USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 77
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the Devonian are exposedl by the fault. With- in the geological trough between the two mountains stand the Black and Log Moun- tains, and here, in a number of workable beds per square mile, is the greatest field of coal, all of high grade, in the state.
Crossing the state in a southwestwardly direction, with its axis a little east of, though approximately coincident with a line drawn from the Ohio river through Falmouth, in Pendleton county, Georgetown, in Scott county, and Burksville, in Cumberland, is a broad uplift of the rocks in the form of a fold, known as the Cincinnati Geanticline ; the actual course of the axis is doubtless some- what sinuous, though preserving the general direction followed by the line indicated. The geanticline extends from middle Ohio to the southern border of Tennessee, but seems upon the whole to have its greatest development in Kentucky. The crest of the arch does not maintain even an approximately constant amount of elevation along its length. The maximum elevation occurs in Jessamine county, and since from this area the rocks fall both to the north and to the south, along the axis of the fold, as well as toward the east and west, down the flanks of the geanticline, it is evident that the uplift reached its cul- mination by the production of a dome; to this culmination Prof. A. M. Miller has given the name "Jessamine Dome." (See Bulletin 2, Kentucky Geological Survey, 1905.) From Lexington to the northeast corner of Pendle- ton county, along the line of the axis, there is a dip of about four hundred and seventy-five feet or an average of six feet to the mile ; from Nicholasville southward to Junction City there is a fall of the rocks along the axis es- timated at about four hundred feet, for which, however, a transverse break in the geanticline, accompanied by slip, which occurs at the Ken- tucky river, and known as the Kentucky river fault, is doubtless largely responsible; and from Junction City to the Cumberland river
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
there is a dip of the axis which probably ex- ceeds two hundred and fifty feet, giving an average of about five feet to the mile. The dips at right angles to the crest of the gean- ticline, down the flanks, are of course much steeper than along the axis. For instance, the dip of the beds from Lexington to Louisville, on the northwestward side of the fold, ex- ceeds one thousand five hundred feet-a fall of the rocks at the rate of more than twenty- one feet per mile; and the dip southeastward from Lexington to Irvine is estimated as quite one thousand feet, showing an average fall of twenty-eight feet to the mile. ( For a more elaborate discussion of the geanticline, see Bulletin 7, Kentucky Geological Survey: The Silurian, Devonian, and Irvine Formations of East Central Kentucky, by Aug. F. Foerste. )
At a former time it was supposed that this great arch had always formed a barrier be- tween the Eastern and Western Coalfields of Kentucky, but evidences were found by the writer in 1876, subsequently verified by Pro- fessor Shaler and more recently by Professor Miller, which afford proof that at least some of the lower beds of the Pennsylvanian ex- tended across the path of the southern portion of the uplift within the state.
It is owing to the long continued erosion of the crest of this fold that the older geo- logical formations are exposed in the central part of the state, and that there is to be found the oldest rock surface of the state, yielding the most durably fertile of the lands. The oldest strata whose outcrops are visible in the state are brought to light where the Kentucky river has cut a deep gorge across the arch; they are finely exposed at High Bridge and for several miles above and below that point. The lowermost rocks-other than small frag- ments brought up from deep drill-holes-that have been seen are exposed in the shaft of the Chinn Mineral Company, at Twin Chim- neys, Mercer county, on the Kentucky, a few miles below High Bridge. These High Bridge
beds, constituting the visible basal portion of the Ordovician (Lower Silurian) system in Kentucky, belong to the Stones River forma- tion of the Mohawkian series.
There are other folds in the state outside
CHIMNEY ROCK ON THE KENTUCKY RIVER, 75 FEET HIGH, 4×6 FEET AT THE BASE
the mountain area, notably the Rough Creek anticline which crosses the Western Coalfield with a bearing south-of-east, and is prob- ably related to a line of disturbance that ex- tends across the state to the Tug Fork near Warfield; also, areas in which there are nu- merous faults. Nearly all of these have some economic importance, but, when considered in
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS .
their relation to the rock outcrops and geo- logical structure of the state as a whole, they are of distinctly minor importance when com- pared with this ancient geanticline.
Passing eastwardly from this old geological ridge, beds of the Ordovician, Silurian, De- vonian, Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous), and Pennsylvanian (Coal Measures) come suc- cessively to view ; while on the west the same formations, with the addition of Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary deposits, form the section to the Mississippi river. This is shown on the map by the east-west longitudinal sec- tion.
