Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 74

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 74

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1. J. M. Bigger,

5. Robert Mallory,

9. Thomas M. Green.

Twenty-Second Presidential Election, 1873 .- Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, for President, and Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, for Vice- President (the Republican ticket), received at the November election, 1872, 3,597,070 votes, or 55.93 per cent. of the vote cast; and Horace Greelev, of New York, for President, and Ben. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for Vice- President (the Liberal Republican ticket, adopted by the Democratic National Convention), received 2,834,079 votes, or 44.07 per cent. In the Electoral College, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas cast their votes scatteringly, Mr. Greeley having died since Nov. ; while the other 31 states voted for Grant. The Kentucky electors were:

George B. Hodge, James A. Mckenzie,

4. John M. Atherton,

8. R. E. Lytle,

1. John Q. A. King,

5. Richard A. Jones,

9. Alexander L. Martin,

2. Eli H. Brown,

6. Hezekiah Cox,

10. Henry L. Stone.

7. George W. Craddock,

Jesse D. Bright,

2. Alfred K. Bradley,

3. I. C. Winfrey,

7. George S. Shanklin,

4. J. P. Barbour,

8. Wm. A. Hoskins,

6. A. B. Chambers,

3. R. S. Bevier,

7. Wm. C. P. Breckinridge,

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS OF KENTUCKY. *

The geological formations of Kentucky, in common with those of the other Western States generally, belong to that great system which extends from the Alleghanies on the east, across the Mississippi, and to the Rocky mountains on the west. Throughout this vast territory, the primary fossiliferous, or Silu- rian Devonian, and Carboniferous rocks prevail, with some of the upper forma- tions. These comprehend a number of distinct formations, very unequally developed in different parts of this wide valley, producing a great variety in the mineral and agricultural wealth and resources of different sections. Al- most all these rocks contain characteristic organic remains, although they are found much more abundantly in some strata and localities than in others.

These rocks all belong to the class which are termed sedimentary, and were generally deposited upon the bottom of the primeval ocean. The shells and other remains which they contain, no doubt once belonged to the inhabitants of this ocean; and, as the animals died and decayed, their harder and more lasting coverings were gradually covered up by clay and sand, or limestone, and other layers of shells, until at length, under a heavy pressure of superincumbent strata, and by a slow and long-continued chemical action, they were converted into solid rocks; and, now that the waters of the ocean have retired, are ex- posed to our view as the lasting records of the earth's history during ages long anterior to our own.

The strata over nearly the whole surface of Kentucky lie nearly horizontal, with a few dislocations. They have generally a slight dip. This dip, in the lower strata, seems to be usually in every direction from a point near Cincin- nati, on the Ohio river, as a center. At this point we see the lowest surface rocks of the State exposed. As we go up the river, we meet with the other strata in succession-cropping out, as it is terined-but sinking beneath other rocks as they extend eastward, and rising generally again to the surface on the western slope of the Alleghanies. If from Cincinnati we travel down the river, we meet with the same succession of rocks, but dipping to the west. If from the same point we penetrate into the interior of the State, we find the rocks dipping southward. Cincinnati seems thus to have been a center of elevation, when this central region was lifted above the waters of the ocean.

But it is necessary to be somewhat more minute in our description of the various formations. We will begin with the lowest or oldest, and describe them in the order of their superposition.

FIRST FORMATION-THE BLUE LIMESTONE.

This formation, which is the lowest exposed in Kentucky, has usually been considered equivalent to the Lower Silurian strata of Murchison. In this reg- ion it is almost entirely calcareous, being generally composed of thin beds of dark blue-gray fossiliferous limestone, alternating with thin layers of marly shale or clay; or, in its lower members, such as are exhibited on the Ken- tucky river, at Frankfort, and at several other places on the river above, for many miles, appearing in more massive, thick layers of buff granular mag- nesian limestone-an excellent building-stone, which was used in the con- struction of the Clay monument at Lexington-and the light bluish-gray or yellowish, brittle and sparry layers, which has been called Kentucky marble, and polished for ornamental and useful purposes.

