USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 8
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The largest island of the series is the Blue Knob, then a promi- nent object in the lake basin, standing high above the water, its large, stately trees making it an object of attraction. In times of extraordinary floods, especially in the spring season, when the ice became broken, it was a place of safety for wild animals, such as elks, deer, bears, wolves, panthers, wildcats, foxes, raccoons, porcupines, rabbits and squirrels. These, and such birds as wild turkeys, pheas- ants, quail and woodcock, were found here by the early settlers in great numbers, as if seeming to be content in their place of shelter without imposing upon one another, thus constituting a "happy
90
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
family." The Indians, during the winter season, lodged on the large island north of the Blue Knob, on what is now the William M. Orr farm, and ranged all over this lake basin, when it was frozen over, in pursuit of game; and when the ice broke up they feasted upon the animals which had congregated on the Blue Knob and other islands. North of the Orr farm, on that portion of the island known as the Gravel Pit, the Indians had a large burying ground, and where many bodies were exhumed by men in the employ of the railroad company while procuring gravel for ballasting the road. The writer visited the scene, and secured a portion of an Indian skull of large size, which is still hard and solid, and a full quarter of an inch in thickness. This cranium was above the ordinary size of the heads of the Delawares, whose place of burial this was.
The Blue Knob, as have most of the islands of this ancient lake, has been cleared and cultivated, as have also much of the low swamp lands, second bottom and prairie lands been converted into fruitful fields and broad meadows, rendering this lake basin among the most productive districts of the county. In the lower end of the basin, near Shreve, were several islands, which long ago were converted into farming land, portions of the farms of James W. Moore, the late America Funk and Hugh Morgan being of them ; and the low swamp lands formerly existing around them are now cultivated fields and meadows. On the America Funk tract was an extensive beaver dam, where these animals lin- gered until the white settlers and trappers became too numerous. The site of this dam was near the road between Mr. Funk's late residence and the chapel, south, no evidence of which now remains above the ground. Recently, however, on digging there, a cedar log was found several feet below the surface, placed there centuries before, as, when first discovered, the dam had the appearance of being ancient. The cedar tree of which this log was a part was brought from some other place, as no such wood is known to have grown in the locality. Here seems to have terminated the south- western edge of this pre-glacial lake, though it doubtless extended
91
TOPOGRAPHY.
far below the county line, as it can be traced all the way down the valley of the Killbuck to the swamps north of Millersburg. On Thomas Doty's farm in the vicinity of Savage Run, and on other lands adjoining, are broad plains, containing elevations, the remains of islands which occupied the lake. The whole distance of this ancient sheet of water was from the vicinity of Stibbs' fac- tory, a mile east of Wooster (as its waters, doubtless, set back that far up the valley of the Apple creek), to near Shreve, in all eleven miles; and down the Killbuck river, perhaps, to Millers- burg, in Holmes county, from the vicinity of Shreve, a distance of fifteen miles.
Passing north of Shreve, over the highlands, into Plain town- ship, near Blachleysville, are witnessed the remains of an ancient lake in the pre-glacial channel of the valley of the Mohican, two of the Mohican streams, the Muddy and Lake Forks, forming a junc- tion about a mile west and south of the west line of Plain, in Mo- hican township. The remains of this lake, in the vicinity of Blach- leysville, was long known as the " Big Meadows," extending from Blachleysville, on the west side of Plain township, down into Clin- ton township, then into Lake township, in Ashland county, where its open remains are seen in Odell's lake. The early settlers of Plain and Clinton townships erected their dwellings and opened up. their farms on the margin of this ancient lake, which was then a beautiful plain, covered with tall grass, flags and prairie flowers, except that it was studded with ancient islands, then thickly wooded, which had the appearance of oases.
Blachleysville stands upon table land, virtually a terrace, over- looking the "Big Meadows," now known as the "Big Prairie," which extends north, west and south of the village. The soil of the meadows is a black vegetable mould, from ten to thirty feet in depth, resting upon blue clay, "hard pan," and which burns slowly, though surely as a coal-pit, seldom producing a blaze, but which consumes every vestige of the mould in course- of time, unless extinguished, which is no easy task after the fire has become deep-seated. These prairie lands have undergone a.
92
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
marked change since the settlement of the farmers upon their bor- ders; the swamps have been drained, cleared and cultivated, and this lake basin has become among the most productive farming districts of the county. An arm of this ancient lake seems to have .
extended eastward toward Shreve, as the remains of two small lakes exist, one on the farm of the late James Keys, and the other on the farm formerly occupied by Zepheniah Bell, these basins being now cultivated fields. These ancient remains are in the vi- cinity of Brown's and Manley's lakes, already described.
