Franklin County, Indiana - Chapter 2: Geology, 1915

Chapter 2: Geology

The best discussion of the soils of Frankhn county is found in the Report of the State Geologist for 1909. This was written by A. E. Taylor after making an exhaustive study of the county. The report is given in full as it appears in that volume.

The first settler of Franklin county erected his cabin at New Trenton in 1803. Eight years later the county was organized, and in 1818 a newspaper, known as the BrookviUc Enquirer and Indiana Gazette, was started at Brookville. Advancements have been slow in a large portion at Frankhn county. The railway facilities are poor, only fifteen per cent, of the wagon roads are improved, and agricultural methods and conditions are not as good as those of the other counties of the area of survey.

Brookville, a town of about three thousand inhabitants, is the county seat and the leading manufacturing center. Among the chief manufacturers is the Thompson & Norris Paper Company, which employs ninety-eight men ; the Brookville Furniture Company, with sixty-five employes: the Brookville Buggy Company and the Freis & Sons Tiling and Brick Company.

Oldenburg, with a somewhat smaller population than Brookville. is noted for its large Catholic school. The other towns of the area are small country villages. Southwest of Laurel are several stone quarries and another is situated east of Pcppertown.

Franklin county has a population of seventeen thousand and covers an area of three hundred and ninety- four miles. There are about two hundred and ten thousand acres of land in farms. In 1908 near thirty thousand acres were planted in wheat, thirty-one thousand in corn, three thousand in oats, twelve thousand in clover, nine thousand in timothy, five thousand in potatoes, forty-one in tobacco and (^ne hundred and forty in alfalfa. In the orchards of the county there were over twenty thousand apple trees, seven thousand peach, two thousand cherry, one thousand pear and one thousand plum. There were approximately five thousand head of horses on hand

January l. 1909, four hundred inuk-s, five thousand dairy cattle, four thousand beef cattle and nineteen thousand ho,!^s. About thirty-one thousand hogs and thirty-rt\e hundred shee]) were sold during 1908.

Franklin count}- pmbalily has more standing timber than any of the contiguous counties. Among the trees still standing can be seen the black walnut, white oak, red oak. burr oak, chestnut oak, black oak, sycamore, red elm, white elm, sliijpcry elm. hickory. ])ignut, shelbark. white beech, yellow beech, red beech, white ash, blue ash, black ash, hoop ash, hackberry, yellow .poplar, white poplar, rock mai)le, white maple, red or swamp maple, butternut, wild cherry, honey locust, buckeye, blue gum, mulberry, red cedar, sweet gum, linden and cottonwood.

The surface formations of Franklin county are largely made up of two glacial drifts belonging to the Pleistocene period. The older of these is the Illinoian. All of Laurel township, part of Whitewater and all of the surface lying west of Whitewater river and its west forks, with the exception of the steep slopes, stream terraces and some later drift in Posey township, are covered by the Illinoian dri ft soils.

The surface of the Illinoian drift is that of a gently undulating plain, deeply dissected by stream valleys, differences of three hundred feet in altitude being common between the floors of the valleys and the tops of the ridges. It seldom exceeds thirty feet in thickness, and generally plays out entirely along a steep slope where washing has been a prominent factor. Its surface appears as a light gray silt, deeply oxidized. In fact, decomposition has been so complete that the limestone boulders and gravel are almost entirely absent, having been dissolved. Granite gneisses, diorites, basalts, quartzites and others of the crystalline gronp are occasionally present, but nowhere in such numbers as in the later Wisconsin drift. Xo dark colored land or other indications of undrained depressions occur on this drift, showing that complete oxidation of the vegetable accumulations has taken place subsequent to the drainage of all kettle basins, sloughs and marshes.

The later \\'isconsin drift varies from ten to sixty feet in thickness. The undrained swamp areas and Miami black clay loam dottings are present in the northeast quarter of the county, and also a great variety of boulders. A few kames occur two or three miles south of Bl<3oming Grove. Like the older drift, it is a gentlv undulating surface considerably cut up by stream

Franklix Countv, Indiana

The limestone outcropj)in.<4 in the hilltops west of Laurel and north of Brookville hclnngs to the .'Silurian jK'riod. while the blue limestone and shale appearing at the surface on alm(;st all of the steep slopes south of the Laurel outcrops, arc the Cincinnati formations of the Ordovician period. .\n oil well drilled one mile north of Hucna Vista passed through thirty-four feet of Illinoian drift, one hundred and five feet of Xiagara and Cincinnati limestones and seven hundred and si.x feet of Cincinnati shale before reaching the Trenton limestone.

