The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 48

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214

USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county > Part 48

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The rate of growth of this rock appears to have been very slow, no sedi-

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

ments having contributed thereto, the strata being composed almost wholly the broken stems and cups of crinoids or stone lilies, Sometimes, associal with them, are found representatives of animal groups named in the blue lin stone series, among them being chain corals as distinct characteristics. T Clinton stone has received several local names in the county, as " fire stone " rotten limestone," "bastard limestone " and, among quarrymen it is son times called "pink eye." Above it and interposing between it and the Niag: limestone, is a layer of fine-grained marl, from two to six inches in thickne which belongs to the Clinton group. It abounds in the "free, perforate disc-like joints of crinoidal stems of very large species, and certain sholls ( cur here that have not been found elsewhere in the series. As a general ru the Clinton rock is not even bedded, but where raised in the quarries comes c in irregular masses."

The Niagara formation is not as uniform in character as the lower group "It consists in all cases of even-bedded limestones and marls, it is true, I the limestones have very different degrees of purity, while in hardness, co pactness, color and the presence or absence of fossil contents, they have & ve wide range. The celebrated Dayton stone-' Dayton marble,' it is sometin styled-may be assumed as the standard of excellence in this series; but d ferent localities exhibit every degree of gradation, from the admirable qualit of this stone, in compactness, durability and color, to the worthless, 'yellc back' of the quarrymen, or to the unconsolidated clays that are frequen found as its equivalent. In Montgomery County, the lower layers of the Nia ara rocks are always the firmest and most valuable, the five to ten feet imn diately overlying the Clinton, constituting in almost every case the sources fr which the Dayton stone is derived. The varying thickness of the formati in different localities has already been noted, the limits having been given five to fifty feet. From the fact that so great variety in composition is fou in these rocks, we are warranted in concluding that the Niagara strata we not originally of uniform thickness, as the beds of the previous groups seem have been. It may be that the higher degrees of excellence in the stone we connected with a slower rate of growth. It is at all events true that the m valuable deposits of this series in the county are in every case shallow. T lower beds contain but very few fossils, some circular corals and very rarely bivalve or chambered shell, making out the list, while in higher portions of t group the strata are frequently crowded with fossils, which differ almost e tirely in species from those that are found in the lower groups. One peculia ty of these fossils is that they occur almost always as internal casts, the out shell or investment having been dissovled and carried away during the pa conditions of the rock. One of the most noticeable of all these forms of a cient life is the large bivalve shell, Pentamerous oblongus, known sometimes the 'deer-foot shell' and quite frequently identified as a petrified hickory ai The sections of a large chambered shell, of the genus Orthoceras, are al frequently met with, and are sometimes mistaken by the ignorant for the bad bones of fishes or serpents. The area occupied by the Niagara rocks is r probably more than one-half of that which the Clinton covers. " There seen however, no reason to doubt that both of these members of the cliff formati were once extended over the whole surface of the county, as their present d tribution can be satisfactorily explained by reference to erosive agencies th are known to have been at work upon them-agencies some of which are st

continuing their destructive tasks. * * The Clinton and Niagara in t eastern portions of the county occur altogether in insulated masses or island on the ridge between the two Miamis, and all the water-courses that flow fro these high grounds have already worn their channels deep into these rocks, n

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

n equently through them, into the underlying blue limestone series. There 9, 10wever, a manifest shallowing of the cliff rocks as we go southward, the Chton diminishing to nine feet near the southern line of the county, appar- ny indicating that the blue limestone regions southward were, even at this ay time, raised above the surface of the seas, or in other words that they we never covered by the limestones of the succeeding cliff formation."

