USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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The Clarion from East Foxburg. - A beautiful panorama of woodland heights and the romantic gorges of the Allegheny and Clarion greets the eye after ascending from Foxburg on the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad. The view of the Clarion, far below, is especially fine, and in mountainous grandeur almost equals the scenery of Kittanning Point, on the eastern slope of the Alle- ghenies, besides having the additional charm of water scenery.
Alum Rock .- The stream that enters the Clarion at this point has, in the lapse of ages, worn its way through the rock and formed a romantic glen whose beauties every year gain increased appreciation. Here verdure-capped cliffs arise perpendicular ; detached bowlders of immense size and curious forms add a unique beauty to the scene ; and deep down in the shade the streamlet seeks its way, plashing over the rocks, to pay its humble tribute to the river below.
Ancient Water Courses .-- Contrary to the general rule, Troutman and Lat- shaw Runs, which empty into the Allegheny near Perryville, occupy broad, open valleys, disproportionate in width to the size of the streams. Geologist Chance, arguing from this and the similarity between the deposits here and in the chan- nel of the Allegheny, maintains that the two valleys must have once formed the Allegheny's channel in place of the present one. His theory, then, does not lack foundation. He explains it thus : He assumes that the Clarion, pre- vious to the glacial period, was as large as, if not larger than, the Allegheny- in other words a branch. The impetus of its current, flowing southwestwardly into the Allegheny, carried the main stream across the present stream bed over the high flats north of Parker, thence sweeping southward, and finally to the southeast it entered the old channel at Perryville, around which it swept to the mouth of Bear Creek. The present channel was formed by the water-cut- ting, or erosion of, the loop at its neck, "just as the river is slowly eating its way through the neck at Brady's Bend." This is a plausible proposition, although the recurvature of the loop would be extremely sharp for such a large body of water, and its compass small. Mr. Chance would have strengthened his theory, too, if he had given us the connecting link in the similar vacant bend on the Armstrong side of the river. We publish his thesis for what it is worth. The head of this valley is 250 feet above the Allegheny at Parker. Mr. Chance, therefore, consistently says that that stream has lowered its bed by erosion 300 feet since the old channel was abandoned, and subsequently refilled it fifty feet with the detritus which forms its false bottom. This hap-
42
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
pened since the glacial period. Of course the Clarion and other main tribu- tary streams must have deepened their beds proportionately, unless, indeed, the Clarion was the main stream instead of an affluent, which is improbable.
We can more unhesitatingly concur with Geologist Chance's opinion that the Clarion River has changed its channel at Callensburg. The isolation of the eminence on which Callensburg is situated, and the peculiarity of Licking Creek, which empties itself into the river squarely against the current, point to the existence of a former channel which turned to the south where the bridge now is, and described an irregular horse-shoe bend about Callensburg. Lick- ing Creek, which now occupies the western half of this channel, then had its mouth about two miles south of its present one, near Mr. Colwell's. The nar- row isthmus extending from the bridge to the present mouth of Licking was cut through in the same manner as Mr. Chance describes that at Perryville. The elevation of this old Callensburg channel above the new one is less than fifty feet. Assuming the Clarion to have kept pace with the Allegheny in channel lowering, the change here must have begun much later than that at Perryville.
CHAPTER IV.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.1
Definition -- Anticlinals and Synclinals - Geologic Column -- Surface Rocks -- Measures - Freeport Group- Kittanning Group -- Ore and Limestone - Analyses - Clarion Group - Brookville Coal - Homewood Sandstone - Rocks Beneath - Other Minerals-Petroleum - Theories - Natural Gas - Fuel Value.
work treating of a region so rich in mineral deposits as is Clarion county would be complete without its geology. To the uninitiated this science with its learned terms and technical expressions is largely a sealed book. It would be a thankless and inappropriate task, in exhibiting local features, to attempt an exposition of its fundamental and most recondite department, viz., the origin and formation of the strata. It will suffice to take them as we find them and sketch their character, their effects and their positions, absolute and relative. We shall strive then to render this chapter on the geology of Clarion county not altogether uninteresting to those who have the merest inkling of the science.
Geology is the science which treats of the origin, structure, and position of
1 For data for this chapter the writer is mainly indebted to " Report of Progress, Second State Geo- logical Survey," Vol. VV, by H. Martyn Chance.