On account of the Illinoian drift being the surface formation over the large part of Franklin county in-^tead of the later Wisconsin, as in the case in contiguous counties, and the Cincinnati limestone being the formation from which the limestone slope soil has been derived, we meet some quite difil'erent types than those mapped in the other counties. The land derived from the Illinoian drift is known as the Oak Forest silt loam, while that from the later Wisconsin is the Miami silt loam or Miami black clay loam. The Huntington loam is the main bottom land, ninety-five per cent, of which occurs in the terraces and flood plains of White W^ater river and its^forks. The bottom land soils of the many narrow valleys among the smaller streams will be known as Hamburg loam, owing to their typical development in the vicinity of the \illage of I-Iamlnirg.

Areas Of Different Soils Miami Sii.T Loam

This suil a.-> it ajjpears at the surface is a light brown or dark gray to alnK^st while .silt loam extendin.t,' to a depth of six to eleven inches. It generally has a loose, tlour-like feel, and the content of organic matter i^ very small, but in some localities where it is assfjciated with the .Miami black clay loam the color is dark and tlie amount of organic matter high. Where there is considerable wash, the soil is frequently more sandy than when found in the gently undulating i)lains.

Below the i)low soil, and contiiniing to a depth of two or three feet, a mottling of white and yellow frei|uently occurs, the white color often Ixring a residual matter left when the limestone pebbles arc, or have been, in the process of decomposition. At a depth of thirteen inches the subsoil takes on a light brown color. It is more clayey than the surface soil and becomes more so at a de])th of sixteen inches, where it is a clay loaii>» Below this the clayey character plavs out. and at eighteen inches a silt loam or a sandv clay is found, which contiiuies to a de[)th oi three feet.

Twenty-fi\'e years ago much of this land was considered to i)e fit for little more than grazing purposes. Corn crops of twenty bushels to the acre were as good as could i)e expected, but since tiling, crop rotation and green manuring have been put into practice, the corn yields have more than doubled. A very progressive farmer in White Water township say^ that some vears ago his farm would not product over twenty-five bushels of corn to the acre, but since tiling his land to a depth of four feet in the Miami black clay loam and three and one-half feet in the .Miami silt loam he can be reasonaJjlv certain of at least sixty bushels of corn to the acre. He keeps up a careful rotation of corn, wheat and clover, plows under cro])s of clover, and cultivates his corn to a depth of two indies every few weeks until it is .-ilked out. By a careful selection of seed he will be able to continue to increase his yields.

By using commercial fertilizer, farmers realize an average wiieat jiroduction of fifteen bushels to the acre. Oats average about thirtv bushels and clover or timothy one ton.

Many of the Miann' black clay loam areas ha^-e. onlv in the last two decades, been reclaimed from the marshes. By careful tiling this soil has become the best for corn and most valuable of any in the countw .\ corn crop of sixty bushels to the acre is about an average for the better class of agriculturists, but wheat does not do as well as on the light-colored soils.

1 he soil occurs as a licaw l<jam or day Irjani, with a depth varyinjj between cloven and sixteen inches. The c'>l(;r to a depth of one and one-half feet is l)lack. but heh^w this f,^rades rapidly into a heavy clay loam, which at two feet or a little tlee])er often f^rades into a sandy clay or loam. In other textural projjeriies it bears a close resemblance to the Miami black clay loam soil treated in tiie general discussion.

The surface of the Miami black clay loam is practically level. Its occurrence is found in all ])art.> uf the Miami silt loam area, but most especially in Rath, the eastern half of .Sprirgtield and the eastern (luartcr u* White Water tcnvnships. The average selling price of the land is about one hundred dollars per acre.

A casual oIjser\ er might pass from the Miami silt loam to the Oak Forest silt Inani with<jut noting the change, but upon more careful e.xann'naticn the latter would he found to I;e a shade lighter in color, to contain less organic matter, less crystalline rock>, Uj have very few limestone i)j^)bles or boulders and to be underlain by a light colored subsoil, which has more segregati(jns of yellow iron stains and iron concretions.

