1 90 Miscellanies. 



V. — Red and variegated (fossiliferous iron ore,) shales and sandstones (fu- 

 coides)— 3000 feet. 



VI. — Blue argillaceous limestone (fossils) — 900 feet. 



VII. — Coarse white sandstone (cavities of fossils) — 700 feet. 



VIII. — Olive colored slate, and gray argillaceous sandstones — 5000 feet. 



IX. — Red shales, and red, gray and buff colored argillaceous sandstones, a few 

 marine fossils — 6000 feet. 



X. — Sandstone and conglomerate — 2000 feet. 



XI. — Red shale, thin calcareous conglomerate — 3000 feet. 



XII. — Siliceous conglomerate — 1400 feet. 



XIII. — Coal measures, consisting of seams of coal, dark shales, argillaceous 

 sandstones, and siliceous conglomerates; vegetable fossils — 6750 .' feet. 



Total thickness in feet — 42,550, or over eight miles of exterior crust, stratified 

 on the primary. 



Michigan. — Report of Dr. Houghton, 37 pages. 



This young State has set a laudable example, in ordering a 

 geological survey, under Dr. Douglass Houghton, which he has 

 carried on with peculiar zeal, considering especially the great 

 physical difficulties of a country, much of which is still in a state 

 of nature. The State is in its infancy, and although rapidly 

 filling with an intelligent population, it is still, with the excep- 

 tion of a few counties, only sparsely peopled by those who have 

 been too much occupied with more urgent necessities, to give 

 even a moderate degree of attention to the mineral objects around 

 them ,' for this reason, the amount of local information imparted 

 by the people was limited, and not always free from error. Dr. 

 Houghton remarks, that there are on the peninsula no mountain 

 chains, no lofty mural precipices, or deep valleys, where a glance 

 will reveal the structure, and even quarries of stone (for there 

 are very few on the surface) have been scarcely opened. To 

 those parts of the State which are geologically the most impor- 

 tant, there are no avenues, except by the streams and the trails 

 of the Indians. " The ascent of a rapid stream by a canoe (the 

 only feasible mode of travelling, and the only manner by which 

 examinations can be satisfactorily conducted,) is attended by fa- 

 tigue, labor and hardships, of the most severe kind. Wading the 

 streams by day, and annoyed by musquetoes at night, separated 

 for weeks together from all society, were it not (he remarks) that 

 the mind is completely occupied in the contemplation of objects, 

 which, from their symmetry and beauty, furnish a constant men- 

 tal feast, there would be nothing which could possibly compen- 

 sate for the hardships endured." In addition to these difiiculties, 

 which are not easily conceived of by those who explore a coun- 



