44 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



MEMO. OF THE CUTTING ON THE SPUR LINE 

 WHERE IT CROSSES MAIN STREET WEST. 



READ BEFORE THE GEOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE HAMILTON 

 ASSOCIATION. 



BY A. E. WALKER. 



The cutting here is over twenty-two feet in order to admit of 

 the building of a bridge over the main road ; the upper part of the 

 cutting is brick clay ; about five feet below this is some five feet of 

 clay containing so much hme that it is useless for brick purposes ; 

 where this clay rests on the concrete bed of the old Une of the beach, 

 the lower part of the clay is filled with little concretions of clay, 

 called by the worlcmen ginger roots ; they have much that appear- 

 ance, being very crooked and twisted. They are probably formed 

 by the lime water running into the cracks and crevices of the clay, 

 converting them into stony matter by the same process that forms 

 the concrete beds of pebble. The concrete beds here are about 

 four feet thick, the upper part a fine concrete, and the lower part 

 coarser, with here and there a layer of sand between the beds. 

 Below these beds we have five feet of very fine sand. Here we 

 strike a very singular formation which the workmen supposed to be 

 packed brushwood ; it is about two feet thick. It is here that we 

 strike water, which runs from east to west with the cutting. These 

 streams of water as they run through the sand have deposited so 

 much liquid lime that they have consolidated the sand into streams 

 of stone. It seems strange that the water should run horizontally 

 through this loose sand, leaving long stick-like forms like twisted 

 ropes, varying from the size of your finger to the size of one's arm. 

 The sight was wonderful to see: a layer nearly two feet thick, which 

 looked like the ends of sticks or bamboo rods, standing out in bold 

 relief, for the cutting was directly across this formation ; the sand 

 falling away, left them sticking boldly out on both sides of the cutting. 

 Of course these stick -like forms do not continue for any great length 