GEOLOGICAL SCALE AND ECONOMIC VALUES
Since the proper differentiation and correla- tion of some of the members of the geological series exposed in Kentucky is, in the light of investigations carried on by the State Geo- logical Survey in recent years, still an open question, it is not deemed well to undertake in a publication of this sort more than a presentation of the larger divisions of the formations. The sequence of formations, ex- clusive of Alluvium, named in descend- ing order, is as given in the statenient which presently follows.
Because of differences in physical character, or in thickness, or both, exhibited by some of the synchronal groups, according to their oc- currence with reference to the Cincinnati geanticline-whether on the east or on the west side of it; the presence of certain mem- bers of a formation on one side that are want- ing on the other ; and certain other variations that may be observed in geological equivalents as one passes from one side of the geanticline to the other and from north to south, it is not practicable to present the statement in the tabular form usually adopted; the size of sheet required would be inconveniently large.
The Geological Section, together with notes of the principal economic materials afforded by each formation, is as follows :
I. QUATERNARY
I. Columbian .- Port Hudson (in Jackson's Purchase and adjacent regions). Blue, stiff clays alternating with thin beds of red, yellow, and white sands, overlaid by micaceous loam. The latter, which ranges from 15 to 25 feet in thickness-reaching 40 feet at Paducah, ac- cording to Loughridge - is provisionally in- cluded with Port Hudson beds. The blue clays, which have an average thickness of 25 feet, are quite commonly speckled with bright blue vivianit (phosphate of iron). Pieces of lignite are occasionally found in the clays. Total average thickness, including the mica- ceous loam, 50 feet.
2. Lower Mississippi Loess .- Gray silt (in Jackson's Purchase and strips bordering the lower Ohio), 20 to 50 feet ; usual range is 20 to 30 feet. The loess found on the Ohio above the regions adjacent to the Purchase may pos- sibly be of later date than the deposits here referred to.
3. Lafayette .- Stratified drift, consisting of stratified gravels and coarse sands, with some clay, derived from Mississippian cherts and pebbles of the Carboniferous conglomerate sandstone ( Pottsville). Includes the beds of interstratified cross-bedded sands and pipe clay of the Columbus bluff identified as "La- grange" by Loughridge, and by him doubt- fully assigned to upper ( Neocene) Tertiary. (Kentucky Geological Survey : Report on the Jackson's Purchase Region.) The typical gravel ranges from 5 to 30 feet in thickness ; the so-called "Lagrange," front 12 to 20 feet. Total thickness, 25 to 50 feet.
Gravels older than the Stratified drift occur in the Purchase and adjacent eastern and southern regions. They are all in patches, and are residual, derived from cherts of the Mis- sissippian limestones. They include: (1) Ten- nessee River Gravel, consisting chiefly of chert gravels cemented by white silicious earth re- sulting from dissolution of the chert. This is
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
the oldest gravel formation in the region. Thickness of patches, 20 to 110 feet. (2) Ore Region Gravel, a mixture of chert gravel, chert fragments, and clay. This is the chief repos- itory of the Cumberland river iron ore deposits. Thickness of patches, about 15 feet. Iron ore similar in character and derivation to that of the Cumberland river region occurs east of the Cincinnati geanticline, in the Red river re- gion of Bath, Estill, Lee, Menefee, Montgom- ery and Powell counties.
The total thickness of the Quaternary as seen in Jackson's Purchase and adjacent re- gions, excluding the patches of residual grav- els, is about 95 to 130 or 150 feet.
Economic Materials: Refractory clays of excellence, road material ("Paducah gravel"), pigment materials, polishing material, very ex- cellent iron ore and molder's sand. The blue clays of the Port Hudson group fuse teadily on account of their iron and potash contents. and may serve purposes for which fusible clays are desirable.
II. TERTIARY
Reference is made only to deposits in the Jackson's Purchase region; the younger de- posits of the state as a whole have not been well enough studied to warrant their discrim- ination at this time.
Lignitic Series .- (a) Bluff lignitic, about 25 feet. (b) Porter's Creek Joint Clays IIO to 115 feet. The total thickness, 140 feet.
Loughridge describes six to fifteen feet of beds at Hickman, which lie provisionally places below the Porter's Creek. Their proper position is still an open question.
Economic Materials: Fine pottery clays, glass-pot clays, lignite (usually soft and quite high in ash, not useful for fuel except when used as a burnt clay ; has enough carbon in it to assist in the burning), terra cotta clays, sand for glass, and some iron ore.
