PICKAWAY COUNTY. 589 



in Salt Creek township, and may be traced in diminished numbers for a 

 considerable distance down the Salt Creek valley. This Salt Creek pre- 

 sents to the geologist some very interesting features. It rises in Salt 

 Creek township, within the proper basin of the Scioto valley, but leaves 

 the basin and curves to the eastward for many miles among the high 

 hills of Hocking and Vinton counties, to come back into the narrowed 

 valley of the Scioto in the south-east corner of Ross county. To make 

 this distance it has been obliged to work out a deep channel for itself in 

 the Waverly sandrock. In some places it flows in a narrow gorge, with 

 scarcely room enough upon the banks beneath the cliffs for highways. 

 Some of the wildest and most picturesque scenery in the State is to be 

 found on the waters of Salt Creek. 



Beneath the surface in the lower valleys of the county we find blue 

 and yellow Drift clays. In. the blue clays are often found fragments of 

 wood. I am indebted to G. W. Hurst, M.D., of Williamsport, for a fine 

 specimen of coniferous wood taken from a well forty-four feet deep. The 

 wood is in fine preservation. I am also under obligations to Dr. Hurst, 

 who takes no little interest in these matters, for a sample of fine yellow 

 clay, which he thinks of promise as a material for paint. It is entirely 

 free from grit, and was deposited as a sediment in very quiet waters. 

 ~ The soil of Pickaway county is of great fertility, and this is probably 

 the richest county, agriculturally considered, in the Second Geological 

 District. The alluvial lands along the Scioto River, Darby and Deer 

 creeks are remarkably rich, while the terraced plains, with their lime- 

 stone gravels, are scarcely less so. On the uplands the soil is also good. 

 So far as I have seen, there is less waste land than in any county in the 

 district. Indian corn i«, perhaps, the staple crop, and in the summer we 

 may ride for miles with scarcely a break in the continuity of the corn- 

 fields. With such soil, with clear and beautiful streams, and with such 

 a fine climate, the farmers of Pickaway have a " goodly heritage," and 

 may consider themselves well compensated for the want of the more im- 

 portant minerals. 



GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 



The leading features of the geology of the county are simple, and 

 easily understood. The Waverly sandstone, Huron shales, and Cornif- 

 erous limestone are all found within the county. The Waverly forma- 

 tion, which underlies nearly the whole of Fairfield county, has its line 

 of western outcrop along the eastern border of Pickaway. Probably 

 nearly all of Salt Creek township is within the range of the Waverly; 

 and wherever along the eastern borders of Washington, Walnut, and 



