no 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. X, No. 5, 
measures from 2 to 3 feet in thickness, is blue-black and very fos- 
siliferous. Here it is directly underlain by 2\ inches of blue and 
yellow clay succeeded by 14 inches of coal. 
This limestone is seen again outcropping in the roadway 
^ mile southeast of the village. 
About \ mile north of the village on Island Creek, and near 
stream level a bed of coal is found. The bed has been opened but 
found to be too poor to mine. It lies at 1012 feet above sea and 
appears to be the coal belonging to the Lower Mercer limestone 
although no limestone is found at this horizon in this vicinity. 
This coal is of no value further than aiding in identifying horizons 
and its relations will be considered in this connection with the 
outcrops on Little Mill Creek. At various places from the North 
Benton Cemetery, below the fireclay noted, loose micaceous sand- 
stone in thin layers can be seen down stream to the outcrop of 
the above coal. This interval of about 36 feet appears to be 
composed largely of this kind of rock. The interval, however, 
at first appears too great to be that between the Mercer Lime- 
stones, but it will be remembered that the elevation of 1048 
above sea is on a crest of the Upper Mercer and a sharp dip is 
seen. The trough in all probability reaches 1042 or less. Again 
were the Lower Mercer present with a thickness of 3 feet and 
resting directly upon the coal, which it does not always do, the 
interval would be still further reduced and within the limit seen 
at Howenstein. 
Little M ill Creek. This stream flows into the Mahoning River 
from the east and with its mouth located about 1 mile north of 
the O. F. Henry outcrop and near the Portage-Mahoning County 
line. This stream is designated Little Mill Creek to avoid con- 
fusion with another Mill Creek in the eastern end of the county. 
One and one-half miles east of its mouth and 2 miles northeast 
of North Benton several outcrops of limestones occur along 
this stream and its branches. They are the Mercer limestones. 
The Upper Mercer occurs in typical exposure in a small ravine 
a few rods east of Mr. Simon Hartzell’s barn where it is 24 to 
3 feet thick and dips sharply toward the south. At a medium 
point its elevation is 1037 feet above sea. This stone is blue- 
gray to blue-black and weathers to a rusty brown. About j mile 
south of this point a thin coal is seen in the shale and clay pit 
of the Dustman Brothers Pottery Plant which lies at about 1075 
above sea and apparently marks the horizon of the Howenstein 
limestone but no limestone is present. Only dark shale and drift 
clay overlie this coal. 
About the same distance north of the Hartzell outcrop the 
Lower Mercer becomes a very conspicuous stratum in the sides 
and floor of Little Mill Creek. About 150 yards above the high- 
way bridge on the north and south road this stratum forms a fall 
