USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 6
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at several different points, and fall in picturesque cascades, thus creating an enchanting view. But from a practical view point, these breaks through natural means have been of incalculable value in aiding railroad development, obviating much of the expense and delay attendant upon tunneling the mountains.
Broad mountain is an elevated plateau covering an area of about eighty square miles in Schuylkill county. It is the great water-shed of the region for the Susquehanna, Schuylkill and Lehigh rivers. The elevation is about eighteen hundred feet above tide-water. The Mammoth and some smaller veins of coal underlie the southern slopes of Broad mountain, and a few narrow basins have been profit- ably operated on the summit. For many years this mountain was an impassable barrier to the products of the middle coal field, but mechanical skill and boundless capital finally solved the problem and it was crossed by railroads by a system of inclined planes. Broad mountain, though not the most prolific in coal, has contributed lib- erally to the mining interests by its heavy growth of splendid timber used in the erection of mine structures, or for interior supports. The north slope of this plateau is much steeper than the southern, and this face is deeply indented by small streams which flow toward the Susquehanna. At the eastern end of the county the waters from this mountain flow into the Little Schuylkill and the tributaries of the Lehigh. The Mahanoy mountain, the next in succession, becomes interesting as the southern wall of the middle coal field. It is not so high as the Broad mountain, and in general outline bears a striking resemblance to Sharp mountain, the southern wall of the Pottsville basin. The Mahanoy has but two gorges in the county, both near Ashland, where the Mahanoy creek and Big run have broken through and eroded it to its bases. Leaving the. county, it sweeps off to the west and unites with Big mountain in North- umberland county, and there forms the northern edge of the sharp- pointed, canoe-shaped basin of the middle coal field. This mountain has been very productive of coal, notwithstanding the difficulty of operation, owing to the nearly vertical position of its strata. Be- tween the Mahanoy and Locust mountain there are several ridges, locally known as Locust ridge, Bear ridge and others, which seem to have been formed out of the higher range by erosion. Their only distinction seems to be in furnishing favorable sites for collieries. Locust mountain extends from Northumberland county into the northern portion of Schuylkill, and here is known as North Mahanoy. It forms the northern boundary of the Mahanoy coal field. Many
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valuable collieries are located on its southern slopes, which include most of the fertile fields in the vicinity of Shenandoah.
The lands of Schuylkill county are valuable principally on account of the coal which they produce, and are not specially inviting to the agriculturist. From the Second mountain north to the county line, the valleys are narrow, and the numerous rapidly-flowing streams carry away the fertilizing properties from the mountain slopes, leaving the hillsides and valleys comparatively unresponsive to the labors of the farmer. This deficiency is atoned for in a measure by the liberal use of natural and artificial fertilizers procured from the towns and villages. Between the Second and the Blue mountains the agricultural conditions are somewhat improved, and particu- larly so in the extreme western and northern angles of the county, where the valleys are wider and the streams less turbulent. The general topographical outline of Schuylkill county is one of surpassing beauty to the lover of natural scenery. From almost any elevated position one has in his immediate presence the most sublime view of Nature's handiwork.
The streams of this county are numerous, as is true of every moun- tain region. Some of them, like the Schuylkill, the Little Schuylkill, the Swatara and the Mahanoy, have wide beds and comparatively deep channels, thus being capable of carrying large bodies of water. But being near the sources, which are at high elevations, the surplus water from rains and melting snow is soon carried away in freshets, and the suddenly swollen streams fall as rapidly as they rise. By reason of these sudden changes in the volume of water, this natural power has never been utilized extensively in manufacturing. In the early days this source of power was a boon to the pioneer, notwith- standing he had to rebuild his mill-dam nearly every year; but the water-power of Schuylkill county served its purpose in tiding over the period between the early settlements and the introduction of steam-power. During the palmy days of canal traffic, some of the surplus water was stored in reservoirs to "feed" the canal, notably those on Tumbling run and Silver creek, and these exist today. Some of the mountain springs and rivulets are utilized in storing supplies of water for the towns and villages, and also in furnishing water for the hundreds of steam boilers, and for other purposes about the mines.
