Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

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Crooked creek is the second largest stream. It flows west across the northern half of the quadrangle in a course which its name de- scribes. From Shelocta to Southbend, a vil- lage located almost in the center of the quad- rangle, the stream flows through an open val- ley ; but from Southbend to the western border it cuts a good-sized gorge, making steep rocky bluffs, in some places over 250 feet high.

RELATION OF TOPOGRAPIIY TO MAN'S ACTIVITIES

ders Ridge quadrangle, only a little more than half are on the banks of streams in the val- leys; the others are on the uplands. The tions illustrate the structure only along cer- tain lines and do not give the shape of the arches and basins, and these are of the great- est importance in the commercial develop- ment of the field, as regards both the mining of coal and the exploitation for oil and gas.

The second method has been used in deline- ating the bituminous coal field of western Pennsylvania. It consists in the representa- tion of the surface of some particular stratum which is known through its wide exposure in outerop, its exploitation by mines, its relation to some other bed above it, or the records of wells drilled for oil and gas. The deformed surface of the key stratum is then represented by means of contour lines which show the form and size of the folds into which it has been thrown and its altitude above sea level at practically all points within the quad- rangle.

In this quadrangle the Upper Freeport coal bed is a widely outcropping and well-known stratum and is used by drillers in some fields for water power at frequent intervals. Black- as a key rock in determining the position of legs creek has been dammed near its mouth, the oil and gas bearing sands. The floor of where the grade is so low that the stream is this bed has been selected as the surface upon ponded for some distance.

GEOLOGY

STRUCTURE

anticline or toward which they dip in a syn- eline.

METHOD OF REPRESENTING GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE

There are in current use two methods of representing geologic structure. The first and most obvious method is by means of cross sec- tions which show the various strata as they would appear if cut by vertical planes en- tirely across the quadrangle. This method is effective only where the dip of the rocks is perceptible to the eye. In the Elders Ridge Of the thirty or more hamlets in the El- quadrangle the rocks dip so gently that the anticlines and synclines would not be very apparent on such sections; besides, the sec-

reason for the location of some of these settle- ments is apparent. The location of West Leb- anon on the top of a hill 1,300 feet above sea level may have had its origin in the open- ing of a 7-foot bed of coal (Pittsburg) in the ravines which head around the hill. The principal occupation in this quadrangle is ag- riculture and grazing.

Roads for the most part are along the stream valleys, where the grade is easy. The longest stretches of stream-grade roads are along Blacklegs creek above Girty, Plum creek and Cherry run. Ridge roads are common and in some cases good. The road from West Lebanon to Spring Church is conspicuous on the topographic map for its directness and comparative levelness.

Crooked creek carries a sufficient volume of water to furnish power for a number of mills. It falls 130 feet from Shelocta to Cochran Mills, a distance of nearly eighteen miles as the stream flows; this furnishes enough head

which to represent the geologic structure of the quadrangle.

Where the Upper Freeport coal shows in natural outcrop its altitude has been deter- mined at many points. Where it occurs below the surface its existence and position are

The rocks of the Elders Ridge quadrangle known through the records of the gas wells are bent into a number of nearly parallel of the region. After its altitude has been wrinkles or folds which have a northeast- determined at a great many places, points of

HISTORY OF. INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

equal altitude are connected by contour lines ; places near which they pass. The first of as, for example, all points having an altitude of 900 feet above sea level are connected by a line, which then becomes the 900-foot con- tour line. Similarly, all points having an al- titude of 950 feet are connected by the 950- foot contour line, and in like manner con- tour lines are drawn covering the entire ter- ritory at vertical distances of 50 feet. These lines are printed on the economic geology map, and they show, first, the horizontal con- tour of the troughs and arches; second, the relative and also the actual dip of the beds, and third, the approximate height of the Up- per Freeport coal above sea level at any point.

The depth of the reference stratum below the surface at any point is obtained by sub- tracting its elevation, as shown by the struc- ture contour lines, from the. elevation of the surface at the same point. Suppose. for in- stance, the position of the Upper Freeport coal is desired at Parkwood. The elevation of the surface at the road corners is 1,325 feet, and the 800-foot structure contour line passes through the place. The Upper Free- port coal, therefore, is here about 1.325 minus 800 feet, or about 525 feet, below the surface.

