USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 3
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Another very noticeable outlier is found a mile west of North Bend. The Ohio & Mississippi railroad skirts it on the Ohio valley side, while the Indianapolis & Cincin- nati road passes to the north of it, through the old glacial channel, which has already been described.
II. BEDDED ROCKS, AND THEIR ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS.
The upper division of the Blue Limestone or the Lebanon beds has never been found in Hamilton county. The lower boundary of the Cincinnati group has not yet been definitely fixed, but enough is known to make it certain that it is not found among the surface rocks of Ohio. The approximate place in the general geological scale of the strata exposed in the hills of Cincinnati has long been known. For the last forty years, at least, they have been referred to the later divisions of Lower Silu- rian time and recognized as belonging to the Hudson or Hudson River group of the New York geologists and of the general geological scale of the country.
The Cincinnati beds proper come next in order after the Point Pleasant beds, in Clermont county, which are the lowest rocks of the series in the State. They have for their inferior limit low-water in the Ohio and for an upper boundary the highest stratum found in the Cincin- nati hills. The greatest elevation above low-water in the immediate vicinity of Cincinnati is given by the city en: gineer as four hundred and sixty-five feet. Abating fif- teen feet for the drift covering of the surface, we can certainly find forty-five feet of bedded rock in this divis- ion, almost every foot of which lies open to study within the city limits. The only stratum, however, that admits of easy identification, lies at an elevation of four hundred and twenty-five feet above the river; and this is accord- ingly assumed as the upper limit of this division.
Upon differences in lithological character, with which also changes in fossil contents ally themselves, a sub- division of the Cincinnati beds is possible into three groups, which may be named respectively, in ascending order, the River Quarry beds, the Middle Shales, and the Hill Quarry beds. The first of these subdivisions has a thickness of fifty feet, the second of two hundred and fifty feet, and the third of one hundred and fifty feet.
Above the highest stratum of the Cincinnati hills and the lowermost beds of the Upper Silurian age, three hundred feet of rock intervene, that belong unmistakably to the same formation, being connected with it by identity in lithological character and by a large number of com- mon fossils. These upper beds are nowhere found within twenty miles of Cincinnati, and yet there has never been the slightest hesitation in referring them to the same series to which the rocks there exhibited belong.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
The names assigned, it will be remembered, to the three divisions recognized here, are in ascending order : The River Quarry Beds; The Middle, or Eden Shales; The Hill Quarry Beds.
No explanation is necessary of the first and the last of these names. To the intervening division a name can properly be assigned, derived from the name of the park on the eastern side of the city, in the grading of which so great a display of this division is made. This division can, therefore, be styled the Eden shales, from the Eden park.
The whole series of the Cincinnati group is composed of alternating beds of limestone and shale. The shale is more commonly known under the name of blue clay; and this designation is not inappropriate. It is sometimes styled marl or marlite, and the use of the latter designa- tion is also justified by its composition. The most objec- tionable term by which it is characterized, is soapstone, as this name is pre-occupied by a metamorphic magne- sian silicate.
The limestone of the series may, in general terms, be described as an even-bedded, firm, durable, semi-crystal- line limestone, crowded for the most part with fossils through its whole extent and often bearing upon its sur- face the impressions of these fossils. Its color is not uniform, as the designation by which the whole series is familiarly known, "blue limestone," would seem to imply. The prevailing color, however, may be said to be a gray- ish blue, chiefly due to the presence of protoxide of iron, which, upon exposure, is converted into a higher oxide. The weathered surfaces generally show yellowish or light gray shades, that are in marked contrast with the fresh fracture. Drab-colored courses occasionally alternate with the blue.
