Mesozoic and Ccenozoic Geology and Palceontology. 333 



of water from the north, the adjacent land was not overflowed, and the 

 height of the water in the valley was marked by river terraces. In 

 eastern Ohio, however, only those rivers which have their sources in 

 the central and northern part of the State, have river terraces, as the 

 Scioto, Hocking, and Muskingum rivers; while the smaller tributaries 

 of the Ohio, such as Raccoon, Shade, Little Muskingum, and Duck 

 creek, have not a vestige of the evidences of the drift from their sources 

 to the Ohio. Some counties are absolutely driftless areas, while others, 

 like Athens and Washington, show that the water passed down 

 the Hocking and Muskingum valleys, but overspread no other 

 part of the countr}'. The same phenomena may be observed in Indi- 

 ana and Illinois. The water did not cross the great valley of the Ohio 

 until it reached the western part of Kentucky, for the States of Ken- 

 tucky and Virginia, south and east of the State of Ohio, are absolutely 

 driftless areas. 



It is an important fact, that throughout the drift area of Ohio, in all 

 well authenticated cases of excavation, below the drift, where there are 

 no evidences of denudation, at the particular places, there has been 

 found an ancient soil of vegetable mould I'esting upon the disintegrated 

 stratified rocks in place. The beech, sycamore, hickory and cedar 

 have been found where they grew prior to the existence of the drift 

 period. And beneath this ancient soil, no one has discovered striated 

 or furrowed rocks, such as the glacialists have claimed as an evidence 

 of their theor}', and which are not uncommon where the ancient soil 

 does not exist. Wherever a ridge is found having an easterly and 

 westerly direction, the north side and the plains to the north are 

 covered with this ancient soil, reposing on the stratified rocks, beneath 

 the whole mass of the drift. But on the ridges the soil is usually 

 absent, and the rocks are not unfrequenth^ scratched and covered 

 with drift resting upon the abraded surfaces. 



A very good illustration of the ancient soil beneath the drift may 

 be seen at the railroad cut north of the tunnel on East Walnut Hills, 

 in the city of Cincinnati. This soil has a thickness in one place of 

 four feet, and consists of a compact mass of very dark, rich, decayed 

 vegetable matter full of roots which are lignitiferous, and still retain 

 the hard woody fibers in a moderately good state of preservation. It 

 reposes on the rocks of the Hudson River Group, and is covered b}^ the 

 sand and gravel of the drift, twentj^ feet or more in thickness. 



The excavation exposed it upon each side, for a distance of about 

 100 feet, but the masonry will entirely cover it and hide it from view 

 this season. 



