no The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. X, No. 5, 



measures from 2 to .3 feet in thickness, is blue-black and very fos- 

 siliferous. Here it is directly underlain by '2h inches of blue and 

 yellow clay succeeded by 14 inches of coal. 



This limestone is seen again outcropping in the roadway 

 \ mile southeast of the village. 



About \ mile north of the village on Island Creek, and near 

 stream level a bed of coal is found. The bed has been opened but 

 found to be too poor to mine. It lies at 1012 feet above sea and 

 appears to be the coal belonging to the Lower Mercer limestone 

 although no limestone is found at this horizon in this vicinity. 

 This coal is of no value further than aiding in identifying horizons 

 and its relations will be considered in this connection with the 

 outcrops on Little Mill Creek. At various places from the North 

 Benton Cemetery, below the fireclay noted, loose micaceous sand- 

 stone in thin layers can be seen down stream to the outcrop of 

 the above coal. This interval of about 36 feet appears to be 

 composed largely of this kind of rock. The interval, however, 

 at first appears too great to be that between the Mercer Lime- 

 stones, but it will be remembered that the elevation of 1048 

 above sea is on a crest of the Upper Mercer and a sharp dip is 

 seen. The trough in all probability reaches 1042 or less. Again 

 were the- Lower Mercer present with a thickness of 3 feet and 

 I'esting directly upon the coal, which it does not always do, the 

 interval would be still further reduced and within the limit seen 

 at Howenstein. 



Little Mill Creek. This stream flows into the Mahoning River 

 from the east and with its mouth located about 1 mile north of 

 the O. F. Henry outcrop and near the Portage-Mahoning County 

 line. This stream is. designated Little Mill Creek to avoid con- 

 fusion with another Mill Creek in the eastern end of the county. 

 One and one-half miles east of its mouth and 2 miles northeast 

 of North Benton several outcrops of limestones occur along 

 this stream and its branches. They are the Mercer limestones. 

 The Upper Mercer occurs in typical exposure in a small ravine 

 a few rods east of Mr. Simon Hartzell's barn where it is 2^ to 

 3 feet thick and dips sharply toward the south. At a medium 

 point its elevation is 1037 feet above sea. This stone is blue- 

 gray to blue-black and weathers to a rust5^ brown. About \ mile 

 south of this point a thin coal is seen in the shale and clay pit 

 of the Dustman Brothers Pottery Plant which lies at about 1075 

 above sea and apparently marks the horizon of the Howenstein 

 limestone but no limestone is present. Only dark shale and drift 

 clay overlie this coal. 



About the same distance north of the Hartzell outcrop the 

 Lower Mercer becomes a very conspicuous stratum in the sides 

 and floor of Little Mill Creek. About 150 yai'ds above the high- 

 way bridge on the north and south road this stratum forms a fall 



