Wavcrlx Foniiatioiis of Central Ohio. — Prosscr. 341 
tion of the bank of the stream, about two miles northeast of 
Gahanna and fifteen miU's north of its exjxDsure in the Lithop- 
olis glen. 
Second, in this and other glens to the southwest of Litho]> 
oils the entire thickness of the Sunbury shale is shown, while 
the previously best known section in central Ohio, the one on 
Rocky fork, exposes only the lower eight feet of this shale. 
Third, the close agreement in lithologic composition and ar- 
rangement of the strata in the upj)cr part of the Ruena Vista 
members and the succeeding beds as shown at Lithopolis and 
in southern Ohio.* 
Total 
No. Thickness, thickness. 
4. fiuvhuni shatc at top of cliff, where estimates of 3>/..' 40' 
thickness vary from 2% to 3'4 feet. 
:?. linva Kinitlntones, the lower ones alternating 3'J' 3GV4 
with slniles. 
2. Arenaceous and argillaceous shale. 4' 4Vj' 
1. t-'andstone layer. V^' Vi' 
C. S. Pro.sskr. 
*Buena Visfa as the name of a geological division was first used l)y Dr. 
Orton in his report of Pike county and pul)lished in 1874. In this description 
he wrote as follows regarding what is now called the Cuyahoga formation : 
"The next division in ascending order lias for its chief characteristic the 
well-known and very valuable (piarrips of the Waverly svstem that lie along 
the Ohio river below rortsmonlh. This subdivision has a delinite base, 
viz., the upiier surface of the Wavei-ly black slate [Sunburv shalel but there 
is no clmractorlstic stratum that constitutes a convenient superior limit. 
As the most valuable of the biiihiing rock, however, that is furnished by this 
part of the series in southern (iliio occurs within fifty feet of the slate, these 
fifty feet next above the slate niay be somewhat arbitrarily taken as a snb- 
flivision. It may be designated as tlie Puena Vista section — the name being 
derived from a locality on tlie ('hio river that furnishes a large amount of 
stone of unequaled quality" (Rr/it. fivnh Surr. Ohio, Vol. II. pt. I. p. 626). 
It is now proposed to levive tliis name, define the upper limit and use it for 
the lower member of the Cuyahoga formation. 
Dr. Orton's usage of the term I?uena Vista was not tiniform. for in the 
general sections of the rocks of Iloss and I'ike counties in the same report 
the name was restricted to 10 feet of sandstone between which and the top 
of the Waverlv black slate [Sunbury shale] was a shale zone ."i.) feet In 
thlcliness (Fig." 1. op. p. 61. "> and Fig. 2. op. p. 61. S(. In the Ohio valley 
very near the base of the Cuyahoga foi-mation is an excellent sandstone 
which has been (luarried for many years in the vicinity of I'.uena Vista. 
This stratum was noted by professor .lohn Locke in his geological account of 
Adams county and termed" the •'City ledge" on account of the great extent of 
its use in Cincinnati (f<rr<niil Aim. Rritt. (Irol. Siiir. Oliio. 1S:!".», p. 264 ( . In 
18S4 I>r. Orton ai)|iaiently restricted the name Buena \'ista to this stratum 
for he wrote "Orains and nuggets of nvrites annear in the shales associated 
with this sandstone, but are not very perfectly visible to tlie naked eye in 
the city ledge I the name now apiilied to the stratum nroper of Huena Vista 
stone)" (R(^)t. Grol. Siirr. Ohio, Vol. V. p. 602). The same statement by 
Dr. Orton also apiiears in the Ti nth Census U. S.. Vol. X. 18.84. --The building 
stones of the I nited States and statistics of the quarry industry." p. li»S. 
In 1888. howevei'. Dr. Orton apparently returned to the opinion expressed 
in the text of liis report on 1 .Ke county for under the description of the 
Cuyanoga shale he wrote as follows: "Hy good rights the sliale should suffer 
one more reduction at its lower extremity. Everywhere through tiie state 
there is found directly above tiie Berea shale, or at a short remove from it. 
a number of courses of fine grained stone. • • • • • 
It would have been well if tlie tliirty or forty feet containing these 
courses bad been cut off from the Cuyahoga shale. In which case the division 
thus formed would have been well named the I'.uena \ista stone, but inas- 
much as the series does not absolutely reipiire the change, it is left unmodi- 
fied" (A'c/i/. (Iiol. Siiir. (Hiio. Vol. VI. jm. ."i". .X8 : and tlie same statement 
was republished by Dr. Orton in i8'.t.'i In Vol. VII. on p. .Ui. Apparently in 
these last two accounts of tlie Ceological Scale of Ohio Dr. orton liad forgot- 
ten that in 1874 in the I'ike county report he had proposed that the fifty 
