Ex. Doc. No. 41. 547 



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Jfotes concerning the minerals and fossils ^ collected hy Lieuteriant 

 J. W. Merty while engaged in the geographical CTsamination c 

 J^ew Mexico^ hy J. W. Bailey^ professor of chemistry^ miyier- 

 alogy^ and geology j at the United States Military Academy. 



Cretaceous fossils from Poblazon, west of. the Rocky mountains, 

 latitude' 35^ 13', longitude 107^ 02', strata dipping west. 



The fossils from Poblazon consist of gigantic hippurites,* casts 

 from the cells of several species of ammonites, valves of inoceri- 

 mus, identical with a species figured in Fremont^s report, plate IV., 

 fig. 2,f casts ^of small univalves and bivalves too imperfect for 

 determination; and teeth of sharks. 



These fossils prove that the strata from which they were taken, 

 belong to the cretacious formation. The existence of vast beds of 

 this formation on the east side of the Rocky mountains, and ex- 

 tending from the Upper Missouri to Texas, is well known. The 

 occurrence of the same formatioii on the western side of the pri- 

 mary axis of the Rocky mountains is quite interesting. 



The dip of the rocks at Poblazon is to the west, or fron the 

 Rocky mountains; ajid this proves that these mountains have been 

 elevated since the deposit of the cretaceous beds. It is, therefore, 

 probable that the cretaceous beds on both sides of the Rocky 

 mountains were made by the same ocean. 



Bituminous coal^ and coal fossils. 



From the Baton, east of the Rocky mountains, 'latitude 37° 15', 

 longitude 104^ 35', from the strata dipping east. 



The fossils accompanying the well characterized bituminous 

 coal from the Raton, consists chiefly of large ovoid leaves, with 

 very distinct branching veins, which consequently must have_ be- 

 longed to decotyledonous plants of comparatively modern origin. 

 It is an interesting fact that no ferns, or other of the common coal 

 fossils were found. It is thus established beyond a doubt, that the 

 deposit of coal at the Raton is not the equivalent of the great 

 «oal formation of the United States, but is of a much more recent 

 date, perhaps corresponding to the " Brora" coal. 



The existence of coal on"the eastern flank of the Rocky moun- 

 tains has been noticed before, and some have supposed that it indi- 

 cated the western outcrop of the great carboniferous formations of 

 of the western States; this view, however, is not confirmed by the 

 deposit at the Raton, which is decidedly a far more recent forma- 

 tion. 



• These are the remarkable specimens composed of parallel plates covered «^ith hexa^o- 



"1 riSlS^^ecUueu. were fbuad on the ea.t side of the Rockf mouataln..' latiwde 39^ 

 longitude 105^. 



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