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Cornell University 
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 LIBRARY 
 
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 Entered, for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the year 1876, according 
 
 to acts of Congress, 
 By JOHN B. PEARSE, 
 Secretary of the Boat d of Commissioners of Geological Survey, 
 In the OfiQce of the Librarian of Congress, at 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 liANE S. HART, 
 State Printer and Binder, 
 
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 I-Iis Excellency, JOHN F. 
 
 and ex-officio President 
 
 Ario Pardee, 
 "William A. Ingham, 
 Henry S. Eckert, 
 Henry M'Cormick, 
 James Macfarlane,- 
 JoiiN B. Pbarse, 
 Egbert V. Wilson, M. D., 
 Hon. Daniel J. Morrell, 
 Henry "W. Oliver, 
 Samuel Q. Brown, 
 
 HARTRAlfFT, Governor, 
 
 of the Board, Harrisburg. 
 
 Hazleton. 
 Philadelphia. 
 Reading. 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 Towanda. 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Clearfield. 
 
 Johnstown. 
 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 Pleasantville. 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE BOARD 
 
 John B. Pbarse, Philadelphia 
 
 STATE GEOLOGIST. 
 
 Peter Lesley, ... - Philadelphia. 
 
PEEFAOE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 The continuation of my Historical Sketch of Geological 
 Explorations in Pennsylvania, begun in this volume, has 
 been postponed from time to time on account of the pres- 
 sure of official duties. 
 
 Sixteen volumes of reports of progress have been issued 
 from the press ; five more are printed and nearly ready to 
 issue ; another is in press ; and seven others will be pub- 
 lished during the current summer and autumn ; making 
 twenty-nine volumes in aU. 
 
 To secure accuracy and completeness as far as possible 
 for these published reports of my colleagues ; to preserve 
 harmony of nomenclature ; to prevent the presentation of 
 conflicting hypotheses ; to furnish direction, advice, and 
 assistance when demanded by parties in the field ; to draw 
 and color, and superintend the drawing and correction of 
 illustrations ; to arrange and write classified indexes for aU 
 the volumes ; and to read proof of every page going through 
 the press, has been a ceaseless, anxious occupation, apart 
 from the inevitable correspondence of the Survey. 
 
 I have therefore no leisure to attempt a revision and cor- 
 rection of these pages now reprinted in a special edition, 
 by order of the Legislature, for the service of the members. 
 But I cannot let escape this opportunity for publishing a 
 letter which I have received from Mr. Wm. B. Rogers, jr.. 
 of Philadelphia, to show that if I have done injustice to 
 any one whose labors in science fall within the scope of my 
 historical sketch, it has not been intentionally done. 
 
 Philadelphia, June 28, 1878. J. P. LESLEY. 
 
Letter of Mr. W. B. Rogers, jr. 
 
 1000 Walnut Street, 
 Philadelphia, September 11, 1877. 
 Prof. J. P. Lesley, 
 
 State Geologist : 
 
 Dear Sir : An impulse, not unnatural or unworthy, as 
 I believe, prompts, and must be my apology for this com- 
 munication. 
 
 I have recently read, with a great deal of interest, your 
 "Historical Sketch of Geological Explorations in Pennsyl- 
 vania, &c.," (1876,) and it is to this subject I beg leave to 
 ask your attention. 
 
 You have devoted many pages of narrative to each year 
 in the progress of the First Geological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 vania, from 1836 to 1842, and have, no doubt, fairly assigned 
 credit to the several assistants engaged upon it. Your in- 
 timate knowledge of the mass of material contributed to the 
 final report, and your own work in its preparation, fitted 
 you to become the historian of the first Survey. Your 
 acquaintance with the details of the operations of the Me- 
 vision of the first survey ends with the close of its first year, 
 1851. 
 
 It is here, early summer of 1852, that my personal rela- 
 tions to the Survey began, and they were continued with- 
 out break until the last sheet of the final report had issued 
 from the Edinburgh press. 
 
 In those six years of constant devotion, I became only 
 less well acquainted than yourself with the previous sur- 
 veys, and in the revised work I was at home in every de- 
 tail, and upon many points the factotum. My anxious and 
 harrassed uncle trusted to my naturally ready memory to 
 supply the defects of his own. My pen, my pencil, all my 
 acquired information and my zeal, were at his service by 
 day and by night. All of these were accepted at their just 
 
LETTER. A. Vii 
 
 value, and I had the consciousness, which still rests with 
 me, of labor well or at least faithfully performed. 
 
 Many years have since intervened, and my course in life 
 has taken a different direction, and yet, even now, I read 
 with pride the language of so keen a critic as yourself in 
 commendation of geological cross-sections and cuts, chiefly 
 illustrating the Anthracite coal chapters, which you attribute 
 to the "genius" of Whelpley, of "the skill" of McKinley, 
 but which were the production of my own hand and ' 'crow- 
 quUl" pen, from originals in the pencilled field drawings of 
 one, sometimes of both of my uncles, but more frequently 
 results of the toilsome labor of myself and my faithful at- 
 tendant, Patrick Daly, whose judgment, almost amounting 
 to intiiition in the tracing of coal outcrops, was at that day, 
 and, I believe still is, regarded as unrivaled. 
 
 Your impression that the First Survey closed with 1851 is 
 very widely in error. In the years 1852, 1853, and 1854 the 
 entire productive domain of the anthracite coal was mapped 
 in the field, not by copying Whelpley or anybody else, ex- 
 cepting as to the framework of outlying mountains, but 
 continuing the surveys of 1851 in the pen and pencil work 
 of Dalson, on the ground, upon "planchettes," previously 
 prepared by Mr. Poole, of plottings of higliways and rail- 
 ways, and cross-sections more or less mimerous, which my- 
 self and party spent much time in running. 
 
 A portion of the Wyoming basin was actually triangulated 
 from a base measured on the ' ' flats' ' opposite Wilkes Barre. 
 Of the text, too, it may be said that nearly every page of 
 practical detail was written in the region which it describes. 
 The lines of flexure and of outcrop were laid down on the 
 field maps, and the descriptions followed them without the 
 slightest reference to the early Surveys. At Boston, and in 
 Philadelphia, these chapters were supplemented by others 
 having a more general, practical, or scientific bearing. 
 
 More or less rapid visits were made to various parts of 
 the State, and notes were taken of the more progressive 
 portions of the bituminous coal field and of some of the iron 
 districts, for the purpose of freshening the old material. 
 The entire Geology of the S. E. counties was revised and 
 
Viii A. LETTEE. 
 
 re-written by Prof. Rogers, and illustrated by sections exe- 
 cuted in the closet, and very often in the field, by the writer 
 of these lines. 
 
 It is not my purpose to write the history of the years after 
 1851, until the appearance of the Final Report. I have 
 meant only to illustrate, in a simple way, the errors into 
 which you have been led by your devotion to the good name 
 and fame of your talented associates of the First Survey. 
 Some of these are, no doubt, due to inadvertence in the 
 haste of writing your resum^ of the contents of the several 
 chapters of the Final Report, e. g., credit to Lehman for 
 pictorial illustrations which bear the imprint of "Dalson," 
 as the "!N"ewMrk coUiery," and the overturned outcrop, 
 the "Tuscarora breaker," (then just built,) the "Roaring 
 Brook Falls, &c." 
 
 Upon a review of the facts stated, it would seem proper 
 to remark that your statement, (p. 127,) that "the First 
 Survey of Pennsylvania may be truly said to close in 1851" 
 needs considerable qualification, and, that "superficial re- 
 vision in the field, and editorial labor in the cabinet," can- 
 not reasonably account for the long interval of six years 
 prior to 1858. 
 
 Am I not also justified in asserting that the language of 
 the late State Geologist in reference to myself is, presum- 
 ably, true, and that the single notice with which you honor 
 me, (foot note, page 126, ) suggests a false inference. If I 
 am not justified, I find it somewhat difficult to account for 
 those years of my life which have made me in some respects 
 the being I am. You say that the Survey closed in 1851 ; 
 that " W. B. Rogers, jr., was not seen by those engaged in 
 this Survey of 1851 at all" — de non apparentibus et non 
 existentibus eadem est ratio. 
 
 I wish to express my satisfaction with the opinion ex- 
 pressed by you (p. 107) in reference to the conduct of the 
 first survey, and the explanation thereof, (p. 72 top.) No 
 detail of narrative less explicit than that into which you 
 h^^e, con amore, entered, could do justice to the subject of 
 individual merit, but "consistency and completeness" in 
 the result is, after all, the first duty of the editor. 
 
LETTER. A. ix 
 
 In tlie "struggle for existence," I have long been with- 
 drawn from the ambitious career of a "man of science," but 
 association and. training compel an interest in the progress 
 of every good scientific work. I note with pleasure the 
 elaborate completeness of the ' ' Second Survey' ' over which 
 you preside, and the judgment with which, in directing it 
 to practical ends, you secure popular appreciation and sup- 
 port, while your scientific intelligence is free for a more gen- 
 eral study of the field of exploration. 
 
 In freedom and with candor I have written this long letter, 
 and thanking you for your patience, if you have read thus 
 far, 
 
 I remain with respect. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 WM. B. EOGEES, Jr. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 EARLY OBSEEVATIOJifS OF THE GEOLOGY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Although, the neighborhood of Philadelphia was explored by 
 amateur mineralogists as early as 1820, and those large and beau- 
 tiful private cabinets of minerals began then to be collected 
 which afford rich materials for Dr. Genth's Report on the Mine- 
 ralogy of Pennsylvania, to be published, this winter, as part of 
 the fii-st fruits of the Second G-eological Survey of the State, 
 it was not until about the year 1830 that intelligent eyes were 
 cast upon vegetable and animal fossils, and curious minds 
 undertook the problems of structural geology. The impulse 
 came from ISTew Haven, Boston, Troy and New York ; but the 
 discipline was home-made in the halls of the American Philo- 
 sophical Society and of the A.cademy of Natural Sciences. 
 Philadelphia had long been the chief centre of natural science 
 on this side of the Atlantic; so that, when the science of Von 
 Buch and DeBeaumont, Sedgwick and Murchison reached 
 Philadelphia, it found the companions and disciples of Bar- 
 tram and Wilson, McClure and Say, DaSerra, George Ord, and 
 Isaac Lea, ready to receive it and able tj advance its progress 
 on American ground. 
 
 The early geological memoirs of this country, published in 
 the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society at Phila- 
 delphia, in the Transactions of the American Academy at Bos- 
 ton, and subsequently in the Transactions of the Connecticut 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences at Hartford, the Proceedings and 
 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, and 
 one or two scientific magazines, chiefly Professor Silliman's 
 American Journal of Science and Art at New Haven, were of the 
 crudest nature, but indicative of a widespread desire to observe 
 useful facts in nature and a child-like ignorance of their deeper 
 meaning. Some of these papers were pretentious enough ; but 
 most of them are like Etruscan tombs, the preservers of rare 
 and beautiful things which otherwise would not have survived 
 
4 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 the wear and waste of time. Some one will hereafter collate 
 and ckjsify them for the use of future students. ' A few of 
 t!iem may be here mentioned, referring to the publications in 
 which they are found by the initial letters. 
 
 At the Boston meeting of the American Association of Geolo- 
 gists and Naturalists Dr. Dana read the title of what was, per- 
 haps, the earliest geological report ever made on American 
 Geology, entitled. Contributions to the Mineralogical Knowl- 
 edge of the Eastern part of North America and its mountain 
 ranges, by Dr. I. D. Schopf (Beytrage, &c.). 
 
 1780, Belknap on vitriol and sulphur, in New Hampshire. 
 (Trans. Amer. Aead.j 
 
 1782, Gannett on a yellow mineral paint. (T. A. A.) 
 
 1732, Webster on oil stone. (T. A. A.) 
 
 1783, Lincoln on the Geology of York River, in Virginia. 
 (Trans. Amer. Acad.) 
 
 1733, Gannett and Jones on the West River Mountain. 
 (Trans. Amer. Acad.) 
 
 1784, Bdlknap on the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 
 (Traus. Amer. Philos. Soc.) 
 
 1785, Williams on earthquakes. (T. A. A.) 
 
 178'", Baylies on Say Head, Martha's Vineyard, (T. A. A.) 
 
 1786, Thos. Hutchina on A Cascade near the Ohiopile Falls of 
 the Youghiogeny, twelve miles from Uniontown, Fayette 
 County, Pennsylvania, (T. A. P. S. Vol. II, 0. S. p. 50.) 
 
 This is perhaps the first recorded geological sketch of any part 
 of Pennsylvania. It occupies but a single page, and was read 
 before the Society January 28 Ih, 1786. It calls the coal measure 
 rock which makes the falls "a species of marble, beautifully 
 chequered with veins running in different directions, present- 
 ing, on a close inspection, a faint resemblance to a variety of 
 mathematical figures of different angles and magnitudes, A 
 
 O DO 
 
 thiu flat stone from eight to ten inches thick, about twenty 
 feet wide, forms the upper part of the amphitheatre over 
 which the stream precipitates. The whole froat of the rock is 
 made up from top to bottom of a regular succession, principally 
 of limestone," &c. 
 
 1789, Hitchcock on frogs found in the rocks. (T. A, A,) 
 1793, Franklin on a theory of the earth. (T, A. P, S ) 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 5 
 
 1799, Dewitt on the minerals of IS'ew York. (T. A. A.) 
 1799,ThomasP. Smith, of Philadelphia, called attention to the 
 " crystalized basaltes " of the Conewago Hills in York County, 
 Pennsylvania, as deserving study. (T. A. P. S., Vol. IV, 0. S., 
 p. 445.) This attention was not paid to them, however, until 
 1820, when Judge Gibson compared them with the Carlisle 
 trap-dyke, and with the rocks at Mount Joy, in Cumberland 
 and Lancaster Counties. 
 
 1806, Silliman on the Trap ridges of the Connecticut valley. 
 (T. C. A.) This was a report of the first work he did on his 
 return from Europe, and the earliest attempt of the kind, but 
 one, in the United States. He thus characterizes it in his ad- 
 dress at Boston, in 1842 ; an address replete with facts respect- 
 ing the early growth of science in this country. But the olject 
 now in view forbids a detailed description of work like this 
 done outside of the limits of our State. 
 
 1807, Latrobe on Freestone quarries. (T. A. P. S.) 
 1808-9, Godon on the mineralogy of the vicinity of Boston. 
 
 (Trans. Amer. Acad.) 
 
 1808, Cleveland on fossil shells. (T. A. A.) 
 
 1809, William Maclure's Geological Map of the United 
 States, with a memoir, appeared in the Transactions of the 
 American Philosophical Society, Vol. VI, p. 411. 
 
 This was the summation of observations made during 
 an extensive tour in 18U7 and 1808. It crowned its author 
 with the reputation of being the " William Smith of America," 
 and the father of American Geology. He was an Englishman 
 who had personally examined almost every remarkable geological 
 field in Europe, and was therefore as well prepared as a man 
 could be, at that dawn of geological science, to attempt a sketch 
 of the geology of the New World between the seaboard and the 
 Indian wilderness. A revised edition was published in the 
 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society in 1818, 
 and in a small separately bound volume. 
 
 Maclure worked with Silliman around New Haven in 1807, 
 and increased the knowledge which the latter had obtained 
 by a studious residence in London and Edinburgh, between the 
 sjOTng of 1805 and June of 1806, and by numerous excursions 
 in England, Belgium and Scotland. He heard Jameson lecture 
 
6 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 fresh from the feet of "Werner ; and Sir James Ilall, the succesrr 
 and expositor of Huttdn. Edinburgh was then an arena of ex- 
 cited conflict between the rival schools of fire ai;d water, and 
 Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crag and Castle Rock i3tood before 
 Silliman's eyes, representatives of East and West Rocks at 
 New Haven, in view of which his illustrious life was to be 
 passed. One would have thought that the question of the 
 genesis of Trap would have been the first resolved, instead of 
 being left a sphj'nx's riddle for us still. Let us hope that the 
 younger Dana will be its (Edipus. 
 
 Maclure deserves the especial gratitude of the citizens of this 
 Commonwealth for his munificent endowment of the Academy 
 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in its library and its cabinet, 
 which, before the growth of the British Museum and of other 
 later and less imperial collections, was the finest in the world. 
 He lived his latter years in Mexico, and died there, in 1840, 
 aged about eighty years. 
 
 1816, Gilmer on the Natural Bridge of Virginia. (T. A. P. S.) 
 
 1817, Drake on the Valley of the Ohio. (T. A. P. S.) 
 1817, Steinhauer on Coal plants. (T. A. P. S., Vol. I., N. S., 
 
 p. 265.) This memoir is of considerable importance in the history 
 of the Geology of Pennsylvania and of the United States. It is 
 entitled "On Fossil Reliquia of unknown Vegetables in the Coal 
 Strata, by the Rev. Henry Steinhauer ;" occupies thirty-two 
 quarto pages, and is illustrated by four copper plates, showing 
 very indistinctly in some cases and very plainly in othoi-s, the 
 specific generic characters of Calamites, Sigillaria and Lopido- 
 dendra, all of them however under the common name of stone- 
 plant {Phytolithus, Martin: P. Verrucosus, Dawsoni, sidcaius, iran- 
 versus, parmatus, cancellatus, tesselatus and notatus). The botani- 
 cal nomenclature of the memoir is very old fashioned, and the 
 observations of the author equally quaint, but the figures are 
 valuable, especially the fine fig. 1 of plate 6, and fig. 17, 
 "Epidermal impression of P. parmatus in ironstone." Seven of 
 the specimens were found in nodules of clay ironstone, or in 
 black-band, and the rest in sandstone. They appear to have 
 been collected from the English coal measures, Low-moor, &c., 
 and brought to Philadelphia, by Mr. Steinhauer. It is not onlj- 
 ^ curious but an important fact that the author never alludes 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 7 
 
 to American coal measures, in a memoir read before the Ameri- 
 can Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, the capital of the 
 coal trade of this continent. But then it was read at a meeting 
 in 1817, twelve years before "Wittam's memoir was read before 
 the Wernerian Society in London ; and eighteen years before the 
 results of Hall's study of the coal plants were published, by 
 Eaton, in Silliman's Journal. 
 
 1817. This year is marked by the first appearance of the 
 printed Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 
 delphia. The Society originated on the 25th of January, 
 1812, when Mr. Thomas Say and a few other gentlemen re- 
 solved to meet once a week for receiving and imparting in- 
 formation. The appearance of Wilson's " American Orni- 
 thology " and the published papers of Dr. Benjamin Smith 
 Barton had just given a permanent impulse to the study 
 of natural history. Dr. Muhlenberg, Mr. T. Collins, Mr. Nut- 
 tall, Dr. Waterhouse, Mr. Say, and Mr. George Ord, were votaries 
 of botany and zoology ; Mr. Godon and Mr. Conrad were 
 local geologists ; the arrival of Wm. Maclure only lent addi- 
 tional force to their efforts for the advancement of precise 
 science. The Academy was incorporated in 1817, and its Jour- 
 nal then began to be published. In 1825 a new and " spacious " 
 building at the corner of Twelfth and George streets was pur- 
 chased and its library and museum arranged. Its resident 
 members numbered about sixty in 1831. It built a much larger 
 house for itself, in 18 — , at the corner of Broad and Sansom, and 
 in 1873 were laid the foundations of a still more magnificent edi- 
 fice at the corner of Nineteenth and Race streets. Previous to 
 1831 Zoology was represented in the Philadelphia Academy by 
 Say, Lucian Bonaparte, Leseur, Ord, Harlan, "Wood, Green, 
 Coates, Mitchell, Hentz, and Goodman ; Botany, by Nuttall, De 
 Schweinitz, Elliott, and S. "W". Conrad ; Geology and Mineralogy, 
 by Maclure, Nuttall, Yanuxem, Keating, Troost, Wetherill, 
 Bowen, T. A. Conrad, Seybert and Morton. These men laid a 
 broad and deep foundation for science in the United States 
 west of the Hudson, and in the Journal and Proceedings of the 
 Academy at Philadelphia may be found indications of the pro- 
 gress of all the sciences from year to year to the present day. 
 
8 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 1818. Jefferson on the Fossil Bonea of Mastodon and Mega- 
 lonyx, at Big Bone Lick, Virginia. (T. A. P. S.) 
 
 1818. J. T. and S. L. Dana on the Mineralogy and Geology of 
 the vicinity of Boston. (T. A. A.) 
 
 1820. John B. Gibson, Judge of the Supreme Court of 
 Pennsylvania, on the Trap Rocks of York, Cumberland and 
 Lancaster Counties, Pa. (Trans. A. Phil. S., Vol. II, IS". S., p. 
 156 ff.) Mr. Smith, in 1799, had pronounced in favor of the wet 
 deposit of the trap. Judge Gibson holds an even balance be- 
 tween the watery and fiery theories, but is inclined to think the 
 Carlisle dyke to be a volcanic outflow. In 1838 Dr. Henderson 
 traced this most remarkable of all the rocks of Pennsylvania as 
 a straight and narrow streak, aci-oss the North and Cove 
 Mountains, the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers and Berry's 
 Mountain, cutting through all the formations from I to XI, re- 
 presenting at least 30,000 feet of rock ; its width being sometimes 
 not more than four feet. Nor is any notable effect produced by 
 it upon the topography of the country showing side movements 
 along the crack. It waits for explanation now, in 1874, as it 
 did then in 1799. 
 
 1821. James,on Trap and Sandstone of the "West. (T. A. P. S.) 
 1824 is the date of the first description of any piece of 
 
 Pennsylvania geology to be found in Silliman's Journal, (Vol. 
 VIII, p. 286,) entitled A sketch of the geology of the country 
 near Easton, Pa., with a catalogue of the minerals, &c., by J. 
 Finch, No. 126 Broadway, N. Y. It is a short mineralogical 
 sketch, with a small colored map, of the district between the 
 Delaware and Lehigh Rivers and the North Mountain. Chest- 
 nut Hill just back of Easton and Marble Hill in New Jersey 
 are evidently the points of attraction to the author. 
 
 In this volume of the Journal Chester Dewey's colored map 
 of Western Massachusetts appeared. 
 
 In 1825 Dr. Jer. Van Rensselaer, Associate and Lecturer on 
 Geology to the New York Athenseum, delivered before au- 
 diences, and printed in an 8vo vol. of 358 pages, six lectures: 
 1. On Preceding Theories ; 2. On Rock Formations ; 3. On 
 Coral Reefs, Volcanoes, and other modifying agencies ; 4. On the 
 Interior Constitution of Rocks ; 5. On Primary Rocks ; or, as we 
 should now say, Metamorphism ; and 6. On the Transition, 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 9 
 
 Secondary, and Tertiary Deposits, with synopses of rocks ; and 
 Humboldt's, Werner's, and MaccuUocli's Systems. 
 
 This book tells well for the enlightened state of geologists in 
 America in 1825, and must have been of great use in sweeping 
 away false principles of reasoning on observed facts. The au- 
 thor's mild raillery at M. Chabrier's recently published notions, 
 that the great mountain ranges of the earth, as well as the 
 granite boulders of the lowland, are merely fragments of some 
 disrupted planet, and that the water of said planet when spilled 
 over the earth produced the Deluge (page 90), shows that the 
 wildest fancies were shamelessly promulgated even as late as 
 1825, and that there were teachers who knew how to despise 
 them, themselves, and expose them to public ridicule. The 
 book teems with interesting discussions of theories, and cita- 
 tions of facts ; but its apparent but delusive fullness only serves 
 as a foil to that infinite collection of facts, and to that calm 
 discipline of demonstration which has characterized the 
 half century since it appeared in print. If any one wishes to 
 mark the progress made even in the first seven years of this 
 interval, he may read the first article in Silliman's Jour- 
 nal for 1832, vol. 21, in which the editor makes his own state- 
 ment of the Principles of Geology. 
 
 Yet in this latter still appears one of the most obstructive 
 errors of the early geologists. The author, after describing 
 what we now call Glacial Drift, remarks : " The deluge is a 
 great feature in the natural history of the earth. And it 
 is highly desirable to fix the period of its occurrence." In- 
 spired, however, by the instinct of the field-worker, so opposed 
 to the book learning of the cloister, he hurries on to add: " not 
 to estimate how many centuries have passed away since it ha]> 
 pened nor how long it remained upon the earth (such knowledge 
 must be gathered from other sources), but its relative place in 
 the succession of phenomena which have visited the earth ; for 
 in my mind, those geologists have been ill-advised, who, in the 
 present state of science, affect to form a chronology of nature 
 for comparison with the records of history." 
 
 But, after this half-protest against the old superstition, the 
 author goes on to argue out the consequences of a deluge, and 
 to group facts to exhibit them. He wrote at New Haven in 
 
10 A. 
 
 EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 1832. The geologists of Pennsylvania saw the work of the 
 deluge wherever they prosecuted their field work from 1836 to 
 1841. And to this hour the notion of some supernatural flood- 
 force hlinds the minds of teachers and scholars all over the 
 country to the true magnitude of the daily operations of air, 
 frost and running water, and to the real origin of mountain 
 and valley, chasm, caiion, gap and precipice, gravel hed and 
 boulder stone, polished rock and glacial scratch. Nothing has 
 so held back geology as the story of the deluge ; and at every 
 step in a retrospect of the history of the science, as relating to 
 Pennsylvania, we may notice the blinding or distorting effects 
 produced, more or less, on all minds looking at things through 
 this old lens. 
 
 On page 20 of Prof. Sillimah's excellent paper we have a case 
 in point ; proving too the consummate genius of old Hutton, 
 and the hardness of the roads Avhich he pointed out for his 
 followers' feet : " No one has carried his speculation so far as Dr. 
 Hutton, who maintained that valleys were, in all cases, scooped 
 out by the streams which run in them. This is a characteristic 
 part of his system of decaying and renewing worlds," &c. '-But 
 this opinion clashes so directly with plain facts, as to be wholly 
 inadmissible." Prof. Silliman then instances the dry chalk val- 
 leys of England ; and roundly asserts that " the excavation of 
 valleys can be ascribed to no other cause than a great flood.'' 
 
 In 1828 Silliman's Journal (XIV, p. 1) published an article 
 " On the Mineralogy of Chester Co.," &c., by George ^V. Car- 
 penter of Philadelphia, and another " On the Geology and Mine- 
 ralogy of the Country near West Chester, Pa.," by J. Finch, 
 M. C. C. Dr. Genth's report will siguify the value of these 
 papers. The lack of accuracy which characterized the com- 
 munications received and published by the Journal of that day 
 may be seen by a glance at the romantic portrait of the " Old 
 Man of the White Mountains" which faces page 64 ; and the 
 ignorance of geology may be measured by the astounding sec- 
 tion from Boston water to Lake Erie Avhich faces its title page. 
 No more accurate description of tlie belt to which the West 
 Chester rocks belong was written until 1833, Avhen Dr. Ilayden 
 described (in Silliman's Journal, XXIA^, p. 349) the Chrome 
 Iron range north of Baltimore in ]\Iaryland, or the Bare Hills, 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 11 
 
 as they were called, A little map is included in this memoir, 
 which shows all the localities of this valuable mineral. The 
 paper is a model of careful description and accurate field work. 
 The author gives 1808, or 1810 as the date of the discovery 
 of " Chromate of Iron" near Baltimore, by Mr. Henfrey. This 
 paper is of the greatest interest to Pennsylvanian geologists ; for 
 the Chrome Iron belt reaches Philadelphia, as will appear by 
 Dr. Genth's Report on the ^Mineralogy of our State, published as 
 part of this Annual Report. About the same time appeared 
 in the same Journal (p. 375), one of the first analyses of the 
 Titanic Iron from Baltimore, by the French Chemist Berthier. 
 