The limestone varies in all these respects somewhat, however, in its different divisions. The Point Pleasant beds, and the lower courses of the Cincinnati division, deviate most widely from the description already given. They are lighter in color than the upper courses and in some instances are slaty in structure, while in others they have a tendency to assume lenticular forms of concre- tionary origin, sometimes to such an extent as to destroy their value as building-rock. The layers are also excep- tionally heavy, attaining a thickness of sixteen or eighteen inches, and are often so free from fossils as to afford no indication of the kinds of life from which they were derived.
A few feet above low-water at Cincinnati, a very fine and compact stone comes in, that is found in occasional courses for fifty to seventy-five feet. It is composed, as its weathered surfaces show, almost entirely of crinoidal columns, mostly of small size, and mainly referable to species of heterocrinus. The courses vary in thickness from an inch to a foot. The lighter layers ring like pot- metal under the blows of a hammer.
Ascending in the series, the limestone layers are very generally fossiliferous and are rarely homogeneous in structure, being disfigured, to a greater or less degree, by chambers of shale or limestone mud, from some of which
cavities, certainly, fossils have been dissolved. The thickness of the courses varies generally between the limits indicated above, but a large proportion of the, stone ranges between four and eight inches. Now and then, however, a layer attains a thickness of twenty inches, or even two feet. Near the upper limits of the formation the layers are thinner and less even than be- low, affording what quarrymen call "shelly" stone.
The composition of the limestones from the upper half of the group is quite nearly uniform, averaging about ninety per cent. of carbonate of lime; but as we descend in the series the limestones grow more silicious.
The shales, clays, or marlites, which with the lime- stones make up the Cincinnati group, must next be characterized. They constitute a large part of the sys- tem, certainly four-fifths of it in the two lower divisions, and probably not less than three-fifths of its whole ex- tent. The proportions of limestone and shale do not appear altogether constant, it is to be observed, at the same horizon, a larger amount of stone being found at one point than at others.
The shales, as implied in one of the names by which they are known, "blue clay," are generally blue in color, but the shade is lighter than in the limestone. In addi- tion to the blue shales, however, drab-colored clays ap- pear in the series at various points. As the blue shales weather into drab by the higher oxidation of the iron they contain, the conclusion is frequently drawn that the last-named variety marks merely a weathered stage of the former. But, aside from the impossibility of ex- plaining the facts as they occur on this hypothesis, analy- sis disproves it, and shows that the differences in color are connected with essential differences in the composi- tion of the belts to which they belong.
Most of the shales slake promptly on exposure to the air, and furnish the materials of a fertile soil; but there are other portions included under this general division which harden as the quarry-water escapes, and become an enduring stone if protected from the action of frost.
The shales are sometimes quite heavily charged with fossils, which generally have a firmer structure than the material that encloses them, so that the fossils, often in an admirable state of preservation, remain behind after the shales have melted away. All of the groups of ani- mals that are represented in the limestones are found also in the shales; but from the unequal numbers that are represented here to-day, it seems evident that some sorts were able to adapt themselves to the conditions which shaly deposits imply much more easily than others.
The proportions of limestone and shale in the series we have already spoken of in a general way; but it will be profitable to give additional statements on this point. In the River Quarry beds, the lowermost portion of the Cin- cinnati beds proper, there are about four feet of shale to one foot of limestone, but the shales increase in force as we ascend in the series, until at about one hundred feet above low-water the proportion was more than twice as great. For the two hundred feet next succeeding, that have been styled the Eden shales or Middle shales, there is seldom more than one foot of stone in ten feet of as-
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
cent. The amount of waste is so large, therefore, that quarries cannot be profitably worked in this whole di- vision. The third portion of the series, the Hill quarries, have often lower limits-the beds in which the solid rock has risen again to as high a proportion as one foot in five or six feet of ascent. From this point upward to the completion of the group, there is no such predominance of shales as is found below, though in the lower parts of the Lebanon beds shales still constitute more than one- half of the whole thickness.
