Effingham County, Illinois - Chapter 2, 1883

TOPOGRAPHY AND PIIV.SICAL FEATURES - NORTHWESTERN ELEVATION OR MOUNDS - THE LITTLE WABASH BLUFFS - GEOLOGY - RELATIONS BETWEEN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE - FORMATION OF ROCKS-NATURAL FORCES - THE FLORIDA REEFS - PETREF.iCTIONS - HUMAN RE.MAINS - COAL - IRON ORE AND BUILDING ROCK - MINERAL WATERS - ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES, ETC.

miles across at its base, and a little over fifty feet high, descending very gradually for more than a mile to the flat level prairies, which are soon merged into post oak flats.

"We are told by the State Geologist that the elevations in Northwestern Illinois known as the " mounds,' are no doubt the result of denuding forces acting upon the surface, which have swept away the surrounding strata, leaving these isolated hills as the only remaining indications of the former level of the adjacent region.

From Freeport southward, along the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, there is a gradual descent to the valley of tlie Big Muddy River, in Jackson County, where the level of the railroad grade is only fifty-five feet above the river at Cairo. From this point there is a rapid rise toward the south, and at Cobden the railroad intersects a true mountain range that has an elevation of 500 to 600 feet. The geologist distinguishes this as a mountain ridge, because the evidences show there was here an uplift by forces acting from beneath, and not a washing away from the general level by the waters, as in the case of the northwestern mounds (no reference to the so-called Indian mounds that

EFFINGHAM COUNTY is bounded on the north by Shelby and Cumberland, on the east by Cumberland and Jasper, on the south by Clay and Fayette, and on the west by Fayette. It has an area of 486 square miles, of which more than one-half is timber.

The Little Wabash River, passing southwardly, nearly equally divides the county. Its tributaries are : On the east, Lucas, Big Bishop, with its forks, Little Bishop and Ramsey Creeks, Big and Little Salt Creeks. Brush Creek, Green Creek and Sugar Fork; on the west are Fulfer and Limestone, Big and Brockett's Creek, Second Creek, Funkhouser, Blue Point and Shoal Creek and Green Creek, and Moccasin Creek. The higher surface land is mostly flat prairie, or flat woodland, with some beautifully rolling lands in the northwestern part of the county. Above the flats are a few low mounds, not so abundant nor so elevated as in the counties west. One of these is in the eastern part of the county, another is Blue Mound, and there is a low ridge near Mason. The low woodlands contain many fine oak flats, that change to white and burr oaks, hickory and post oaks on the breaks. The ridge at Mason is about two

This Cobden ridge is the eastern extension of an axis of elevation or uplift, which brings the St. Peters sandstone of the Lower Silurian, above the surface at Bailey's Landing, on the west side of the Mississippi River, tilts up the Devonian limestone at the " Bake Oven," and " Bald Bluffs " in Jack-son County at an angle of about 25°, and after elevating the upper portion of the Lower Carboniferous limestone above the surface entirely across the southern portion of the State, finalli' crosses the Ohio in the vicinity of Shawneetown, and is lost beneath the coal measures of Kentuck}-.

If the strata forming the elevation lie in their original horizontal position, the mountain owes its existence to the removal of the surrounding strata b}- denuding forces, but if the strata are dislocated, and tilted at a high angle from their original horizontal position, then the elevation may be attributed to upheaving forces, or, as sometimes happens, to both causes. These upheavals, when they have occurred after the deposits of the coal measures, as at La Salle, Utica, Carbondale, St. Johns, and at other points, lift the St. Peters sandstone sometimes from hundreds of feet below to the surface, and thus bringing the coal beds also up.

Near the count}- line, the Little Wabash bluffs are sometimes eighty feet high; near the railroad bridge they are thirtj' to forty feet, near Ewington about the same, and fifty to eighty feet high near the north county line.

The hills near Salt Creek are often quite abrupt, sometimes seventy-five feet high; its bottoms are low and generally narrow, with quicksand in many places in the crock bed. Near Sugar Creek, Shoal Creek and Green Creek, the hills are somewhat steep, bottoms very narrow, and beds of the streams very sandy. On all the other streams in the county the bottoms are much wider, and contain much excellent agricultural lands that is now being put in cultivation. The streams also possess the great advantage of much lower hills, and that are of a more gradual and easy ascent.

