Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



THE IVORYDALE WELL IN MILL CREEK VALLEY. 

 By Prop\ Joseph V. James, M.S. 



Read September 4, 1 888. 



"Ivorydale" is the name given to the soap and candle manu- 

 facturing establishment of Procter & Gamble in Mill Creek Valley 

 a few miles north of the city of Cincinnati. About a year and a 

 half ago the company dug a couple of wells at tlieir works to secure 

 a supply of water for various purposes. A record of the material 

 passed through before the rock was reached is of mterest, as show- 

 ing the depth of the drift deposit and of the extent of the e.xca- 

 vation of the channel. Believing that records of this character 

 are of value, as indicating the extent of the erosion of the earth's 

 surface previous to the Glacial Period, this record is now brought 

 before you. 



The mouth of the well in (piestion was 74 feet above low water 

 in the Ohio River, but as a fill of 5 feet had been made in some 

 time past, the original surface was 69 feet above low water. In 

 the drilling, loam was found to be 5 feet 8 inches in depth. Below 

 this lay a bed of gravel 5 feet thick. Next came a very heavy 

 deposit of clay, the drill penetrating 49 feet 4 inches before getting 

 through, and reaching below another five-foot deposit of sand and 

 gravel. Then came 11 feet 6 inches of ''yellow sand" (so called), 

 and beneath this 20 feet 6 inches of clay. A foot of gravel and 

 sand lay upon the bed-rock, which was thus found 98 feet below 

 the original surface of the ground. 



The interest of the record lies in the extreme thickness of the 

 clay dci)Osits. These aggregated 70 feet, while the gravel and 

 sand aggregated 22 feet 6 inches. Tne question presents itself. Do 

 these two deposits of clay, separated by a five-foot stratum of 

 gravel and sand, represent two successive glacial periods? Or, 

 does the second deposit of 49 feet of clay indicate a gradual sink- 

 ing of the ground so as to permit of this accumulation? While 

 the existence of a great accumulation of drift material in the Mill 

 Creek Valley has long been known, I believe this is the first time 