 1830. Professor Silliman's notice of the Anthracite beds 
 in the " Valley of the Lackawanna and Wyoming on the Sus- 
 quehanna" was published in his Journal, Vol. XVIII, p. 308. 
 From this it appears how inadequate were the notions entertained 
 by even the foremost Professor of Geology in America, only six 
 years before the commencement of the first geological surve}^ of 
 Pennsylvania. The carefully engraved map of the valley from 
 l^anticoke to Carbondale is simply an outrage to our present 
 geographical knowledge. The " Ideal section at Wilkesbarre," 
 on p. 309, is as funny as anything in the astrological literature 
 of the middle ages ; its naive simplicity atfects the wearj^ eyes 
 of the coal geologist to-day like a moonlit street after a hot and 
 noisy "Saturday evening." The Gaylord bed section on -p. 325 
 is given " on account of the peculiar curvature of the bed" 
 (being a gentle anticlinal !). K'evertheless, the " Front view of 
 a contorted coal bed at Pittston " (p. 326) is a valuable relic of 
 what was visible 45 years ago. From the text itself a good 
 deal can be picked up which would elucidate the structure to 
 one charged with more modern knowledge. 
 
 In this volume appeared one of the earliest memoirs on the 
 vegetation of coal beds and the standing forests over them by 
 Henry "Witham, England, F. G. S. It was read to the Werne- 
 rian Society, Dec. 5, 1829. 
 
 May 10, 1830, Professor Silliman, with Mr. George Jones, 
 started from New Haven for Mauch Chunk, and he describes 
 what he saw there and at the Beaver Meadow mines in article 
 1, Vol. XIX of his Journal; giving a curious lithograph pic- 
 ture of the state in which the Summit Mine then was, with 
 
12 A. 
 
 BAELY NOTICES OF 
 
 an area of eight acres, and two or three stopes around the wall, 
 " exactly as in a stone quarry." It had much the " appearance of 
 a vast fort, of which the central area is the parade ground, and 
 the upper escarpment is a platform for the cannon. The greatest 
 ascertained thickness of the coal is stated at about 54 feet ; in 
 one place it is supposed to be 100 feet thick," &c. The whole 
 description is interesting ; for the real condition of things was 
 evidently not clearly seen by hirn, although he says " the geologi- 
 cal structure is extremely simple." Mr. White had just opened 
 new mines at Room Run, from data obtained at Summit Mine. 
 
 1830. Mr. Gr. Jones, tutor at Yale, says (in Silliman's Journal 
 XYIII, p. 303), that in a recent visit to Mauch Chunk " he was 
 struck with the universal employment of anthracite in the 
 blacksmiths' shops, and with the strong terms in which the 
 workmen expressed their preference for it over every other kind 
 of coal," and he then proceeds to describe the coal, the furnace 
 and the process. The editor appends a " Notice of the first 
 introduction of Anthracite Coal on the Susquehanna, communi- 
 cated by Judge Jesse Fell of "Wilkesbarre," in which Judge 
 Obadiah Gore, a blacksmith by trade, coming into the Wyoming 
 Valley as a Connecticut settler, is named as the first person who 
 used the coal in a blacksmith's fire, about the year 1768 or 1769. 
 
 1830. Dr. W. Meade described a successful experiment on 
 the North River, in burning bricks with the worthless refuse 
 of the anthracite coal yards. (Silliman's Journal Vol. XVIIT, 
 p. 118.) 
 
 1830. Cannel coal at Steubenville, 0., near the west border 
 of Pennsylvania, is first noticed in a letter of Judge Tappan, 
 (Silliman's Journal XVIII, p. 377) dated May 15, 1830. The 
 editor notices the difference of its specific gravity, 1.6, from that 
 of English cannel, 1.2 or 1.8 ; but, instead of assigning this to a 
 high percentage of ash, imagines that it is more condensed than 
 English cannel and therefore more valuable. 
 
 1830. Prof Silliman (Jour. XVIII, p. 210) in reviewing Mr. 
 D. Wadsworth's description of the Upper Falls of the Genesee 
 River, 23 miles above Moscow, north of the Pennsylvania State 
 line, criticises the drawing (which appeal's in the Journal) in 
 language which deserves recording and pondering over. "It 
 illustrates" he says " not only the picturesque scenery of that 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 13 
 
 interesting region, but also the peculiar geological structure 
 upon which it depends .... If a painter were always a geologist, 
 his sketches of rock scenery and of the ever-varying outline of 
 landscape, as it is seen in hills, plains, valleys, waters and moun- 
 tains, would assume a verisimilitude depending on physical laws, 
 since none of these features are matters of chance ; were the 
 geologist a painter, he would breathe into his graphic outlines 
 the living spirit of the sublime and the beautiful." In these 
 few words this most eloquent lecturer on geological science 
 which America ever produced states the law of Topographical 
 Geology. Obedience to this law has placed Russel Smith at the 
 head of American landscape painters ; and Prof. Rogers was a 
 fortunate man to obtain for artist of the first geological survey 
 of the State, Mr. Lehman, whose outline-drawings and finished 
 water color and oil paintings were as scientifically accurate as 
 they were artistically beautiful. 
 
 1830. Prof. Eaton's " Observations on the Coal Formations of 
 the State of 'Sew York," in connection with the great Coal 
 Beds of Pennsylvania, was read before the Albany Institute, 
 March 11th, and published in the Transactions of the Insti- 
 tute, as well as in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XIX, page 21, 24. 
 " It was accompanied with a demonstrative lecture, given at the 
 request of several members of the New York Legislature, while 
 the bill for boring for coal was pending." The proposal to bore 
 for coal in New York was not at that stage of American geolo- 
 gy preposterous. Dr. Eaton was the author of a Manual of 
 Geology ; and yet, in this address, he divided the coal forma- 
 tions of the United States into four : first, the true anthracite of 
 Worcester, Massachusetts, and Newport, R. I., in " transition 
 argillite ;" second, the anasphaltic or false anthracite of Carbon- 
 dale, Wilkesbarre, Mauch Chunk, &c., in Pennsylvania, in 
 " slate rock, the lowest of the lower secondary series ;" third, 
 the proper bituminous, of Tioga, Lycoming, in Pennsylvania, &c., 
 in a " slate rock the lovvest of the upper secondary series ;" and 
 fourth, the lignite coal of Amboy, in New Jersey. Such a classi- 
 fication shows how entirely Dr. Eaton's geology was book-learn- 
 ing derived from European authors. "When he adds that he 
 and Prof. Van Rensselaer had " carefully traced the slate rock 
 which embraces the bituminous coal of Tioga (Blossburg) to 
 
14 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, and down those lakes to their out- 
 lets, and to Lake Erie, and along the south shore more than 
 twenty miles," and that " the same bituminous shale embracing 
 the various bituminous coal found in vast beds in Tioga and 
 Lycoming are found in the same continuous rock along the 
 shores of the aforesaid lakes," but that " the thickest of these 
 beds hitherto discovered in the State of ISTew York do not ex- 
 ceed two inches"— a fair estimate can be made of his powers of 
 observation in the field, and a correct appreciation of the neces- 
 sity for that State Geological Survey of ITew York, which was 
 commenced six years after he wrote. Everybody now knows that 
 the "Worcester, Ehode Island, Blossburg, Towanda, Wilkesbarre, 
 Mauch Chunk and Pittsburg coal measures are of the same age, 
 and have been made to dilFer in quality only by the subsequent 
 application of heat, pressure, &c. The surveys of Hall and 
 Yanuxem soon established the knowledge of the great fact 
 that the coal " slate formation" (XIII) of Tioga and Lycom- 
 ing counties in Pennsylvania overlies by several thousand feet 
 the black (Hamilton) slates (YIII) of the New York lakes. 
 
 Mr. Eaton's extraordinary statements were, however, not al- 
 lowed to pass unchallenged ; for Mr. David Thomas, C. E. Cor. 
 Mem. of the Linnsean Spc. of Paris, &c., wrote to Silliman's 
 Journal (XIX, p. 323) from G-reatfield, Cayuga county, IST. Y., 
 K"ov. 15, 1830, very politely, thus: " No person has so minutely 
 examined as large a portion of the United States with reference 
 to its Geology, as Prof. Eaton ; and his sagacity has equaled his 
 
 industry and zeal but I wish to ask whether he considers 
 
 the slate which appears on the shores of our lakes as the same 
 stratum which embraces the Tioga coal ? or whether he only 
 means that it belongs to the same (third graywacke) formation ? 
 I had been induced to believe that our slate is a dift'erent stratum, 
 from considering that there is a general dip in all our rocky strata 
 to the south'' And he adds in a note, " The idea appears not to 
 have occurred to Prof. E. at the moment of writing, for he 
 says, ' The layers of this \carhoniferus'] rock are always horizontal 
 or UHtrly so.' " He calls attention to the limestone shores of 
 Cayuga Lake ; and again to the building stones at the Seneca 
 locks ; and to the red rocks (IX), in the valley of Towanda 
 Creek in Pennsylvania, with their salt springs. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 15 
 
 Thus the simple good sense of the unlearned confounds the 
 wisdom of the wise ; and many a professor of geology is put to 
 the blush by obscure farmers, hunters and miners, who keep 
 their eyes open and their mouths shut, speak little and publish 
 nothing, but do a deal of thinking and do it well ; making 
 themselves sure of plenty of facts, and ready to trip up the first 
 comer who is a theorist beyond or in spite of facts. The first 
 Q-eological Survey of Peimsylvania revealed a wonderful 
 amount of actual science stowed away among the people. 
 
 In 1831 appeared Prof. Eaton's description and plate of a 
 fossil scale-tree (lepidodendron) sent to him from Montrose in 
 Bradford Co., Pa. The plate was drawn by Miss T. Lee of 
 the Troy Female Seminary ; and the fossil was named by him 
 Crotalus ? reliqtius, or Arundo ? crotaloides ; for, as he says in ex- 
 planation of the double name, if it be an animal it belongs to 
 the genus of snakes called Crotalus (rattlesnake), or if it be a 
 plant it is of the reed family (like Phytilus Martini), and de- 
 serves to be called the rattlesnake-reed {Arundo crotaloides). 
 
 In the present advanced state of fossil botany in America, 
 due chiefly to the labors of Leo Lesquereux, Dr. Newberry, 
 and Dr. Dawson, a glance at Miss Lee's drawing sufiices to 
 assure even a tyro that it is of a vegetable nature, and to assign 
 it a position among the lepidodendra. But the record is, even 
 with Eaton's strange name, valuable ; for the country around 
 Montrose contains only rocks of VIII and IX, far below the 
 base of the coal measures. In the pajser, however, the author 
 repeats his blunder about tracing the black slates of VIII to 
 the coal mines of Blossburg. He says that the specimen " was 
 found by Dr. Eose of Montrose in Graywacke Rock on his 
 own estate" and that " it lies over the Carbondale anasphaltic 
 coal," &c. 
 
 1831. Notices of the geology of the neighborhood of Bed- 
 ford Springs, by Dr. H. H. Ilayden, were published in Silliman's 
 Journal (XIX p. 27). The author misapplies the term " mill- 
 stone-grit" to the Oneida sandstone (No. IV) of the surround- 
 ing mountains. He notices the Helderburg limestone (VI) at 
 the Springs, but does not name the fossils which he found in 
 them. He notices the Oriskany (VII) over it, " a soft pulveru- 
 lent sandstone, containing impressions of a variety of shells, as 
 
16 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 the product!, terebratulse, a species of pecten, &c. These are 
 the third deposits of organic remains that appear, at least, in 
 order of position." He theories thus : " And consequently, as 
 we ascend in the order of formation and position, the fossils 
 present not only a greater variety, but become more and more 
 complex and perfect in their structure and organization." The 
 effect of book-learning on this observer is very obvious, yet the 
 whole letter breathes the true spirit of an observing and in- 
 quiring mind. 
 
 November 30, 1831, Pittsburg, Pa., is the date of a letter 
 from Sam. Wyllys Pomeroy, Esq. to the editor of Silliman's 
 Journal (XXI, p. 342), describing the " Coal Region between 
 Cumberland and Pittsburg, and the Topography, Scenery, &c., 
 of that part of the Alleghany Mountains." He writes: "Be- 
 fore daylight we were ascending the Great Savage [Mountain] 
 and had passed the coal bed on the east side from whence it is 
 hauled ten miles to the Potomac at Cumberland." The coal 
 bed. Only one bed ; only one mine. What a contrast to the 
 present coal trade of the Potomac, 2,000,000 of tons descending 
 to Baltimore annually ! Yet, practically viewed, it is still but 
 one coal bed ; for the Great Pittsburg bed furnishes almost all 
 of it. " The fracture and general characters very much resem- 
 ble those of the coal from several localities on James River in 
 Yirginia." Here the same absence of all definite knowledge as 
 to the general geological relationship of the later and older 
 formations in America is manifest " I was not able with a 
 strong lens to detect any organic vegetable remains or impres- 
 sions." Fossil botany had evidently taken its first grasp of 
 the thinking and observing American mind ; but its first prin- 
 ciples were still unknown. " The sandstone strata which are 
 almost constantly in sight from the base of Shaver's Mountain 
 to near the greatest altitude of the Savage, incline 15° or 20° 
 — the dip opposite the setting sun in the middle of November. 
 From thence it declines by gradations hardly perceptible to 
 near the western base, and there becomes horizontal, like all 
 the strata far beyond the Ohio." He did not observe the 
 anticlinal which separates the Cumberland and Salisbury coal 
 basins. "The coal on the Youghiogheny justly deserves the 
 reputation of superiority to any in this whole region. I ex- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 17 
 
 amined a large heap at Smithfield wliere we crossed the 
 Youghiogheny, and could not find a single piece that was not 
 beautifully iridescent throughout, and exceeded in richness of 
 tints those elegant specimens of anthracite which I viewed in 
 your cabinet." Peacock colors a gauge of excellence in coal! 
 " Owing to the length and the difficult navigation, and low 
 price of coal at Pittsburg it is seldom sent down there and 
 only at high stages of water." Crossing the Laurel Hill he was 
 informed of extensive beds of coal apparently of good quality, 
 and he remarks : " The time probably is not far distant when it 
 will make frequent visits to enlighten its elder brothers, the great 
 anthracite formations in the valleys of the Susquehanna and 
 Schuylkill." He had evidently studied the order of coal ages 
 from Dr. Eaton, as he took pains to underscore the words elder 
 brothers. He ends by quoting with a little alteration a remark 
 of the editor somewhere in Vol. XIX, " that the sun and the- 
 bituminous coal of "Western Pennsylvania will burn out icgether."' 
 
 Only two years intervened between the publications last de- 
 scribed and one by Prof. Eaton which serves to mark a notable- 
 advance in the views of the leaders of the science in America.. 
 
 In 1833, Prof. Eaton's letter to the editor about "the coal beds 
 of Pennsylvania [as] equivalent to the great secondary coal 
 measures of Europe, appeared in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XXIII, 
 p. 399. He writes : " At the ninety-first page of the second 
 edition of my Geological Text Book, published last June, I ad- 
 duced facts in proof of the correctness of the heading of this 
 article. Since its publication, Mr. James Hall, Adjunct Pro- 
 fessor in this institution [Rensselaer Institute, Troy], has made 
 probably 'le most extensive collection of vegetable fossils in 
 Pennsylvania that has hitherto been made on this continent. It 
 was the intention of Mr. Hall and myself to have determined the 
 names of all which had been described by M. Brongiart, and to 
 have given lithographic figures of the remainder, but we arc pre- 
 vented by other engagements. At present I will merely give a list 
 of the names of those which we determined by the aid of Bron- 
 giart's figures and descriptions as far as his sixth number. I 
 have now before me twenty-five ascertained species of ferns 
 from the coal mines of Pennsylvania, which Brongiart has de- 
 scribed as belonging to the great secondary coal formations of 
 2 
 
18 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 Europe, found in the secondary class of rocks only. Hence the 
 absurdity of denominating the Allegheny and Catskill Moun- 
 tains transition. If organized remains are any evidence of the 
 equivalent characters of rocks, these mountains are surely second- 
 ary. They are the upper secondary of some distinguished Eu- 
 ropean geologists, the upper stratum of the lower secondary of 
 others, while others seem unwilling to admit a division of the 
 secondary class. Tt appears to me that the Allegheny and Cats- 
 kill Mountains may be assumed, confidently., as the grand starting 
 range for settling all questions relating to the equivalent strata 
 of the Eastern and Western Continents. I feel that I am fully sup- 
 ported in the position I have taken in view of such equivalents, 
 and set forth in the last edition of my Text Book, by the addi- 
 tional collections of organized remains made in the months of 
 August, September and October of the present year by the 
 
 students and assistant teachers of this school Every 
 
 step I take and every specimen strengthen 
 
 my confidence in the opinion of Cuvier, and of the other great 
 men of the East, that ' organized remains are true indexes to 
 geological strata.' " Then follows his list under the heads of 
 ITeuropteris, Sphenopteris, Odontopteris, Tseniopteris, and Cy- 
 clopteris. 
 
 Thus Brongiart taught Hall, and Hall taught Eaton, how to 
 bring American geology into order. Botany preceded zoology 
 in giving stratigraphical law to American geology. Pennsyl- 
 vania was still the starting point for the accurate geology of 
 the United States. But it was not Pennsylvanian geologists who 
 first saw Pennsylvanian geology in a clear light. For years 
 after the school of Troy had thus formulated the most important 
 generalization on which all our geology is built, the school of Phil- 
 adelphia prated about transition rocks in Middle Pennsylvania. 
 Taylor drew a strong distinction in age between Broad Top and 
 Allegheny Mountain coal ; and even Rogers expressed his 
 doubts of their identity in an annual report. Honor to whom 
 honor is due. The same James Hall who has since made the 
 most magnificent American contribution to fossil zoology, made 
 in 1833 the most important of all American contributions to 
 its fossil botany, for it antedated and predicted the immense 
 results of Lesquereux, N"ewberry and Dawson. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 19 
 
 Had structural geology been as far advanced in 1833 as vfi'as 
 fossil geology, or had Eaton been a good field observer, he 
 would have discovered the law of succession in his journey from 
 Blossburg to Seneca Lake two years before. It would not 
 have been left to the accident of the publication of the first six 
 numbers of the immortal book of JBrongiart to teach American 
 geologists what stared rhem in the face. For, after all, the fossil 
 plants at Troy merely suggested the idea ; it was the seven 
 years of labor in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, from 1835 to 
 1841 — ^years spent not at all in fossil geology, but wholly in 
 structural geology — that made this order of the rocks an in- 
 controvertible reality. The palaeontologists of New York 
 studied the outcrops of the formations before they could classify 
 their fossils. James Hall stands as confessedly foremost among 
 our structural geologists, as he stands at the head of our 
 palaeontologists ; and he has always been among the earnest f iro- 
 testors against the pretensions of palaeontology to decide ex ca- 
 tnedra doubtful questions of stratification. 
 
 In 1833 appeared another paper by Prof. Silliman which 
 showed that he also felt the set of the intellectual current, and 
 was free to move with it. 
 
 The petroleum fountain, or oil spring, near the county line of 
 Cataraugus and Allegheny, in New York, and near Hick's 
 Tavern, two miles west of Cuba, in Hinsdale township, Alle- 
 gheny County, was the object of Prof. Silliman's expedition. 
 His description of what is now so well known is of course in- 
 teresting ; but its historical value to Pennsylvanian geologists 
 arises from his confident assertion of a theory of the origin of 
 the petroleum to which, in a modified form, distinguished ob- 
 servers still lend the weight of their authority. 
 
 " As to the geographical origin of the spring, it can scarcely ad- 
 mit of a doubt that it rises from beds of bituminous coal below ; 
 at what depths we know not, but probably far down ; the forma- 
 tion is doubtless connected with the bituminous coal of the 
 neighboring counties of Pennsylvania, and of the West, rather 
 than with the anthracite beds of the central parts of Pennsyl- 
 vania." 
 
 In these words we have a picture of the influence of Eaton's 
 mistake of the continuity of the Blossburg coal through tl.e 
 
20 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 lake region of New York ; and of Taylor's mistake, in making the 
 Broad Top coal and the Anthracite of an older age, and belong- 
 ing to a deeper formation than the Bituminous. Yet Silliman 
 had already come to reject the theory so far as the anthracite 
 was concerned ) and he felt the influence of the neighborhood 
 of the McKean Co. bituminous beds in Pennsylvania. It was 
 a strange, confused jumble of ideas which the men of 1833 
 tried to put into scientific language and apply to practical uses. 
 
 Now that everybody has learned that most of the petroleum 
 springs and wells rise from Devonian rocks (No. VIII) far below 
 all the coal measures (except those of Perry Co., Pa.), some insist 
 upon finding its origin in the black slates of VIII ; but as these 
 are in fact the equivalents of the Perry Co. coal measures. Prof. 
 Silliman's language above quoted would suit the views of such 
 geologists very well. 
 
 Another interesting passage in this paper gives an idea of the 
 oil trade in 1833 which will be a surprise to many readers. He 
 
 " I cannot learn that any considerable part of the large quan- 
 tities of petroleum used in the Eastern States under the name 
 of Seneca oil comes from the spring now described. I am 
 assured that its source is about one hundred miles from Pitts- 
 burg, on the Oil Creek, which empties into the Allegheny 
 River, in the township and county of Venango. It exists there 
 in great abundance, and rises in purity to the surface of the 
 water ; by dams, enclosing certain parts of the river or creek, it 
 is prevented from flowing away, and it is absorbed by blankets, 
 from which it is wrung," &c. 
 
 Returning to the question of subterranean coal beds, he warns 
 his readers that the presence of oil does not prove the presence of 
 coal beds under them ; but adds that, as horizontal coal beds are 
 not far oS in Pennsylvania, they may pass underneath the 
 southern part of New York, and some one should bore for them 
 to decide the question. 
 
 One more reference will suffice to show the readers of this 
 Historical Report the train of geological thought in vogue in 
 the United States up to 1833. 
 
 Mr. James Madison Bunker wrote from Cambridge, Mass., 
 Feb. 23, 1833, to the editor of Silliman's Journal (Vof. XXIV, 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 21 
 
 p. 172): " Geologists are now convinced that the connnion bitu- 
 minous coal, so abundant in the Eastern continent and in some 
 parts of North America, owes its origin to vegetable depositions 
 .... But I believe that many eminent geologists are not satisfied 
 to refer the anthracite formation to the same origin .... Many 
 errors in geological science are justly attributable to an erro- 
 neous or limited estimate of time .... It cannot be denied," he 
 goes on to say, " that the power which could create mineral 
 carbon [as some suppose it], could also create vegetable carbon [as 
 it really is], and afterwards, by some great convulsion, subject it 
 to an irresistible consolidating force." The author then says 
 that he had recently been fortunate enough to " obtain from a 
 small quantity of Schuylkill coal six specimens proving that 
 trees were at least present when the coal was formed, if vege- 
 table matter is not its material." These he describes as pieces 
 of wood, "real wood, resembling charcoal, although softer" .... 
 " Either this wood was introduced in some incomprehensible 
 mode into the heart of the solid mass of the coal, or else it is a 
 remnant not wholly consolidated of the material from which 
 the coal was formed." The editor confirms the statement and 
 says, " the structure much resembles that of curled maple." 
 
 It will be seen by the foregoing pages, that previous to 1833, 
 there was great intellectual activity manifested in the North- 
 ern States by a few cultivators of Geology and the allied 
 sciences of Natural History ; that this activity was stimulated 
 and guided from abroad, especially fi'om England ; that it was 
 vague in its efltorts and erroneous in its conclusions, but capable 
 of self-support and independent discovery ; and that the obstacles 
 which retarded its education could be no other than its youthful- 
 ness, the lack of reliable standards, and of classified collections, 
 and, above all, the vastness and variety of the New World which 
 its puny strength was resolute to subdue. Give it time, give it 
 numbers, it would find its own opportunities, repeat its observa- 
 tions, correct its first blunders, build up its museums, improve 
 its text-books, consolidate its system, associate its field workers, 
 multiply its learned societies, and soon react upon Europe with 
 p.n energy and effect as multiform and unerring as the Euro- 
 pean sciences, developing their own life by similar laws, would 
 be sure to exercise on it. 
 
22 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 It must be remembered, among other things marking the era, 
 that the Geological Society of France, with Alex. Brongniart 
 for its President, Desnoyers for its Secretary, and Elie de Beau- 
 mont for the first of its Council of Twelve, was born in 1830, 
 and chartered by the King in 1832. 
 
 It must be remembered that the Geological Society of Penn- 
 sylvania was organized in 1882, and gave an untold impetus to 
 the study of rock formations, their mineral character and worth, 
 their attitudes and serial order, and the organic bodies, animal 
 and vegetable, which were to become our very clock of time. 
 
 In 1832, the first notice appeared of the occurence of marine 
 shells in the coal measures, putting a new face on the problem 
 of the formation of coal beds. The late lamented John Phillips, 
 of Oxford, one of the foremost English geologists, di^cov-ered 
 "Pecteu, Ammonites, Orthocera and Ostrea" in the roof-shales 
 of one of the beds of the lower coal measures in Yorkshire. In 
 the Swan Bank's mine, near Halifax a layer of fresh water 
 shells (Unio) was found underneath the layer of marine shells. 
 Lond. and Ed. Phil. Mag., Nov., 1832, p. 349. 
 
 In May, 1831, the famous fossils of the Kentucky Big Bone 
 Lick Cave, was brought to the Museum of the Lyceum of IsTat- 
 ural History in JSTew York. See Dr. Troost's Memoir in the 
 Trans. Geol. Soc. Pa., Vol. 1, p. 144. 
 
 Dr. Green's monograph of Trilobites appeared in 1833. Dr. 
 Harlan mentions the discovery of Calymene Blumenbachii, near 
 Eeading, Pa. Trans. Geol. Soc, Pa., Vol. 1, p. 99. 
 
 To meet the universal demand for some harmony of the rock 
 systems on the two sides of the Atlantic, based upon fossils, 
 Eaton published, in 1832, his pajDcr on " Geological Equiva- 
 lents." (Sill. Jour., Vol. XXI, p. 132.) Sowerby, Goldfuss, 
 Cuvier and the Brongniarts were his guides ; although in 
 the first sentence, he acknowledges "Werner to be his master. 
 But where " relative position" and " mineral constituents " 
 both fail, " fossils " must supply the clue. He refers with 
 pardonable pride to his earliest introduction of the study of 
 fossils into American schools in 1818 ; and to the lack of books. 
 " But such," he adds, " was the zeal of my students, that I Avas 
 driven to the work of giving names to our specimens, excepting 
 those which I could make out by the Linnsean descriptions 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 23 
 
 (■which I translated and published eleven years ago), and a few- 
 labeled by Le Sueur." Then follow three pages of names of 
 fossils, with the formations in which they were found on both 
 sides of the Atlantic. It is a touching little list ; like the first 
 boy-sketch of an Orcagna or a Perugino, compared with the 
 crowded gallery of the Uffizi Palace or the Louvre ; a list of 
 only eighty names in all, including seven genera of vegetable 
 fossils ; but sufficient, he says, when compared with Wood- 
 ^ ward's synopsis, to prove that the American strata were the 
 true equivalents of the strata of the same names in Europe. 
 
