History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 169

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 169
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 169
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 169

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

So that practically we may say there is one continuous valley, underlaid with Marcellus shale and filled with drift material, with a com- paratively uniformi surface from five hundred to seven hundred feet above tide, running all the way from Rondout, on the Hudson, through Stroudsburg to Weissport, on the Lehigh. It constitutes a natural route for a railroad frou the coal-fields to New England, which has long been contemplated, and which will doubtless somne time be built.

Cherry Valley, just south from the Strouds- burg Valley, running parallel with it and sepa- rated from it by Godfrey's or Walpack Ridge, is very similar to the one just described, only that it has for its bed the Clinton red shale instead of the Marcellus shale.

This valley, like the Stroudsburg Valley, exists in three sections, of which Cherry Valley proper is the western. It begins in Orange County, N. Y., and keeping along the base of the Shawangunk (Blue) Mountain, passes through New Jersey to the Delaware River at the Walpack Bend. At this point the Dela- ware River, having cut through Walpack

1040

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Ridge, enters the valley and flows down it to the Delaware Water Gap, where it cuts through the Blue Mountain. The eastern section in New Jersey is called Flatbrook Valley ; the middle portion occupied by the river is called the Delaware Valley, but Flatbrook Valley, Delaware Valley and Cherry Valley are essentially one and the same, and to this may be added the Aquanchicola Valley, extend- ing through to the Lehigh.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE .- The rocks of Monroe County, with the exception of a narrow strip along the southern border, belong entirely, like those of Pike, to the Devonian Age. Silu- rian strata first come to the surface in the vi- cinity of Walpack Ridge, enter largely into the composition of that ridge, together with the lower members of Devonian formation, and thence continue to form the surface rock to the southern line of the county.

The interval between the Mount Pleasant conglomerate, of Pocono Series (No. X.) and the Oneida conglomerate (No. IV.) (both in- clusive) compasses all the strata of Monroe County, some of the intervening members being entirely absent.

Commencing at the north line of the county, the highest peaks of the Pocono Mountain are capped with Mount Pleasant conglomerate, in massive, grayish-white cliffs. Next in order in the descending scale come the red rocks of the Catskill Series (No. IX.), the Mount Pleasant red shale, members of which form the surface rock over much of the whole Pocono Platean, from the north line of the county to the south- ern escarpment of the mountain. Below this comes a thin stratum (of uncertain thickness, because always partially concealed under drift) of green sandstones and shales, called the Ell: Mountain sandstones and shales, and estimated by Prof. White at about two hundred feet in thickness. Next comes the Cherry Ridge Group, consisting of conglomerates (composed of quartz pebbles, pieces of sandstone, shale and fish frag- ments, all cemented into a reddish-gray matrix of coarse sand) and red shale. The conglomer- ates form the front escarpment of the Pocono Mountain, west from Tannersville, and crop out in long lines of cliffs in the southeastern

portion of Tunkhannock and Coolbaugh town- ships.

The Honesdale sandstones, next in order, run through Barrett, Paradise, Pocono, Chestnut Hill and Polk townships, being estimated at 500 feet in thickness at the western line of the county.

The Montrose red shale, next in order, runs through Barrett, crossing the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western Railroad, near Henry- ville, with a thickness of six hundred feet, and continuing on through Pocono, Jackson, Chestnut Hill and Polk townships, attaining a thickness of more than fifteen hundred feet at the western line of the county.

The Delaware River flags .- This is a series of greenish-gray sandstone and shale which ex- tends all the way from the Delaware to the Lehigh, crossing Pike, Monroe and Carbon Counties. In Monroe County it passes through Barrett, Paradise, Pocono, Jackson, Chestnut Hill and Polk townships. Excellent flagging is quarried in this series at varions points in the northeastern section of the county. Where exposed to atmospheric infinences the stone splits easily along the bedding planes into sheets from two to six or eight inches in thick- ness and of lengths varying from two to fifteen or twenty feet, according to the space between the natural transverse seains. In Barrett town- ship, on the West Bushikill, there is a fine ex- posure of flagstone at the base and side of a hill and of true clay slate at the top. This top stratum, being entirely free from sand and grit and easily splitting to any desired thickness, on a line with the bedding planes, is excellently adapted to fine, ornamental work, such as man- tels, table-tops, etc., if existing in sufficient quantities,-a fact yet to be determined.

