b96-12-34888025

xt744j09w79z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt744j09w79z/data/mets.xml Crandall, Albert Rogers, 1840- 1877 books b96-12-34888025 English Stereotyped for the Survey by Major, Johnston & Barrett, Yeoman Press, : [Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Geology Kentucky. Coal Kentucky. Report on the geology of the proposed line of the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy railroad : from Mt. Sterling to the Big Sandy River / by A.R. Crandall. text Report on the geology of the proposed line of the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy railroad : from Mt. Sterling to the Big Sandy River / by A.R. Crandall. 1877 2002 true xt744j09w79z section xt744j09w79z

GEOLO(GICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKI.
N. S. SHALER, DIRECTOR.

REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY

OF THE PROPOSED LINE OF THE

ELIZABETHTOWN, LEXIN(GTON AND BIG
SANDY RAILROAD,

FROM

MT. STERLING TO THE BIG SANDY RIVER,

BY A. R. CRANDALL.

PART X. VOL. 11. SECOND SERIES.

351 A 352

This page in the original text is blank.

REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE PROPOSED
LINE OF THE ELIZABETHTOWN, LEXINGTON
AND BIG SANDY RAILROAD, FROM MT.
STERLING TO THE BIG SANDY RIVER.

The geological periods represented by the rocks exposed
along the line of the proposed extension of the Elizabeth-
town, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad are the Cincinnati
or Hudson period of the Lower Silurian; the Niagara period
of the Upper Silurian, represented by the rocks of the Clinton
epoch, and perhaps by some of the rocks of the Niagara; the
Hamilton period of the Devonian age; the Lower Carbon-
iferous, made up of two members, the Waverly sandstone and
shales, and the Sub-carboniferous limestone; and the Carbon-
iferous period. The aggregate thickness of these rocks is
about i,900 feet. Of this thickness, the Carboniferous rocks
comprise about one half. The Sub-carboniferous limestone
reaches, at one point, a thickness of nearly ioo feet. The
W\averly rocks reach about 500 feet. The Devonian Black
shales, and the Upper Silurian Magnesian limestone and shale,
show each about I 20 feet. Of the Blue limestone of the
Lower Silurian, about 150 feet is exposed.
The accompanying profile section is designed to give a
general view of the whole line, showing the succession of
the rocks of the different periods, and also the occurrence
VOL. H-23 353

4 REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE PROPOSED LINE OF THE

and distribution of valuable mineral deposits. The section is
necessarily drawn on such a scale as to make the accurate
representation of topographical features impossible; and the
want of information in detail, at many points along the line,
makes the section, like all profile sections, more or less dia-
gramatic in the representation of the special geological feat-
ures. It is hoped, however, that, in connection with the text,
it will give to the general reader an intelligent view of the
country traversed by this line.
The rock formations enumerated above are shown in an
ascending order eastward from Mt. Sterling, presenting suc-
cessive belts of country that display more or less fully the
features which are characteristic of the different formations,
and which give to them their relative economic values. Only
three of them have a thickness equal to the height of the hills
where exposed, namely: the Cincinnati beds, the Waverly
sandstone and shales, and the Carboniferous rocks or the coal
measures. The overlapping of beds reduces the breadth of
the belts which are wholly characteristic of these formations,
and tends, superficially, to shade the successive formations into
each other; yet the rocks of each period have given rise to a
topography sufficiently characteristic to make it an index of
the general geology. The value of the land for agricultural
purposes is also closely related to the geology; more so, per-
haps, from the character of the soil for fertility, than from the
resulting topography.
The region of the Lower Silurian, as crossed by this line
near Mt. Sterling, is almost exclusively agricultural. The beds
of the Cincinnati Group are generally too thin for building
purposes, and no minerals of commercial value are known to
occur in them. The richness of the soil, however, more than
compensates for the absence of mineral resources. It is the
soil of a large part of the Blue Grass region, which is too well
known to need special description.
The belt of the Upper Silurian forms the outer extent of
the Blue Grass region. With a soil scarcely as rich as that of
S54