The deposits of the drift period cover all of the foregoing formations to a ing depths, throughout nearly their entire extent, and in some instances mi's intervene between the exposures of the rocky beds. These drift deposits va greatly in thickness; nature of materials of which they are composed, and thorder of arrangement of these materials; therefore, it is almost impossible nd two sections of drift beds that will agree in every particular. Prof. Oon speaks of the drift in the following language:

"Before describing the leading characteristics of these beds, it will be proer to call attention to an interesting fact that must be referred to the an agencies by which the drift itself is explained. Considerable portions of acocky surface of the county have been planed, polished, striated and grooved ly'eavy masses of ice-inclosing sand, gravel and bowlders-moving over the. These phenomena can be best observed in the firmer beds of the Viara limestone, occupying as they do the highest table lands of the county. onthey are by no means confined to them. The great belt of quarries south- asof Dayton furnish fine exhibitions of this agency. Indeed, these naturally laed surfaces are frequently turned to account for door-steps, flagging stones mother similar uses. It is altogether probable that the whole surface of the outy has been exposed to the abrading agencies of the glacial sheet, as we n the marks of these agencies at every point where the rocks are firm enough tain them. The unconsolidated beds of the Niagara rocks have been in .ra measure removed by the same force that has planed the harder surfaces. s evident from an inspection of those .higher portions of the system that i remain. This polished surface of the Niagara rock is generally covered it yellow clays intermingled with gravel and bowlders. Sometimes heavy ritic blocks have been left in the clay in almost immediate contact with the Deced rock, their own surfaces having been planed and scored by the service nich they have been put. We see in them the implements of abrasion- iengraving tools-left where the work was done. The thickness of these a deposits varies from one foot to thirty feet, and the upper portions are rist always freer from gravel than the lower portions. Occasionally a lim- e deposit of blue clay is found on the surface of the rocks, but for the most a. these beds of blue clay, when they occur, are found overlying yellow clays eds of gravel, in pockets of small extent. Fragments of drifted coniferous o'l are sometimes found buried deep in these deposits. Next in importance e yellow clays are the beds of sand and gravel, of which the drift beds e argely composed. They sometimes overlie the clays, are sometimes inter- rified with them, and sometimes they repose directly upon the surface of 16ocks. The gravel contains representatives of all the formations that are ud to the northward within the limits of the State, viz., blue limestone, liton, Niagara, water lime, coniferous and black slates, and a considerable ajof it is derived from the metamorphic rocks of the Lake Superior region and o the Canadian highlands. To the same source must be referred the sand, so silicious formation of any considerable extent occurs between these de- [ of's and the line of the great lakes. The sand and gravel have a thickness f : least 100 feet in many instances. The deposits are always distinctly str ified, and exhibit many alternations of fine and coarse materials that be- tolja considerable changes in the conditions of their formation. They often

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

show, especially in the beds that, occupy the lower levels of the county, bea structure, or marks of the action of water that could only be impressed up them while they lay at or near the surface. The sand and gravel are som times cemented into massive blocks by the deposition of carbonate of lime frc the spring water that flows over and through them. Recourse was former had to these conglomerates for building stone, but it was found that they we worthless for such purposes, as they cannot withstand the action of frost.

" The lost rocks-bowlders, hard-heads, gray-heads, as they are frequent designated-constitute too important a feature of the geology of the county be omitted in this review. They are irregularly distributed over the face the county, sometimes thickly sown in belts of several miles in length a breadth, with tolerably definite boundaries, and sometimes scattered singly wide intervals. They occur through the whole range of the drift beds, but a far more abundant in the upper portions than in any other. As in the case the gravel they are all of northern origin, and by far the largest number been brought from beyond the great lakes. These bowlders weigh not le than 160 pounds to the cubic foot, and the total weight of single blocks som times exceeds ten tons."

Building Rock .- The three rock formations exposed in Montgome County furnish abundant material for this use. "The blue limestone afford in numberless exposures, a building stone that is accessible, easily quarrie even bedded, of convenient thickness and very durable. It possesses, howew but little susceptibility of ornamentation. The thinness of its beds, its bar ness and brittleness, stand in the way of its improvement by dressing, and color is too dark to please the eye when it is exposed in large surfaces of m sonry. The Clinton rock, in all of its beds-but especially in its upper ones affords a building stone that would be highly valued were it not for the clo proximity, in most instances, of the quarries of the Niagara group. A simil statement can be made in regard to the products of the blue limestone quarri of the county. When the Clinton stone is first raised from the quarry, it frequently so soft as to be easily worked; but when the water has escaped fro it, it becomes a measurably firm and enduring stone. Some of its beds, i deed, are crystalline, or semi-crystalline in structure, and leave nothing to desired as far as durability is concerned. As already remarked. the Clint group exhibits a great variety of colors, and some of these shades are ve, pleasing to the eye-a fact which makes this stone susceptible of fine architec ural effects. The greatest objection to this series is that it is not general

