CHAPTER LXXVIII. 



REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



BY FRANKLIN C. HILL. 



SITUATION AND AREA. 



Champaign county lies south of the middle of the western half of the 

 State, and is bounded, on the north, by Logan and Union counties ; on the 

 east, by Union and Madison ; south, by Clarke, and west, by Miami and 

 Shelby counties. Its boundaries are mostly the section lines, and its 

 general shape is that of a rectangle, of about twenty-three miles in 

 length, east and west, by an average width of fifteen and a half miles, 

 north and south, including an area of about 356J square miles, or 228,160 

 acres. 



The name, " Champaign," admirably expresses the character of the 

 country; for, although in a few places a little hilly, as a whole, the sur- 

 face is very level, and made up of plains. 



DRAINAGE. 



Although a small part of the eastern edge of the county drains into 

 the tributaries of the Scioto, and thewaters of a still narrower strip on 

 the west flow into small branches of the Great Miami, by far the greater 

 part of the county is drained by the Mad River. 



The main stream of Mad River, rising among the slate hills of Logan 

 county, crosses the north Line of Champaign, at a point about one-third 

 of a mile west of the middle, flows in an almost straight course south- 

 ward, and leaves the county at a point about two miles farther west. 



Mackachack Creek, escaping from Logan county, about a mile east of 

 Mad River, flows almost parallel to it for several miles, making its junc- 

 tion about a mile below the north line of Concord township ; and King's 

 Creek comes in, from the north-eastern townships, about two miles farther 

 southward, a:nd about one and a half miles north of the middle of the 

 county. 



These streams, rising in the highest and most rocky parts of Logan 

 and Champaign counties, and fed by unfailing springs, are strong, con- 

 stant, and rapid, furnishing many good mill sites. 