 At that time, however, so little was known of the series of 
 animal life-developments from the oldest to the latest geological 
 ages, that every assertion, however false, was credible. Thus in 
 Dr. Harlan's " Critical notices of various organic remains, 
 hitherto discovered in North America," read May 21st, 1834, 
 before the Geological Society of Pennsylvania (Trans. Vol. 1, 
 p. 92), under his notices of a fossil jaw from the New Jersey 
 newer secondary (New Red) rocks, and after saying that many 
 years ago he had received from Mr. A. Jessup a fine collection 
 of fossil fishes found in the slate from "Westfield, Connecticut, 
 he quotes an " intelligent friend, a proprietor of a marble 
 quarry situate in Oval Limestone Valley or Nippenose Valley, 
 on the west branch of the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, to 
 this effect: "The marble is a greenish colored conglomerate, 
 somewhat resembling verd-antique, and admits of a high 
 polish, being fine grained and hard, interspersed with softer 
 spots of an argillaceous nature. Some -parts of this marble are 
 represented as being replete w'dh the remains of fossil Jish, about the 
 size of a herring or carpe ; some specimens retaining the im- 
 pressions of scales ; others only of the bones. The stone was 
 too brittle to permit the obtaining of any of the specimens 
 whole." 
 
 Now who, in 1875, would venture to believe the report of a 
 discovery of herring, or carpe, or any other kind of fish in For. 
 No. II, the Siluro-Cambrian limestones of Nippenose or Oval 
 Valleys ? No fish in any part of the world have ever been 
 found of an age approaching such remoteness. The author does 
 not evea know that these are two different valleys, nor their 
 situation; since he places them on the west branch of the 
 
24 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 Sus'^uehanna River; which is only true so far : the two valleys 
 have streams which drain into the river through gaps in the 
 bounding mountain of No. IV. It is of importance, however, 
 that search should be made for this fish locality, because the 
 fish-beds of Ohio are in the Devonian rocks, which carry their 
 outcrops past Williamsport, along the north bank of the river, 
 in front of the if ippenose and Oval valleys. 
 
 It is not wonderful that so little was known of the fossil 
 riches of American rocks, when one considers how few eyes 
 were trainedto look with intelligent interest on such things, how 
 few minds had then conceived the possibility of their value for 
 determining the age and order of rocks. The great thigh-bone 
 of the Liberty Meeting House (Ky.) mastodon, described by Dr. 
 Troost in the Trans. Geol. Soc. Pa., Vol. I, p. 139, in 1833, had 
 long lain "projecting above ground, and was used in rainy 
 seasons when the run contained water, for a step to cross it, 
 there being a road there also for carts and wagons, which must 
 have fractured many of the [other] bones." 
 
 Prof. Cope told us a still more extraordinary story, as late as 
 1870, of a bridge in ITorth Carolina habitually used by the in- 
 habitants to cross a small stream of water ; the bridge consisting 
 of the back-bone of a fossil whale-like animal, fifty or sixty feet 
 long. Thousands of such treasures must be scattered about the 
 United States unknown to men of science, at the present day. 
 One of the noblest specimens of a seaweed-like plant, fossilized in 
 the form of a single stone weighing a ton, probably still lies by 
 a road side in Cambria County, Pa., on the summit of the Alle- 
 gheny Mountain, back of Tipton. 
 
 In 1831 the phenomena of ice action on the rocks was first 
 observed, or at all events made known in a scientific way to 
 geologists in the United States ; although no inkling of their 
 real nature and true cause was got until Agassiz published 
 his glacial discoveries in Switzerland. 
 
 A letter from Judge William A. Thompson to Prof Eaton 
 appeared in the July number of Silliman's Journal for that 
 year, describing scratches on the graywacke rocks of Sullivan 
 County, N. Y., wherever the earth had been removed, and ascrib- 
 ing their origin to boulders carried forward by a deluge. He 
 says that about 1820 he fell in with geological works assigning 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 25 
 
 a direction N. "W". to S. E. to said deluge; but that his 
 present observations, in more than fifty places, showed that its 
 direction was east and west. 
 
 Diluvial scratches were noticed and again described by Mr. 
 John Ball, of Lansingburgh, N. Y., on a mountain in Hebron, 
 N. II., in 1832. (Sill. Jour. XII, p. 116.) 
 
 But a most important step forward was made by the present 
 distinguished State Geologist and Archaeologist of Wisconsin, 
 in this same fruitful year of 1832. Messrs. D. and I. A. Lap- 
 ham investigated the nature of the boulders of Ohio, and de- 
 termined their Canadian origin. 
 
 Nor was the time less remarkable for the foundation which 
 was then laid by civil engineers for the mapping of the country. 
 Maps are indispensable to geology ; and many of the blunders 
 noticed in the foregoing pages would never have been made in a 
 well-mapped land. 
 
 Edwin E. Johnson's Article in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XIX, 
 p. 131, 1831, " On the present mode of conducting land surveys 
 in the United States, was one of the significant expressions of 
 that general and growing sentiment for actual and precise 
 knowledge which brought about Geological Surveys in so many 
 of the States a few years later. 
 
 In 1833, the Regents of the New York University published 
 an easy formula for getting the variation of the magnetic needle 
 by observing the moment when the Pole Star and the Star 
 Alioth are in the vertical plane. (Sill. Jour. XXV, p. 262.) The 
 State Geological Survey was then in view, and the necessity for 
 a correct map of the State was pressed upon the attention of the 
 men of science at Albany and Troy. 
 
 Crude geological maps like that of Orange County, N. Y. by 
 Young and Heron, published in 1831 (Sill. Jour. XXI, p. 321), 
 and sections like that across Connecticut by Lieut. "W. W. 
 Mather (XXI, p. 94), would no longer satisfy the improved 
 scientific taste. Jackson's and Alger's Geological Sketch of 
 Nova Scotia, first published in Silliman's Journal, 1826, when 
 republished in an improved and enlarged form in the Transac- 
 tions of the American Academy at Boston, in 1832, had to be 
 illustrated by a good map. 
 
 Every part of the United States now became a field of inquiry. 
 
26 A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 It was evidently the dawn of the new day of Geological State 
 Surveys. In 1832, Mr. Alfred Smith published, in Silliman's 
 Journal (Vol. XXII, p. 205), his memoir on the Alluvial and 
 Rock Formations of the Connecticut River Valley, of which 
 he had made a careful study for several years. A map of its 
 water-basin, New Red Sandstone area and trap mountains accom- 
 panied the paper. The nearly univeraal and gentle dip of the New 
 Red towards the east, and its occasional variation to the west, 
 are noted, and its probable fresh-water lake origin (wrongly) pre- 
 sumed ; for the fossil foot-marks on the pavement slabs of the 
 Old Church in Northampton had not yet arrested the attention 
 of Dr. Dean or President Hitchcock. But the value of the paper 
 lay in its elaborate section of the rocks revealed by the new canal 
 at Enfield Falls. Beyond this the paper was almost worthless, ex- 
 cept as a contribution to the intellectual hunger of the age, and 
 was made wholly so by the publication of Dr. Hitchcock's Re- 
 port on the G-eology of the State, some years afterwards. It 
 helped, however, a little to draw attention to the New Red belt 
 of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
 
 In 1833, Shepherd published some observations he had made 
 in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. 
 
 In 1833, the mining regions of Georgia and North Carolina 
 were sketched in a few pages of Silliman's Journal (Vol. 
 XXIII, p. 1), by Judge Jacob Peck, and on the map ac- 
 companying the paper innumerable places are marked " gold." 
 " Titanium " is written on the Tennessee side of the Unaka 
 range ; and a " bold vein of hornblende or greenstone" is por- 
 trayed crossing the State of Georgia. 
 
 The gold mines of Georgia were the subject also of another 
 paper in Silliman's Journal of the same year 1833 (XXIV, p. 1), 
 by "Wm. Phillips, C. E., and the cross-sections given in it, 
 although rude, are really valuable, and some of them of high 
 interest to the geologist of to-day. Nor should he be deterred 
 from a careful perusal by fig. 14, the disc of the earth, with 
 " Symmes's Hole" in the middle of it. 
 
 Dr. James Dickson read an essay on the Georgia gold region, 
 in June, 1834, before the Geological Society of Pennsylvania 
 (Trans. Vol. I, p. 16), in which the decomposition of the outcrop 
 country to a great depth is prominently brought out ; but no 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 27 
 
 conclusions are deduced therefrom, such as Dr. T. 8. Hunt has 
 recently published and made applicable to the elucidation of 
 some of the larger problems of the science. 
 
 In 1833 also the report of the Committee of the Geological 
 Society of Pennsylvania on the Virginia Gold Region was pub- 
 lished in Yol. I of their Transactions, no doubt from the pen of 
 Mr. R. 0. Taylor. 
 
 Dr. Rush IsTott sent to Silliman's Journal, in 1833 (Vol. 
 XXIII, p. 49), a sketchy article on " Miscellaneous geologi- 
 cal topics relating to the lower part of the Vale of the Missis- 
 sippi." 
 
 Even from the other side of the Rocky Mountains came geo- 
 logical notes, of very little value, and indeed very absurd, but 
 showing plainly enough how the eyes of all sorts of people were 
 now open to geological phenomena, everybody seeking to 
 explain them on scientific principles. Mr. John Ball sent, in 
 1833, from the fur traders' posts, a few general geological obser- 
 vations, which were vouched for as scrupulously exact by his old 
 preceptor. Dr. Eaton, and published in Silliman's Journal, Vol. 
 XXV, p. 351. Their utter worthlessness may be imagined from 
 the e sentences : " The geology of the country west of the 
 Rocky Mountains is remarkably simple and uniform. The 
 
 general underlying rock is the red sandstone group of De 
 
 La Beche. It is the same which contains the salt springs of the 
 western part of the State of New York." 
 
 But the year 1832 was noteworthy for yet another reason, to 
 be appreciated all the better, now that geology has ceased to be 
 mere intellectual play, a transcendental excursion into the 
 charming world of planetary genesis, and has become, instead of 
 that, the slave of economy ; a guide to the treasures of force ; a 
 fosterer of the comfort of the masses of mankind; the fee'd ex- 
 pert of the Iron Manufacture ; and a respected friend of money- 
 makers on 'Change. 
 
 Walter R. Johnson, Professor of Mechanics and Natural 
 Philosophy in the Franklin Institute at Philadelphia, began, in 
 1832, that course of experiments on the steam boiler which 
 culminated in his classification of the various coals according 
 to their heating powers, in a book which made him one of the 
 most famous men of science in America. 
 
28 A. BAELT NOTICES OF 
 
 An article in Silliman's Journal, XXI, p. 71, 1832, " On the 
 variable rapidity of action between water and hot iron," was 
 followed, in 1833, by another: " On Economy of Fuel with re- 
 ference to its domestic applications" (XXIII, p. 318), and in 1843 
 appeared that work on Coal which has formed the basis of all 
 subsequent researches of the same nature. 
 
PESNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA; AND "WHAT 
 
 IT DID TO BRING ABOUT THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL 
 
 SURVEY OF THE STATE. 
 
 In the early spring of 1832, seven men of science met in 
 Philadelpliia and organized tlie Geological Society of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Mr. Peter A. Browne was a leader in this movement, so im- 
 portant in its results for the scientific and practical study of the 
 mineral resources of the Commonwealth, and was elected to be 
 its Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 John B. Gibson, Eichard Harlan and Henry S. Tanner appear 
 as a committee to memorialize the Legislature for a Geological 
 Survey. 
 
 The officers elected at its first meeting, dated Feb. 25th (22d 
 in another account), 1832, were these : 
 
 John B. Gibson, President. 
 
 Nicholas Biddle, Vice-President for Philadelphia City, 
 
 Samuel H. Long, Vice-President for Philadelphia County. 
 
 Henry S. Tanner, Treasurer. 
 
 George Fox, Eecording Secretary. 
 
 Peter A. Browne, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 The Society fast grew in numbers and influence. The list 
 of its members given at the end of the first part of the first 
 volume of its Transactions (the only volume it ever published), 
 bearing date 1834, states their number as follows : Resident 
 members 83 ; correspondents in Europe and America 82 ; 
 honorary members 4. According to a report of the Committee 
 of Inspection, dated Feb. 25, 1835, quoted at the end of the 
 second part of the same volume (published separately in 1835), 
 it then " numbered more than 200 resident or corresponding 
 members, and 4 in the honorary class." Its "efforts were 
 seconded also by several local institutions which had been es- 
 
30 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 tablislied in some of the counties of the State, for the promotion 
 of a general State survey." 
 
 This was evidently the principal object of the creation of the 
 mother society, whose life was so brief, but out of whose cast 
 chrysalis skin issued, at Philadelphia, in 1840, the "Associa- 
 tion of American Geologists (and N'aturalists) ;" which again, in 
 1848, and for the third time at Philadelphia, became by name 
 " The American Association for the Advancement of Science,"' 
 still existing in full vigor, the most important learned scientific 
 organization in America, holding its annual summer meetings 
 in the diflferent cities of the United States. 
 
 The organization of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, 
 in April 1832, marks then the beginning of a new era in Ameri- 
 can science, and agrees in time with the commencement of 
 that series of State Geological Surveys, which up to 1843, had 
 been carried on in three-fourths of the States of the Union. 
 
 The Constitution of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania 
 is given on page 208 of Hazard's Register, Vol. IX, for 1832 ; 
 its circular letter to the citizens, on page 306, of Vol. X, for 
 1832 ; and its memorial to the Legislature, with the report of 
 the Legislative Committee on a Geological Survey, on page 225 
 ofVol. XI, forl833. 
 
 The Constitution reads as follows: 
 
 " The objects of this Society are declared to be, to ascertain 
 as far as possible, the nature and structure of the rock forma- 
 tions of this State — their connection or comparison with other 
 formations in the United States, and of the rest of the world ; 
 the fossils they contain — their nature, positions and associa- 
 tions, and particularly the uses to which they can be applied in 
 the arts, and their subserviency to the comforts and conveni- 
 ences of man. 
 
 " To effect these desirable objects, its members promise to 
 contribute their individual exertions, and to use their influence 
 to have the State geologically surveyed, to assist in making a 
 State geological mineralogical collection, to be geographically 
 arranged, at such place as the Society shall appoint ; and to dis- 
 seminate the useful information thus obtained by geological 
 maps, charts and essays. 
 
 " The Society shall consist of such peraons as may subscribe 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OE PENNSYLVANIA. A. 31 
 
 to this Constitution, and sucli others as shall hereafter be elected 
 agreeably to this Constitution and the By-Laws hereafter 
 made. 
 
 " The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the 
 Chester County Cabinet, the Cabinet of Science of Bucks 
 County, the Cabinet of Natural Science of Montgomery County, 
 the Library and Reading Rooms of the Northern Liberties, the 
 Cabinet of Natural Science of York County, the Cabinet of 
 Natural Science of Bradford County, and such other similar 
 societies as shall be hereafter erected in this State, under the 
 auspices of this Society, shall have a right to nominate to us, 
 annually, one of their members, who (unless some good reason 
 can be given to the contrary) shall for the time being, enjoy all 
 the privileges of members of this Institution. 
 
 " This Society shall hold stated meetings, twelve times a year ; 
 and adjourned meetings as much oftener as they shall think 
 proper. Four meetings at least, if practicable, shall take place 
 at the following places, viz.: Philadelphia City, Pittsburg City, 
 and the Borough of Harrisburg." 
 
 Other paragraphs fixed the number of officers, and the fees of 
 membership. 
 
 The Circular Letter, which was issued by the Society, inviting 
 the co-operation of the citizens of Pennsylvania, stating the ob- 
 jects which the Society kept in view, ran thus : 
 
 " To have an exact knowledge of the mineral resources of 
 this State, is considered the most important of these objects, 
 and as it is the intention of this Society, to construct, as soon 
 as the proper information is obtained, an accurate Geologi- 
 cal Map, which shall indicate the mineral topography of the 
 State, you are respectfully requested to return at your earliest 
 leisure, answers to the following queries, and to assist in giving 
 effect to the intentions of the Society, by procuring and furnish- 
 ing them with the information and specimens now solicited, as 
 far as your opportunities and convenience may admit of. As 
 the proceedings of this Society will be occasionally published in 
 the Monthly Journal of Geology and Natural Science of this City, 
 the valuable information thus procured will be publicly ac- 
 knowledged, and its authenticity be satisfactorily established." 
 
 The queries which follow number twenty-eight. They ask 
 
32 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 the residence of the correspondent, and the names of well-dis- 
 posed individuals, and of known and competent surveyors. They 
 callfor correct geographical sketches of mountains, valleys, &c., in 
 each county ; whether there be coal, iron, lead, copper, marble, 
 limestone, or other valuable minerals ; and their localities, 
 qualities, minable areas and limits. They invite collections of 
 " some of the most perfect fossil coal plants, a specimen of each 
 variety, and the localities noted." " Upon what general bed 
 does the coal lie ? Is it limestone, sandstone, clay, shale, or what 
 other simple mineral ?" (This was to settle the quarrel about the 
 age of the Coal Measures.) " "Will you procure for the Society 
 geological specimens, not exceeding four inches square, of the 
 general bed under the coal field mentioned in query 11, as well 
 as of the alternating beds spoken of in query 12, together with 
 good specimens of every species of organic remains found in all 
 such beds, noting their localities ?" (A round request, indeed, 
 in a day of no railway, express or transportation companies.) 
 Then, questions about salt springs, mineral waters, rock salt, 
 depth of we'ls, sections of bore-holes. Then, a second request 
 for specimens of rocks and fossils from the mountain rocks ; for 
 perpendicular sections of cliffs and river banks, with specimen 
 rocks and fossils ; for information about caves and bone-beds 
 and stalagmite coverings ; (the story of Buckland's Kirkdale Cav- 
 ern was bearing transatlantic fruit) ; and about any skeletons 
 not found in caves, and how buried — in clay, marl, sand or 
 gravel, with or without shells or broken trees. The Society 
 wanted such skeletons very much, or if not the skeletons them- 
 selves, then good drawings of the same. " Please wrap all 
 specimens caxefully up," was the closing petition, "and forward 
 them packed in a box, by the cheapest and earliest opportunity, 
 addressing the package to Peter A. Browne, Esq., Correspond- 
 ing Secretary, and giving information by mail of the time and 
 manner in which the package was sent. Signed by order of thQ 
 Society, John B. Gibson, President, and George Fox, Recording 
 Secretary ; Philadelphia, March 1st, 1832." 
 
 The memorial of the Society to the Legislature of 1832-'3, 
 ■was written by Mr. Peter A. Browne, and is thus summarized 
 by Mr. Say, Chairman of the Committee of Legislature ap- 
 pointed to consider it : 
 
GBOLOaiCAL SOCIETY OF PESSSYLVANIA. A. 33 
 
 "The memorialist proposes to make a Topographical, Geological 
 and Mineralogical Survey of the State, to publish a complete 
 series of geological maps, profiles and sections ; and to form the 
 scientific collections, to be deposited in seminaries of learning, 
 and other places, where they can best subserve the purposes of 
 instruction and practical usefulness, in aid of which the State 
 is asked to subscribe for one thousand copies of the maps or 
 atlas, which will be divided into twenty -seven numbers each, at 
 one dollar a number, amounting to the sum of $27,000 ; and he 
 also proffers to place at the disposal of the Legislature a com- 
 plete cabinet of specimens of all the rocks, fossils and minerals, 
 that shall be found in Pennsylvania while making the survey,, 
 and a scientific report of the same." 
 
 Little did this bold petitioner know the dangers of disaster 
 which he faced in making such a proposal at that early day. 
 But men would undertake few enterprises had they the gift of 
 prescience. 
 
 The committee, after alluding to petitions from citizens of 
 various Counties of the State, from the Cabinets of I>ratural 
 Science of Lancaster, and of Montgomery County, and from the 
 Geological Society of Pennsylvania, go on to say, that they con- 
 sidered it inexpedient to entrust so arduous and important an 
 undertaking to any single individual, and had therefore applied 
 to the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, inquiring " whether 
 the Society would find it consonant with their views to under- 
 take the direction and responsibility of the work." The Society 
 had replied, "That they will receive and assume the responsi- 
 bility for the faithful application of any sum of money granted 
 by the Legislature for the said survey." 
 
 " They, the Society, name, in addition to the objects proposed 
 to be effected by the contemplated measure, to establish three 
 meridian or transit lines, extending entirely across the State, to 
 be denominated the eastern, the middle and western meridians 
 of the State, measured with the utmost care and precision, and 
 permanently marked at intervals of a mile, or oftener, on suit- 
 able posts or stones, set for that purpose." 
 
 Turning to the full text of the Society's reply, which accom- 
 panies the report of the committee, this project for establishing 
 
34 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 meridian base lines to serve as a foundation for a good State 
 Map is argued out in detail. 
 
 The eastern line should commence near the northeast corner 
 of Maryland and cross Chester, Berks, Lehigh, IsTorthampton, 
 Luzerne and Susquehanna Counties, passing near Coatesville, 
 Reading, Mauch Chunk and "Wilkesbarre to Great Bend. 
 
 The middle line should commence near Hancock and crossing 
 Bedford, Huntingdon, Centre, Clearfield, Lycoming and Potter 
 Counties, should pass obliquely across numerous ranges of moun- 
 tains, and near by Stonerstown, Williamsburg, Huntingdon, 
 Birmingham, Philipsburg, Karthouse, Coudersport and Port 
 Allegheny. 
 
 The western meridian should leave at right angles the Vir- 
 ginia State line at the Monongahela River, and crossing G-reene, 
 Fayette, "Washington, Allegheny, Butler, Venango, Crawford 
 and Erie Counties, to Lake Erie, pass near Greensburg, New- 
 port, Greenfield, Brownsville, Bentleyville, Pittsburg, Butler, 
 Franklin, Meadville and Erie. 
 
 There was a spice of diplomacy in all this. However distant 
 such meridian lines might lie from any of the above named 
 places, the mention of their names would be likely to induce 
 their inhabitants to instruct their representatives at the State 
 capitol to further the survey. In fact, the advantages held out 
 were not unreal ; especially that of the easy rectification of the 
 "magnetic needle for running old surveys. " Internal improve- 
 ments" were also hinted at ; canal and railway surveys, which 
 however would not be much assisted by three meridian lines 
 drawn over hill and vale, even if leveled with all needful care. 
 Ifor were the possible geological benefits to accrue from three 
 base lines very great, as subsequent surveys have demonstrated. 
 Isolated straight lines, however well run and leveled, are of little 
 use in geology. ISTothing but a close net-work, or gridiron sys- 
 tem, of such lines avails to reveal structure; and in Pennsylvania, 
 even such a system is good for little when oriented due north 
 and south But all such knowledge came with the experience 
 of after years ; in 1833 there was none of it. 
 
 The committee goes on to argue the value of the survey to 
 the Commonwealth, and to quote the example of three sister 
 States, Tennessee, South Carolina and Massachusetts, which had 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENKSYLVANIA. A. 35 
 
 commenced their respective State surveys, under the direction 
 of Dr. G. Troost, Mr. Lardner Vanuxem, and Prof. Edward 
 Hitchcock. The whole report is well written, and shows ad, 
 vanced views both of a scientific and business kind. 
 
 " An act providing for a Geological Survey of the State " was 
 then reported and read as follows: — 
 
 " Section 1. Be it enacted," &c., &c., " That if the Geological 
 Society of Pennsylvania shall, within 60 days after the passage 
 of this act, engage, by writing, under their corporate seal, to 
 take upon themselves the duty of causing to be accurately 
 located and designated, at least three meridian lines, crossing 
 this State, and one other line at right angles therewith extend- 
 ing through the State, and shall in like manner engage to con- 
 duct a geological and topographical survey of the State and to 
 furnish for the use of the State [blank] copies of the map, pro- 
 files and sections of such survey ; in such case the Governor be 
 and he is hereby directed to draw his warrant on the State 
 Treasurer in favor of the President, Vice-President and Secre- 
 tary of the said Society, for such sums of money, not exceeding 
 $15,000 in all, and not exceeding $5,000 in any one year, as 
 he shall j udge proper, to be expended by the said Society for the 
 purposes aforesaid : Provided, however, " that the manner of 
 making such location and survey shall be first submitted to the 
 Governor, and by him approved." 
 
 Could any appropriation be more modest, considering that it 
 was to be made by the " wealthiest mineral State of the Union." 
 The Legislature considered the subject in its session of 1832-3 ; 
 and considered it again the following year 1833-4; but when 
 at the close of the session of 1834-5, the Committee of Inspec- 
 tion of the Geological Society made their annual report (Feb. 
 25, 1835), they write : 
 
 " This Society has again to regret the further postponement 
 of this all-important measure by the State Legislature. During 
 the recent session, discussions relative to the political state of 
 our country generally appear, in too many instances, to have 
 occupied the attention of the members, to the exclusion of 
 measures of permanent utility. 
 
36 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 " In the meantime, the Legislatures of our sister States have 
 shown increased interest in obtaining a correct knowledge of 
 the mineral wealth of their respective States. In addition to 
 those portions of our country whose Legislatures have already 
 availed themselves of the scientific labors of native geologists, 
 we are now enabled to add the States of Virginia, 'Hew Jersey, 
 New York, Connecticut and Maine, where active measures are 
 at present in operation to secure complete geological surveys." 
 
 One year more was spent in the manufacture of public senti- 
 ment by men of science and enlightened men of business, and 
 then, in the spring of 1836, a resolution passed both houses of 
 the Legislature and was signed by the Governor ; this was four 
 years after the date of the presentation of the memorial of the 
 Secretary of the Greological Society of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Of the Society itself we hear no more. After accomplishing 
 the sole object of its creation it seems to have gone to rest. 
 But if its corporate body died, its spirit continued active. Its 
 members haunted the halls of the Academy, and at length, in 
 1840, as has been said above, organized the Association of 
 American Geologists. But they took no part in the Geological 
 Survey of the State. The Geological Society, after all its efforts, 
 was never entrusted with the work. In fact, none of its mem- 
 bers, singly, was capable of such a task ; and no society habitu- 
 ated to debates, collectively, could be. The direction of the 
 survey was entrusted to a stranger ; but to one at least as much 
 at home in Pennsylvania as any of the geologists of the Society ; 
 to one bred in the same kind of country ; to one who, as 
 State Geologist of New Jersey in 1835, had prepared himself 
 for the survey of at least a part of Pennsylvania ; to Prof. Henry 
 Darwyn Rogers, the brother of William B. Rogers, the State 
 Geologist of Virginia. 
 
 The report of the Inspecting Committee of the Geological 
 Society sums up the efforts made by the Society in a few signi- 
 ficant sentences deserving record : " Documents had been pre- 
 pared, at considerable expense, to explain the intentions of the 
 Society ; two qualified members had been sent to Harrisburg ; 
 weekly lectures on geology were delivered to the public; min- 
 erals, sent to the Secretary by citizens of the State, had been 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 37 
 
 analyzed ; five hundred copies of a volume of Transactions, 
 (I. i.) consisting of 180 pages and 6 plates, were extensively- 
 distributed ; and as many copies of reports of committees and 
 papers of minor interest. In the winter of 1834-5, another 
 volume of Transactions (I. ii.) of 248 pages was printed and 
 distributed ; and duplicate copies of these rare volumes are nov/ 
 to be seen in the State Library at Harrisburg. 
 
