BUTLER COUNTY. 403 



these noble tracts can not much longer endure, they seem somewhat 

 stubborn and sterile. 



There are no native soils on the uplands of the county, but the beds of 

 drift grow thinn r n.s we pass to the southward, and occasionally they 

 disappear for limited areas from the slopes of the hills. The soil that is 

 there formed from the waste of the shales and limestones of the Cincin- 

 nati series is of unusual excellence. The famous blue-grass land of Ken- 

 tucky, it will be remembered, is derived from this same system. 



The fact that the boundary of the drift is being rapidly neared as we 

 approach the southern line of the county explains certain points in the 

 topography of the four south-western townships. They are much rougher 

 and more broken than the remaining areas. This arises from the failure 

 of the drift to cover the irregularities here as it has elsewhere done. 

 There is certainly no reason to suppose that the contour of the rocky floor 

 is more irregular in one district than in another. What Butler county 

 owes to the drift can be well seen by comparing Liberty and Union town- 

 ships of the south-eastern corner with Reilly and Morgan townships of 

 the south-west. 



The views furnished by the uplands, especially as we approach the 

 Great Miami Valley from either side, are, many of them, very wide and 

 attractive. Several can be named that are not to be surpassed in quiet, 

 pastoral beauty by any thing within the limits of the State. 



From Snively's Hill, near Jacksonburgh, a wide and beautiful expanse 

 of country is shown, of the main valley on the east and south, and of the 

 valley of Seven Mile Creek on the west. 



A still more commanding outlook is furnished on the farm of Randolph 

 Meeker, Esq., near Pisgah. It comprises nearly one-fourth part, and that 

 the richest corner, of Butler county. 



Such elements as these are not to be omitted in making out the cata- 

 logue of attractions that a country possesses for human occupation. 



The water supply of Butler county can not be said to be good. The 

 geological formation from which the county is built is universally and 

 necessarily poor in this respect. The rain-fall can not penetrate the 

 fine-grained clays of the Cincinnati series, and is consequently turned 

 outwards in surface drainage. Wherever the rock is heavily covered 

 with drift beds the supply is improved, both in quality and quantity; 

 but in the thinly covered uplands reliance can not be safely placed on 

 wells. There is no excuse, however, for a defective supply for either man 

 or beast in a district which has so generous a rain-fall as Southern Ohio 

 enjoys. It is only necessary to save the roof-water in properly-constructed 

 and properly-guarded cisterns. 



