415 
THE Oxtympic Coau FIELDS OF W ASHINGTON. 
By ALBEert B. REAGAN. 
The Olympic Peninsula covers an area of about eight thousand square 
miles. It is approximately a right angle triangle in shape with its hypote- 
nuse on the Pacific side. Its shorter limb faces the ‘“‘Sound,”’ the longer limb 
of the triangle faces the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This peninsula consists of 
a moderately benched area forming a coastal bench surrounding a high 
central area termed the Olympic Mountains which are situated somewhat 
southeast of the center of the peninsula. And from this high area there 
extends northwestward to Cape Flattery a gradual declining ridge. The 
most commonly heard-of places of the region are LaPush and Quillayute 
on the Pacific front and Neah Bay, Clallam Bay, Port Angeles, and Port 
Townsend on the Strait of Fuca side. 
The region is much fissured and faulted and much of the strata are tipped 
at a high angle. The core of the Olympic Mountains is supposed to be 
pre-Cretaceous in age. The exposed rocks along the Strait of Fuca are 
Pleistocene and Tertiary. The Pleistocene is the Country rock from Port 
Townsend to Fresh Water Bay north of Port Angeles. Eocene rocks are 
exposed at Port Crescent, and from there northward to Cape Flattery and 
then down the Pacific front as far south as the Point of Arches, the exposed 
rock is Oligocene-Miocene. The Point of Arches appears to be pre-Cretaceous 
in age, as do also the rocks at Point Elizabeth, one hundred twenty miles 
further south, while the intervening coast exposures appear to be Cretaceous 
in age. The troughs of the Quillayute river and its tributaries are incised 
in Tertiary strata. 
Coal is exposed in the Oligocene-Miocene from Pysecht to Clallam Bay 
on the Strait of Fuca, a distance of about eight miles. Coal is also found 
inland near Fresh Water Bay. Small stringers of coal are also exposed 
in the Hoko Canyon. Small seams of coal were also observed at Strawberry 
and Johnson Points and near Portage Head on the Pacific Coast. Coal is 
also found in the Quillayute trough. The three principal coal areas will re- 
celve special mention. 
The Quillayute River Field. About two miles southeast of Mora P. O. 
on the east bank of the Quillayute River a coal seam runs in an east and 
