Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 2: Physical Features - Geology and Topography, 1910

Chapter 2: Physical Features - Geology and Topography

Nodaway county is in the northwest corner of the state of Missouri and there is but one county west of it within the state, while Iowa bounds it on the north, Worth and Gentry counties on the east, Andrew county on the south. Holt and Atchison counties on the west. There are about seven hundred and ninety-one square miles within the county.

The Surface

Back from the streams, the land in Nodaway county is a beautiful, undulating prairie land, with a greater diversity than is usually found in any one given county in almost any state in the Union. The higher altitudes present a picture at once pleasing and full of romantic beauty - one ever a feast to the eye of the beholder, especially in mid-summer. The silver-threaded valleys, displaying the meanderings of the many streams, the waving foliage of trees, both forest and planted, the once flower-decked prairies, with the present highly improved farms and ranches.

Along the streams, big and little, may be seen hills interspersed with valleys coming in here and there adown the gentle slopes. On the Platte river the table lands are lifted to from thirty to sixty feet above the beds of the stream. On the One Hundred and Two river, near Howard's old mills, the bluffs are more than ninety feet in elevation, while the country is steep and hilly, as is also the case at places on the White Cloud. On the west side of the Nodaway river, in township 36, the hills are high and rounded and the country generally rolls toward the west. East of the Platte the country is rolling, with gentle slopes.

Maryville, the seat of justice, is located on the top of the divide, west of One Hundred and Two river, whose bed is fully two hundred feet lower than the base of the court house.

There are less acres unfitted for cultivation, and less swamps and worth¬ less land in this than can be said of almost any other of the north Missouri sub-divisions. It was said as long ago as 1870. by one thoroughly posted as to the subject, that there is not a section of country of equal extent in Missouri that possesses better drainage, equally distributed, than Nodaway county. In short, practically speaking, there is no waste and valueless land within her borders. Even the highest hill tops, when broken by the plow-share, yield a paying return to the fortunate owner, who once thought it valueless, save as grazing land.

When the pioneer first set his stakes here he had no great difficulty in opening up his farming operations, for the soil was easily subdued, and the black, rich land seemed ready for the husbandman's implements. In 1880 it was written of the county, by a state writer : "The farms of Nodaway county are generally large, level or undulating, unbroken by impassable sloughs, without stumps or other obstructions, and furnish the best condi¬ tions favorable to the use of reaping machines, mowers, corn planters and other kinds of labor-saving machinery.''

This county is so well supplied with living streams of pure water, and so well are they distributed through the domain of the county, that the intelli¬ gence of man, even in this gifted first decade of the twentieth century, could not make an improvement on its general plan if they were allowed an endow¬ ment of power with which to attempt a new system of drainage. The early settler found numerous natural mill-sites, and the abundant water power spared him many a hardship known to those of other counties within Mis¬ souri.

The chief water courses of this county are the Platte. Nodaway and One Hundred and Two rivers. There are a number of lesser streams hardly entitled to the name river, but whose waters have made glad the heart of man and quenched the thirst of thousands of domestic animals for more than three score years. Among the smaller streams may be cited the White Cloud, Florida, Mill, Kiogha, Clear, Honey, Sand Creek, and Tong and Mowery Branches.

Excellent springs are seen gushing out of the earth at numerous places within the confines of the county. From the Nodaway Bluffs, at Guilford; at Prathers, in section 29, township 63, range 35 ; at Martin's, in section 26, township 64, range 37: at Shaller's, in section 18. township 66, range 37, and at many other points these springs are remarkably strong.

The Natural Timber

Perhaps the greatest advantage enjoyed by the hardy pioneer who cast his lot in this goodly section of Missouri was the presence of sufficient timber to enable him to construct his log cabin and enclose his farming plot with rail fences, as had been done ever since America was first settled by white men. Then again, the class of men who first dared to inhabit this "western wild" for the most part came from timbered states - Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, where timber abounded everywhere; hence farms had to be literally hewed from out the forests. So upon coming to Nodaway county these pioneers very naturally wanted timber and thought it too scarce, believing, as they universally did, that the soil on the upland prairies was of a poor, non-productive character. Hence the timbered por¬ tions of the county were seized upon first and utilized as the proper lands from which to make home farms. Then again, with good reasoning, the early settler argued in his mind that he must needs have a liberal supply of timber, both for his firewood - the back-logs for his great fire-place - and for the rail fencing of his land, as this county was settled at least a third of a century before the invention and introduction of barbed wire, which material literally revolutionized fencing throughout the world. Then it should not be won¬ dered at that many men came west on a land-hunting trip and returned to Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky in disgust when they saw far more prairie than they did timber, which they had been reared to believe was a real necessity, and, with the poet who had the same ideas of prairies, could enter into the spirit of chanting the poem commencing thus :

