38 Coal, Diluvial St?*ata, fyc. of Ohio. 



Art. VI. — Miscellaneous Observations on the coal, diluvial 

 and other strata of certain portions of the state of Ohio — 

 contained in a letter to the Editor ; dated at Marietta, June 

 7, 1827, from Dr. S. P. Hildreth. 



In my journey this spring I visited the Ohio canal at New- 

 ark, Licking Co. and made some observations on the different 

 formations over which I travelled. 



The road from Marietta to Zanesville, for the first twenty 

 miles, passes up the Muskingum bottoms, which are strictly 

 alluvial. After leaving the river, it passes over hills of a mod- 

 erate height, which are diluvial — abounding in quarries of 

 limestone, sandstone and bituminous coal. The coal gen- 

 erally lies under the sandstone, and sometimes, in a thin 

 stratum above it. The layers are of various thickness, from a 

 few inches to six feet. So far as I have observed, there appears 

 to be a bed of limestone, underlying all the hills, and the 

 sandstone through the whole region of the country, from Ma- 

 rietta to Zanesville. It is laid bare by the wash of the rivers 

 and creeks, and all the ripples and falls, are made by this bed 

 of limestone. — In this neighborhood, it is very compact and 

 free generally from petrified shells. The deposit on this lime- 

 stone, appears to have been sand, now forming sandstone ; 

 above this, is a red imperfect stone like slate or soapstone, of 

 various colours, and abounding with iron — then red argilla- 

 ceous earth, originally from ten to twenty feet in thickness, 

 but now of various thickness, as washed away by the rains 

 and streams, in forming the surface of the earth into its pres- 

 ent broken aspect, but easily traced in ascending and de- 

 scending the hills ; above this a deposit of ash colored 

 earth, also argillaceous, from two to six feet in thickness, 

 very fine and pulverulent ; and on this, vegetable mould of 

 various thickness, according to the position and exposure of 

 the under stratum, thicker on the north and thinner on the 

 south sides of the hills ; occasionally on, or near the tops of 

 the hills are thin beds of limestone ; these seem of more re- 

 cent origin, and sometimes contain shells. The stratum of 

 red earth disappears, about thirty miles this side of Zanes- 

 ville, and its place is occupied by a yellow loam very friable, 

 and easily worn down by rains or running water — but the 

 stratum of ash coloured earth on the top still continues. 

 The rock formation is much the same in the neighborhood of 



