CHAPTER LV. 



REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OP MONROE COUNTY. 



This county lies east of Noble and south of Belmont. It has the Ohio 

 River for its eastern boundary. The river margin is about twenty-nine 

 miles in length. In this distance, according to report of W. Milner 

 Roberts, United States Civil Engineer, the river falls 20.557 feet, or about 

 twenty feet six and a half inches ; making an average fall of 0.708 inches 

 per mile. Most of the fall, however, pertains to the ripples, which, in 

 the aggregate, fall 18.28 feet, while the descent in the pools is 2.277 feet. 

 There are 8.56 miles of ripples and 20.44 miles of pools. The average 

 fall in the ripples is 2 feet 1.6 inches, and that of the pools is 1.114 

 inches. 



Nearly all of the southern half of the county, except a narrow strip 

 along the Ohio, is drained by the Little Muskingum River and its 

 branches. The extreme north-western portion finds its drainage by 

 Wills Creek. Sunfish Creek drains the larger part of the northern por- 

 tion. Thus there are three distinct systems of drainage, or, more prop- 

 erly, drainage slopes, viz., south-western, north-western, and eastern. 



The soil of the county is generally good. In many sections there is 

 considerable limestone of much fertilizing value. The character of the 

 tillage of the soil is superior to that in many of the counties in the Sec- 

 ond Geological District. In the survey of the county I have been much 

 indebted to Hon. James 0. Amos, of Woodsfield, now Adjutant-General 

 of Ohio, for valuable information and assistance. He accompanied me 

 through many townships. The county lies not only wholly within the 

 Coal Measures, but nearer the summit of the series than any other 

 county in the district. The highest seam of coal found in the district is 

 on a very high hill near Baresville, Ohio township. 



The determination of the relation of the coals in this county to those 

 of Noble and Belmont is attended with unusual difficulties. The Pitts- 

 burgh, or Pomeroy, seam of coal, if continuous, is every where below 

 the level of the valleys, and the Cumberland, or upper Bellair, seam is 

 generally thin and unimportant. There are no coal seams, well-marked 

 and of ready identification, and no fossiliferous limestones, like the 

 Ames or Cambridge limestones of other counties. Indeed, there is noth- 



