26 THE BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD. 
Throughout this distance the coal can be easily followed. At many 
places it is exposed by erosion, appearing as a black streak in the cliffs, 
and it is usually underlain by a massive white sandstone which is 
conspicuous as the first heavy sandstone bed above the Mancos shale. 
This sandstone is not persistent, however, but locally thickens and 
thins and gives way to shaly beds. The Palisades coal varies in thick- 
ness from a few inches to 6 feet. At the Riverside mine (No. 4), a 
mile northeast of Palisades, near the mouth of the entry, the following 
section is exposed : 
Section of coal bed at Riverside mine. 
Shale. Ft. in. 
Coal 6 
Shale 3 
Coal 2 6 
3 3 
At the face of the workings the shale parting is 1J inches thick 
and the lower bench of coal is 2 feet 10 inches thick. 
At the Palisade mine (No. 6) there is from 3 feet 7 inches to 3 feet 
10 inches of clean coal. 
Two miles west, at the Garfield mine, the Palisades coal attains 
the greatest thickness yet measured. The following section is there 
exposed : 
Section of coal bed at Garfield mine. 
Sandstone, shaly. Ft. in. 
Coal 1 1 
Bone 2 
Coal 1 9 
Bone \ 
Coal 3 2 
Bone 9 
Coal 1 
Total coal bed 7 11£ 
About 2 miles south of the old Book Cliff mine (No. 9), in an aban- 
doned prospect, the following section is exposed : 
Section 2 miles south of old Book Cliff mine. 
Shale. Ft. in. 
Coal 2 
Shale, carbonaceous 2 1 
Coal and bone , 2 7 
Shale 10 
Coal 3 
Shale, sandy 1 6 
Sandstone. 
Total coal bed... 5 9 