The New Milford red shale .- This is the last red horizon above the base of the Catskill Series. It crosses Big Bushkill Creek near Ressaca, and Brodhead's Creek near Spragueville, where it is exposed in a cutting of the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western Railroad, just above the station, dipping 25° N. 25° W.It crosses Poc- ono Creek about one mile and a quarter above Bartonsville and continues westward, increas- ing in thickness, through Jackson, Chestnut Hill and Polk townships.

1041

MONROE COUNTY.

Starrucca sandstone .- This is a succession of hard, greenish-gray sandstones, destitute of or- ganie remains, and corresponding physically with the other Catskill sandstones. They rep- resent the Starrucca beds-greatly thickened- of Wayne and Susquehanna Counties. They enter Monroe County about three-fourthis of a mile above Little Bushkill Falls, and pass south- westward, crossing Big Bushkill below Ressaca, and Brodhead's Creek and the Delaware, Lack- awanna and Western Railroad at Spragueville, and the Pocono Creek about one mile above Bartonville. Continuing westward, red beds begin to make their appearance in this horizon. Through Pike and Monroe Counties these beds are about six hundred feet thick.

FOSSILS OF THE CATSKILL SERIES .- The only evidence of animal life during the epoch of the Catskill formation is, according to Prof. White, the occasional appearance of what ap- pears to be the fish-bone fragments in the cal- careous breccias occurring in the upper half of the series. No molluscan fossils have been ob- served in all the large arca covered by these rocks.

Plant remains also are of rare occurrence. The only locality in the district where any de- terminable forms have been observed is in a cut on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, a short distance below Henryville. There, near the base of the Montrose red shale, great numbers of Archœopteris Jacksoni occur. In many places, however, pieces of stems and fragments of plants are to be seen, but so broken up as not to be classified.

Next in order, progressing downwards, come the Chemung beds, the Portage Series being ab- sent from this district.

We again quote from Professor White, in his report on the Second Geological Survey of Pike and Monroe Counties, p. 105,-

"The series is made up of a succession of bluish- gray, hard sandstone beds in layers from onc-half to two feet thick, often somewhat micaceous, and usually interstratified with blue, sandy shalcs. Oc- casionally olive sandstones make their appearance. The whole series is sparingly fossiliferous, the most common forms being Streptorhynchus, Chemungenses, Spirifer disjunctus, Pteronitcs sp? Productella sp ? The species are generally badly presented, and while

all have a well-known Chemung facies, many were undeterminable."

The red beds of Chemung, which are else- where present in Northern Pennsylvania, are absent from the Pike and Monroe districts.

The Hamilton Series, upper, middle and low- er, are well represented through the district, entering it at Bushikill and running about S. 65° W. to the western margin of Hamilton township, where it bifurcates, one prong reach- ing the Lehigh at Bowman's, and the other on the crest of the Lehighton axis. The thickness of the whole Hamilton serics at Stroudsburg is twenty-two hundred feet, at the meridian of Brodheadsville two thousand feet, and grad- ually thinning away to the Lehigh River. All the members of this series are quite fossilifer- ous, the Tully limestone, notably so, being composed of corals, shells and crinoids in great abundance. This coral horizon is seen strong- ly developed along the road just south from Gilbert's post-office, and also about a mile north from Kresgeville, in Polk township. The ef- fect of atmospheric influences upon these beds, in the removal of the lime from their calcareous portions, is well illustrated along the road from Stroudsburg to Spragueville, near the house of Edward Bonynge, where there is a fine expos- ure of the bed, honeycombed and spongy from this cause.

The Upper Helderberg beds are represented in this county by the corniferous limestone and the cauda-galli grit, the Onondaga and Scho- harie beds of New York not appearing. The corniferous limestone and cauda-galli thin away to the westward, and seem to disappear entirely near the western line of Hamilton township, coineident with a thickening of the Oriskany sandstone, on which they rest.

The belt of corniferous limestone, fortunately for the agricultural interests of the county, is quite narrow, seldom more than one-fourth of a mile in width, and often not near so much, the rocks being steeply inclined, and mostly con- fined to the north foot-slope and south side of Godfrey's Ridge.

There is a fine exposure of both of these strata in the long rock cut on the Delaware, Lacka- wanna and Western Railroad, below East

102

1042

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Stroudsburg, known as "Forest Cut," where the contact of the corniferous limestone with the cauda-galli is plainly seen. There is also a good example of the effects of atmospheric exposure upon the cauda-galli to be seen along the road from Stroudsburg to the Dela- ware Water Gap, where the same passes over the top of Godfrey's Ridge, or "Foxtown Hill," as it is locally known. As we have elsewhere said, the caudi-galli forms the surface rock on the top of this ridge, owing to the removal, by glacial agency, of the corniferous limestone. There is a strong outcrop over the crest of the ridge of " slate gravel," as it is locally known, and appreciated as excellent road material. It is rock of this stratum broken up into chips and splinters by the action of the weather, very similar in appearance to the same kind of mate- rial found in the Hamilton sandstone and Mar- cellus shale strata, along the Milford road, above Bushkill.

