USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 21
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" Everything here assumes a dignity and splendor I have never seen in any other part of the world. You ascend a considerable distance from the shore of the Ohio, and when you would suppose you had arrived at the summit of a mountain, you find yourself upon an extensive level. Here an eternal verdure reigns, and the brilliant sun of latitude 399. piercing through the azure heavens, produces in this prolific soil an early maturity which is truly astonishing.
" Flowers full and perfect, as if they had been cultivated by the hand of a florist, with all their captivating odors, and with all the variegated charms which color and nature can pro- duce here, in the lap of elegance and beauty, decorate the smiling groves. Soft zephyrs gently breathe on sweets, and the inhaled air gives a voluptuous glow of health and viser. that seems to ravish the intoxicated sences. The sweet songsters of the forest appear to fod the influence of the genial clime, and in more soft and modulated tones warble their lender notes in unison with love and nature. Every thing here gives delight; and, in that wt 1 effulgence which beams around us, we feel a glow of gratitude for the elevation which our all bountiful Creator has bestowed upon ns.
" You must forgive what I know you will call a rhapsody, but what I really experienced after traveling across the Alleghany mountain in March, when it was covered with snow, and after finding the country about Pittsburgh hare, and not recovered from the ravages of far winter. There was scarcely a blade of grass to be seen; every thing looked dreary, and bore those marks of melancholy which the rude hand of frost produces. I embarked un- mediately for Kentucky, and in less than five days landed at Limestone, where I found ns- ture robed in all her charms."
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STATISTICS OF KENTUCKY.
In Filson's " Discovery, Settlement and present state of Kentucky," published as a supplement to " Imlay's Description," and written in 1784, the following no less glowing description of the country is given :
"The country is in some parts nearly level ; in others not so much so; in others again hilly, but moderately-and in such places there is most water. The levels are. not like a carpet, but interspersed with small risings and declivities, which form a beautiful prospect. The soil is of a loose, deep, black mould without sand, in the first rate lands about two or three feet deep, and exceedingly luxuriant in all its productions. The country in general may be considered as well timbered, producing large trees of many kinds, and to be ex. ceeded by no country in variety. Those which are peculiar to Kentucky are the sugar tree. which grows in all parts, and furnishes every family with great plenty of excellent sorar. The honey-locust is curiously surrounded with large thorny spikes, bearing broad and long pods in the form of peas, has a sweet taste, and makes excellent beer. The coffee tree greatly resembles the black-oak, grows large, and also bears a pod, in which is enclosed coffee. The pawpaw tree does not grow to a great size, is a soft wood, bears a fine fruit, much like a cucumber in shape and size, and tastes sweet." Of the " fine cane, on which the cattle feed and grow fat," he says: "'This plant in general grows from three to twelve feet high, of a hard substance, with joints at eight or ten inches distance along the stalk, from which proceed leaves resembling those of the willow. There are many canebrakes : thick and tall, that it is ditheult to pass through them. Where no cane grows, there is an abundance of wild rye, clover and buffalo grass, covering vast tracts of country, and afford. ing excellent food for cattle. The fields are covered with an abundance of wild herbage not common to other countries. Here are seen the finest crown-imperial in the world. the cardinal flower, so much extolled for its scarlet color, and all the year, excepting the winter months, the plains and valley- are adorned with a variety of flowers of the most admirable beauty. Here is also found the tulip-bearing laurel tree, or ningnolia, which is very fra- grant and continues to blossom and send for several months together. The reader by casting his eye upon the map, and viewing round the heads of Licking from the Ohio, and round the heads of Kentucky, Dick's river, and down Green river to the Ohio, may view in that great compass of above one hundred miles square. the most extraordinary country on which the sun has ever shone."
