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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
BY PROF. B. T. COX, STATE GEOLOGIST.*,
THE SURFACE FEATURES—SUBCARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE—MASSIVE SANDSTONE—CARBONATE,
LIMONITE AND SILICEOUS OXIDES OF IRON—ANALYTICAL TABLES—PERCENTAGE OF
IRON—THE RICHLAND BLAST FURNACE—THE COUNTY COAL—CHEMICAL ANALYSIS SHOWING
PERCENTAGE OF CARBON—COAL OF THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN PARTS—FOSSILS —FIRE
CLAY—ECONOMIC QUESTIONS—THE GLACIERS—QUICK-LIME— OCHER DEPOSITS—TIMBER, ETC.
THE county of Greene is bounded on the north by Clay and Owen Counties, on
the east by Monroe and Lawrence Counties, on the south by Martin, Daviess
and Knox Counties, and on the west by Sullivan County. In shape, it is a
parallelogram, and contains 540 square miles. The principal stream of water
is the West Fork of White River, which runs in a southwesterly course
through the county, and divides it into two nearly equal parts. The main
tributaries of White River in the county are Eel River, Latta's Creek and
Black Creek on the west side, and Richland Creek, Doan's Creek and First
Creek on the east side. Indian Creek, with its tributaries, waters a portion
of the eastern border of the county, and empties into the East Fork of White
River.
The county east of White River is quite broken, with hills from 120 feet to
300 feet in height, whereas to the west of the river, with the exception of
a ridge running from Eel River on the north to White River on the south,
near Fairplay, and passing a short distance to the west of Worthington, the
county is generally level, or slightly undulating, a considerable part of it
being prairie.
Latta's Creek Marsh, Bee-hunters Marsh and Goose Pond contain in all about
nine or ten square miles of land subject to overflow during freshets. These
marshes can be drained, and thus by aeration furnish to agriculture a large
body of very fertil( land. Previous to the completion of the Indianapolis &
Vincennes Rail. road, the county was without a direct and practicable means
of commuitition with the distant centers of trade, consequently up to that
time there was no incentive or inducement offered the citizens to attempt
any development of its mineral resources. And even with the coming of this
road, and later of the Narrow Gauge Railroad, the wealth of natural minerals
has been slow of development, but enough has been discovered to render it
certain that Greene is one of the richest counties in the State in stone and
coal, in valuable clays, ocher beds and iron ores. The geological formations
represented by the succession of strata in this county ale: 1.
Subcarboniferous limestone period. 2. Millstone grit epoch. 3. Coal measures
epoch. 4. Glacial epoch. The continuous vertical section of the coal and
subordinate limestone formation are similar to those of Clay County.
SUBCARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE.
At the mouth of Fish Creek, in the northern part of the county, limestone
belonging to the Chester group of the subcarboniferous limestone formation
outcrops on the bluff bank of the creek, and is exposed to the depth of
fifteen or twenty feet, and is at this place overlaid by drift, but at a
short distance southwest it is increased by the addition of two to five feet
of shale, with an irregular thin seam of Coal A. and the millstone grit.
Some of the layers of this limestone contain a few fossils, but they are
difficult to obtain sufficiently perfect for cabinet specimens. The
following comprise all that could be recognized: Orthis umbraculum,
Archimedes Wortheni, Athyris subtilita, Pentramitis obelus, P. pyriformis,
Spirifer incra,ssatus, Productus carbonarious, P. Cora, and an abundance of
encrinite stems. It belongs to the upper member of the subcarboniferous
limestone, and is designated by Prof. A. H. Worthen in the Geological Report
of Illinois as the Chester group. The greatest development of this limestone
seen in Greene County is on Beech Creek, a branch of Richland Creek, on
Section 12, Township 7 north, Range 4 west, where it forms a great mural
precipice, capped with a massive sandstone of the millstone series. The
following section was obtained at this locality: Brownish gray sandstone, in
thick beds, which has the appearance of being most excellent building stone
25 feet Shale, which thickens up to many feet, and in some places contains
Coal A 1 inch Buff-colored limestone, in which were seen Pentramitis obesus,
P. pyrtformis and Archimedes Wortheni .20 feet Gray siliceous shale, partly
covered. 25 feet Bluish limestone (in which could be discovered no fossils),
with intercalations of sandstone, Mostly covered b y talus 50 feet At the
junction of the sandstone and limestone at this locality, there gushes forth
a mammoth spring of good, cool water, which was at one time utilized to run
an overshot wheel that propelled the machinery of a grist mill. The
subcarboniferous limestone makes its appearance at the base of the hills
along this creek for a distance of several miles, and is overlaid by'a few
feet of shale and the massive sandstone at the base of the millstone grit.