43
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.
the rocks and minerals which form the hard crust of the earth. This crust is composed of many distinct beds, or strata, which lie at almost every angle (when not horizontal) with the plane of a small circle passing through the earth and forming an imaginary base. In many places where the strata originally lay in the normal horizontal, an upheaval has tilted them out of their true position so as to form a local bend or ridge. This is an " anti- clinal," and its inclination is called the "dip." The anticlinal axes commonly lie in groups, and run parallel to and at comparatively short distances from each other. The intervening basins, or troughs, are the "synclinals." In studying anticlinals we must consider them apart from the topography of the surface, which has no conformity with them and is rarely affected by them.
Anticlinals .- Five anticlinals traverse Clarion county northeasterly at an angle of about 40 degrees, and with consequent northwest-southeast dips which, for convenience, we shall call by the greater inclination, viz., east and west. They have been named by the State geologists after localities in this or ad- joining counties through or near which they pass.
Beginning at the west the first anticlinal is the Millerstown, crossing the Allegheny a mile below Monterey, the Clarion at Callensburg, passing near Lucinda, and leaving the county near its northeastern extremity in Farmington township; its total western inclination is only forty feet or less. West of some minor axes accompanying this anticlinal there is a Millerstown synclinal, and west of this there are slight local rolls and basins, but no well-defined anticlinal. About four miles east of the Millerstown ridge we reach the axis of the trough of the Brady's Bend synclinal. Professor Lesley, State Geologist, ascribes the curious bend of the Allegheny to the influence of this flexure. He explains as follows: After the river, flowing southwestwardly down the dip, met the resistance of the opposite side, it ate its way for a short distance into this, but was finally turned back westward to the opposite side of the trough, only to be directed again to the south, where it finally pierced the ridge. In the same manner the Millerstown anticlinal caused the bend at Callensburg. This syn- clinal, after passing a mile east of Sligo, touches the corner of Monroe township, passes a little to the east of Clarion, traverses Highland, underlying Scotch Hill, and enters Forest county two miles north of Cooksburg. It is a rather shallow and slightly-marked basin.
Brady's Bend Anticlinal .- This is one of the best-known axes in Western Pennsylvania, and has been traced from the Ohio River. It enters the county near the mouth of Redbank Creek and courses northeastwardly, at about north 36° east, through Madison, Monroe, Clarion, and Mill Creek townships, leaving Rimersburg and Reidsburg a little to the west and Cooksburg to the east. It
has a western dip of thirty five feet to the mile, in the average, though some- times much steeper ; its eastern fall is about the same.
The Lawsonham synclinal is a gentle basin which, as its name indicates,
44
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
begins at Lawsonham, truncates the corners of Madison, Porter, and Monroe townships; passes through Limestone, Clarion, and cuts the southern end of Mill Creek township. It is difficult to detect its western rise, but it has a marked eastern one.
Next in order is the Kellersburg anticlinal, which has a steep ascent to its crest-line. This passes the Redbank near the dividing line between Madison and Porter townships. It passes near Frostburg and through Greenville, entering Jefferson county from Mill Creek; it becomes obscure after leaving Limestone township.
A gradual dip for a distance of two miles, which is the approximate length of all these anticlinal slopes, brings us to the Centerville synclinal. It is a shallow basin entering the county a little to the west of the mouth of Leather- wood Run, and passing out a mile north of the lower corner of Mill Creek township.
There is only a total rise of forty feet to the Anthony's Bend anticlinal, but it has a sharp decline to the Fairmount synclinal, averaging about seventy feet to the mile. From near Anthony's Bend this ridge passes through the vicinity of St. Nicholas Church and enters Jefferson county a mile north of Corsica.
The course of the Fairmount synclinal is through Redbank township from the mouth of Town Run, and across the corner of Limestone. Its western dip, as before mentioned, is steep, but on the east it ranges from twenty to sixty feet per mile. It crosses the Redbank again at Troy, but beyond that becomes very shallow and scarcely recognizable.
The last of the series in Clarion county is the Brookville anticlinal, which enters the county near Patton Station and, truncating the southeast corner of Redbank township, soon makes its exit into Jefferson county. It has a steep western dip, raising the ferriferous limestone 350 feet above railroad level.