even-bedded. The lower strata are very seldom so. The Niagara group, ho ever, furnishes the best building stone, not only of Montgomery County, but the whole Miami Valley as well. Indeed. for many purposes it is inferior none. Occurring as it does, in even-bedded layers of from four to twen inches in thickness, it is adapted to the purposes of both light and heavy ml sonry. It is homogeneons in structure, has a beautiful color, takes ornament tion quite kindly and is durable to any required degree. The value that attached to it can be judged from the fact that in some of the quarries neare to Dayton, the stone sells in the ground for $17.50 per rod, or $2,800 per ac: the title to the land not being alienated. In these quarries there is less th. five feet of workable stone, and this can only be reached by removing from fi to twenty feet of drift clays and sands. *

* The supply of the rock even this, its best estate, is inexhanstible, but the expense of transportation sht out at present from the general market all the quarries that are more th three or four miles distant from Dayton. The quarries that lie outside these limits, however, are invaluable for neighborhood supplies. The quali of the stone, when perfect in every other respects, is sometimes injured by t

William J Helsey WASHINGTON, TP.

Shebe Kelsey. "DECEASED)

WASHINGTON TP.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

xurrence of crystals of iron pyrites, which weather into brownish stains when : osed to the air and disfigure the surface.

"In addition to the kind of rock already named, there is in the county a · ge supply of Niagara rock that falls short of the typical excellence in hard - nis and color, but which still constitutes a very serviceable and valuable de- wit. These beds of inferior quality are sometimes the precise stratigraphical ivalents of the true Dayton stones: that is, they immediately overlie the - nton formation, but generally they occur at a higher level in the series. Te differences in color and hardness alluded to seem connected with differ- les in chemical composition, the Dayton stone being a nearly pure carbonate ›ilime, while the inferior grades are composed of the carbonates of lime and n'ynesia. The color of these last-named beds is not constant, various shades ofTrab and yellow alternating with shades of blue, sometimes even in the same cer of rock. In durability they seem in no way inferior to the standard Dyton stone. The bowlders of the drift are also available for building pur- Des. They form, in some parts of the county, the main supply for founda His, and, when treated with skill, give excellent results."

Brick, Draining-Tile and Pottery Clays. - Outside of the alluvial bottoms, urly every section of the county furnishes, from its drift beds, material from w ch brick can be manufactured, the yellow clays overlying the Niagara rock rthe higher table lands being by far the best for the purpose. In many res, the walls of a building can be constructed of bricks of the best quality nle from the clay taken from its site. "Beds of blue clay are also abundant, frerally at lower levels of the county, from which draining-tile and pottery ce be made. For these purposes, the blue and yellow clays are generally ned, the blue clay imparting the necessary strength and the yellow counter- v ng the tendency of the former to shrink and crack in the process of baking. T'> importance of drain-tile in agriculture begins to be understood. Hun- l'ds of thousands of tiles are now manufactured annually, with a steadily in- masing demand. A third variety of clay is found within the county, in quite li ited deposits compared with the preceding. It also is called blue clay, but differs from the ordinary blue clay in containing no iron. It is converted b burning into a cream-colored brick of the same general character as the Y waukee brick. It is generally very fine grained, and has been quite largely ud as mineral paint. In composition, it consists of little besides alumina, sica and lime. There is no doubt that these deposits will be regarded with Greasing interest, as their advantages for architectural purposes come to be rognized. The heaviest accumulation of this clay now known in Southern Cio occurs near Springfield, Clark County, and it has already been turned to gd account in the manufacture of Milwaukee brick.

