USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections > Part 3
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If Terre Haute had been here in 1811, Fulton's boat could and probably would have ascended the Wabash and amazed the people greatly. But there was nothing here except Fort Harrison and the little garrison it contained. All transportation, however, to this part of the world was by way of the Wabash, in canoes, pirogues, keelboats, flatboats and rafts. The latter were used until recent times to float out the Wabash and down to New Orleans, carrying great cargoes sometimes, and there the raft would be broken up and the logs sold to be made into lumber. The keelboat looked something like a " caboose" to a railroad train. These floated down stream carrying all that could be put on them, and then, lightly loaded, they had to be pulled up stream by long ropes and men on the shore. A great deal of commerce of the west was thus carried on in the early days. To the youths of this age, with the fast freight trains, it looks almost incredible to be told that the keel- boat was the best our pioneer forefathers had at command. A trip from here to New Orleans and back in those times was commenced early in the spring and ended late in the fall; six or eight miles a day was fair progress in the upstream trip. The men toiled and tugged against the current from sunrise to sunset, and in the south were often so beset with insects as to make life a burden.
30
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
The first steamboat that ascended the Wabash and passed through Vigo county was the "Florence " in the spring of 1822. What a great day was her arrival at Terre Haute. The people turned out with intensest curiosity and welcomed it with great joy. They were not certain it was a thing of any practical value, but at all events it was a great curiosity. The young and hopeful be- lieved it was all or more than claimed for it by its builders, but some of the old sober-heads entertained the gravest doubts, and con- tinued to put their faith in the canoe or raft as the reliable trans- port. The "Florence " returned after her visit, and there was no other steamboat arrival for a year. The next spring, 1825, the " Plow Boy " (her owners were no doubt admirers of Henry Clay) came up the Wabash, bringing a large cargo of merchandise and discharging it near the foot of Main street. This practically ended all head-shaking of the doubters, as from this time on people learned to depend for all needed supplies on the expected coming boat that began to arrive regularly.
Other Streams .- As remarked, the Wabash is the only navigable stream that touches Vigo county. The water sheds of the northern part of the county lie east and west of the Wabash and flow into it. In the southern part of the county the waters all flow toward the west and a divide running east and west along the north line of Township 10, where the streams on one side start north and on the other toward the south. Commencing at the north line of the county, the streams from the east side into the river are: Spring creek, which rises in Parke county and enters in two branches in Sections 5 and 6, Range 8. These join in Section 6 and flow south- erly to near the center of Section 7 and then turns west and north- erly, passing diagonally through Sections 12, 1 and 2, Range 9 into the river. Going south the next is Otter Creek. This comes in several branches that join in Section 36, Township 13, Range 9. The principal northern branch rises in Section 12, Township 13, Range 8 and flows southwesterly and the other principal branch rises on the east line of the county in Sections 29, 13, 7 and flows nearly west. These main branches are fed by many small arms ex- tending in every direction. Where all become one large stream the flow is westerly into Sections 35, 13, 8, and thence northwest to the river in Sections 22, 13, 9. The next stream, Lost creek, empties into the Wabash about four miles south of the mouth of Otter creek. The principal heads of this stream are in Sections 10, 7 24 and 22 in Township 12, Range 8. These flow westerly in Sec- tion 13, Township 12, Range 9, and then the main stream goes through Sections 14, 11, 10 and 3 to the river. Running due east of Terre Haute is a divide, where the waters flow north and on the other side start south. It was along this ridge or divide that the
31
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
National Road was constructed. Still going south on the east side, the next and one of the important drainage streams of the county is Honey creek. The principal head of this is nearly east of Terre Haute and the east line of the county, and it flows west and south- erly entirely through the county. Many branches from the northeast and the southeast join in Section 14, Township 11, Range 9, thence westerly the main stream passes to Section 24, Township 11, Range 9, and then nearly parallel with the river and empties into the Wabash at Section 23, Township 11. The next stream, Prairie creek, does not empty into the Wabash in Vigo county. It comes from the northeast, with several branches through the west half of the county and on a parallel with Honey Creek and where all join and form one stream about seven miles south of that creek and flow- ing in nearly a parallel course, passes out of the county on the south line in Section 31, two miles east of the Wabash. In the south and east part of the county are several drains that pass south into Sul- livan county. These constitute the county's drainage streams east of the river.
