USA > Missouri > Pettis County > Sedalia > The History of Pettis County, Missouri, History of Sedalia > Part 26
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In addition to the above there are at least half as many more species, and to finally decide the question, further investigation is required.
Prof. Broadhead in one of the Geological Reports of Missouri, gives a section on the Muddy as follows:
No. 1-15 feet slope from hill-top.
No. 2-15 feet cherty slope.
No. 3-52 feet of dull drab limestone with concretions of chert and com- pact quartz, with a bed of bluish-drab subcrystalline limestone near the upper part, in which occur a few fossils.
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No. 4-32 feet of dove and drab colored limestone, with some veins and concretions of calcite.
No. 5-3 feet Cooper marble.
He thinks that there are in this 84 feet of undoubted Chouteau lime- stone, and that the 15 feef of cherty slope may also be added to this, mak- ing 99 feet in all. In the quarries north of the city the rock becomes on exposure of a drab color, and the top layer is in places so soft that it crumbles. This same layer is found in the bed of the stream running through J. R. Barrett's fields adjoining the city, and from it I have gathered Zaphrentis calceola, Michelinia expansa, M. placenta, Chonophyl- lum sedaliense, and other corals yet unnamed. At the same place I got the only entire trilobite I have seen from the county. It was a Proetus. In other beds of the Chouteau are Pentremites roemeri, Productus mur- chisonianus, Spirifer peculiaris, S. marionensis, Rhynchonella missouriensis, R. cooperensis, Avicula circulus, and probably a score more species, part of which have not been identified, and a part are new.
In the Anderson quarry in the northwest part of Sedalia, I took the following section :
No. 1 .- 2} feet of soil and hard pan.
No. 2 .- 5 feet mostly of red clay filled with chert.
No. 3 .- 4} feet of Burlington limestone, in four layers separated by styli- litic joints, in places the joint almost or totally disappearing, and becoming as firm as a single bed. The upper layer is not as contin- uous as the others, and is more or less crumbly on its surface. It is only from this surface that fossils in good condition can be obtained. This formation is called fire rock by the quarrymen. It contains a large number of species of crinoids; also Spirifer grimesi, S. forbesi, Orthis michilini, O. swallovi, Euomphalus latus, Pentremites melo, P. sampsoni, Zaphrentis calceola, Z. elliptica, a fish tooth, &c.
No. 4 .- 22 feet of yellowish rock locally called "bastard cotton rock." It hardens on exposure and is the top layer of the Chouteau limestone. At other places it contains a variety of fossils, but here few except Zaphrentis calceola and Chonophyllum sedaliense.
No. 5 .- 2 feet blue shale which on exposure is soon reduced to clay. It contains iron pyrites with a fucoid and Michilinia expansa.
No. 6 .- 2 feet of blue limestone containing disseminated calcite. 1
No. 7 .- 4 feet of similar rock with many nodules of chert and concretions of calcite more or less crystalized.
No. 8 .- Gray flint, which has been drilled into 18 inches, but whose thickness is not known.
Like the Burlington this has its chert beds which have been observed in place only in two localities, a quarry on the Georgetown road and another one close to it. In places the chert of these two formations are
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
mingled, and in others they are separate. Chert beds are also found in the Lower Siluiran in the county.
Prof. Meek states that on Heath's Creek outcrops of fifty to seventy feet of Chouteau are seen, surmounted by from twenty to fifty feet of Burlington limestone. In his geology of Saline county he gives the Chouteau as a part of the Sub-carboniferous, and in his geology of Morgan county he gives it as a part of the Devonian, showing that he was some- , what undecided as to where he should place it.
Cooper Marble .- The exact position of this rock has not been deter- mined, as no fossils have been found in it. Our State Reports make it a part of the Devonian, but Prof. Meek thought that it might prove to belong lower down. In the section on the Muddy, that we have given, there are seen fo be a few feet of this formation, and Broadhead found the same west of Sedalia. There are no fossils seen in it.
Lower Silurian .- A large portion of the State south of the Missouri river belongs to the Lower Silurian, and is made up principally of the seven formations which Prof. Swallow considered as equivalent to the Calciferous sand-rock of New York. These beds contain very few fos- sils, and a part of them can scarcely be identified, except by knowing their relative position to other strata.
