USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 6
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NIAGARA SHALE.
The Niagara shale which directly overlies the Dayton limestone where the latter stratum is found, sometimes occurs over the Clinton limestone where the Dayton stone is lacking. The Niagara shale, of which eighty-five feet are found at the Niagara Falls, has its maximum development in Greene county in the glen at Yellow Springs, where it attains a thickness of thirty feet.
The composition of the shale is not uniform and the two elements thereof-the light blue and the thin bedded, yellowish limestone shale-are found in varying portions in different sections. In addition to these two constituents of the Niagara shale in Greene county, there occur occasion- ally numerous crystals and lumps of an iron compound. These little lumps of iron compound, which are found in more or less large numbers near Yel- low Springs, have been often construed by the early settlers of this county as indicating mineral treasures in the rocks where they abound. Years ago there was a pit near the mouth of the Cascade branch, six feet in diameter and twenty feet in depth, and walled in with timber. The origin of this hole was unknown to the oldest inhabitants, but it would seem to indicate that these little lumps of iron compound had misled some early settler of the county into believing that the sinking of a mining shaft would open up wonderful treasures of iron ore which he believed undoubtedly lay in the rocky strata below. The surface of this shale is a very important water bearer of this region, for it gives rise to numerous excellent springs along its outcrops and supplies the largest number of the drilled wells on the table land.
WEST UNION CLIFF STONE.
The next division of the Niagara series in ascending order i's the West Union cliff stone, which does not occur to any great extent in the county. The cascade at Yellow Springs reveals this formation, the water of the stream falling over it. This stratum overhangs the easily weathered shales and thus makes possible the waterfall.
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SPRINGFIELD STONE.
The Springfield stone, which is the fourth element in the Niagara series, is, from the economic standpoint, more important than any other stone deposit in the county, for it is the division which furnishes most of the building stone of the county. This stone has large outcrops in Miami and Cedarville townships. It is much more largely quarried at Yellow Springs than at any other point in the county. However, on Massies creek and its tributaries, west of Cedarville, it has also been rather extensively worked. The section at Yellow Springs is twenty-four feet thick, but not more than twelve feet of it is ordinarily worked. The courses vary in thick- ness from four to fourteen inches, dimensions which are highly desirable for building purposes. Easily raised and dressed, of convenient thickness and of ample surface, this stone is surpassed by none in the state for rough masonry. The color of it is either blue or drab, the blue frequently weather- ing to the latter color on the exposed faces of the courses.
In this stratum shaly partings are occasionally found. These are sev- eral inches in thickness and occur about eight or ten feet below the surface. This shale, from its impervious nature, is an excellent water bearer.
CEDARVILLE LIMESTONE.
The Cedarville limestone is the crowning member of the Niagara series in the northern and western portions of a widely extended field, but it is known by different names in different localities, being styled the Guelph bed in Canada, the Racine or Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and the Bridgeport in northern Illinois. In southern Ohio it is termed the Cedarville bed be- cause of the large quarries which have been opened at that village. There is, however, not as great a thickness of the limestone shown at Cedarville as at Yellow Springs, the latter place being decidedly the best section of the Niagara series in Greene county. Here it may be safely said that the total thickness of the Cedarville bed is not much less than forty feet.
The characteristics of this stone in Greene county are quite marked. The lowest ten or twelve feet of the stone consists of solid stone almost without any planes of stratification, and when it is blasted it comes out in large irregular fragments. This, of course, makes it valueless as building stone. It is very light gray in color and the numerous cavities found in it, large and small, are all studded with small crystals of lime. The upper sur- . face is crowned with the casts of fossils, the faces of which are frosted with crystals. The upper portions consist of a very thin bedded and fragile lime- stone, which is often sandy in texture and light gray or yellow in color. The latter is the predominant color at Yellow Springs, the former at Clifton, while both colors appear at Cedarville.
