Grundy County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter 1 1882 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com April 26, 2006, 9:24 pm Book Title: History Of Grundy County IL HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY. CHAPTER I.* TOPOGRAPHY—POST-TERTIARY FORMATIONS—ROCK FORMATIONS—CARBONIFEROUS FOSSILS— ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. THE relation of the physical features of a country to its development is an important one, and he who would learn the hidden causes that make or mar a nation at its birth must seek in these "the divinity that shapes its ends." Here is found the elixir vitoe of national life; the spring from whence flow those forces that on their broader current wreck the ship of state or bear it safely on to its appointed haven. It is in these physical features that are stored those potent industrial possibilities that make the master and the slave among the nations. From the fertile soil comes fruit-laden, peace-loving agriculture; from the rock-bound stores of mineral wealth springs the rude early-time civilization of the Pacific slope, or the half savage clashing of undisciplined capital and labor in the mining regions; from the rivers rises, fairylike, the commercial metropolis, which "crowned with the glory of the mountains," and fed with the bounty of the plains, stands the chosen arbiter between the great forces that join to make a nation's greatness. The influence of this subtle power knows no bounds. Here it *By J.H. Battle. spreads the lotus plant of ease and binds the nation in chains of indolent effeminacy; here, among the bleak peaks of a sterile land, "The heather on the mountain height Begins to bloom in purple light," type of a hardy and unconquered race; here it strews the sand of desert wilds, and man without resource, becomes a savage. The manifestations of this potent factor in human economy are scarcely less marked in the smaller divisions of the State, and in them is found the natural introduction to a consideration of a county's social, political and military history. Grundy County, situated in the northeastern part of the State of Illinois, is bounded on the north by Kendall, on the east by Will and Kankakee, on the south by Livingston, and on the west by La Salle. It includes twelve townships, or about 420 square miles, forming a rectangle of twenty-four miles long and about seventeen and a half miles wide. Of this, about two thirds is slightly rolling prairie, and the balance mostly well timbered creek banks and river bottoms. The Illinois River divides the county near the middle of its northern half, running a W. S. W. course, with but little variation. Its principal affluent on the south is Mazon Creek, which drains fully one third of Grundy, and portions of Livingston, Kankakee and Will Counties. Its principal water supply is from surface drainage, but few springs being found along its course. From this character, one would readily predicate the truth that a very wet season often causes it to overflow its banks, though twenty feet or more in height, while a dry one leaves its bed bare, except where deep pools have formed. A few miles west of the Mazon is the Waupecan, draining a comparatively small extent of country; but in an ordinary season, carrying nearly as much water, the product of several strong springs on the lower part of its course—some of them from the drift, others from the sandstones and shales of the Coal Measures, which show a small outcrop here. Still farther to the westward, are Billy Run, Hog Run, and Armstrong Run, which are simply prairie drains, and show no outcrop of rocks. Nettle Creek, on the north side of the river, is principally of the same character; but in the lower part of its course, there are a few springs, and two or three outcrops of the shales and sandstones which overlie the lower coal. Finally, in the northeast corner of the county is the Au Sable Creek, with a comparatively large amount of water, partly derived from springs and partly from drainage of this and Kendall County. Of the post-tertiary formations, the beds of the alluvium formation are very largely developed in the terraces of the river valley and the beds of the smaller streams. From the west line of the county nearly to Au Sable Creek, the Illinois and Michigan canal follows the north bank of the present river valley pretty closely, while the second terrace varies from half a mile to two miles to the northward. On the south side of the river the high, gravelly banks of the second terrace hug the river banks very closely, as far as the Waupecan Creek. Here they lose much of their elevation, and have as their continuation a low ridge about a mile distant from the present bank. East of Mazon Creek this declines still more and becomes the heavy sand ridge which bears still farther southward and then eastward, south of Wilmington into Kankakee County. This sand ridge forms the water shed between Mazon Creek and Kankakee River, so that, where it strikes the bank of the latter stream, to the southward of Wilmington, the water flows from within two hundred yards of the