EXTRACTS FROM THE 1875 REPORT 
NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES 
GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES ,1875. 
By F. V. HAYDEN 
"The geological examination by Mr. Holmes was fruitful of 
most important results. Ills investigations were extended from 
Colorado into portions of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. 
In 1874, Dr. Endlich examined the district lying to the east, 
so that Mr. H-olmes took up the work where he left off at 108° west 
longitude, and carried it without difficulty to 109° 30 1 • In 
general, the geology is not greatly complicated. The section of 
stratified rocks exposed extends from the Tertiary to the Carboni¬ 
ferous, including about 2,000 feet of the former and slight ex¬ 
posures merely of the latter. About 9,000 feet of measures pass¬ 
ed under examination. Of other rooks, there are--four small 
areas of trachyte, one limited area of metamorphie rock-,- and a 
few unimportant dikes." (page 6) 
"Of the 6,000 square miles, 5,700 are of sedimentary rocks: 
230 of these in the southeast are of the so-called Lignitic; 800, 
chiefly included in the Mesa Verde, belong to the Upper Cretaceous; 
and the remaining 4,900 to the Lower Cretaceous, and such of the 
earlier periods as are exposed in the crooked and narrow valleys, 
and about the trachytic groups. In the Cretaceous series, Mr. 
Holmes examined a number of seams of workable coal, procured fossils 
in ten distinct horizons, and expects to be able to identify these 
horizons with such corresponding ones as exist on the Atlantic slope. 
The section obtained is the most complete and. satisfactory made in 
Colorado up to this time. The trachyte areas include about 250 
square miles, and seem to present many remarkable and interesting 
features. 
V 
The prehistoric remains in the canons and lowlands of the 
Southwest are of great interest, and the study of them by Mr. Holmes 
was as complete as possible under the circumstances. Many cliff- 
houses, built in extraordinary situations, and still in a fine 
state of preservation, were examined. A good collection of pottery, 
stone implements, the latter including arrow-heads, axes, and ear 
ornaments, etc., some pieces of rope, fragments of matting, water- 
t jars, corn, and beans, and other articles were exhumed from the 
debris of a house. Many graves were found, and a number of skulls 
and skeletons that may fairly be attributed to the prehistoric in¬ 
habitants were added to the collection." (page 7-8) 