The entire area of the county was originally covered with timber and in some localities it was of superior quality. This is notably true of the timber found on Broad mountain, which was originally covered with a dense growth of heavy timber which consisted, princi- pally, of yellow pine, hemlock, and several varieties of oak. With
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the development of the coal industry, this proved of inestimable value, not only in supplying the collieries with needed timber, but also in furnishing to the miners and others the means of readily erect- ing the homes rendered necessary by the phenomenal increase in the population of that region. The reader will readily notice the intimate relation between this topic and that of Geology which immediately follows, and recognize the impossibility of treating each topic separately; therefore, any omissions which may be apparent in the treatment of this topic may appear in the related article.
GEOLOGY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
The geological formations of this county. are confined to the Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous ages of the Paleozoic system. The county is located in the eastern belt of the Appalachian system of mountains. The area is as uneven and broken as can be found in the state of Pennsylvania. The Kittatinny or Blue mountain forms the entire southern boundary of the county, running in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. It is broken only at the Port Clinton gap, where the Schuylkill river passes through the massive rocky strata. An undulating valley of varying width, separates this range from the double-crested chain of Second mountain. Further north, across a red shale valley, is the third range, or Sharp mountain. Everywhere within the county limits these two ranges run parallel to the Blue mountain; but beyond the eastern boundary along the Lehigh, and beyond the western along the Susquehanna, they turn back and double sharply on their courses, receive other names, and again pursue their former directions. Broad and Locust mountains are the continuations of Sharp mountain, in its sweep around the southern coal field, and Mahanoy is an extension of the Broad moun- tain as it zig-zags around the middle coal field. The gaps in these mountain ranges form prominent and important features in the general landscape. They are narrow, steep-sided and rocky, furnish- ing only room for the passage of the streams and roads at the bottom. There is but one* break in the Blue mountain within the county limits-the Port Clinton gap-and that affords the only practicable pass for the immense traffic of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad and the passage of the Schuylkill canal, as well as for all southward travel. But these natural gate-ways increase in number as we pro- ceed northward. There are five passes in Second mountain and
*This statement is twice made in the article on Geology of Schuylkill County, by P. W. Sheafer, Geologist and Mining Engineer, but Judge Henning says Swatara gap should be mentioned.
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eight through Sharp mountain, along the south edge of the southern coal field in this county. These usually provide a practical grade to the summits of the highest elevations.
The drainage of the county is into the Schuylkill, Susquehanna and the Lehigh rivers. The Schuylkill, through its numerous branches, drains the great middle area of the county, including the greater portion of the southern basin. The northern and western parts are drained by the affluents of the Susquehanna, which are the Swa- tara, Wiconisco, Mahantongo Deep and Mahanoy creeks, tributaries to the main branch of the Susquehanna, and the Catawissa, which contributes its waters to the north branch of that river. The Lehigh receives the waters from a small area of territory along the eastern edge of the county. This drainage is through the Nesquehoning, Mahoning and Lizard creeks and their mountain tributaries.
It is the purpose, in the preparation of this article, to avoid tech- nicalities, or any attempt at an exhaustive treatment of the subject. A plain, comprehensive statement will meet the wants of the average reader, who would be confounded with an attempt at "scientific" presentation.
