AND COAL-MEASURES OF IOWA. 115 
level, rising in a conspicuous bluff of seventy to eighty feet perpendicular, known 
as “ Raven Cliff,” which is composed entirely of buff, yellow, and brown sand- 
stones. This is on Section 32, Township 75 north, Range 17 west. The strata 
on which it rests are effectually concealed. 
At the bend of the Des Moines, on the same section on which Raven Cliff is 
situated, just below the mouth of Cedar Creek, limestone comes again to the 
surface, with the marl-bed beneath, just seen above the water-level. On the north- 
east of the same section, is a seam of coal, twenty to thirty inches in thickness, 
and some twenty-five to thirty feet above the water-level of the Des Moines. There — 
is supposed to be another bed of coal, near high-water mark, but it is not at present 
accessible. In the bed of a creek near the mouth of Cedar, is a ferruginous calea- 
reous rock, which was supposed by the settlers to be iron: it contains, however, too 
small a percentage to rank as an iron ore; but on the same branch is also found a 
conglomerate of oxide of iron, and it is not improbable that some workable band 
of ironstone might be discovered by stripping the bank. 
It is evident, from the exposures near the mouth of Red Cedar, that there must 
be considerable elevation of the strata, soon after passing Raven Cliff, otherwise 
the limestone and argillaceous deposits could not be found so high above the water- 
level. 
At Talley’s Ford, or Belle Fontaine, a cherty limestone forms the bed of the 
Des Moines, while above the water-level are alternations of limestone and sand- 
stone. 
From this place an excursion was undertaken to Cedar and Honey Creeks, 
for the purpose of examining the coal, and ascertaining the origin of the reports of 
lead ore having been found in considerable quantities in the vicinity. 
On Section 2, Township 74 north, Range 18 west, on the right bank of Cedar 
‘Creek, is a bed of coal, from twenty inches to two feet in thickness, under a bed of 
sandstone, and resting on shales and shaly sandstone. 
On Section 12, Township 74 north, Range 18 west, on a branch of the same 
creek, a bed of coal, nearly three feet thick, exists at about the same level. On 
Section 16, same township and range, at a height of fifteen to twenty feet above 
the bed of the run, is a five-foot seam of good coal, which can be used for working 
cast steel. On the north fork of the south branch of Cedar, on Section 30 of the 
same township and range, there is coal of pretty fair quality, four to six feet thick, 
covered by sandstone. On Rosseau’s Run, Section 25, same township and range, 
ten feet above the channel, a bed of ligneous coal, from eighteen inches to two or 
more feet in thickness, rests on potter's clay (see Section No. 28, D.) A little 
further down this run is a seam of coal, five to six inches thick, covered with ash- 
coloured clay, approaching the character of fire-clay, but more gritty. This coal 
lies about three feet above the bed of the run, and is considered to occupy a posi- 
tion inferior to the two-foot seam before-mentioned; the strata having a rise of six 
feet in a hundred yards towards the west. Indeed, at one poimt on the run, two 
beds can be seen, lying about eight feet apart. Numerous rootlets of Stigmaria 
were observed, interlaced in the argillaceous beds. On Section 14, same township 
and range, a two-foot seam of coal rests upon fine gritstone one foot thick, contain- 
