THE PICTOU COAL FIELD — POOLE. 277 



disturbed prior to the deposition of the conglomerate. It contains 

 imperfectly preserved calami tes ^Yhich Sir W. Dawson considers 

 may be 0. radlatus or C. undiUatus. Overlying these sandstones 

 the conglomerate is easily traced for half a mile west of the East 

 river, and it is then lost at the foot of a hill marked Devonian on the 

 map of 18G0, and it is an open question whether it skirts the north 

 side of that hill and is covered by drift, or is buried under Permian 

 deposits and its outcrop hidden by the North fault. Where the 

 Drummond mine railway emerges from behind Watei^s' hill the 

 conglomei'ate is said to have been cut, but its presence is in 

 doubt until the Middle river is approached. It is seen well^^^ 

 exposed in the gorge of McCulloch's brook, tilling ancient ravines 

 in the Devonian rocks which compose the hill range, and passing- 

 over the high ground it appears to then underlie the triangular 

 district of country to the northeast of Alma Bridge that was 

 marked on the map of 1869 as Millstone Grit. Logan refers to 

 a white sandstone overlying the conglomerate east of the East 

 river as a characteristic rock. The sandstone of Eraser Ooo-'g 

 quarry immediatel}^ west of New Glasgow weathers white and 

 can easily be distinguished from that of all other localities except 

 along the extension of the hill range near Alma bridge, and the 

 triangular patch of country just referred to where fragments of 

 very similar looking rock cover the surface. 



The probability, both lithologically and stratigraphically, hav- 

 ing been accepted that the basal rocks to the westward are 

 Lower Carboniferous, the question is how low down among the 

 more modern groups can the conglomerate and its succeeding 

 strata be placed The evidence so far obtained is not decisive, 

 but it may be found in the tish remains*^^ which are preserved in 

 the black shales of the assumed Permian sj'stem at the mouth of 

 Smelt brook and the quarr}^ at Deacons' cove. 



It has been mentioned that the Devonian rocks of Waters' hill 

 probably protruded as a hill range even as far back as the Car- 

 boniferous period. They are certainly not overlaid by deposits 

 of an age intermediate between the Lower Carboniferous and the 



(1) These deposits were in error included as members of the Devonian in the Geo. Report 1869, 

 p. 58. 



(•2) Acadian Geology, 2!id Ed., p. 322, lines 3-6. 



