STEPHENSON COUNTY. 65 



the Illinois Central Railroad track. This line would cut off that part of 

 the county underlaid by the Niagara rocks. And even in this, some of 

 the small streams which come into Yellow creek through this section 

 cut into the Cincinnati group, and a band of the Cincinnati group, along 

 La shell's Hollow, where the little village of Loran is located, also dis- 

 closes the shales and quarries of this group. We would change Professor 

 WHITNEY'S map of this part of Stephenson county, to be found in the 

 first volume of the Geological Survey of Illinois, so as to make the green 

 ribbon or band south of Yellow creek, denoting the Cincinnati rocks, 

 very much broader, and the color denoting the Niagara rocks very much 

 less. This formation is not much quarried in this part of the county. 

 At Big Springs, in Lashell Hollow, quite a quantity of stone have been 

 taken out. Few fossils were observed, except that great quantities of 

 some of the rougher Niagara corals lie strewn over the hills about Loran, 

 consisting of two or three species of Favosites, and some imperfect Haly- 

 sites. 



Cincinnati (.iroup. The rocks and shales of this group cover but a 

 limited extent of this county. All that part of Waddaui's Grove, be- 

 tween the level of the surrounding prairie and the capping Niagara, is 

 composed of the shales and rocks of this group. The gentle slopes of 

 the ascent, and the creamy-colored waters from the springs, are an un- 

 failing index of this formation. No quarries are opened in it, but it is 

 here, perhaps, forty feet thick. The broad belt south of Yellow creek, 

 crossing this stream in the township of Kent, extending up into the 

 south-west corner of the township of West Point, as indicated on the 

 general map, has been referred to sufficiently, perhaps, in speaking of 

 the previous formation. About the village of Loran, the hills on either 

 side of the creek, to their top, are composed of the Cincinnati rocks and 

 shales. Many quarries are opened in the face of the hills, and fair 

 building stone are obtained. The worked outcrops here are fifteen or 

 twenty feet thick. As we follow the creek to the northward from here 

 a few miles, the Cincinnati formation runs under, and the Niagara takes 

 its place. In the half township of Erin, just west of the village of 

 Eleroy, there is quite an elevation of land, covering several sections, 

 and crowned with a scattering grove, which is made up exclusively of 

 the Cincinnati formation. On the west end, at the little village of New 

 Dublin, there is a quarried outcrop some forty feet deep. A Catholic 

 Chapel is built out of stones from this quarry. It seems to be enduring 

 the influences of the weather reasonably well. Although quite as high 

 as Waddam's Grove, we did not detect any overcappiug Niagara on this 

 elevation. A bold and steep escarpment on the north side, caused by 

 extensive quarrying, can be discerned from a long distance off, and is a 

 marked feature in the landscape. The rocks here present a dry and 



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