4 B6 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. IX, No. 6, 
are easily cut through by the streams. As a result there are 
numerous gorge-like valleys with narrow flood plains. The steep 
shale hills are much given to landslides. This unstable state of 
affairs makes much of the country of little use except for grazing 
purposes. 
Although the preceding statements would seem to indicate 
that the Conemaugh is “barren” as its old name suggests, still 
there are certain redeeming features. The area was once covered 
with valuable forests and could be reforested. In addition it 
contains an inexhaustible supply of clay shale and is also an oil 
producer. 
Formerly the region was clothed with unbroken forests of 
oak, tulip, walnut and other valuable timber. Very little of 
this former growth remains. In its place one finds large tracts 
of land overgrown with sumach, sassafras and blackberry 
bushes. It is a question whether it would not be well to convert 
such land into a forest reserve. 
There is an unending supply of shale suitable for the manu¬ 
facture of the rougher wares. At Athens, the shale of the Ames 
horizon is utilized in the making of an excellent grade of paving 
brick. At a few points, the clay below the Pittsburg coal 
becomes of economic importance, but at present it is not devel¬ 
oped in the southern part of the state. 
Two sandstone horizons have been demonstrated to be oil ' 
reservoirs, namely the massive sandstone with a base 90 feet 
below the Pittsburg coal and the “First Cow Run” sandstone 
lying above the Cambridge limestone. The former is not of 
great importance. A few pay wells in it have been put down 
near Marietta. The “First Cow Run” sand serves as a reservoir 
for the Chesterhill field 11 located in the adjoining corners of 
Athens, Morgan and Washington Counties. This field is ranked 
among the important oil territories of the state. It has been a 
producer since 1860. A narrow oil belt extends eastward from 
the Chesterhill field to the Ohio River in the vicinity of Marietta. 
The Cambridge and Ames Limestones. 
The Cambridge and Ames limestones are valuable guides to 
the geologist, lying as they do in a section made up of a feature¬ 
less monotony of shales and sandstone. There are certain 
lithological peculiarities about the two limestones by which one 
may be distinguished from the other by a person familiar with 
the two. 
In addition to the lithological peculiarities it is probable that 
a study of the fauna of each horizon will reveal more striking dif¬ 
ferences. Although the writer has collected material from only a 
few places, yet a study of these fossils seems to warrant this 
inference. 
Collecting was done in the Cambridge at Northup, Gallia 
County and at Langsville, Meigs County, twenty miles to the 
11. Geol. Surv. Ohio, 4th Ser., Bull. I, pp. 126-139. 
