Dubois County, Indiana - Chapter 3: Local Geological Observations of Dubois County, 1910

Chapter 3: Local Geological Observations of Dubois County

Patoka Mound - Infusorial Earth - Sandstone - Silver Well - Annuity salt - David Dale Owen, State Geologist - Report of 1838 - Vowell Cave in Columbia township- Description of Vowell Cave - Geological data.

Two miles .south of Jasper, on Patoka river, in the east half of .section eleven, town two, south range five west, and north of the mouth of Straight river, is a peculiar body of land, sometimes referred to as "Patoka Mound." It is an ellipse in form, 800 feet long and 300 feet wide, and contains an area of four and one-third acres. This peculiar body of land stands thirty-five feet above the bottoms in which it is situated and fortyfive feet above Patoka river. There is sandstone a few feet below the surface of the mound, and the whole formation has the appearance of a hill whose summit had been cut away by an iceberg. Geological maps show its location, but no geological reports have anything to say about it. Mounds are also found southeast of Holland.

In sections twenty-six, thirteen, twenty-three, and twenty-four, in Ferdinand township, is to be found a bed of tripoli, or infusorial earth. Good tripoli is worth above seven dollars a ton. It is used for packing boilers, steam pipes and safes. It is a good non-conductor. It is called infusorial earth because it is made up of the remains of small water animals called infusoria, an evidence that water once covered the surface of Dubois county. The tripoli found near Ferdinand in "pockets" in the cherty limestone, forming the roof of coal K, is allied to both the flints and the sandstones. Its buff color is due to the presence of oxide of iron. Tripoli differs from sandstone and sharp sand more in physical than in chemical constitution. However, tripoli has for its basis the silicified skeletons of organic bodies, such as sponges, etc., showing that once upon a time it must have been covered by an ocean. It can be used as a polishing powder.

The sandstone in Dubois county may some da)' become a valuable asset. Much of it could be used for building purposes. Rocks for the construction of the aqueduct of the old Wabash and Erie canal over White river were taken from near Portersville. The rock is used in the construction of the piers of the railroad bridge between Petersburg and Washington.

The Silver Well

Salt was a valued condiment to all Indians, pioneers and early settlers. "He is not worth his salt" really meant something. In the early Indian treaties we read of the Indians selling their lands for salt to be supplied annually, and called "annuity salt." Salt was such an important item that all lands surrounding saline springs were reserved by the general government in the original surveys of Indiana. Early geologists gave the finding of salt careful consideration.

New Harmony, Indiana, is one of the most remarkable towns in the state and its history reads like a romance. Of all the remarkable men that ever lived there, David Dale Owen stands pre-eminent. He was a great man for any country or any age - a learned Scotchman, a physician, a scientist and a philosopher. He was the father of American geology, the geologist of several states and a power in the scientific world.

By an act of the Indiana legislature, approved February 6, 1837, David Dale Owen was appointed "Geologist of the State." He made reports in 1837 and 1838, under the title, "Report of a Geological Reconnoisance of the State of Indiana." In this remarkable book Dr. Owen records many original observations about Indiana at large and, luckily, Dubois county in particular.

He observes that "the eastern boundary or base of the coal formation is the most likely place to afford salt water; for we find the most productive salt wells throughout the western country occurring in the inferior members of the coal formation. Thus, should symptoms of salt water make their appearance in the counties of Perry, Spencer, Dubois, Martin, Daviess, Green, Owen, Clay, or Putnam, the encouragement to make a search for salt would be greater than if found elsewhere in the state."

In talking about salt prospects he further says: "Borings for brine east of the second principal meridian [a line near Paoli] may yield salt water, but are not likely to afford as strong a brine as those west of that line, carried through the white sandstones lying at the margin of our coal basin." In another part of his report he recommends sandstone in preference to limestone for building purposes.