 The Transactions of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania 
 stand in evidence of the intellectual activity of that group of 
 geologists and naturalists which made Philadelphia, and its 
 Museum of Natural History, in that day, the chief centre of 
 scientific investigation in America. These Transactions were 
 geological reports of various districts, of various value, variously 
 illustrated, read at the meetings by Richard Cowling Taylor, 
 of England ; Peter A. Browne ; Mr. G. W. Featherstonhau^h, 
 of England ; Dr. Richard Harlan ; Dr. Jacob Green, Professor 
 of Chemistry in the Jefterson Medical College ; Mr. Jas. Dick- 
 son, of England ; Andres del Rio, Professor of Mineralogy in 
 the School of Mines of Mexico, (President of the Geological 
 Society in 1835) ; Dr, Gerard Troost, Professor of Chemistry &c. 
 in the University at Ifashville, (one of ^Napoleon's savants in 
 Egypt) ; Mr. T. G. Clemson, a young student of the Paris School 
 of Mines, (just appointed Superintendent of the Flemington 
 Mines in New Jersey) ; Mr. Edward Miller, afterwards one of 
 the miist distinguished civil engineers of the United States ; 
 Mr. Timothy A. Conrad, afterwards palaeontologist of the New 
 York Survey ; Mr. H. Koehler ; and Mr. James P. Espy, the 
 famous meteorologist. With these men were associated Prof. 
 Walter R. Johnson, Mr. Sears C. Walker, Mr. Isaac Lea, and 
 others equally noted in the world of science. Among the ofii- 
 cers were its vice presidents, Henry S. Tanner and Samuel H. 
 Long, J. M. Brewer, N. C. Sinquet, C. S. Miller and W. P. 
 Gibbons. 
 
 Many of the papers read at the meetings were first published 
 in the pages of the Monthly Magazine of Geology, edited by Mr. 
 Featherstonhaugh, who, in 1834 and 1835, quitted Philadel- 
 phia to make reconnoisance surveys in the far west for the 
 United States government, and at an advanced age, died re- 
 cently in France. One of his papers in the transactions of the 
 
38 A. THB INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 society gave a rambling description and a worthless geological 
 section across the continent from New York to Texas. 
 
 In July, 1831, appeared the first number of the first volume 
 of Mr. Gr. W. Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal of 
 Geology and Natural History" published at Mr. H. E,. Porter's, 
 No. 121 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. One " continuous essay 
 on geology," was promised for every number ; and the vignette 
 to the first number was a lithograph of the cast of a fossil 
 fragment of a jaw of Rhinoceroides Alleghaniensis, found be- 
 neath the roots of an oak tree, on Castleman's river, 13 miles 
 above the Turkey Foot, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, 
 
 A map and discussion of the erosion of Niagara Falls; and 
 a repudiation of the amusing French geological nomenclature 
 proposed under the word " Theoric," in the 54th volume of the 
 " Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles," appeared in the same 
 number. 
 
 Dr. Harlan's Fucoides Alleghaniensis from No. XII, is also 
 mentioned. 
 
 In the September number appeared a long article " on the 
 value of geological information to engineers," &c., and a savage 
 attack upon Dr. Hays, for defending his friend Grodman, the 
 namer of Tetracaulodon Mastodontoides ; from which it appears 
 that Mr. Featherstonhaugh had delivered a course of twelve 
 lectures on geology in Philadelphia, in the spring of 1831, as 
 he had previously done in New York, " for the sole purpose of 
 advancing the cause of natural science in this country." 
 
 His account of the numerous and curious fossils found at Big 
 Bone, Ky., in the October and November numbers, is valuable. 
 He insists much upon their promiscuous and fragmentary as- 
 semblage, but does not connect the phenomenon with that of 
 sink-holes, which has played so important a role in the erosion 
 of the Western country, and of Pennsylvania also. He however 
 mentions the artificial looking " heaps" of tusks and teeth found, 
 in 1816, near Canstadt on the Neckar, and at Thiede in Bruns- 
 wick.* 
 
 Professor James Hall, in his memoir on the mammoth remains 
 
 found in the pot-holes at Cohoes Falls, N. Y.,t speaks of gla- 
 
 * Buckland Relig. Dil., p. 180. 
 
 t Twenty-first Annual Report, Regent's University, N. Y., 1871, p. 108. 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 39 
 
 cial scratches found on such remains, and makes ice play the 
 prmcipal role in all phenomena of this kind. 
 
 In the December number appears a description of Harlan's 
 Fucoides Brmgniartii, as found " in compact sandstone subja- 
 cent to the coal formation," and yet " near Lockport, N. Y." 
 This was five years before the beginning of the Nev? York geo- 
 logical survey . 
 
 A paper on the primary rocks of Philadelphia, as a continua- 
 tion of those of Connecticut, appeared in the December number, 
 in which the editor deprecates the misapplication of the term 
 trap to the felspar-hornblende rocks of the Philadelphia-Balti- 
 more range ; and also the use of the vague word diabase, which 
 may, with equal propriety, be applied to any double-base rock. 
 He says : Hornblende-rock is a quite good enough name. He 
 considers the English names of Conybeare and Sedgewick as 
 applicable on one side of the Atlantic as on the other. 
 
 In the January number are shrewd thoughts respecting the 
 formation of Buckeye Tunnel, Scott county, Va. And in the 
 March number is a good picture of the Natural Bridge, Va. 
 
 In the February number (1832) appeared a paper " On the 
 geological character of the Beds on which Philadelphia stands," 
 by Peter A. Browne, Esq. 
 
 In the March number appeared an interesting resume of the 
 societies and magazines of science published in 1832 in the 
 United States ; and in this, mention is made of " the American 
 Geological Society," established at New Haven, Connecticut, 
 " and founded many years ago," but then defunct ; its president, 
 Wm. M'Clure, resident in Mexico ; and the society itself with- 
 out a house, collections or transactions. 
 
 The circular letter of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania 
 to citizens of the Commonwealth, voted at its meeting, Febru- 
 ary 22, 1832, (after electing John R. Gibson, president, Nicholas 
 Biddle and Stephen S. Long, U. S. A. vice presidents, Henry S. 
 Tanner, treasurer, Peter A. Browne and George Fox, secretaries,) 
 was published in the March number of Mr. Featherstonhaugh's 
 magazine. It called for information under 28 heads ; wishing 
 to be informed if the recipient would furnish a geological 
 sketch of his county, or answer to such questions as : Who 
 was the best surveyor in his county? "Would he sketch its 
 
40 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 topography? "Were there coal, iron, lead, &c., &c., known to 
 exist in it ? What character of mineral it was ? "Would he 
 collect fossils and minerals ? Would he make sections of the 
 coal measures ? Get records of salt wells, cliffs, &c. ? Search 
 caves for fossil remains? or procure drawings of objects of 
 science for the society and transmit such to the secretaries. 
 
 The society was evidently bent upon obtaining by hook or 
 by crook some sort of geological map of the State, and it pro- 
 mised to make full and honorable acknowledgments in the 
 monthly issues of Peatherstonhaugh's Geological Magazine, for 
 all assistance rendered. 
 
 [At this time appeared Dr. C. T. Jackson and Mr. Alger's ge- 
 ology of iN'ova Scotia (116 pages) in better style than anything 
 yet given to the public] 
 
 In the April number of 1832 appeared Mr. P. 0. Taj'lor's 
 " Section of the Allegheny Mountain and Moshannon Valley, 
 in Centre county, Pennsylvania;" illustrated by one of those 
 wildly exaggerated profile drawings in vogue forty years ago, 
 but wholly foreign to Mr. Taylor's own taste ; as any one may 
 learn who will glance at the beautifully drawn and colored 
 sections in his " Geology of East K orfolk," published in Lon- 
 don in 1827. The illustrations of his early papers in the Trans- 
 actions of the Geological Society of London, Sec. Ser. Vol. II, 
 are strong, but not so neat. This memoir had been read before 
 the Geological Soaiety of Pennsylvania at the meeting of April 
 14, 1832. 
 
 In the same number a report of the meeting of the British 
 Association gives the editor an occasion for contrasting Hutton's 
 views of the great "whinstone" 100 mile trap dyke of North 
 England, with those of Murchison & Sedgewick ; and he con- 
 sequently prefixes to his March number instructive sections of 
 injected trap beds borrowed from M'Gulloch's " Western Islands." 
 This plate had its effect in determining the views of Mr. Rogers 
 and other American geologists, when they came to study, a 
 few years afterwards, the trap ranges in the ITew Red of the 
 Connecticut river valley, Central New Jersey, and Bucks, Berks, 
 Lancaster, York and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. 
 
 In the same number is a minute of a communication read at 
 the April 14, (1832) meeting of the Geological Society of Pa. 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 41 
 
 bj a Committee of the Cabinet of Science of Bradford t'.ounty, Pa. 
 reppecting the bituminous coal and iron ores of that district, 
 and traces of copper. "Major Long, of that county, had de- 
 tected gold and silver in particular rocks," &c. The Towanda 
 mines were then wrought to some extent and the coal sent on 
 enow-sleds to Ithioa. 
 
 A communication on the geology of Wayne county. Pa., with 
 a map and section, from Jacob P. Davis, of Bethany, was also 
 read at that meeting, and is a very curious specimen of the kini 
 of fruit naturally to be expected from such a circular as that 
 which the society had published in all parts of the State. It 
 shows also that there were minds everywhere awake to the de- 
 sirableness of a State Survey. 
 
 In the June number of 1832, appeared Dr. Jacob Green's Syn- 
 opsis of the Fossil Trilobites of North America, with ten of them 
 rudely lithographed on a frontispiece plate. The central figure 
 {paradoxus spinosus) was perhaps intended for the since so cele- 
 brated Paradoxides Harlani, and believed for a long time to have 
 been dropped on the Boston wharves from the ballast of some 
 European ship, until a Boston banker, who had purchased a 
 country house near the Quincy granite quarries, found multi- 
 tudes of them in the quarries, in stone fences, and on farmer's 
 mantle pieces, recognized them as trilobites, and showed them 
 first to Dr. C. T. Jackson and then to Prof. W. B. Rogers. 
 Prof. Rogers immediately visited the locality, obtained speci- 
 mens and described the species at the next weekly meeting of 
 the Boston ISTatural History Society. It then became known 
 that thousands of these first found fossils of Eastern iN'ew Eng- 
 land had been for years systematically pitched into Boston har- 
 bor to make foundations for the wharves. 
 
 Mr. E. C. Taylor read the first paper published in the Trans- 
 actions of the Geological' Society ; and afterwards, others of con- 
 siderable value. Their titles are as follows : 
 
 1. " On the geological position of certain beds which contain 
 numerous fossil marine plants of the family fucoides, near Lew- 
 istown, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania," being the substance of a 
 description of Dr. Harlan's Fucoides Allegha.niensis^ which he 
 communif'.ated with a drawing of the fossil to the London Mag- 
 azine of Natural History. Mr. Taylor had afterwards found it 
 
42 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 in the brown sandstone (Clinton, No. V,) of Tussey mountain, 
 near Alexandria, Huntingdon county, and again in Bedford 
 county. He says it prevails in the white sandstone (Oneida, 
 No. IV.) of the Seven Mountains in Centre county, and he had 
 obtained splendid specimens in the white sandstones near 
 Muncy in Lycoming county. He had also observed fud in 
 the old red (Catskill, No. IX) of the Allegheny mountain, at 
 long distances apart. Others had been noticed in Long Nar- 
 rows, below Lewistown, on the Juniata river, where the Penn- 
 sylvania canal had been excavated at the base of Shade mountain, 
 (Oneida, No. IV,) and here " in singular abundance." He traced 
 these beds October 2d and 25th, 1832, two miles, and counted 
 seven courses of fucoid beds within a thickness of only four (4) 
 feet. On November 11th and 12th he found twenty laj^ers in a 
 thickness of three (3) feet. " There seems to be more than 150 
 feet of the series." His whole description is worthy of study ; 
 but the immature views of the geology of Pennsylvania which 
 it exhibits, and which this indefatigable and intelligent field 
 geologist shared in common with his cotemporaries, are equally 
 note-worthy. Whilst he recognizes the synclinal (of V) in which 
 the Juniata flows through the Long Narrows, he asserts that the 
 two bounding mountains not only incline at opposite angles, 
 but " are formed of a different material," and " the beds broken 
 and distorted by violent action and apparently uncomformable 
 to the subjacent rock (!) bear evidence of a more recent origin." 
 
 2. " On the relative position of the Transition and Secondary 
 Coal Formations in Pennsylvania and description of some 
 Transition Coal or Bituminous, Anthracite and Iron Ore beds, 
 near Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford county, and of a coal vein 
 in Perry county, Pennsylvania." — Trans. Qeol. Soc. Penn'a, I 
 ii, p. 1. 
 
 Four delicately engraved sections on one plate accompanied 
 this memoir, which show in an instructive manner how utterly 
 a really good observer can overlook the prime facts of structure 
 in a difficult country. The limestone of Kishacoquillas Valley 
 is made to descend in one vast mass so as to separate the Stone 
 mountain locks from the Jack's mountain rocks by a great age. 
 Of course such sections must have been in good part guessed 
 at from, a distance. The section from Tussey to Broad Top is 
 
aEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 43 
 
 fairly stated ; and the contorted strata on the Juniata are beau- 
 tifully displayed. But this paper possesses a peculiar interest to 
 us now, showing, as it does very clearly, that Mr. Taylor lo- 
 calized the Broad Top coal in far older (" gray wacke ") rocks 
 than the Allegheny Mountain Coal Measures ; and this is quite 
 enough to convince us "how entirely the true structure of the 
 State was misconstrued in the years previous to the First Geo- 
 logical Survey. 
 
 This memoir takes precedency, in the Second part of Vol. I 
 of the Transactions of the Geological Society, and was no 
 doubt read in 1834. It commences with a reference to the " Ee- 
 port of the Committee of the Senate of Pennsylvania upon the 
 subject of the Coal Trade," and reproaches the author of that 
 "valuable report, which combines a greater mass of useful 
 practical information on the subject of I'ennsylvania coal than 
 has ever before been presented to the public," with having re- 
 peated, on page 33 and on page 122, the error of " classing the 
 coals of Cumberland, Wills' creek and the Round Top (Broad 
 Top ?) mountain . . . with the Secondary bituminous coals of 
 Clearfield and Lycoming." He adds: "having had some op- 
 portunities of investigating the relation, ages and the geologi- 
 cal order of position in most of the deposits referred to, I feel 
 no hesitation is assigning the Bedford county coals, particularly 
 the veins of the Broad Top mountain, to their true position 
 among the grauwacke, or as they are commonly designated the 
 transition rocks," &c. 
 
 We have here the curious spectacle of the first geologist of 
 the Geological Society of Pennsylvania dogmatically condemn- 
 ing the first clear utterance of a great geological truth, and the 
 society lending the weight of its imprimatur to the support of 
 an old and obstinate error. 
 
 This memoir of Mr. Taylor exhibits some of the earliest steps 
 taken to unravel the labyrinth of anticlinal and synclinal axes 
 of Middle Permsylvania ; and the author's blind wanderings in 
 that maze can best illustrate the marvellous patience and skill 
 of Dr. Henderson in 1839 and 1840, and the grandeur of his 
 work as exhibited in his colored manuscript map, which has 
 never been published, but was used in the construction of the 
 State Geological Map. 
 
44 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 But by far the most interesting narrative in the memoir is 
 that (on page 188) where Mr. Taylor describes the Oldest Coal 
 Measures, lying at the base of the Devonian system, (Hamilton, 
 bottom of No. VIII,) which cross the Juniata river in Perry 
 county, 28 miles above Harrisburg ; a coal formation peculiar 
 to Pennsylvania and to Middle Pennsylvania west of the Sus- 
 quehanna river ; a coal formation several hundred feet thick, 
 and traceable along the Lewistown valley. Mr. Taylor s-djs 
 that "within the last year (1833) researches have been made 
 with some perseverance by Dr. Martin, on the west side of the 
 Susquehanna, and nine miles above the confluence of the Sus- 
 quehanna and Juniata rivers, in a prolongation of Berry's moun- 
 tain, which forms the southern boundary of Lykens valley," 
 the northern fork of the Pottsville Anthracite Coal Field. "The 
 same vein has been found below Millerstown." 
 
 Mr. Taylor then compares the coal of this vein, too thin to 
 work, with that of Lykens valley, and with that of Broad Top, 
 and as his theory demanded, likens it rather to the latter. He 
 adds: "It seems, therefore, that the quality of Broad Top 
 mountain coal depreciates as it advances northward. No de- 
 cided vein of workable coal has been proved between the Juniata 
 and the Susquehanna, a circumstance which is singular ; because, 
 in a geological sense, I know no cause for the absence of car- 
 bonaceous deposits within that extensive area ; and have rea- 
 sons, which acquire strength with renewed observations in that 
 quarter, for conceiving that they will ultimately be found there." 
 
 Thus a false theory feeds illusory hopes. Taylor could not 
 see that the Broad Top was an outlying patch of the great Bitu- 
 minous Coal Area of Western Pennsylvania, cut ofi" from it by 
 erosion along the great anticlinal of Morrison's Cove and Canoe 
 valley; and that all the rest of Middle Pennsylvania was a 
 labyrinth of much older rocks, in which an older coal system 
 indeed existed along the lower Juniata valleys, but was utterly 
 worthless for economical purpose; having regular coal beds, 
 roof slates and intervening shales, sandstones and conglomerates, 
 but not one of its half dozen or dozen beds more than a few 
 inches thick. At intervals of a few years the old errors of Mr. 
 Taylor have reproduced the old efforts of Dr. Martin, and large 
 sums of money have been spent, even as late as 1860, long after 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP PENNSYLVANIA. A. 45 
 
 Dr. Henderson's thorough elucidation of the geology of the 
 whole region, by men who asked no advice, read no geological 
 books, and listened only to the foolish gabble of miners out of 
 employment, or wandering adventurers willing to drive tunnels 
 in any rock, and open coal beds an inch thick, so long as cred- 
 ulous capitalists at a distance, would give them bread and butter 
 and a roof over their heads. 
 
 In a geological point of view, however, all such abortive ex- 
 plorations are as valuable as they are expensive ; and although 
 Dr. Martin threw away every dollar of his costly adventure, 
 the Geological Society of Pennsylvania " was indebted to him 
 for a splendid series of fossil coal plants from this mine." 
 
 And this splendid series of fossil plants became in turn, oddly 
 enough, another snare. " Dr. Harlan, who has examined them 
 attentively," says our author, " thinks they can be referred to 
 Knorria imhricata, Lychopodiolites dichstomus, and Striaticulmiis, 
 figured by Sternberg," and known in Europe as Devonian fossils. 
 This only confirmed Mr. Taylor in the belief of the Devonian, 
 or grauwacke age of the Broad Top coal, although no such 
 plants could be discovered in them, but because he could im- 
 agine no reason why the Broad Top basin should not extend 
 across the Lower Juniata to the Susquehanna river. 
 
 By the First Greological Survey under Prof. H. D. Eogers, 
 all these errors were swept away, and no geologist now feels 
 embarrassed at anything he sees in Middle Pennsylvania. But 
 it still remains a desideratum that these fossils, if they can be 
 discovered in any cabinet, and identified as having actually 
 come from Dr. Martin's mine, should be studied and described 
 by Professor Lesquereux, the fossil botanist of the Second Geo- 
 logical Survey of Pennsylvania. 
 
 3. " Notice as to the evidences of an ancient lake, which ap- 
 pears to have formerly filled the limestone valley of Kishaco- 
 quillas, in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania." A few neat little 
 landscapes accompany this paper, and among their stiff mathe- 
 matical lines can be detected the curious crests of the " keel 
 mountains" at the east end of the valley. But the author was 
 blind to the origin of the terraces which surround them, be- 
 cause the idea of erosion had not then been conceived by any 
 American geologist. Since the study of lake terraces, river 
 
46 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 terraces, glacial moraines, rocky mountain parks and all that 
 world of quarternary geology, no one can now look at the beau- 
 tiful marginal terraces of our interior limestone valleys with 
 Mr. Taylor's eyes, any more than a irierchant or a machinist can 
 see boats and kites as a child sees them. Mr. Taylor's colore*} 
 section of the valley is a curiosity ; rich in historical sugges- 
 tions of the progress of Pennsj'lvania geology. 
 
 4. " On the Mineral Basin or Coal Field of Blossburg, on 
 the Tioga river, Tioga county, Pa." — Mr. Taylor undertook 
 the first mineral examination of this district in 1832. He dis- 
 covered its basin form, but remained uninformed as to its 
 western limits. But he avoided Eaton's great blunder. He 
 says with great decision : " ISTorthward of this mineral district 
 it would be in vain to search for these coal strata ; for inde- 
 pendent of the geological character of that country being dis- 
 similar, consisting almost wholly of the old red sandstone, there 
 is no ground lofty enough to contain them in that direction, 
 unless in the case of another insulated basin, which the struc- 
 ture of the whole region negatives." And yet a small patch 
 of the lowest bed in the Blossburg basin does, as is now known, 
 lie like a wafer on the summit of the next mountain range to 
 the north. 
 
 But while he avoided Eaton's error 'of carrying the Blossburg 
 coal slates down the Tioga river and along the shores of the 
 New York lakes, he fell into an error of exactly opposite char- 
 acter, and quite as extraordinary ; for he gives the dips down 
 the Tioga river to Corning, in Sew York, as all one way ; and 
 summing up these dips, he concludes that any mountain to the 
 northward, and near the Chemung river, " must be more than 
 6,000 feet high" to catch the bottom bed of the Blossburg coal 
 measures, whereas, as he rightly observes, " they do not com- 
 monly exceed 600 feet." How so shrewd an observer could 
 have failed to see that, descending the Tioga river, the dip is 
 reversed four times, making two strongly marked synclinal 
 basins, in each of which lies a mountain, and the top of each 
 mountain capped with the conglomerate, on which lies the 
 lowest Blossburg coal bed — is one of those inscrutable problems 
 in the history of science over which we, in the light of the ac- 
 cumulated knowledge of the last half century, can only brood 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 47 
 
 amazed. But the same prejudices which Baw lake terraces in 
 Kishacoquillas valley could blind the eye to dips which, al- 
 though apparently reversed, ought not to be considered so in 
 the light of his preconceived ideas. 
 
 But there is another excuse for this best of our early ex- 
 plorers, whose very errors must be handled with a curious res- 
 pect. He calculated that the rocks in the banks of the Che- 
 mung must plunge to a depth of " 6,275 feet below the summit 
 of the surrounding hills of the Tioga (Blossburg) basin ;" for. 
 he had come fresh from the Broad Top and Allegheny moun- 
 tain outcrops, whose thickness he expected to see represented on 
 the Tioga river. It was several years before geologists learned 
 how rapidly Formations XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, (Taylor's Old 
 Red series) thin northward towards N^ew York ; so that a total 
 thickness of 35,000 feet at Harrisbur^, is represented by a 
 thickness less than 1 0,000 feet between the Mohawk and the 
 Pennsylvania State line. Yet so confident was Mr. Taylor of 
 his conclusions, that he gives a section from Blossburg to Corn- 
 ing, on Plate VIII, page 194. Of course this is unfortunate, for 
 there can be no mistaking his language when thus illustrated ; 
 and any other sections published by him in those days must be 
 viewed with grave suspicion that his data were badly gathered, 
 or distorted to suit his prejudices. It also renders one quite 
 averse to listen docily to his account of " nine coal beds, varying 
 in thickness from one to three feet, included within a space of 144 
 feet ;" and to his estimate of 70,000,000 tons of coal as the total 
 contents of the basin. 
 
 One of Mr. Taylor's good observations in this memoir relates 
 to the limestone in IX, two miles north of Mansfield, the " corn- 
 stone" of English geologists; and his reference to the same 
 limestone found in the same position by Mr. Edward Miller on 
 the line of the Pennsylvania (Old Portage) railroad, west of 
 HoUidaysburg, and 150 miles south west of Blossburg. His 
 analyses of it by I. "W". Alder and by Mr. T. S. Clemson (on page 
 215) are interesting. 
 
 Mr. T. G. Clemson's analyses of five coals from Blossburg, 
 are annexed to Mr. Taylor's paper. 
 
 5. "Memoir of a section passing through the Bituminous 
 Coal Field near Richmond, Va.," followed by analyses by T. S. 
 Clemson, (page 275.) 
 
48 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 6. " Reviewof Geological Phenomena ... in Virginia and 
 Maryland," &c., (page 314.) In this he gives also a plate ot 
 fossil plants from the New Red near Fredericksburg, which is 
 of interest to Pennsylvania geologists. 
 
 Mr. Taylor continued incessantly observing and describing 
 geological facts for many years, in fact until his death in 1851. 
 He made himself at home in the primary, as well as secondary 
 rocks, but preferred to be employed by owners of coal lands. In 
 1848 he resumed all he knew of coal in a volume of 750 pages, 
 entitled " Statistics of Coal," which was re-published in 1855, 
 under the editorial care of Prof. S. S. Haldeman, one of Mr. 
 Rogers' assistants on the First Geological Survey. Mr. Taylor 
 left a mass of manuscript, materials, geological maps, beauti- 
 fully drawn and colored ; sections ; calculations, &c., most of 
 which are now in private libraries, scattered, but treasured by 
 their owners, and still of considerable value.* 
 
 It may well be said, therefore, that Richard Cowling Taylor 
 was the forerunner of the First Geological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and the best of the early geologists of the United States ; 
 certainly the only geologist who entirely deserved that technical 
 title among the members of the Geological Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Dr. Gerard Troost was State Geologist of Tennessee, and his 
 three memoirs in the Transactions relate to the histoiy of Ge- 
 ology in that State. 
 
 Mr. Edward Miller was a Civil Engineer of great ability, in 
 charge of the construction of the State railway across the Al- 
 legheny mountain, constructed for taking the boats from the 
 Juniata canal at Hollidaysburg by five inclined planes to the top 
 of the mountain, and sending them down by five other inclined 
 planes to the head of the Conemaugh canal at Johnstown. 
 
 The railway cuttings on the front face of the mountain per- 
 mitted him to make a geological section of the Old Red sand- 
 
 *It is entirely proper to malie it known tliat Mr. Taylor's manuscript maps 
 of the gold regions of "Virginia, <feo., &o., are still in the possession of his wi(iow, 
 Mrs. Emily Taylor, 2043 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, who would gladly sell 
 them to some geologist who might not only make thetn useful, but aid in keep- 
 ing the memory of her distinguished husband alive in those parts of the 
 United States the mineral resources of which he so long labored to discover 
 make public, and develop. 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PBNNSYLA'ANIA. A. 49 
 
 stone system (XII, XI, X, IX and A^III) ; and this he puhlished 
 (pages 251-256) in the Transactions of the Geological Society in 
 1834-5. Had he not, in obedience to the taste of the eastern 
 geologists, and from habit as a constructing engineer, exaggerated 
 the vertical scale to eight times that of the horizontal scale, so as to 
 distort all the dips, this section would be not only of the high- 
 est interest as a classic in the science, but would stand us in 
 capital stead in our annual report this year (1874-'5) ; compar- 
 ing it, as we then could, with the elaborate section which Mr. 
 Piatt has had made for his report on the Clearfield and Jefferson 
 district, along the Snow Shoe and Bellefonte railroad. Mr. 
 Piatt will give Mr. Miller's text in his report on Cambria and 
 Somerset counties, (Report of Progress in 1875,) ; but the section 
 as Mr. Miller published it is worthless; and, alas! the suite of 
 specimens which he sent with it to the museum of the society in 
 1833, cannot now, perhaps, be recovered. 
 