This is a glowing description of Kentucky AS SHE WAS, robed in primeval beauty. The hand of man has been laid upon the forest, and the wild grandeur of nature succeeded by the arts of a civilized people. Kentucky AS SHE IS, presents at- tractions which are found in but few, if any other regions of the world. Situ- ated in the very centre of the American confederated states, beyond the reach of foreign intrusion-she is rich in a genial climate, rich in a prolific soil. rich in her agricultural products, rich in her beautiful farins and grazing lands, rich in the magnificent scenery and abundant ores of her mountains ; and, above all and b .- yond all, rich in a population at once industrious, enterprising, hospitable, intel- ligent and patriotic.
PRINCIPAL RIVERS.
The principal rivers of Kentucky, are the Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Cutu- berland. Kentucky, Green, Licking, Big and Little Sandy, Salt and the Rolling Fork of Salt river. The Ohio flows along the whole northern boundary of the State for six hundred and thirty-seven miles, following its windings. The Mis- sissippi washes the Kentucky shore from the mouth of the Ohio, to a point be- low New Madrid, for the distance of one hundred miles. Big and Little Su .: rivers lie in the eastern extremity of the State, the foriner being its eastern houn- dary. Cumberland and Tennessee intersect the western extremity : the i ... rises in the eastern part of the State. and passes into the State of Teum - after which it returns and flows through Kentucky into the Ohio river. i. Kentucky, Licking, Salt and Rollng Fork of Salt rivers, flow through the int .. rior of the State. The principal ereeks are generally mentioned under the hedu of the counties in which they rise, or through which they flow.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
The geological formations of Kentucky, in common with those of the other western States generally, below to that great system which extends from the Alleghanies on the east, across the Mississippi, and perhaps to the Rocky mogu. tains on the west. Throughout this vast territory, the primary fossiliterons of
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 155
protozoic and lower secondary, or carboniferous rocks prevail. These compre- hend a great number of distinct formations, very unequally developed in different parts of this wide valley, producing a great variety in the mineral and agricul- tural wealth and resources of different sections. Almost all these rocks contain organic remains, although they are found much more abundantly in some strata and localities than in otliers. We are not, however, to suppose that they are in- discriminately dispersed through the whole series. Here, as in every other part of the world, each formation is distinguished more or less by peculiar species or varieties. There are, however, indubitable proofs that the whole of these strata were once covered by the waters of the ocean, and that the remains which are found in them, and in many places almost compose them, all belong to marine species.
These rocks all belong to the class which are termed sedimentary, and were gradually deposited upon the bottom of the ocean. The shells and skeletons 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 sank to the bottom, and were gradually covered up by clay and sand, 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 exposed to our view as the lasting records of the earth's history during ages long anterior to our own.
When these deposites were made, it is beyond the power of science to deter- mine. Geologically speaking, it was very early.
The strata over nearly the whole surface of Kentucky lie nearly horizontal, with scarcely any dislocations. They have. however, a slight dip. This dip seems to be in every direction from a point near Cincinnati on the Ohio river, as a centre. At this point we see the lowest surface rocks of the State exposed. As we go np the river, we meet with the other strata in succession, cropping out as it is termed, but sinking beneath other rocks as they extend eastward, and rising gen- erally again to the surface on the western slope of the Alleghanirs. 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 to the south. Cincinnati seems thus to have been a centre of elevation when this broad valley 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.
The blue limestone is the lowest rock exposed on the surface in Ken- tucky. It is, as its name indicates, a limestone. It, however, generally con- tains a good deal of clay, and in some places a large amount of magnesia. It underlies an immense extent of territory, reaching continuously in all likeli- hood, though not every where exposed, from the Alleghanies on the Past, to at least two hundred miles west of the Mississippi, and probably to the foot of the Rocky mountains. Over much the greater part of this territory it is covered by saperincumbent strata. In Kentucky and Ohio it forms the surface rock, over an area extending about one hundred and seventy indes north and south, and one hundred and twenty-five miles east and west. It is somewhat oval in its shape, and reaches from Danville, near the centre of Kon- turky, across the Ohio river to Dayton. and from the town of Madison in Inch- an, to a short distance above Maysville. This formation is of great though unknown thickness, probably not less than one thousand feet, and is composed of many strata of limestone alternating with layers of clay. The rock is gon- erally found in thin seams, and easily quarried, and well adapted for building purposes. In some places, however, it becomes very thick, and massive, and where the water courses have cut their channels through it, is left exposed to high and perpendicular cliffs. This is very conspicuous on the banks of the Kentucky at Frankfort, and for some miles above. Here the river is confined by high and perpendicular walls of solid rock. The stream no doubt once flowed on the surface level of the country, but for ages has the water been slowly and
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156
STATISTICS OF KENTUCKY.