Dr. Owen also says "the greater part of Indiana must have been at some period of the earth's history, covered by an ocean; for most of the fossils in the limestone are of marine origin. None of the precious metals will ever be found in Indiana, unless in minute portions in bowlders, or in small quantities in combination with other metals, because the primitive and grauwacke formations in which alone productive mines of gold and silver ore occur, do not exist in Indiana." For the same reason it is not likely that anthracite coal will ever be found in Indiana. However, the part of his report, under date of 1838, dealing with Dubois county, is most interesting to us. He says:

There is in this county a remarkable looking spot called "The Silver Well," where considerable diggings have been made in search of ore. To this locality I first directed my examinations. On approaching it I found masses of flint scattered over the surface of the country. The vegetable growth is stunted and thin, similar to that on an old clearing, although the whole was still, I found, in a state of nature.

The excavations first exposed ferruginous clay, containing small nodules of iron ore. A stratum of flint, however, soon stopped the further progress of the digging.

Of course, no silver was found, but some of this flinty rock may prove valuable as it has the appearance of being tolerably pure silex. Much of it, however, by the application of acid, showed by its effervescence a small percentage of carbonate of lime This admixture, if universal, would render it unfit for the use of the potter. Could it be found perfectly pure in sufficient quantities, it would be a most valuable acquisition to those engaged in the manufacture of the finer kinds of potter's ware. This article is now the great desideratum wanted at Troy.

The stunted and barren-like appearance of this region originates evidently from the flinty nature of this rock, which, being intermixed with a stiff, tenacious, unproductive clay, forms the basis of a very thin soil. The wild and barren aspect of the country occasioned by this peculiarity of soil, together with the appearance, as report will have it, of nocturnal lights, attracted the attention of the "mintral hunter" and induced him to enter upon a fruitless search after silver, which, as I remarked in my last report, could hardly be found in this part of the country.

In the neighborhood of Jasper sandstone is the prevailing rock. At the mill on the Patoka, near town, the rock is rather slaty and contains numerous fossil plants, chiefly cilamites (arborescent horse-tails.) A mile or so below the mill a seam of coal is worked by the blacksmith of the place. It is overlaid by slaty clay (a kind of fire clay) exhibiting remarkable impressions of fossil plants. The deposit is, however so very much disposed to crumble, that it is almost impossible to collect them.

The coal is near two feet thick and tolerably good. Another seam shows itself half a mile north of Jasper. This bed has a roof of sandstone.

The hills continue to increase in height as j-ou ascend the Patoka, and are still capped with sandstone. You occasionally meet with specimens of brown oxide of iron in loose masses, lying on the declivities; I have, however, not yet been able to discover any important deposits of it. I was informed that on the Patoka, near the crossing of the old Mt. Sterling road, ore of this description exists in abundance, but I was unable to discover its locality. Deposits of the hydrated brown oxide of iron occurring in these ridges, amongst the sandstones of the coal formation, will usually be found, I fear, too much impregnated with sand to yield a profitable percentage in the furnace.

At Stewart's mill, on the Patoka, the sandstones have already acquired the fine grain and white color of the Hindostan whetstones, which occur in a formation corresponding to the muriatiferous strata between that place and the "French Lick."

Were the Patoka between Jasper and Stewart's mill a more considerable stream, I should pronounce that locality a favorable one for boring in search of salt water. But a better point for such works would probably be found on the east fork of White river, about the mouth of Lick creek, where the formation is similar, and a more plentiful supply of water may be expected.

The first appearance of limestone containing the archiniedes, indicating the commencement of the sub-carboniferous group, presents itself in the deep hollows about two miles southwest of Stewart's mill.

The high ridges between Stewart's mill and the French Lick are still composed of the same white sandstone formation which we have been tracing. In places they will afford good grits. In deeply excavated ravines the upper members of the sub-carboniferous group appear. The boundary line of the coal formation runs through this county nearly in a north and south course, keeping between half a mile and a mile from the line between Orange and Dubois.

Dr. Oweti does not record the location of the "Silver Well." It is reported by old people now living in Dubois county that the "Silver Well" was in section one, town two, south, range six, west, in Madison township, near the Armstrong ferrj- steel bridge.

