USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 3
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The rocks of the Lower Carboniferous formation are varied in color, and are quarried in many different parts of the State, being extensively utilized for build- ing and other purposes.
Among the Lower Carboniferous rocks is found the Upper Archimedes Limestone, 200 feet ; Ferruginous Sandstone, 195 feet ; Middle Archimedes, 50
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H.STORY OF MISSOURI.
fect ; St. Louis Limestone, 250 feet ; Oölitic Limestone, 25 feet ; Lower Archi- medes Limestone, 350 feet ; and Encrinital Limestone, 500 feet. These lime- stones generally contain fossils.
The Ferruginous limestone is soft when quarried, but becomes hard and du- rable after exposure. It contains large quantities of iron, and is found skirting the eastern coal measures from the mouth of the Des Moines to McDonald county.
The St. Louis limestone is of various hues and tints, and very hard. It is found in Clark, Lewis and St. Louis counties.
The Lower Archimedes limestone includes partly the lead bearing rocks of Southwestern Missouri.
The Encrinital limestone is the most extensive of the divisions of Carbonifer- ous limestone, and is made up of brown, buff, gray and white. In these strata are found the remains of corals and mollusks. This formation extends from Marion county to Greene county. The Devonian system contains : Chemung Group, Hamilton Group, Onondaga limestone and Oriskany sandstone. The rocks of the Devonian system are found in Marion, Ralls, Pike, Callaway, Saline and St. Gene- vieve counties.
The Chemung Group has three formations, Chouteau limestone, 85 feet; Ver- micular sandstone and shales, 75 feet; Lithographic limestone, 125 feet.
The Chouteau limestone is in two divisions, when fully developed, and when first quarried is soft. It is not only good for building purposes but makes an ex- cellent cement.
The Vermicular sandstone and shales are usually buff or yellowish brown, and perforated with pores.
The Lithographic limestone is a pure, fine, compact, evenly-textured lime- stone. Its color varies from light drab to buff and blue. It is called " pot met. al," because under the hammer it gives a sharp, ringing sound. It has but few fossils.
The Hamilton Group is made up of some 40 feet of blue shales, and 170 feet of crystalline limestone.
Onondaga limestone is usually a coarse, gray or buff crystalline, thick-bedded and cherty limestone. No formation in Missouri presents such variable and wide ly different lithological characters as the Onondaga.
The Oriskany sandstone is a light, gray limestone.
Of the Upper Silurian series there are the following formations : Lower Hel- derburg, 350 feet ; Niagara Group, 200 feet; Cape Girardeau limestone, 60 feet.
The Lower Helderberg is made up of buff, gray and reddish cherty and ar- gillaceous limestone.
Niagara Group. The upper part of this group consists of red, yellow and ash- colored shales, with compact limestones, variegated with bands and nodules of chert.
The Cape Girardeau limestone, on the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, is a compact, bluish-gray, brittle limestone, with smooth fractures in layers from two to six inches in thickness, with argillaceous partings. These strata contain a great many fossils.
The Lower Silurian has the following ten formations, to-wit : Hudson River Group, 220 feet ; Trenton limestone, 360 feet; Black River and Bird's Eye lime- stone, 175 feet ; first Magnesian limestone, 200 feet; Saccharoidal sandstone, 125 feet ; second Magnesian limestone, 250 feet ; second sandstone, 115 feet ; third Magnesian limestone, 350 feet ; third sandstone, 60 feet ; fourth Magnesian lime- stone, 350 feet.
Hudson River Group :- There are three formations which Prof. Swallow re- fers to in this group. These formations are found in the bluff above and below Louisiana; on the Grassy a few miles northwest of Louisiana, and in Ralls, Pike, Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve Counties.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Trenton limestone :- The upper part of this formation is made up of thick beds of hard, compact, bluish gray and drab limestone, variegated with irregular cavities, filled with greenish materials.
The beds are exposed between Hannibal and New London, north of Salt River, and near Glencoe, St. Louis county, and are 75 feet thick.
Black River and Bird's Eye limestone the same color as the Trenton lime- stone.
The first Magnesian limestone cap the picturesque bluffs of the Osage in Ben- ton and neighboring counties.
The Saccharoidal sandstone has a wide range in the state. In a bluff about two miles from Warsaw, is a very striking change of thickness of this formation.