The prairie in the western part of the county is not so flat as that in the eastern, yet it majbe all pronounced flat prairie, with occasional ponds, on the margin of which may be found Cephalanthus occideiitalis and Iris versicolor. In the woods are post oak. pin oak, white oak, black oak, hickory, sugar, elm, laurel oak, sassafras, ash, hazel, sumach, iron wood, buckej'c, sycamore, red-bud. linden, hornbeam, Spanish oak, grape vines, plum, clematis, trumpet creeper, red birch, etc., etc. Geological Formations* - It is an anxiom of general application in geological science, that there is an intimate relationship existing between the physical geography and the geological histor}- of every portion of the earth's surface, and in all cases the topographical features of a country are molded by, and therefore must be, to some extent at least, a reflection of its geological structure.

If this geological axiom could but find its way to ever\' school-room, then would this chapter, provided it is a lair presentation of the geological and physical geography of the county, become the most interesting and useful book ever placed before either the children of the schools or the community at large. To the future farmer, and to all dependent upon

- Throughout this chapter we have made free draftjj upju^he " Economical Geology of Illinois," by A. H. Worther, whoae intereating report of the geology of th.-* Stiite of Illinois is just now from the press, and na its title page says, " Puhlished by authority of the Legislature of Illinois," 1S82, and the changes it has undergone from the surface agencies of more modern times. The varied conditions of mountain and valley, deep goigo and level plain, ai-e not the results of chance, but, ou the contrary, are just as much due to the operations of natural laws, m the rotations of the earth, or the growth and continued existence of the various species of animals and plants whiidi inhabit its surface. Moreover, all the varietl conditions of the soil and its productive capacities, which may be observed in different portions of our own State, are traceable to the causes existing in the geological history of that particu.ar region, and to the surface agencies which have served to modify the whole, and prepare the earth for the reception and sustenance of the exist- 1 iiig races of beings. Hence, we see the geological history of a coun- ' try determines its agricultural capacities, and also the amount of population which it may sustain, and the general avocation of ita 1 inhabitants.

him, an indispensable beginning of tlieir education will commonue with the investigation of these important subjects as they exist in their own count^v, tiieir own township and upon their individual farms.

Tiie whole earth was once a globe of liquid fire. The radiation of heat from the surface resulted in the gradual cooling of the mass, and thus the first rocks were formed. Geology teaches that the earth has been in process of creation through countless ages, and has arrived at its present condition by regular stages of growth or development in some respects analogous to those which characterize the life of an animal; that these have been eflfeeted by the same general law of progressive development which characterizes every development of nature, and apply with equal force to the mineral, the vegetable and the animal kingdoms, that all, from the minutest globule, as shown by the microscope, to the grandest world that revolves around its controlling central sun, is alike subject to the control of unchanging laws; that through these laws, order has been evolved and the earth finally fitted and prepared for the habitation of man.

These changes have been going on forever; so long that the human mind utterly fails to grasp the immense duration of the earth's history, that have preceded the coming of the now existing races of beings. You can no more enumerate these j'ears, periods and aeons than could you count the grains of sand re- (juired to form a solid globe like this, or the drops of water contained in all its waters, or the number of cubic inches in infinite .space. Geological time is measured onl}' by periods, and each period is measured by an immeasurable number of years.

The eternity of the past is as incomprehensible as the eternit}- of the future; it is impossible to conceive when the material that constitutes this earth did not exist in some form, and equally impossible to conceive a period in the future when it will not exist ; nothing has ever been or ever will be anihilated. Nature's laws are eternal and unciiangeable, alwa3's producing like effects from like causes ; the law of change is the vast clock of God that ticks off the feons, that had no beginning, no endding. The organic being may die and the constitutional elements of which it is composed be returned to the earth and atmosphere from whence they came, but no portion is lost or destroyed in the process.

Natural forces are manifested by motion, and various effects produced, such, for instance, as the attraction between particles of matter in solution, by which the}' are caused to assume a definite form of crystallization. Perhaps the thought may be a new and startling one to the reader, that the forces that give form to the cr3"stal are llcing forces, and that, in this sense, life really pervades all matter. Hence every mineral assumes its own peculiar form of crystallization, and that, too, with unerring certainty. The formation of the crystal is the unmistakable effort and force of nature toward organic creation - the first results of a great law that has culminated in the creation of all tlie higher forms of organized beings.