The average surface soil of the Oak Forest silt loam is a light a>hy gray silt loam, with a depth varying between four and eight inches, but on slopes the pale yellow mottled silt loam subsoil occurs at the surface over large areas. By tasting, the soil or subsoil almost invariably one detects a very tart taste, which indicates sourness. This soil and subsoil resemble very closely the Scottslnirg silt loam of Scott countv. Indiana.

No land in the group (;f se\en counties of which Franklin is one has been so sadly neglected. Rarely is it tiled and very seldom is green manuring practiced. There is no systematic cropping. Corn is planted about the first of June, the land not being sufficiently dry earlier. Often the corn has not time to ripen l;efore the autumn frosts. More care should be exercised in the selection of seed and cultivation. Judging by the results that a few progressive farmers have realized by using up-to-date methods in carr}-ing on their farming, there remains no doubt but that this land can be made to yield fifty bushels of corn to the acre. Oats average about twenty-five bushels to the acre and wheat, by using commercial fertiliser, fifteen.

Many farmers say they cannot build their soil up bv plowing under clover, because they cannot get a stand. Upon examining a number of clover fields the writer found that where manure had been stacked in little piles over the fields the clover grew heavy and the soil was not sour. The same held true wherever the manure had been heavily applied, but where thinly, or not at all. the acid had ngt been neutralized and the soil was sour. Tilin<^

Small fruit (jrchards are found on most of the farms and a few extensive fruit farms. One of these, u liicii is owned by D. O. Secrest. is situated three miles east of Andersonville. Mfteen years ago ninety acres of this farm were set out to apjjle trees which were planted thirty feet apart. They yield twenty-rt\e thousand bushels in a good year. Peach trees were set out between the a])ple trees o\er twenty-two acres of the ninety. These, in 1906. produced two thousand bushels. One acre set out to pear trees thirty feet apart yields six hundred bushels in an average year.

Limestone .Slote Clay Loam

This is the only residual soil of the area. It occurs as a dark brown to black silt loam, averaging from eight t(j sixteen inches in thickness. It contains a high ])ercentage of organic matter, and to this may be attributed the dark color. With increased de]jth the color becomes lighter, the subsoil at twenty inches having a light to medium brown color, while at two feet it is a light brown with a reddish cast. The subsoil from eighteen to thirty inches is more clayey than that at the surface, but below this may become rather sandy.

Although the above section is the most uncommon, yet where the limestone is very close to the surface we find a black clay, changing very little in texture until the bed-rock is reached. In this case the soil has had its derivation wholly from the decomposition and disintegration of the limestone.

Owing to the topographical position on the main valley slopes, limestone slope clay loam grades into the Miami silt loam or Oak Forest silt loam at the upper portion of the slopes, while at the base it borders the Huntington loam or Hamburg loam. The origin of an average section seems to be mostly from the weathering of the Cincinnati limestone, to some extent from the wash of the silt loam above it, and in a few cases from the decomposition and disintegration of the underlying Cincinnati shales or the Laurel limestone. The effect that slumping, freezing, thawing, chemical reaction between the calcium carbonate of the limestone and the organic acids of the soil and other processes of disintegration are having upon the Cincinnati limestone, can be partly determined by the fact that E. R. Quick, living one and a half miles south of Brookville. in 1883 gathered a large

This type seems to be esi)ecially rich in plant foods, and is known, locally, as the tf^bacco soil, (jne thousand pounds to an acre often feeing realized. Xo soil in the county is as well adapted to blue grass. Corn also does well and alfalfa gives as good yields as on the bottom land. Probably the first alfalfa grown in the county was sown by Herman MuUer, living a few miles east of Cedar Grove, ab(jut twenty-four years ago. It yielded from four to five tons per acre. Where the limestone is close to the surface and the soil is so full of the fragments that it is considered untillable. and would be classed as a stony clay or stony clay loam, alfalfa has grown well.

Owing to the very steep slopes upon which the limestone slope clay loam occurs the soil wash is very great, and a decade will leave the fields almost bare and w-orthless unless great precaution is taken. More care should be given v.hen plowing so that the water cannot run in furrows. Crops like tobacco and corn are dangerous to the preservation of the soil, because they leave the ground bare for a considerable interval. In the long run, blue grass and alfalfa would be more profitable, since they would hold the soil in place.

