BUTLER COUNTY. 4C1 



near to the water's edge, directly east of the village of Oxford. As was 

 shown in the chapter already quoted, the vertical range of this fossil is 

 very limited while its horizontal range is wide, so that it serves an excel- 

 lent purpose as a landmark in the system. Its altitude is a horizon about 

 four hundred and seventy-five feet above low-water at Cincinnati. * 



The Oxford sections are of interest from the fact that they yielded 

 thirty years ago, many of the type fossils of the formation. The early 

 geological work of David Christy, Esq., was done in this field, and through 

 him collections of the fossils found here were distributed among eastern 

 and foreign geologists. The name of Oxford is, accordingly, very widely 

 known as one of the typical localities of the Blue Limestone or Cincin- 

 nati Group of Southern Ohio. The original cabinet of Mr. Christy is 

 now in possession of Miami University, at Oxford. It contains a num- 

 ber of interesting fossils. 



Wayne and Madison townships, and especially the latter, furnish un- 

 surpassed exposures of the LebanoQ Beds in the banks of the smaller 

 streams that drain their highlands. Kemp's Run, near Middletown 

 Station, furnishes excellent ground for the collector, as do also several 

 branches that flow from Loy's Hill to Twin Creek, on the north line of 

 the county. 



SOILS AND WATER SUPPLY. 



The agricultural capabilities of some portions of the county have al- 

 ready been touched upon incidentally. A few additional statements upon 

 the general subjects of soil and water supply will be, however, appro- 

 priate here. 



Butler county stands scarcely second in productive power to any equal 

 area in the State. No qualification certainly would be required if the 

 valley of the Great Miami and that portion of the county lying east of 

 the river were alone to be taken into account. This region might put 

 in an unquestioned claim to be styled the garden of Ohio. It is made up 



• Note.— Mr. U. P. James reports that he has found this shell dnrirg the present sum- 

 mer, 1874, in Clermont county, associated with Stropliomena planumlona, and other char- 

 acteristic fossils of the Lebanon beds. This gives it a higher position, by at least one 

 hundred, leet than it has been kno-wn to occupy before, and wonld seem at first sight to 

 destroy the value of the fossil as a measure of elevation, but it does not necessarily bring 

 about this result, for the first named fact remains as stated heretofore, viz., that at a 

 horizon four hundred and seventy-five feet above low- water at Cincinnati, there is a wide- 

 spread distribution of this fossil with the narrowest vertical range. When the fossil is- 

 met with, it can easily be determined by an examination of the nearer beds, whether 

 it belongs to the universal sheet or whether it belongs to a sporadic bed like that noted 

 by Mr. James. 



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