TEALE] GEOLOGY SECTION AT GEHRUNG's COAL-MINE. 203 



6. Soft laminated claj, iuterlaid by bands of limonite iron 



ore, thin lignite seams, and fossil-wood 88 feet. 



7. Lignitic black clay, in banks 33 feet. 



8. Fine-grained conglomerate 112 feet. 



9. Fine-grained sandstone 4 feet. 



10. Coarse conglomerate 7 feet. 



11. Sandstone 3 feet. 



12. Ferruginous hard conglomerate 32 feet. 



426 feet. 



The coal found here is of poor quality, and at present I believe the 

 mine is not worked. Professor Lesquereux found the following leaves 

 in the sandstone, Xo. 4 of the section : Sabal leaves, Flatamis Haydenii, 

 Xewb., Bombeyopsis obtusa, Lesq., and Ficus tilicefolia, A. Br. Through 

 the kindness of Mr. France, of Colorado Springs, I was taken to an out- 

 ci^op of coal twelve miles east of Colorado Springs. We could see only 

 the top of the coal-bed, which was exposed in the dry bed of a creek. I 

 was told that the bed was 9 feet in thickness. All the coal I saw was 

 cf very poor quality, having been exposed for some time to the weather. 

 Just above the coal, there is -^ bed of chocolate-colored clay shale filled 

 with fragments of leaves and stems. This bed is about 2 or 3 feet in 

 thickness, and above it is a very soft yellow sandstone, in which I found 

 impressions of leaves, among which Professor Lesquereux has recog- 

 nized Bhamnus Cleburni, Lesq., &(bal leaves, Ficus spectabUis, Lesq., a 

 Pali Urns^ and a Qiierciis. These plants characterize the layers as be- 

 longing to the lignitic group, as do also the beds at Gehrung's, to 

 which they so closely correspond. The clay shale on top of the coal is 

 precisely like the clay of ISTo. 3, in the section made by Professor Les- 

 quereux, while the yellow sandstone in which I found the fossils is 

 evidently the same as No. 4. A short distance west of this outcrop, 

 there are massive beds of white sandstones and conglomerates corre- 

 sponding to the sandstones and conglomerates given in the section 

 above the coal. These are the beds that, seen from (^olorado Springs 

 looking northward, appear like huge castle-walis. Even out on the 

 plains Ihey stand up in bluffs. Just west of them, at the latter 

 place, I visited an o[)ening that had been made in hopes (not realized) 

 of finding coal. The shaft had been carried a distance of about 50 

 feet into a lignitic clay, corresponding, I think, to beds G and 7 of the 

 Gehrung section. All these beds out in the plains are nearly horizon- 

 tal, dipping perhaps 3° to the northward. 



Returning again to the upturned sedimentary formations near the 

 mountains, both the dip and strike vary conslderai)ly. Thus, in the Cre- 

 taceous layers on Camp Creek, it is 30'^ at the point where section Ko. 

 3 was made. This dip was taken on bed 44 of section ]S"o. 3. It repre- 

 sents a portion of the Fort Benton group. Following this to the south- 

 ward, we find the dip increases rapidly. On the high ridge of Creta- 

 ceous No. 1, beds 37 and 38 of section 3, near Glen p]yrie, it is 65'^ to 

 7(P. Going south, and crossing the '' Fontaine qui bould," the beds 

 incline past the vertical; and still farther south, on Bear Creek, they 

 are vertical. The dip then decreases after crossing Bear Creek. As we 

 go westward, however, to the older formations, the angle of inclination 

 is very much smaller. Thus in Glen Eyrie it is only 10^, while in the 

 Ute Pass the older sandstones rest upon the granites, inclining at vari- 

 ous angles, but never exceeding 20'^. Peturning again to the hog-back, 

 we observe in Fig. 1, Plate III., that the strike also Varies. Opposite 



