The ridge just mentioned is dry and of a gravelly soil. It is preferred by the settlers for the sites of their houses. Some patches of the prairie are inclosed by worm fences, and produce large crops of maize. Cattle range in the prairies, and are larger and fatter than those reared by the Ohio River. A few stacks of coarse natural hay stand on the ground that produced them.
Bloomingtown is a town consisting of about ten houses, and is situated on a sandy eminence in the edge of the prairie:—a small place, but deserving of notice from its abortive Bank. A company was formed, plates engraved, and the bank notes brought to the spot. At the time when this happened, the people had just become jealous of unchartered banks. The company applied to the Legislature of the State for a charter, which was refused. The bankers not venturing to sign the pictures, but unwilling to lose the expense of manufacturing them, sold them by auction. They were afterwards subscribed by a fictitious president and cashier, and fraudulently put into circulation.
{284} Near the lake the shell limestone appears. This seems to be the base on which the strata of the higher country rests. The higher country, near Pittsburg, the Muskingum, and Sciota rivers, the Silver-Creek hills, and the high land, over which I have recently come, has strata of sandstone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and, in various places, coal.
Portland is a town situated on the shore of the indenture in the south-western extremity of Lake Erie, called Sandusky Bay.[157] It is only three years since it was founded, and contains thirty dwelling houses, four ware-*
