Shelby County, Indiana - Chapter 1, 1887

Chapter 1

Geology - Surface Configuration - Glacial Drift - General Section of the County - Hot Wells - Paleozoic Geology - Devonian and Silurian Ages - Fossils - Local Details - Conn's Creek and "Waldron Beds," Etc.

'HELBY COUNTY was organized as a municipality, pursuant to an act of Legislature, in 182 1, and contains an area of 408 square miles, or 261,120 acres. It is bounded on the north by Hancock, east by Rush and Decatur, south by Decatur and Bartholemew, and west by }^ Johnson and Marion counties. Shelbyville, the county seat, is twenty-six miles southeast from Indianapolis. Sugar Creek, Big and Little Blue Rivers, and Flat Rock, are the principal water courses. These afford a large amount of water power, only a small part of which is properly utilized. Brooks and creeks ramify into all parts, affording stock-water and drainage to their respective districts.

To the casual visitor the surface configuration is uniform* and monotonous, except in the vicinity of Flat Rock River, in the southeastern parts, where hills and boldly escarped bluffs give variety to the view. As a rule the uplands slope gently to the rivers and creeks, presenting to the observer a great plain, nearly level, but with gentle undulations hardly sufficient to discharge the rainfall, without artificial drainage. The upland divides attain a pretty uniform elevation of 900 feet above the ocean. The valley streams are usually from 100 to 175 feet lower. In some regions soils are made up from the destruction of local rocks, hence lean and thin, or, in other parts, the stiff, cold clays of unmodified glacial drift prevail. Remote from great rivers or actual beds of water, one is astonished to find almost the whole surface of the county covered with alluvium, either ancient or modern. This explains at once the uniform depth and fertility of the soil, and asks what great floods of water and ice plowed out these valleys, contrary to the usual westsouth direction of the drift, and afterward covered the hill tops and glacial drift with clay sands of the loess:

The forest mould and peaty soils are caused by the decay of leaves, grass and other vegetable remains. The alluvial loams of creeks and river bottoms, are due to causes now in action. Water, in swift motion, grinds rolling rocks and pebbles to sand and clay, a slow, but sure and mighty mill, and these, by floods, are spread upon overflowed lands, blessing them with renewed fertilit3\ These deposits are from two to ten, and, on the larger streams, twenty feet in thickness, and make a soil of unrivaled fertility, always productive, and commanding full prices.

There was a period when a great lake of fresh water covered southwestern Indiana, and adjoining regions in Illinois. Kentucky, Missouri, etc. A sub-tropic or tropic cHmate prevailed. A southern vegetation was known to exist, with tHe Elephant, Megalonyx, Peccary, etc. This lacustral deposit in these parts exhibits a summit level of about 800 feet above the ocean: hence, shallow on the elevated plateaus and dotted with island hills, it deeply covered with its waters the vallevs previously eroded. The inflowing streams gave rise to slow currents, so that the deposits are often finely and distinctly laminated. Few or no pebbles, only flne sands, are found even upon its shores, for the temperature did not permit the transporting agencv of ice. The loess deposit is seen on many of the highlands of the countv, and is well exhibited in the wagon road cut at the hilltop near Mount Auburn. Long exposure to rainfall and other atmospheric conditions have removed most of the deposit from the slopes, and its material modified bv fluviatile action largely forms the tenacious soil of the " flat woods," or enriched b}' coarse sand, the loams of the river bottoms.

Glacial Drift. - The surface features of the county are largely due to the agencies of the great Ice Age. The underlying rocks, by parallelism of laminre and strata, indicate that when upheaved from their ocean birthplace the general surface was nearh' level, and now their general elevation would exhibit a line 1,000 to 1,100 feet above the ocean, draAvn from the highest points in Rush, Decatur and Shelby westward, to the knobs of Brown and Johnson counties, the intervening valle^'S being 300 to 500 feet deep. The hard-pan clavs, gravel and boulders indicate the transporting and erosive powers of that slow, solemn river of icy mystery, and its summer sluices of torrent water, which has so wonderfully moulded the contour and blessed the soil of Indiana.

