Prehistoric Landscape

Prehistoric Landscape. 420 Million Years Ago — 10,000 Years Ago. The Princeton you see today is not as it always was. Over billions of years, natural processes have drastically affected the climate, flora and fauna, and even the geographic location of what is now Princeton. Between 420 and 359 million years ago, during the Devonian Period, much of the Midwest was covered by shallow, tropical seas. Coral reefs and shells left by marine life eventually became the Indiana limestone we use in buildings and construction today, one example of which can be seen in limestone trim of the Gibson Co. Courthouse. During the Carboniferous Period (359-299 MYA), the supercontinent Pangaea was forming. Due to continental drift, Princeton's latitude was much farther south than it is today and lied within a tropical zone. The warm climate supported the growth of giant plants, with ferns and mosses the size of trees. Huge dragonflies with 3-foot wingspans buzzed through the tropical forests. After millions of years of heat and pressure, the buried remains of these giant plants were transformed into the coal that is mined in Gibson County today and used to create electricity. About 2.6 MYA, during the Pleistocene Epoch, the last Ice Age began. Large mammals such as Mastodons, Saber-toothed cats and giant Ground Sloths, roamed Indiana. We are currently in an interglacial warming period that began about 10,000 years ago. During this period, spruce trees retreated northward, giving way to dense forests of pine and hardwoods. Princeton would still be largely covered by these dense forests today, if not for agriculture-related land clearing. The ice-melt of the glaciers created the Wabash, Patoka and White Rivers and left rich silt deposits in the riverbeds. These rivers and the fertile soil surrounding them have given rise to a successful agricultural industry and have supported the growth and development of Princeton as we know it today.