river, through swamps and sloughs and finds its way through the Mazon, into the Illinois, opposite Morris. The flats of the old river valley, back of the present banks, show in many places plain evidence of the comparatively recent date of their formation. On section 11, (in Erienna) town 33 north, range 6 east, a layer of thin slabs of fissile sandstone of the Coal Measures is found a short distance below the surface. They were evidently distributed here by the current of the river, not long before it became so contracted as to leave this level dry. When this old channel was the outlet of Lake Michigan, a large body of water must have flowed through here, and appearances seem to indicate that its diversion toward Niagara must have been sudden rather than gradual; otherwise the present valley would probably have been wider, and the descent to it less abrupt. A topographer would take peculiar pleasure in studying the various islands of the old valley, especially at the confluences with the Illinois of the Au Sable and Nettle Creeks, both of which streams, apparently, were much larger than at present. Upon one of these islands stands Morris, the county seat. Another, and far the largest in the county, is the high land lying between the head of the Illinois, the lower part of the Kankakee, and the slough which contains Goose Lake, and runs thence to Pine Bluff, near the embouchure of the Mazon, upon the Illinois valley. The following level points within this county, are gathered principally from the notes of the Illinois River Survey. The figures indicate distances below the established "datum of six feet below the lowest registered water of Lake Michigan": Feet. Bluffs at Morris, north side (level of town) 55.938 " " south " 59.48 " " " " lower terrace 78.00 Level of river, at head of the Illinois 87.809 " " " mouth of Au Sable creek 92.664 " " " Morris, under roadbridge 95.13 " " " Marseilles, La Salle Co., above dam 99.808 " " " " " " below " 113.256 " " " Goose Lake, about 60. " " " Minooka, as per railroad survey. above datum 35. These levels show that the elevation of first terrace above the river, opposite Morris, is a little over seventeen feet, and that the elevation of the second bluff or gravel ridge above the first terrace is about eighteen and one half feet. The coarser portion of the beds of river gravel consists mostly of fragments of the Niagara group limestone, which forms so heavy beds, from below Joliet to Chicago and beyond. Much of the sand is probably due to the disintegration of the Coal Measure sandstones, while some of it may have come from the northward. There is, however, in these beds, but a very small proportion of the metamorphic material from Canada, which forms so large a part of the true drift, but upon the surface of the soil, and often partially buried, are great numbers of small boulders of quartzite, gneiss, granite and trap, unquestionably of northern origin. These are especially abundant south of Goose Lake, over the surface of the valley which starts from the Kankakee, near the county line, includes Goose Lake, and joins the Illinois valley near where the Mazon first strikes the bottoms. This was probably a shallow channel, in which floating fields of ice lodged, melted and dropped the loads of stone which they had brought from the northward. Similar aggregations of boulders occur in the adjacent parts of Will County, at points where eddies would have been likely to detain the ice floes. It is suspected that this Goose Lake channel was formerly the main channel of the Kankakee, which there met the Des Plaines only four miles above Morris. The bed of "potter's clay," worked near the southwest bank of Goose Lake, and lying "near the level of the fire clay," owes its origin and deposition to river action, though principally consisting of the decomposed shales and fire clays of the Coal Measures. During the autumn of 1868 the remains of a Mastodon were found at Turners strippings, about three miles east of Morris, under eighteen inches of black mucky soil, and about four feet of yellowish loam, and resting on about a foot of hard blue clay, which covered the coal. The bones were badly decayed, and most of them were broken up and thrown away by the miners; a portion were saved, however, of which a fragment of a lower jaw, a part of a thigh bone, three teeth, and a few small bones were presented to the State Cabinet. The locality is a portion of the old river bottom, but it is uncertain, from the lack of scientific investigation at the time, whether to believe that the presence of the bones indicates that the animal was mired and died here, or to suppose that the carcass was deposited here by the river. The Coal Measure rocks of this county are too soft and too readily disintegrated to allow of the preservation of any scratches that may, at any time, have been impressed upon their surface; so that, although we find in the gravel very numerous scratched and polished pebbles and boulders, it is within only a very small area that striated and polished rock surfaces have been noticed. In the S. E. quarter of Sec. 23, township 34 north, range 