93
GEOLOGY.
CHAPTER VI.
A SYNOPSIS OF THE GEOLOGY OF OHIO.
THE geology of Ohio, though not differing materially from that of the adjoining States, has some very marked features not found elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley, and as some of its peculiari- ties extend into Wayne county, it will be proper to briefly no- tice the geology of the State, in order that the reader may the better understand that of the county.
The location of this State is peculiar ; being in the upper end of the Mississippi Valley, and bounded on the north by Lake Erie and the ridges of Michigan, and on the south by the Ohio river, it has ever been in a position to be wrought upon by water from the north, as it has been in several eras.
One of the most peculiar features of the geology of this State is the Cincinnati anticlinal, a description of which is furnished by Professors Newberry and Orton,* the latter having made a com- plete and full survey and report of the same.
The existence of this uplift had been long known to geologists, but its true character was wholly unknown until Professors New- berry and Orton made their report upon its structure and the probable era of its elevation. Drs. Locke and Hildreth had given opinions concerning the uplift, and Professor Spofford had shown its existence in Tennessee.
The Cincinnati Arch consists of an uplift of the Lower Silurian, with all imposed strata then existing, in the form of an arch, the center and summit being east of Cincinnati. The arch is bent up
*Geological Survey of Ohio, vol. I, page 97.
94
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
in the shape of a bow, the southern end extending to the south line of the State of Tennessee, and the northern end passing under Lake Erie between Sandusky and Toledo. From the southern line of Tennessee the anticlinal extends a little east of north through Nashville, the Blue Grass regions of Kentucky, and through Ohio to its terminus in Lake Erie. Professor Orton, by actual survey, located the apex of the arch at Bethel, in Clermont county, east of Cincinnati. The blue limestone about Cincinnati represents the highest part of the arch in this State, and the blue limestone of the Blue Grass regions of Kentucky represents its highest part in that State. From the pivotal point, or apex, the dip is south on the incline of the arch, and from the apex north on the incline to the lake. On the eastern side the strata dips south of east under the coal measure of the Alleghenies, and westward the strata dips under the coal measures of Indiana and Illinois.
The line of uplift of the arch is parallel with the folds of the rocks of the Alleghenies, and as observed by James A. Dana, stretched south-westward into Kentucky and Tennessee, and dat- ing "from the beginning of the upper Silurian, probably divided the great interior marshes about the Upper Ohio regions from that of the lower."*
The top of the arch has suffered much from erosion, the south- ern extension near the Ohio river much the greatest, yet the alti- tude is still greater there than at the lake or where exposed in its vicinity.
From present indications, the upheaval of the arch at first con- stituted a low mountain, and perhaps divided the waters of the Mississippi until the whole valley was elevated. The highest part of the arch, at Bethel, is 100 feet above the rock surface at Cincin- nati. Before the uplift of the arch, all the Cincinnati group rested upon it, showing that the entire lower Silurian strata had been con- structed and in place before the upheaval. The strata on either side of the central line of the arch, from the apex to the lake, very clearly shows the position of the arch where the various beds of
* Dana's Manual of Geology, page 391.
95
GEOLOGY.
strata accumulated, as the strike on the east side is nearly north and south from the lake to the Ohio river; but on the western side it is nearly north-east and south-west. The continuation of these lines, in the direction they bear, would bring them in con- junction near the north shore of Lake Erie.
Professor Orton has given a number of measurements of alti- tude of the Cincinnati group of rocks, connected with the anticli- nal, which tend to show the original condition of the arch in the regions of its apex and the dip of its strata. He reports the high- est point of contact between the Cincinnati and the Clinton groups near Lebanon, at 441 feet above Lake Erie, from which point the dip for the distance of thirty-five miles northerly is at the rate of about four feet to the mile. At the northern part of the State the rocks of the Cincinnati group are not exposed, and hence the level of the surface has not been ascertained in that locality, nor the dip of the strata composing the arch. But at the mouth of the Ver- million river, at Sandusky, Toledo, Striker and White House, borings have been made at points from 20 to 30 miles from the summit of the arch at the north, by which the blue limestone strata has been shown to be about 800 feet below the level of Lake Erie. The Niagara and Helderberg rocks overlie the Cincinnati group, and are exposed along the line of the anticlinal, by which Professor Orton was enabled to ascertain the northern slope of the crest .* He found the highest exposure of the Niagara strata between the waters of the Little Miami and the Scioto rivers, the surface being 557 feet above Lake Erie. The east and west dip of the rocks forming the arch is much more rapid than to the north, and at the rate of the dip, if the lines were extended, would form an arch a thousand feet in hight.
