History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 18

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 18

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" At Goderich, thirty miles on the shore south from Kinkarden, the depth to the salt rock is about 1,110 feet. A change in the situation of the strata is noticeable at this point, for here we find the salt rock split by a stratum of limestone about thirty feet thick. The distances down at Goderich are as follows: 1,110 feet to salt rock, or the lower stratum. First about 1,050 feet to a stratum of salt rock thirty feet thick, then twenty feet of limestone, under which is found forty feet of solid salt rock. At this place the same process is gone through in making and pumping the water as at Kinkarden, and at the same cost.

" The town of Warwick is situated about eighty miles south and a little east from Goderich. Here the salt rock has been struck at a depth of 1,200 feet, and the stratum of salt was found 100 feet thick. The manufacturing of salt is carried on here with flattering success.

148

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

"The peculiarity of the different strata of rock passed in getting to the salt basin is al- most identical from Inverhuron to Warwick, viz. : First limestown, then white flint rock, and then blue shale, which is found very hard and filled with gypsum; after this is the salt rock. Under the salt rock there is found, almost invariably, a soft rock that is full of sulphur beds, and this rock smells so disgustingly bad that it would, to use a vulgar yet suggestive ex- pression, stink a setting hen from off her nest.

" At Petrolia, twelve miles south of Warrick, are situated the great oil fields of Canada. Here the formation of the rock changes, and we strike strata in the following order: First is met limestone, which generally averages forty feet thick; then about 120 feet of soapstone; then about thirty feet of limestone; then soapstone again fifty feet; then about sixty feet of very hard or close limestone; and then a soft and porous limerock, in which is found the greatest amount of oil, although traces are noticed from the bed rock down.

" Mr. Englehart, a wealthy gentleman from New York City, who is largely interested in the oil business at Petrolia, put down an experimental well (and by the way I would say that all good mineral salt and oil wells are struck by test or experimental wells), and he was rewarded for his enterprise hy striking the salt rock at a depth of 1,260 feet, and on boring the strata it was discovered to be the enormous thickness of 195 feet, a solid bed of salt rock. Under this strata was found the same formation of stinking rock with beds of sulphur as is found at the places named above.

"In Northern Ohio, the salt rock has been found at about the same depth of drilling as is necessary at Inverhuron, and the rock was of about the same thickness, thus proving that the southern limit of the great salt basin is at that point.

" Test wells are going down at different places east and west of the St. Clair River, and . it is only a question of time when we will know definitely the exact boundary of this immense bed of salt. At Marine City, ex-Senator McElroy is putting down a well as an experiment and test, and already strong brine is found therein. In this city, brine has been found, but not in paying quantity, because the drilling did not extend deep enough. Mineral springs are the principal waters discovered in boring at this point, and at present I am engaged in putting down an ad- ditional well to supply the increasing demands of the large hotel at the mineral springs just below the city.

" I find the difficulty is the same here as at Saginaw, and that is, the wells are not drilled deep enough. My theory is that the salt stratum lies in a basin and that it dips down like the inside of a tea saucer, and I believe that at a depth of from 1,500 to 2,500 feet the salt rock can be found anywhere from London, Canada West, to the shores of Lake Michigan, and, too, just as thick (or thicker) as it is twenty miles east from here in the Englehart well at Petrolia. The expense in putting down wells is not costly, and when salt, oil or mineral water is found, the investment will pay as well as a gold mine, if properly worked. Two dollars per foot and four to eight weeks' time will be all the cost and time needed in which to test the rock.

" But the question remains: Where can be the eastern and western limits of this salt basin ? Is it possible that it runs parallel with the Niagara limestone (as geology teaches) and finally end at or near Syracuse, N. Y .; or does the mighty Niagara mark its eastern boundary? Can it be a fact that the geologist theorizes correctly, when he says that, ages ago, in the chaotic birth-making of our beautiful earth, the whole of New York, Western Canada and Michigan was one large inland sea, and that with the upheavals and transformation of the face of this land, the inflowing of the salt sea and the gradual drying up of this inland water, the great salt rock of which we speak was then formed and deposited along parallel, with the Niagara limestone? Does the western boundary of this great salt rock lie in Wisconsin, or do the waters of Lake Michigan mark its limit ?"

