102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INDIANA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



presence of the tenacious stiff blue clay which underlies the sand of the dune 

 region, stating that it occurs for some miles back into the country and 

 probablj- accounts for the retention of so much water in the Kankakee 

 country. 



The mineral deposits, soil and growth peculiar to each of the rock forma- 

 tions are next treated by Dr. Owen in his first report. One of his main ob- 

 jects seems to have been a search for deposits of iron ore as he states that 

 "a good iron bank is of more value to the State than a mine of gold or silver." 

 He located deposits of bog ore or limonite in St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Warren, 

 Putnam, Owen, JMarion, Hancock, and Clark Counties, and of iron carbonate 

 or siderite in Warren, Parke, Fountain and Vermillion Counties. He mentions 

 briefly the extent and character of the well known deposits of potter's clay at 

 Troy, Perry County, and records the mining of coal on a commercial scale 

 in Perry, Pike and Vigo Counties. 



Of the soils of the various formations and their growths of indigenous trees 

 and shrubs, Dr. Owen gives brief descriptions, claiming that that of the blue 

 limestone or marly clay formation (the Lower Silurian) of southeastern 

 Indiana comprises the most fertile districts of the State. Boone County at 

 that date was mostly a swamp, and the prairies of Benton, Newton and 

 Tippecanoe were as yet too wet for cultivation, so that he did not recognize 

 their future great productive possil)ilities. The least productive land, he 

 states, "is that on the summits and upj)er slopes of the Knobstone forma- 

 tion." However, time has shown that that overlying the sandstones of the 

 Carboniferous and Huron formations is not far behind it in hick of fertility. 



An interesting change of opinion regarding the origin of the drift soils of 

 northern Indiana, occurs in the second or revised edition of the first report. 

 In the original 1837 edition he says: "The fertility of the soil in Indiana 

 is universally admitted, yet few are aware that it arises mainly from its 

 geological position. It is well known to the geologist that that soil is most 

 productive which has been derived from the destruction of the greatest 

 variety of different rocks, for thus only is produr-ed tlie due mixture of gravel, 

 sand, clay and limestone necessary to form a good medium for the retention 

 and transmission of the nutritive fluids, be they liquid or aeriform, to the 

 roots of plants. Now Indiana is situated near the middle of the Great Valley 

 of Northwestern America, and far distant from the primitive range of moun- 

 tains, and her soil is accordingly formed from the destruction of a vast variety 

 of rock, both crystalline and sedimentary, which have been minutely divided 

 and intimately blende! together by the action of air and water. It has all 

 t he elements, t herefore, of extraordiiiary fertility." 



In the IS.")*) edition that i)aragrai)h is omitted and replaced by the follow- 

 ing: "In regard to the soils resulting more particularly from drifted materials 

 which occupy a great area in the northern part of the State, and on the slopes 

 adjacent to our large streams, it may be remarked, that being the Iransported 

 debris of a great variety of formations we may infer their general fertility. 



