USA > Indiana > Rush County > Centennial history of Rush County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 2
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WORK OF COUNTLESS CENTURIES
The Niagara limestone is found in thicknesses of forty feet or more, never less, and its major chemical con- tent is carbonate of calcium and magnesium. The occa- sional reddish color which it presents to the eye is due to the oxidization of the iron which is present in small quan- tities. But little of this limestone can be used for the best construction purposes, although it is a hard and dur- able rock which may be used effectively in many ways,
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
such as making stone fences, posts and the like, as well as for the foundation of gravel roads. This Niagara lime- stone was formed in the bottom of the sea, free from sedi- ment countless centuries ago, and through an upheaval in the earth's crust became part of the land. The Wald- ron limestone. or shale, belongs also to the Niagara group but is found to be much less extensive. It seems to differ from all other shales, even those found in other parts of Indiana, and in this county is found to outerop in stream beds in the region of Moscow and Milroy. It makes its appearance in comparatively small areas, breaks down quickly when exposed to the weather, and is of little or no economic value. It is frequently called soapstone, but the name Waldron shale is preferable, because the out- crop in Shelby county contains a great number of excep- tionally fine fossils that have given that locality distinc- tion among geologists.
In general, the sub-surface rock of the western half of the county belongs to the second, or Devonian age. This rock is a buff colored limestone, with a high magne- sium content, and ranges in thickness from two to three feet. It is a coarse rock which can readily be burned to lime, but in its original condition gives the appearance of being composed principally of silicon compounds or sand rock. It is of value as rough building stone, but is used principally for building the foundation of macadamized roads. There are several quarries throughout the county, which make the easy construction of good roads possible.
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE RECOGNIZED
The drift, which belongs to the last geological age, is perhaps of the most economie importance to the people of Rush county, for it is composed of a generous amount of very good gravel, having about the right size, durabil- ity and comenting properties to make good roads. The northern fier of townships, Ripley, Center and Wash- ington, with the exception of the southeast corner, the
19
HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
northeast boundary and a few square miles in the central part, is very well supplied with gravel for road purposes. The principal deposits are located in the flood plains, terraces and bluffs of the larger streams, and in some glacial kames in the northern part of Center township. Particularly are there to be found some good gravel deposits in the bluffs and terraces of Six Mile creek in Sections 10, 11 and 15, and in the bars formed by deposits along the Little Blue river. In Union township, the largest deposits of gravel occur in the flood plains, ter- races and bluffs of Little Blue and Big Flatrock rivers, and in a glacial ridge in the central part of the township. Workable deposits also occur along Mud and Beaver Meadow creeks. In a morainic ridge, which runs a little northeast and southwest from the south central part of Section 14 to the central part of the northwest quarter of Section 26, Posey township, several hundred thousand cubic yards of a good quality of gravel are probably avail- able. Frequent gradations of the gravel into fine sand and hardpan are very noticeable. Several thousand cubic yards of gravel are annually deposited by the floods in the northeast quarter of Section 28. In Walker township there are no deposits of much importance aside from those in some morainic ridges in the east central part of the township. In the southern tier of townships, Rich- land, Anderson and Orange, the main gravel deposits are found in the terraces and flood plains of Big Flatrock river, although there are some smaller deposits along Little Flatrock creek. In the east central part of Sec- tion 25 in Richland, a little gravel may be scraped from the bed of Clifty creek, but it is too thin to warrant the erection of a lifting machine to take it out. This is the only gravel of any practicable importance in the town- ship. The average gravel of the county is composed of about seventy per cent. of limestone, and as the Niagara limestone is good for the building of roads, it will be seen that Rush county has foundation rock and top dressing
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HISTORY OF RUSH. COUNTY
in profusion for the construction of roads. It may be interesting here to note the results of tests of the United States road testing laboratory on a sample of Niagara limestone from Rush county.
Specific gravity 2.60
Weight per cu. ft. (lbs.) . 162.20
Water absorbed per cu. ft. (lbs.) .. 2.32 Per cent. of wear 12.70
French co-efficient of wear 3.10
Hardness 4.00
Toughness 5.00
Cementing value-dry 13.00
wet 24.00
FERTILE SURFACE SOIL
For those regions in the county which have neither limestone nor gravel, the transportation facilities are ex- cellent, and crushed limestone and gravel can be shipped within a few miles of where it will be used.
