USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. I > Part 75
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It will be remembered that as much more is supposed to belong to the lime- stone and slate formation.
Like the coal, the iron in every part of Kentucky is very accessible. It is spread over a wide district, penetrated in every direction by navigable streams, and every-where accompanied by the fuel necessary for its reduction. As yet . the mining business may be said hardly to have commenced, but it is destined to be the source of great future wealth to the State.
LEAD.
In a variety of localities veins of lead ore have been found in the blue lime- stone (formation one), but nowhere yet in such abundance as to justify mining operations. The cliff limestone (No. tyo) and the cavernous limestone (No. five) do not appear to be sufficiently developed in Kentucky to furnish any rich veins of this metal. No good workable deposits of this ore have been as yet discovered in Kentucky.
SALT.
According to Dr. Owen, there are "two great water reservoirs in the geo- logical formations of Kentucky : First, The great sandstone formation at the base of the coal measures; Second, The great sandstone formation"-not ex- posed in Kentucky-" lying below the Kentucky marble."
In the first of these the water is generally strong enough to be profitable to work, containing from 25 to 50 pounds of salt in the 100 gallons of water.
In the lower sandstone the water of the great artesian well, at Dupont's works in Louisville, takes its origin.
.
378
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
HYDRAULIC LIMESTONE
Is found in many places in the State, and almost always where shaley argil- laceous layers alternate with beds of limestone; especially where the lime- stone and black slate come together. Gypsum has not yet been developed in any large quantities, although found in many places. Nitrates are yet to be obtained from the limestone caves, but the manufacture of nitre from them is not now profitable.
THE MINERAL SPRINGS
Of the State are numerous and various, and
ORGANIC REMAINS
Abound, characteristic of the various formations.
A most remarkable locality is in Boone county, at Big Bone Lick. Here a large number of bones, perfectly sound and well preserved, have been dug up; and while perhaps in no case has a complete skeleton been found, yet it has been computed that, to furnish the specimens carried off from this place alone, there would be required of the
Mastodon maximus, Elephas primigenius, Megalonyx Jeffersonia, . Bos bombifrous, Bos pallasii,
100 individuals. 20
1
2
1
Some of these animals, especially the mastodon, must have been of extra- ordinary size; and, while there can be no doubt that they are now extinct, there can be as little that, geologically speaking, they were very recently ten- ants of the earth. Several skeletons, more or less perfect, of this immense animal, have been exhumed in various other parts of the State.
SOILS.
Perhaps it may be proper to add a few words in regard to the connection between the geology and soils of different sections of the State. It is well known that the soil takes its character from the underlaying rock; that it is formed by its decomposition, and varies with it. In Kentucky, the blue lime- stone, or formation one, forms the richest soil. That beautiful section of country -the garden of the State-embracing Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford, Scott, Jessamine, and the counties between them and the Ohio river, is under- laid by this rock. The soil over this section is not every-where equally fertile, but, altogether, is the best in the State.
Formation second and formation fifth are both limestone, and form good soils. The former is, as has already been mentioned, developed only to a very lim- ited extent in this State. The latter covers a much larger territory. The "Barrens" are underlaid by it. The soil is good, and, in some places, of an excellent quality.
The slate and sandstone generally form poor soils. In some places, how- ever, a proper mixture of limestone with the clay of the slate forms an excel- lent soil. The soil over the coal measures is generally poor, though it varies much in its qualities.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.
A survey of the State was authorized by the General Assembly, and begun, in 1854. It was prosecuted without interruption until the close of 1859. The corps consisted of the late Dr. David Dale Owen, Principal Geologist; and Sidney S. Lyon, Edward T. Cox, Leo Lesquereux, Joseph Lesley, and Dr. Robert Peter, assistants in various departments. The report of the survey formed four royal-octavo volumes, with accompanying maps and illustrations. But although an immense amount of exceedingly valuable information was obtained as to the natural wealth of the State, the work of the survey was interrupted in the stormy times which preceded our late civil war, before it was half completed.
379
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
It is of great importance to the interests of the State that this indispensable labor should again be commenced, and that it should be carried on to its completion.
BLUE GRASS SOIL OF KENTUCKY-CAUSES OF ITS GREAT FERTILITY AND DURABILITY.
