ROSS COUNTY. 655 
level of which would be sure to rise until they found an outlet. The 
heavy Drift terraces, not less than one hundred feet in thickness, that 
occupy this portion of the old valley, and which furnish in their broad 
and fertile plains some of the most attractive as well as the most product- 
ive farms of the county, are to be referred to this lake for their origin. 
It is not necessary to suppose that the water, before finding its way 
southward, was raised to the height of the hills that bound the valley. 
It is altogether reasonable to suppose that it availed itself of one of the 
low divides, so many of which are now found in this part of the county, 
and which are so generally used for the roads that lead from one valley 
to another. A small stream probably flowed into Paint Creek from the 
southward along the line of the new valley, the source of which was 
separated by a low summit from another tributary of the main creek 
that flowed eastward—also by the line of the new valley. A stream that 
now enters the new valley at its southernmost point, from Huntington 
township, is probably the remnant of this last tributary. If once the 
level of the waters were raised above the height of this dividing ridge, 
the remaining work of excavation would be easy to follow. 
The preceding discussion may seem, at first sight, to the general reader 
who has never given much thought to the solution of geological prob- 
lems, to be venturesome and unwarranted speculation, but it is believed 
that it will commend itself to every one who gives it a candid and com- 
petent consideration, as not only a valid, but a highly probable explana- 
tion of the remarkable facts with which it deals. 
IV. The soils of Ross county agree with those of Pike county, as far at 
least as the latter go. All of the varieties of native soils described as 
occurring in the last named county are also found in Ross, and possess 
the same general characteristics, but, in addition, there are large areas in 
Ross county, as has already been shown, covered with the deposits of the 
glacial and modified Drift. These areas furnish far more varied and more 
fruitful soils than the native rocks afford from the products of their dis- 
integration and decay. The lands referred to in this general division in 
Ross county take their place among the best lands of Ohio. Its valleys, 
too, are unsurpassed. The general characteristics of the Scioto valley 
have been already given. The valley of Paint Creek is inferior in area 
alone to that of the river. 
There are no peculiarities in the water-supply of Ross county. The 
same facts obtain in its different districts that have been described in 
the preceding section. Wells dug in the Drift beds of its northern town- 
_ Ships very frequently disclose buried vegetation. The occurrence of wood, 
leaves, and an ancient soil has been shown in previous reports to be fret 
