234 NEWER TERTIARY. 



formation as tertiary, that it would have needed only a bed of carbonaceous matter, such 

 as occurs at Brandon, to have brought him upon that ground. Not improbably, now that 

 the Brandon bed is known, similar ones may be found associated with the ore at other 

 localities : for, how long has it remained unnoticed at Brandon ? 



Thus does the discovery of the Brandon Brown Coal Deposit enable us to add to Amer- 

 ican Geology a tertiary formation nearly 1,200 miles long, which may appropriately be 

 placed upon our maps. 



V. Tliis Deposit probably belongs to the pliocene or newer tertiary. 



1. So far as we know, it lies immediately beneath the drift. 



2. It is destitute of any consolidated beds, save the nodules of hematite ; which is not 

 true of any of our miocene or eocene deposits. 



3. The brown coal of continental Europe, to which ours corresponds closely in appear- 

 ance, belongs to the newer tertiary. 



I confess that these arguments are not sufficient to remove all doubts from my mind as 

 to the part of the tertiary group to which this formation should be referred. All geolo- 

 gists, however, I think, will say that it has marked peculiarities, which distinguish it from 

 all the tertiary deposits of our country hitherto described ; and we may, at least, say that 

 the presumption is strongly in favor of its being pliocene. It is rather remarkable, if it 

 was an oceanic deposit, that no marine remains have been found in it. I believe, how- 

 ever, that this is very much the case in Germany ; though, unfortunately, the papers of 

 Homer, Von Dechen and others, on the brown coal, are not within my reach. 



I would add a few remarks of a practical character to the preceding account. 



If the view taken in this paper be correct, we cannot expect that the beds of hematite 

 ore extend into the solid rocks ; although it may be, and if the ore was derived from these 

 rocks we might expect that we should find veins and possibly beds of similar ore in the 

 subjacent limestone and mica schist, as in fact they do occur sometimes, as detailed above. 

 But the ore that is wrought, seems to have been derived mainly from the decomposition 

 of the underlying rocks, through which it was disseminated, very likely in the form of a 

 carbonate, and not an hydrated oxyd ; and therefore, in its present form, it is a regen- 

 erated ore. 



Again, this ore, according to these views, may be looked for anywhere along the western 

 base of the Green and Hoosac Mountains, between the levels of the highest and lowest 

 known beds. 



And let me here suggest whether it would not often lead to important discoveries, if, 

 between the levels above named, borings were made till the solid rock was reached. This 

 would certainly be a cheap method of ascertaining the existence of the ore, and the thick- 

 ness of the beds. 



OTHER ANALOGOUS DEPOSITS IN VERMONT. 



Wherever we have found brown hematite and manganese, or beds of ochre, or pipe clay, white, yellow or 

 red, in connection with beds of coarse sand or gravel, all lying beneath the drift, and resting on the rocks 

 beneath, we have regarded the deposit as an equivalent of that at Brandon just described, even though not 

 more than one or two of the substances named be present. These deposits occur chiefly along the western 

 ably not exceed the truth to represent a continuous narrow belt. North of Middlebury the localities are 



