SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 51 
The formations below the Lissie occur in widely extended sheets 
which dip at a low angle to the southeast. As the rate of dip is greater 
than the rise of the land, their outcropping edges come to the surface 
in regular succession to the west. This relation is shown in the cross 
section on sheet 8. They are conformable in attitude, but some of 
them are separated by unconformities. 
Near Tavener a group of derricks off to the north marks the Orchard 
oil field, which has had a small production from a salt dome that was 
discovered by geophysical tests on the surface. 
Just east of East Bernard the San Bernard River * is crossed in a 
valley about 30 feet deep, containing cypress, oak, and other trees of 
the lowland flora. Not far beyond the bridge the 
railroad deflects to the northwest across a broad 
plain that extends beyond Eagle Lake and is in large 
part occupied by rice fields. 
Eagle Lake is a shallow body of water lying in a depression due to 
an old bend of the former course of the Colorado River. It contains 
considerable water, especially after rains, and is used 
East Bernard. 
Elevation 125 fee 
New Orleans 416 ta 
Eagle Lake. as a reservoir for water pumped from the river and 
rat he oe then into a canal for irrigating rice fields to the east. 
New Orleans 432 miles, On the east slope of the depression, a mile or more 
south of Eagle Lake town, are banks 10 to 20 feet 
high showing gravelly cross-bedded compact sand, regarded as Lissie. 
There are also cuts in this material near the railroad just west of 
the town. 
At Eagle Lake the railroad deflects to a course nearly northwest 
and, passing over a low ridge at Ramsey siding (elevation 222 feet), 
descends into the broad terraced valley of the Colorado River. The 
formation covering this region in a widespread mantle is the Lissie 
gravel; distinctive outcrops are rare, and few are visible from the 
train. Three miles southwest of Eagle Lake is an artesian well 1,506 
feet deep, which has an excellent flow of tepid sulphur water. Four 
miles northwest of Eagle Lake the Lissie gravel is exposed lying on 
clay and sand with gravel (mostly chert) which may represent a 
separate formation. In the banks of the Colorado River 5 miles 
southwest of Ramsey siding and again on the slope 4 miles northwest 
of that place the formation known as the Lagarto clay is revealed. 
It consists of sandstone, in part conglomeratic, with interbedded clay, 
and is part of the great eastward-dipping succession of formations of 
Tertiary and Cretaceous age which come to the surface in 1¢egular 
order as given in the table on page 50 and as shown in section on 
sheet 8. 
33 The banks on the east side of this | underlain by Lissie sand and gravel 
valley expose gray sandy clays, re- | (not exposed here). At the top is red- 
garded (by Deussen) as the basal mem- | dish sandy clay, probably alluvium. 
ber of the Beaumont clay, which are i 
