1887.] *^" [Stevenson. 



three or four miles vip the side o' Big Walker mountain and for certainly- 

 half the distance is on Clinton which is thrown into many narrow folds. 

 Where the Medina is first reached, the dips vary from fifteen to twenty- 

 five degrees, but the rate increases, until at the summit the lower beds 

 with ArtJirophycus Jiarlani dip soulh-eastw ardly at forty degrees. Another 

 form, like a ScoUtJius, penetrating a layer about ten inches thick, is seen 

 at the summit. It is single at each surface of the layer, but forms a loop 

 in the body of the rock. 



The Vespertine beds form a foothill to Little Walker mountain and are 

 faulted against the Lower Silurian rocks in Crockett's Cove of Wythe 

 county as they are on Stony Fork of Reed Creek. But the Max Meadows 

 fuult crosses the strike and the eastern side of Wythe county shows a 

 much longer continuous section than is found in the western part. On 

 the southerly side of Crockett's cove the Trenton and Hudson beds pass 

 upward into the short but bold Medina ridge known as Cove mountain, 

 which is a notable feature of the scenery. Clinton forms the southerly 

 flank of the mountain as well as the northerly side of the valley between 

 Cove mountain and Max Meadows or Tract mountain, which lies north 

 from the railroad between Max Meadows and Pulaski. The southerly 

 side of the valley is occupied by Devonian shales passing upward into 

 hard sandstones of the Chemung, which make the body of the mountain. 



In following the Norfolk and Western railroad from Wytheville station 

 eastward, one finds the north-westward dip continuous until the Knox 

 shales are reached at about three and a half miles from Wytheville. 

 Beyond that, exposures become few, but the road follows closely the line 

 between the limestone and the shales until the Max Meadows fliult has 

 been reached beyond Max Meadows. Exposures are good and almost 

 continuous between Max Meadows and Pulaski. 



Some dark shales and impure limestones are exposed immediately 

 beyond the former station and red shales are shown at and beyond the 

 first small bridge. These are succeeded in the first cut by the dark lime- 

 stone with veins and pockets of white spar, which lies at the base or 

 nearly so of the Knox limestone. Owing to the direction of the railroad, 

 this limestone is exposed until nearly two miles from Max Meadows. In 

 a deep cut beginning there, the limestone has been replaced by a conglom- 

 erate, which may be of recent origin. It is not less than forty feet thick, 

 has no definite bedding and is variable in composition, some parts break- 

 ing down readily on exposure, while others retain their shape and disin- 

 tegrate very slowly. This may mark the course of an extinct stream. 



The next cut, beginning at two and a half miles from Max Meadows, 

 shows first a gray sandstone, quartzite-like in fineness of grain, which is 

 succeeded by irregularly bedded reddish shales with thin streaks of sand- 

 stone, the dip being south eastward at about fifteen degrees. The shales 

 in the next cut are very red and somewhat fissile. These continue to 

 Clark's Summit cut, which begins at somewhat more than four and a half 

 miles from Max Meadows, where they are succeeded by reddish sandstone 