Fossil mollusks and corals are quite abundant in the corniferous limestone, especially so in the neighborhood of Stroudsburg.

Passing now into the Silurian Age of the world, we find beneath the cauda-galli a rep- resentative of the Oriskany formation. Com- mencing as a cherty pebble bed, not more than eight or ten feet thick at the eastern line of Monroe County, it thickens up in its passage across the county, until at its western line it ap- pears as a massive quartz conglomerate one hundred and seventy-five feet thick.

Beneath this stratum come the Lower Hel- derberg beds. First, in the eastern part of the county a series of shales and conglomerates, denominated the Stormsville shales and conglom- erates, which in their progress westward seem to become merged in the overlying Oriskany formation, accounting thus for the thickening up of the latter.

The glass factory at East Stroudsburg ob- tains its sand from the Oriskany formation in Hamilton township. It makes excellent bot- tles, fruit-jars, etc. West of Hamilton town- ship the Oriskany is much broken up and dis- integrated, forming beds of fine, white, silicious material of unknown depth. These beds are found in the vicinity of Saylorsburg and Kun-

kletown, an analysis of two specimens from which, by Messrs. McCreath and Stinson, gives the following results :

No. I.

No. Il.

Silica . 82.020

Silica . 72.800

Alumina, with a little Oxide

Lime .

.280

Lime .290

Magnesia

.774

Magnesia 1.045

Water .

2.842

Water .. 3.832

96.916

96 147

STORMSVILLE HYDRAULIC CEMENT BEDS. -Thesc beds extend from the eastern line of the county southwestward beyond the centre of the county, and are from five to ten feet in thickness. Professor White identifies these beds with the great water lime beds of Rondout, Kingston and Rosendale, N. Y., and from analyses had of this material there is no doubt but excellent cement might be manufactured at various points in this stratum.

Messrs. McCreath and Stinson show the composition of the Stormsville cement beds as follows, four of the specimens coming from Middle Smithfield, and the fifth from Hamil- ton township : 1

II.

III.

IV.

Carbonate of Lime

38.910 36.428.

37.714 37.107

43.839

Carbonate of Magnesia

23.724

17.481 25.351 26.410

29.664

Oxide of Iron

3.357

3.285

3.357

2.607

Alumina ..

4,163

7.735

6.290

3.673!

3.653

Sulphur

.065

.113

Phosphorus.

.038

.027

Insoluble Residue.

27.420 28.720

29.690 28.460

17.560

The "insoluble residue" in each of the above after ignition gave the following :

II.

111.

IV.

Silica. .

24.150 23.940 24.850

23.970 13.630

Oxide of Iron and Alumin

2.500

2.740

2.450

2.740

2.040

Lime. .

0.220

0.110

0.260

0.090

0.120

Magnesia.

0.404

0.183

0.490

0.227

0.144

Totals .

27.274 26.973 28.050 27.027 15.934

An important member of the Lower Helder- berg series is the Bossardsville limestone. This rock is extensively quarried in a thick stratum of this formation at Bossardsville, in Hamilton township, whence it derives its nanic. All the principal limestone quarries of the county are in this formation. This limestone burns readily into a light, gray lime, very valuable for agricultural and building purposes.

1 Taken from Second Geological Report on Pike and Monroe, pp. 136, 137.

of Iron. 11.000

of Iron. 18.180

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MONROE COUNTY.

Analyses of this limestone, taken from differ- ent localities, and made by Mr. McCreath at his Harrisburg laboratory, give the following result : 1

1I.

III.

IV.

Carbonate of Lime .

94.285

87.928 82.732

93.267

93.875

Carbonate of Magnesia

1.528

1.937

2.830

1.384

1.309

Oxide of Iron and Alumina

0.700

2.110

1.360

0.840

0.680

Sulphur

0.056

0.229

0.695

0.113

0.153

Phosphorus

0.014

0.019

0.007

0.010 - 0.010

Insoluble Residue.

22.850

7.860

11.930

4.250

3.920

I. and II. were taken from the Bossardsville quarries in Hamilton township; III., IV. and V. were taken from C. Van Auken's quarries, in Middle Smithfield township.

