USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 25
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III. The Period of the Ice Invasion.
These changes in stream direction and the others yet to be noted were caused largely by the ice of the glacial period. It is now a well established fact among geologists that climates have changed from time to time in the history of the earth. Usually they have been much milder than at present so that we are really
The Muskingum river did not flow south- living under a climate that is, taking all geo-
IT
- -
Carroll
1
RICHLAND
BLOOM
~GREENFIELD
PLEASANT
DRumsulle
unk Rush Creek
COL
HockingX
Arve
Lancaster
D
Hunden RUD
RUSHCREEK
AMANDA
-- to Delmont
BERNE
HOCKING
COL
GÅmondo
Sugor Crew
LECEND
Present Drainage - Valley Wall
CLEAR CREEK
engr
COL
MADISON
HOCKING) COUNTY
MAP SHOWING PRINCIPAL DRAINAGE CHANGES IN SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD COUNTY, THE RESULT OF THE ICE OBSTRUCTIONS OF TIIE GLACIAL PERIOD
The present streams are shown in solid lines and their rock valley walls in broken lines. Old divides from which streams formerly flowed in op- posite directions are indicated by the word "Col." Those streams whose outlets were choked by ice were turned across these divides, ent them down, and after the melting of the ice dams, continued in their new courses,
VIEW LOOKING DOWN ARNEY CREEK TOWARD THE OLD COL AT JACOB'S LADDER, THE SITE OF ITS FORMER SOURCE. THE CLIFF ON THE RIGHT IS JACOB'S LADDER
The stream was turned across its former source by an ice obstruction which stood across its outlet and which remained long enough to allow it to cut the divide down to the present level. View taken from just south of Christmas Rocks looking westward. Christmas Rocks are on the immediate right but are not included in the picture.
VIEW LOOKING NORTHWARD UP THE PRESENT ARNEY CREEK. TOWARD THE OLD PRE-GLACIAL OUTLET AT SOUTH LANCASTER
The ice stood across the valley beyond the distant corn fields, but on this side of the most distant hills. View taken from the same point as the last Imt looking northward. Christmas Rocks are back of the houses on the left.
Cra, Crea
3 miles
COL
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logical time into account, abnormal. But at times the climate has been more rigorous than at present. One of the epochs of rigorous cli- mate has just ended, or perhaps is just ending. During that epoch, most of northern North America was covered by a great ice sheet that flowed outwards in all directions.
Geologically, this period of ice has been our most recent event, the present alone excepted, and, whereas the periods of sedimentation and erosion just described are to be measured only in terms of millions of years, the ice probably retreated, according to the best estimates, some 15,000 or 20,000 years ago, perhaps less. In the column of geological periods given early in the chapter, the ice age falls very near close of the Cenozoic.
The Ice Invasion of Fairfield County. The ice at one time entirely covered Fairfield County, extending well into Hocking County but that was at the beginning of the epoch, perhaps 100,000 years ago, and few traces can be seen of this early invasion. Later it retreated far to the northward and then re- advanced, this time standing directly across the southeastern part of the county. There were several such advances and retreats but in Fairfield County there is evidences of only the first and the last.
line of the Boys' Industrial School electric road, this ice front advanced at one time al- most as far as Christmas Rocks although most of the time it stood a little farther to the north- ward. The irregular, low hummocky hills on which the Country Club stands and from there southward to within a few rods of the stor- age battery station of the electric line, are com- posed of gravels and clays which were dropped at the edge of this ice sheet during its princi- pal stand. This moraine (the material dropped by a glacier is termed a moraine) ex- tends for there southwestward, crossing the hills between Jacob's Ladder and Hamburg, it then descends into the valley of Arney Creek below Jacob's Ladder and stretches away to the southward, crossing Clear Creek below Clearport and passing across the south line of Madison Township into Hocking County.
The front occupied this position for some time, the amount of advance in the ice being just balanced by the amount of melting at its margin, and the gravel and clay dropped during this period at the ice front constitute the moraine of this stage. Later it melted more rapidly than the ice advanced and the margin consequently retreated to a position approximately parallel to the first but a few miles to the northwestward. The moraine formed at this later stage can be traced in the irregular low hills about Basil and Baltimore, Carroll (well shown just west of Carroll) and Royalton and along broad lines connecting these points.
