SKETCH OF FLINT RIDGE, LICKING COUNTY, OHIO. 859 



coucretions. Agates cannot exceed in brilliancy or delicacy the beau- 

 tiful markings found in many of the fragments. 



In nearly all the crevices in the flint, so far as digging by searchers 

 goes to show, are found quartz crystals. These are of more recent ori- 

 gin, being formed by the evaporation of waters of infiltration carrying 

 silica in solution. They vary in size from those which are microscopic 

 to those as large as a hen's egg. Some are limpid as pure water; 

 others are charged with carbonaceous matter, and sometimes in such 

 quantity as to make them almost black. They are all short, the ter- 

 minating pyramidal point frequently being all there is to them Gener- 

 ally they are found adhering to the face of the rock, though some- 

 times they may be found in the soil filling the crevices. In the latter 

 case it is probable that the flint holding them has weathered down and 

 they have fallen off, as crystals formed free or unattached to a base 

 generally terminate in a pyramid at each end, a shape not found here. 

 Baryte and calcite are found occasionally, filling cavities in the flint. 

 A few dollars' worth of gold was washed out of the sand in the bank of a 

 little stream on the south side of the ridge a few years ago, and stories 

 of various Indians and Californians who know the location in these hills 

 of nearly all the metals of the globe can be heard from every man who 

 lives within miles. No doubt minute quantities of various mineral^ can 

 be found such as occur in all geological formations ; but coal and clay 

 will be about the only sources of wealth that can ever be made availa- 

 ble beyond the agricultural productions of the country. The land is 

 admirably suited to the growth of grass, and this, with the abundance 

 of pure water in every ravine, must make stock-raising the most profita- 

 ble occupation in which the people can engage. 

 Now, as to the evidences of prehistoric industry. 

 The blacksmith shop of John Loughman, at the cross-roads, 3 miles 

 north of Brownsville, is a central point from which distance and direc- 

 tion can be estimated, and has the advantage of being well known to 

 every one for miles, so that a person can easily take it for a starting 



place. 



It is not until within half a mile of heie, coming from the direction of 

 Newark, that pits opened for the purpose of obtaining flint begin to ap- 

 pear. The western end of the ridge was for some reason left untouched ; 

 probably it can be explained when we come to speak of the evidences of 

 settlements ; at any rate,* the rock could have been easily quarried, and 

 seems as well adapted to purposes of manufacture as at other places. 



The pits first appear on the north side of the ridge road, and extend in 

 a northwest direction, along a spur of iibout one-fourth of a mUe in length, 

 nearly to its termination. A ravine heads, near the road, east of this 

 spur, and the next pits are found. on the eastern side of this ravine, on 

 the farm of Alexander Miller, whose land extends to the cross-roads. 



The flint lies nearer the surface here than on the south side of the 

 road which at this place is about 500 yards south of the northern limit 



