USA > Pennsylvania > A gazetteer of the state of Pennsylvania : a part first, contains a general description of the state, its situation and extent, general geological construction, canals, and rail-roads, bridges, revenue, expenditures, public debt, &c. &c. ; part second, embraces ample descriptions of its counties, towns, cities, villages, mountains, lakes, rivers, creeks, &c. alphabetically arranged > Part 3
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The rocks of this formation are Granite, Gneiss, Mica Slate, Clay Slate, Primi- tive Limestone, Primitive Trap, Serpentine, Porphyry, Sienite, Topaz Roek, Quartz-Rock, Primitive Flinty Slate, Primitive Gypsum, White Stone. "The strata of these rocks run from a north and south, to a northeast and southwest, direction, and dip generally to the south-east, at an angle of more than 45° from the horizon ; the highest elevation is towards the northwestern limits, which grad- ually descends to the southeast, where it is covered by the alluvials; and the greatest mass, as well as the highest mountains are found towards the northern and southern extremities of the northwestern boundaries." "The outline of the mountain of this formation generally consists of circular, waving, detached masses, with rounded flat tops ; or conically waving in small pyramidal tops."
* Mr. Darby, (Geog. Hist. and Statistical repository, No. 2,) giving a sketch of the geology of Pennsylvania, formed, as he says, in part from Maclure's geology, and partly from his own observations, makes a more definite line, for the N. W. boundary of the primitive frontiers. " The line rather indefinitely marked in Nature which limits this primitive tract, crosses the Delaware river near New Hope-extending in a south- westerly direction, through Bueks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, to near Kennet square in the latter. From Kennet square the primitive extends nearly west to the centre of York county, where it again turns to southwest, and finally leaves Pennsylvania, enter- ing Frederick county, in Maryland. A small triangular strip of primitive extends into Pennsylvania, forming the northern part of Bucks county, below the mountain ridge, which separates that county from Leliigh.
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GEOLOGY.
Within the limits prescribed to the primitive, there are portions of transition and secondary formations. "A range of the latter extends with some intervals from the Connecticut to the Rappahannock rivers, in width, generally from fifteen to twenty-five miles, bounded on the northeast, at New-Haven by the sea, where it ends to recommence on the south side of Hudson river. From Elizabethtown to Trenton, it touches the alluvial ; from a little above Morrisville, on the Delaware, it extends by Morristown to Maytown, on the Susquehannnah ; thence passing three miles west of York by Hanover; and one mile west of Frederickstown, in Maryland, it is bounded by, or rather appears to cover, a tongue of transition, which occupies a progressively diminishing width, as far south, as the Yadkin river, at Pilot's mount.
" This secondary appears to belong to the oldest red Sand Stone formation; though in some places about Leesburg, Reading, &c., the red sand stone only seems as a cement to a pudding formed transition lime stone, and other transition pebbles, with some quartz pebbles, large beds of green stone trap, and wacke of different kinds, which leaves in many places this sand stone formation, and forms the small hills or long ridges that occur so frequently in it." "The stratification in most places runs from an east and west, to a northeast and southwest course, and dips generally to the northwest, at an angle most frequently under twenty- five degrees from the horizon, covering both the primitive and transition forma- tion at every place where their junction could be examined." "In the red sand stone formation, grey coppper ore has been found near Hartford and Washington, Connecticut ; copper pyrites and native copper in New Jersey; copper pyrites, blend and galena, in Pennsylvania on the Perkiomen creek, running nearly south and north, across the east and west direction of the red sand stone ; and a small bed from a half to three inches thick of brown or red copper ore is interspersed and follows the circular form of the iron bed at Grubb's mines .*
There is also, within the prescribed limits of the primitive, a bed of transition rock, running nearly southwest from the Delaware to the Yadkin river, dipping generally to the southeast, 25 or more degrees, in width from two to fifteen miles. It runs from the west of Morrisville to the east of Morristown, passes Lancaster, York, Hanover, Frederickstown, Bull run mountain, Milton, foot of Pig River, Marlinsville, and finishes near Mount Pilot on the Yadkin river. Be- tween the Delaware and Rappahannock it is partially lowered by the red sand stone formation, and is in the form of a long ridge, the thick end touching the Delaware, and the sharp end terminating at the Yadkin river."