As a rule these structure contours are gen- eralized, and are only approximately correct. They art liable to error from several condi- tions. Being estimated on the assumption that over small areas the rocks maintain a uniform thickness, the position of a contour will be in error by the amount by which the actual thickness varies from the calculated thickness. It is well known that in some places the interval between two easily deter- mined strata will vary by many feet in a short distance. Such cases make the deter- mination of the position of the reference stratum difficult when it lies some hundreds of feet below the surface. In parts of the bituminous coal regions of Pennsylvania, how- ever, records obtained in drilling for gas and oil give the changes in the interval, and thus control the determination of structure and the position of the reference stratum.

DETAILED GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE

The general structural features of the El- ders Ridge quadrangle have the same south- west-northeast strike that characterizes the whole Appalachian province. The strongest features are three anticlines and two syn- clines. These axes are named from localities where they are strongly developed, or from

these in this quadrangle, taking them in the order in which they occur from east to west, is the Jacksonville antieline, which passes near Lewisville and Jacksonville (Kent post office). The next is the Elders Ridge syneline, which brings the Pittsburg coal down so that it lies in the hills under several square miles of this territory. The Roaring run antieline par- allels this syneline on the west for a short distance, but is broken up in the middle of the quadrangle. On the west of the Roaring run antieline is a basin which is not strongly de- veloped on Crooked creek, but becomes more pronounced to the north and may be known as the Apollo syncline.

Where the Upper Freeport coal is com- pletely hidden beneath the surface, its posi- tion is calculated from higher beds in sight at the surface, with the assumption that inter- vals between members are fairly constant. In a few parts of the quadrangle the depth of the coal below the surface is known from deep- well records. The occurrence of the Pittsburg coal in the midst of the Elders Ridge syncline and midway between the outcrops of the Free- port coal on Aultmans and Roaring runs gives good control on the position of the latter bed beneath the surface in the southern half of the quadrangle. The interval between these two coal beds varies from 630 to 700 feet in this part of the State. The accuracy of this measurement is verified close to the axis of this basin by the record of a well drilled at water level near the mouth of Blacklegs creek and close under the outerop of thie Pittsburg coal. The mouth of the well is about 320 feet below the Pittsburg coal, and the Upper Free- port coal was found at a depth of 324 feet, giving a thickness of 644 feet for the Cone- maugh formation at this point. The deter- mination of the position of the reference stratum throughout the entire quadrangle is believed to be accurate within a contour in- terval, and in those portions where the upper Freeport coal is exposed at the surface for long distances the variation from reality will probably be not more than 20 feet. Besides representing the depth of the reference stratum below the surface or its elevation above mean sea level, the contour lines show with some degree of accuracy the relation of the various slopes to each other and the ap- proximate grades which may be expected if at any time mining operations are prosecuted upon this coal bed.

Jacksonville Anticlinc .- The structural fold, which is a strong feature in the south-

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

east corner of this quadrangle, reaches its greatest elevation in the vicinity of the vil- lage of Jacksonville and takes its name from that place. To the south it crosses the Cone- maugh river about two miles east of Salts- burg and maintains a southwest course for some miles, gradually losing strength as it continues into Westmoreland county. To the north the crest of this anticline can be traced but a short distance beyond the boundary of this quadrangle; in fact, it is very incon- spicuous on Curry run and gives place to the McKee run anticline, which is offset a short distance to the east. The Freeport coal on the crest of this anticline in the vicinity of Jacksonville is about 1,280 feet above sea level. From here it falls rapidly to the west, so that the Pittsburg coal, which is strati- graphically from 600 to 700 feet above it, is found at the same elevation above tide on the west side of the valley of Blacklegs creek.