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But a single economic application has been made of the Cedarville lime- stone. The condition in which it is taken out of the quarry makes it unfit for building purposes, but as a source of lime, it is without a rival in the market of southern Ohio. In comparison to the amount of construction work done at the present time, the amount of lime consumed has not kept pace with the general growth and development of the country, because of the extended use of cement. For many years lime in large quantities has been burnt at Yellow Springs and Cedarville. At Cedarville the produc- tion in 1874 was as follows: D. S. Ervin, 280 carloads or 85,000 bushels; Wesley Iliff, 130 carloads or 40,000 bushels; Shrads & Gibney, 130 car- loads or 40,000 bushels; Orr & Son, 75 carloads or 23,000 bushels; Satter- field & Son, 40 carloads or 12,000 bushels. The price for the product in 1874 was fifty-five dollars a carload or eighteen and one-third cents a bushel, but when retailed at the kilns it sold for twenty-five cents a bushel. At Yellow Springs, in the same year, thirty thousand bushels of lime were pro- duced and sold at fifty-five dollars a carload, the same as the Cedarville product. The Yellow Springs quarry reached down to the building stone courses, and in the same year five hundred perches of the same were sold at the price of one dollar and seventy-five cents the perch.
The Cedarville beds have been instrumental in the forming of the beau- tiful scenic effect of the gorge of the Little Miami at Clifton. These beds, which are a bluish white in color, overhang the Springfield courses which are very easily weathered because of the shaly partings between them. As the Little Miami wore through the cap rock of Cedarville stone, the gorge was found to be as wide or wider at the bottom as at the top. Then again, as the work of erosion progresses, the cap rock unsupported by the Spring- field stone which is worn away with comparative rapidity, tumbles off into the ravine.
It is certain that this beautiful valley has been growing in this manner, which we can mark out today, since the Little Miami first wended its way down through its course.
THE GLACIAL DRIFT IN GREENE COUNTY.
Many, many centuries ago, possibly before the Americas were inhab- ited by primitive man, the great ice sheet, which was many feet in thick- ness, moved slowly down from the north until it reached an irregular line in Ohio somewhat north from the Ohio river. As this tremendous mass of ice slipped and ground over the land, it scooped out beds of new lakes, leveled the hills, filled the valleys and cut new river channels. An immense amount of debris was carried along with the ice sheet and when it melted, the bould- ers and gravel and soil were left in large drifts. The land which many cen-
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turies after became Greene county was passed over by this immense mass of ice, which left in this section numerous traces of its work here those many thousands of years ago. The materials for an extended study of the drift are spread over the rocky floor of this county.
When the ice came grinding over, it polished and planed the surface of the Niagara limestone almost over the entire county; especially are the mark- ing of the ice noticeable in sections of the county where cliff limestone is exposed. These grooves, which are obvious on the uncovered surface of the Yellow Springs quarry, have a direction in most instances of ten to fifteen degrees west of north. These grooves in the quarry extend in a general direction which cuts the direction of the "Glen," which is immediately ad- joining, at an angle of twenty-five degrees. This shows that even such a deep fissure as the "Glen" had no influence in changing the course of this ponderous juggernaut of ice which ground on and on over the primitive fields of Greene county, literally cutting off the large hills and filling up the adjacent valleys.
Over the polished surface of the rocks, as well as over extensive areas where the stone retains no marking left by the ice, are deposits of varying thickness of boulder clay. This is a mixed-up mass of clay, thickly set with boulders of various sizes and small pebbles. In its original state, the de- posit was very compact, but where it is near the surface and subject to the action of the air, the mass has been transformed from the so-called blue clay to yellow. As the years have passed and the pebbles in this clay have been dissolved, the latter has become more porous and permeable for the air, so that it could support some low forms of vegetable life. The unchanged blue clay is often found in wells and along the banks of streams. In the latter place the yellow clay is washed away as rapidly as it is formed by the air.