This vein is called secondary, by Mr. Darby. It is narrow between the Dela- ware and Schuylkill rivers, but widening southwest from the latter, embraces the central parts of Chester, Lancaster and York counties. It consists of beds of blue, grey, red and white, small grained transition lime stone, alternating with beds of grey wacke, and grey wacke slate, quartzy granular rocks, and a great variety of transition rocks. Much of the limestone is intermixed with grey wacke slate ; parts of it contain so great a quantity of small grained sand as to resemble the dolomite, and, in many places, marble of various colours and quan- tities, some of which is in grained and white, fit for the statuary, occurs.
Granite in large masses is not found in the state. The principal rock is Gneiss, which includes considerable beds, in places, of a very large grained granite, which run and dip as the Gneiss does. In these beds, emeralds, phosphate of lime, tourma- line, garnet, cymophane, octahedral iron ore, graphic granite, &c. are found. These beds are mixed, and alternate occasionally in the same Gneiss, with the primitive limestone, horneblende, and hornblende slate, serpentine, magnetic iron ore and feldspar rocks. In some places the gneiss runs into the mica slate; in others, large nodules of quartz or feldspar, and in others, horneblende takes the place of mica ; and probably all the primitive rocks may be found in the gneiss formation. The mineral substances found in the primitive, are garnets in the granite and mica slate, from the size of a pin's licad to many inches in diameter ; staurotide, andalusite, epidote in vast variety and abundance, tremolite, all the varieties of magnesian rocks, emerald, &c. &c. &c. and it is probable that almost
* Mr. Darby includes this sand stone in the transition formation.
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GEOLOGY.
every mineral discovered in similar situations on the ancient continent of Europe will be found on this. The metals in this formation, are various; such as iron in various forms, black lead, native and grey copper ore, molybdena, arsenical py- rites, red oxyde of zinc, gold to the south, manganese, north and south, white ore of cobalt in Connecticut and New-Jersey, &c. &c. These metalic repositories appear in beds, disseminated, or or lying masses. Veins to any great extent have not yet been discovered in this formation.
"The transition formation is limited on the southeast side, by the northwest boundary prescribed to the primitive rocks, and on the northwest by the south- east edge of the great secondary formation, on a line that passes considerably to the westward of the ridge, which divides the eastern and western waters, in Geor- gia and North Carolina, and part of Virginia; and runs near it in the northern part of that state, and in the state of Pennsylvania and New-Jersey. The line of demarcation runs between the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers to the northwest- ward of the north fork of the Holstein, till it joins the Allegheny mountains, near the Sulphur Springs, along that dividing ridge to Bedford county, in Pennsylva- nia, and from thence northeast to Fort Ann, near lake Champlain. The separa- tion of this from the secondary formation, is not so regularly and distinctly traced as in the other formations ; many large valleys are found of horizontal secondary limestone, full of shells, whilst the ridges on each side consist of trans- ition rocks. The two formations interlock and are mixed in many places, so as to require much time and attention to reduce them to their regular and proper limits. It is however probable, that to the northwest of the line here described lit- tle orn o transitiou, will be found, although to the south of it, partial formations of secondary may occur."
"The transition formation is generally broadest, where the primitive is nar- rowest, and vice versa ; and runs from twenty to one hundred miles broad ; the stratification bears from a north and south, to a north-east and south-west direc- tion, dipping generally to the north-west, at an angle in most places under 45° from the horizon."-" The outline of the mountains of this formation, is almost a straight line, with few interruptions bounding long parallel ridges of nearly the same height, declining gently towards the side where the stratification dips from the horizon, and more precipitous on the opposite side, where the edge of the stratum breaks out to the day."
" This formation is composed of the following rocks, viz. : a small grained tran- sition limestone of all the shades of color from a white to a dark blue, and in some places intimately mixed with a stratum of greywacke slate, in many places an intermixture of small grained particles, having the appearance of a sand stone with excess of lime cement. This occurs in beds from fifty to five thousand feet in width, alternating with greywacke and greywacke slate. Near the borders of the primitive is found a silicious aggregate, having particles of a light blue color, from the size of a pin's head to an egg, disseminated in some places in a cement of slaty texture, and in others in a quartzose cement ; a fine sand stone cemented with quartz in large masses, often of a slaty structure, with small detached scales of mica intervening; a rock not far from the borders of the primitive, partaking both of the porphyry and the greywacke, having both feldspar crystals and rounded pebbles in it, with a cement of a kind of dull chlorite slate in excess ; another, though rarer, with pebbles and feldspar crystals in a compact petrosilicious cement ; and a great variety of other rocks, which from their composition and situation, cannot be classed but with the transition."