Huntington Loam

For te.xture and colors of the Huntington loam and its subsoils, the occurrences in Franklin county are much like those described elsewhere, but the topographical occurrence differs somewhat from the other counties in that the upper terraces are so much higher above the flood plains than in the other six counties. The fourth terrace, which has its development on the east side of White Water valley, south of Brookville, is one hundred feet above the bed of the river. At the surface it is a rich farming loam of seven to seventeen inches, grading into a fine sandy loam and at two feet into a sandy loam. At two and one-half feet it is a fine sand. Underlying this is ten to twenty inches of a tough }ello\v clay containing gravel, and lower down occurs boulder clay of a bluish gray color. The third terrace is about seventy-five feet above the stream bed and is more sandy than the fourth, while the second is the most extensive and furnishes a splendid grade of farming land. The first terrace averages about twenty feet above lowwater mark and also takes its rank, in many places, as a most excellent farm land. Four miles south of Rrookvillc a well was drilled in this terrace to a depth of one hundred and fifty feet before bed-rock was reached.

of sixty bushels, ulicat fntirtccii. aiul alfalta four and a half tons. This soil is well adapted t<j Ifjhacco. hut it is not considered equal to the limestone slo])e clay hjani. Althoui^di the land is very porous, and manures will leach away rapidly, yet the applicatinn of stable manure, green manures and commercial fertilizer is reported to pay well for increasing the producti<jn.

Hamburg Loam

Found in the l)ottonis of tlie narrow valleys of the smaller streams on the west side of White Water river and its west forks, is a mixture of limestone talus, which lias washed down from the valley sides, with the wash from the Oak b'orest silt loam. On the east side of Whitewater the limestone talus is mingled with the wash from the Miami silt loam. Tb.e texture varies from a loam to a stony loam.

Where there is a widening of the bottoms, so that agriculture can l>e carried on, crops ecpial to those produced an the Huntington loam are obtained, but these areas are vcr\' limited and comprise only small portions of farms.

Dr. Rufus Haymond, of Brookxille. who was at one time assistant geologist in the scientific cor])s of the state, made a professional survev of the natural features of I'ranklin county about 1870, which has ever been considered as standard authority up to that date of research, and concerning the ancient earthworks of this county he remarks as follows:

There are few earthworks, except mounds, found in this countw Three miles m^rth of I>rookville. and immediately west of the East fork, upon the top of a hill nearly three hundred and fifty feet high, there is a semi-circular wall of earth three hundred yards in length. It is built across a narrowridge which is formed by two deep ravines, one on the south, the other on the north, which, with the river on the east, isolate the flat top of the hill (containing fifteen or twenty acres), to protect the inhabitants from an enemy approaching from that direction.

There are ([uite a number of earthen mounds in the countv. hut none of large size. 1 have seen none more than four feet in height and manv of them -arc not more than three or ff)iir feet hij,'h. Those on the highlands bordering,' the river are uni formally upon the highest places, and always in view of the ri\er and its valley. These mounds are so situated with reference to each cither, that a person stajiding on a mound in the most northern part of the county. o\erlookiu,c,' the valley of the river. ojuUI see the next mound below him. and from the second the third was in view, and so on with all the others, thus forinini,^ a chain of observatories, from which the approach of an enemy could be tclegra])hcd with great celerity from one to the other, either by smoke or some other intelligible -ignal. Though these mounds were used for burying niouiids. I have no doubt they were also used as signal posts. Very probably these signals were made l)y fire, for the clay of which thev are composed in some cases has been burned to near the color of brick.

The Mound Builders were a people possessing rare good taste, which is evidenced bv the situation of their mounds. These were always built in pictures(|ue positions - either on the highest grounds or in the valleys upon the edges of the liighest ri\cr terraces overlooking the water and the lower portions of the \alley.

Two miles l)elow Rrookville there are. within the distance of two furlongs, upon the edge of the highest river terrace, nine small mounds. Besides these nine, which appear to have been completed, there is one barely commenced and abandoned. The commencement was made by digging up the earth to the depth of a])out twelve inches, which was then thrown out from the center and heaped up around the circumference forming a circle within, on which the superstructure was to be erected, and which has very much the appearance of a shallow basin. It was in these basins that the dead were burned, or rather partly burned, for they were not usually entirely consumed. Xot many mrmnds in this neighborhood have been thorouglil)- explored, and in such as have few contain anything more than bones and charcoal. In two of them bracelets of copper were found and in some others a pipe or two. One of these, found in a mound eight miles below Brookville. was said by those who found it to have still retained the scent of tobacco: if this be true, it conclusively ])roves that these people used tobacco as well as their successors, the modern Indian. There are upon many of the high points, mounds of stone which have been erected by a dift'erent people from the Mound Builders. These contain vast ([uantities of human bones, both of adults and children, as well as the bones of squirrels, skunks and other small animals. These were not probably the burial places of the dead.

