ornamental work and is used extensively for monuments, rustic gateways, lawn settees and other objects calling for the exercise of the stone carver's art, its value for these purposes being enhanced by the resistance of the stone to weather.
It is especially famous, however, as a building stone by reason of its workableness, appearance, weather resistance and crushing strength, its re- sistance to pressure equaling 4,500 to 7,000 pounds per square inch, as tested in experiments (Blatchley). For architectural uses it is in de- mnand all over the country, notably in the con- struction of Government, State and county build- ings, libraries, churches, etc.
Other Quarry Stone .- Beside the Oolitic output other stone is quarried extensively. A hard limestone known as the "Niagara," which is worked in Decatur county, is used more or less for building and bridge purposes. This same stone, where thinly bedded, is especially adapted for flagging and curbs and is quarried for that purpose in several localities, notably near Laurel, in Franklin county. Sandstone of excellent quality for building purposes exists in a number of the western and southwestern coun- ties from Warren to the Ohio river .*
What is known as the "Mansfield" sandstone is a fine dark-brown stone adapted for house fronts and for cornices and lintels for brick buildings. Gray and buff sandstones are also
Lime Industry .- A very important product from certain limestones of the State is the lime of commerce, the chief use of which is for mortar and plaster for building. It is also used in the tanning, glass-making, paper-making and cement industries, and for various other purposes.
Good stone for lime-making is quarried and so utilized in various parts of the State from Clark and Crawford counties on the Ohio to Huntington on the upper Wabash.
THE CLAYS OF INDIANA
A natural resource closely allied to the rocks is clay in its various forms, and few, if any, out- rank this one in usefulness. To quote Geologist Blatchley: "No mineral resource of the earth has been longer used or has been made into such various products for the benefit of the human race," and it has figured in the manufactures of the world from the rude utensils of prehistoric races to the multiplied uses of the present day. A list of these uses would include domestic wares, architectural material, draining tile, sewer tile, flue linings, fire brick, ornamental tile and pot- tery, and other articles too numerous to mention.
The clays used in the industries vary in value according to purity, fineness, plasticity and other qualities, and those in Indiana are adapted to al variety of manufactures, from common brick and draining tile to pottery and ornamental terra- cotta.
The common yellow clay, used for the cheaper building bricks and draining tiles, is found and utilized all over the State, but the finer kinds are in the western counties and run the length of the State. The geological report of 1906 (the last one to consider this subject) states that "the clays of Indiana rank in value next to coal and petroleum among the natural resources of the State," but adds that "even yet but few of the main deposits are being worked, and there is room for five times as many factories as are now in operation. According to the census report of 1910, there were then thirty-one Indiana estab- lishments engaged in the manufacture of pot-
. For treatise and map see Geol. Rept. 1896.
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ery, terra-cotta and fire-clay products, and these gave employment to 2,373 persons. The value of the products amounted to $2,965,768."
GLASS-SAND
Sand for the manufacture of glass is a natural 'esource of considerable importance in Indiana, is there were, in 1910, forty-four glass factories n the State representing an investment of more han thirteen million dollars and an output in one year valued at $11,593,094. In glass-making sand of a certain quality is used in large quan- ities, and as transportation is an expensive item he proximity of the material to the factories is R factor in locating the industry. This sand may De loose or in the form of sandstone, in which atter case it is crushed and prepared for use. Our best loose sand is on the shore of Lake Michigan, it Michigan City, in a huge dune, or sand hill, which is practically unlimited in quantity. The best in the rock form is in the formation known ts Mansfield sandstone, which extends down the west side of the State, and is available inexhaust- bly from Fountain county to the Ohio river. There are several plants established for crushing, screening and otherwise converting this rock into he sand of commerce, but we find no statistics of the industry .*
CEMENT
Cement Material; "Natural" Cement .- In 906 State Geologist Blatchley said: "No min- ral industry in the United States has grown nore rapidly during the last fifteen years than hat of the manufacture of Portland cement." indiana has shared in that industry, her output apidly increasing in recent years until in 1910 t was valued at $7,022,000 (U. S. Census), while the material for the manufacture of cement exists in the State in practically unlimited quan- ity.