Attempts have been made to compare the rocks of this formation with those of New York and Pennsylvania; but, as in regard to all the western strata, the much greater prevalence of calcareous matter in the rocks of the west and south, as compared with those of the north and east, renders this task some- what difficult. It is believed, however, that what has been called, in Ohio and Kentucky, the Blue Limestone formation, commences above, with the equiva- lents of the Hudson river group and the Utica slate, of the New York geolo- gists, and continues downward, in its equivalency, including their Trenton, Black-river, Bird's-eye and Chazy limestones, to the equivalent of their Caicif- erous sandstone, which is probably our buff magnesian limestone above men- tioned. The so-called Kentucky marble bears a close resemblance to the New York Bird's-eye limestone.

$ Written by Prof. Robert Peter, M.D., 1871.

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

This formation is one of great importance in Kentucky, being the basis of our far-famed Blue-grass lands. According to the report of the late Dr. David D. Owen (State Geologist), "The whole of the slightly-curved undulating tri- angular area, having its base on the Ohio river, between Garrett's landing, in Trimble county, and the eastern limits of Mason county, with its apex curving a little west of south, to the Turkey Neck bend of the Cumberland river, em- braces the axis of the great blue limestone in Kentucky."-Ky. Geol. Surv., vol. i, p. 98.

The main surface exposure of this formation, however, is better described by him in Ky. Geol. Rep., vol. iii, p. 76, as existing in a great curved trian- gular area, the southern apex of which terminates in Lincoln county, and from which only a narrow strip, or axis, occasionally to be observed in the deep cuts of the valleys, can be traced through Casey, Russell, and Cumberland counties, to the Cumberland river, in Monroe county.

From the present appearance of this elevated table-land of Central Ken- tucky and Ohio, underlaid by the Blue Limestone formation, it seems that, in former geological ages, the solid crust of the earth was elevated in this region as though by the operation of an internal force, so that the various superim- posed strata were raised into a mountain, the top of which, as calculated by the celebrated Sir Ch. Lyell, was about 3500 feet above the level of the ocean; and that, subsequently, denuding agencies have worn away the summit of this mountain down to its present height of about 1400 feet above the sea level at Cincinnati, leaving the lowest formation-the Blue Limestone-in the highest central area of the present table-land, and all the other superimposed strata with their upper exposed edges regularly disposed around it-just as would appear the several coats of an onion, if a wooden peg was pushed from the center to cause an exterior protrusion, and then the summit of the elevatiou was cut off with a knife. In Kentucky, however, a break, or separate axis of elevation, runs down southward, as described above, from the apex of the curved triangular area of the blue limestone in Lincoln county, through Casey, Russell, and Cumberland counties, to Monroe county, and into Tennessee.

A remarkable fault, or dislocation of the strata of this formation, is described by Dr. Owen, in the same volume (pp. 75, 76), as extending along the great south bend of the Kentucky river, in Madison, Jessamine, Garrard, and Mercer counties, and elsewhere, in which the strata on one side of the river stand three hundred and fifty feet higher than the corresponding ones on the oppo- site side. This remarkable crack and upheaval or subsidence of the strata not only locally altered the dip of the rocks to the north, but has changed the topographical configuration, as well as the geological and agricultural features, of this region. Here "the so-called Kentucky marble, rising in bold escarpments of two hundred to three hundred feet," hems in the Kentucky river in this locality, and, with the superincumbent layers of limestone, makes picturesque blutfs of four hundred feet of elevation-the river making its way, in its deep channel, through this immense crack in the earth's surface. Along the course of this fault or dislocation is also found, interstratified with the Kentucky marble, the very valuable buff, granular, magnesian limestone already described-these being the lowest rocks exposed in Kentucky.

SECOND FORMATION-THE GRAY LIMESTONE, OR CLIFF LIMESTONE.

On the Ohio river we find the termini of this formation-always overlying the blue limestone-near the confines of Lewis and Mason counties above, and near those of Trimble and Oldliam counties below. From these two points this formation appears as a belt, varying from twenty-two miles in width, in Jefferson county, to only a fraction of a mile, where it enters Ten- nessee from Monroe county, running in a course more or less meandering, from its two termini on the Ohio, around the blue limestone formation. Its dip corresponds generally with that of this lower formation.