The people of Greene county are indebted to the ice sheet for the beds of clean sand and gravel which occur almost everywhere on the surface of this section, especially on the higher points. These beds are in conspicuous. layers, but they differ from those of the boulder clay in that the pebbles are water-washed and they look very much as if they have been sifted and ar- ranged under water. Of the several gravel banks in the county the one at Yellow Springs is deserving of special notice. It is located south of the village, about one-half mile from the railroad tracks. Its altitude rises above the rather flat surrounding country to the height of forty feet, and it em- braces an area of about two acres. In addition to the sand and gravel de- posits in its composition, there are considerable quantities of clay. How- ever, the last mentioned constituent, as are the others, is quite well sep- arated. Boulders of considerable size are met with in the bank, the largest one being about seven feet in length. It is like almost all the other large
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sized boulders of southern Ohio in that its composition is largely of gniess, banded with rose-colored feldspar, a crystalline substance. The extensive gravel beds in the county furnish a well-nigh inexhaustible supply of excellent road-making material, and sand and gravel for concrete making in this sec- tion.
WATER SUPPLY.
Of all the natural resources, that of water occupies a most important place, and Greene county is especially well supplied with this free gift of nature. People living in the central west, where the sources and supply of water are not at all stinted, become so familiar with the bountiful supply of "the nectar which Jupiter sips," that they fail to appreciate the great boon which nature has lavished upon her too often unappreciative children. Farmers of the central states do not find it necessary to irrigate their crops and orchards, for a timely shower freshens the atmosphere and the thirsty vegetation and animal life. Cool springs and rippling branches and sweeping rivers flowing onward in their never-ending courses lie in convenient places for the refreshment of man and beast and vegetation. Greene county has an excellent water supply, which, while not quite equal to that of Madison county, the best watered section in the third geological district, yet, on the whole, is much better than that of Clermont, Brown and Hamilton counties. Here a large portion of the water used for man and beast is derived from springs and flowing streams, as well as from artificial wells.
There are three prominent horizons of springs in the strata of Greene county, and the lowest of these marks the junction point of the upper and lower Silurian formations. This coming together of the two great layers of rocks makes an admirable place for springs to issue forth. At the top of the lower Silurian stratum is the broken layer of the Clinton limestone, which forms an excellent water carrier, and below this is the shale of the Cincinnati group which is so impervious to water that it forms a good floor on which the water can rest. This layer of shale turns the tiny under- ground stream outward and they appear along the sides of valleys. Two springs which belong to this class are the ones at Goes and at the headwaters of Ludlow creek.
SOURCE OF THE FAMOUS YELLOW SPRING.
About seventy-five feet higher in the geological scale there occurs an- other horizon, the summit of the Niagara shales, which make an important contribution to the water supply of southern Ohio. The springs coming from this source, both numerous and important, are confined chiefly to Cedarville and Miami townships. A third water-bearing bed is found about twenty to thirty feet higher than the one mentioned just before. It is a
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shaly seam in the Springfield division of the Niagara series, but it is of much less importance than the other two. Many of these springs occur in the vicinity of Yellow Springs, of which the most remarkable one is that from which Yellow Springs received its name. Although this spring appears to come from this level, there is reason to believe that it comes from a deeper source, and that its outlet is obstructed at its true horizon. The tempera- ture of this remarkable spring varies little with the season and its volume is little affected by drought. Its water contains in addition to its limestone impurities a large quantity of an iron compound, but the source of this con- stituent is not known as there is no unusual amount of iron in any of the neighboring rock sections. If the water filters through some large deposit of ocherous gravel, such as the latter stages of the drift produced through- out the country, then an adequate source of the mineral matter in the water would be accounted for. There is room enough in the higher lands for large deposits of this gravel, but none can be pointed out. On the other hand, if this matter is derived from the bedded rock, it is evident that large spaces must be left underground by the removal of this material.
Thus with some of the most beautiful scenery to be found in south- western Ohio, with one of the best sources of water supply to be found in this district, with its excellent natural draining system and with such ex- cellent soil, of which an extended mention will be made in the chapter on agriculture, Greene county may be said to be one of the best in southwestern Ohio. There is no wonder that the noble pioneers cheerfully withstood the privations and hardships connected with the opening up of this wonderful farming section, a vista of which one can behold from the summit of Reeds hill as he looks westward over the valley of Mad river.
CHAPTER III.
THE MOUND BUILDERS OF GREENE COUNTY.
