Stevenson.] """ [Feb. 5, 



under consideration. There seems to be no room for doubting that the 

 coal near Laurel Junction and that at Petroleum are the same. 



Prof. Fontaine, nearly two years ago, made a very careful section along 

 the railroad from Laurel Junction to the middle of the break, where the 

 summit of the anticlinal is shown. He has very kindly submitted his 

 notes to me without restriction. In the main, the results of my observa- 

 tions do not differ from those previously obtained by him. I do not re- 

 produce the section, as the details are unimportant here. 



Within the break, that is, in that portion where the rocks lie some- 

 what irregularly horizontal, a coal is seen in several cuts. The section 

 in connection with it varies slightly, owing to crushing, while the coal 

 itself exhibits every evidence of having been subjected to strong pres- 

 sure. The following sections were obtained at different points upon the 

 railroad. No. I, being by Prof. Fontaine, and No. II, by myself : 



I. 



1. Massive sandstone 12'+ 



2. Black arenaceous shale.. b"-i' 



3. Coal 30" 



4. Gray sandstone 3|' 



5. Coal 8" 



6. Black shale 3' 



7. Flaggy sandstone — 



II- 



1. Sandstone, massive.... 35' 



2. Shale 2'-4' 



3. Coal 15"-23" 



4. Sandstone and shale 6' 



5. Cannel 10" 



6. Clay 3" 



^..Coal 8"-12" 



8. Shale to track 6' 



At the base of the massive sandstone there is a thin layer of conglome- 

 rate made up of rounded pebbles, one-half inch in diameter and cement- 

 ed by oxide of iron. The shale contains no impression of plants. This 

 seam is evidently the same as that mined near Volcano, about one mile 

 north from the railroad, where the section to the coal, as obtained in a 

 well, is shale 40'; sandstone, 40'-50' ; Coal, 3'-5'. The coal\& double 

 and very irregular in thickness. Below it the rocks are principally sand- 

 stone to a depth of nearly five hundred feet, beyond which are reddish 

 shales, which have been bored to seven hundred feet more without reach- 

 ing their base. Two thin coals have been found within the break above 

 this main bed, but they are not persistent. 



Within the break the strata are thrown about in considerable confu- 

 sion, and well-marked faults are not infrequent along the railroad line. 

 One of these is exhibited in following figure, which, as well the descrip- 

 tion, I take from Prof. Fontaine's manuscript, the details being more 

 satisfactorily given than in my own notes. 



The fracturing of the rocks is especially marked on the western side of 

 the break. The superintendent of one of the oil companies informed me 

 that, on that side, it has never been found necessary te "torpedo" the 

 wells, while that expedient is necessarily resorted to on the east side. 

 The anticlinal structure is well shown west from Petroleum in the first 

 cut which exposes the coal. 



There is no room to doubt that the original structure here was that of 

 an anticlinal, but certainly there is no true -anticlinal now. This is easily 

 shown by reference to only a few facts. 



