A456 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
has been high and dry land ever since its Carboniferous era, excepting a 
temporary submergence in the Quaternary period, it will be seen that © 
there has been time enough for the removal of the summits of all the 
anticlinal ridges by the simple action of such eroding agencies as are 
now at work degrading the hills. It is true that the direction of streams 
is, for limited distances, determined by the character of the strata of 
rocks in which they flow, the softer strata yielding a passage, while the 
harder resist. This will explain many of the crooked ways of our 
streams, which would be otherwise utterly inexplicable. But this 
cause could not have determined the general direction of the streams in 
Washington county. 
Sou.—The immediate valleys of the Ohio and Muskingum are very 
rich and productive, and equal in fertility to any lands in the State. 
There are in the county about fifty-four miles in length along the Ohio 
River, and about thirty-two miles along the Muskingum. This county 
has, therefore, a large ageregate area of the finest alluvial soil. In these 
valleys alone we find the sandy Drift terraces, which are generally at an 
elevation of from seventy to eighty feet above the streams. While the 
soil of the terraces is not so rich as that of the lower alluvial ground, it 
is, nevertheless, generally fertile, and being a warm and early soil and 
easily cultivated, it is the. favorite one for many crops. There is in the 
gravel and among the pebbles of these terraces a considerable quantity 
of limestone, which adds greatly to the fertility. The valleys of Duck 
Creek and Little Muskingum are generally much narrower, and show no 
Drift terraces. The alluvial soil in these valleys is composed of sedi- 
mentary materials derived from the Carboniferous strata of this county 
and of Noble and Monroe. From the nature of the strata, we should not 
expect, as a rule, a soil as rich as in the longer valleys of the Ohio and 
Muskingum, where there is a larger variety of soil-producing materials 
in the strata traversed, and especially more of limestone. The soil on 
the hills and hill-sides in the county is determined in quality by the 
_ nature of the strata composing the hills. It is richest where there is an 
abundance of limestone, and poorest when derived from disintegrated 
sandstone. In some cases I have found strata of highly soluble lime- 
stone of great fertilizing value situated half way up the hill-sides, while 
above are sandrocks and sandy shales. Yet the more sterile sandstone 
soil is often cultivated and the rich limestone soil neglected. It has 
been estimated that the alluvial valley of the Muskingum is three- 
fourths of a mile wide. , If so, there would be 15,360 acres of land in the 
immediate valley. If we estimate the average width in both bottom 
and terrace land of the north bank of the Ohio at one-half mile, we have 