Second Magnesian limestone, in lithological character, is like the first.
The second sandstone, usually of yellowish-brown, sometimes becomes a pure white, fine-grained, soft, sandstone as on Cedar Creek, in Washington and Frank- lin counties.
The third Magnesian limestone is exposed in the high and picturesque bluffs of the Niangua, in the neighborhood of Bryces' Spring.
The third sandstone is white and has a formation in moving water.
The fourth Magnesian limestone is seen on the Niangua and Osage Rivers.
The Azoic rocks lie below the Silurian and form a series of silicious and other slates which contain no remains of organic life.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
Coal .- Missouri is particularly rich in minerals. Indeed, no State in the Union, surpasses her in this respect. In some unknown age of the past-long before the existence of man, nature, by a wise process, made a bountiful provis- ion, for the time, when in the order of things, it should be necessary for civilized man-to take possession of these broad, rich prairies. As an equivalent for lack of forests, she quietly stored away beneath the soil, those wonderful carboniferous treasures for the use of man.
Geological surveys, have developed the fact, that the coal deposits in the State, are almost unnumbered, embracing all varieties of the best bituminous coal. The southeast boundary of the State, has been ascertained, to be one continuous coal field, stretching from the mouth of the Des Moines River, through Clark, Lewis, Scotland, Adair, Macon, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Callaway, Boone, Cooper, Pettis, Benton, Henry, St. Clair, Bates, Vernon, Cedar, Dade, Barton, and Jasper, into the Indian Territory, and the counties on the northwest of this line contain more or less coal. Coal rocks exist in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St. Charles, Moniteau, Cole, Morgan, Crawford, and Lincoln, and during the past few years, all along the lines of all the railroads in north Missouri, and along the western end of the Missouri Pacific, and on the Missouri River, between Kansas City and Sioux City, has systematic mining, opened up hundreds of mines in different localities. The area of our coal beds, on the line of the south- western boundary of the State alone, embrace more than 26,000 square miles, of regular coal measures. This will give of workable coal, if the average be one foot, 26,800,000,000 tons. The estimates from the developments already made, in the different portions of the State, will give 134,000, 000, 000 tons.
The economical value of this coal, to the State; its influence in domestic life ; in navigation, commerce and manufactures, is beyond the imagination 01 man to conceive. Suffice it to say, that in the possession of her developed, and undeveloped coal mines, Missouri has a motive power, which in its influences for good, in the civilization of man, is more potent than the gold of California.
Iron .- Prominent among the minerals, which increase the power and pros- perity of a Nation, is iron. Of this ore, Missouri has an inexhaustible quantity, and like her coa) fields, it has been developed in many portions of the State,
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
and of the best and purest quality. It is found in great abundance in the coun- ties of Cooper, St. Clair, Green, Henry, Franklin, Benton, Dallas, Camden, Stone, Madison, Iron, Washington, Perry, St. Francois, Reynolds, Stoddard, Scott, Dent and others. The greatest deposit of iron, is found in the Iron Mountain, which is two hundred feet high, and covers an area of five hundred acres, and produces a metal, which is shown by analysis, to contain from 65 to 69 per cent of metallic iron.
The ore of Shepherd Mountain contains from 64 to 67 per cent of metallic iron. The ore of Pilot Knob, contains from 53 to 60 per cent.
Rich beds of iron, are also found at the Big Bogy Mountain, and at Russell Mountain. This ore has in its nude state, a variety of colors, from the red, dark red, black, brown, to a light bluish gray. The red ores are found in 21 or more counties of the State, and are of great commercial value. The brown hematite iron ores, extend over a greater range of country, than all the others combined ; embracing about 100 counties, and have been ascertained to exist in these in large quantities.
Lead .- Long before any permanent settlements were made in Missouri, by the whites, lead was mined within the limits of the state, at two or three points on the Mississippi. At this time more than five hundred mines are opened, and many of them are being successfully worked. These deposits of lead cover an area, so far as developed, of more than 7,000 square miles. Mines have been opened in Jefferson, Washington, St. Francis, Madison, Wayne, Carter, Reynolds, Crawford, Ste. Genevieve, Perry, Cole, Cape Girardeau, Camden, Morgan and many other counties.