"Firestone .- A stone that can endure the action of heat, admits of many n ful applications. Two of the bedded rocks of the county have considerable 1. al reputation as firestones, viz., the sandy limestones that make the upper- nst beds of the blue limestone series and the Clinton group. This latter r k certainly answers a tolerable purpose for chimney jambs and kindred us. It is not easy to see what there is in its composition that enables it to r ist unchanged the agency of fire, as analyses show it to be a true limestone o a good degree of purity. Experience, however, abundantly demonstrates its vue in this regard. Chimney-jambs can be shown that have stood over fifty yars in service. Farmers are willing to transport it for miles to lay up the ahes of their sugar camps. It must be added that the different beds of the svies have very different qualities in this respect, the middle and lower layers fishing the best firestone, and there is no doubt that the quality in its highest «hibition is local.

" Lime .- As lime is the great cement employed alike in nature and by hu-

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

man art, the sources of its supply are of more economical value to any comm nity than are the supplies of building stone and brick clay even. All the be ded rocks of the Miami Valley, and portions of the drift as well, furni materials from which excellent lime can be made. It is needful, however, remark that the terms limestone and lime do not convey any precise inform tion as to the chemical composition of the substances to which they are appli Limestones always contain carbonate of lime, it is true; but besides this th generally contain various compounds and various proportions of magnes: alumina (clay), silica (sand) and iron. The limestones of this region that c be burned into valuable lime may be divided into two classes, according their chemical composition. The first group comprises those rocks that cons mainly of carbonate of lime, or that contain at least 85 per cent of this su stance. The second group is made up of the dolomites, or magnesian lin stones, which have at least 40 per cent of carbonate of magnesia in their co position. Silica, alumina and iron are found in small and varying prop tions in each division. The properties of these limes are very difforer Those of the first class require to be submitted to a higher temperature burning than the second. They slake promptly and thoroughly, and in t operation evolve a great degree of heat. From this last fact they are term 'hot' or 'fiery' limes. They 'set' or harden so soon that but two or thr bricks can be laid with one spreading of mortar, and walls that are made them have a tendency to 'chip-crack.' It is quite likely that this last Lam property can be attributed in some degree to the silica and alumina which th contain. The second group contains those limes that are called 'cool.' Th do not give out so much heat in slaking as the limes of the first class, nor they 'set' as soon. From five to twenty bricks can be laid with a sing spreading of mortar, and in plastering a corresponding advantage can be ( tained. On purely practical grounds, the builders of Southwestern Ohio ha come to recognize the greater desirability of the limes of the last-named ela and none others can now find a market in the cities and towns of this porti of the State. To the first series belong the blue limestones, the Clinton gro and the Dayton beds of the Niagara group. The limes of the second seri are all obtained from the upper or Niagara division of the cliff limestones, a the kinds of rocks from which they are derived constitute almost the ont: mass of this formation. It thus appears that the Niagara group in Ohio is true magnesian limestone, as all the members of this same great series throug out its wide western expansion -- in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa a. Minnesota-have uniformly been found to be. The only exception to the statements as to the composition of the Niagara series is found in some of i lowermost beds, where in limited and isolated areas the Dayton stone and equivalents occur. This stone has already been referred to the true limestone an analysis of it made by Dr. Locke, in 1835, showing that it contains 92 r cent of carbonate of lime. While with this exception the whole Niagara sori consists of magnesian limestones, it would be wrong to conclude that eve portion of this series, taken indifferently, can be burned into valuable lim The quarries that are worked for lime burning at Cedarville, Yellow Spring Springfield, Moore's quarries below Springfield, Wilson's quarries north Dayton, and a few others less widely known, furnish the most valuable lim. of the Miami Valleys and largely supply the markets of Cincinnati, Dayto Hamilton, Springfield, Xenia and the remaining towns and villages of this se tion. These quarries all lie in the same geological horizon, viz., between § and 100 feet above the base of the Niagara rocks. They begin in or above ti strata that contain the large shell Pentamerous oblongus, and generally inclu from ten to twenty feet that overlie the Pentamercus beds-a series of thin ar irregularly bedded strata, valueless for building stone, largely filled with cri

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

bill fragments. The strata that underlie the Pentamerous beds consist of Dl's and drab magnesian limestones, which cannot be burned into a good arti- ‹ lof common lime, but which there is good reason to believe possess in greater ross degree the properties of hydraulic cement or water lime. A sample "rn the quarries of W. Sroufe, Esq., Yellow Springs, when analyzed, was to'id to agree very closely with a magnesian limestone of France that is cited y Ticat as an excellent hydraulic cement. The same rock, when treated in val ratory experiments, indicates an eminent degree of hydraulic energy."