The earliest pioneer visitors to Kentucky spoke in raptures of the wonder- ful luxuriance of its vegetable growth, especially in what has since been called the "Blue Grass region;" and yet, although more than a hundred years have elapsed, and this soil has in many localities been severely taxed in the incessant production of crops, the stranger still sees with admiration, in this favored region, an almost unprecedented fertility ; exhibited not only in the enormous growth of its staple vegetable products, but in the weeds and in " the finer development of the animals. Even man himself seems to acquire a more full and complete physical growth from the more perfect nourishment afforded in the rich products of the blue grass soil.
This famous soil, which is a loam of very fine texture, containing no gravel, and no sand coarser than. fine flour, has evidently been formed in place by the slow decomposition and partial solution of the so-called " Blue Limestone," (described as the " first formation" in our account of Kentucky Geological Formations, on page 372, ante.)
The atmospheric waters, always containing carbonic acid and other solv- ents, have gradually dissolved the upper layers of the limestone in the long course of geological time; leaving the earthy residuum to constitute the soil. This process, still continually going on, while it makes the water of all the springs and wells of this region very hard, from the quantity of dissolved limestone it contains, is also the principal means by which the blue grass soil measurably maintains its productiveness. For the shelly blue limestone is rich in the mineral elements necessary to vegetable growth, and the watery solution of them-the hard water-is continually pervading the soil.
But this favored soil presents other conditions of fertility rarely found natu- rally associated. It is almost perfectly under-drained by the clefts and cav- erns in the silurian limestone on which it rests. It has a subsoil more rich in mineral fertilizers than it is itself. Not only is its chemical composition suit- able to productiveness, but the fineness of its texture gives to it great power of absorption of the gases and vapors of the atmosphere for the food of plants, while its great porosity allows excess of water to penetrate it with the greatest facility. Added to these conditions, a favorable climate and suitable meteoro- logical conditions combine to complete its productiveness.
The chemical composition of some of the limestones of this region, as pub- lished from the analyses of Dr. Peter, in vol. iv, p. 150, of Reports of Kentucky Geological Survey, will illustrate these remarks :
Composition of Four Limestones from Fayette County, Kentucky. (Dried at 212º Fahrenheit.)
No. 967. Buff Mag. nesian Limestone.
No. 969. Birds'-eye Limestone.
No. 969. Kentucky Marble.
No. 970. Fossilifer- ous Lims. stone.
Carbonate of lime.
77.460
95.680
62.680
91.480
Carbonate of magnesia ..
15.426
2.044
23.079
1.044
Alumina & oxides of iron & manganese.
1.280
.380
6.060
3.980
Phosphoric acid.
.246
.182
.246
.848
Sulphuric acid.
.166
.166
.44
.317
Potash.
.193
.193
.162
.232
Soda
.363
.048
.182
.336
Silex and insoluble silicates.
2.980
1.580
5.280
2.330
Water and loss
1.886
1.870
Total
100.000 !
100.273
100.000
100.617
380
PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS
The considerable proportions of phosphoric acid and potash, as well as of sulphuric acid and other ingredients, essential to vegetable nourishment, in these limestones, show how they may contribute to the fertility of the soil which rests upon them. But the hard magnesian limestone, Kentucky mar- ble, and birds' eye marble, being less decomposable than the friable fossilifer- ous limestone, never forms as fertile soil as the latter, which characterizes the blue-grass region.
The chemical composition of the blue-grass soil, from six counties, is given in the following table of analyses by Dr. Peter, as reported in the several volumes of the reports of Kentucky Geological Survey :
No. 568. Bourbon County.
No. 27. Fayette County.
No. 501. Clarke County.
No. 550. Woodford County.
No. 681. Mercer County.
No. 748. Scott County.
Organic and volatile matters.
8.406
8.000
6.100
7.771
10.365
9.042
Alumina.
5.745
4.181
3.940
- 5.395
5.015
Peroxide of iron ..
5.815
6.170
4.920
12.961
.140
5.310
Sesquioxide of manganese ..
.370
...
.400
.620
.568
Carbonate of lime.
.945
.494
.470
2.464
1.995
1.020
Magnesia
.170
.420
.620
.173
1.234
.293
Phosphoric acid
.335
.460
.480
.319
.333
.438
Sulphuric acid.
.119
.......
.150
.093
.141
Potash.