In Fairfield County the advance of the last sheet was from the northwest. The entire northern, central and western parts of the county were covered. The position of the margin of this ice sheet can be traced from the north line of Richland Township south- ward into the hills just south of Bremen, then It was while occupying these two positions that most of the changes wrought by the ice in the surface of the county were effected. Noteworthy among these changes was the re- versal of practically all streams which flowed northward at that time, the filling of the ma- westward, crossing Hocking river at about where Crawfis Collegiate Institute stands (all traces of it are removed in the immediate val- ley of the Hocking but the drift material is well shown in the clays and gravels near the mouth of the Tarkhill hollow). Along the jor valleys to depths of 200 or 300 feet and
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
the almost complete burial of the old topog- raphy of the northern third of the county, leaving a broadly rolling but generally smooth surface where had previously been a relief probably as prominent as is now found any- where in the county.
Not only were the stream channels directly under the ice sheet so filled but the streams flowing out from the melting ice carried nu- merous loads of sand and gravel with which they filled up their valleys for miles away to the southward beyond the edge. Such gravel fillings are found to the Ohio river on the Muskingum, Hocking, Scioto and other streams flowing from the ice margin. The Hocking was filled to a depth of 60 to 100 feet higher than the present broad bottom land, but a portion of the deposit has been re- moved by the stream since the retreatal of the ice. This is shown by the remnants of this filling which are occasionally found, such as the gravel hills on which Crawfis Collegiate Institute is built and the gravel terraces in which the gravel banks are opened just west of the Institute on the Lancaster-Sugar Grove road.
The Abandoned Valley from Lancaster to Bremen. One of the best farming areas in the county is along the broad open valley which extends due eastward from Lancaster to Bremen, the line followed by the Pennsyl- vania Railroad. This valley, now filled with drift to depths of over 200 feet, is thought to have been the former outlet of Rush Creek to the Hocking River. It is believed that an old divide existed directly across the present course of Rush Creek in Hocking .County, that front one side of this divide a stream formerly flowed northward to Bremen and from the other side another one flowed westward to the Hocking at Eckert's Mill. When the ice front stood across the old outlet just west of Bre-
men, the water was ponded in Rush Creek and finally flowed over this divide, cutting it down. With the final melting of the ice the stream maintained its course where it now flows. Such an old divide, across which a stream has been thrown, is known as a col, a word adopted from the French.
Reversal of Little Rush Creek. The gen- eral relationships of such a reversed stream are very well shown on Little Rush Creek, which flows from a region of broad, open, deeply drift filled valleys in northern Richland town- ship, southward into the very narrow, tortu- ous, steep walled, rock floored gorge which the T. and O. C. Railroad follows from Rushville to Bremen. This gorge is the site of another old divide, and the old outlet, across which the ice stood, was to the northwestward past Pleasantville to the pre-glacial Muskingum.
Reversal of Clear Creek. Exactly similar is the valley of Clear Creek which is broad and open with considerable drift filling near Amanda, but narrow and crooked at the old divide a few miles above its mouth in Hock- ing County. Its old outlet to the westward is entirely buried beneath the drift hills of the western part of the county and the exact loca- tion of it is not known.
Diversion of Muddy Prairie Creck. A tributary to this old Clear Creek formerly headed at Delmont and flowed southwestward out the broad, flat valley now occupied by Muddy Prairie. But the present Muddy Prairie Creek, instead of following this open course, turns sharply near the Amanda Town- ship line and enters the high rock hills to the southward, flowing through them and empty- ing into Clear Creek in Madison Township. The old outlet was directly along the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Delmont to Amanda, and the present divide in that direc- tion is so low that when Muddy Prairie bot-
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tom was drained, it is said that the engineers advised that it would be cheaper to cut through this divide than to deepen the present Muddy Prairie Creek. The course of this stream was also changed by the ice.
Diversion of Arney Creek. One of the best examples of change in drainage and at the same time one of the most accessible, is on Arney Creek along the Industrial School elec- tric road. Arney Creek at present heads near Hamburg and flows towards Lancaster in a gradually widening valley. A short distance north of Christmas Rocks, it turns toward the southward, and from that point the valley commences to narrow; just south of Christ- mas Rocks it turns to the westward, the valley narrows yet more and at Jacob's Ladder a mile below the turn, becomes a narrow V- shaped gorge. The character of the valley above and below Christmas Rocks is well shown in the two accompanying photographis.