The dip of the rocks which flank the arch on the east is more rapid than on the west. This fact has been ascertained by the position of the strata, especially the Huron shale, which shows a a dip of 35 feet to the mile, according to Professor Orton ; and Dr. Locke reported the dip of the blue limestone at 37 feet 4
* I Vol. Geological Survey of Ohio, page 98.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
inches per mile. At Bellefontaine, Logan county, the base of the Huron shale is only 65 feet above Lake Erie, making a dip of 605 feet, being 12 feet to the mile. The dip eastward from Bellefon- taine to Delaware, on an air line 36 miles east, is 402 feet, which is about II feet to the mile.
Comparing the elevation of the surface of the Cincinnati group, in the south-western part of the State, with the level of the same geological horizon at Columbus, the following result is shown: At Lebanon the surface of the blue limestone is 441 feet above Lake Erie; at Columbus the surface is 721 feet below the lake level, thus showing a dip in a north-east direction of 1, 167 feet in a dis- tance of about seventy miles, being about 16.6 feet to the mile .*
The elevation of the Cincinnati arch was slow and gradual, the strata of which, not being materially affected, except elevated in the form of an arch, was simply a gentle flexure (as remarked by Professor Orton) of the earth's crust. It was, doubtless, one of the earliest of the great system of folds or wrinkles so wonderfully manifested in the Appalachian mountain system. No definite date can be fixed showing the age when the first upward move- ment of this arch took place, or when it was left at rest. But it was certainly elevated in Southern Ohio, "above the sea at the end of the Blue Limestone period, early in the Clinton epoch. t
The exposed rocks of the Silurian system found in the Cincin- nati arch are the Cincinnati group, the equivalents of the Hudson and Utica shale, of New York, which are also exposed in the val- ley of the Ohio at Cincinnati, where about 800 feet in vertical thickness appear in cliffs.
From the survey of the arch, and observations made by Pro- fessor Orton, it is quite manifest that the Lebanon beds, the top- most portion of the Cincinnati group, once stretched over its entire breadth, and that the entire system was formed and rested in a horizontal position before the first oscillation or upward movement of the arch commenced.
* Geological Survey of Ohio, vol. I, p. 100.
t Geological Survey of Ohio, vol. I, p. 417.
97
GEOLOGY.
The rocks covering the arch, when it was elevated to its pres- ent position, to some extent have disappeared by erosion. As far north as Dayton the whole crown of the arch is occupied by the outcrop of the Cincinnati group, and so deeply eroded as to form the valleys of the two Miamis. Around the margin of the blue limestone extends a broad belt of the Clinton and Niagara groups. "In Clark, Champaign, Darke, Shelby and Mercer counties the Niagara is its surface rock over the entire breadth of the anticli- nal."* The corniferous limestone flanks the side of the arch from Pickaway county to Sandusky, and from Sylvania up the Maumee to Paulding. The deposition of the strata flanking and overlying the arch, proves very clearly its elevation took place between the eras of the formation of the lower and upper Silurian systems, long prior to the elevation of the Appalachian system ; and that the arch stood forth as an island long before the submergence of the Appalachian chain, is more than probable.
On the eastern side of the arch the dip of the strata composing it is not always regular, its uniformity being interrupted by subor- dinate folds, though the dip, by successive steps, passes beneath the trough of the Allegheny coal field, the axis of which is beyond the eastern border of this State. At the east line of the State the strata of the eastern declivity of the arch is buried 2,000 feet beneath the surface. East of the State line the strata, the lowest exposed in Ohio, as well as those systems underlying them, crop out on the flanks and summits of the Alleghenies.
The dip of the strata north and south along the arch is now a subject of much interest, since the true character of the anticlinal has been made known by Professors Newberry and Orton in their geological survey of this State. The dip northward from the Ohio river to the lake is about 1,000 feet, and while the surface of the Cincinnati group in Highland county is 500 feet above Lake Erie, on the lake shore it is 400 feet below the lake level.