It is seen from analyses made that a notable quantity of alkalies and phosphates, sometimes at least, occurs in the composition of the shales. It is upon these sub- stances that the fertility of soils in great measure depends; and as they are in this case properly distributed through the sand and clay that make the bulk of the shale, it is in no way surprising to find very fruitiful soils forming from the weathering of these beds. The most note- worthy fact in this connection is the rapidity with which they are converted into soils. Most of the rocky shales of the State require a long course of progressive im- provement before they can be justly termed soils. Their elements are slowly oxydized and disintegrated, and vege- table matters slowly added. The exposure of a single season, however, suffices to cover the Cincinnati shales with a varied vegetation. All of our ordinary forest trees, when opportunity is furnished for the distribution of their seeds, establish themselves promptly upon the shales. -The black locust seems especially well adapted to such situations. There is no other use to which the steep slopes of the Cincinnati hills can be turned that would subserve as many interests as planting them with black locust would do.
Dr. Locke called attention to a peculiar feature of the Blue Limestone beds, viz., a waved structure of the solid limestone, somewhat analogous in form to the wave-lines and ripple-marks of the higher series of the State. This peculiar structure was noticed by him in the upper beds of the formation, but it is even a more striking character- istic of the rock in its lower beds, as shown in the river quarries of Cincinnati, or in the lowermost hundred feet that are there exposed.
The rocks exhibiting this structure at the point named are the most compact beds of the fossiliferous limestone. The bottom of the waved layer is generally even, and be- neath it is always found an even bed of shale. The up- per surface is diversified, as its name suggests, with ridges and furrows. The interval between the ridges varies, but in many instances it is about four feet. The greatest thickness of the ridge is six or seven inches, while the stone is reduced to one or two inches at the bottom of the furrow, and sometimes it entirely disap- pears. The waved layers are overlain by shale in every instance. They are often continuons for a considerable extent, and in such cases the axes of the ridges and fur- rows have a uniform direction. This direction is a little south of east in the vicinity of Cincinnati, but in travers- ing the series these axes are found to bear in various di- rections.
Dr. Locke's explanation of these facts, involving a fluid
state of the carbonate of lime and sheets of shale falling in a "vertical strata" through deep seas, seems entirely inadmissible.
The only other explanation thus far proffered is that suggested by the name, viz., that the floor of the Cincin- nati sea was acted on from time to time by waves or sim- ilar movements of the ocean waters. In opposition to this view it may be said: First, that there are many rea- sons for believing that the Cincinnati rocks grew upon the floor of a deep sea, far below the action of the sur- face waves; and, second, that the fact of the limestone layers alone being thus shaped is sufficient to set aside the explanation. If these inequalities of surface are due to wave-action of any sort, it is impossible to see why the action should be limited to the firmest limestone beds of the series, while the soft shales, which could easily regis- ter any movement of the waters, never exhibit the slight- est indications of such agencies.
While both of these modes of accounting for the facts are rejected as entirely unsatisfactory, nothing in the way of explanation will be offered here, save the suggestion that the facts seem to point to concretionary action as the force to which we must look.
THE ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS
of the Cincinnati group are limited to building stone, lime, brick and pottery clays, and cement; and of these none but the first two have, at present, any great impor- tance. The series yields everywhere abundant supplies of stone, suitable in every respect for building purposes. The advantages that the city of Cincinnati reaps from the quarries that surround it, are immense. While blue limestone has been used as a building stone from the first settlement of the country, it has hitherto enjoyed the reputation of being serviceable rather than beautiful; but within the past few years it has been so treated by com- bination with other building stones as to produce very fine architectural effects. Numerous exhibitions of this skilful use of the blue limestone can be seen in the re- cent buildings of the city and suburbs of Cincinnati.
