USA > Ohio > Crawford County > History of Crawford County and Ohio > Part 29
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Samuel Ludwig
173
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
the highway all cross each other. The exposed section here is as follows :
No. 1. Hard-pan drift. 12 to 15 feet
No. 2. Thin, loose beds of sandstone. 15 feet
No. 3. Thick beds of sandstone 12 feet
No. 4. Blue shale, seen. 10 in.
" The quarry of Asa Hosford is situated on the northwest quarter of Section 1, Polk Town- ship, and shows about twenty-five feet of sand- stone on the same horizon as Mr. Park's. Be- low the sandstone, Mr. Park encounters, accord- ing to his description, a loose, sandy bed, of a few feet in thickness, and of a blue color, before reaching the Bedford shale. Some of the quar- ries in the Berea, in Crawford County, show a conglomeratic, or even a coarse-grained, con- position. The stone is rather a homogeneous and moderately fine-grained sandstone. Its thickness seems to be no more than thirty-five or forty feet. It graduates upward into a shaly and thin-bedded sandstone, that probably be- longs to the Cuyahoga division of the Waverly.
" At Leesville, the Berea grit is underlain by a copper-colored and bluish shale, the colors of which vary in their positions. The copper- colored, or red shale, lies first under the sand- stone, the horizontality of which is not dis- turbed, and the color is gray, or light blue, weathering to an ashen blue. This shale may be seen a few rods above Mr. Bippus' quarry, on the left bank of the Sandusky, exposing about fourteen feet. The shale appears to pro- trude upward. The exact manner of superpo- sition of the sandstone eannot be seen, but, judging from the horizontality of the sandstone beds, where they re-appear a few rods higher np the river, and also on the other bank, nearly op- posite, the shale looks like an isolated or lentie- ular mass-at least, that its upper side is unconformable with the sandstone beds. The thickness of the Bedford shale cannot be stated. Its identity [with the shale at Mr. Bippus' quar- ry is also somewhat doubtful, although its hori- zon is exactly that of the Bippus shale. This
faet, taken in connection with the occurrence of red shale below the stone at Mr. Morrow's quarry, Section 1, Jackson, is strong presump- tive evidence of the continuance of the Bedford as far, at least, as Crawford County. It is also slightly exposed on the creek, on the northeast quarter of Section 2, Polk Township, near the highway bridge.
"The identification of that member of the Waverly group, known as the Cleveland shale, is not as satisfactory as desirable. Yet there are two exposures of a black, or purplish-black, shale in the county, that cannot, apparently, be referred to the great black slate of the Devo- nian. At James Morrow's quarry, the sand- stone is underlain by thirty-three and one-half feet of shale. Near the bottom of the sand- stone, this shale is red. In the bed of the river, thirty feet lower, it is a bluish black. It is supposed that about twenty feet of this be- longs to the Bedford, and the remainder to the Cleveland, although the junction of the two has not been seen. Similar shale is exposed on the farm of Mrs. Steinbach, on the southeast quarter of Section 12, Jackson Township, in the bank of the Sandusky. When it is wet it is black, but when dry it becomes slate-colored. It crumbles under the weather into pieces no larger than an inch across, and usually less than half an inch, and a quarter of an inch or less in thickness. It shows here a very slight dip east, and is exposed to the amount of twenty feet. This must be slightly below the horizon, exposed in the river at Mr. Morrow's, and will give as the observed thickness of the Cleveland in the county, about thirty-three feet. Careful search for fossils in the outcrop on Mrs. Stein- bach's farm afforded none.
" Below the Cleveland shale there is a con- siderable thickness of gray material that has been named Erie shale. Although this shale has not been observed in outerop at but one place in the county, it is believed to occupy a belt of flat land, intervening between the out-
6
174
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
cropping edge of the Cleveland shale and that of the black slate. It was struck in a well at twenty-eight feet, by John Shumaker, on the northeast quarter of Section 26, Polk Township. Pieces thrown out of this well have a somewhat firm and rock-like aspect. It glitters in the sun as if with minute scales of mica, and is speckled as if with coal.
