5° 
ALASKA GEOLOGY 
containing pebbles of shale, sandstone, white marble, 
granite, vein quartz, and a green porphyrite. The strike 
of these beds is N. io° E., 1 dip 45 ° to 8o° W. 
Several vertical beds of white limestone appear in the 
distance like waterfalls coming down the steep face of 
the high cliffs along the north side of Russell Fiord. One 
of these, just west of the Indian camp near Point Latouche, 
was examined, and found to be very coarse white crystal¬ 
line limestone, reaching thirty feet in width, occupying a 
fault fissure in the black slate. 
The characteristics and distribution of the Vancouver 
or Yakutat Series are very fully given by Professor Rus¬ 
sell. 2 All the region around Yakutat Bay and its depen¬ 
dencies, except the northern slope of Mount Cook, seems 
to be underlain by rocks of this age, partly covered by the 
newer Pinnacle system. 
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND 
In Prince William Sound the same sandstones and slates 
to a large extent form the country rock. Hinchinbrook 
(or Nuchek) and Hawkins islands appeared to be made 
up of them, showing beautifully stratified and contorted 
exposures. At the bay on the north side of Hawkins 
Island the sandstone beds are numerous and the dip is 
high. Where we stopped at Orca they stand on edge, and 
are composed of black slate with much dark quartzite. 
The slate contains obscure fossils. 
The sandstone weathers to a peculiar greenish color, 
giving the surface appearance of serpentine. Many veins 
and veinlets of quartz cut the formation in all directions. 
At the Columbia Glacier, studied by Gilbert and Palache, 
the rocks are the same and the moraines are wholly filled 
1 All bearings are corrected for magnetic declination. 
2 Expedition to Mt. St. Elias, National Geographic Magazine, vol. hi, p. 167. 
1891. 