It also makes its appearance at the ore banks on Ore Branch of Richland
Creek, in Section 28, Township 7 north, Range 4 west, and on the eastern
border of the county, near the Virginia -Blast Furnace (now abandoned), and
south from the furnace along Indian Creek.
MILLSTONE GRIT.
This epoch follows the subcarboniferous in regular sequence, and is
principally represented by a massive sandstone, usually in two benches, and
separated from each other by a bed of shale, varying from a few inches to
four feet or more in thickness, and at some places carries a thin. coal, L.
This massive sandstone is, apparently, in the position occupied by the
conglomerate sandstone most usually found at the base. of the coal measures,
yet in this part of the State it is, so far as 1 have been able to discover,
entirely free from the admixture of quartz pebbles,. which give rise to the
latter name. The millstone grit covers fully three-fourths of the county.
Its boundary on the west may be approximately laid down as passing from
Johnstown, on Eel River, across the county in a southwesterly direction to
Marco, on the Indianapolis & Vincennes Railroad, while the irregular margin
of its eastern outcrop is in. Monroe County, some miles east of the Greene
County line. Between this massive sandstone and the subcarboniferous
limestone there is inter posed a bed of argillaceous shale varying from a
few inches to thirty feet or more in thickness, that contains in many places
a bed of good, block coal A. Above the sandstone are argillaceous and
siliceous shales,-with benches of flags and other stones of good dimensions
for building purposes. In all, this group may attain a depth of 300 feet or
more in Greene County. The massive santistane—or conglomerate, as it may be.
called for convenience—gives to the scenery of this county on the east side
of White River a marked character. Near the tops of many of the ridges that
skirt along the streams it forms conspicuous benches, and the slopes below
are strewn with cyclopean blocks that have broken off and fallen from the
parent mass above. In places, it has a portion of the lower part worn away
by the combined action of the frosts and running water, so as to form deep
caverns with projecting roofs of stone that afford an excellent protection
in time of storms to wayfaring men and farm stock, for which reason I
suppose they have received the common name of rock houses. In the more
secluded parts of the county, the rock houses constitute the abode of a
variety of wild animals, that seek in them a friendly shelter from the
inclemency of the weather.
THE IRON ORE OF GREENE COUNTY.
It is at the junction of the conglomerate with the subcarboniferous
limestone that we find the great repository of limestone iron ore in this
county; and, in fact, it forms the common horizon of this variety of iron
ore in most of the Western States. The ore lies in pockets of various
dimensions, and owes its origin in most cases to a metamorphism of the
surrounding rocks, produced by the permeation of mineral water that is
strongly charged with protoxide of iron. On Ore Branch of Plummer Creek,
Section 22, Township 7 north, Range 4 west, on Mr. Heaton's land, the base
of the conglomerate has been completely changed by this process into a
siliceous ore that is rich in iron to the depth of ten or twelve feet.
Similar ore was seen on Sections 21 and 28 of the same township and range;
also, in the greatest abundance at Mr. Lavel place, on Sections 4 and 9,
Township 7, Range 6, where it cannot be less than twenty-five to thirty feet
in thickness, and great blocks lie scttered over the side of the ridge; it
is in abundance, also, on Section 12 of the same township and range, and in
the neighborhood of Owensburg, in the southeast part of the county. The old
Virginia blast furnace on Indian Creek, in the western edge of Monroe
County, has been out of blast for many years, but when in blast the or was
obtained close at hand from large deposits fifteen to twenty feet thick,
covering several acres. The Virginia blast furnace cannot be more than five
or six feet across the boshes and twenty to twenty-five feet highit is
poorly constructed, and the only wonder is that it made any iron at all.