silently but steadily cutting its way through the hard rock, until the bed of the river is now four or five hundred feet beneath the surface of the surroundi ... country. That there was once no natural valley here, but that the channel has been formed by the action of the running water itself, we have this proof: The layers of rock, on the opposite sides of the river, exactly correspond. Opposite to a thick bed you find one of the same thickness and character. So of a thinner layer, and of the seams of clay which separate the different beds. Besides this, we find near the surface, far above the present level of the bed of the river, in many places, manifest marks of the action of water, giving indubitable proor, that it once occupied a channel not near so deep as at present.
It is in these cliffs of the Kentucky river, and in the adjacent.country that we find what is termed the Kentucky marble. This presents quite a different appearance from that of the common limestone, ordinarily. As has been stated, the layers are much thicker, the rock is less crystalline, more brittle, breaks with a concei- dal fracture, and is barren of organic remains. It is used as a building ston-, and is the material of which the State-house in Frankfort is constructed. It is susceptible of a good polish, and is sometimes used for tomb stones, and mont- ments, though liable to scale when exposed to the action of the weather. It is almost too coarse to be suitable for finer ornamental purposes. It is said to con- tain a large per cent. of magnesia.
SECOND FORMATION-THE CLIFF LIMESTONE.
If we travel up the Ohio river, from Cincinnati, until we get to about the dividing line between the counties of Mason and Lewis, we meet with the for- mation overlying the blue limestone. If we travel down the river we first meet the same formation at Madison, Indiana. It takes its name of "Cliff Lime- stone" from the high cliffs which are usually found on the water courses where this formation prevails. It differs in its structure, color and general appearance, from the blue limestone. It is generally found in thicker layers, and has less clay, but more sand in its composition, As a surface rock it covers but a small area in Kentucky. It forms a narrow belt entirely surrounding the space occu- pied by the underlying rock. At its broadest point in Kentucky, this belt is not more than twenty or thirty miles, and entirely disappears in the centre of the State. On the east and west it dips under the other strata. On the west it is the surface rock, between Madison and Louisville. On the east it occupies a somewhat narrower strip of country. But towards the north it spreads out over an immense extent of territory, and becomes much thicker. It is the rock over which the waters pour at the falls of Niagara, and it is the same rock that causes the falls of the Ohio at Louisville. Towards the north-west, in Illinois and Iowa. this rock attains a thickness of six or seven hundred feet, and is the great lead- bearing rock of those states. In Kentucky it is perhaps too thin ever to furnish- any rich veins of ore.
THIRD FORMATION-SLATE OR SHALE.
The slate rests upon the cliff limestone, and is seen immediately on crossing this formation in traveling either up or down the Ohio from Cincinnati. It has a dip exactly corresponding to that of the preceding rock, and like it, occupies a narrow semi-circular belt of country lying just outside of the cliff limestone. Crossing the Ohio in Lewis county, where it is not more than ten or twelve mile # broad, and passing in a south-west direction to the centre of the State, a na miles south of Danville, it makes a sweep round towards the north-west, and - crosses the Ohio at Louisville. Indeed this slate may be traced on the surtice from the north-eastern part of Illinois, in a south-east direction, through Illin ... Indiana, and to the centre of Kentucky, where it bends to the north, and rule through the whole length of Ohio, until it strikes the western end of Lake Eric. and thence east along the southern margin of that lake, into the interior of New York, where bending south again, it runs along the western slope of the Aik- ghanies ; and throughout this vast circuit, is in no place more than fifteen of twenty miles broad, on the surface, though it underlies an immense region. lu the eastern part of the State it is between two and three hundred feet thick.