Vowell Cave

The eastern part of Dubois county contains many natural objects of interest. It is one of the best fields in Indiana for the naturalist, geologist and botanist. One of the most interesting natural objects in Dubois county is Vowell cave, near the center of section twenty-two, in Columbia township, on the old State road, about one and one quarter miles from Crj^stal. The hill containing the cave is of crystallized limestone formation. The stone has no technical name, not being pure enough for calcite. On the summit are many sink holes, or depressions, which collect the water that falls within their reach and permit it to permeate beneath the surface. The limestone in this hill has many crevices and the water, by constantly finding its way along and down these crevices, has caused several rocks to wear apart, and thus reveal the cave. The hill is covered with fine specimens of all the native trees, haid and soft wood, perennial and deciduous. They stand to-day in all the grandeur of nature.

The mouth of the cave is an opening just large enough to permit visitors to scramble down, one at a time, for a distance of thirty-five feet and at an angle of about twenty degrees from the perpendicular. At twentyfive feet from the surface appears a tall crevice in the limestone rock, which is called Lawton's Tower. At forty feet are many unique rocks, two of which are called Tailor's Goose and Mollie's Rocking Chair. These rest on what is the general floor of the cave, and near the stream of water that flows on one side or the other of the cave. The temperature of the water here is 58 degrees Fahrenheit. At Maiden's spring it is 56 degrees and at Rose's spring 55 degrees.

Beginning at the Tailor's Goose and going north is the Grand Reception hall, one hundred feet long, thirtj^ feet wide and ten feet high. In here, as at various other places in the cave, are many "bear wallows," or lairs, in which bears hibernated many years ago. The bears have clawed them out the size of a large washtub. The prints of their monster claws can be seen very distinctly. In the wallows are debris of a bear nature.

At one hundred thirty-five feet is Maiden's spring and its picturesque basin and walls. Here also are the Towers of Babel. These are tall, circular crevices in the limestone, about four or five feet in diameter and so tall that the visitors were unable, even with flash lights, to see the tops. There are many surface rocks and pieces of timber at the base which have dropped in from some opening on the summit of the hill, now closed and lost.

At one hundred fifty feet is Roberta's Rock Bell, which, when struck with a small rock or hammer, rings throughout the cave. It is a splendid specimen of suspended limestone. Here also is Roberta's Grotto, a circular cavern east of the bell. A stream of water flows beneath the bell and around a pillar. Near here are the finest specimens of stalactites, stalagmites and stalacto-stalagmites found in the cave.

At two hundred twenty-two feet the stream flows in a deep crevice in the floor of the cave. This is called Hudson river. It is one of the prettiest sights in the cavern. Mickler's hall begins here and runs seventytwo feet - a long, broad, low hall, with a splendid, smooth ceiling, all of limestone. There is also a side route here. At two hundred seventyfive feet is Kendall's hall, similar to Mickler's hall, but angular, ending in Lover's Leap. At four hundred feet is Wilson's hall, a tall rugged specimen of subterranean excavation. It contains Rose's spring of cool, clear water.

At four hundred forty-four feet begins Lottie's Parlor, which contains, at four hundred sixty-four feet, the Masonic spring, with its checkered floor From here one arm extends a little west of north for one hundred fifty feet. At six hundred feet the cave is practically closed and can not be explored farther without excavating. North of the Masonic spring the stream was explored six hundred sixty-four feet from the mouth of the cave. Here it becomes too low for extended exploration without rubber suits. All water in the cave is crystal clear and cool. No fish are found, though it is reported fish have been seen in the cave.

After returning to the Grand Reception hall, it is fifty feet to McKinley's river, Harrison Point, Carrie's hall and the Fallen Rocks. One of these limestone rocks, thirty feet long, five feet wide and two feet thick, is almost like a rough ashlar. Here also is Mollie's hall, fifteen feet high, the Grand Canyon and several bear wallows. At one hundred twenty feet is the Auger Hole, and here also are the Four Cardinal Points. These are four crevices in the rock above, that follow the points of the compass from the center to the vanishing points.