Since the organization of a local society, much attention has been given to this interesting suJjject ])y Dr. George \\'. Homsher, of I'airfield. who is the curator of this department. A survey of the entire county, with a careful study of all details and materials, is included in the jjlan of operation. This labor has so far been extended over the township of Springfield. Brookville, Bath and Fairfield only, I)ut with results highly satisfactory to the observers.

On this small area no less than forty-two distinct works have been noted, and in many cases ex])lored. Many interesting, and some rare, specimens of the relics and the handiwork of the ancient builders have been reclaimed.

Blue Limestone Region

The blue limestone is the lowest rock that has been exposed at the bottom of our streams in Franklin county. It underlies the whole region, and is the only rock found in the southeastern third of the county. This limestone, with its accompanying marls, is about four hundred feet thick at Brookville, about a mile north of which place it disappears under a dral> limestone, from six to twenty inches thick.

The surface of the county was originally almost a level plain, which is. now varied and cut up by ravines, valleys and streams that have worn themselves during the long ages of the past. Beyond the heads of the streams, where the table-land has not I^een changed by running water, the liighest land is so flat as to almost deserve the name of marsh or swamp. Yet these lands are not too wet to produce good forest timber. Thus it will be api)arent that there is no such thing as hills or mountains, yet to a person in the valleys, or ravines, the rapid slopes give every appearance, it being a hilly country, originally.

The blue limestone in Franklin ct}unty, as I have observed it. is found in strata varying from less than an inch to twelve or fourteen in thickness. These layers seem to the eye to be nearly horizontal, and can occasionallv be traced for half a mile, where the outcrop is found bordering the streams and run parallel to the dip.

It is a curious fact that, notwithstanding the immense number of rocks, from the l<^west point we can observe to near the tops of the highest levels, comparatively few loose stones are found at tlie surface. The hills and slopes of the valleys are covered with clay and other diluvial matter, in all respects identical with that found upon the uplands, and. strange enough, thous^h so near the lime ruck, the soil of the hillsides, as is the case in all the uplands and flats, seems t(j be devoid oi lime - a fact scarcely credible when we consider the immense amount of tliis mineral immediately below the surface. If lime ever existed in any considerable quantity in these uplands (which is doubtful) it has been leached out during the lapse of ages by the constant percolation of water charged with destructive chemical agents, ever since their deposition. The probaljility is that those lands, which are so deficient in lime, would be benefited Ijy the application of the marls found ever}-- where between the njcks, and that those which have been exhausted by cultivation might, by a proper application of lime and manures, be restored to their original fertility.

The Drift Deposit

The superficial material resting upon the rocks above described consists mostly of yellow clay, mixed more or less with small pieces of broken limestone, gravel from the primitive rocks, and, in a few localities, almost pure gravel is found: in others, sand, and frequently sand and gravel mixed. In no instance on the uplands or tops of the hills do the rocks penetrate through these materials, and we find them only where the drift has been worn away by the action of the streams. The drift varies from four or five feet to forty or fifty feet in thickness upon the upland. The slopes of the vallevs and side-hills seem to be covered with drift similar to that upon the high grounds, but not of equal thickness. In digging wells on tb.e uplands, the roots and bodies of trees are frequently found at various depths from ten to thirty feet. Occasionally, limbs and leaves are found, with vegetable mold at various depths.

Bowlders of granite, hornblend. greenstone, and almost everv species of metamorphic rock, are found all over the county, upon tlie highest as well as the lowest land. They are always found upon the surface and never beneath, except when under slides or terraces of washed-down gra\el and sand". I have seen a few granite bowlders that would square five feet : they are, however, generally much smaller, and are usually worn round bv attrition.

l^pon the hillsides, parallel to the course of the main river, and upon all of its branches, there 'are Ijenclies of ancient terraces - upon the river- slopes usually I)ut tun or three, but upf-n the smaller streams there are more. 1 ha\e counted as many as ten upon a side-hill bordering' lUue creek. Upon these ancient benches or beaches we find no gravel or sanrl, nothing but soil, cla\s and rocks /// .v;7//. On the main river, throu:,'hout its course in the county, there are from two to tour terraces composed of gravel, sand. broken limestone and small bowlders. The fir.st terraces or lower bottoms are usually noi nicjre than ten to twelve feet aljove the water; the highest ranging from seventy to eighty feet. Where the terraces occupy the points just above the river and its tributary, we find the lower ends comjiosed of fine sand, drifted in strata, first to the east, then to the west, as though they had been washed up by the waves and heaped upon each other, as the wind changed from east to west.

