JASPER COUNTY. 33 



doubt become a profitable investment in supplying the steam mills and 

 other local demands for coal. 



Three miles east of Newton, on the road to New Liberty, the same 

 sandstone is met with on the east side of the Bmbarras valley outcrop- 

 ping in the base of the low hills bordering the valley, and continuing 

 in occasional outcrops to the coal bank one mile west of New Liberty. 

 This coal is probably the same as that on Brush creek a mile and a 

 half south-east of Newton. The seam is divided by a bituminous shale 

 varying from six to eighteen inches in thickness, and only the lower 

 division of the seam is mined here, the upper part being too soft and 

 shaly to be of much value. A section of the beds above this coal, as 

 seen between Newton and this point, would be as follows : 



Ft. In. 



Micaceous sandstone thin bedded at the top and more massive below 20 to 30 



Sandy shale with local layers of thin sandstone. ..." 5 to 10 



Bituminous shale 1 to 3 



Coal, rather soft and poor. 1 to 1 G 



Shale parting. i to 1 6 



CoaL good 1 6 



We found no fossils in the shale overlaying this coal on Brush creek, 

 but west of New Liberty we noticed imperfect examples of Bellerophon 

 carbonarius and Spirifer plano-convexus. 



South of Newton a prairie ridge extends for several miles in a south- 

 erly direction, along which sandstone is said to be found, and most 

 probably this ridge shows the trend of the sandstone formation in this 

 part of the county. 



On Limestone creek, in the south-west corner of the county, there is 

 an outcrop of light-gray limestone, that is quarried for building stone 

 and is also burned for lime. 



The following sections were found by Prof. Cox at localities I did not 

 visit : "In the north-west corner of the county, on Island creek, an out- 

 crop of heavy bedded sandstone and flagstone commences on sec. 16, 

 T. 8, E. 3, and may be traced northward to the county line. The sand- 

 stone is brownish colored and makes a fair building stone. On Mint 

 creek, sec. 1, T. 7, R. 8, the following section was found : 



Ft. In. 



Silieious shale 20 



Gray pyritiferous shale, passing into limestone 2 



Jet black bituminous shale with fish scales and spines 6 



Coal breaking into small cubes 6 



Fire-clay 3 



Gray silieious shale and flag6tone 3 8 



This thin coal was sometimes found split by a hard bituminous shale, 

 leaving only about an inch of coal in each division. 



Section on Slate creek, sec. 9, T. 7, R. S : 



Ft. In. 



Grayish-buff argillaceous shale 5 



Calcareo-argillaceous shale with fossils 1 6 



—6 