The slate is highly bituminons, and burns readily when thrown on the fire. 'Throughout its whole extent, it abounds in iron pyrites (sulphate of iron) and in
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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
iron ores, and over the whole territory it occupies mineral springs are very nu- merous.
FOURTH FORMATION-SANDSTONE.
The slate is everywhere accompanied by an overlying sandstone, or freestone. as it is sometimes termed. This sandstone may be traced through that same vast extent of territory, in which it has just been mentioned the slate can be fol- lowed ; and in Kentucky comes to the surface in a narrow seni-circular belt of country completely surrounding the slate. It gives rise to a low range of hd !; termned " knobs," which may be traced, from Louisville around south of Danville, to the Ohio river again in Lewis county. In some cases this rock, when exposed to the weather, becomes soft and crumbles to pieces. But if care be taken to select specimens entirely free from clay. it forms a firm and durable material for architectural purposes. It is readily cut into any desired shape, and is exten- sively used for columns, tombstones and other purposes. But of the finer quali- ties great numbers of grindstones are manufactured. Near Portsmouth it is about three hundred and fifty feet thick; below Louisville, two hundred and eighty; and it seems to grow thinner as it extends towards the west, though it is not known to what distance it reaches. It has the same dip with the preceding rocks. It underlies the whole of the eastern part of Kentucky, and is the rock which furnishes the salt springs in this State and Virginia.
FIFTH FORMATION-OR CAVERNOUS LIMESTONE.
Immediately above the sandstone we meet with another formation of limestone. It is termed the " Cavernous limestone" because in it are found those numerous caves, which abound in Kentucky, and of which the Mammoth Cave. is the most remarkable yet discovered. The mouth of this cave is in Edmonston county. on the banks of Green river. It is said to have been explored to the distance of ten miles from its mouth, without having yet reached its termination : and the au- gregate length of all the branches already discovered, is more than forty murs. It is the most remarkable cave known, for its vast extent. Its various branches sometimes swell out into vast arches a hundred feet high, and into vaulted rowas or domes, some of which are said to be more than three hundred feet from floor to roof. In it are several springs of fresh and mineral waters, even a river as it is called, but which is more like a pool of water, as scarcely any current can he detected, and which is most probably fed by the Green river, as it rises and falls with the water in that stream. In this river or pool are found " blind fish." without the slightest appearance of eyes. They are not more than four or five inches long, but from their snowy whiteness can be seen at considerable depths, darting through the transparent water. They are often caught with nets.
Stalactites and stalagmites abound in some parts of the cave; and in at least one room the roof and sides are covered with the most brilliant incrustations of gypsum, (sulphate of lime), which looks like it had been carved by the hand of art. But no description can convey any adequate idea of the impression the end- less variety in the cave makes upon the beholder.
But this is only one of a thousand or perhaps ten thousand caves found in this rock. Throughout the whole section of country where this formation prevails. sink holes, sinking springs, and underground streams are constantly to be une t with. These sink holes are probably produced by the falling in of the roots of the caves, and the springs and streams pour into them, and often run for great distances under ground.
The rock of this formation is almost a pure limestone, and when burned makes most beautiful lime. It is manufactured and sent down the Ohio and Missi - sippi rivers. in considerable quantities, for the southern markets. It is generally compact, and can be quarried in thick blocks, and forms an excellent building material. It is sometimes politie in its structure, and in many places is covered with fragments of flint or hornstone.