Geology

Clay, Putnam, Vigo, Fountain and Tippecanoe counties, and as may be recognized in the sand and gravel pits near Waldron; pushing into such valleys, dividing hills and the masses of material beneath and at the Joot of the glaciers and forming innumerable lakes, which dotted the entire surface of the State. At other times, the ice flow followed liorth and south vallevs. or depressions parallel with the outcrops of the geological formations, as the rocks were more or less easily eroded by it and the existing conditions.

But all these elements and a^'encies cannot account for the resuits exhibited in this and adjoining counties. The trend of tlie streams and valleys do not coincide with the dip of the underlyingrocks. On the other hand, with slight southern deflections, they are parallel with the western extension of the axis of Lake Erie, and parallel with the general trend of the great vallevs or benches crossing the State from east to west. The northern ice flow brought white, gray and black granites, and a multitude of specimens, positively indicating the line of transit by Lakes Michigan and Superior. In Shelby County few such rocks are found, but instead, massive boulders, from small, to six, eight and ten feet in diameter, are constantK', abundantly seen in the southern parts, of red felspathic granite, enough laminated to flx their gneissic or sedementary origin, closely resembling the red granites of Lower Canada and Vermont.

An inspection of the map of the state discloses the fact that the valleys of the actual streams crossinij^ the county from northeast to southwest, haA'e their sources near the eastern boundary of the State, and a water-shed, or general valley extends from the dividing rid<re in Rush County to a similar divide in Hendricks County, conducting .a central water-shed distinct from those of the Wabash and Ohio, with bluffs at the extreme barriers i,ooo to 1,200 feet above the ocean, and with a valley depth of 300 to 500 feet. Over much, or all, the included space, at various depths, are beds of gravel, sand and clays, showing that the whole included area has been subject to the denuding and modifying energy of currents of fresh water. This is especially true of Shelby Count}'. Beds of gravel and sand are remarkably defined at Waldron and St. Paul, and in all the northwestern area ; the irregularity of these pockets, of greater or less extent, often interrupted, very often partially removed, leaving mounds and knolls as the outliers at Waldron and St. Paul, indicates. an inconstant stream, at one season with gentle current carrying only pebbles, sands and clays, but in the spring and summer, the season of melting ice, a mighty flood, with furious currents and sufficient volume to tear loose from the foot of the eastern glaciers great bergs and floating islands of ice, competent to bear the boulders of red feldspathic granite, some of which contain 300 cubic feet, and would weigh from 40,000 to 60,000 pounds, and are common on denuded points in the south part of the county. Collect Glacial River. - Crossincr the western bounds of the county, this great stream of water and icebergs impinges agamst and is obstructed, bv the hilh' district of Johnson-and Brown counties, having an elevation of 400 to 500 feet above the valley, and is deflected south perpendicular to the dip or along the strike of the rocks to the southern boundar}- of the State at Jeffersonville. This valley is a wonderful exhibition of energ'v and forces which have ceased to exist. The volume may be estimated by the amount of the erosion, which exhibits a width of live to ten miles, and depth of 300 to 500 feet as measured by the w^all-like bluffs of the adjoining high lands. The mightv ships which sailed upon this river sea were silvery bergs of ice, scattering boulders along its shore line, or in its depths as discovered in deep wells in Scott and Clark counties, its broad eastern pathway indicated by lower silurian fossils, found in Ohio and eastern Indiana. Economically, it furnishes an inclined plane, utilized as the roadway of the railroad from Indianapolis to Jeffersonville. In the course of ages the valley was tapped by newer lines of drainage along the dip of the rocks b}^ the east branch of White River, and the old bed silted up at and near Seymour, in Jackson County, depositing during this transition period of alternate eddy and current the vast hills and ridges of sand peculiar to that vicinage.

General Section

The general section is an exhibit of all the strata and deposits of the county gathered from widely separated stations. The beds of recent or ancient alluvium have been generally referred to in the preliminar}^ topographical description of the county. For' specitic information the survey is indebted to Mr. David Louden for a statement of facts of high interest to science, but even more valuable economically to those who desire pure water free from organic matter from the lower beds. Mr. Louden has bored more than a thousand wells in different parts of the county. In the valley of Lewis and Slash creeks, the wells sought water above the boulder clay, and along the bluffs or edges of these valleys and were from twelve to eighteen feet deep, but along the center of the valley required a depth of twenty-live to thirty-live feet, or twenty to twenty-live feet, below the present bed of the creek, showing that the ancient valley, two to three miles wide, had a riverway eroded through the boulder cla\' to a depth of thirty to seventy feet as compared with adjoining highlands or bluffs.

