Ohio History Journal

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SOME OHIO BOWLDERS

SOME OHIO BOWLDERS.

 

 

E. L. TAYLOR.

In the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly,

July, 1905, Mr. Basil Meek gave an interesting sketch of "A

Rock With a History." This bowlder is found in Sandusky

county seven miles southwest of the city of Fremont. The arti-

cle referred to has induced me to give a short account of three

large granite bowlders found in Franklin county and near the

city of Columbus.

The first of these is located in the bottom of a ravine, or

rather the bed of a run, which comes from the west and empties

into the Scioto river about three miles west from the center of

the city of Columbus. The bed of the run at this point is about

one hundred and fifty yards in width and the bowlder is near

the middle of the bed. It is on what is now the "State Hospital"

grounds and to the north and west of the main building about

a quarter of a mile. The late Dr. Edward Orton, who made the

geological report of Franklin county, told me that it was the

largest bowlder in Franklin county, and, perhaps, in this part

of the State, of which he had knowledge. This corresponds with

my own observation. There are granatic bowlders almost innu-

merable scattered over all parts of Franklin county. A great

many of them are comparatively small, but many of them are

large and vary in their composition to a very considerable extent.

There is perhaps not a farm of any extent in the county where

they are not found. In some places they are so numerous as to

be quite a hindrance to the cultivation of the land, and thousands

of them have been removed by the owners of the soil in order

that they might better cultivate their farms. As we have said,

this particular bowlder is the largest of them all insofar as we

have knowledge or information.

We give herewith a diagram showing its outline above the

ground. The bowlder is 49 feet around at the base and at the

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