However, fragments of pig-iron that were picked up around the stack give
evidence that it made a very fair quality of iron, and was abandoned only in
consequence of the great expense incurred in getting the metal to market—the
nearest being Louisville, on the Ohio River, to which point the pig-iron was
hauled in wagons. A characteristic specimen of ore from the ore banks half a
mile northeast of this furnace was analyzed, and the following result
obtained:
Loss by ignition, water and organic matter 10.00
Insoluble silicates 31.50
Sesquioxide of iron, with some protoxide and a little
alumina and manganese 58.50
Total 100.00
Specific gravity, 2.56; per cent of metallic iron, 40.95.
This ore will give over forty-five per cent of iron after being'roasted, and
will make an excellent quality of cold short pig-iron.The principal ore used
at the Richland blast furnace, near Bloomfield, from Ore Branch of Plummer's
Creek, forms a bench on each side of a ravine, and appears to lie between
the massive ore and the subcarbonif
bottom of the deposit. Capt. M. H. Shryer, who frequently saw this bed of
ore at the time it was being worked for the blast furnace, says that the
deposit is fully nine feet in thickness. It lies in kidney-shaped masses in
a matrix of ferruginous clay, and contains less silica than the massive ore.
CharaCteristic samples of this kidney ore and of the massive siliceous block
ore from the Richland furnace ore banks were analyzed, and the following
result was obtained:
Loss by ignition, water and organic matter, mostly water, 11.50 Insoluble
silicates 17.00
Sesquioxide of iron, with some protoxide and a trace of manganese Alumina
Carbonate of lime
It was tested for sulphur and phosphorus, but no traces were tonna. Two
hundred grains of this siliceous ore mixed with fifty grains of limestone
were fused in a Hessian crucible and a button of iron was obtained that
weighed seventy-six grains—equal to 38 per cent—very nearly the same result
as obtained by the humid analysis. The button indicated a very good quality
of iron slightly malleable and gave a semi-crystalline fracture. The roasted
ore would yield fully 40 per cent of iron in the blast furnace, and on
account of the manganese which it contains it is admirably adapted for the
manufacture of steel, either by the Bessemer process or in the puddling
furnace. Iron made from the above ores alone will possess cold-short
properties, but by mixing them, in the proper proportion with the red-short
specular and magnetic ores from Missouri and Lake Superior, a neutral iron
may be made. The Richland Furnace went into blast about the year 1841, and
the final blowing-out was in 1859. The stack was about forty-five feet high
and nine feet across the boshos; it was worked with a hot blast and used
charcoal as fuel.
About nine tons of pig iron were produced daily. The cause assigned for the
stoppage of the furnace was the want of suitable and economical means of
getting the pig iron to market. The blowing cylinders were forty-two inches
in diameter and six feet stroke. Good deposits of siliceous and earthy
carbonates of iron are seen at quite a number,of localities in this County
that are not enumerated above, namely, at Gaskill's, on the L & V. Railroad
on Section 86, Township 8, Range 6; on Black Creek, in the southwest part of
the county; at Phillips' coal mine, and immediately around the old blast
furnace.
THE COAL OF GREENE COUNTY.
All the coal beds on the east side of White River and over a considerable
strip of country on the west side of that river, are either in the
conglomerate or are sub-conglomerate. For the most part, these coals are of
the splint or block variety, and though generally in thin seams are
nevertheless of good workable thickness at some localities and will answer
in the raw state for smelting iron. Coal A is seen at a number of places
northeast of Worthington where it is cut through in the grade of the I. & V.
