History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 50

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Minnesota > Fillmore County > History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 50

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GEOLOGICAL.

the soil. The county surveyor, Mr. J. Gregor, also found it impossible to lay out the quarter sections of that section in the usual manner, by the use of the magnetic needle, though the origi- nal United States surveyors record no unusual dis- turhance of the magnetic needle. Limonite iron ore is regarded usually as non-magnetic. In large quantities, near the surface, it seems to in- fluence the magnetic currents. What relation this ore bears to the Cretaceous is not known, except that it has been found to overlie the Silurian rocks, or to cover their surfaces with a scale where the Cretaceous overlies them unconformably. Further and more minute observations in cther places may reveal its real source and its value. The reader is referred to the Second Annual Re- port for an account of the Cretaceous over the Lower Silurian,at Mankato, in the valley of the Minnesota.

THE DRIFT .- The drift presents some interest- ing features in Fillmore county. The western limit of that well-known tract denominated The Driftless Area, by Prof. J. D. Whitney, crosses this county. This boundary is not well defined. There is a very conspicuous absence of the bluish clay, and the northern boulders that distinguish the true northern drift sheet of counties further west and north, throughout the eastern two-thirds of the county : the boundary line running approx- imately, from the southeast corner of Bristol town- ship to the northeast corner of Jordan. West of that line, which is modified, in its course, by val- leys and uplands, is a belt of five or six miles in width, which is characterized by an overlapping of the loess loam on the thinning out edge of the drift sheet. This belt is characterized further by peculiar local modifications of the materials of the drift, due to the underlying rock, as mentioned under the head of Cretaceous. West of this belt the true drift becomes prevalent, consisting of clay, with many boulders.

That tract which is regarded as driftless is, 80 far as Fillmore county is concerned, not without some evidences of having been subjected, at some time, to a force similar to that which is supposed to have deposited the great drift-sheet of the north- west. There are isolated patches of gravel, with small stones, sometimes cemented into a crag, which have been noted in Fillmore county, scat- tered sparingly over the eastern part of the county, as the following field minutes will show :

Drift pebbles are in the street, north of the

schoolhouse, in the southwest quarter of section twenty-two, Amherst.

Drift occurs in the form af gravel and boulders, some of them a foot in diameter, in the southwest quarter of section four, Fountain, on the east bank of Sugar Creek, in the road; seen in going east from the quarry of Enoch Winslow. At Foun- tain village there is said to be no drift between the loess loam and the rock.

A little drift may be seen at the Tunnel mills, section thirty-four, Sumner.

There is a little fine drift visible along the road in the southeast quarter of section twenty-five, Sumner.

At Chatfield there is some gravelly drift, with small boulders visible in the street, near the mill- race.

Drift, with pebbles and stones, appears about a mile south of Clear Grit, on the Shakopee ter- race along the highway.

Also on the road to Carimona, near Preston.

Abont midway between Preston and Carimona, a wash by the roadside revealed- -

Loam 8 feet

Gravelly, red loam 3 feet

With no distinct separation, a few small boulders lying in the water course below.

At Carimona a thin layer of drift is usually found under the loam.

The same is true at Forestville.

At Spring Valley the drift is so prevalent that the surface of the country is smooth, and has a lighter colored soil, with much more clay. There are but few stones or gravelly patches. The loess loam is hardly noticeable. One large boulder lies at the street corner, half a mile south of the corporate limits.

Between Baldwin's mill, section twenty-one, Forestville, and the State line, due south, the country is one of drift prairie, nearly the whole distance, with stones and boulders, some of the latter pretty large.

At Etna, section thirty-six, Bloomfield, among a variety of stones pertaining to the drift, may be seen an occasional one that is glaciated.

At Lime Springs and Foreston, a few miles south of the State line, on the Upper Iowa River, the drift is abundant.

At Granger there is a light drift, and also where the road turns north to Preston, in the northeast quarter of section thirty-six, Bristol; but it be-

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY.

comes lighter still, or entirely invisible, in travel- ing to Preston. In its place a heavy, rich loam, rather clayey, covers the country, and smooths it off almost as effectually as if drift-covered. A well, being dug about five miles south of Preston, on the high Trenton arca, passes through this loam eighteen feet before striking the rock.

