shales and sandstone show, further south in a good exposure below Mrs. Aurand’s, still dipping 60° northwards; and still further south there is another good exposure of brown slate and sandstone on a 45° dip. The Marcellus slates come in between this and the Oriskany sandstone ridge, but are not exposed.
17. Franklin township in Snyder county.
This township is nearly a parallelogram with an average length east and west of 6 miles and a width north and south of 4 miles, approximating 24 square miles in area. Its north line, in common with Centre township, is straight, keeping along the south edge of the high ridge marking the Northumberland synclinal basin, while its south line extends for 5 miles along the red and white Medina crest of Shade mountain, where it is offset to the northeast for about 2 miles to the crest of the Iron sandstone ridge, forming a mutual line of Middle creek and Washington townships.
Middleburg, the county seat of Snyder county, is beautifully situated on the north bank of Middle creek, along the base of the Lower Helderberg limestone ridge; and Paxtonville, formerly the scene of much activity during the life of Beaver Furnace, is about 2 miles west and on the south side of the railroad and valley.
Middle creek flows eastward through the center of the township and drains its entire area by means of small tributary streams rising in Shade mountain on the south and in the high Catskill ridge to the north.
The structure of the township is monoclinal, all the rocks dipping northward away from the Shade mountain anticlinal and towards the Northumberland synclinal, whose axial line lies just north of and parallel with the northern township line.
The rock series extends from the red Medina plateau of Shade mountain up to the top of No. VIII, a small strip of the Catskill rocks occupying the northeastern corner of the township.
The Medina rocks Nos. IVb and IVc are nowhere well
