Coal measures, consisting of strata of sandstones, limestones, shales, clays, marls, brown iron ores and coal .... 85 75 125 40 2,000 In this formation there are from eight to ten good workable veins of coal; and the Missouri basin coal-bearing area is the largest in the world. It comprises the following: The Sub-Carboniferous in Missouri is subdivided into: Square miles. St. Louis limestone... Oolitic limestone... Lower Archimedes limestone.. Encrinital limestone.. Total sub-carboniferous... ... 1570 CRETACEOUS.-The Triassic and Jurassic formations have not been found in this state; but Prof. Swallow has classed as probably belonging to the Cretaceous epoch, six different formations which comprise a total thickness of 158 feet. He says no fossils have been found to certainly identify these beds, but their geological horizon and lithological characters determine their place in the scale. TERTIARY.-The beautiful variegated sands and clays and shales and iron ores, which skirt the swamps of southeast Missouri along the bluffs from Commerce to the Chalk Bluffs in Arkansas, belong to this system. QUATERNARY.-In this Prof. Swallow includes what is separated under the name of "Recent" by Prof. Dana and others, as shown in the chart. The Quaternary of Missouri is subdivided by Prof. Swallow intoAlluvium.. Bottom Prairie. Bluff (Loess of other authors).. Drift (altered drift, boulder beds, boulder clay).. Total Quaternary formations. 30 feet 35 66 That brings the succession of geological formations consecutively from their beginning up to the present time; and now our own eyes behold every day the processes of nature going on very much the same as they have gone along through all the unthinkable lapse of time that has passed since Pilot Knob first pushed its brazen brow up above the strange desolation of waters when "darkness was upon the face of the deep." And now our next consideration must be, the present aspects of the land surface of our state, together with its streams, its woodlands and its wonderful mineral wealth and resources. MINERAL RESOURCES. In the extent, variety, and practical value of her stores of mineral wealth, Missouri is not excelled by any other state in the Union. In the fall of 1880 the New York Economist published an article on Missouri, in which it said: "The state of Missouri is one of the most remarkable pieces of this earth's surface. Surface indeed! Missouri goes far enough under the surface to furnish mankind with one hundred million tons of coal a year for thirteen hundred years. Think of 26,887 square miles of coal beds-nearly half the state and some of the beds nearly fifteen feet thick. With regard to iron, it is not necessary to penetrate the surface for that. They have iron in Missouri by the mountain. Pilot Knob, 581 feet high, and containing 360 acres, is a mass of iron; and Iron Mountain, about six miles distant from it, is 228 feet high, covers 500 acres, and is estimated in the last surveys, to contain 230,000,000 tons of ore, without counting the inexhaustible supply that may reasonably be supposed to exist below the level. There is enough iron lying about loose in Missouri for a double track of railroad across the continent. "The lead districts of Missouri include more than 6,000 square miles, and at least five hundred points where it can be profitably worked. In fifteen counties there is copper in rich abundance. There are large deposits of zinc in the state. There is gold, also, which does not yet attract much attention, because of the dazzling stores of this precious metal farther west. In short, within one hundred miles of St. Louis the following metals and minerals are found in quantities that will repay working: gold, iron, lead, zinc, copper, tin, silver, platina, nickel, emery, coal, limestone, granite, marble, pipe-clay, fire-clay, metallic paints, and salt." It can hardly be said that gold, silver, tin, platina or emery have been found in paying quantity as yet, although they are known to exist in some of our mining districts, in combinations with other minerals. Our state board of immigration has published many well prepared and judicious papers on the various advantages and resources of our state, which carefully avoid making any extravagant or overdrawn statements. They give the real facts as accurately as they could be ascertained up to 187980, and form the most reliable body of knowledge on many matters of state interest, that is now accessible; and from this source we gather the more essential points. COAL.-The Missouri coal fields underlie an area of about 26,000 square miles. The southern outcrop of the coal measures has been traced from the mouth of the Des Moines through the counties of Clark, Lewis, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Boone, Cooper, Pettis, Henry, St. Clair, Bates, Vernon and Barton, into the Indian Territory, and every county northwest of this line is known to contain more or less coal. Outside of the coal fields given above, coal rocks also exist in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St. Charles, Callaway and St. Louis counties, and local or outlying deposits of bituminous and cannel coal are found in Moniteau, Cole, Morgan, Crawford, Lincoln and Callaway counties. The exposed coal in Missouri includes upper, middle and lower coal measures. The upper coal measures contain about four feet of coal, in two seams of about one foot each and other thin seams and streaks. The area of their exposure is about 8,400 square miles. The middle coal measures contain about seven feet of coal, including two workable seams, twenty-one and twenty-four inches thick, respectively, and one of one foot, which is worked under favorable circumstances, and six thin seams. The exposure of the middle measures covers an area of over 2,000 square miles. The lower measures cover an area of about 15,000 square miles, and have five workable seams, varying in thickness from eighteen inches to four and a half feet, and thin seams of six to eleven inches. IRON.