Elders Ridge Syncline .- The Elders Ridge syncline was described and accurately located by the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania under the name Lisbon-West Lebanon syncline. This name, however, has been abandoned for the shorter one, which is taken from a small village in the center of this basin and located almost on the axis. The Elders Ridge syncline is traced across Indiana county from Plum creek, dipping gradually to the south. Where the axis en- ters the Elder's Ridge quadrangle, three miles east of Shelocta, the reference stratum is 900 feet above sea level. From here it falls gradu- STRATIGRAPHY, CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM ally to a point between Elders Ridge and Big run, where the Upper Freeport coal is not more than 400 feet above sea level. The axis rises from Big run to the south fully 150 feet before it reaches the southern edge of the quadrangle. The Elders Ridge syncline crosses the Kiskiminetas river near Edri, and pursues a comparatively direct course north- east through Elders Ridge near the academy, passes one half mile west of West Lebanon, and in the valley of Gobblers run turns sharply to the east, so that it lies fully a mile south of Shelocta. It is by reason of this syn- cline that the small area of Pittsburg coal is found on the hills. Westward from this axis the rocks rise more rapidly than to the east, and the Upper Freeport coal appears again on Roaring run and Crooked creek. From the description it will be seen that the Elders Ridge syncline is a canoe-shaped basin, and within the limits of this quadrangle is shallow at both ends and deepens toward the middle. among the formations as follows: Allegheny,

Ridge syncline and east of the Roaring run antieline in Indiana county there is a low structural fold which has enough strength to raise the Upper Freeport coal just above water level along the lower courses of Dutch run and Plum creek. The axis of this fold crosses the south branch of Plum creek three- fourths of a mile east of the Armstrong-In- diana county line and crosses Dutch run about the same distance west of Advance. It pursues a direct course to Plum creek, paral- leling Dutch run for three miles, and crosses the former stream a mile above its mouth.

This axis was called the Roaring run an- tieline under the misapprehension, that the fold extended from Plum creek to Crooked creek and was a part of the axis seen on Roaring run. The records of a number of wells obtained in this territory after the Indiana folio had been completed showed that the axis terminates two miles north of Idaho.

Although this fold is nearly parallel with the northeast portion of the Elders Ridge syncline and falls in line with that part of the Roaring run anticline which lies south of Crooked creek, it cannot be considered as a part or a spur of the latter fold, for the reason that the axis of the Dutch run anti- cline plunges toward the much higher flank of the Roaring run anticline. This name, Dutch run, is taken from the stream which the anticline mostly follows.

All of the rocks seen at the surface in this quadrangle belong to the Pennsylvanian se- ries of the Carboniferous system. Three for- mations are present-the Allegheny, Cone- maugh and Monongahela. These are, respec- tively, the Lower Productive, Lower Barren and Upper Productive measures. The Alle- gheny formation is exposed along Roaring run, Crooked creek, Plum creek, Dutch_run, and Aultmans run-a small portion of the whole surface. The Monongahela formation underlies a belt of country about nine miles long and three miles wide between the Kis- kiminetas river and West Lebanon. The rocks underlying the remainder and by far the largest portion of the surface belong to the Conemaugh formation. More than 1,100 feet of stratified .rocks are exposed at the surface in this quadrangle. They are divided

Dutch Run Anticline .- North of the Elders 240; Conemaugh, 650; Monongahela, 216.

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

COAL

Coal is the most important of the mineral resources of the Elders Ridge quadrangle. Two beds of workable thickness are exten- sively exposed. These are the Upper Free- port and the Pittsburg. A third bed, the Lower Freeport, which is usually thin, has a local importance in some places where it thickens considerably. Several other beds too thin to be of economic importance are present. These coals are in the Allegheny and Monon- gahela formations, and lie between the Van-

port and Benwood limestones. Although

eight or nine seams occur in this interval, it must not be assumed that they are everywhere present or are always of the same thickness. The generalized sections so often published are meant to show only their relative posi- tions. It should be understood that these beds vary in position with relation to other beds and that their thicknesses are not con- stant. The description will begin with the lowest coal exposed in the area and end with the highest. No mention will be made of the Gallitzin and Redstone coals, which are mere streaks where seen and undoubtedly are small throughout the quadrangle.

It may be well here to define certain terms in common use. An opening is a small exca- vation which reveals the coal in place and the thickness of the bed. A coal bank is a small mine in which a few men, from one to ten, are employed, and in which the coal is mined and brought out to the scaffold without the use of machinery. A coal mine employs enough men to require a mine hoss, probably uses machines for undercutting the coal, and hauls by means other than hand. Coalpit is a term applied without discrimination to openings, banks and mines.

