Stevenson.] 6^4: [Feb. 5. 



will be seen, however, that in my section the strata reach far enough up 

 to include a portion of No. 3, in Mr. AVhite's section, so that sufficient 

 is fovind in the south to afford material for comparison of conditions in 

 the two areas. It is noteworthy that the interval between the Waynes- 

 burg and the Brownsville is much greater in the southern than the north- 

 ern section. 



No. 1 of the section is entirely free from limestone, and consists of 

 compact sandstones and loose shales. At the east, the sandstones greatly 

 preponderate, and are very coarse in grain. Westward they diminish in 

 quantity and are replaced by the shales. These are i-eddish gray to 

 yellow and usually quite fissile. The whole series is finely exposed along 

 the Northwestern pike, about four milgs west from Salem, where the road 

 descends a long steep hill and is merely a shelf, cut out of these rocks. 

 Near Cherry Camp, thirteen miles west from Clarksburg, the base of the 

 series is a bright yellow fissile shale, twenty feet thick, containing many 

 crushed specimens of an aviculopecten. This shale is not persistent, 

 being wanting at all exposures examined farther to the west. The other 

 strata seem to be entirely free from fossils. 



Along the Northwestern Railroad, the Brownsville"^ coal is first seen at 

 the east end of Brandy Gap Tunnel, ten miles west f r om Clarksburg. 

 There it was worked formerly, but the banks have been long deserted 

 and no measurement can be made. At the west end of the tunnel the 

 coal is seen about twenty feet above the track and nearly three feet thick, 

 Near Cherry Camp, one mile beyond, it has been worked in the creek 

 bank by stripping. It shows there 



Shale, 2 ft.; Goal, 9 in.; Bony Coal, 5 in.; Coal, 14-16 in.; total, 2 ft. 6 in. 



The shale is full of vegetable impressions, some of which are very fine. 

 If this shale could be reached farther in the bank, where it has not been 

 exposed to the action of the weather, the locality would no doubt yield 

 some excellent material to the palaeo-botanist. The coal is said to be of 

 very fair quality. Some taken from the same bed where it lies exposed 

 in the stream, about one-fourth of a mile farther west, is said to have 

 been very good. 



The next exposure was found on the Northwestern pike, somewhat 

 more than five miles west from Salem. The bed is there more complex 

 than at Cherry Camp, and shows the following section : 



Coal, 9 in.; Shale, 2 ft.; Bituminous shale, 1 ft.; Clay, 3 in.; Coal, 1 ft. to 



1 ft. 6 in. 



The sandstone rests directly on the coal. The bituminous shale con- 

 tains many thin plates of coal and is so carbonaceous throughout that it 

 will burn, though poorly. The coal is said to be quite good, and is 

 mined by stripping. Near the railroad crossing, two miles east from 

 Smithton, this bed was formerly worked. At Smithton its outcrop is 



* So named by Mr. White, from its importance, near Brownsville, Monongalia county, 

 West Virginia. 