The fertile surface soil of the county, which responds so favorably to the efforts of the farmer, is formed from the drift deposits which have been acted upon by the de- caying plant and animal life. The major portion of the surface soil in the county is black loam, the central and western parts being quite generally covered with it. This part of the county was formerly wet and swampy. and the profuse vegetation which annually came and went into decay before the arrival of the white settlers who tilled the soil, gave to it the dark color. The lighter col- ored soil in the other parts of the county is not so markedly different from the subsoil, which is a yellow tenacious elay, but having been exposed to the fertilizing agents, rain, air and vegetation, has become extremely fertile. A beneficent influence is exerted by tiling and underdrainage in this locality, because the subsoil is of such tenacious elay that the valuable salts of potash and soda cannot otherwise be liberated.
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
Valuable mineral and metal deposits are not found in this region. The wealth of the community is based rather on the value of the surface soil for crop produc- tion, and so well have four generations of agriculturists applied themselves to their calling, that Rush county need acknowledge the superiority of no other locality in the country in crop and stock raising.
TOPOGRAPHY OF RUSH COUNTY
Taken as a whole the surface of Rush county is a gently undulating plain, broken by the valley of the Big Blue river in the northwestern corner, the rather shallow valley of Big Flatrock traversing the county from the northeastern corner to the southwestern, and a few glacial kames and ridges in the vicinity of Mays, Hamilton Sta- tion, Homer and the southeastern corner. The altitude, which is 1,100 feet in the northeastern part of the county, gradually becomes less in a southwesterly direction until it falls below 900 feet in the southwestern part. The glacial topography yet remains very evident throughout the county, but especially in places where the natural sur- face drainage did not reach large areas, which were swamps a few decades ago. These, today, are occupied by black land that leads all others for raising corn.
Soils. Six types of soil occur in Rush county. Of these, the four of the Miami series are found in the up- land, while the Huntington and Wabash loams are bot- tom-land soils. The following table shows the extent of each of the six types.
Area of Different Soils
Soil
Square Miles Per Cent.
Miami clay loam 279.0
68.6
Miami silt loam 40.0
9.8
Miami black clay loam
40,0
9.8
Miami loam
7.0 1.8
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
Huntington loam
35.0
8.6
Wabash loam 5.0
1.3
Oak Forest silt loam
0.3
. .
Total
406.3
99.9
ALL VARIETIES OF CLAY LOAM
Miami Clay Loam. In Rush county are found all var- iations of the Miami clay loam, from the cold, clammy white beech soil to the loose, warm sugar tree variety. but the intermediate phases are by far the more common. The white beech variety has its principal development in the northwestern half of Ripley township, where it is popularly termed "the beech." Here it occurs as a thin, ashy gray land, with a very little organic matter and is underlaid by a tough drab or brown clay. Often follow- ing the course of the larger streams or occupying por- tions of the glacial ridges is the medium brown sugar tree variety, with a sandy or gravelly clay subsoil. This ground is warm and has a fair amount of organic matter.
It is earlier than the lighter colored and is especially well adapted for seed beds. As a rule the Miami clay loam seems to be more silty, as it appears farther south. It averages from seven to ten inches in depth, the white beech variety being the thinner soil.
This type is used more for general farming purposes than any of the others. It is not as good for corn yields as the darker colored ground, but will excel in quality of grain, and for wheat and oats it is superior in both vield and quality. To obtain the best results from this soil, great care must be exercised, and the better class of farm- ers have learned this. Through tiling, green manur- ing, rotation of crops, careful cultivation and using com- mercial fertilizer, they claim to have doubled their production of corn and to have greatly increased the wheat and oats yields. This class of farmers will average
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
from fifty-five to sixty bushels of corn to the acre, twenty bushels of wheat and forty of oats, while their neighbors, with the same kind of land, average about thirty-five of corn, fourteen of wheat and thirty of oats. Taken as a whole, the Miami clay loam is far from being in a high state of productiveness.
The stock raising industry varies greatly over this type. Where the land is best improved and is most pro- ductive, hogs seems to be the leading market product, while on some of the poorer land a good many sheep are raised. It is quite obvious that the best farmers sell scarcely any grain, but feed it to stock, and thus, through the droppings, get considerable of the plant food back into the ground. The less successful farmers are selling their grain and are sorely neglecting the replenishment of the soil.
The following table shows the results of the mechani- cal analyses of this type.
