USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania > Part 23
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This inclined plane extends from Cattaragus County, New York, to Sandusky Bay, being a slope consisting rather of a succession of low terraces, themselves a little inclined. These terraces are made by the outcropping of the strata, and are parallel with the lake shore. The average inclina- tion of the surface is about thirty-three feet to a mile; from eight or ten miles from the lake the downward sweep of the surface is much more rapid.
This Lake Erie slope is bounded on the southeast border by an abrupt, low, broken wall or escarpment, which consti- tutes the verge of the bituminous coal region. Between the Clarion and Tionesta, and also extending across the river southwest toward Mercer and Beaver, it rises gradually toward the northwest.
The rise of the Allegheny River, from Pittsburg to Frank- lin, does not exceed 755 feet, and the rise of French Creek,
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
from its mouth to Meadville, is about 130 feet. The high dividing ridge which separates the waters of the Allegheny tributaries from Lake Erie crosses the New York State line near Colt's Station, where it is about 1000 feet above the surface of the lake. It then passes in a straight line to Strong's on the turnpike, ten miles from Erie, where it is from 850 to 875 feet above the lake level. From Strong's south- westward it becomes less distinctly marked and much de- pressed, and is altogether lost previous to reaching Con- neaut Creek. The summit of the Erie Extension Caual is at Conneaut Lake, and is little more than 500 feet above Lake Erie.
From this dividing ridge there are four tolerably well- marked terraces to, and parallel with, the lake. These ter- races are higher and better defined near the New York State line, and become much depressed on reaching Elk Creek and Fairview Townships, with the exception of the lower one, which extends into the State of Ohio. The streams which empty into the Lake frequently run within one of these ter- races for a considerable distance before they find an opening through which they can pass to a lower level-thus, Walnut, Elk, and Conneaut Creeks head very far to the east of their respective final outlets.
Between Cattaragus Creek and Sandusky Bay the whole lake coast displays only the upper or sandstone member of the flag formation, called in the New York Geological Sur- vey the portage sandstones. This group of strata crossing Erie County in a southwest direction, almost precisely par- allel with the bend of the lake coast, constitutes a belt ten or twelve miles in width, its upper limit pursuing the general water-shed of the district. All the rocks between this line and the margin of the coal field are referable to the vergent shales.
The vergent flag or sandstone formation, in the type which the group wears upon Lake Erie, would not be recognized in its lithological composition by those who are only familiar
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
with it in the Appalachian valleys. In the eastern and cen- tral tracts of New York the whole formation is far more arenaceous, and the proportion of the sandstone layers to the shales, or more purely argillaceous beds, is much greater, the upper or terminal subdivision of the mass especially con- taining, with a large amount of thin bedded or flaggy sand- stone, a considerable body of more massive strata. But advancing west the clayey element predominates, and in the belt of country bordering on Lake Erie but comparatively little true sandstone remains in the mass. The most arena- ceous portion of the formation is even here near the top, and where well exposed, as it is in several places about eight miles south of the lake, where it is occasionally quarried, it may be recognized by its marine vegetation, and especially by a vertical stem-like form or species of scolithus.
The vergent shales also on Lake Erie are more argilla- ceous, and the two formations approximate so nearly in com- position, and even in their organic remains, that a separation is not practicable.
The whole vergent mass between the lake and the coal rock is 1900 feet thick, about 800 or 900 feet representing the thickness of the lower formation, and 1000 or 1100 the overlying vergent shales. The quarries near the road be- tween Waterford and Erie, at an elevation of 800 feet above the lake, indicate nearly the highest portion of the inferior group. It would appear from the researches of Professor James Hall, that the total thickness of the vergent flag formation or portage group of New York, amounts, in the longitude of Chatauqua Creek, to nearly 1400 feet; we are therefore to infer that in the region of Lake Erie some 500 or 600 feet of the formation are covered by its waters.
Ripple marks, so abundant in the vergent flags, are numer- ous in Erie and Crawford Counties. Concretions of various shapes abound in the more calcareous varieties of the finer- grained clay shales, particularly those of the lower or flag The commonest forms are spheroids, generally group.
