russell] TERTIARY FORMATIONS. 63 
spersed among which were evergreens, as may be judged from the 
evidence furnished by impressions in the rocks of the cones of Glyp- 
toslrobus, a genus of conifers not now found living in America, but 
still surviving in China." The species from this varied and beautiful 
flora identified by Knowlton are as follows : 
FromBeulah: Acer, sp. ?; Cassia obtasa? Knowlton; Glyptostrobus? 
species probably new ; Salix day ana Knowlton ; Salix perplexa Knowl- 
ton. From Succor Creek: Acer sp. ? Berberis simplex Newberry; 
Myrica lanceolata Knowlton; Quercus breweri Lesquereux; Quercus 
consimilis Newbeny; Quercus simplex Newberry; Quercus sp. near 
Q. idahoensis Knowlton; Platanus aspera Newberry; Sapindus sp. ? 
and several apparently new species. 
From the evidence furnished by these fossils, it appears that the 
plant-bearing beds on Succor Creek are a part of the Payette forma- 
tion, named and described by Waldemar Lindgren/* which is now 
placed in the Upper Eocene instead of Upper Miocene as formerly. 6 
The plant-bearing beds at Beulah are younger than the Payette, and, 
although the evidence is not all that could be wished, are referred to 
the Upper Miocene (corresponding with the Mascall beds of Merriam, 
in John Day Valley, Oregon). 
The significance of the fossil plants catalogued above can perhaps 
be best suggested to the general reader by directing attention to an 
instructive, but now nearly forgotten, essay on the ancient lakes of 
the western portion of the United States, by J. S. Newberry/ one of 
the distinguished pioneers who made known the marvels of the Pacific 
mountain region. 
The graphic .pen picture given in the following quotation applies to 
the now arid valle} 7 s of Idaho and Oregon, in which the plant-charged 
sediments of ancient lakes are preserved, and should serve to awaken 
a deep interest in the minds of the people inhabiting that region in 
reference to the history of the land of their birth or adoption. 
The pictures which geology holds up to our view of North America during the 
Tertiary ages are in all respects but one more attractive and interesting than 
could be drawn from its present aspects. Then a warm and genial climate pre- 
vailed from the Gulf to the Arctic Sea. The Canadian highlands were higher, 
but the Rocky Mountains lower and less broad. Most of the continent exhibited an 
undulating surface, rounded hills and broad valleys, covered with forests grander 
than any of the present day, or wide expanses of rich savannah, over which roamed 
« Descriptions of the Payette formation, together with discussions as to its geological age, may- 
be found in the following publications by Waldemar Lindgren: The mining districts of the 
Idaho Basin and the Boise Ridge, Idaho: Eighteenth Ann. Rept. U. S.Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1898, pp 
617-736; The gold and silver veins of Silver City,De Lamar, and other mining districts in Idaho: 
Twentieth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1900, pp. 65-256; The gold belt of the Blue Moun. 
tains of Oregon: Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1902, pp. 551-776. 
b The evidence which necessitated a revision of the conclusions presented in the papers by 
Lindgren, just referred to, in reference to the geological position of the Payette formation, is 
presented by F. H. Knowlton in Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 204. 
cThe ancient lakes of Western America; their deposits and drainage: Preliminary report 
or the U. S. Geol. Survey of Wyoming and portions of contiguous Territories, by F. V. Hayden, 
Washington, 1872, pp. 338-339. 
