W, M. FoRtaine— Conglomerate Series of West Virginia. 283 



It is usually a coarse, open-grained, purely siliceous sandstone, 

 lying in very thick beds. Near the bottom it is brownish in 

 color, but above it is white, having many ferruginous stains. 

 In many parts of this sandstone, particles of carbonaceous 

 matter, in the condition of charcoal, are seen, produced from 

 drifted fragments of trunks and limbs of trees. This condition 

 of the vegetable matter is no doubt due to the ready escape of 

 the bituminous matter from the porous sandstone. Sometimes 

 pretty large angular fragments of the brown sandstones of the 

 Umbral are found associated with these fragments of trees, and 

 in some cases the pebbles of the conglomerate portions are of 

 limestone. This rock is no doubt the heavy sandstone men- 

 tioned by Professor Rogers as found some distance to the east 

 of this point, forming the summit of Little Sewell Mountain. 



Underlying this rock is found a series of beds which are evi- 

 dently the products of a period of transition. They are well 

 exposed near Quinnimont, and exhibit some interesting features. 

 No. 1 of this series is a thinly-laminated, argillaceous, gray 

 sandstone in its lower part, but becomes more and more calca- 

 reous toward its upper portion, where numerous impressions 

 of shells are found, a list of which will be given farther on. 

 At its summit, which is not seen at Quinnimont, but is well 

 exposed on the Raleigh road, there is a good deal of vegetable 

 matter mixed with the shale, and which is the product of plants 

 which have grown on the spot. This is the lowest indication 

 of an attempt at coal formation, seen in this region. From the 

 indications, there is little doubt that in some places this horizon 

 may show a little coal. Professor Rogers mentions that near 

 the top of Little Sewell, and immediately over the red shales of 

 the Umbral, he saw a small coal-bed. It is no doubt the stra- 

 tum now described. The other strata given in the sections 

 above present no points of interest. 



From this account of the coal bearing series in question it will 

 be seen that it occupies the horizon of the so-called "Coal- 

 measures Conglomerate," and it would seem to be simply a 

 greatly expanded portion of this widely extended foraiation. 

 %ing between two huge plates of massive sandstone, either of 

 which has equal claims to the title of conglomerate, the name 

 which I have given it seems justified. 



Almost no exploration has been made in the country to the 

 east of Quinnimont, and hence the limits in that direction of 

 this series cannot be given. That it does extend farther east is 

 Ifnown. Since my inspection last summer, I have been informed 

 that a five-foot bed of coal is found near Hinton, 800 feet above 

 the level of the river. Hinton is near the mouth of Greenbrier 

 ^iver, about fifteen miles farther east than Quinnimont, meas- 

 ured in an air-line across the strike of the strata 



To the southeast and south, it is found in the counties of 