7 east, (Saratoga) at Walter's quarry of Trenton limestone, smoothly polished surfaces have been frequently met with; so in one or two other localities. As these localities, however, are all within the old river valley, we can not, with certainty, predicate upon these facts the conclusion that those scratchings and polishings are attributable to glacial action. In fact, these and some other circumstances give some reason for assuming that they are results of river action alone. At Petty's shaft, the outer portion of the shale next to the creek banks, is found broken up for several feet, and thoroughly mingled with the drifted materials which here form an overlying bank of about fifteen feet. This disturbance, as well as the grinding of the surface, may fairly be attributed to the action of the creek while at its former level. But, while allowing that, in these particular cases, river agencies are sufficient to account for all observed phenomena, the frequent occurrence in the Drift of gravel of large and small boulders unquestionably planed and striated by glacial action must also be recorded. These are especially abundant along the Mazon. The True Drift, in the western part of the county consists, mainly, of the tough blue "boulder clay," with pebbles and boulders, sometimes also including fragments of wood, overlaid but slightly, or not at all, with gravel, and underlaid, so far as known, with a bed of "hard-pan," and a water-bearing quicksand which has thus far prevented any knowledge of the underlying materials. The eastern part of the county, on the contrary, shows but little boulder clay, this being replaced by a heavy layer of sand and gravel. Township 34 north, range 6 east, (Nettle Creek) has no known outcrop of rock, and wells near its south line have reached depths of forty-eight, fifty and fifty-two feet, before meeting the quicksand. Townships 31 and 32, (Highland and Vienna) of the same range, and so much of 33 as lies south of the river, (Norman) together with townships 31 and 32, range 7 east, (Goodfarm and Mazon) possess no outcrop of rock, but the depth of the Drift is not known. At Gardner, in section 9, township 31 north, range 8 east, (Greenfield), the Drift is said to be one hundred feet deep at the coal shaft. At Braceville, section 25, township 32 north, range 8 east, it was found to be forty-four feet deep. Going northward into township 33, in ranges 7 and 8, (Wauponsee and Felix) it rapidly thins out, owing partly to the downward slope of the surface, partly to the upward slope of the underlying rocks, which come to the surface in the northern part of these townships. Much of the "coal land " in the immediate neighborhood of Morris is bare of drift, having been stripped by the old river. To the northward, however, through township 34 north, range 7 east, the gravel and boulder clay lie, in some places, forty feet deep. Township 34 north, range 8 east, is deeply buried in Drift; at Minooka, on the line between sections 1 and 2, a well-boring found one hundred feet of gravel overlying the shaly limestone of the Cincinnati Group. Of the rock formations, the beds of the coal measures occupy far the larger part of the surface of the county. The outcrops, however, are so disconnected, and the beds so irregular, that it has been found practically impossible to construct any general section to represent connectedly all the outcrop. Apparently the higher beds exposed in the county are those which outcrop near the old coal openings on the Waupecan, in the southeast quarter of section 20, township 33 north, range 7 east, (Wauponsee). No outcrop of beds above the coal has been discovered, nor has any been seen in the deeper parts of the mine. Near the outcrop a foot of coal was left as a working roof. The seam is now five feet thick, resting on a bed of fire clay. It is coal No. 4 of the Illinois section. The connection below is not exposed, but at a short distance from the floor of the seam, not over ten feet, there is a coarse, ferruginous, shaly sandstone, filled with fragments of Lepidodendron, Calamites, Neuropteris hirsuta, etc., with an occasional streak of coaly matter. Of this bed, there is a low, nearly continuous outcrop for a mile up the stream, the last spot observed being at "Hog-grove quarry," in the southwest quarter of section 28. At the road crossing, about half a mile down the creek from the coal mine, the sandstone rises a little, and exposes about six feet of blue and black shales filled with a variety of small mollusca. The lower part of the blue shale holds two thin layers of rusty brown nodules of carbonate of iron, which often, partially or wholly, include shells of these mollusca. The upper part of the black shale also contains nodules of the same material (with probably some phosphate of lime) but smaller and less evenly distributed; the smaller of these contain comminuted scales and bones of fishes, and judging from both form and contents, are probably the fossil excrement of larger fishes. These beds, with others, outcrop at intervals for about a mile along the right bank of the stream; and the following section will fairly represent the whole: Feet. 1. Sandy shale, 5 2. Blue clay, 3 3. Fissile sandstone, 15 4. Blue clay shale, with iron nodules, 2 to 5 5. Black shale, top slaty, with small nodules, bottom very fragile, 2 to 3 6. Cone-in-cone, locally becoming solid sandstone, 1/2 to 1 1/2 7. Soft olive shale, 1 1/2 8. Solid gritty sandstone, 1 Another outcrop, on nearly the same horizon, occurs on Mazon creek from the center of the south line of southwest quarter. of section 6, township 32 north, range 8 east (Braceville), to near the center of the south line of section 25, (Wauponsee). The strata are here very irregular in thickness, but the following section gives an average representation of the exposed outcrop: Feet; Inches. 