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much flattened, and often curiously lobed by the addition of fresh materials on one or more sides. When very calcareous, these are seamed with little veins of carbonate of lime, filling cracks in more central portions-they are, in other words, true septaria.
Among the concretionary structures is one* which, from its singularity, and the doubts entertained by many in re- lation to its mode of origin, deserves a more special men- tion. It is the so-called "Cone-in-Cone" structure of the English geologist. In England it is met with occasionally in the finer shales and clay ironstones of the coal measures ; but in one vast series of formations it is nowhere seen but in this particular horizon, near the vergent flag forma- tion. It usually occurs in flat cakes of hardened calcareous shale imbedded in soft, mealy shale, the conical structure oc- cupying a thickness of one or two inches on one surface of the cake. Its position in the strata is near the lake shore, and per- haps the best localities for it in Erie County are at the mouth of Sixteen-mile Creek, and at the Cascade near Erie; but it is to be seen in a corresponding sitnation bordering on the lake at a great number of spots throughout the entire length of the formation, from Chatauqua Creek in New York, to Cleveland in Ohio, and Professor Hall speaks of it as abundant on the Genesee River.
A minute inspection of the strata, as disclosed on the lake shore and in the ravines, shows the first two hundred feet to consist of blue and olive-colored soft, calcareous clay-shales, brown bituminous shale and slate, and their alternating layers of fine-grained gray calcareo-argillaceous sandstone. All these materials are in their beds, and in constant alternation, their dimensions being from one-fourth
* This structure was first observed by Dr. Sam. L. Mitchell, a dis- tinguished geologist of New York, in 1827, and regarded by him with very great interest. His specimens were labeled " Argillaceous Schist of a peculiar conchoidal fracture."
25*
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of an inch to twelve inches. The carbonaceous shales and slates are the thinnest. Some of the finer-grained shales extend with little change of thickness over very considera- ble areas, while other beds change their dimensions rapidly.
The shales, but more especially the sandstones, are slightly calcareous.
The level line of the shore enables us to detect, in the dip of the strata, a slight lateral or northeast and southwest undulation-but this feature is only local and inconspicuous. At the mouth of Elk Creek, and elsewhere, the strata exhibit even a very gentle dip toward the northwest; and when ex- amined, this feature is connected with a low anticlinal arch- ing of the rocks, the axis of elevation being near the bridge, half a mile above the outlet of the stream, not far from Girard. If it were practicable thus to refer all the inclina- tions of the strata to a succession of horizons absolutely level, we should discover a vast succession of very low but broad and obscure anticlinals, conforming in their northeast and southwest trend to the flexures of the Appalachian chain, and indicating the last expiring swells in the crust transmit- ted with abating intensity across the broad bituminous coal region, from the enormous billows which lifted the Appa- lachian chain.
Organic remains are rare in the strata near the side of the lake, but one slender layer, about three inches in thick- ness, occurring on the shore near the village of Northeast, contains the little Avicula speciosa and Ungulina sub- orbicularia, the most abundant fossils of the formation. In other places the faces of the slabs of slate, especially when in contact with bituminous shale, are sometimes covered with fragments of plants, chiefly a delicate species of fucoid.
Eight or ten miles back from the lake the terrace outcrops consist of thinly-laminated olive and brownish shales, alter- nating with flaggy layers of sandstone. These latter become gradually more abundant as we ascend in the series. The thickest arenaceous beds measure in some places twelve or
·
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fifteen inches, and where a number of them occur together, with only thin partings of shale, the mass is quarried as a building material.
A stratum of this kind appears about midway between Erie and Waterford, and has been quarried in an excavation known as Vincent's, about one mile west of the turnpike, the materials from it being used in the locks of the Erie ex- tension of the Pennsylvania Canal. Near Elk Creek, at Elisha Smith's, east of Girard, and at Cranes' near Cranes' Mills, are the most extensive quarries of similar masses. It is seldom possible to trace a particular stratum of the sandstone for any considerable distance, for the beds soon thin off or deteriorate for economical uses, becoming too argillaceous. At an elevation of about 810 feet above the level of the lake there appear, in the vicinity of Waterford, two or three thin layers of calcareous sandstone, abounding in marine organic remains, chiefly bivalve shells. These strata, easily recognized by the profusion of their imbedded fossils, are to be seen at Whiteman's, and also at Wilcox's, near the village, as likewise along the streams at the head waters of Le Bœuf and Elk Creeks-one locality being near the house of Martin Strong. The species are characteristic of the vergent newer shales, the Chemung group of New York.
