SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 167 
South of the Little Hatchet Mountains” the much higher Hatchet 
Mountains are prominently in view, culminating in Big Hatchet 
Peak, 8,366 feet above sea level. They are of special geologic interest 
because they present an extensive succession of strata from Car- 
boniferous to Cambrian lying on a floor of pre-Cambrian granite. 
The section in Figure 42 shows some of the relations. In the south- 
western part of this range are thick beds of limestone, sandstone, and 
shale of Comanche age containing many characteristic fossils. 
West from Hachita the railroad climbs a moderate grade of about 
150 feet to reach the pass at the north end of the Little Hatchet 
Mountains. On the northern slope of these mountains near the rail- 
road there are scattered exposures of dark shale of Comanche age. 
The ridge north of the railroad, of which Coyote Peak is the culminat- 
ing summit, appears to consist mainly of Tertiary eruptive rocks. 
Figure 42.—Section across the north end of the neg Mountains 20 miles south of Hachita, N 
Mex. ‘€b, Bliss ang (Cambrian); | Oe, El ae he oe (Ordovician); Om, Montoya lime- 
stone pantie an); Sf, Fusselman | (Siluri p, Percha shale (Devonian); Clv, Lake 
Valley limestone? oauaap Mississippian); Cm, aa of Magdalena group (Pelinayiviedianss 
At its north end is a westward-trending ridge known as Quartzite 
Mountain, consisting of quartzites of Comanche age. small but 
prominent butte a short distance north of this ridge is made up of 
limestone of the Magdalena group. 
West from Vista siding the railroad descends 368 feet into a broad 
basin with a long, narrow lake bed or “playa’’ in its bottom. In wet 
seasons this basin is occupied by water, but usually the northern edge 
of the lake is some distance south of the railroad. At a time not very 
remote geologically a larger lake existed in this basin long enough for 
is a mineral vein associated with a Comanche age cut by a large granite 
quartzite (probably of Trinity age) | dike. The higher central part of the 
which yielded considerable silver-lead | range consists of a thick succession of 
ore at the veges aoe mine, long since | limestones of the Magdalena group 
abandone (Pennsylvanian) dipping southwest- 
23 The ae Hatchet Mountains | ward and cut off to the north by a large 
present a considerable variety of rocks | mass of porphyry. In the northern 
and complex geologie relations. The of the range are Many pro: minent 
ie 
masses of intrusive 
prominently in Granite Pass, 15 miles | in the ngrd = the Old Hachita camp 
southwest of Hachita. Next north of | limestone of the Magdalena group is 
that gap are ledges of sandy shale of | exposed. 