The effects of these alternate elevations of the rock strata is most strik- ingly and familiarly seen in the variations of the coal veins which are pitched now high, now low, in a manner otherwise puzzling. A good instance exists in the mines of Catfish and Redbank, both on the Allegheny, and the latter place, being down the river has, of course, a lower elevation. Yet the veins at Redbank are seventy feet higher than at Catfish. The explanation is that Redbank is near the crest of the Brady's Bend anticlinal. Besides these local inclinations there is a gentle southwest-by-south dip of the strata over the whole surface of the county.
Surface Measures .- Measures, groups, and series are terms indifferently used by geologists to denote divisions of rock composed of several layers, but all partaking of some common attributes or constructed by similar action. They are named after some salient characteristic, place of best exposure, or some particular stratum embedded in them. Thus the Conglomerate series
45
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.
is so named from the structure of some of its rock layers, which are composed of particles or pebbles cemented by some foreign substance, usually silica or clay. The origin of "Coal measures " is obvious. We append, in order, a portion of the geological column of Pennsylvania, or the outcropping rocks existing in the State. The table begins with the highest :
(No. XV. Upper Productive Coal Measures.
Carboniferous Age.
No. XIV. Barren Measures. No. XIII. Lower Productive Coal Measures. No. XII. Conglomerate Measures. No. XI. Mauch Chunk Red Shale. L No. X. Pocono Sandstone.
No. IX. Red Catskill.
Devonian Age.
Chemung and Portage.
No. VIII. Hamilton.
Corniferous Limestone.
There are seven series yet beneath these. Of the above list the following form the surface of Clarion county :
Barren Measures.
Lower Productive Coal Measures.
Conglomerate Measures. Mauch Chunk Red Shale. Pocono Sandstone.
It will be seen that the strata of Clarion county occupy a very high position relative to those of the rest of the State. Only the lowermost strata of the Barren measures are found in the county in the Mahoning sandstone and shale covering of the Freeport upper coal, which cap the most of the isolated sum- mits in the south. It is very probable that the Barren measures once ex- tended all over the county, but they have been washed away by erosion almost to a nullity. Erosion, or the wearing away by water, ice, and ærial influences, has played a great part in the formation of the present surface of this region. When we speak of elevated veins of coal being " caught" in high hills, it is only a curt form of expressing the fact that this gigantic denudation was not sufficient to carry those strata away from the highest points. This agency is still at work every day around us; we see it in a minor scale in the washing away of banks and deepening of valleys. It is at work too on the surface of the country, but so slow that its influence is almost imperceptible. In prehis- toric periods, however, it had none of its present subtlety, but with floods and glaciers washed away enormous slices in a comparatively short time.
The Lower Productive coal measures cover three-fourths of the surface of the county. Near their base the ferriferous limestone crops out in a compar- atively attenuated vein, forming a labyrinth of over four hundred and fifty miles of exposure. In the north the erosion was relatively greater than in the 4
46
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
south, and left bare the Pottsville Conglomerate series in extensive areas, though suffering the Lower coal measures to remain in some of the uplands and hills. It is accounted for by the greater thinness here of the coal measures, comple- mented by a rise, in a northeastern direction, of the Conglomerate rocks. The deep beds of the Clarion and Redbank expose strips of Mauch Chunk red shale five feet in thickness, and a few feet above water level; the former at Cooks- burg, the latter at Patton Station. So far as discovered this rock underlies only about the eastern half of the county, being displaced elsewhere by a green- ish rock, found in drilling oil wells.
Underneath the Mauch Chunk shale there are vestiges of Pocono sandstone, but of difficult identification.
Drift .- There is some glacial drift in the county along the river beds, but of small interest.
Soil .- Soil consists of disintegrated particles of surface rock, mixed with decayed vegetable matter. The southern half of the county, with its large areas of limestone outcrop and loose shales and sandstone, of the coal measures, affords a much better natural soil than the majority of the northern townships, where the cold, sandy soil of the Conglomerate series predominates. Happily, however, this soil is capable of much improvement, so that a liberal use of limestone and manures has brought up farms in Farmington, Highland, and Elk townships to a pitch of fertility which rivals some of their better blessed southern neighbors.
Lower Productive Coal Measures .- This group, lying between the Barren and Conglomerate, covers all the southern county, except small belts along the streams, and about one-half of the northern. It is this important bed which gives to our county its permanent mineral and agricultural wealth, and it is therefore worthy of our especial study. It has an average thickness of 335 feet, and is divided into four minor groups, as appended, in their vertical order :
Freeport Group.
