OF WEST VIRGINIA. 



21 



minute fossils. These are very indistinct. The bivalves resemble Cardiomorpha, and 

 the univalves, Spirorhis. Mr. Meek has informed me that he found a little shell, resem- 

 bling Pupa, in that locality. 



JPittshurgli Sandstone. This rock accompanies the Pittsburgh coal at its easterly 

 outcrop along the line of strike from the Pennsylvania line to Prunty town, thirty miles 

 south from Morgantown, and doubtless further, but my observations terminated there. 

 At a distance of about three miles from the eastern outcrop, it has entirely disap- 

 peared. To determine the line upon which it disappears is impossible, as the coal 

 itself has been removed by denudation to a distance of more than a mile, east of the 

 Monongahela, and to almost as great a distance west of the river opposite Morgan- 

 town. After crossing the river below Morgantown, one finds no vestige of the rock, 

 nor does it re-appear at any point west on the Ohio side of the gi'eat basin. 



This sandstone is usually coarse-grained, with feldspathic sand, and some pebbles 

 of quartz, often numerous enough to render it conglomerate, a character which it 

 shares with the sandstone overlying the Waynesburg coal. Its stratification is very 

 irregular, and the material is so uneven in compactness that, in weathering, its sur- 

 face becomes honeycombed. The thickness varies little from thirty-five feet. 



Pittsburgh Coal. Along its eastern outcrop, as already stated, this coal is over- 

 laid by the Pittsburgh sandstone, and where so accompanied the lower bench only is 

 present. The upper bench was doubtless removed by denudation during the deposi- 

 tion of the overlying sandstone. A local geologist, residing not long since at Mor- 

 gantown, erroneously identified this coal with the Upper Freeport, alleging that it 

 disappears under the Monongahela, about fifteen or twenty miles south fi'om Browns- 

 ville, and does not rise again until it passes some distance north from Pittsburgh, 

 where it is supposed to lie one hundred and fifty feet under the rivei'. This locally 

 prevalent mistake has doubtless arisen from the confusion produced by the frequent 

 and extensive curves in the Monongahela river. 



The most easterly outcrop is on the property of Mr. House, near the Ice's Ferry 

 Pike, about a mile west from Cheat River. ^sTot far ft'om this point, it is worked by 

 Mr. Anderson, and is eight feet thick. At Anderson's Store, four miles east from 

 Morgantown, it is worked hj M. Ivoontz, and is about the same thickness. Turning- 

 north at Anderson's Store and following the road to Stew^artstown, the first opening 

 is Smith's bank. Here a black shale lies between the sandstone and coal. The coal 

 is eight feet two inches thick, with numerous thin partings of highly bituminous clay, 

 quite distinct near the outcrop, but not readily traceable in the solid coal. Some thin 

 seams and occasional nodules of pyrites are seen, but the quantity does not appear tp 



A. V. S. — VOL. XV. F. 



