»sn>.j LIVINGSTON TO CINNABAR. 327 



sandstones and grits of the Livingston series, 30 beds that consist of 

 water-laid strata composed of andesitie material. These beds rest in 

 apparent conformity upon the true Laramie, the horizon of the work- 

 able bituminous coal seams, but an uneomformity is proven by the 

 variety of pebbles of Paleozoic and Mesozoie rocks found in the con- 

 glomerates, and is actually shown in the mountains to the westward. 

 The greatest thickness of the Livingston yet measured is 7,000 feet, the 

 overlying sandstones and clays being quite distinct lithologically, and 

 carrying a purely fresh-water fauna and a flora of Fort Union type. 

 Plant remains are abundant in the Livingston beds, the species being 

 largely of Laramie types. Specimens may be collected from the rocks 

 forming the hills immediately north of the town, where characteristic 

 exposures of the series occur. The overlying strata can be seen from 

 these hills, forming low sandstone ridges and a light gray bluff wall to 

 the northward, and the beds form the high peaks of the Crazy Moun- 

 tains lying to the northeast. 



South of the river a gently sloping alluvial terrace rises to the foot 

 of the mountains, effectually concealing all exposures of the Middle 

 Cretaceous rock except along the river banks. 



The branch railroad to the Yellowstone Park traverses the valley 

 bottom toward the gap in the mountains through which the river has 

 cut its way to the Great Plains. On the west, low combs of sandstone 

 belonging to the Middle Cretaceous are occasionally seen, the Laramie, 

 Montana, and Colorado groups being passed before reaching the ••(late 

 of the Mountains." The first beds attaining prominence are those of the 

 Dakota Cretaceous, whose conglomerates form the crest of a striking- 

 east and west ridge, or "hog-back," dipping at 20° away from Canyon 

 Mountain and separated from the mountain slopes by a persistent 

 depression eroded in the soft fossiliferous shales and limestones of the 

 .Jurassic. The red sandstones, elsewhere considered Triassic, are not 

 definitely recognized in this section; the first great ledge of the moun- 

 tain being a quartzite assigned to the Carboniferous. 



The canyon now entered affords easy access to the beautiful inter- 

 montane valley of the Yellowstone, bringing the traveler at once into 

 typical Rocky Mountain scenery. The gorge is cut across an anticlinal 

 fold whose southern half is faulted and crushed. The walls show a per- 

 fect section of the entire stratigraphie series from Cambrian to Jurassic. 

 Underlying the prominent quartzite mentioned above are the massive 

 heavily bedded limestones of the Carboniferous, here used for burning 

 lime, and characterized by abundant fossils. Beneath these massive 

 beds are the fissile limestones of the 1 )evonian. resting upon limestones 

 of doubtful Silurian age, that are in turn underlaid by limestones and 

 shales containing an abundant typical Cambrian fauna. The series 

 from Cambrian to Laramie Cretaceous is throughout conformable, no 



