Coal, Diluvial Strata, fyc. of Ohio. 39 



Zanesville ; coal is more abundant, and from the bed of the 

 Muskingum to the tops of the hills, three strata are found 

 at different elevations, some above the sandstone and some 

 below. The falls at Zanesville, which afford such fine mill 

 seats, are made by the deep or lowest bed of limestone ; 

 the sandstone is some of it very fine, and variously color- 

 ed with iron, resembling variegated marble. I saw some 

 near Licking creek, fifteen miles from Zanesville, quarried 

 for the canal locks, of a deep red. I crossed the river at 

 Zanesville and travelled on the north side of Licking creek 

 to Newark twenty-five miles ; the country is hilly, and of the 

 same formation as about Zanesville. At Newark the hills 

 cease, and there is a gently rolling country to Delaware; 

 from near there to the Lake Erie, the country is generally flat. 

 From Newark I travelled twenty miles in the direction of 

 Delaware. Through all this space the formation is diluvial, 

 being a yellowish loam, of from twenty to fifty feet in thickness 

 based on a stratum of tough blue clay from three to six feet 

 in thickness. In digging for wells they pass through this yel- 

 lowish earth, to a greater or less depth, as the land is more or 

 less elevated, and find permanent water as soon as they pass 

 the blue clay, and not before. But the most singular feature 

 of all is the adundance of detached fragments and blocks of 

 primitive rocks, with which this region is filled. All are 

 rounded or worn by attrition, and lie in that confused state 

 which they might be supposed to exhibit, if brought there by 

 an immense current of water. I picked up pieces of gran- 

 ite, hornblende, greenstone, gneiss, quartz, limestone, &c. ; 

 some blocks of granite are large enough to make a pair of 

 mill stones and are used for this purpose. After leaving the 

 hills, very few quarries, or stones in place are found, except 

 limestone all the distance to Lake Erie. Above the diluvial 

 deposit is a bed of vegetable earth, very rich, supporting a 

 heavy growth of timber and making excellent farming land. 

 In reflecting on this formation, the impression is irresistible 

 that it is the result of an immense current or body of water 

 pouring down from the north, sweeping the south side of 

 Lake Erie, and all the Scioto country and Miami valley, as 

 those regions are said to furnish specimens of the same prim- 

 itive kind. 



In my return I passed over "Flint Ridge," so called; 

 it is the dividing ridge between the waters of Licking and 

 Jonathan's creek. It commences five miles south-east of 