On the west side, commencing at the north line of the county, is a small drain entering the county about two miles west of the river, and from Section 4 passes into Section 3, where it strikes the river. Below this is Salt creek, which rises in Section 12, Township 13, Range 10, and runs east into a small lake, and thence by a bayou to the river in Section 10, Township 13, Range 9. This stream is about five miles long. The next in order is Coal creek and its north and south heads. The main head is in Illinois and enters the State of Indiana in Section 9, Township 13, Range 10, flowing southerly, and reaches the river in Section 8, Township 13, Range 9. There is East Little Sugar creek and also West Little Sugar creek. These join in Section 25, Township 12, Range 10, and form Sugar creek, which flows southeast into the river, south of Terre Haute, in Section 31. East Little Sugar creek rises in Sec- tion 26, Township 13, Range 10, and flows nearly south to its junc- tion with West Little Sugar creek. The latter rises just across the line in Illinois and enters the county in Section 16, Township 12, Range 10, and flows southeastly to the junction. Clear creek rises just across the State line and enters the county in Section 28, Township 12, Range 10, and flows southerly into the river in Section 11, Town- ship 11, Range 13.
These are the county's drainage, and altogether give it a com- plete and valuable system. They are a part of the great work of nature, preparing the home for civilized man. The sleepless en- ergies of nature cut these natural canals and waterways through every obstruction, even the granite walls that may be in the way. How little of these important preparations for the coming of the race could have been effected by the combined efforts of man!
32
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
The Wabash river was the highway for man in his coming here. It bore his commerce and gave him easy communication with the outer world and his fellow man-the artery of civilization. The larger creeks too had their value in the pioneer times in addition to the drainage they gave. They furnished the water power for the first mills and the beginnings of factories. They invited the white man's intelligence to appropriate and use their powers. To apply the water wheels to make bread and lumber instead of the unaided muscle at the mortar and pounding pestle and the primitive whip- saw to cut the great forest trees into lumber to build their homes. The water-mill, grist or saw, was the first imperative advance of our civilization. This was simply utilizing the powers furnished by nature. The important man to these early pioneers was he who came looking along the streams for an eligible mill-site, where, imi- tating the beaver, he could best build a dam and divert the flowing water to his water-wheel, that was the power to grind the corn and wheat and with the primitive upright saw cut the lumber.
These things, though mostly relegated to " innocuous desuetude" now, were of the greatest importance at one time. Man's advancing art has superseded these natural aids to the early people, yet of such overshadowing impotance were they once that they decided the question of the white man permanently occupying the country. They were the prime foundations to the great civilization in which we have been permitted to live. Do they not deserve a place in his- tory, even a niche in the memory of those born to all these better things and happier times ?
The apparently appropriate place to tell of the canal that passed through the county would be here, but that was the work entirely of men, and is no part of the geological story of Vigo county, and therefore will be fully treated in its proper time in the account of the progress of the people.
One of the most noticeable changes in the topography of the country is in the drainage. The streams have cut narrower and deeper beds, and the disappearance of the forests, the wild prairie grasses, and these natural obstructions to the waters, have been fol- lowed by such general, artificial, open and underground sewer drains that the waters as they fall are carried off much more rap- idly now than formerly. The result is an apparent lessening of the streams in dry seasons, accompanied by ever increasing higher waters in the large rivers of the west. In the Ohio river the past twenty years have been regularly divided into periods, when the February or March rise in the river has exceeded anything be- fore known in its history, and at this hour ( March 16, 1890) the Lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers are again marking a higher reach than ever before known, and are overflowing the artificial
33
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
embankments all the way down to the city of New Orleans. The swift current, swelling higher and higher, mocks at man's efforts, tearing down his barriers and carrying wild destruction to the country below Cairo. If there is truth in the theory that increased rainfall follows the settlements of civilization, then the streams really carry off more water during the year than they did when the country was first known, but carrying them so much faster that now runs off in a few days what before would be distributed over many months. Yet the first and even the second bottom lands to the bluffs or high land running parallel with the rivers unmistakably mark what was once the river's bank at ordinary stages of water. In that age the Mississippi river was from ten to fifteen miles from bank to bank. The Wabash river there was from six to eight miles wide. Both rivers and land and water animals of that age were on a gigantic basis. All, it is supposed, were immense and sluggish of movement.
