ROSS COUNTY. 655 



level of which would be sure to rise until they found an outlet. The 

 heavy Drift terraces, not less than one hundred feet in thickness, that 

 occupy this portion of the old valley, and which furnish in their broad 

 and fertile plains some of the most attractive as well as the most product- 

 ive farms of the county, are to be referred to this lake for their origin. 



It is not necessary to suppose that the water, before finding its way 

 southward, was raised to the height of the hills that bound the valley. 

 It is altogether reasonable to suppose that it availed itself of one of the 

 low divides, so many of which are now found in this part of the county, 

 and which are so generally used for the roads that lead from one valley 

 to another. A small stream probably flowed into Paint Creek from the 

 southward along the line of the new valley, the source of which was 

 separated by a low summit from another tributary of the main creek 

 that flowed eastward — also by the line of the new valley. A stream that 

 now enters the new valley at its southernmost point, from Huntington 

 township, is probably the remnant of this last tributary. If once the 

 level of the waters were raised above the height of this dividing ridge, 

 the remaining work of excavation would be easy to follow. 



The preceding discussion may seem, at first sight, to the general reader 

 who has never given much thought to the solution of geological prob- 

 lems, to be venturesome and unwarranted speculation, but it is believed 

 that it will commend itself to every one who gives it a candid and com- 

 petent consideration, as not only a valid, but a highly probable explana- 

 tion of the remarkable facts with which it deals. 



IV. The soils of Ross county agree with those of Pike county, as far at 

 least as the latter go. All of the varieties of native soils described as 

 occurring in the last named county are also found in Ross, and possess 

 the same general characteristics, but, in addition, there are large areas in 

 Ross county, as has already been shown, covered with the deposits of the 

 glacial and modified Drift. These areas furnish far more varied and more 

 fruitful soils than the native rocks afford from the products of their dis- 

 integration and decay. The lands referred to in this general division in 

 Ross county take their place among the best lands of Ohio. Its valleys, 

 too, are unsurpassed. The general characteristics of the Scioto valley 

 have been already given. The valley of Paint Creek is inferior in area 

 alone to that of the river. 



There are no peculiarities in the water-supply of Ross county. The 

 same facts obtain in its different districts that have been described in 

 the preceding section. Wells dug in the Drift beds of its northern town- 

 ships very frequently disclose buried vegetation. The occurrence of wood, 

 leaves, and an ancient soil has been shown in previous reports to be fre- 



