HARRIS A DEFENSE OF OUR LOCAL GEOLOGY. I 7 



A third consideration opposed to such statement is this: The ex- 

 perience of all other geologists is against it. No geologist from abroad 

 ever visited our quarries without a disappointment, both as to the num- 

 ber of fossils obtained and the unsatisfactory condition in which they 

 were found. I might appeal to every member of the Academy who 

 has ever wrought in this rock, as to the want of success that has inva- 

 riably attended his labors. A whole summer's work may be summed 

 up thus : Much time spent, many visits made, and few fossils found. 

 And hence the universal surprise expressed at the statement of the au- 

 thor of this pamphlet, that in this meagre locality he had collected no 

 less than two hundred and forty-six species of fossils. 



Taking into consideration the character of the rock, the fewness of 

 its exposures, the uniform testimony of all other workers in the rock, 

 the statement of the author as to the number of species collected will 

 never be credited by any practical geologist. There will be a suspi- 

 cion that the number of blunders in the matter of identification will 

 equal, if not far exceed, the number of blunders already referred to. 



As a fourth consideration, such a number of species is not favored 

 by a comparison of this with other localities. A test case might be 

 reached, could we find elsewhere in the Corniferous limestone an expos- 

 ure as limited as ours, and with rock of similar character. Failing to 

 do so, and using such material as I have access to, I compare the small 

 with the great. Certain facts in the geology of the State of Michigan 

 may aid us in this matter. 



It will be remembered that Professor Rominger, the present State 

 Geologist, has drawn no line between the Corniferous limestone and the 

 Hamilton group, but treats them as one formation. It extends on the 

 eastern shore of Lake Michigan from twenty to twenty-five miles, with 

 a far greater exposure on the western shore of Lake Huron, bordering 

 rivers, inland lakes, and islands. In places, particular exposures are 

 measured, not as ours, by the rod, but by the mile. Professor Win- 

 chell, of the first Geological Survey, writes: "Twenty rods west of this 

 locality is a more considerable exposure, extending along the beach for 

 three-quarters of a mile, and forming an escarpment which, at some 

 points, attains an elevation of thirty-five feet."* 



Professor Rominger says of Khagashewung Point : " For more than 

 a mile's length it is lined with vertical rock bluffs, about fifteen feet 

 high."t 



* Report on the Grand Traverse Region, p. 41. 



•j- Geological Survey of Michigan, by Professor Rominger, Vol. III., p. 58. 



[Proc. D. A. N. S., Vol. V.J 3 [July 1, 1886.] 