The constituents of cement are carbonate of ime and clay-about 78 per cent. of the former nd 22 per cent. of the latter being the propor- ions when artificially mixed in the product known as "Portland" cement. In some rocks oth these elements exist and in such proportion
that a very fair cement may be made by the sim- ple process of burning in a kiln and grinding to a dust. Great beds of such rock are to be found in Clark, Floyd and other counties along the Ohio river, and the "natural rock" or "hydraulic" cement, as it is called, has been manufactured in Clark county for many years. The product known to the trade as the "Louisville" cement was put out in the year 1890 to the extent of more than a million and a half barrels, and by 1899 this had increased to nearly three million barrels. With the development of the "Port- land" industry, however, the demand for the natural rock production fell off and it now has, at best, a very minor place on the market.
Portland Cement .- In the Portland cement as distinguished from the natural rock the clay and the lime element are mixed artificially, thus securing a more perfect proportion with a su- perior cement as a result. The process was in- troduced by one Joseph Aspdin, Leeds, England, in 1824, and he bestowed the name "Portland" because of the resemblance of the cement to the Portland oolitic building stone. It was first made in Indiana at South Bend, in 1877-8, and this is said to have been the first successful manu- facture of artificial cement in the United States (Geol. Rept. 1900, p. 24).
The lime for Portland cement may be had from two sources-limestone and marl, in both of which Indiana is rich. The abundance of limestone has been already touched upon in the sections on "Quarry Stone." The marl deposits are found in the lake region of the State in the beds of existing or extinct lakes, the supply being practically inexhaustible. An extensive survey of the lakes and study of their marls, made in 1899 and 1900, revealed not less than thirty-two deposits extensive enough to justify the erection of cement plants, and these would probably be multiplied with the improvement of facilities for getting at the deeper beds. The lime in marl, ac- cording to one theory, has been a long, slow de- posit from the waters of springs that well up in the lakes .*
One advantage of marl over limestone in the manufacturing process is that the labor of crush- ing is obviated. On the other hand there is a
* For chapter on the "Glass Sands of Indiana," by State Geologist Barrett, see report of 1913.
* For a long treatise on "The Lakes of Northern Indiana and Their Associated Marl Deposits," by W. S. Blatchley and Geo. H. Ashley, see Geol. Rept. 1900.
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vast amount of wastage in the quarrying and dressing of limestones for building purposes, and this wastage makes a cheap and convenient by- product for cement manufacture. In a list of eight factories that were operating in 1986, three used marl and five used various kinds of lime- stone. The largest factory, located at Mitchell, Lawrence county, with a capacity of 5,000 bar- rels per day, used "Mitchell" limestone with knobstone shale as clay. The largest marl fac- tory, e qual to 1,800 barrels per day, was at Syra- cure, Kosciusko county.
Uses of Cement .- The uses to which Port- land cement is put, continually multiplying, are almost beyond enumeration. One of the con- spicuous uses is for concrete sidewalks, the mileage of which is becoming immense. Con- crete highways for country travel are likewise coming into service. For building purposes it is becoming a formidable rival of wood, stone and brick. For massive work, such as bridges, abut- ments, piers, etc., it is, to no small degree, super- seding stone, and it is taking the place of wood in scores, if not hundreds, of articles. The limit is by no means yet reached and, in brief, the cement resources of the State are destined to be productive of great wealth, as there is op- portunity for a vast expansion of the industry as the demand for this useful article increases.
OTHER MINERAL RESOURCES
Iron .- Indiana does not rank high as an iron producing State, though that is not because she is lacking in this resource. On the contrary, the Department of Geology and Natural Re- sources lists no less than thirty-two counties as having iron ore in sufficient quantity to be of economic importance .* Eighteen of these are in the region of the lakes and the Kankakee river, where bog iron is found, and the others lie west and southwest, with Martin and Greene counties leading. In former years the iron industry for home needs was rather extensively developed. butt in time other localities with better facilities and. perhaps, better grades of ore closed the business in Indiana.
The first plant for smelting and working iron in this State was built by A. M. Hurd in St.
Joseph county, where Mishawaka now stands, in 1834. Here a variety of articles for pioneer use were manufactured and the establishment had a wide patronage and a prosperous career. Other plants in other localities followed. Four- teen blast furnaces are mentioned by Geologist Blatchley, of which he says: "Most of them have long since gone to ruin, and of those still standing the last one went out of blast in 1893."; The cause he assigns is that the ore in general "is too silicious to compete with the richer hema- tites of the Lake Superior, Missouri, Tennessee and Georgia regions." Nevertheless it is main- tained that there is a promising future for the abandoned Indiana ores, interest in which must be revived by the establishment at Gary of a system of blast furnaces and iron mills that rank among the greatest in the United States.