As we are accustomed to consider the West a new country, it is difficult for us to realize that in this section and right here in Greene county there flourished centuries ago a people who achieved a certain degree of civiliza- tion. It certainly existed long before the mighty army of Xerxes, the Per- sian, received its never-to-be-forgotten defeat on the field of Marathon, or when our Anglo-Saxon progenitors, clad in skins and rough armor, made their descent upon the peaceful shores of Britain. The remains of this civ- ilization, if such it may be called in the popular sense, can now be seen scattered along the waterways and valleys of the Mississippi basin. This civilization was that of the Mound Builder.
No end of speculation may be indulged in when this race is considered, for the Mound Builder is still a mystery. His story has not yet been told. He is not yet intelligibly tangent to any known race. He is not only pre- historic, but unconnected. His silence is impressive. He is the Pelasgian of the western world. On the other hand, there remains not the least vestige of doubt that the Mound Builder existed, and existed here in Greene county, for he left material remains of his activities in the past ages. But the difficulty arises in the interpreting of his sensations, struggles and aspira- tions because, with the exception of his mounds and a few crude utensils, he left no record of his existence as did the Egyptians with their hiero- glyphics or the Assyrians and their cuneiform writing. Nevertheless, much progress has been made in recent years in the study of this early settler of the West who wandered over what is now Greene county, and much that is valuable has been discovered through the researches of archaeologists. For a century or more the modern settlers of the Mississippi basin have looked with inquiring wonder upon the great fortifications and burial tumuli of the Mound Builders and have collected the stone and flint implements and orna- ments of the early denizen of this section. Some scholars who have studied him superficially, have called him "Aztec," "Toltec" and even "Tartar." The recent activities of trained and competent archaeologists have thrown new light upon his habits of living, customs, and grade of culture.
EVIDENCES OF THE MOUND BUILDER.
The study of the Mound Builder, himself, is largely confined to a
Mound Near Cedarville. Mound on Lucas Farm. The Spring Valley Mound.
The Embankment at Oldtown. Ancient Channel at Oldtown. PREHISTORIC REMAINS.
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study of his mounds. The large mounds, of which there are twenty-seven in Greene county, still rear their heads along the lowlands and the courses of the Little Miami and Beaver creek, and their builders, whithersoever they may have departed, have left their skeletons in and around these monu- mental earth-heaps, where they remain today as startling effigies of hu- manity as at the hour of their deposit. The Mound Builder then lies by the side of his mound, hence he is neither a speculation nor a myth. Whatever may have been his aspirations, his struggles, his empire or his final disap- pearance, he was a resident of this region, and as real a one as his Anglo- Saxon successor. The Mound Builder interred his dead under two feet of earth at his doorway, his habitation and his graveyard, possibly for lazy convenience's sake, knowing little distinction. Evidently life and death had for him little of the panorama which they have for the civilized being. On opening these sepultures, the forms are found to range from untoothed in- fancy to toothless old age. However, in general, one-half of the burials are those of infants and children. It seems that these early inhabitants were not very economical with their babies. Scarlet rash, teething and a diet of imperfectly boiled green corn had evidently done their perfect work. From all evidences the Mound Builder was an ardent lover of tobacco, for often by the side of an adult skeleton lies a carved pipe of stone. Here and there, also, among the skeletons lie the spear head, the arrow head, the stone hatchet, or other implements of stone, flint and bone.
It is interesting to speculate how long these human remains laid thus until they were rudely disturbed by the spade of the curio hunter and arch- aeologist. One hundred, two hundred, four hundred years? Longer than that, for the Indian tribes that met our forefathers here in Greene county knew nothing of these burials. Probably six hundred, ten hundred, two thousand years, then-from the days when Caesar fought his successful wars in Gaul against Vercingetorix or the skin-clad ancestors of the civilized Saxon, now exhuming them, fell under the sword of the Celtic Dagobert in the forests by the Rhine. It is extraordinary how long the frame of man will last. It may be three thousand years, as evidenced by the experience of Schliemann and his Mycenean kings, or five thousand or ten thousand years as instanced by the remains in Thebes and Memphis in upper Egypt. But here in Greene county, at least, still lie the relics of departed races of men, shocking those who rudely disturb them with their mockery of con- trast with man's brief stay in the flesh.
