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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times more. This is because the hills west of the Scioto project it west,
and the valley throws it east.
Bitumen.-The black color of this slate is derived from the large
amount of bitumen it contains. Prof. Wormley, Chemist of the Geological Survey, reports the volatile matter (bitumen chiefly) as 8.40 per
cent. This is nearly one-fourth as much as we find in some bituminous
coals. We have, therefore, in the 320 feet of Black Slate, bituminous
matter enough to furnish, with the requisite bitumen, a seam of coal
nearly 80 feet thick.
The conditions under which this formation was deposited, involved
comparatively quiet waters, charged with a constant supply of fine sediment, with which there was at all times commingled organic matter,
which alone could have furnished the bitumen. The even distribution
of the bitumen throughout the entire mass of the sediments, would imply
that the water abounded with the minute forms of vegetable or animal
life. Thus far, search for their forms has been unrewarded. After a
failure by myself, I placed samples of the slate in the hands of Prof.
Wormley, whose skill in microscopic researches is well known, and whose
instruments are of the most perfect kind. Thus far his search for distinct
organisms has been unsuccessful. It is reasonable to suppose that the
organisms contained no silica or lime, and that in their decomposition
and bituminization all organic structure was destroyed.
Petroleum.-The Black Slate is an evident source of rock oil or petroleum. It affords oil readily by artificial distillation, but we find abundant
evidence that it is distilled naturally. At numerous points we find springs
of oil at the top of the slate. Generally they are in the lowest layers of
the overlying Waverly sandstone as if the ascending oil (for oil being
lighter than water is upward in its tendency), had been intercepted by
the sandstone and had flowed out between its more open layers. Such
oil springs abound in the western part of Scioto and eastern part of
Adams counties. On Churn creek, a branch of Scioto Brush creek, is an
oil spring affording a thick, heavy oil from which more or less oil has
been gathered in the summer time and used by the eitizens for medicinal
purposes. This is in the Waverly sandstone, only a few feet above the
Black Slate.
On the Rocky fork of Scioto Brush creek is a cluster of oil springs.
The largest is called the Hazelbaker Spring, on a little tributary called
Oil run. From this spring oil is constantly flowing. It is thick like
most spring oil, the more volatile portion having been evaporated through
surface exposure. This oil flows out from between layers of the Waverly
sandstone only a few feet above the black slate. Around the points of
the hills near this spring I found several places where the oil has once