ELIZABETHTOWN, LEXINGTON AND BIG SANDY RAILROAD. 5

the beds below, and with a more broken surface, it yet pre-
sents an area of rich farming land.
That part of the section which takes its character chiefly
from the Upper Silurian rocks, extends from near the head of
Stepstone Creek to the hills east of Mill Creek. But this
belt is not exclusively agricultural. The occurrence of the
Clinton iron ore bed adds the possibility of a large and prof-
itable iron-making industry.t The thickness of this bed is
twelve feet, as opened near the line of the proposed road.
The change from the Upper Silurian Magnesian limestone
to the Devonian Black shale is abrupt in this region. The
average, thickness of these shales is probably not more than
120 feet; but they give character to a belt of country propor-
tionally broader than this thickness would indicate. In this
belt the soil is clayey, and, in the bottom land, heavy, requir-
ing, drainage for successful cultivation. It is often heavily
timbered, however, and the assemblage of species is, in some
sense, peculiar to this formation. The much greater promi-
nence of the Spanish oak (Q. falcata, L.) and of the laurel
oak (Q. imbricaria, Mx.) among the black oaks, and of the
post oak (Q. Obtusiloba, Mx.) among the white oaks, is at
once noticeable and characteristic.
8The following tables of analyses of soils from this region are made up from the report
of Dr. Peter, volume IV, first series. Nos. 805-'6-'7-'8 are from the Upper Silurian belt,
in Bath county. Nos. 8o9-'bo-'ix, and z049-'50, are from the Cincinnati beds of Bath
and Montgomery counties:

So.. 8u6. 807. W. oo49..39. 809. Bo.. 8..

Woods. Old field Woods. Old field Old field Sub-il. Woods. Old IeSubdil

Og.nicand volatilemattees . - 8.X 6 7.639 5.o14 5-o8 6. I" 4.070 8.376 6.308 4.0-8
Al-ine.... ... 4.-5,6,5 5.3903.5355. _55.-440.5.S , 5 565S. 5490
O il or..on. . . 4696 7.8853.535 5. 0504.700 6.035 -.85 4.635 4.035
Corboooe ofrlimoe........ 570 .4-0 .095 .070 .4-0 . 0_ .586 .445 .170
Moagoosia 7 .6o, .385 .53 583 .634 .66. .607 .6I 3
e.ownoxide of4.ngneoenot.es. -ot est..000.000 .000 .095 .9 S .095 .-95
P'hosphoric-acid..7 .046 .,-8 .084 345 .57 .is5 095 .300
dphu.ic acid not est. nto es..4 os8 -.67 .40 .84 .067 .055
l'.ooh.0, ., . 290 '.049.-46.000 .33 .37 .37 .80 .367
S.d. .. .0.. 59 -73 .000 .049 .033 .039 .103 044 037
Saod and insoluble silicates . . . 79.045 78.070 86.g8o 83.300 81.476 8.. 370 t.595 8o.070 84.900
tSee report on the ores of the Red River Iron District by Mr. Moore, volume IV, new
series.
t Dr. Engleman has very properly separated the oaks of the United States into two
classes, the black oaks, and the white oaks; the latter comprising all the species which
grow strong and durable timber. The doivskio is mode, however, on characters which
are more especially interesting to the botanis.t 355

6 REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE PROPOSED LINE OF THE

The shales of this formation yield petroleum, by distillation
in closed retorts, in such per cent. as will doubtless bring them
into notice, as a source of illuminating and lubricating oils, at
no very distant day. They are the source of most of the weH
known mineral springs of Kentucky. The Olympian Springs,
about three miles from the proposed line, is one of these. It
has been suggested by Professor Safford, that copperas and
alum might be derived in paying quantity from these beds.
The Waverly belt offers a soil of medium fertility. It may
be said to extend from the mouth of the North Fork to the
head of the East Fork of Triplet Creek. It is character-
ized by a great number of evenly-rounded hills or knobs, as
described by Mr. Leslie, and hence the name knob-stone form-
ation, as used by Owen in the earlier reports.
The rocks of this formation are grayish and olive-colored
shales and sandstone, the latter affording the building stone
widely known as the 4 Buena Vista" building stone. The
transition from the Black shales is marked in this region by
a thick bed of this building stone, as shown in the section.
Near the Licking river large blocks from this bed are scat-
tered along the foot of the hills, the wearing away of the
shales above and below being a slow process of quarrying
this durable rock. The lower part of the Waverly formation
southward from this line carries a considerable amount of iron
ore, mostly clay-stone or carbonate ore. This ore is not in
demand at present.
The timber growth of this belt is similar to that of the coal
measures, except that the chestnut oak (Q. prinus var. monti-
cola, Mx.), which supplies the tan-bark trade of Eastern Ken-
tucky, is less abundant or entirely wanting.
The limestone member of the lower Carboniferous period
has its greatest thickness in the main valley of Tygert's creek,
where it reaches a thickness of nearly ioo feet, and where
it is overlaid by more than 200 feet of Carboniferous rocks.
Along the western outcrop of the coal measures in this region
it is rarely five feet. It does not, therefore, predominate in
any part of the line. Where it is present in considerable
356

