USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vo. I > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
2
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
the county west of the Sandusky river, as well as in the townships of Clinton and Eden, on the east, are entirely without such, lime- stone exposures, and the surface, when not broken by drain- age valleys, is generally undulating. The eastern part of the county is considerably more elevated than the middle and western, and the surface is characterized at once by longer and more con- siderable undulations, which have the form very often of ridges, evenly covered by drift, running about northeast and southwest. This greater elevation is due to the greater resistance of the Cornif- erous limestone to the forces of the glacial epoch, not to upheaval, as many fancy ; while the original inequalities in the drift surface have been increased by the erosion of streams. There are even in the eastern part of the county, flat tracts where the drainage is so low that the washings from the hillsides have leveled up the lower grounds with alluvium and marshy accumulations. In such cases the elevated drift knolls are gravelly, and show occa- sional boulders; but in the level tract, which has been filled, no boulders, or even stones of any kind, can be seen.
The streams are bounded by a flood-plain, and a single terrace. The latter, however, in the case of the smaller streams, is not well defined, especially where the general surface is not flat.
The soil, consisting principally of the old drift surface, is what may be termed a gravelly clay, with various local modifica- tions: The principal exceptions are the alluvial flats bordering the streams, where the soil consists largely of a sandy marl, with varying proportions of vegetable matter; the depressions in the old drift surface, which have been slowly filled by peaty soil. and the sandy and stony ridges, in the townships of Jackson. Liberty and Hopewell. With the exception of the marsh known as Big Spring Prairie, in the southwestern part of Big Spring township, the whole county has long been in a tillable condition. Hence it is settled by a high class of intelligent and prosperous farmers. who keep the land generally under a high state of cultivation. The original forest, which has now very largely been removed. embraced the usual varieties of oak, hickory, maple, elm and ash.
Throughout Seneca county the drift deposit lies as it was left by the glacier. The mass of it is an unassorted hardpan, but it shows locally the glacial stratification incident to streams of water arising from the dissolution of the ice. Such cases of stratifica- tion are common in the great valleys, where the waters necessarily accumulate. They are by no means common, nor uniform in their location in the drift vertically. In some cases the stratifi- cation rises nearly or quite to the surface, or prevails to the depth of thirty or forty feet. In others, it embraces one or more beds of hardpan, which have irregular outlines. In section 20, Eden township, the banks of Honey creek were particularly noted.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
The thickness of the drift in this county cannot be stated with certainty. At Attica. in the township of Venice. wells penetrate it to the depth of sixty feet without striking the rock. This is the highest point within the county and the general surface is rolling.
The Sandusky river, running through the county from the south to the north, divides it into two nearly equal parts, and is the principal stream in the county. The left bank of the river, in its general bearing is higher ground than the east, or right bank. and the country west of the river descends almost immediately as it recedes from the river, shedding the waters from near the.
SOURCE OF THE SANDUSKY RIVER (SUMMIT OF THE OHIO DIVIDE)
river bank into the east branch of Wolf creek. .The result is, that there is not a single stream or creek that enters the left bank of the Sandusky river in Seneca county. A little brooklet that runs a short time after a rain. called Bell's run, enters a short distance south of Lugenbeel's dam (formerly so called). Tymochtee and Wolf creeks are tributaries of the Sandusky at its left bank, but the former enters the river in Wyandot, and the latter in San- dusky county.
The river, in its northward course enters section 36 in Seneca township, and immediately turns into section 31 in Eden, and
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
returns again into Seneca, where it keeps on its course along the eastern tier of sections in Seneca township, and enters section 36 in Hopewell ; taking a straight northward direction, it turns north- eastwardly and enters section 19 in Clinton, passes through Tiffin, runs through sections 17, 9 and 5 in Clinton, enters section 32 in Pleasant, where it makes many turns in all directions, and finally leaves the county in the northeast corner of section 5 in Pleasant.
The various branches of Wolf creek start near the southern line of the county, west of the river, the eastern branch running almost parallel with the river throughout the county. A short distance north of the north line of Seneca county the several branches of Wolf creek unite, and taking a short turn eastwardly, immediately enter the river.
