Jeptha's Knob and other Craters

    Perhaps 425 millions ago a meteorite nearly a half a mile in diameter slammed into the earth between present day cities of Shelbyville and Frankfort, Kentucky. The giant interplanetary traveler was traveling at an estimated speed of 10 miles per second. That is roughly 36,000 miles per hour! Needless to say, something the size of a small Kentucky town hitting the earth at such a speed was bound to leave an impact and that it did.

Jeptha's Knob near Clay Village in Shelby county Ky

    Perhaps some of you from Kentucky while traveling between Lexington and Louisville on I-64 have noticed the lone hill structure in the vast open flat landscape of the region. The hill is called Jeptha's Knob and is what is left of the ancient meteorite impact. What is now observable is not the typical crater that is most familiar such as on the moon or the famous Arizona crater. What you see actually represents the bottom, center of the crater. You see, geologist tell us that when the meteorite hit the earth the impact is so forceful that he causes the rock strata below to rebound upward and shatter. Over time the familiar surface crater has eroded away leaving only the more dense rebound materials that were once below the surface of the landscape and are still there today in the surrounding countryside.  The Kentucky Geological Survey provide a very clear explanation of this effect here.  You can easily see the circular impact area on the geological map. This is Jeptha's Knob. For years geologists thought the unusual land uplift in the otherwise flat region was the result of volcanic activity. A historical marker nearby claimed as much. In recent times geologists have come to understand the results of an impact meteorite and have completely revised the cause of the structure. The marker is no longer in place.

    A larger and more famous meteorite impact site is located in extreme southeastern Kentucky.  The town of Middlesboro, Kentucky is built precisely in the center of crater created by the impact of a meteorite over a half mile in diameter. It was thought to have landed about 300 million years ago. The crater is over four miles in diameter. Little visible evidence is left today but there is some of the outer crater wall still detectable from aerial  views.  The Middlesboro crater is unique in all the world in the fact it is the only known impact crater that coal has been mined.

View of Middlesboro impact crater

    When you drive down into the noticeable flat plain that most of the town is situated you are in the bottom of the ancient meteorite crater. It is pretty obvious too, since a land area this broad and flat is rare to say the least in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky.
     Though there have been several reported meteorite impacts with some recovered in Kentucky none compare to these large impacts from ancient times which include one more near Versailles, Kentucky. Here we find yet another impact site that for years was mistaken to be the remnants of a large sinkhole, something not uncommon in the central Kentucky region. As it turns out this is the ancient remains of another meteorite impact similar to Jeptha's Knob.
     Not doubt there have been others that have long ago succumbed to erosion and time. However, we do have evidence that we have been hit before and it has been a long time.
    What if one of those ancient meteorites contained precious metals such as say, oh, perhaps silver. Suppose it impacted the earth in some remote place and suppose our legendary John Swift happened to find that heavenly treasure. Of course, there is no evidence what so ever that has happened or even could happen. It does prove however, that pure sedimentary geological activity is not all that has happened in the amazing landscape we call Kentucky.

  We are now in the fourth year of this blog. There have been thousands of visits to the blog site from around the world. I appreciate very much the valuable time that everyone took to visit and look at this blog site. I am especially grateful to those that subscribe and follow. 

   As I have noted many times before, I started this blog site to promote my now not so recent book entitled 'Swift." My aim was and has been to connect real places and subjects related to the book and special history of Kentucky. As time progressed I found myself covering a lot of interesting topics.

     Keeping a blog up and running requires a lot of time and work as any of you know that maintain your own blog site. It is enjoyable and keeps me constantly searching for new adventures and ideas around the state. In recent months the blog seems to have done little to generate book sales, which after all, was my main objective.

   With that in mind I plan to take a break from the regularly scheduled bi-monthly posts. Instead, for the time being I will randomly post articles. This will be the last post for a time. Besides this blog I am involved with another one called B and E's Bee's that is associated with our excellent honey we sell. 

    This blog site will remain live and active. With hundreds of visits each week the blog is popular, especially with treasure hunters. I will respond to comments and will post in the future as well as monitor the site.

     With all that said this entry will mark the last one as I go on break from posting for now.  Please share the contents of this blog to others. Thank you for visiting. Oh, the book is still available at most outlets.

