Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086

USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 7

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).

CAVES, SINKS AND NATURAL BRIDGES.

The Upper Burlington limestone, because of its soft and porous nature, is one of the prominent cave formation of Missouri, and some of the caves in Greene county are of sufficient importance to deserve more than a passing inention. Chief among these is Percy cave, seven miles northwest of Spring- field, in section 33, township 30, range 22, formerly known as Knox cave. Its location is at the head of a deep, narrow gorge that extends a little less than one-quarter of a mile south from Sac river. The gorge represents a former portion of the cave, the roof of which, having fallen in, has filled up its former outlet. Since its discovery, in 1866, this cave has been carefully protected from vandalism, and is more perfectly preserved than the majority of such places. The present opening has been partially walled up, and is guarded by an ordinary door. Upon entering, after passing over huge blocks that have fallen from the roof, there appear numberless immense pilasters. On climbing over a small hill of fallen debris, a narrow gorge is reached, where the roof is exquisitely beautiful from innumerable slender stalactites, many of which are formed around the penetrating roots of trees that are growing on the surface of the ground above the cave. Climbing up a steep incline at the farther end of this gorge, a large chamber is soon reached, which is about thirty feet high by seventy-five feet wide, from which opens a smaller side-chamber, which has been explored for only a short distance. Penetrating more deeply into the cave, the edge of a deep gorge is reached, and suddenly a descent is made to a small bridge over a wet-weather stream which crosses the gorge at right angles. A number of blind crawfish have been obtained from this rivulet. Ascending the steps cut into the steep bank beyond the bridge, the end of the accessible portion of the cave is soon reached. Here the roof very rapidly inclines toward the floor, and one is compelled to stoop in order to pass to the large and beautiful spring at the end of the cave. Although hardly one-half mile in length, and with chambers of no very great size, this cave is still one of the most beautiful in the United States. The constant variety met with in the display of stalactites, which range from sparkling, creamy white to earthy brown in color, the splendid fluted pilasters, some of large size, and the beautiful rosettes of stalactitic ori- gin in the roof, all contribute to form a series of scenes which, in the weird intensity of electric lights, make a profound impression upon the observer.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Sequiota (Fisher's) cave, near Galloway, is another interesting point. It opens in a low bluff on the east side of the valley through which the Chad- wick branch of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad passes. It is about eight feet high and thirty feet wide at its mouth, and enters the bluff in a northeasterly course. A stream of pure cold water issues from its mouth. About three hundred feet from the entrance, the cave attains a width of about sixty feet and a height of about twenty-five feet. A short distance farther, a spring rises from the eastern side, beyond which there is a water- fall of several feet, and to this point the explorer is conveyed in a boat. The cave forks here to the north and east. It has been explored for several hun- dred feet beyond the first waterfall. A second fall, of about six feet, is found at the end of the east branch, and beautiful stalactites are everywhere seen. The fine spring which has its outlet through this cave was taken ad- vantage of by the settlers as early as 1840.

The Mason cave, a remarkable cavern at Ash Grove, has two openings, one near the summit of a hill in the northwest end of a small valley, into which flows a small, wet-weather stream, called Dry creek. This opening is about eight by thirty feet. A great mass of rock has tumbled down in front of it, forming a wooded point about fifty feet to the northwest of the entrance. An attempt has been made to dam up the outlet of the valley, so as to make a lake, but without success. This valley really represents a sunken portion of the cave. The other opening of the cavern is about one-fifth of a mile to the westward of the first described, and is on a bluff facing the Sac river. It is a round hole, about fifty feet deep, and precipitous on all sides but one, where a steep path leads down over the talus to the bottom. The vertical east, south and north sides of this opening are greatly disturbed and shattered, and covered with stalagmitic incrustations. The cave contains several large chambers, with some fine stalactitic ornamentation, which has been greatly mutilated by relic hunters.

The Doling Park cave was formerly known as the Giboney cave, and is one of the attractive features of a beautiful park laid out just north of the city of Springfield. It is not a large cave, but it sends forth a considerable stream of water, which, being dammed, forms a small lake that is utilized for bathing purposes, boating and fishing.