1. Ironstone conglomerate, (local), --; 6 2. Sandstone, 8; -- 3. Black shale, some slaty, with large ironstones, 3 to 4; -- 4. Cone-in-cone running into massive limestone, 2; to 6 5. Olive shales, changing into concretionary argillaceous limestone, 5 to 7; -- 6. Soft black shale, 2-3 7. Blue Clay shale, --; 9 8. Coal No. 3, 2 9. White fire-clay, ? Small quantities of coal have been mined at this seam at several points along the limited outcrop. The coal is said to be good house-fuel, but rather soft. The argillaceous limestone of No. 5, of this section generally contains numerous shells of the genera Productus, Athyris, Terehrattda, etc., and some fragments of criniods. The coal apparently holds the position of the thin coal which locally underlies No. 56 of the La Salle County section. The outcrop along the Mazon appears nearly continuous, but still I have not been able to satisfy myself as to the connection of the above beds with those of the lower part of the stream. The strata, there developed, consist of very variable sandy clay shales and sandstones, in some places becoming nearly pure clay shales, but containing many nodules of carbonate of iron. Pine Bluff, at the lowermost crossing of the Mazon, is composed of about forty feet of heavily bedded, but rather fissile sandstone, partly nearly white, partly highly ferruginous. Less than a mile up the creek the lower part of this bed changes to highly argillaceous sandy shales with occasional streaks and nodules of sandstone. The section is not quite continuous, but there is no distinct line of demarcation to separate these latter beds from the ferruginous sandy shales, twenty to thirty feet thick, of section 24, of township 33 north, range 7 east (Wauponsee), which contain large numbers of fossiliferous nodules of carbonate of iron, for which this locality has become famous. Besides a large variety of ferns mentioned in the State Geological report, these nodules also contain a large number of fossil insects, marking this as one of the richest deposits of Carboniferous Articulates ever discovered, if not the richest. These nodules range from about two to about ten feet above the main coal seam of all this region, the intervening space being occupied by the soft, blue clay shales, filled with fossil plants, which, at most points, overlie this seam. About a mile farther up this stream coal has been dug in the beds and banks of the stream, but is now abandoned. Still further south, near the southeast corner of section 19, township 33 north, range 8 east (Felix), a shaft was sunk upon the creek bottom, starting at about twenty-five feet below the general level of the prairie. The section is as follows: Feet.; Inches. 1. Blue clay and sandy shale, with ferns, 20; -- 2. Coal, 20; -- 3. Soft black shale, --; 6 to 8 4. Fire clay with rootlets, --; 6 to 8 5. Hard, sandy clay, --; 8 6. Fire clay, 2; 6 At this place the coal is about eight feet below the bed of the creek. Near the water level, an offshoot from the main seam, about seven inches thick, is exposed in the bank; the shales immediately over it afforded a few plants. Near the center of section 18, township 33 north, range 8 east (Felix), Mr. John Holderman's artesian well furnishes the following section: Feet 1. Gravel, 15 2. Sandstone, 34 3. Coal, 3 4. Sandy shale, 88 5. Limestone, 105 It will be noticed that this section gives the sandstone as immediately overlying the coal. This condition of the seam has been elsewhere noticed, so far as I can learn, only in a shaft sunk near the southeast corner of section 9 of the same township, and in one shaft in the adjoining part of Will County. On the north side of the Illinois River, in the neighborhood of Morris, the coal outcrops in the bank of the canal, and in the stretch of low land, about one mile to the northward. The overlying beds are here mostly blue clay shales, with occasional irregular layers of sandstone. The iron nodules, above mentioned, occur here at the same level, but not in so great numbers as at the Mazon locality. The shales immediately above the coal frequently yield magnificent specimens of fossil ferns and other plants. In the north part of township 33 north, range 6 east (Erienna), the shaly sandstones overlying this seam are exposed in the bottom of every little run which cuts away the soil from the edge of the second terrace, and fragments of them are found scattered just below