The time that has elapsed since the present race of beings were first here is much greater than the popular mind has been prepared to admit. Prof Agassiz, in a work on the coral reefs of Florida, clearly establishes the fact that this living species of coral have been at work on that coast for more than 70,000 ^ears. Capt. E. B. Hunt, of the United States Corps of Engineers, for many jears at Kej' West, in Florida, published in Silliman's Journal, the evidences that the existing corals that built the limestone formations of the Florida coast had been at work there for at least 5,400,000 years. Sir Charles Ij3'ell admitted in his last work "Antiquity- of 3Ian," that there are clear evidences that the human race have inhabited this continent more than 100,000 vears.

The earliest formed rocks having resulted from the cooling of mineral matter existing in a state of fusion, are termed' primary igneous rocks.

When the surface of the earth had become sufHcientl3' cooled, the aqueous vapors of the atmosphere were condensed into water, and the oceans and streams were formed. The waters, bj- their solvent and eroding influence, aided bj- other atmospheric agencies, acted upon the hardened j'ocks, wearing them away; and the disintegrated material, being carried by the streams to the bottom of the ocean, were there deposited to form the _ stratified rocks. These two causes - Are and water - have given origin to all the rocky masses known. Sometimes the sedimentary or stratilied rocks are subjected to heat or other agencies l)y wliich their original formation is changed. The}' then are called metamorphic rocks. Thus sandstone is converted into quartz or quartzite, and limestone into crystalline marble, etc. These constitute, in the simplest form, the three classes of rock which enter into the formation of the earth's crust.

The ancient oceans, like those of the present day, were filled with organized beings, and the shell of the mollusk, and the hard, calcareous habitation secreted by the coral, become imbedded in the constantly accumulating sediment at the bottom of the ocean; and when this sediment was hardened into rock, these organic remains were preserved in a fossilized condition, so perfect and entire that the general character and habits of these ancient animals may be studied and determined in a most satisfactory manner. These fossils, though belonging to a species now extinct, and in many cases, to a genera tliat are no longer represented among living species, are nevertheless referable to the four great sub-kingdoms of existing animals, and man^' of them to the same families, and sometimes the same genera.

limestone, are composed almost entirel}' of the calcareous habitations and bony skeletons of the marine animals that lived in the ocean during the time these beds were in process of formation, with barel}' enough mineral matter to hold the organic materials together in a cemented mass. Thus we find that these simple types of life have pla^-ed an important part in the formation of the solid framework of the globe. The same process is now being repeated, and in this way nature preserves her own records of succeeding creations, linking them all together by the unerring characteristics of a common origin and weaving them into one complete chain of organic existence, which beginning with the lowest and simplest form - Protozoa - culminates in the final appearance of MAN, the highest and complete result of creative energy.

As before stated by these records of the rocks, it is established that upon this continent we find the traces of man ruinimg back 100,090 years. To us these would certainly be " old settlers," but geology, paleontology and zoology hold suspended their judgment and patiently investigate, turning over the pages of stone and prying out the marvelous secrets that have been securely locked and guarded for us in the protecting bosom of mother earth for millions, perchance billions of years. The question of how these beings came here is answered by the beautiful and never-changing forces of nature. That prepotency of the natural forces that account for every " form and qualit}- of life." IIow they then came we substantially know. How they go is another and a more difficult question. That the earth at regular recurring periods is filled with vegetable and animal life that come and grow and flourish and pass away, leaving not a wrack behind. That the earth, but now vocal with life, is tomorrow a barren solitude locked in the noiseless sleep of death to commence again at the lowest beginnings of life - the yeast plant probably in the vegetable, the rliizopods, the humblest of the known in animal origin - and continue the upward circle until the earth is again re-habilitated, to be again desolated, are fields for the investigator and for speculation that are enough to appall the ordinary mind by their magnitude.

The astronomer tells us of the astronomical day and night, that are in duration about twenty -one thousand 3-ears, and upon this the speculative scientists (some of them only) have constructed the plans of creation to be, that these recurring periods of life and solitude upon the earth correspond - the life with the astronomical day, the dead and barren with the astronomical night.

In this work of life and death they agree that heat is, as well here as everj-where else, the motive power that produces life, while cold is the productive power of death.

Evidences are found nearlj' all over Illinois of the presence here of glaciers, those rivers of moving ice, that slowly travel from the north and from one to five miles in thicliuess, and it is easy to conceive that in their track no life is left. In the rock beds of Lake Superior they gathered up and dropped here and there the bowlders that are so frequently found in our county. Some of these are found on the surface and others are deeply buried in the soil, presenting evidences that these glaciers came at different and repeated times, but how long between them cannot be known.

