Geological Survey of the State of Ohio. 361 



bones of extinct mammalia occur. These formations occupy an 

 extensive area in the middle and western portion of the State. 



IX. Recent deposits. — The most extensive deposits of this kind, 

 are such as are now forming along the banks of the rivers. None 

 of them are of sufficient interest to deserve being mentioned. 



We have thus given a brief description of the principal rocks 

 of Ohio. It is as extended as our limits would permit. 



The report of Col. Whittlesey, of the topographical department, 

 remains to be noticed. We perceive that the survey and descrip- 

 tion of the ancient works of Ohio are included in his duties. In 

 reference to these he says : — 



" I have inspected the ancient remains within the district embraced In 

 this season's operations, and have sketches and notes of nine separate 

 vv^orks. Further exploration and measurements are necessary, however, 

 to render complete the plan, specification and detailed description of most 

 of them. These plans will exhihit the figure of each ruin, as far as it 

 can be traced upon the ground ; the elevation and depression of its em- 

 bankments and excavations, by means of vertical sections or profiles, and 

 a topographical sketch of the vicinity. A plan of the remains at Marietta 

 is nearly finished, and may serve as a specimen of the general method, 

 according to which it is proposed to execute the whole set. 



" Many of these ruins of a lost race, are to this day without a descrip- 

 tion, while their forms and dimensions are fast disappearing under the 

 operation of the plough and the spade. For it is in the rich valleys of the 

 Miami, the Scioto, and the Muskingum, where the modern agriculturalist 

 now cultivates the soil, that an ancient people, more numerous than the 

 present occupants, pursued the same peaceful avocation, at least ten cen- 

 turies ago ; and upon the sites of modern towns within these valleys, as 

 at Cincinnati, Chilicothe, Circleville, Piketon, Portsmouth, and Mari- 

 etta, the ancients located their cities, of which distinct traces exist. They 

 also occupied many other points upon the rivers named, of which evi- 

 dences remain too plain to be misunderstood. The interest manifested 

 by the learned abroad, relative to these works, and the hasty and im- 

 perfect sketches taken of them by travellers, in addition to a local curi- 

 osity respecting our predecessors upon this soil, and the other considera- 

 tions above named, seem to demand of us a thorough record of what re- 

 mains to our observation. A general description will accompany the 

 plans when complete, for which it is proper to reserve observations. But 

 the popular name of ' fortifications,' bestowed upon these ruins, leads me 

 to state, that I have seen none to which the term is applicable. I have 

 examined the extensive works at Marietta, and those more extensive 

 ones at, and in the vicinity of Portsmouth — at Vulgamore's, in Pike county 



Vol. XXXIV.— No. 2. 46 