The geological structure of the county is admirably brought to view by means of the exposures shown by the openings or passes through the mountains, thus affording the geologist excellent oppor- tunities for studying the character of the rock formations and measur- ing their thicknesses. Within a distance of sixteen miles from Port Clinton to Pottsville, the valley of the Schuylkill is lined by rock exposures, no less than nine great formations being crossed. The structure can best be traced through the county by describing, in a general way, a cross-section drawn through Pottsville from the Blue mountain on the south to the Catawissa valley on the north. Begin- ning thus, a shallow basin is found which is bounded by the north- dipping rocks of Blue mountain, and at the northern extremity by a prominent anticlinal axis which passes through Orwigsburg and Schuylkill Haven, and gradually diminishes until it is no longer observable, either to the east or west of the median line. Only the north dips of this axis, standing vertically, are encountered between Schuylkill Haven and Pottsville, but in Sharp and Second mountains the axis is overturned, slightly, so as to show a south dip. North of the broad basin of the southern coal field is a broad and undulating elevation, traversed by several parallel minor axes. Sections through other portions of the county would show local variations from this general structure, but there would remain the prominent features of three parallel basins, separated by two more or less elevated anti-
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clinals. The geological works of Professors Rogers of Pennsylvania and Lesley of New York furnish the basis of conclusions in the dis- cussion of this subject with reference to Schuylkill county. Beginning at the extreme south of the county, the Levant deposit of the Upper Silurian formation, which embraces three distinct parts in the central portion of the state, here presents but two, the red sandstone being missing. The Blue or Kittatinny mountain is formed by the outcrop of the massive strata of the Medina Sandstone and the Oneida Con- glomerate. The area of the outcrop of these rocks is a limited one, being confined to this mountain; and the formation here dips beneath the surface, not to appear again within the county limits. Measure- ments have shown these rocks to be, respectively, four hundred feet, and seven hundred and sixty feet in thickness. No minerals or ores of value occur in this formation, while the fossils are confined to impressions of large marine plants.
Another subdivision of the Upper Silurian system is termed the Surgent, which is a formation consisting of alternating deposits of red and olive shales and slates, separated by red sandstone, forming a characteristic group of red rocks which, in this district, is about fifteen hundred feet in thickness. This group flanks the Blue moun- tain on the north, forming the foothills of that range throughout its course in the county. At Port Clinton it follows the flexures of the Blue mountain and widens out into a series of sharp rolls, beautifully exposed on the east bank of the Schuylkill river as far north as Mc- Keansburg and Orwigsburg. The most northern flexure of this series carries a narrow band of the formation as far west as Schuylkill Haven, beyond which point the decline of the axis forces it beneath the surface. The western limit of these rolls lies to the east of Pine creek, which enters the Schuylkill at Auburn. East of McKeansburg the belt of this formation again becomes narrow, and follows the course of Blue mountain to the county line.
The next subdivision, according to Professor Rogers, is designated as the Scalent and Pre-Meridian, two distinct groups, the lower com- posed of variegated marls and water lime cement beds, and the upper of a group of shaly and cherty limestones. The formation varies greatly in thickness, at some points reaching twelve hundred feet and at others seeming to be entirely absent. The group is a fossil- iferous formation. Its position in Schuylkill county is indicated on the geological map of Pennsylvania, as a narrow belt overlying the Surgent formation, and running parallel to the Blue mountain as far east as Port Clinton where it turns northward, in a broken line, for some five miles, finally disappearing at Friedensburg. The Scalent
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or cement limestone of this group, has been quarried at McKeansburg, Orwigsburg and Schuylkill Haven. The Cadent and Vergent flags are found in this county. The former consists of an upper and lower layer of highly bituminous black slate deposit, separated by a mass of bluish, brownish and olive shales, sometimes becoming an argilla- ceous sandstone formation. In the valley north of the Blue mountain this formation has a thickness of more than a thousand feet. The Vergent flags are composed of thin layers of fine grained gray sand- stone, though they vary in color in different localities. The Chemung group also abounds in this county, and consists of gray, blue and olive shales and sandstone. These two groups abound in marine vegetation, and show traces of carboniferous plants, and often include beds of slate resembling those of true coal, hence amateurs in searching for coal have often been deceived by it. This formation in Schuylkill county is confined to the valley lying between the Blue and Second mountains, and to a limited area along the north branch of Mahantongo creek, in the extreme northwestern corner of the county. The Orwigs- burg anticlinal divides the Chemung valley into two parts, the more southern of which ends in the hills west of the Little