" The Huron shale occupies a belt about six or eight miles wide, running north and south across the center of the county. The city of Bucyrus is just within its western edge. It underlies portions of Chatfield and Cranberry and all of Liberty and Whetstone Townships. Although it may be called a conspicuous geological hori- zon, yet not an exposure of it is known to ocenr in Crawford County. It is met with sometimes within the area mentioned in drill- ing wells, and its presence is then evinced by the offensive odor of the water obtained, or by the escape of inflammable gas. In general, wherever the Huron shale underlies the drift, there is a belt of sulphur springs and gas wells. Such sulphur springs occur at Annapolis, and in the vicinity of New Washington. At the latter place wells dug to the rock emitted a gas, which accidentally took fire and caused consid- erable alarm by the violence of the flame. They were immediately filled by the owners. On Joseph Knisely's land, Section 26, Sandusky Township, is an unusual assemblage of natural gas springs. The gas accompanies the rising water, and is sufficient to serve for illumination, for which it was used for some years. The gas is also continually escaping into the air from areas of ground having an extent of several rods square. giving the soil the appearance of having passed through fire, and preventing grass and other vegetation from growing. An elaborate description of the Knisely Springs will be found in the history of Sandusky Township, accompanying this work.
" Below the Huron shale, which is black, tough, and bituminous, is a thickness of about
thirty feet of a bluish and more sectile shale, containing less bituminous matter. It some- times is inter-stratified through its whole per- pendicular extent with bituminous beds, like those of the Huron shale. It has afforded no fossils, but holds occasional thin beds of im- pure blue limestone. It lies on the top of the blue limestone quarried in the western part of the county. It is not visible in Crawford County.
" The name corniferous limestone has been applied to the limestone intervening between the foregoing shales and the Oriskany stone that forms the base of the Devonian. It is dis- tinctly divisible, on palæontological and lith- ological differences, into two parts, the upper part embracing the 'blue limestone,' which shows some relation to the Hamilton, and the lower part embracing the lighter-colored and dolomitie limestones of the Upper Helderberg of the Mississippi basin. They are both well rep- resented and favorably exposed in the western part of Crawford County. The former is about thirty-five feet thick. In Crawford County, the exposures of the limestones are mostly confined to the Broken Sword Creek. Beginning in Section 18, Holmes Township, the upper cornif- erous appears first on the land of S. F. Sawyer, where it has been worked a little. It makes a floor-like bed to the creek, rising but few inches above the water along the banks. Beds are three to five inches thick, containing casts of shells and numerons crinoidal stems. C. K. Stevens has opened a quarry on the next ' eighty' south. Abont four feet of hard blue limestone can here be made out, although much of the quarry is subject to inundations by the creek, showing a decided dip to the northeast. The stone is in beds of about four inches, vary- ing below that thickness, making a good flag- stone. Some of it is harsh on weathering. al- though plainly argillaceous and sometimes with vermicular or fucoidal markings. It is also liable to be shaly, or slaty, irregularly ;
175
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
lentienlar flakes cleave off. It has distinct
purely calcareous bands of sedimentation. It
contains Cyrtia Hamiltonensis and a species of
Tentaculites. It also holds casts of large coiled cephalopods. Its general facies is that of a firm limestone, nearly free from magnesia, but
containing irony, bituminous and argillaceous
the Upper Corniferous, stone undistinguishable the stream is that of Christian Reiff, in beds of impurities. The next quarry in descending from the foregoing. The quarry of Perry Wil-
son is opposite that of Nicholas Poole, on the southeast quarter of Section 24. The stone here is the same, essentially, as that at Stevens' ;
but is undoubtedly in a lower horizon, exposed
six or eight feet. The Bucyrus corporation
Upper Corniferous. The Upper Corniferous owns a quarry here in the same beds of the
also occurs on Edward Cooper's land on the northwest quarter of Section 33, Liberty Town- ship. It is but little opened and cannot be out are thin and fossiliferous, spirifer mucrona-
being so. The pieces that have been taken seen in situ, although there is no doubt of its tus being the most noticeable fossil. Although the stone so far as explored here, appears rather slaty, it would probably become thicker and very useful for common building, on reach- ing the undisturbed bedding. The situation of this outcrop demonstrates either a wide detour westward of the boundary line separating the geographical areas of the Corniferous and over- lying shale, or an isolated area of Corniferous surrounded by the shale, since it is sufficiently certain that the black slate underlies the city of Bucyrus. On the other hand, the Bucyrus area of black slate may be an outlier only, sur- rounded on all sides by the underlying lime- stone. Besides the places above mentioned, there are many indications of the occurrence of the Upper Corniferous in the bank of the San- dusky, on the southeast quarter of Section 24, in Dallas Township, on the land of Mr. MeNeal. A little below Mr. MeNeal's, in the same section,
flat stone, answering to the Upper Corniferous, was taken out of the bed of the Sandusky in small quantities, about twelve years since, on land now owned by James Echart. The Lower Corniferous is also exposed in the Broken Sword Creek, and at Benton, in the Sycamore