Hence it was that, not understanding the fertility of the prairies and the ease with which they might be cultivated, the timbered sections of Nodaway county were the first to be populated, and that by backwoodsmen from some one of the eastern or southern states where at that date the forest abounded everywhere.'

But all has long since changed. The advent of railways, the better knowledge of the prairie soil, the improved fencing materials, easy access to coal, pine lumber for building purposes, has wrought out a different condition of things. But nature planned wisely and well. In order to settle up the vast prairie regions of this and other states, it was necessary to first have rail¬ roads constructed, and on the other hand, it was necessary to have a consider¬ able settlement in order to induce capital to build railways. Hence the most important part of the settlements in the West came about by reason of a certain amount of timber along with the vast prairies. It has been stated that had the Pilgrim fathers settled in the South and Mississippi valley portion of America, that the granite, rock-ribbed hills of New England might not have been set¬ tled upon even to this day ; but by commencing to build an empire on the rockbound coasts of the Atlantic, on the poorest soil in the entire country, and then generation after generation working farther on to the west, the conquest has been supreme and complete. Had the matter been reversed, our hardy young men of today would have been shoved off, as it were, to build homes for themselves on "homesteads" located in New England, instead of the Dakotas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Much of the original forest of Nodaway county has been removed and the timber manufactured into lumber and fencing. While the forest kings have largely been felled by the pioneer axman, the fact that artificial grove planting early obtained in the minds of the settlers, as they saw the native forests yielding year by year, there still remains almost as many acres of tim¬ ber, as when the county was first settled, at least sufficient in quantity to in¬ sure, with frugal use, an abundance for the oncoming generations.

Among the most abundant of all trees originally found growing in Nod¬ away county was the walnut, so highly prized in all countries for manufac¬ turing purposes. Phis was very plentiful at an early day. but the high prices paid for such timber in the great manufacturing marts of the world, espe¬ cially for furniture making, presented itself as a temptation to destroy it, which the poorer class of land owners could not resist. Red. white and black oak are still very plentiful, although they have for many years been extensively used for fuel. Crab apple, elm, walnut, maple, ash, cottonwood and wild cherry are also found in limited quantities.

A line of timber originally - and in places now - skirts the streams that course through the county. Detached groves, natural and planted, are to be seen here and there, throughout the county, which are not only ornamental, but serve to break the winds and molify the condition of the climate, which has come to be an acknowledged fact as well as theory by the best scientists.

A little more than one-fifth of the county is true prairie and of a most excellent quality. Nearly all of the divides between the streams in Nodaway county are beautiful, rolling prairie lands, well drained, easily cultivated and highly productive and in easy access to railway shipping points. Even dur¬ ing extreme wet and dry seasons, these prairie lands yield forth abundant harvests. The soil is light and semi-porous, so that but twelve to twenty hours is required to elapse after a drenching rain-fall before farmers can go to tilling the lands. The highways also quickly dry, so that long protracted seasons of bad roads, so much to be dreaded in most countries, do not here obtain. The soil stands drouth remarkably well, too. It absorbs a large amount of water during the rainy season, and the forces of nature readily bring back to the surface a surplus of moisture. This is not the case where, as in some countries, hard-pan exists, and where, for lack of moisture at the surface, plants wither and die.

Health And Climate

More than a quarter of a century ago Dr. J. B. Morrison, for many years a practicing physician of this county, and still an honored resident of Maryville, wrote the following concerning the local climate and health condi¬ tions, and it so nearly covers these subjects that it is here reproduced :

"The question is very frequently asked, how does Nodaway county com¬ pare with other sections of the country in regard to health? To answer, now 'very favorably indeed,' would be strictly true, for there are no epidemics peculiar to this section and epidemics are no more frequent and no more severe than in other sections of country of like extent ; and, indeed, it can be said that they are much less frequent and severe than in many other localities.