This formation-called by the Ohio geologists "cliff limestone,". because the hardness and durability of some of its layers causes it to stand out in hold cliffs, and to be the cause of the falls of water courses-is, like the blue limestone, somewhat difficult to compare with the European strata, or with those of the northern portion of our continent. It is believed, however, that

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

its lower beds are undoubtedly equivalent with the Upper Silurian strata of Murchison, and its upper layers with some portion of his Devonian. In com- parison with the New York system, this Kentucky formation appears to stand in the place of a large group of twelve or thirteen important strata of the New York system, comprising sandstones, shales, and limestones, extending from the Clinton group or Niagara group below, to the upper Helderberg limestone above.

This second Kentucky formation can be examined with great advantage at the falls of the Ohio, at the time of low water. Dr. Owen (vol. i, Ky. Geol. Rep., pp. 95-98) describes this formation under the heads " chain coral and magnesian limestone," and "coralline falls limestone;" the chain coral limestone being the lowest, and to be observed near Beargrass Creek in Jef- ferson county, and the coralline falls limestone being beautifully developed, - and its numerous corals and other fossils exposed to view, at times of low water, in a silicified coral reef, in the bed of the Ohio at the falls-the lime- stone having been worn and dissolved away from around them by the rush- ing water.

This coral limestone, about fifty feet in thickness, is capped with an earthy magnesian limestone, which possesses hydraulic properties, and is extensively manufactured into water-cement, at the falls.

Other layers of this formation are magnesian, and furnish some of the best building stones in the State. Some of these were used in the construction of the court-house at Bardstown, Nelson county. Some of its layers afford the whitest and purest lime for building and plastering. The general color of the rocks of this formation is light bluish, or greenish gray, or light gray buff.

THIRD FORMATION-BLACK LINGULA SHALE .- BLACK SLATE OR SHALE .- DEVONIAN SHALE.

This formation, resting immediately on the second formation, appears also on the Ohio river at two points, viz .: in Lewis county, between the month of Quick's and Salt Lick creeks above, and at the base of the falls of that river, in Jefferson county, below. From these two points, where the Ohio River valley cuts through these strata, as they pass to the north and west, this formation, like that below it, sweeps around the gray limestone in a meandering, irregular belt, varying in breadth from eight or ten miles, in parts of Lewis, Bath, Estill, and Madison counties, to that of a fraction of a mile, in Casey, Russell, Cumberland, and Monroe counties. Like the second forma- tion, it passes into the State of Tennessee, near the Turkey Neck bend of the Cumberland river, in two neighboring narrow zones, lying on each side of the axis described under the head of the first formation; and its two zones, nearly parallel in their north-eastwardly course from the Tennessee line to the con- fines of Lincoln county, begin here to diverge, like those of the second for- mation, so as to surround and invest that lower formation. Its thickness at the falls of the Ohio is a little over one hundred feet, but it varies greatly in this respect.

This shale is generally quite bituminous, so that persons have been induced to believe in the presence of coal in this formation, and to expend labor and money in search of it; always to be disappointed, as no workable beds of this mineral have ever been found so low in the strata of the earth as this in America. The bright, brassy-looking, iron pyrites (sulphide of iron) found in these strata, sometimes induces the false expectation of a gold mine.

Where this formation sweeps around, bounded on one side by the lower limestones and on the other by the sandstones which form the "Knobs," the land is generally low, wet, and heavy, and mineral springs abound. Petroleum has been found in this as well as in the formations below and above it. This black shale of Kentucky is supposed to represent, in the geological strata, the Marcellus, Hamilton, and Genesee groups of New York. It is never found compact enough in our State to be employed as a slate; but it has been treated, by dry distillation, at Vanceburg, Lewis county, for the production of mineral oil, which could not, however, compete in the market with the native petroleumn. Some very interesting fossil remains of fishes, with other fossils, were found in this shale mined for this manufactory.

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

FOURTH FORMATION-KNOB SANDSTONE.

This formation, which is generally characterized by the presence of those low hills called "knobs," is mainly composed of olive-gray shales, and grits or sandstones of the same tint. It is calculated by Mr. Jos. Lesley to be 350 to 550 feet in thickness, and some of the knobs-as for example, the "Sweet Lick kuob " of Estill County-rise 500 feet above the level of the streams.

This formation also sweeps around the central and lower formations, on the outside and above the black shale, very much in the same course as already described. The Ohio river valley cuts it, as it passes into Ohio and Indiana, in the eastern part of Lewis county above, and in Jefferson county, at the base of the falls, below.