Creek. At the latter place it is worked a little by Benjamin Kuntzman and Martin Stoertzer. It may be seen, more or less, in the bed of the creek between Benton and the county line. Throughout this distance the exposures are so meager, owing to the prevalence of the drift, that the rock cannot be seen except where the water actually runs, and no reliable section can be obtained. It is a coarse-grained, dirty fos- siliferous and magnesian limestone, with consid- erable bituminous matter, in beds varying from six to twenty inches in thickness, suitable for
abutments and heavy walls. Near Osceola the Lower Corniferous is considerably exposed, and is quarried for general building stone and for quicklime. The following quarries are in the Lower Corniferous at this place : Those of John
Schnavely, David Schnavely, Widow Schnavely, Luther M. Myers, Dennis Coder, Gotleib Doer- er and Joseph B. Christie. Of these, John Schnavely's and Mrs. Schnavely's are in the upper portion of the Lower Corniferous. the principal fossils of which are brachiopods. The stone is light colored and crystalline, appearing somewhat saccharoidal, in beds of about three inches. The lime made is nearly white, but slightly creamy. The quarries of Messrs. Myers, Coder, Doerer and Christie, are in lower
beds. The stone of these quarries, when fossil- iferous, is characterized by a profusion of corals. with very few brachiopods. It is bituminous, and also magnesian, harsh to the touch, ap- pearing often much like a sandstone. It is a much darker colored stone than that of Schnavely's quarry, but the lime made from it is equally white. Large portions of the stone are perfectly free from bituminons impurities, Such are especially the compact coral masses which
176
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
make a purely white lime. At Mr. Myers, quarry these corals are especially displayed, making the stone very irregular, both as to color and bedding. Although the thickness of the beds is usually from two to four inches, they are quite loose and often lenticular. Thick films and scales of black bituminous matter spread through it, giving rise to various local designations for the different portions of the
quarry. In some places the bituminous matter is evenly disseminated through the beds, making the whole appear darker, even to a brown; in others, it is gathered into scales, films and pockets, which, combined with the occurrence of the different corals, produces a very uneven and unattractive stone.
" The most common aspect of the Drift depos- its in the county is that of a gravelly clay, else- where designated hard-pan. This clay not only embraces gravel-stones, but also bowlders of all sizes, and has an average thickness of thirty to fifty feet. Along streams, and in all valleys of erosion, even where no streams now exist, the bowlders belonging in this hard-pan are made to appear superficial by the removal by running water of the clayey ingredients. Occasional exposures of the drift in fresh sec- tions reveal, not only a confused mingling of clay, stones and bowlders, but also, in some portions, an oblique stratification and perfect assortment of gravel and sand. Such stratified beds pertain, for the most part, to the upper portion of the drift, and specially prevail in the castern or sandstone district; they give rise to springs of ferriferous water, and fur- nish that of a great many wells. As has already been remarked, the drift of Crawford County lics in ridges crossing the northern and central portions of the county. These are be- lieved to be due to the temporary halting of the margin of the ice-field, when it occupied successively those positions. These ridges are all situated so near each other, and sometimes
become so involved with each other, that they seem to pertain to one system, or to one greater moraine ridge. Indeed, they are not generally separable, but are heaped together in one ridge, that which lies along the northwest side of Broken Sword Creek. The color of the drift is blue, except where it is oxidized or stained by iron. The blue color may be seen in railroad cuts, as on Sections 3 and 4, Vernon, and near New Washington ; but generally it is replaced by a yellowish-brown, or rarely, by a reddish or irony brown, as in the northeastern part of Auburn Township, to the depth of about fifteen feet, depending on its porosity or facility for absorbing water and air. No glacial marks have been scen in the county. At Leesville, in the southern part of Section 7, Jackson Town- ship, is a long and prominent ridge of gravel, popularly denominated a "hog's back." The gravel ridge has been in use for about twenty years, during which time thousands of car- loads have been taken away for the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad; but the part which still remains rises forty feet above the surrounding level. A former spur from this, known as the "Cleveland Hill," rose twenty feet higher, but it has been entirely removed. This gravel ridge is a little over half a mile long, and runs nearly north and south, or a trifle east of south. The "Cleveland Hill" tended more casterly along the southern ex- tremity. The main line lies on the observed line of super-position of the Berea grit over the Bedford shale. The soft shale is in out- crop along the banks of the Sandusky River, on Section 12, within a quarter of a mile of the ridge, and the sandstone is extensively wrought about half a mile east of the ridge. This ridge is not bordered on both sides by low, swampy belts, as several others have been observed to be, at least it is not on the eastern side. On the west side there is more low ground, but the Sandusky River and a ravine tributary to it, have somewhat broken up its
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
177
original surroundings in that respect. The country about is flat, or nearly so, and the drift is made up of the common hard-pan clay.