Upon these fossiliferous beds rest several bands of sand- stone, the layers being from six to twelve inches thick. These have been quarried for building-stone, but approach- ing Waterford they deteriorate. East of the village occurs a stratum of yellow sandstone, coarser than the beds of the formation generally, and differing from them in aspect. It has been quarried on the borders of French Creek, where a good building material was obtained. At Smith's quarry the bed was about four feet thick. Upon it rest, first, thin bands of pebbly rock, the pebbles having the size of large shot; secondly, shale; thirdly, two layers of hard silicious sandstone, sixteen inches thick, and above them slate and
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flaggy sandstone. A similar section may be seen on the opposite side of the stream at A. Middleton's.
In the Moravian quarry (near Waterford) the sandstone bed is not so thick. At Carrol's quarry it is from four to six feet in thickness, some thin layers of pebbly rock or coarse grit, and other sandstone resting over it, separated by only a few inches of shale. All these beds are embraced within a thickness of ten or twelve feet. A little petroleum is found in all of these quarries. We have already seen that many of the clay shales are highly bituminous.
The greater part of the surface of the northwest district is thinly strewed with Northern drift, and the valleys of all the principal streams are deeply filled with it, presenting some very instructive features in the forms of many bold terraces into which the waters have brought it.
Character of the Soil .- The cadent and vergent rocks, of which this northwest district consists, furnish by disinte- gration a soil in which clay is the predominating ingredient. It may be denominated a cold, clayey loam, better suited for grazing than for growing wheat. That derived from the inferior, more argillaceous strata nearer the lake, is in many belts a stiff clay, while that into which the sandy matter of the upper parts of the formation enters as an element is looser, and approximates to the character of a loam. A greater or less mixture of the materials of the Northern drift or transported gravel, with the proper soil of the region, modifies the quality of the latter, and gives to many locali- ties agricultural peculiarities which the subsequent rocks themselves could never impart. In nearly all the larger valleys the depth of the drift is such as to confer on them a soil abounding in gravel. Though this very heterogeneous covering contains pebbles and sand derived from the lime- stones which outcrop to the north and east of Lake Erie, mingled with the less fertile materials of the crystalline and silicious rocks yet farther north, and with the fragments of
-
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the underlying shales, a soil exists usually well adapted to the culture of wheat and the finer kinds of grain.
The soil derived from the cadent and vergent rocks alone is too generally deficient in calcareous matter to possess a high degree of fertility, and, unfortunately for the domestic agricultural resources of the district, not a single bed or formation of good limestone either within it or cheaply con- tiguous to it, contributes to the land the element which it chiefly needs. As, however, much good agricultural lime is procurable from the immediate coast of the lake toward its west end, there cannot be a doubt that ultimately com- merce, in her inexhaustible power to benefit, will be enlisted to convey the requisite quantity of this almost indispensable fertilizer not only to the coast of Erie County, but by the canals, to all the contiguous regions toward the southeast.
1
Calcareous Marl. - In the Pymatuning and Conneaut swamps there are shallow but rather extensive deposits of a soft calcareous tufa and shell-marl, the possible value of which to the agriculture of the surrounding districts is not enough appreciated. This is in Crawford County. Thus far we have cited the State geologist.
In Erie County, at Beaverdam, west of Union, thirty years ago, marl was burned for lime; and at Walnut Creek, quite recently, lime of the best quality was manufactured. At the Sink-hole, in Waterford, we have reason to suppose the quantity of shell-marl inexhaustible .* Many cords of hard blue limestone were quarried in excavating the canal in Erie. The very superior quality of the wheat produced in the vicinity of the lake confirms Professor Rogers's state- ment, that lime exists in the sand and pebbles. It is some-
* Professor Austin, of the Waterford Academy, put the marl to the test, and found it to be composed principally of lime; and adds, "the time will come when it will be extensively used as a fertilizer, and it can be burned so as to form lime-but the lime will not be as good as if obtained from some other source."