In the eastern half of the State the dip north and south is equally interesting. At Little Mountain, Lake county, the carbon-
# Geological Survey of Ohio, vol. I, p. 102.
7
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98
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
iferous conglomerate is 600 feet above Lake Erie, while at Marietta it is over 600 feet below the lake level, showing a southward dip of over 12,000 feet. This difference in the north and south dip of the eastern and western portions of the State is owing, in great extent, to the fact that the Cincinnati arch falls off rapidly toward the north, terminating in the low country north of Lake Erie. If the eroded portion of the arch at its axis could now be measured, the dip from the Ohio to the lake would far exceed 1, 000 feet.
The eroded surface of the Cincinnati arch in the blue limestone regions of Kentucky is 130 miles, where much of the crown has been swept away; northward, in Ohio, it is much narrowed, not being over 90 miles wide on a straight line east and west.
The surface of the country does not, as a general rule, give evidence of the thickness, nor, indeed, of the system, of the under- lying strata. Deep boring is the only sure method to measure the thickness and learn the kinds of strata beneath the surface, and by means of which much light has been reflected as regards the geological structure of Ohio. In the well bored at Toledo, the red shale was reached at the depth of 800 feet. This well passed through 100 feet of drift, through the upper Silurian lime- stone, water lime, Niagara and Clinton rocks.
The crown of the arch is at Genoa, Elmore and Washington, 15 and 20 miles in a south-easterly direction from Toledo. It is there covered by the Niagara, which is about 50 feet above the lake level.
The deep boring at the State House well at Columbus shows the character of the strata in that part of Ohio for the depth of 2,570 feet. The first stratum passed through was clay, sand and gravel, 123 feet thick; the next stratum was black shale, 15 feet thick ; the next a gray limestone rock, with chert 138 feet thick. Water was struck in this strata, at 150 feet from the surface, which washed away the borings to the depth of 242 feet. Sulphur water was found at 180 feet. Immediately below this formation was a very gritty rock, two feet thick, which occupied two days' drilling to pass through. Water from this point rose in the tube five feet. Below this rock, and upon which it rested, was a limestone strata
GEOLOGY.
99
486 feet in thickness. The limestone was of light color and sandy above, but darker and argillaceous below. Salt water was reached in this strata at 675 feet. The next strata below was red, brown and gray shales and marls, 162 feet thick, the borings of which were impregnated with salt. Underlying the red, brown and gray shales and marls were blue and greenish calcareous shales 1,058 feet in thickness, the borings impregnated with salt. The next strata below was a light colored magnesian limestone 475 feet in thickness; water in the tube of saline character. Below this strata was a whitish calcareous sandstone 316 feet thick. The next strata below, at the bottom of the well, was a sand rock. The total depth of the well was 2,775 feet, 4 inches, but no register was kept of the borings below 2,570 feet, they having been swept away by water.
In Vol. I, page 114, of the Geological Survey of Ohio, Pro- fessor J. S. Newberry has in a very clear manner given the charac- ter and kind of strata through which the auger passed at the State House well in a geological section, a copy of which is here given :
No.
THICK- NESS.
CHARACTER OF ROCKS.
THEIR PROBABLE GEOLOGICAL EQUIVALENTS.
I
123
Clay, sand and gravel.
Alluvial and drift deposits in old valley of the Scioto.
-
Drift.
2
15
Black Shale.
Huron shale (Portage and Gene- see shales) base only.
3
138
Gray limestone, with bands of chert.
Corniferous Limestone.
Devonian.
4
2
Very gritty rock.
Oriskany sandstone.
5
486
Limestone, light colored and sandy above, dark and ar- gillaceous below.
Helderberg, Niagara and Clinton ! limestone.
6
162
and marls. Red, brown and gray shales Clinton, Medina and upper part Cincinnati group.
7
1058
Blue and green calcareous shales and limestones.
Cincinnati group, with perhaps Black river birds-eye and Chazy limestones.
8
475
Light drab, sandy magne- sian limestone.
Calciferous sandrock of New York, magnesian limestone group of Missouri.
9
316
White sandrock, calcareous. Potsdam sandstone.
Upper Silurian. Low'r Silurian.
IO0
HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
SYSTEMS.
GROUPS.
STRATA.
Av. Thick.
Delta Sand.
FEET.
QUARTER- NARY.
Drift.
Forest Bed. Erie Clay.
200
Upper Coal Measures.
CARBONIFEROUS.
Coal Measures.
Barren Measures.
1200
Lower
Coal Measures.
Conglomerate.
0%
Conglomerate,
100
Lower Carb. Lime Stone.
Chester Limestone.