The drift is very thin at Lenora, if not entirely wanting.

About four miles southeast of Preston a large green, dioritic boulder may be seen lying in the loess loam, in the road, and a red quartzose peb- 'ble. The pebbles that appear in gullies by the roadside, in the loam area, are generally of chert, from the rock of the locality. It cannot be ascer- tained whether this dioritic boulder lies on other drift deposits, but it is surrounded laterally only by the loam.

At Elliota is a thin drift, in the form of pebbles, the largest being three or four inches in diameter. Thence northeastward to Newburg nothing but the yellow loam is observable. Between Newburg and Riceford, situated on the western edge of Houston county, no northern drift is visible; but at Riceford, which lies in a deep and narrow gorge, a few drift pebbles occur in the street.

About the center of section twenty-nine, Holt, is a deposit of drift gravel. It may be seen in descending the hill northward, just before the road forks to Whalan and Lanesboro. It is consid- erably cemented by lime, forming a crag, large lumps of which, some eighteen or twenty inches thick, have been used for embankment on the lower side of the road. In some parts it is quite fine, and useful for mortar, for which it has been hauled away, It is at least ten feet thick.

There are boulders in the valley of Duxbury Creek, section twenty-eight, Preston.

Section nineteen, Pilot Mound. In the road going to the river from the south are a lot of boulders and other drift. The same can be seen on the north side, going up from the ford. The deposit seems to be five or six feet thick, gradually mingling with, and finally becoming replaced by the loess loam.

Drift gravel and stones are seen along the road in going down the hill to Isinours, from Preston.

Drift pebbles and clay occur at the crossing of Watson's Creek, on the direct road between Foun- tain and Preston, and on the terrace of the Shako- pee limestone, a quarter of a mile south of the creek.

Boulders are seen at Spring Valley, and on Mr. Kleckler's farm, two and a half miles east of Spring Valley.

An occasional boulder is seen in the river val- ley at Geiner's Mill, section thirty-one, Jordan, but the most of the surface covering on the rock, in the high prairie region, seems to be of loess loam.

East of Highland Post-office, in Holt township, section thirty-six, is a conspicuous deposit of drift, exposed in the road, in the form of a stony gravel. It lies on the brow of the Shakopee terrace.

It is noticeable that in nearly every instance where drift pebbles occur in the region known as driftless, they lie on or very near an outcrop of firm rock. They frequent the brows of the terrace formed by the Shakopee limestone. The above named localities are nearly all embraced within the boundaries of the driftless tract, as already defined in Fillmore county. These patches of northern drift present the appearance of greater age than the drift of the western portion of the county, and are believed to belong to a glacial epoch that preceded the epoch that produced the great drift sheet of the northwest. An "intergla- cial epoch" separated them. It was probably dur- ing that interglacial epoch that grew the peat and coniferous vegetation that has been found in con- siderable abundance embraced within the great drift sheet, (or at least below fifty feet of drift materials) round its outer margin, as mentioned already in a report on Mower county, and as fur- ther demonstrated in Fillmore county. It is this older drift that is covered deeply by the loess loam, and it is within the loam-covered portion of the county that truc river terraces, of alluvial composition, are found.

ANCIENT PEAT AND VEGETATION IN THE DRIFT DEPOSITS .- O ving to the great geological interest cennected with the discovery made last year of a peaty bed within the drift deposits of Mower county, a careful search was made in the survey of Fillmore county for further information con- cerning its origin and exact relations. There were found to be quite a number of places in the west- ern portion of the county where farmers, in dig- ging wells, had struck this bed of vegetation. No opportunity has been afforded to make a personal inspection of this bed, and owing to the indefi- niteness of the information derivable from the farmers themselves, and its contrarity, it is thought best to give only the statements of Mr. Calvin E.

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Huntley, of Spring Valley, a professional well- driller. Throughout the whole of the county there is much difficulty in obtaining ready water for farm and domestic use, and a great many wells are drilled deeply into the rock. This is owing to the canoned character of the rock surface, both within the drift area and the loam-covered portion. These canons serve as subterranean drains, though they are generally filled with drift in the western part of the county. Mr. Huntley furnishes the following facts concerning this bed of vegetation. Some of these localities are within the limits of Mower county :

Northwest quarter of section six, Beaver. Land of Andrew Oleson (Early. It was found here at the depth of tairty feet, situated on a ridge in prairie country, It was two or three feet thick, and had a blue clay both above and below it, then struck a lime rock.