Of the numerous smaller caves which abound throughout Greene county, only a few will be noted, viz. the Lapham caves and sinks in Cass township (section 23, range 22, township 30) ; Crystal cave, near the Sac, north of Springfield ; the cave from which Jones' spring issues (section 27, township 29 north, range 21); the Little Yosemite cave (section 28, township 29, range 21); Wild Cat cave, near Boiling Spring, on the Winoka Lodge property (section 15, township 23, range 21) ; the cave in the bluff (5)

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

at Pierson creek mines ; the Robberson cave (section 17, east half of north- east quarter, township 30, range 21) ; and several interesting caves on the south side of the James river, east of Patterson spring, on the Yarborough farm.

GEOLOGY-STRATIGRAPHY.

The rocks of Greene county consist, first, of a series of more or less evenly and regularly bedded deposits, largely composed of white limestones, with some shales; and, second, of a sequence of heavily bedded, or massive, buff magnesian limestones. The former are almost entirely Lower Carbonif- erous rocks which bear considerable chert, and which, in isolated places, are overlaid by beds of sandstone. The second series, the magnesian limestones, or dolomites, belong to the basal portion of the Silurian Age. They are chiefly exposed in the river valleys in the northern and eastern borders of the county, where they have been brought to the surface through the elevation of the Ozark Uplift, and the vigorous trenching of the streams. Between the first and second series, there is a wide interval, covering most of the Silurian and Devonian Ages, the latter being represented in this region by a few thin. beds of limestones, sandstones and shales.

TABLE OF GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

System.

Series. Pennsylvanian

Stage. Des Moines

Formation. Graydon sandstone

Osage

Upper Burlington limestone Lower Burlington limestone.

Carboniferous

Chouteau limestone

Mississippian

Kinderhook

Hannibal shales Louisiana limestone

Phelps sandstone

Devonian

Hamilton

Sae limestone King limestone James River shale

Cambro-Ordovician Ozark

Potosi

Joachim limestone St. Peter sandstone Jefferson City limestone Roubidoux sandstone Gasconade limestone

Gunter sandstone

Deeaturville limestone

DESCRIPTION OF GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS-CAMBRO-ORDOVICIAN AGE.

The oldest rocks exposed at the surface in Greene county are those of the Ozark series of magnesian limestones. In the extreme northeast part of

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

the county, on the Pomme de Terre river, in section 5, township 31, range 20, is the following section :

5. Limestone, magnesian (Joachim limestone), 50 feet.

4. Sandstone (St. Peter), 20 feet.

3. Limestone, magnesian (Jefferson City limestone), 10 feet.

2. Sandstone (Roubidoux), 40 feet.

I. Limestone, magnesian (Gasconade limestone), 10 feet.

The few fossils that are found in these beds are imperfectly preserved, and confined to the upper layers. The limestones are all dolomites, generally heavy-bedded, varying from highly silicious lime rocks to very compact, fine- grained dolomite ("cotton-rock") .*

GASCONADE LIMESTONE-THIRD MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE OF SWALLOW.

This is the lowest formation exposed within the limits of Greene county. and the point at which the above section was taken is the only exposure in the county. Just beyond this county, to the northwest, it is the most prominent surface formation.

ROUBIDOUX SANDSTONE-SECOND SANDSTONE OF SWALLOW.

In the bed of the Pomme de Terre, where the outcrop of Gasconade lime- stone occurs, a section of Roubidoux sandstone of nearly twenty feet is ex- posed. It is variable in structure, but usually coarse-grained, with stratifica- tion lines frequently visible. The grains themselves vary in texture, shape and size. Some are limpid, and some are iron-stained quartz, while through- out the whole mass occasional milky-white grains are found. These grains are all more or less irregular in shape, thus differing from those of the St. Peter sandstone. The calcareous cementing material is considerable-another point of difference between this and the St. Peter sandstone. The lower layers of this formation are frequently cherty. Crossing the Pomme de Terre at the point of this exposure, a small bluff is encountered on the Elkland road, a short distance from the ford, on a branch that comes in from the north. Here this sandstone has a thickness of from thirty-five to forty feet, and the face of the bluff shows false bedding and ripple marks. This is the only, point in Greene county where these beds are exposed.

