VEGETATION OF THE DEIFT. 79 



"In opening a coal bank in this vicinitj'^, the operator 

 came to an abrupt terminus of the coal. Clay, coarse sand, 

 and fragments of sandstone, edgwise and in every position, 

 some sticks, and what appeared to be sections of grape 

 vines, till finally, about four feet from the coal, a spruce 

 pine log* was laid bare, lying horizontally about midway 

 between the top and bottom of the coal, and at right angles 

 with the advance. It was about nine inches in diameter, 

 and appeared to have been water- worn. Its branches were 

 a little projecting, but had been broken off before deposited 

 in this its long resting j)lace. The coal was found again 

 about ten feet from where it terminated. 



" No timber is now found of that kind in less that five 

 I miles of the place, and then in very dissimilar situations. 



" The great question is, how came the pine log in that 

 situation? I gave my friend O.Whittlesey a more partic- 

 ular description, with the toj)Ography of the ground and its 

 locality in relation to the drift district, and requested him 

 to give his views, if so disposed, and direct them to thee, 

 and I would do the same with mine. 



" My conclusions are that it could not have been placed 

 there by any other circumstance than that of a chasm 

 having been opened by an earthquake, and the log, with 

 other materials fallen in. The nature of the ground pre- 

 cludes the probability that a slip or land slide could have 

 occurred — and, to strengthen my position, this locality is in 

 the immediate vicinity of the southern limit of the drift 

 district, which leaves the marks of having been an ancient 

 sea coast, which has been ruptured, in all probability, by 

 earthquakes. I have found in those capacious water gaps 

 the dislocation of strata and separation of rocks that could 

 not have been eff'ected by any other now known cause. 



"Another circumstance: In the bluffs adjoining those 

 water gaps, the coal is rarely worth mining, having been 



* A portion of this log is now, 1874, in the Historical Museum, donated by 

 Mr. Miller. 