A group of argillaceous and magnesian limestones outcrops along the western shore of Lake Erie, and exists beneath the surface in the counties bordering on the Lake and River St. Clair. It consists of an argillaceous, chocolate-colored, magnesian limestone in regular lay- ers, each layer from four to eight inches thick. This conformation seems to correspond with the waterline formation of New York.

The formation known as corniferous limestone is very general in masses of hornstone.

149

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

The dark color of the rock is imparted by the presence of bituminous matter, which often shows itself in the thin partings between the strata. Petroleum saturates the formation, and as the bitumen colors the rock, so does the petroleum bestow on it its peculiar odor, often oozing from the crevices, and showing itself on the streams in the vicinity. The black shale at the bottom of the argillaceous strata known as the Huron group, is about twenty feet thick, sometimes laminated and fissile. This shale has doubtless been pierced in the borings at Mt. Clemens, as it is known to exist in St. Clair, and counties adjoining Macomb. The shale resembles coal, and when placed in a stove or grate gives a blaze resembling that of coal.

We also find here a species of shales more arenaceous than the black shale, which, to use the language of geology, terminate in a series of laminated, argillaceous, micaceous, friable sandstone, which pass into the Waverly group.

The black shale, hitherto regarded, holds an important place in the stratification of the county. It appears that upon Teeple's farm, a well was sunk twenty-six feet in 1864, since which time the gas came in in such quantity as to actually blow the curbing out of the well, and the men engaged in the work were obliged to abandon it. On Baird's farm, there are great quantities of stone so saturated with kerosene oil as to burn readily. They have a strong odor of oil. These stones are conglomerate, partly decomposed, and give strong evidences of vol- canic eruption. On Clark's farm, gas has been burning for years. A well was dug by him to the depth of a few feet, and a barrel placed over it with a hole in the top, forming a sort of a tube, from which the gas, being lighted, burned readily with a clear, bright flame. On the Gill farm, a well was dug to the depth of 107 feet, when a volume of gas was struck that blew out the drill with a noise that was heard a distance of four or five miles; small pebble stones were also thrown up as high as the roof of the house. A pipe was placed in the well, through which the gas was conducted to Mr. Gill's house, with which it was lighted for over a year. In August, 1875, the people of Cottrelville imagined they had a second Vesuvius in their midst, and that Marine City and Algonac were to play the roles of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The Marine City Gazette gave publicity to the following story of terrestrial activity: "Joseph Hahn, who lives some three or four miles west of Marine City, has been for some time engaged in sinking an artesian well to obtain a supply of water for his stock and for household pur- poses. In sinking these wells, a derrick is used, consisting of three heavy pieces of timber, fastened together at the top, like a tripod; this derrick was fastened by means of a heavy log chain wound around the timbers at the top; the diameter of the well is thirteen inches, and the boring was done by means of an auger turned by horse power. On Monday night, the auger had penetrated to a depth of 125 feet, and the next morning an air or gas chamber was reached; then occurred a phenomenon which the bystanders will not be likely soon to forget. In the twinkling of an eye, upon the removal of the auger, the wooden tubing shot out of that well like a stone driven from a catapult, followed by a volume of gas, water, gravel and mud, that rose full 200 feet into the air, while the trembling earth, the roaring torrent, and the de- scending debris made Mr. H. and his co-laborers think they had struck the regions infernal. Stones weighing from ten to twenty pounds were projected into the air, and some of them fell crashing through the roof of Mr. H.'s house, standing near by. In fact, the family were obliged to seek shelter at a neighbor's, for human life was not safe a moment at the farmhouse. In the locality of Mr. Hahn's farm, a stone, large or small, was rarely found, but now they can be taken away by the cart load. The heavy log chain binding the derrick was cut by the flying missiles into dozens of pieces, and one of the timbers blown away as by the breath of a cyclone. The discharge of mud and water soon began to overflow the fields, and bring ruin upon the poor man's crops. It was as if a water spout had burst, and the floods of heaven let loose. For eight or ten hours this extraordinary well kept vomiting forth mud, water, gas and stones all around. On field, barn and house had settled a leaden hue; the corn was broken off and uprooted by the flood; the house and barn were riddled with falling stones; destruction was visible on every side. It was then noticed that the subterranean monster was pretty well blown, and although he still kept up a furious howling, his force was spent. It is estimated that some eight hundred cubic yards of clay and bowlders were cast out of this well."