It is from the Roubidoux sandstone, reached at a depth of from eight

* For a fuller description of the geological formations of the Cambro-Ordovician (Silurian) Age and their distribution throughout the County, the reader is referred to "The Geology of Greene County," E. M. Shepard, Vol. XII, Missouri Geological Survey, where they may be looked for either under the names or synonyms here given. Also, Water Supply Paper, Bulletin 195, U. S. Geological Survey, Underground Waters of Missouri, E. M. Shepard, pp. 11-30.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

hundred to a thousand feet in and near Springfield, that the excellent water- supply of the deep wells is obtained. This formation has a thickness of about 300 feet in these wells.

JEFFERSON CITY LIMESTONE-SECOND MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE OF SWALLOW.

With the exception of the northeast part of the county, this formation has a very limited distribution in the area under discussion, and at no point has it been possible to obtain a complete section. The upper and lower beds outcrop in many places, but no comprehensive outline of the middle beds, as a whole, can be given. To the north, and particularly to the east and south of Greene county, the Jefferson City limestone thickens greatly, reaching, at Lebanon, in the deep well, a thickness of over four hundred feet. To the southeast, it has a thickness of nearly five hundred feet. At the power-house of the Springfield Traction Company the drill passed through one hundred and ninety feet. In the deep well of the Springfield City Water Company, at the pump station, one hundred and seventy-five feet was found. Wherever exposed, when freshly broken, this rock is a rather soft, fine-grained, com- pact, grayish-white, rather thin-bedded dolomitic limestone. Frequently the upper beds are highly silicious, and in weathering exhibit the jagged honey- combed peaks, or monument-like masses, similar to, though on a far larger scale than, the Joachim limestones. The lower beds are also almost always more silicious, and pitted with geode-like cavities, or honeycombed by weath- ering, leaving silicious skeletons in strangely contorted forms, standing up, in places, in jagged peaks two or three feet high, and so close together as to make traveling among them very difficult. In the eastern portion of the county, exposures are confined almost wholly to Taylor township, and only a small portion of the upper beds are seen. Where erosion has not strongly cut into this formation, a very beautiful rolling upland, with usually rich and fertile soil, is found. Where the streams cut through deeply into this hori- zon, beautiful bluff scenery abounds, which is rarely precipitous, the irregu- larity in the texture of the beds resulting in the formation of benches and slopes, rather than sharp precipices. No fossils of any kind have been found in this horizon in Greene county. Many of the beds of this formation could be utilized for building purposes as well as for the manufacture of lime. As an ore horizon, it is one of some importance in adjacent counties.

ST. PETER SANDSTONE-FIRST SANDSTONE OF SWALLOW.

This sandstone is mainly confined to the northeast portion of the county, though it also outcrops along the James river. It has a maximum thickness of forty-five feet, but varies greatly within short distances. In color, it varies from a reddish to white coarse-grained sandstone, of loose texture, in decided

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

beds from one to four feet thick, and usually associated with a very hard (silicious) sparkling limestone, above and below. It is a very durable rock, standing out prominently and forming benches and overhanging ledges in the beds of streams. While it is generally friable, it possesses, to a high degree, the power to resist the elements. Frequently the exposed surfaces are covered with ripple marks. In a well-section, the property of the Springfield Traction Company, from thirty-five to forty feet of this rock was passed through. At the old Phelps mine, five miles southeast of Springfield, it appears to be not more than two feet thick. It forms the bed of the James river along nearly its entire course through Taylor township.

JOACHIM LIMESTONE-FIRST MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE OF SWALLOW.

This formation has a maximum thickness of about one hundred feet, but varies greatly at points not far distant from each other. The beds are much attenuated on the slopes of the grand divide. Owing to the great variation in the texture of this formation, erosion frequently leaves these beds in great blackened masses, which cover the surface of the ground for long distances. In other places, the softer matrix is removed and the cherty masses are smaller and nodular or lenticular in shape, varying in size from an inch to a foot or more in diameter and covered with mammillary and botryoidal surfaces, oc- casionally drusy with quartz crystals. Locally, these masses are called "nig- ger-heads," or "corn-shellers." They either lie loosely in the exposed bed- rock or are partially bedded in the poor, ashy soil which forms many of the barren post-oak glades. Such a condition is well exhibited over the top of a broad ridge in section 21, township 31, range 20; also in irregular patches from this place to section 9, township 31, range 23, ending just over the Greene county line, in Polk county, where is found a large glade with scant covering of dwarf grass and scrub post-oak. Besides the smaller masses, there are, in this location, numerous very much larger boulders forming the nuclei for low, conical bosses, which are from ten to twenty feet in diameter at the base, and about two feet high. These low hummocks have frequently been mistaken for Indian mounds, but their origin is evident. As a rule, the upper beds of this formation are more silicious, and form what miners call "sand-flint layers." The lower layers are frequently dolomitic limestones, forming beds of "cotton-rock."