Swift Synopsis

     Now that the book has been out for a year, well it is old news. For those who never heard of the book or thought they might be interested in purchasing their own copy, I thought I would use this post to give blog readers a brief overview of the book.
    First, let me say the book is a historic fiction. It is however, based on historical events and places as well as famous pioneers of Kentucky. It is also based on perhaps the most famous and oldest legend of Kentucky often called "The Lost Silver Mines of John Swift."  This legend has been around since even before Kentucky official became the fourteenth state in 1792.  The Swift mine workings were mentioned in land grants as early as 1788.
     Since the legend claims that John Swift was in the wilds of what might now be Eastern Kentucky in 1769 and Daniel Boone was making his second exploratory trip that same year the two concepts come together nicely. So from the outset of my writing adventure I wanted to be central to the overall story was this important fact. Boone and others never mention searching for silver. John Filson does file the land claim in 1788 and specifically states that a man by the name of Swift worked the mines seventeen years earlier.
    The book is set in modern day and follows the adventures, discoveries and heartbreak of three pals, well a couple and a pal. Will, Jennifer and Ray are the three main characters and by chance make an archaeological discovery that leads to other clues and set them on a race to solve a mystery they are not sure of what it is to begin with.  At the same time this treasure hunt is going on a parallel story is being told about historic events unfolding that left the clues in the first place. Although it appears as a flashback, this book is actually two complete stories being told at the same time. Either story could stand on its own without one word from the other. I had both a lot of pleasure and frustration in compiling this tale under those conditions but believe it is the very best way to tell the story in a novel form.
    The first part of the book is devoted to introducing all the characters and offering explanation of the early days of pioneer Kentucky and how John Swift made his way into the region. The Swift legend is explained and coincides with the early activities of Daniel Boone and John Finley, both recorded in early Kentucky history.
     I did not make up the history nor the legend information. Both have been around for hundreds of years now and much has been written about both. I did imagine, if you will, verbal exchanges, chance meetings and  the assumption the Swift legend has some validity.
    At the same time throughout the book, the main story is being told which features our modern day characters and the hero of the story. In their blunder efforts they begin to uncover clues that they feel compelled to follow up on.  The whole adventure begins with the discovery of a map carved into the rock wall of a sandstone shelter at a well known Kentucky landmark. Containing carvings not unlike many found today put there by early explorers and Indians three friends set out on a quest to understand what the carvings mean. After some efforts in research and inquisition on their part they come to the revelation that the carving represents a map with key markings that can be found actually on the ground if searched out.
    As noted Boone, Finley and others were historically noted to be in Kentucky in 1769. The legend of John Swift also places Swift in Kentucky the same year. Though just a legend this bit of information provided the backdrop for the fiction interface on history. Here is were I take great artistic license if you will.
    In my version of the Swift legend I place Finley as a new found partner to Swift after Swift looses his old friend George Mundy. By the time that Finley arrived on the scene meeting up with Swift on a raft trip down the Ohio River, Swift and Mundy had already hidden their treasure. Will, Jennifer and Ray follow clues and figure out that the map seems to match the Warriors Path. They then learn of Shawnee Town and John Finley. There efforts really pay off when they discover more information in a mysterious cave in Lexington, Ky.
    The whole time the trio are on their grand treasure hunt adventure, Roger Hampton follows causing them much irritation. Being more careful they try to elude his inquires. As the tale unfolds our hero's solve questions that have plagued  treasure hunters for the past two centuries. Eventually the tale and history unravel at a fast pace resulting in mistakes being made by everyone involved and ultimately serious consequences.
    The ending is a surprise and will certainly not be what the reader expected. Now the book relies upon just about every version of the Swift Journal. Some of Kentucky's most interesting early history is included as well. The whole premise of the book really is a "what if" scenario. What if things had happened this way or that way. Swift, is an adventure into our past history and lore.
   You can review and purchase my book  here. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Comments are always welcome so, please, share your thoughts below.. 

Valley of Bones

    One of the most fascinating places of National significance, geologically speaking, has to be Big Bone Lick near Union, Kentucky. Since historic times the place has been known to pioneers, presidents and paleontologist world-wide. Without much doubt the origin of the study of paleontology had its beginnings right here at this world known landmark. Thomas Jefferson, while in the White House had bones collected from the site and shipped back east. Some of these bones are now distributed in museums around the world.

