FKANKLIN COUNTY. 123 



That portion of the county lying between the Big and Little Muddy's 

 is generally quite rolliug, and the above named varieties of timber 

 indicate a very productive soil, and this land is undoubtedly equal to 

 any in the county for farming purposes. Big Muddy river and its 

 affluents drain nearly the whole area of the county, the main stream 

 ruuniug a little to the west of south through its central portion, while 

 the Middle and South Forks drain the south-eastern, and the Little 

 Muddy the north-western, forming its western boundary for about ten 

 miles from the north line. These streams furnish an abundaut supply 

 ef water for stock, but are too sluggish to furnish any valuable water 

 power for manufacturing purposes. 



The geological formations in this county, like those in Williamson, 

 consist altogether of Drift and Coal Measures, the latter belonging 

 mainly, however, to the upper instead of the lower division of that 

 formation. 



~ Drift. — The drift deposits of this county differ but little from those 

 observed in Williamson, and are found to consist mainly of brown and 

 yellow sandy clays, with gravel and small bowlders. Occasionally those 

 of a larger size were met with, the largest ranging from two to three 

 feetin diameter. It is a notable fact that bowlders of metamorphic 

 rocks similar to those found in Northern Illinois, as well as specimens 

 of native copper, are found in Southern Illinois beyond the southern 

 limit of the bluish-gray " till " # or hard pan that usually constitutes the 

 lowest division of the drift deposits in the central and northern portions 

 of the State. Frankfort, near the southern border of the county, is 

 located on a hill from eighty to one hundred feet above the level of the 

 surrounding country. No outcrop of stratified rocks was found in any 

 of the deep gulleys that furrowed its sides, though it probably has a 

 nucleus of Coal Measure shales or sandstone. Otherwise the drift clays 

 are much thicker here than they have been found in any other portion 

 of the county. Their average thickness may be stated at about thirty 

 feet, though in many places the bed rock has been struck in sinking 

 wells at the depth of ten to fifteen feet from the surface. 



Goal Measures . 



Wherever the streams cut through the drift clays they expose a series 

 of sandy and argillaceous shales and sandstones with an occasional 

 outcrop of bituminous shale or thin seam of coal, all of which belong 

 to the Coal Measures and mainly to the upper division of that formation. 

 The lowest beds to be found in the county outcrop in the south west 

 portion and conq>rise the sandstone shales and thin coal that intervenes 