Railroad, and lies in close proximity to the subcarboniferous limestone;
indeed it is often separated from the latter by only a few inches of fire
clay. Coal B lies from sixteen to thirty feet above Coal A, being
intercalated between two benches of the conglomerate and is from four to
eighteen inches thick. At Gaskill's, on Section 12, Township 8, Range 5,
Coal A lies thirty to forty feet above the railroad track and has been
partially opened, but proved too thin for mining to advantage. At Woodrow's
old mill on Section 14, Township 8,-Range 5, Coal A outcrops on the bank of
White River, and is twenty-eight inches thick. It is a block coal, but
apparently contains a considerable quantity of sulphur. Immediately above
the coal and forming its roof is black bituminous fissile slate two feet,
then a few feet of siliceous shale, which latter is succeeded by forty to
fifty feet of massive sandstone. About 200 yards north of this old mill up a
short ravine, this sandstone forms a great cliff, and Coal A outcrops at its
base only about ten feet above the subcarhoniferous limestone which shows
itself at the foot of the ravine. Coal B, about eighteen inches thick,
outcrops in Point Commerce, on the west side of the hill at Mr. Miller's
mill on Eel River, and in the sandstone bluff on the west bank of that
stregn near its mouth. In excavating the foundation of his mill, Mr. Miller
found beneath the bed of the river several layers of good clay iron-stone.
Though rich in metal, it is barely Two and a half miles northwest of
Worthington, on the farm of Joel Adams, on the west half of Section 7,
Township 8, Range 4, Coal A three feet thick, is mined in the ravine by
stripping off the two or three feet of superimposed earth. The quality of
the coal is good block. On the hill close by may be seen the conglomerate
sandstone which usually lies above this coal. In digging a well at his
dwelling-house on the top of the low ridge to the south of this mine, Mr.
Adams passed through: Soil and drift, thirteen feet; Coal B, one foot;
sandstone, in which water was found, ten feet. Had the well been sunk
through the sandstone, he would have reached Coal A, which is only twenty or
thirty feet below Coal B, and is seen again at an outcrop on the south side
of the property. On Mr. Shryer's land in the southeast corner of the same
section, the Adams seam of coal also makes its appearance and may be traced
to Johnstown Mille on Eel River where it is struck in the mills and as far
south as Marco. At McKis sick's, on Section •36, Township 8, Range 6, Coal A
is three feet thick and has shale above it. The following result was
obtained from an analysis of a characteristic specimen from the above bed:
Specific gravity, 1.189; weight of a cubic foot, 74.37 pounds. Twenty to
twenty-five feet higher than the coal bed above referred to, there is
another opening to a seam of coal that has the same depth of bed with a roof
of sandstone four or five feet thick immediately under the drift which
covers the slope of the hill above. The quality of the coal at both these
openings is that of a good block coal. Notwithstanding the upper coal is in
the position of Coal B with regard to relative space, still I feel quite
sure that the two openings are in one and the same bed. But the nature of
the locality and the want of proper developments prevented me from arriving
at a positive conclusion. The sandstone above the upper opening has all the
appearance of the conglomerate and the openings being on opposite sides of
the ravine, gives ample room for misplacement by a slide or horseback, the
traces of which may be covered by debris. McKissick's mine is one and a half
miles north of the I. & V. Railroad and may be easily reached by a switch
from the
main road running the whole distance over a level prairie. Under the coal at
the lower opening,
there is considerable iron-stone of good quality for making iron. It is here
found stratified with the shale. South of McKissick's the subconglomerate
coals have not been worked on
the west side of White River, its presence being known only by reaching it
in wells at numerous places. On the east side of White River, the
subconglotnerate Coal A is generally from thirty to thirty-six inches thick,
and is also in this part of the county a block coal similar in character to
what is found above the conglomerate in Clay County, anti may be used in its
raw state for making pig-iron in blast furnaces. Ten or twelve mines have
been opened tine partly worked to supply a limited home demand. At all these
openings the coal is of good quality, is overlaid by the conglomerate, and
ii places it is not more than' twenty feet above the subcarboniferous
limestone. In the immediate roof shales of the coal, impressions of the
flattened stems and trunks of sigillaria and calamites are abundant, but the
shale is of too fissile a character to admit of their preservation ar
cabinet specimens. Neither shell nor fish remains were discovered.