At one hundred seventj- feet and under the east crevice are the Worshipful Master's Chair and Canopy. Nearby is a bear wallow and then comes Rock Island; and running from y it and under and around to Mollie's hall is Nellie's hall, seventy-five by forty feet, with many passageways. It is a splendid specimen of a dry excavation. At one hundred ninety feet is Little Round SHALL Top, Andrew's Slide and teen feet long, four feet wide and very much resembles a smoothing iron. Nearby is Frog Monument, apparently ready to leap on the intruders, and overhead is a fair sample of the modern crazy quilt. Here this arm of the cave closes, so far as passage way is concerned. Nothing has been removed from the cave.

In some places in the cave the sides are draped and festooned with stalactites and stalagmites, sometimes hanging in graceful folds, or ribbed with corrugations, but they are in no wise equal to those in Marengo cave, in Crawford county. Some places on the roof stalactites hang similar to quill-like tubes, fragile as glass, each tipped with a drop of water which sparkles in the lamplight like a crystal jewel. Some parts of this cave are double-floored, the upper being dry and the lower one having a stream of water flow'ing through the greater part of its length.

In the cave and in the crevices of the limestone are deposits of a sandy substance resembling what is wrongfully called "soapstone," mixed with wet sand. It is probably a siliceous shale - that is, a shale containing a large percentage of sand or silica. Sometimes these exposed deposits are fifty feet long, ten feet wide and two or three feet thick. It is on these that the bears clawed out their nests, their claws cutting fearful gashes in the banks. Occasionally small pieces of sandstone were found in the stream. They must have been washed in b}- water.

This cave, like most of its kind, is an uncanny place to the average visitor. Here eternal darkness reigns supreme, and the fabulous Cimmerian people of old could have lived within its confines in a darkness to suit their most fastidious nature. The walls and ceiling are of a terra cotta color, occasionally covered with a mineral deposit which glistens under the rays of reflectors and lamps.

Subjoined are geological data obtained from personal observations, from interviews with miners, and geologists, and from official sources. Those who have a predilection for the study of geology may find them a source of pleasure and satisfaction.

Mill creek in Boone township has cut a small valley through the coal and shales in section 27, thus producing a large admixture of bituminous matter in its alluvial bottoms. Jets, or balls of fire are produced by decomposition setting free inflammable gases. Often, two or more of these "fire balls" have been seen at onetime in Mill creek bottoms, moving with the uncertain motion of the wind and frequently with great brilliancy. The superstitious believe them to be the wandering ghosts of persons who have been drowned in the stream, or of Piankishaw Indians returning to claim their dead.

An object of great interest to a geologist is High Rock, in Daviess county, across White river from Boone township. It is 120 feet above the river, and overlooks the valle3^ Riven by a crevice from top to bottom, and bruised by storm and flood, it bears strong testimonj' to the good quality of the rock. A picture may be found in Chapter XVIII.

State Geologist Cox records that the plateau west of Ireland is onehundred-twenty feet above White river, and that the gently sloping bluffs on the north side of the plateau are from twenty to twenty-five feet above the level of the river, once forming the "coast" or levee embankment of the Mississippi river, for he says, the Mississippi ages ago flowed there.

In the quick sand in wells in Boone township are found remains of shrubs and grape vines of enormous growth, indicating, perhaps, the luxuriance of a warmer climate.

At a height of from one- hundred-ten to one-hundred-twenty-three feet above the low water of White river, east of Haysville, and on the old Harbison farm west of Haysville, also at Portersville, and at some other points, are to-day found "sand-bars," dating back to the long past, yet they are easily identified. It is evident that some ancient river flowed there. Gravel and bowlders torn from the most obdurate rocks at its source formed shallows and rapids, then, as to-day. West of part of Haysville is a bed of geodes, which probably came from the mountain limestones of Orange and Lawrence counties. There is also a bed of geodes on the Beck farm on the Jasper and Portersville road.