One of these oval shaped bowlders was found in digging a well, near the Van Machine Shops, in this city, in 1870; it would weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds. Nearl}- onethird had been plained down, by the moving ice that had carried it from the Lake Superior regions, and presented a smooth and polished appearance. It was twenty-two and a half feet below the surface and the strata of earth above it gave no evidences of disturbance, but lav as they had lieen deposited in the long

Petref actions. - Some very remarkable petrefactions were found in 1854, in the work of constructing the Illinois Central Railroad, when digging the "cut" through the hills of the Little Wabash, where the road crosses the river, and on this side of the river.

In order to get dirt, to make a " fill " in the river bottom, they dug into the side of the hill from the cut, and down to about the general level of the road-bed. After drifting back a few feet, they found a strata of hard limestone rock about sixteen inches thick running horizontally into the hill, and this was six to eight feet above the level or bottom of their drift. The ascent of the hill was gradual from the road-bed, and when they had removed the dirt and stone until they were taking it some fifteen or twent}' feet below the hill surface, they found these petrefactions at the level of their drift and beneath the strata of rock mentioned. As the earth was cleared away, thej' found many evidences that they were following what had once been the earth's surface. They found the stumps and partially preserved bodies of trees that presented the appearance of having grown or fallen where they were found.

They found specimens of petrified wood, that were piled out of the waj- of the workmen, making a pile as large as a cord of wood. One stump that had every appearance of still standing where it had grown, was perfecth" petrified, except the bark, and it was plainly marked by the ax that had been used in cutting the tree. At the root of the stump were perfectl}' preserved chips - partiallj' petrified - that told again unmistakably of the use of the ax. In the claj' soil, on a level with the foot of the stump, was found the imprint of the fallen tree where it had lain and decayed.

Human Remains. - All over the country have been found what are known as Indian relics, the most common being heart shaped flint rock, that were doubtlessh' used for pointing arrows, and were the savage's ammunition with which he warred and hunted; stone axes ai-e also found, but no authenticated specimens of pottery. We have in this count}- none of the works of the Mound-Builders.

In the extreme southern part of the county along the Wabash River, but more especiallyacross in Clay County, in the heavily timbered bluffs and brakes of that stream, are many evidences of there once being an extensive burial ground of some unknown people.

Beneath the big oak trees have been found the curious graves of which some are still well preserved. Thej- were made by being dug down probably thirty inches, and the rude sarcophagus formed by placing a stone slab at each side of the vault, and was completed by 'a similar stone covering. In this stone bos, which generally is not over three feet square, was placed the body in a half sitting posture, the feet and head as near together as thejcould place them.

Tlie surface geology of our county is one of the greatest importance to the farmer and to all classes dependant upon him. The time will come when the 3-oung chililrcn, and the old, too, most probably, will be taught these things until farming will be as much of a science as anything else. To understand the beds of superficial material that are spread unconformably upon the rocks, all over the State - the accumulations of clay, sand and gravel, called drift - is now of the greatest importance to the farmer. By tliese can he know the wants and proper capabilities of his land - how to care for, protect and feed it and supply its imperative wants the same as he can now his calf or pig. The entire agricultural interests in the count}-, as well as the common intelligence of all our people, are interested here alike, because the soil is predicated upon this superficial detritus and owes its productive qualities, in part at least, to its homogeneous character.

Our soils are mainly composed of mineral matter in a finely comminuted condition, to which is added, from year to year, the vegetable and animal matters which are accumulated upon the surface. If the superficial deposits are absent, the soil is formed by the decomposition of rocks, upon which it rests. If the rock is a sandstone, it will form a light sandy soil; if a clay shale or other argillaceous rock, a heavy clay soil will be the result; and if a limestone it will produce a calcareous soil, so there will be a marked change in the soil with every variation which occurs in the character of the underlying rock strata.

In the drift deposits will never be" found anv valuable mineral deposits. And the fragments of lead, copper, iron and lumps of coal that are sometimes found in this drift are often believed by the ignorant to be proofs of valuable mineral deposits, where there are none. in rare instances, minute particles of gold have been thus found and charlatans, professing to be geologists, have proclaimed these to be valuable gold or silver mines.

