Christian County, Illinois - Chapter 5, 1880

Geology

GEOLOGY. E are indebted to A. H. Worthen, editor of the State Geological Report for the following article, and have selected such portions as we deem of most interest to our readers.

General Fe.4.Tures, Soil, Timber, Etc

On the north, it is drained by the Sangamon river, and the cei:- tral, southern and western parts of the county are watered by the South Fork of Sangamon and its tributaries. Bear, Locust, Prairie Fork and Flat creeks. The smaller streams sometimes are nearly dry, but the two main forks of Sangamon generally flow the year round. Tlie South Fork is rather a sluggish stream with muddy banks, but occasionally, as at Taylorville, the water is clear and fresh, indicative of latent springs.

The topographical features of this county do not vary much in diflerent localities. The prairies in the south-east are rolling, often rising into mounds. In every other part of the county they are flat or very gently undulating. Near the streams the slopes are often very gentle. In the southern half of the county we very rarely find a blufl' twenty-five feet high, and in passing down the South Fork no broken or hilly land is seen until we get below Taylorville. Four miles north-west of Taylorville the country is rather hilly, the hills about sixty feet high, but not often too steep to admit of cultivation. A few miles further down, there is a gradual descent from the prairie to the river, the bluff's of which are about twenty feet high. In the north east the slopes are often so gentle as to render it impossible to trace a line between the upland and the lowland.

On the North Fork of the Sangamon there are occasional drift blufl':, thirty to fifty feet high, capped with a heavy growth of white oak, but the white oak lands do not often extend more than a quarter of a mile from the river, giving place to a more undulating surface, with a growth of elm, hickory, oak, sassafras, cherry, hazel, etc.

This county consists mostly of prairie, the timbered land being confined to a narrow belt along the streams. On the South Fork of the Sangamon the timber belt is generally about three miles wide, and along the other streams from one to two miles The prairies are generally flat, with a luxuriant growth of resin-weed, two species, viz: - Silphium Iwhiialum and S- terebinthiiiaeeum, golden rod, solidugo, several species ; Lialris, or blazing star, two species, and the beautiful and delicately colored Phy-iostegia Virr/iniaua and Gerardia tenti'fuUa. Occasionally, on the basin-like depressions or flat marshy spots on the prairies, may be found Jris versicolor and Vernonni fasciculata.

There is not much difference in the quality of the prairie soil, it being all a rich black loam of from one to two and a half feet in depth, and in the northern part of the county slightlv' .sandy. The soil along the edge of the prairie near Taylorville is quite sandy ; eastwardlv for six miles there are occasional spots of poor sandy soil, with post oak and black jack, but this often gives place to better land, with white oak, black oak, hazel and sassafras, or cherr)', laurel oak, pin oak, hickory, plum and crab apple. Along Locust Fork its whole length, and on South Fork above the mouth of Locust Fork, both on the bottoms and hill sides, the soil is deep and rich, with principally a growth of American elm and corniis. On Bear creek the soil and growth is similar. On and near Mosquito creek the soil is rich and black, with a growth of elm, linden, coS'ee tree, cherry, red oak, hickory, red bud, spice bush hackberry, black walnut, honev' locust, ash, mulberry, etc. West of Mosquito creek, on the slopes leading to the North Fork, the timbered land is quite sandy and the growth variable ; on some soil black oak predominates ; where there is much clay mingled with sand there is a growth of red elm, sassafras, etc ; where there is still more clay, laurel oak, American elm, white oak, black hickor}', shell bark hickorj', red bud, black oak and sassafras.

On the south side of South Fork, below the mouth of Bear creek, the prairie land often approaches the stream, and the adjoining woodland growth reaching to the river bank consists of laurel oak, elm, hickory, linden and sa,ssafras.

North of the South Fork there are white oak hills occasionally spreading out into flats. Along the Sangamon river and adjacent hills there is a good supply of very good timber, consisting of white oak, burr oak, black walnut, red oak, elm and linden.

Out on the prairie the farmers have planted many hedges of Osage orange, and they seem to thrive very well. Near Rcsemond there is a thriftv berberrv hedge.