This cavernous limestone forms the surface rock for a large section, perhips a fourth or fifth of Kentucky. Its boundary may be traced as follows: Begin :- ning at the Tennessee line near Thompsonville in Monroe county, and proceed- ing in a north-east direction to Mt. Vernon; thence westward, to the head wasters ot the southern branch of Rolling Fork, and thence along this stream to where it empties into the Ohio, we mark its eastern limits. It occupies all the State west
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STATISTICS OF KENTUCKY.
of this boundary, except the portion occupied by the lower coal field, which will be described, and which rests upon this rock. The dip of this rock is towards the south and west in Kentucky. It thins out towards the east, but beenes thicker towards the west, and attains a great thickness in Missouri and Illinois. In Kentucky the country underlaid by this rock, is termed the " Barrens." Ti ... name is probably not derived from the poverty of the soil, for this is of a medium quality. and sometimes very good ; but from the scarcity of the timber. The barrens are said to have been once a vast prairie, and are now covered by scarcely any timber except a small scrubby oak, termed black-jack. It is im- possible to assign the cause of this peculiar feature of this remarkable region.
SIXTH FORMATION-THE CONGLOMERATE COAL SERIES.
Resting on the cavernous limestone we find a conglomerate or pudding stone. It is composed of coarse pebbles of quartz, and fine grains of sand, rounded and cemented together by a silicious cement. It underlies the coal series in both the eastern and western fields in Kentucky, and is generally regarded as a member; of the coal formation. It foris a kind of basin or trough in which the coal beds were deposited, and comes to the surface in a border completely surround- ing the coal fields. In Kentucky it is found in two narrow strips,-in one ex- tending from the Ohio river in Greenup county, in a south-west direction to where the Cumberland river crosses the Tennessee line ; in the other, forming a margin to the lower coal field extending from the Ohio in the western part of Meade county, south and west until it nearly reaches the southern limits of the State, at a point near the dividing line between the counties of Todd and Chris. tian. and thence bending to the north-west, recrosses the Ohio in Crittenden county. The rock is very firm. and is sometimes used for millstones to grind Indian corn. It varies in thickness from eighty to two or three hundred feet. though perhaps no where so thick as this in Kentucky.
The Coal series .- Immediately over the conglomerate we find what may be more properly termed the coal formation. The whole series is made up of various combinations of layers of shale and sandstone, with thinner strata of limestone, hornstone and iron ore alternating with coal beds.
In Kentucky there are two distinct and separate coal fields. The one in the eastern part of the State. termed the coal field of the upper Ohio, includes the whole of that section of the State. which lies to the east of a line beginning on the Ohio river, at Greenupsburg, and running in a south-west direction by Irvine on the Kentucky, Somerset, the county seat of Pulaski, and Jamestown, to the Tennessee line. This is a part of the great coal field, the largest in the world. occupying a very large district in western Pennsylvania and Virginia, a portion vi Ohio, and the eastern part of Kentucky, and extending down into Tennessee. and probably into Alabama.
The other coal field is in the Green river country, and is a part of the great field covering a large portion of Illinois, considerable sections in Kentucky and Indiana, and even extending into Missouri and lowa. Mr. Mather, who, under the direction of the Legislature, made a geological reconnoisance of Kentucky. in 1338, in his report says : " The boundary of the lower Ohio coal formation may be indicated, by an irregular line drawn from near the mouth of the Wabash, so as to include Henderson, Davies, Hancock, Ohio, and most of Union, Hopkins, Mublenburg. Butler, Edmonston, Grayson, and a small portion of Breckinridge. Hart. and Warren counties."
In both fields the strata dip from the border towards the center, and the rocky which we observe passing under the coal formation as we ascend the Ohio, come again to the surface before we reach the Alleghanies, forming a kind of basin ez trough, in which the coal has been deposited.
In Kentucky the coal fields are supposed to cover ten or twelve thousand square miles, and but a small part of each field is included within the limits of this State. In England, the largest coal field does not embrace more than twelve hundred square miles, or the one-tenth of the coal district of Kentucky. In mniny places several workable beds of coal are found. But as yet, mining operations have been carried on only to a very limited extent, and generally a seam is opened where the coal is found cropping out on a hill side, and only the most ac- cessible coal procured. The nearly horizontal position of the beds in Kentucky,
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GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
the dip being just sufficient for drainage, if the vein is opened on the right side of a hill, renders the operation of mining very easy. There are several varieties of « l, but all of them bituminous. Mr. Mather in his report mentions three kinds.
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