Fayette County, Illinois - Chapter 19, 1878

Chapter 19

Report, to G. C. Broadhead its editor, and to Dr. Geo. W. Bas- I sett of Vandalia. We have selected such portions of the matter | treated as we deem of most interest to our readers.'

! taining a few small concretions of oxide of iron. Nine miles east of Van- ! dalia on the national road the prairie 6oil contains a good deal of iron ore.

I On Flat prairie, ten miles south-west of Vaudalia, the roadside washings exj pose: 1 Dark soil . . . .1ft. 2. Dark brown clay with dark stains I exposed 2 ft.

Drift. - This formation is well developed in this county. A weil near | Ramsey was dug 100 feet deep through clay and gravel to solid rock. The | mound west of Vandalia is about 100 feet above the general surface of the surrounding country; and 55 feet of drift are exposed on the bank of the river at the National Road Bridge; this would make the total drift in this county not less than 150 feet; probably a little more, but not over 200 feet j On the bank of the Kaskaskia river, at the National Road Bridge, 15 to 20 ! feet consists of red clay with coarse sand, and gravel below, with 30 to 35 feet numerous small round pebbles. One mile south-west of the railroad cut ex- 1 hibits red clay, sand and pebbles at the top; below, gray and brown bed-,

The mound west of Vandalia has ash-colored clay on the top, and darker colored clay and pebbles below ; then brown sand clay pebbles and boulders. Two-thirds up the hill-side there is a fine spring of clear water issuing oit of the sand. One mile and a half south-west of Vandalia, the river bluff* are ! formed of steep, broken du9t hills, with blue clay and boulders at the bottom, of ferruginous sandstone passing into a hard iron ore. Its firm, hard appear- I ance might induce one to think it belonged to an older age than the drilt, but it lies at about the same horizontal level along the hill-side, and is also found ! cropping out at other ravines at the same elevation, with drift sand below. The blue clay at this place is quite hard, and the water passing over it forms a tufaceous deposit on the surface. In the ravines there are many fine springs of water issuing from the base of sand beds.

On Buck Creek, near the Kaskaskia bottoms, there is a dark clay and sand conglomerate, which when struck emits a dull hollow sound. A good spring of water flows from just over it, and a tufaceous deposit is there formed.

| Twelve miles south-east of Vandalia masses of ferruginous conglomerate i were observed similar to that formed near Vandalia. A well here shows eight feet of sand at the top, and eighteen feet of sand and pebbles below.

I In Sec. 3, T. 6 N. R. 2 E., on the land of George Phifer, a broken stratj um of coal 1J inches thick occurs in the drift, with blue clay and pebbles both above and below.

A similar place was exhumed on Bear Creek, five miles east of Vanda¬ lia The hill is here 27 feet high, and near the middle there is a thin strat¬ um of black sand. Beneath this are streaks and fragments of coal enveloped by red sand and small boulders ; and near the base ot' the hill there is a mass of coal measure tire clay. There are also masses of sandstone and limestone not much worn ; all evidently drifted but a short distance. Other boulders found here are of granite, sienite and quartzite. At the mill on Beck's Creek I in Sec. 10, T. 8, N. R. 2 E. coal measure limestone is seen apparently resting - on a bed of drift.

Among the drift boulders found in this county are sienite, granite, horn¬ blende rock, greenstone, quartzite, saudstone, limestone and clay from the coal measures.

Coal Measures. - On account of the non-appearance of certain intermedi¬ ate beds necessary in the construction, we can only approximate the thick¬ ness of the coal measures in this county; but there is sufficient data to assume that the total thickness may reach 350 feet, ranging from No- 1 to 46; . .

On the land of Joel Blakeley, near Rock Creek, an 18 inch seam has been worked, the upper and lower, two inches pyritiferous, and 14 inches of good coal. At Blakeley's bank part of the coal bifurcates, and insinuates thin veins into the overlaying sandstone. The neighboring hills are low, and the coal can be easily reached. Mrs. Mary Grant and Mrs. Phifer also have I coal banks in the same vicinity. This coal crops out one foot thick at the I edge of the water of Wolf Creek, in Sec. 12, T. 8, N. R 3 E. Coal also crops out on the Kaskaskia River, at William Thomas', in Sec. 2, T. 9, N.