It is thought that the Irvine formation of East Central Kentucky, which has its greatest development, perhaps, in Madison and Powell counties, is of late (closing of the Neocene) time. It consists of gravels derived from Mis- sissippian (Waverly) beds, sands, and a variety of clays. Some of the latter are quite thick, and include very excellent beds for the manufacture of terra cotta ware, roof tile, face brick, the commoner grades of pottery. such as jugs, crocks and articles of similar class. Measurements showing a thickness of 40 to 50 feet have been made.
III. CRETACEOUS
Ripley Series .- Ripley Clays, Ripley Sands. Thickness, about 200 feet.
Economic Materials: Polishing materials. fire-brick clays.
The Quaternary, Tertiary, and Cretaceous deposits, in the regions referred to, collectively cover an area of about two thousand five hun- dred square miles.
IV. PENNSYLVANIA (UP. CARBONIFEROUS)
The several divisions or formational units of the coal-bearing rocks, with their respective thicknesses, have not been determined with sufficient definiteness to warrant making rec- ord of them in such a permanent work as this history. The problem is a difficult one, to which geologists are now giving muclı atten- tion. A broad terminology, therefore, is used : I. Coal Measures, corresponding in the main to the Lower Coal Measures of the older geological reports. Includes Allegheny and, in the Eastern field, possibly some upper Ka- nawha. Thickness in the Western field, about 800 to 1,000 feet. In the Eastern field the thickness reaches about 2,100 feet north of Pine Mountain, and about 3,200 feet in the Black Mountain syncline.
2. Conglomerate Sandstone Measures .- All upper Pottsville. Includes the Rockcastle Se-
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
ries (or Lee) of the Eastern field. The thick- ness varies greatly ; from nothing to about 200 feet in the Western field; from 300 or 400 up to 1,600 feet or more in the Eastern field.
Economic Materials: (a) In the Coal Meas- ures : Domestic, steam, and coking coals, can- nels, fire-clays, tile-clays, clays for common pottery, clays for road building, iron ores (carbonate), some good building stone, build- er's sand.
(b) In the Conglomerate Measures : Bitumin- ous coals, admirable building stones, stones for grinding; clays for pottery, for cement, and for road building ; high-grade fire-clays, sharp building sand, superior sand for bottle- glass, iron ore, "asphalt rock," excellent salt brines, chalybeate waters, petroleum, gas.
The Coal Fields .- The coal-bearing rocks are disposed in two fields, as shown on the map. Kentucky is the only state that has two coal fields. By reason of its fortune in water- ways and their relation to the coal areas, the shape, extent, and positions of the latter, and its facilities, present and possible, for trans- portation by rail, no state in the union is so well assured of cheap fuel, and for several hundred years; on this account, it is not un- reasonable to expect Kentucky to figure in future history as one of the great manufac- turing states.
The areas of the coal fields have not been determined with precision, but the following figures are close approximations :
Western Field. 4,500 square miles. Eastern Field. 12,170 square miles.
Total 16,670 square miles.
In the Western Coalfield fourteen or more coals occur, about half of which are work- able. Two or three of the beds make ex- cellent coke for domestic use and for metal- lurgical furnaces in which a content of two to three per cent. of sulphur in the fuel is not prohibitive. The coals are all strong steam Vol. 1-34.
coals. The beds of maximum thickness meas- ure six and seven feet, occasionally somewhat more; those which are now contributing most largely to the annual output measure from four to five feet.
The Eastern Coalfield is divided naturally into several regions, the outlines of which are determined by the several drainage areas of the principal streams that originate in or cross some part of the field. The most im- portant of the regions are the Big Sandy, the Three Forks of the Kentucky river, the Lick- ing, the upper Cumberland, and an ill-defined district in Whitley, Knox, Laurel, and Pu- laski counties whose principal streams flow into the Cumberland.
