Wayne. -Area, 740 square miles; population in 1880, 33,513. This is
the only county in the State the surface of which is wholly occupied
by one formation (Catskill No. IX), except a strip, two miles wide and
12 long, ending in two points on the western (Susquehanna County) line,
occupied by the Moosic mountain outcrop of Pocono X, with a thin outcrop
of red shale XI, and the Conglomerate XII, the extreme end of the Northern
Anthracite coal field. It is bounded for 7 miles by the New York State
line, and separated from that State for 50 miles by the meandering course
of the Delaware River, from Hale’s Eddy (974` A.T.) down to the Pike
County corner at Narrowsburg (714` A.T.) flowing between two walls of
horizontally outcropping gray and red sandstone and shale strata, 500`
high, broken by a hundred side valleys and ravines; but nearly all the
county is drained through the water-tree of the Wallenpaupack south-eastward
through Pike County, the two main branches of which unite at Honesdale
(985` A.T. canal level.) The general surface is so high that the villages
of Cold Spring, Rileyville, Pleasant Mount, and Belmont are 1600`, 1715`,
2025`, and 2040` A.T. Drift covers the whole surface, causing innumerable
little lakes and swamps. A bore hole in search of oil, made by the Wayne
County Oil Company, on Dyeberry Creek, 6 miles N. of Honesdale, of which
a careful record was kept (published in the Pike and Monroe Counties
Report, G6, pp. 92-93) reveals the underground geology of
the county to a depth of 1505 feet: Drift at the surface 36`; red shales
and gray sandstones 29`; reds 10`; red sh. 5`; pebbly s. 5`; reddish
s. 15`; red sh. 10`; sandstone, some layers pebbly, 55`; shale 8`; sandstone
10`; shale 7`; s. 4`; sh. 6`; dark red slate 15`; bluish green-slate
40`; gray s. 175`; brown shaly s. 30`; fine gray s. 20`; shale 50`;
small-pebble sandstone 30`; dark gray s. 5`; dark red s. 35`; red sh.
10`; dark sh. 20`; gray s. 10`; red sh. 45`; gray s. 30`; sh. 5`; sandstones
50`; red shale (where water was cased off at 778`) 30`; gray
s. 25`; dark red sh. 10`; shale 30`; sandstone 10`; red shale 5`; gray
micaceous s. 50`; shale 95`; sandstone 50`; small-pebble s. 45`, sandstone
(with weak vein of salt water at 1140`) 20`; shale 10`; sandstone
15`; shale 25`; sandstone, gray 5`, hard 10, coarse 5`, small-pebble
10`; red shale 15`; sandstone, coarse 15` (here a strong vein of salt
water, at 1240` filled the hole to within- of the top), fine 5`;
red shale 10`; sandstone, coarse 17`; brown 13`; dark red shale, 30`;
sandstone, small-pebble, 5` fine 10`, greenish, 5`, brownish 10`; shale
5`; sandstone micaceous 35`; shale, reddish 5`, red 36`, sandstone red,
5`; shale dark red 10`; sandstone micaceous, 14`; shales, red 20`, dark
red 20`, to bottom at 1505`. The stratification is not perfectly horizontal,
for while there is a general slope of the whole south-westward a perceptible
basin crosses the river at Damascus, and another below Scott, between
Shrawder’s and Shohokin creeks; and an intermediate slight anticlinal
at Stockport. There is also a local rapid dip (N.W.) half a mile below
Hawkin’s Station on the river; and other local slight but noticeable
defections from the horizontal. On the western line the Moosic mountain
rocks (X, 600` thick) dip suddenly 10º to 12º
into the coal basin. The Catskill rocks (IX) are about 2000` thick.
A remarkable gray-white sandstone, 20` to 25` thick, filled with reddish
quartz pebbles caps Collins’ high knob at Cherry Ridge P.O. and
is traceable throughout the county; and at its base is one of the calcareous
breccias, also holding pebbles. Under this are 20` to 25` of shales;
underlaid by a 15` sandstone and 5` limestone making conspicuous
rock-ledges in hundreds of localities all over the county; and in the
southern townships charged with reddish pebbles. This Cherry
Ridge limestone is a very remarkable member of the Catskill formation,
wholly different from the local calcareous breccias; but it is usually
very poor in lime: three analyses show 11, 18, and 20 per cent; a fourth
however gave 64 per cent of carbonate of lime. (See Report G5,
p.65.) The limestone rock is an agglomerate of chips of slate or shale,
fragments of fish bones and fossilized wood, in a sand cemented by lime.
Its place is marked by 100` or more of red shale strata under
it; under which again crops out the three Honesdale sandstones: upper
white (25`) making Burns’ cliffs a mile south of the town; middle
red (40`) making the top of the Irvine cliff opposite the town and
remarkable as the one solitary red sandstone in the whole Catskill
formation in this county; and the lower gray (25` rising occasionally
to 50`) making the two miles of cliffs along Dyeberry Creek above the
town. The underlying Montrose red shale (100`) reddens all the
roads around Honesdale; and at the top of this mass lies the so-called
"Copper and nickel shale" of the old reports. The underlying Paupack
sandstone of the quarries (25` thick) is a beautiful bluish-green
building stone, apparently confined to the southern townships. Under
this lie 200` of greenish-gray, current-bedded sandstones, and green,
olive and occasionally red shales; under which in the extreme north
come the New Milford upper sandstone (20`), middle shales (300`),
and lower sandstone (20`), the latter forming cliffs about 100
feet above water level at Port Deposit, and falling southward fast enough
to put itself beneath the river bed at the State line; of course it
is underground throughout the whole county.
From: A geological hand atlas of the sixty-seven
counties of Pennsylvania :embodying the results of the field work
of the survey, from 1874 to 1884. By J. P. Lesley. (Report of
progress (Geological Survey of Pennsylvania), v. X ) Harrisburg, PA
: Board of commissioners for the second geological survey, 1885.
Return to Geologic
Maps of Pennsylvania Counties
Copyright © 2000, Pennsylvania State University
Libraries. All rights reserved.
Please send comments to: ems@psulias.psu.edu
Last modified: 5/3/01
|
