xt7p2n4zh76g https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7p2n4zh76g/data/mets.xml Linney, W. M. (William M.) 1885  books b97-20-37313403 English John D. Woods, Public Printer and Binder, : [Frankfort, Ky.] : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Geology Kentucky Mason County. Report of the geology of Mason County  / by W.M. Linney. text Report of the geology of Mason County  / by W.M. Linney. 1885 2002 true xt7p2n4zh76g section xt7p2n4zh76g 








GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

             OF KENTUTCKY,

      JOHN R. PROCTER, DIRECTOR.








GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY,

            BY IN.  . LINNEY.



s'rEREOT'YPED FOR TRlE SURVEY BY JOHN D. WOODS, PUBLIC PRINTER AND BINDER.



- I

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               INTRODUCTORY. LETTER.



HON. JOHN R. PROCTER,
             Director of the Kentucky Geological Survey:
  DEAR SIR: This note is intended to accompany my report
on Mason county, and should be published with it. I desire
to express my thanks to W. D. Hixon, Dr. Pickett, (Col. Bier-
bower, and other gentlemen of Mason county, for their unva-
rying kindness to me while with them. I am,
                              Yours respectfully,
                                      W. M. LINNEY
 HARRODSBURG, Ky., December, 1885.

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      GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



             HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.
  Mason, the eighth in the order of formation of the Kentucky
counties, was established in 1788, and received its name from
George Mason, one of its earliest prominent men. When first
formed, it included all that part of the State lying east of the
Licking river. Out of this territory, constituting nearly one-
fourth of the area of Kentucky, there have since been formed
twenty counties. It now contains 148,383 acres of land; and
is bounded on the north by the Ohio river, east by Lewis and
Fleming, south by Fleming and Robertson, and west by Rob-
ertson and Bracken vloniit.es.
  The general surface of the county is that of an undulating
plain. rising rcw- fouar to tve hundred tfet above the Ohio
river, but, in a large part, deeply carved by many small streams,
which carry off the surface wate witeiout leaving any marsh or
wet places. Only on the river are there any truly level lands;
but a limited portion of the uplands, in small areas, is slightly
undulating. The greater part is rough or broken, with numer-
ous steep slopes down to the bottoms of the hollows.
  The frontage on the Ohio river is about seventeen miles in
length, and for more than half this distance, bottoms of vary-
ing width have been formed, These are level, or nearly so,
and contain very desirable lands. Back from these bottoms.
and from the river generally speaking, the bluffs slope up to
the level of the country. These bluffs are usually of that
gently rounded form which is so pleasing to the eye, being
carved and moulded into graceful shapes by a multitude of
lines which facilitate the downward flow of the water. The out-
lines of the river and of the hills on either side, are, indeed,
beautiful throughout this county, and the beholder readily
understands how the early French explorers came to designate

 


IGEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



this river as IIthe beautiful river." The channel is deep and
unobstructed, admitting of continuous navigation by steam-
boats. A number of landings along the margin afford the
inhabitants of this county great facilities for travel and ship-
ping.
  Cabin creek, rising in Lewis county, enters Mason, and with
its tributaries drains the north-eastern portion of it into the
Ohio. Bull, Kennedy, Limestone, Beasley, Lawrence and Lee's
creeks all flow into the same stream. The North Fork of the
Licking river enters Mason near the south-east corner, and after
flowing through it in a general direction slightly north of west,
enters Bracken county. In Mason county it is reinforced by a
number of creeks, among which are Mill, Wells', Lee's and
Shannon. Bracken creek heads in the western part of Mason
county, but runs through part of Bracken county before it
joins the North Fork. A few small brooks have their source
in Mason, but enter Johnson's creek in Fleming county, whence
their waters find an outlet into the main fork of the Licking
river. On many of these creeks mills were erected by the ear-
lier settlers of the county, but more recently the water-power
of those that still rernair. has been supplemnenu;ed by steam
power, which is used during the greater part of the year.
  The Maysville Branch of the Kentucky Central Railroad
extends from the Ohio river at Maysville, southward through
the county, near its center, and does a large amount of business
all along its line.
  Few counties can equal this one in the number and char-
acter of her turnpike roads. This system has about two hun-
dred and thirty-five miles of road-way completed, reaching
nearly every part of the county, and costing a large sum of
money, the county paving subscriptions amounting to about
180,000, collected by taxation.
  The condition of the public schools is superior to that in
many of the civil districts of the State, with the promise of
still greater improvement in the future. The county is not
burdened with heavy indebtedness, and in a short time hopes
to be entirely free from debt.
  Maysville, situated on the Ohio river, at the mouth of Lime-
stone creek, is the county seat, and, at the same time, the prin-