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF MIAMI CLAY LOAM
>
Locality
Description
Fine Gravel
Coarse Sand
Medium Sand
Fine Sand
Very Fine Sand
Silt
Clay
14 3 miles SW. of Gowdy. . Soil, 0-10 inches
1.1 2.2 4.1
8.7 10.3 57.1 16.2
4 1 mile N. of Arlington. . Soil, 0-11 inches
1.7 1.7 2.2
2.6
3.0 67.7 21.1
15 21% miles NE. of Moscow. Soil, 0-12 inches
.8 1.4 2.9
6.7
7.9 61.4 18.3
78 Subsoil of number 75. Subsoil, 0-36 inches
.6 1.2 2.5
6.3
7.0 64.2 19.0
60
4 miles S. of Glenwood. Soil, 0-10 inches
2.6 .9 1.0
1.9 3.8 76.0 18.3
Miami Black Clay Loam. Probably no square mile in Rush county is without some areas of black clay loam. These may not cover more than a quarter of an acre, yet they occupy the sags, have the black color and contain the proper ingredients to produce some of the banner corn crops of the state. As these dark areas will not aver- age over five acres in extent, and seldom exceed thirty
75 212 miles NW. of Carthage. Soil, 0.8 inches
.3 .9 3.2 11.4 13.4 60.2 11.7
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
acres, more or less wash from the Miami clay loam. with which they are inclosed, finds its way over the surfaces. This is a great help to the Miami black clay loam, furnish- ing it with essential food ingredients, giving it more body and enabling it to produce a better class of grain.
A common section of the Miami black clay loam cov- ered by the Miami clay loam wash shows four to six inches of medium to dark brown clay loam of a loose, warm na- ture at the surface, underlaid by six to ten inches of a black clay loam, running very high in organic matter. Beneath this is a dark brown to black clay or clay loam, grading into a drab clay. which at a depth of two feet is streaked more or less with yellow. At three feet the yel- low clay predominates, and below this is a sandy yellow clay. In other cases, such as in the outwash plain in the vicinity of Raleigh, the surface soil may vary from a clay loam to a loam, and this at one foot is underlaid by a sandy clay that becomes more and more sandy and grav- elly until it grades into a bed of gravel, which is found from four to six feet beneath the surface. A less frequent occurrence is that of a pure Miami black clay loam at the surface, becoming lighter as the depth increases, until at two feet it grades into a bluish drab or a yellow clay. It seems the drab with the bluish tint is found where the subsoil has recently been beneath the ground water level and the yellow color where it has been above for some time, so that the iron has had a chance to oxidize.
EFFECT OF CAREFUL CULTIVATION
More attention has been given to the Miami black clay loam in the way of underdrainage than any other soil. This fact, together with careful cultivation for some years, has put a large acreage of this land into a splendid condition for farming. The water being drained out. the tendency to puddle and stick to the plow is not so prevalent as in the new soil. Taking an average of a number of estimates from leading farmers of the county
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
as to the size of the crops raised on this soil when the ground is well improved and cared for, it was learned that one could expect sixty-five bushels of corn, fifteen of wheat, thirty-five of oats, one and a half to two tons of clover and one and a half of timothy. With exception of the wheat, most of the grain raised on this type never leaves the farms, but is fed mostly to hogs. Where farms are composed entirely of Miami black clay loam from seventy-five to one hundred hogs to each 100 acres are turned off annually.
Some farmers experience much difficulty in growing wheat and clover on account of the soil heaving, which exposes the roots and kills the plants. A good under- drainage will remedy the trouble.
The following table shows the results of the mechan- ical analyses of this type.
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MIAMI BLACK CLAY LOAM
No.
Locality
Description
Fine Gravel
Coarse Sand
Medium Sand
Fine Sand
Very Fine Sand
Silt
Clay
8a 11/2 miles E. of Gowdy ... Soil, 0-12 inches
.9 1.2 2.2
9.9
5.8 65.5 20.0
8b First subsoil to 8a .. Subsoil, 12-24 inches
1.3 1.5 3.0
7.0
8.2 58.6 20.7
8c Second subsoil to 8a .. Subsoil, 24-36 inches
.4 1.4 4.8 16.0 18.8 49.2 10.0
Miami Loam. A large area composed partly of Miami loam and partly of Miami black clay loam is found in the northeastern quarter of the county, with Middle Fork as its eastern boundary, Shankitank as its western, a well marked moraine as its northern, and Big Flatrock, where it runs almost east and west in the northern part of Union township as its southern. Almost the entire area has a natural underdrainage, being underlaid with sand and gravel in from three to seven feet of the surface.