These deposits, while so far they have been often used to play upon ignorant credulity, are by no means destitute of valuable materials for industrial use. They furnish the clay, brick, sand and tile that are so generally in use; they are the great reservoir that hold so securehthe sweet, pure, cold water tliat supplies our w-ells; they are tlie agriculturist's bank of deposit, where, when he learns to properly draw his check upon it, is supplied with inexhaustible wealth with which to honor all his drafts.

In Sections 17 and 30, Township 8 north, Range 5 east, there are regular beds of ferruginous drift conglomerate, two to three feet in thickness.

The sand and gravel that furnishes the abundant and excellent water all over the county, and especial!}' here in the city of Effingham, in inexhaustible quantities, is found from thirteen to twenty-four feet below the surface.

On the prairies in the southeast, water is obtained from twelve to twenty feet; at Watson, sixteen feet; in the southwest, twent}'; at Mason, eighteen to thirtj-. The deepest wells known in the county are G. W. Nelson's, fifty feet, through clay and coal measure rocks to good limestone

Coal. - The State Geologist estimates that a coal-shaft at the cit}- of Effingham would have to go down 900 to 950 feet in order to reach Vein No. 5. Tliis is a five-foot coal vein. It lies below Coal No. 9, six inches; No. 8, three feet; No. 7, five to seven feet; and No. 6. two feet six inches.

The onlj- remarkable bed of coal yet found or worked in the county is G. W. Nelson's, in Section 20, Township 6 nortii. Range 4 east. A pit was opened here and good coal procured. The vein was reported three feet thick, but six miles down the creek, at Mahon's, it was only ten inches thick, and on Limestone Creek, in Section 18, Township 6 north. Range 5 east, it is sixteen inches thick. These designated outcrops indicate a decided easterly dip. The same coal is also found on Big Creek, in Section

On Salt and Brush Creeks there is a six-inch seam of bituminous coal, which is catalogued as No. 17. Its sure guide is two thin even la}-- ers of gra}- limestone, occurring about four feet above, and abounding in Spirifer pJano-convexus. This has been reported sixteen inches to two feet thick, but it is probably an overestimate. A thin seam of coal was also found in Section

Can coal be found here? This is now a question of deep interest to the people of the county. In the total absence of any definite knowledge upon the question, commendable but perhaps foolish struggles have been made and monejand time expended to test the question. Men and their drills have been brought here, and a boring was made south of the depot a few years ago, and all an}- one learned was that their money went into a hole, where it will never come out.

The people of Vamlalia made a much more expensive investigation a few 3ear3 ago than our people made. At immense expense, they carried a shaft (the water was here unusually strong) to the depth of 474 feet, and there stopped.

The shaft at Centralia was sunk to the depth of .")7() feet, at which depth a seam of coal seven feet in thickness was found. This coal is 370 feet l)elow the Carlinville limestone in that shaft, and if the strata retains the same thickness at Vandalia, thej- stopped eighty feet above the Centralia coal seam. These borings indicate a decided increase in thickness of the stone strata toward this part of the State, and therefore the coal will be deeper here than at Centralia in that proportion.

Wiieu j'ou know what you have to do it is easy to prepare and do it. We make no doubt coal will be found here some day and worked to good profit, even if wo do have to go 900 or 1,000 feet to it.

Iron Ore. - The drift conglomerate occurring in Section 17, Township 8 north, llange 5 east, is three feet thick and contains a good deal of iron ore. It crops out on a point of the hillside extending for thirtj- feet across. A similar deposit occurs near the mouth of Big Creek, in Section 30, Township 8 north. Range 5 east. Coal measure shales on Big Creek abound in man}- concretions of oxide and carbonate of iron; there are also some in other localities, but the quantity is insufficient.

The sandstone below Effingham, in the fossiliferoiis portion, is very ferruginous. Red oxide of iron occurs on Beech Creek in sandstone over Coal No. 15.

Buihling Rock. - On Sugar Fork, near its mouth, there is a good quarrj' of hard sandstone, and one of silicious limestone on Green Creek above the mouth of Sugar Fork.

farm, adjoining the city of Effingham, is a quarrj- that has also furnished the most of the rock for foundations in the citj-. Very good sandstone, in thick beds, occurs in the bluff's of Shoal Creek near its mouth; on Fulfer Creek, iu Section 2, Township 6 north, Range 5 east, near Ilamsej' Creek, half a mile from its month, in Section 27, Township G nortii. Range G east, and on Big Creek, in Section 29, Township 9 north. Range 5 east.