BLIZABETHTOWN, LEXINGTON AND BIG SANDY RAILROAD. 7

thickness, however, its horizon is marked by characteristic
cliffs and benches along the hillsides. It supplies a very pure
limestone for the furnace and the kiln, and thin beds of it
have proved suitable for use in lithography. At the top of
this formation is found the -lower limestone ore " of Eastern
Kentucky. It is known as the Red River ore in the Red
River iron-region. Very little has yet been done to develop
this ore along the line in question.
The section upward from the lower limestone ore is that
of the coal and iron-bearing rocks of Eastern Kentucky, the
successive beds of which are exposed along the line to the
eastward to an aggregate thickness of about 950 feet, as pre-
viously stated. For convenience of reference this section may
be described as being made up of six members-divisions
which are easily recognized in the rocks of this region-as fol-
lows: the shale beds above the Sub-carboniferous limestone,
and below the Conglomerate sandstone, lo to 50 feet; the
Conglomerate sandstone, from 20 to 100 feet; the shales
above the Conglomerate sandstone, 30 to 6o feet; a middle
sandstone series, 300 to 350 feet; the greenish shale beds,
90 to 120 feet; and the upper sandstone series, beginning
with what is generally regarded as the equivalent of the Ma-
honing sandstone, and including the rocks above, to a thick-
ness of about 350 feet.
The beds of economic value in the valley of Tygert's Creek
are those which occur in the Sub-conglomerate shales. They
are the limestone oret mentioned above, a non-plastic fire-
clay, a coal bed, and a block ore. The distribution of these
beds is not well shown in the section, as they are somewhat
irregular from changes of the character and thickness of the
including rocks. The fire-clay will eventually prove a valua-
ble deposit. It is the equivalent of Sciotoville clay, and from
four to six feet in thickness where seen in this region. The
coal bed is suitable, from its quality, for local use. It is not,

tSee report on the Geology of Green-p, Carter, and Boyd counties, &c., volume II,
second series, Reports of Kentucky Geological Survey.
tFor special notice of the ores of this region, see report of Mr. Moore on the Ores of
Greenup, Carter, and Boyd counties, volume I, second series, Reports of Kentucky Geo-
logical Survey. 357

8 REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE PROPOSED LINE OF THE

however, thick enough to be mined extensively with profit.
The ore is a limonite of good quality, and at one point it
shows a thickness of I5 inches. This is probably greater
than the average thickness of the bed.
The valley of the Little Sandy river, as crossed by this line,
shows all the remaining important beds of this section, or
nearly all the important coal, iron, and clay beds in the geni-
eral section for Greenup, Carter, Boyd, and Lawrence coun-
ties.
The Conglomerate sandstone, after giving rise to the rugged
cliffs, and the picturesque scenery of the Sinking creeks, falls
below the drainage line east of the Little Sandy river. The
shales above the Conglomerate cap the hills in the valley of
Tygert's Creek, and fall below the drainage at the Little Fork
of Little Sandy. These shales include Coal No. I and a block
ore. The latter has proved a valuable bed where worked.
The former is not known to be thick enough along this line
to be profitably worked. It is a pure coal, and has been found
in both Greenup and Carter counties, locally from 3 to 4 feet
thick.
The sandstone series above caps the hills near the head of
Little Sinking Creek, and falls below the drainage towards the
head of the Left Fork of Straight Creek. This set of rocks
includes in their order the following beds: ist. Coal No. 2, a
bed not opened in this region sufficiently to determine its
value, but which does not appear, from the exposures noted,
to have more than a local value. 2d. A "rough block" ore.
which is generally inferior in quality to the average ores of
the region, but which, in places, has proved valuable. 3d.
Coal No. 3, a bed that has been scarcely touched along this
line, but which is generally known as having a workable thick-
ness of good grate coal. It has not proved, in this region. a
good iron-making coal. 4th. The "little block" ore, an ore
that is used largely in all the furnaces of the Little Sandy
Valley. Its place in the series is about 35 feet above Coal 3.
See general section (plate i), report on the Geology of these counties, volume II,
second series, Reports of Kentucky Geological Survey.
358