Peat .- While peat has thus far played but little part in the economic development of this State, it has no small value as a fuel and will undoubtedly be utilized in time. It "has long been used in Europe and is now used in many places in the United States.
Peat is a product of vegetation growing in water, and is defined as "a moist, spongy and par- tially carbonized vegetable matter." When dug out and dried it is inflammable, burning easily as a fuel, and, when used in a specially con- structed stove, is very desirable for domestic purposes. A peat factory molds the material into compact "briquettes." It has less heating value than coal, but in many regions where peat exists lack of transportation facilities makes coal ex- pensive, and with the depletion of the wood sup- ply there is every reason why peat should take its place, as it has done in other countries.
The lake region of northern Indiana is rich in peat beds and a study of the peat area takes in about 7,500 square miles. It has been esti- mated that peat "briquettes" can be manufac- tured at a cost of about eighty-six cents per ton .*
Mineral Paint Rocks and Clays .- These are certain shales and clays used for making the "mineral paints," such as umber, sienna, ochre, etc. Abundant deposits exist in the State and have been worked somewhat in Vigo, Owen, Greene, Martin and Dubois counties, and per-
" Ser "The Bon On Deposits of Indiana," by Chas. W. Shannon Good Rept. 1906
* See "Peat Deposits of Northern Indiana," by Arthur E. Taylor. Geol. Rept. 1906.
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laps elsewhere, but the industry seems thus far o have developed but feebly.
Medicinal Waters .- The medicinal waters of Indiana are a more important asset than is gen- rally supposed. A study of this resource by the Department of Geology, published in 1901, dis- losed that there were eighty springs and eighty- ix wells yielding medicinal waters, distributed hroughout fifty-two counties of the State. A ew of these are much better known than others, hot because of the superiority of their waters, but because they have been made resorts and lave been widely advertised. Medicinal water has been discovered in many localities by deep borings for natural gas or oil, and for that reason he number of wells now exceed the known prings.
The waters vary in their chemical constituents, ut are classified under the four heads of Alka- ine, Saline, Chalybeate and Neutral or Indiffer- ent. Of these, chalybeate springs, or iron springs, tre the most common and the saline waters are nost used for medicinal purposes. Dyspepsia, gout, rheumatism, obesity, skin diseases, and tomach, kidney and bowel troubles are among he ailments that are supposed to be helped by hese waters. There is a large trade in bottled vaters shipped for home consumption, but the curative fame of mineral waters has been built ip by sanatoriums and resorts at the springs or vells where the patients combine plentiful con- umption with a system of bathing.
A number of these sanatoriums exist in differ- ent parts of the State.
Precious Metals and Stones .- Gold and dia- monds in Indiana can hardly be considered as a natural resource," but it is interesting to know hat both are found here, and, the gold especially, over a much wider area than is generally sup- bosed. In fact, more than once, the Hoosiers have experienced a gold excitement, and to the present day local gold hunters have the abiding ever and expect some time to discover rich strikes.
To one who puts faith in the science of geol- ogy, however, such hope is dispelled. No rocks n Indiana are either gold- or gem-bearing and our limited supply has come with the glacial Irift from the far north. The rocks containing them. deposited here and there, have in the
The Fresh Water Spring, French Lick Hotel, Orange County.
The Proserpine Springs, French Lick Hotel, Orange County.
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course of long weathering, set free their precious but scant burdens. These deposits have been re- ported from Brown, Cass, Dearborn, Franklin, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Montgom- ery, Morgan, Ohio, Putnam, Vanderburg and Warren counties, and in at least two of these- Brown and Morgan-it has been sought with zeal. Only a few years since a company was organized for sluicing in Morgan county, and the promoters carried about with them specimens of their finds ; but, like preceding companies, this one went glimmering. As early as 1850, gold was "discovered" in the State, and in the sixties there was quite a little flurry over finds in Brown county,* and ever since then, perhaps, men have
· The late John Richards, a pioneer of Brown county who inved on Bear creek, some years ago told the writer of leasing part of the creek bed to a syndicate from Indianapolis, who pro- ceeded to put up "the biggest and best flume ever built in Brown
made their living washing out dust from the sand in the creek beds. One old gold washer, "Uncle" John Merriman, claimed that he could average $1.25 per day during the panning season. The largest nugget he ever found weighed 132 grains, and was worth $5.50. As he was old at the business and correspondingly adept his findings may be accepted as about the maximum return for gold-hunting in this State.
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