Copper and Zinc .- Several varieties of copper ore are found in Missouri. The copper mines of Shannon, Madison, and Franklin counties have been known for years, and some of these have been successfully worked, and are now yielding good results.
Deposits of copper have been discovered in Dent, Crawford, Benton, Maries, Green, Lawrence, Dade, Taney, Dallas, Phelps, Reynolds, and Wright counties.
Zinc is abundant in nearly all the lead mines in the southwestern part of the state, and since the completion of the A. & P. R. R. a market has been furnished for this ore, which will be converted into valuable merchandise.
Building Stone and Marble .- There is no scarcity of good building stone in Missouri. Limestone, sandstone, and granite exist in all shades of buff, blue, red, and brown, and are of great beauty as building material.
There are many marble beds in the state, some of which furnish very beauti- ful and excellent marble. It is found in Marion, Cooper, St. Louis, and other counties.
One of the most desirable of the Missouri marbles is in the 3d Magnesian limestone, on the Niangua. It is fine-grained, crystalline, silico-magnesian lime- stone, light-drab, slightly tinged with peach blossom, and clouded by deep flesh- colored shades. In ornamental architecture it is rarely surpassed.
Gypsum and Lime .- Though no extensive beds of gypsum have been discovered in Missouri, there are vast beds of the pure white crystalline variety on the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, on Kansas River, and on Gypsum Creek. It exists lso in several other localities accessible by both rail and boat.
All of the limestone formations in the State, from the coal measures to the fourth Magnesian, have more or less strata of very nearly pure carbonate of pure lime.
Clays and Paints .- Clays are found in nearly all parts of the State suitable for making bricks. Potters' clay, and fire-clay are worked in many localities.
There are several beds of purple shades in the coal measures which possess the properties requisite for paints used in outside work. Yellow and red ochres are
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
found in considerable quantities on the Missouri River. Some of these paints have been thoroughly tested and found fire-proof and durable.
SPRINGS AND WATER POWER.
No State is, perhaps, better supplied with cold springs of pure water than Missouri. Out of the bottoms there is scarcely a section of land but has one or more perennial springs of good water. Even where there are no springs good water can be obtained by digging from twenty to forty feet. Salt springs are abundant in the central part of the State, and discharge their brine in Cooper, Saline, Howard, and adjoining counties. Considerable salt was made in Cooper and Howard counties at an early day.
Sulphur springs are also numerous throughout the State. The Chouteau springs in Cooper, the Monagaw springs in St. Clair, the Elk springs in Pike, and the Cheltenham springs in St. Louis county have acquired considerable reputation as salubrious waters, and have become popular places of resort. Many other counties have good sulphur springs.
Among the Chalybeate springs the Sweet springs on the Blackwater, and the Chalybeate spring in the University campus are, perhaps, the most popular of the kind in the State. There are, however, other springs impregnated with some of the salts of iron.
Petroleum springs are found in Carroll, Ray, Randolph, Cass, Lafayette, Bates, Vernon, and other counties. The variety called lubricating oil is the more common.
The water power of the State is excellent. Large springs are particularly abundant on the waters of the Maramec, Gasconade, Bourbeuse, Osage, Niangua, Spring, White, Sugar, and other streams. Besides these, there are hundreds of springs sufficiently large to drive mills and factories, and the day is not far distant when these crystal fountains will be utilized, and a thousand saws will buzz to their dashing music.
CHAPTER IV.
TITLE AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
Title to Missouri Lands-Right of Discovery-Title of France and Spain-Cession to the United States-Territorial Changes-Treaties with Indians-First Settlement-Ste. Genevieve and New Bou bon-St. Louis-When Incorporated-Potosi-St. Charles-Portage des Sioux- New Mad id-St. Francois County-Perry-Mississippi-Loutre Island-" Boon's Lick"- Cote Sans Dessein-Howard County-Some First Things-Counties-When Organized.
The title to the soil of Missouri, was, of course, primarily vested in the original occupants who inhabited the country prior to its discovery by the whites. But the Indians, being savages, possessed but few rights that civilized nations considered themselves bound to respect, so when they found this country in the possession of such a people, they claimed it in the name of the King of France, by the right of discovery. It remained under the jurisdiction of France until 1763.