 Mr. Miller's lowest and first division of rocks, containing 
 the Helderberg limestones (ISTo. VI) and Oriskany (No. VII) is 
 not measured ; his second division, of Hamilton, Portage and 
 Chemung rocks (JSTo. VIII), he makes to be 5,710 feet thick ;, 
 his third, of Catskill rocks (IX), measures 3,370 feet; and his 
 fourth, or Coal Measure division, which he commences as low 
 as No. X, no doubt to the satisfaction of our western geol- 
 ogists, he could not measure, partly because of the distortion 
 of his section, and partly because of the erosion of the coal 
 measures at the top of the mountain, and the very difficult 
 geology descending the western side. 
 
 Hia most interesting observation is that of the bed of " sili- 
 cious limestone, 30 feet thick " at the foot of Plane No. 7, which 
 is the fourth ascending the mountain from Hollidaysburg, the' 
 first coal bed appearing at the head of the same plane. The 
 foot of the plane being 1,800 and the top of it 2,061 feet above 
 tide water ; the dip being about 10°. This is the limestone 
 which Taylor traced along the north face of the mountain at 
 Blossburg. 
 
 Dr. Harlan published a paper on the coal plants sent down 
 to the society by Mr. Miller, and four of them are figured in 
 plate 14, facing the memoir. He called one species Pecojiteris 
 4— A. 
 
50 A. THE INFLUENCE OF THE 
 
 Milleri, another P. obsoleta, but a fine Neuropteris he does not 
 specify further than that " it is not remote from N. maerophylla 
 or N.fledcuosa of Brongiart. Mr. Miller told him that layers 
 of rock holding marine shells lay over and under the shales 
 with plants ; then he goes on to say: "The anthracite Coal 
 Measures of the Lehigh and Schuylkill, are generally referred 
 by geological observers to the grauwacke series ; and the bitu- 
 minous Coal Measures of Allegheny, Ohio, &c., to the secon- 
 dary foi'mations — ^the rocks would lead us to the former opinion, 
 the fossils in some instances to the latter, so far as they have 
 been examined fpm both localities." 
 
 But fossil botany must not claim to have dispersed this error ; 
 for it clung to the minds of geologists long after the topo- 
 graphical and structural studies of Frazer, Jackson, M'Kinley 
 and Henderson, without any aid from fossils, made it a ridic- 
 ulous superstition of the past. 
 
 Mr. T. A. Conrad also communicated a paper respecting Mr. 
 Miller's Portage railroad shells, and in the accompanying plate 
 12, he gives drawings of five species which he names with some 
 hesitation: Turho tabulatus, T. insedus, Stylifer primogenia, 
 Fecten armigerus and Produdus confragosus. But he avoids 
 committing himself to the grauwacke theory, although he al- 
 ludes to it. Two years afterwards he was disproving it him- 
 self in the capacity of palaeontologist of the 'New York Survey. 
 
 Mr. Clemson's analyses of Mr. Miller's specimens of Allegheny 
 mountain coal follow next in order in the Transactions of the 
 Geological Society of Pennsylvania, and show how crude were 
 the ideas of chemists then, respecting the demands which a 
 future coal trade would make on their art ; not a word about 
 sulphur, phosphorus, potash, soda, magnesia, — merely volatile 
 matter, 15 ; ashes. 8 ; carbon, 77=100. 
 
 Dr. Harlan read another short paper on a fossil plant (plate 14, 
 fig. 4) from an anthracite coal mine, which he names Equisetum 
 stellefolmm, but which he evidently suspects' may be an Astero- 
 phyllites or Annularia. 
 
 Mr. H. Koehler read a paper " On the anthracite deposit at 
 Tamaqua, Schuylkill county. Pa., with a map and section," 
 (p. 326-328,) and it is a most creditable cross section of the Coal 
 Basin along the Little Schuylkill, showing great local know- 
 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYL V^ANIA. A. 51 
 
 ledge, and how thoroughly the different beds had been opened 
 previous to 1834 '35. Even the sharply folded synclinal at the 
 base of the Sharp mountain is signified ; hut the anticlinal 
 lying more towards the centre of the basin is not noticed. The 
 vertical and horizontal scales are the same, the contouring ex- 
 cellent, and the accompanying map is well lined. 
 
 Of the remaining eight or ten memoirs published in the trans- 
 actions of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, none relate 
 specially to Pennsylvania geology. 
 
 The society is known to have contemplated a survey of the 
 whole of Schuylkill county by a committee of its members ; 
 for in 1833 part of the necessary fund had been subscribed, and 
 landholders in the coal region were invited to complete the 
 fund required. But the work was never accomplished until 
 1837, when the State Geologist gave it in charge to Dr. 
 Whelpley and Mr. Sheafer. 
 
 Another piece of work by the secretary of the society, Mr. 
 P. A. Browne, namely, a careful set of observations along the 
 Schuylkill river from its mouth to the northern line of Mont- 
 gomery county, was never published. 
 
 Two of the most active members of the society, Mr. T. C. 
 Conrad and Mr. Isaac Lea, occupied themselves with the Ter- 
 tiary fossils of New Jersey, Delaware and the Southern Atlantic 
 and Gulf States, and these gentlemen have published a large 
 scientific literature on this subject and continue still to do so. 
 But the Tertiary Formations are not represented in Pennsyl- 
 vania, except, perhaps, by the Lignite deposit of the Pond 
 Bank in Franklin count}', which, in this, resembles, that of 
 Brandon in Vermont, and deserves the most minute investiga- 
 tion. 
 
 While this memoir was going through the press Professoi 
 Prime reported the discovery of a nut and other evidences of a 
 similar and possibly Tertiary deposit in the excavations of the 
 old Balliet mine at Ironton west of Catasauqua, in Lehigh 
 county. 
 
 This discovery will re-open the question of the recent age of 
 our brown hematite ore beds, so confidently affirmed by the 
 late Dr. Hitchcock, State Geologist of Massachusetts and of 
 Vermont. It will stimulate the observation and publication of 
 
52 A. HISTOET OF THE 
 
 Similar occurrences in other ore banks between Vermont and 
 Alabama. It will also have its due weight in the discussion of 
 the part which glacial ice has played in collecting, scattering 
 and depositing fragments of such Tertiary lake deposits as may 
 (let us not forget the possibility) have once lain upon the old 
 and now eroded surfaces of our Appalachian valleys ; although 
 no trace of such has as yet been noticed, except one at the salt 
 works west of "Wythe, in Virginia. But such discoveries must 
 not blind us to the accumulated evidences of the genetic con- 
 nection of these brown hematite ores with the Devonian and 
 Silurian (or Cambrian) rocks along the outcrops of which 
 alone they occur. 
 
GEOLOGHCAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. A. 53 
 
 CHAPTErv III. 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE PIKST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNBYl^- 
 
 VANIA. 
 
 The act of Legislature appointing a survey of the State was 
 dated the 29th of March, 1836, and authorized an annual ap- 
 propriation of expenditure of $6,400 for five years, to pay t) e 
 salaries of a geologist, two assistants, and a chemist. 
 
 Professor Henry D. Rogers was appointed geologist, Mr. 
 James C. Booth and Mr. John F. Frazer, assistants, and Dr. 
 Robert E. Rogers, chemist. 
 
 The first season's field work sufficed to make known with 
 certainty the geological Order of the rocks of Middle Pennsyl- 
 vania ; and on this determination, as a sure foundation, all sub- 
 sequent work in the Appalachian mountain belt of the Atlan- 
 tic States was based. Until then the mountains of IV (Oneida) 
 and of X (Catskill) had been confounded together. But when 
 Mr. Frazer made his descending section along Yellow creek in 
 Huntingdon county, from the Broad Top Coal Measures at 
 Hopewell, through the gaps in Terrace mountain (X) and Tus- 
 sey mountain (IV), to the Lower Silurian limestones in Mor 
 rison's cove, — and Dr. Booth reported the same unmistakable 
 order of formations on his return from a tour round by the Po- 
 tomac, — we may consider that then the general geology of Penn- 
 sylvania and of the Atlantic States was settled. It has, in 
 fact, sufl:ered no modification of any great importance in strati- 
 graphy since that time. 
 
 Yellow creek (with its prolongation Sandy run) will always 
 have a classical interest for American geologists. It is one ol 
 the few lines of continuous one-dip section, straight across the 
 Old -Age System, through all its slanting formations, from the 
 coal measures at its top to the magnesian limestones near its 
 bottom ; with a total thickness of rock deposits of about 
 twenty-five thousand feet. 
 
64 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Professor Frazer was fond of telling his geological friends 
 the story of this adventure, explaining how, up to the rendez- 
 vous of the geologist and his two assistants at Huntingdon one 
 summer Sunday, their explorations had been a series of embar- 
 rassments ; their note books filled with a confused mass of irre- 
 concilable statements ; their cross- sections contradictory in 
 themselves when compared together ; and the geology of Penn- 
 sylvania apparently at variance with that of the neighboring 
 State of New York. His Yellow Creek section was, however, 
 disbelieved, until verified by Prof. Rogers himself the follow- 
 ing week, and by Prof. Booth afterwards on the Potomac. 
 From that moment everything went smoothly ; all contradic- 
 tions vanished ; their back notes became luminous, and the 
 northern outcrops of Hall and Vanuxem, in I^ew York, were 
 seen to be all represented in the same regular order, although 
 on an immensely enlarged scale, by the southern outcrops of the 
 same formations in Pennsylvania; Tussey mountain being 
 made by the Oneida conglomerate, No. IV ; and Terrace moun- 
 tain by the Catskill sandstones of New York, Nos. IX and X. 
 
 Prof. Rogers was able to recognize, in co-operation with his 
 equally distinguished brother, the State Geologist of Virginia, 
 the persistency of the same formations, under slight variations 
 of color, size and mineral ingredients, across the Old Dominion 
 and into Tennessee and Alabama ; and therefore, we may truth- 
 fully claim for the work of the first year of the Pennsylvania 
 Geological Survey, 1836, that it gives the epoch for American 
 Old- Age Sedimentary Geology. 
 
 The Paleozoic system was divided into twelve parts or forma- 
 tions, the lowest being that the limestone of Harrisburg and 
 Reading, the highest being that of the Coal Measures. This 
 earliest classification, modified somewhat in the following year 
 affixed the following numerals to the formations : 
 XII. Coal Measures. 
 XI. Red shale. 
 
 X. White sandstone, ) „ , „ ■. ., 
 
 TV T) J J i. f 01 the bec^Qd Mountam. 
 
 lA. Red sandstone, j 
 
 VIII. Olive shales, &c. 
 
 VII, Cherry sandstone. 
 
 VI. Limestone. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 183t A. 55 
 
 V. Red shale and fossil ore. 
 IV. Gray sandstone, 
 
 III. White sandstene, f ^^" *^" ^'''^' fountain. 
 
 J r • ' . r of the Lebanon Valley. 
 1. Jjimestone, ) *^ 
 
 No modification of this system of numbers would have been 
 needed had the survey been commenced on the Schuylkill, in- 
 stead of along the Juniata. But no one can take exceptions to 
 the plan of the first reconoissance because it assumed the fact 
 that a long section through the central district of the State would 
 be the one most likely to reveal the structure in all its complete- 
 ness. It could not be forseen that all the elements exhibited 
 along one hundred miles of one river, the Juniata, were com- 
 pacted along twenty miles of the other, the Schuylkill ; nor could 
 it be anticipated that formations thousands of feet thick on the 
 Schuylkill would be found dwindled away to hundreds on the 
 Juniata. 
 
 It was glory enough for the first year's survey to have swept 
 away the enormous fictions of previous years, — demolished the 
 theories of Taylor respecting the Broad Top and Anthracite 
 Coal Measures, — put a stop to all talk about " Transition Rocks," — - 
 and separated the mountains of IV and the mountains of X into 
 two distinct groups of very different ages. 
 
 We may with equal truth assert that Amer'can Structural 
 Geology was born in 1836. For it was during this first sea- 
 son's work that that system of anticlinal and synclinal folds, or 
 rock-waves, was first fairly seen and understood by Professor 
 Rogers, with which his name will ever be identified as closely 
 and as honorably as the names of Thurmann of Switzerland, and 
 Elie de Beaumont of France, — although, it was not until the 
 results of subsequent seasons' work were plotted to scale, that 
 he had the opportunity of demonstrating the normal shape of 
 these waves, and the evident movements of the earth-crust to- 
 wards the north-west, which their almost uniformly steeper 
 dips towards the north-west exhibited. 
 
 The second year of the first Geological Survey was 1837. 
 The act of Legislature of March 29, 1836, was amende 1 in 
 
5G A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the spring of 1837, by enlarging the appropriation to allow of 
 four assistants instead of two. These were Mr. Samuel S. Hal- 
 deman, Mr. Alexander M'Kinley, Mr. Charles B. Trego and 
 Mr. James D. Whelpley. 
 
 The appropriation for incidental expenses permitted the em- 
 ployment of four aids or sub-assistants : Mr. Alfred F. Darley, 
 Mr. Edwin Haldemau, Mr. Horace Moses, and Mr. Peter W. 
 Sheafer. 
 
 The two assistants of the first year had resigned, to assume 
 important positions, which they held with honor to themselves 
 and advantage to the community. Mr. Booth became Chief 
 Geologist of the State of Delaware, and afterwards Chemist to 
 the United States Mint. Mr. Frazer became Professor of ITat- 
 ural Philosophy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and editing secretary of the Franklin Institute, Secre- 
 tary of the American Philosophical Society and member of the 
 National Academy at its incorporation in 1861. His death in 
 1872, was universally mourned. Dr. Robert E. Rogers re- 
 mained chemist of the Survey. 
 
 The expenses of the first year had been but $2,700. Those 
 of the second year amounted to $6,500 ; a sum equivalent to 
 fifteen or twenty thousand dollars now. More would have 
 been spent, but only two assistants took the field in the spring ; 
 the other two were not selected and commissioned until July. 
 In fact, nothing could be more difiicult, forty years ago, than 
 the discovery of persons of a scientific education, suitable for 
 such employment. Of the four assistant geologists of 1837 
 Mr. Whelpley alone had had a geological training, under the 
 elder Silliman, of Yale College, Connecticut ; Mr. Trego had 
 paid some attention to botany, and Mr. Haldeman to the fresh 
 water shells of the Susquehanna river, which flowed before his 
 homestead. Mr. Sheafer had grown to manhood in sight of 
 the old Lykens Valley collieries. 
 
 In the first year of the Survey a good general idea of the 
 order of the principal formations had been formed, and a tol- 
 erable sketch made of the direction of their outcrop belts across 
 the State. Mr. Rogers now felt himself in a condition to take 
 up the survey in detail, and resolved to devote the entire season 
 of 1837 to one quarter of the State, bounded by the Delaware. 
 
FIRST SUEVEY, 1837. A, 57 
 
 Leliigli and Susquehanna rivers and the ISTew York State line ; 
 Easton, Harrisburg, Tioga and Great Bend being at or near its 
 four corners. This district contained none but the sedimentary, 
 fossiliferous formations of the Old-Age system ; and it contained 
 them all, from the top of the Coal Measures, at Pottsville, to the 
 bottom of the Silurian, at Allentown, Bethlehem and Reading. 
 It confined within its limits all the Anthracite coal basins, and 
 on these was fixed the attention and were expended the eftbrts 
 of the Survey in 1837. 
 
 The Pottsville basin was very carefully surveyed by Mr. 
 Whelpley, and all the then open mines examined and described. 
 Straight lines were run with compass and chain across the 
 Beaver Meadow mountain basins, and across the Wyoming 
 Valley basin, by Mr. M'Kinley. Mr. Trego studied the Lehigh 
 country, and Mr. Haldeman the country of the Middle Susque- 
 hanna. 
 
 Three discoveries of importance, resulting from this second 
 season's work, changed the numbering of the formations (from 
 I to XII) in the following way : 
 
 1. A sand-rock was discovered at Bethlehem, Allentown, 
 Reading and Chiquesalunga, no where visible at the surface in 
 Central Pennsylvania ; underlying the great limestone valleys ; 
 and corresponding to the Potsdam sandstone of Lake Cham- 
 plain. This Mr. Rogers now had to call ifo. I. The limestones 
 (I) became therefore No. II ; and the slates (II) became for the 
 same reason 1:^0. III. 
 
 2. The double crested and^ terraced mountains of middle 
 Pennsylvania : Bald Eagle, Nittany, Tussey, Standing Stone, 
 Jack's, Black Log, &c., made by the outcropping of two mas- 
 sive sand-rock formations, (III and IV,) with an interposed 
 softer sand-rock formation, were found to become, when followed 
 across the Susquehanna into Eastern Pennsylvania, a single 
 crested mountain, (called North, Blue, Kittatinny,) composed 
 mainly of one sand-rock, or a series of alternate sand and mud- 
 rocks. The two sands. III and IV, of the last year of the sur- 
 vey, with their enclosed rocks, were, therefore, united into one 
 formation, and called simply No. IV, From that time to the 
 present we have spoken of the " Upper, Middle, and Lower of 
 IV." 
 
58 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 3. The above changes left the numbering of the formations 
 above IV unchanged. But by this year's work another dis- 
 covery was made: that tlie lowest sand-rock of the Coal Mea- 
 sures (XII,) which, in Middle Pennsylvania, had been thin 
 enough to be disregarded, but was on the contrary one of the 
 great formations of Eastern Pennsylvania, deserved, and in fact 
 demanded a separate number of its own in the series. From 
 1837, then, down to the present time, we speak only of the 
 Great Conglomerate, the Millstone Grit of England, as 'No. XII. 
 Mr. Rogers added a Eo. XIII to signify all the Coal Measures 
 lying above the Conglomerate. Subsequently this was found 
 to be a useless and embarrassing addition, and was abandoned 
 by him. In truth, if XIII were to be retained for the (Lower) 
 Coal Measures immediately above the Conglomerate, we should 
 call the Barren Measures XIV, and the Pittsburg (Upper) Coal 
 Measures XV, and the Greene and Washington County (Upper) 
 Barren Measures XVI. For these formations differ from one 
 another as truly as do VIII, IX, X and XI, from one another. 
 
 Mr. Rogers showed good judgment in employing at first 
 numbers instead of names to distinguish the great formations ; 
 at least until the sameness of our formations with those of 
 New York and those of Europe could be proved ; until he 
 could be sure tliat no formations named elsewhere were absent 
 here ; until he was certain that Pennsylvania possessed no pe- 
 culiar deposits of her own which existed nowhere else ; in a 
 word until all the rocks in all parts of the State had been found, 
 examined, measured and placed in order. It would then be 
 time enough to name them all according to a system. Mean- 
 time their order in time would be best stated by their several 
 numbers ; No. I being the oldest and lowest, and No. XII the 
 youngest and highest in the series. And these numbers might 
 be diminished, increased or shifted to suit the discoveries ot 
 each succeeding year of the survey. 
 
 But, unfortunately, numbers are of the essence of names in 
 one respect: they stick as tenaciously to the things they rep- 
 resent. Mr. Rogers could only slightly change his numbering 
 even after so short a time as the one year elapsing since its 
 adoption. With these slight changes the numbering of 1837 
 set so firmly that it never afterwards was changed ; and it will 
 
FIRST SUKVEY, 1837. A. 59 
 
 probably last as long as our science. Its convenience, indeed, 
 has been demonstrated by thirty years of use ; and it stands a 
 monument of the good worlc of the first two years of the First 
 Pennsylvania Survey. All the principal features of the Old- Age 
 system of rocks was, in this system of numbers, painted with 
 a bold, free brush, truthfully ; and no good reason can be given 
 for its non-adoption by other State surveys, except that some 
 of the principal formations, so grandly exhibited in Pennsyl- 
 vania and Virginia, are miserably thinned down and impover- 
 ished, or disappear entirely, when followed into other districts 
 of the Continent. 
 
 Had Mr. Rogers not adopted another nomenclatuue when he 
 published his final report,* or had a final report of the Geology 
 of Virginia been published, retaining this original numbering 
 of its annual reports, then, doubtless, Mr. Saftbrd would have 
 adopted the same numbering for the same formations in Eastern 
 and Middle Tennessee, and western geologists would have been 
 compelled by so large a published literature to follow the same 
 method. 
 
 But after all said and done, the inherent objections to num- 
 bering the rocks remain potent, and oblige all geologists to em- 
 ploy in their descriptive geology another system : that of geo- 
 graphical names. Among the twelve great formations of Penn- 
 sylvania there is no place found for one of the most important 
 of the groups of JSTew York and Upper Canada : the Niagara. 
 This formation, which makes at its northern outcrop so moun- 
 tainous a mark on the shores of Lake Huron, is too thin to be 
 discovered at its southern outcrop in our State. If it exists at 
 all, it forms some of the small layers of our !N"o. VI. Again ; 
 our No. 1, which is but 30 feet thick upon the Lehigh, is said 
 by Professor Cook to be 3,000 feet thick in Green Pond moun- 
 tain in l^ew Jersey ; and Mr. Saflbrd separates it into two huge 
 formations, the Ocoee, 10,000 feet thick, and the Chilhowee, 
 2,000 feet thick, in Eastern Tennessee. If Dr.E'ewberry had adop- 
 ted numbers instead of names in his Geology of Ohio, he would 
 have found himself in the same embarrassment, and even greater. 
 
 *See his annual address before 4th Albany meeting of American Natural- 
 ists and Geologists, April, 1843, page 20 of his address. Idea formed in 1840, 
 "three years before." 
 
60 A. EISTOEY OF THE 
 
 For our 'So. I and the greater part of No. II do not appear 
 above the surface in that State ; and 'So. X is not recognized 
 by him as existing there, although in Eastern Pennsylvania it 
 is 2,000 feet thick. On the other hand, the Niagara is well 
 developed in Ohio. 
 
 Greographical names for rock strata become therefore a neces- 
 sity. This necessity increases moreover as geology advances, 
 and as better study of the great formations enables geologists 
 to divide and sub-divide them into groups and layers. Some- 
 times a single layer, only a few feet or a few inches thick, can 
 be traced for hundreds of miles by its peculiar fossils, or by its 
 peculiar mineral value. Many such may occur in one forma^ 
 tion. Each must have a name. If letters be used for this pur- 
 pose, (the plan pursued by Mr. Safibrd,) la., 16., Ic, Ila, IB, 
 lie, &c. then the old difficulty is encountered in a slightly differ- 
 ent shape, for it will be as hard to shift the letters, when new 
 layers are discovered to require them, as to shift the numbers 
 in a well established system. Then some cumbrous " third 
 term" system must be adopted, such as : la, 16^, 16^, Ic, &c., or, 
 la', la", la'", &c. 
 
 We are driven to the use of geographical names. Although 
 here a difficulty of a wholly different order meets us. The 
 rock may not be the same in one place as in another, and the 
 name of one rock may be given wrongly to another. Chiques 
 Rock, on the Susquehanna river above Columbia, may not be 
 Potsdam sandstone in northern New York, and at Bethlehem 
 and Allentown. But then, neither will it be No. I. So, the 
 name of one fossil shell, or plant, or fish, or mineral, may be 
 falsely bestowed upon another. But when the mistake is dis- 
 covered by comparing many specimens, by finding them more 
 perfectly preserved, by dissection, by microscopic inspection, or 
 by analysis, the mistake is easily rectified, and a name of its own 
 can then be given to the later found fossil. Just so, if Chiques 
 rock be not Potsdam, why then it remains simply Chiques, and 
 not Potsdam. That is precisely the advantage possessed by 
 geographical names ; they can wait patiently any length of time 
 for rectification. They show also where such and such a de- 
 posit has been first best studied, and where it makes so strong 
 a mark on the earth's surface as to attract notable attention. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1837. A 61 
 
 It is an accepted law in science that an organic form once 
 named by its discoverer, if its name can bear the test of long 
 continued criticism, pre-empts that name, and maintains its 
 claim to ownership of it for all time, against all innovators. 
 The law holds good in the case of mineral beds and rock layers. 
 They are sedimentary /orma^tons, i. e. organized beings, which 
 have been born at a certain point of time, grown in an ascer- 
 tainable shape, to a measurable size, through a limited age, and 
 were then overgrown, buried, fossilized for our contemplation. 
 Each has an anatomy which can be dissected, a constitution 
 which can be analyzed, distinguishing it from others, The 
 geologist who first studies and names it correctly has a right 
 that his name for it should be accepted by all who approve of 
 his statements respecting it. Disputes may arise. Two geolo- 
 gists may, at the same moment, give different names to the 
 same formation in diflt'erent districts. But this rarely happens; 
 and popular usage will be sure to select one of the two names 
 in preference to the other, or fuse them into one, as the IrisJi 
 geologists have done, in calling a certain system the Cambro- 
 silurian system, which Sedgewiek claimed to be the upper part 
 of his Cambrian, and Murchison insisted was the lowe** part of 
 his Silurian. 
 
 The most recent literature of our science proves that there is 
 no getting rid of the old geographical systematic names, such 
 as Jurassic, Devonian, Silurian, Cambrian, Huronian, Lauren- 
 tian. They are historic fixtures, like the higher titles of the 
 nobility and rich landed gentry of Europe. Their circle is ex- 
 clusive. It is exceedingly difficult for a newcomer to get in, 
 even after the purchase of a part of their estates. It is doubt- 
 ful if Dr. Hunt's Norian System will " make a family," or Pro- 
 fessor Dana's Canadian Period, or Dr. Newberry's Erie Epoch. 
 For the new names are invaders of the old. A name may be 
 excessively local at first, but age and use may give it continental 
 occupation. As the imperial house of Hapsburg was cradled 
 in a little castle on a secluded cliff, but came to rule half Europe, 
 so Potsdam is the name of a village hid behind the Adirondac 
 mountains on the borders of Canada, but has become the ac- 
 cepted title for the foundation of the Old- Age System in all 
 parts of North America, where Geologists have found its char- 
 
62 A. HISTORY or the 
 
 acteristic worm burrows and trilobites. And it is a name which 
 resists all attack because there is nothing in it to attack. In 
 Professor Rogers' revised nomenclature, it is called the Primal 
 sandstone. But that begs the question of its being actually 
 the bottom formation of the unchanged, fossil-bearing sedi- 
 ments. In Virginia and Tennessee there seem to be many 
 sand-rocks below it. Then it is not Primal. But it remains 
 Potsdam. 
 