"The land, except the valleys along the larger streams, is rolling, almost hilly indeed, and this circumstance renders drainage almost perfect, and with a little effort on the part of the citizen it could be made entirely perfect. There are no extensive bogs or marshes and those of limited extent are, for the most part, drained.

"There are three streams, called rivers, traversing the county from north to south, viz: the Nodaway, on the west side, the One Hundred and Two, in the middle section, and the Platte, on the east side. These have many tribu¬ taries. so that the country is admirably watered, as v eil as drained.

"Water for house use is easily obtained from natural springs and from wells that are usually from twenty to thirty feet in depth, and the water for the most part is of an excellent quality. The soil is a deep, rich, black loam with here and there spots more or less gravelly.

"The climate is somewhat changeable, though it compares favorably with southern Pennsylvania, central Ohio, central Indiana and central Illinois. V ery severe drouths are not common, nor are very severe winters usual. The spring season will compare very favorably with that of other localities of the same latitude, and the autumns are generally charming.

"There is more or less malaria (so called) along the river bottoms, and indeed on the upland, but much less than along large rivers and it is very sel¬ dom that a cgse of severe old-fashioned ague is seen, such as will cause the stoves and windows to shake. Indeed, this so called malaria is so attenuated in Nodaway county that its meagre density or concentration cannot' be relied upon by theorists to prove that it ought to be considered an entity.

"Typical typhoid fever is seldom seen here, as it is usually of the typhomalarial form ; though a case, of course, occurs as pure as those in crowded cities, or in ill-ventilated hospitals ; but such cases can mostly, or always, be traced to crowded prisons or conditions very similar and liable to occur in every section of country - not one more than another - where people breathe for a considerable time air that is surcharged with the exhalations from the lungs, or where they eat much pork or drink water sur-charged with the poison germs.

"Remittent and intermittent fevers prevail to some extent, but they can¬ not be said to prevail more than in other localities on the same parallel of lati¬ tude.

"Malaria, so called, is quite often associated with other diseases, not gen¬ erally regarded as of a malarial nature ; but this is not at all a peculiar cir¬ cumstance, for this association is found in all localities.

"Phthisis pulmonalis (old fashioned consumption) is hardly known here, except cases established before locating in this county, and it is commonlv be¬ lieved that the climate is antagonistic to that disease.

"Catarrh (nasal catarrh) is somewhat prevalent, but in all probability it is due to the kind of houses that have been and are still to some extent used, rather than to any peculiarity of climate ; for it is a lamentable fact that many of the houses or huts so common in all new countries are still quite numerous here, and many of the better class of houses are only one and a half story high, thus putting those who sleep up stairs too near a cold roof, where they are constantly exposed to a cold current of air. And those who sleep on the lower floor, or first floor, are in very many houses exposed to currents entering the room through crevices in the wall, or rather through the siding on the house. It is a cheering fact, however, that this state of affairs is rap¬ idly changing, for good houses are rapidly taking the place of the bad ones, and the inhabitants are not at all lacking in thrift. It is certainly within the bounds of truth to say that Nodaway county is a desirable place to live, con¬ sidered from a standpoint of health as well as from many other standpoints."

From 1856 on down twenty-five years, a reliable record says that the average rainfall and melted snow was 36.62 inches per year. By months (average) for this period it has been: January, 1.68 inches; February, 1.67; March, 2.10; April, 3.49; May, 4.39; June, 4.75 ; July, 4.69; August, 4.66; September, 3.30; October, 2.33; November, 1.69 ; December, 1.89 inches.

In the absence of a correct record of the last few decades, the govern¬ ment report for this section gives the figures for the last four years as follows (observation taken at Maryville) :

The rainiest of all months was July which shows a record of a total of almost 40 inches in the four years. The average rainfall for July was 8.69 inches.

Geological Formation

While, as a general rule, the subject of geology treated in general histor¬ ical works is far from interesting, and not always worth much in way of instruction, yet no county history could be said to be complete unless it shows something concerning the earth's formation in the given location in which such historical work is compiled; hence it will be the object of this article on geology to note some of the more important points connected with the earth's formation beneath the surface of Nodaway county, as created away back before man was - back in the dim and misty ages of the past centuries.

In 1873 Prof. G. C. Broadhead, in his geological report on Missouri, stated, among other things concerning the geology of this county, that its formations consist of the quaternary deposits and the coal measures.