Northeast quarter of section twelve, Le Roy, Mower county. Land of D. B. Bosworth. This was also on a high ridge, with blue clay above and below it, and lay at the depth of about twenty- five feet below the surface. It had a depth of seven feet, and contained "decayed stuff, like pressed hay."

Northeast quarter of section one, Le Roy, Mower county. Land of Ole Knutson (Stolely): found at the depth of thirty feet: five feet thick, blue clay above and two feet of black clay below; then lime rock.

Section thirty, Bennington, Mower county, on land of Gents Everson. This is situated on a flat, and was found from thirty to thirty-two feet below the surface. It was three feet thick, ond lay below blue clay. Below it was gravel to the thickness of eight feet, when the well struck lime rock.

Southeast quarter of section nine, Bennington, Mower county; land of John Mehan. It here had blue clay both above and below it, and a thickness of two feet. It lay at the depth of twenty feet. The underlaying blue clay was gravelly.

It was met in the same town on Robert Cooper's land, at the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet. It was here on a very high ridge. It was in a blue clay, with gravel both above and below. It was here three or four feet thick. This well was abandoned on account of quicksand.

On the slope, northeast from Mr. Cooper's, it was reported to have been met with at the depth of six or seven feet from the surface, on the land of Mr. Bass.

Section two, Sumner. Land of Wm. Bailey; met a deposit which was embraced between lay- ers of what was then supposed to be lime rock. This deposit was two feet thick, and consisted entirely of wood. Rock was struck at the depth of eight feet. This wood was thirty-five feet be- low the surface. The owner called the rock "grindstone rock." (This was probably the Austin sandstone, of the Cretaceous, and the wood a lig- nite belonging to the same age.

North part of section twenty-eight, Spring Valley; land of A. B. Hutchinson. An irony de- posit, having an unknown thickness, was struck at the depth of thirty-five feet.

This was also met in the central part of Racine, on the farm of D. Reed, at the depth of twenty- five or twenty-six feet, having a thickness of two or three feet. It came up in chunks which glistened, and looked like iron ore.

Under the head of Cretaceous the reader will find further statements concerning this iron ore. Two miles west of Spring Valley, on the land of O. H. Rose, Mr. Leonard made an observation on a deposit of surface crag. This he found abund- antly cemented with iron, lying on a sloping sur- face, covering twenty-five or thirty square rods, rendering the land unfit for cultivation, in the vi- cinity of no rock bluff, and on a prairie country. Iron ore was thrown out of a well in the south- west quarter of section twenty-four, Bloomfield. It was said to have come out in chunks, and to be as heavy as iron. It rises to the surface, and the plow cannot be passed through it. This is owned by Geo. H. Smith. Again, on H. T. Odell's land, section thirty-six, Bloomfield, it is found in scat- tered lumps variously mingled with the soil, and with other stone. These surface pieces are im- pure, and often hold cemented gravel and pebbles. They are also loose and porous, and pass into ocher. Similar pieces occur on section one, Bea- ver, land of O. A. Boynton.

Wood was taken from two wells in Jordan town- ship, sections twenty-nine and thirty, on land of M. Robbins and Geo. Hare. This is also on a high prairie. In Mr. Hare's well was said to have been a tree.

THE LOESS LOAM .- The greater portion of the county is covered with this loam. It contains no gravel or boulders, or with very rare exceptions, but consists almost entirely. of fine siliceous mate- rial which becomes, in some places, quite clayey, making a very slippery mud when wet. This, in

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HISTORY OF FILLMORE COUNTY.

