Clifton Gorge

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    The Ohio haturalist,PUBLISHED BY

    The Biological Club of the Ohio State UniversityVolume IV. FEBRUA RY, 1904. N o. 4.

    TABLE OF CONTENTSW E L L S T h e Topography an d Goology of Clifton Gorge 75K E L L E R M A N I n d e x t o Uredineous Culture Experiments with List of Species a n d

    Hosts fo r North America 78SCIIAFFNERSome Morphological Peculiar ities of the Nymphaeaeeae a n d Heliobae.. 83OSBORNNote on Alate Form of Phylloscelis 93S A N D ERS Th ree New Scale Insects from Ohio 94C O B E R L Y M e e t i n g of th e Biological Club 98

    THE TOP OGRAP HY AND GEOLOGY OFC LIF TON GORGE.W . E . W E U S .

    This gorge is located in Greene count}7, Ohio , about two milesfrom th e town of Yellow Sp ring s . I t is m ade by th e h ead w atersof th e Li t t le M iami r iver .The beauty of the gorge is not surpassed by anyth ing of a l ikena tur e in th e Sta te. I t h as been vis i ted by th ous and s of pleasure-seekers from all the surrounding country, especial ly from thenear-by ci t ies of Da yton, Springf ield and X eni a. Ne ith er is th isremarkable gorge unknown to the sc ient is ts of th is and o thers ta tes . In the gorge are found two qui te rare p lants Gro undHemlock (Taxus canadens is ) , found nowThere else in the county,and Asplenium ruta-murar ia , found nowhere e lse in the S ta te .T h e orig in of the- go rge seems to be as follows : T h e h e a d-w aters of th e Li t t le M iami flow wi th an app aren tly ge ntle s lopeover th e glac ial drift , for some dis tanc e. At th e tow n of C lifton,however, the dr if t th ins out and the Niagara l imestone comes toth e surface. A t th e same t ime th e s lope increases , w ith th enatural result that the r iver has hewn for i tself a deep bed in thesolid rock. T h is deep bed is th e go rge .At i ts beginning the gorge is very narrow7, h av ing an averag ew idth of abo ut 40 feet . T h e av erage depth here is 34 feet.But as th e s t ream proceeds th e val ley g radual ly widens . T h isis due to the fact that the Springf ield divis ion of the Niagarahas been more eas i ly eroded than the Cedarvil le divis ion justabove it; so that from time to time the latter has broken off.In proof of this we find the valley floor strewn with rockmasses, m ost of th em moss-covered, some of th e large st w ith

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    The Ohio Naturalist [Vol. IV,No.4,.small t rees grow ing on the ir upper surfaces. O ne large mass h aslodged in m id-stream, and from its resemblance is called " S te a m -boa t rock . "Ab out th ree miles dow nstream a softer r idg e (C l inton ) isencountered, whereupon the valley becomes broader and the cliffsdisappea r for th e most pa rt . A bo ut a mile furth er dow n, th eriver passes th ro ug h a st i l l softer rock (C inci nnati l imestonesand sh ale s). As a resu lt th e valley becomes very capacious,being one-fourth to one-half a mile wide.

    FrG. r. Look ing down th e Gorge towards th e site of th e old W oolen M ill,just above th e W aterfall.

    T h e slope of th e r iver bed in th e go rge was found to be abo ut35 feet to th e mile. I t is h ard ly necessary to add th at th is pro-duces an abundant wa ter pow er. Fifty years ago no t m uch ofth is powe r was allowed to go to w as te. In 1855 th ere w ere inthe gorge alone five grist mills, one paper mill one woolen m ill,one saw mill and th ree disti l leries. But as time w ent on th eseenterprises, one by one, were abandoned, until at the present t imeonly two grist mills are left. T h e only reason th at can be given

    76

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    Feb., 1904.] Topography andGeology of lifton Gorgefor this failure to utilize sobountiful a supply of freepower is that this particularlocality has failed, general-ly, to meet the expectationsof its first settlers. Thetown of Yellow Springs waslaid out for a city of 10,000inhabitants. It now has1 300

    In the softer strata justunder the overhanging caprock, are some shaly seams.These act as water bearers,and as a result the gorge iswell supplied with springs,some of c o n s i d e r a b l estrength. They always ap-pear at the base of the cliffs.It is interesting to notein this connection that thissame stratum furnishes ther e m a r ka b l e iron springwhich has given the townof Yellow Springs its name.

    The hard cap-rock Ce-darville) when b u r n e dmakes excellent lime ; andyet, in over two miles ofexposure we found the re-mains of but two limekilns.Not the least among theinteresting things connect-ed with a study of thisgorge is the existence of anold abandoned channel. In1876, Prof. Claypole, thena professor in Antioch Col-lege,worked out this chan-nel very completely. Therecord of his work, unfor-tunately, is lost. All weknow of his investigationsis , that he dug into thechannel to the depth ofabout 20 feet before reach-ing rock. At this depth the drill brought up a black, mucky soil,

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    78 The Ohio Naturalist [Vol.IV,No.4,

    filled with old, dead leaves The channe l is located near them o u t h of theg o r g e and is cut th rough Cl in ton l imestone. Itsl eng th is abo ut one-half mile, its average width 125feet, and itspresent he igh t above ther iver , 22feet . T h is correspondsto thedep th of Prof. Claypole ' s dr i l l ing . In fact, all the evidence goesto prove tha t th i s channel is preglacial and is now largely filledwith dr if t . At the head of the channe l a ravine has cut a deept rough , showing very n icely the character of the f i l l ing (boulderc l a y ) . Theownerof the land upon which the channe l is locatedsays t ha tat onet ime a l a rge s tum p s tand ing in the old ch anne lturned over and in the course of a few months d isappearedent i re ly . A few bluffs are to be seen at the lower end of thechannel , g iving addi t ional proof of its or ig in .Not longago Prof. Bownocker worked out the h is tory of t h i sr iver , but unfortunately overlooked th is old channel . He hast raced, however , the oldchanne l to wi th in about a mile of t h i sone. So th at th is discovery simply ex tend s the course of someancient r iver bed,wh ose course isbeing g radua lly mapped out.A terrace with an aver ag e h e i g h tof abou t 30feet wasfound inth e gorge . T h is would indicate , in the h i s to ry of the presents t ream, a general upw ard movem ent of the crust , in t imes past .The gorge i tself isw ith ou t doubt post-glacial .

    NOTE: The topographical map which accompanies this sketchwasmadeby Miss Alice Carr, Miss Gertrude Bakerand Mr. R. O.W eadof thegeologyclassof Antioch College.Antioch College.