According to Dr. Owen (Ky. Geol. Rep., vol. i, p. 90): " A belt of knobby . country, about fourteen miles wide, extends from the foot of the falls of the Ohio to the mouth of Salt river; thence it bears up the valley of that stream nearly south, with a slight eastwardly curve, to Muldraugh's hill, di- viding Taylor, Marion, and Larue counties; occupying part of Bullitt, to the north-eastern edge of Hardin, the western corner of Nelson, and a large por- tion of Larue; thence it curves more to the south-east, through the corners of Taylor, Casey, and Adair counties," to be continued, in the form of low beds of dark earthy limestones and marly shales, through Russell and Cumberland counties to the Tennessee line.

Beginning at its upper limits, on the Ohio river, in Lewis county, we trace it through the north-eastern part of Fleming, the northern portion of Rowan, through Bath, Montgomery, Powell, Estill, Madison, Garrard, Boyle, and Lin- coln, in its south-eastern sweep, to Casey county ; again, to pass, on the other side of the central axis, to the Cumberland river.

The harder silicious beds of this formation are found very valuable for building purposes and for grindstones. It is very much quarried in Lewis county, as well as in Ohio, where it is called Waverly sandstone. The best layers are found to be easily worked and very durable. A peculiar fucoid fossil, spreading like the tail-feathers of a cock, characterizes some of these layers; which are supposed also to belong to the Devonian formation.

FIFTH FORMATION-CAVERNOUS LIMESTONE .- SUB-CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE .- MOUNTAIN LIMESTONE.

This formation is made up of alternating layers of white, gray, reddish, buff, and sometimes dark-gray colored rocks, varying in quality from the most argillaceous clay stone to the purest limestone. Limestones predominate, however, which, in the southern part of the State, contains numerous caves, of which the celebrated Mammoth Cave, of Edmonson county, is one, and caus- ing many " sinks," in which the drainage water of the country sinks to form underground streams. Clear and copious springs mark the junction of this limestone with the underlying knobstone; and its lower strata contain in many places the dark, flinty pebbles which furnished the material for the arrow-heads, etc., of the aborigines. Some of its layers are so compact and close-textured as to be fit for the lithographer; others are beautifully white, with an oolitic structure. In it are found valuable beds of iron ore, some zinc and lead ore, and large veins of fluor spar.

The so-called Barrens of Kentucky are located on this formation ; so called, not because the soil is not fertile, but because of the former absence of timber and the numerous sinks. This region, which, when Kentucky was first set- tled, was said to be an open prairie, is now covered with forests of trees, of medium growth, which have since sprung up. Its land is found to be quite productive.

This formation is geologically important, being the basis of the true coal measures-no workable beds of that mineral having ever been found below this formation in any part of the world. It surrounds the coal fields on all sides, and, like the other lower formations, is believed to extend continuously under them; appearing always, in its relative position, in the beds of streams or bottoms of valleys which are cut down sufficiently deeply in the coal meas- ures.

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

In Kentucky, its principal surface exposure is in the central portion of the State. The counties of Adair, Allen, Barren, Greene, Warren, Logan, Simp- Bon, and much of Hart, Edmonson, Logan, Todd, Trigg, Christian, Caldwell, Crittenden, Monroe, Butler, Grayson, Ohio, Taylor, and Larue, are mainly based upon it. It comes to the Ohio river in Breckinridge and Meade coun- ties in its lower sweep, and in Greenup county in its upper ; skirting the west- ern edges of our great eastern coal field, around through Carter, Morgan, and Rowan, Bath, Powell, Estill, and Madison, Jackson, Laurel, Rockcastle, Pu- laski, and down through Wayne, Clinton, and Monroe counties to the Cumber- land river.

SIXTH FORMATION-THE CARBONIFEROUS; OR THE COAL MEASURES.

The lower member of this, resting on the sub-carboniferous limestone, is usually what is called the conglomerate, millstone grit, or pudding-stone ; which is generally composed of quartz pebbles, more or less coarse and rounded, cemented together with a silicious or ferruginous cement, but sometimes rep- resented by fine sandstone or even shaley layers. Its thickness varies from 75 to 300 feet; it being very thin in Greenup county, on its upper termina- tion, and thickening toward the south-west. This conglomerate was formerly believed to be the lower limit of profitable coal beds; but, in Kentucky, as well as in other regions, two or three workable beds of very good coal are to be found beneath it, and above the sub-carboniferous limestone. This is the case in Rockcastle county, on Roundstone creek; in the eastern part of Mont- gomery, in Bath, Powell, Owsley, and Morgan, and probably in other parts of the eastern coal field, as also, perhaps, in the western. These are called the sub-conglomeratic coals.