.227
.205
.320
.394
.762
.214
Soda
.133
.052
.080
130
.106
.106
Sand and insoluble silicates ..
79.045
79.910
82.650
72.267
72.035
78.145
Total.
100.680
99.882
99.980
99.628
100.048
100.289
Moisture driven off at 400º F.
5.10
4.44
4.16
4.70
4.50
5.40
Soluble matters extracted
from 1000 grains by water
containing carbonic acid ..
6.078
..
2.093
6.014
11.095
6.114
....
THE PRE- HISTORIC INHABITANTS OF KENTUCKY. *
Assuming the "ternary classification" of the several varieties of mankind to be exhaustive and exact, it is perhaps allowable to say that, within the memory of living men, offshoots of three distinct primordial races-the RED, the WHITE, the BLACK-have multiplied and flourished in the heart of the Mississippi Valley. To the Red man this wondrous central region (to which he gave the name Kentuck-e) was a land of Darkness and Blood; to the Black it has been a field of "involuntary servitude "; to the White it is the seat of an advancing civilization. But antedating the utmost limits of human memory, and defying all ordinary methods of historic research, there lies a mysterious past, embosoming a mighty civilization, which the modern eye sees looming dimly through misty traditions and enigmatical remains.
Patient and critical investigation has found numerous traces, in the West- ern valleys, of a remarkable race of men, peculiar in their ethnic affinities, compact and powerful in their social organization, sagacious and enterprising in war, skilled in the industrial and domestic arts, devoted to the rites of a symbolical cult, and familiar with those principles and forms of political ad- ministration which give stability to the conditions and institutions of a state. These were the pre-historic inhabitants of Kentucky, whose origin, develop- ment, character, status, affinities, and fate we purpose briefly to consider.
Our materials for this consideration are derived chiefly from three sources- native traditions, hieroglyphic records, and antique remains. Whilst there is nothing inherently trustworthy or conclusive in the traditional lore of the wigwam, there have come down to us certain Indian traditions which-viewed
* Written by Thos. E. Pickett, M.D., in Sept., 1871.
381 .
PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS.
in connection with the testimony of the mounds and mural remains, and of the hieroglyphic pointings of Aztec historiography-seem to cast a faint gleam of light into the gloom and mystery of those pre-historic days. There is an old Delaware tradition, for example, which says that, many centuries ago, the LENNI-LENAPE, a powerful race which swept in a flood of migration from the far West, found a barrier to its eastward progress in a mighty civilization which was intrenched in the river valleys east of the Mississippi. The people who occupied these fortified seats are traditionally denominated the ALLEGEWI. The two nations thus confronting each other upon the banks of the Mississippi, measured the situation with a civilized eye-the Lenni-Lenape diplomatically parleying for the right of passage, and the subtle Allegewi hypocritically affect- ing to hear. As a result of these diplomatic negotiations, the Lenni-Lenape were treacherously assailed in an attempted passage, and driven back, though not utterly destroyed, by their perfidious foe. But the tradition further re- lates that there was a coincident migration of the warlike IROQUOIS from the far West on a higher line of latitude, and that this people were seeking to effect a passage of the same stream at another point. The Lenni-Lenape, speedily rallying from their repulse, strike a military league with the Iroquois, pro- claim a war of extermination against the Allegewi, reduce their strongholds, desolate their lands, and drive them southiward in disastrous retreat-their chosen seats being abandoned to the conqueror in tumultuous haste, and themselves becoming a nation of wanderers upon the shores of the stream which they had perfidiously attempted to defend.
But this tradition of the Delawares does not stand alone. That the pre- historic inhabitants of Kentucky were at some indeterminate period cver- whelmed by a tide of savage invasion from the North, is a point upon which Indian tradition, as far as it goes, is positive and explicit. It is related, in a posthumous fragment on Western Antiquities, by Rev. John P. Campbell, MI D., which was published in the early part of the present century,* that Col. James Moore, of Kentucky, was told by an old Indian that the primitive inhabitants of this State had perished in a war of extermination waged against them by the Indians; that the last great battle was fought at the Falls of the Ohio; and that the Indians succeeded in driving the Aborigines into a small island below the Rapids, "where the whole of them were cut to pieces." The Indian further said this was an undoubted fact handed down by tradition, and that the colonel would have proofs of it under his eyes as soon as the waters of the Ohio became low. When the waters of the river had fallen, an examination of Sandy Island was made, and "a multitude of human bones was discovered."
