BUILDING MATERIALS. -- Good building rock is found almost everywhere.
The St. Louis Limestone -- Affords good building material, and there are good quarries west of St. Charles. It is fine grained, and a light drab color, with a somewhat spintory fracture.
The Archimedes Limestone -- Also affords much good building rock, and it is often found in remarkably thick beds. Excellent quarries of it are found in the bluffs at Green's Bottom, where it occurs in thick strata of both brown and gray limestone. Similar beds crop out in the Mississippi bluffs, a few miles east of Dardenne, where it is quarried for masonry on the North Missouri Railroad.
Trenton Limestone. -- The gray beds of the upper portion of the Trenton limestone found on Femme Osage creek would admit of a good polish, and make a handsome material for building.
Encrinital Limestone. -- Good beds, and of considerable thickness, outcrop in the Missouri bluffs, below Hamburg, and other good quarries are seen in the north-east part of the county. On Perruque creek, at the county line, are good quarries of Devonian limestone. The beds of Black river limestone found on the tops of many of the hills in Femme Osage township would admit of a polish, and make quite pretty marble.
The First Magnesian Limestone -- Found on Femme Osage and Missouri bluffs, affords one of the most valuable of building materials, being generally of a rich buff color. Missouri College, in Warren county, Mo., is built of this material, which is quarried near by. Similar rock used for building in St. Louis was brought from Joliet, Ill.
St Louis limestone, like all limestone, is a rock primarily formed of calcium carbonate. The limestone was deposited over millions of years as marine fossils decomposed at the bottom of a shallow inland sea which covered most of the present-day Midwestern United States during the Mississippian Period.
St Louis limestone is part of a high-end market. It is mostly used on the exterior of homes and commercial buildings. With the impact of acid rain it is not used in monuments as it was in the 19th century. The St Louis Limestone is deep at over 300 feet thick in some areas. This makes it a prime building limestone because of its extreme durability.
St Louis Limestone is also very good for carving. It accepts and retains very fine detail. Their work can be seen on many buildings, gravestones, memorials, and other carvings.
To log this earthcache, please send answers to the following questions to my account:
1. What color is the limestone on the St Charles County Courthouse?
2. Look at the carvings on the building. They are located above the doors, up near the top of the building, and also near the base. Compare the details. Do they seem to be clear or faded?
3. Do you see any fossils in the limestone?
4. Post a picture of yourself (face not required) or a personal item at the coordinates.