26 Geology of the Musldngum Valley. 



19. Red sandstone, with hard fragments of silex. — 7 feet. 



20. Black carbonaceous deposit, upper part containing some 

 sand, and throwing off a large quantity of carburetted hydrogen gas, 

 and considerable petroleum. The lower part of the deposit, five 

 feet in thickness composed of black carbonaceous matter like the 

 pulverized coal of pine wood and floating on the top of the water 

 in the head of the well, quite dry when removed ; probably the 

 petroleum rendered it repulsive. I have some of it in my possess- 

 ion ; it is quite inflammable and resembles mineral charcoal. — 



13 feet. 



21. Blue, argillaceous conglomerate, with imbedded pebbles of 

 white quartz, pieces the size of a pea coming up in the pump; when 

 dried in the air, the fine mud became coated with a white salt, 

 bitter and pungent, probably a muriate of lime. Here the boring 

 ceased at 200 feet from the top of the well, and 359 below the 

 surface of the hills. 



Muriatiferous Rocks. 



As we proceed up the Muskingum valley, the hills become more 

 elevated, especially at the great salt deposits, about forty miles 

 from the mouth of the river, where they rise to an elevation of nearly 

 three hundred feet, above the bed of the river ; at a point, twenty 

 five miles from the mouth, to the falls at Zanesville, a distance of 

 about thirty miles in a direct line, the strata dip south or south east, 

 at the rate of about twenty feet to the mile, several of the strata 

 cropping out between these two points ; showing the same upward 

 tendency of the saliferous rock strata here, that has been observed 

 at the works on the Kiskiminitas and Kenawha, but whether this 

 elevation was caused by the immense evolution of gases, much 

 more abundant in early times at all the salines than at present, or 

 from internal heat, remains as yet unknown. The temperature of 

 the salt water as it rises from the deep wells, is found to be about 

 50° of Farenheit ; while that of springs and wells of fresh water in 

 the vicinity is about 52°. From this we may infer that the salif- 

 erous and secondary strata are of great thickness and that those 

 seen, lie far above the primitive rocks, which are doubtless of igneous 

 origin ; and the existence of internal heat is countenanced by the 

 fact that mines regularly increase in temperature as they descend 

 deeper into the earth ; the same fact is also observed in Artesian 