PROBABLE METHODS OF MOUND BUILDERS.
With his mounds, his pots, his implements, hi's ornaments and his clumsy fortifications, the Mound Builder was not dissimilar in his habits
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to the Indian who succeeded him. His dwelling sites reveal something of his methods and civilized status. Beyond his primitive implements he wrought neither in wood and stone, and outside of his mounds he was no architect. His home was probably a wigwam of skins and twisted branches. Barring his zealous proclivity for raising mounds, he was only a lazy son of the forest and stream, for the mute testimony revealed by the findings of searchers is against him, even though many in the past have laboriously built up for him a reputation for thrift. He carried his dead only beyond his door yard, and near his habitation he dug circular holes into which he emptied his ash pots, the remnants of his food and the general vestigia of the household. From these have been taken remnants of food, broken and entire implements of stone and bone for household use, shells of the river mussel and land tortoise, flint quirts, fish hooks and arrow heads. The ashes which frequently intervene between sections of the family debris in- dicate that he cooked his food. Among the implements frequently found are hammers, hatchets, knives, chisels, and wedges of flint and stone; needles fashioned from the delicate bones of birds; rude cups and ladles made of shells for the purpose of distributing the family soup, and many fragments of earthen pots which indicate a size from two inches to almost as many feet in diameter. The most significant of all the contents of these pits for the family refuse are the varied and almost massive remains of animal life. This indicates that the mound builder was carnivorous. Shells of the river mussel are found almost in heaps, and in many instances the bones of sev- eral species of animals are found, including those of the elk, deer, bear, panther, wolf, wildcat, squirrel, rabbit, raccoon, wild turkey, opossum, pole- cat and dog, all of which apparently were used for subsistence.
Withal the Mound Builder did not enjoy the grade of civilization which we like to ascribe to him. It is possible that he carried on a rude form of agriculture ; his weapons were ample for bringing down the largest game of the section in which he lived, and his gigantic barrows and rude fortifications seem to place him alongside the advancement of the early Egyptians, but the ultimate verdict concerning the Mound Builder must needs give him a status which is not so complimentary as many are wont to allow him. Of course, his cranium is not unpromising, and the occasional discovery of a grotesquely carved pipe or ornament may elevate him toward the rank of a Zuni or an Aztec, but it stands to reason that in the light of the discoveries from the tell-tale cavities into which he threw the family refuse, the con- tents being the indicator of his everyday existence, his status was little bet- ter than that of his successor, the Indian.
TRACES OF MOUND BUILDERS IN GREENE COUNTY.
Even though there are numerous traces of the Mound Builders in
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Greene county, they have been systematically explored in only one or two instances. In general, these remains are in the western part of the county and along Little Miami, Mad river, Caesars creek and Painters creek, three townships of the county, Ross, Silvercreek and Jefferson, having no such remains within their borders.
The traces left by the Mound Builders in Greene county are of six kinds, plain mounds, mounds raised on hills, single burials, village sites, circles and earthworks, and enclosures. The plain mounds were raised with no attention paid to the topography of the adjoining land, but in two in- stances these early dwellers of Greene county built their mounds on hills. In several instances they made only single burials. The circles and earth- works were circular mounds raised for fortifications, and the enclosures are circles wherein mounds have been raised as citadels for the general forti- fication.
In all, there are seventy-six such material remains of the Mound Build- ers in Greene county. Bath township has four mounds, one mound on a hill, four single burials and one village site; Beavercreek township, one mound and two single burials; Sugarcreek township, nine mounds, one mound on a hill, three single burials; Xenia township, twelve mounds, one village site, two circles and one enclosure; Spring Valley township, four- teen mounds and three single burials; Caesarscreek township, three mounds; New Jasper township, two mounds; Cedarville township, four mounds, one circle and. one enclosure, and Miami township, four mounds, one single burial and one circle.
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