128 REMARKS ON THE GEOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION 



glnous red sandstone in layers varying from 6 inches to 1 foot; below this 

 there are 55 feet of laminated argillaceous sandstone with remains of 

 fishes and plants intercalated between distinct slaty layers i to 1 inch 

 thick; then five beds of black bituminous compact shale measuring 2, 5, 

 25 feet, separated by beds of white calcareous shale, sandstone in thin 

 layers, etc. Few of the beds are compact and homogeneous except the 

 bituminous shale. The intercalated sandstone, four beds, variable from 

 6 to 13 feet, are composed of shaly layers. Near the base of the section 

 only there is a bed of hard calcareous somewhat compact rock, which I 

 have not remarked elsewhere in the country around. 



The localities where fossil plants formerly referred to the Green 

 River Group have been obtained are near Alkali Stage Station and Green 

 River Station, Wyoming; in Randolph County of the same State; near 

 Elko Station, on the U. P. Railroad, in Nevada; near the mouth of White 

 River, Utah; and especially at Florissant, a locality also mentioned as 

 Castello's Ranch and South Park, in Colorado. 



The beds^ of Florissant, now generally known for the abundance of 

 their fossil remains, plants and insects especially, have been formed by 

 like deposits. The geologist, Dr. A. C. Peale, one of the assistants of Dr. 

 F. V. Hayden in his Survey of the Territories, has first given a short 

 account of the formation near Florissant, a settlement rather than a vil- 

 lage, situated in a narrow valley of the mountains, at the southern 

 extremity of the Front Range of Colorado. He says: " In this valley, the 

 name of Hayden Park has been given to the low rolling country to the 

 west of Pike's Peak. Hayden Park is drained by Front Creek, West 

 Creek, and Beaver Creek. The latter flows to the northwest and empties 

 into the South Platte just below the upper canon. About five miles from 

 its mouth, around the settlement of Florissant, is an irregular basin filled 

 with modern deposits. The entire basin is not more than five miles in 

 diameter. The deposits extend up the branches of the creek, which all 

 unite near Florissant. Between the branches are granite islands appearing 

 above the beds which themselves rest on the granite. Just below Floris- 

 sant, on the north side of the road, are bluffs not over 50 feet in height, 



' Dr. Hayden's "Annual Report, U. 8. Geological Survey of the Territories," 1673, p. 200. 



