FAYETTE COTTNTT. 435 



nortli was above water, as well as when the deposits above the sand- 

 stone were made ; at least, whatever material, organic or inorganic, was 

 ever deposited here, has long since disappeared. We have some evi- 

 dence, however, that the slate which immediately underlies the sand- 

 stone extended somewhat farther north than the sandstone itself has 

 been found. In Fayette county, near Rock Mills, about one hundred 

 and twenty-five feet above the bed of the stream, on the farms of A. J. 

 Yeomans and Aquilla Jones, as also on the farm of Mrs. McElroy, a mile 

 west of Paint Creek, and near the southern line of the county, a slate 

 formation is to be seen capping the highest point of land in the south- 

 ern half of the county. This material must once have been continuous, 

 and may have extended further than any traces of it are found at present. 

 We have abundant evidence in both of these counties of agencies which 

 have operated in comparatively recent geological periods, and which have 

 worn away deposits formerly existing here. We find that the surface of 

 the existing bedded rock has been worn away and channels have been 

 cut in it. Where the loose material which now overlies the bedded rock 

 has been removed, we find markings upon the surface of the exposed rock, 

 if this is of such a nature as. to resist atmospheric and other agencies 

 which would cause the surface of the rock to disintegrate, which indicate 

 that some agency has been at work to grind down and wear and smooth 

 the surface. But unfortunately the nature of the stone underlying the 

 clay in these counties is such that it would not generally retain any strise 

 of a delicate character. We do, however, find stone well polished and 

 delicately striated in Paint Creek. The exact locality is in Ross county 

 above Greenfield, on the Indian Creek road, about 300 feet up stream from 

 the beginning of the head-race of Smart's Mill, the last place on the east 

 side of the road where &tone has been quarried and about 30 feet above 

 low-water in the creek. I removed the sand and gravel myself from the 

 exceedingly well polished surface of the rock. Mr. John Sollars reported 

 striated rock in a locality on his place, and another locality was visited 

 by me on the same stream above Rock Mills. At Roger's below Rock 

 Mills the gravel contains many blocks of well smoothed stone, and at 

 Rock Mills, just north of the village, many large bowlders of quartz and 

 granite are mingled without stratification with the gravel, and constitute 

 no inconsiderable part of the extensive beds. At J. C. Sinsabaugh'e, 

 near Bloomingsburgh, I saw a block of stone one foot thick, two feet long 

 and sixteen inches wide, which had been taken from a gravel bank on 

 his farm, and which was well worn on a portion of one side, was very 

 smooth and marked with striae, but the edges or corners were not rounded 

 or broken. This was a hard, dark colored stone which gave out a ringing 