Coal A underlies a broad district of country which stretches out to the
southwest of Bloomfield. At Hayes mine, Section 16, Township 6, Range 4, the
character of the subconglomerate coal is quite changed, being at this mine a
coking coal with two clay partings. The following section was made of the
coal in this mine by Mr. Warder, of Owen County. The entrance to the mine
was partly filled with water at the time, but the measurements at the far
end of the entry were made:
The total thickness of this bed, including the clay partings, is five feet
seven inches; reduced to clear coal, leaves three feet eight inches. This is
a fine bed of coal, and is found over a large area of country which forms
the "divide" between the waters of Doan's Creek and Plummer's Creek. Going
south to Phillips' mine, on Section 21, Township 6, Range 4, the same bed of
coal seen at Hayes mine is semi-block coal, three to seven feet thick,
including a five-inch clay parting. Above the coal there is eight inches of
a good quality of siliceous limonite iron ore, containing stems of coal
plants—sigilaria and calamites. A fine specimen of the Calamites
canneaformis was owned for a time by Capt. Shryer, of Bloomfield. The
following section will show the position of the coal, which is opened in a
shallow ravine near the top of the tableland. The bed is worked by stripping
off the superincumbent strata of rock:
The same stratum of coal is also mined on the line between Sections 28 and
29, Township 6, Range 4, where it presents the same characteristics seen at
the Phillips mine. In the neighborhood of Owensburg, and to the southwest in
Martin County. the subconglomerate coal, A., has been opened and mined for
blacksmiths' use at quite a number of places. It ranges from thirty to
thirty-three inches in thickness, and is at some openings good block coal,
while at others it is a bituminous coking coal. Owensburg is on the western
limit of the subconglomerate coal, the place of the latter being possibly
represented by an outcrop of excellent fire clay for potteries, lying near
the top of the hill on the west side of the town. Below the fire clay there
are large deposits of iron ore, similar to that used at the old Virginia
blast furnace in Monroe County. A well dug by Mr. Potter in the eastern part
of the town, on a branch of Indian Creek, passed through gray argo-siliceous
shales fifteen feet; sandstone, three feet; blue argo-shale, four feet. The
water in this well is no doubt obtained from the upper part of the
subcarboniferous limestone which makes its appearance a short distance
further up the branch.
Coal A at Babbit's mine is opened between Sections 28 and 33, Township 6,
Range 3, nearly two miles southwest of Owensburg; the bed is two feet thick,
and the coal is mined out in fine large cubes from twelve to fifteen inches
thick. It is a coking coal, of a beautiful jet-black color, with numerous
small cracks lined with scales of selenite not thicker than a sheet of
paper. This is a remarkably pure coal, and would answer well for the making
gas and coke. The analysis gave this result:
Specific gravity, 1.238; weight of cubic foot, 77.3 pounds.
Coke •
61 4 GGrayY ash 1.5
Fixed Carbon 59.9
Volatile matter. 38.6 W aterGood illuminating gas 35.6
Totals 100.0 100.0
The coke swells but little; structure of the coal, but slightly changed;
color dull. Immediately above the coal. and forming its roof, there are
three feet of black bituminous shale overlaid by five or six feet of
conglomerate sandstone, which is again succbeded by a few feat of drift. The
sans e bed of coal is opened on Section 20, and also on Section 23. The
succession of strata here are as follows: Drift, thirty feet; sand
stone, three feet; shale, six feet. Coal A (said to be block), four feet,
six inches. Another opening is made to this bed on Section 36, Township 6,
Range 4, and at other places.
COAL OF WESTERN GREENE COUNTY.
The three townships, 6, 7 and 8, of Range 7, in the western part of Greene
County are, except where cut out by the flats of Goose Pond, Black Creek,
Latta's Creek, and the bottoms of small streams, under laid by the mammoth
coal bed L. On Section 18, Township 6, Range 7, an opening has been made to
Coal L. The bed is from four and a half to five feet thick, has from one to
two feet of black, sheety slate in the roof, and no other material above
except a foot or two of soil; but on the rise near by, in a well, thirty
feet of siliceous shale were passed through without reaching the coal. At
other places openings made passed through coal beds seven feet thick, if
reports are correct. This seems to have been a mistake, however. The bed was
probably five feet thick. Specimens show the article to be good coking coal.