An analysis of the Clinton limestone from Centerville, Montgomery Fonty, showed that it contained the following elements:

(rbonate of lime. .86.30 Silica. 0.85

(rbonate of magnesia 11.34 Alumina and iron. 0,40

Total 98.89

This compares well with the analyses of rocks from the blue limestone an Niagara beds in various places, being about the average of all.

" Mineral Paints .-- The materials from which mineral paints have been naufactured in this portion of the State are all obtained from the beds of tri. The second variety of blue clay, already described, is principally used tothis purpose." A company was organized at Miamisburg about 1867 or ist, and their sales, in 1869, aggregated over 100,000 pounds, which included « cisiderable portion of lead. "The bed of clay which is turned to most ac- out is situated on Hole's Creek, at no great elevation above the Miami River. th'clay is identical in composition with the heavy bank near Springfield, and cio ly resembles the . Milwaukee brick' clay in composition." An analysis of LeHole's Creek clay is herewith presented:

Uter in sample dried at 212º 0.80

Cgranic matter. 2.35

Sica .. 35.56

A mina as silicate 13.59

Carbonate of magnesia. 7.04

Total. .97.57

" Many of the gravel beds of the drift contain accumulations of ocher o or less extensive, and occasionally deposits of the same substance are oud unmixed with gravel. The ocher can be separated from the gravel by aring, and proves to be of fair quality. A large deposit of this ocherous al is to be found on the north bank of Twin Creek, one mile east of Ger- a. own, Montgomery County. * A bed of brown coal, that occurs in e ame gravel bank, has been turned to account for the manufacture of black i. Mastodon remains and phosphate of iron are found also in this locality. alog all things into account, no more interesting section of the drift is to und in this region than the 'Germantown ocher bank.'

Gravel. -- It is not easy to set a proper estimate upon the beds of sand ugravel of the county until a comparison is instituted between a region well pied with such accumulations and another which is destitute of them. The a l knolls and ridges with which, in the southern and eastern portions of ecounty, almost every farm abounds, afford very desirable building sites. id re generally selected for such purposes. Sand of the best quality for worir, cement and brick making, is everywhere within easy access. An inex- al ible supply of excellent materials for road-making-what is frequently des- _ned ' clean limestone gravel,' though in reality largely composed of granitic bles-is found in the drift deposits, from which hundreds of miles of turn- have been already constructed in the county, thus affording free communi-

pık cutin between farm and market at all seasons of the year. The smaller bowl- der of Canadian origin, are selected from the gravel banks for paving-stones, and ransported to the neighboring cities. In regions where stone suitable for mandamized pikes can be obtained, good roads can be had, even though gravel

Alumina soluble 6.05

Sesquioxide of iron. .3.00

Carbonate of lime .. 29.18

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

is wanting, but at largely increased expense above that of gravel turnpike The districts which are supplied with neither can certainly never compete i desirability with these gravel-strewn regions.

"The agricultural relations of the different formations of Montgomer County remain to be briefly discussed. Only those points will be touched upo which are especially noticeable. From what has been already said of the di tribution of the drift, it may be inferred that this formation will conceal or ol scure all the rest, and, to a considerable extent, this will be found to be th case. There are large areas in which the underlying rock seems to have I direct effect upon the superficial beds, further than to control the general fea ure of their arrangement. In such cases the soil depends directly upon ti composition of the drift beds, and will be found light, warm and dry, heavy, cold and wet, according as sand or clay predominates in these bac There are, however, several varieties of soil that receive their leading clara teristics directly from the rock with which they are associated. The hig table lands of the Niagara limestone, which are mostly confined to the northe portions of the county, furnish the first example. These limestones are oft

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 48

Author: W.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1214

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214