Concerning the former, it may be stated that the alluvial deposits are quite extensive along the streams and do not materially differ from similar formations in other counties of this portion of Missouri. The "bluff" forma¬ tion overlies the surface of the hills, but is probably not so thick as in Atchison county.

The drift bowlder formation is not so generally diffused, nor are there such deep deposits found, as in some counties farther to the east in Missouri, nor are the bowlders very large where they do exist. At Panning's Mills, in the north part of township 63, range 33, there are to be seen many bowlders of a roundish shape, of granite, quartz and limerock. Near Graham a few pebbles are seen. On points of the hill in township 66, west of the Nodaway river, the soil is sandy and many rounded pebbles are found strewn around, mostly consisting of granite quartzite, etc.

Of the upper carboniferous or coal-measures, it may be stated that the rock strata seen in Nodaway county embraces a vertical thickness of about two hundred and fifty feet of the upper members of the upper coal measures and are included between what geologists call Nos. 224 and 174 of the general secretion of the upper coal measures.

While rock is to be found in good quantities in some sections of this county, at others none whatever has been discovered thus far. On the Nod¬ away river and its tributaries it is occasionally found as far up as Ouitman. From this town to City Bluffs no outcrop is seen on the eastern side of the river, and it is fully six miles further to the next outcrop. To the east of the Nodawav river through townships 65 and 66, no outcrops are seen until Honey creek is reached and the Platte river, in the eastern part of the county.

On the Platte river bluffs limestone is frequently found. No other trace of it can be discovered east of the Nodaway watershed. On the Platte river and Long Branch, in township 62 and also in 63, there are a few rock exposures. In this same township, on the \\ hite Cloud and the One Hundred and Two rivers, rock, including both sandstone and limestone, is more abundant.

The rocks along the Nodaway river with its many tributaries occupy the highest geological position of any seen in the county ; the highest in the series are the shales, with included iron carbonate concretions exposed at City Bluff, referred to elsewhere.

The formation seen on the Platte river may include the lowest rocks ex¬ posed in this county. At Lanning's Mill, on the north line of section 1, town¬ ship 65, range 34, there is a low bluff of gray, blue and drab limestone. On the same river, on the southwest corner of section 16, township 65, range 33. there is exposed nine feet of irregularly bedded bluff limestone, containing some blue chert, the lower beds of which are of a brownish color. Beds of limestone and sandstone are also exposed on Honey creek in section 25, town¬ ship 64, range 34. A quarter of a mile below the Mrs. Martin place several feet of sandstone is exposed, in layers of five to seven inches, and is said to be a good rock for grindstone purposes, though the quarry has never been worked to any considerable extent.

The coal-bearing measure in Nodaway county seems to be too thin in its strata to make coal mining a profitable industry. Mines were, however, worked forty years ago. Some of the best places found in the limits of the county for coal operations were at the Allen mine on the Nodaway river, two miles from the Iowa state line, on Mill creek and on down as far as Quitman, on Sand creek, Florida creek and the Elkhorn. From nine to seventeen inches covered the extent of the thickness of the coal strata. The coal was not first class, containing too much of the slate trace to make very good fuel, going to ashes too rapidly. On the Samuel Bowman land, section 31, township 65, range 37, coal was mined to the thickness of eighteen inches, but the same was never largely tested or developed. A half mile south of Quitman coal was mined which only measured sixteen inches. Experiments were long ago made at Charles Martin's, in the northeast quarter of section 3, township 63, range 37, where only six inches in thickness could be found.

The coal measure in the north part of Nodaway county is much thicker than in the south, running proportionately thin the farther south one goes.

What was known as the Marysville Coal Company was engaged in min¬ ing explorations as long ago as 1880, in the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 25, township 64, range 37, but only six inches in thickness could be found in the upper coal measure. Here, as well as at many other points in Nodaway county, coal was found in two lower measures, but the veins were several hundred feet deep and while much thicker in good quality of soft coal, yet the expense of sinking shafts so many hundreds of feet was not thought profitable. The geological reports early in the eighties disclose the fact that at that date there were seven coal mines being operated in Nod¬ away county, as follows : David Kimball, Charles Leonard, Emmerson & Brigman, Brigman Brothers, Manorgan Brothers, Ellsworth & Wells and Neeley Brothers. The number of miners employed then was thirty and they were taking out from seven to eight hundred bushels per day. During the coldest winter months, when coal was in greater demand, more men were used. Coal was taken out by means of shafts and others drifted into the side of the bluffs. The veins were found to be from fourteen to eighteen inches in thickness, and the coal of a fair grade, though not the best.