Crops. - This is an excellent ei)rn-pr(xhicing count)', generally averaging forty to fifty bushels per acre, and often sixty to seventyfive can be raised. Fall wheat gives a fine return to the farmer, but requires the ground to be well broken and grain put in with a drill. It will average fifteen bushels, and often reach twenty-eight to thirtv-two per a<'re. As yet there have not been many orchards jilunted, but the ajii'le crop is generally sure, and the peach trees often bear two years in succession. "Where the prairies are grazed down blue grass naturally springs up, and soon attijrds excellent grazing.

Under this head were recognized the alluvium, loess and drift. The alluvium includes the soil and recent deposits from the sti eanis ; and the black clays of the wide rich Sangamon bottoms are good examples of alluvium. On Mosquito creek the exposure along the banks shows as much as six feet of dark rich loam. On the South Fork of the Sangamon the black loam is often ten feet or more in depth.

East of Taylorville the washings in ravines exhibit about ten feet of butf and brown clays and sand which may be referred to the loess ; and in digging wells, about ten to fifteen feet of similar clay is passed through, reaching beds of sand and gravel, in which good streams of water are generally found. Sand beds are often reached within eight feet of the surface. Good streams of pure and pleasant tasting water are generally reached at a depth of from twelve to sixteen feet on the prairies, sometimes as much as twenty feet, and very rarely they have to dig deeper; but in the timber, wells have to be dug deeper, often twenty to thirty-five feet.

Blufl^s of well marked drift deposits are often seen along the streams, and consist of brown sand with rounded jiebbles and boulders, and brownish-yellow and blue clay.

On Prairie Fork and Bear creek, ten miles south of Taylorville, the washings on the hillsides exhibit at the top soft brown clay, and below clciy with many small round pebbles. On the North Fork of the Sangamon, one mile west of the east county line, the river bluff is fifty feet high, the upper portion of blue and dark-brown clay with sand and pebbles ; below there is a loose mass of sand and pebbles, sometimes cemented into a rough sandy conglomerate, at times sufficientlv firm and regular to make rough walls. Below this there is a dark-colored bed of finely comminuted sand and clay. Two miles further down the stream there is a low blufi' of dark ilrift clay, with pebbles and small boulders at the bottom ami bi-own clay at the top. At this place we observe a Cjuautity of bituminous shale, a little coal and some fragments of limestone, all associated with the drift.

The drift boulders in this county are generally small, and their character and composition various. Among them may be found greenstone, quartzite, granite, sienite, epidote rock, corals from the Devonian and limestone from the Silurian, but no peculiar drift fossils.

Coal Measure.3

The fiirmation, as seen in this county, embraces a thickness of about 230 feet, in which are visible two coal seams, only one of which is of workable thickness. These measures underlay the whole of the county, although there are no outcrops in the southwest, nor do we find any in the north east quarter of the county, they being restricted to a small district south of Pana, to Locust Fork, to South Fork for ten miles up the stream from the west ciunty line; on North Fork for three miles from the west line of the county, and one other outcrop between the forks. The deep drift deposits cover the rocks in other places. These rocks belong to the upper coal measures, and their position in this section is from No. 12 to No. inclusive,

There is here a regular southerly dip at the rate of thirty feet to the mile, extending from Pana for four miles South. It is probable that near or north of Pana, the rocks are horizontal and soon dip north-westwardly, which they evidently do ten miles north-west of Pana, although the dip is slight.

The next rocks in descending order crop out on Locust Fork on Section 2, T. 11 N., E. 1 W., and just north. They belong near No. 21 of the section, and appear thus :

Iron stone and occasional strata of brown ferruginous shales, containing remains of fossibs, including Prod, longispinus, BcUerophon, Crinoid sttms, etc., part exposed, remainder in shaft total 31 ft.