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times too, observed in bricks, in their disruption when the lime slackens.
For several years the blast furnace of Vincent, Himrod & Co. was stocked principally with Erie County bog ore .* It was brought from Laird's farm, Nicholson's, Elk Creek, etc., in the western part of the county. Near Cranesville there is a bed which is burned and used as a mineral paint. The ore yielded from fifteen to twenty, and sometimes even sixty per cent. of iron-some was found to be one-fifth lime- stone. At the time the furnace discontinued operations, the supply of ore was supposed to be exhausted.
Coal in small quantities has been found, and also sulphate of alumina compounded with the sulphate of iron, from which the alum of commerce is derived. Salt springs have been discovered in various places, but probably not of sufficient strength to justify the erection of works for the manufacture of salt.
Oil .- Boring for oil has been prosecuted in different parts, as yet not with any marked success. The well of C. McSpar- ren, in the southeastern part of the town, reached the depth of 200 feet, mostly through rock. An abundance of gas was found, but the work has ceased for the present. In Summit Township, Mr. C. Fronce bored a well on a branch of Le Bœuf Creek to the depth of 200 feet without finding oil in paying quantities. Afterward, near Strong's Mill, at a depth of 157, a vein which it was thought would yield ten barrels per day was found. P. G. Stranahan drilled 200 in Union; and on Sturgeon's farm, at Fairplains, 100 feet
* As a proof of the quality of the metal, we find in the Erie Ga- zette, 1843: "An inspection of 1200 32-pound shot was made by the navy agent, at the Presqu'ile Foundery, from Erie County ore, and a contract was finished with Government for 300 8-inch shot and 7000 32-pounders, part of which were shipped for Buffalo and Sack- ett's Harbor."
Many years ago considerable quantities were shipped at Massas- saqué for a small furnace in Conneaut, Ohio.
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through a stratum of coal four feet in thickness. Near the Springfield Depot, on the Cleveland and Erie Road, boring has been commenced. Nearly a dozen companies are now prosecuting the business in Conneaut Township, on the banks of Marsh Run. Oil was found in that region twenty years ago, and collected for medicinal purposes, and in quarrying stone the workmen found it in small pools among the rocks. An old salt well which had been opened forty years ago, in Wellsburg, having become filled with rubbish, was cleaned, and jets of oil were thrown at three different times. This is on the east branch of Conneaut Creek. A company with a cash capital of $1000 was formed in February, 1861, at Waterford, to drill in that neighborhood, and in Erie one hundred Germans formed an association with a capital of $10,000, and immediately commenced operations on Ninth Street.
Several mineral springs have been discovered-a burning sulphur spring on the farm of Mr. Knox, south of the town, at one time claimed attention and excited much curiosity. Another burning spring is found on the Oilwilder farm, on Six-mile Creek. A mineral spring on the ground formerly owned by P. P. Glazier, on Eighth Street, was, in 1840, improved and fitted up with baths for the benefit of invalids.
A specimen of the water was sent for analysis to Profes- sor Booth, of Philadelphia. His experiments on one gallon of 60,000 grains resulted as follows :-
Chloride of potassium. 20-56
sodium 110.16
66 magnesium 45.36
calcium 8.88
iron 2.88
Sulphate of lime.
11.68
Total soluble matter. 199.52
Carbonate of lime. 19.12
magnesia. 0.96
iron 1.44
Silica. 0.48
Total insoluble. 22.00
Professor Booth explains insoluble matter to mean "the residue, which will not redissolve in pure water after evap-
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oration to dryness. The carbonates in the insoluble portion are held in solution in the spring water by a small quantity of carbonic acid which escapes during the evaporation."
He adds : "It appears from the analysis that the spring water is of excellent quality and bears comparison with many European springs which have attained some celeb- rity." The springs have been successfully tried by invalids ; but the premises are now out of repair, and the water not to be obtained in its purity and strength.