The analysis of the stone shows it to contain ninety or more per cent. of carbonate of lime. From this it will be concluded that it can be burned into a lime of a good degree of purity and strength. When water-washed peb- bles from gravel banks or river beds are used, the product is excellent; but the quarry stone always carries with it so much of the interstratified shale as to darken the lime and so reduce its value for plastering. For this last use the mild and white magnesian limes derived from the Upper Silurian formations that surround Cincinnati, are the only varieties that are at present approved. The native supply can, however, be furnished much cheaper at but little more than half the cost, indeed, of Spring- field lime; and as it makes a strong cement, the shales that adhere to the stone possibly adding an hydraulic quality, it is generally used in laying foundations of all sorts.
The shales are sometimes resorted to for the manufac- ture of brick, tile, and pottery ware. The instances are, however, rare, and are confined to the uppermost beds of
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the system. The products were, in the few instances noted, unusually fine, the clay working very smoothly and burning into cream-colored ware of great strength and excellence.
The occurrence of concretions in the shales of the Point Pleasant beds and in the lowest strata of the divis- ion found at Cincinnati, has already been noticed. The analysis of specimens from the river quarries suggests hydraulic cement, and they are in fact found to possess a high degree of hydraulic energy. The supply of these concretions depends upon the extent of the quarrying, but at the present rate several hundred tons are thrown out each year, and as the concretions prove nearly enough uniform in composition, they can certainly be turned to good, economical account in the manufacture of a fine quality of cement. The famous Roman cement of Eng- land is obtained from similar concretions, which are gen- erally gathered on the shore after storms and high tides, though sometimes obtained by digging. All of the river quarries from Point Pleasant to Lawrenceburgh, Indiana, yield these concretions-the lowermost beds of all most abundantly. It may be added that the limestones en- closing the concretions are silicious enough in composi- tion to transfer them to the best of cements.
The Cincinnati section exhausts the scale of the coun- ty, the upper division of the blue limestone, as before stated, having never been found within its limits. The River Quarry beds do not constitute a marked feature, in any respect, of the geology of the county. There are but comparatively few points where these strata are ex- posed. A moderate amount of building stone of super- ior quality is taken from the Covington quarries, oppo- site Cincinnati. But little of the stone in this portion of the series can be burned into lime, but the concretions so abundant in many of the beds, as just hinted, consti- tute an hydraulic lime of great energy.
The second element of the Cincinnati section-the Middle or Eden shales-is as much more prominent than the first in the county as its greater extent in the vertical scale would lead us to infer. It is, however, mainly found in the slopes of the hills, as it is not firm enough in structure to resist denuding agencies, when unprotected by the higher series. Very few products of economical value, as we have seen, are derived from this part of the scale. Indeed, its relations to economical interests are mainly in the way of disadvantages to be overcome. These disadvantages result directly from the nature of the materials of which these beds are com- posed. It will be remembered that in the two hundred and fifty feet now under consideration, not more than one foot in ten is limestone; the remainder being soft shales, or soapstones, as they are variously designated. These shales have scarcely tenacity enough to hold their place in steep descents when acted on by water and ice; still less, when they have been removed from their or- iginal beds, can they be made to cohere; and they thus form treacherous foundations for buildings erected on them or for roadways constructed in them.
The city of Cincinnati, in many of its building sites,
streets, and approaches, encounters these disadvantages, which can only be overcome by increased outlay in the way of foundations. These facts are most clearly shown in the approaches to the city from the east by the Ohio valley, frequent slides occurring along the steep slopes of shale in which streets and dwellings are involved. Gilbert avenue, in process of construction through Eden park, especially suffered from its geological formation, and re- quired a large expenditure to give it stability along this line.
Nearly all the smaller streams that are bedded in these shales show contortions and flexures of their strata that have resulted from the slipping of the higher beds into the valleys.
The third division, viz., of the Hill Quarry- series, which makes the upland of the county, is by far the most important of the three, in the area it covers and the pro- ducts it furnishes. The sunimits of the insulated masses already named belong to this division, and constitute about three-fourths of the surface of the county. Most of the quarry stone of the county is also derived from this source. The Cincinnati quarries have thus far been vast- ly more important than those of any other district; but as the hills within and adjoining the city limits are being occupied for building sites, it will result that railroad transportation will be invoked; and when it comes to this, the more desirable building stone of the different formations from adjoining counties will come into com- petition and be more largely used.
