346 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



DIVISIOIS^ II. 



T^OPOGRAPHICAL. 



At the time of its separation from Chester county, the boundaries of Lancaster county 

 comi^rised "all the province lying to the Northward of Octoraro Creek and Westward 

 of a line of marked trees running from the North branch of the said Octoraro Creek, 

 Northeasterly to the river Schuylkill." Having been gradually reduced to its present 

 limits by the erection into separate counties of York, Cumberland, Berks, Northum- 

 berland, Dauphin and Lebanon, it is now bounded North by the counties of Dauphin, 

 Lebanon and Berks, East by Chester county, South by Cecil county in Maryland, and 

 Southwest by the Susquehanna River. Length 33 miles, breadth 38; area 938 miles; 

 central lat. 40^ 3' N. ; long 0^ 40' E. from W. C. 



It is, perhaps, the wealthiest county of the State, in natural advantages, having a 

 fine navigable river, which washes its western shore for more than 40 miles, a great 

 diversity of surface and soil, abundantly watered by mill streams ; many and excellent 

 roads, the principal of which are paved with stone ; a large city, and many fine towns 

 and villages, and a population alike enterprising, patient and industrious, and conse- 

 quently all powerful in compelling the earth to yield her most precious fruits. The 

 great geological feature of the county is its division between the secondary and transi- 

 tion formations ; a broad vein of secondary limestone, underlying the southern half, 

 whilst a nearly equal belt of transition red sandstone covers the northern. The fonner 

 aftbrds abundant supplies for building and manure, and superior marble for architectu- 

 ral ornament. This portion of the country also produces lai'ge quantities of the oxide 

 of chrome, or chromate of iron, and abundance of magnesite, from which a Baltimore 

 firm have taken several hundred tons per annum, and from which they manufacture 

 1,500,000 lbs. of sulphate of magnesia (epsom salts) annually, supplying the country 

 with these two articles, at a price far less than they can be imported. Iron ore is also 

 abundant in this region, and is found in the hills on the northern boundary. Good 

 roofing slate is quarried on both sides of the Susquehanna near Peach Bottom ferry. 

 Anthracite coal is said to have been discovered near Reamstown, but neither in quality 

 nor quantity worthy of attention. 



Three ranges of hills run through the county from S. E. to N. W., the southernmost, 

 chiefly in Martic, Bart and Sadsbury townships, includes Mine Ridge, and is notable 

 for iron and copper ore, and other valuable minerals. The second range, more broken 

 and less continuous, and of small elevation, commences at and about Columbia, and 

 includes the Ephrata ridge ; and the third, the highest and most connected, is the Con- 

 ewago or South mountain. 



Crossing the county from E. to W., S. of the parallel of Lancaster, we have Octoraro 

 creek, which separates it from Chester, the N. and W. branches of that stream, the 

 Conewingo creek. Fishing creek. Muddy creek, Tucquean creek, the Pequea, which 

 runs S. W. over the county, receiving Beaver creek, and Little Beaver creek, and many 

 smaller streams. The Conestoga creek, which, rising in Berks county, flows by a 

 western course into Warwick township, and thence S. W. by the city of Lancaster to 

 the Susquehanna river, being the recipient of many excellent streams which increase its 