 The name Carboniferous System is another example of the 
 inconvenience of any but geographical names. It is now well 
 made oat that there are severed carboniferous systems, of very 
 different ages, in many places of the earth's surface. Even in 
 Great Britain, where the name was first invented, it is now 
 clearly proven that the Carboniferous Sj'-stem of Middle Eng- 
 land and South Wales is not the same with the Carboniferous 
 System in Scotland. The Coal Measures of Middle Virginia 
 and East Tennessee do not correspond with those of "Western 
 Pennsylvania and l^orth-Eastern Ohio. A world of Carbonif- 
 erous rocks has been discovered in India and Australia and 
 China, which appears to be not at all of " Carboniferous" age. 
 One of the great discoveries of the First Geological Survey of 
 Pennsylvania was, that the Upper Coal Measures of the Mo- 
 nongahela river and the Lower Coal Measures of the Allegheny 
 river, were two quite different and widely separated systems. 
 Then followed the discovery, by the Virginia State Surve}', that 
 both these systems were different from and far separated (in 
 time) from that of the New river (or Upper Kenawha.) Then 
 followed the discovery of a fourth and still older Coal Measure 
 System at a great depth (geologically) below all three, that of 
 the Juniata river in Middle Pennsylvania. 
 
 "Without being fully aware of all this, but reasoning from 
 what they saw in the "Western States, the western geologists 
 came to a pretty unanimous determination to extend the car- 
 boniferous system down so as to take in almost the whole De- 
 vonian system. 
 
 Dr. Dawson has remarked on the amount of graphite in 
 the Oldest Age System (Laurentian) as so enormous, that Sir 
 William Logan was justified in thinking that the quantity 
 of vegetable life then flourishing upon the planet may have 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1837. A. 63 
 
 equalled that of the marshes and forests of the " Carboniferous 
 age," If this be so, — and Lesquereux speaks in the same tone,— 
 we might with equal propriety absorb into the " carbonifer- 
 ous" system, not merely the Devonian, but the Silurian, Pluro- 
 nian and even Laurentian systems. With the same proprietj^ 
 we might include in it the Trias, because of its North Carolina 
 Coal Measures ; and the Cretaceous and Tertiary systems, be- 
 cause of their Rocky mountain coal beds. All the formations 
 of the world from the lowest to the most recent, would then be- 
 come " carboniferous." However ludicrous this reductio ad 
 absurdum may appear, it is a logical consequence of the method 
 pursued by our western geologists, when they carry down the 
 Coal Measures to the base of the Devonian system, and oblite- 
 rate the word Devonian from the column of formations,— -for 
 very different reasons, be it remarked, from those which influ- 
 ence the new school of English geologists in their endeavor to 
 expunge it from their lists. 
 
 To the geologists of Pennsylvania and Virginia, all this was a 
 palpable absurdity. But the temptation to commit it would 
 not have occurred, had we at first adopted geograjphical names 
 for our various Coal Measures ; had we established a Monon- 
 gahela coal system, an Allegheny coal system, a New River or 
 Upper Kenawha coal system, and a Juniata coal system (in the 
 Devonian.) A geographical name gives rise to no contests 
 other than of identity ; no conflicting classification ; and there- 
 fore it need never be changed. It saj^s : " There lie the rocks ; 
 call them what you please." 
 
 Names, partly geographical and partly descriptive, were first 
 assigned to the principal Old Age Deposits of the United States 
 by the geologists of the State of New York, Mr. James Hall, 
 Mr. Lardnor Vanuxem, Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, and Mr. W. 
 W". Mather ; and that as early as the year 1836, which was the 
 first year of the New York survey. The first party took the 
 field about the middle of June ; others as late as September in 
 that year. The names provisionally proposed for the beds were 
 discussed by the geologists together in the winter. A few were 
 adopted in the winter of 1836-'7 ; more in the winter of 1837-'8; 
 at the end of the season's work of 1838, the New York geolo- 
 gists were pretty well agreed upon the names of the formations 
 
64 A. HISTORY 07 THE 
 
 to be rejected and adopted. They then began to consider the 
 necessity of a conference with the geologists of other States. 
 But a conference with Prof. H. D. Rogers, of Pennsylvania, 
 and W. B. Rogers, of Virginia, failed to produce a common 
 system of names for these three important States. The ITew 
 York names were used in the JSTew York progress reports of 
 1837, 1838, 1839 and 1840. 
 
 These names have become classical ; are taught in schools ; 
 are employed in the reports of geological surveys of other 
 States ; are attached to specimens of rock, and to fossils, in all 
 museums. There seems to be no good reason for abandoning 
 their use, or for refusing to apply them to the same beds of rock 
 wherever they come to the surface, and can be recognized. 
 
 It is quite true that they do not form a consistent, ideal sys- 
 tem of names ; some of them being geographical, while others 
 are names taken from fossils, or minerals which give character 
 to special beds. 
 
 Of the first kind are : — Catskill, Chemung, Portage, Genesee, 
 Tully, Moscow, Ludlow, Marcellus, Schoharie, Oriskany, Onon- 
 daga, l^iagara, Clinton, Medina, Schwangunk, Hudson River, 
 Utica, Trenton, Black River, Chazy, Potsdam. 
 
 Of the second kind are: — The Enerinal limestone of the 
 Hamilton group ; the Corniferous limestone ; the Candagalli 
 grit ; the Upper and Lower Pentamerus limestones, and Del- 
 thyris Shaly limestone between them ; and the Birdseye lime- 
 stone of the Trenton group. 
 
 Of the third kind are : the Coal Measures, the Sub-carbon- 
 iferous limestone, the "Water lime group, the Salina (Onondaga 
 salt) group, the Cement beds, the Gypsum beds, the Calciferous 
 sandrock. 
 
 This mixture of place-names, fossil-names and mineral-names 
 in the one grand system of the Old-Age formations, by the Ifew 
 York geologists, was a great convenience to them, and has been 
 a great convenience to the geologists of other States. N'or is 
 it any more flagrant departure from consistency than the Eng- 
 lish geologists have committed in naming the great systems 
 together, thus: (beginning at the top) the Tertiary system; 
 the Cretaceous system, named from its mineral chalk ; the 'Seo- 
 comian or Lower Cretaceous system, a name adopted from the 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1837. A. 65 
 
 French ; the Oolite system, named from the fish-roe structure 
 of its principal mass ; the Lias, so named by the common people 
 of a part of England — the Oolite and Lias being called the Ju- 
 rassic system, a geographical name ; the New Eed, named from 
 its color, or the Triassic system, so named because divisible into 
 three ; the Permian system, a geographical name ; the Carbon- 
 iferous system, named from its coal beds ; the Old Red system, 
 named from its color, and considered to be the same as, or the 
 upper part of, the Devonian system, named from Devonshire ; 
 the Silurian system, named from the race of savages which in- 
 habited the west of England in the time of the Romans ; the 
 Cambrian system, named after tht ancient "Welsh ; the Primary 
 system, so named because it was once accounted by geologists 
 to mark the beginning of geological history, and to be the 
 foundation floor of the surface rocks of the earth. 
 
 This is a heterogeneous list ; but it has served geology very 
 well, and continues in use wherever geologists work, teach and 
 talk together. None of the fanciful arrangements of names all! 
 of one kind — and many have been invented and published by 
 distinguished geologists — has ever succeeded in banishing or 
 suppressing these good old English names, over the exact mean- 
 ings of which many a battle has been fought. 
 
 The fact is : things, like people, are named by accident, chris- 
 tened under excitement, or designated for some peculiarity; 
 and it is against a natural law of the human mind and contrary 
 to the habits of mankind, to change the name when once it has 
 become notorious. Legislation is of no force against old names. 
 The City Councils of Philadelphia kept up signboards marked 
 " Mulberry " and " Sassafras " and '' High," at all the corners 
 of the three streets so named by William Penn, for twenty 
 years ; but the citizens had from the first chosen to nickname 
 these streets Arch, Race and Market, and continued so to call 
 them all those twenty years, and call them so still. The useless 
 signboards were taken down and the peoples' names mounted 
 in their places. Nor will all the elForts of certain geologists 
 to introduce such Continental names as Neocomien, Dyas, 
 Rothe-todtliegende, &c., avail the weight of a feather against 
 Anglo-Saxon obstinacy, calling things by the English names 
 5— A. 
 
(05 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which first strike the imagination as characteristic, no matter 
 what learned or what aesthetic system of nomenclature may 
 happen to he violated. 
 
 If, therefore, the New York rocks were well named and early 
 named where they sink to descend, southward, under the south- 
 ern counties of that State and the northern counties of our own, 
 then, it is not only reasonable but it is inevitable that they will 
 be recognized by the same names wherever they ascend to the 
 surface in Middle Pennsylvania. 'No artificially constructed 
 set of new names can come into common use. For the great 
 object of geology is to harmonize facts, to identify the rocks of 
 distant localities ; and their study proceeds from district to dis- 
 trict, carrying the names of the districts studied first to fix 
 them in the districts to be studied next. The geologist of 
 Pennsylvania has one question forever on his lips, when he 
 meets a geologist of Xew York: Is this rock of mine your 
 Potsdam, your Niagara, your Waterlime ; or is it diff'erent ? 
 When he meets a Canadian geologist the first question he asks 
 him is this : What rock in Pennsylvania must I call " Lauren- 
 tian ?" Is our South Mountain " Huronian ?" Am I to name 
 our Philadelphia belt " Quebec Group;" or what else ? The in- 
 structed discoverer always gives names to the uninstructed 
 searcher. The New York geologists were ahead of those of 
 Pennsylvania in narnivg the Old Age rocks ; therefore, all the 
 Old Age rocks in Pennsylvania recognized in New York must 
 wear New York names. Other rocks in Pennsylvania not 
 reaching into New York, or for any reason not named there, 
 must have Pennsylvania names given to them. In like manner 
 such Ohio and Michigan names as " Waverly" and " Marshall" 
 ■will probably be accepted and welcomed into the Pennsylvania 
 list, because they stand for groups of beds not distinguished with 
 sufficient care by the First Survey of our State, but admirably 
 studied and described by Prof. Winchell, Dr. Newberry and 
 their coadjutors. And it is quite possible that some of Prof. 
 Saftbrd's Tennessee names will find themselves at home in Penn- 
 sylvania ; and some of Prof Kerr's North Carolina names will 
 fasten themselves firmly to the rocks of our south-easternmost 
 counties. 
 
 It is none the less true that the numbers adopted by Prof. 
 
FIKST SURVEY, 1837. A. 67 
 
 Rogers, and used in all the annual reports of the First Survey, 
 were so just, and agree so well with the great features of the 
 surface, that they can be still conveniently and usefully em- 
 ployed as sub-divisions of the English systems : I, II, III re- 
 presenting the Cambro-silurian ; IV, V, "VI, Silurian ; VII,VIII, 
 Devonian ; IX, Old Eed ; X, XI, Sub-Carboniferous ; XII, Car- 
 boniferous. If some geologists prefer to call IV Middle Silu- 
 rian, VIII, IX Devonian, and X, XI, XII Carboniferous, it will 
 make no difference at all in respect to our knowledge. 
 
 The subject of the nomenclature adopted by Mr. Rogers for 
 the Final Report, and the subject of a geographical nomencla- 
 ture possibly suitable to all the States of the Atlantic sea-board 
 will come up for discussion in their proper places. But that 
 this year of the survey under consideration (1837) saw for the 
 first time a consistent, general and permanent classification of 
 the Old Age rock system of ISTorth America, cannot be better 
 stated than in the words with which Mr. Rogers begins his 
 chapter of General Observations on the results of the season's 
 work, in his report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 dated Philadelphia, January 27, 1838, pp. 82, 83: 
 
 " In taking a general review of the extensive series of our 
 Appalachian formations, now for the first time systematically 
 classified and described, our attention is forcibly arrested by 
 their vast thickness, the immensity of their range, and the in- 
 exhaustible stores of mineral treasure which they contain. 
 
 " From the base of the entire series, where the bottom of the 
 lowest sandstone is in contact with the primary rocks of the 
 South mountain, to the uppermost beds of the Anthracite coal 
 measures, the absolute depth of this enormous group of strata 
 in our counties east of the Susquehanna, cannot be less than 
 forty thousand feet. It is worthy of remark, that probably no 
 other district in the entire Appalachian chain, from the Hudson 
 river to Northern Alabama, presents our American lower sec- 
 ondary rocks on an equally expanded scale, or so admirably de- 
 veloped for geological investigation. 
 
 " The gigantic magnitude of the areas covered by these thir- 
 teen formations, may be conceived, when I state that they not 
 only occupy the entire surface of Pennsylvania, with the excep- 
 tion of the corner of the State, south-east of the South moun- 
 
68 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tain, but that with a few interpolated strata, they comprise 
 three-fifths of the territory of the United States, east of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 " In an essay still unpublished, but written nearly a year since, 
 based in part upon my own personal observations, and in part 
 upon a comparison between these and the numerous insulated 
 descriptions of our rocks given by various Geologists and trav- 
 ellers, I have attempted, and as I believe successfuU}', to trace 
 individually the formations of our great Pennsylvania series 
 south-westward along the mountains as far as Alabama, and also 
 to identify them in their course across New York and the north- 
 western States and Canada, to the northern shores of Lake Huron 
 and Lake Superior. 
 
 " Within the whole of this wide expanse of country, researches 
 will develope I conceive but a single, though vast group of strata, 
 the successive sediments of one immense ocean, the creations of 
 but one prolonged Geological epoch, commencing almost in the 
 dawn of marine animal and vegetable existence, and terminating 
 with the latest produced deposits of the coal. 
 
 " Viewing the majestic scale of our formations, and the com- 
 bined grandeur and simplicity of structure of the enormous geo- 
 logical basin which they embrace, we turn with grateful satis- 
 faction, to the peculiar position which Pennsylvania occupies in 
 this vast area. Lying on the margin of the great Secondary 
 basin of the United States, and traversed as it is, for nearly three 
 hundred miles through its centre, by the whole broad belt of the 
 Appalachian or Allegheny chain, in which a system of gigantic 
 anticlinal elevations brings the entire series of formations sev 
 eral times in succession to the surface, it holds, in combination 
 with Western Maryland, the key to the geology of many of the 
 other States, where but a part of the same strata are spread out 
 in a nearly horizontal attitude, and exhibited in but a single belt, 
 
 ii 
 
 The third year of the First Geological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 vania was 1838. 
 
 The annual report of the Chief Geologist was handed in to 
 the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth, under date of February 19, 1839. It 
 
FIRST SURTBY, 1838. A. 69 
 
 made 118 printed pages without illustrations. But in nowise 
 represented the amount of admirable work accomplished in va- 
 rious parts of the State that year. The corps was increased, 
 and the expenses rose to $12,000, a sum equivalent, practically 
 considered, to the present annual appropriation of the Second 
 Survey. 
 
 Nine assistants had as many districts allotted to them, sev- 
 erally ; and Mr. Martin Boije was appointed assistant chemist 
 with Dr. R. E. Rogers. Mr. S. S. Haldeman had resigned, 
 and his vacant post was occupied by Mr. Harvey B. Holl, of 
 England. Mr. James T. Hodge, of Plymouth, Mass., Dr. R. 
 M. S. Jackson, of Blairsville, Pa., Mr. John C. M'Kinney, of 
 Pittsburg, and Mr. Townsend Ward, of Philadelphia, were 
 newly appointed. Messrs. Darley, F. Haldeman and Moses 
 were not employed. 
 
 Mr. Boije examined the country between the Delaware and 
 Schuylkill rivers. First district. 
 
 Mr. Holl traveled between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna 
 rivers. First district. 
 
 Mr. Whelpley and Mr. Sbeafer continued their instrumental 
 work for mapping the Southern and Middle anthracite fields. 
 Serond district. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley and Dr. Jackson studied the labyrinth of moun- 
 tains between the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers and the Alle- 
 gheny mountain. Third district. 
 
 Mr. Trego and Mr. Ward wandered through the wilderness 
 south of the Clearfield turnpike, as far as the Maryland line, 
 (keeping east of Chestnut Ridge) to get some general idea of 
 its geology, for its future exploration in detail. Fourth district. 
 Mr. M'Kinney explored the Monongahela and Kiskiminetas 
 country, between the Chestnut Ridge and the Virginia State 
 lines. Fifth district. 
 
 Mr. Hodge had assigned to him the Allegheny river coun- 
 try, from the west line of Armstrong and Yenango counties to 
 the Ohio State line and Lake Erie. Fifth district. 
 
 Mr. Rogers spent all the time he could spare for personal 
 field work in the northern counties, and as far south as Clear- 
 field and Centre counties ; a country at that time an almost un- 
 broken wilderness, roamed over by the elk and the panther. 
 
70 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 His object was to organize for the ensuing year a camp survey 
 of this Sixth district. 
 
 Most of this year's work was mere reconnoisance. In spite 
 of what had been done in 1836 and 1837, the local geology of 
 the State still lay quite in the dark. 
 
 The discoveries of the first season (1836) could all be summed 
 up in the statement that the twelve great formations outcropped 
 in a certain fixed order along the Central belt of the State ; 
 that the Anthracite regions lay in the eastern counties; tiiat the 
 bituminous coal measures covered the half of the State lying 
 back of the Allegheny mountain ; that the New E,ed rocks 
 made a belt through Berks, Bucks, Lancaster, York and Adams ; 
 that wholly different, older and unrecognizable rocks occupied 
 the South mountains ; and that still other and equally undeter- 
 minable formations occupied the south-eastern corner of the 
 State. 
 
 In the second year (1837) the work had been spent chiefly in 
 getting on foot an elaborate survey of the most important re- 
 gion in the State, that of the Anthracite coal fields. 
 
 In the third year (1838) the Chief Geologist found himself 
 face to face with the greatest difficulties. The survey of the 
 Anthracite country had shown itself to be no child-play. The 
 region proved to be excessively complicated in structure, and 
 difficult of representation. Mr. Whelpley's rare genius had, 
 indeed, a worthy field for the display of its powers. But it 
 was evident that several successive years would be required for 
 the study and description of the region. Meanwhile, the large 
 iron interest of the middle counties, and the bituminous-coal 
 and charcoal-iron interests of the western counties deserved 
 and demanded the earliest possible attention. The northern 
 counties also sent their representatives to Harrisburg ; and these 
 might well complain that their own part of the country had 
 been neglected, although it especially needed all that a State 
 survey could do in its behalf. 
 
 In 1838, therefore, Mr Rogers districted the entire State 
 systematically, deploying his small corps over a field longer and 
 wider than could be occupied by ten times their number. He 
 retained his two best trained men at their post in the antbra- 
 cite ; and the rest traveled on horseback, by wagon and on foot, 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1838. A. 71 
 
 up and down all the main roads, across and along tne moun- 
 tain crests, up and down the river banks, collecting all kinds of 
 geological information, visiting all kinds of quarries, mines, 
 furnaces and natural curiosities, guided by the people of the 
 State ; with their eyes open to note all that bore directly or in- 
 directly upon those problems of structure which even then be- 
 gan to make themselves apparent to their minds. 
 
 The year 1838 was the training year of the First Survey. 
 At the end of it the first really good idea oi' the detailed geo- 
 graphical geology of Pennsylvania was grasped by Mr. Rogers 
 and his assistants. By the end of it three or four excellent 
 geological field hands had trained themselves for future work. 
 Each had to struggle with all the problems of the science alone 
 and unassisted ; without books, without counselors, surrounded 
 by thousands of people who knew where things could be looked 
 at, but not where they could be looked for, ignorant of what 
 the things meant, and longing to be told. It was a great school ; 
 and it made some good scholars, as the subsequent years of 
 . the survey proved. 
 
 The system of localizing the geologists m districts, the new 
 feature of this year, and his reasons for adopting it are given 
 by Mr. Rogers on pp. 9, 10 of his Third Annual Report in the 
 following words : — 
 
 "Many reasons suggested the propriety of distributing the 
 corps of assistants in the manner above indicated. It was de- 
 sirable to afford to every part of the Commonwealth, as far as 
 practicable, the advantages of an early survey of its own peculiar 
 mineral resources, and a simultaneous exploration of several dis- 
 tricts is obviously the only mode by which, in a limited number 
 of 3'ears, the requisite degree of precision can be attained. Bach 
 district has a more or less different class of deposits, disposed in 
 a special order, not to be witnessed elsewhere ; it has also a 
 different topography, which when adequately studied, affords 
 oftentimes a valuable clue in tracing its mineral deposits ; while 
 on the one hand, it has its peculiar difiiculties that demand much 
 local knowledge to surmount, and on the other features calculated 
 to lead to useful discoveries if familiarly understood. By allotting, 
 therefore, a particular range of country, as far as possible, to each 
 individual in the corps, and restricting his explorations to that 
 
72 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 alone, until he shall have mastered its geology and mineral re- 
 sources in all their local details, au important economy of timo 
 is eifected, and increased accuracy in the results is insured." 
 
 Had it been possible to carry out the system by retaining all 
 the assistants from year to year, and retaining; them from year 
 to year in their respective districts, most of the embarrassments 
 of the First Survey would probably have been avoided. But 
 it was not possible; and is likely to be always impossible. 
 Sickness and death make changes in all human plans. Men 
 cannot help resigning less lucrative and certain employments 
 to accept higher salaries, or to engage in permanent business. 
 Men will weary, of the wilderness, and of wandering in it. 
 The loss of one employe will alter the arrangement of an en- 
 tire corps. Few of the geologists of 1838 occupiied the same 
 districts in 1839 and 1840. 
 
 What the scientific and practical gains of the third year of 
 the Fii'st Survey were can be more easily imagined than des- 
 cribed. Every place was new ; every detail of information a 
 discovery. IN'ot that the citizen farmers did not know the 
 facts ; for Indians and white settlers, fishermen, hunters and 
 lumbermen, wandering Welsh miners searching after copper, 
 tin and iron veins, had made the discoveries, and the farmers 
 themselves had had knowledge of the discovered facts long 
 enough before. But no one had systematically studied the 
 facts ; none had put this and that together. What each one 
 knew he knew for himself alone, and only gossipped about at 
 the village bar-room ; it was a mere matter of curiosity or won- 
 der, or ignorant speculation, or absurd upside down logic ; its 
 meaning as a geological indication was plain to nobody. All 
 sorts of geological fancies, follies and superstitions surrounded 
 and befogged the minds of the people of every hamlet and 
 township of the Commonwealth ; and the inhabitants of the 
 cities were still more profoundly ignorant of the whole sub- 
 ject. 
 
 During this year there were collected and put together, in an 
 orderly fashion, all those ten thousand isolated facts respecting 
 iron ore beds, coal beds, limestone ranges, salt and oil springs, 
 lumps of lead and zinc, — respecting the red, white and neu- 
 tral colored rocks which form reliable and persistent indica- 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1838. A. 73 
 
 tions of where such minerals may be sought, and why money 
 and time would be squandered in looking for them. In a word, 
 a census of the discoveries of the past was made. An account 
 of stock was taken of the mineral resources of the whole State, 
 in a careful and preliminary way, preparatory to a still more 
 minute and complete examination of each locality, and of every 
 mineral bed of value in following years of the survey. 
 
 Of course some important generalizations were reached ; for 
 example : 
 
 In 1838 the fact first become known that the coal beds of 
 "Western Pennsylvania were deposited in two series, one above 
 the other ; that the Great Carboniferous Formation was built 
 up in three stories. There were Lower Coal Measures, 300 or 400 
 feet thick ; over them lay a formation from 300 to 400 feet thick, 
 practically without coal beds ; and over these Barren Measures 
 an Upper Coal System. In other words, Mr. M'Kinney found 
 himself, wherever he went along the Monongahela river and 
 its branches, studying the Pittsburg coal bed and the coals of 
 the Upper series. Mr. Hodge, on the other hand, could discover 
 these beds nowhere in his Allegheny river district ; the hill 
 slopes being all occupied by the horizontal outcrops of the Lower 
 Coal System. On the line of the Ohio river and the Kiskimin- 
 etas, where their two districts joined, Mr. Hodge's Lower Coal 
 Measures could be seen sinking south-south-westward under the 
 Barren Measures, and also the Barren Measures sinking, in the 
 same direction, under Mr. M'Kinney's Upper Coal Series. Thus, 
 by a happy chance, which may be said with truth never to have 
 fallen to the good fortune of any other geologists, and which 
 is without a known counterpart at any other place on the earth's 
 surface, it turned out that the section which Mr. Hodge made 
 along the valley of the Allegheny river, from the State of New 
 York to Pittsburg, a distance of one hundred miles, exactly 
 fitted on to and was completed by the section which Mr. M'Kin- 
 ney made, up the Monongahela river from Pittsburg into the 
 State of Virginia, a distance of another fifty miles. These two 
 sections formed one complete and uninterrupted section, 150 
 miles long in a straight line, north and south, across the State. 
 It not only exhibited every division and sub-division of the 
 Great Coal Formation, but even every coal bed, fire-clay bed, 
 
74 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 limestone bed, iron ore bed, sandstone bed and sbale deposit in 
 those sub-divisions, from the bottom to the top; from the Red 
 Shale of XI and the Conglomerate XII, near the New York State 
 line, to the Brownsville and Waynesburg coal beds at the Vir- 
 ginia State line. Mr. Hodge even carried his section down two ', 
 thousand feet below the Conglomerate, to the rocks of VIII, 
 on the shore of Lake Erie ; while Mr. M'Kinney could continue 
 his section several hundred feet higher than the uppermost 
 workable coal bed, to the top rocks of the country in the south- 
 west angle of the State. 
 
 The reeonnoisance which Mr. Trego and Mr. W^ard made of 
 Cambria, Somerset, Fayette and Indiana counties, revealed the 
 same state of things in the south-eastern portion of the Bi- 
 tuminous Coal Region of Pennsylvania. The Lower Coal Mea- 
 sures were everywhere covered with a great thickness of Bar- 
 ren Measures, (much thicker than in Messrs. M'Kinney and 
 Hodge's districts further west ;) and also the almost complete 
 removal of the Upper Coal Measures from the surface of the 
 country. The remains of the Pittsburg bed, and those imme- 
 diately above it in one or two isolated hill-tops were, however, 
 not discovered, or at least certainly recognized, until the follow- 
 ing year. But the great fact was made plain, that but one 
 order of deposit in time and position, and but one arrangement 
 of divisions and sub-divisions of the Coal Measures, ruled over 
 the whole extent of Western Pennsylvania. In the words of 
 the Chief Geologist, on page 74, of his Third Annual Re- 
 port : — 
 
 " The details above presented will serve to show a remarkable 
 regularity in the position of both the coal and the iron ores 
 throughout indeed the whole broad belt of country embraced 
 between the Allegheny mountain and the Chestnut ridge, and 
 from the southern line of the State to the counties of Clearfield 
 and Jefferson. Of the coal there would appear to be at least 
 three seams of moderate dimensions occuring in the lower part 
 of the series ; and at a considerable elevation above these, a bed 
 of considerable size, and usually of superior quality." 
 
 The second important generalization reached by the survey 
 of 1838, was that of the Six Bituminous Coal Basins. 
 
 In the preceding year (1837) Whelpley and Sheafer had 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1838. A. 75 
 
 worked out the general structure of the Anthracite Region ; 
 not merely fixing the limits of its principal geographical sub- 
 divisions, but showing how the crust of the earth was waved, 
 and the beds were folded together like the sides of a canoe ; 
 canoe inside of canoe, like nests of crucibles ; in a word, how 
 the Anthracite Coal Measures, as a whole, filled up three deep 
 troughs ; each of which was, in its turn, composed of half a 
 dozen, and in two cases, of several dozen smaller troughs lying 
 side by side, or alternating with each other, representing several 
 fleets of canoes moored closely together with prows and sterns 
 interlocking. 
 
