'628 imXKE — THE GEOLOGY OF IXDIAX TERRITOKY. [Sept. 3, 



In 1822, Edwin James^ published a geologic section and some 

 explanatory notes of that part of this country lying along the 35th 

 parallel of north latitude. This publication, however, gave very 

 little additional information concerning the geology of this area 

 since it only showed the Ozark mountain strata to be Carbonif- 

 erous, and the rocks of the Canadian river country to be red beds 

 bearing salt and gypsum. 



In 1853, important geologic observations in this country were 

 made by Jules Marcou," geologist to the Pacific Railroad Expedi- 

 tion. His reconnaissance in this field was principally confined to 

 the area lying immediately south of the Arkansas and Canadian 

 rivers. The important additional geologic knowledge he gave of 

 the area was: abetter knowledge of the coals, the lithology, and 

 the structure along the line of reconnaissance. He considered the 

 Ozark mountain area an outlying or second fold of the Allegheny 

 mountains.^ 



George G. Shumard made the statement before the St. Louis 

 Academy of Science, in 1857, that he had traced the coal fields 

 from Ft. Smith, Ark., to Ft. Belknap, in Texas. ^ He apparently 

 did not note the break in outcrop of these beds in the southwestern 

 part of the Choctaw Nation, where the Carboniferous is concealed 

 by the overlying Cretaceous. 



In 1890, H. M. Chance^ published ''The Geology of the Choc- 

 taw Coal Fields," which is the most valuable information yet pub- 

 lished on the geology of this area. In this paper he locates the 

 relative stratigraphic position in the Indian Territory of the three 

 productive coal beds, and clearly outlines by description, sections, 

 and maps, most of the Grady and McAlester coal beds along the 

 outcrop from six or seven miles west of McAlester to near the 

 Poteau mountains. He gives a section from the base of the Grady 

 coal bed to the top of Cavaniol mountain, which includes the pro- 

 ductive part of the Coal Measures. He also notes the prevailing 

 S. 80° W. axes of folds and the system of southwest folds. 



In 1 89 1, R. T. Hill*^ published a paper outlining the Ouachita 



^•your. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. ii, pp. 326-329. 

 -Pacific Railroad Reports, Vol. iii, Part iv. pp. 123-127. 



^ " Esquisse d'une classification des chaines de montagnes d'une partie de 

 rAmerique du Nord," Annates des Mines, 5 me. ser., Tome vii, pp. 339, 340. 

 ^ Trans. Acad. Sci., St. Louis, Vol. i, p. 93. 

 ^Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., 1890, Vol. xviii, 653-661. 

 ^'Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. xlii, August, 1891, pp. III-121, * 



