428 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



Still another source of stock-water is found in -some sections of the 

 county. The water delivered by draining tile in underground ditches 

 is gathered and conducted to troughs in the pasture grounds. Where the 

 make of the country admits of this system, a supply in every way advan- 

 tageous, is secured. 



Buried vegetation is less frequently met with in the drift of Madison 

 county than in the regions further to the southward, but it can scarcely 

 be said to be of rare occurrence. Considerable accumulations of vege- 

 table matter are needed to explain certain facts met with in a little 

 settlement called Kiousville, in Fairfield township. Several attempts to 

 obtain wells have been made here without success. The trouble has 

 been in every instance that after reaching a certain depth, choke damp 

 or carbonic acid escaped in such quantity as to render further work im- 

 possible. Several lives have been lost in these attempts and one during 

 the summer of 1872. The section traversed is : 



FEET. 



Yellow clay 10 



Blue clay — abriiiitly bounded on upper surface 20-31 



Cemented sand and gravel. 



On breaking through the crust of cemented gravel, the gas issues in 

 strong volume. No water has ever been found in the gravel. The sec- 

 tion is somewhat anomalous, but it seems safe to conclude that some 

 such accumulations of buried vegetable matter as have been described in 

 previous reports as existing in Montgomery, Warren, and Highland 

 counties, are to be found here. 



The remains of a young mastodon were recently found in Eange town- 

 ship on the farm of Daniel McClimans. The skull and its appurtenances 

 were in the best state of preservation. The tusks were six feet long, 

 measured on the outside of the curve. A part of the lower jaw had perished, 

 but in the remaining, a small molar tooth was found in place. It was 

 afterwards detached and found to weigh one pound and two ounces, 

 while a larger tooth, but partially developed, lay back of it in the jaw. 



The occurrence of remains of these past glacial mammals is, however, 

 comparatively rare in this immediate area. 



The principal points in the Geology of Madison county have now been 

 briefly treated, and it is seen that although the story of its btddtd rocks 

 is very short, there are still geological questions of great interest sug- 

 gested by its broad and fertile plains. 



