AMERICAN GEOLOGY DECADE OF 1830-1839. 881 



He thought to recognize in the Muskingum Valley Tertiary and Car- 

 boniferous rocks with New Red sandstone on the extreme southern 

 border, while on the Clear Fork of the Little Muskingum he noted 

 the occurrence of a white limestone which he erroneously assigned to 

 the Lias. 



Considerable attention was given to the " muriatif erous " rocks, and 

 he noted the outcropping of a 5-foot bed of coal in the vicinity of the 

 salt deposit as "•evincing apparent design in Him who laid the foun- 

 dations of the earth in the greater abundance of coal in those places 

 where it would be the most useful," i. e., in the evaporation of brine 

 for making salt. The occurrence of petroleum springs on the Little 

 Kanawha he thus describes: 



By opening and loosening with a spade or sharpened stick, the gravel and sand 

 * * * the oil rises to the surface of the water, with which the trench is partially 

 filled. It is then skimmed off with a tin cup or some other suitable vessel, and put 

 up in barrels for sale or domestic uses. In this way from 50 to 100 barrels are col- 

 lected in a season, and much more could be gathered 

 if demand required. In the adjacent hills is a thin 

 lied ef coal * * * but the source whence this 

 petroleum flows must be deep in the earth, and the 

 material which furnishes, vast in dimensions. The 

 process is one of nature's hidden mysteries, carried 

 on in her secret laboratory, far beyond the reach, 

 and inaccessible to the curiositv of man. 



The occurrence of gas springs he also 

 noted, and one in the center of an open 

 tract, "given to the public by the liberality 

 of Washington." who w " viewed it as an inter- 

 esting natural phenomenon which no parsi- 

 monious individual ought ever to appropri- 

 ate to his own benefit," is described in some Fra.a6.-Bamuei Prescott midreth. 

 detail and the same reverential spirit. " There appears to be no dimi- 

 nution in the amount of gas from its first discovery to the present 

 time. The same Almighty and liberal hand, which furnished the 

 perennial fountains with water, having also provided this gaseous 

 spring with the means of an exhaustless supply." 



Hildreth\s supposed discovery of the Liassic age of the white lime- 

 stone, noted above, was later disputed by John Banister Gibson, 

 chief justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, who claimed the 

 credit for himself. Both were, however, in error, as shown by sub- 

 sequent investigation. 



In 1886 there was organized the first geological survey of the State 

 of Ohio, and W. W. Mather appointed chief geologist. 



Mather's Geological lr i ,. n 



survey of Ohio. Ihe survey lasted two years, seeming to have fallen 



through on account of local jealousies. Two annual 

 reports were issued, of 184 and 286 pages, respectively, both bearing 

 date of 1888. 