ff

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



cipal town. It is a pleasant, flourishing city, surrounded by
picturesque scenery. Washington, an old and once flourishing
place, is three miles and a half south-west of Maysville, and
was for many years the county seat. Dover, Lewisburg, Mays-
lick, Minerva, Germantown, Sardis, Helena, Mt. Gilead and
Murphysville, are small villages distributed over the county,
while Woodville and Chester are suburbs of Maysville. Some
manufacturing is done in Maysville, but the county is essen-
tially given to farming and stock-growing.

                   GENERAL GEOLOGY.
  The general geological section of Mason county is included
in much narrower limits than are many others in the State;
but it is not wanting in interest. The following section gives
the thickness and relation of the groups which are exhibited
in it:

                                               Feet.   Feet.

Quaternary.........   . Recent.              .... .       100

                       Niagara.                15
Upper Silurian. .Clinton.                          35
                         Medina.                 20       70

                         Upper Hudson.          340
Lower Silurian..... . .   Middle Hudson.          175
                          Lower Hudson.          165      680

   Total                   . ..           .... . .. ... .. 850

   This thickness is not to be seen at any single point, but is
obtained by adding the thickness of the river bottoms to the
lower series, above the river, on the Bracken line, and thence
across the county to the Lewis line, where the highest rocks
are to be found.
  LOWER HUDSON BEDS.-These, the lowest division of rocks
appearing in Mason county, are usually, in the State, about two
hundred feet in thickness, wherever they can be seen entire.
At the mouth of Lee's creek, on the Ohio, there is exposed



7

 

G1OLOGY OF VA ON COUNTY.



about one hundred and sixty-five feet of them, the remainder
being below the level of the river. In going up that stream,
they dip down and are all lost to view before the Lewis county
line is reached. There is about one hundred feet of them ex-
posed on the North Fork of Licking, at the Bracken county
line, disappearing with the same dip a short distance below
Lewisburg. Many of the branches in the north-western part
of the county have cut their beds to various depths into this
stratum, and numerous exposures of it can be seen; not in
any one single section, but taken here and there, different por-
tions are presented, which, when added together, render possi-
ble a study of them all.
  This series has been described in the reports of several
counties of the State, so that little more need be written on its
characteristics. Thin-bedded limestones, blue or grey in color,
usually hard and resisting, with more or less of earthy shales
between them, form the majority of the layers; the shales
washing out easily, and allowing the solid blocks to fall down
and become exposed on the surface. These are some of their
general features.   Near the top the heavier layers present
themselves, and these are rough-bedded and incline to cross-
stratification. The several layers which are characterized by
great wave-marks are as persistent features here as at other
points in the blue limestone region. They are found in numer-
ous localities.  Forty feet of this section may be seen at
the point below Maysville; of these about thirty feet are
shales and the remaining ten feet are thin limestone plates,
intercallated in the shales. The hard layers are usually filled
with the fossils common in or peculiar to this horizon, while
the same fossils are rarely found in the soft shales; and this
is in keeping with the character of these beds throughout the
larger part of, their exposure in the State.
  In the early history of this county a number of stone houses
were built from some of the strata of this division. The stone
has generally stood the test of time very well, yet it is not very
desirable for costly structures, as it is hard to work and has no
great beauty. A few-thin layers have properties which would
fit them for hydraulic purposes, but they are too few and thin
ever to be profitably used. The soils derived from the destruc-