Mineral Springs

Xo mineral springs of medical character are known to exist in this county, with the exception of a few which contain a small amount of iron, with possiljly a small percentage of saline sulphur. Springs of any kind are much fewer than we would sus])ect from the configuration of the country. I think tlie limited number may be accounted for by the fact that all the rock strata, as well as the marl beds, are divided by vertical seams, which allow the water to pass through them. It is true there are in this county quite a number of S])rings, but they are not by any m.eans so numerous as I have observed them in other hilly countries. The water of all our springs contains a quantity of lime, and is, therefcjre. familiarly called "hard water."" The blue clay marl beds are too numerous to be mentioned, for evervone observes this material. In one locality, in Laurel township, there is a bed of whitish or cream-colored marl, about eighteen inches thick, lyim,- immediately aliove the "clift"," or De\-onian rocks. Also in I-^airfield township, one and one-fourth miles from the mouth of Wolf creek, there is a bed of white marl, varying in thickness from six to thirtv-six inches.

Precious Metals

In both Laurel and Posey townships there have been discovered along the banks of .Seine creek and its branches, traces of gold in verv small particles. In a wash-pan of dirt about two or three particles of pure gold are washed out. None has been discovered larger than a small grain of wheat.

Fkakklix Couxtv, Indiana

A single piece of copper was fuund. weighing about six pounds. This evidently was brought here from the copper regions of the Xorthern lakes by the drift process.

Seventy to eighty years ago (about i£'35) salt was made at four different places in I'ranklin county. \one of the present generation, and but few of the preceding gencratinn, recall those saltworks. Three of these salt wells were on Salt creek - two on the farm of George and David Hawkins, section 4, township ir, range 12 east, and one on the farm of .Mexander Hawkins, in the same section. The latter is the well of which the largest amount of salt was matle. The fourth well was on Pijje creek, section 8. township 10, range 13 east, in P.utler township. These well.-v were situated in the blue limestone and clay marls of the lower Silurian group. On the hills near them is found the magnesian and bituminous nodular series. The saline element was not of sutiicicnt strength to make the pr.iduction of >all profitable.

The l)elief was so strong among early settlers that lead existed here in paying quantities, that n:r)st of the early deeds had a "lead reserve clau^e"" inserted in them. But careful research has proven the mistaken notion and no lead exists in the county.

In every part of the county, says the geologist, clay of a good quality is found for brick-making. Bricks are made on the uplands of the fine-grained yellow and whitish clay of first rate (juality. Many have been made at Brookville on the fiat lands, Imt these occasionally contain fragments of lime, which make them only suitable for inside walls.

Stone, generally known as "blue Cincinnati limestone." is abundant everywhere and is tb.e surface rock in this county. It is a valuable and very stone, but there are but few strata thick enough to make the quarries a paying proposition. The thin layers have long been used in walling wells and laying foundations. Many of thicker strata are so shelly and composed of broken corals and fossils that thev are not suited to ordinarv stone-mason work. The thin strata was originally largely used for flagging the side walks, until the more recent introduction of cement side walks.

Up to within a C()mparati\ely few years, this fla^^-stonc industry was one of much importance in the comity. The most valuable building stone in the county is found near Laurel and at priints in Posey township. This stone is of the same formation as the Dayton stone, so e.xtensivelv used in construction in Cincinnati. Greensburg and other places. This has been usually classed with the Niagara stone, but others class it with the Devonian formation. This stone has I)een extensively quarried twj or three miles northwest of Laurel, on the southeast quarter of section 5. township 12 north, range 12 east. Adjoining the old \'illage of Bull Town. Posey towmslu'ij, in .section 1.3, township 12. range 11 east, is prohal)ly the most westerly quarrv of this stone ever developed. But little stone is being taken from anv of the Franklin quarries at present. Better stone elsewhere and poor shipping facilities here, with lack of capital, probabl}- are some of the causes.