With the cheaper freight rates, better station accommodations and cheaper coal, of better grades, coming in from more extensive mines, the industry in Nodaway county has never risen to great importance. That there is a better vein of coal down several hundred feet, almost anywhere in Nodaway county, is well established by those who have prospected, but so far these veins have not been developed to any extent.

Mineral Springs

At various places within Nodaway county there are springs of mineral water, some of which have rare medicinal qualities. Those developed at and near Burlington Junction, in the northwest part of the county, are perhaps the most noteworthy and truly valuable. The analysis of the "Burlington Min¬ eral Springs." located on Mineral Branch, a small tributary to the Nodaway, and located a mile to the southwest of Burlington Junction, showed as far back as 1880 that their waters possessed rare virtues. The water is clear, pure and odorless, with plenty of carbonate of iron and magnesia. Improve¬ ments were made about these springs and a Dr. James Evans, a practical phy¬ sician, controlled the healing waters for a long time. Near the spring beauti¬ ful groves became the popular resort for many. Tents and buildings were erected: a nine-acre lake was made from the discharging waters and from other springlets ; in this lake abounded many fish and its banks were lined with many a shady nook. Boats were supplied for invalids and pure pleasureseekers. Bath houses were erected, and a regular sanitarium was put into operation.

These springs have been utilized all these passing years and only recently the property has changed hands - a Texas man having traded for it - and the institution now has many persons for treatment and wonderful results are obtained in rheumatism and other diseases.

A Fine Mineral Well

At Burlington Junction, J. T. Anderson owned a fine mineral well. The peculiarity of the water from this well was its pureness, yet it is said to pos¬ sess all of the required ingredients and minerals to make it a healing liquid for many diseases. It is spoken of by competent judges as being almost iden¬ tical to that found at Eureka Springs, Missouri. While the total amount of solids found in the waters of Eureka was five and eighty -five hundredths grains per gallon, that of this well at Burlington Junction was only twentyfour grains less to the gallon.

The Pistole Well

In the winter of 1905-06 there was sunk a well, or shaft excavation, in the vicinity of Hopkins, in Hopkins township, on the land owned by J. C. Pistole, now a banker, as then, residing at Hopkins, and this "well" developed the fact that the country about that place was indeed rich in minerals. In this prospecting exploit many pieces of rich zinc were discovered, the speci¬ mens of which are equal to any found in the Joplin region. Especially, this test developed the fact that this section is underlaid with an immense strata of blue, fine-grained limestone of a hundred feet and more in thickness. The following is a description of the findings in this well, and the borings were examined by geologists and chemists, who were sent here at the expense of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad. The borings are given in feet down from the surface of the earth and are as follows:

Coal Oil Excitement

About 1903 and 1904, in the vicinity of Burlington Junction, through the enterprise (or scheming) of a New York city man, a stock company was formed for the purpose of prospecting for coal, gas and oil. The place selected for the test was just south of the town, along the tracks of the Bur¬ lington railroad, and a hole was sunk down to the depth of several hundred feet. Excellent drilling machinery was employed and what were supposed at the time to be expert men executed the task of delving into the bowels of the earth. Finally, a thin layer of soft coal was struck and this caused great excitement and stock was offered and sold freely. Still the work went for- ward and a little deeper down it was said that coal oil was struck. Then it was that stock went freely and found many purchasers. The town people believed that they were soon destined to fortune. But all of a sudden the projectors of the scheme left the country and abandoned their quite extensive machinery, and never returned to take up the drills and hoisting machinery. The outfit laid there several years and finally parties came and loaded the bulk of it onto cars, when some one with knowledge as to the true ownership of the plant interfered and stopped the removal of the stuff. The man was placed under bonds and his trial has not yet been reached on the court docket.

That a thin strata of coal was found no one can doubt, as the same ledge of rock, slate and coal is being worked at Quitman, not many miles to the south. But as to whether the oil was genuine, native to these parts, will probably never be known. At any rate the many stock owners of this "oil well" will sell their shares very cheap today!