134 Section of Ferruginous Strata. 



3. Bituminous coal, from four to five feet in thickness, slaty 

 structure, with considerable sulphuret of iron — makes a tolerably 

 good fuel, but cannot be used in the smelting of iron. The sand- 

 stone rock above, reposes on the coal, forming a solid roof. Be- 

 neath the coal is a bed of slaty shale, one foot thick, containing im- 

 pressions of leaves, plants, &c. — 5 feet. 



4. Coarse, brown colored, sandstone rock, containing but httle 

 mica — structure compact — variegated with veins of red, passing 

 through the rock in various directions. These are formed by the 

 oxide of iron, contained in the sand at the period of its deposit. 

 Fossil trees are found in this deposit, replaced by iron ore. They 

 probably belong to the same period with those found on the tops of 

 the hills, on the waters of the Sandy and Big Kenawha. — 25 feet. 



5. Iron ore deposit, from three to five feet in thickness ; reposing 

 on a bed of limestone, and covered above with a thin coat of marly 

 clay, sometimes containing nodules of iron ore, coated with yellow 

 oxide. This deposit is very extensive and can be traced on both 

 sides of the Ohio, for twenty miles or more, dipping towards the 

 S. E. — On the westerly side of this deposit, it is found near the tops 

 of the hills, and on the easterly, at their base ; finally, disappearing 

 on the Ohio side under the bed of the river, sixteen miles above 

 this section. It may be called a brown calcareous oxide of iron, 

 originally deposited in a uniform continuous bed. But after the 

 water was drained from this region, by some great, but unknown 

 cause, probably the gradual rising of the ocean bed, from some ex- 

 pansive and upward force from below, the deposit dried and con- 

 tracted in such a way as to produce fissures and seams through the 

 whole mass, breaking into rhombic fragments of various sizes from 

 a few pounds, to several hundred weight. It is a rich ore and af- 

 fords about fifty per cent of iron, very malleable, and when wrought 

 makes excellent bar iron. This deposit abounds in fossil shells, 

 which easily separate from the ore when roasted, affording many 

 perfect specimens of casts, both of univalve and bivalve species. 

 The figures of shells, Nos. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35, (page 

 14 of the wood cuts,) Nos. 36 and 37, (page 26,) are from this de- 

 posit ; the descriptions will be found in the appendix. The roots 

 of several extinct species of plants, probably aquatic, are found in 

 this bed, and trunks of fossil palm trees, nearly a foot in diameter. 

 Figure No. 64, (page 23 of the wood cuts,) is a fragment of some 

 aquatic root, or a portion of a large Encrinus — most probably the 