Where the hard layers of this rock prevails-the millstone grit-the hills are steep, cliffs prominent, and the soil but little productive. The principal use of this rock is for millstones or building. Iron ore is occasionally found associated with these lower coal beds.

The true Coal Series, based upon this rock, are made up of alternating layers of sandstones, shales, conglomerates, and limestones, containing various beds of coal, and nodules, and layers of iron ore.

The State of Kentucky is peculiarly rich in this kind of mineral wealth, having two extensive coal fields: one, called the Eastern coal field, including the whole of that part of the State which lies east of a line running south- west from the Ohio river at Greenupsburg, through Monticello, in Wayne county, to the Tennessee line. The other, called the Western coal field-an extension of the Illinois and Indiana coal field from across the Ohio river- occupies the whole of Union, Henderson, Daviess, and Hopkins, and large portions of Hancock, Ohio, Muhlenburg, Grayson, Todd, and Butler counties.

The area of the Eastern coal field, as determined by the survey of Joseph Lesley, jr., is 8,983 square miles; that of the Western, as ascertained by Sid- ney S. Lyon, is 3,888 square miles. Both together give to Kentucky 12,871 square miles, or 8,236,940 acres of coal field; being more than one-third greater than the entire coal area of Great Britain, on which the great wealth and power of that nation is founded !

All this immense mineral wealth, as well as that of the abundant iron jores and other minerals of these regions, is as yet but lightly appreciated and feebly developed ; lying as it does mostly in the portions of our State which have been measurably neglected. But when a well-devised system of internal improvements shall invite immigration, capital, and skill to these regions, they may become the most populous and wealthy portions of the State.

'The coals of Kentucky are various in quality-from soft bituminous or cak- ing coal, to splint and cannel coal. Much of it is pure enough to be used for the smelting of iron, like the celebrated block coal of Indiana. These coals are generally quite accessible.

SEVENTH FORMATION-THE QUATERNARY DEPOSITS.

These are loams, marls, clays, &c., found, principally, as a superficial layer, in the extreme south-western counties of the Jackson Purchase, situated be-

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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

tween the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, viz .: Ballard, Hickman, Fulton, Graves, McCracken, Marshall, and Calloway; which have probably been trans- ported there by the action of water in recent geological time. They are of but little importance, although they contain some local beds of lignite, and the re- mains of some extinct animals. The soil upon them is generally good, and well suited to the growth of tobacco, &c.

METALS AND OTHER USEFUL MINERALS.

IRON. There are several varieties of iron ore found in Kentucky. In sev- eral localities the bog ore is found as a deposit from mineral springs. But this is comparatively unimportant. In addition to this, however, there is-

Ist. The ore of the coal measures. This ore is found in layers, or else in courses of nodules, in the shales or sandstones of the coal fields, and is gener-" ally an hydrated peroxide of iron. When found in layers, it is readily broken into rectangular blocks; otherwise it is taken from the mine in round lumps of various sizes.

2d. The ore found in connection with the limestone underlying the coal measures. This ore is very abundant, and is extensively worked for furnaces.

3d. The ore of the slate formation. This ore, too, is very abundant, and is found, either in continuous strata, or in layers of nodules, in the slate (forma- tion three). It seems to be a calcareous and argillaceous carbonate of iron and limonite. In many places where the slate has been crumbled to pieces, and been washed away, it is found abundantly on the surface. All the above ores are worked, more or less extensively, for the furnaces in various sections of the State.

"In the coal fields of eastern and western Kentucky there appears to be an almost inexhaustible supply of iron ore. Over an area of twelve thousand square miles there may be probably the thickness of one yard of iron ore in the coal formation alone, without counting the slate and limestone regions, where there is probably as much more. Each cubic yard of this ore will yield, on an average, one ton of bar iron, or five thousand tons to the acre. or 3,200,000 tons to the square mile, or 38,400,000,000 on the twelve thousand square miles-a quantity sufficient to supply a ton of iron annually to every individual in the United States (estimating our population at forty millions of people) for 960 years."

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I, Part 74

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452