256 -^w Explanation — Geology of Ohio. [June, 



of rocks, intermingled with sands and clays. Its rocks are rounded 

 by attrition, have been transported from distances, and include gran- 

 ite, syenite, gneiss, greenstone, trap and limestone. The limestone 

 pebbles are u.sually greatly in excess over those of a primary 

 character, so that the soils derived from the decomposition of this 

 Drift are little, if anything, inferior to those of the underlying 

 Silurian rocks. This formation lies in patches, sometimes of con- 

 siderable extent, and has a depth varying from a few inches to more 

 than a hundred feet. Over all this Diluvium, as well as over all the 

 parts not covered by it, there exists a rich loam, the accumulation 

 of ages and consisting of both organic and inorganic elements in 

 such proportions, and of such depth, as to serve well the agricul- 

 turist for the production of the most bountiful crops ; and then, 

 beneath this loam there exists a basis of inorganic elements of in- 

 exhaustible extent, rendering the lands, by proper cultivation, of 

 perpetual fertility. 



The greater portion of the rocks of both these formations abound 

 in jDutrefactions of marine molluscs and i^oJyps. The organic ele- 

 ments thus retained in the rocks may be sufficient to be of much 

 value to vegetation. Indeed, by a discovery made in the laboratory 

 of Dr. Locke, a year or so before his death, by his son. Prof. John 

 Locke, Jr., it would appear probable that there will be little need, 

 so far as the phosphates are concerned, for the addition of guano 

 to these soils. In testing the fossils, by chemical analysis, he dis- 

 covered that they contained phosphoric acid, derived, of course, from 

 the animal matter of the shellfish originally inhabiting the shells. 



The seven counties through which this railroad passes include a 

 total of 1,280,441 acres of land, of which 617,185 acres were under 

 cultivation in 1850, thus leaving 663,256 acres, or more than one- 

 half of the whole territory, then unimproved. The total popula- 

 tion in 1850, including the city of Hamilton and all their towns, 

 was 121,103 persons, or only one to each 10^ acres of land. The 

 value of the products of agriculture and of animals for that year, 

 in these seven counties, reached the sum of S8, 125,482. 



The population of these counties is about as dense as that of 

 other counties equally distant from Cincinnati. The lands, too, are 

 fully equal in fertility to those traversed by any other railroad ex- 

 tending from that city. Tliey are rapidly filling up with an enter- 

 prising population, and greatly increasing their products. The com- 

 pletion of this railroad will give an additional impulse to their in- 



