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PUTNAM AND VIGO COUNTIES
As yet no detailed survey has been made of these counties, but I deem it best to note at this time the result of some general observations made in the vicinity of Greencastle, in the former county, and Terre Haute, in the latter. Greencastle is a flourishing manufacturing city sixteen miles east of Brazil, in Clay county, and possesses fine railroad facilities, being on the line of the St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad, and the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad. Besides a number of minor manufactures there is at this place a first class mill for rolling iron plates and cutting nails: about two hundred and fifty kegs of nails of all sizes are made each week at this mill. The quality of the nails is said to be equal if not superior to any made in the country. They use the Clay county pig iron. This city is immediately on the drift, but the lower carboniferous limestone outcrops in the west and north side, and the millstone grit including a few inches of coal on the southwest side. The limestone is here extensively quarried for lime and building purposes; but by far the most important and extensive quarry in the county is at Greencastle Junction, one mile west of the city, at the crossing of the St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, and the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad. This quarry is owned by Mr. Wm. Steck. The stone is fine grained and of a light, blueish gray color. The face of the quarry shows twenty-five feet of rock; the upper part is schistose and is used for making lime, the lower layers are from two to three feet thick and are quarried by blasting. The stone meets with a ready sale, and is handsome and durable, though somwhat hard to dress.
A quarry of the same stone has been recently opened on the east of Mr. Steck's, and another near Hamrick's Station.

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It is from the latter quarry that the blast furnaces of Clay county obtain most of the limestone used as a flux.
Mr. Wm. Nelson has opened a quarry of this stone in the west edge of Greencastle. Here the exposure of rock is seventy-five feet, and the layers are from one to four feet thick. The texture of the rock is similar to that seen at the Junction.
South of the city, on the land of D. C. Donnohue, there is a light gray, fine grained sandstone, that is poorly exposed by a wash on the side of a hill; it is a remarkably handsome and durable stone, easy to work, and susceptible of high ornamentation. If this stone can be obtained in abundance, and of good dimensions, it will prove to be one of the most valuable building stones in the State. Ascending the hill, in the cut made by the road, I saw the following section: 
      Fine grained, buff colored sandstone,     -   15  ft.
      Blue shale,     -     -      -     -     -     6? ft.
      Light gray sandstone,     -      -   -    -    6? ft.
      Covered space,      -      -      -      -    10  ft.
      Oolitic limestone,      -      -      -        6  ft.
On Capt. Peck's land, in a ravine, a quarter of a mile east of the above, is the following exposure of rocks: 
      Drift,      -       -        -       -        10? ft.
      Schistose, buff colored sandstone and shale,   8  ft.
      Coal,       -       -       -      -       -   4  in.
      Blue fire clay,      -       -       -         2  ft.
      Buff colored sandstone,       -      -     -   4  ft.
      Blue shale,       -       -       -      -     2  ft.
      Thick bedded, whitish sandstone,      -     8-10  ft.
The sandstone which lies just above the oolitic limestone in this county, I am rather inclined to refer to the lower carboniferous epoch. At the junction of these rocks there is found, more or less, iron ore throughout the northwestern part of the county; a number of localities, where it makes its appearance, were visited. At Mr. Jacob Durham's,