There are good limestone quarries on Limestone Creek and on Fulfer Creek. A good deal of rock used on the National road was obtained here and at Mahon's on Fulfer Creek, and also on Big Creek. The best rock for the production of lime is found at Nelson's coal bank.

Mineral Waters. - Few if an}' counties in the State are better supplied with medicinal waters than this. So far the}' are wholly undeveloped sources of wealth and industry. Douglas, Watson, Mason and Jackson Townships have each springs that possess good mineral qualities, some of them strong, and tliat some of these many waters when analyzed and once understood, will become widely popular and beneficial to mankind we make no doubt.

In Jackson Township, on Sam Winter's land, Section 32, Township 6, Range 5, are two fine springs, and while they are not more than a rod apart, are wholly difl'erent iu their medical properties. These springs were once the favorite rendezvous of the Indians. Mr. Winters tells us that before these springs were fenced, cattle woUld come there for miles to drink of these waters, passing other drinking places in order to quench their thirst in these delicious waters. The neighbors have for a long time understood the value of these springs.

In the same township, near James Larimer's and David Mitchell's, on Section 16, Township 7, Range 5, southwest quarter of .southeast quarter, is a fine flowing spring, that has iron unquestionably, and probably sulpiuir.

6, Range 5, about three miles north of the town of Mason, are three springs, known as Sulphur Springs. These have been estensivel}' investigated by Dr. Slathcws, and the_y are already resorted to by a great many people.

7, Range 6, on land op the I. C. R. R., near the farm of Andy Parks are still other and very fine springs. In the recent sale of tlie lands of the railroad, these springs were reserved, and it is said the road intends to improve and develop this health resort.

The Origin, mid Formation of Prairies. - For many j-ears this subject has been under discussion by some of our most eminent men. Among the first to enter at any length upon the subject was Hon. Walter B. Scates, formerly of the State Supreme Court, Prof Whitney, of the Geological Survey of Iowa, and Prof Winehell, the eminent geologist of Ann Arbor University, continued it at great length, and Prof Lesquereux joined also the investigation. Mr. Worthen, the State geologist, realizing the great importance of the people of Illinois of this subject, requested Prof Lesquereux to give his latest and best conclusions in reference to it, after his recent discussions with other eminent geologists.

The Professor holds that prairies are, at our time, in process of formation along the shores of our lakes - Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, etc., as also along the Mississippi and some of its affluents, especially the Minnesota River. The formation of these recent prairies, whose extent is not comparable to that of the primitive ones, is peculiar, and has the greatest analogy with that of the peat bogs. Where the lake waves or currents strike the shores or the low grounds, and there heap materials - sand, pebbles, mud, etc. - they build up more or less elevated dams or islands, which soon become covered with trees. These dams are not always built along the shores; they do not even always follow their outline, but often inclose wide shallow basins, whose waters are thus sheltered against any movement. Here the aquatic plants, sedges, rashes, grasses, etc., soon appear, these basins become swamps, and, as it can be seen near the borders of Lake Michigan, though the waters may surround them, the trees never invade them, never grow upon them, even when the swamps become drained by some natural or artificial cause. Along the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers the same phenomenon is observable, with a difference only in the process of operation. In time of flood, the heaviest particles of mud are deposited on both sides of the current, along the line of slack water, and b}- repeated deposits, dams are slowly formed and -upraised above the general surface of the bottom land. Thus, after a time, of course, the water thrown on the bottoms b^' a flood is, at its subsidence, shut out from the river, and both sides of it are converted into swamps, sometimes of great extent. Seen from the high bluff's bordering its bottom land, the bed of the Minnesota River is, in the spring, marked for miles hy two narrow strips of timbered land, bordering the true channel of the river, and emerging like fringes iu the middle of a long, continuous narrow lake. In the summer, and viewed from the 'same point, the same bottoms are transformed into a green plain, whose undulating surface looks like immense fields of unripe wheat, but forms, in truth, impassible swamps, covered with rushes, sedges, etc. B^- successive inundations and their deposits of mud, and bj' the heaping of detritus of their luxuriant herbaceous vegetation, these become, by and by, raised up above the level of the river. They then dry up in the summer, mostly by infiltration and evaporation, and when out of reach of flood, they become first wet, and afterward diy prairies. Prairie du Chein, Prairie la Fourche, Prairie la Crosse, etc., as their names indicate, a,r& towns located upon formations of this kind. These splendid patches of prairie, though of a far more recent orgin than the immense plains above them, are, nevertheless, true prairies, bordered on one side b}' the high, timbered bimka of the bottoms, a fringe of trees separate them still from the actual bed of the river; nevertheless, the trees do not invade them.