A due regard for allotted space, in a work of this character, will hardly permit even cursory mention of all the different strata. Passing from the Lower Helderberg (No. VI.), we come next to the Clinton red shale (No. V.).

These shales are of a deep, dull color, and, as we have before remarked, underlie the whole of Cherry Valley and Aquanchicola Valley, and the Delaware River has scooped the main por- tion of its channel out of the same, all the way from Walpack Bend, or Decker's Ferry, to the Delaware Water Gap.

No fossils whatever are found in these red beds, and to their destitution of organic life Professor White attributes the fact that the iron, of which a large percentage is contained in the rocks, exists in a diffused state, instead of being collected into ore-beds. He says that if all the iron contained in the two thousand feet of this rock which crops out on the Lehigh could be collected into one mass, it would make a solid bed of metallic iron more than fifty feet thick Hence it is not for lack of iron that no ores occur in the Clinton red shale of Monroe County, but because in bygone ages there was a lack of organic life to concentrate it in layers.

THE MEDINA SANDSTONE AND THE ONEIDA CONGLOMERATE, No. IV .- A series of green- ish-gray sandstones, often interstratified with red, sandy layers, the sandstone frequently showing scattered pebbles of quartz, underlies the Clinton red shales. These beds are exposed along either bank of the Delaware River in its

passage through the Gap, and they constitute the Medina sandstone.

Immediately beneath appears the Oneida conglomerate, consisting of very hard, massive, gray rocks, containing vast quantities of quartz pebbles, many of them quite large, with no red rocks whatever.

These gray, conglomerate rocks extend down to the Hudson River slates, which, however, do not appear in this county, but come to the surface about half a mile south of the county line, in Northampton.

The Oneida rocks make the summit of the Blue Mountain, and their great hardness and indestructiblety have preserved that range, as well as the Delaware and Lehigh Water Gaps, from erosion.

ORES .- The red rocks of the Catskill Series, like the Clinton red shale, show a large per- centage of iron, but in a diffused form. There is an equal absence of fossils and of iron-ore. In Ross township, however, on the land of Samuel Lessig, there has been found quite a large deposit of brown hematite iron-ore, in the Lower Helderberg, and five to eight feet above the Decker's Ferry sandstone of the group.

An analysis of specimens from this locality gives the following result :

I. 41.500

II.

Iron

39.425

Sulphur

0.030

0.007

Phosphorus.

0.305

0.321

Insoluble residue.

23.500

26.730

A bed of bog iron-ore occurs on top of the Marcellus, opposite Kunkletown, in Eldred township. This was once manufactured into metallic paint quite extensively, and made a very fine article. The deposit, so far as devel- oped, appears quite rich enough to warrant min- ing and shipping, if it exists in sufficient quan- tities.

Beds of bog iron-ore also exist near the vil- lage of Sciota, in Hamilton township, imme- diately above the Marcellus shale, and nodules of iron-ore have been found on the land of John Merwine, near Merwinesburg, at the foot of the Pocono Mountain, scattered over the sur- face of the red Catskill rocks.

LEAD, COPPER AND ZINC-ORES .- In the

1 Taken from the same report to which reference has been so frequently made, p. 142.

1044

WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

Medina sandstone and Oneida conglomerate of the Shawangunk or Blue Mountain ores of lead and zinc are known to exist, although none in paying quantities have so far been discovered within the limits of this county. In Middle Smithfield township, on land of Mr. J. Turn, in the Clinton red rocks, at the upper end of Paxon's Island, there occur many traces of cop- per in scattered patches of green, and also traces of zincblende.

SCHOOL SLATES .- In Polk township, near the western line of the county, school slates were once extensively manufactured in the Mar- cellus beds. They made a superior article, and their manufacture could still be carried on with profit were it not for the lack of railroad facili- ties, rendering it impossible to compete with localities more highly favored in this respect.

OCHRE .- Much ochre is found in Ross town- ship, interstratified with the iron-ore in the Lower Helderberg formation. It is of a dull yellow- ish color and would doubtless make good paint, although never tested practically so far as we know.

It has been analyzed, however, with the fol- lowing result :

Silica 57.400

Alumina 19.033

Sesquioxide of iron 10.107

Lime

0.100

Magnesia. 1.740

Water

6.458

SOILS .- The best soils, as well as the worst, for agricultural operations are found in the southern part of the county: the best, in the Hamilton, Lower Helderberg and Clinton red geological areas ; the worst, where the Upper Helderberg, the Oriskany sandstone, the Medina sandstone and the Oneida conglomerate come to the surfacc.