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section 9, township 15, range 5, in a ravine at the foot of a hill which contained the sandstone, I saw a number of large blocks of quite pure, hydrated, brown oxide of iron, each lump would weigh from twenty to thirty pounds. The only way to determine its extent is by digging into the face of the hill, on a level with the top of the limestone, which is exposed in places just below the ore. A similar, but quite siliceous, ore was seen in considerable abundance on Leatherman's branch of Little Walnut creek, at the school house, about six miles from the city, section 2, township 14, range 5. Here the massive sandstone forms quite a conspicuous cliff near the top of the hill, and is over twenty-five feet in thickness. It is coarse grained, readily crumbles to sand, and ranges in color from rust-red to snow white.
At the junction with the limestone, in the valley of Leatherman's creek, is the place of the iron ore.
This variegated sandstone has a broad outcrop and may be traced in a southerly and northerly direction, forming a belt between the outcrop of the millstone grit and the lower carboniferous limestone. On Mr. Dramer's place, near Hamrick's Station, this sandstone is remarkably white and readily crushes to sand. A car load of this white stone was sent to the glass works at Indianapolis and was found to answer well for making glass.
The following interesting section was obtained on Snake creek in section 33, township 14, range 5: 
          Drift and covered space,    -    -    -   50  ft.
          Ferruginous schistose sandstone,   -      30  ft.
          Blueish black shale and flag sandstone, - 10? ft.
          Black bituminous sheety shale,    -    -   3  ft.
          Dark shales with clay ironstone,  -    -  15  ft.
          Thin bedded sandstone,    -     -     -    8  ft.
          Low water of Snake Creek,    -    -    -   0  ft.
This section stops close to the limestone, which outcrops a short distance lower down the creek.
Thin seams of subconglomerate coal, from six to thirty

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inches in thickness, may be found along the entire belt of millstone grit in the western part of the county; but, as yet, no mines have been regularly worked. The character of the coal is generally non-caking or block-coal.
Quite a number of ferruginous springs issue at the junction of the coarse grained ferruginous sandstone with the lower carboniferous limestone; they mostly contain protoxide of iron and leave a yellowish gelatinous sediment on the surface, around the mouth of the springs, that has often been mistaken, for coal oil. There are very fine chalybeate springs on this horizon, between Greencastle and the Junction. The water from two of these springs was analyzed, and the result is here given:
Quantitative chemical analysis of mineral water from two springs owned by Hon. F. E. McLean, and situated near Greencastle, Putnam county, Indiana, about one mile south of the Court house, on the St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, close to the junction of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad, and on the Greencastle gravel road. The water of these springs rises above the general level of the ground, in the box curbing, and each spring flows about two gallons of water per minute.
NORTH OR "DAGGY" SPRING.

Temperature 56 ° F. Neutral to test paper.
Solid constituents in one imperial gallon 26.6 grains, or, 380 pounds in 100,000 gallons.
Carbonic acid gas in a gallon 3.62 cubic inches. 

                                    PARTS IN 1,000,000   GRAINS IN ONE
                                    PARTS, OR, IBS. IN       GALLON.
                                    100,000 GALLOSN.
      Silicic acid,    -      -          1.50               .105
      Alumina,      -      -      -      2.70               .189
      Iron,       -      -       -       4.00               .280
      Lime,        -       -      -    113.00              7.910
      Magnesia,        -        -       50.40              3.528
      Soda,       -       -       -      8.30               .581
      Potash,        -        -          1.00               .070