the surface over the whole lower flat. It has long been a favorite theory with miners that another seam of coal could be found by sinking shafts in the bottom of the present working. This is not impossible, at points distant from the outcrop; but at Morris, and to the eastward, the coal lies directly upon lower Silurian rocks, with only four or five feet of firm clay to separate them. This is shown at several points. It was supposed that the coal seam extended, in its full thickness, much further northward; but two wells, one in section 27, and the other in section 13, township 34 north, range 7 east, (Saratoga) after passing through fossiliferous shales which overlie the coal, met with only about ten inches of soft coaly shale, underlaid by a few inches of greenish clay shale, with small rounded grains of calcareous (?) matter, (probably belonging to the Cincinnati group) which rested upon the solid limestones of the Trenton. From these and similar facts is derived the conclusion that the present line of workings corresponds very nearly with the original outline of deposit of the true coal seam, while beyond this line, only occasional small outlying patches will ever be found, though thin layers of coaly shale may be met with some miles further northward. On the An Sable Creek, a few miles north of the county line, small quantities of coaly shale and cannel-coal have been found, but they are probably of no practical value, and have no direct connection with the Morris seam. Upon the lower part of the Au Sable, however, in the southeast quarter of section 19, township 34 north, range 8 east (Au Sable), there is a peculiar outcrop of probably the lower seam. We have here a seam of coal twenty-eight inches thick, with a floor of fire clay at least six feet thick, and a roof of black shale, which is, at the outcrop, quite solid and a foot thick, but at the shaft, perhaps fifty yards distant, it thickens to between five and six feet and becomes quite soft. This shale has yielded a few small Discinoe Linguloe, and a few fragments of fish scales; but these are not sufficient to determine its position in the series. The bed seems to be but a small outlier, covering only a few acres, as borings to the southward and westward have failed to find any continuation of the bed in these directions, while to the northward and eastward the shales and limestone of the lower Silurian outcrop within a few hundred yards. It seems to be still uncertain whether this is a locally peculiar condition of the main seam, or lies above or below it. If it be the main seam, the black roof shales are probably the equivalent of the bed mentioned in the La Salle County section, as lying there about eighteen feet above the coal; but no other outcrop of it has been seen in this part of Grundy, though it appears in a shaft in the southeastern corner of the county. Another peculiar outcrop of uncertain connections is along the Kankakee, from the east line of the county to the "Head of the Illinois," in section 36, township 34 north, range 8 east (Au Sable), where the river has cut through some fifty feet of shales and sandstones of the coal measures, including a thin seam of coal, and has reached the underlying shaly limestone of the Cincinnati group. A few indistinct plants have been met with in the sandstone, but in too poor condition for specific determination. In conclusion, the outline of the Coal Measure in Grundy County may be roughly stated as a line running from near the northwest corner of the county, with some variations in an east-southeast course to the mine on Au Sable Creek, just above the railroad; thence southeasterly to the Goose Lake slough, and easterly to the east end of the lake; thence northerly to the mouth of the Kankakee. The shales and shaly limestones of the Cincinnati group outcrop in the northeastern part of the county, showing most prominently upon the high ground between Goose Lake and the head of the Illinois. This outcrop consists of coarse granular, highly fossiliferous, ferruginous limestones, readily disintegrated by the weather, which have been used, to some extent, for fences. This outcrop continues southward for about a mile, and forms the bottom of the north half of Goose Lake, the south half being underlaid with coal. At the ford of the Kankakee, in the northwest quarter of section 36, in Au Sable township, beds of soft blue shaly limestone, which probably lie near the base of this group, outcrop in the bed of the river, but show little upon the bank, and contain but few and indistinct fossils. From the bed of the canal, a half mile west of Dresden, there were thrown out considerable quantities of a heavy, but rather cellular ferruginous limestone, in heavy layers, probably belonging below the beds mentioned. The outcrop at this point did not quite reach the surface. Over most of the country, north of the Illinois, the alluvial and drift deposits cover the country so as to allow of outcrops only along the streams. In ascending the Au Sable Creek from the railroad, the scattered fragments of the shaly limestones of this group are frequently seen, but no outcrop