20. WHEATFIELD TOWNSHIP F 2 . 387 



20. Wheatfield township. 



Wheatfield township lies on the south side of the Perry 

 county fault. The crest of Dick's hill which is thrown up 

 thereby forms its northern line. It is a long, narrow town- 

 ship lying for the most part on the Chemung shale and con- 

 sequently consisting in so far of rather poor land. Its 

 northern and southern portions, the former of which con- 

 sists of the Hamilton shale and the latter of the Catskill 

 red sandstone, are of better quality. Its surface as is usual 

 with the Chemung shale is hummocky, being cut in all di- 

 rections by streams. The drainage is consequently very 

 irregular. 



No steep or high ranges cross Wheatfield township ex- 

 cept the Hamilton sandstone ridge of Dick's hill which lies 

 close to its northern border. Its waters are carried off in 

 four directions, east to the Juniata, west to the Sandy hol- 

 low branch of Richland run, south into Sherman's creek 

 directly, and centrally into the Little Juniata. 



The northwestern corner of the township is occupied by 

 the great zigzag of the Hamilton group which makes a fold 

 on approaching the limestone of Iron ridge. This fold forms 

 the high knob locally known as Round Top and also the 

 ridge connecting this with the main range, which bears the 

 name Dick's Hill bridge. One of the five charcoal furnaces 

 of Perry county was situated in this township at Monte- 

 bello on the Little Juniata, Long ago abandoned, the place 

 is now marked only by the chimneys of the old cottages, 

 by the ruins of the old furnace and its surrounding struc- 

 tures, by the mass of slag not yet overgrown with vegeta- 

 tion, resembling an ancient lava-field, and by a single in- 

 habited house. Almost all else has disappeared and the 

 place by its forsaken gardens and white pine thickets re- 