The so called "rock houses" or "pot houses" found in Dubois county had their origin in this manner. Just beneath the massive sand rock, is often found a gray siliceous shale varying from two to twent5^-four feet in thickness. Often plant remains are found in this shale. On exposure it decomposes and is carried away by water and frost while the massive rock above remains. In such places Indians often made their homes, an example of which is found in section thirt^^-four, north of Holland. In this one upon the ancient hearthstones human bones were found mixed with alkaline tufa. Raven Rock, Kitchen Rock and others are also examples of this nature.

The "Rock House" in section thirty-four north of Holland, is probably the location of the old Piankishaw Indian village of 1776, mention of which is made in Chapter XVIII.

There is a "Rock House" near the mouth of W^olf creek at the Rock House ford across White river. Near here, Col. B. B. Edmonston found part of the skeleton of a mastodon.

Official reports say in the "Rock House" in Hall township, droves of animals and whole tribes of Indians have been known to take shelter from the snows and storms of winter.

East of Haysville and near Birdseye is found loess, a deposit of fine yellowish earth. It is upon the highest hills, imperfectly stratified and from twenty to thirty feet in thickness. It is rich in plant food and is called bv many the walnut-level. Good timber is found in such locations. Though Patoka river is a narrow stream its bottoms are unusually large, ranging from one to three miles in width. It flows through what is sometimes termed a loess deposit. As a rule the soil in Patoka bottoms is cold and impervious to moisture; hence it is very wet in winter and very dry in summer. Occasionally a sand bottom is found in Patoka valley.

The summit of many of the hills along the eastern boundary of Dubois county is close to four hundred feet above the water in Patoka river. In going from Jasper to Birdseye the road passes over several ridges from two hundred fifty to three hundred feet above Patoka at Jasper. Points near Birdseye are said to be four hundred feet above Jasper, and eight hundred seventy-five feet above the sea. They are probably the highest points in the count3\

Davis creek in Columbia township is an interesting study for those who fancy the work of geologists. The creek enters Dubois county at the northeast corner, and goes direct southwest to Patoka river. It runs down a deep narrow valley, one of the prettiest in the county, and has cut its way down to the solid limestone, known as the upper member of the mountain limestone. The lower oolitic member, fifty feet in thickness, is the lowest and oldest exposed formation in the county, and consists almost entirely of wave worn crushed remains of shells, corals, crinoid stems, etc., pure and of a white stone color. It produces excellent lime. This valley has choice stone building material. Scientists tell us the supply of lime to be obtained in this valley will some day be a blessing to agriculturists.

"In many of the lime rocks found in Dubois county may be seen fossil shells and casts of animals, exclusively of marine origin. Prominent among these are the remains of gigantic fish, and chambered shells, such as the nautilus. Some are very fragile, showing that once upon a time this county was in the profound and quiet depths of a central ocean, remote from the influence of waves as well as from rocky or sandy bottoms, until some mighty current of disturbed and muddy waters impelled by earthquake action overwhelmed these animals - the impure water putting an end to their life and burying them in the slimy bed deposited over the coal material." The eastern coast of this ancient sea was from five to ten miles east of Jasper.

The coal in the western part of Dubois count}^ is generally a coking coal, indicating bog origin. The coal in the central part of Dubois county is about one-third block, the balance, coking or semi-block. This is held to indicate that the coal is of vegetable origin, incarcerated for a long period in sea water until pulpified and cast down. This theory is held to be reasonable because in beds of this coal are often found solid remains of marine animals, such as scales, teeth, and spines of fishes. Some block coal is found in the eastern part of Dubois county. Cannel-coal is also found in this county; near Ferdinand.

In 1908, Mr. Sigfried, a miner, at work in a coal mine near Ferdinand, found imbedded in the coal what appeared to be a rock, six feet long, four inches wide, and two and one-half inches thick. In the rock were holes in straight rows. It was probably a piece of the stem of sigillaria, one of the coal forming fern-like plants that existed during the carboniferous age.

