42 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



irregular and undulating surface formed by the Drift materials under 

 consideration. Nearly every county which lies on the divide contains 

 more or less of the gravel hills to which I have alluded, and they are the 

 source from which is derived a large part of the gravel used for road- 

 making and railroad ballast, and the sand employed for mortar. Pew, 

 only, of these gravel knolls can be enumerated here, but they will be 

 recognized from description by a large number of the residents of the 

 State. A typical group of these hills occurs in Randolph, Portage 

 county, the general appearance of which is shown in the subjoined wood- 

 cut. Others may be seen east of Ravenna, and near Earlville, where they 



GRAVEL HILLS, RANDOLPH, PORTAGE COUNTY. 



From 50 to 100 feet high ; 500 feet above Lake Brie. 



supply a vast amount of gravel used in the construction of the Atlantic 

 and Great Western and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh railroads. At this 

 locality we have a good illustration of the part these gravel ridges have 

 played in the formation of lakes, as the two lakes, Brady's Lake and 

 Lake Pepin, are here held in basins surrounded by ridges and hills of 

 gravel. In Summit county a good example of a " hog's-back " is seen at 

 the " Old Forge," and its composition is fully revealed by the excava- 

 tions made in the construction of the railroad and canal. At Akron, on 

 both sides of the Little Cuyahoga, are heavy beds of gravel, which belong 

 to this category, and which I shall have occasion to refer to again, as their 

 composition and relation to the other Drift deposits are here quite plainly 

 shown. In the northern part of Stark county gravel hills are very 

 numerous, and an excellent example of this peculiar formation is fur- 

 nished by " Buck Hill," of which I shall give a section on another page. 

 Following the divide from Akron westward, collections of coarse Drift 

 materials, in ridges, hills, or swells of the surface, will be in view almost 

 constantly to the State line. In the western counties these are so well 

 marked and continuous that Mr. N. H. Winchell, in describing the Drift 

 phenomena of this portion of the State, brings these into the category of 

 lake ridges, making two chains of them, one of which he calls the St. 

 John's ridge, the other the Wabash ridge. Both of these lie along the 

 crest of the divide where it is unusually low ; the St. John's ridge having 

 an elevation at different points of from 390 to 490 feet above the Lake, 

 the St. Mary's ridge, 350 to 408 feet. Careful observation will show, 

 however, that this belt of sand and gravel hills has little in common 