Water was here as usual at the bottom of boulder clay, found in large supply, neither increasing in wet years nor decreasing at time of drouth. It rises to within one foot of the surface, and indicates a perennial fountain of pure water. A well on the adjoining farms of Arbuckle and Mills, shows the following:

All these bores indicate a probabilit}- of an abundant supply of pure water below the glacial or boulder clay. At the residence of W. E. Teal, in the southwest part of the county seat, a bore gave the followinfj results - commenced twelve feet above low water in Blue River:

The following section shows the depth of the ancient river valle}' in one of the lowest points, the farm of Wm. Rouse, Southeast quarter. Section 3, Township 13, Range 5, near northwest corner of Sugar Creek Township, a region of level, rich, agricultural farm land:

Other wells in the same vicinity find limestone at a depth of sixty to seventy feet, passing through similar deposits, and show an extreme erosive depth here.

The " Haw Patch," a great alluvial plain of wonderful fertilit}^, in the southwestern part of Shelby and the northwestern part of Bartholomew, has been pierced by wells to a depth of sixty to sev- enty feet. It presents a similar general section, indicating, first, the erosive action and confluence of an ancient affluent to the great glacial river before Flat Rock River was in existence ; second, the gradual silting up of the channel by decrease of water or change of current, and thence the deposit of underlying yellow clays and loess, during the subsequent lacustral period.

These bores show an erosion to a depth of thirty-seven to forty feet below the present deepest channel of the river. The greatest thickness of the glacial or bowlder cla^-s are shown in the following :

Hot Wells. - The construction of deep wells discovered the existence of thermal water quite unexpectedl}'. Althou^di this fact has not attracted much attention, it is of economic importijnce. It is a well known fact that at the level of perpetual spring water a constant temperature of 52° F. is maintained in this latitude; thence downward, the temperature becomes higher with regular increments, and in this State the rate of increase has been found to be 1° F.. for each space of seventy-nine feet of depth. By this law we ma}-, without estimating the cooling effects of the stony walls of the fissure and the inflow of surface water, safely conclude that a change of 28° F. indicates the source of supply at a depth of 2,212 feet. The Shelb3'ville thermal well was put down in December, 1870, in the east part of the city, near Little Blue River bridge. At a depth of eighteen feet the water was found to be warm, and at the bottom, twenty-four feet from the surface, a constant temperature, winter and summer of 76° was maintained.

The Barlow thermal well is near Barlow's mill. Section 3, Township 13, Range 6, nearh' four miles west of Shelby ville. An old well, twenty-three feet deep, at the residence of Henry Barlow, had been used for household purposes, and was favorably known for furnishing cold water, 52° F. Suddenly the water became warm, and no longer desirable; the thermometer indicating 65° F. A pipe was driven in November, 1870, from the bottom, through fine sand and pebbles, resting in a bed of gravel, to a depth of sixteen feet, or thirt3'-nine feet from the surface. The water was found to have a temperature of 80° F., and during the next winter attained a maximum heat of 86°. These wells were excavated for potable water only, and being unfit for this use, were neglected and allowed to be filled up. If found permanent, these springs will invite the attention of those needing hot baths, and suggest that it would be cheaper (and surel}' more efficacious ) to use the thermal waters of Shelb}^ County than the distant hot springs of southern regions.

Paleozoic Geology. - The rocks of this county comprise a portion of the strata of the Devonian and upper Silurian formations, and exhibit in outcrop a single group of each; the line of demarkation between the two formations will hereafter be seen to be the top of the Blue Shale fossil bed.

