HERENDEEN BAY COAL FIELD. L03 
The Kenai horizon is represented by a fine argillaceous shale, yellow in color and carry- 
g fossil plants. 
In 1890 Charles H. Townsend, then naturalist of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Alba- 
oss, collected fossil plant remains which, on examination by. F. II. Knowlton, proved to 
j of Kenai (Oligocene) age.« 
That the Oligocene sediments were not observed by the writer may be due, first, to 
[e hasty nature of the visit, and, second, to the fact that the matrix in which the fossils 
icurred was a soft argillaceous shale in a new-cut bank, which since the time of the col 
stion has become a mass of mud. 
UPPER CRETACEOUS. 
The coal-bearing rocks are a series of conglomerates, sandstones, and shales whose 
hology throughout does not show much variation. The conglomerate is of rather uni- 
rm texture, dark brown to gray in color, and composed of pebbles from 1 inch to 2 inches 
diameter within a sandstone matrix. Quartz, chert, sandstone, and greenstone make up 
e greater part of the pebbles. The material for the most part is well rounded. 
The sandstones are of medium grain, distinctly bedded, and in color range through 
irk browns to yellows and light grays. 
Plant fossils were abundant, and marine shells were found at one locality. The former 
?re submitted to F. H. Knowlton for determination, the latter to T. W. Stanton. 
An extract from the report of Doctor Knowlton follows: 
3oal Creek (see map, fig. 6), right branch below first side stream: 
Anomozamites cf. A. Schmidtii Heer. 
Cone, probably of Sequoia. 
Fragments of dicotyledons. 
Right bank of Coal Creek, first tunnel: 
Sequoia sp.? 
Pterophyllum cf. P. concinnum Heer? 
rhe age of these beds, as indicated by the meager plant remains, is Cretaceous, and probably similar 
the beds on Chignik Bay from which Doctor Stanton obtained a Cretaceous flora. 
)ne-half mile above left branch of Coal Creek, 200 feet above fork right branch Coal Creek, big 
posure left fork Coal Creek, the plant remains, aside from a fragment of a dicotyledon, consist 
tirely of delicate coniferous branchlets. This species was at first supposed to he Taxodium distichum 
ocenum, but more careful study appears to indicate that it is an undescribed species of Sequoia. 
ie age of these beds is uncertain, but is probably similar to that of the other lots. None of the 
3sent lots contain any of the species found in the material collected at Herendeen Bay by Townsend. 
The following is an extract from the report of Doctor Stanton: 
rhe lots that are the most interesting, because they are entirely new to the region, are those from 
i Upper Cretaceous. These are from the following localities: (1) Big exposure on left fork of Coal 
3ek, just above coal; (2) 200 yards above left fork of Coal Creek; (3) just above Johnson tunnel, 
rhe last-mentioned lot contains only fragments of Inoceramus and the age is somewhat quest Lona- 
:, but the other two lots contain abundant and well-preserved examples of Inoccramu.s digitatus 
werby, which is a peculiar type known only from the Upper Cretaceous. The same species has been 
md associated with coal at Chignik, and it also occurs in the coal-bearing Cretaceous rocks of Van- 
lver Island. 
LOWER CRETACEOUS. 
The sandstone of this age, where observed in the neighborhood of the coal, was of medium 
lin and of greenish tinge. Marine invertebrate fossils were found in abundance at two 
;alities. Doctor Stanton says: 
rhe two lots from "divide above Johnson tunnel stream" and from the "beach one-fourth mile 
st of the mouth of Coal Creek" contain abundant specimens of an Aucella of the type of A ucella 
issicolis Keyserling, which indicates that the rocks are probably of Lower Cretaceous age. This 
-y convex form of Aucella is not known to occur as low as the Jurassic, and the genus is confined 
the upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rocks. 
a Proc. U. S. National Museum, vol. 17, No. 998, 1894, pp. 207-240. 
Bull. 284—06 8 