-It has been said by experts that Missouri has iron enough "to run a hundred furnaces for a thousand years;" and the ores are of every variety known to metallurgical science. Iron Mountain is the largest body of specular iron and the purest mass of ore in the world. It was forced up through the crust of the earth in a molten state during the Azoic Age of geology. The different ores of the state are classed as red hematite, red oxide, specular or glittering ore, brown hematite or limonite, hydrous oxide, magnetic ore, and spathic or spar-like ore (carbonate of iron). Many other names are used to indicate different combinations of iron with other minerals. Some of the iron deposits, instead of coming up in a fused mass from the bowels of the earth, as Pilot Knob, Shep herd Mountain and Iron Mountain evidently did, were formed by the steam that attended those fiery upheavals, carrying its load of gaseous matter until it condensed and settled down at different points, and gradually cooled or crystalized. This would occur sometimes in water and sometimes in the air, thus producing the great variety of ferruginous or irony compositions which we now find and utilize. And this mineral steam method of depositing iron and other products from subterranean gases must have occurred in Missouri at different periods of geologic time, and not all during the Azoic. The red ores are found in 21 counties; the brown hematite or limonite iron ores extend over 94 counties, and in 31 of them it occurs in vast quantity. Shepherd Mountain is 660 feet high. The ore, which is magnetic and specular, contains a large percentage of pure iron. The hight of Pilot Knob above the Mississippi river is 1,118 feet. Its base, 581 feet from the summit, is 360 acres. The iron is known to extend 440 feet below the surface. The upper section of 141 feet is judged to contain 14,000,000 tons of ore. The elevation of Iron Mountain is 228 feet, and the area of its base 500 acres. The solid contents of the cone are 230,000,000 tons. It is thought that every foot beneath the surface will yield 3,000,000 tons of ore. At the depth of 180 feet, an artesian auger is still penetrating solid ore. Dr. Litton thinks that these mountains contain enough iron above the surface to afford for two hundred years an annual supply of 1,000,000 tons. The ore is almost exclusively specular. It yields 56 per cent. of pure iron. The iron is strong, tough and fibrous. Profs. Schmidt and Pumpelly, in their very learned work on the iron ores of Michigan and Missouri, have classified the iron-bearing region of our state as follows: Eastern Ore-Region.-1. Ore-district along the Mississippi river. 2. Iron Mountain district. 3. Southeastern limonite district. 4. Franklin county district. 5. Scotia district. Central Ore-Region.-1. Steelville district. 2. Ore-district on the upper Meramec and its tributaries. 3. Salem district. 4. Iron Ridge district. 5. St. James district. 6. Rolla district. 7. Middle Gasconade district. 8. Lower Gasconade district. 9. Callaway county district. Western Ore-Region.-1. Lower Osage district. 2. Middle Osage district. 3. Upper Osage district. Southwestern Ore-Region.-1. White River district. 2. Ozark county district. The same authorities have classified the various kinds of iron ores found in Missouri, thus: LEAD. The annual lead product of Missouri is said now to exceed that of any other state or country; and it is conceded that its lead deposits are the richest in the world. The lead region all lies south of the Missouri river; the mineral is found chiefly in the magnesian limestone rocks, which are the great lead-bearing rocks of the world; but it is also found in ferruginous clays, in slates, in gravel beds, and in cherty masses in the clays. Mr. R. O. Thompson, mining engineer, of St. Louis, has written a sketch of the mode of origin of our lead and some other mineral deposits, which is plain, concise, and a clear statement of the teachings of science on this very interesting portion of Missouri's geological and mineralogical history. We quote: "The Azoic rocks in this region, when the great Silurian system began to be formed, were so many islands, their heads only elevated above the vast sedimentary sea. The beds upon which the limestones and sandstones were deposited consisted of the weatherings of the Azoic rocks, which naturally sought the valleys and became a base for the sedimentary rock. This boundless sea held in solution lime, magnesia, alumina, manganese, lead, copper, cobalt, nickel, iron, and other mineral substances. In this chemical condition gases were evolved and the work of formation commenced. The two gases forming the great creative power, and aiding solidification, were carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen; the former seeking its affinity in lime and forming limestone; the sulphur in the latter naturally combining with the other metals, forming sulphates, or sulphurets. The work of deposition and solidification being in harmony, it is easy to understand how those minerals exist in a disseminated condition in these rocks. The slates that we find so rich in galena, presenting the myriad forms of lingula, must also have been formed in the Silurian Age. The distribution among the magnesian limestones of these decomposing slates can be most easily accounted for. The decomposed feldspar produced by the weathering of the porphyry became in its change a silicate of alumina, and the sulphur, combining with the lead, disseminated the same in the slate as readily as in the limestone.' The Missouri lead region has been divided or classified into five subdistricts, as follows: I. The Southeastern Lead District, embraces all or parts of Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Crawford, Iron, St. Francois, St. Genevieve, Madison, Wayne, Reynolds, and Carter counties, with some mines in the western portion of Cape Girardeau county. Mining has been longest carried on in this district, and the aggregate of the production has been very great, although the work has been chiefly surface mining. Mine |