This mixed condition extends, to a greater or less extent, over portions of ten townships, viz .: Middle Smithfield, Smithfield, Stroud, Hamil- ton, Pocono, Jackson, Chestnut Hill, Ross, Polk and Eldred.

The difference between the two classes of rocks above referred to, in regard to their soil- making properties, rests primarily in the com- parative readiness with which they break up I agricultural resources of this region.

and decompose, and assimilate with the finer portions of drift material or alluvial deposits accumulated upon them. The corniferous limestone and cauda-galli, composing the Upper Helderberg of this district, and also the Oneida conglomerate, are notable for the facility with which they do not disintegrate. They are hard and unyielding in their nature, and have pre- served for ages, with little change, the contour of Walpack Ridge and the Blue Mountain, with the gaps or gorges in the latter range. Of course there can be no farming where these beds come to the surface, and it is fortunate that their dip is so rapid and their surface area not more extended. They have their use in the economy of nature, doubtless, in giving to our scenery its character of picturesqueness and sublimity.

On the other hand, in the soft shales and limestones of the Hamilton and Lower Helder- berg beds, and in the Clinton red beds of the Delaware, Cherry and Aquanchicola Valleys, we have a very fine agricultural region, produc- ing all the cereals, root and other vegetables in great abundance.

Full one-half of the county (the northern halt) is, as we have scen, underlaid with rocks of the Catskill group. Here, too, a mixed con- dition of things prevails. Where the surface is not littered with boulders of the drift deposit, or rendered barren by reason of massive sand- stone outcrops, farming is not only practicable, but pleasant and profitable.

The inhabitants of this region are turning their attention more and more to agricultural pursuits, as the county is gradually cleared of its native forest growths and tlie lumber inter- ests, which have heretofore been predominant, decline. New clearings dot the wilderness, and thrifty homes here and there greet the eye, where a few years ago there was nothing but a dreary waste of " scrub-oaks" and laurel. There are extensive tracts of sandy loam and red shale soil upon the Pocono Plateau, compara- tively free from boulders and loose stones, easily farmed, fertile and productive. Land is cheap and the writer confidently expects to see, in the next few years, a large development of the

1045

MONROE COUNTY.

Two representative farmers of this region, one in the extreme west and the other in the extreme east, report as follows :

Mr. Jacob Blakeslee, of Tobyhanna township, writes,-

" I have 75 acres cleared and under cultivation. I have not raised wheat since 1879; then I had over 25 bushels to the acre. The production of rye (last crop) was very good, but I did not measure the amount. The production of oats was 55 bushels per acre ; corn in ear, 50 bushels per acre ; potatoes, 125 bushels per acre; hay, 2 tons per acre. Apples, such as Baldwins, Greenings, Rusty Coats, &c., are very fine and plentiful. Also Pears, Plums and the small fruits are produced in great abundance. Apiaries thrive excellently; there being an abundance of natural food for the bees. As regards soil, I may say the different kinds are argillaceous, Sandstone and Shale. The predominating element is Shale, which varies in color from red to gray, and finally to a rich black color. The soil is, in places, loamy. I think the country is best adapted to the production of corn, oats, hay and potatoes; rye and wheat also do very well.

"In fertilization I used last year 5 tons of phos- phates and 100 tons of barn-yard manure. I prefer the manure.

"In speaking of the history of this place, I may say that thirty-five years ago this region was a dense forest. At that time lumbering was the chief indus- try. Since then the country has been cleared by cut- ting and fire, so that now there is a comparatively level, open country, interspersed with clumps of wood- land. With the removal of the forest the people turned their attention to agriculture, and with great success. As a proof of the richness of the soil I add that land first cleared raises very fine and heavy crops of hay for six years without fertilization. As a pas- turage land this region is unequaled. Horses, cattle, &c., are brought from the adjoining counties of this State and also from New Jersey to be pastured. ... " As a country for stock-raising, this locality is un- surpassed."

We will add that Mr. Blakeslee makes a specialty of stock raising and is equally suc- cessful with horscs, cattle and sheep.

Mr. Joseph Brower, in the castern part of Barret township and near the eastern line of the county, settled some thirty years ago in an un- broken wilderness, although many thrifty farms are now under cultivation or being cleared for that purpose in his vicinity. He re- ports as follows :

" Acres under cultivation, about. ... 90

Wheat raised per acre.

18 bushels.

Rye

Oats ¥ . .

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 169

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438