 In the succeeding year 1838 now under consideration, it was 
 revealed that the same sort of structure characterized the Bi- 
 tuminous Coal region, but on a larger scale and simpler plan. 
 Instead of a multitude of small, narrow, sharp, steep-sided 
 troughs containing the crushed and complicated Anthracite 
 coal beds, six long, wide, shallow, gently sloping troughs con- 
 tained the nearly horizontal and hardly at all disturbed beds 
 of the Bituminous coal system. 
 
 The first basin was seen to sweep round, in an arc of the cir- 
 cle two hundred miles in length from north-east to south- 
 west, on top of and just behind, the wall of the Allegheny 
 mountain. The Second basin passed concentrically back of the 
 first ; the third back of that ; and the fourth and fifth, beyond, 
 ever in wider sweeping arcs. Finally the sixth, issuing from 
 the State of New York, was seen to take in all the north-west- 
 ern and western counties, and to carry out, at the south-west 
 corner of the State, into Virginia the greatest pile of coal 
 measures. 
 
 It can be easily understood that, while Mr. Trego and Mr. 
 Ward were studying the southern portions of the first and sec- 
 ond basins, Mr. M'Kinney was studying the southern portions of 
 the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, and Mr. Hodge only the north- 
 ern parts of the fifth and sixth. Mr. Rogers himself determined 
 the lines of the bottoms of these troughs where they crossed the 
 "West Branch of the Susquehanna; and, probably looked at the 
 strongly marked topography which characterizes the eastern con- 
 tinuations of these basins in Bradford and Tioga counties. 
 
 Such was the geological picture of Western and Northern 
 
76 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Pennsylvania grandly sketched out in the third year of the First 
 Survey, 1838. The careful painting of it was reserved for after 
 years. Although it was now known that the first basin was sub- 
 divided into two in Cambria and Somerset counties and Virginia, 
 and that there lay in front of it, and east of the Allegheny moun- 
 tain, (taken as the edge of the bituminous coal field,) other coal 
 basins, — such as the Frostburg- Cumberland basin on the Mary- 
 land line, and the Broad Top coal basin in Huntingdon county,— 
 it was impossible to decide by one short season's work with how 
 much regularity these six basins kept on their course ; how much 
 irregularity might disturb the anticlinal axes which separated 
 them ; nor even, indeed, whether the basins which counted six 
 in the north-east counties were precisely the self same basins 
 which also counted six in the south-west counties of the State. 
 
 To decide such questions, Mr. Rogers had to wait another 
 year. In fact many years elapsed before the many minor pur- 
 turbations of this grand and apparently simple structure became 
 known ; and only now in 1874, are we really prepared to grapple 
 with the difficult detailed geology of this distinguished portion 
 of Pennsylvania. Simple as it looked at first, innumerable ir- 
 regularities of formation are now known to exist, which require 
 the utmost skill of the geologist to detect and estimate ; irregu- 
 larities, which to a certain extent vitiate the generalizations of 
 18S8, and call for a revision, both of the numbering of the coal 
 beds, limestones, iron ores and sand rocks, and of the geological 
 map on which tlieir geographical distribution is portrayed. The 
 explorations of thirty-six years have called in question the local 
 identity of several important beds of coal, and thrown doubts 
 upon the identity of even such a master rock as the great con- 
 glomerate along the New York State line. Nor will our task be 
 ended until a perfect map of the whole bituminous coal field, 
 that is of all Western Pennsylvania, shall have been made, and 
 every outcrop of every coal bed shall have been drawn upon it 
 with the strictest truth and precision. 
 
 The third important result of the survey of 1838, was this : 
 the number of anthracite coal beds had been popularly overrated. 
 
 In the previous year, 1837, Whelpley and Sheafer's study of 
 the Pottsville basin had brought to light the important fact 
 (on which Mr. Rogers built up his " wave theory," so famous in 
 
FIRST STJRVEY, 1838. A. Tj 
 
 after years) that the north dipping beds were almost always 
 steeper than the south dipping beds. His theory was merely 
 an extension of this ruling fact in the small waves of the Potts- 
 ville and other anthracite coal basins, to the vastly larger waves 
 of the mountain country of Middle Pennsylvania. 
 
 This Eule of the Steep North Dip was in 1838 brought to bear 
 with good effect upon the identification of the coal beds. Such 
 problems as that of the possible identity of the Lewis & Spohn 
 beds, problems vehemently discussed at Pottsville, were settled 
 by it. When the rule was applied to the larger basins, coal 
 beds were identified from basin to basin. Grradually the total 
 number of beds at Pottsville, Shamokin and Wilkesbarre (where 
 the basins were deepest) and their order of superposition from 
 the bottom upwards, became known. It was then clearly seen 
 that the anthracite Coal Measures were also, like the bituminous 
 Coal Measures, a two-storied structure ; there was a Lower Coal 
 System ; there were Middle Barren Measures ; and there was an 
 Upper Coal System. 
 
 The year 1838, was therefore a year of great revelations in the 
 history of coal geology. The identity of the anthracite and the 
 bituminous Coal Measures was demonstrated beyond a cavil, 
 although most, if not all, English geologists still persisted in 
 calling the anthracite an older formation. And a long stride was 
 made towards the actual recognition of the same individual coal 
 beds at Pittsburg and Pottsville. When, in the winter of 1838- 
 '39, Mr. Eogers compared the reports of his western and eastern 
 assistants, he saw at a glance that the coal formation No. XIII 
 had been originally deposited in unbroken sheets over nearly all 
 Pennsj'lvania — that is, all Pennsylvania southward to a line 
 passing through Pottsville, Huntingdon and Cumberland. And 
 when he compared with their reports, the reports of his assistants 
 in middle Pennsylvania, he could state with almost equal confi- 
 dence that the coal area had once extended still further south, viz : 
 as far as to Easton, Reading, Harrisburg, Chambersburg and Ha- 
 gerstown ; perhaps to Lancaster and York. The Pottsville, Mine 
 Hill, Mahanoy, Shamokin, Beaver Meadow, Hazleton, Black Creek, 
 M'Cauley's Mountain and Wyoming Valley anthracite basins in 
 the east, — the Mehoopany, Towanda, Blossburg semi-bituminous 
 basins in the north, — the Broad Top semi-bituminous basin at the 
 
78 A. HISTORY. OF THE 
 
 centre, — the Frostburg (Cumberland) semi-bituminous basin in 
 the south, — these were merely fragments of one common outspread 
 of coal measures, now separated by erosion ; and therefore out- 
 liers of the great unbroken bituminous coal field known as the Six 
 Bituminous Basins of the west. The great synclinal troughs of 
 Middle Pennsylvania, once as rich in coal as any in Schuylkill 
 and Luzerne, had been swept clean of all their coal. One only, 
 the great Huntingdon synclinal, had preserved a patch of coal 
 measures about 80 square miles in extent, which we call the 
 Broad Top field. 
 
 The waste between the outlying coal basins had been incal- 
 culably great. But the waste inside of the coal basins them- 
 selves had been also incalculably great. Several of the narrow 
 anthracite basins had but the lowest bed remaining in them, or 
 the lowest two beds. Others preserved only a part of the lower 
 series of coal beds. Others retained these and a portion of the 
 Barren Measures over them. While even the widest and deepest 
 of the troughs held a residue of the upper Coal Measures also. 
 
 And the case was the same with the six bituminous troughs. 
 In the far north-east, at Towanda, for instance, a few wafers of 
 the two lowest beds of the lower series was all that had been 
 spared from the wide destruction; and these lay scattered along 
 the flat mountain tops. Further west, the lowest beds were pre- 
 served as continuous sheets, with patches of the beds above scat- 
 tered over them. In the country north of the Conemaugh (Kis- 
 kiminetas) river, the lower Coal Measures occupied the entire 
 field. In the country south of that river, in Westmoreland 
 county, most of the upper Coal Measures also had been spared. 
 Finally, in Green and Washington counties, the upper Coal Mea- 
 sures were all there, covered and protected by the upper Barren 
 Measures. 
 
 In the preceding year, 1837, sufiicient notice had been taken 
 of the small crest-waves (anticlinal) which traverse the anthra- 
 cite region, and separate the small trough-waves (synclinals) 
 from one another, — to make it appear that they entered the large 
 basins from one side and ranged diagonally through them. Mr. 
 Whelpley had begun to trace and map them all. In 1838, he got 
 the axes or central lines of these waves into their places on his 
 map, and showed how they passed through one mountain after 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1838. A. 79 
 
 another ; how they bent the straight mountains into hooks ; and 
 how they crossed the red shale valleys of XI, and passed through 
 the mountains of X, into the open country of VIII. 
 
 It is not unfair to the geologists of the Old World to say thut 
 Topographical Geology was born in Pennsylvania in 1838. As 
 there is but one such Anthracite Coal Field known in the world, 
 so there is no field of investigation for the topographical 
 geologist so perfectly adapted in all respects for suggesting, at 
 sight, the principles of his branch of science, and for testing 
 their application to all accidents of the earth's surface. 
 
 Here are no cross faults breaking the visible connection of 
 part with part, doubling the series, and confounding the geol- 
 ogist. Thirty thousand feet of sediments, undisturbed by any 
 fracture of the whole mass, are to be seen rising and falling 
 in a few great waves, modified by scores of lesser waves, pre- 
 senting to the sky the worn outcrops of every kind ot rock — 
 coal, shale, slate, sandrock, conglomerate, limestone — in ridges 
 and valleys, of every height from a hundrei to a thousand feet, 
 and with every kind of allignment — straight, curved, hooked 
 and scolloped. There are knobs and sugar-loafs defining the 
 ends of the coal basins ; escarpments of No. XII ; terraces, 
 marking the outcroj)s of coal beds ; water gaps and wind gaps, 
 occasioned by slight cross fracture.s, or by gentle twists of strike. 
 There were hundreds of shafts, gangways and rock-tunnels, to 
 give access (a little way) to the interior. There were hot conten- 
 tions of boss miners, proprietors and speculators, over the under- 
 ground complications ; questions not to be settled by fossils, 
 nor by mineral aspect, but solely by the geometrical study of 
 the features of the surface. Topography was master of the 
 situation. And "Whelpley constituted himself thus the first per- 
 fect topographical geologist our science had. He received much 
 aid from strong-minded miners at Pottsville like Richard Jones, 
 and drew largely from the stores of local knowledge laid up by 
 experienced coal surveyors like Samuel Miller ; but he had to 
 rely chiefly on his own genius — and what the genius of this re- 
 markable man was there are witnesses enough to testify — for 
 organizing the confused mass of unstudied phenomena before 
 him into a consistent whole. 
 
 Mr. Whelpley's map of the Southern and Middle Anthracite 
 
80 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Coal Felds was one of the most important contributions to 
 physical science ever made, in any country. Its eminent 
 qualities can he appreciated only on reflecting that it was not 
 only topographical, hut geological ; and that it was accom- 
 plished by himself, alone, in the infancy of geological science, 
 with none of the modern aids, and long before the appearance 
 of the great geological maps of Europe, none of which were at 
 first, and indeed very few of which even now are topographical. 
 It was substantially finished in the early spring of 1839, and 
 engrossed in the geological map of the State in 1 842. In May 
 of 1839, its author, tired of his work, left the Survey to lead a 
 life of singular adventure and great suffering ; to be by turns 
 a physician, an explorer, a colonizer, a writer and a mechanical 
 inventor. He died in Boston in 1872, at the age of 55. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley began in 1888 and completed in 1839 a to- 
 pographical map of the mountain country west of the Susque- 
 hanna river, part of the middle region of the State. Bald Eagle 
 or Muncy mountain was the northern and Shade mountain the 
 southern limit of his field. Between them lie the Buffalo moun- 
 tains, Seven mountains, Nittany, Tussey, Standing Stone and 
 Jack's mountains; and the limestone valleys — Penn's, Brush, 
 Nittany, Sugar and Kishacoquillas. This, also, is a region of 
 rare geological topography. The zigzags and terraces of No. 
 IV are its predominating feature ; and the upturned -keel moun- 
 tains of IV its most striking phenomenon. Its general char- 
 acter is, mainly, the reverse of that of the region which Whelp- 
 ley studied. Here anticlinal mountains take the lead, whereas 
 in the anthracite field synclinal mountains claim the first atten- 
 tion. Here M'Kinley found no Coal Measures ; no red shale of 
 XI ; no terraced red and white sandstone mountains of IX and 
 X. He was working in rocks of the Lower Devonian and Si- 
 lurian systems. His mountains were all mountains of IV, in 
 one direction (eastward) sinking slowly under broad plains of 
 Silurian Red Shale V (with fossil ore) and Silurian limestone VI; 
 and in the other direction (westward) abruptly terminating in 
 fertile valleys of Siluro-Cambrian limestone II. 
 
 In 1838 the first extended study of the Clinton fossil ore of V 
 was made. The red shale of V covers all the country between 
 the Susquehanna river and the Buffalo mountains. It is thrown 
 
FIBST SURVEY, 1838. A. 81 
 
 into six waves, one of wliicli, on the east side of the rivei, 
 forms Montour's Ridge, on both flanks of which, at Danville, 
 Bloomsburg and elsewhere, the ore had already been mined. 
 This ore was now traced westward around the end of Jack's 
 mountain as far as Lewistown on the Juniata ; through Penu's 
 Valley ; along the flanks of the BuflFalo mountains ; around 
 the end and along the north side of Muncy mountain, past 
 Williamsport to Bellefonte and Hollidaysburg. 
 
 In 1838 T)\: Jackson, — a man of singular but erratic genius, 
 who became a distinguished physician in Western Pennsyl- 
 vania, and died surgeon-in-chief of the Army of the Cumber- 
 land soon after the battle of Lookout mountain near Chatta- 
 nooga, in 1863, — made a discovery of great importance, but one 
 not appreciated for a good many years afterwards. His work 
 that year lay chiefly in the limestone valleys adjoining Mr. 
 M'Kinley's mountain land. After examining every iron ore 
 bank in ISTittany Valley, Brush Valley, Penn's Valley, Sinking 
 Creek Valley and Kishaeoquillas Valley, he came to the con- 
 clusion that the brown-hematite (limonite) ore of these valleys 
 belonged to the stratified limestone beds themselves, and had 
 been set free from them by chemical and mechanical decompo- 
 sition. This view was not only new and strange to the iron 
 masters and miners of the region, but was opposed to the pre- 
 vailing feeling of the chief geologist, and not publicly accepted 
 by him. Prof. John Frazer always resisted it on the ground 
 of his belief that the iron had been washed out of the sur- 
 rounding sand-rocks of IV, and been collected in the hollows 
 of the limestone surface of the valleys. The manuscript re- 
 ports of Mr. Bocking, twenty years later, were based upon sub- 
 stantially the same idea. Dr. Hitchcock, after studying the 
 brown hematite deposits of the limestones in Vermont, Massa- 
 chusetts and Eastern New York, convinced himself that all 
 similar deposits in the limestone valleys of the Appalachian 
 belt as far down as Alabama, had been washed into their 
 present resting places in a very recent geological age, the Ter- 
 tiary. Even in 1873 Dr. T. S. Hunt connected the easternmost 
 range of these ores with the chemical and mechanical dissolu- 
 tion of the iron bearing metamorphic slates of the Blue Ridge 
 6— A. 
 
82 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and the Piedmont region. Dr. IN^ewberry seems to agree with 
 him in this ; for in his excellent article " On the Iron Resources 
 of the United States," published in the International Review of 
 last l^ovember, page 764, he writes : 
 
 "A belt of limonite ore-beds passes down along the flanks of the AUeghe- 
 nies from Maine to Georgia ; and these deposits occur chiefly along the out- 
 crops of the metamorphic Siltinan limestones-^ . . . . Everything indi- 
 cates that these deposits were formed by the accumulation of the oxide of 
 iron precipitated from the ferruginous drainage of the iron bearing Alle- 
 gheny highlands. In date they range from the Cretaceous to the present 
 time," &c. 
 
 This notion, which is one of those deceptive, broad general- 
 izations naturally and justifiably indulged in by men of science, 
 whose knowledge is extensive, but who have not found oppor- 
 tunity to study the phenomena in question at sufiicient length 
 and detail in the field, was set aside by E.. M. S. Jackson in 
 1838, after a thorough examination of the case, with eyes from 
 ithe glance of which nothing escaped, and with a brain never 
 ■excelled. He saw that the ore banks of Nittany Valley ranged 
 themselves geographically into a long oval curve, along the 
 sides and around the ends of a low barren ridge, in the middle 
 of the valley ; and that only one portion of the limestone series 
 ■came to the surface with the ores along this oval line. Holding 
 to this clue and following it through Morrison's cove, Kisha- 
 coquillas, and the other valleys, he found the ore banks of all 
 of them located along the outcrops of certain special limestone 
 beds in the series. But, had the ore been washed in from the 
 surrounding mountain-wall of No. IV, it would have been 
 ■dumped, regularly or irregularly, over the whole surface of each 
 ■valley ; and in equal proportions in all the valleys ; for the same 
 proportional amount of No. IV surrounds them all. "When 
 it was suggested that the vault of No. IV, which once spanned 
 the valley, had cracked and gapped and that the iron ore had 
 'been precipitated at the bottom of the chasm, Jackson ex- 
 claimed : "What a roaring torrent must have swept through 
 ■that crack, swollen by perpetual rains descending mountain 
 slopes higher than the Alps ! Had he heard Dr. Hunt and Dr. 
 Newberry conjecture that the ores lying along the eastern edge 
 of the Shenandoah valley had been washed into it from, or from 
 across, the Blue Ridge, he would have declaimed, in his grand 
 dramatic way, on the absurb conclusion to which his geology 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1838. A. 83 
 
 of the hack valleys would then be reduced. For what flood 
 could suffice to sweep the Blue Ridge iron ores a hundred miles, 
 over successive ranges of mountains and across numerous par- 
 allel valleys, in some of which, although admirably adapted to 
 hold them, not a trace of such ores are now to be found ? Mr. 
 Rogers' flood came from the north. This must come from the 
 south. 
 
 Had Jackson lived a geologist, he would have published a 
 satisfactory refutation of this surface-drainage theory of the 
 brown hematites. Special private surveys of ore tracts in the 
 Great Vallej', and in these back valleys, and especially an 
 elaborate re-examination of part of Jackson's district of 1838 
 by Mr. Franklin Piatt in 1873, (see his map of 100 square 
 miles of the Nittany valley, for Lyon, Shorb & Co.) has left no 
 ground for doubt, that Robert Jackson was the discoverer of 
 the true argument of explanation for the existence of our brown 
 hematite iron ores of "So. II. The argument evidently made 
 an impression on the mind of Mr. Rogers; but not one deep 
 enough to be clearly represented in his annual report. All he 
 says, on page 47, is this : 
 
 " Though a great number of excavations for iron ore were 
 isited in Nittany valley, many of which are highly interest- 
 ing from the richness of the ore, and the prodigality in which 
 the mineral is supplie , and from the curious features, seen 
 sometimes in deposits in their connection with the underlying 
 limestone strata, yet no satisfactory explanation has been ar- 
 rived at concerning the origin of the ore, nor any general prac- 
 tical rule discovered, calculated to conduct us with a desirable 
 degree of certainty, in a search after large deposits of the min- 
 eral. Some light has, however, been gained from other quar- 
 ters of the State, through observations made upon the same 
 formation. If these should be corroborated by future re- 
 searches, some part of the obscurity which rests upon this 
 difficult but important subject, may perhaps be removed. For 
 the present, I deem it premature, until the chemical examina- 
 tions connected with the survey shall have been more advanced, 
 to enter into the complicated enquiries arising out of the scien- 
 tific investigation of our ores of iron." 
 
 A remarkable passage, however, occurs in a paper of char- 
 
84 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 acteristic temperance of judgment and beauty of sty'e, read by 
 Prof. William B. Rogers at the third meeting of the Associa- 
 tion of American Geologists and JSTaturalists, at Boston, in 1842, 
 which shows, that if he and his distinguished brother were 
 'prevented from freely adopting Dr. Jackson's conclusion by 
 considerations connected with their peculiar diluvial views or 
 from any other reason, they nevertheless held fundamental 
 truths of sediment ary geology which could only bud and blos- 
 som into that conclusion as their native fruit. 
 
 This paper was entitled " On the connection of Thermal 
 Springs in Virginia, with anticlinals and faults," and it gave 
 in detail the evidence of such connection. The evolution of 
 nitrogen was ascribed (suggestively) to the setting free of that 
 gas from common air carried down from the surface to great 
 depths by water, which, on its way thither, is heated and re- 
 ascends in hot springs, — the oxygen of the air being consumed 
 by carbon disseminated through the rocks in the form of car- 
 bonate of iron ; the carbon and oxygen flying oft" together ; the 
 nitrogen apart, and the iron being left in the rock as hydrated 
 peroxide, i. e. brown hematite iron ore. (See Trans. Ass. A. Gr. 
 and j^., 1842, p. 345.) The passage referred to is as follows : — 
 
 " The limestone For. II, and the slates forming a part of For. 
 I, always contain more or less protoxide of iron and carbona- 
 ceous matter, even after long exposure to the action of the 
 weather. "When freshly taken from a new excavation at some 
 depth, the latter rocks abound in the protoxide, and the lime- 
 stone exhibits nearly all of its iron in that stage of oxidation. 
 It would, therefore, seem probable that these and the other 
 strata deposited beneath the Appalachian sea, contain, at great 
 depths, this oxide to the exclusion of the sesquioxide." 
 
 This is only another mode of saying that the sesquioxide 
 (brown hematite) deposits are the outcrop edges of the protoxide 
 (unchanged) iron bearing layers of the Old-Age (Palaeozoic) 
 Rock System ; which is precisely true, and perfectly well rep- 
 resents one of the chief discoveries of the third year of the 
 First Survey of Pennsylvania, in Dr. Robert Jackson's district. 
 
 In 1838, also, it came into clear view for the first time, that 
 the complicated geological structure of Pennsylvania differed 
 specially from the geological structure of the disturbed Old-Age 
 
riKST SURVEY, 1838. A. 85 
 
 Kock regions of Europe, in the almost total absence of down- 
 throw faults. Now first appeared before the eyes of students 
 of the science on this side the water, those symmetrical vaults 
 and basins into which the seven-mile thick earth-coat of Old- 
 Age Rocks had been pressed ; to heights higher than the Hima- 
 laya mountains, and to depths deeper than the deepest ocean 
 soundings. Arched roofs of Coal Measures, invisible to com- 
 mon eye, were now seen by the geologist's instructed vision 
 spanning in air the interval between the crest of the Allegheny 
 and the crest of Broad Top — mountains forty miles distant 
 from each other; between the Mehoopanyand Shickshinny, — 
 between the "Wyoming and Hell Kitchen, — Green and Locust, — 
 Mahanoy and Broad mountains. In like manner the still more 
 ancient vanished vaults of the sand-rock No. IV were restored 
 in imagination to their places in the air over the limestone 
 valleys of II; fragments of them still remaining, such as the 
 bridge of stone seven miles long and five miles wide which shuts 
 in the Nippenose Valley south of Williamsport. Before these 
 stupendous structures, some of which must have been six or 
 seven miles higher than the present surface, Alps and Andes 
 hide their diminished heads. 
 
 In 1838, the erosion of the earth's surface was first clearly 
 revealed to geologists in America in all its magnitude, and 
 took its place as prime factor in their calculations. It was 
 not adequately felt by European geologists until long afterwards. 
 M. Desor, although born in the Jura, and bred in the Alps, ex- 
 pressed unbounded astonishment and delight at the first fair 
 sight he got of the erosion of our anticlinal valleys in 1851. 
 The late lamented chief of the Irish geological survey. Prof J. 
 Beete Jukes was the first English geologist who saw it himself 
 and taught it to others. The doctrine of vast subaerial erosion, 
 which now plays so prominent a role in all discussions of the 
 physics of earth, and especially of dynamic and sedimentary 
 geology, may therefore be justly called a Pennsylvanian dis- 
 covery, dating from the years 1837 and 1838. 
 
 In 1837, Whelpley discovered that existing mountains are 
 the remains of a continent once standing at some easily deter- 
 minable higher level than the present continent. He saw that 
 this must be true, as soon as he attempted to map the syn- 
 
86 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 clinal plateaux of the Anthracite Coal Field. And in 1838, this 
 master-key thought in structural geology became the common 
 property of the Assistants on the Pennsylvania Survey. Since 
 then it has not only supplanted, but sent out of existence, the 
 old time notions of " mountains of elevation," and has set in a 
 true light the origin of the newer and loftier ranges of the 
 world. It alibrds us ampler materials out of w?iich to get ma- 
 terial enough for the construction of the low countries ; and 
 it explains the production of the later rock-systems out of the 
 debris of the earlier, through all geological times. 
 
 Unfortunately Mr. Rogers was led by an overstrained poetic 
 sentiment to imagine for these tremendous phenomena a phys- 
 ical cause which no one now considers to be necessary for their 
 explanation. But it must be remembered that no one questioned 
 then that the interior of the earth was a globe of liquid fire, upon 
 which a cooled crust floated. Mr. Rogers used the accepted 
 theory of earthquakes. Earthquakes of any required magni- 
 tude and violence might have happened. He had only to ima- 
 gine earthquake waves, in the fiery ocean underneath, suffi- 
 ciently large to permanently fix a crust say ten miles thick, into 
 these immense vaults and cradles, and, if the lava waves moved 
 north-westward, the steeper dips in that direction would be ac- 
 counted for. 
 
 The same poetic temperament and large way of looking at 
 things induced him to use the then current belief in ancient 
 deluges for explaining to himself and to his assistants the sweep- 
 ing away of the upper formations, and the removal of the rock- 
 wave crests. He thought he could bring his moving ocean from 
 the north, and imagined it to have been generated by the rise 
 of the continent at the close of the Coal Era. 
 
 Such poetic dreams have passed away. Such mere theories 
 have been covered up and fossilized beneath the slow accumu- 
 lations of common sense investigation in all the fields of natural 
 science. They served their turn to inspire with enthusiasm the 
 first workers ; but so far as they influenced the minds of the 
 Assistants, they did harm in this one respect, namely : they 
 prevented a quite intelligent study of the actual surface. For, 
 every patch of boulders, every gravel bank, every isolated knob 
 in a gap, every scratch upon the bare rocks, and even the sub 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1839. A. 87 
 
 soil loams and sands, were referred, more or less, under this 
 theory, to some other locality further north. Had it happened 
 after Agassiz had studied ice, instead of before, — had Mr. Rogers 
 himself seen the glaciers of the Alps, — his was just the genius 
 to anticipate the discovery of the "glacial theory," and his 
 fame would have been even greater than it is. It was not until 
 Desor joined the Survey, in 1851, that we learned how impor- 
 tant a part of our geology the subsoil is ; how much part and 
 parcel of the rocks beneath it, it is ; and therefore, what a guide 
 it is in exploration. 
 
 The fourth year of the First Geological Survey was 1839. 
 
