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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down periodically from the continent of that period. This would make
the accumulation of the Waverly rocks a rapid one, yet there could not
have been a very strong current to move the materials of the formation,
as it is developed near the Ohio River, for they are too fine and too much
mingled with clay. To the north, in Fairfield county, and in that region,
the Waverly sandstone is very coarse, and required much stronger currents for the accumulation of the materials.
About 47 feet above the "city ledge" is a group of layers, lying so
horizontally and so evenly bedded as to arrest attention. This group
was named by Dr. Locke in the old reports-the " Beautiful Quarry."
The position of these layers is indicated in the general section. They
have never been quarried to any considerable extent, but doubtless the
choicer layers will be wrought at some future day. The same group is
well exposed on the road to the residence of Hon. Wm. J. Flagg, on the
high hill between Upper and Lower Twin creeks. Although no other
layer of sandstone than the "city ledge" is now wrought, to any extent,
in the neighborhood of Buena Vista, it is not because there is not a vast
amount of excellent stone besides. The "city ledge" has a great reputation, and as it is easily wrought for all architectural purposes, it is in
great demand. Such has been the competition among the owners of
quarries, that they feel compelled to supply their patrons with the "city
ledge" stone. Could the stone from other layers be once fairly introduced, I have no doubt of its value and popularity.
The stone of the "city ledge" is sometimes contaminated with petroleum, but this is in exceptional localities. Many of the large blocks of
the stone used in the supension bridge over the Ohio river at Cincinnati
show the tarry oil, as the sun's heat has caused it to exude and run down
These were blocks not deemed worthy, I suppose, to be used in the finer
stone works in the city. A limestone quarried in the suburbs of Chicago
is charged, in a similar way, with petroleum. A Presbyterian church on
Wabash avenue in that city, built of this stone, presents the appearance
of having been covered with dripping tar. The oil in the "city ledge"
stratum has evidently originated in the highly bituminus slate which immediately underlies it. In confirmation of this supposition, the lowest
sandstone layers of the Waverly group and which rest directly upon the
Great Black Slate, contain oil and constitute a horizon of oil springs.
The upper Waverly sandstone are nowhere extensively quarried along
the Ohio river, so far as I could learn, except on Carey's run, between
Stoney run and Portsmouth, where there is a pretty extensive quarry of
Waverly layers, situated above the horizon of the "city ledge." No
measured sections of the rocks were here made. The stone is now being
quarried for the piers of the railroad bridge between Cincinnati and Covington, Ky. Generally they are not sufficiently firm and durable for