Jacob's Ladder is the site of an old divide, where two streams formerly headed and flowed in opposite directions; one of these flowed toward Christmas Rocks, then north- ward, joining the stream coming in from Hamburg somewhere near Snyder's Grove and the storage battery. From there the united stream flowed northward to Lancaster through a broad valley, one rock wall of which is found in the high ridge east of the Catholic Cemetery, the other in the high ridge which lies north of the Lancaster-Hamburg road.
This old valley is now heavily clogged with drift from South Lancaster or Utica as far south as the storage battery plant on the elec- tric line, showing that the ice occupied the out- let for a very long time. The little valley which the traction line follows to just beyond the Country Club has been cut entirely in this drift filling by the streamlet which has cut and occupied it since the retreatal of the ice,
and must in no wise be confused with the broad outlet just referred to, which is a very much larger feature. The width of this old outlet can best be observed from the pikes, either the Hamburg or State Farm roads. The ice in this old outlet acted as a huge dam, and ponded back the waters of Arney Creek until they flowed over the lowest point of the lake, which happened to be the col at Jacob's Ladder. The ice occupied the valley . long enough to permit the stream to cut this old divide to its present level, or at least so low that the stream was not diverted to the old channel on the final melting of the barrier.
Drainage Changes in Rising Park. The oc- currences just described cover the important changes in drainage, but a number of minor ones could be cited. One of the best of them, and one that can be readily observed and un- derstood is in Rising Park. Still-house Hol- low extends from Flat Rocks southeast- ward to Rising Park. The stream which drains it flows into the park at its northwest corner where the Infirmary road makes the sharp bend, it flows southward on the inside of the park fence and just between the house of Mr. J. B. O'Harra and the northwest spur of Mt. Pleasant, tumbles over a little rock fall. It is important to notice that it flows on a rock floor at this point, for a thickness of 80 feet of drift was encountered in the well drilled directly back of the mountain at the lake. This well mouth is at almost exactly the same elevation as the rock-floored outlet just noticed, and it is evident that the stream for- merly must have had a much lower outlet else- where in order to remove the rock to a depth of 80 feet below its present outlet. Mt. Pleas- ant is known to all as a rock hill. So is the Reservoir hill just north of the park. But the low ridge which extends from the one to the other along the eastern side of the park and
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
just east of the lake is not a rock hill. It is much higher and often much longer (some composed entirely of sand, gravel and clay. are known in Maine 300 miles in length). The old outlet was over the site of this de- posit into Fetter's Run, which is itself par- tially drift filled. The change was induced during the retreatal stages of the ice when a lobe of the glacier occupied Fetter's Run but not the small tributary coming into it from the back of Mt. Pleasant. The old outlet be- ing clogged, a new one was found over the low rock ridge which connected Mt. Pleasant with the rock hill just back of the O'Harra house.
The National Pike Between Pickerington and Basil. One of the natural features of the county which has long been a puzzle to those familiar with it and which was formed indi- rectly by the ice sheet, is the natural pike be- tween Pickerington and Basil. This is a broad, low ridge, which is followed through- out its length by the road between the two towns. It is seldom 10 feet high, at one point is only three feet high, and is from 20 to 50 yards in width. It is composed of gravel and makes an excellent, dry road bed throughout the three miles that it can be traced, and it has been so utilized, even though the turns of the ridge cause considerable crookedness in the road. It is first distinctly noticeable two miles east of Pickerington and from that point east, southeastward, it is continuous, with the exception of an occasional gap where a small stream has broken through. It ends abruptly on the west side of Poplar Creek, two and one-half miles west of Basil and does not re- appear on the east side of the stream.
Such a feature is not uncommon in the gla- ciated area of this and other continents, and eleven occurrences are known in Ohio. It is what is known as an esker ridge. Usually they are more prominent features, relatively
According to the best explanation that can be offered, while the ice yet covered the north- ern part of the county, there was a stream channel in the ice where the ridge is now found, possibly a tunnel or a deep crevice. This was while the ice front stood over the moraine at Basil. The water flowing in this ice-walled channel gradually accumulated gravels and sands in its bed until a consider- able amount was concentrated along its length, much more than was present in the ice on either side. Accordingly, when the ice melted, this was dropped where it had lain in the chan- nel and where it is now found, the twists and turns of the ridge preserving the general direc- tion of the old channel in the ice.