The Coal Measures .- The rocks of the coal measures are found in the counties of Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick and Spencer, the western parts of Perry and Crawford, in Gibson, Pike, Dubois, Martin, Sullivan, Greene and Clay, the western parts of Owen, and in Vigo, Parke, Vermillion, Fountain and Warren.
The lower silurian being the oldest rocks brought to the sur- face, underlie all the more recent rocks which in succession have been deposited during the different ages of the earth's existence. A shaft or bore put down in the western part of Gibson would pierce in succession all the geological formations of the State and show the approximate depth to be as follows:
GENERAL SECTION.
Feet.
Coal measures
725
Sub-carboniferous.
680
Devonian
200
Silurian.
3000
The Soils .- The entire surface of Vigo county is covered by quaternary deposits, which rest immediately on the coal measures. The latter formations, as penetrated by artesian wells bored in the city of Terre Haute, are about 450 feet thick. The first coal reached is referable to " I," and if to this is added the strata found at See- leyville mines, eighty-six feet less the drift, it will give 536 feet as the thickness of the coal measures of the county. At the east part of the city of Terre Haute where the first and second wells were bored, the drift and alluvial is 150 feet thick, and the well reached probably as low as the Niagara beds. These wells give us authentic information of the strata which underlie the coal measures.
3
34
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
SECTION OF THE TERRE HAUTE WELL.
Feet.
Inches.
Sand and gravel
100
00
Soapstone.
64
06
"Coal I"
6
02
Hard sandstone.
2
03
Soapstone.
4
03
Gray sandstone
5
10
Blue soapstone.
0
10
Gray sandstone.
0
06
Blue soapstone.
12
09
Soft black shale.
6
00
"Coal F"
0
09
Soapstone.
7
07
White sandstone (conglomerate).
30
03
Blue shale.
7
02
"Coal B"
2
03
Black shale
10
00
White Soapstone
3
00
Black shale
15
00
White soapstone.
8
00
Black shale.
3
03
" Coal A "
3
00
Soapstone.
17
09
Sandrock
3
00
Soapstone.
20
00
Sandrock.
10
00
Blue shale.
22
00
Limestone
2
00
Blue shale.
31
00
Light shale
5
00
Blue shale.
60
00
Sandstone.
7
00
Blue shale
24
00
Sandstone.
3
00
White shale.
10
00
Blue shale. .
147
00
Hard, gritty slate rock.
11
Hard, gray fine sandstone
14
05
. Hard limestone.
11
00
White limestone
24
00
Gray limestone.
2
00
Limestone ..
14
00
White limestone
82
00
Soapstone.
3
00
Brown limestone.
35
00
Soapstone
5
00
Lime rock.
9
00
Soapstone
6
00
White limestone.
7
00
Soapstone.
2
00
White limestone.
21
00
Gray limestone.
5
00
Lime and soapstone mixed.
5
00
Gray limestone.
5
00
White limestone
15
00
Blue limestone.
2
00
STRONG SULPHUR WATER.
Feet.
Inches.
Gray limestone and flint
73
00
Light gray limestone
00
Blue gray limestone.
7
00
1281034
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
35
Feet.
Inches.
Soapstone-fire clay
26
00
Gray limestone.
24
00
Gray sandstone.
3
00
Soapstone-fire clay
5
00
Shale and quartz, mixed.
166
00
Slate, quartz and sandstone.
3
00
Slate rock.