" The limestone, greywacke, and greywacke slate generally occupy the valleys, and the quartzy aggregates the ridges ; amongst which is what is called the country burr stone, or mill stone grit ; which must not be confounded with another rock, likewise denominated mill stone grit, which is a small grained granite, with much quartz, found in the primitive formation. There are many and extensive caves in the limestone of this formation, where the bones of various animals are found."
" Beds of Coalblende or Anthracite accompanied by alumslate, and black chalk, have been discovered in this formation, in Rhode Island, and in immense quantities on and near the Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehannah rivers ; and a large body of alumslate, on Jackson's river Virginia, and in several places in Pennsylvania ; many considerable veins of the sulphate of barytes cross it in
22
GEOLOGY.
different places. Iron and lead are the principal metals found in this formation ; the lead, in the form of Galena, in clusters ; the iron, disseminated in pyrites, hematitic and magnetic iron, or in beds; and considerable quantities of the sparry iron ore in beds, and disseminated in the limestone."
The south-east limit of the secondary formation is bounded by the irregular and ill defined border of the transition, from between the Alabama and Tombig- bee rivers to Fort Ann, near Lake Champlain. On the north-west side, it follows the shores of the great lakes and loses itself in the alluvial of the great Basin of the Mississippi ; occupying a surface east of the Mississippi from two hundred to five hundred miles in breadth, and extending probably on the west side of that river, to the foot of the stony mountains.
Immense beds of secondary limestone, of all the shades from a light blue to a black, interrupted in some places by extensive tracts of sand stone, and other secondary aggregates, appear to constitute the foundation of this formation on which reposes the great and valuable coal formation extending from the head waters of the Ohio in Pennsylvania, with some interruption, all the way to the waters of the Tombigbee, accompanied by the usual attendants, slaty clay, and freestone with vegetable impressions, &c. ; but in no instance covered by, or alternating with, any rock, resembling basalt, or indeed any of those called the newest flætz trap formation."
" Along the south-east boundaries not far from the transition, a rock salt, and gypsum formation has been found." And in western Pennsylvania, salt has been discovered between the Allegheny mountain and the Ohio, in very many places, and may perhaps be obtained in that district at the distance of from 500 to 750 feet from the surface.
Metallic substances, heretofore found in this formation, are ironpyrites, dis- seminated both in the coal and limestone ; iron ores, consisting principally of brown, sparry, and clay iron stone in beds ; galena, but whether in beds or veins has not been ascertained."
Large detached masses of granite, are found lying on this formation from Har- mony to Erie, and from thence by the Genessee country to Fort Ann ; though in many places, no granite of this kind has been found in places nearer than two hundred miles, at the falls of the Mohawk, or perhaps on the north side of the lakes.
The great mineral treasures of Pennsylvania, are coal, iron, and salt ; all these are abundant, and with her agriculture will form the principal sources of her future prosperity. The Anthracite coal is found in the transition formation, and with some inconsiderable exceptions in that which is east of the Susquehannah river. Its present known limit on the north, is in the Tunkhannock mountain, on the sources of the Lackawanna river and on the confines of Susquehannah, Wayne and Luzerne counties. It extends thence, along the valley of that stream to the Wyoming valley; thence through the Wyoming valley to the hills near Berwick, on the Susquehannah river, making together a distance of eighty miles. This coal tract is from half a mile to five miles wide, and is estimated at an average width of two miles ; throughout the whole of which, coal is found in strata of from five to fifty feet thick. Estimating the average thickness of the stratum of coal at twelve feet, (which is said to be less than the truth) this field contains 1,395,870,000 tons of coal, which with all the appliances which could reasonably be given, could not be exhausted in ten thousand years .*
Another coal field is known to exist, embracing the south-eastern section of Luzerne county, and a portion of the south-western part of Northampton county, and extending thence westward to the Susquehannah river, by Bucks and Cata- wissa mountains, the probable northern boundary of the field, and along Spring mountain, and the Mahonoy mountains, the probable southern boundary through Schuylkill, Columbia and Northumberland counties, also to the Susquehannah river. This field has not been thoroughly explored, its width may be more than seven miles, and its length from the Lehigh to the Susquehannah rivers more
* View of Judge Scott.
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GEOLOGY.
than sixty miles. At Beaver Meadow, north of the Spring mountain in North- ampton county, and at many places along the valley of the Mahonoy, coal in great abundance and of excellent quality, in strata of perhaps 50 feet in thick- ness, has been opened to the day, and efforts are making to bring it from these points to market. (See articles, Beaver Meadow and Mahonoy Creeks.)
