1873.] ^**- [Lesley. 



county, Northeast Kentucky, and extending, by a loop embracing a sec- 

 tion covered by the Little Sandy River and its tributaries, to the ridge 

 dividing Carter from Rowan counties ; thence, across the east end of 

 Bath county to Jeffersonville, in Montgomery County ; thence, to the Red 

 River Iron Works on the edge of Estill county ; thence, to the town of 

 Proctor and its coal mines on the Kentucky River ; thence, across Ows- 

 ley county to McKee in Jackson county ; thence, to Mt. Vernon in Rock 

 Castle county, and Somerset in Pulaski county ; thence, across the Cum- 

 berland River at the "lower ford" to Monticelloin "Wayne county ; and 

 thence, to its southern terminus on the Tennessee State-line in Clin- 

 ton county, at a point on the waters of Wolf River, one thousand and 

 nineteen feet above tide. 



4th. The establishment of sixty-two bench marks, showing elevation 

 above tide and above low water in the Ohio River at Catlettsburg. 



5th. An unpublished geological section to accompany Map No. 1. 



By observations made during the progress of the work, the following 

 points of scientific interest present themselves : 



1st. In approaching this coal field from Middle Kentucky, over the 

 lower Silurian formations, one is confronted by a belt of cone-shaped 

 hills having the Devonian black slates in their gently sloping bases, 

 upon which rise steeper slopes of the olive-colored shales and overlying 

 grit stones of the same system. These shales and grit stones together 

 vary in thickness from three hundred and fifty to five hundred and fifty 

 feet, the lower and larger division of the formation having disseminated 

 through it nodular masses of earthy iron ore, giving origin to numerous 

 chalybeate springs ; the upper division affording valuable building stone. 



Upon the above-named rocks lies the Mountain or Sub- carboniferous 

 Limestone, varying in thickness from seventy feet at the north end of 

 the line to four hundred feet and more at the southern end. This forma- 

 tion is composed of alternating layers of white, gray and bufl-colored 

 strata, ranging in quality from argillaceous claystone to the purest 

 plaster limestone. The lowest members of the series hold large dark 

 green flint pebbles, and exhibit traces of galena. Dry valleys and 

 numerous caves distinguish this formation. 



Above these limestones lies the Millstone Grit formation (the Con- 

 glomerate No. XII of the Pennsylvania Survey) in two members ; the 

 lower made up of thin sandstones and shales, enclosing beds of coal and 

 iron ore. This is named the "Sub-conglomerate" member. The upper 

 or "conglomerate" proper consists of a massive, coarse-grained ferrugin- 

 ous sandrock containing pebbles. 



The two members of this formation thicken southwestwardly, as do 

 also the rocks of the previously mentioned formations on which they 

 repose, but under different and peculiar conditions. 



At Grayson the whole formation measures ninety feet, with the "low- 

 est" coal bed — a mere streak — jammed between its base and the top of 

 the limestone. 



