Stevenson.] ^-' [March 18, 



3. Shales and sandstone. 



4. Conglomerate sandstone. 



5. Shales and flags. 



No eflfortwas made to secure measurements here, as the road is tortuous 

 and in unbroken forest, but an excellent section can be obtained by instru- 

 mental measurement, as the stream bed affords almost continuous expo- 

 sures below the upper conglomerate. The flaggy sandstones between the 

 conglomerates are bluish red and resemble closelj^ the rocks immediately 

 overlying the upper conglomerate ; but details respecting the great part of 

 No. 1, which includes beds of passage from Vespertine to Chemung, are 

 practically wanting here. In the Laurel Fork gap tlirough Brushy 

 mountain in Smyth county, and in the Seddon gap in Bland county, these 

 are shown to be gray to blue sandstones. 



The section is similar in the Little Walker mountain gaps. On New 

 river the distance from the "Quarry rock" to the conglomerate is not far 

 from 900 feet, but no exposures occur in the interval along the railroad. 

 Almost continuous exposures on the Newport and Christiansburg road 

 show the space to be filled with gray to yellowish flags and sandstones 

 with few shales. 



At all localities the beds of No. 3 consist of more or less argillaceous 

 concretionary sandstones passing downward into shales with bluish led or 

 deep red flaggy sandstone. The flags, though forming a small part of the 

 mass, are sufficiently hard to support the cliffs of this division, which are 

 seen in many ravines. These beds are well exposed on all graded roads 

 crossing Brushy and Little Walker mountains ; along the ravine followed 

 by the road to Hunting Camp creek, in Bland, they are shown in cliffs. 

 There, however, the flags appear to be more abundant than at any other 

 locality. No satisfactory estimate was made of the thickness, but as ex- 

 posed along the Hunting Camp road, in Bland, it is not less than 1000 

 feet. 



No. 5 consists of flags and shales, olive, gray, blue and drab, which are 

 well shown at many localities. 



The conglomerates are rarely shown in place. No. 2, which is not far 

 from forty feet thick on Brushy mountain aud is certainly much thicker 

 in Little Walker, was seen in place only on the road to Hunting Camp 

 creek, on New river and on the Newport and Christiansburg road over 

 Little Walker, yet this conglomerate is the "backbone " of both moun- 

 tains, and to its ragged outcrop is due the irregular crest of each. Its 

 fragments are always abundant and ordinarily they are characteristic. 

 The pebbles vary in size from a ijea, to a hen's egg ; while in several of 

 the layers they are flat and, curiously enough, in some parts their longer 

 axis is almost vertical to the plane of bedding. Almost without excep- 

 tion these are of quartz or quartzite. The lower conglomerate was seen 

 in place only on the Hunting Camp Creek road in Bland county, just 

 where the road leaves the long gorge and emerges upon the "clearing." 

 In general features it closely resembles the upper conglomerate. 