DEVONIAN AGE.

A hiatus exists between the Carboniferous and the Silurian formations. The Hannibal shales, from their loose texture and their readily decomposable nature, wash down and form, almost invariably, a long and gentle slope, or terrace, covering the underlying formations for some distance, thus making

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

it exceedingly difficult to find the junction between these shales and the un- derlying beds. It is rarely, except in mines and well-sections, and in a few other localities, that a systematic knowledge of these beds can be obtained. Four horizons of this age have been fully synchronized in this and adjoining counties, and as they are so thin and so varied in their presence we shall but mention their names in the following generalized section :*

Phelps Sandstone o to 4 feet.

Sac Limestone I to 18 feet.

King Limestone I to 15 feet.

James River Shale, or Black Shale 1/2 to 5 feet.

CARBONIFEROUS AGE.

The great subdivisions of the Carboniferous Age are recognizable in Greene county as a lower part, or Mississippian Series, and an upper part, or Pennsylvanian Series (coal measures). The former, or lower part, oc- cupies probably nine-tenths of this county, and is represented by several well- marked members. The latter, or upper part, is represented only by small, isolated patches, outliers of the coal fields, which are situated in the western part of the state.

THE MISSISSIPPIAN SERIES-LOWER CARBONIFEROUS.

This series is represented in Greene county by two subdivisions, the Kinderhook and the Osage. The Kinderhook is divided into three horizons, as follows :

Chouteau Limestone 3 to 30 feet.

Hannibal Sandstones and Shales IO to 90 feet.

Louisiana Limestone o to 8 feet.

LOUISIANA LIMESTONE-LITHOGRAPHIC OF SWALLOW.

This is a very compact, medium-grained limestone, its surface weathering so as to expose minute crinoid stems. The rock is so compact that if the weathered slabs are held up and struck with a hammer, they ring like bell metal. Exposed surfaces are frequently speckled with minute particles of cal- cite. Outcrops of this formation are not always easy to find in this county, as they are so often covered by the decomposed shales of the Hannibal series above. The beds are rarely more than from four to eight feet in thickness.

* For a fuller discussion of these beds, see "The Geology of Greene County," E. M. Shepard, Missouri Geological Survey, Vol. XII, pp. 65-82.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

HANNIBAL FORMATION-VERMICULAR SANDSTONES AND SHALES OF SWALLOW.

This formation is usually made up of two members, an upper one, which is commonly a dark, yellowish brown to buff fine-grained, compact sand- rock, penetrated in all directions by tortuous tube-like borings, filled with a softer matter, and frequently called "worm-eaten" rock, and a lower mem- ber, which is a compact, grayish to blue, in some places greenish, magnesian shale. The latter varies from hard to soft in texture, decomposing into a clayey, sticky, greenish mud. Frequently the weathered slabs exhibit the "rooster-tail," or "caudi-galli," markings.

This formation has a thickness of from ten to one hundred feet, the sandstone member ranging, perhaps, from a few to twenty-five feet, and the shales from twenty-five to seventy-five feet. The shales seem to be always present, and usually increase in thickness where the sandstone decreases, or is absent. These rocks are exposed, first, where the streams cut through the overlying strata and into them; and, second, where a fold or fault brings them to the surface. The sandstone is quite durable, and in weathering usually forms benches, or terraces, protecting the softer shales beneath. In some cases, flat-topped mounds, or buttes, are formed, as in the so-called "Indian Mound," on Presley Hill-one of the best locations in the county for the study of this formation.

The sandstone of this formation is largely used by farmers for founda- tion stones and for chimneys, as it is very durable and withstands the effects of fire.

The shales, along Pierson creek, are ore-bearing, but the beds are usually too thin to hold large deposits of ore. These shales have, usually, a large amount of iron pyrites and magnesium carbonate. The former, decomposing, produces sulphuric acid, sets free the carbonic dioxide, and produces mag- nesium sulphate. Water percolating through these beds is often impregnated with mineral matter, and consequently springs or wells in this horizon are sometimes unfit for use.

