150 



GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



variety of texture, from sandstone, clay, and fine sands, to earthy lignite, 

 and many of these sands are so crowded with fossil shells that they may 

 be gathered by the bushel. The sides of the cut are so peculiarly banded 

 that they look like the stripes of a zebra. At the east end these layers 

 are nearly vertical, but at the west end they seem to have been lapped 

 or bent down so as to form an abrupt cone, as if there had been tremen- 

 dous pressure from above. A little further to the westward we see a 

 ridge of the red beds and conglomerates, inclining gently to the west, 

 and resting unconformably upon the upturned edges of the rocks 

 in the cut. But along no other portion of our route have I ever seen so 

 rich a locality for fossil shells, of a few species. In the cut and on the 

 hills on either side of Bear Biver the ground is literally paved with 

 them, and the collector may gather them as he would the shells on the 

 seashore. They are mostly land and fresh- water species, many of them 

 as yet undescribed. Mr. F. B. Meek has made out a partial list, and he 

 finds several species of fresh- water shells, as Unio prisons, TI. bclliplicatus, 

 Goniobasis chrysalis, Melania humerosa, &c, and some interesting estuary 

 forms which indicate brackish water, or partial access to the ocean in 

 those times. The conclusion, however, is that all these rocks are of 

 tertiary age. 



The following sections of these curiously variegated strata were made 

 at my request, by Mr. H. B. Durkee, a civil engineer of great skill in his 

 profession, and an excellent geologist. They were wrought out with much 

 care. The diagram will also assist in rendering more clear the position 

 of the strata. The second cut has been exposed by the excavations for 

 gravel made by the workmen on the railroad; so that both of them 

 may be considered as artificial exposures. 



COMMENCING AT THE EASTERN EXTREMITY OF THE CUT. SECTION 1. 



No. 



29 



Description. 



Clay, grayish-black, contains frag- 

 ments of sandstone 



Limestone, blue 



Clay, grayish-black 



Clay, brown, hard, and in large frag- 

 ments 



Clay, black, hard, and in small frag- 

 ments 



Limestone, blue, fossiliferous 



Clay, grayish-black 



Sandstone, fragmentary 



Clay shale, gray 



Clay, grayish-black, very compact- .. 



Clay shale, black 



Mail, shells in fragments 



Clay shale, black 



Limestone, much shattered, and in 

 angular pieces 



Clay shale, black 



Limestone, angular fragments 



Clay shale, brown 



Limestone, slightly fossiliferous 



Gypseous earth, contains crystals of 

 selenite 



White marl, shells fragmentary 



Limestone, very fossiliferous 



Clay shale, black 



Limestone, very fossiliferous 



Clay shale, brown 



Sandstone, fragmentary 



Clay shale, gray-black 



Gypseous earth, layer of crystals of 

 selenite on east side 



Clay shale, contains streak of coal 

 and gypseous earth 



Gypseous earth, contains streaks of 

 brown bituminous shale 



Thick- 

 ness. 



Ft. In. 



10 

 2 



6 



1 



10 

 8 

 6 



2 

 10 

 6 



1 6 



3 



1 



6 



1 4 

 2 



2 6 

 4 

 2 



6 



2 6 



8 



No. 



85 



86 



87 



88 



89 



90 



91 



92 



03 



94 



95 



96 



97 



98 



99 



100 



101 



102 



103 



104 



105 



106 



107 



108 



109 



110 



111 



11-2 



113 



114 



115 



116 



117 



118 



110 



Description. 



Limestone, fossiliferous, fossils small 



Gypseous earth, white 



Clay, stony, bluish-gray 



Clay shale, black '. 



Limestone, fossiliferous 



Clay shale, black 



Limestone 



Marly clay, black 



Marl^ light gray 



Clay shale, gray 



Clay shale, black 



Clay shale, gray 



Clay shale, black 



Gypseous earth, yellow 



Clay shale, black 



Gypseous earth, yellow 



Limestone 



Clay shale, blue 



Limestone 



Clay shale, blue 



Limestone 



Marl, gray 



Shale, black 



Sandstone 



Marl 



Shale, black 



Marl 



Shale, bituminous 



Marl 



Limestone 



Marl 



Limestone 



Marl , 



Shale, black 



Coal and shale 



Limestone 



Marl 



Thick- 

 ness. 



