Saliferous Rock Formation in the Valley of the Ohio. 67 



A plan and description of the rock formation, in the salt region on 

 the Muskingum river, near McConnelsville, Ohio, eight hundred 

 and twenty feet of which are taken from the original minutes of L. G. 

 Barker, kept while boring his salt well in 1831. 



N. B. As it would occupy too much space to give a regular scale, in 

 proportion to each formation, therefore the table will be so construct- 

 ed as to take up no more room than will be needed to describe each 

 deposit, with its thickness and color. . The first column contains the 

 number of the series, with their order; the second, the stratum; the 

 third, its thickness in feet and inches. The description commences 

 with the most recent deposit, one hundred and eighty two feet above 

 the top of the salt well. 



Remark of the Editor. — Dr. Hildreth has given the local terms 

 of the country to the strata ; this accords with the general practice in 

 Europe, where, local matters of fact, reladng to mining operations, are 

 frequently stated in4he language of the workmen ; for, the miners and 

 borers for salt water and coal are rarely familiar with the terms of geo- 

 logical science. By applying the scientific language, now adopted in 

 England and elsewhere, for the members of the salt formation, the list 

 of strata, in the subsequent table, would doubtless be greatly reduced 

 in the number of its members, and the names of some of them would, 

 undoubtedly, be altered ; but we will not venture on the task ; cer- 

 tainly not without access to arranged specimens, from the places de- 

 scribed, or better still, to. the strata themselves. 



No. Description of strata. Thickness — feet inch. 



1. Superincumbent soil, composed of alluvion, diluvion, 

 . plastic clay, marl, and earths of different colors, em- 

 bracing red,* orange, pale dun, and ash colored, 

 with vegetable mould, by estimation, - - 60 



2. Sand rock. — This rock embraces many different vari- 



eties, from very coarse grained to very fine, and 



* Beds of fine nodular oxide of iron, are found in many places, formed in the red 

 or brown marl of tlie uppermost formation. Tliis marl, before exposure to the at- 

 mosphere is in a stony state, and of a slaty structure, often containing impressions of 

 fern. These impressions are also found on the ore itself. As the side hills are 

 washed away by rain, the nodules of ore tumble out and are found lying on the sur- 

 face along the face of the slope, in large quanties. This red, marly deposit s^ems 

 to be peculiar to the salt region, and increases in frequency and in thickness as we 

 approach the Alleghany range of mountains. The soil formed from its decompositioQ 

 is stiff, but very productive. It contains a large share of calcareous matter. 



Vol. XXIV.— No. I. 8 