At various other points, similar coal was struck. Considerable Coal L has
been mined around Linton, and is from four and a half to five feet of coking
coal. It has also been mined on Sections 26, 23 and 22, and possibly belongs
in some cases to Coal K. The country immediately around Linton is quite
level, and no rocks are to be seen; but on going northward a few miles, the
country becomes broken, and in road cuts along the hill sides is found
exposed to view siliceous shales and flag stones in the upper part, while in
the deeper parts at the base, there lie from two to ten feet of
fossiliferous limestone, underlaid by the black bituminous sheety slate,
containing teeth and other fish remains, which generally form the roof of
Coal K, and occasionally the coal itself is seen.
On Section 32, Township 8, Range 7, Coal K outcrops in a ravine, and may be
traced along the branch that cuts' through it for a considerable distance.
It is here divided into three beds by two partings of fire-clay, and the
total depth is five and a half feet. The principal fossils seen in the
limestone which usually accompanies this coal are referable to the following
genera and species:
Productus nabasheusis, P. corao
P. semireticulus, Spirifer cameratus, chonetes mesoloba, Athyris subtilita
Bellerophon carbonaria, Nucula inflata, and large stems of encrinites.
Coal K has been mined at Mr. Bledsoe's. A specimen analyzed gave this
result:
The structure of this coal changes but slightly in coking, is somewhat
swollen, and of a dingy; lusterless color. Coal N is worked a short distance
west of Mr. Bledsoe's. The following will show the relative position of
these three beds of bituminous coking coal:
Here in the space of 108 feet are found three beds of fossil fuel that have
an aggregate thickness of from thirteen to fifteen feet. The sulphur bands
which are of common occurrence in Coal L are, at Mr. Bledsoe's, readily
separated from the main part of the bed which is one of the very best
bituminous coking coals in this part of the county. This coal is as a fuel
above the average, and is sought after by blacksmiths far and near for
forging iron and welding steel. An opening of Coal L has been made at
Section 29, Township 8, Range 7. In the northern part of Wright Township,
Coal K outcrops on Sections 4, 5, 8, 17, 22, and perhaps elsewhere, and is
from four and one-half to five feet thick, with one or two clay partings,
and is overlaid by a black shale and fossiliferous limestone. Eastward it
has been struck in wells at various places and underlies all the high land
in that direction as far as the line dividing Ranges 6 and 7. The outcrop of
Coal I should be found in Range 6.
GLACIAL OR DRIFT EPOCH.
The super-strata of clay, gravel, sand and small bowlders of metamorphic
rock which cover the entire county, except where removed by denudation,
belongs to this geological formation. Various metals and ores foreign to the
stratified rocks of this county are frequently found in this formation, but
usually in such small quantities as to be of no practical value; indeed this
float mineral of the drift serves too frequently to mislead the uninitiated
who lose both their time and money in the vain search after the parent bed
or vein which lies far north of the State. The stratum of clay commonly
known as hard pan is generally reached at the depth of fifteen or twenty
feet, and forms the horizon from which the supply of well water is obtained
throughout the county.
ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY.
The total depth of all the coal strata in Greene County is fully 28 feet 9
inches; and the area which is under laid with coal may safely be estimated
at 360 square miles, or 230,400 acres, over this district, after making full
allowance for outcrops, horsebacks, loss from mining, etc., there exists
fully six feet of coal available for market. As the mines. of the county are
only worked to a limited extent, there is yet no data by which to fix its
commercial value. If the product of one acre, six feet in depth (calculated
at one ton per cubic yard) be 294,000 bushels, the price paid as royalty at
one-half cent per bushel is $1,470 as the value of one acre. Calculated at
the same rate
for the entire coal area of 230,400 acres, the total amount of $338,688,000
is obtained as the approximate royalty valve of coal in Greene County.
BLOCK COAL.
The area of the block coal in Greene County, which is included in the above
estimate, is about 150 square miles, and its average depth may be take;i at
two and a half feet. In quality it is fully equal to the same coal of Clay
County and can be used in the raw state for the manufacture of pig-iron.
IRON ORE.
