EICHLAND COUNTY. 323 



the stream occupying the raised bed of the old channel, which passes 

 west of Mansfield, and connects the waters of the Lake with the Ohio. 



Between the top of the argillaceous and silicious shales, which very 

 generally underlie the horizon of the Waverly Conglomerate, there is an 

 interval of something over three hundred feet, before the Berea, which is 

 quarried in the extreme north-west corner of the county, is reached. 

 The northern part of the county is comparatively level, the surface 

 deeply covered with unmodified clay Drift, except along the lines of an- 

 cient erosion, where the sand-ridges equally mask the geological struc- 

 ture. Hence there are very few rock exposures, and these so isolated 

 that the section cannot be constructed in detail. So far as seen, it is 

 composed of alternate strata of argillaceous and silicious shales having 

 little economic value, though some of the layers afibrd a fair stone for 

 ordinary foundation purposes. 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 



From what has already been written, it is apparent that the mineral 

 deposits of the county are not of very great economic value. 



The heavy beds of the Waverly afibrd an inexhaustible supply of stone 

 of good quality for bridge and foundation purposes, which would also 

 make a fair building stone, but not equal in value to the Berea north of 

 it, or to the more homogeneous and finer-grained sandstones of the Wa- 

 verly, further south. The peculiarly rich, but ratlier gaudy, coloring of 

 the rock from the quarry near Mansfield and other places would, if prop- 

 erly selected, make highly ornamental window caps, sills, etc., and might 

 be used for the entire fronts of buildings. 



The Berea is too far beneath the surface to be accessible, except at the 

 north-west corner of the county, and does not there present its best char- 

 acteristics. 



The iron ore of the county consists of the silicious ore occupying the 

 horizon of the Conglomerate at the tops of the highest hills ; nodules of 

 clay-iron stone found here and there throughout the rock formations, 

 and bog ore found in a few places on the surface. None of these are in 

 sufficient quantity, or of sufficient purity, to pAy for transportation to 

 parts where they could be economically used. 



Since the explorations of the county were made, considerable local in-- 

 terest has been manifested in the reported discovery of coal by deep bor- 

 ings in the immediate neighborhood of Mansfield. Coal is exhibited 

 said to have been taken from the borings. It is a legitimate part of the 

 work of a geological survey to expose and to prevent frauds of this 

 kind so far as it can be done, but not to assert that any particular 