8

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



tion of the Lower Hudson are not so characteristic here as they
are in some other counties, from the fact that they are mixed
on the slopes with those coming from the next series above
them. They are naturally good, but, lying on steep slopes and
being usually friable loams, they are quite apt to wash very
badly.
  Taking these beds altogether, they are very much alike
wherever exposed, and, perhaps, more uniform in thickness,
character and general association, than any of the divisions
of the paleozoic rocks of Kentucky.
  MIDDLE HUDSON BEDS.-This division, as has been stated a
number of times, is the equivalent of the series named by Dr.
D. D. Owen the siliceous mudstone. As there are in the State
other rocks of this character, and the name did not express any
relation to age or group, the above name was substituted. It
indicates their place as a part of the Hudson, a national term
in geology, as well as the minor division of the period.
  On the Bracken county line their place is from one hundred
and sixty-five to three hundred and forty feet above the Ohio.
As you follow them up the river, they slope down with the
Lower Hudson, until, at the Lewis county line, part of them
have dipped beneath the level of the 'water. They make up the
larger part of the slopes exposed along the river front, and the
rounded hills are the result of the character of the strata, both
mechanically and chemically speaking.  These rocks are ex-
hibited in North Fork, a short distance above Lewisburg, and
rising towards the west, they are on the surface over a large
area, till the Bracken and Robertson county lines are reached.
In many of the creek beds, and the slopes to them, the general
character of this formation can be seen. It is peculiar in the
slopes which it assumes, and in the mass of material of which
it is composed.
  The most remarkable feature in these rocks, is the presence
of two layers of stone, one at the bottom and the other near
the top. These are peculiarly rough and rugged, where seen
to advantage, and have what is usually termed a concretionary
structure. They are composed largely of- siliceous sand in very
fine subdivision, some earthy matter and a proportion of lime.
When fresh and broken the interior is blue, but on exposure



9

 


GBOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



the lime leaches out, the iron contained in them oxidizes, and
they become brown. They sometimes split into bowl-shaped
fragments, but are often found in the shape of large balls,
irregularly outlined.  These must have had their origin in
very tempestuous currents of water, where the materials on the
sea-floor were swept in eddies and deposited in whirling cur-
rents.
  Hard, dense limestones make up some portions. Some of
these are even-bedded and smooth surface stones; and from
them, and from some of the layers of the succeeding series,
a number of houses were built in olden times, about Mayslick,
Washington and in other neighborhoods.
  The greater part of these beds is, however, composed of blue
or olive-colored shales, which contain much siliceous matter.
These become brown on exposure, as do the sandstone layers,
which make up part of the whole. In one part of the section
seen in the county, there was only one foot of thin rocks in an
exposure of twenty feet. In the fifty feet above there was
forty feet of shale to ten feet of hard layers. These shales
are seldom brought to view. The limestones have often been
dissolved away from the surface, being more easily acted on by
carbonated waters than are the shales and sandstones. Streams
cut rapidly through them, and thus they are marked by deep,
narrow gorges. quite difficult to cross with roads.
  Where these lands are covered with native forests, or have
been recently cleared, the soil is, as a general rule, rich, deep
and friable, and with proper care, could be preserved in this
condition; but over a large part of these areas they have been
much injured, and in many places almost ruined, by being al-
lowed to wash away into deep gullies, or even down to the bare
rocks. Thus thousands of acres of valuable land are no longer
cultivated, but given over to the growth of -any self-propagat-
ing plants.  This is more particularly true of part of the val-
ley of the North Fork, on the west side of the county, where
these beds are, in a large measure, on the surface.
  The concretionary layers are less thick-bedded than those in
Madison county; nor are the sandstones as heavy and typical
as there. It would seem, from the greater mass of siliceous
matter, and its coarser character in Madison and Garrard, that



10

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



the materials, or at least the sandy part of them, had been
spread from the south or south-east, as it diminishes north-
ward, both on the east and the west side of the outcrops. On
the other hand, the shales increase toward the north; yet, be-
ing of lighter material, and more easily moved by the force of
the water, they may have drifted from the same direction,
viz: the south.
  The fossils are generally imbedded in the hard limestones,
and as these are partially crystalized, it is very difficult to ob-
tain good specimens. A few casts of shells, corals and trilo-
bites may be seen in some of the sandstone layers, but they
are very poor. Occasionally shells are found in the shales,
but in a more or less decomposed condition. Plant impressions
and curious mud-markings are sometimes to be seen on the
surface of a few layers, while the layer of large wave-marks is
always conspicuous. In a few places, which, in times past, have
been inclined to be swampy, small quantities of bog-iron-ore,
mixed with a little manganese, were deposited, which now ap-
pear as shot-iron-ore. This is worthless, but it is mentioned as
showing the persistency of this feature in these beds where
the conditions are alike.
  These soils, where well cared for, are very productive, yield-
ing fine crops of corn and fruit, also a valuable quality of fine
silky tobacco. When deep, they are very retentive of moist-
ure, and in the dryest of seasons give good returns.
  The shales contain more than ordinary proportions of potash,
and, with judicious culture, this would hold out through many
successive crops of tobacco; but quite a number of good farms
have been ruined by wasteful cultivation and reckless treat-
ment. Where the soil has not been washed away or torn into
rugged gullies, these lands may be redeemed, but it requires
care, time and judicious treatment, such as setting in grass, and
in many cases, applying fertilizers.
  In moist places, and on the north sides of hills, beech trees
are the prevailing growth; magnificent yellow poplars, large
walnuts and many linns, being mixed with them. Thick groves
of sugar maples may be found where the lime rocks are near
the surface, while, where the clays are heavy and stiff, white
oaks form a large part of the forest. Groves of post oaks are



11

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



rare, and generally interspersed with black hickory, black oak,
ash, buckeye and dogwood. Young trees come up wherever
they have a chance, and grow rapidly. Sumac, red and black
haws, sassafras, blackberries, smilax and wild grapes soon
spread over these soils, when turned out, and black locust seem
to claim them as their favorite soils.