The most important portions of the upper Cumberland drainage include the region be- tween the Pine and Cumberland Mountains (in which rise the Big and Little Black Moun- tains to the northeast. and the Log Mountains to the southwest), and the Pineville Gap re- gion north of Pine Mountain-including Straight creek to the north and northeast, and the various streams that flow into the Cumber- land within the stretch reaching down that river as far as Barbourville and somewhat be- yond. The district thus outlined is wonder- fully rich in workable coals. As hitherto stated, the highest point in the state, about four thousand feet above sea, is on the Big Black Mountain, in Harlan county, and it is there that the coal measures above the Con- glomerate, as defined herein, reach their great- est thickness-nearly three thousand two hun- dred feet. Indeed, for number of workable coals in immediate vertical succession, the re- gion between the Pine and Cumberland Moun- tains, especially that portion drained by Poor and Clover Forks, is unmatched in the East- ern field, and probably in no other. Coal beds occur at frequent intervals throughout the whole thickness of three thousand two hun- dred feet. The total number known, of all thicknesses, is about forty, and of this num-
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
ber twelve to sixteen, depending upon locality, have a thickness of three feet or more. The seams range in thickness of coal up to eight feet ; in exceptional cases even up to twelve feet. Excepting cannel occurrences, they are practically all coking coals, low in ash and sulphur. The excellence of the coals on the north side of Pine mountain is widely recog- nized. The steam and domestic coals rate high in the markets, and the coke made from the Pineville seam, on Straight creek and below, is known as one of the best metallur- gical cokes in the country.
The Licking Valley region owes its prom- inence to the cannel deposits within its bounds. Cannel of superior quality is found in all the drainage basins of the Eastern field ; seven or eight, possibly nine, of the coal horizons carry it, and it occurs in workable thickness and quantity in sixteen or seventeen counties. Notable deposits occur in the Big Sandy drain- age, especially in Johnson county, and deposits of exceptional purity and richness are found in Breathitt and Perry counties. But the cannel field par excellence lies in the Licking Valley, in Morgan and Magoffin coun- ties. It is described in Bulletin 10 of the State Geological Survey.
The Big Sandy Valley region, embracing about two thousand square miles south of Louisa, carries nine or ten workable coals above the "Conglomerate Sandstone." The coal-bearing measures above the "Conglom- erate formation" here reach a thickness es- timated to be from two thousand to two thou- sand one hundred feet. The uppermost thick coal known is the Flatwoods, measuring seven- teen feet and occurring about one thousand five hundred feet, geologically, above the base. The Flatwoods being excepted, the coals of this region range in thickness from three feet up to eight feet or more. The coal that has given immediate prominence to the region is the Lower Elkhorn, notable for its surpassing excellence for coking, and its occurrence as
a thick bed over large areas. It is now recog- nized that there is no better coking coal known in the United States. Few coals are so good. At about one hundred and fifty feet above the Lower Elkhorn comes another bed, known in the State Survey reports as the Upper Elkhorn ; its quality is but little if any less excellent than that of the lower seam. Special reference to all the important coals of the region would occupy more space than seems proper for this publication.
Despite the long continued efforts of the State Survey, until recently capital has been slow to properly appreciate the merits of the Kentucky river region. The field occupies an area of about two thousand four hundred square miles, in which about twenty coal beds occur. Ten or eleven of the beds are work- able, exhibiting thicknesses ranging from three feet up to nine feet. Thick Elkhorn is included in the series of beds. An extension of the Lexington & Eastern Railway (now a division of the Louisville & Nashville Rail- road Company's system ) to the headwaters of the North Fork of the Kentucky river is now under construction, and a line is also build- ing into the same area from the Big Sandy division of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. This marks an epoch in the progress of coal mining in Kentucky that will be of interest to the future historian. The North Fork por- tion of the "Three Forks" region may be ex- pected to become a distinctly important pro- ducer of commercial coal within two years; it now produces practically none-none at all from the section that will soon show the greatest activity.
Statistics of Coal Mining .- The first grate coal used in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1831, was dug in the Eastern coalfield and floated down the Cumberland river. The first tow of coal sent down the Mississippi river came from the Western coalfield, from a Union county mine, in 1844. But coal mining in
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
Kentucky as an industry of commercial im- erally white. Thickness west of the Cincin- portance dates from 1870. Even in that year, nati geanticline, from 120 to 300 feet ; east of it, from 90 to 130 feet. however, the output for the entire state amounted to only 169, 120 short tons. In 1880 the output for the entire state had grown to only 914,288 short tons. By 1890 the output of commercial coal alone-that is to say, the production of shipping mines and of smaller mines that by reason of their situation near points of material consumption are of commercial importance-had increased to 2.532.526 tons. The output for 1900 was 5,020,675. In 1910 it amounted to 14,720,01 I tons. And yet, when reasonable expectations for the coming five years, based on settled projects that must affect the future, are taken into consideration, it must be said that we have just begun to mine coal.