The Effect of the Glacier on the Soils of Fairfield County. The glacier in its course across Canada and northern Ohio, scraped off a vast amount of the soil and rock of those regions. This was incorporated into the ice and was often carried hundreds of miles by the slow flowage of the mass. With the final melting this material was dropped as clay and boulders. This is why we find such great amounts of clay in the region covered by the glacier ; this also explains why we find bould- ers of granite and gneiss, as for example, the one on Mt. Pleasant and the very large one near where the Pleasantville pike crosses Bald- win run just east of Lancaster. These bould- ers, and the many others like them must have been carried at the very least, 400 miles, for no similar rock is found at the surface within a lesser distance; the nearest outcrops are north and northeast of Lake Huron.
In addition to reducing the height of the hills, thus making it more habitable, Fairfield County is tremendously indebted to the gla-
CHRISTMAS ROCKS, NEAR LANCASTER
PRIDE OF OHIO, NEAR SUGAR GROVE
CRYSTAL SPRING, SUGAR GROVE
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cier for bringing into her confines, the soils which were formed over the areas to the north- ward, for limestone, shale, sandstone, granite soils and many others were abundantly gath- ered and mixed together by the glacier, to be later dumped copiously over most of Ohio. Doubtless in portions of the state which nat- urally had a rich limestone soil, the result was not as successful as in a region like Fairfield County, whose natural soil was a pure clay and sandstone soil, practically without a trace of lime. If anyone thinks the result has not been a decided improvement, let him compare the upland soils of the northern part of the county with those of the unglaciated sandstone hills of the southeastern third.
Indirectly the county owes its rich, broad bottom lands, like those of the Hocking and Rush Creek to the glacier which filled up the old stream gorges 200 or 300 feet and thus fur- nished a foundation on which to develop these bottoms. Again indirectly, still a third type of soil is due to the same forces. Wherever drainage is impeded, swamps are formed. In such swamps black, mucky soils are formed because of the increased amount of vegetable matter which accumulates there. These
swamps and bogs, when drained, furnish some of the richest garden spots and farm lands of the county, but they are limited in area com- pared with the others. As examples of such soils may be cited the broad floor of Pleasant run two or three miles east of Lancaster and the Miesse gardens two miles northwest. The "prairie" of Hocking just west of Lancaster carries a similar soil and will doubtless prove of great fertility when properly drained.
In all of these cases the obstruction of the drainage can be traced more or less directly to the influence of the ice sheet and the debt to the glacier is accordingly, increased a little more.
BOTANY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
The distribution of plants over a large area, such as the United States, depends primarily upon climate, but the distribution over a small area, such as one county, generally depends upon soil and topography. Fairfield County is situated in such a way that it has the surface characteristics of both the northern and the southern parts of the state; the smooth rolling areas in the north, similar to those of northern Ohio, and the sandstone hills, rocky ledges and deep ravines, similar to those of southern Ohio.
The floor of the county can be divided into three distinct divisions ; the plants of the north correspond to those in the northern part of the state ; the plants of the south correspond to those in the southern part of the state, and the plants on the hills around Sugar Grove, which are similar to the plants in the Allegheny Mountain region. The latter division might be called a hill-top island.
Three regions have been selected from which to study the plant geography of the county- the Buckeye Lake region in the extreme north- eastern corner, the Lancaster region in the cen- tral part, and the Sugar Grove region near the south. A comparison of these three regions will give an idea of the various forms of plant life in the county.