The First Magnesian limestone is a "gray or buff, crystalline, cherty silico-magnesian limestone, filled with small irregular masses of soft white, or greenish yellow silicious substance, which rapidly decomposes when exposed, and leaves the rock full of irregular cavities, and covered with rough projecting points."
Prof. Meek observed it in Morgan county, a few miles from the line, but it is thought that it is not found in this county.
The Saccharoidal sandstone is the next formation below. It is usually a white friable sandstone, made up of globular concretions and angular fragments of limpid quartz. Sometimes it is a mass of slightly coherent particles of silex which very much resembles loaf sugar. It occurs in the county, but I have not the thickness of this or any of the other formations of this system.
The Second Magnesian limestone underlies the above, and is exposed at many places through the southern portion of the county. It consists of light grayish and flesh-colored concretionary layers, with beds of sand- stone and "cotton rock." In the adjoining county of Morgan it attains a thickness of 175 feet.
The "cotton rock" of this formation is very soft when first taken from the quarry, and can be easily wrought. It is more durable than its appearance would indicate, as it hardens on exposure. The Capitol at Jefferson City, and Smith's Hall of our city, are built of this rock. This limestone is probably the lowest formation that outcrops in the county.
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
In the "Geology from Sedalia to Kansas City," by Prof. Broadhead, the following summary is given:
1. Sandstone, twenty feet.
2. Cherts and clays, thirty feet.
S. Burlington limestone, fifty feet.
4. Chouteau limestone, ninety-nine feet.
5. Cooper marble, fourteen feet.
6. First Magnesian limestone, thirty-four feet.
Total: 247 feet of rocks below the coal measures.
It will be seen that this gives the First Magnesian limestone, but it was probably an oversight, and if not there should at least two formations lower than it be given, if it embraces the whole county.
It is evident from the preceding statements that there is much yet to be learned about both the geology and the paleontology of the county, facts which are not simply those of minor detail, but of great importance. The re-establishment of the office of State Geologist might help in this matter, and it is to be hoped that our legislature will soon make this an accom- plished fact, and appropriate sufficient funds to allow the reports that may be made to be an honor to the state.
ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.
Building Stone .- The quarries north of Sedalia have furnished founda- tion stone principally, the best quality being from the Burlington beds. During the past summer large blocks of these were obtained for building the piers of the bridge across Flat Creek, and for the Water Works dam. The Magnesian limestone, which was in the piers of the old bridge, cracked and became worthless on exposure to the weather. The most of the Chouteau beds produce a rock which breaks with a conchoidal sur- face, and is difficult to get in good shape. There are, however, uniform layers of very hard limestone six miles east of Sedalia, on Fred Leuke's farm, from which the magnificient curbing and sidewalk flagging used in Sedalia are obtained. The curb-stones are from six to fourteen feet in length, while a thinner bed in the same quarry supplies rock of proper thickness for sidewalks, and slabs are taken out three to six by ten feet, so that no city can show finer curbing and sidewalks than Sedalia can.
Lime .- In the neighborhood of Georgetown are several lime kilns, in which Burlington limestone is made into excellent lime.
Clay .- On and near Little Muddy, north of Dresden, and two and one- half mile southwest of Dresden, are beds of clay, mostly olive or white, sometimes tinged with red. They are fifteen to twenty feet thick, and several establishments, at Dresden, Lamonte, and Calhoun, are engaged in manufacturing pottery from them. In the northwest part of the county, below the coal measures, and above the Burlington, is chert, intermingled
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with potter's clay, and at the Railroad Hospital, in Sedalia, similiar beds were passed through in digging a well; in these, the clay had the appear- ance of being decayed chert.
Coal .- This has already been noticed. Efforts are now being made to find the extent of the field in the northeast part of the county, which has been found in places thirty feet thick.
Lead .- Lead has been found in Missouri in the different formations from the Coal Measures to the Third Magnesian limestone. It occurs in various parts of the county, but has not yet been obtained in paying quan- tities. Some five miles south of Sedalia considerable prospecting was done in the Magnesian limestone, in three places. At one there was a vein six inches across, ten feet from the surface, but on reaching a bed of cotton rock at that depth the vein gave out. A few rods from this a shaft was sunk, starting from near the top of a rocky bluff, and a depth of fifty feet was reached before rock was struck. It seemed to be a chimney, but it proved to be a barren one. A short distance from this another shaft was sunk, upon a hill side, and large quantities of barytes taken out, but no ead. In Ritchie's addition to Sedalia there are deposits which are in the chert and dirt beds of the Burlington, and considerable mineral has been taken out in sinking wells and cisterns. In the southeast part of the county lead is found in many places, but it is not at present mined at any of them.