Greene County is rich in deposits of siliceous hydrated brown oxide of iron
and clay iron-stone. Many of these deposits of ore are from ten to twenty
feet or more in depth, and will furnish a full supply of ore for a large
number of blast furnaces for many years to come. The only thing required to
insure the immediate erection of blast furnaces at these ore banks -is a
railway that will furnish means of transportation to market of the
manufactured products. Good block coal suitable for fuel and limestone for
flux are to be found in close proximity to the ore, and there is no quality
of metal so much needed at this time in Indiana as the cold-short iron which
the ores of the 'county will furnish in great perfection
BUILDING STONE.
Excellent quarries of sandstone and limestone are constantly being opened in
portions of the county, notably on Section 6,2Township 8, Range 4, and
Section 14, Township 8, Range 5. At these quarries, from six to ten feet of
excellent stone is obtained. It is fine-grained, brownish-gray sandstone,
with small specks of protoxide of iron, and lies in strata that range from
six to sixteen inches in thickness, and may be taken up in slabs of any
required length and breadth. Sandstone quarries have also been opened on
Section 25, Township 7, Range 4. and on Section 4, Township 6, Range 4. The
stone at the latter quarry is moderately fine-grained, has a cream color,
can be readily split to any required thickness and is mined in large slabs
from six to thirty inches thick. Good sandstone is also fovrd in Wright
Township.
QUICK LIME.
The subcarboniferous limestone along the I. & V. Railroad and in the ridge
skirting Richland Creek and Ore Branch will furnish material for an
abundance of good white lime. The limestone which overlies Coal K in the
western part of the county will at many places furnish a dark-colored but
good strong lime, in every respect suitable for making mortar.
FIRE CLAY.
This valuable mineral which forms the substratum to coal beds has received
very little attention in Greene County and as yet scarcely any effort has
been made to test its refractory qualities or adaptation to the manufacture
of fire brick or tile: The bed of fire clay which outcrops in the hill at
Owensburg is of excellent quality for the manufacture • of stoneware, and a
pottery was established on Section 25, Township 6, Range 2, in which the
Owensburg clay is used. About one hundred gallons of ware—crocks and
jugs—were turned out daily.
OCHER BEDS.
Beds of clay, colored with oxide of iron, are found near the mouth of Fish
Creek, and also one and a half miles southeast of Solsberry, or on Section
4, Township 8, Range 3. It is also found in several other portions of the
county. These ochers are of various shades of color and make a good cheap
paint.
AGRICULTURE.
On the west side of White River, the surface is usually gently rolling, and
there are several small prairies. On the bottoms and prairies, the soil is a
sandy loam, excellent for corn, wheat, oats and grasses. In the marshes, it
is a deep black muck, which, when drained and oxidized by atmospheric
action, will furnish soil of great strength and endurance. On the ridges and
table-lands, the soil is a yellowish clay, which is quite productive when
suitably cared for. On the east side of the river, except in the valleys,
the soil is yellowish clay. As the surface is rough, the rearing of fruit on
this soil may be made an enterprise of great profit.
TIMBER.
On the west side of White River, the timber is generally small, comprising a
variety of oaks and hickory. The eastern portion of the county is heavily
timbered and contains the usual variety of trees found in this latitude—such
as poplar, oak, black walnut, ash, sugar tree, hickory, etc.
This information is the research of many people across the United States and may contain errors. It is presented as the best information to date. Like all of those whose work I have incorporated herein, my research is a work in progress and subject to change without notice. A special thanks to Marlene Ricci of CA, Dwayne Meyer of CA, Jacqueline Bean of TX, Debbie Dick of IN, Milus Miller of IL, Carol Hendricks Miller of IN, Clarence Miller of IN, and Harold Glen Miller of IN. There are numerous others too; many of which are unknown, but their findings and stories are still much appreciated. Much of this would not have been possible with out their information. Also this website includes historical facts gathered from Washington County History, Indiana History, Rowan County and Salisbury North Carolina Historical sources and other US Historical sources.
James A. Miller- Great -Great -Great -Great Grandson of Adam Miller and Hannah Sheets.
©2007 The Millers of Washington County
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Last Updated 07/04/07 08:22:41 AM -0700