SOURCE OF ST. PETER's RIVER. 43 



upwards of one hundred feet, it was performed for seventy- 

 five cents per foot. The whole capital required to put up 

 salt works in this neighbourhood, is estimated at four 

 thousand five hundred dollars; and when the work is pru- 

 dently conducted, the business is considered very good; 

 though the price of salt is at present low. 



It was in boring for coal, a few years since, that a de- 

 ception was practised, which made considerable noise in 

 the country, and produced much mischief in Zanesville and 

 its vicinity. It appears well ascertained, at present, that 

 the silver, said to have been found in one of the auger 

 holes bored on the banks of the river, had been thrown in 

 by some evil-minded persons. The pretended discovery 

 induced many to speculate largely upon the mine, before 

 the detection of the plot, whence they incurred great losses; 

 this event occurred in the year 1819. 



The banks of the river are strewed with vast numbers of 

 pebbles, much rolled, and evidently carried from a great dis- 

 tance. They consist principally of quartz, in some cases hya- 

 line, in others partaking of the nature of jasper, agate, semi- 

 opal, &c. fragments of granitic and amphibolic rocks are also 

 to be met with here and there. Specimens of petrified Re- 

 tipore and Favosites striata, Say, and of a new genus of the 

 Polypiers lameUiferes of Lamarck, Chonemblema, Say,* 

 were also observed on the shore. These petrifactions are 

 siliceous and rolled, and bear the appearance of having been 

 removed far from their original locality. Specimens of the 

 Favosites striata are also common in this vicinity. 



We observed near the bank of the river a considerable 

 accumulation of common flint, (quartz silex,) which con- 

 sisted of irregularly shaped blocks of silex, apparently no- 



• Appendix, I. A. 