Prior to the year 1763, the entire continent of North America, was divided between France, England, Spain, and Russia. France held all that portion thi t now constitutes our national domain west of the Mississippi River, except Texas, and the territory which we have obtained from Mexico and Russia. The vast
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
region, while under the jurisdiction of France, was known as tac " Province of Louisiana," and embraced the present State of Missouri. At the close of the " Old French War," in 1763, France gave up her share of the continent, and Spain came into the possession of the territory west of the Mississippi River, while Great Britain retained Canada and the regions northward, having obtained 'hat territory by conquest, in the war with France. For thirty-seven years the territory now embraced within the limits of Missouri, remained as a part of the possession of Spain, and then went back to France by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, October Ist, 1800. On the 30th of April, 1803, France ceded it to the United States, in consideration of receiving $11,250,000, and the liquidation of certain claims, held by citizens of the United States against France, which amounted to the further sum of $3,750,000, making a total of $15,000,000. It will thus be seen that France has twice, and Spain once, held sovereignty over the territory embracing Missouri, but the financial needs of Napoleon afforded our government an opportunity to add another empire to its domain.
On the 31st of October, 1803, an act of Congress was approved, authorizing the President to take possession of the newly acquired territory, and provided for it, a temporary government, and another act approved March 26th, 1804, authorized the division of the "Louisiana Purchase," as it was then called, into two separate territories. All that portion south of the 33d parallel of north latitude, was called the "Territory of Orleans," and that north of the said parallel was known as the "District of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction of what was then known as " Indiana Territory."
By virtue of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1805, the " District of Louisiana," was organized as the "Territory of Louisiana," with a territorial government of its own, which went into operation July 4th, of the same year, and it so remained till 1812. In this year the " Territory of Orleans," became the State of Louisiana, and the " Territory of Louisiana," was organized as the " Territory of Missouri."
This change took place under an act of Congress, approved June 4th, 1812. In 1819, a portion of this territory was organized as " Arkansaw Territory," and in 1821, the State of Missouri was admitted, being a part of the former " Terri- tory of Missouri."
In 1836, the " Platte Purchase," then being a part of the Indian Territory, and now composing the counties of Atchison, Andrew, Buchanan, Holt, Noda- way, and Platte, was made by treaty with the Indians, and added to the State. It will be seen then, that the soil of Missouri belonged :
Ist .- To France with other territory.
2d .- In 1768, with other territory it was ceded to Spain.
3d .- October Ist, 1800, it was ceded with other territory from Spain, back to France.
4th .- April goth, 1803, it was ceded with other territory by France, to the United States.
5th .- October 31, 1803, a temporary government was authorized by Con gress, for the newly acquired territory.
6th .- October 1, 1804, it was included in the " District of Louisiana," and piaced under the territorial government of Indiana.
7th .- July 4, 1805, it was included as a part of the "Territory of Louisiana," then organized with a separate territorial government.
8th .- June 4, 1812, it was embraced in what was then made the " Territory of Missouri."
9th .- August 10, 1821, it was admitted into the Union as a State.
Ioth .- In 1836, the " Platte Purchase" was made, adding more territory to the State.
The cession by France April 30, 1803, vested the title in the United States,
A PIONEER HOME.
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2
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
subject to the claims of the Indians, which it was very justly the policy of the government to recognize. Before the government of the United States could vest clear title to the soil in the grantee it was necessary to extinguish the Indian title by purchase. This was done accordingly by treaties made with the Indians, at different times.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The name of the first white man who set foot on the territory now embraced. in the State of Missouri, is not known, nor is it known at what precise period the first settlements were made. It is, however, generally agreed that they were made at Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon, tradition fixing. the date of these settle- ments in the autumn of 1735. These towns were settled by the French from Kaskaskia and St. Philip in Illinois.
St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Lignest, on the 15th of February, 1764. He was a native of France, and was one of the members of the company of Laclede Lignest, Antoino Maxant & Co., to whom a royal charter had been granted, confirmning the privilege of an exclusive trade with the Indians of the Missouri as far north as St. Peter's River.
While in search of a trading post he ascended the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Missouri, and finally returned to the present town site of St. Louis. After the village had been laid off he named it St. Louis, in honor of Louis XV, of France.
