42 W. M. Fontaine— Vespertine Strata of Virginia. 



probably to the northern part of Bath county. To the south, 

 it terminates near the northeastern border of Monroe county. 

 It occupies the bottom of a synclinal fold, and possesses but 

 small width. 



2. A much more extended aud important belt, which lies 

 about thirty miles east of the last. This commences in the 

 northern part of Virginia, in the western part of Berkeley 

 county, and extends thence south through the State, with some 

 minor interruptions. It lies on the west side of the great Lower 

 Silurian limestone valley, and close to the great fault which 

 bounds it in that direction. In the northern and middle por- 

 tions, the coal-bearing member of the Vespertine lies under the 

 inverted massive sandstones of the lower member, and hence is 

 found on the west side of the mountains, formed of this massive 

 portion. In this part of the State, these mountains bear the 

 names of "Great," and "Little," "North Mountain." 



In the southern part of the State, the Vespertine strata are 

 not inverted, but dip toward the fault. Hence in "Brush 

 Mountain," the southern continuation of "North Mountain," 

 the coal-bearing member lies on the southeastern face of the 

 mountain. The great number of faults in this section has 

 caused a small remnant to be caught and preserved, even within 

 the area of the Silurian strata, as in the remarkable coal field 

 °f Price's B : Q Montgomery county 



I have been informed that coal has been discovered sti 

 to the east, within the limestone area, in the north end of Lick 

 Mountain, in Wythe county. If this is true, it is without doubt 

 Vespertine coal. 



From the fact that all the strata, and the coals as v.„., 

 thicken as we go east, it cannot be doubted that the Vespertine 

 coal field extended considerably farther in that direction than 

 any remnant now remaining. Leaving out of consideration the 

 extension of these strata northward, into Pennsylvania, where 

 they have been shown to contain coal beds, the area of the coal 

 formation of this age, in Virginia and West Virginia, was by 

 no means small. Judging only by the exposures which now 

 remain, the belt of country over which well defined coal beds 

 were formed, was more than 300 miles long, and fifty miles 



I have examined the exposures on the Greenbrier Biver 

 and at Lewis Tunnel, in the vicinity of the White Sulphui 

 Springs, as well as those in the western edge of Augusta and 

 : counties in Vir-iniu, and in Montgomery com ' 

 ' i the remainder of this article, some of the fi 