Buckeye Lake is situated at the junction of Fairfield, Licking and Perry counties. Only the southwestern part of the Lake is in Fair- field. This lake was developed in 1832 from a big swamp. Since that time changes have gone on very rapidly in the plant life. Orig- inally pine forests of beech, maple, ash, elm and hickory surrounded this swamp, but today only a few remnants remain. There is one fine forest near the eastern end of the lake. It is almost pure beech and the trees are very
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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY
large and fine. The shade is too dense for a digestive fluid and all the soluble parts of the much undergrowth, but here and there in the insect are digested and absorbed by the plant. The little tentacles then open out, the indigesti- ble parts are blown away, and the plant awaits another meal. These plants have developed the insect-eating habit because the bog soil cannot supply them with all the nourishment they need. damp rich soil the cardinal flower grows, and near the edge of the forest, where the sunlight can get in, are found great thickets of elder- berries. At the water's edge flourish cat-tails, with here and there a clump of calamus-root, and beyond this, extending out into the shal- low water for a great distance, are the plants In the extreme southwestern part of the lake is Orchard Island, having an area of about three acres. This island has forest trees upon it, such as elm, hickory, ash, oak, locust, mul- berry and willow. There are also some shrubs, such as the scarlet sumac, poison ivy and wild grape. The edge of the island has the usual swamp plants, the lotus predominating; but in some places the deep rose-colored persicaria and the brown heads of the cat-tails, make a beautiful contrast to the light yellow of the locust. of the American lotus, lifting their showy yel- low blossoms several feet above the surface of the water. Beyond this, especially in the miniature bays, where the water is quiet, grows the most beautiful flower of this region, the white water-lily. It would be difficult to imag- ine anything prettier than these pure white, sweet-scented blossoms floating on the water among their own green leaves, which curl up now and then around the edges to show a touch of red beneath.
Sphagnum Island, or Cranberry Marsh, is another place interesting to the botanist. It is situated about a half mile east of Buckeye Lake Park, and is the largest island in the lake. The edge of the island is surrounded by a very dense growth of swamp, maple, poison sumac, and American elm, with here and there great clumps of fern. The interior of the island is entirely different. It is a broad level stretch of Sphagnum moss, without either shrub or tree. The rose pogonia, a beautiful purple orchid, grows here, also the cotton grass and cranberries. Perhaps the most in- teresting plant of this bog is the little carnivor- ous plant, the sun-dew. It is only four or five inches high and has round leaves, which are bordered by glandular hairs. These hairs give out dew-like drops from whence the plant gets its name. If an insect, attracted by the glis- tening drops, happens to alight on the leaf, he is held there by the sticky substance and the hairs close over him. The leaf then pours out
Another showy plant along the water's edge is the Hibiscus, or rose-mallow, but called by the residents of the region wild hollyhock. The plant grows from three to seven feet high, and clustered at the top of the stalk are the bright pink flowers reminding one very much of the old-fashioned garden hollyhock. These plants grow very close together and are so conspicu- ous that they force attention from even the casual observer. Here and there among the rose-mallows and cat-tails are found seedlings of elm, oak and lucust. This is a very impor- tant point for the botanist, because it tells him that the trees are pushing out farther away from the center and in time a forest may re- place a swamp.
From Buckeye Lake south the land is fer- tile and rolling, making the finest kind of an agricultural region. As might be expected, there is very little forest left, but the few rem- nants have fine specimens of oak, ash, elm, hickory, walnut, maple, beech, persimmon,
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sorrel-tree, papaw, birches, buckeye and horse- chestnut. By the time the central part of the county is reached the surface structure and the flora have changed. Around Lancaster may be seen flat-topped sandstone hills, with deep narrow ravines between. The hill tops will have trees of medium size, but there is not much variety. The different oaks predomi- nate, with occasionally a chestnut. The under- growth is usually dense, because there is plenty of sunlight. Sumac, dogwood, pokeberry and sassafras are bound together by long runners of blackberry, poison ivy and sweet brier. The north and south slopes of these hills vary a great deal. The south-facing slope gets more light and heat than the north-facing slope and the plants will be similar to those on the hill tops, with perhaps the addition of the laurel. The north-facing slopes are entirely different. Here the outcropping rocks are covered with moss or delicate ferns and in the spring the ground is nearly covered with the hepaticas, bloodroots, blue, white and yellow violets and Dutchman's breeches. Now and then you will find a jack-in-the-pulpit, or perhaps some of the beautiful wake-robins. Above these flow- ers will be dogwood, redbud, spicebush and sassafras, and above these fine specimens of maple, ash, oak, tulip-tree and elm. There are a few sandstone hills around Lancaster, which are simply covered with laurel. Of course there are forest trees, mainly oak, on these hills, but other shrubs and the low-flowering plants are not abundant.
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