  UPPER HUDSON BEDS.-The larger part of the surface of
Mason county, is based on the upper portion of the Hudson
Group. Here are more than three hundred feet of blue lime-
stones and shales, in alternating series, throughout the whole
section exhibited on the Ohio, at the upper part of the county;
but towards the western side gradually losing the upper part,
until, on the hills of the Ohio, at the head of Lee's creek, only
the basal portion is left. The shales proper are thin, except
at the top, but the larger part of the limestones are what is
usually termed shelly, and when exposed crumble down into
fragments or soils. A few hard and resisting layers are in
courses, which allows them to be used for a number of common
building purposes. Now and then, layers are grey or of some
darker shade.
  In a number of the creek beds, on some of the hill-sides, and
in the turnpike and railroad excavations, many good exposures
of small sections of these rocks are to be found. The uiassive
and rugged bed of stromalopora corals which is so often char-
acteristic of this group, even in Bath and Fleming counties,
seems to be notably absent in Mason. The great coral bed of
columnaria and tetradium, which so strongly marks the up-
per portion in many of the counties of the State, has almost
disappeared here. A few specimens may be seen, but they are
of rare occurrence, and small in size.
  The rocks here do not show that remarkable fracturing to
which they have been subjected in the counties more to the
south and west, nor are seams and masses of calcite so preva-
lent in them. These limestones contain more alumina than
the same series in the counties on the opposite side of the
blue limestone region, so that in their destruction they give
rise to clay soils, but the large amount of lime and phosphates
imparted leaves them as calcareous loams, light and friable.



12

 



GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



The layers present at the base in Garrard and Madison coun-
ties, and so strongly characterized by Ptiodictya Hilli, and
an association of ancient life, are entirely absent here, while
the beds of orthis lynix and occidentalis make up nearly the
whole section.
  At the top are some thirty feet of sandy clay shales, which
wear down into deep clay beds, but, owing to the sand present
in them, are easily eroded. These, where uncovered by vegeta-
tion, gully out rapidly and leave unsightly tracts.
  There are no finer soils than those which result from the
wearing down of the larger part of these beds in Mason county.
Some of those about Mayslick, Washington, Germantown and
other sections, are admirable; just undulating enough to give
gentle drainage, but on every side they give way to deeper
lines, where the slopes are steep and the drainage is more
rapid.
  The rocks are nearly always a compacted mass of fossils, and
in the process of decomposition these are thrown out in great
numbers on the surface or in the soil. They are usually incrust-
ed with clay to such an extent that they are difficult to clean.
The best soils are marked by blue ash, hackberry, chinquapin
oak, wild cherry, sugar maple and coffee tree. Those with
heavier clays and less calcareous and organic matter, show a
growth of white oak, red oak, burr oak, post oak, elm, mul-
berry, white and black walnut, with occasional specimens of
other species growing in various aggregations. In the upper
part of this series, near Orangeburg and other points, some of
the layers have more or less iron sulphide in them.


                    UPPER SILURIAN.
  In the eastern part of Mason county, along the lines of Lewis
and Fleming, the remnants of the Upper Silurian beds are
capping the highest points. Undoubtedly, in the ages long
past, these strata were continuous over the whole county,
while upper and still higher rocks were also in place. These
have been removed, as the creeks, rills and rivers are now
carrying away to the sea the soils, clays and rocks from every
slope, farm and field.



13

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



  MEDrIA.-At the base of these rocks are some twenty feet
of sandy shales and sandstones, of a blue color on the inside,
but a dirty yellow on the outside, which break down and crum-
ble away into a sandy soil, easily rendered barren by washing.
Very little of this is seen, however, considering the area of the
county. The stones are of no value, and the soils from them are
soon exhausted under cultivation, unless great care is taken of
them.

