372 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



township. At the Center a succession of some thirty feet of strata can 

 be seen. The lowest bed is rather hard ; with this exception, and that 

 of a layer eight inches thick of fine-grained shaly sandstone, some fifteen 

 feet above the river bed, the rock is of a uniform dark grey color, and 

 quite soft. Fucoids in great abundance cover the under surface of the 

 layer of sandstone. Spirophyton is abundant in a shaly sand ;tone which 

 is exposed in the river bed at a place one mile south of the Center. Fos- 

 sils in great variety — crinoids, bryozoans, brachiopods, orthoceratites, 

 and trilobites — are to be found in a water-washed bluff, where the bridge 

 crosses the river one mile below Abbeville. About one hundred and 

 fifty species were obtained here. Most of them were found in the len- 

 ticular concretions of lime and iron ; those in the soft shale were all 

 unfit for preservation. Scarcelj' one per cent, of the concretions are fos- 

 siliferous, but those which are po are very rich in well-marked forms. 

 This blufif is on the east side of the river, and extends as an abrupt wall 

 for some eighty rods, the height being generally thirty feet. Thin con- 

 tinuous layers of sandy shale can be traced along the cliff. Concretions 

 are very abundant from the base of the exposure to the summit, and are, 

 as is usual, arranged in continuous layers ; the average thickness ot the 

 concretions is one inch, and the maximum thickness four inches. These 

 concretionary beds can be seen in their connection with those above 

 them, in York township, a quarter of a mile north of the Abbeville 

 bridge. 



Nine wells, which were bored for petroleum in Liverpool, yielded a small 

 amount of oil ; two others failed to afford any. Some wells which were 

 sunk only one hundred feet "struck oil.'' Mr. John Jordan put one well 

 down fourteen hundred and fifty feet. The location of this well is over 

 half a mile north of the Center. No satisfactory section of this and 

 other wells can be obtained, but only general statements, which are too 

 indefinite to be of real value. Five wells were put down over five hun- 

 dred feet. The Gardner well was nearly one hundred and fifty feet to 

 the sand-rock. The well at the grist mill was put down to the sand-rock, 

 one hundred and forty-five feet. The deepest well, Mr. Jordan's, was put 

 through the sandstone (Berea Grit), the red and black shale (Bedford, 

 Cleveland, Erie, and Huron shales), some flinty layers (Hamilton), and 

 then five hundred feet into limestone (Corniferous, Water-lime, and 

 Niagara). One hundred and fifty barrels of oil were taken from one 

 well ; others yielded from thirty to forty barrels each. None of these 

 can be profitably worked for their oil at present prices. Gas comes con- 

 tinually from several of these wells. 



