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| THE VALLEY OF JACOBS CREEK The new railroad that has recently been completed through the valley of Jacobs Creek, affords access to a region that is rich in local history. Here is a tract of woodland, embracing an area of several thousand acres, with the deep, preciptous valley of the creek in its midst, that affords an interesting field of observation for the geologist, naturalist, or antiquarian. The location of the lower section of this stream in its present channel is a problem that the most learned have failed to make cIear. Viewed from the vicinity of Scottdale it would seem that the natural course of this stream ought to be a direct route to the Youghiogheny River. Instead of following what appears to be a natural route to that river, it turns abruptly to the west, following a parallel direction to it, and crosses the Fayette Anticline through a deep gorge cut into the massive rock, which, seemingly, was a decided barrier to the path of the stream. According to the more or less accurate teachings of geology, when this part of the continent arose from the primeval ocean it was compatatively level and several thousand feet above its present level. During this remote period of time the courses of the streams were marked out. The rugged hills and deep ravines that now mark its surface were caused by the elevation of certain sections and the depressions or others and by the gradual wearing away of the soil by the action of the elements. The course of this stream was probably located in its present channel during this period, berore the anticline was formed; as this ridge gradually arose, the corrosion or the stream was more rapid than the elevation of the land, hence the present valley located where it is a narrow, rugged chasm that has cut deep into the bosom of the earth exposing the various strata of rocks down to the Freeport coal. For many years this wild region has afforded a pleasant retreat for students of nature. The scenery is picturesque and many forms of wild life yet abound. The pollution of the stream by refuse from the mills and mines on its upper course has done much to mar its beauty. Prior to this the Otter found a home and reared its young in these solitudes, and many other forms or wildlife that have vanished abounded here. |
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