Campbell — Rogeris Geology of the Virginias. 363 



in the northern primary district in which mines have been 

 opened for extracting gold, or in which the metal has been 

 found ; and it may be added, that its prolongation south of the 

 James Eiver embraces the gold district of that part of the 

 State." (p. 459). 



The gold belt of Virginia is of varying width, but nowhere 

 probably less than several miles wide. It extends through por- 

 tions of the counties of Spotsylvania, Orange, Louisa, Fluvanna, 

 Goochland, Buckingham and Appomattox, in all of which 

 counties gold has been mined to a greater or less extent for 

 many years — in some places very profitably. 



Associated with the slaty formations of this region is a re- 

 markable belt of metamorphic limestone. It is comparatively 

 narrow, but in length it has been traced almost entirely across 

 the State in a northeast and southwest direction. It is crossed 

 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway near Gordonsville, while 

 the Richmond and Alleghany Railway follows it longitudi- 

 nally with the valley of the James from near Howardsville in 

 Albemarle county to the great bend below Lynchburg. Our 

 present view is that this belt and the slates described above are 

 Huronian (lh). 



To those geologists who may wish to examine in person the 

 Archaean group so widely developed in Virginia, we would 

 suggest some convenient points for explorations near stations 

 on the principal railway lines in this portion of the State — 

 beginning in the northeastern part of the Archaean belt. 



(1.) On the Washington and Ohio Railroad, near Falls 

 Church, Vienna and Hunters, and between these stations, may 

 be found exposures of some prominent members of the group 

 in cuts and along the margins of streams. 



(2.) Near the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail- 

 road, fine exposures of the gneisses and gneissoid granites are 

 readily found in the quarries along the Rappahannoc above 

 Fredericksburg ; along the banks of the James at and above 

 Richmond and along the Appomattox at Petersburg. 



(3.) At Fairfax on the Virginia Midland Railway ; near 

 Charlottesville on the Rivanna River, and along the river cliffs 

 at Lynchburg, are points favorable for inspection. 



(4.) Of all the leading routes of travel in Virginia no one 

 affords so many favorable localities as the Richmond and Alle- 

 ghany Railway for the study of the different formations from 

 the lowest beds of the Archaean up to the top of the Hamilton 

 group of Devonian age. From Richmond to Scottsville this 

 road, following the valley of the James, cuts the ledges nearly 

 at right angles to their strike. For several miles above Rich- 

 mond the gneisses and granites are exposed to view in quarries 

 and cuts. Then, after crossing the Richmond coal-fields, good 



