560 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



large amount of iron-making coal, to be used either raw or coked, can be 

 obtained from this county, but it is capable of producing a very large 

 amount of fuel, valuable for all ordinary uses. 



LEAD. 



Almost every county has its local traditions of lead mines formerly 

 worked by the Indians ; and the testimony is often as positive as second- 

 hand testimony can be, pointing, to a definite location from which the 

 Indian hunters obtained their supply of this metal. Such a location is 

 definitely pointed out in Mechanic township, and old markings upon the 

 forest trees are claimed to be signs made by the Indians to indicate the 

 precise location of the deposits. These traditional rumors obtained more 

 credence here, from the fact that the valley indicated is filled with the 

 buried Ferruginous Shale mentionefd on a preceding page, which shows 

 plainly the action of fire; and, as no other explanation was suggested^ 

 this cinder-like material was assumed to be the result of fires kindled 

 for the purpose of smelting the lead-ores. The Indians were no archi- 

 tects, and erected nothing deserving the name of buildings, either for 

 residences or store-houses; and it is probable that all these traditions 

 have their origin in the fact that they were corrfpelled to ensure safety 

 of all their surplus supplies by burying them in the earth. Such de- 

 posits of lead, known only to a few, and visited by stealth, would readily 

 give rise to the traditions of lead-n^ing. This cinder-like material is 

 plainly the result of the burning-out, locally, of a coal seam ; and the 

 Coal Measure rocks which are here alone exposed, shc»w no evidences of 

 lead in any quantity whatever. A little lead and zinc are occasionally 

 found in the Waverly, but the quantity is exceedingly small, and it may 

 be regarded as quite certain that there are no valuable deposits of either 

 of these minerals in the county. 



DIP OP THE COAL MEASURES. 



It has been previously claimed, that there is a substantially uniform 

 dip in the Coal Measure rocks, in a north-eastern direction, and that this 

 is so even and regular that, having determined its rate and direction, a 

 topographical survey will enable one to locate any member of the series 

 in any other part of the field. All the results of my explorations tend 

 to show that this claim is unfounded-— that while it may be, and often is, 

 true of particular localities, and over limited areas, the fact is, that the 

 rate and direction of this dip are constantly varying, and that in places 

 ihe dip is in the opposite direction from what it would be if this claim 

 were well founded. 



Baropaetrical observations, re?peated many times at the ^ame stations, 