LOWER FREEPORT COAL

Whether this seam is present throughout the Elders Ridge quadrangle is questionable. In the vicinity of Jacksonville, Conemaugh UPPER FREEPORT COAL township, the Jacksonville antieline raises the Allegheny formation high above water level, The "four-foot coal," as it is called, has an extensive exposure in this quadrangle. Its outcrop is to be found in all four corners and well in toward the middle of the area. By far the longest line of outerops is in the northwest quarter of the quadrangle, where the coal is above water level on every tribu- tary of Crooked creek. The average thick- feet, and the coal is everywhere somewhat so that the horizon of the Lower Freeport coal is exposed for a number of miles. The coal is not more than 20 inches thick on Reeds run, and it is probably less than 2 feet thick at the head of Neal run. The bed has been opened on the east hillside three fourths of a mile north of Jacksonville and found to be only 2 feet thick. This is probably the normal ness of the bed is probably a little under 4 occurrence for this part of the county. Near

the mouth of Neal run, however, the Lower Freeport has an unusual development. It has been mined near the schoolhouse two miles north of Jacksonville by Mr. Clark Neal and Mr. William H. Martin. In both these banks, which are nearly opposite each other on the same run, the Lower Freeport coal measures 5 feet, 2 inches. The bed is very even and does not carry a large per cent of sulphur, but is considerably intermixed with thin bands of earthy material which in places gives it a large percentage of ash. It is the presence of this impurity that gives it its great firmness, causing it to come from the mine in large blocks. The coal has a dull luster generally, but shows numerous bright pitchy bands. The lower bench, which is 20 inches thick, is harder than the rest. It is overlain by 8 inches of a softer coal which is excellent for blacksmithing purposes. The coal has been mined on this run continuously for nearly sixty years. In the first hollow south of Neal run the same bed has been mined on the Mar- shall farm close to the axis of the Jackson- ville anticline, the seam measuring 4 feet, 6 inches thick.

It is believed by some people in the vicinity that the Lower Freeport seam maintains a thickness of from 4 to 5 feet throughout a considerable area in this part of Indiana county, but this is readily disproved by an examination of the outcrops in the immediate vicinity of the coal banks above mentioned. It is possible that the bed attains the same thickness at other points where it is hidden beneath the surface, but it is quite certain that the development on Neal run is very local, and will extend less than a mile in any di- rection.

A coal reported to be 5 feet thick in the Stahl well is at the proper horizon for the Lower Freeport. It is a churn-drill measure- ment, however, and therefore unreliable. The bed is not known on Conemaugh river a few miles south of this well.

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

slaty and sulphurous. The areas in which legs creek it is 320 feet and at the mouth of the coal outerops are so detached that they may well be described separately.

Southeast Quarter .- The Upper Freeport coal is brought to the surface in the southeast corner of the quadrangle by the Jacksonville antieline. The axis of this fold in the geologic Northeast Quarter .- On the south branch of Plum creek the Upper Freeport coal is exposed just above water level for three miles by the uplift of the Dutch run anticline. One mile of this outerop is on the Elders Ridge quadrangle and the other two extend up to Willet on the Indiana quadrangle. The coal on this stream measures from 2 feet, 10 inches to 3 feet, 6 inches in thickness. structure crosses the Conemaugh river half way between Saltsburg and Tunnelton with a strong northeast trend. It turns northward near Lewisville and passes one mile west of Jacksonville, pursuing a course nearly parallel with Reeds run, and disappearing soon after entering the Indiana quadrangle near Tan- nery. The coal is exposed along the whole length of Coal run, and on Aultmans run northward from the mouth of Coal run to PITTSBURG COAL the headwaters of Neal and Reeds runs. The bed has been opened at short intervals north and south of Jacksonville and shows a thick- the Pittsburg coal seam, which underlies about ness ranging from 3 feet, 6 inches to 4 feet, 7 inches. An average thickness for the coal in this vicinity is 4 feet.