ELIZABETHTOWN, LEXINGTON AND BIG SANDY RAILROAD. 9

and Io feet below Coal 4, the Hunnewell cannel, when that is
present. Coal No. 4 has not been seen on this line. It is
present, however, a few miles north, on Little Fork and on
Stinson Creek. 5th. Coal No. 5, which is irregular in both
thickness and quality. It is not regarded as a promising bed,
at present, on that account. 6th. The "Ferriferous lime-
stone" and the "limestone ore." The limestone is usually
wanting along this line. Where found, it serves as a flux in
reducing the ores of the region. The associated ore, which
normally rests on this bed, is present in a continuous bed. In
thickness and quality it is similar to the " lower limestone ore."
It is, therefore, one of the principal ores of this region. The
place of the Ferriferous limestone is about loo feet above the
little block ore, and about 20 to 25 feet below Coal No. 6,
when that is present. 7th. The fire-clay bed, overlying the
limestone ore, a bed usually 2 to 3 feet of No. x fire-clay, and
an equal thickness of potter's clay at the top. Coal 6 is gen-
erally wanting, or thin, on this line. It is the uppermost bed
of this series. Near the Big Sandy it would be found of
workable thickness by a shaft 40 to 50 feet deep.
The greenish shale beds begin 20 feet above Coal 6. They
extend along this line from the valley of the Little Fork to
the Big Sandy river, falling below the drainage at the two
principal summits. These shales, though comparatively thin,
include some of the most important beds of Eastern Ken-
tucky. They are-ist. The so-called "yellow kidney" ore,
which is found near the base of these shales, distributed
through 5 feet or more of shale rock, or at some points bedded
in part between the upper layers of the sand rock overlying
Coal 6. 2d. Coal No. 7, 25 feet above the yellow kidney ore.
This is the well known Coalton coal. It shows thickness of
6 feet on Straight Creek. Four feet of this bed has proved
at other points suitable for use in the furnace without coking.
3d. The red kidney ore, as it is generally known in this re-
gion, which follows, 25 feet above. It is similar in character
and surroundings to the yellow kidney ore. They are regard-
ed by furnace men as among the best ores of the Hanging
359

10 REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE PROPOSED LINE OF THE

Rock region. 4th. Coal No. 8, 40 to 50 feet above Coal 7.
It is best shown on Garner Creek, where it has been opened
near the bed of the creek, Coal 7 being below the drainage.
As shown here, Coal 8 is 4 feet in thickness, without any con-
siderable parting. 5th. Again, 20 to 25 feet above Coal 8 is
a bed of ore, which is known at some of the furnaces as the
bastard limestone " ore. It rests on an impure limestone in
some localities, and resembles the other limestone ores; but
more commonly the limestone is wanting, and the ore is like
the kidney ores of this region. Still another kidney ore is
found above, at points where the thickening of the shales
extends this series upward for a limited distance.
The upper sandstone series caps the hills east of Little
Fork, and occupies the greater part of the section eastward
from the head of Garner Creek. It contains no beds of so
great economic importance as these already described. Those
that have been observed on this line are Coal No. 9, 55 feet
above Coal 8, opened at the mouth of Garner Creek, and
showing 2 feet of coal between heavy masses of coarse sand-
stone; and the so-called Rough and Ready ore, which rests
upon a band of impure limestone, 70 to 8o feet higher up.
This ore is generally regarded as inferior in quality to the
other limestone ores.
The soil of the coal measures is of medium fertility. The
surface of the country is hilly and broken, reducing the per
centage of land that is easily cultivated, and increasing the
proportion of land that should be held for timber growth or
for pasturage. The climate, surface, and soil all combine to
make this region exceptionally well adapted to the raising of
fruits.
Sec report on the Forests of Greenup, Carter, Boyd, and Lawrence counties, volume
1, second series. Reports of the Ky. Geol. Sur.
360o

b96-12-34888025
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Report on the geology of the proposed line of the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy railroad : from Mt. Sterling to the Big Sandy River / by A.R. Crandall.
Crandall, Albert Rogers, 1840-

Stereotyped for the Survey by Major, Johnston & Barrett, Yeoman Press,
[Frankfort, Ky. :
1877]

10 p. : maps ; 28 cm.
Coleman
Pages also numbered 351-360.
Maps on 3 folded leaves of plates in pocket. Includes: (no. 1-2) Geological section from Mt. Sterling to the Chattarawa or Big Sandy River, ... and Profile section along the proposed route of the Lexington & Big Sandy R.R.
Microfilm. Atlanta, Ga. : SOLINET, 1996. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PS-21089) ; SOL MN06011.17 KUK)
Printing Master B96-12.

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Geology Kentucky.Coal Kentucky.