20
Cuyahoga Shale.
Waverly Group.
Berea Grit. Bedford Shale.
500
Cleveland Shale.
Erie.
Erie Shale.
400
DEVONIAN.
Huron.
Huron Shale.
300
Hamilton.
Sandusky Limestone.
20
Corniferous.
Columbus Limestone.
100
Oriskany.
Oriskany Sandstone. Water Lime.
100
Salina.
Salına Shale.
40
UPPER SILURIAN.
Niagara.
Hillsboro Sandstone. Niagara Limestone.
30 |180
275
Clinton.
Niagara Shale. Dayton Stone.
60 5
L
50
20
Lebanon Beds.
LOWER SILURIAN.
Cincinnati Group.
Eden Shale.
1000
Calciferous.
Calciferous Sandrock,
475
Potsdam.
Potsdam Sandstone.
300
Fig. I.
Fig. I is a vertical section of the rocks of Ohio, copied from Vol. I. Geological Survey of Ohio, page 89.
Helderberg.
Medina.
Mt. Pleasant Beds.
IOI
GEOLOGY.
LOWER SILURIAN.
This system of rocks rests upon those of the Eozoic period, the lower member, Potsdam sandstone, resting upon the broken and upturned edges of the Laurentian, as represented in section Fig. I.
The rocks composing the lower Silurian in this State are the Potsdam sandstone, Calcifereous sand rock, Chazy limestone, Tren- ton group, and Hudson group.
Potsdam Sandstone.
This rock is a white, calcareous sandstone, and though not vis- ible in any outcrop in Ohio, was reached by the auger in the deep boring of the State House well, at Columbus.
Calciferous Sand Rock.
This system of strata, when in place, rests immediately upon the Potsdam rock. In Ohio it was passed through in the sinking of the State House well. It is the Magnesian limestone of Missouri.
Trenton Group.
Resting on the calciferous sand rock are the Trenton series, consisting of the Trenton limestone, Black river and Chazy lime- stone. Upon the Trenton repose the Hudson group, consisting of the Hudson and Utica shales. The Hudson group in this State is a mixture of calcareous and argillaceous sediments. This formation, with the Utica shale, and a portion at least of the Tren- ton limestone, are the lowest exposed rocks in the State, and the Cincinnati limestone, and the well known blue limestone, which are usually considered as the equivalents of the Hudson and Utica shales, but containing so many of the Trenton fossils, must, according to Prof. Newberry,* in part at least, be considered of the Trenton group. These ancient rocks were brought to the sur- face by the upheaval of the Cincinnati arch; and by the wearing
* I Vol. Geological Survey of Ohio, page 60.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
down of the valley of the Ohio by the river, 800 feet in vertical thickness are exposed to view in the cliffs. About 1, 200 feet of the Cincinnati group were passed through in boring the artesian well at the State House. This group of strata, it has been claimed, contains a large amount of bituminous matter, and is the first and lowest system of rocks containing petroleum, or carbon oil.
UPPER SILURIAN.
This system of strata has been very clearly defined by the New York geologists. The strata there consists of the Oneida con- glomerate, Medina sandstone, the Clinton, Niagara, Salina, and Helderberg groups.
Oneida Conglomerate.
This is the lowest member of the upper Silurian system, and rests upon the Hudson formation in the State of New York, where it attains a thickness of about one hundred feet. It passes from there in a narrow belt through Pennsylvania and Virginia, attain- ing a thickness in the Alleghenies of from 500 to 700 feet. It is composed of very coarse materials and sand. Thus far this form- ation has not been found in Ohio, except where it runs into and forms a part of the
Medina Sandstone.
This formation, in the State of New York, attains a thickness of from 300 to 400 feet. It is composed of sandstones and shales, the prevailing color of which is red. It thins out toward the west and is found in Northern Ohio in boring for oil, but no well de- fined outcrop has been as yet discovered in the State.
Clinton Group.
This formation consists of shales and sandstones, in which is a stratum of iron ore from 2 to 10 feet in thickness, called " fossil ore," a granular red hematite, which is traced through from Dodge
IO3
GEOLOGY.
county, Wisconsin, to the State of New York, from thence south- ward through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Al- abama. This group is represented in Ohio by a limestone forma- tion, from 15 to 50 feet in thickness, the outcrop of which " follows the sinuous line of junction of the Lower and Upper Silurian, in the country about Cincinnati." Credit is due Professor Orton for the discovery of the fossil iron ore in this stratum in Adams county.
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