" The gravel of the ridge embraces a great many bowlders about the size of eighteen inches in diameter, some also much larger. The con- junction of a gravel ridge pertaining to the Drift with the line of onterop of two forma- tions, the one hard and the other soft, seems to indicate that, whatever the cause was, it was
susceptible of being influenced by the charac- ter of the underlying rock.
" The following list of wells will give some idea, both of the thickness of the Drift deposit, and of the quality of water found in different parts of the county. The list is selected from different parts of the county, in order that the character of water may be known, and to show the soluble chemical elements that prevail in the three principal geological belts extending north and south across the county.
OWNER'S NAME.
LOCATION.
Feet Above
the Rock.
Feet in the
Rock.
Total Depth.
THROUGH WHAT.
REMARKS.
Luther M. Myers.
Todd Tp., Sec. 25 ..
22
22
Gravel, sand and blue clay ... Good water; well, situated
Luther M. Myers
Todd Tp., Sec. 25.
6
4 10
All coarse gravel.
thirteen rods of the creek. Good water; well in creek bottoms.
George Heiby
Liberty Tp., Sec. 14.
40 40
Clay, then hard-pan .... To the rock.
Good water.
Western House.
Bucyrus.
28
28
Sulphurous water.
Rudolph leiply
New Washington.
18
18 Brown loam and sand ..
Good water.
Paul Miller.
New Washington.
34
34
Good water.
Catholic Church
New Washington
65
65 Blue clay.
Good water.
Jacob Stoutenour.
New Washington
15
15
Good water.
Jacob Stoutenour
New Washington.
144 14}
Good water.
*John A. Sheetz
Cranberry Tp., Sec. 14 30 30
Gas; filled again.
*Abram Guiss
Cranberry Tp., Sec. 14 30 30 Clay
Gas and water; filled again.
Jacob Hofsaetz
Waynesburg
21
21 Brown and blue clay.
Good water; in gravel.
Wensel Mohr ..
Waynesburg
18
18
Good water.
William Lahman
Waynesburg
32
32
Good water.
Jacob Bender.
Vernon Tp., Sec. 5.
16
16
Good water.
John Warner.
West Liberty
15
15
Public Pump.
West Liberty.
22
22
Slightly sulphurous.
J. A. Klink
Liberty Tp., Sec. 6.
40 40
Slightly irony; on the ridge.
A. V. Moffit.
Chatfield Tp., Sec. 31 ..
26
26
Clay, sand and gravel .. In gravel.
Jacob Miller
New Washington ..
40
40
Phillip Moffit
Chatfield Tp., Sec. 31 ..
26
26
Slightly irony.
George Haupt.
Chatfield Tp., Sec. 19 .. 37
37 9|19
T. HI. B. Clutter, M. D. Leesville
10
Stony clay.
John Hahn.
Leesville
17
17 Stony clay. Slightly sulphurous.
J. H. Brokan.
Leesville
6
17/23
Slightly sulphurous.
B. Heckard.
Leesville
14
14
Sulphurons.
Samuel Stuck.
Bucyrus Tp., Sec. 80 ...
47
47 Clay and gravel. Good water.
Franklin Stuck
Bucyrus Tp., Sec. 30 ... 38
.. 38
Clay and sand. Net good for cooking : makes food bitter ; cannot be used for tea or coffee.
Widow Bishop.
Dallas Tp., Sec. 26
15
15
Good water.
J. Hainla
New Winchester
43
43 Clay and sand. Good water.
J. Ilainla ..
.. New Winchester. 19
19
Bitter water, like Stuck's.
J. J. Shumaker. Polk Tp., Sec. 26 ..
28
14 42
Slightly sulphurous.
Sim's Stable .. Bucyrus
20
20
..
Blue clay and gravel .. Good water.
*These gas wells burned with violence, throwing a flame ten or fifteen feet above the surface of the ground.
-
13 13 Clay and gravel Good water.
Louis Weller. West Liberty
Artesian.
178
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
" Crawford County is also well supplied with building-stone, and with limestone for quick- lime. The quarries in the townships of Holmes and Todd not only furnish stone for building throughout a wide cirenit of country, but also produce a large quantity of quicklime, which is shipped from Nevada, in Wyandot County, by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Rail- road. The following proximate statements of the annual product of these quarries in quick- lime were obtained from the owners :
Bushels.