  CLINTON.-Overlying the Medina are some thirty-five feet of
rocks which belong to the Clinton group, as it was named in
New York, and adopted in all the States. These are composed
of some twelve feet of blue shales at the base, eleven feet of
limestone, of which the larger part holds large quantities of
grey flinty chert, and, above, some thirteen feet of shales alter-
nating with layers of limestone. These limestones are magne-
sian and turn brown or yellow, or reddish-brown, on exposure,
from the oxidation of the iron which they contain. They are
all poorly fitted for building purposes, but have some value in
road-making. When the limestones dissolve away, large quan-
tities of the chert are thrown on the surface, or left imbedded
in the soil, and these may be found far removed from any beds
now remaining. They illustrate in part the former extension
of the Clinton. The layers in the upper part are somewhat
sandy, and this sand, under favorable conditions, has modified
some of the clay soils derived from the clay shales at the base.
  The Clinton forms a very fair soil, but is improved by fer-
tilizing and the growing of grass, its position and character here
fitting it for fruit-growing especially.

NIAGARA.-This group completes the section of the county,
and is here comprised in about fifteen or more feet of blue
shales, which form a white clay soil on some of the ridge
tops near the Lewis county line. In one or two places the area
is broad and nearly level, offering very pretty locations for
farms. With the aid of bone-dust, and by the occasional
plowing under of green crops, these lands could be made very
desirable for wheat, grass and fruit, while root crops, also,
could be grown very profitably. These shales have a thickness
of one hundred feet towards the north, east and south, and



14-

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



there is no reason for believing that their thickness was any
less over the whole surface of Mason county, in times past.
  Near Rectorville a little petroleum oozes out from the Upper
Silurian rocks, but the quantity is very small, and so is the
prospect of its ever being of any value. This, perhaps, had
its origin in the black slates which once covered the county
here, and in their destruction the oil found its way down into
some of the small cavities in the strata.

                      QUATERNARY.

  On the Ohio, bottom lands of various heights above the
water, and of various widths, extend along the stream. The
bottoms are not continuous, for there are places where the cur-
rent sweeps against the foot of the hills, leaving the rocks
bare. These flat lands have been formed by the more recent
action of the river. The valley has been cut down and widened,
first on one side and then on the other. Where the current has
been swift and unhindered, no deposits were madet from the
waste material, but where the movement of the waters was
slow, and retarded by impediments, the various matters found
lodgment. Large fragments of rocks, gravel, sand, mud and
shells, fragments of coal, trees and wood, masses of leaves
and other vegetable matter, with skeletons of birds, fish and
mammals, and many other things have been deposited, and
thus these bottoms were formed. Running water assorts the
various materials which are thrown into it, according to their
size and density, substances of the same size and weight being
deposited together. In this wise these, like other alluvial de-
posits, show a certain arrangement. Beds of gravel are on a
level, sometimes for miles overlain by beds of clay; and these
again with wood and leaves, or sand, or even shells. Such
alternations of substances make up these bottoms.
By a change of the current a bottom is sometimes entirely
cut away, while part of the materials form themselves into
another bottom lower down the river.   These operations can
be seen going on all the time.
  There are, generally, two bottoms on the Ohio, an upper and
a lower one, though remains of what appear to have been



15

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



others are frequently found. The upper bottom was formed
long ago, when the level of the river was higher than at pres-
ent. The valley had not been excavated to its present depth,
and this was the flood plain of the period. The lower bottom
has been formed, and is still being formed, where the greater
floods spread over it, by the continual deposition of new mat-
ter.  When the upper bottom    had reached such a height
that the floods could no longer cover it, the other was formed
at a lower level. Some of the lower bottoms have formed above
the presept rises of the river, and no longer receive additions
of matter, but there is a disposition of the river now to form
other bottoms, wherever the conditions are favorable.  This
can be seen at the point just below Maysville, where, on the
Kentucky side, the current is cutting away the shore, while,
on the other side, a bar is left, which, if the present con-
ditions remain, will, in time, become a low bottom.
  There are no remains of drift in Mason county above the
higher bottoms, nor is there any evidence of any change in
the present from the former elevations of the county, or of ex-
traordinary movements having taken place since the valley of
the Ohio commenced to take shape. Among the rocks and
pebbles of these bottoms, specimens of northern origin, such
as granite, gneiss, greenstone, diorite and other forms, are fre-
quently found; but these have been brought from the drift
region into the Ohio by its northern tributaries. The ma-
terials come from all the formations drained by the river: the
Lower and Upper Silurian, the Devonian, the Subearboniferous
and the, Coal Measures, as well as the drift, have all- aided in
these accumulations; and the same sources furnish the ma-
terials which are drifting along at the present day. Layers
of logs of wood, and of other vegetable matters, are occasion-
ally imbedded in these bottoms. The islands and bars of our
rivers are sometimes covered with immense accumulations of
drifted timber. When these become covered with subsequent
deposits, the conditions are filled which produced these vegeta-
ble beds.
  The upper portions of the higher bottoms are about one hun-
dred feet above low water, and have all been subjected to
long erosive action, so that they are not level, like the lower