Schuylkill. The northern valley of Chemung continues east of Schuylkill Haven and beyond McKeansburg, where the several axes of the Tamaqua moun- tain spread it over the valleys of Mahoning and Lizard creeks. This area of forty miles in length, and a width varying from two to six miles of hills and valleys, embraces the principal farming region of the county. It includes the townships of Pine Grove, Wayne, North and South Manheim, East and West Brunswick and the southern portions of Blythe, Schuylkill and Rahn. This section of the county contains no minerals of commercial value. The Ponent group, consisting of red shales and massive red and gray sandstones, marks the end of the Devonian age. It usually forms a part of a mountain ridge, and often forms the crest. In this section of the state, it is at least five thousand feet thick. It contains no valuable ores or organic remains. The Catskill in this county is found in the center of the synclinal between the Blue mountain and the Orwigsburg axis. It covers a narrow belt extending from the old canal tunnel south of Landingville, west along the Swatara hills, to a point within five miles of Pine Grove. It forms a portion of the north flank of Mahantongo creek, and the remaining area covered by the Catskill appears mainly on the southern flanks of the Second and Mahantongo mountains. Vespertine or Pocono Gray Sandstone begins the Car- boniferous age, and is the first to show any defined coal beds, or to contain workable coal veins. Rogers describes it as composed of
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"white, gray and yellow sandstones, alternating with coarse silicious conglomerates, and dark blue and olive colored slates. It frequently contains beds of black carboniferous slate, with one or more thin seams of coal." The Pocono rocks, as well as the Ponent, are well exposed in the gaps of the Schuylkill. The Pocono in this locality is eighteen hundred feet thick, increasing to the westward, where it attains a thickness of twenty-six hundred feet, beyond the Susque- hanna. Its geographical extent is the same as that of the Catskill, since it forms with it the Second and Mahantongo mountains, and surrounds the coal basin. The Umbral or Mauch Chunk Red Shale consists of red shales and sandstone, often containing beds of olive and green shale, and in some localities a limestone belt. In this county it has a thickness of three thousand feet, and by various wind- ings, covers a large area. Beginning at the western end of the county, it forms a continuous valley to the east, known under the local names of Indian run and Tumbling run; between Sharp and Second moun- tains it forms the foot-hills of the latter and oucrops high up on the south flank of the former. "At Mauch Chunk it swings around the end of the southern coal field and again enters this county, forming Locust valley. Near Lebanon county, west of Gold Mine gap, it follows the conglomerate, surrounding the prongs of the coal basin, and appears again in the county at the head waters of Wiconisco creek, and still further north, in the valleys of Long Pine creek and Deep creek, south of Mahantongo mountain. Sweeping still north- ward, it forms the valley of the Little Mahanoy creek. North of the Mahanoy mountain, it shows in the valleys of the Catawissa and . its tributaries. Small patches of it also are brought to the surface in Broad mountain, by the rolls in the conglomerate."
Seral Conglomerate, according to Rogers, or Pottsville Conglo- merate, as defined by Lesley, is a formation immediately succeeding the red shales, and is very important in that it forms the base of the coal measures of Pennsylvania, and contains the lowest workable beds. The character and thickness of this formation vary somewhat in this county from east to west along Sharp mountain. At Potts- ville it reaches the maximum thickness of ten hundred and thirty feet. Several thin beds of coal slates, and at least one bed of impure coal, are embraced within its limits. In the western portion of the county in Stony mountain, and the western extension of Broad moun- tain, the poor coal beds develop into the celebrated Lykens valley red-ash coal so extensively mined at various collieries in that locality. At Ashland in the Mahanoy valley it measures, from the lowest coal to the red shale, six hundred feet, or, including a bed of egg con-
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glomerate overlying the coal, it measures eight hundred feet. As this formation is the bed rock of the coal fields, the tracings of its outcrop will define the coal basins of this county. "From the Lehigh almost to the Susquehanna, a distance of fifty miles, this conglomerate mass, standing vertical in Sharp mountain, forms the southern boundary of the Pottsville or southern coal field. Descending to a depth of at least three thousand feet at Pottsville, it rises, after making a series of subordinate rolls, and appears again in the beautiful anticlinal flexure of Mine hill, only to disappear again beneath the Heckscherville and New Castle basin. Coming to the surface it makes the wide conglomerate area known as Broad mountain, and, further east, the narrow ridge of Locust mountain. West of Tremont the steep dipping rocks of Sharp mountain, after making a narrow synclinal, appear in Stony mountain, and then follow round the fish tail of the western end of the coal field, till it merges into the conglomerate outcrop of Broad mountain, forming Short and North mountains. Farther north this conglomerate includes in its deep fold the Second basin, bounding it on the north by Mahanoy moun- tain,' and beyond the_Catawissa creek forms the Green and Spring mountains."
