I40 LOWER PENINSULA. 



story by saying that the men, after they had reached the depth of 

 lOO feet, left the place at once, not to return again. 



The valley of Flint River cuts through the carboniferous series 

 near Flushing, northwest of Flint. Two miles above Flushing the 

 bed of the river is formed by a hard, fine-grained sand rock full of 

 Stigmaria, stems, and leaves ; several feet of it emerge above the 

 water-line. Above follow about 4 feet of blue arenaceous shales, 

 likewise with Stigmaria stems ; next higher are 5 feet of dark shales 

 containing kidney-ore concretions ; above them is black shale with 

 thin seams of coal, amounting to about 3 feet in all. Greenish, 

 micaceous sandstones 25 feet in thickness follow, above which 15 

 feet of dark gray shales constitute the highest ledges of the sec- 

 tion. The sand rock is in part thinly laminated with discordant strati- 

 fication. Another part is in regular beds, varying from 18 inches to 

 2 feet in thickness. The rock incloses fine specimens of Calamites 

 and thin, coaly veins, besides numerous concretions of iron pyrites. 

 It can be quarried in tolerably large blocks, and is used for cut-stone 

 of a fair appearance. At the time the building contracts for the 

 State House at Lansing were let out, this sand rock was offered to 

 the building committee as a first-class material, by parties from 

 Flushing. In consequence of this offer I was ordered by Gover- 

 nor Baldwin to examine the quarries and the rock, which I did, 

 reporting conscientiously, to the best of my knowledge, that I 

 considered the rock of the Flushing quarries as of middling good 

 quality, suitable for buildings of less weight than the State House 

 was likely to have, but that, for an edifice of such dimensions, I did 

 not think the rock had sufificient firmness. I expressed also my 

 doubts in regard to its durability when exposed to the severe 

 winter frosts. These views were not mere surmises, but were 

 based upon the appearance of several buildings in Flint, in the 

 construction of which the Flushing stone had been used. These 

 buildings had then been standing about ten years, and I found their 

 sills and water tablings so much damaged by exfoliation within 

 that short time that I could not think of recommending the stone. 

 I make this statement in justification of my report to the commit- 

 tee, which roused against me the indignation of the Flushing 

 quarrymen. I have no doubt their anger has passed off ere this, 

 as, upon reflection, they must see that P could not honestly have 

 acted otherwise than I did in the matter. 



