CHAPTER II. 



PIKE COUNTY. 



Pike county lies between the two great rivers, the Illinois and the Missis- 

 sippi, and is bounded on the north, by Adams and Brown counties ; on the 

 east, by the Illinois river ; on the south, by Calhoun county ; and on the west, 

 by the Mississippi. It embraces a superficial area of about twenty-one town- 

 ships, or seven hundred and fifty-six square miles, and the surface is generally 

 rolling, and on the borders of the streams it is quite broken and hilly. A 

 large proportion of the surface, on the upland, was originally heavily timbered, 

 but there are several small prairies in the central and northern portions of the 

 county. It is a well watered county, being intersected by numerous small 

 streams, besides the two large rivers which form its eastern and western bounda- 

 ries. Among the principal streams in the interior of the county, are McGee's 

 creek, and its tributaries, in the northeastern part ; Bay creek, which traverses 

 its central and southern portions ; and McDonald's creek, Hadley's creek, and 

 some others of less importance, which intersect the western part, and empty 

 into a bayou, which traverses the bottom lands on the west side of the county, 

 through its whole extent. The valley of the Mississippi is from eight to twelve 

 miles in width, and, as the present river channel is along the western edge of 

 this valley, it leaves a wide belt of bottom lands on the western border of the 

 county, containing an area of about one hundred and sixty square miles, or 

 more than one-fifth of the whole area of the county. 



The general level of the uplands may be estimated at from two to three hun- 

 dred feet above the great water courses, on either side, with no very well de- 

 fined water shed to determine the courses of the smaller streams. The soil on 

 the timbered lands, is generally a chocolate colored clay loam, becoming lighter 

 colored on the breaks of the streams, and in the vicinity of the river bluffs. 



The geological structure of this county is somewhat peculiar, and the strata 

 exposed within its limits comprise the upper part of the Niagara limeston^the 

 whole series of Lower Carboniferous limestones, except the Chester group, and 

 a limited thickness of Coal Measures, with the usual surface deposits of Loess 

 and Drift. No well defined beds of Devonian age were seen in the county, 

 though a little below the southern line, in Calhoun county, we found two or 