outward appearance, is of a light, yellow or rusty color, and differs in that respect from the loam seen on the drift-covered portion of the county, which is frequently black, or brown, varying to an ash color when mingled with a considerable per cent. of clay from the drift, and also contains gravel. The loess loam is very homogeneous over wide tracts, while that in the drift area is subject to local and sudden variations. The loess loam is indistinctly stratified, especially in the valleys, but the usual appearance is that of non-stratification. This stratified arrangement is rendered the less evident from the great similarity of the materials from the top to the bottom. It does not consist, apparently, in any change from coarse to fine in the sedimentation, but in a lamination of the homo- geneous clayey loam, and is easily obliterated by exposure, or by trickling water. This condition was noted particularly at Preston, and indicates that it was deposited in still, or gently moving water. Where this loam lies over the old northern drift, it passes through a graveliy stage, the mate- rials of the loam mingling with the coarser por- tions of the drift, and becoming finally replaced by the drift. The drift patches covered by this loam, pertaining to the eastern and central portions of the county, and believed to belong to an earlier drift epoch, are, so far as seen, made up of gravel and sand, with small stones. No drift clay, like that which covers the western part of the county, has been seen overlain by the loess loam, except that which pertains to the general drift sheet of the Northwest, and which occupies a narrow belt of five or six miles wide, where the loam overlaps the later drift. It would be reasonable, however, to expect that some such clay would be found. The pebbles that are thus mixed with the lower portion of the loam are smooth and waterworn, not covered with a coating of decayed material of the same nature as the pebbles themselves, as they would be expected to be if the loam were derived from the decay, in situ, of the materials of the drift. The thickness of the loess loam sometimes reaches twenty feet in the open upland, and, under favorable circumstances, where it might have accu- mulated laterally, as well as ] erpendicularly, it is much more. It is thickest in the eastern part of the county.

ALLUVIAL TERRACES .- At Preston, besides the flood plain, the river has a high terrace plain. The Stanwix House stands on it. It consists of loam undistinguishable from the loess loam that

covers that portion of the county. The same may be seen at Lanesboro, and at Whalan, but it is not conspicuous. At Rushford fragmentary remains of this high terrace are seen in the valleys of the tributary streams. Along the main valley they are not well preserved. There are two terrace levels, besides the flood plain. The highest terrace plain is from seventy to eighty feet above the second, and about 130 feet above the river. The lower terrace, on which Rushford stands, is about forty feet above the river, and is probably never reached by the river in even the highest water. Within this lower terrace-plain, which spreads out laterally and forms the most of the alluvial land between the rock-bluffs, is the river channel, and a still lower flood-plain about twenty feet above the river at low stage. A similar high terrace is seen along the Mississippi River at Winona, in Winona county, rising about ninety-five feet above the river, while the flat, on which the city of Winona stands, is about twenty-five feet above the river at the boat landing, in low stage of water. At Rushford and Winona the high terrace consists of a material different from the loam that over- spreads the country, being made up of stratified sand. This terraced condition of the valleys of Root River, and of the Mississippi, is confined, so far as observed, to the loam-covered area, which nearly coincides with the "driftless area," as de- fined and described by Prof. Whitney.

MATERIAL RESOURCES-FUEL .-. In addition to the products of the soil which will always be her chief source of material wealth, Fillmore county cannot expect any important mineral discoveries to augment her material prosperity, She has a good supply of forest for purposes of common fuel. and will not suffer from the absence of coal, as some of the counties further west have suffered. She will have to depend on her native forest trees, or on those that are being propagated successfully, for the most of her home fuel supply. There is as marked an absence of peat in this county as there is in Mower, but a single locality being noted. That occurs on the southeast quarter of section twenty-six, Spring Valley, land of John Kleckler and David Broxlem, and is said to be about four feet thick, covering four or five acres. There is no doubt but other, isolated, small areas, of a turf-peat, also exist in the county, but the circumstances which promoted the pro- duction of so large a surface of peat in Freeborn county, are certainly wanting in Fill-

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more county. The frequency of lakes and swamps, aud abundance of peat, coinciding as they do in Freeborn county, taken with the absence of both in Mower and Fillmore, point to the existence of a common cause for these surface features.