    In Jefferson's day the question as to the origin of these giant elephant like creatures bones had not yet been deduced. The greatest scientists of the day had not reconciled the idea of bones of a known tropical animal had somehow been uncovered in a region that was clearly inhospitable to such wildlife. Yet, here they were and in large numbers. To make matters worse, many of the bones could not be identified with any known, living creature on the planet at that time. Some, including Jefferson, began to conclude that perhaps the species had indeed vanished from the earth.

    There are lots of unusual factors related to the formation of the area that preserved the bones of ancient mammoths, mastodons, bison, horses, musk ox and sloths, all of which now are extinct. It seems conditions were created by the last ice age. As the giant ice sheet that covered North America as far south as the Ohio River area the gradual melt and retreat of the mile thick ice sheet left bogs and swamps behind along with a different landscape. All the melt water run off had to go somewhere. Geologist consider that the Ohio River itself was formed as the trillions of gallons of melt water flowed away from the rapidly melting glacier. The shear weight of the ice sheet pressing down on the earth compressed the layers of rock and water trapped in them.

    The ice age mammals had been forced to move south but apparently they found suitable food sources in the cold climate near the glaciers.  Evidence for that is that is that musk ox are found in the cold north  even today and cannot live in a warmer climate. Deep down in the rock strata-thousands of feet down- below the surface of the earth then and today rocks formed from ancient seas that were once in the area hundreds of millions of years ago. Over time these sediments were gradually pushed down as more layers piled up. Somewhere down there are formations containing large amounts of salt, probably the result of the drying of a salt sea much like that of the great Salt Lake in Utah. At any rate my theory is that due to the tremendous weight and therefore compression of the rock strata, water was forced to the surface of the earth and carried along with it the salts and minerals trapped in those ancient strata.

    Large herbivorous need salt in their diet and would visit the place on a regular basis. They apparently came in such large numbers that they created a quagmire in the valley as they drank up the briny water that nature had uniquely provided under such unusual circumstances.So muddy and messy had the area become that some animals would simply get stuck in the mud and eventually died. It must have been a tormented place to see, yet the need for salt brought more and more some destined to die but most would move on in search for food.

    Time changes everything. The animals decaying bones would sink beneath the mud and eventually fossilized by the very minerals supplied by the amazing springs. Moving for several thousand years the bones along with the dirt, rocks and materials have been covered over with new dirt and rock deposits. The salt springs still survived and continue to pour out the rich salt and mineral  waters which come to the attention of some of the Native Americans that hunt and live in the region. 

    Humans have a need and requirement for salt. It didn't take long for the people of the area to discover the salt springs and would collect salt by evaporating the water and collecting the remaining salt. The whole region was dominated by the Shawnee at the time of the first European contact. It did not take long for early pioneers to locate the salt springs and begin major salt collecting enterprises. Some reports that at one time as much as 60 bushels of salt were collected a day! This was done by boiling the brine water in large kettles. As the water is boiled off the salt is left as a thick residue. The amount of wood to keep such an operation going simply boggles my mind.

    It did not take long for the pioneers to take note of the strange bones that were found washed out of the stream bank and strewn about. It would not be long that word spread back east and eventually to the inquiring mind of Thomas Jefferson. The sitting president was so mystified by the reports of the giant bones that he instructed  Meriwether  Lewis of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition to visit the site and ship back to Washington samples of the various bones. This was the beginning of a serious study of vertebrate paleontology.  No one could explain why elephant bones were found at Big Bone.

     So the name says it all. Big Bone Lick was a salt lick, like many found around the region, most probably resulting from the same ancient geological events as previously mentioned. Big Bone, well this was the place the bones of the largest mammals to ever roam North America first came to the attention of the world and eventually led to the scientific study of extinct life preserved in earth strata. The science of paleontology had its origin right here in Kentucky at Big Bone Lick.

    Today the Valley of the Bones main source of the bone finds and mineral springs are preserved as a state park. A person can walk a well maintained trail through the area that contains, no doubt, many more bones below the surface of the ground. Visitors can also see one of the salt springs that is still pumping up the briny,  sulfur smelling water. There is also a visitor, interpretive center with displays of bones from the site and information about the interesting history of the area. Don't expect to find giant mammoth bones sticking up out of the ground ready to be carried off. The surface area was picked clean decades ago. Paleontologists and archaeologists from major universities have also done extensive excavations and research over the years leading to much of the information we have today.