is met until the middle of section 3 in Au Sable township is reached, where small quantities of stone have been quarried for wells and foundations. From this point there is a nearly continuous outcrop to some distance above the county line. A small outcrop of rock of this age is exposed in the bed of Collins' run, a branch of the Au Sable, in the southwest quarter of section 18, of the same township. The rock here is a rather more solid limestone, breaking irregularly, and containing but few fossils. It is reported that similar small outcrops occur further up this run, but they have not been opened, so as to know whether stone of any value can be obtained. Similar outcrops were observed in the bottoms of ditches near the middle of the north line of Saratoga township. In the borings about Morris, only a few feet of beds which can be referred to this group are found between the Coal Measures and the underlying Trenton limestone, and to the northward of that place no such beds have been found. The two remaining outcrops of rock in this countv are limestones of the Trenton group, probably near its top. The principal one is near the center of section 24, township 34 north, range 7 east (Saratoga); this rock has been quarried for building purposes and for making lime. The top layers of the quarry are thin, and somewhat stained with iron. Below these, the rock is heavily bedded, gray or light drab, fine grained, clinking limestone, not very rich in fossils, but yielding some good specimens of several varieties. This rock has been penetrated to the depth of twenty feet without exposing any other layers; but it is said that at one point the drill passed into a pocket of a softer black material. Possibly this may have been a small deposit of carbonaceous material analagous to the petroleum which this rock has yielded in small quantities in the adjoining county of La Salle. These beds contain small portions of pyrite (sulphide of iron) disseminated through the whole mass. There were also occasional streaks of soft clay. The quarry has exposed two sets of crevices, one trending south 45° west, and the other south 35° east. These crevices are filled with a fine clay of very nearly the same color as the limestone, through which are sparsely disseminated small crystals of blende (sulphide of zinc) with occasional pyramidal crystals of pyrite; no galenite has been observed. The remaining outcrops of this rock are in the bed of the Au Sable, on the two sides of the yoke-like bend of the stream, in the east half of the northeast quarter of section 19, in Au Sable township, and consists of small patches of a thin bedded, fine grained limestone, containing but few fossils. In the Morris boring, the Trenton limestone is two hundred feet thick. St. Peter's sandstone has been struck at the railroad station in Morris, at a depth of 370 feet, and here, as elsewhere in this region, has furnished a constant and abundant supply of artesian water. The economic geology of this county is quite an important feature, coal, brick and potters' clay, building stone and sand, lime and water being found in abundance, beside hydraulic lime and iron ore in smaller quantities. Coal underlies fully three fourths of the county, the seam averaging about three feet, except on the borders of the field. It has been very largely worked in the immediate vicinity of Morris, upwards of one hundred openings having been made, though a larger part of them at this writing have been abandoned. These are principally shafts from thirty to sixty feet deep, though there are several extensive strippings. Some of the latter uncover coal thirty inches thick, which is about the average thickness in this neighborhood; while others on the borders of the outcrop, find not more than eighteen inches. A smaller cluster of shafts and strippings is found to the south and west of Goose Lake, with average thickness of full thirty inches. At a stripping in the southwest corner of section 12, in Felix township, the bed is locally thickened to over four feet, but contains, near its center, a heavy band of crystalline carbonate of iron and lime, with much disseminated pyrite. This seam is also worked at Braceville, by a shaft ninety-eight feet deep, and in section 26, of the same township, by a shaft of 110 feet. At Gardner, it is worked by a shaft 160 feet deep. In the southeast corner of this township, three or four shafts, of about sixty feet each, work this seam in its usual condition; but one in the northeast corner of section 25, finds a roof of black slaty shale, with heavy ironstone concretions covering about three feet of a very pure "block coal," with much mineral charcoal in the partings. Both the coal and the accompanying beds, at the mine on the Au Sable Creek, closely resemble the conditions found here; and at both points the indications leave it uncertain whether they represent a local change of the main seam, or are portions of a lower seam which is only occasionally present. The weight of opinion seems to favor the former view. The upper seams, which have been worked upon the Waupecan Creek, and upon the Mazon, near the