·The colony thrived rapidly by accessions from Kaskaskia and other towns on the east side of the Mississippi, and its trade was largely increased by many of the Indian tribes, who removed a portion of their peltry trade from the same towns to St. Louis. It was incorporated as a town on the 9th day of November, 1809, by the court of Common Pleas of the district of St. Louis; the town trustees being Auguste Chouteau, Edward Hempstead, Jean F. Cabanne, Wm. C. Carr and Wm. Christy, and incorporated as a city December 9, 1822. The selection of the town site on which St. Louis stands was highly judicious, the spot not only being healthful and having the advantages of water transportation unsurpassed, but sur- rounded by a beautiful region of country, rich in soil and mineral resources. St. Louis has grown to be the fifth city in population in the Union, and is to-day, the great center of internal commerce of the Missouri, the Mississippi and their trib- utaries, and, with its railroad facilities, it is destined to be the greatest inland city of the American continent.
The next settlement was made at Potosi, in Washington County, in 1765, by Francis Breton, who, while cha ing a bear, discovered the mine near the present town of Potosi, where he afterward located.
One of the most prominent pioneers who settled at Potosi was Moses Austin, of Virginia, who, in 1873, received by grant from the Spanish government a league of land, now known as the " Austin Survey." The grant was made on condition that Mr. Austin would establish a lead mine at Potosi and work it. He built a palatial residence, for that day, on the brow of the hill in the little village, which was, for many years, known as " Durham Hall." At this point the first shot- tower and sheet-lead manufactory were erected.
Five years after the founding of St. Louis the first settlement made in North- ern Missouri was made at or near St. Charles, in St. Charles county, in 1769. The name given to it, and which it retained till 1784, was Les Petites Cotes, signi- fying, Little Hills. The town site was located by Blanchette, a Frenchman, sur- named LeChasseur, who built the first fort in the town and established there a military post.
Soon after the establishment of the military post at St. Charles, the old French village of Portuge des Sioux, was located on the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Illinois river, and at about the same time a Kickapoo village
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
was commenced at Clear Weather Lake. The present town site of New Madrid, in New Madrid county, was settled in 1781, by French Canadians, it then being occupied by Delaware Indians. The place now known as Big River Mills, St. Francois county, was settled in 1796, Andrew Baker, John Alley, Francis Starnater, and John Andrews, each locating claims. The following year, a settlement was made in the same county, just below the present town of Farm- ington, by the Rev. Wm. Murphy, a Baptist minister from East Tennessee. In 1796, settlements were made in Perry county by emigrants from Kentucky and Pennsylvania; the latter locating in the rich bottom lands of Bois Brule, the former generally settling in the " Barrens," and along the waters of Saline Creek.
Bird's Point, in Mississippi county, opposite Cairo, Ill., was settled August 6th, 1800, by John Johnson, by virtue of a land-grant from the commandant under the Spanish Government. Norfolk and Charleston, in the same county,
were settled respectively in 1800 and 1801. Warren county was settled in 1801. Loutre Island, below the present town of Herman, in the M ssouri River was settled by a few American families in 1807. This little company of pioneers suffered greatly from the floods, as well as from the incursions of thieving and blood-thirsty Indians, and many incidents of a thrilling character could be related of trials and struggles, had we the time and space.
In 1807, Nathan and Daniel Boone, sons of the great hunter and pioneer, in company with three others went from St. Louis to " Boone's Lick," in Howard county, where they manufactured salt, and formed the nucleus of a small settlement.
Cote Sans Desseiu, now called Bakersville, on the Missouri River, in Callaway county, was settled by the French in 1801. This little town was considered at that time, as the "Far West " of the new world. During the war of 1812, at this place many hard fought battles occurred between the whites and Indians, wherein woman's fortitude and courage greatly assisted in the defense of the settlement.
In 1810, a colony of Kentuckians numbering one hundred and fifty families immigrated to Howard county, and settled in the Missouri River bottom, near the present town of Franklin. '
Such, in brief, is the history of some of the early settlements of Missouri, covering a period of more than half a century.
These settlements were made on the water courses ; usually along the banks of the two great streams, whose navigation afforded them transportation for their marketable commodities, and communication with the civilized portion of the country.
They not only encountered the gloomy forests, settling as they did by the river's brink, but the hostile incursion of savage Indians, by whom they were for many years surrounded.
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