RICHLAND COUNTY. O20 
the stream occupying the raised bed of the old channel, which passes 
west of Mansfield, and connects the waters of the Lake with the Ohio. 
Between the top of the argillaceous and silicious shales, which very 
generally underlie the horizon of the Waverly Conglomerate, there is an 
interval of something over three hundred feet, before the Berea, which is 
quarried in the extreme north-west corner of the county, is reached. 
The northern part of the county is comparatively level, the surface 
deeply covered with unmodified clay Drift, except along the lines of an- 
cient erosion, where the sand-ridges equally mask the geological struc- 
ture. Hence there are very few rock exposures, and these so isolated 
that the section cannot be constructed in detail. So far as seen, it is 
composed of alternate strata of argillaceous’and silicious shales having 
little economic value, though some of the layers afford a fair stone for 
ordinary foundation purposes. 
ECONOMIC GHOLOGY. 
From what has already been written, it is apparent that the mineral 
depcesits of the county are not of very great economic value. 
The heavy beds of the Waverly afford an ‘nexhaustible supply of stone 
of yood quality for bridge and foundation purposes, which would also 
make a fair building stone, but not equal in value to the Berea north of 
it, or to the more homogeneous and finer-grained sandstones of the Wa- 
verly, further south. The peculiarly rich, but rather gaudy, coloring of . 
the rock from the quarry near Mansfield and other places would, if prop- 
erly selected, make highly ornamental window caps, sills, ete., and might 
be used for the entire fronts of buildings. 
The Berea is too far beneath the surface to be accessible, except at the 
north-west corner of the county, and does not there present its best char- 
acteristics. 
The iron ore of the county consists of the siliclous ore occupying the 
horizon of the Conglomerate at the tops of the highest hills; nodules of 
clay-iron stone found here and there throughout the rock formations, 
and bog ore found in a few places on the surface. None of these are in 
sufficient quantity, or of sufficient purity, to pay for transportation te. 
parts where they could be economically used. 
Since the explorations of the county were made, considerable local in-. 
terest has been manifested in the reported discovery of coal by deep bor- 
ings in the immediate neighborhood of Mansfield. Coal is exhibited 
said to have been taken from the borings. It is a legitimate part of the 
work of a geological survey to expose and to prevent frauds of this 
kind so far as it can be done, but not to assert that any particular 
