612 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



occupied by the Great Plains; secondly, the outlining of the basin of 

 the Vermilion Creek (Wasatch) Eocene lake; thirdly, the formation 

 of the distinct folds of which the Wasatch and Uintas are the most 

 prominent examples; and fourthly, the relative upheaval of the old 

 Archean ranges, with all their superincumbent load. The folds of 

 the Wasatch involved a conformable series of strata extending from 

 the base of the Cambrian to the top of the Cretaceous — in all, 44,000 



feet in thickness. The 

 astonishing and almost 

 incredible feature of the 

 case lies in the fact that, 

 if King's ideas are to be 

 accepted, this stupen- 

 dous fold, together with 

 the one of 30,000 feet 

 forming the Uintas, was 

 not a gradual uplift, but 

 of sudden and necessa- 

 rily catastrophic origin, 

 and that, before the 

 forces of erosion had ac- 

 complished their work, 

 there actually here ex- 

 isted mountain ranges 

 from 5 to 8 miles in 

 height." From the date 

 of this elevation no ma- 

 rine waters have ever 

 invaded the middle Cor- 

 dilleras, the subsequent 

 strata being, as noted by 

 Hay den, of lacustrine 

 origin. 



Studying in detail the 

 underlying geology, in 

 connection with these 

 folds, King announced 

 the principle "that 

 wherever an Archean mountain range underlay the subsequent sheets 

 of sediment, there a true fold has taken place;" and further, that 

 when one observes " the continuity of the strata across such a valley 



« King's exact words are: So that, since the ocean level was banished to some- 

 where near its present position, the fold itself (i. e., the Wasatch) was not less than 

 44,000 feet in altitude. The Uinta was not so imposing a body, but its summit, 

 before erosion began, was certainly 30,000 feet above the sea level. (Systematic 

 Geology, p. 748. ) 



Fig. 112.— Arnold Hague, Clarence King, Samuel Franklin 

 Emmons. 