IRON .- Throughout the western portion of the county there is a great deal of surface iron, mani- festing itself generally in the form of a cement in gravel, forming a dark-colored crag. There is also much evidence of the existence of a heavy con- tinuous layer or deposit of limonite iron ore a few feet below the surface, in Bloomfield and Beaver townships. The details of these localities, and of the evidence of iron, so far as ascertainable, have been given under the heads of Cretaceous and Drift. Should this bed prove to be extensive, its actual value for commercial purposes may vary greatly from its intrinsic value. It consists of a loose-textured hydrated peroxyd, with ochery impurities, and bears a close resemblance to some bog-ore deposits; but its occurrence on high land, instead of in swamps, necessitates some other ex- planation for its existence than that ascribed to the occurrence of most bog-ore deposits. It may have originated during that swampy condition of Southern Minnesota when the peat grew that is embraced in the drift deposits, as already detailed. It is not probable that it will ever be found valua- ble for the manufacture of iron. Before the open- ing up of the vast, and richer, iron ore beds of Michigan and Missouri, the bog-ores were con- siderably used in the production of iron, on a small scale, in several of the western States, but the small furnaces that smelted them have all ceased operations many years ago. Another obstacle to the utilization of this deposit in Fill- more county, will be the lack of fuel in con- venient and sufficient quantities.

LEAD .- While the Galena limestone, which is eminently lead-bearing at Dubuque and Galena, passes, in its northwestern trend, across the south- western portion of Fillmore county, it has not been discovered to afford the same amount of lead as in Iowa and Illinois. Indeed, at points more remote from the Mississippi River, in Iowa, no re- markable deposits of lead have been obtained from it. There is not a total absence of lead from its layers, since a few localities are known to have afforded it in limited quantities. The same is true of the lower Trenton; which seems to indi- cate that the presence of lead in the limestones of

this region does not depend on the kind or age of the formation, but rather on some later, superim- posed conditions that prevailed over the region, subjecting various formations to the same influ- ences.

QUICKLIME .- All the limestones of the county are suitable for quicklime, but by far the greater quantity is made from the upper Trenton. In the townships of Sumner and Spring Valley, all the circumstances necessary for the cheap and rapid production of quicklime of the best quality co- exist, viz: a suitable limestone, abundant expos- ure, and plenty of fuel. The Trenton there forms some of its characteristic outcrops, constituting the bluffs of the streams continuously for many miles, and rising a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet above the valleys. The kilns are built at the foot of the bluff, and the stone is cheaply ob- tained, without much cost of transportation. Wood is also abundant at present, much of that portion of the county being covered by a heavy forest growth.

The following list of lime-burners, with their localities and estimated production for the year, will give some idea of the extent of the business now carried on:

Palmer and Miller, Bear Creek, three kilns. 2,000 bushels N. E. Fetterly, Bear Creek, three kilns . 5,000 bushels

L. G. Odell, Bear Creek, three kilns (one draw-kiln). 5,000 bushels

Charles Gorton, Bear Creek, one kiln 1,000 bushels

Allen Brothers, Bear Creek, one

kiln . 1,000 bushels

J. Finley, Bear Creek, one kiln 2,000 bushels Isaac Kegley, Bear Creek, one kiln 600 bushels Lem. Stout, Bear Creek, one kiln .. 2,000 bushels T. J. Hammer, Bear Creek, one kiln 2,000 bushels Elder Cyrus Young, Bear Creek, two kilns. Not in use

Harvey McQuillan, Bear Creek, two kilns Not in use

Olds & Braley, section nine, Spring Valley, one kiln. 2,000 bushels I. N. Cummings, section eleven, Spring Valley, one kiln.

J. H. Hall, section twelve, Spring Valley 3,500 bushels These all burn the upper Trenton, and there is

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no noteworthy difference in the quality either of the rock or of the lime produced. According to the testimony of several, however, there are cer- tain layers, near the bottom of the formation, which are not suitable for quicklime. Some layers also are arenaceous, and have to be avoided, but the great mass of the rock is exceedingly well adapted to making quicklime.

The kilns used are, for the most part, of the rudest construction, presenting no improvement over the ancient and well-known "pot-kiln." They have to be emptied and refilled for every burning. Mr. L. G. Odell has the only draw-kiln seen in the county. The lime itself is generally nearly white after being burnt, but in some places it has an ashen white color, though on slacking it is always white. It slacks with rapidity, evolving considerable heat. It requires from sixty to seventy-two hours to burn a kiln, depending on the size of the kiln, and somewhat on its shape, and consuming about ten cords of dry mixed wood. When freshly and thoroughly burnt, one bushel by measure weighs about 75 pounds, but if not well burnt, it will exceed 80 pounds.

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History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 50

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: