HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHAPTER 1

THE CHESTER GRIT

Here is shown the Chester sandstone (upper) of good depth and development. In it is found the true grindstone grits and valuable building stone. Commercially, next to the whetstone grit, it is the most valuable stratum of stone in the county. Locally it is of sufficient firmness and fineness to be manufactured. Quarries have been opened by T. N. Braxtan, J. Lane, H. Lashbrook, W. Lashbrook and J. Bledsoe, all in Township 1 north, Range 2 west. The stone is quarried in large blocks, and cut with a saw into slabs of the required thickness. These are then cut into smaller pieces and polished. Owing to the coarseness of the stone it is manufactured into scythe stones, etc.

THE CONGLOMERATE OR MILLSTONE GRIT

This stone is found in the north and west parts of the county. In the north it is well developed and is thus a mass of weather-worn rock, composed of quartz-ore pebbles, cemented together with coarse sand. In the central and southern part it loses its pudding-stone appearance, and can only be distinguished from the other sandstones by its position above the upper Chester limestone. Locally it becomes a fine-grained, compact grit stone. The following is the section at Braxtan’s quarry, taken from the east side of the hill:

Quarries have been opened by T. N. Braxtan, William Able, George Reily, Lynch & Wolfington, E. Pinnick, J. A. Moore, S. Wolfington and others. Specimens of ferns and other plants are taken out of the lower member of the grit, and are often very fine and of uncommon size. Excellent specimens have been sent to various geological collections. Dishman and Lewis have quarries on Section 23, Township 3 north, Range 2 west. At the latter’s quarry the coal seam is said to be two feet thick. The fine grits are evenly stratified and may be split with great ease. Two colored stones are quarried, white and buff. The first is called “Hindostan” and the second "Orange" stone. The Hepidodendra of these beds are remarkable for size. A tree uncovered for twelve feet was four feet eleven inches in diameter. The fossiliferous beds are not worked as the stone will not split. The thin shaly partings that come out in large plates are ripple-marked and covered with tracks of crustaceans or other animals. Dendrites are found of remarkable size and beauty, and run through the substance of the solid stone.

LACUSTRAL OR ALLUVIUM

The fine impalpable lacustral sands and clays are found in Northeast and Stampers Creek Townships in the "flat woods". Their thickness is from five to twenty-five feet, and they cover an area of about twenty square miles. Wherever gum and persimmon trees are indigenous to the soil, the fine sands of this epoch may be found. The damp, impervious soils of Patoka River and near French Lick are lacustral. Along the creeks and rivers of the northern and central parts of the county the alluvium is found well developed. Beds of gravel of unusual size are found in the valley of Lost River and are traceable to the lacustral epoch.

NEXT