634 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



tions and examinations made, some of which have been given above, 

 would warrant a reasonable expectation of finding it on parts of sections 

 2, 3, 10, 11, 18, 19, 22, 23 of Jackson township, and on sections 20, 21, 28, 

 29, 32, and 33 of Marion township, and on sections 19, 20, and 31 of Union 

 township, in addition to openings already made. The area in which it 

 occurs, and may occur, is considerable, and the fuel buried here can not 

 fail to be valued and turned to account as the country grows older. The 

 same seam, in heavier volume, is also to be looked for on the western 

 side of Jackson township, Jackson county. 



The topography and geological scale of the county have now been 

 briefly treated, and the principal points of interest in regard to origin, 

 history, and economical applications, have been noticed in passing. 

 The following topics remain to be discussed, with equal brevity — the 

 Drift formations of the county, the soils, and the water-supply. 



The true glacial Drift is not prominently shown in Pike county. It is 

 6ven a question whether any part of the surface is to be referred to it. 

 Besides the great trough of the Scioto River, which constitutes a feature 

 by itself in the topography of the county, there are three principal re- 

 gions in which heavy deposits occur that are referable to some division 

 of the Drift. These regions have already been referred to in the discus- 

 sion of the topography of the county. One of them, the Cynthiana val- 

 ley, holds the north-west corner; another, the California valley, holds 

 the south-eastern corner ; while the third, the broad furrow of Beaver 

 valley, traverses the eastern central district. These valleys are'all filled 

 with heavy beds of blue clay, the depth being known to exceed fifty feet, 

 in portions, at least, of each. In the counties north of Pike two varieties 

 of blue, Drift clays are found — the first, or lowermost, being the tough, 

 unstratified clay, containing polished and striated bowlders of northern 

 origin, which is commonly known as hard-pan. It can be quite confi- 

 dently referred for its origin to the melting of the great glacier, which 

 covered the northern portion of the continent at the height of the Gla- 

 cial Period. 



A second variety is a stratified blue clay, which contains frequent traces 

 of vegetable and animal life. Its origin is referred to the time of conti- 

 nental submergence that followed the melting of the glacial sheet. The 

 few opportunities found in which the blue clays of Pike county seem to 

 *how that they belong to the latter division, vegetable remains being 

 quite frequently met with in digging wells in the first two of the locali- 

 ties named. These stratified beds are very likely underlain by the true 

 bowlder clay. 



The uplands of the county are altogether destitute of Drift deposits. 



