Box 2, Folder 8: Typewritten Letters, 1829-1832

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teen feet below the bottom of the canal, making eighty feet as the extreme height of the bluffs above the river (from actual measurements).

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There are Sulphur springs five miles west of Chillicothe near the road to Old Town.

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Dec. 1. Am still at Circleville, Ohio. Wrote a letter to Dr. Clapp of New Albany, Ind. describing some of the more remarkable geological appearances observable in this part of Ohio. Also to Thos. H. Taylor of Louisville on various subjects, to Dr. Hildreth acknowledging a box of minerals &c. and also to professor Silliman.

Circleville, Ohio. Dec. 1, 1829.

Dear Sir,--

*** I have now been in this place about two months and my brother Darius Lapham has resided in the Scioto valley nearly two years during which time we have carefully noted down all facts and observations that have occurred to us relating to the geology, Mineralogy, and botany of this portion of Ohio.

Next season if we should collect a sufficient number of facts on these subjects to make an interesting paper for the Journal of Science, they will at your request be communicated.

We intend to pay considerable attention to the examination of the boulders of primitive and other rocks scattered over the surface of the country, and we mean not to suffer the imputation cast upon us by our neighbors* (See vol. 14 No. 2 Silli. Jour.) of a "disposition to indolence" to apply to our case.***

Several engineers of my acquaintance have expressed a

*See Judge Tappan's article, letter July 27, 1828.

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desire to see an analysis of the water limestone from Louisville particularly to determine whether it contains manganese. I do not know what trouble it will be to you to have it analyzed, but if you think the subject worthy of your attention, I would be thankful for an account of the analysis.

Yours very respectfully

I.A. Lapham.

Prof. B. Silliman.

Circleville, O. Dec. 3rd. 1829.

Dear Brother,

I propose to you that we resume our regular, reciprocal correspondence which was commenced two years since for mutual improvement.***

The following is the result of my tour to your line via Lancaster, Hockhocking Falls and back as far as it concerns geology &c. After leaving you in the morning we followed the road which leads to the stone quarry about three miles, then taking a less beaten road which led us over the sandstone hills, we passed on about a mile and found ourselves at the falls of the Hockhocking, here a small creek (not larger than the Yellow Bud) after running in a narrow rocky channel, about six feet deep and two or three yards in width, it suddenly falls into another ravine or channel cut into the solid rock about fifty feet deep and as I should judge about the same width.

The rocky scenery is adorned with the evergreen foliage of the Pinus hemlocicus, the Pinus Americanus is not to be found. The greater part of the water which now runs in the creek is occupied in turning the enormous water wheel of a flouring mill (this wheel is about thirty feel in diameter) so that a person who goes there with the expectation of seeing a beautiful waterfall will be mightily disappointed.

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Caleb Atwater says * that siliceous oxide of zinc occurs near these falls in thin plates between strata of compact limestone. I am certain there can be no limestone at the falls but there may be some below. Perhaps when you visit this interesting locality it will be worth your while to spend a little more time at it than I could spare and follow the channel some distance down the stream.

The rock is sandstone and it must be some harder than the kind that is quarried for canal purposes. I saw the red shale exhibited very perfectly in a rock which was laid bare on the roadside near the falls. The veins are smaller and more curved than the specimens which I got from you.

The road passes up the creek on the south side about half a mile, then leaves it to the right. In all this distance the creek runs through a narrow rocky channel. Near the top of the hill, which we passed just before we got to the falls, I saw several large boulders of primitive rock and on the summit of another hill, which we crossed after leaving the creek, I saw one which I should judge was six or seven feet in diameter. After this, we came upon the surface of the stratum of diluvium and did not see a primitive boulder for several miles. When they occurred I noticed we were descending into the valley of the creek.

Hypothesis. Suppose the surface of the earth to be diversified with hills and valleys as it evidently was, at the time of the diluvial depositions and that a stratum of earth consisting of clay, sand, gravel and primitive boulders was deposited horizontally upon it covering the hills and valleys to an equal depth. That part of the diluvium that was deposited upon the hills would

*See 2'd Edition Cleveland's Mineralogy.

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by succeeding heavy rains or other causes be washed into the valleys except the boulders, whose "pondorosity" would prevent them from being washed away. In the general deposition of course no boulders would remain upon the surface (for they would readily sink into the soft earth beneath) but they would be interspersed through the center of the deposit.

Now if a stream of water or small creek should excavate for itself a channel by washing away the lighter particles of earth, the boulders would be left strewn along the bed of this channel. With this theory we can account for all the facts and appearances which we have observed respecting the situation in which the boulders are found.

Let me know your opinion of this hypothesis.***

A great deal of earth washed away from the bluffs during the great flood in the river.

Your affectionate brother,

Increase A.

Darius.

Dec. 7. Monday.*** The river commenced rising Saturday morning and rose very rapidly until last night when it began to fall. It was within four feet of the late flood. Rec'd a letter from Dr. Hildreth.

Marietta O. Nov. 15, 1829.

Dear Sir,--

Your favor of the 12th ult. was duly received.*** I have put up a small box of minerals for you, containing nearly fifty varieties from different parts of the world, mostly American, they are small as I had to break them from my own specimens. They are large enough for every purpose of study.*** I have received Mr. Lea's new work on shells with which I am highly pleased. He criticizes some of my shells rather roughly.*** I still think he is more mistaken in the Foliatus not being a new species than he is

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right in forming new ones of his Lachrymosus.***

Can you inform me how far west and south the cicada, or locust extended last June? I want information on that subject as I am about writing a paper on it.

Very respectfully your obt. servt.

S.P. Hildreth.

I.A. Lapham.

Circleville, O.

Dec. 9. Wednesday.**** The river has been nearly at a stand since Monday but is rising very rapidly this morning.

Dec. 10. Mr. Young arrived, brought a letter from Darius and a specimen of anthracite coal from Lehigh, Pa.

Carroll, O. Dec. 9, 1829.

Dear Brother,-

Yours of the 3rd inst. received and with pleasure I renew the reciprocal correspondence.*** What plant do you mean by the Pinus hemlocius? The hemlock which I suppose you mean is the Pinus Canadensis.

There are two falls on the Hockhocking river and agreeably to my views the lime rock would appear at the lower falls and I have been informed that it does appear there, however I am not sure that the man who gave me this information knows the difference between sandstone and limestone.***

You wish to know my opinion of your hypothesis. In the first place you say "suppose the surface of the earth to be diversified &c. &c. (admitted generally) and that a stratum was deposited &c. In order that this might be done must the water not necessarily have been in a state of rest? For if it was in motion would it not be liable from the greater depths of water and other circumstances to deposit the largest quantity of earth in the valleys? If the water was at rest at the time of the deposition of the stream in Ohio or anywhere else, what would induce the solid