BUTLER COUNTY. ACI 
near to the water’s edge, directly east of the village of Oxford. As was 
shown in the chapter already quoted, the vertical range of this fossil is 
very limited while its horizontal range is wide, so that it serves an excel- 
lent purpose asa landmark in the system. Its altitude isa horizon about 
four hundred and seventy-five feet above low-water at Cincinnati. * 
The Oxford sections are of interest from the fact that they yielded 
thirty years ago, many of the type fossils of the formation. The early 
geological work of David Christy, Esq., was done in this field, and through 
him collections of the fossils found here were distributed among eastern 
and foreign geologists. The name of Oxford is, aecordingly, very widely 
known as one of the typical localities of the Blue Limestone or Cincin- 
nati Group of Southern Ohio. The original cabinet of Mr. Christy is 
now in possession of Miami University, at Oxford. It contains a num- 
ber of interesting fossils. 
Wayne and Madison townships, and especially the latter, furnish un- 
surpassed exposures of the Lebanon Beds in the banks of the smaller 
streams that drain their highlands. Kemp’s Run, near Middletown 
Station, furnishes excellent ground for the collector, as do also several 
branches that flow from Loy’s Hill to Twin Creek, on the north line of 
the county. 
SOILS AND WATER SUPPLY. 
The agricultural capabilities of some portions of the county have al- 
ready been touched upon incidentally. A few additional statements upon 
the general subjects of soil and water supply will be, however, appro- 
priate here. 3 
Butler county stands scarcely second in productive power to any equal 
area in the State. No qualification certainly would be required if the 
valley of the Great Miami and that portion of the county lying east of 
the river were alone to be taken into account. This region might put 
in an unquestioned claim to be styled the garden of Ohio. It is made up 
* Nore.—Mr. U. P. James reports that he has found this shell during the present sum- 
mer, 1874, in Clermont county, associated with Sirophomena planumbona, and other char- 
acteristic fossils of the Lebanon beds. This gives it a higher position, by at least one 
hundred, ieet than it has been known to occupy before, and would seem at first sight to 
destroy the value of the fossil asa measure of elevation, but it does not necessarily bring 
about this result, for the first named fact remains as stated heretofore, viz., that at a 
horizon four hundred and seventy-five feet above low-water at Cincinnati, there is a wide- 
spread distribution of this fossil with the narrowest vertical range. When the fossil ig 
met with, it can easily be determined by an examination of the nearer beds, whether 
it belongs to the universal sheet or whether it belongs to a sporadic bed like that noted 
by Mr. James. 
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