The soil of the Miami loam is a medium to a dark brown loam, averaging from nine to fourteen inches in
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
depth. It contains more organic matter than a sugar tree variety of the Miami clay loam and less than a Miami black clay loam, but this decreases with depth, and the color becomes correspondingly lighter. Its close associa- tion with the Miami black clay loam necessitates consid- erable variation in texture.
The subsoil is most commonly a light brown sandy clay in the upper portion. With increase in depth the ground becomes lighter, grading into a light medium vel- low at about two and one-half feet. At this depth the material is a sandy or gravelly clay, with a dark brown mottling of iron stain or concretions and highly decom- posed limestone pebbles, which appear like little pockets of very fine sand. As one goes farther down in the sec- tion he finds a rapid increase in sand and gravel.
THE GARDEN SPOT OF RUSH COUNTY
Like in Wayne county, this type seems to occur as outwash plains, the source of supply being from the morainie ridges bordering it on the north and west. The surface is very level, but there is a gentle slope upward toward the ridges, especially the one to the north.
This area is spoken of as the garden spot of Rush county. The gravelly subsoil and light character of the Miami loam, together with its high content of organic matter, makes it a very early and productive land. Only portions of it have to be tiled, and then the tile draws the water nicely for fifteen rods, while the Miami clay loam bordering it will not draw for more than six rods. Corn averages on this type fifty bushels to the acre and wheat fifteen.
Where commercial fertilizer, green manure or barn- vard manure is used on the land the results cannot be noted for more than two or three years. The effect of these on the adjacent Miami clay loam is very evident for ten years or more. Notwithstanding this difference, the
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
farmers of the Miami loam say that it pays them to re- plenish their soil.
A few very small areas of Miami loam are found cov- ering glacial kames in the vicinity of Homer and Hamil- ton Station.
The following table gives the results of the mechani- cal analyses of this type.
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MIAMI LOAM
No. Locality Description
Fine Gravel
Coarse Sand
Medium Sand
Very Fine Sand
Silt Fine Sand Clay
11 5 miles SE. of Rushville. . . Soil, 0-13 inches 2.5 2.9 4.0 8.2 9.7 59.7 13.7
Miami Silt Loam. This type which occurs in the southeastern corner of the county, is similar in texture, color and general characteristics to that found in north- ern Union county. The boundary between this type and the Miami clay loam is only an approximate one, based on the mechanical analysis and the silty nature, as noted in the field. The crops and selling price of this land are about the same as for the Miami clay loam of Rush county.
The following table shows the results of the mechani- cal analyses of this type.
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MIAMI SILT LOAM
No. Locality Description
Fine Gravel
Coarse Sand Medium Sand
Fine Sand
Very Fine Sand Clay Silt
18 3 miles SE. of Richland .. .. Soil, 0-9 inches 1.2 1.4 1.9 5.0 5.7 71.0 13.6 20 21% miles S. of Richland. . Soil, 0-10 inches 1.0 1.6 2.8 5.2 6.2 72.1 10.8
Oak Forest Silt Loam. The small area of the Oak Forest silt loam in the southeastern corner of the county is an extension of the same type in Franklin county.
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
Huntington Loam. The principal areas of this type are seen in the terraces and flood plains of Big Flatrock, Little Flatrock and Big Blue rivers. For texture and crops the similarity between these and the Huntington loam is close. A slight difference occurs in that the Wabash loam patches appear very frequently, which necessitates the area of the Huntington loam to average somewhat darker in color and a little higher in organic matter than the ordinary run. The common occurrence is that of a medium to dark brown loam. underlaid by a fine sandy loam, which grades into a sandy loam and this in turn to a fine sand.
The crops of the Huntington Joam approach those of the Miami loam and the Miami black clay loam, forty- five to fifty bushels being common for corn and thirteen or fourteen for wheat.
The following table gives the results of the mechan- ical analyses of this type.
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE HUNTINGTON LOAM
Locality
No.
114mile S. of Moscow
Description
Fine Gravel
Coarse Sand
Medium Sand
Fino Sand Very Fine Sand
Silt Clay
in the terrace of
Big Flatrock River ... . Soil, 0-15 inches 2.5 4.0 6.3 8.7 10.5 54.2 14.0
Wabash Loam. The bottoms in which appears the Wabash loam contain a predominance of the black loam, but also have areas of silt loam and clay loam. The Hunt- ington loam ocenis frequently, too, but comprises only a minor portion of the land.