Kittanning Group.
Clarion Group. Brookville Group.
In the Freeport group, which is 135 feet in thickness, are found the Free- port upper and lower veins of coal. The following is an analysis of this group, with average thickness of each layer given :
Freeport upper coal 3 feet.
Fire-clay .
3
Shale, sometimes fire-clay .
5
Freeport upper limestone. 5
..
Shale, with ore balls. 8 Freeport upper sandstone. 3 20 Shale
Freeport lower coal. 5
Fire-clay and shale. 4
47
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.
Freeport lower limestone.
Shale.
3 feet. 3
Freeport lower sandstone. .70 "
All of these members are never found together.
The Freeport Upper Coal is found only in the summits of Madison, Toby, Perry, Porter, and Redbank townships, having been eroded from the remain- ing country where it was once general. It is capped always, either by Mahon - ing sandstone or an intervening shale, underlaid by fire-clay, and has an aver- age thickness of three and one-half feet, with extremes of two and five. It contains over eighty-nine per cent. of fuel matter and one-half per cent. of sulphur. It is therefore good coal, but is too limited in area to be important. The limestone contained in this bed is a rare article. The iron ore stored be- tween this limestone and the underlying sandstone occurs both as ball and plate ore ; in the former shape permeating several feet of fire-clay, and in the latter having a thickness of from one-third foot to three feet.
The Freeport Upper Sandstone, a hard rock, lies between strata of shale, and measures from twenty to thirty feet in thickness, but it is often entirely displaced by shale.
Freeport Lower Coal .- This bed is found in the same townships as its higher neighbor, but in Madison, Toby, and Perry it is extremely thin and occupies only the highest hills. In Redbank and Porter, though limited in extent, it is largely worked, especially by the Fairmount and Northwestern Coal and Iron Companies. Here it is a splendid vein, in thickness from six to seven feet, with no slaty laminæ and very little sulphur. It is found in largest quantities on the Fairmount and St. Charles Furnace properties. An average specimen contained the following :
Water 1.850
Volatile matter 38.510
Fixed carbon 54.669
Sulphur 1.046
Ash
3.925
100.000
Coke, per cent.
59.640
Color of ash. red-gray
Fuel ratio. 1 : 1.42
The limestone accompanying this coal is very variable, and often wanting. It occurs in layers, or " flags," easily parted, and with rough surfaces.
The Freeport Lower Sandstone is a massive rock averaging seventy feet in thickness. It juts out magnificently along the Allegheny at Brady's Bend, and tops most of the isolated hills in Piney, Monroe, and Limestone townships.
The Kittanning Group .- This important group covers the largest area, and has a thickness of from 110 to 130 feet. Its various measures are shown in their usual order, and with their average thickness, as follows :
Kittanning upper coal.
2 feet.
Fire-clay or shale. 2
48
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
Johnstown cement bed
3 feet.
Shale, sometimes contains sandstone
45
Kittanning middle coal. 2
Fire-clay 3 Shale 35
Kittanning lower coal.
4
Fire-clay
5
Sandy shale, ore balls near bottom. 20
The Kittanning Upper Coal is present in large areas in the southernmost townships, but owing to its comparative thinness and inferiority it is neglected. In the vicinity of New Bethlehem and Fairmount it is a good hard coal, from two to three feet thick. It is separated by a strip of impure fire-clay from the Johnstown Cement Limestone, which is here of ferruginous quality, of brownish color, and breaks up in irregular masses. This is a rather obscure vein, one of its rare exposures being upon Middle Run, one-fourth mile above the Fairmount Coal Company's opening. So much iron does the bed contain in this vicinity that it may properly be termed an iron ore.
The Kittanning Middle Coal lies about forty feet above the lower vein and forty-five below the upper. It has about the same value as a profitable bed as the upper, and is said to yield an inferior coke.
Kittanning Lower Coal .- This seam stretches under the whole surface of the county, excepting Farmington, Paint, and Elk townships, and is the most extensively mined coal in the county. It is practically inexhaustible, large beds of it lying yet untouched by the pick. While not equaling the Freeport Lower in excellence and freedom from sulphur, its general availability renders it of far more economic value. At Redbank Furnace it lies forty feet above the ferriferous limestone, at Fairmount thirty-five, at Sligo from fifteen to twenty feet above, in Beaver township twenty, and in Knox and Highland it is only ten or fifteen feet above that stratum. The intervening space is occupied by a thick bed of fire-clay and sandy shale.
