144 Silicious Deposit. 



was already prepared for use, and more valuable to them than a 

 mine of gold ; with the tip of an elk's horn, and one of their stone 

 axes, the flint was wrought into articles of indispensable utility in 

 the chase, and in war. A large proportion of the arrow heads 

 found in the Muskingum valley, are from this place, which fur- 

 nished articles not only of necessity, but also of great beauty, 

 many of them being variegated with rich colors, always in high 

 estimation with the savage. Another object of search, may have 

 been, the splendid crystals of limpid and colored quartz, which 

 abound amongst the flint, covering spaces of more than a foot square 

 with hexagonal pyramids, united at their bases, and sometimes near- 

 ly an inch in length, but generally about half an inch. Fragments 

 of these are often found in mounds, buried with other curious relics, 

 precious in the eyes of an Indian. Veins of very pure chalcedony, 

 traverse many parts of the rock; and large amorphous fragments of 

 sulphuret of barytes are common, intermixed with the flint or horn- 

 stone. I have in my cabinet, several specimens from this place» 

 Fossil shells, are found in all parts of the deposit, partaking of the 

 character of the rock in which they lie imbedded. Some are repla- 

 ced by pure chalcedony — others by crystalline quartz, so pure as to 

 be nearly transparent — others again, are hollow and filled with small 

 drusy crystals of limpid quartz, and in one instance, containing the 

 outlines of a Spirifer, or rather the replaced animal itself. Figures 

 of several from this bed are given in the section of "Putnam hill," 

 as the shells are similar in both localities, and only about six miles 

 distant. This stratum varies in thickness at different points ; in 

 some, it is eight or ten feet, at others considerably more. In all its 

 extent, it is stratified, or lies in separate beds, but is much broken 

 into large blocks and fragments by vertical seams, so that, when un- 

 covered, it is easily removed from the quarry. It varies much in its 

 structure, some portions being crystalline and others mechanical. 

 Whether this silicious bed is the westerly termination of that ex- 

 tensive stratum known to exist in the series of muriatiferous rocks, 

 and penetrated by salt wells in so many places, is not yet known ; 

 and can be decided only, by a careful examination of its dip and as- 

 sociation with other rocks, through its whole course, although my 

 present opinion is, that it is a distinct deposit. If so, it must have 

 been made in the bed of the ancient ocean, from a combination of 

 minerals held in solution by hot or boiling water, ejected from the 

 interior of the earth through some extensive crevice in the strata be- 