The unforeseen and repeated sinking of the Sunbury and Erie track, at Le Bœuf swamp, attracted much attention during the construction of that road, and elicited the follow- ing statement in substance from Mr. R. Andrews, one of the engineers. When the location was made, the surface, excepting in a few places, appeared firm and hard. Le Bænf swamp, in which the sinking occurred, is between two large mounds designated as the north and south mounds, as they lie in that course with the railroad. The level is about four feet higher than Le Bœuf Creek. The surface soil is mostly made up of vegetable mould, varying from three to seven feet in thickness, for the distance of 38,000 feet. The line of the railroad is perfectly straight through this swamp, and the height of the bank above it averages five feet.
The grading of the railroad was begun in 1856, at both ends, and after making 100 feet of the bank near the south mound it first showed symptoms of settling, and went from bad to worse as the bank receded from the mound. At the north end better progress was made, and there were no indi- cations that any settling would take place. When the work on the road was stopped, in 1857, 1000 feet were made on the north end, and 175 on the south.
In 1858 the work was resumed, but little progress was made until January, 1859, when the efficient and energetic contractors, Russel, Barnet & Co., took charge. Sound- ings were made under the direction of the engineer through the swamp, the length of which, by previous advancement,
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was reduced to 2600 feet. At the south mound no bottom could be found for a distance of 300 feet-an iron rod hav- ing been made thirty-five feet in length for the purpose. The soundings for the remaining 1300 feet averaged from 1 to 25 feet, striking a good gravel bottom. The penetration of the rod in most places through the crust was somewhat hard; but when through, it passed readily to the gravel.
There is every indication that at one time this was a large lake, and that it has become filled up by drift, logs, etc., which, by decay and vegetable matter decomposing, has formed the "crust" alluded to. For some time the two sides settled very materially, but particularly the one on the south, consuming an immense quantity of earth.
The height of the bank (as ascertained from a formula, the amount of yards put in and the distance made being known) is 55 feet, thus making a fill of this height when the original section called for only 6 feet. Some idea may be formed of the amount of work required to complete the south end, from the following calculation based on actual measurement : "In the month of February 7500 yards were put in and only gained 30 feet. Had the swamp not settled, and with the original section, this amount of earth would have made something over three-fourths of a mile. The settling is very gradual, and when the bank once ceases to settle, it never varies afterward .* A portion made up to grade in 1857 has not settled an inch, thus guaranteeing a good and safe bank, though a costly one.
"Large night forces were put on this work-200 men, 20 cars, and 18 horses worked day and night as faithfully as possible. It presented a lively appearance at night to see the fires and lanterns strung along the banks, and to hear the voices of the men, and the rumbling noise of the cars breaking the peaceful quietude."
* This treacherous swamp occasioned difficulty after the cars com- menced running.
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To those who had never before witnessed earth swallow earth, or suspected an old lake under cover, with its gravel bottom forty feet below, in their vicinity, it must have been a matter of very great surprise.
Near Union a similar but smaller sink-hole was found; and at Hartstown, Crawford County, on the canal, one of twice the extent of the one at Waterford.
Meadows in the West have broken through and sunk, while others have been so like a spring-floor that the weight of a cart was never hazarded upon them, but the harvest secured by long pitchforks. " All belong to a class of which there are myriads in the drift region of North America. The largest Superior, and others that scarcely hold a gallon, as to supply and position, are to be accounted for in exactly the same manner."
The Devil's Back-bone .- About three and a half miles southeast from the borough of Girard is a most remarkable place, which deserves a better name than "The Devil's Back- bone." The country is very romantic and extremely hilly, rising apparently to a very great height. Reaching the farm of Mr. Blair, one of the first settlers, the drive is along the edge of a fearful ravine, the road lying frightfully near, and but for the thick growth of trees on its border would be absolutely dangerous. Leaving the horses and carriage, a walk of a few moments opens to view a magnificent pros- pect. Beneath, appears a large hollow, the precipitous sides of which, as well as the bank beyond, are covered with magnificent forest trees. In the middle of this rises the "Back-bone," a ridge of sand and slate one hundred feet in height, with a base of but sixty feet. This is two hundred feet in length, one side being partly covered with trees, while the other is entirely bare. The top of the back, which is from one to twelve inches in width, is a narrow but rather dangerous walk, but affords a view truly grand, Elk Creek being around the point and on both sides, hav- ing worn its bed through the soil to a very great depth.
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