Another very extensive coal measure, if another it may be called, commences on the right bank of the Lehigh river, at the Mauch Chunk mountain, in North- ampton county, (See Mauch Chunk,) and extends thence through Schuylkill and Dauphin counties also to the Susquehannah, a distance of not less than 75 miles. This measure is bounded on the south-west by a mountain chain, which we believe bears the name of Mahoning, near the Lehigh, Sharp mountain from its configuration, in Schuylkill county, and from its relative position, Third mountain in Dauphin county. On the north-west its limit may be the Broad mountain, which has a continuous course by that name across, and from the Lehigh river through Schuylkill county, and ends in Lyken's township, Dauphin county, where it is called the Short mountain. The width of this tract is variable, averaging about 6 miles. It embraces the mines of the Nesquihoning, Mauch Chunk, Tamaqua, the Schuylkill, of Pottsgrove and its vicinity of the West Branch of the Schuylkill, of Pine Grove, and Swatara, and of Stoney Creek, Bear Meadow, and other places of Dauphin county. We have said, in conform- ity with an opinion generally expressed, that the Sharp mountain forms the south-east boundary of the coal region throughout its whole extent. But, this is disproved by the fact, that anthracite has been discovered in all the ridges, in greater or less quantities, north of the Kittitinny mountain, in Dauphin county. The north-western limit of the region generally, is the Susquehannah river, but the coal basin of Luzerne county, runs under that stream, and the coal is seen in the bed of the river, and in the Shawnee mountain on the north-west of the river. And we have been informed that it has been discovered, some miles more to the south-west. Coal has not yet been discovered in Pennsylvania north- east of the Lehigh river ; but as it is an unexplored region of the same geologi- cal character as the anthracite district, it may yet be discovered in that direction ; which is rendered more probable by the known existence of narrow veins of anthracite in the Greywacke eminences of Sullivan and Ulster in the State of New York, connecting the Catskill mountains with the anthracite ranges of Penn- sylvania. With the exception of a vein of anthracite, said to have been recently discovered in the Delaware water Gap, that mineral is not known to occur, within ten miles of the Kittatinney mountain, or of the Shawangunk, a part of the same chain which presents similar rocks.
The anthracite region is in a great measure covered by mountains running parallel with the Kittatinny, often broad, with table land summits, and rising generally about 1500 feet above the ocean. With the exception of some narrow valleys, this region has little surface inviting cultivation. The summits, by repeated fires have been divested of much timber, leaving thinly scattered, pitch, or yellow pine and white oak, and are generally too stony for tillage, but they may at some future period, afford ranges for cattle and sheep. These mountains, at present, mostly in the state of nature, afford retreats for panthers, wolves, bears, deer, and other animals, resident in the unsettled parts of our country. Between twenty and thirty panthers were killed within three years, by the hunters of Lowrytown, a settlement on the Upper Lehigh, appendant to the Mauch Chunk company.
The beds and veins of anthracite range from northeast to southwest, and may often be traced for a considerable distance by the compass. The veins have the inclination of the adjacent strata of greywacke, with which they often alternate, usually between 20 and 45 degrees. In some places they are horizontal, in others vertical, in others in basins ; and the strata of particular mines generally have the form of the upper surface, immediately over them; and are therefore sometimes curved, or irregular, or saddle, or mantle shaped, and sometimes dome shaped. The beds and veins of coal have commonly narrow strata, of dark coloured, fine grained argillaceous slate, for roof and floor ; which generally con- tains sulphuret of iron, and disingerates on exposure to the air. The sulphates
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GEOLOGY.
of iron and alumine are often observed in this schist, and it frequently pre- sents impressions of plants, and sometimes marine shells. Impure pulverulent coal is generally connected with this slate. The quality of the coal varies in dif- ferent parts of this region, in purity, density and inflammability. It is in many places injuriously affected by the admixture of slate ; in others it has so little coherence, that it cannot be profitably transported. That upon the Lehigh is said to be purer than that in the vicinity of the Schuylkill; but if this be true, the de- fect is perhaps overbalanced by the superior inflammability of the latter. That in Dauphin County is reported to possess so much inflammable matter, that it has been mistaken for bituminous coal .* All these coal fields are approachable by water, and have given occasion for the improvement of navigation on the Lacka- awanna, the Lehigh, Schuylkill, and the north branch of the Susquehannah rivers.
