CHAPTER LVI. 
REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY. 
BY J. S. NEWBERRY. 
SURFACE FEATURES. 
The topography of Columbiana county may be said to be wholly due 
to erosion. It originally formed a portion of the great table land of the 
Coal Measures, of which the surface sloped gently to the south, the 
northern margin of the county reaching on to the divide which sepa- 
rates the waters of the Ohio from those of Lake Erie. In process of time 
the drainage of the southern slope of this divide, following certain lines, 
determined by slight irregularities of the surface, has excavated the deep 
valleys of several streams which terminate in the still deeper trough of 
the Ohio. : | 
All the streams which form this system of drainage take their rise 
near the northern line of the county, and, descending with rapid cur- 
rents, at their mouths they flow more than five hundred feet below the 
summits of the high lands which border them. 
This system of excavation has given great variety to the surface, and 
has fashioned it into a series of rounded hills rising two hundred to three 
hundred feet above the broad valleys which separate them. The lines of 
the landscape formed by these alternations of hill and valley are flow- 
ing and graceful, and perhaps no part of our State affords more charm- 
ing views than those which may be seen in various parts of Columbiana 
county. ; 
Only the north-western corner of the county is occupied by the Drift 
clays and gravels which have modified the scenery and agriculture of so 
many of the counties lying further north and west. The soil is for the 
most part formed by the decomposition of the underlying rocks, which 
re sandstones, shales, limestones, beds of fire-clay, and coal. These in 
their disintegration have produced a soil of great fertility, and here, a 
in many other parts of the coal area, we find the hills scarcely less pro. 
ductive than the valleys, and their very summits frequently crowned 
‘with luxuriant crops of corn and wheat. 
The higher lands of the county, with their rounded outlines, excellent 
soil, and sunny exposures, have proved to be especially adapted to the 
