Washington County, Ohio - Chapter 23: Physical Features of Washington County., 1881

Chapter 23: Physical Features of Washington County.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.* Boundaries - Some Peculiarities of the Ohio - The Surface Drainage of the County - Interesting Facts - The Causes of the Conformation of the Surface Cannot be Assigned - Soil - Extent of the Valley Lands -

WASHINGTON county is bounded upon the north by the counties of Monroe, Noble and Morgan, and on the west by Morgan and Athens. It is bounded upon the south and east by tue Ohio river and has a shore line of nearly fifty-four miles. In this distance the stream falls thirty-two feet, giving an average fall of about seven inches a mile. This is not, however, uniform, for the river consists of a series of alternating pools and shallows. According to the government surveys there are in the aggregate about twenty-four miles of pools in which the water is seven feet deep or more, and the remaining thirty miles are made up of comparative shallows and ripples. The elevation of the Ohio above tide-water at the upper end of the county and one and one-fourth miles above Matamoras is five hundred and eighty-eight and three-tenths feet, and the elevation where the river leaves the county at the lowest point of Belpre township is five hundred and fifty-six and three-tenths feet. Ata point nearly three miles above the mouth of the Little Kanawha, at Parkersburgh the elevation is precisely the same as that of Lake Erie - five hundred and sixty-five feet.

The surface drainage of Washington county is very complete. The county is divided into two proximately equal parts by the Muskingum river, which, entering the county at the northwest corner, flows to the Ohio with many meanderings, in a generally southeast direction. The principal affluents of the Ohio within the county, beside the Muskingum, are the Little Muskingum river, Duck creek, and the Little Hocking river. Wolf creek, which drains a considerable area in the northwest portion of the county, empties into the Muskingum a little above Beverly. The. drainage system of the county presents some very interesting facts, says the late Professor Andrews. The Ohio, Muskingum, and Duck creek all converge toward 2 common centre - the last three uniting with the Ohio in Marietta township. The Ohio, which flows in a channel very nearly parallel with the Little Muskingum, is deflected northwesterly by the West Virginia hills, and meets the other streams mentioned. The slopes of nearly half a circle find their lowest point at a common centre in Marietta township. The Little Muskingum drains the southwestern part of Monroe county, and entering Washington county near the northeast corner, flows through Ludlow, Independence, Lawrence, Newport, and Marietta townships to the Ohio. Its branches also drain portions of Jolly and Grandview townships. All of Liberty township, except the northwest corner, is drained by Fifteen Mile creek, a branch coming

*This chapter is principally compiled from The Geological Survey of Ohio - 1874 (in which the contribution on Washington county is by the late Professor E. B. Andrews), and from Delafield's Topographical Description.

Soil

in from the north. Duck creek flows nearly south through Washington county and drains a comparatively limited area, lying in Aurelius, Salem, Fearing, and Marietta townships. The Pawpaw branch extends into the northwest corner of Liberty, and Whipple's run rises in Fearing. 'There is within the county no western tributary of Duck creek of any considerable size, the watershed or dividing ridge between Duck creek and the Muskingum being very near the former stream. The northern tributaries of the Muskingum in the county are all small. Bear creek, Cats creek, and Big run are the chief, and drain Adams and the western part of Salem townships. On the western and southern side of the Muskingum its principal tributaries are two, Rainbow creek and Wolf creek, the former flowing eastward and entering the Muskingum in the township by the same name, and the latter with its several branches flowing northward and draining Watertown, Palmer, Wesley, and the northern parts of Fairfield, Barlow, and Warren, and small portions of some adjacent townships. The slope drained by the waters of Wolf creek in Washington county is proximately a northwestern one, and directly opposite the general slope of southern Ohio. It is a curious fact that some of the branches of this stream (in Warren township) have their rise within two miles of the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio. Instead of flowing into the waters of the Ohio, these small streams go by a devious course to the north limit of the county and then find their way back by the channel of the Muskingum to join the Ohio, very near its source. In the southwestern part of the county is the Little Hocking river, the east branch of which rises in the southern part of Warren, just back of the Ohio river hills, and flows southwesterly through Dunham and Belpre to unite with the west branch in the extreme western part of the latter township. The west branch drains the southern part of Fairfield and Decatur, flowing in a generally southeasterly direction toward the Ohio. Thus it will be seen that the county presents a great variety of surface slopes. Inthe eastern half of the county the slope is southwestern and southern, while in the western it is chiefly northern and southeastern. The causes which determined the flow of the streams in these different directions cannot be assigned. SOIL.