There is similar confirmation of this tradition in the statement of General George Rogers Clark, that there was a great burying-ground on the northern side of the river, but a short distance below the Falls. According to a tra- dition imparted to the same gentleman by the Indian chief Tobacco, the bat- tle of Sandy Island decided finally the fall of Kentucky, with its ancient inhabitants. When Colonel McKee commanded on the Kanawha (savs Dr. Campbell), he was told by the Indian chief Cornstalk, with whom he had frequent conversations, that Ohio and Kentucky (and Tennessee is also asso- ciated with Kentucky in the pre-historic ethnography of Rafinesque) had once been settled by a white people who were familiar with arts of which the In- dians knew nothing; that these whites, after a series of bloody contests with the Indians, had been exterminated; that the old burial-places were the graves of an unknown people; and that the old forts had not been built by Indians, but had come down from "a very long ago" people, who were of a white com- plexion, and skilled in the arts.
In addition to this traditional testimony, various and striking traces of a deadly conflict have been found all along the Ohio border. To say nothing of the vast system of fortifications covering exposed and important points, and evidently designed as a general barrier against hostile incursions, there are significant traces of former conflicts in the old "battle-fields" of Bourbon, Pendleton, and Bracken counties,t which, clearly indicating occurrences be- yond the pale of the historic period, confirm in some measure the traditional
" See sketch of Dr. Campbell, page 162. t See Vol. I, pages 69, 676, 93.
382
PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS.
theory or belief of a protracted and desolating struggle for the possession of this border-land. And doubtless the familiar appellation of "The Dark and Bloody Ground" originated in the gloom and horror with which the Indian imagination naturally invested the traditional scenes and events of that strange and troubled period. General Clark says (vide Dr. Campbell) that Kentuck-e, in the language of the Indians, signifies " the river of blood."
It is not improbable, judging from the frequency with which fortifications occur upon the banks of water-courses, that the bloodiest battles were fought upon the banks of navigable streams. Kentuck-e, to the Indian, was a land of ill-re- pute, and, whereyer a lodge-fire blazed, " strange and unholy rumors" were busy with her name. The old Indian who described to Colonel Moore the sanguin- ary and decisive battle of Sandy Island expressed great astonishment that white people could live in a country which had been the scene of such con. flicts; and an ancient Sac whom Colonel Joe Hamilton Daveiss met at St. - Louis in 1800, gave utterance to similar expressions of surprise. Kentucky, he said, was filled with the ghosts of its slaughtered inhabitants: how could the white man make it his home ?
Such are some of the pointings of tradition. Their peculiar significance will be more fully realized as we proceed.
The shadowy beings who peopled this lurid past are now known only by their works. They are simply the MOUND-BUILDERS. The chief memorials of their existence are the tumuli, or mounds of earth, and other works of strange de- sign starting in massive relief from the soft green bosom of our woodlands, and the terraced banks of our immemorial streams. For years the philo- sophic antiquary has stood, in patient and critical inquest, over these mys- terious remains. Thorough excavation, careful survey, accurate measure- ment, exact delineation, and faithful description may assist materially in the formation of sound and definite conclusions; but, after all, we shall still be obliged to confess that our doubts are many, and that the mystery is deep. Even now we come with stereotyped queries to the study of these monumental heaps. Were they sepulchers ? temples ? or fortresses? Beneath this sloping area, the Mound-builder might have buried his dead; from it, flung defiance to a foe; upon it, made sacrifice to the gods. Why not fortress, temple, tomb, at once ? Or, again : What light do these remains shed upon pre-historic re- ligion, polity, and art ? Do they assist to simplify the knotty problems of the ethnologist ? Do they develop unsuspected relationships of blood ? Are they significant of derivative ideas in religion and art? Or do they point to a primordial race, and to an independent development of ideas and institutions springing from a peculiar and isolated environment or milieu ? These queries have never been definitely answered; but we have secured at least a sound basis for extended and systematic investigation. What has been accom- plished thus far within given geographical limits, it is our purpose to state, in a systematic form; confining ourselves, in the main, to a simple record of re- sults, and while striving to be brief, studying with equal solicitude to be clear.
