PEALE.] DESCEIPTIVE GEOLOGY GENTILE VALLEY. 601 



could not be made. On tlie edge of the river below tlie station two 

 openings bad been made in the bluff, evidently in search of coal, as there 

 was a layer of earthy hgnite outcropping. In the soft sandstone in the 

 roof of one of these openings I obtained the ioUowing: 



Flanorhis f 



Limnaea ? 



SpJiaerium ? 



Valvata ? 



Carinifex ? 



This layer is probably the same as the one above Soda Springs, on 

 Bear Eiver, containing Flanorhis, &c. ]!:^orth of the station these mod- 

 ern beds disappear beneath the basalt ; westward they lap on the older 

 rocEs, and to the eastward seem to rest horizontally on the flanks of 

 the Bear Eiver Eange, There ajDpear, however, to be points of older 

 beds rising above them. Station & is on such a point on the west. Oppo- 

 site Station a there is a line of basalt showing in the face of a low bluff 

 as though it had been poured out before the lake had deposited aU its 

 sediments. It was not visited, and may be simply the remnant of a flow 

 that once extended across the entire valley, and has since been removed 

 in the erosion of the river-bed. I am inclined, however, to consider it 

 and the mass between the Bear and Trout Creek, at the mouth of the 

 latter, as an earlier flow. The basalt field, a little farther north, rests 

 on the soft sands, but its elevation was not obtained. Station h was 

 located on pink and white quartzites dix)ping 40° south 77° west. These 

 quartzites appear to have been an island in the lake not far from its 

 western shore. Just below it is an outcrop of a rusty-looking conglom- 

 erate composed of pebbles of innk quartzite cemented by sand. The 

 pebbles are 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and are like the quartzite of the 

 station. This conglomerate appears to be at the top of the deposits that 

 fill the valley and makes a terrace level, the elevation of which is 5,526 

 feet. There are three other well marked terraces. The lower terrace 

 has an elevation of 5,186 feet, and the middle one of 5,242 feet. 



On Cottonwood Creek, the largest branch of the Bear, coming in from 

 the west at the head of the caiion, there are a number of terraces that 

 have been cut by the stream. Near the head of this stream Pliocene ? 

 strata outcrop, but they were only seen from a distance, and were not 

 visited. 



Sjjrings. — ^At the mouth of Cottonwood Creek, on the north side, there 

 are a number of warm springs. They are on a large reddish mound 

 composed of calcareous deposits. There are five large i^ools from 30 to 

 50 feet in diameter. A few bubbles of gas were noted in two of the 

 larger pools. We did not have a thermometer with us, but the water 

 seemed to be of a suitable temperature for bathing purposes. Farther 

 up the river on the edges of some buttes of the soft lake deposits calca- 

 reous tufa was seen, and on the east side of the Bear, just above the 

 head of the caiion, there are several si)rings on calcareous deposits with 

 luke-warm water. On the edge of the river there are bubbhng si^rings 

 like those at the Soda Springs locality. Some resemble the Steamboat 

 Spring, and the water spouts several inches or a foot above the mounds. 

 In the midst of the river also there are points from which gas escapes. 



The earthy lignite that occurs near Station a appears to be in pockets, 

 as I could see no well-defined bed. Those who made the openings ap- 

 pear to have reached the wise conclusion that the coal was worthless. 

 Gentile Valley appears to be comparatively weU settled. The general 

 elevation of the river-bottom is about 5,000 feet. From the view ob- 