The immediate valleys of the Ohio and Muskingum are very rich and productive, and equal in fertility to any lands in the State. There are in the county about fiftyfour miles in length along the Ohio river, and about thirty-two miles along the Muskingum. The county has therefore a large aggregate area of the finest alluvial soil. In these valleys are found the sandy drift terraces, which are generally at a level of from seventy to eighty feet above the streams. While the soil of the terraces is not so rich as that of the lower alluvial ground, it is nevertheless generally fertile, and being a warm and early soil, and easily cultivated, it is the favorite one for many crops. Inthe gravel and among the pebbles of these terraces there is a considerable quantity of limestone, which adds greatly to the fertility. [he valleys of Duck creek and the Little Muskingum are generally much narrower, and show no drift terraces. The alluvial soil in these valleys is composed of sedementary materials, derived from the carboniferous strata of this county, and Noble and Monroe. From the nature of the strata, we should not expect, as a rule, a soil as rich as in the larger valleys of the Ohio and Muskingum, where there is a larger variety of soil-producing materials in the strata traversed, and especially more of limestone.

The soil on the hills and hillsides is determined in quality by the nature of the strata composing the hills. It is richest where there is an abundance of limestone, and poorest when derived from disintegrated sandstone. In some cases are found strata of highly soluble' limestone of great fertilizing value, situated halfway up the hillsides, while above are sand rocks and sandy shales. Yet, the more sterile sandstone soil is often cultivated, and the rich limestone soil neglected. It has been estimated that the alluvial valley of the Muskingum is threefourths of a mile wide. If so, there would be fifteen thousand, three hundred and sixty acres of land in the immediate valley. If we estimate the average width in both bottom and terrace land of the north bank of the Ohio, at one-half mile, we have seventeen thousand two hundred and eighty acres, and a total in the two valleys within the limits of Washington county of thirty-two thousand six hundred and forty. The largest deposits of limestone strata are perhaps those found along Wolf creek, but they are so low in the valley, indeed, often in the bed of the stream, that they produce little fertilizing effect. In Adams, Salem, and Liberty townships there are valuable deposits of highly soluble limestone, which are of the utmost importance agriculturally, and give to many farms a rich and almost self-perpetuating soil. Such limestones are not altogether wanting in several other townships, but are most abundant in the townships named. 'The smoothest lands in the county, and those most attractive to the eye, excepting the more immediate river valleys, are found on the slope drained by the branches of Wolf creek in the townships of Barlow, Watertown, Palmer, etc. They are not, perhaps, the richest, for there is a deficiency in limestone, but they lie beautifully, and in their gentle undulations and gradual slopes are in marked contrast with the abrupt hills so common in other parts of the county. Taken as a whole, the soil of Washington county is in quality above the average of that of the counties of southem Ohio. Even its most rough and forbidding hills have, by the frugal and industrious German population, been rendered productive and attractive.

General Geological Features

The county lies wholly within the coal measures and in the upper portion of the series. There are no other geological formations represented in the county, if we except the surface materials, which constitute the drift terraces of the Muskingum and Ohio valleys, which are of quaternary age. There is in Barlow, on the northern slope of the Wolf creek waters, the evidence of a probable lake bed, which is also, doubtless, of quaternary age. The drift terraces constitute a uniform series of ancient gravel banks and sand-bars, formed at a time when the Ohio and Muskingum were at a far higher stage than now. The materials of these terraces were brought from the north, from areas once covered by large deposits of sand, gravel, bowlders, etc. Duck creek and Little Muskingum are not sufficiently far north to reach these drift areas, and, consequently, no true drift terraces are found on them. On the Little Muskingum and Duck creek there are some terraced banks, but they show of the extra-limital materials found in the drift terraces, and were made by the deposit of the proper river sands, where the current of these streams met the back water of the Ohio, at the time when the waters of the latter were probably eighty or one hundred feet higher than now. In the drift gravel in the Ohio and Muskingum terraces we find a great scarcity of pebbles and small bowlders, very interesting in their lithological and palentological characters. In addition to granites, quartzites, and greenstones, and all forms of the harder rocks found north of the lakes, occur fossils of all the fossiliferous strata lying to the north. They are best preserved when embedded in cherty limestone.