While Dubois county was yet covered with a forest, thus preventing the rapid absorption of moisture, medicinal, salt, and other springs of like nature were found flowing. There was an "elm lick" in section 8, T. i S. R. 3 W. There was another "lick" in section 36, T. i N. R. 5 W. These springs were called licks because deer licked the rocks about them for salts, etc. In section 22, T. i N. R. 3 W. is Vowell Cave. A spring at its base is known as "blowing spring," because a strong current of air rushes out from the opening in the rock. There were other large springs in sections 33 and 36, T. 2 S. R. 3 W., in section 36, T. i N. R. 5 W.. and in sections i, 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13 and 14 of T. 3 S. R. 3 W., south of Birdseye. Many of the springs south of Birdseye flowed salty water.

The "Toussaint Dubois spring" in Boone township flows a strong stream of pure water, among the purest to be found in Indiana. It flows into Mill creek.

There is a supply of good potter's clay for common crockery, in Dubois county. It begins at the southern boundary of the county and extends north, reaching a depth of about eight feet at White river.

The clay lying immediately below the coal in Dubois county is generally siliceous and makes a fairly good article of fire cla}' . Some at Jasper and Huntingburg is more aluminous and makes a choice plastic clay well adapted for queensware potteries.

Potter's and white clay are found in many parts of the county, particularly in sections 15, 16, 21 and 22, north of Ferdinand; at Huntingburg; and at Fairmount Cemetery, south of Huntingburg. A fine potter's clay, four feet thick is found two miles east of Holland. Sand and white sand are found southwest of Huntingburg and west of Fairmount Cemetery.

Near the top of Reservoir hill, whose elevation exceeds that of the courthouse yard at Jasper by about one-hundred forty feet, is an out-crop of soft, unctuous light-gray shale. It is about twenty-three feet thick. In Reservoir hill are four veins of coal, one being about three feet thick. Beneath each of these four veins of coal there is a layer of fine grained andverj' light colored fire-clay, from three to five feet thick. It would prove excellent for pottery or other refractory purposes.

The shale mentioned above could be made into either vitrified or pressed front brick of high grade. This hill contains not less than thirty-five feet of good commercial clay, and the fuel necessary for its burning.

The shale beds in section thirty-four, a mile west of Jasper, are of an excellent quality, and the fire clay in the old coal mines is also of a good quality.

At Huntingburg is a deposit of one of the best potter's clay known in southern Indiana. Potteries at Louisville, Evansville, New Albany, and other points obtain clay here. It is about six feet thick. The "Huntingburg Pressed Brick Company" is making a bufi" front brick from a mixture of the potters' clay and the underlying fire clay.

On J. L. Schiller's farm in section six near Dubois occurs an outcrop of pale blue fire cla}-, about forty inches in thickness. The owner sometimes burns the clay in a kiln, and uses it as a fertilizer with good results.

Material for the manufacture of bricks is abundant in all parts of the county. The under clays accompanying coal seam A are generall}- siliceous, and are suitable for the manufacture of firebrick. The under clay of coal seam K is usually plastic and affords choice material for potter's use.

The soil of Dubois county is not of the best. Fair crops of corn, wheat, oats and grass are produced. Under draining is needed to develop a high value for the flat clay bottoms of Patoka. The reddish brown loam soil in the southern part of the county is excellent for cigar-leaf tobacco, and, at one time, much tobacco was raised and extensive tobacco warehouses were erected at Huntinburg, Ferdinand, and Holland. Except the northwest part of Dubois county the soil is known as residual soil.

Iron ores are found in several localities in Dubois county - some very pure, but the quantity is not sufficient for mining purposes. At Klingel's mill in section 20, northeast of Jasper, the hill is known to geologists as Iron Mountain. Iron ore is found about Hillham, Dubois, Schnellville, Birdseye, Kellerville, Ferdinand, Holland, and in Fairmount Cemetery. The hill south of Kellerville is two-hundred-sixty-five feet above White river, and in this hill is found iron ore. It is not probable, hardly possible, that ores of the finer metals will ever be found in paying quantities in Dubois county.