CHAPTER II
INDIAN TRIBES AND INDIAN OCCUPANCY
Prior to the advent of the white settler to this region, the territory of which Rush county is now a part was the home of the Delaware Indians. Living in the main at peace with each other, the various tribes were contented enough in their aboriginal state, but when the flood of Europeans began to encroach on the preserves of the red men, they banded together in powerful alliances to fight the common enemy, the white man. However, there were at times serious dissensions in the ranks of the Indians, and early in the eighteenth century the Six Nations, a strong confederacy of Eastern tribes, had warred against the Delawares, who were considered by many to be the most advanced of any of the tribes in their civilization. The Delawares were defeated, and when the Six Nations sold the lands of the tribe to white settlers, the Delawares were compelled to move west of the Alleghany moun- tains. Falling back gradually before the white immigra- tion, they finally came to occupy the western part of Ohio and the eastern portion of Indiana. having taken a par- ticular fancy to the fertile valley of the Whitewater. Although called Delawares by the whites, who had so named the tribe because of its original home along the Delaware river, named after Lord de la Ware, the In- dian name of this tribe was Lenni-Lenappes. Their prin- cipal village in this vicinity was near what later became known as "Arnold's Home," the farm homestead of Dr. John Arnold, on the banks of Ben Davis creek in Union township. But again the tribe had to move farther to the west when, by the terms of a treaty signed at St. Marys, Ohio, January 15, 1819, they agreed to take up their home west of the Mississippi river.
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
TREATY OF ST. MARYS
Following are the articles of the treaty with the Del- awares at St. Marys in the state of Ohio, between Jona- than Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, com- missioners of the United States, and the Delaware Indians.
Art. 1. The Delaware Nation of Indians cede to the United States all their claims to land in the state of Indiana.
Art. 2. In consideration of the aforesaid cession, the United States agree to provide for the Delawares a country to reside in upon the west side of the Mississippi, and to guarantee to them the peaceable possession of the same.
Art. 3. The United States also agree to pay to the Delawares the full value of their improvements in the country hereby ceded, which valuation shall be made by persons to be appointed for that purpose by the Presi- dent of the United States, and to furnish the Delawares with 120 horses not to exceed in value $40 each, and a sufficient of pirogues to aid in transporting them to the west side of the Mississippi, and a quantity of provisions proportioned to their numbers and the extent of their journey.
Art. 4. The Delawares shall be allowed the use and occupation of their improvements for the term of three years from the date of this treaty if they so long require it.
Art. 5. The United States agree to pay to the Dela- wares a perpetual annuity of $4,000, which, together with all annuities which the United States by former treaty agreed to pay them, shall be paid in silver at any place to which the Delawares may remove.
Art. 6. The United States agree to provide and sup- port a blacksmith for the Delawares, after their removal to the west side of the Mississippi.
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HISTORY OF RUSH COUNTY
Art. 8. A sum not exceeding $13,312.25, shall be paid by the United States, to satisfy certain claims against the Delaware Nation. * * *
Art. 9. This treaty after it shall be ratified by the President and Senate, shall be binding on the contracting parties.
As a result of this treaty a vast tract of virgin lands were made available to settlement by the whites, the Indiana territory was freed of the shiftless, though pic- turesque, bands of Indians, and another step in the for. mation of the great commonwealth of Indiana was consummated.
INVALUABLE GLIMPSES OF INDIAN LIFE
Dr. John Arnold, in his "Reminiscences of an Old Settler," which were published in the Rushville Repub- lican, has left us an invaluable glimpse of Indian life in its phases directly applying to Rush county. Ben Davis, the fierce old Indian chief, lived with his followers with- in what are the present confines of the county, and it is fortunate so intimate a review of his violent life and violent death has been preserved.
"At the time they came to this country, Ben Davis, with a considerable band of followers, located himself on the pleasant banks of the creek which now bears his name, but which the Indians, in tender remembrance of their former home, always called the Mahoning. And I must here say that I think it a pity that the euphonious Mahon- ing has been thrown away, and the harsh and unpoetic 'Ben Davis' used instead. Here, within 200 yards of where I write, stood their wigwams, and here were en- acted the various phases of savage life. Here, the braves, to barbaric music, performed their war-dance, chanting their deeds of daring on the battlefield; or, smoking their pipes, recounted their successful hunts of the swift- footed deer, the sturdy bear or the fierce panther. Here the patient squaw nursed her papoose and dreamed
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