This peculiarity of formation explains, first the peculiar nature of the soil of the prairies. It is neither peat nor humus, but a black, soft mold, impregnated with a large proportion of ulmic acid, produced b}' the slow decomposition, mostly under water, of aquatic plants, and thus partaking as much of the nature of the peat as (hat of the true humus. In all the depressions of the prairies where water is permanent and unmixed with particles of mineral matter, the ground is true peat.

It is easy to understaml why trees cannot grow on such kind of ground. The germination of seeds of arborescent plants needs the free access of oxj'gen for their development, and the trees especially in their youth absorb b3' their roots a great amount of air, and demand a solid point of attachment to fix themselves. Moreover, the acid of this kind of soil by its particularly antiseptic property-, promotes the vegetation of a peculiar group of plants, mostlj' herbaceous. Of all our trees, the tamarack is the only species which, in our northern climate, can grow on peaty ground; and this, even, happens onl^' under rare and favorable circumstances; that is, when stagnant water, remaining at a constant level, has been invaded b}' a kind of mosses, the Spliagnuin.

To this the objection is made* that if the prairies are so formed they would be universally flat and horizontal. And Winchell has replied to the objection that the assertion that it is not the peat in the prairie soil that keeps them prairies, because trees do grow and flourish upon them when planted there.

These apparently strong objections are answered by Prof. Lesquereux and others, that it is not proper to refute one assertion b}- another; that it is a well- settled fact in botanical physiology, that trees absorb by their roots a certain amount of oxj-gen necessary to their life. It is in accordance with this principle that trees, to thrive well, ought not to be planted too deep, that most of the species of trees perish when their roots are buried in a stratum of claj' impermeable to the air, or underlaid bj* clay impermeable to the water; that whenever the water is dammed to make a pond, all the trees are killed on the whole Hooded space; that still water always ^ills a tree, but there are .some trees with roots so formed into many and tine branches, that they maj' live in moving waters, or running streams. Thus, the bald eyprus and lupelo that, in the South, grow in the middle of creeks and bayous, are enabled to get air from the waters that are moving and changing. De Candole, in his book on Vegetable Phj-siology, saj-s that a constant irrigation necessary for the rice culture in Lombard}^, was a great inconvenience, because the water penetrates the ground of the neighboring properties and kills the trees. That '- water left stagnant for a time on the ground rots the trees at their column, prevents the access of oxj'gen to the roots and kills them." That " in the low grounds of Holland the}' dig, for planting trees, deep holes, and fill the bottom with bundles of bushes, as a kind of drainage for surplus water, as long as the tree is youug enough to be killed by humidity." That " the true swamps and marshes have no<trees, and cannot have any because stagnant water always kills them."

As to the assertion that trees will grow on the prairies when once introduced, this, .all admit, is certainl}' true. But one should take care to make a distinction between the results of an artificial and those of a natural one. When trees are planted on the prairie, the soil is conveniently pre-prepared. The clayey' subsoil mixed witli the black mold forms a compound wliicli combines densitj' of certain parts with the lightness of others, and contain a great proportion of nutritive elements. If the cla3' of the subsoil is not too thicli to be impermeable to water, and then to retain it around the roots, this prepared or artificial ground is indeed, very appropriate to the growth of trees, But has anybod}' ever seen oaks or hickory, or any other kind of trees, grow on the plains from a handful or from a bushel of acorns or of nuts thrown upon the surface ? Wh}^ then, if trees will grow on the prairies, do we not see those isolated and far-between cluster of trees, which appear here and there on the borders of ancient lakes, cover a wider area, and by-and-b3- invade the whole prairies ? Some of these trees have lived there forages; their trunks are strong and thick, and their branches widely expanded, are shaken, and their fruits swept awa}- bj' the autumnal storms, and nevertheless their domain is restricted by the nature of the ground to limits which they have never surpassed.

