CABNOTITE    IN    RTO    BLANCO    COUNTY,  COLO.  115 
horizon  with  those  to  the  north  may  not  have  been  correct.  West 
of  the  pit,  down  the  hill  slope,  the  outcrops  of  beds  representing  strata 
overlying  the  fossil-wood  layer  were  noted  as  follows:  Near  the  pit 
is  a  band  of  very  red  soil,  thought  to  indicate  a  calcareous  bed  ;  beyond 
which  a  few  feet  of  white  granular  sandstone  or  quartzite  shows, 
dipping  40°  W.  Above  this  stratigraphically,  although  outcropping 
farther  down  the  hillside,  is  a  bed  of  conglomerate  containing  angular 
pebbles,  many  of  which  are  limestone.  Next  is  a  bed  of  quartzite 
dipping  56°  W.,  and  then  an  interval  of  100  feet  or  more  of  hill  slope 
covered  by  vegetation  and  loose  rock.  Below  this  there  is  ah  outcrop 
of  dark-green,  compact,  almost  slaty  shale,  and  scattered  about  in 
the  soil  are  nodular  masses  of  radial  columnar  calcite,  ranging  from 
a  few  inches  in  diameter  to  the  size  of  a  pumpkin,  which  some  of  them 
somewhat  resemble  in  shape. 
A  little  over  a  mile  northeast  of  the  Gaywood  No.  1  claim 
another  prospect  pit  was  found  high  up  on  the  ridge,  showing  yellow 
carnotite  ore  in  a  mode  of  occurrence  somewhat  different  from  those 
already  described.  This  prospect  is  near  the  top  of  a  peak  that  was 
occupied  in  1876  as  a  triangulation  station  by  the  topographic  corps 
of  the  Hay  den  survey,  who  give  its  elevation  as  9,430  feet.  The  pit 
itself  is  about  500  feet  southeast  of  the  summit  and  nearly  as  high. 
The  ore  seam  lies  6  feet  or  so  below  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The 
rock  is  the  Dakota  sandstone,  much  jointed  and  having  a  dip  of  about 
20°  a  little  west  of  north.  Around  this  point  the  outcrop  of  Dakota 
ledges,  together  with  the  strata  above  and  below,  swings  off  toward 
the  east,  dipping  in  a  northerly  direction  toward  Thornburgh  Moun- 
tain and  Axial  Basin  and  conforming  in  general  with  the  anticlinal 
structure  farther  south,  already  noted  in  the  section  along  the  upper 
valley  of  Goal  Greek.  (See  PL  III.)  The  ore  seen  at  this  place  is  a 
seam  an  inch  or  so  thick  between  two  sandstone  strata.  The  over- 
lying bed  is  about  20  inches  and  that  below  about  4  inches  thick. 
The  ore  seam  itself  is  an  irregular  filling  in  what  appears  to  be  a  strati- 
fication plane  of  the  rock.  This  may  possibly  have  been  at  one  time 
the  channel  through  which  mineralized  solutions  have  passed.  The 
yellow  pigment  impregnates  the  inclosing  sandstone  on  either  side  of 
the  ore  seam,  producing  sandy  ore  similar  to  that  described  from 
Montrose  and  San  Miguel  counties.  No  fossil  wood  was  observed  at 
this  locality. 
EXTENT  AND  ORIGIN   OF  THE  DEPOSITS. 
In  view  of  the  lack  of  development  on  the  properties  at  the  time 
they  were  visited  little  can  be  said  as  to  the  extent  of  these  deposits 
in  depth.  By  analogy  with  similar  and  better  known  deposits  farther 
south  in  the  same  State  it  may  be  expected  that  these  deposits  will 
be  found  to  be  superficial  in  character.     The  occurrences  seen  had 