J. B. Christie. 20,000
Dennis Coder
4,000
Luther M. Myers.
15,750
Mary Schnavely
4,000
Schnavely Brothers 6,000
John Schnavely
20,000
Bushels.
Nicholas Poole. 10,000
Perry Wilson. 20,000
Total proximate annual product 99,750
"The retail price on the ground is about 20 cents per bushel. It is delivered in wholesale quantity at Nevada for 18 cents. If the ag- gregate production sells for 18 cents, the rev- enue amounts to about $18,000 per year. All the kilns used at Osceola are of the old style, requiring to be empted entirely before second use. By this method, there is a loss of wood and of labor. The following tabular view shows the amount of wood required per hun- dred bushels, at some of the quarries, and the weight of the lime per bushel, as nearly as can be ascertained :
NAMIE.
FORMATION.
Ilours of Burning.
Cords per 100 Bushels.
Pays for Wood.
Weight per Bushel.
Perry Wilson.
Upper Corniferous
60
Nearly 3
$1 75
65 to 70
John Schnavely.
Lower Corniferous
60
Nearly 3
1 75
65
Luther M. Myers.
Lower Corniferous
60
Nearly 2}
1 75
" In the southeastern part of the county, the 1 quarries in the Berea grit have been wrought for about forty years, and have become cele- brated throughout a wide extent of country for the excellence of the building-stone which they afford. Stone from Berea is, on close compar- ison, seen to be of a coarser grain and less firm than that taken from beds of the same horizon in the central counties of the State. The lime- stone sold at the quarries in the western part of the county brings about $1 a perch, or $5 a cord. The sandstone taken out in the eastern part of the county brings a better price. The best sells for $2 a perch, while other grades bring but $1.50 and $1. A cheaper quality is sold for 50 cents per load. Flagging sells for from 6 to 20 cents per square foot ; a thin kind of walling stone for 50 cents per load.
"For brick and common red pottery, the Drift clays are considerably used. These clays afford in all places a very fine material for these uses.
There is probably not a square mile within the county where such clay could not be obtained. In the progress of examination, the clay has been found peculiarly suitable for tile and brick, of which large quantities are manufac- tured in almost every township in the county. Large quantities are made at Bucyrus, from a light clay loam, which contains no gravel, and of which inexhaustible supplies are found in the creek bottoms. The brick made are of a dark red color, showing no evidence of lime when broken.
"The eastern portion of the county, espe- cially the rolling strip of land that characterizes the line of junction between the Berea grit and the Bedford shale, is well supplied with gravel and sand. These knolls are largely made up of stratified gravel and sand, mingled with Northern bowklers. One of the oldest gravel pits in the county is that near Leesville. Hun- dreds of car and wagon loads are taken from it
179
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
annually, and the supply will not fail for many years to come. The pit also affords large num- bers of Northern bowlders of all sizes, averaging about eighteen inches in diameter. Large quan- tities of excellent sand, deposited in beds, or banks, on the Sandusky, in the southern part of Liberty Township, furnish Bucyrus and all the surrounding country with an abundant supply for building purposes. Several deposits of sand and gravel were also noted in the flat and more clayey portions of the county ; but here they are much more rare and also more valuable. One occurs on Nathan Cooper's land, in the bank of the Sandusky, on the southwest quarter of Section 32, Liberty Township. Scattered at irregular intervals over the county, are found these gravel beds, many of which graduate into a fine sand, not only suitable for rough walls, but for the finer portions of masonic work. The county is well supplied with sandstone, lime- stone, sand, clay and gravel."
There are, within the limits of the county, several depressed portions of land, or_ basins, which, before clearings were made or sluices dug, were covered with water during the year. Having been in that damp condition, very likely for centuries, they became covered to the depth of several feet with a vegetable mixture of leaves, twigs, and the root and stock of the marsh-moss, Sphagnum, in an imperfect state of decomposition. Peat beds are usually largely composed of this moss, which has the property of slowly dying at the extremities of the roots. It grows in the mud and muck of wet land, and finally accumulates a deep bed of its decaying roots. The peat or other basins also contain large quantities of decaying vege- tation, washed in by periodical floods, and con- tributing to the peat accumulation. In the large marsh in Cranberry Township there are found, in some places, beds of decomposing vegetation to the depth of several feet, although the peat thus formed is impure, and contains large quantities of earthy ingredients. Within
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