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      Carbonic acid,     -       -     182.90             12.803
      Sulphuric acid,       -      -     7.30               .511
      Chlorine,      -       -      -    7.30               .511
      Sulphuretted hydrogen,    -      trace.             trace.
      Loss, and undetermined,     -      1.60               .112
                                      _________         __________
         Total,      -      -    -     380.00             26.600
                                      =========         ==========
The above constituents are probably combined as follows: 
                                    PARTS IN 1,000,000   GRAINS IN ONE
                                    PARTS, OR, LBS. IN    GALLON.
                                    100,000 GALLONS.
      Silicic acid,   -     -     -      1.5                .105
      Alumina,     -     -     -    -    2.7                .189
      Carbonate of the protoxide of iron,7.0                .490
      Carbonate of lime,    -     -    249.5              17.465
      Carbonate of soda,   -    -    -   1.7                .119
      Carbonate of potassa,    -    -   1.5                .105
      Carbonate of magnesia,   -    -   80.6               5.642
      Sulphate of soda,     -     -      2.3                .161
      Sulphate of magnesia,   -    -    18.0               1.260
      Chloride of sodium,    -    -     13.6                .952
      Loss and undetermined,    -    -   1.6                .112
                                      _________          _________
          Total,     -     -    -      380.0              26.600
                                      =========          =========
MIDDLE OR "DEW DROP" SPRING.
Temperature 52° F.
Solid constituents in one imperial gallon 26.25 grains, or 375 pounds in 100,000 gallons.
Carbonic acid gas in a gallon 3.58 cubic inches. 
                                    PARTS IN 1,000,000   GRAINS IN ONE
                                    PARTS, OR, LBS.IN      GALLON.
                                    100,000 GALLONS.
      Silicic acid,    -    -    -        .08               .005
      Alumina,    -    -    -    -       1.29               .090
      Iron,     -     -     -     -     22.87              1.600
      Lime,     -    -     -     -     114.15              7.990
      Magnesia,     -     -     -       50.43              3.530
      Soda,     -     -      -    -      7.03               .492
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      Potash,      -      -      -        .88               .061
      Carbonic acid,    -      -    -  156.43             10.950
      Sulphuric acid,     -     -       11.59               .811
      Chlorine,      -     -     -       6.39               .447
      Sulphureted hydrogen,     -       trace.             trace.
      Loss,      -      -      -    -    3.86               .274
                                      ________           ________
            Total,     -     -    -    375.00             26.250
                                      ========           ========
The above constituents are probably combined as follows: 
                                    PARTS IN 1,000,000   GRAINS IN ONE
                                    PARTS, OR, LBS. IN      GALLON.
                                    100,000 GALLONS.
      Silicic acid,    -    -     -       .08               .005
      Alumina,     -     -     -    -    1.29               .090
      Carbonate of protoxide of iron,   40.82              2,857
      Carbonate of lime,    -      -   203.82             14.267
      Carbonate of soda,    -     -      1.22               .085
      Carbonate of potash,    -    -     1.27               .089
      Carbonate of magnesia,     -      91.50              6.405
      Sulphate of soda,    -     -       1.70               .119
      Sulphate of magnesia,     -       17.50              1.244
      Chloride of sodium,     -     -   11.94               .835
      Loss,     -     -     -     -      3.86               .274
                                      ________           ________
             Total,    -    -     -    375.00             26.250
                                      ========           ========
In addition to the above, these is another spring on the grounds, called the SOUTH or "DIAMOND" SPRINGS: the water of which partakes of the character of the other two. It has a temperature of 51° F. at the fountain head; is alkaline to test paper after standing a short time, and contains 25.2 grains of solid constituents in an imperial gallon.
The water of these springs is of that class of mineral water known as, Carbonated-alkaline-chalybeate.
Each spring contains a notable quantity of iron and alkaline carbonates, in which respect they resemble some of the celebrated European chalybeate waters.

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When fresh from the spring, the water sparkles with a surcharge of carbonic acid and is cool and pleasant to the taste.
The prominent medicinal properties are alterative, tonic, slightly aperient and diuretic. To correct acidity of the stomach, for most cases of dyspepsia, and for general debility, its use will be found beneficial.
Though public attention has but recently been called to these springs by a notice in the papers giving the qualitative analyses which I made last summer, yet, they have already been largely attended by invalids from various parts of the country, and the acknowledged benefits which the afflicted have received from the use of the waters, has demonstrated, practically, their hygienic virtues.
These Springs are but a few yards apart and situated in a beautiful valley which lies in the midst of a fine agricultural district, with charming scenery on every hand.
As already stated, they are reached by three railroads, and are within one mile of the flourishing city of Greencastle, which contains the Asbury University, one of the most celebrated institutions of learning in the West. In fact, the location, as regards the general health of the country, good society and cheerful scenery, is all that could be desired, to make the Springs a place of resort for invalids and those who seek a healthful and cool retreat from the cares of business during the warm summer months.

Vigo County

1870 Table of Contents

Geology Library, Indiana University, Bloomington