Devonian Age. - The rocks of this age, although in some force, generally contain but few fossils, obscurely replaced with calc spar, as in the Magnesian limestone. No. 5, of general section, east of Flat Rock Station, at Geneva, and thence to the railway bridge at St. Paul. These rocks, although unfit for masonry, are of great economic importance, as will be seen, furnishing a lime which invites the attention of manufacturers and architects. At a few localities,^^ at Waldron and a short distance above Geneva, a rubble stone occurs, in convenient layers between the fossil beds and the Magnesian limestone, of excellent qualitv and well suited for walls, hammered masonry, etc., and extensivelv used for fence posts. No fossils were seen, but it is probably of Devonian age as well, and together they represent the corniferous group here. These rocks probably cap all the hills in the southern parts, although hidden bv clays and soils; it is probable that outliers of the black Marcellus shale of the Hamilton group ma}' yet be discovered bv deep bores or wells in the extreme western parts, though now deeplv covered wath drift soils and consequentlv unseen.

At a few localities in the southeastern corner of the county and the contiguous portions of Rush and Decatur counties, the identifying fossils given in the following lists were seen :

Radiata

Amplexus yandelli, Blothrophyllum decorticatum, Cvstiphyllum americanum, C^'stiphyllum sulcatum, CystiphvUum vesiculosum, Clisiophyllum oneida?nse, Cvathoph\llum corniculum, Cpathophvllum Cyathophyllum rugosum, Cvathoph^'llum juvenis, Cyathophyllum scyphus, Cladopora linneana, Diphyphvllum archiaci, Diphyphyllum straminium, Diphvph^llum simcoense, F^vosites emmonsi, Favosites hemisphericus, Favosites canadensis, Favosites limitaris, Favosites clausus, Favosites epidermatus, Heliophyllum exiguum, Stromatopora tuberculata, Stromatopora nodulata, Zaphrentis conigera, Zaphrentis gigantea, Zaphrentis

Brachiopoda

Ambocelia umbonata, Athyris vitata, Atrypa reticularis, Chonetes yandelliana, Productus spinulicostus, Rhvnchonlla tethvs, Spirifera angusta, Spirifera segmenta, Spirifera varicosa, Spirifera oweni, Spirifera euruteines (var fornaculaj, Strophodonta demissa, Strophodonta arcuata, Strophodonta macronata.

Crustacea

U^pcr Silurian Fonuation. jViagara Group. - This formation is seen almost exclusively in the valleys of the extreme southern part of the count}-. A single outcrop is reported at low water in the channel of Blue Ri\er above Shelbvville. Limited in exposure, these rocks are written all over in symbols of the "life and times" of silurian seas.

x\ great ocean prevailed. The cool or cold water was of sufficient depth to relieve the bottom life from the pulverizing force of surface waves. Gentle currents flowed from north to south, as is shown by the shapes of the cla3--stone concretions, without sufficient power to carry sand and coarse material. It was filled with marine life which in death built up calcareous bottoms from the crushed shells and other organic remains. At the close of this period an evenf transpired which shows that the occurrences of our day are but repetitions of the past. A great tidal wave swept across the quiet sea. Violent currents prostrated the plant like crinoids, or tore them from their rock-anchored roots, separating the stems in sections. Impure water came laden with death, and muddv shoal waters ended the growth of corals, burying all in a sepulchre of clay, in which they are preserved with wonderful perfection. To the geologist and student these graves give up their dead to tell in resurrection how their obedience to the laws of reconstruction, oscillation and compensation, modif}- and vary the surface of the earth. Life in this ocean was annihilated, or unfavorable conditions followed, as but few animal remains are seen in the superimposed rocks.

The Waldron fossil bed. No. 7 of section, is the grand paleontological bed of the district. It is fovmd with well preserved fossils at St. Paul, near French's Mills, just below the railway track at the bridge, thence west at every exposure in the bluffs of Flat Rock, till it passes beneath low water within half a mile of Geneva, showing a dip west southwest of about fortv feet to the mile. Outcrops still richer in fossils are found on Deer Creek, and on Conn's Creek from its mouth to a point a short distance southwest of Waldron. It is a "Blue Shaly Soapstone," in regular beds, obscurely laminated, weathering to a light buff. Within its homely outcrop or breast are hidden the fossils which, to a large degree, have tilled with beautiful specimens the cabinets of the world, and as developed have, like some old palimpsest, disclosed the still life of the past - a new Rosetta stone giving a key to its history and cuhninating death. Prof. James Hall, the distinguished geologist of New York, was one of the first to recognize the importance of these beds. He has expended large sums of money in their development, and more important, has brought to bear the results of his long experience, wise reasoning, and covered Conn's Creek localities with a world-wide renown. The followino- is full though not complete list of fossils obtained to date, at Waldron and St. Paul, in strata Xos. 7 to 10 of general section, and comprises those actually in the State Museum:

Porifera Polypi

Favosites forbesi (var occidentalism, Favosites niagarensis, Favosites favosus, Favosites spongilla, Favosites pyriformis, Streptelasma spongjaxis, Stromatopora concentrica, Strombodes pentagonus, Cyathophyllum radicula, Duncanella borealis, Eridophyllum rugosum, Chetetes consimilis, Trematopora infrequens, Trematopora varia, Inocaulis bella.

