254 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



Although the outcrops along our line of travel were too small and too far apart 

 to bane a decided opinion upon, I feel, nevertheless, inclined to consider the stratifica- 

 tion of the Coal-Measures not as absolutely regular, with a uniform dip in one direc- 

 tion, but as exhibiting slight undulations, so that we meet with repetitions of the same 

 strata at points where, if the dip was uniform, they would occupy a considerable 

 depth under ground. 



I was informed that 6 miles south from Oak Point, on Muddy Creek, a small 

 seam of a good bituminous coal has been found. On the Big Nemaha, at Seneca, 82 

 miles from Leavenworth, sandstone is exposed in the banks of the creek. On a 

 branch, 2 miles southeast from there, I noticed a seam of good coal, 8 to 10 inches 

 thick. The far-scattered outcrops seem to indicate the following section : 



20 feet limestones, compact, siliceous, gray, yellow, or brown, with numerous 

 fossils, joints of Griuoidea, Ortltix, Ghortrtvs, A.rinus, Vnx'idouia (?), and FusuJina 

 cf//hi(/ric(/, var. ventricosa. 



20 feet argillaceous shale. 



J foot calcareous slate, with pyrites and columns of Crinoidea. 



§ foot coal. 



20 feet or more sandstone. 



shales. 



Limestone similar to the above was also observed at Richmont, 2J miles lower 

 down on the Nemaha, and still farther down, 1 am informed, coal crops out. If this 

 is the same seam, the undulation of the dip must be considerable. 



From the Nemaha to the Blue, outcrops are very scarce. In the drains off the 

 road and on the slopes, occasionally slabs of limestone are found. On the Vermilion, 

 some miles south of the road, a whitish magnesian limestone is quarried, remarkable 

 on account of the large number of small cavities which it presents, all caused by the 

 weathering out of FustUina cylbulrka. A stratum very much like it has been observed 

 near the mouth of the Big Blue River, and No. 22 of Messrs. Meek and Hay den's sec- 

 tion presents the same character. 



About 14 miles east of the Big Blue, on the top of a hill near the upper road, we 

 find 6 feet of a rock resembling closely the building-stone at Fort Riley, quarried 

 there, near the top of the hills, at the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill 

 Forks. It is a light buff-colored magnesian limestone, finely granular on the fracture, 

 and nearly made up of fossils, of which, however, only few are well preserved. It is 

 easily dressed, and makes a superior building-stone. 



White, green, and gray argillaceous shades were noticed in the drains farther 

 on, and we have now fairly entered the limits of the Permo-Carboniferous formation. 

 Near the Big Blue, in consequence of the deeper erosion of the valley, more rocks 

 are exposed, mostly whitish, grayish, or yellowish, impure irgillaceous limestones or 

 marls, partly honey-combed, or containing numerous secretions of flint. The harder 

 layers form terraces and belts of ih-bris along the slopes. I noticed in these beds 

 various Prod/eftis, Pcctert, Bcffcroithon, columns of Grinoidni, numerous Bryozoa, and 

 spines of Archaocidaris ; also the flat tooth of a fish of the Placodean tribe. The fol- 