21
00
Soapstone.
33
00
Slate rock.
7
00
Soapstone.
235
00
STRONG SALT WATER.
Feet.
Inches.
Soapstone and sandstone.
10
00
Fine sandstone.
15
00
Blue soapstone.
40
00
Black shale.
15
00
Red shale .
5
00
Black shale.
15
00
SATURATED WITH OIL.
Feet.
Inches.
Lime rock ..
5
00
Black shale.
5
00
Gray lime rock.
149
00
Gray sand rock.
23
00
Lime rock
773
00
" Sulphur water"
1912
02
A better record so far as it goes is that of the coal shaft known as the Seelyville shaft. M. Hough superintended the sinking and gives the following section :
Feet.
Inches.
Drift
11
00
Quicksand
5
00
Hardpan
15
00
"Coal N"
2
09
Fire clay
7
06
Sandstone
1
06
Soapstone
12
09
Fossil ore.
0
06
Soapstone.
7
07
Slate. .
1
06
Coal M
0
06
Fire clay.
5
08
White sandstone.
4
00
Dark sandstone.
14
06
Soapstone slate.
0
10
"Coal L"
6
02
Fire clay
4
00
Sandstone.
4
06
Black slate.
1
06
Bastard limestone.
2
06
Black slate.
1
08
" Coal K"
1
10
Fire clay
5
00
Soapstone.
9
06
"Coal J "
0
06
Sandstone
4
00
Fire clay.
7
00
" Coal I''
1
01
Slate.
0
05
36
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
Feet.
Inches.
" Coal ".
1
09
Fire clay
10
06
Black slate.
2
00
' Coal H'
1
05
Fire clay
3
09
Soapstone
4
06
Fire clay
5
00
Soapstone.
2
09
Sandstone.
3
01
Soapstone.
5
06
Black slate
0
07
" Coal G"
0
05
Soapstone.
1
06
Sandstone.
5
04
Soapstone
7
00
Sandstone.
1
00
Soapstone.
1
00
Sandstone.
6
02
Slate ..
2
06
" Coal F
1
02
7
06
Sandstone.
1
03
Fire clay.
5
00
Gray slate
225
11
The old Perrin shaft is a quarter of mile south of Arbuckle & Budd's, given above. In this it is forty-three feet to the bottom of "N," which is here nearly six feet thick. The Seelyville shaft from a topographical horizon, 100 feet by railroad levels, above the mouth of the bore at Terre Haute, "Coal N" crops out on Lost creek, on Alexander McPherson's place, Section 16, Township 12, Range 8, which is forty-two feet above Terre Haute and therefore gives a dip of twenty-seven feet in a horizontal distance one and one-half miles.
A singular fact is noted in Vigo and Clay counties that nearly all the coal seams along the streams conform to the rise and fall of the beds of the stream. This fact is quite observable along the branches of Lost creek and Otter creek. The coal strata as a general rule rise and fall with the topography of the country, and in the longer stretches of nearly level land the seams of coal and other strata are found nearly horizontal.
Coal I is the first seam penetrated at Terre Haute, and Coal L is the lowest seam worked in Vigo county.
West of the river the glaciers have evidently removed some of the upper veins of coal, as in no other way can we account for them either disappearing or their places being marked by mere traces.
The L coal is the lowest of the workable coal in the county.
At the Arbuckle & Budd shaft at Seelyville the vein is 63 feet thick. It cokes finely, and 1 of coal will convert 12.31 pounds of water from 0° C into steam at 150° C.
The immediate roof of L at Seelyville is an argillaceous shale. This vein crops about one mile south of Seelyville.
37
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
The I. & St. L. Railroad on Sections 8 and 9, Township 13, Range 7, made two entries that penetrate this coal on opposite sides of the road and only a short distance apart. The seam lies a little below the level of the railroad track, is six feet thick, and has a shale parting similar to what is seen at Seelyville, three and one- half feet below the top. The south mine was opened by a man named Daniel Webster, and became in time the Litchfield Coal Com- pany. The north mine is known as the Webster & Brannel Company.