mouth of Johnny run, apparently occur over only small areas at either locality; and elsewhere, wherever met with, they have proved to be irregular seams, locally quite thick, but of the running out to a mere streak of coaly matter, and even disappearing altogether. The Mazon seam is, apparently, the equivalent of a stream, which, on the eastern side of the coal field, in the Wabash valley, is usually too thin to work, except at a single point, where it reaches twenty-two inches. The outcrops are not sufficient to give any exact data as to dips, but there seems to be no reason to believe that the main seam lies at a greater depth than 250 feet in any part of the county, if indeed it be anywhere so deep. Whenever, therefore, any portion of the southern part of the county becomes so thickly settled as to create any considerable demand for coal, it can be obtained on the spot without much difficulty. This seam is of pretty constant thickness, at every point where it has been opened, and the miner can rely upon finding a paying thickness of coal at almost any point in this part of the county. At many points, also, one or more of the upper seams would be found much, nearer the surface, with from two to nine feet of coal. In the openings of this county, as elsewhere, the miner is often troubled with "faults" and "rolls," which interrupt the regularity and even the continuity of the seam. Upon the outer edge of the field, near Morris, and to the eastward, the dip of the seam is very variable and irregular, which greatly interferes with the drainage of the mines in many cases. Much of this seems to have resulted from the irregularity of the denuded surface of the Silurian rocks upon which the coal was deposited; but in one or two cases, the indications seem to prove that these contortions are the result of the removal of the subjacent limestone by solution in subterranean streams after the deposition of the coal. This seems to be the only explanation of the condition of the seam, in a shaft a short distance east of the Jugtown pottery. In this neighborhood, the seam is generally about twenty feet below the surface; but in the shaft referred to, it was found forty feet down, and after yielding about 300 bushels, the coal ceased abruptly, on all sides. So far as known, all coal mined in the county contains more or less pyrite— "sul¬phur" of the miners—and streaks of calcite; but this is so variable, even in neighboring portions of the same mine, that it would be useless to attempt to discriminate between the products of the various localities. As a whole, the product of the main seam is a fine steam and grate coal, and is largely shipped to the Chicago market, the distance being only sixty-two miles. The best clay for brick making is not found here, though there are several large brick yards in the county. The materials used are the decomposed shales which overlie the lower coal. As these beds contain considerable calcareous matter, the brick are not very firm and do not stand the weather well. It would appear probable that the fire clay below the coal would make a better article. This has been tried with some success at Gardner. The fire clay, and soft clay shales underlying it, are said to be thirty-five feet deep and so much of these beds as may be convenient, in mining the coal, is dug out and used promiscuously. Without thorough grinding, therefore, in the pugmill, the bricks are variable in character and irregular in burning. The only bed of Potter's clay known and worked is that near the west end of Goose Lake, and extensively used at Jugtown, in the manufacture of a fair grade of domestic earthernware, together with drain tile and sewer pipes. The bed consists of more or less thoroughly decomposed clay shale and fire clay of the Coal Measures, containing many fragments of coal, thoroughly mingled and deposited in a low part of the old river channel, which contains Goose Lake, by the current of the river which formerly flowed there. The bed has been worked to a depth of fifteen or twenty feet, but the mixed character of the materials has given much trouble to the potters. The principal source of building stone in this county is the quarry of Trenton limestone in Saratoga township, about four miles northeast of Morris. This yields an abundance of light gray or drab massive limestone, which has been extensively used for foundation walls, and in a few cases also for the superstructures. It appears fitted to stand the weather as well as any ordinary stone, and is said to dress well. The Cincinnati group along the Au Sable Creek near the county line, yields small quantities of stone for wells and foundations, but nothing suitable for superstructures. Beds of the same group upon the northern side of Goose Lake, have been quarried slightly, for similar purposes. Upon the bank of the Waupecan Creek in the southeast quarter of section 18, in Wauponsee township, small quantities of a very solid limestone—No. 6, of the Waupecan section—have been quarried. A sandstone, representing Nos. 1 and 3 of the same section, has been quarried to some extent for foundations on the upper part