1 R. 3 E., 14 inches thick ; at James Brown s, near the north county line, on the waters of Beck's Creek, in Sec. 21 T. 9, R. 1, E., 16 to 22 inches thick ; a half mile north of Howard's Point, 10 inches; on the south fork of the Hickory, in Sec. 1<>, T. o,N. R. 2 E it is 10 inches; at Col. Foreman's, 18 to 20 inches. Only at Brown s and Col. Foreman s has there beeu much mining. A. Brown's drift, 24 feet high, has been run into the hill. .... On the bank of a branch the coal appears very well, extending nearly hori¬ zontally along the htrtam for about fifty feet, and 20 inches thick, with 4

. . . The thickness of the seam is reported to be from 16 inches to 2 feet, and the coal of good quality. These places can be worked without much co*t.

On Beck's Creek, about a mile above the Shelbyville road, a good deal of coal bus been taken from the creek. This is known as the Gooden Coal Bank.

A bed of coal is reported to be at the bottom of the Kaskaskia River, in the south-east corner of T. 9 N. R. 2 E, but the water is generally at least 6 feet over it.

Iron Ore. - Thin beds and concretions of carbonate of iron ore are common in the coal measurers' shales, but were not found sufficiently abundant to work in this county. Broadhead says, on the National road, nine miles east of Vandalia, he noticed a deposit of very dark-colored oxide of iron in prairie clay soil. It crops out about 4 inches thick, in a rough, massive stratum, ferruginous sandstone previously spoken of under the head of 4 ' Drift," may sometimes be considered an iron ore. It is abundant near Vandalia, and is also found near Greenland, and at Wm Porter's, on Little Hickory.

Building Rock: - There is a good sandstone quarry near Ramsey creek, two miles below the railroad. On the same creek is found the Syntrilasma limestone, but it will not withstand the action of frost; however it is used duite extensively in the building of the railroad abutments. The Bluff limestone on Beck's creek would probably make very good lime. Sandstone and lime¬ stone were found in matiy parts of the county.

There are quite a number of ancient mounds in this county: a few near Vandalia, some on Hurricane Creek, and some near Ramsey. Several of these mounds have been explored by Dr. G. W. Bassett, and many valuable and interesting relics discovered; in fact he has one of the finest private collections of Geological specimens in Central Illoois.

A company was organized io Vandalia, for the purpose of mining coal. They caused a shaft to be sunk to the depth of 377 feet 3 inches, ana a bor¬ ing from the bottom of the shaft, to a total depth of about 574 feet. This shaft and boring reaches a depth of 574 feet without finding coal of suffi¬ cient thickness to compensate for working.

Indian Relic8 And Specimens Of Mineral

Dr. Geo. W. Bassett, of Vandalia, has a large cabinet of Indian antiquities, collected in various parts of the county, consisting of implements of war, husbandry and the household. Some of them displaying considerable in¬ genuity and artistic taste. Most of the specimens were discovered at differ¬ ent times by Dr. Bassett, in the mounds, of which there are a great many in the county. Among them is a stone mortar, nine inches in diameter and seven inches high, of sandstone, and a number of others of smaller dimen¬ sions with pestles made of gray and blue hornblendes; shoal plates, stone pipes and arrow-heads of every size - some with hieroglyphics; pottery of different shapes and kinds, together making one of the finest collections in the state.

In this collection are several species of minerals, not generally known to exist in the county. The most noticeable is a mass of nearly pure copper weighing fourteen pounds, found in the drift on Hickory Creek. Silver, Iron and Lead have also been found in the drifts along the creeks. The cabinet has many interesting Fossiliferous remains, and crystalizations, and specimens of the cereals of. the county.