The place is known as Webster station, one-half mile west of the Clay county line at Lodi, and on the main bottom of Otter creek. The coal is raised on an incline trestle work tramway to the tip house. This is one of the principal coaling places of the I. & St. L. Railroad.
Coals M and N, though not seen above L immediately at Web- ster, make their appearance farther up the stream on the sides of the hill at Lodi.
The two seams above L lie very irregular and are in curved basins. In a space of twenty-five yards they are seen to dip three feet.
At Grant station a shaft was sunk and found a thick vein of coal about thirty feet below M.
In 1871 Daniel Webster bored on his place, Section 5, Town- ship 13, Range 7, which is sixty feet above the level at Lodi, and the section there is reported as follows:
Feet.
Inches.
Surface soil and clay.
3
00
Sand. .
1
00
Plastic potter's clay.
5
00
Sand ..
8 00
Hardpan
10
00
Sand.
1
06
Hardpan.
7
00
Sandy shale.
13
08
"Coal L"
7
00
As Coals M and N were not found here it is supposed they had been removed by glaciation.
At Fountain station, one and one-half miles southwest of Web- ster, G. W. Moreland sunk a shaft to Coal L. It is on the south bank of Otter creek.
SECTIONS.
Feet.
Inches.
Sand and clay.
22
00
Coal M ..
1
04
Fire clay.
3
00
Sandstone and sandy shale.
4
00
8
08
Gray shale.
5
10
Coal L.
44
02
8 00
Plastic potter's clay.
.
38
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
Josiah Lambert drilled in two places on Section 13, Township 13, Range 8.
SECTION FIRST BORE.
Feet.
Inches.
Yellow sand.
5
00
Hardpan
8
00
Quicksand
24
00
Shale.
1
00
" Coal M"
1
06
Fire clay.
3
00
Black shale.
7
00
Soapstone.
3
00
" Coal L"
7
00
62
06
SECTION SECOND BORE.
Feet.
Inches.
Yellow Clay.
4
00
Hardpan . .
24
00
Sandstone.
12
00
Soapstone.
10
00
Limestone.
2
00
Soapstone.
12
00
Limestone.
5
00
Soapstone.
3
00
Coal
7
00
84
00
The record of the second bore is not considered reliable, as it is not confirmed by corresponding shafts or sections, especially in reference to finding limestone. A thin limestone, however, is some- times found over Coal N.
One of the old mines in the county is the Titcomb mine near Grant's station. Coal M here is on a level with the railroad and sixty feet above low water at Terre Haute.
The most southerly point where Coal M is worked is on Section 30, Township 12, Range 9, on the west side of the river. The shaft is thirty feet deep, and the coal four, six and five feet thick. It is on a level with the bed of the creek, and some trouble was ex- perienced from water.
SECTION BARRICK & SON'S MINE.
Feet.
Inches.
Drift, clay and soil.
20
00
Schistose sandstone.
10
00 ·
Limestone, containing Productus punctatus.
1
00
Silicious shale with ironstone.
30
00
Gray shale ..
12
00
Black shale.
1
06
" Coal L"
4
06
Fire clay
10
00
89
00
.
5
00
Black slate.
39
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
At Mackelroys, three-quarters of a mile north of Barricks, this seam is reached in twenty-seven feet, and three-quarters of a mile farther north at McQuilkins, on Section 7, Township 12, Range 9, it is eighty feet to the seam. The coal in this shaft is above the level of the river. It is overlaid by a gray argillaceous shale that contains numerous thin bands of ironstone. These were picked up in great quantities in the beds of the streams and sold to the Vigo Iron Company and smelted into iron.
Some years ago a shaft was sunk on the Van road west of the river, three miles, on Section 24, Township 12, Range 12, by Big- low & Co. It commenced on the side of the hill eight feet above the track of the railroad.
SECTION.
Feet.
Inches.
Covered to top hill.
50
00
Sandstone.
10
00
Gray shale with ironstone and fossil shell.
46
00
Black shale.