CHOUTEAU LIMESTONE.

While varying structurally at different points, this formation possesses certain general lithological characteristics by which it may be easily recog- nized. It is fine-grained, compact, heavily bedded, buff to yellow in color, frequently slightly arenaceous, much softer in the bed than when exposed to the air, and weathers badly, leaving the surface with deep, irregular grooves and prominent rounded ridges and points. These rocks are well exhibited along the James river, in Taylor township, where they vary from thirty to forty feet in thickness. In the north half of the county they are confined

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

mainly to the slopes of the Sac. They are too thin to form much of an ore horizon, and their structure seems unfavorable for the accumulation of an ore body. As a building material, some of the harder, arenaceous beds would, probably, justify a more general use. The color is handsome, and presents a strong contrast to the Upper Burlington and Magnesian limestones, which are so generally used. This rock should replace some of the trimmings that are now imported at considerable expense. From a quarry which was worked many years ago on the James river, in section 32, township 29, range 20, stones were taken which stood for many years in the pillars of the old court house in Springfield, where, though long exposed to wind and weather, they continued unmarred, except by the vandalism of man.

The scenery produced by the weathering of beds of the Kinderhook stage is so striking that a little experience enables one to recognize them at a con- siderable distance. Rounded hills, with gentle slopes and terraces, are the characteristic features which give a very pleasing aspect to the country. On wild land, the sumac grows luxuriantly along these terraces. Mounds and low buttes frequently occur from the weathering of the softer shales beneath. Quite a striking series of these rounded mounds is seen north of Strafford, in township 30, range 20.

THE OSAGE SERIES-AUGUSTA OF KEYES.

This series includes, in Greene county, the two following geological for- mations :

Upper Burlington 100 to 250 feet.

Lower Burlington 20 to 90 feet.

THE LOWER BURLINGTON FORMATION.

Next to the Upper Burlington, the Lower Burlington has the widest dis- tribution of any formation in Greene county. The dip of the strata to the southwest buries it beneath the upper members in the western tier of town- ships. It reaches a maximum thickness of ninety feet in the eastern part of the county, but thins out toward the north. It averages about sixty feet in thickness. It is best exposed on the uplands from the James, in Taylor town- ship, and northwest of the town of Strafford. The upper beds of the Lower Burlington are made up of from five to twenty feet of yellowish-white, very hard chert, which breaks with a conchoidal, or splintery, fracture, some frag- ments being as sharp as a knife-blade. It is non-fossiliferous, which, with the foregoing characteristics, distinguishes it from the chert of the Upper Burlington. It steadily increases in amount toward the south, from Spring- field. This is the material from which the Osages were accustomed to make their arrow-points and hatchets, as has been described in another chapter.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Underneath the chert bed of the Lower Burlington is found a heavily bedded bluish, or slate-colored, very hard limestone, which is often interspersed with lenticular masses of hard chert in the north, and which, towards the south, develops into a succession of numerous alternating beds of chert and limestone, each but a few inches thick. The Traction Company well-section,. at Springfield, gives a thickness of about ninety feet of Lower Burlington.

Owing to the great hardness of this formation, streams cut into it narrow gullies and gorges; and because of the indestructiblety of the chert and the excessive hardness of the limestone the formation presents the most unfavor- able conditions possible for the deposition and accumulation of an ore-body- hence the almost total absence of ore in paying quantities in this formation throughout the Southwest.

As a building stone this rock can never be so valuable as it is in the- northern part of the state. Usually it breaks in an irregular manner and contains much chert. There is one use for this rock, which, strange to say, has been almost wholly overlooked. Everyone who has driven over the ridge roads in the southern counties of the state must have been impressed with the way in which the chert packs down and forms a natural macadam road- way. As a material for macadamizing, nothing could be finer than this chert, and its economic value in this respect should be emphasized. The Lower Burlington rock is not utilized for burning into lime in this area, though it is extensively used for this purpose elsewhere, in localities where it is less sili- cious.

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.

Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Fairbanks, Jonathan, 1828- , ed; Tuck, Clyde Edwin
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, A. W. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1086