In January, 1876, Henry O. Wonsey succeeded in tapping a gas pocket at a depth of 150

150

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

feet from the surface. The rush of escaping gas was tame in comparison with that of Hahn's well, yet sufficient to make considerable noise, and eject mud and water above the derrick. He put down four-inch iron pipes, and subsequently led a small connecting pipe to the street and lighted the gas, being the first gas lamp Marine City has ever had. The light was white and of considerable brilliancy, although it wavered and flickered a good deal, being unprotected from the wind. The news of Wonsey's success brought large numbers of citizens to the scene. There appeared to be no doubt at the time but that the gentlemen had enough gas to warm and light his house, and considerable to spare.

John A. Wonsey's well was only a partial success. He had gas enough, undoubtedly, to supply his house, but the pipe soon choked up with thin blue clay, which, forced toward the top by the pressure of the gas, hardened and to a great extent shut off the gas itself.

In February, 1880, the oil craze seemed to be on the eve of a revival. About the third of a mile from Military street, a little stream known as Indian Creek crosses Lapeer avenue. Passers-by were attracted by the peculiar appearance of the surface of the stream, which was covered with a dirty yellowish fluid, and the rippling of the waters caused this to assume all the colors of the rainbow. A peculiar odor also seemed to arise from the water, very much re- sembling that produced by crude petroleum oil. Some persons, more inquisitive than the rest, followed up along the course of the stream, on the south side of the street, until they reached a point where the source of this strange film was observed to exude from the bottom of the creek in quite copious quantities. A handkerchief soaked in the surface of the water smelled strongly of oil, and a slight probing caused the flow to increase sensibly. Since that time the place has been visited by numerous persons, but no definite conclusion reached as to the origin or extent of the flow.

Throughout Wayne, McComb and St. Clair Counties, there are evidences of the existence of gas fountains, if not actual oil reservoirs. This fetid gas was undoubtedly the product of distilled petroleum lying below the gas fountain in a similar position to the oil reservoirs of Petrolia and Oil Springs, in Canada.

SUBTERRANEAN CHANNELS.

In consequence of the changes to which the various strata of the county have been subjected, the waters have carved for themselves, even within our own times, a passage through it, and find their way to the lower lakes through subterraneous rivulets, causing the diminution and sometimes the total disappearance, of ponds and creeks. This, doubtless, is to- day operating against our rivers, and accounts for the visible reduction of the volume of water compared with that which marked them in Territorial days. This diminution is partly attributed to increased evaporation consequent upon the removal of the forests.

In the same way we must account for the reports of public officers in the olden times-one reports the Huron River navigable for thirty miles; the other reports the brine obtained from the springs of the civil district of Huron capable of yielding twenty-five per cent of solid saline matter.

The mouth of Black River, in 1873, presented the form in which bed changes take place. It does not seem to be generally known that for years there was little use in trying to get inside the bar at the mouth of Black River with crafts drawing any considerable depth of water. The surveys made in 1871 and 1872, and the experience of the Benton and Golden Fleece, proved conclusively that the depth of water is growing less and less each year, and that the current is constantly changing the conformation of the bottom both above and below Black River. Of course every shipmaster thinks he knows just how the bar lies, but they often find to their sor- row that, Mississippi-like, the bar has shifted about a little, and their craft is hard onto it. The only certain way to avoid it is to go around it.

WATER RESERVOIRS.

