44 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



A small cut at milepost 551 shows sonio fine conglomcrato and 



ediinentary 



g at the base ot a large mass 



Mjvtl 



runs 



miles northeast of Myrtl 



ashm 



mmmo^ 



Myrtle Creek. 



Elevation 637 feet. 

 Population 429. 

 Seattle 406 miles. 



'Wn 



rocks of the region. Beyond Myrtle Creek the rail- 

 road crosses South Umpqua River and runs for some 

 miles along the western border of the Missouri 

 Bottom, whore many kinds of fruits and grains are 

 On the right (west) is a prominent ridgo of Cretaceous 



(llyrtl 



These 



over the serpentine of the ridge beyond. 



fossils, both plants and marine animals, and amone^ 



many 



Biddle. 



Elevation 733 feet, 

 ropiilation 187. 

 Seattle 413 miles. 



southwest, on Thompson Creek, there are also beds 

 containing large numbers of Jurassic fossil plants. 

 Farther down the vallev, amoner strain fields and 



may 



o 



prominent, thinly wooded mountain 



in which there is a deposit of green sihcate of nickel (garnicrite)- 

 This mineral is extensively mined for nickel in the island of New 

 Caledonia, east of AustraUa, but the Oregon deposit has not yet been 

 successfully worked. 



hiUs 



bluffs 



sides of the track, consist of Eocene sedimentary rocks. Beyond 

 these is the entrance to Cow Creek canyon, wliich has been cut 

 through the serpentine belt of Nickel Mountain. The serpentine 

 areas can generally be recognized from a distance by their greenish 

 color and barren aspect. In places, however, they are covered with 



wild azalea bushes, which sncrorAfttPrl iViA nnma Avoloo friT* +V»a nnw 



mouth 



Between Iron Mountain (milepost 533) and Nichols shales and 

 sandstones are exposed along Cow Creek and have yielded large 

 coUections of fossil leaves of Jurassic age, as noted below by F. H. 

 Knowlton.^ Many of these leaves belong to various species of ginkgo, 



^ The flora of the Jurassic period ia in 

 many "ways one of the most remarkable 

 fossil floras known. Although not Iarg< 

 it contains probably less than 200 known 

 species— it is practically world-wide in 

 distribution, ranging from King Karl's 

 Land (82° N.) on the north to Graham 

 Land (62^ S.) en the south, and has been 



found in nearly every country on the 

 globe. It is especially abundant in the 

 western hemisphere, occurring in Spitz- 

 bergen, King Karl's and Franz Josef 

 lands, Greenland, Siberia, Alaska, and 

 abundantly in Oregon and California. 



The luxuriant vegetation and magni- 

 ficent forests of western and southern 



