34 



BULLETIN OF THE LABORATORIES 



southward through a shallow trough cut from the drift until near Rush- 

 ville when its valley suddenly becomes transformed into a narrow rock 

 gorge with the hills rising almost vertically 150 to 200 feet from the 

 stream, with scarcely room for the railroad and the creek between the 

 rock walls. And as suddenly does it again open out upon the broad 

 alluvial plain of the Rush creek valley at Bremen. Two other smaller 

 tributaries of Rush creek must be mentioned. Raccoon creek which 

 rises near Pleasant run in Pleasant township and flows southward al- 

 most parallel to that stream, and only a mile or so east of it, until it 

 reaches Berne township when, like Pleasant run, it flows out upon a 

 broad alluvial plain and turns east and flows through a broad and open 

 valley, which is nearly a mile wide, to Rush creek at Bremen. On the 

 township line between Pleasant and Berne the rock divide between 

 Pleasant run and Raccoon creek, is about 150 to 200 feet above the 

 streams, while in Berne township where Pleasant run turns west and Rac- 

 coon creek turns east, the two streams are on the same alluvial plain of a 

 broad east and west valley. In the early days when the country was 

 new and this old alluvial plain was timbered the waters of Raccoon 

 creek joined those of Pleasant run and flowed westward into the Hock- 

 ing. Their deflection eastward was brought about by the construction 

 the of an old mill pond and dam. The ditch dug for a waste way from 

 the mill wheel found a slightly lower level eastward, while the natural 

 overflow from the mill pond was westward. In time the pond filled with 

 silt, the mill was abandoned, the wheel (an overshot) decayed, the dam 

 also rotted away, the pond drained out through the waste way, and 

 Raccoon creek was added to Rush creek. A few logs still remain in the 

 bed of Raccoon creek to mark the site of the dam, the banks of the 

 pond have disappeared under the leveling action of plow and harrow, 

 but the whole story is told by the logs in the bed of the stream and the 

 eight feet of silt above the buried soil, which now shows where the 

 water has cut out its channel through the middle of the old pond. 



Turkey creek rises in Monday creek township of Perry county and 

 flows north-westward to join Rush creek, which is here flowing south 

 eastward. Its valley is continuous in direction and conforms in depth 

 and width to that of the Rush creek valley from the point of the con- 

 fluence of Turkey creek with Rush creek to Bremen. 



The topographical features in the vicinity of Lancaster can best be 

 observed from Mt. Pleasant, a bold bluff" of Logan conglomerate just 