The conglomerate formation as previously described forms the floor upon which the three thousand feet or more of coal-bearing stratum has been deposited. By means of this protecting mass the coal deposits have been preserved from erosion and commingling with other natural elements. The rocks enclosing the coal beds and coal slates consist of gray and bluish sandstones, shales and slates, with some massive conglomerates. The shales frequently contain nodules of iron ores, and the slates at times enclose bands of carbonate ore. These slates contain many impressions of vege- table life, and are the connecting link between the present and the ancient Carboniferous age. The coal beds are usually underlaid by a tough sandy slate or fire-clay, and this was the ancient soil upon which the formative plants and forests grew. Not all coal beds are compact masses of pure carbon, but in many instances the layers of coal are separated into benches by bands of slate or "bony" coal. It is difficult to arrive at an exact measurement of the coal-bearing rock for reasons which are apparent to all. The variations of both internal and external conditions during the formative period were conducive to irregularity of depth. In the southern basin, which is the deepest, it is estimated to be at least three thousand feet, and includes within this depth, thirty coal beds, of which fifteen are work- able. This series has been separated into three divisions, each being
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determined by the color of the coal ashes. These include a lower or white ash group; middle or gray ash, and an upper or red ash group. Including the beds in the conglomerate, there is still a lower group of red ash coals. These veins vary in thickness in different localities, but the average has been very closely determined. Beginning with the upper coal strata, the "mining" names and average thickness of veins are as follows: Sandrock bed, three feet; Gate bed, seven feet; Little Tracy bed, three feet; Big Tracy bed, six feet; Diamond bed, six feet; Little Orchard bed, three feet; Orchard bed, six feet. These are all of the red ash group. Primrose, gray ash, ten feet; Holmes, five feet; Seven-Foot, as the name implies, is a seven-foot vein; Mammoth bed, twenty-five feet; Skidmore bed, six feet; Buck Mountain bed, nine feet (white ash group); Lykens Valley, upper bed, red ash, eight feet; Lykens Valley, lower bed, three feet. This gives a total average coal formation, throughout the field, of one hundred and seven feet. The red ash coals mentioned in the preceding list, were first developed in the vicinity of Pottsville, and were the first introduced into market from Schuylkill county.
The coal area of the county includes two hundred and ten square miles of territory, and about two-thirds of this area is embraced within the southern coal field. The middle coal field, and a few developments on the Broad, Green and Spring mountains, include the balance. The southern field embraces an area within the county of one hundred and forty-three square miles, being forty miles in length and varying from two to five miles in width. Starting at Mauch Chunk, it extends southwestward as a great valley, bounded on the south by Sharp mountain, and on the north by Locust and Broad mountains, gradually increasing in width until it divides into two prongs near Tremont, the northern prong reaching westward to Wiconisco, Dauphin county, and the southern one terminating at the town of Dauphin. The middle coal field, within the limits of Schuylkill county, extends eastward from Ashland, bounded by Broad and Mahanoy mountains for twenty miles, and includes an area of sixty-three square miles. The depth of this coal field is much less then that of the southern field, hence the upper or red ash coals are confined to the deep basins. Broad mountain lying between these two basins, and separating them, contains small areas of coal measures. The principal one of these basins is that of New Boston. It is six miles in length and less than half a mile in width. There are small isolated basins in the northern part of the county around the head waters of Catawissa creek, these being a part of the Lehigh basins, and are included in the middle coal .field. Like the New
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