2
00
Coal
6
00
The horizon of this coal is eleven feet above the level of the river.
A shaft was sunk at St. Mary's depot. It was 110 feet deep. It took fire in 1869, and was completely destroyed. The hill at St. Mary's is ninety feet above the bridge at Terre Haute.
At Sandford, just on the border of Illinois, a boring showed the following :
Feet.
Inches.
Surface.
15
00
Sand.
6
00
Sand and clay
4
00
Hardpan
66
00
Browr. clay.
10
03
Blue clay.
8
04
Sand ...
0
04
Blue clay.
37
06
Black shale.
1
03
Fire clay
4
05
Limestone.
6
05
Red clay
2
00
Limestone.
3
00
Soapstone
2
08
Limestone.
0
09
Red slate ..
06
Hardpan.
2
09
Limestone.
3
00
Sand and clay
4
00
Limestone.
1
00
Red slate ..
1
06
Sand and blue clay.
5
03
Sandstone ..
3
10
Black slate. .
8
03
Black hardstone.
0
09
Black slate.
4
02
40
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
Feet.
Inches.
Bastard limestone
0
08
Slate. .
7
05
Soapstone.
5
03
Rotten coal.
4
07
Sandstone
0
06
Fire clay
7
02
Sandstone ..
4
00
240
03
Coal L is seen in so many localities west of the river that it may be found anywhere north of Sugar creek. It is readily recog- mized by the gray argillaceous shale with iron stone bands which overlie it. The upper part of the seam is jet black, glossy, contains numerous vertical joints filled with calcite, and in every respect resembles the coal at Seelyville. Bands of pyrites are also dis- seminated through the coal and require attention to keep it out.
In the south part of Vigo county, along the E. & T. H. Rail- road, Coal L is reached by bores and shafts. At Young's station, eight miles from Terre Haute, the elevation above the Wabash is 159 feet, and Coal L is reached at 100 feet. At Hartford, four miles beyond Young's, the elevation is four feet less and the coal is ninety feet. At Farmersburg, just south of the Vigo county line, the elevation is 135 feet, and the coal 130 feet.
Speaking of the shaft at Hartford, where Coal L is reached at ninety feet, State Geologist Cox makes these remarks:
" The roof shales contain an abundance of well preserved fol- licles and trunks of sigillaria, lepidodendron and calamites. It is a grand sight to go down into this well arranged mine and see the ceiling in the entries, from which the coal has been removed, covered with its diversified fossil flora. Immense trunks of sigillaria extend across this roof and are flanked by branching ferns that cover all the intervening spaces between the trunks of sigillaria and calamites with a rich foliage of glossy black leaves on a matrix of bluish gray argillaceous shale. Indeed, the fossil flora of this mine excels in variety and perfect preservation of the plants any place that I have ever visited. A trunk of sigillaria was measured and found to be eight and a half feet in diameter."
Quaternary .- This epoch includes the beds of alluvial, loess, marl, clay, gravel and bowlders, etc., which lie immediately over the paleozoic rocks of the State. In this county the boring in the deep or artesian wells points them out as being 150 feet thick. The bowlders which lie near the bottom of the glacial drift are mostly crystalline rocks, torn loose from the parent bed that are in situ far to the north of the State, and transported thither by the power- ful glaciers which covered the country in all the arctic and tem- perate regions following the close of the coal era. The gravel is a mixture of crystalline and sedimentary rocks.
41
HISTORY OF VIGO COUNTY.
At the hills east of Terre Haute, on land adjoining the farms of Joseph Gilbert and A. B. Pegg, where a branch of Lost creek cuts its way through the ridge, there is a fine exposure of glacial drift. The face of the exposure is almost vertical, and the deposit is sixty feet from the bed of the branch to the top of the bluff. Springs break out from the horizon of the bowlder clay in almost all localities where it is exposed. Near Mr. Pegg's, on Church run, a bore was once commenced, but was carried only twenty feet when flowing artesian water was reached. It has a slight chalybeate taste, but otherwise appears to be free from mineral matter.
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