1875.] f-f^tJ [Stevenson. 



and sandstone. From the tunnel westward to Walkei's Station, the 

 grade of the road falls, and meantime the dip becomes barely ten feet per 

 mile. Nearly one mile east from Walker's, a thin coal is seen which may 

 be traced through several cuts. It is eight injhe^ thick, very slaty, and 

 is no doubt the same with that just mentioned. Above it, in the hills is 

 a succession of sandstones and red shales. Similar rocks occur all the 

 way to Parkersburg. "No break or fault was seen along the railroad, but 

 in a well bored near Claysville, the strata are said to have been found 

 much shattered. On the Northwestern pike the exposures are very incom- 

 plete ; no succession can be made out, but there are evidences of at least 

 two small breaks in continuity of the rocks. 



Upon the Staunton pike, the exposures are quite as satisfactory as 

 those along the railroad, for the I'oad runs in the valleys cut by the Little 

 Kanawha and Hughes' Rivers. Starting up the Litcle Kanawha from 

 Parkersburg, we find at five miles from that city a well-marked break or 

 fault, very similar to that observed at EUenboro'. Up to this point the 

 westward dip is almost zero ; but here at once it increases to 25°. The 

 exposure is at the roadside, in a cut. East from this break the strata are 

 horizontal, at least no dip in any direction can be made out with the 

 barometer. On both sides the rocks are apparently the same. Sandstones 

 and brownish I'ed, slightly arenaceous shales. Judging from their litho- 

 logical characters alone, one would regard them as belonging to the same 

 gi'oup. At a short distance below Newark, the road passes through a 

 cut, in which is exposed a faeries of sandstoaes and dark-red shale«, in all 

 about one hundred and twenty-five feet thick. On top there is a hand- 

 some, light olive sandstone, which is quarried to supply material for 

 building the locks on the river. Though soft, it is said to be quite 

 durable. 



At Grreenville, where the road crosses Hughes' River, the same shaly 

 sandstones and shales are seen la the river bluffs, and at some distance 

 farther on, the massive sandstone appears in the hills, twenty feet thick 

 and standing out as a cliff. Huge fragments of it have fallen off and lie 

 strewn over the hillside, and in the river channel. It has been used here 

 for building purposes, and serves well, as it is not very hard, dresses 

 easily and is quite durable. This rock is seen along the road to within 

 one mile of Freeport P. O., where the exposures become obscui-e, as we 

 are approaching the western boundary of the oil-break. It is the same 

 sandstone with that already mentioned as occurring just east from the 

 break on this pike. 



The Oil-break. This name is given to an irregular tract, from one 

 to nearly two miles in width, having a general trend of N. 10° E. Mag., 

 and with the strata on its sides, dipping N. 80° W. and S. 80° E. Mag. 

 I have been able to examine it along the Staunton pike, the Northwestern 

 Railroad, and the Northwestern pike, as well as at several points 

 between these lines, embracing in all about fifteen miles of its length. 

 The region of greatest disturbance is in the neighborhood of the railroad: 

 A. p. S. — VOL. XIV. 2y 