The progress made in producing commer- cial coal by the respective fields during the last ten years is shown by the following table :
Year. Western Field
Eastern Field. Total tons
1900
2,933,398
2,087,277
5,020,675
1905
4,682,057
3,357,189
8,039,246
1910 8,428,752
6,291,259
14,720,011
V. MISSISSIPPIAN (LOWER CARBONIFEROUS )
I. Chester Group .- Consists essentially of limestones ( for the larger part, thin bedded and frequently earthy), shales, and a few sandstones. The base is marked by the Cypress Sandstone formation, of which the Big Clifty Sandstone is the basal member. Thickness west of the Cincinnati geanticline ranges from 300 to 1,600 feet ; east of it, 70 to 160 feet.
Economic Materials: Potash shales (in the Leitchfield formation ), clays for vitrified brick and road material, pigment earths, sand for bottle-glass, "asphalt rock," flagstones, some building stone.
2. Ste. Genevieve Group .- Consists of two thick limestone divisions, with a thin sand- stone (sometimes absent ) between them. The limestones are in large part oolitic, and gen-
Economic Materials: Fine structural stone. beautiful white oolite, including the "Bowl- ing Green stone," road material, veins of fluorspar, lead and zinc, calcite, some petro- leum. The Kentucky fluorspar deposits ex- ceed those of any region in the United States. 3. St. Louis Limestone Group .- Includes thin Spergen (or Warsaw?) at the base. The beds are usually thick bedded, some of them silicious, and some of them earthy. Plates and nodules of chert occur. Drab to cream colored, compact limestones, including litho- graphic beds, occur in the upper part; some oolitic beds in the lower half. The prevailing color is grayish blue. The St. Louis beds (known as Mitchell in Indiana ) are the great cavern-forming limestones. The thickness west of the Cincinnati geanticline ranges from 300 to 560 feet ; east of it, 70 to 125 feet.
Economic Materials: Handsome blue-gray stone for building, road material, pockets of iron ore, veins of fluorspar (extensive de- posits), lead, and zinc, some petroleum. De- posits of "commercial onyx," found in sev- eral counties, are derived from the leaching of St. Louis limestones.
4. Keokuk-Knobstone, Waverly, Group .- Consists of limestones, shales, and sandstones. Limestones prevail on the west side of the Cincinnati geanticline, and shales with bluish or greenish gray sandstones on the east. This division is represented by the Atherton clay, Harrodsburg limestone, Riverside sandstone, Knobstone, and New Providence shales on the west side of the Cincinnati geanticline; on the east side, by the upper Waverly (undiffer- entiated Logan-Black Hand. Cuyahoga shales), the New Providence shales, and the Sunbury shales, the Berea grit and the Bed-
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS
ford, or Lower Waverly. The thickness on the west side of the geanticline ranges from 220 to 400 feet ; on the east side, from 300 to 500 feet.
Economic Materials: Tile and pottery clays, iron ore, most excellent structural stones (in- cluding the noted bluish or greenish gray free- stones of Rowan and Rockcastle counties), petroleum, mineral waters, gas, and phos- phatic nodules-the latter in the base of the Waverly.
The Chester-St. Louis beds cover an area of about eight thousand three hundred square miles. The Keokuk-Knobstone, Waverly area is about four thousand square miles.
VI. DEVONIAN
I. Ohio Black Shale beds .- The shales are black, or dark brown, fissile, and usually quite bituminous. Very thin plates or sheets of coal occur occasionally between laminae of the beds. The shale is often mistaken for the capping shale of coal deposits, and is responsible for many expensive disappointments. The Ohio shale (improperly designated as "Chattanooga shale" in some U. S. Geological Survey re- ports dealing with Kentucky areas) is the great knob-making formation of Kentucky. The thickness varies greatly on each side of the Cincinnati geanticline. Thicknesses on the west side range from 20 to 135 feet; on the east, from 60 to 225 feet, with 280 reported as penetrated in a Morgan county gas well.
2. Corniferous .- Includes the Sellersburg and Jeffersonville limestones west of the Cin- cinnati geanticline, which may be (the Jeffer- sonville certainly and the Sellersburg pos- sibly) classed together as the Boyle lime- stones (Foerste) of recent reports of the State Geological Survey. On the east side of the geanticline, the term Boyle limestones ap- plies exclusively. The beds are rich in fossil corals (as at the Falls of the Ohio), and the
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