I I 2 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. X, No. 5, 
massive blocks. The banks of the stream for several hundred yards 
below the falls are strewn with huge blocks as if distributed for 
some giant masonry. The blocks often measure 8, 10 or even 
12 feet in length. 
As seen at the fall and below the Lower Mercer is underlaid 
by 4 feet of fire-clay and sandy shale but no coal. A short dis- 
tance below the bridge this limestone dies out, shale appears* and 0 
coaly shale comes in at the horizon of the base of the limestone 
and further down becomes a definite bed of coal of 4 to 6 inches 
thickness. This coal is traceable with a sandstone cover all the 
way to the Mahoning River. At the forks of the highway and 
just above the first bridge over Little Mill Creek this coal is 1 
foot thick, lies at 1024, and is overlain by shaly micaceous 
sandstone. At a point about midway between the above two 
bridges on this creek this sandstone was formerly quarried. The 
coal is seen to undulate and is certainly the coal referred to on 
Island Creek near North Benton which at that point lies at 1012 
above sea. It is certainly the coal belonging to the Lower Mercer 
limestone but the latter is not seen anywhere to the westward on 
either Little Mill Creek or the Mahoning River as far up the river 
as the Benton-Deerfield highway. There is another thin coal to 
be noted, however, in this connection which may easily cause 
confusion. About 300 yards down stream from the mine on 
Island Creek and at the bridge east of Benton Station this coal 
lies in the creek bed at 997 above sea and about 8 inches thick. A 
third of a mile northwest in the river bank just below the railroad 
river bridge this coal is 7 inches thick and lies at 1000 above sea 
or 18 feet below rail on the bridge. It is seen at numerous other 
points on the Mahoning and on Little Mill Creek and at 15 to 20 
feet below the Lower Mercer Coal. The intervening rock is 
largely sandstone. It is of interest to note here that two coals 
occur below the Lower Mercer limestone at Lowellville; a 2-inch 4 
layer 2 feet below, and an 18-inch bed 134 feet below. 
It now remains to combine the several outcrops of limestone 
seen in the Best’s Station-North Benton-Little Mill Creek vicin- 
ity into one section. From the data given it is clear that the 
horizons of the Lower Mercer, Upper Mercer, and Howenstein 
are found at North Benton. The mean elevation of the Lower 
Mercer on Little Mill Creek is 1016, of the Upper Mercer 1037. 
The Lower Mercer coal near North Benton lies at 1012 and were 
the limestone present above it in usual thickness its elevation 
would be 1015. The Upper Mercer at North Benton lies at its 
highest piont at 1048 but its mean elevation is quite probably 
about 1043. The Howenstein as seen at the cemetery lies at 
1069. What is seen on Little Mill Creek confirms the identifica- 
tion of horizons at North Benton, and the outcrops at North 
Benton are sufficiently close together to be grouped in a single 