Zinc .- The black jack of the miners occurs in the county, but so far as yet discovered only in small quantities. Mr. D. W. Bouldin sunk a shaft on Spring Fork, from which was taken a moderate quantity, including some very fine zinc crystals.
Barytes .- The Narrow Gauge R. R. passes close by the place before mentioned, where sulphate of barytes occurs, and it might there be had in paying quantities. South of Smithton, in prospecting for lead, some very fine crystals of barytes, having a broad band of white on their edges, were found, and at a point east of the water works, under similar circum- stances, the flat variety of crystal, having only a coating of white on the edge, was obtained, they being, in some cases, as much as four inches across. This latter form is rare, and the finest I have ever seen from any locality.
Emery .- A few years ago a company did some work in shipping emery from a bank in this county. It was at the time claimed to be of a superior quality, but for some reason there has been no work done for some years.
Marble .- In the north part of the county, on the Lamine river, there crops out from two to four feet of fine grained, drab, magnesian lime- stone, containing many disseminated particles of calcite. This rock admits
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
of a fine polish, but would not look well after out-door exposure. It belongs above the First Magnesian limestone.
ARCHÆOLOGY.
The archæology of Europe differs very materially from that of ours. There they have evidences of the earlier existence of man than what we have and the progress of the people through the stone age, the iron age, the bronze age and up to a development higher than was attained by any of the peoples who inhabited within the limits of the United States can be traced. The early people of this country perhaps had not the time to pass through these different stages, or for some reason not now fully under- stood the people of a higher development were swept away by those of a lower. The former we, for want of a better term, call Mound Builders, and some of the mounds left by them are wonderful monuments of the. industry if not skill of that people. Their remains "indicate that the ancient population was numerous and wide spread, as shown from the number and magnitude of their works, and the extensive range of their occurrance; that it was essentially homo geneous incustoms, habits, religion and government, as appears from the great uniformity which the works display, not only in respect to position and form, but in all minor particu- lars; and that the features common to all the remains identify them as appertaining to a single grand system, owing its origin to a family of men, moving in the same general direction, acting under common impulses and influenced by similar causes."
Their mounds indicate a large and warlike population, and to sustain it agricultural pursuits must have been extensively followed and our prairies may in the long past have been dotted over with fields of corn. The State contains some of the most celebrated mound remains of this people, and the implements and utensils taken from them have gone to enrich. many an eastern collection. No mounds of this people are in this county so that its archeology is not as interesting as that of many others.
One locality, four miles from Sedalia, furnishes many specimens of stone implements which are supposed to belong to the mound builder period, and it is doubtless the site of a mound builder town or encampment. While this people may not have been resident in the county long enough to build mounds, or their circumstances and the causes for building them may not have operated for this here, yet they were doubtless resident within the limits of the county for a time at least.
From the locality mentioned I have obtained some hundreds of speci- mens, including chipped and ground implements. The chert specimens are generally large rude implements of a variety of forms some of which are not common elsewhere. Some of the spear shaped ones are finely made. There are no arrow shapes and but one or two barbed implements.
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
The axes are from two inches in length to very finely shaped ones of six pounds weight. The abundance of the specimens may be seen from the fact that the ground has been hunted over every time it has been plowed for five or six years and yet on a late trip made when there had been no rain after it had been plowed, I gathered seventy-five specimens in one hour's time, and in the same time after a rain I picked up ninety speci- mens.
In other parts of the county the ordinary Indian type implements are met with.
LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS.
The distribution and comparative abundance of land shells is controlled by the character of the soil and surface, the presence or absence of shade and moisture, and other causes. North of and near the Ohio river they are in great numbers, butthis is not so in this county. A few species are in comparative abundance in certain places, but as compared with the locality named nearly all of them are rare. The fact that we have a rather large number of species is evidence that there is something which is oper- ating here, that is not opposed to shell life and still is not con- ducive to its multiplication in individual numbers. The most of our species are common in the northern United States, though some species are of a southern character; for instance, the Bulimulus dealbatus is found, though in a limited area, a few miles from Sedalia, the most northern point, perhaps, to which it extends.