Surveyor Sandusky Williams found in a well in section 28, above, at a depth of seventeen feet, a bed of yellow ochre three feet nine inches thick. Under it is a four feet stratum of ochreous soapstone. This is in Cass township.

The massive conglomerate sandstone is a prominent feature in the eastern side of Dubois county. Like a massive wall it encloses the true coal basin. A spur of it also goes west and in many places forms the south bank of Patoka river. In this sandstone occasionally may be found small pebbles of quartz and jasper, indicating great age. In the sandstone between Huntingburg and Jasper are found petrified trunks of fern trees.

Near Schnellville is a heavy bedded deposit of beautiful snow-white sand rock. It is valuable and makes excellent door and window caps, ornamental coping, cornice work, and even gravestones, and church altars.

In 1887, a brown-stone quarry was opened at St. Anthon}' and operated on a small scale for two years. In 1894, it was re-opened for a few years. The stone occurs in a massive bed varying from ten to sixteen feet in thickness. It is overlaid and underlaid by shale. The length of the quarry floor is about eight hundred feet. Very large blocks of stone can be secured. A buff stone is also quarried near St. Anthony. It was used < in constructing the Catholic church there. The brown stone zone in 3 Dubois county runs from a point northeast of Ferdinand to a point near Dubois.

Gray and buff sandstone has been quarried for local use at several points near Jasper. It is harder than the average Mansfield variety. St. Joseph's church at Jasper is built of sandstone obtained near the town.

The earlier examples of stone buildings in Dubois county have a representative in the Catholic church at Ferdinand. It is built of a heavy bedded sandstone which lies just above the paint beds. Its color is white with streaks of grayish brown and reddish brown. Though somewhat odd, it is, no doubt, durable and the appearance is rather agreeable to the eye.

The lime used in the construction of St. Joseph's Church at Jasper was obtained from a limestone taken from sections five and eight, south of Ireland.

The subcarboniferous or conglomerate sand rock of Dubois county will yield an unlimited amount of stone suitable for superstructures as well as for foundations. Most of it when fresh from the quarry is soft enough to work readily, but it soon hardens by exposure.

In 1902, and 1903, a number of bores were sunk for oil in the vicinity of Birdseye. In some quite a quantity of oil was developed in the carboniferous limestone. The first well was put down in section twenty-four six miles south of Birdseye. The drill went down 1030 feet. Light colored oil was usually found in the bores, between 300 and 400 feet down. The wells were sunk as follows :

In all about thirteen bores were sunk at Birdseye. Oil was found, and some day this field may be re-opened, and work continued with some system. The oil found at Birdseye was of a very good grade. About $50,000 was spent in the drilling.

In 1889, in search of oil or gas a well was sunk at Jasper to a depth of 1009 feet, but no oil or gas, of value was found. For years water flowed from the pipe at the well. It was used by many as a laxative and diuretic. In appearance and properties, so far as could be judged without an analysis, it was fully equal to many similar waters which are used in sanitariums, with excellent curative results.

When the Anderson Valley Paint Mining Company was in operation, crushing oxide of iron, and grinding and preparing the paints, it furnished paints as follows : Light and dark butter-nut, maroon and light red metallic fire proof, brown and red Bismarck, and light and dark slate for cars, steamboats, bridges, roofing, etc. Light and dark yellow ochre, drab, Dubois stone, and raw and burnt sienna were recommended for house painting, wagons, plows, etc.

The supply of mineral for the making of mineral paint in Ferdinand township is unlimited. The quality of the paint is eminently satisfactory,

In 1859-1860 - David Dale Owen, a noted state geologist, made investigations in Dubois county. He reports iron ore three and one-half miles south of Jasper, and near Kellerville, and says, "In this county they have limestone enough to supply kilns, and the eastern portion furnishes sandstone for building purposes from the Millstone grit." During his survey of Dubois county, milk sickness prevailed to a considerable extent near White river.

"The coal deposits of Dubois county, although thinner than those of more favored districts will be found sufficient to supply home demand for mills, dwellings, etc., for a long time to come, if mine owners will not abuse their mines by grasping operations.