Cyathocrinus polyxo, Cvathocrinus pucillus, Saccocinus christyi, Eucalvptocrinus crassus, Eucalyptocrinus ca^latus, Eucalyptocrinus. ovatus, Rhodocrinus melissa.

Bryozoa

Pholidops ovalis, Eichwaldia reticulata, Anastrophia verneuili, Retzia evax. Crania siluriana. Crania setifera, Orthis elegantula, Orthis hybrida, Rhynchonella acinus, Rhynchonella cuneata, Rhvnchonella neglecta, Rhynchonella whitii, Rhynchonella stricklandi, Rhynchonella indianensis, Meristina maria, Meristina nitida. Atrypa reticularis, Spirifera eudora, Spirifera crispa, Spirifera radiata, Strophomena rhomboidalis, Strophomena striata.

Cvphaspis christyi, Calymene blumenbachi (var niagarensis), Dalmanites vigilans, Dabiianites verrucosus, Phacops limulurus, Licbas boltoni ( \-ar occidentalis), Ceraurus (^Cheirurusj niagarensis, Homalonotus delphinocephalus.

Tbe state cabinet contains specimens of nearly every 'fossil here mentioned: hundreds of some species in manv cases, and as crinoid roots, etc.. individuals of everv aije, from the full-irrown adult to the tin\- speck, which developed with a lens, discovers the first delicate babvhood of the animal. The "blue limestone" No. 8, is generally present, but not persistent, and is only in rare cases available for use. The "cherty limestone'' No. 9, is generally persistent, and is often an important strata, marking the floor of the fossil bed. Economicall\- it is a drawback, and will so remain until the demand for permanent roads calls for its use. The "laminated" quarry beds. No. 10 of section, are of high economic importance. Geologicallv thev are an argillaceous limestone, slightly magnesian, of a pale blue color, weathering to light gray, in regular beds varying from flags two to four or five inches thick, to strata of one or two feet, all evenlv bedded and readily separated at the partings. The top and bottom of each strata is thus presented, ready dressed, and nearlv readv for the mason. It is easily broken with drills and wedges to dimension stone, and furnishes, cheaply, good flags, rubble and dimension stone in unlimited quantity. A thousand car loads of this stone were shipped to Chicago in a single season. Larije amounts of excellent lime are calcined from the St. Paul quarries, and the whole forms one of the important industries of the State. The fossils comprise Cephalopods. Orthoceras, Gomphoceras, Cyrtoceras. etc.. with but few Brachiopods.

Local Dctaih. - Shelbvville, the county seat, is a thrifty young city, situated on the east bank of the beautiful, clear flowing Blue River, and is surrounded bv one of the richest agricultural regions of the State. Broad vallevs, with strong alluvial soils, spread out an inviting mine of wealth, richer than "true fissures" in the land of speculation. Knolls and gentle headlands give modest variety to the landscape, and first class gravel roads radiate to all points of the compass.

Bowlder drift, with striated gravel and rocks, build up the higher lands and plateaus near. The surface of the adjoining broad valle3'S are of fluviatile drift, of the present or ancient river, deeply coverincT the eroded bowlder drift beneath. The oro-anic matter in these alluvial soils may explain the presence of "typhoid fevers" in some districts, and invites the use of water from deep wells or rainfall.