There seems to be a water-shed all along the east line of the county of Seneca that sends its waters westward into the Sandusky. Honey creek and Rocky creek both run in a westerly direction about twelve miles, without taking into account their meanderings, when they run southwest about six miles then turn northwest, and in that direction enter the river. Honey creek takes up Silver creek near the northeast corner of section 24 in Eden, from an easterly direction, and enters the Sandusky in section 36 Hopewell. Rocky creek enters at Tiffin in section 19, in Clinton; Willow creek and Morrison creek flow into the Sandusky in section 17, in Clinton ; Spicer creek mouths into the Sandusky in section 28 in Pleasant, and Sugar creek in section 22 of the same township. In this township two small brooks-rain water creeks-each about one mile long, enter the river from the left bank. Six creeks enter the river from the east, within fifteen miles from the base line. Thus it is seen that Seneca county is well watered.
This peculiarity in the southern bends of both Honey creek and Rocky creek is not confined to this county, and may be due to the halting retreat of the glacier, when throwing down the un- modified drift with which that portion of the country is covered. The divides between these creeks, along their upper waters, would in that case be the moraine accumulations, which further west at lower levels, were not sufficient to divert the drainage from the general course of the main valley. They may be compared to the extended moraine which shut off the St. Marys and Wabash rivers from their most direct course to Lake Erie, along their upper waters.
The Niagara limestone rises, in wide undulations, above the surface of the drift, and is as frequently supplied with sandy accumulations and boulders as in counties further north. The surface of these townships, otherwise, is very flat. The remainder of the county west of the Sandusky river, as well as the townships of Clinton and Eden on the east, is entirely without such lime-
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
stone exposures, and the surface when not broken by drainage valleys, is gently undulating. The eastern part of the county is considerably more elevated than the middle and western, and the surface is characterized at once by longer and more considerable undulations, which have the form. very often. of ridges, evenly covered by drift, running about northeast and southwest. This greater elevation is due to the greater resistance of the Corniferous limestone to the forces of the glacial epoch, not to upheaval. as many fancy; while the original inequalities in the drift surface have been increased by the erosion of streams. There are still. even in the eastern portion of the county, flat tracts where the drainage is slow, that the washings from the hill sides have leveled up the lower grounds with alluvial and marshy accumulations. In such cases the elevated drift-knolls are gravelly, and show occa- sional boulders; but in the level tract which has been filled, no boulders, or even stones of any kind. can be seen.
The streams are bounded by a flood plain and a single terrace. The latter in case of the smaller streams, is not well defined, es- pecially where the general surface is not flat.
The soil, consisting principally of the old drift surface, is what may be termed a gravelly clay, with various local modifica- tions. The principal exceptions are the alluvial flats, bordering the streams where the soil consists largely of sandy marl, with varying proportions of vegetable matter, the depressions in the old drift surface, which have been slowly filled by peaty soil, and the sandy and stony ridges, in the townships of Jackson, Liberty and Hopewell. With the exception of the marsh known as Big Spring Prairie, in the southwestern part of Big Spring township, the whole country is in a tillable condition. Hence, it is settled with a class of intelligent and prosperous farmers, who keep the land generally under constant cultivation. The original forest, which is now to a great extent removed. embraced the usual variety of oak, hickory, beech, maple, elm, ash, poplar and walnut.
