THE DENVER FORMATION. 157 



He also remarks that 1,500 feel or inure of Lignitic strata are present in 

 the gap west of Table Mountain. The city of Denver is said to be 1 milt 

 on the "Lignitic" hnU. 



In L872, L. Lesquereux 1 examined the locality about Golden, collecting 

 large numbers of fossil plant-remains, chiefly from South Table Mountain. 

 In his report the capping sheet of Table Mountain is called a "basaltic 

 dike" against which leaf-bearing sandstones and clays are "upheaved.' 

 In his monograph upon the Tertiary flora of the Western Territories 2 

 Professor Lesquereux gives Golden as the habitat of 95 species of fossil 

 plants, all assigned to the "Lignitic group." In no case is the essential 

 difference in composition noticed which exists between the highly quartzose 

 sandstone of the coal horizon and the 'Fable Mountain rock which is 

 entirely made up of andesitic debris. 



In 1873, A. R. Marvine 3 gave a section of the exposure at the north- 

 eastern extremity of North 'Fable Mountain. It is as follows: 



feet. 



Cliff at top, dark columnar basalt 40 



Slope, scoriaceous basalt and amygdaloidal dolerite 30 



Palisade, columnar basalt 60 



Slope, debris of scoria and volcanic sand 100 



Palisade, columnar basalt 30 



Slope — covered to the base. 



'Fhe 100 feet of '-scoria and volcanic sand" represent the upper semi- 

 tuffaceous strata of the 'Fable Mountain sections to be given later. No 

 further mention of this volcanic sand is made, and Marvine evidenth 

 thought it local and connected directly with the basalt. Marvine also 



quotes 4 a "section of the Lignitic strata at Golden City," by ('apt. E. L. 

 Berthoud, of Golden. In this section the horizontal strata of Table Moun- 

 tain are called "conglomerates" ami "sands" and "clays," with no refer- 

 ence to the character of the material. 



1 Sixth Annual Report of the l*. S. Geol. Survey of the 'territories, by F. V . Hay den, 1S7l'. p. 329. 



- Monographs of the Hayden Survey. Vol. VII, Contributions to the Fossil Flora of the Western 

 Territories, Part II. The Tertiary Flora. 1878. 



3 Annual Report of the Geol. and Geog. Survey of the Territories for the year 1873, by I ■'. V. 

 Hayden, p. 130. 



4 Loe. oit., p. 109. 