of the stream, at "Hog Grove Quarry," and has given good satisfaction; though when exposed to the weather it crumbles rapidly. The same defect exists in the sandstone of Pine Bluff. Lime is obtained from the Saratoga quarry, where considerable quantities of the stone are annually burned, though some care has to be exercised to exclude from the kiln the ferruginous layers. The only hydraulic limestone found in the county occurs in nodules along the Kankakee River, and in small quantity. The abundant supply from an adjoining county renders these deposits of no commercial value. Builders' sand is obtained in unlimited quantities from the sand ridges of the river valley. From one of these ridges, about one mile south of Morris, large quantities of road gravel are also obtained. Iron ore is found in form of ironstone nodules (carbonate of iron) on the Mazon and Waupecan Creeks, but not in sufficient quantities to supply a furnace. Bog ore is found near the quarries in Saratoga, but its quality or quantity has not been tested. The natural supply of water through this county is quite variable. In a dry season, large portions are very scantily supplied. In ordinary seasons, however, wells running ten or fifteen feet into the top of the drift in the eastern part, supply all needs. In the western part of the county, reliable wells can be obtained only by passing through the boulder clay to the underlying quicksand. The lower seam of coal is everywhere accompanied by an abundance of water, which is pure and good, until the working of the coal exposes the accompanying pyrite to decomposition. A well bored at the tile factory in Jugtown some years ago, struck coal at about thirty feet, and gave exit to a strong stream of water, highly charged with sulphurated hydrogen. Small springs of similar character are said to accompany the supposed line of outcrop of this coal seam, along the foot of the first terrace, from Mazon Creek, nearly to the Morris bridge. A very strong spring of this character flows from beneath the drift gravel, over the black shale, No. 3, of the upper Mazon section, in the southwest quarter of section 6, in Braceville township, leaving a heavy white deposit of sulphur on the surface of the shale. The artesian boring on the northeast quarter of section 3, in Felix township, brings to the surface a small but constant supply of slightly sulphurous water from the upper part of the Trenton limestone, at a depth of about 137 feet. On section 18 of the same township, a boring of 325 feet failed to secure flowing water, after penetrating 185 feet of the Trenton limestone. The boring for the railroad well at Morris, shows this limestone to be 200 feet thick, and that in this county the underlying St. Peter's sandstone is full of pure water, which is ready to flow to the surface wherever it is tapped. This abundant supply can be reached anywhere in the northern part of the county at about 400 feet, and in the southern part, at probably nowhere more than 600 feet, and in part of it much less than that. "Gas" wells in the boulder clay are known at two localities. Near the northeast corner of section 3, in Vienna township, a well at twenty feet, gave off so much carbonic acid gas, as to prevent farther excavations. Probably this flowed from some ancient soil, like the muck beds encountered in Livingston and other counties. On section 35 in Nettle Creek township, a well at forty-seven feet, gave off light carburetted hydrogen with so much noise as to be heard at a considerable distance, and in such quantity as to blaze "as high as the house," for some minutes after being approached with a lighted candle. The gas still flows freely, though it is several years since the well was dug, and a load of gravel has been thrown in, to act as a filter for the water, which was at first filled with quicksand, brought up by the ebullition of the gas. Similar phenomena have been observed in other wells in this vicinity. A large spring on section 22 of the same township, constantly gives off bubbles of this gas. Springs of similar character have been found along the outcrop of the lower coal seam in the adjoining county of La Salle, and it is generally accepted as a partial indication of the coal outline, when the depth of drift prevents actual observation. Additional Comments: HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY ILLINOIS; Containing a History from the earliest settlement to the present time, embracing its topographical, geological, physical and climatic features; its agricultural, railroad interests, etc.; giving an account of its aboriginal inhabitants, early settlement by the whites, pioneer incidents, its growth, its improvements, organization of the County, the judicial history, the business and industries, churches, schools, etc.; Biographical Sketches; Portraits of some of the Early Settlers, Prominent Men, etc.; ILLUSTRATED. CHICAGO: O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, Lakeside Building. 1882. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/history/1882/historyo/chapter143nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 41.8 Kb