449 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
Babb’s quarry in the base of the Niagara. At either of these localities 
the whole of the formation may be studied. 3 
The lower strata have the distinctly sandy constitution characteristis 
of this formation, from which the stone is frequently called sandstone. 
These strata are good fire-stones, and resist the action of fire as a back 
wall in fire places, for a generation, without softening or crumbling. But 
the strata a few feet higher are burned into hme, and make a medium 
quality for building purposes, and, no doubt, a very good quality of 
caustic lime for softening straw in the manufacture of paper. Some part 
of the ten feet of massive stone furnishes good building material. This 
stone has been obtained in Todd’s Fork, but is expensive on account of 
thickness of superincumbent stone of a poor quality which must be re- 
moved before gocd stone can be reached. On Anderson’s Fork, at Ogles- 
by’s quarry, the same stone is more accessible, and is the best building 
stone obtained from this formation. The quality of this stone at Ogles- 
by’s bas led some to refer it tothe Niagara. But it has the hardness and 
eritty character of the Clinton, and on surfaces which have been exposed | 
in the quarry to the action of atmospheric egencies for a pericd of several 
years, it is seen to be compo-ed almost wholly of a solid mass of broken 
encrinitic stems. Aside from lithological characters, this stene at Ogles- 
by’s is in the Clinton horizon about mid way from top to bottom, exclusive 
of the iron ore in the upper part. The twelve feet from the top of the 
Clinten is well seen from the under-strata at Babb’s quarry, on Todd’s 
Fork, down stresm to the locality of the iron furnace former y erected to 
work the ore. This twelve feet is highly fossiliferous throughout, but it 
is only in a few feet at the bottom where the proportion of iron is large 
enough to entitle it to the name of iron ore. In this part the imbedded 
fossils are deeply cclored by the iron: For some reason the furnace 
erected here about twenty-seven years ago did not prove a success, and 
was scon abandoned, although the quality of iron was regarded as very. 
good. The richest ore is a brittle stone, mostly composed of small, exte 
riorly smcoth and shiny lenticular grains, reminding one of flax-seed. 
The ore is easily crumbled in the hand, and contains numerous disjointed 
crinoidal disks, parti-lly eroded. The epecies of fossils become more nue 
merous as we approach the higher strata. Sometimes the stone is highly 
granular or crystalline, while still crumbling easily in the fingers, and 
is less ferruginous, and the imbedded fossils become light colored. The 
iron ore occurs in considerable quantities, being exposed in an outcrop 
along the slopes for several miles, and large quantities could be obtained 
by stripping. Ifit were more convenient or nearer furnaces in operation, 
it might become valuable to mix with other ores in making certain quali 