The stratified rocks of the county all belong' to the coal measure formation. It is common to divide the Ohio coal measures into two divisions - upper and lower - the dividing line being that of the Pittsburgh seam of coal. But the Pittsburgh and Wheeling seams are the same and the Pomeroy seam is identical with the Wheeling. If therefore the Pomeroy seam be taken as the base of the upper coal measures nearly all of Washington county lies in the upper series. The Pomeroy seam is found in fine development, west of the Washington county line on Federal creek and its branches in Rome, Berne and Ames townships and in Marion and Homer townships in Morgan county. But the seam dips to the eastward and is not seen anywhere in the west half of Washington county. Inthe undulations and uplifts in the eastern part of the county, however, it appears on Duck creek and Little Muskingum in the Newells Run uplift in Newport township. The most extensive seam of coal in the county is the one found eighty-five to one hundred feet above the Pomeroy seam, which has a wide range in Adams, Aurelius, Salem, Liberty, Fearing, Lawrence, Newport and other townships. This is the upper Salem coal or the sandstone seam, so called from the fact that in Salem it generally lies under a heavy sand rock. It is generally of sufficient thickness for profitable mining and is of good quality. There is a seam of coal about one hundred feet higher in the series found in many parts of the county, which is generally thin, but serves the purpose of local use, It is sel- dom sufficiently thick to warrant extensive mining. There is in Washington county an adequate supply of coal, only needing proper facilities for distribution. Unfortunately all the seams of coal in the hills bordering on the Ohio river are thin. The Pomeroy and the one about ninety feet above it are brought up in the Newells Run uplift but are too thin near the Ohio river for profitable mining. Upon the Muskingum the coal run seam, which is the one above the Pomeroy seam, is fairly developed. When mined with discrimination the better coal of the seam is of a very fair quality and suitable for all general uses. This coal meets a want on the river which could not otherwise be well supplied.*

Salt, in the form of rich brines, may be found in many parts of the county by sufficiently deep boring. Many oil wells have struck ample supplies of brine.

Petroleumf is found in considerable quantities in several townships east of the Muskingum. Speaking (1832) of this product of mother earth, Delafield, who calls it "spring oil," or 'Seneca oil," says that "it has been known to the hunters and early inhabitants of the county since its first settlement. It is generally supposed to be the product of coal, at a great distance below the surface of the earth. It is, as is well known, an oleaginous substance, possessing a strong, disagreeable odor. This oil, by filtering it through charcoal, is almost deprived of its empyreumatic smell and can be used in lamps, as it affords a brilliant light. It is very useful, and therefore much employed in curing the diseases of, and the injuries done to, horses. It is a preventive against the attacks of the blowing-fly, and is perhaps the best substance known for the prevention of friction in machinery." At the time when Delafield wrote, the importance of petroleum as an article of commerce was not anticipated, and he makes no suggestion regarding the possibility of its being discovered in large quantity. He speaks, however, of the gas arising from salt wells, "which, when a light is applied, inflames and burns for days until extinguished by rain or a sudden gust of wind," and he also mentions "some pools of water through which gasses arise, and which consequently have acquired the name of 'burning springs.'"

Iron ores have been found in Washington county only in limited quantities, and seldom occur in such manner or of such worth as to warrant mining. It is usually of the variety popularly known as "bog iron ore." This is most commonly found along the streams, and especially on the hills of the Little Muskingum and Duck creek.