The small bodies of water, or lakelets, with which certain portions of St. Clair County are diversified, rest in depressions shaped in the layer of modified drift. The remarkable group of water fountains in the northwestern townships of the county, together with those in

151

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

the northeastern part of Oakland, continues through Livingston, Washtenaw and onward to the Lakes of Grattan, in Kent County. They are particularly scattered along the scarcely descending banks of the Huron. of Lake St. Clair, or the Clinton and its tributaries, and are strung like beads along these streams, many of them, probably, the ancient work of beavers. The lakelets of St. Clair County, as of the Lower Peninsula in general, are surrounded by gravelly, elevated shores on two or three sides, with frequently a low, marshy border fringing the remainder of the contour. As the streams which feed them are clear, the water of the lakes is limpid and healthful, though of the character known as hard. They furnish, there- fore, charming places of summer resort. The same species of fish and mollusks inhabit the different lakelets of the county, however disconnected. This fact presents an interesting and difficult problem to the investigator of the origin of species. The most natural inference is that at a former period a general system of water communication existed among the various bodies of water in this part of the peninsula, and at this time one fauna extended through all its limits. A similar problem, but of a larger magnitude, is presented by the similar faunas inhabiting different rivers and lake systems, and especially when the different systems dis- charge into the sea at the different points, and their higher sources, as well as their valleys of discharge, are separated by elevations too great to admit the hypothesis of a general fresh water inundation in former times. It requires but a casual observation to become convinced that nearly all these lakelets have formerly been of larger size. The shore upon one or more sides is fre- quently low and sedgy, and stretches back over an expanse of marsh and alluvial land to a slop. ing, gravelly bank, which appears to have been the ancient contour of the lake or river expansion. The lowland between the ancient shore and the modern is composed of a bed of peat, gener- ally underlaid by a bed of marl. Beneath the marl may be found, in many cases, a deposit of blue, plastic clay, which forms a transition to the layer of modified drift, before described. Each of these deposits may have a thickness of a few inches or more, up to ten or twenty feet. That all these formations have been laid down from the flooded or Champlain period is evident; first, from their superposition on the modified drift; second, from the fact that the lake is performing in our own times, the same work as we see completed in the low-border marsh; third, from the gradual extension of many lake-border marshes, and the corresponding diminution of the areas of the lakes. The calcareous character of the water of these lakelets makes them a fitting abode for numerous species of lime-secreting mollusks. These animals eliminate the lime from the water and build it into the structure of their shells. Finally the mollusk dies and its shell falls to the bottom, where it undergoes disintegration into a white powder, or becomes buried in the progressing accumulation of such material. Another portion of the marly deposit forming in the bed of the lakes is probably derived from calcareous precip- itation directly from the lake water. Thus a bed of marl is forming over the whole bottom of the lake, in situations sufficiently protected and shallow to serve as the abode of shell-making ani- mals. But on the leeward side, the immediate shore is the seat of a layer of peat. Bul- rushes lift their heads through water one or two feet deep. A little nearer the shore, flags may be seen, and still nearer, scouring rushes. On the immediate border of the land, willows and water-loving sedges hold a place, while farther back, other sedges and grasses take possession in varying proportions. This is the leeside of the lakes. Floating leaves, twigs and steins therefore find their way among the lake-side growths, and becoming entangled, sink and fall into gradual decay. More than this, each autumn's crop of dead vegetation, produced round the borders of these lakes, contributes to the accumulation of vegetable material, which gradu- ally changes into the condition of humus and peat. This is a work begun at the surface of the water. When the substance sinks, it overlies what the lake had hitherto accumulated. When the peat layer is first begun, the previous accumulation is marl, and hence the well-known order of superposition of these two deposits. The peat-bed grows lukewarm as the continued formation of marl shallows the water. In the course of time, the actual seat of operations be- comes removed far from the ancient shore, and a broad marsh comes into existence, with peat everywhere at the surface and marl beneath. Almost the entire county may be considered an ancient lake site, yet in a reference here, the writer wishes to deal with the ponds of the county, which long years after the Champlain epoch, were large sheets of water, as many existing

