MERCER COUNTY. A413 
near the opening are porous, and bleached nearly white. This stone 
here affords a quicklime of superior quality. Stone was formerly taken 
from the bed of the St. Mary’s at Mendon, but the place is now inaccess- 
ible, and no inspection of its characters could be made. It is, however, 
believed to be the same as that seen near Shanesville, in the quarry of 
Mr. Work. 
The Drift—The characters of this deposit are such as prevail through- 
out the Black Swamp generally, although much of the southern part of 
the county is more broken and gravelly. Its chief constituent is clay, 
which, below ten or twelve feet, is blue, but to that depth 1s of a yellow- 
ish or light brown color. The original color of the whole was probably 
blue, the brown or yellow colors being due to oxidation from above. No 
distinct, constant characters, or line of demarkation separating the 
brown from the blue, indicative of different or successive origins or 
deposition, have been seen in the county, nor in north-western Ohio. 
On the contrary, the colors have been seen to gradually fade into each 
other in a great many instances. This clay is usually a compact, un- 
stratified mass, impervious to water, and embracing stones and bowlders 
of all sizes up to several tons weight. At Mercer, in Dublin township, 
and throughout a radius of four or five miles, 1t acts as the confining 
stratum for a number of artesian wells which flow from sand at the depth 
of thirty-five or forty feet, the water rising from five to eight feet above 
the surface. Such wells may be seen on the farm of Mr. J. Keith. Near 
Celina, on the north side of the Big Beaver River, it has afforded a great 
number of bowlders of the Lower Corniferous, some of which have been 
worked into stone for building. They are met near the surface in plow- 
ing the field. One was worked up on the land of Mr. Petre, which fur- 
nished eight or ten wagon-loads of good blocks, suitable for common 
building purposes. The ridges which cross the county consist of gravel 
and sand in glacial stratification, usually overspread by a few feet of this 
clay. The thickness of the Drift can not be stated. A well at Shanes- 
ville was in the blue clay, at a depth of sixty feet, without water. 
MATERIAL RESOURCHS. 
The soil of Mercer county will necessarily always be the source of its 
greatest material wealth. It will, however, reach its highest develop- 
ment and yield its greatest revenue only when it has been subjected to 
thorough artificial drainage, and to careful and skillful tillage. Much of 
the county is still covered with forest, while the soil of that which has 
been occupied by farmers is not infrequently too damp and cold to bear 
a high market price. There is no doubt that the agricultural develop- 