The bituminous coal region of the state, is almost, perhaps wholly, within the secondary formation. If such be the fact, that formation extends, in the southern part of the state, much farther east of the great Allegheny chain, since bitumin- ous coal is found abundantly east of the Raystown branch of the Juniata river in Huntingdon and Bedford counties. West of that mountain, it is found almost every where, from the northern to the southern boundary of the state, and if wanting any where, it is in the northwest corner. It has been traced from Bedford and Tioga counties, to Maryland, and may be found in every hill on the western line from Crawford county Southward. It occurs on the Allegheny mountain, at a considerable elevation, and elsewhere, in nearly a horizontal position, alterna- ting with grey sand stone, which is often micaceous, and bordered by argillaceous schist. The veins are generally shallow, varying from one inch to six feet in thickness. The mean depth is about five feet. The beds most proximate to the eastern market, are Lycoming and Clearfield counties : to reach those of the former was a principal inducement for making the state canal along the west branch of the Susquehannah river, to the mouth of the Bald Eagle creek.
Iron ore occurs in various parts of Pennsylvania, but no great quantity is found, and none, we believe, smelted, in the primitive formation. It is most abundant, and of the best quality, in the extensive calcareous valleys situated between the ridges of the Appalachian mountains, particularly in the counties of Centre, Huntingdon, and Mifflin. It is mostly raised from beds of argillaceous earth, resting on limestone. The best ores of iron in this country exist in or adjacent to calcareous districts. The iron manufactured in the above named counties, under the name of Juniata iron, is distinguished for tenacity, malleabil- ity and other valuable qualities. Furnaces and forges, situated on never failing streams, are numerous. Bituminous coal is often used for making pig iron, &c., and a company has in the present year been incorporated by the legislature for manufacturing iron by means of coke. About 50 per cent. of iron in pigs is ex- tracted from the Juniata ore, and it loses one-third in passing from the bloom, to the bar iron. In western Pennsylvania, iron ore is only less abundant than coal, and it is also very extensively manufactured ; but soft bar iron, we understand, cannot be made from ores west of the Allegheny mountain. Upon the east of the Susquehannah in the transition region, iron and anthracite coal are rarely found contiguous to each other.
The committee on the manufactures of iron appointed by the Tariff Conven- tion held at New York, October 1831, return for Pennsylvania in 1831, 46 furna- ces making 32,156 tons of pig iron, and 5,506 tons of castings. This number of furnaces is too low. The actual number is perhaps not much short of 60, and the quantity of iron produced, full 50,000 tons Each ton in the form of bar iron and castings manufactured, occasions tlie consumption of agricultural pro- ducts to the amount of $ 27 35 cents, and estimating the quantity in bar iron at 40,000 tons, the iron works of Pennsylvania, consume of her agricultural products $1,000,000 annually. Uunder the protection of a high duthy on foreign iron, the price of domestic iron has been greatly reduced ; and under assurance of contin-
* The coal of the Susquehannah is readily kindled in grates of the ordinary construc- tion, and by the experiments recorded in the 2d vol. of the Journal of Science, contains double the quantity of hydrogen gas found in the coal of the Schuylkill and Lehigh.
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GEOLOGY.
ued protection and increased facilities of transportation, still greater reduction may be expected. In 1828, the average price of American hammered iron in the principal cities east of the Susquehannah, was 105 dollars, and at Pittsburg and Cincinnati, 125 dollars ; the average 118 1-2. In 1829, the average was 114 2-3 and in 1830, average 96 2-3.
We have already observed, that rock salt pervaded very extensively, the whole of the great secondary formation. Salt springs are common in various parts of western Pennsylvania. The water is generally weak near the surface, but it is very strong when produced from the depth of from 350 to 700 feet. One spring, containing as much salt as the ordinary waters of Salina, has been discovered by boring, about 20 miles from Montrose, in Susquehannah county, bordering on the State of New York. Salt springs are found on several of the tributaries of the west branch of the Susquehannah as on the Loyalsock in Lycoming county, and on the Sinnemahoning in Clearfield county ; on the Clarion river or Toby's Creek, in Armstrong and Venango counties ; on the sources of the Conneautte Creek, in Crawford country ; on the Buffalo and Conequenessing creeks, in Butler county ; on the Beaver Creek, in Beaver county, and very frequently, in the southern counties, as far east as Bedford county. But the most productive saline springs of Pennsylvania, are on the banks of the Conemaugh, Kiskiminitas and Alleghe- ny rivers ; and upon the last, about 30 miles above Pittsburg.
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