The soil on the pi-airies of Illinois varies in thickness from one to four feet, and even more sometimes. How has been produced this enormous coating of black mold which covers the clay subsoil ? This subsoil could only be produced by water. Complete oxidation of vegetable remains has never resulted in the heaping of such a peculiar thick compound as the .soil of the prairies. Even in our oldest and still virgin forests the humus is never so deep. In some bottoms, the arable grounds ra.ay be found as thick, but it is not the result of vegetable decomposition, but of successive accumulations of mud by floods. We must then consider this prairie soil as formed under peculiar chemical action, Ijy a slow oxidation or decomposition of vegetable matter, retarded in its action by water, in preventing the free access of oxgen, as it lias happened in the formation of peat. But in this last matter, the oxidation is much slower and less complete, and water being permanent, not exposed to change of levels, cannot bring into it the elements of fertility which it gives to the soil of the prairies. This soil, as before stated, is half peat and half humus.

The great proportion of ulmic acid contained in the prairie soil is perceivable in its slow decomposition when exposed to atmospheric action. The overturned sod of the prairies would scarcely become decomposed and pulverized in two or three years, if its disintegration was not helped b}' repeated plowings. It is this acid which, in too large proportions, renders the soil sometimes hard and sour. But it has also the propert}' of preserving for a long time the fertilizing elements mixed with it. Hence, it is one of the causes of the long-continued productiveness of the prairies. Under the influence of stagnant water, and the remains of animals which have inhabited it while the soil was in process of formation, silica especially, with alumina, ammonia and other elements, have been left in the soil, in such proportions as to make its extraordinary fertility, and especiall3- its inexhaustible productiveness for grasses; for by the unpermeability of the under clay, the fertilizing elements have been left in the soil. As natural meadows, our prairies have fed for centuries, innumerable herds of buffalo and deer, etc., which roamed over them, and now they will feed and fatten our herds of cattle for as long a time as we may want or save them for that purpose. But more important than this to the agriculturist is the great fact taught hiui who has the intelligence to investigate and understand the soil of our prairies, namely, that by the peculiar compound of the prairie soil, it will, under proper cultivation, produce, for an indefinite length of time, crops of cereals, corn, wheat, etc., as rich as may be obtained from the richest bottom lands, and without anj* apparent diminution of the productive capacity of the soil. Even if, by successive crops of the same kind, the upper soil should become somewhat de- prived of its fertilizing elements, especially of its silica, lime and alumina, so necessaiy for the growth of corn, we know by experience, as well as the geologists know by its formation^ that the subsoil is a real mine of these fertilizing elements, and that deep plowing will return to an exhausted prairie land its primitive fertility.

For the culture of trees also, the foregoing explanation of the formation of the prairies give directions in accord with what experience teaches us to be right. To plant trees which do not like humidity - fruit trees especially - dig deep holes, pass through the clay to the drift, and thus establish a natural drainage. Fill, then, the bottom of the hole with loose materials, pebbles, bushes, sod, mold, or any debris, and thus you have the best ground that can be prepared for the health and long life of trees. When this cannot be done, and shade trees are desirable, for example, plant, in any hole deep enough to contain the roots, elms, buttonwood, white locusts, sugar tree, maple, etc., all species which live generally along the rivers and support a ccrtahi degree of humiditj^, and they will thrive, if only they get some air through the ground which covers them.

The prairies of the West, especially of Illinois, are in harmony and agree with the destiny of our people, even to a greater extent than our rich and extensive coal fields. Like these prodigious sources of combustible mineral, they clearly point out the future race of men which is called to inhabit them, and profit by their immeasurable and inexhaustible fertility. While one of these formations is destined to furnish an immense population the elements of industrial greatness, the other is ready to provide it with both the essential elements of life - bread and meat. Hence, the prairies have their place marked in the future history of mankind. They do not indicate or prophecy luxury, laziness and dissipation of life, but hard work, abundance, and the enjoyment of freedom and true manhood.

Etfingham Couuty is, and will be for years, an agricultural county. Whilst the black loam is not so deep here as in the corn counties north of us, yet the peculiar formation of the surface soil is such that there never will be waste for the stored plant food that Will be here for ages, and always ready to respond generously to the farmer who knows enough to find it. For grass and the cereals it' may be prepared to equal, if not excel, any county in the State. Already in wheat it stands the first, both in quantity to the acre, and in the quality. Deep plowing is the farmer's key to wealth here. Deep subsoil plowing will make these ruinous droughts almost whoU}' disappear, as well as prevent from harm the heavy falls of water that alternate with the droughts and sometimes one and sometimes the other send dismay to our people. And when this deep subsoil plowing is followed up with tile drainage, it will bring the true wealth and abundance to our people that will both surprise and please. It may not in the end prove the best of corn land in our State, but in all else, she may indeed be ' Queen of the May."