nine tons.

The boilers, engine, and blowing cylinders appeared to be in good order.

I had but little opportunity to examine the character of the coal beds in the neighborhood of this furnace, but fully believe that a seam equivalent to the Leatherman and Mill bank coals may be found here of a quality that will also answer for smelting iron ores; in which case the Indiana furnace may be again put in blast, and run with profit, if placed under proper management.

The pig-iron, which is still to be seen at this furnace, bears testimony that the ores yield an excellent quality of metal. As many as three thick seams of coal, with a total depth of twelve to sixteen feet, are found over a large area of this county, and the quality will compare favorably with that of any other coals in the State.

GEOLOGY OF VERMILLION COUNTY.

BY FRANK H. BRADLEY.

Vermillion county is bounded on the north by Warren county, on the east by Fountain and Parke counties, with the channel of the Wabash river as a boundary line, on the south by Vigo county, and on the west by Edgar and Vermillion counties, of Illinois. It is thirty-six miles long, and varies in breadth from five to ten miles, with an average of a little less than seven miles, thus including an area of 249 square miles.

Of this area, from one-fourth to one-third consists of the rich bottoms and terraces of the valleys of the Wabash and its affluents, the Big and Little Vermillion rivers and Norton's creek. A study of the details of the terrace-topography would be very interesting, but the time allotted to the survey of this county allowed of only a passing notice of its general features. The main terrace, or "second bottom," is especially developed in the region between Perrysville and Newport, a fact probably resulting from the combined action of the two main affluents which join the Wabash within these limits. The terrace is here from one to four miles wide, furnishing a broad stretch of rich farming lands, and has an average elevation of about forty feet above the present bottoms. Below Newport the bluffs approach the river so closely that the terrace is nearly obliterated, and the bottoms themselves become very narrow. At the mouth of Little Raccoon creek the bottoms are considerably widened, but the terrace has no considerable extent, until we reach the head of Helt prairie, about six miles north of Clinton, whence it stretches southward, with an average width of from two to three miles. It narrows

again, about three miles below Clinton, as we approach the mouth of Brouillet's creek, and the county line.

At the first settlement of the country, the bottoms were heavily timbered, but a large part of the terrace was so-called prairie, being entirely clear of trees. It is probable, however, that this was the result of ancient clearing by the Aztecs, or Mound-builders, whose "mounds" are quite numerous in this region; and that, during the period when the Indians occupied the country, their annual fires prevented the growing up of the clearings.

Rising from the terrace we find more or less abrupt bluffs, which attain a general level of from 120 to 130 feet above the river, and form the slightly-elevated border of Grand Prairie. The most gradual ascent is to the westward of Perrysville, and this has been selected as the best route for the Chicago, Terre Haute & Evansville railroad, although the coal and iron interest would rather favor a location south of the Big Vermillion. South of this stream the bluffs are much steeper, and a moderate grade could be obtained only by following up the valley of one of the smaller streams. The slopes of these bluffs are generally too steep for convenient cultivation, and are, through nearly their whole extent, still heavily covered with timber, principally consisting of oaks, hickories and walnuts, though beech begins to take a prominent place as we approach the southern end of the county. In many of the ravines, and along the foot of the bluffs, there are large groves of the sugar maple, from which considerable quantities of sugar and molasses are annually drawn. Near the principal streams this timbered region extends westward to the State line; but in both the northern and middle portions of the length of the county, considerable portions of its territory form parts of the Grand Prairie, which stretches, with few breaks, northward to the Illinois river, and westward nearly to the Mississippi.

The county is well watered by its numerous streams, and by the strong springs which, especially in its northern half, burst forth at short intervals from below the "boulderclay" of the drift period.