Cvnthina, one of the oldest settlements in the county, is situated on a ridge, which is well up to the summit level of the glacial drift. In fact, free gravel and sand containing black grains of magnetite, indicate it was probably the' flood plain in the ice age, between the sluice torrents which poured down Blue and Flat Rock rivers, in their ancient volume. A landscape of quiet thrift and beautv is overlooked from the adjoining Leefers farm, along and across the valley of Conn's Creek, here ninety-five feet deep, and one or two miles wide. Manilla occupies about the same elevation, and thence to Gwynnville the surface is a level, black soil, presenting the characteristics of a lake basin, sometimes still wet and peaty. It contains great elements of fertility, to be made available only bv drainage. TimbeV is abundant and is marketed at stations on the railwa\". At Morristown, Blue Ri^-er valley is forty to sixty feet in depth, and two or three miles in width, full of profitable farms. At Marion the earliest settlements were made, and the alluvial bottoms here produce full crops of corn, wheat and grass. An escarped bank of the river, seven miles northeast from Shelbyville, gives the following:

About Fairland, and in fact all the northwestern portion of the count^', the surface is so level or gently rolling that it can onlv be characterized as a great farmland plain. The railway onl}' indicates a difference of level at stations of ten to fifteen feet. Bores put down at several points find fluviatile sand gravel and alluvium to a depth of twenty to thirty feet. No further estimate of good returns and profitable farming is needed.

The southwestern and western parts of the county are characteristic vallc}' bottoms, rich in strong, alluvial loams, and highly productive. The highlands are exceptional, limited in area and height. Mt. ]McCrea, with its comrades, north of Marietta, are sharp, tumular hills, sometimes isolated by cross-flows from the northern or second glacial flow, they stand as silent monuments of past natural forces and offer interesting outlooks over broad fields of thrift. The elevated region at Mt. x\uburn invites the attention of fruit growers. Surrounded by low valle}'S to which the heavy cold air settles in times of sudden " cold snaps," these highlands are largelv benefited by the mitigating and equalizing effects which are a constant result. It is a romantic scene. East, the valleys of Lewis Creek and Flat Rock are displayed in level fruitfulness ten to fifteen miles; west, the alluvial bottoms of Blue River, Sugar Creek and White River extend to the terraced " Wall Bluff " of the great glacial river, in Johnson County, fifteen to twenty miles awa\' in the blue distance. At NibeFs Mill, Section 29, Township II, Range 6, a mile south, the same view is enjoyed over an area forty bv thirty-five miles, or 1,400 square miles.

St. Paul, at the eastern line of the county, is noted for its extensive quarries and for the great amount of good stone and lime shipped. The level region heretofore prevailing is here varied b}^ precipitous hills and bold outcrops, which exhibit in different localities a complete series of the rocks seen in the county.

In the western or Shelby County part of the village of St. Paul, John L. Scanlan employs fifty hands, two compound derricks with a good equipment of tools, drills, etc., and two powerful steam pumps, which throw 1,000 gallons of water per minute. The product is dimension and cut stone for foundations, piers, building stone, especially for jails, paving flags and curb stones. The large demand shows the extensi\e use, and the high estimation placed upon this material by engineers, architects and the pubHc. The rubble stone in the upper beds is largely used for calcining. The waste of the quarry is broken to regular '-'-^gg'''' by a Blake crusher, driven by a forty horse power engine with a capacity of preparing one hundred cubic yards a day, suitable for metahng pikes, ballasting railways or concrete foundation. This broken stone is sold in car load lots at 50 cents per cubic yard. The proprietor has also in operation two common kilns for calcining limestone, and one "perpetual burner," haA'ing a combined capacity of oyer tiye hundred bushels a day. The lime is "hot," of (jood quality for masonr}', and extensiyely used at the Cincinnati gas works. We are indebted to P. McAuliff, superintendent, for specimens and information. The following exhibit was seen:

The ancient yalley of Flat Rock is two to three miles wide. Many mounds or hillocks of gra\el and sand exist, showing the sorting process of flowing water, and we assume that the surface clay, measuring a yertical height of 100 to 125 feet has been carried away. Great red gneiss boulders of 10, 20, 30, 50, 94 cubic feet are seen upon the surface, attesting the transporting power of glaciers or floating ice. One boulder, near Moscow, Rush Count}', is nine feet long, and nearly the same in cross dimension, including nearly 700 cubic feet.