The stratified rocks of Dubois county belong mainly to the coal measures, with a limited exposure of mountain limestone. With the exception of the extreme eastern boundry some coal may be found almost anywhere in the county. Some geologists contend that the entire area of the county is underlaid by coal.

Near Ferdinand is a coal thatlis compact, very hard, a dry .splint, and free from sulphuret. It is much valued for the forge. I have examined practically every one of the two hundred thirty-three coal openings in Dubois county, and feel safe in saying that the eastern limit of the coal area of the county passes west of Birdseye and through Union Valley in Columbia township. West of that line coal, more or less profitable for mining, may be found. Even the thinner veins may some day be operated. The coal in the eastern part of the county is in pockets, more or less, and sufficient for home consumption, only. The coal for transportation, if found in Dubois county, at all, will be found in the western half of the county too deep for the ordinary slope mines. In Reservoir Hill at Jasper are four beds of coal, coal M, L, K, and A. Coal A in this hill is one hundred forty feet below the summit of the hill and lies. between a bituminuous shale, and a dark bituminous clay. This broken' hill has been my favorite study for nearly fifty years. In it are found sandstone, black slate, four veins of coal, iron nodules, different shales, hard flint}- limestone, black slate, plastic fire clay, hard fire clay, blue clay shale, shaley fire clay, clay with iron nodules, archimedes or " rock screws " and oolitic limestone. Lime for the erection of brick buildings at Jasper, was burned, at the foot of this hill sixty years ago. Jerger's Hill, east of Reservoir Hill has a similar formation, and the position of its clays have caused the north side of the hill to slide down. Reservoir Hill has an anticlinal formation.

There are about nine different kinds of coal in Dubois county and, in thickness, the coal runs from a few inches to five feet. About three hundred square miles out of the four hundred twenty-eight, are underlaid by coal, bat only about one-tenth of the area of the county contains workable coal.

In my younger days I used to mine coal K in Reservoir Hill. It was block and semi-block, three feet thick and of a dull black color. The middle part of the seam was excellent coal. Its specific gravity was 1.416 and one cubic foot would weigh 88. 50 pounds. Its composition was in the main as follows :

This is the heaviest coal I have noticed in Dubois county. On Davis creek in Columbia township is a small vein of coal with carbon at 53.50 and weight at 81.62 per cubic foot.

The coal bed found by the government surveyors near Haysville, in 1804, contains cannel coal and semi-block coal. This coal is remarkably rich in gas, almost as much so as the celebrated " Boghead coal" of Scotland. A cubic foot of this coal weighs 74.87 pounds.

The coal at Bretzville weighs from 79 to 81 pounds to the cubic foot, that at St. Anthony weighs from 78 to 83, some near Ferdinand weighs 77^ to the cubic foot. Near St. Henry is a vein three feet thick that weighs about 82 pounds to the cubic foot ; coal at Portersville, Celestine, and southeast of Ferdinand runs about 78 pounds to the cubic foot. The coal about the old " Rosebank " runs from 78 to 83 to the cubic foot.

In the roofs of some of the coal mines in Dubois county are often found what we local miners call bowlders or nigger heads, but what geologists call pyritous iron balls. From one of these found in a mine near the southwest corner of Dubois county, besides more than twenty species of shell fish, was found a fish bone, about eight inches long. In it was inserted a row of large saw-edged teeth. This curious fossil was homogenous in its texture.

Some geologists think that such bowlders are formed from what was once the excreta of wonderful monsters endowed with the power and capacity to destroy and digest gigantic animals, for the reason that the bowlders contain the petrified remains and other solid remains of various animals, such parts being hardest to digest. There are found portions of many different animals not likely to be found together except dead, and in the alimentary canal of some wonderful monster. If this be true, we have a proof that the ocean once covered a large part, or perhaps all of Dubois county.

In m}^ sixty-five 5'ears' experience down deep in the mines of England, America and my own adoptedcounty of Dubois, I have found many things, strange and wonderful to say the least."