152

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

ponds have obviously been contracted from their ancient limits, as a little reflection makes it obvious that many lakes, once existing here have become quite extinct through the completion of the process of filling-up. It is probable that every marsh in the county marks the site of an ancient lake. Level as the surface of the water, which determined their limits and depth, not a few of them retain at some point vestiges of the lakes which they have displaced; and others exhibit all the transitions from a reeking and quaking bog to an alluvial meadow; while in nearly all cases ditching discloses the peaty, marly and clayey materials, in the order in which, under lake action, they are accumulating before our eyes along actual lake borders. The absence of any marked general inclination of the surface in our Peninsula, has made it the seat of an extraor- dinary number of small lakes, ancient and modern, and hence, also a region of small local marshes. Some of these may be found on almost every section of land; but the majority of them form meadow lands, or even tillable fields, and constitute the choicest patches in the farmer's possession. Many of these ancient lake sites, nevertheless, remain for the present nothing but swamps, and demand resolute ditching for their thorough reclamation, as is evidenced by the old cranberry marsh, so well remembered by the old settlers of Wayne, Macomb, St. Clair and Oakland.

MARSHES.

One of the geological features of the county was the floating fields in the neighborhood of Capac. So recently as 1862, this great muskeg was known to the people, and doubtless would exist to-day had not the industry of the German immigrants, and the watchfulness of the State reduced it to arable land. In 1866, Gov. Crapo appointed George A. Funston, Commissioner, and J. S. Kennefick, Engineer, to carry out the plan of the latter for the drainage of this swamp. After a series of leveling operations, ample fall was secured for the waters, and a rich soil brought into existence, where before was the quagmire.

A portion of these wastes may properly be termed wastes of ignorance. This ignorance does not belong exclusively to any one class of farmers; it attaches itself more or less to all. Our ignorance, however, is not always our fault. Many things are beyond the reach of human faculties; we never can know them. Some things which we are capable of understand- ing, we have never had an opportunity to learn; still it is true of every farmer that he might and would have known a great many things of which he is now ignorant, if he had only im- proved his opportunities as he ought to have done. The cultivation of the Capac Marsh is an evidence of progress in this direction. In August, 1875, this marsh, and the measures then taken to utilize it, were noticed. It comprises 2,200 acres, and is situated six miles northwest of Capac Village. It is owned by G. S. Parks, in company with three or four other business men, all of whom came from Wisconsin, where they have large investments in the culture of the cranberry. This company purchased the farm in 1874, and began large improvements. The part of the farm on which the berries are grown make a field of over 2,000 acres, the re- mainder being highlands, and in preparation for farming purposes. As is well known, cran- berries are grown on marshes and lowlands, which are covered with water a part of the year. The marsh is almost entirely surrounded with water, and one side is a chain of small lakes, which are skirted with narrow ridges, covered with beautiful groves on one bank, and heavy growths of timber on the other. Cranberries have for years grown on the marsh, but no ef- forts have ever been made toward cultivating them. The work to be done in cultivating the vines is to simply supply the land with water at certain seasons of the year, and to drain it at others. When this is successfully accomplished, it is all that can be done, as the vines will, under proper circumstances, then take care of themselves. The first thing the proprietors did was to begin extensive ditches on the marsh, to facilitate irrigation in the spring, and to drain off the water later in the season. A gang of workmen constructed a ditch around the margin of the swamp, eight feet in width, and over five miles in length. The work was easily accom- plished, as the soil was composed of vegetable matter, the surface being but little decayed and quite rotten a foot from the surface. This vegetable matter was composed of the heavy growths of grass which have been growing and rotting for years. The men piled the soil on the outer bank, forming an embankment to hold the water when irrigation commences. The lakes around the marsh are much higher than the marsh itself, and with one of them this ditch con-

15₴

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

nects, thus securing an abundant supply of water, which is necessary to the successful culture of the berry. The ditch has a good outlet at the opposite end of the field. Several large ditches, a foot in depth, were made throughout the field to drain the surface after the berries set and begin to ripen. In 1873, the marsh was burned over, and since that time but few ber- ries have been picked, as the vines were killed. The field was subsequently covered with a thick growth of vines, which reached maturity sufficient to bear a heavy crop.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 18

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818