108 



that iu many instances tlio strata had been destroyed by fire; and the 

 coal being bnrned out. the r( ots liad caved in by a succession of faulting, 

 or had collapsed nnder the iiressure. Tliat tlie desti'oying agent was fire 

 is attested not only by tlie claj' accompanying the seams l)eing turned to 

 brick, but also by lieaps of slag composed of silicates of iron and alumi- 

 num. This coal is bitunieinjus and Fort Union, or Laramie. It is very 

 brittle, somewhat lamlnattd, dull luster. 



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

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

 coal is a good quality and the seams, as we have seen, are thick. The 

 time, no doubt, is not far distant when coal Avill be mined there on a large 

 scale the same as at Gallop at the western limit of the same coal horizon. 



Some Topographic Features in the Lower Tippecanoe 



Valley. 



Fred J. Breeze. 



In the valley of the Tippecanoe aljout 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-five 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 down to an elevation of twentj'-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 narrower 

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

 doned channel marks the southern limit. Before the spur had lieen 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 map.) The floor of this gap Is 

 forty feet above the river, is nearly 200 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 