In an opening at the western head of Coal run the bed was seen 4 feet, 7 inches thick, while on the northern branch of the same stream near the road forks, one mile due west from Jacksonville, the coal seen in a new test pit measured 3 feet, 6 inches. On Ault- mans run the bed is 4 feet thick on the fol- lowing farms: McKee, Fails, Jacks, Means, McFarland, Evans and MeIntyre. It meas- ures 3 feet, 11 inches on the Clawson farm and at a point two miles northeast of Jackson- ville on a tributary of Aultmans run; 3 feet, 10 inches at George Dickey's farm; and 3 feet, 10 inches to 4 feet in the A. W. Robin- son bank and the abandoned workings near the head of Reeds run. Near the mouth of Reeds run, where the Lower Freeport coal has an unusual development, the Upper Freeport, 60 feet above it, is from 4 feet to 4 feet, 3 inches thick.

The Upper Freeport coal with its underly- ing limestone is also exposed for more than a mile at the upper end of Marshall run, in which distance it rises 170 feet on the flank of the Jacksonville anticline. There are a num- ber of openings on the coal in this ravine, but they were so badly caved that no measure- ments of the coal could be made.

It is known that the Upper Freeport coal is thin in the southern central part of Young township, where it lies deep below the surface.

Southwest Quarter .- The Elders Ridge syneline carries the Upper Freeport coal sev- eral hundred feet below the surface. Well records show that at the mouth of Black-

Long run 250 feet below water level. If the interval between the Pittsburg and Upper Freeport coals remains the same as on the river, the latter coal should be about 800 feet below the village of Elders Ridge.

Occurrence .- The northernmost remnant of two thousand square miles in the southwest- ern part of Pennsylvania, is in the Elders Ridge quadrangle. This remnant is a small area which lies along the Armstrong-Indiana county line and is detached from the main body of the seam.

Extent .- Geographically the limits of the Elders Ridge coal field are clearly defined. It is bounded on the north by Gobblers run, on the east by Blacklegs creek, on the south by Kiskiminetas river, and on the west by Long run. It is about ten miles long and three miles wide, with the long axis in a northeast-southwest direction. This belt of coal is divided transversely into three large blocks by the valley of Whisky run and Big run, which have cut through the horizon of the coal and expose long lines of outerop on both sides of the streams. The middle one of these three blocks, which lies between Olivet and Clarksburg, is the largest, and the north- ernmost is the smallest. All three have irregu- lar outlines. There are a number of outliers of a few acres in extent on the northern and western sides of the field. Roughly estimated, there are about 14 square miles of coal in this area, or between 8,500 and 9,000 acres. The coal has been mined out from 600 or 700 acres. The thickness of the bed will average close to 7 feet.

Structure of the Pittsburg Coal .- This coal field lies in a structural basin known as the Elders Ridge syneline. It crosses the river above Edri, passes close to the Foster mine, a few rods east of the Robert Fritz bank, and through Elders Ridge near the academy. It enters the northern block between the W. B. Davis and John D. Hart heirs' banks, passes

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

west of West Lebanon, and leaves the field to the brow of the hill, where it is lowered by near Holsten Brothers' bank. The beginning an incline to a railroad tipple. of the sharp deflection to the east, which takes the axis to Crooked creek, nearly two miles east of Shelocta, is shown north of the coal banks on the Hugh Blakely and Madison Craig farms. All of the coal on the east side of this syncline rises toward Blacklegs creek, and all on the west toward Long run. The basin is deeper in the vicinity of Elders Ridge than at Edri or West Lebanon, so that the structural shape of the field is a broad canoe-like fold, with the rocks dipping from all sides toward the center. The dip is gentle, being just enough to aid the oper- ations of the miner.

A large number of openings have been made on the outerop of the coal. Many of these were abandoned after a small quantity of coal had been taken out, and have been closed for years. Other banks to the number of ten or twelve are kept open and are operated by one or two men throughout the greater part of the year. Among these country banks are those of Holsten Brothers, Madison Craig, Wilson Blakely, John D. Hart, Harry Hart, Robert Fritz, Samuel White, MeComb, Thomas Hart and John Hart. These small banks sup- ply fuel for only a narrow belt of farms, be- cause the Upper Freeport coal is mined on Roaring run and ou Crooked creek below South bend less than two miles west of this field, and both the Upper and Lower Free- port coals are mined to the east not more than three miles from Blacklegs creek.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 17

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930