692 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



is not affected by drought or flood. Neither of these things could be true 

 if its underground channel lay as close to the surface as its point of emer- 

 gence would seem to indicate. According to measurements made twenty 

 years ago under the direction of Hon. William C. Mills, at that time its 

 proprietor, its volume of water is one hundred and seven and one-half 

 gallons per minute. From some chemical examinations also made at the 

 date above given, the statement has been published that the spring "de- 

 posits bicarbonate of soda, magnesia, and iron, and is charged with car- 

 bonic acid gas." There are such obvious sins of omission in this state- 

 ment that it iail.ii to inspire confidence. Its water contains, as will be 

 seen, in addition to the usual impurities of limestone springs, a notable 

 quantity of peroxide of iron. The ochreous travertjne deposited by it 

 has formed a bank in front of its point of issue that may be roughly esti- 

 mated at seventy -eight thousand cubic yards. This deposit has doubtless 

 raised the level of the spring to the point were it now appears. Its com- 

 position is shown in the appended analysis (Mees.) 



Carbonate of lime 92.97 



magnesia 2.42 



Sesquioxide of iron and alumina 3.80 



Silicious matter 80 



99.99 



A heavy bed of the same ochreous travertine that the spring is now de- 

 positing, roughly estimated at fifty-five thousand cubic yards, is found two 

 hundred yards to the north of the present point of outflow, showing that 

 in the course of its history the spring has been shifted laterally as well as 

 vertically. The raising of the spring vertically must have been a gradual 

 process, due to the blocking up of the outlet by the slow accumulation of 

 travertine, but the transfer of its waters to a lower point of the glen must 

 have been made at once. 



Much of the surface of the main bank is covered with red cedar trees, 

 some of which are at least a century old. From the relation that the parts 

 so covered bear to the rest of the formation, we can see how insignificant 

 an item a century is in the ages of its growth. 



No clue can be given as to the source of the iron of the spring. There 

 is certainly no unusual amount of iron ore shown in any of the neighbor- 

 ing rock sections. Iron occurs quite abundantly in the state of sulphuret 

 throughout the Niagara shales, but other springs of the region that trav- 

 erse the same rocks and issue at the same horizon, contain no noticeable 

 quantity of iron. If the waters of the spring were slowly infiltrated 

 through some large deposit of ochreous gravel, such as the later stages of 

 the Drift produced through all of this country, an adequate source for its 



