CARBONIFEROUS AGE. 167 



If extensive basins of coal existed in them they probably would 

 have been observed in Missouri, where they have been more thor- 

 oughly explored. With the Lower Coal Measures the case stands 

 different. These are the coal bearing measures in Iowa and Mis- 

 souri, and at least in one place (Lincoln), where they have been 

 penetrated, a respectable coal bed was reported. All the chances 

 then are in favor of finding large workable beds at this horizon. 

 This is a question that should speedily be settled at public expense. 

 If there are workable beds, the State should have the benefit of it as 

 soon as possible. An artesian boring within six miles of the Platte 

 River, near its mouth, to a depth of one thousand feet; another near 

 Nebraska City and one near Rulo, would settle this question*. 



Features of the Carboniferous Age in Nebraska. — All the 

 students of geology admit that the Carboniferous age was a very 

 long one — an age whose length could not be measured by thous- 

 ands, but by millions of years. During the greater part of this 

 great age, Nebraska was occupied by an arm of the ocean. Some- 

 times for long periods this sea w r as turbulent, as is indicated by the 

 rocks, which so generally change their character within a few 

 miles. A sand rock often, "when followed for a few miles, changes 

 to a shale, then to indurated variously colored clays, and then a con- 

 glomerate. Owing to this feature, the exact equivalent of the rocks 

 at widely different stations is hard to distinguish, except along river 

 bluffs, where the strata are exposed for long distances. The lime- 

 stones having been formed in deep water, are more constant in 

 character over extensive areas, but even these sometimes exhibit 

 sudden transition characters. They present various forms and col- 

 ors, such as silicates of lime and magnesia, nearly pure limestone, 

 yellow, gray and white limestone, and shaly, rotten limestone. 

 Many of the shales and conglomerates exhibit the character of off- 

 shore deposits. If future borings brings to light beds of coal in the 

 lower coal measures, it will be proof of the existence at that time 

 of dry land near by, and of a boggy, swampy condition on the sites 

 where they are now found. As one foot of bituminous coal rep- 

 resents from nine to eleven feet of original peat, and many centuries 

 are required for the formation of such an amount of vegetable 

 matter, and as these beds represent only an infinitesimal amount of 

 the time during which the events of this age were in progress, it is 



*See on the subject of this section, Meet's Report in the ITayden Surveys. 