It may be noticed here that it is chiefly due to the fact that so large an amount of quarrying has been done about Cincinnati, that this particular locality has become the classic ground in the way of fossils that it now is. The numerous and ample exposures gave to the ear- lier collectors unexampled opportunities-opportunities which are not likely to be repeated. Many of the most interesting localities of twenty to twenty-five years ago are now covered by permanent buildings, and every year diminishes the available areas. The waste of the hill quarries furnishes, however, by far the larger propor- tion of the admirable fossils in the vicinity of Cincin- nati. Scarcely any exposure of it in the county has failed to yield choice forms of the various and rarer groups.
DRIFT DEPOSITS, OR SURFACE GEOLOGV.
The drift formations of the county are mainly divided into two groups, corresponding to the main topographical features of the county already indicated, viz. :
First-The drift deposits of the highlands and slopes. Second-The low land, or valley drift beds.
I .- Drift deposits cover the highlands of Hamil- ton county, with but very limited exceptions. Towards the southern boundary these beds are light, measuring but a few feet (four to ten) in thickness ; and, as already intimated, areas are occasionally found from which these deposits are altogether absent, the shallow coating of soil found in such areas being native or referable to the decomposition of the limestone that has been bedded here.
There is a good degree of uniformity among these
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
high level drifts, and the distinction between them and the native soils, indeed, is not always very manifest. The presence of rounded pebbles of blue limestone and of northern rocks, the drift beds, though often but very sparingly distributed, is the best means of distinguishing these beds from the native soils. The drift clays are certainly derived in large part from the waste of blue limestone, effected in their case by glacial attrition ; while the native soils have the same origin, except that the work of disintegration has been done in their case by the slow action of the atmosphere. The agreement be- tween the drift soils of these southern counties and the native soils which are met here, is closer than is found between native and foreign soils in most sections of the State. This seems to be accounted for by the fact that a large area of the same formation lies north of them, which the glacial sheet was obliged to traverse and de- nude before striking upon this region. The blue lime- stone of these counties is thus largely covered with blue limestone waste.
The average thickness of these upland drift beds falls below twenty feet, but occasionally heavier sections are found. In the northern part of Sycamore township, in the vicinity of White Oak school-house, a high drift ridge occurs in which twenty feet of surface clays are underlain with a deposit of fine yellow moulding sand. This stratum, when filled with water, is a quicksand, and renders wells impossible, or at least very difficult to secure. But little clean gravel occurs in the uplands of the county, and boulders also are infrequent.
The yellow surface clays sometimes overlie a few feet of tough blue boulder clay, filled with scratched and striated pebbles, apparently the product of the melting glacial sheet. This is not, however, by any means a con- stant element in the section.
In short, the upland drift of this county is not as varied and interesting as that of the regions immediately to the northward, or even to the eastward. The slopes show the same characters in their drift beds that have already been described, except that the deposits are generally heavier.
II .- The second division, or the lowland drift- beds of the county are in their characteristic formations of much later date than the deposits already discussed. These deposits can be classified in their superficial aspects, under the principal divisions, viz: (a) The bot- tom lands; (b) the terraces or second bottoms.
These divisions are distinguished from each other, not only by their different elevations but also by the different materials of which they are composed, the terraces being largely composed of gravel, with occasional beds of sand and clay, while the bottom lands contain, in all cases, a greater proportion of fine materials.
Of the upland drift no general or typical section was given, for the reason that, aside from the monotonous de- posits of yellow clay, there is no uniformity in the order in which the different formations occur; but in the case of the division now under consideration, it is possible to represent in a single section the more important facts that are to be observed. The deposits of the Ohio valley, it
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