The rocks that underlie the county have a general dip towards the east. Hence the Niagara limestone, in the western portion of . the county, is succeeded by the higher formations in regular order in traveling east. They are the water limestone. the Oriskany sandstone, the Lower Corniferous, the Upper Corniferous, the Hamilton shale, and the Huron shale, or black shale. The eastern boundary of the Niagara enters the county a little east of Green Spring, in a southwesterly direction, and crossing the Sandusky river at Tiffin, it turns westward nearly to the center of Hopewell township, where it again turns southwest, and leaves the county at Adrian. All west of this line is underlain by the Niagara, which is not divided into two belts, as in Sandusky and Ottawa counties. The strip of the waterline which separates it in those counties,
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
probably just indents the northern line of the county in Pleasant township. The out-cropping edge of the Upper Corniferous is the only other geological boundary that can be definitely located. Those on either side are so obscured by the drift, that their located positions on the map must be regarded as conjectured. In general, however, the waterline underlies a strip along the eastern side of the Niagara area, about five miles in width on the north. but widening to nine miles on the south. The Lower Corniferous underlies the western part of Bloom and Scipio townships, and the eastern part of Adams. The Upper Corniferous occupies the most of Thompson and Reed townships, the western portion of Venice, and the eastern portion of Bloom and Scipio. The Hamilton and the Black shale have not been seen in out-crop in the county, but are believed to underlie a small area in the southeastern portion of the county. The Black shale may be seen in the valley of Slate Run, Norwich township. in Huron county. The Niagara shows the following exposures :
In Jackson township southwest quarter of section 36, in a little creek. No dip discoverable. In section 22, a prominent ridge is crossed, and slightly excavated by the railroad. The ascent is so gentle the grade rises over it. Northwest quarter of section 31. of the Guelph aspect, shows numerous fossils, used for making roads, and for lime.
In Liberty township, southwest quarter of section 4, in west branch of Wolf creek; dip six or eight degrees west of the south- east quarter of section 5.
Section 10 along the east line of the section, in the form of ridges. Northeast quarter of section 28. northwest quarter of section 2. horizontal: in the west branch of Wolf creek, setting back the water nearly a mile. Northwest quarter of section 24 considerably quarried for foundations and abutments of bridges. Southwest quarter of section 30, by the roadside. Northeast quarter of section 36, in Wolf creek. Southwest quarter of sec- tion 34. Southwest quarter of section 31, in thick beds used by Mr. George King in the construction of his house ; dip five degrees northeast of northwest quarter of section 29.
Section 3, half a mile west of Bettsville; frequent exposures along the west branch of Wolf creek. When observable, the dip is to the west.
In Pleasant township. northwest quarter dip northeast glacial scratches south fifty-six degrees west. northwest quarter of sec- tion 20. In the bed of the river at Fort Seneca, just below the dam, a fine grained, bluish limestone has been a little quarried for use on roads. But owing to its hardness and the unfavorable location. it was not regarded suitable. It probably belongs to the Niagara, although the opportunities for examination were too
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
meager to determine exactly. Center and southeast quarter of seetion 28, in thick beds, in Spicer creek.
In Hopewell township northeast quarter of section 22, has the aspect of the Guelph on the surface exposure, section 16, where the road crosses Wolf creek.
In these surface exposures very little opportunity is offered for ascertaining the lithological characters, or the mineralogical and fossil contents of the formation. The chief exposure of the Niagara within the county is in the Sandusky river, between Tiffin and Fort Seneca.
From Tiffin descending the Sandusky river rocks show con- stantly to within half a mile of the line between Clinton and Pleasant townships. Throughout the most of this distance, the dip of the formation (Niagara) is from five to ten degrees toward the southwest, but with various flexures and undulations in all direc- tions. The thickness of bedding exposed is between fifty and sixty feet. The following minutes on this exposure will show the undulations in the dip of the beds, and the manner of the oc- currence of the fossiliferous beds, which have by some been re- garded as a distinct member of the Upper Silurian above the Niagara. They make here a sudden appearance within the for- mation having horizontal continuity with the more usual hard, gray, and thick-bedded Niagara, which contains fewer fossil re- mains.
Ascending the river from section 29, in Pleasant township, glacial furrows, south 44 degrees west, the dips of the Niagara were observed, together with the water line formations to some distance southwest of Tiffin, varying from three to eighteen feet in all directions.
From this it appears that the Niagara limestone. especially the uppermost fifty-five feet, is in general, a gray crystalline, rather finegrained, compact, or slightly vascular and unfossilferous mass : and that the fossiliferous parts are rough and vascular, of a light buff color, apt to crumble under the weather, and not horizontally continuous.
