198 



that ill m;iny iiistanc-cs tlic strata had l)eeii destroyed by fire; and the 

 coal being luirncd out. tlie r( ofs had caved in by a succession of faulting, 

 or had collapsed under the pressure. That the destroying agent was tire 

 is attested not only by the clay accompanying the seams being turned to 

 brick. l)ut also by heaps of slag composed of silicates of iron and alumi- 

 num. This coal is liitunu^nous and Fort Union, or Laramie. It is yery 

 brittle, somewliat laminattd. dull luster. 



These coal ticlds are quite a distance from the railroad, and until just 

 recently only Mexicans and Indians knew of the coal outcrops there. Tliis 

 coal is a good (]uality and the scams, as we have seen, are thick. The 

 time, no doubt, is not far distant when coal will lie mined there on a large 

 scale the same as at (Jallo-,) at tlie western limit of the same coal horizon. 



Some TopO(!RApiiic Features in the Lower Tippecanoe 



Valley. 



Fred J. Bueeze. 



In the valley of the Tippecanoe aliout a mile below the Carroll-Tippe- 

 canoe line are two features of relief which perhaps deserve some attention. 



On the east side of the river is'a long, narrow ridge of gravelly ma- 

 terial, about twenty-tive feet- high, a few yards wide, and three-fourths of 

 a mile long. (See A on map.) It starts from a hundred foot bluff, and in 

 a short distance slopes doAvn to an elevation of twenty-five feet, and for 

 the remaining distance is nearly level. On the up-river side of the ridge is 

 an abandoned channel of comparative recency. This ridge is evidently a 

 remnant of a large spur of upland which was gradually made naiTOwer 

 by the southward movement of a river )iend, of which the present aban- 

 doned channel marks the southern limit. Before the spur had been en- 

 tirely removed, the river straightened its course, thus forsaking the bend; 

 and the remnant of the upland spur is this narrow ridge. 



Just west of the ridge, on the other side of the river, is a gap joining 

 the valley of the Tippecanoe with that of Moot's Creek, a tributary which 

 empties about a mile below. (See B on maji.) The floor of this gap Is 

 forty feet above the rivei-, is nearly 2(K) yards wide, and is bounded on the 

 north and south by bluffs sixty feet high. At first sight it seems that this 

 gap was formerly the mouth of Moot's Creek; but investigation justifies 