The footprints of the Mound-builder may be traced wherever the Missis- sippi and its tributaries flow ; in the fertile valleys of the West, and along the rich savannas of the Gulf; upon the Ohio, the Kentucky, the Cumberland, the Licking; upon the streams of the far South, and as far north as the Gen- esee and the head-waters of the Susquehanna; but rarely upon mountainous or sterile tracts, and almost invariably upon the fertile margins of navigable streams. Within these limits, the population of that Old American World corresponded almost perfectly in its distribution with that of the New. These ancient citizens enjoyed a wide range of communication. Antiquarian re- search has gathered, from the same mound, the mica of the Alleghenies, ob- sidian from Mexico, native copper from the Northern Lakes, and shells from the Southern Gulf. The mounds themselves are multitudinous in number, peculiar in structure, and varied in character. The precise number in the State of Kentucky has never been accurately estimated, possibly will never be. In form, most of the mounds are ellipsoidal or conelike; many of them are pyramidal, and of striking dimensions; they are always truncated, are sometimes terraced, and generally have graded and spiral ascents to the sum- mits. It was at one time suggested, and the hypothesis with a certain degree
.
383
PRE-HISTORIC INHABITANTS.
of plausibility maintained, that these elevations of earth were natural forma- tions-the results of diluvial action. But the "theory" was scarcely recon- cilable with the facts, and has long since passed into the limbo of exploded hypotheses.
The form, position, structure, and contents of the mounds afford convincing proof of their artificial origin. The Altar Mounds, which are supposed to have been places of sacrifice, are found either within, or near an enclos- ure, are stratified, and contain altars of stone, or of burned clay : whereas, the Mounds of Sepulture, or the burial-places, are isolated, unstratified, and contain human remains. The Temple Mounds, which are "high places" for ceremonial worship, differ from the preceding in containing neither altars nor human remains. In addition to these there are certain anomalous mounds, mounds of observation, signal mounds, etc., which defy all precise or satis- factory classification.
The Temple, or terraced, Mounds are said to be more numerous in Ken- tucky than in the States north of the Ohio river-a circumstance which im- plies an early origin and application of the familiar phrase "sacred soil." The striking resemblance which these Temple Mounds bear to the teocallis of Mexico, has suggested the purposes to which they were devoted and the name by which they are known. Some remarkable works of this class have been found in the counties of Adair, Trigg, Montgomery, Hickman, MeCracken, Whitley, Christian, Woodford, Greenup, and Mason. The Temple Mound near Lovedale, in Woodford county,* is a very interesting specimen of this class-an octagonal work with graded ascents at each of the northern angles; and there is a work of curious design near Washington, in the county of Ma- son,t which, though differing in form from the preceding, is obviously a speci- men of the teocalli class.
There is, also, a Temple Mound in Greenup county, which has excited a good deal of interest. It forms part of a connected series of works commu- nicating by means of parallel embankments, and embracing the chief struct- ural elements peculiar to this class of works. On a commanding river ter- race stands one of the groups of this series-an exact rectangle, eight hun dred feet square, with gateway, bastion, ditch, and hollow-way, with out- works consisting of parallel walls leading to the north-east, and to the south- west, from opposite sides of the rectangular enclosure. The work has many of the salient features of an extensive fortification, and appears to have been de- signed for purposes of military defense ; and yet there is nothing to forbid the supposition that its sloping areas were also devoted to the imposing rites of a ceremonial worship. There is a corresponding group on the opposite bank of the Ohio river, which is obviously sacred or superstitious in its origin and design. The third group of this series consists of four concentric cireles, in tersected at right angles by four broad avenues, conforming very nearly to the cardinal points of the compass. In the center is a large mound, truncated and terraced, with a graded way leading to the summit. This group rests upon a lofty terrace, at the base of the hills which border the beautiful river valley. About a mile to the west of this is a small circular work with a central mound, which is approached from the exterior by a narrow gateway through the parapet, and a causeway over the ditch. There seems to have existed a connection originally, by parallels, between the several groups of this unique and enigmatical series of works. The total length of the embankments now traceable is about eight miles. Whether we assign to these works a military or a religious origin, it is impossible not to admire the architectural skill of con- struction, the artistic symmetry of proportion, and the geometrical exactness of design. Can we resist the conclusion that this ancient people possessed a standard of measurement? a means of determining angles ? a method of "plotting" geometrical areas ?
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