The following list is made up from the results of the writer's collecting in the county, and while nearly complete is not entirely so:
1. Hyalina arborea, Say, common.
2. Hyalina viridula, Mke, common.
3. Hyalina minuscula, Binn.
4. Hyalina ligera, Say.
5. Hyalina fulva, Dr.
6. Helicodiscus lineata, Say.
, 7. Macrocyclis concava, Say, rare.
8. Patula solitaria, Say. These are about one-half the size of the same species as found in Indiana.
9. P. alternata, Say. This is also smaller than the Indiana specimens, but there is not so much difference as in the last species.
10. Strobila labyrinthica, Say, not plenty.
11. Stenotrema hirsuta, Say, common.
12. S. leaii, Ward, plenty. This fine little shell has generally been given as a variety of S. monodon.
13. Triodopsis inflecta, Say, common.
14. Mesodon albolabris, Say, common. A large, light-colored, some- what flattened variety, similar to that found at Eureka Springs, Ark.
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
15. M. elevata, Say, plenty. But little smaller than Indiana specimens.
16. M. thyroides, Say, plenty.
17. M. clausa, Say, not common.
18. Bulimulus dealbatus, Say, not common.
19. Pupa fallax, Say, common.
20. P. armifera, Say, common.
21 P. contracta, Say, plenty.
22. P. - -
23. Vertigo -
24. Succinea ovalis, Gould, rare.
25. S. lineata, W. G. Binn, very rare.
26. Tebennophorus carolinensis, Bose.
27. Carychium exguum, rare.
Of Fresh Water Shells the species are not numerous, but the individ- uals are. The following have been collected:
28. Lymnæa columella, Say. I found this shell with Planorbis trivolvis, Physa gyrina and Sphærium partumeium, in the fountain in Mr. O. A. Crandall's yard in Sedalia, they having hatched from eggs which came from Flat creek throught the pipes of the water works or a distance of two or three miles.
29. L. humilis, Say. Two quite distinct forms, one nearly twice the size of the other, the smaller being the stronger and more solid shell. Each was found in but one locality.
30. Physa gyrina, Say. This species varies greatly in the different. streams. I found some very fine specimens on Spring Fork, with eroded apex, which have been identified by all collectors to whom they have been submitted, as P. hildrethiana, though the same persons identified. the younger and smaller specimens as gyrina.
31. P. heterostrophe, Say, common.
32. Planorbis bicarinatus, Say, common.
33. P. trivolvis, Say, very common.
34. P. --- - a minute species not identified.
35. Ancylus tardus, Say, not plenty.
36. Melantho decisa, Say, plenty.
37. Amnicola porata, Say, plenty.
38. Sphærium sulcatum, Low, plenty.
39. S. partumeium. Say, plenty.
40. Pisidium variabile, Prime, plenty.
41. P. (undetermined) rare.
Not having a reliable list of the Unionide I will not include them here.
REPTILIA.
The only branch of Reptilia that has been locally studied is that of
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
Testudinata. The following list will show a large number of species and varieties, several of which have not heretofore been published as inhabit- ing this state:
1. Cistudo clausa, (Gm) Box Turtle. This is common. The three toed variety triunguis is generally found in the timber and is of more ,uniform color than typical specimens. It is also plenty.
2. C. ornata, Ag, plenty. A single specimen of the variety triunguis of this species was taken here. Prof. Beard of the Smithsonian Institute, obtained two from Southern Illinois. I have heard of no others with the above exception.
3. Chrysemys picta, Ag., The Pictured Turtle. The species as found here differs very much from the eastern specimens, and is more nearly like the variety oregonensis. Some of the specimens are very beautiful in their marking. They are abundant. It has not been pub- lished as occurring so far west.
4. Malacoclemmys geographicus, Cope, Map Turtle.
5. M. lesueuri, plenty.
6. Pseudemys troostii, (Holbr), scarce.
7. Pseudemys elegans, (Wid), The Elegant Terapin, not uncommon.
8. Pseudemys concinna, plenty.
9. Aromochelys odoratus, Gray, The Musk Turtle or Stink Pot. This has been considered an eastern turtle, occurring as far west as Indiana, but it is very common here.
10. Chelydra serpentina, Schw, common snapping turtle. As in other parts of the country east of the Rocky mountains, it is here plenty.
