398 GEOLOGY OP OHIO. 



the townships of Marion and Sugar Creek, gravelly soils appear in the 

 midst of the prevailing clay. Such tracts are uniformly more elevated, 

 and slightly rolling. The eastern portion of the county has a different 

 general contour. It is separated from that already described by, and is 

 co-extensive with, the westward course of the streams. It is undulating 

 or gently rolling, and in the south-eastern corner of the county is char- 

 acterized by prominent gravelly ridges and knolls. This undulating 

 surface prevails over most of the township of Sugar Creek, but is more 

 or less wanting in Richland and Monroe townships. There are likewise 

 some fiat and prairie-like tracts even in Auglaize and Perry townships. 

 In the former, sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 have this character. In the 

 latter there is much fiat land in the vicinity of Amherst. The soil in 

 the eastern portion of the county is generally the same as that of the 

 western. Its chief element is clay, yet it contains much more gravel, 

 and sometimes stones and bowlders. In the settlement of the county 

 these elevated knolls and ridges were first selected. That tract of roll- 

 ing land known as the " Dividing Ridge," in the south-eastern part of 

 the county, is at the present time in marked contrast with much of the 

 adjoining country. It is occupied by handsome, well-drained, and well- 

 cultivated farms, the native timber having been nearly all removed, 

 while on either side much of the country is still in its primeval state. 

 Throughout this tract the rock is occasionally seen in the beds of the 

 streams. The banks of the streams are usually higher than in the west- 

 ern part of the county. The banks of the Ottawa at Lima are about 

 thirty feet, and continue of that height for two miles above the city, the 

 water running on the surface of the rock. 



GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 



With the exceptioa of a small area in the south-eastern corner of the 

 county, the underlying rock belongs to the Waterlime. 



The Niagara is quarried by Mr. Alexander E. Kerr on section 30, Au- 

 glaize township. It presents the features of the Guelph phase, in vesic- 

 ular beds of two to three inches, and lies horizontal or dips gently toward 

 the north. It is of a bluish-gray color, and some portions of it are firm 

 and crystalline. About eighty rods north-west from Mr. Kerr's quarry 

 is that of Mr. Alexander Crepps, where the stone is slightly different 

 from Mr. Kerr's. There was not sufficient exposure to indicate whether 

 it be Niagara or Waterlime, although the evidence was, so far as seen, in 

 favor of the latter. The Niagara is again seen in the bed of a small 

 tributary to the Auglaize, on Mr. Hay's land, N. E. J section 22, and in 

 a similar situation on Mr. Harrison Clawson's land, N. E. J section 21, 



