THE EOCENE OF NORTH AMERICA AST 



plant remains and frequent seams of lignite, and rest uncon- 

 formably upon the older formations." 1 



The conclusion concerning the age of the Kenai is based 

 upon its fossil plants and upon its stratigraphic relations. In' 

 1892 Dall, after a summary of the evidence, concludes that the 



Kenai " is probably of Eocene age " 2 In 1896 Dall says, 



"When we consider that the Oligocene Aturia bed is imme- 

 diately and conformably overlain at Astoria, Oregon, by shales 

 and sandstones undoubtedly equivalent to the Alaskan marine 

 Miocene, and that the latter, in like manner, immediately and 

 conformably overlies the Kenai group it must be considered that 

 the view that the latter is Oligocene seems highly probable." 3 



In the following year Dall places the Kenai beds in the 

 Eocene, remarking that, "They are with little doubt coeval with 

 the Atane beds of Greenland and other arctic leaf-bearing strata. 

 Their exact horizon is doubtful, but some of the plants appear 

 to be common to the lignitic beds of the Mexican gulf coast, and 

 they are provisionally placed here awaiting more definite infor- 

 mation." 4 



BRACKISH WATER DEPOSITS 



THE PUGET FORMATION 



The Puget formation occurs in Washington in the Puget Sound 

 basin upon the western flank of the Cascade range, extending 

 to Burrard's Inlet, British Columbia. At Comox and elsewhere 

 in Vancouver Island. On the eastern side of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains beds occur which are lithologically like the Puget forma- 

 tion and probably belong to it. 5 No fossils have been found 

 in these beds east of the mountains. The Puget formation is 

 thus described by Willis and Smith : 6 



'Spurr : Eighteenth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. for 1896-7, Part III, Economic 

 Geology, p. 194. 



2 Dall and Harris: loc. cit., p. 252. 



3 Dall : Seventeenth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1895-6, Part I, pp. 841, 842. 



4 Eighteenth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., 1896-7, Part II, p. 345. 



s Sir William Dawson : Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., n. s., Vol. I, pp. 137, 138, 1895. 

 6 Geol. Atlas of the U. S., Tacoma Folio, Washington, 1899. 