Going down Flat Rock the "Waldron" fossil bed is seen a short distance southwest of town, thence, dipping faster than the fall in the riyer, each of the subordinate strata pass below the surface water, and near the mouth of Conn's Creek, the fossil bed approaches the same level and the yalley widens from a half to a mile or more. The " Blue Shale " fossil bed here is pyritiferous, and on exposure decomposes, becomes soft, and was borne away by the flowing water, undermining and breaking down oyerhanging rocks, which in turn were pulverized by the currents and removed. This explains the breadth of the valley. At Geneva, where this bed passes under the bed of the river, precipitous bluffs close in again.

The Geneva limestone calcined, furnishes a pure, white lime of superior quality, which thoroughly slakes, works " cool " under the trowel, and sets without -- popping " or '^ crick." These qualities giye an extensive demand beyond the possibilities of wagon transportation, and invite railway competition. Equal to the Utica lime, near Louisville, it possesses, besides other good qualities, the features that it is easily and economically quarried, and being porous, is calcined with a small percentage of fuel. The output of three common kilns supplies the vicinage and the few car loads hauled to the railway at Shelb3-ville.

A similar outcrop, giving the thickness of thirty-two feet of magnesian limestone, is seen at Nelson's Cave Mills, southwest quarter. Section 16, Town ir. Range 7. Opposite the mill, an oval opening, six feet high by five feet wide, discharges the drainage from a considerable area of rainfall. Half a mile north of the mill, a doorway four feet high, leads into a cavern with several rooms, and a dome is reported to have a height of twenty-five feet, an evidence of the solving power of acidulous rain water acting upon limestone. The Geneva limestone, with all its good qualities, is the surface rock of the high lands about Wright's, Geneva, Mt. Pleasant, and especially accessible in the uneroded hillocks, near Norristown, where it has been used for stoning the turnpike, and thence westward toward Flat Rock Station, at Ensley's ford of Plat Rock, the upper bed of this limestone is seen, forming the solid floor of the river, a little over a mile west of the railway station.

Comis Creek. - Waldron is a home-like station on the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago Railway. One of the highest points in the county on this railway, it has promise of a salubrious air. The surrounding farmers show thrift in their well appointed farms and residences. Much of the adjoining region has a soil made loamy by a generous admixture of sand, and sometimes underlaid with valuable beds of gravel, indicating the former course of rivers or irlacial sluiceways. But still more has it crained a widespread reputation, by the discovery long ago of rich beds of fossils on Conn's Creek. Described and illustrated b}^ the patient zeal and broad knowledge of Prof. James Hall, State Geologist of New York, the "Waldron fossils" are known and recognized throughout the scientific world. Hotels and equipments are found at the village, and within a mile the first ''-Waldron beds" are to be seen. Several cabinets of fossils may be visited, of which that of Dr. Washburn is full of choice specimens.

Without repeating sections it is thought best to give a list of outcrops with localities, so that visitors may at once reach those not before mentioned. Mill Creek, northeast part of St. Paul. Rail- way bridge, St. Paul. Sullivan's - Bailey's Mill, St. Paul. Carlisle's, Section 6, Township ii. Range 7. Cuskaden's, Section 12, Township 11, Range 7' Fairbank's, on Deer Creek, Section 6, Township 11, Range 7. For lists of fossils, see (ante) description of general section.

The ph3'Sical phenomena of Shelby County represent ages of life, centuries of energy, cycles of time, writing with mightier hand than wields pen of lead or iron, events on the rocks forever. The romantic history it tells is of a deep, cold, quiet sea, and unseen life of mollusk and radiate; it records attending astronomic changes of climate and time, and leaves a thousand log-books of wondrous ships of crystal silver, floating on a river-sea of icy water.

Aj-chacologv. - The only earthworks b}-" prehistoric man were seen adjoining the village of St. Paul. A mound thirty-two feet in diameter, and nearly six feet high, is built on the brow of the terrace bluff, overlooking the river in the valley and commanding a wide view toward "sunrise" between the rocky hills. When explored it contained human bones, which on exposure, quickly went to dust. They were covered with flags, supported by a stone wall, indicating a national vault or grave. Several smaller tumuli, possibly habitation mounds, were seen near by. Many interesting stone implements have been found scattered along the valle}' of Flat Rock River, evincing the taste as well as skill of the ancient inhabitants, and that if not their permanent home, this was at times a favorite hunting and visiting localit}'.