The green shale which in Sandusky county represents the Salina, has nowhere been seen in Seneca county. The only place within the county where the junction of the Niagara and water- lime has been observed, is in the quarries at Tiffin, within the corporate limits. A few rods above the iron bridge on Washing- ton Street, a quarry has been opened in the left bank of the San- dusky which may be designated as quarry No. 1. The Niagara shows in a broad surface exposure, over which the river spreads, except in its lowest stage. The quarry has not penetrated it, but overlying waterlime beds have been stripped off, showing sec- tion of twelve feet in their beds, belonging to phase No. 3. This
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
lies conformably on the Niagara, so far as can be seen, the separat- ing surface presenting no unusual flexures or irregularities. The only trace of the Salina is in the tendency of the color and texture of the Niagara towards those of the waterlime, visible through its last three or four inches. It is bluish-drab, porous, crystalline. with some indistinct greenish lines and spots. It contains much calcite, and some galena. From this character it passes imme- diately into a bluish-gray crystalline rock, in thick, firm beds, with spots of purple heavy and slightly porous, the cavities being nearly all filled with calcite.
The principal exposures of the waterlime are in the quarries at Tiffin.
Quarry No. 2 is located a quarter of a mile above the last, on the right bank of the river, and is known as the city quarry. The dip here is southwest. six or eight degrees. Supposing the dip is uniform between quarries Nos. 1 and 2 there must be unseen intervals of twenty-five or thirty feet of the formation separating them. Total exposed. seventeen feet, nine inches.
The characteristic fossil, liperditia alta, may be seen in nearly all parts of this section, but it was especially noted in Nos. 3 and 7. This rock is all hard and crystalline, but with a fine grain. No. 3, without careful examination, might be taken for Niagara, if seen alone. When broken into fragments for roads, the color of the pile, weathered a few months, is a pleasant bluish- gray: Yet on close examination, the blue tints vanish, and the stone shows a drab. a dark or brownish drab, a black and a bluish gray, (the last two only on the lines of the bedding) depending on the fracture or surface examined.
The river, just in the southern limits of the city, is flowing east. The rock can be followed along the same bank of the river . eighteen or twenty rods from the foregoing quarry, and has an irregular surface exposure throughout that distance, with a contin- uous dip southwest. The rock then follows the bluff, which strikes across a path of river bottom, and is not seen again until a mile further up the river. It is here quarried and burnt into lime. The dip is in the opposite direction-that is, toward the north. This is quarry No. 3. Total 27 feet, 9 inches.
This rock is quite different in most of its aspects from that described in the last two sections, and it probably overlies them. It is much more loose grain and porous, and is almost without bituminous films. The beds are generally six to twelve inches, but sometimes three feet in thickness. It has more constantly the typical drab color of the waterlime, and it shows, besides the liperditia alta, another bivalve like atrypa sulcata, and a handsome species of orthis; also a coarse favositoid coral, all of which are often seen in the waterlime.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
In the southeast quarter of section 22, Hopewell township. Mr. Henry W. Creeger quarries waterlime in the bed of Wolf creek ; dip south six or eight degrees.
The waterlime appears in thin, drab beds at the bridge over the Sandusky in northeast quarter of section 23, Seneca township. with undulating dip.
In southeast quarter of section 29, Clinton township, where the road crosses Rocky creek, the waterlime is exposed, having the feature of No. 8, of quarry No. 3, at Tiffin. (See Vol. 1, Geology page 618.)
The Oriskany sandstone is nowhere exposed in this county, but its line of outerop probably passes through Adams, Clinton and Eden townships.
The Lower Corniferous has been observed in the following places: southwest quarter of section 1. Eden township. Along the bed of a little creek, tributary to Rocky creek, a magnesian. buff, granular limestone is exposed. It has no fossils, so far as can be seen in the meager outcrops. It is also seen in the banks along the creek, on the farm of Mr. Ferguson. It was formerly quar- ried to a limited extent, and used for rough walls. It is rather soft at first, but is said to become harder when the water is dried out. There is no dip discoverable.
Northwest quarter of section 20, Bloom township. In the right bank of Silver creek there is a exposure of higher beds of the Lower Corniferous, as follows from above.
Lying nearly horizontal five or six rods, at the east end of the bluff the beds dip east and disappear. A little west of this ex- posure the magnesian. non-fossiliferous, thick-bedded characters of the Lower Corniferous may be seen in the bed of the creek. Eighteen or twenty rods to the east, the features and fossils of the Upper Corniferous appear in an old quarry by the roadside, where the dip is east northeast.