in Prod.costatus, P.longispinus, Athyrls subtilila ; also contains Pcoc/. Xebrascenis, Sp- mmcrutus, Prod, pralieniaiius, a fish tooth and one specimen each of Si/ntrilasma hemiplicata and Allorisma subeuncala hemipliada and Allorisma subcuneala were obtained from it. The rocks of the above section are regarded as being equivalent to the Ramsey creek, Fayette county beds. The limestone (No. 2) contains the fossils of the Si/nti-ilasma limestone of Ramsey creek, although but one specimen of that fossil was found. The lithological character, thickness and fossils, are the same as beds found on Beck's creek, Fayette county, and the overlaying shales (No. 1) are similar to corresponding beds at the railroad bridge, on Ramsey creek. Down the creek three miles, there appear four feet of lead-blue argillaceous limestone, equivalent to No. 22 of the section. The upper beds are shaly, the lower part firm, even, thick beds of subcrystalline fine-grained deep-blue limestone, having a conchoidal fracture. The upper shaly part is traversed by fucoidal markings, and contains many fossils, mostly Prod, jmittenlanns, P. Nebrascemis and Sp. cmneratus ; but fragments of a Xaidilu.^ and Bryozoa were also found here.

Tlie next in descending order is 12 feet of sand^tmie (No. 26), seen on South Fork, five miles below Tavlorville. The upper part is shaly, the lower beds thick, hard and grey, and a softer l)rinvn with dark specks; contains remains of Calamites, Si(/iUuria, aixl other coal plants. Noi. 27, 28 and 29. - In section 29, T. 14 N. K. 3 W., a quarter of a mile abuve Greenwood's mill, was observed at the top : -

Part of the same mav be seen at Greenwood's JlilLs. At North Fork mills, on the North Sangamon river, iu section 13, T. 15 N., R. 3 W , we have -

Three miles down stream, near the west county line, the lower part of the last section appears 7 feet thick, with brown shaly partings between the beds, which abound in Athi/ris subtllita ; the other fossils are P. Costatws, P. Xebrascensis, P. Prattenianus, and Lophophylhim proliferum.

owned by William W. Halford. The site for the shaft was in what was then Blucvillc, (but now Edinburg), the size was six feet by twelve feet in the clear, and has a partition in the middle, thus forming two six footshafts. After reaching about 70 feet, McKeman became dissatisfied and sold out to Greenwood, who went on with the work. The shaft was sunk with one horse, and from three to five men, and was over four years being sunk to the depth of 34.") feet, and at a cost of near 810,00). Bl'Iow we give the strata passed through.

After getting through those strata and not finding coal Dr. Greenwood abandoned the shaft for nearly three years, and let it fill up with water, but again in the spring of 1879 he employed an engine, and hoisted out the water, and drilled near seventy feet deeper, but found nothing to justify sinking the shaft any further, so he put the hands at work on the last 18 inch vein of coal, and it proved to be a very good article, and the fire clay lying immediately under the coal the shaft can be worked profitably. This is the only mine in the county where coal has been raised to any extent, although there have been large sums of money spent prospecting for it..

Cord. - -South of Pana coal has been taken out at several places along the head waters of Coal creek. At White's bank, on section 34, township 11, north, range 1, east, the seam is about twenty-two inches thick, of good quality, and obtained by drifting into the hill side, at an elevation of about thirty feet above the level of the creek. The position of this coal in the geological series is about 420 feet above coal No. 7, and coi-responds to No. 14, counting from lowest coal upwards, and is numbered seventeen in general section of this and adjoining counties. A ten inch seam crops out a quarter of a mile up stream, from Greenwood's mill, but the coal is of poor quality. A 17 inch seam probably exists beneath the limestone at North Fork mills, about six feet below low water. This coal is perhaps about 365 feet above coal No. 7.

six miles west of Pana, on Locust Fork, there are four feet of aehgray limestone, weathering liliiish-drah. The beds are rather thin, but the rock is of good quality. Two miles west of this there is a very good iiiuirry of deep blue limestone; the lower beds, if properly ([Harried, would make a pretty and durable building stone.

Ralston's and Greenwood's quarries, on the Snuih Furk of Sangamon, each contain several good beds of Iniilding stone, and make excellent lime. There are similar quarries at the Xorth Fork mills, and three miles west.

The lower two feet at the quarry in section IG, township 14, north, range 3, west, would probably make a good marble ; it is a fine-grained, even-textured, dove-colored limestone, with many lines and specs, of calc-spar.