11. Aspidonectes spinifer, Ag., common soft-shell turtle.
12. A. ferox, a Southern soft-shell, but found here.
This gives a total of more than one-forth of the species found in the United States.
Of the lizards the Opheosaurus ventralis, the Glass or Joint snake, occurs here. The popular belief that this "snake" can fall to pieces, and afterwards that the parts will come together is, of course, an error. The tail is, as in the case of all lizards, easily broken off, and after being broken a new tail will grow out, but not so perfect as the first one.
Scorpions have their habitation as far north as this, and while one or two cases have been reported of finding tarantulas here, I think they were not native.
ORNITHOLOGY.
No list of the birds found here has ever been made out, and there are but few notes that I can give of interest. Among the birds which breed here are the turkey buzzard and the great blue heron, there being a colony of the latter south of Smithton. Not unfequently birds from the coast are shot here, they being driven by storm, perhaps, or other cause, inland.
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Wittenberg & Sorber, Eng, St. Louis,
STATE SCHOOL OF MINES AND METALLURGY, AT ROLLA, PHELPS COUNTY, MO. A
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HISTORY OF PETTIS COUNTY.
In a small collection of eggs belonging to the writer is a set of albino blue bird eggs. About five days after they were taken from the nest the bird commenced laying another set, which were of the ordinary blue color.
A flock of geese, belonging to ex-Marshal Kelly, of Sedalia, presents an interesting feature of malformations. In 1873 a gander had one of its wings so injured that it hung horizontally at right angles to the body, in the same manner as is not unfrequently seen in other flocks, as a result of injuries received. In 1874, one of the young of the flock presented a wing similarly affected; the following year its offspring showed the same features, and this has been continued to the present time. As many as two-thirds of the flock have at one time presented this peculiarity, some in both wings. Believing that it was a case of "the inheritance of effects of injuries," Mr. R. A. Blair published an account of it, and sent a copy to Mr. Charles Darwin, and received from him the following letter :
Dear Sir :- I am much obliged to you for kindly informing me of the case of the goose. It seems to be a remarkable case of inheritance of effects of injury, and as such cases are very rare, it would be quite worth while to have the facts carefully examined. If you could obtain a wing, and would send it to me, I should be much obliged. The wing might be cut off at the joint with the body, and dried with feathers on, before a hot fire. To make the case of more value, it would be very advisable to ascertain whether the goose had any offspring before the injury, and if so, whether they were normal, and not malformed in any way.
Dear sir, yours faithfully, CHARLES DARWIN.
Mr. Blair then sent a wing of one of the geese, and received the follow- ing answer:
Dear Sir :- You will think that I have been very neglectful in not hav- ing sooner thanked you for the wing of the goose, the photograph, and your last interesting letter; but I thought it best to wait until receiving Prof. Flower's report, and you will see by the enclosed the cause of his delay. If you are willing to take the trouble to get your interesting case thoroughly investigated, it will be necessary to procure from the owner the wings of half a dozen birds, some of them quite young; and, if possi- ble, the old one which had his wing broken. They ought to be sent in spirits, and they had better be addressed to Prof. Flower, Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, and I had better be informed when they are dispatched. Should you be inclined to take so much trou- ble, I hope you will allow me to say that I should be very glad to pay for the geese, and for the several other contingent expenses. Your first letter and Prof. Flower's had better be returned to me hereafter. There is one other point which ought, if possible, to be ascertained, viz: when the old gander had his wing broken, was it wounded so that blood was dis- charged? If wounded, did the wound suppurate? Did the wing heal quickly or slowly? These are important points in relation to the inherit-
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ance of mutilations. Pray accept my best thanks for your kindness, and Yours faithfully,
I remain, Dear Sir,
CHARLES DARWIN.
A number of wings were then sent to Dr. Flower, who made a report to Mr. Darwin, in which he says:
" The bones, muscles, and ligaments seem quite normal, except for this twisting on their axis, which exactly corresponds, as I mentioned before, to talipes or club foot in man. The wings of the very little goslings being dried and very small could not be examined with any good result, but the most curious and unsatisfactory part of the whole thing is that the wing of the old gander, the supposed fors et origo of all the the mischief, is per- fectly normal, and presents no trace of ever having been injured in any way discoverable after the closest examination. It has certainly never been broken or dislocated, though, of course, we cannot be sure whether it may not have had a partial twist from which it has now recovered."
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