98 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



clined to believe that it is really the same bed as the one opened at Car- 

 bon, and also near Rock Creek and Cooper's Creek. The strata dip 

 nearly west about 10°. The mine has been opened from the summit of 

 the hill, and the bed followed down the inclination, so that all the coal 

 will have to be taken up the grade, and the difficulties in drainage will 

 be greatly increased. The coal is of most excellent quality. There is, 

 above and below the coal, the usual drab indurated clay. Below the clay 

 is a bed of gray ferruginous sandstone. On the summits of the hills in 

 the vicinity are layers of fine-grained siliceous rocks with arenaceous 

 concretions, some of them containing impressions of deciduous leaves. 



The Tertiary beds lie in ridges across the country, for the beds are 

 lifted up in every direction. A more desolate region 1 have not seen in 

 the West. Nothing seems to grow here but sage-bushes, and in some of 

 the valleys they grow very large. 



All over the surface, on the hills, in the plains, are great quantities of 

 water-worn pebbles. 



Many of these valleys are literally scooped out by the erosive forces, 

 not by any power now acting, but waters far in excess of the present 

 day in this region. 



Some of the widest and deepest of these valleys do not contain any 

 running streams at this time. 



The layers of fine-grained sandstone on the hills in the vicinity con- 

 tain more or less impressions of leaves, like those of the Populus and 

 Platcmus, in a good state of preservation. 



Continuing our course west of Separation, the dip of the Tertiary beds 

 diminishes, until, before reaching Creston, about 13 miles west of Sej)- 

 aration, they lie in nearly a horizontal position, and all the surrounding 

 country presents more the appearance of a plain. At this station the 

 Union Pacific Eailroad Company have dug a well, and at the depth of 

 83 feet a coal-bed was struck, into which the workmen had penetrated 

 three feet while I was there. The coal that was brought up was much 

 of the same quality as that near Separation, and it is probably the same 

 bed. If this should prove to be the same bed, coal must underlie the 

 whole country at the depth of about 80 feet, over an area of at least 100 

 square miles. This would prove a most important discovery to the rail- 

 road company, inasmuch as it would show the inexhaustibility of a min- 

 eral upon which the very existence of the road depends in future. In 

 digging the well, beds of bluish arenaceous clay were passed through, 

 then black clay with carbonaceous matter all through it. Just over the 

 coal was some fine bluish indurated clay, with very distinct impressions 

 of leaves. 



The railroad cuts and the wells show very distinctly the character of 

 the intermediate softer beds. 



The erosion has been so great in this country, and all the hills and 

 canons are so covered with debris, that it is almost impossible to obtain 

 a clear idea of the color and composition of the intermediate softer beds. 

 The harder beds, as sandstones, &c., project, and are accessible to the 

 eye without much excavation. 



The Tertiary formations, both marine and fresh water, occupy the 

 whole country along the line of the railroad to Green Eiver, and, prob- 

 ably, to a greater or less extent, to a point within thirty or forty miles 

 of Salt Lake. 



From Creston to Bitter Creek Station, a distance of 45 miles, the beds 

 are mostly fresh water, and hold nearly a horizontal position. West of 

 Bitter Creek we return to the marine Tertiary again, and the beds dip 3° 

 to 6° nearly east. We have, therefore, between Eawling's Springs and 



