220 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



they are so steep and the soil so thin. Much attention is paid to sheep- 

 raising, which is thought to be the only pursuit yielding a fair interest 

 on the value of the land. It is probable, however, that eventually Guern- 

 sey countj' will become important as a dairy district, for it possesses many 

 springs of cool, soft water, and its hill sides are fitted only for pasture. 



The outlets are the Central Ohio Railroad, running east and west 

 through the southern portion of the county, and the Cleveland, Pittsburgh 

 and Marietta Railroad, which passes through the western portion, while 

 another road will probably be built in the east. The county seat is 

 Cambridge, on the Central Ohio Railroad, which is rapidly increasing in 

 population and business importance. Throughout the county the inhab- 

 itants are industrious and, notwithstanding the comparative povertj^ of 

 the soil, prosperous. 



GENERAL GEOLOGY. 



The consolidated rocks belong wholly to the Coal Measures. In the 

 eastern portion, the lower strata of the Upper Coal Group are exposed, 

 and in the north-western corner some -are seen belonging to the Lower 

 Coal Group. The main portion of the county shows nothing but rocks 

 belonging to the Lower Barren Group, which are chiefly sandstones and 

 shales, with a few thin limestones and several uncertain beds of coal. 



In this county we find two anticlinals. The more important one seems 

 to be closely related to that already described in the report on Harrison 

 county, and has a north-eastern and south-western direction through 

 Londonderry, Madison, Center, Cambridge, and Adams townships. Its 

 synclinal axis passes through Monroe, Liberty, and Adams. Near Antrim 

 the north-westward dip is nearly one hundred feet to the mile, but towards 

 Cambridge it apparently decreases. In that township it evidently throws 

 off a spur of small dimensions to the south. The eastern slope has been 

 more eroded than the western, and several small areas of Coal No. 8 are 

 found on the latter, separated from six to ten miles from the western 

 outcrop of that coal. Along the southern prolongation of the axis erosion 

 has been so active as to render the phenomena very obscure. 



The other anticlinal crosses the ]Muskingura line into Guernsey county 

 not far frwm the junction of Knox township, Guernsey county, and' Lin- 

 ton township, Coshocton county, and is identical for some distance with 

 the "Irish Ridge" of the former township. It is quite abrupt to the 

 east, and causes an elevation of not less than one hundred and thirty 

 feet. The direction is east of north and west of south, so that the trough 

 between it and the axis already referred to becomes very narrow toward 

 the railroad. 



