Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio Volume 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 Excerpt: ...of observation, which detected, so unerringly, the hidden beds of gravel, which, though needed, were in many instances entirely unsuspected by those who ploughed and reapt above them, until the exigencies of road-making caused more thorough search to be made by those who searched without certain indications, by tentative methods, and often without hope of success. With the forests cleared away, and the soil under cultivation, and often dug into for various purposes, and with more or less light from modern science, we did not suspect gravel in a thousand localities where it has been found; we had no indications of it, and when many beds were discovered, there were yet no certain marks to point out others, and two generations have passed, traveling on mud roads unwillingly, and now, when we are stimulated to road-making, and search has been made under strong incentive and competition, behold, it is no new discovery we have made--every gravel pit is a place of human sepulture. I make the suggestion here, that possibly, in a primitive forest, there were some growths which were an indication of the nature of the underlying deposits, some which the men of the forest had learned to regard as indicating gravel. It is well known to us that some plants, some trees, are very choice in regard to the kind of soil in which alone they will flourish, especially as retaining moisture or not. Remains of Human Art.--I did not see as many flint and stone implements among the people in this county as I have in some others, though such articles are not uncommon even here. There may be ancient mounds in the county, though I did not see any. Along the Miami River and other water-courses are localities where a variety of flint arrow-points and spear-points in considerable numbers h...