Southwest quarter of section 3. Scipio township. Along the channel of Sugar creek, a stone is exposed which appears like Lower Corniferous. It is soft, coarse grained, and without visible fos- sils. A pond located near this place, which has precipitous banks and sometimes becomes dry, is probably caused by subter- ranean disturbances and erosion.
The quarry on northwest quarter of section 1, Scipio town- ship, is in a thin-bedded. bluff stone, which has no tendency to blue, without fossils, and included within the Lower Corniferous.
The Lower Corniferous is also exposed on southeast quarter of section 34, Adams township, along the public road.
Northeast quarter of section 26 Eden township. A fine- grained, argillacious, gray rock, weathering buff, without visible fossils, appears in the road. It seems apt to break into angular
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
pieces, three or four inches across. It is rather hard. It is probably included. within the Lower Corniferous.
The opportunities for observing the lower portion of the Corniferous within the county are not sufficient to warrant general section and description.
The Upper Corniferous, owing to its greater hardness and toughness was not so generally destroyed by the ice and water of the glacial epoch, and now may be more frequently seen, thinly covered with coarse drift, occupying the highest parts of the county and forming the main water shed. The coarseness of the drift on these higher tracts is owing to the washings by rains and freshets since the close of the glacial epoch. It is an unassorted hardpan, and sometimes covers glacial striae in the rock below.
This part of the Corniferous is exposed in the following places within the county. It furnishes a very useful building stone, and is extensively used for all walls, foundations and some buildings.
In Thompson township, northwest quarter of section 20. It closely underlies most of the section. The drift being thin, the soil sometimes shows fragments.
Southwest quarter of section 16. beds horizontal, in the midst of a field in fine cultivation, with a surface gently undulating; drift at the quarry eight inches, but rapidly thickening further away. Same quarter of section quarry exposes about eight feet perpendicular ; beds about horizontal.
Southwest quarter of section 14, a quarry exposes about eight feet of blue, thin beds which seem to have been shattered, falling toward the west, the firm beds having a slight dip towards the northeast: Large, handsome flagging is obtained at this quarry.
Northeast quarter of section 2. There are here about three feet of drift over the rock. The beds are exposed about six feet perpendicularly ; dip not observed, although there is a falling away by fracture towards the west.
Southwest quarter of section 1.
Southeast quarter of section 1. In the edge of Huron county, a quarry in horizontal beds ; gravelly soil eighteen inches.
Northeast quarter of section 21. A quarry consists of a mass of shattered and dislodged beds, from which, however, good stone is taken. In one place, a mass showing a perpendicular thickness of five feet is twisted away from its original position, the planes of jointing indicating where it ought to be. 3 It is removed two feet from its natural place. The projection beyond the face of the other bed tapers, in the distance of about fifteen feet, to a few inches, and is hid by debris.
Many others also have small openings in the rocks in this
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY
township. They are nearly all in the midst of cultivated fields, and there is a remarkable absence of boulders, although the rock is sometimes seen projecting above the surface. There are few boulders, but they are such as belong to the drift, and have been dug out by the erosion of streams, or by man. They are not thick about rocky outerops, as in the lacustrine region.
Northwest quarter of section 11. Bloom township. There is an extensive quarry in the Upper Corniferons, in the valley of a little tributary to Honey creek. About fifteen feet of bedding are
exposed, lying nearly horizontal. The lowest beds are about eigh- teen inches in thickness, and softer, yet of a blue color like the rest. In working this quarry, it has become necessary to remove about ten feet of hardpan drift.
Northeast quarter of section 10. £ There is also an extensive opening, and exposes beds a few feet lower than the former one. The lowest seems to be of a lighter color, and must be near the bottom of the Upper Corniferous. A stream disappears in this quarry, in time of freshet.
Southwest quarter of section 2. a quarry is located in the valley of Honey creek.
Northeast quarter of section 20. Along the banks of Silver creek there is considerable exposure of the Upper Corniferous, and it is extensively wrought by Abraham Kagy. The beds here have a continuous dip. east, southeast, affording opportunities for the following sections :
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