Limestones
The geological basis of Perry county is the Sub- carboniferous or Maxville Lime. The geological apex is the Ames Limestone that is found on the tops of the hills in Bearfield and Monroe townships. In all, our county carries six principal limestones. In the order of their ascending scale they are: 1. The Maxville (white). 2. Zoar (blue). 3. Hanging Rock (gray). 4. Shawnee (buff). 5. Cambridge (black). 6. Ames (crinoidal).21
There are several accessory seams but they are un- important. But little is known of the Maxville Lime. It shows in but a few isolated patches, and its appearance is varied in the different exposures. The Maxville ex- posure, however, is the most characteristic. It is of a white or light drab color, very fine grained and breaks with a conchoidal fracture, which makes it valuable for lithographic stone. It contains ninety per cent. carbonate of lime and can therefore be utilized for plaster and furnace flux. It is a stratum of about ten feet and lies exposed in the bed of the creek. It has been used for plastering purposes for over half a cent- ury. (See Lime Kilns). When Baird Furnace was built, the lime from Max- ville was hauled a distance of three miles, where it was used as flux for the furnace. The Maxville deposit is not rich in fossils, but when found they are usually very fine specimens. The sub-carboniferous Lime has also been quarried in Reading township near the Mays- ville pike. It is also found at Fultonham.LIST OF FOSSILS FROM THE MAXVILLE LIMESTONE.1. Zaphrentis. A small, undetermined, curved, conical species. 2. Scaphiocrinus decadactylus. 3. Productus pileiformis. 4. Productus elegans. 5. Chonetes. Undetermined species. 6. Athyris subquadrata. 7. Athyris trinuclea. 8. Spirifer (Martinia) contractus. 9. Spirifer. Undetermined fragments of perhaps two species.22
10. Terebratula. An undetermined, small, oval species, showing the fine punctures under a lens. 11. Aviculopecten. Undetermined species. 12. Allorisma. Undetermined fragments, appar- ently like A. antiqua. 13. Naticopsis. A small undetermined species. 14. Straparollus perspectivus. 15. Bellerophon sublaevis. 16. Pleurotomaria. A small, undetermined cast. 17. Nautilus. A small, undetermined, compressed, discoidal species, with very narrow periphery trun- cated. 18. Nautilus. A large, sub-discoid, undetermined species, with an open umbilicus, and only slightly em- bracing volutions, that are somewhat wider trans- versely than dorso-ventrally, and provided with a row of obscure nodes around, near the middle of each side. The writer, in company with Supt. DeLong, in the summer of 1901, found an excellent specimen of the last named fossil, at Maxville. About a hundred feet above the Maxville stratum is the very persistent horizon of the Zoar or the Blue Limestone. It has an average thickness of about three feet. It is not so compact as is that at Maxville and it weathers readily. It is of no use as a building stone and it is so rich in silica, that it cannot be utilized for furnace flux. In fact its silicious tendency is often so great that it is known as flint. It is highly fossilifer- ous and carries with it a great amount of iron. Where the iron predominates it has been mined for iron ore. This was the case at Junction City, where it was known as "block-ore." Its horizon is in the valley below Baird Furnace, from where it was first taken for flux. As it23
proved a failure for that purpose, it was subsequently mined as block-ore and its iron extracted. The Hanging Rock or Gray Limestone is found throughout the southern part of the county, at least as far north as Bristol. Throughout the remainder ot the county, it is represented by the Putnam Hill Limestone, which is quarried at New Lexington under the name of Flint or Chert. This lime is highly fer- riferous, and in many places is known as iron ore. Where it appears as such it has been designated as the Baird Ore and it is what was used at Baird Furnace and at others of the smelting works near the Perry county line. It lies about one hundred and ten feet above the Zoar Lime and is quite persistent. We find its horizon at McCuneville where it is denominated "bastard lime." Something over a hundred feet above the Gray Limestone we find the Buff, Shawnee or Upper Free- port. It is rich in carbon and was therefore used as a flux in the Shawnee furnaces. It is only a few feet in thickness, is non-fossiliferous, and carries several accessory seams which are better known as iron ores. The Cambridge Limestone is a fossiliferous stra- tum of about two feet. It is often known as flint and this is especially true in our county. It is found in the eastern townships and its most westward outcrop is north of Rehoboth in Clayton township. It was this lime that was used in paving the streets of Crooksville. The Ames Limestone almost misses Perry county. In the extreme eastern part we find it only on the very tops of the highest hills. It is highly fossiliferous, consisting mostly of crinoid stems. It is from this fact that it is called by geologists "crinoidal lime- stone."24