576 W. T. LEE STRATIGRAPHY OF COAL FIELDS OF NEW MEXICO 



relating to the Eaton field have been omitted, for they will appear in 

 another paper which is nearly completed. 



Dr. A. Wislizenns (3) visited the gold fields south of Cerrillos in July, 

 1846, and although he makes no mention of coal in the Cerrillos field he 

 observed the petrified wood that occurs in the Galisteo sandstone near 

 the coal beds in this field, and states that coal occurs on the Eio Puerco 

 in rocks supposed to be equivalent in age to those in the Cerrillos field. 

 About two months later Lieutenant Abert (1) visited the Cerrillos field 

 and found coal on one of the tributaries of Galisteo Creek. He also 

 found coal on the Eio Puerco and collected fossils from rocks associated 

 with the coal beds at Poblozon, a few miles north of San Ygnacio. Ac- 

 cording to J. W. Bailey, (2) these fossils proved the Cretaceous age of 

 the coal-bearing rocks. 



In 1849 James H. Simpson (4) visited the coal beds on the Eio Puerco 

 at the eastern margin of the San Juan Basin northeast of Cabezon, and 

 at several places farther west. Later, in 1853, Jules Marcou (6) reports 

 coal "at Los Lunas and several other points on the Puerco," and com- 

 pares the coal-bearing rocks with those of the Cerrillos field. 



William P. Blake (9) examined the anthracite of this field in 1857, 

 and also some coal in the Carboniferous formation near Santa Fe. He 

 was inclined at this time to regard the Cerrillos anthracite as Carbon- 

 iferous. A year later, in 1858, J. S. ISTewberry visited Santa Fe and 

 secured samples of this anthracite, but did not visit the mine until the 

 folloAving year. He found coal beds near Fort Defiance, at the southern 

 extremity of the San Juan Basin, in rocks which he referred to the Cre- 

 taceous, and others farther Avest, at Moqui, which he referred to tlie 

 Jurassic. In 1859 he visited the Cerrillos coal field and examined both 

 the anthracite and the "lignite" near Cerrillos and referred both to the 

 Cretaceous. The full account of his investigation was not published 

 until 1876, although a preliminary announcement of some of his conclu- 

 sions was made in 1871. 



In 1865 E. E. Owen (11) and E. T. Cox visited both the Cerrillos 

 and the Eio Puerco coal fields. They referred the Cerrillos anthracite to 

 the Carboniferous. In 1867 John L. Le Conte (13) visited the Cerrillos 

 field and secured fossil leaves from the coal measures. From the evi- 

 dence of these fossils he referred the coal beds to the Cretaceous, but 

 placed them well down in the Cretaceous series. He regarded them as 

 older than the "Marshall formation" or Laramie of the Denver basin. 

 He also reports the occurrence of coal on the Eio Puerco west of Albu- 

 querque. A year later he (15) reported the occurrence of coal near 



