468 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



width by'four miles in length, surrounded by low hills. On the south 

 pidc a Era nil branch drains the superfluous water into the Little Hock- 

 hoctm". In digging wells for domestic use in this tract, beds of sand, 

 "ravel, and' plastic clay are passed to the depth of thirty feet, containing 

 imbedded branches of trees, leaves, and fragments of wood, of recent and 

 living species. Similar valleys and levels are found in the uplands of the 

 western part, of the county, lying, between the head waters of the creeks, 

 and are a kind of table-land. From the frequency of these flat lands 

 between the head waters of the Little Hocking and the South Branch 

 of Wolf Creek, it is quite possible that at some remote period the waters 

 of Wolf Creek were discharged into the Ohio River instead of the Mus- 

 kingum. This opinion is strengthened from the. fact that the head 

 branches of the South Fork now rise within two miles of the Ohio, and 

 run northerly, parallel with and opposite to the course of the Muskingum 

 for twelve miles, and join that river twenty miles from its mouth. The 

 remains of its ancient beds would form pools and ponds of standing water, 

 furnishing fit residences for the fresh-water shells, whose fossil remains 

 are now found there. Great changes, evidently, have been made in the 

 direction of all our water-courses before they found their present levels." 



WATERTOWN TOWNSHIP. . 



This township lies north of Barlow and south of Waterford. The north 

 half of its western line borders Morgan county. It is chiefly drained by 

 Wolf Creek, except its eastern side, which is drained by the head waters 

 of Rainbow Creek. The township is less hilly than most in the county, 

 and the land is generally finely situated for agricultural purposes. Like 

 most of the townships west of the Muskingum River, the rock strata, by 

 the disintegration of which the soil is formed, are chiefly shales and 

 sandstone, with probably little limestone. There is a heavy deposit of 

 limestone in the bed of the West Branch of Wolf Creek, but it must be 

 removed and applied artificially to the land. How far this has been 

 .attempted, either in the form of limestone or as a quicklime, I do not 

 know. High in the hill near the Muskingum dam, above Beverly, there 

 are two or three layers of limestone. These may extend through the 

 hills of Watertown. The only 'seam of coal observed is the one near the 

 village of Watertown. On the land of William G. Woodford the follow- 

 ing section was taken : 



Ft. In. 



1. Shale 6 



2. Sandstone 4 



3. Shale 5 



4. Bituminous, ferruginous shale, with coal plants 2 



5. Coal, somewhat slaty. ■. 2 



6. Underclay '. 1 



(See Map XI., No. 9.) 



