GRAND    MESA    COAL    FIELD,    COLORADO.  825 
opened  at  several  other  places.  The  coal  bods  arc  irregular  in  thick- 
ness, ranging  within  short  distances  from  a  few  inches  to  a  maximum 
of  slightly  less  than  4  feet.  Near  Grand  Junction  there  are  four  beds, 
as  shown  in  the  following  section: 
Section  of  coal-bearing  rocks  at  the  junction  of  Grand  and  Gunnison  rivers,  Colorado. 
Slmle,  Mancos,  containing  at  the  base  thin  layers  of  quart  zitic  sand- 
stone with  fossils  of  Benton  age.  Ft.  in. 
Coal 1     6 
Shale 4 
Coal 2     8 
Shale,  carbonaceous,  with  thin  beds  of  coal 2     4 
Shale,  sandy '. 6 
Coal 10 
Shale,  sandy 8 
Coal 3 
Sandstone,  coarse,  quartzitic,  thin  bedded 8 
Shale,  carbonaceous,  with  thin  beds  of  coal 3 
Sandstone,  conglomeratic  (Dakota) 20 
55    8 
Farther  east,  at  locality  No.  2,  the  largest  bed  is  3  feet  thick,  but  at 
Kahnah  Creek  (No.  3)  and  at  Deer  Creek  (No.  4)  less  than  1  foot  of 
coal  was  found.  Still  farther  to  the  east,  at  Wells  Gulch  (No.  5),  the 
coal  is  3  feet  4  inches  thick  at  the  outcrop,  but  only  1  foot  6  inches 
175  feet  from  the  opening.     At  locality  No.  6  the  coal  is  3  feet  thick. 
The  coal  is  black,  bituminous,  of  dull  luster,  and  bony  in  many 
places,  and  it  does  not  burn  readily,  probably  because  of  long  expo- 
sure. A  sample  for  analysis  (No.  5530  in  table,  p.  333)  was  taken 
near  Grand  Junction,  and  represents  the  upper  two  beds  of  the  sec- 
tion, the  4  inches  of  shale  separating  them  being  discarded.  The  face 
of  the  bed  was  cleared  in  order  to  procure  fresh  coal,  but  the  results 
of  the  analysis  indicate  that  the  coal  is  very  poor.  A  sample  was 
taken  also  near  the  east  end  of  the  district,  from  a  face  which  was 
apparently  not  affected  by  weathering,  and  the  analysis  (No.  5534) 
indicates  a  coal  of  good  quality.  However,  the  beds  are  not  thick 
enough  to  be  included  among  those  of  economic  importance. 
PALISADES   DISTRICT. 
Upper  coals.  -The  upper  coal  beds  of  the  Palisades  district  occur 
at  the  base  of  the  Paonia  or  nonmarine  member  of  the  Mesaverde 
formation,  and  extend  with  uniform  thickness  across  the  district. 
The  coal-bearing  part  of  the  Paonia  is  225  feet  thick  and  contains  eight 
or  more  beds  of  coal.  The  lowest  bed,  7  feet  thick,  is  the  most  valuable, 
none  of  the  others,  so  far  as  known,  being  more  than  3  feet  thick. 
The  coal  is  easily  accessible  for  a  distance  of  3  miles  along  the  river, 
east  of  Palisades,  but  for  the  next  4  miles  to  the  south  it  outcrops 
high  in  the  steep  cliffs.  Still  farther  south,  although  the  coal  occurs 
higher  in  the  cliffs,  it  is  more  readily  accessible  because  of  the  graded 