The Kittanning Lower coal decreases in thickness going north. At Fair- mount, where it lies thirty feet above water level, it measures five feet in thick- ness, at Catfish four and one-half, at the mines of the Sligo Branch Coal Com- pany near Rimersburg three and one-half feet, while in the northern town- ships it rarely exceeds two and one-half feet. By far the greater part of coun- try banks are opened into this coal. In appearance it is a deep black, lustrous, with very little slate and a thin veneer of iron pyrites. It makes a superior steam fuel. An analysis gives the following proportion of components :
Water 1.370
Volatile matter. 41.575
L-
Fixed carbon 49.816
2.824
Ash
4.415
Sulphur
100.000
Coke, per cent. . 57.055
49
GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.
In Porter and Redbank townships there are outcroppings of a seam lying about thirty feet below the Kittanning Lower, and ten above the limestone. It has been called the Extra Kittanning Lower, and is of the same quality as the regular vein, but somewhat thinner. From all appearances it is a distinct bed, and not a splitting off of the stratum above.
The Clarion Group, so-called because it has its outcroppings at the horizon of the county-seat after a gradual rise from the south, is met in geologic order below the Kittanning, and has a thickness of about eighty feet.
It furnishes the greater portion of the fuel to the townships bordering the river on the north, where it lies near the surface and is easy of access. It con- tains the ferriferous limestone, the largest ore deposit, and the Clarion and Brookville coals. In the north the Clarion is the uppermost vein.
This group is an exceedingly variable one, partly by reason of a split in the Clarion bed, extending northward from a line through southern Monroe township, and partly from an irregular rise in the Homewood sandstone. The column below represents the usual structure of the formation south of the split :
Ore, carbonate of iron I foot.
Ferriferous limestone. 8 feet.
Slaty shale. 30 66
Clarion (upper and lower coal)
4
Fire-clay.
3
Shale, containing Clarion sandstone 40 Brookville coal.
3
Fire-clay and shale.
5
(Homewood sandstone) top.
This formation is modified by the displacement of the Brookville coal by the Homewood sandstone. The same may be said of the group north of the split. Its average arrangement is the following :
Ore, carbonate of iron. I foot
Ferriferous limestone.
8 feet.
Shale, variable
7
Clarion upper (Scrubgrass) coal.
2 Slaty shale.
24
Clarion lower coal 4
Fire-clay
3
Shale.
30
Brookville coal.
2
Fire-clay.
3
(Homewood sandstone) top.
Iron Ore and Limestone. - That comparatively thin strip of mineral, lying all but immediately above the Clarion Upper coal, has played a capital part in the commercial and agricultural development of Clarion county. The ore, which is carbonate of iron, limestone, or buhrstone ore, rests almost invariably directly upon the limestone; the exception is when a thin strip of shale inter-
50
HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
venes. Generally there is a distinct line between the limestone and iron, but at times the one merges into the other by a gradual shading. In favored locali- ties, as on the Fox farm near Sligo, the bed is three, four, or more feet in thick- ness, but it has an average size of ten inches. The ore proper is in the plate form, but the superincumbent shale generally holds considerable ball or kidney ore. In external form it is bluish gray, rarely reddish in color ; cellular, con- taining calc-spar and varying in structure from coarse to fine grained. By exposure and wetting this ore in some localities has become oxidized into hematite. Clarion county ore makes an excellent iron for all ordinary pur- poses, and some of its higher grades of hematite are well adapted for Besse- mer steel.
The following is an analysis of a specimen of carbonate ore obtained from Hindman's limestone quarry in Clarion township :
Protoxide of iron. .38.571
Sesquioxide of iron. 2.142
Bisulphide of iron .009
Protoxide of manganese.
1.756
Protoxide of cobalt.
trace.
Alumina.
I.027
Lime.
6.750
Magnesia.
1 .992
Sulphuric acid.
trace.
Phosphoric acid.
2.333
Carbonic acid.
29.403
Water.
2.137
Insoluble residue
13.880
100.000
Metallic iron .
31.500
Metallic manganese 1.361
Sulphur
.005
Phosphorus .
1.019
The following is from a test of hematite ore from Dale's old bank near Ship- penville :
Carbonate of iron.
Peroxide of iron.
83.00
Peroxide of manganese
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