AND COAL-MEASURES OF 10 W A. 



L15 



level, rising in a conspicuous bluff of seventy to eighty feet perpendicular, known 

 as " Raven Cliff," which is composed entirely of buff, yellow, and brown sand- 

 stones. This is on Section 32, Township 75 north, Range 17 west. The strata 

 on which it rests are effectually concealed. 



At the bend of the Des Moines, on the same section on which Raven Cliff is 

 situated, just below the mouth of Cedar Creek, limestone comes again to the 

 surface, with the marl-bed beneath, just seen above the water-level. On the north- 

 east of the same section, is a seam of coal, twenty to thirty inches in thickness, 

 and some twenty-five to thirty feet above the water-level of the Des Moines. There 

 is supposed to be another bed of coal, near high-water mark, but it is not at present 

 accessible. In the bed of a creek near the mouth of Cedar, is a ferruginous calca- 

 reous rock, which was supposed by the settlers to be iron : it contains, however, too 

 small a percentage to rank as an iron ore ; but on the same branch is also found a 

 conglomerate of oxide of iron, and it is not improbable that some workable band 

 of ironstone might be discovered by stripping the bank. 



It is evident, from the exposures near the mouth of Red Cedar, that there must 

 be considerable elevation of the strata, soon after passing Raven Cliff, otherwise 

 the limestone and argillaceous deposits could not be found so high above the water- 

 level. 



At Talley's Ford, or Belle Fontaine, a cherty limestone forms the bed of the 

 Des Moines, while above the water-level are alternations of limestone and sand- 

 stone. 



From this place an excursion was undertaken to Cedar and Honey Creeks, 

 for the purpose of examining the coal, and ascertaining the origin of the reports of 

 lead ore having been found in considerable quantities in the vicinity. 



On Section 2, Township 74 north, Range 18 west, on the right bank of Cedar 

 Creek, is a bed of coal, from twenty inches to two feet in thickness, under a bed of 

 sandstone, and resting on shales and shaly sandstone. 



On Section 12, Township 74 north, Range 18 west, on a branch of the same 

 creek, a bed of coal, nearly three feet thick, exists at about the same level. On 

 Section 16, same township and range, at a height of fifteen to twenty feet above 

 the bed of the run, is a five-foot seam of good coal, which can be used for working 

 cast steel. On the north fork of the south branch of Cedar, on Section 30 of the 

 same township and range, there is coal of pretty fair quality, four to six feet thick, 

 covered by sandstone. On Rosseau's Run, Section 23, same township and range, 

 ten feet above the channel, a bed of ligneous coal, from eighteen inches to two or 

 more feet in thickness, rests on potter's clay (see Section No. 28, D.) A little 

 further down this run is a seam of coal, five to six inches thick, covered with ash- 

 coloured clay, approaching the character of fire-clay, but more gritty. This coal 

 lies about three feet above the bed of the run, and is considered to occupy a posi- 

 tion inferior to the two-foot seam before-mentioned ; the strata having a rise of six 

 feet in a hundred yards towards the west. Indeed, at one point on the run, two 

 beds can be seen, lying about eight feet apart. Numerous rootlets of Stigmaria 

 were observed, interlaced in the argillaceous beds. On Section 14, same township 

 and range, a two-foot seam of coal rests upon fine gritstone one foot thick, contain- 



