Stevenson.] OJ\J [Feb. 5, 



counties, the expansion is greater, reaching in the former to eight hun- 

 dred feet. On the Staunton pike the topmost layers are exceedingly 

 pure and very compact. They yield an excellent lime, and are the 

 source of supply for the whole region to a distance of nearly twenty 

 miles. Farther south the upper layers are quite impure, and are nearly 

 calcareous shale. On the property of Mr. Bradley, a seam of coal occurs 

 amid some shales in this mass, about two hundred and fifty feet below 

 the conglomerate. It is two inches thick, quite impure and very sul- 

 phurous. It is seen in a little run below Mr. Bradley's house. 



The fossils obtained from this limestone were found chiefly in the 

 upper layers and are similar to those procured in Monongalia county. 

 The most common are Spirifer Leidyi, Athyris subquadrata, Productus 

 e'egans, Productus pileiformis, Hemipronites crassus, Allorisma sp., and 

 Straparollus planidorsatus. These show the rock to be of the same age 

 as the Chester group of the west. I had in my possession several fine 

 specimens of Lithostrotion canadense, which were said to be from Ran- 

 dolph county, and I expected to find the St. Louis group well defined. 

 No species belonging to that group fell under my observation, and I 

 doubt whether the Lithostrotion came from this portion of West 

 Virginia. 



The strangest feature in the Lower Carboniferous of this region is the 

 entire disappearance of the sandstones and shales usually found between 

 the limestone and conglomerate. Judging from Rogers' reports, one 

 would expect to find them, not merely persistent but greatly expanded, 

 as compared with more northern localities. At Westernport, on the 

 Potomac, they are six hundred and fifty feet thick, and in Pocahontas 

 county, that adjoining Randolph on the soutJi, they are twelve hundred 

 and sixty feet. Yet in Randolph county they disappear completely. A 

 local anticlinal must have existed here during the latter portion of the 

 Lower Carboniferous period. 



The Disturbed Region. 



By this title I designate that portion of West Virginia lyiug between 

 the line of the EUenboro' fault and the Ohio River, which includes about 

 midway between its east and west boundaries the especially broken tract 

 known as the " oil-break." 



The line of the EUenboro' fault crosses the Stavmton pike near Webb's 

 Mills, on Hughes River. Northward it passes a little west from Harris- 

 ville and crosses the railroad about one-fourth of a mile east from EUen- 

 boro'. Its place is entirely concealed on the Northwestern pike, though 

 its presence there is indicated by the change in the character of the rocks. 

 How far northward it extends I am unable to say, but if it continue in 

 that direction, it should cross the Ohio River not far from New Martins- 

 ville. The best information within my reach leads me to suppose that 

 it disappears long before reaching the Ohio. Southward this fault cer- 

 tainly disappears long before reaching the Great Kanawha River, for, 

 according to Dr. Briggs, the Pittsburg coal shows a continuous outcrop 



