8 Topography of the Coal Strata. 



indicating the scite of a pond or lake, which existed before the present 

 water courses were formed, for the more perfect drainage of the coun- 

 try. Within the boundaries of such places, beds of argillaceous iron 

 ores are sometimes found of considerable extent. On the north side 

 of the Ohio, this broken country continues, until it is gradually lost in 

 the table lands and plains on the heads of the Muskingum river, or 

 terminates in abrupt precipices on the prairies of the Scioto. On 

 the south side at the distance of fifty or sixty miles, the hills gradu- 

 ally become larger and more elevated, until they rise into moun- 

 tains. 



The country on the Kenawha river affords one of the finest spe- 

 cimens of these changes in elevation. Near the mouth, the hills are 

 about two hundred feet in height — at the Salines, sixty five miles 

 above, they are five hundred feet — at the falls of Kenawha, one 

 hundred miles up, their elevation is increased to eight hundred 

 feet, and at " Marshal's pillar," in the cliffs of New river, they at- 

 tain the height of fifteen hundred feet and are called the Gauly 

 mountains ; beyond which point, to the valley of the Green Brier 

 river, the country is a mountainous table land composed of succes- 

 sive ranges lying in parallel ridges, taking a N. E. and S. W. di- 

 rection. The more elevated of these are known as the Sewell and 

 Meadow mountains, the slopes and sides of which afford good farm- 

 ing lands. From the tops of the Sewell, we have a fine view of the 

 valley of the Green Brier, which lies extended at its feet, and 

 spreads its broken and undulating surface, dotted with farms and 

 cultivated spots, to the base of the Alleghany range, a distance of 

 thirty or forty miles. This valley is based on limestone, superin- 

 cumbent on sandstone, and in it, rise the celebrated sulphur springs, 

 whose waters annually revive the drooping energies and restore the 

 health of the invalids from less favored climates. The cool and 

 pure air from the mountain tops, free from pestilential miasmata, 

 without doubt, contributes much to the healthfulness of this delight- 

 ful valley. Vast caverns have been scooped out of the limestone 

 rock in different parts of the valley, by the streams which circulate 

 beneath the surface, many of which abound with interesting fossils. 

 The celebrated relics of the megalonyx, described by Mr. Jefferson, 

 were found here in a saltpetre cave. The Green Brier, the Gauly, 

 the Little Kenawha, the Monongahela, and the north fork of the 

 south branch of the Potomac rivers, all take their rise from the high 

 lands at the head of this valley ; and from the opposite courses 