86

 


GEOLOGY OF MASON COUNTY.



ones, which are between sixty and seventy feet higher than the
river. The soil of the lower level is usually better than that of
the higher, for it has not been submitted to the same amount of
leaching and erosion. It is a fine loamy soil, much prized
for the cultivation of corn and grass. The soils of the upper
bottoms are especially well suited for raising melons and other
vines, and those of Mason have long been known to be valu-
able for this purpose, though they are often planted in to-
bacco and other crops.     
  Some of the beds of clay found here are very valuable for
brick-making, and have been largely drawn upon for this in-
dustry.
  Beds of sand suitable for moulders' use are also found and
have been utilized. The lower bottoms were originally covered
with thick-growing beech trees, and the upper, while contain-
ing much of this species, bore also very fine specimens of yel-
low poplar, white oak, walnut and other trees. With the
exception of a few small areas, all. the surfaces have been
cleared of the forest, and the exceptions are chiefly the
higher and more rolling places.
  The colored map exhibits the surface extent of the various
groups herein described.

                           SOILS.
  At the time when the first settlements were made in what is
now Mason county, the surface of the country was everywhere
covered with a dense forest growth. The soil enriched with
the leaf-mold of many centuries, was unsurpassed in fertility.
Rocks could rarely be found, save only in the stream beds
and on the steeper bluffs by the creeks, and then they were
covered with mosses and lichens. Only a few rods of earth
were denuded, around the saline springs, where the wild buffalo
and other animals came to drink. Various canes and grasses,
flowering plants and ferns, robed the earth in green, and held
back the waters which fell as rain.  Had these soils been
cleared in a judicious manner, as experience and science would
suggest, they might have been nearly as fertile to-day as they
were one hundred years ago.
  Instead of a wise system of clearing and preserving fields
    GEOL- SUR.-2



17

 


GEOLOGY 0F MASON COUNTY.



and pastures, keeping and controlling forest, saving the sources
and retaining the supply of water, and beautifying the country,
destruction and ruin have followed in the path of the ax and
the plow, until, to-day, thousands of acres of land are almost
barren wastes, tens of thousands are gradually becoming un-
profitable, and only in rare instances has thoughtful care been
given to the preservation of fields and farms. Rarely has an
almost ruined farm fallen into intelligent hands, and received
the treatment which nature teaches to be the true means of re-
storation.
  One sees, here and there, slopes from which all of the soil
has been washed away, leaving only rugged rocks exposed
where valuable species of trees should be growing; fields which
should smile with growing grain covered all over with stones,
so thickly that the plow can not run; clay soils from which
the organic matters, the potash and the phosphates, have
been largely removed, that should be yielding generous har-
vests; the ruins of an old mill by the side of a dry gulch,
where water should flow all through the year; the fallen ruins
of a spring house, in a nook below the residence, and the owner
hauling water for a mile, where a fountain should gush forth
and wend its way to join the singing creek!
  Vast quantities of soil have been washed away for want of
protection, and others, by leaching, robbed of their rich ele-
ments, which should have been preserved. Crops have been fed
in places where their refuse could be most easily washed into
the creeks and carried off. Stables have been built over, or by
the side of branches, where the rich manures were liable to
be carried away by the rush of waters. Harvests have been
hauled from the fields and fed by the roadside, or sold to a dis-
tant buyer. Fields have been robbed of every source of nour-
ishment in every imaginable way, and nothing given in return.
In the hurry and eagerness for present gain, no thought or care
has been given to the future. With no lasting attachment for
home or birth-place, no tender love for field or pasture, the
fences tumble down, the fields grow thin and poor, the barn rots
-away anZl the dwelling falls into decay, while a little money
transfers them all to another owner.
  The thoughtless, ceaseless destruction of soils and forests is



18

 


GEOLOGY OF XASON COUNTY.



a crime against humanity; the careless, continuous waste of
crops and fertilizers is a grievous sin against intelligence,
while the absence of love and veneration for the homestead
and its surr