DELAWARE COUNTY. 309 
MATERIAL RESOURCES. 
Tame and Building Stone.—Beginning with the lowest in the geological 
series of the county, we find a close-grained, drab-limestone. The beds, 
so far as seen in Delaware county, are usually less than six inches in 
thickness, yet at one place, near the north line of the county, it is 
taken from below the water of the Scioto in beds of six to ten inches. 
Although this stone is rather hard and close-grained, it is also apt to 
be brittle, and in its undisturbed bedding to be checked into small angu- 
lar pieces. It occupies low, sheltered places, owing to a tendency to be 
destroyed by the elements. It is easily disrupted, even by the use of 
the crowbar or pick, and seldom needs blasting. These qualities render 
it a poor stone for construction, and it is seldom used except for quick- 
lime. When it has not been bleached, and weakened by long exposure 
to the elements, it makes a lime nearly as strong as any that can be 
burned in Delaware county, and much whiter than that made from the 
Hamilton or the Corniferous. Near Mrs. Evans’s kiln, where it has 
been used in conjunction with the Corniferous, it is distinguished as 
the “white stone” by the workmen, from the whiteness of the quick- 
lime it affords. | 
The Oriskany, which succeeds to the Waterlime, has no economical 
value whatever. In some parts of the State it is a very pure, silicious 
sandstone, in heavy beds, but in Delaware county is conglomeratic with 
Waterlime pebbles, and it graduates upward into the lower member of 
the Lower Corniferous, the supposed equivalent of the Onondaga lime- 
stone of New York State. 
The remainder of the Devonian limestones constitute a group which 
are noted for their various economical uses. The heavy, buff limestone 
overlying the Oriskany is rather coarse-grained and rough to the touch, 
but lies in heavy layers of uniform thickness and texture. Its color is 
pleasant and cheerful, especially when dressed under the hammer and 
laid in the wall. it is sometimes vesicular or cherty, when its value as 
a building material is considerabiy less; yet in all cases 1t answers well 
for any heavy stone-work, as bridge piers and abutments, aqueducts, and 
all foundations. In some parts of the State this member of the Cornif- 
erous is extensively wrought, and sawn into handsome blocks for stone 
fronts. Ample facilities are afforded aiong the Scioto river, at a great 
many places, for the working of this stone. Its value as a building ma- 
terial and the accessibility of its layers, render it a little surprising 
that no opening worthy the name of a quarry has been made in it within 
the limits of Delaware county. As a cut-stone it ranks next to the 
Berea grit in its best estate, which is found in the eastern part of the 
