1809.] ^y [WiiiehcU. 



though the Ohio geologists appear eventually to have given the term "Fine 

 Grained Sandstone Series" that extension of meaning ; and Col. Whit- 

 tlesey, Prof. Hall, Dr. Newberry and others, have since treated the term 

 "Waverly series" as synonymous. The Ohio geologists abstained, on 

 principle, from expressing any opinion on the subject of the American or 

 foreign equivalents of these rocks. 



During the same year, Mr. J. W. Foster^ made a report in which he de- 

 scribed the Fine Grained Sandstone of Licking and Franklin counties, as 

 a continuation of the Waverly series of »Briggs, and expresses the opinion 

 that it is "a member of the mountain limestone formation." I direct 

 pai'ticular attention to this early judgment. It must be noted, however, 

 that the older Cliff Limestone was also at that time regarded as belonging 

 to the mountain limestone series. Both Foster and Briggs speak of the 

 .paucity of organic remains in the lower portion of the series, and their 

 abundance in the upper portion. 



The public geological survey of Michigan was inaugurated at about the 

 same time as that of Ohio. The earliest mention of sandstones in that 

 State, occupying a position in the zone under consideration, is found in 

 Dr. Houghton's report for 1838.'? Under the head of the "Upper Sandstone 

 of the Peninsula," he notices those rocks which I have designated^ the 

 " Woodville Sandstone" above the coal; the "Parma Sandstone" be- 

 neath it, and those portions of the "Marshall group" which outcrop in 

 the southern counties. The outcrop of the last named sandstones in the 

 vicinity of Pt aux Barques, east of Saginaw bay, is treated by Dr. Hough- 

 ton in connection with the Lake Superior Sandstone under the head of 

 "Lower Sandstone or Graywacke group" (p. 9). 



In the report of the following year, the Marshall sandstones are again 

 stated by Dr. Houghton to belong to " the great carboniferous group of 

 rocks. "^ 



The first attemi^t at a systematic account of these strata was made in 

 1840 by Bela Hubbard,''' assistant on the geological survey. Mr. Hubbard 

 correctly apprehended their position as beneath the coal producing strata, 

 and alluded to the richness of the lower beds in organic remains. Tlie 

 deeper and more argillaceous strata were never, in southern Michigan, asso- 

 ciated as in Ohio, with the newer and more arenaceous beds. The entire 

 series of argillaceous strata, including the black shale of the state, which 

 is very inconspicuous in the southern counties, were described by Hubbard 

 as the "Kidney Iron Formation." This was regarded as the bottom of 

 the Carboniferous system. The northern outcrop of these groups were 

 reported upon in 1841." In his attempt to assign them to their proper 

 stratigraphical position, Mr. Hubbard fell into singular errors, and intro- 

 duced into the most elaborate account of the lower peninsula which was 

 destined to be published for twenty years, a confusion of facts which ren- 

 dered the geology of Michigan an enigma to every one who attempted to 



« Second Awn. Kep. Geol., Oliio, p. 103. ' First Ann. Rep. Geol. Mich., p. 3. 



8 First Bienn. Rep. Mich., 1861. » Mich. Geol. Bep., 1839, p. 28. 



1" Mich. Geol. Rep., 1810, p. 87. " Mich. Geol. Rep., 1841, p. 114. 



