Part I. Report of progress in 1869, by J. S. Newberry, chief geologist. Part II. Report of progress in the second district, by E. B. Andrews, assist. geologist. Part III. Report on geology of Montgomery County, by Edward Orton, assist. geologist.

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the gravel and sand were accumulated in vast sand-bars and flats.
Water in the streams from 80 to 100 feet higher than at present would
make the terrace. If we should accept the glacier theory to explain the
spread of the drift over the central and northern part of the State, then
the final melting of a vast body of ice would fill, with torrents, all the
streams down the slope to the Ohio river, and these sweeping currents
would carry down the materials in the drift terraces. It would appear
then, that it is possible to refer the origin of the drift terraces, and
the deposit of occasional bowlders on high hills, to different and very distinct cau8e8.
The terrace in the olden time presented' great attraction to the moundbuilder race. We everywhere find on them earthworks, in the form of
mounds, elevated squares; walls and ditches. Being dry and sandy, the
surface could be easily removed and accumulated in their various structures. To the profound questions of the ethnologist, who the moundbuilders were, whence they came, and whither they went, we can only
reply that they once lived here, here cultivated the soil, here worshiped,
perhaps with the solemn rites of human sacrifice, here planned and executed mighty works of organized labor, and then passed away. We
find their temples, and fortresses, and tombs.
The character of the soil of the river terraces and plains depends upon
the nature of the materials composing it. In the Scioto valley much of
the giavel is of limestone origin, and hence the remarkable fertility of
the Pickaway plains and the other terraced benches in that valley. The
Hocking valley, below Lancaster, is generally narrow, but the soil of
the terrace often contains much of the drift limestone. The Muskingum
river terraces contain less limestone gravel, but the soil is generally
fertile, and is much esteemed for ease of working and the earliness of
its crops.
The coarse gravel of the terraces is much prized as a material for the
making of railroads. The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad Company finds
on its line, in Warren township, Washington county, on the Ohio river,
a fine body of terrace gravel, which has been largely used as a ballast for
the road-bed. After leaving the Ohio river, no more coarse gravel is
found until the road enters the valley of the Hocking. Passing the valley no more gravel is reached until the road enters the valley of the
Scioto. Railroads located longitudinally within these terraced valleys
have rare facilities for making a most perfect road-bed. The Hocking
Valley Railroad is thus located, and, although a new road, is one of the
smoothest in the State.
OUTLINES OF THE GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
The rocks formed in the 2d District are in ascending order-the Great
Black Slate, the Waverly Sandstones, the Conglomerates, and the pro