TO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. Lie 
stone ma from poorly-assorted materials. It contains, in some layers, impressions, generally 
indistinct, of vegetable remains. It is referred, as a whole, to the “Coal Series”, by Dr. Hayden ; 
and he further estimates its thickness at 10,000 feet. This seems to us considerably to exceed the 
truth. We found the same series of sandstones extending in anumber of wide folds over the prairie 
to the north; and this would make it probable that even if there be a thickness of 10,000 feet of 
vertical strata belonging here, it has been formed by the pressing together of an anticlinal fold par- 
allel to the range of mountains. This is the more likely, as the strata of the beds all dip steeply, 
and are often overturned, the dip being reversed. 
Ascending the hills from the point first mentioned, somewhat north of the Bridger Peak, we 
passed for a long distance through the timber, crossing, here and there, little open parks and valleys, 
up to the foot of the range proper. Up to this point, we had seen but few exposures of rock, and 
those similar to the sandstone already described. The section observed from this point to the 
summit is as follows: Red earth and clay, with occasional masses of indurated red clay, seldom 
showing any stratification ; in all, 60 feet. Following this, and, in its present position, overlying, 
though, in fact, geologically, underlying it, is a thick-bedded sandstone, dipping 60° west; strike 
north 20° west. This rock was mostly yellow and ferruginous; its texture gritty, at times becom- 
ing a mass of coarse pebbles. Occasional layers were calcareous, and contained multitudes of indis- 
tinct Cretaceous shells (see list below). These often yielded to the weather, the rock becoming 
then rusty and cellular. The visible thickness of this deposit was 40 feet. Then, after a small 
interval, follows a firm, blue, compact limestone; the first layers containing a few Jurassic fossils, 
and those following the same in greater numbers (see list below). The thickness of this bed is 
about 60 feet. Jfollowing this is a sandy limestone; and then comes the Carboniferous limestone, 
which forms the remainder of the upper part of the hill for a distance of 700 or 800 feet, the total 
thickness of these strata being perhaps 500 feet. This limestone has the same massive and, on 
weathering, structureless character remarked elsewhere. Some layers seem to be a conglomerate 
of fragments cemented together by a calcareous paste. Thin layers of dark flint, two or more inches 
in thickness, are common, running irregularly through the limestone blocks, and also isolated masses 
of the same rock of greater or less size. At thesummit, the dip is 70° east. Fossils were not com- 
mon in this rock; those found were chiefly corals. Continuing along the narrow summit for some 
distance toward the north, all the time on the solid limestone, we found its dip varying consider- 
ably from east to west. On descending, a band of red clay was passed over at the foot of the com- 
pact limestone, and calcareous layers interstratified with it contained some Carboniferous fossils. 
The dip here was west. This is the same band noted on the succeeding day, and to be described 
farther on. In other respects, the return trip added nothing to what had been before observed. 
On the following day, the ridge was ascended again from a point some eight miles beyond; 
but it did not yield us the complete section of the rocks that we had hoped for. The approach to 
the mountains was, for the most part, of necessity through the timber; the rock appearing but 
seldom, and this the dark-colored sandstone before noted. What was observed here would not 
enable us to do more than guess at its total thickness. Emerging into the open ground, high up 
on the range, we came upon a high ledge of a very massive, coarse sandstone, or rather a conglom- 
erate. The strike was north and south, and the dip east 35°. The thickness actually exposed was 
small. Rising 500 feet from here, we found a series of limestone exposures mostly covered with grass. — 
They yielded some Jurassic fossils, similar to those obtained the day before. The rock following 
was, as before, a white, sandy limestone, sparkling in the sun, and without fossils; then appeared 
the Carboniferous limestones. 
The point we had now reached is conspicuous from all parts of the surrounding country, being 
marked by two lines of deep red, like bloody gashes, in the side of the mountain. These red bands, 
though narrow, may be traced along the east slope of the hills for a considerable distance north 
and south, and form quite a striking feature of the range. The lower bed, made up of an indurated 
red clay, was only 4 feet in thickness ; but the color was very intense. Tutersteatified with these 
bands was a small thickness of variegated limestone, generally purplish, sometimes vermilion or 
greenish. This limestone abounded in Carboniferous fossils; not infrequently the shells occupied 
the center of little‘grayish circles in the reddish rock. These soft red bands have generally yielded 