 The annual report of the Chief Geologist, sent in by the 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth, February 8, 1840, makes a 
 printed pamphlet of 215 pages, 45 of which contain analyses of 
 iron ores by Dr. E.. E. Rogers and Mr. Martin Boye, chemists 
 of the survey. 
 
 The field work of this year was substantially a continuation 
 of that of the preceding year ; most of the Assistants pursuing 
 the study of their respective belts of country towards the south 
 and west. 
 
 The cost of the survey in 1839, amounted to $16,000, (15,- 
 991 27.) 
 
 Mr. Whelpley and Mr. Sheafer resigned from it ; and Dr. 
 Andrew A. Henderson of Huntingdon, and Mr. Peter Lesley, 
 Jr., of Philadelphia, were added to the corps. Mr. Stone served 
 as a volunteer throughout the field-work season. 
 
 Mr. Holl explored the south-east corner of the State, south of 
 the New Red Formation, viz : The Bristol and Germantowii 
 hills, Chester, Delaware and (south) Lancaster counties. Firsx 
 District. 
 
 Mr. Trego was withdrawn from Somerset and Fayette to ex- 
 plore York and Adams counties, which had been neglected in 
 1838 : and also the Cumberland Valley. First and Third District. 
 
 Mr. "Whelpley remained at Pottsville until June to finish his 
 anthracite map, and to induct Dr. Henderson and Mr. Lesley 
 into the geology of the Coal Region. Dr. Henderson, however, 
 was soon assigned (in May) a separate district west of the Sua- 
 
08 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 quehanna river, and Mr. Lesley remained to continue alone the 
 collection of information furnished by the collieries, and to en- 
 large the borders of Mr. Whelpley's map, by taking in Devon- 
 ian country to the north and south of it. Second District. 
 
 Dr. Henderson commenced a systematic survey of the belt of 
 country lying between Shade, Black Log and Cove mountains 
 on the south, and Jack's mountain and Sideling Hill on the 
 north. Third District. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley continued the study of his belt of the Seven 
 Mountains through Stone Valley, across the Juniata river, to 
 Broad Top ; keeping Jack's mountain and Sideling Hill on the 
 south, and Tussey mountain on the north. Third District. 
 
 Dr. Jackson continued the study of his belt, between Tussey 
 imountain and the Allegheny mountain, as far south-west as 
 Bedford. Third District. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinney, assisted by Mr. "Ward, undertook to measure 
 instrumentally a section across Westmoreland and "Washington 
 counties, from Mt. Pleasant at the foot of Chestnut Ridge to 
 the Ohio River at Wellsboro'. His lines passed along the turn 
 pike ; Big Sewickley creek ; across to "Williamsport ; down the 
 Monongahela ; up Mingo creek and down Cross creek to the 
 Ohio river. This line was regularly surveyed ; and the heights 
 of the coal outcrops were determined with the boiling-point 
 thermometer and barometer.* They made also exploring jour- 
 neys through what is now known as the Oil Region, and through 
 Mercer and Butler counties, in the field occupied in the previous 
 year by Mr. Hodge. Fifth District. 
 
 Mr. Hodge, accompanied by Mr. Stone as a volunteer, and 
 
 provided with a pack horse, tent and two men, commenced a 
 
 systematic exploration of the First and Second Bituminous 
 
 Coal Basins l^'ing on the high Allegheny Mountain table-land 
 
 of "Wyoming, Sullivan, Lycoming and Clinton counties, cut 
 
 through by the deep gorges of the Loyalsock, Lycoming, Pine, 
 
 Larry's and Tangascootac creeks, and by the ITorth and "West 
 
 Branches of the Susquehanna river. All old coal openings in 
 
 the woods were visited, and new ones were made. All the 
 
 *The use of the boiling-point thermometer as a barometer in the First Sur- 
 vey was not successful. The instruments were all broken in the carriagj, and 
 no records of observations were ever published. This line across the West- 
 em Coal Fields does not appear in the Final Report. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1839. A. 89 
 
 patches of Coal Measures left on the high table mountains, as 
 far north as the New York State line, were distinguished from 
 each other, and located upon the old map of the State ; and a very 
 clever approximation was made to a knowledge of the number, 
 thickness and quality of the coal beds in them. 
 
 Mr. Rogers now saw his way clear to hazard a promise in 
 his annual report, at the end of the year 1839, that one year 
 more should " complete nearly the whole of the field explora- 
 tions, leaving but few tracts in the State, of any geological in- 
 terest, unexplored." A part of still another season, however, 
 would be required for revising intricate portions of the geology, 
 clues to which had been found in neighboring districts ; for 
 certain tedious measurements of high practical importance ; 
 for getting into shape the general geological map of the State, 
 and sundry local maps and sections ; ajid for completing the 
 chemical analysis of the large collection of ores, coals, cements, 
 fire-clays, &c., which were intended to have written analyses 
 attached to them, when arranged in the future museum at 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 In 1839 there were sent to Philadelphia 130 boxes, contain- 
 ing about 3,000 specimens. The whole collection had reached 
 8,000, of which 4,000 had been temporarily classified for analy- 
 sis and reference. 
 
 The gains of the survey in 1839 may be summed up in one 
 sentence : The new geological views reached in 1837 and 1838 
 had been this year applied to and been found to hold good for 
 all parts of the State ; while vast accumulations of local facts 
 had been made for publication in a final report. 
 
 In the south-easternmost district, extending from Trenton to 
 Port Deposit a very good advance was this year made in trac- 
 ing the beds of gneiss, mica slate and serpentine. Mr. Rogers 
 found himself strong enough in facts to pronounce boldly 
 against the igneous origin of serpentine. This was an auspi- 
 cious omen for our emancipation from a whole set of geological 
 superstitions. Years passed, however, before the conviction 
 could be entertained that beds of magnetic iron ore were also 
 sedimentary, and not cooled and crystallized iron lavas. 
 
 Numerous streaks of marble or crystalline limestone were 
 found running through the Chester county country. Beds of 
 
90 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 chromic iron and titanic iron ore were brought into notice. Lo- 
 calities yielding zircons, beryls and large garnets, agates, tour- 
 maline, corundum, sapphire, asbestos and porcelain clay (kao- 
 lin) were visited and described ; the margins of gneissl and, mica- 
 slate land and talc-slate land, with steatite (soap stone) and ser- 
 pentine, were defined with some truthfulness upon the mapi 
 and the Peach Bottom roofing slate of the Susquehanna was 
 studied. 
 
 But after all, no good account could be given of the true 
 structure of this most interesting district ; nor had any close 
 approach been made to an understanding of the age of this belt 
 of rocks. And in the same dark state it has lain ever since. 
 The fact was, the First Survey had its hands too full of other 
 more pressing matters, and was too poor, to make a thorough in- 
 strumental survey in this or in any other district ; and that be- 
 ing the fact, no accurate knowledge could be got of a land ot 
 uncommon complexity of structure, without fossils, and under 
 cover of deep decomposed subsoil, by merely walking over the 
 ground, visiting quarries and rocky hill sides, and collecting 
 specimens. 
 
 The same was true of the ancient rock country north of the 
 Chester Valley. 
 
 Even the structure of the Chester Valley itself was left un- 
 certain ; although every marble quarry and iron ore bed in it, 
 from Willow Grrove at its eastern end, paft Downingtown, to 
 its western end in Lancaster county was visited, and the well 
 exposed rocks along the Schuylkill river hanks were examined, 
 measured and sketched over and over again. 
 
 The geology of York and Adams counties, so far as the oldest 
 rocks were concerned, was also left at the end of the year in a 
 very unsatisfactory state, little being known of it (and less still 
 of the South Mountain range) except that all its rocks were 
 older than those which occupied the rest of the State ; and that 
 such and such minerals could be found in them. 
 
 The year 1839 was remarkable for Pennsylvania geology by 
 the experiments of Mr. William Lyman of Boston, at Potts- 
 ville, to smelt iron ores with anthracite coal ; and also by the 
 arrival of Mr David Thomas and his family from Wales, to 
 attempt the same feat near Allentown. Mr. Lyman, after 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1839. A. 91 
 
 many months ot anxiety, at first alone, and afterwards assisted 
 by the experience of Mr. Thomas, was successful ; hut his ex- 
 posures and lahors hy day and night undermined his consti- 
 tution, and he died a few years afterwards in New England. 
 His name should be held in the front rank of honor, as one ot 
 the pioneers of that industry which has made Pennsylvania in 
 a special manner famous. Mr. Thomas had been of the begin- 
 nings of the industry in South Wales, and was sent over by 
 Mr. Crane, the rich iron master of England, to establish it on 
 the Lehigh ; built the first Crane furnace in 1840 ; afterwards 
 built furnaces of his own ; and amassed a fortune well deserved 
 and well employed. Hale and active at eighty years of age, he 
 sat as patriarch, chieftain and sage among the assembled iron 
 men of the United States, at the banquet given in Philadelphia, 
 on the 10th of December 1874, by the American Iron and Steel 
 Association to its English guests, Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, presi- 
 dent of the Iron and Steel Association of Great Britain, and 
 Mr. Thomas Whitwell. 
 
 The Pioneer Anthracite Steam Furnace at Pottsville was 
 built in 1838 expressly for repeating the Welsh experiment 
 with Pottsville anthracite. Tradition says that, 12 years earlier, 
 in 1826, a little furnace, one mile below Mauch Chunk, made 
 iron successfully with Lehigh anthracite. Tradition of a more 
 specific and reliable kind shows that anthracite- burning loco- 
 motives habitually drew trains of coal cars up the steep gradi- 
 ents of the Beaver Meadow railroad for a number of years be- 
 fore such a thing was thought of in any other part of the 
 world. 
 
 The Chief Geologist was now besieged with solicitations to 
 discover black band, or other iron ore deposits, in the anthra- 
 cite Coal Measures ; and he gave directions that every outcrop 
 of iron bearing sandstone or shale should he examined, and all 
 possible care should be taken to detect the presence of the much 
 coveted mineral. But the best of geological surveys cannot 
 discover what does not exist, nor make available for practical 
 use what costs too much to procure. 
 
 Already before the close of 1889 it became tolerably clear 
 that no extensive iron mines would ever be wrought within 
 the limits of the Anthracite coal fields proper ; and the history 
 
92 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of 35 j'ears, — with its record of gangways driven and shafts 
 sunk to follow or to strike beds of coal-measure ironstone and 
 hlackband ore, — confirms the soundness of the geological sen- 
 timent on this subject then formed. There may exist excep- 
 tionally thick and extensive sheets of ironstone somewhere un- 
 derground, concealed in the measures which lie between the 
 coal beds ; and such a plate may be accidentally struck in any 
 month of any year hereafter ; who can tell ? But until such 
 an accident shall occur, the idea of the essential barrenness of 
 the Anthracite rocks in iron ore, got by the studies of the Sur- 
 vey in 1839, will be retained. Such an accident, however, is 
 not without example. In 1874, a nine foot bed of ironstone 
 was found by an English engineer underlying the soil of a 
 valley in the north-eastern district of England, close to Mr. 
 Bell's iron works, and that at a depth of only eight feet. It 
 was wholly unsuspected, although old and extensive minea 
 of ironstone overlooked the locality from the hills above. 
 
 The year 1839 may be called the Iron Year of the First Sur- 
 vey for yet other reasons. Mr. Hodge, in his systematic study 
 of the coal patches thinly coating the Allegheny table land, 
 had to lead his camping party innumerable times over the ver- 
 tical outcrop-escarpment of the Conglomerate JS'o. XII, which 
 makes a cornice around all the mountain spurs of that countr}'. 
 Underneath this hanging wall of horizontal rock, (the home 
 of millions of rattlesnakes,) crowning slopes which rise about 
 a thousand feet in height from the main streams, he found the 
 soft red shales of XI ; and in their upper part, close to the base 
 of the Conglomerate, the dove colored carbonate iron ore of 
 XI ; the first of that series of iron ore deposits which belong 
 to the Coal Measure Age. With this exhibition he was so 
 profoundly impressed, especially wherever it showed itself at 
 the best, (for example, at Ralston, in the Lycoming valley) that 
 in after years he decided to invest the savings of hie laborious 
 life in it, in preference to the Lake Superior copper, — and lost 
 all he had. Mr. Eogers, and those of his other assistants who 
 had districts containing such rocks, were all alike impressed 
 with the conviction that this bed of iron ore, which was some- 
 times four feet thick, and seemed to lie in an almost unbroken 
 sheet beneath one-half the State of Pennsylvania, would be one 
 
J?IRST SURVEY, 1839. A. 93 
 
 of the chief resources of our Iron Industry. Perhaps ere this 
 it would have become so but for the discoveries of richer ores, 
 in greater masses, and of easier access, in Michigan and Mis- 
 souri. Perhaps it will yet become so when population con- 
 denses, wages fall, and capital offers itself cheap for investment. 
 But thus far the value attached to this deposit by the Survey 
 of 1839 has seemed extravagant. 
 
 The tracing of this iron ore bed by Mr. Hodge through so 
 large a district of Northern Pennsylvania this year (1889) af- 
 forded the requii'ed geological explanation of the sub-conglom- 
 erate kidney iron ore deposit, with coal, which he had reported 
 upon the year before (1838) at Meadville and other places in 
 the far north-west ; and to smelt which a small quarter-stack 
 blast furnace was built in 1838, with arrangements then novel, 
 for taking the gases from the tunnel-head to raise steam for the 
 blast engine. 
 
 In 1839, during the careful study of all the layers of the 
 Lower Bituminous or Allegheny River Coal System, the first 
 general report was made of the " Buhr-stone Iron Ore" deposit 
 of Clarion and Butler counties ; on which Mill Creek, Webster, 
 Beaver, Shippenville, Lucinda, Madison, Clarion, Etna and 
 Jackson furnaces had been built at various dates between 1832 
 and 1839. This brown-hematite deposit was as important to 
 the Charcoal Iron Trade of America then, as the brown hema- 
 tites of Eastern and Middle Pennsylvania are to the Anthra^ 
 cite Blast Furnace production of the country now ; being a 
 deposit co-extensive with the Lower Coal Measures in Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio and Kentucky, and already in 1839, serving 
 eighteen furnaces in South-Eastern Ohio, viz: Brush Creek, 
 built in 1812, Old Steam and Marble (1816,) Union and Frank- 
 lin (1826,) Pinegrove (1828,) Sciota (1830,) Bloom, Clinton and 
 Etna (1832,) Lawrence and Vesuvius (1834,) Hecla and Mt. 
 Vernon (1835,) Lagrange and Buckhorn (1836,) Jackson (1837) 
 and Centre in 1838 ; — and at least eight furnaces in Eastern 
 Kentucky, viz : Steam (1817,) Argolite (1818,) Bellefonte and 
 Eed Eiver (1828,) Amanda and Eaccoon (1831,) Caroline and 
 Clinton, built in 1833. 
 
 Mr. Sogers on page 163 of his annual report of 1839 writes 
 of this remarkable " Buhr-stone " iron ore deposit, thus : 
 
94 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 '• The great importance of this valuable deposit to the grow- 
 ing wealth and enterprise of the western part of the 8tate, is 
 beginning to be appreciated. I need hardly, therefore, dwell 
 upon it any further than to mention the following circum- 
 stances in its favor : The richness of this ore, far exceeding that 
 of the nodular variety common in the slates of the coal mea- 
 sures, will bear comparison with much of the best ore found in 
 the limestone valleys south-east of the Allegheny mountain. 
 Another merit is the facility with which it may be smelted 
 either alone or mixed with the nodular or ball ore, and particu- 
 larly with the bog ore found so abundantly in Venango and 
 Clarion counties. In the thicker parts of the deposit it is a 
 nearly pure semi-crystalline protocarbonate of iron, a variety 
 well known to be susceptible of extremely easy reduction. It 
 is moreover recommended by the readiness with which it can 
 be traced, arising from its accompanying closely the fossilifer- 
 ous limestone, which furnishes an excellent landmark. The 
 buhr-stone assists the discovery of it in a still greater degree, 
 the fragments of that peculiar stone being so easily recognized, 
 serving to point out the position of the ore. Besides these im- 
 portant facts, it should be mentioned that a workable seam of 
 coal occurs above the ore and limestone, and another beneath 
 them at a moderate interval The importance of this triple 
 association of the materials employed in the manufacture of 
 iron, to the future wealth of our western counties must be ob- 
 vious to every one who adverts to the incalculable advantage 
 which Great Britain has derived from the same fortunate 
 union." 
 
 Nor could the merits of the Buhr-stone ore bed well be ex- 
 aggerated, so long as the forest timber, which overgrew the 
 hills above it, held out for the supply of charcoal. When the 
 " Iron Manufacturer's Guide to the furnaces, forges and rolling 
 mills of the United States " was published in 1859, its tables 
 gave a list of 104 charcoal and coke blast-furnaces in North- 
 Western Pennsylvania ; 17 in ISTorth-Eastern Ohio ; 48 in South- 
 Eastern Ohio and 24 in Eastern Kentucky^l93 in all ; most of 
 which had once obtained, or were then obtaining their stock 
 chiefly from it. The combined yield of 128 of these stacks in 
 blast in 1856 amounted to 170,000 tons of charcoal metal. A few 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1839. A. 95 
 
 furnace men had ventured successfully on the use of coke or 
 raw coal. JS'ow that tlie production of strong pure coke from 
 crushed and washed bituminous coal is become a manufacture, 
 we may expect that the area occupied by the Buhr-stone ore 
 deposit will be one of the important iron-making regions of 
 America, and at no very distant day. 
 
 In 1839 Mr. Rogers published the first chemical memoir on 
 the iron ores of Pennsylvania, in the form of a connected list 
 of analyses made in the laboratory of the Survey. It occupies 
 45 pages of his annual report. 
 
 In 1839 the Larry's Creek "fossil ore" lying at the base of 
 'Eo. IX (Catskill) was brought to the notice of the Survey 
 by Mr. Hodge. It is now known to outcrop irregularly along 
 the whole extent of face of the Allegheny mountain. Mr. 
 Cessna, of Bedford, has recently had it opened, for a length of 
 ten miles, back of the Huntingdon, Broad Top, Bedford and 
 Cumberland railroad ; and analyses by Mr. M'Creath, of speci- 
 mens sent to the laboratory of the Survey by Mr. Homer Young, 
 from Milanville, in Wayne county, near the Delaware river, will 
 appear in this year's annual report. This ore singularly resem- 
 bles the much older deposit at the bottom of No. V, (Clinton) 
 and is probably as extensive ; underlying the whole Bituminous 
 Coal Field at a great depth.* 
 
 In 1839 the first systematic study of a far more important 
 iron ore deposit, at the bottom of No. VIII, was made by Dr. 
 Henderson, who found it pretty extensively mined along the 
 Juniata river above Lewistown ; as it was, in Mr. M'Kinley's 
 district, on the banks of Yellow creek in "Woodcock valley. 
 Dr. Henderson's observations of it led him shrewdly to an im- 
 portant discovery in a geological sense, although his conclusions 
 diminish largely the future practical value of the deposit. The 
 ore thus mined along the outcrops of the bottom slates of VIII 
 (just over the Oriskany sandstone, VII) is a soft brown hema- 
 
 *In October, 1875, this ove was found in the same transition layers VIII- 
 IX, (top of Chemung and bottom of Catsliill,) in Aughwick valley, in a cut- 
 ting of the East Broad Top railroad. It is represented along the northern 
 line of the State by one of the "Mansfield ore beds" of Tioga and Bradford 
 counties. In Western New York it is represented by highly ferruginous 
 red layers on the Genesee. See James Hall's report of 1843, page 278, and J. 
 F. Carll's Report of Progress for 1874, pages I. 99 and I. 100. , 
 
96 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tile, and continues to be of that nature down to a certain va- 
 riable depth, say 100 feet beneath the surface. Dr. Henderson 
 saw that this was not the original condition of the ore forma- 
 tion ; that this character was a product of decomposition, chem- 
 ical and mechanical ; that the bed would always be found to 
 yield to deep mining some other kind of ore. In the brown- 
 hematite of some he found lumps of impure carbonate of iron, 
 and he believed that the entire ore bed below a certain level 
 was an earthy ironstone. This level would be the drainage 
 level of the country. 
 
 Dr. Henderson's anticipations have been partially realized. 
 In late years huge masses of " rock ore" have been met with ; 
 and, as Mr. Dewees' report will show, tunnels driven across the 
 measures to get a deeper hold of the brown-hematite have 
 struck the bed where there was no brown-hematite at all ; the 
 whole bed being a stratum of solid undecomposed earthy iron- 
 stone, like those which occur abundantly in the Coal Measures. 
 In fact the deposit of ironstone just overlying the Conglomer- 
 ate xTo. XII is a repetition, in a subsequent age, of this deposit 
 of ironstone just overlying the Oriskany sandstone, No. VII. 
 And it is not at all unlikely that this again is merely a repeti- 
 tion at the beginning of the Devonian age, of deposits of iron 
 in the form of carbonate, now wholly changed to oxide, which 
 took place, at the beginning of the Siluro-Cambrian age, on top 
 of the Potsdam sandstone, ISTo. 1. The different degrees in 
 which the carbonate has been turned into oxide (clay ironstone 
 into brown hematite) would then be proportionate to the respec- 
 tive and vastly remote ages of the three formations ; the first 
 marking the beginning, the second the middle, and the third 
 the end of the great Old- Age (Paleeozoic) system. 
 
 In 1839 a flood of light thus began to pour in upon the be- 
 fore almost unknown Geology of the Iron Ores. The discovery 
 of Jackson in 1838, was supplemented by the discoveries of 
 Henderson in 1839 ; and both were supported and illustrated 
 by the independent observations of Mr. Trego along the north 
 flank of the South mountains bi^tween Ilarrisburg and Hasers- 
 town. 
 
 For, at the close of 1839, Mr. Trego visited all the ore banks 
 of the Cumberland Valley ; and although he constructed no 
 
FIRST SUKVEY, 1839. A. 97 
 
 theory, he recorded many facts, which were summarily pub- 
 lished in Mr. Rogers' annual report for 1839, and which, when 
 viewed in the light of our present knowledge, suffice to over- 
 throw the drift-theory of the brown hematite beds, and to con- 
 firm Jackson's and Henderson's views. 
 
 Mr. Trego noticed with much curiosity the important fact, 
 that two separate belts of different kinds of brown hematite 
 ore beds follow the foot of the South mountains: one of 
 cold-short ores next to the Potsdam, and another of red-short 
 ores in the limestone. In Prof. Prime's preliminary report of 
 his Lehigh district the first important step made towards the 
 true statement of the cause of this difference will be described. 
 Everything on this subject has been vague enough hitherto. 
 The silicon in the sandstone and sulphur in the limestone, have 
 had the credit of making this distinction between the cold and 
 red short hematites. Perhaps they deserve it ; but it is becom- 
 ing more apparent every year, that the ore is never found in 
 limestones, but between them ; that it has not come from the 
 decomposition of limestone (dolomite) layers, but from the de- 
 composition of sandy and slaty layers lying above, between or 
 underneath 'the dolomites. 
 
 Prof. Prime will sh^w, in his report, that one range of brown 
 hematite ore beds west of the Lehigh, are connected with pot- 
 ash slate (damourite) beds. The ore seems, so far as his obser- 
 vations as yet extend, to have been set free from the weathered 
 outcrops of these potash slates, which have been noticed by 
 other observers in other parts of the State. But Prof. Prime 
 is the first geologist who has assigned their probable importance 
 to these peculiar slates of the Siluro- Cambrian formation. 
 
 In 1839 also the first systematic study was made of the much 
 older (Cambrian) iron ores of York and Adams counties, by 
 Mr. Trego, but it was of the most irregular and superficial 
 character, and amounted to little more than a reconnoisance of 
 the ground. Two short continuous belts of ore were recognized 
 by him ; one, along the south edge, and the other along the 
 north edge of the narrow zones of Siluro-Cambrian limestone 
 No. II, in which flows Codorus creek, and which stretches 
 from the Lancaster county limestone country into Maryland ; 
 7— A. 
 
98 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the first one running just south of Hanover and Littlestown, 
 and containing much manganese ; the other skirting the south 
 foot of the Pigeon Hills. No subsequent extensive survey of 
 this ore region was ever made ; but it has occupied public atten- 
 tion greatly of late years ; and much capital has been invested in 
 the development of its mineral resources without additional 
 light being thrown upon the age and structure of its rocks. 
 
 Prof. Persifor Frazer, Jr. will state in his report the results 
 of the instrumental survey of 1874 ; and his map will show 
 that six or seven belts of ore range across York county into 
 AdaniB ; some of them in the Cambrian rocks, others in the 
 New Red. This is but preliminary to a more complete investi- 
 gation in 1875. Such a question as that of the true structure 
 of the oldest and most complicated system of rocks in our 
 State, and a system holding iron ore beds, ought no longer to 
 be left open to barren conjecture. If the skill of modern ge- 
 ology is of any avail where difficulties accumulate, it should 
 he expended here ; and we may cheerfully hope for good results. 
 Already it suggested itself to Mr. Roger's mind that the two 
 belts of iron ore, bordering on both sides the York county 
 limestone, represent the belt .of ore bordering the limestone of 
 the Carlisle and Chambersburg Valley. And if so, then the 
 neighboring rocks are Potsdam No. I, under an altered aspect. 
 He calls the Pigeon Hills No. I, (Potsdam.) We cannot con- 
 •nect our geology with that of Western New England and 
 •Canada unless we be permitted to speak with confidence of the 
 presence in Pennsylvania of the " Quebec Group." The two 
 districts of York and Adams, and of Chester, Delaware and 
 South Lancaster, are the fields on which this important geo- 
 logical problem can best find its solution. The fault along (on 
 the south side of) the Chester County Valley makes the study 
 of it there very difficult. We hope to grapple with it more 
 successfully along the Codorus creek. 
 
 The Fifth year of the First G-eological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 vania was 1840. 
 
 The work of this year was an enlargement and development 
 of that of the preceding ; and the expenses of the survey reached 
 
FIRST SUR\BY, 1840. A. 99 
 
 their maximum of $17,800. The annual report of the Chief 
 Geologist, bearing date February 1, 1841, accounted for seven 
 months of continuous field work, extending from the middle 
 of April to the middle of November. The assistants in charge 
 of districts were now in excellent train, and experienced in re- 
 search, so that the scientific harvest of the season was more 
 abundant than in any previous season ; while fewer discoveries 
 of a notable character were made ; in fact, because such dis- 
 coveries were no longer possible. The science of Pennsylvania 
 geology had now passed safely through its arduous terms of in- 
 fancy and childhood, and had attained a healthy and vigorous 
 maturity. The chief geologist was not only in possession of 
 an eminent point of view from which to see clearly all the 
 field, and to direct the most efi&cient application of the forces 
 at his command, but all uncertainty of action was at an end, 
 and facts fell into system as fast as they were collected. 
 
 During this and the previous years, in company with his 
 brother W. B. Rogers, the Chief Geologist of Virginia, he had 
 traveled widely over the United States. What he thus learned 
 abroad reacted wholesomely upon the survey at home. The geo- 
 logical structure of the Ajapalachian formations were thus stu- 
 diously followed from Virginia to Alabama, and from Pennsyl- 
 vania to the banks of the Hudson. 
 
 In the meanwhile the New York geologists, whose surveys 
 also commenced in 1836, had put in order all the northern out- 
 crops, from the mountains of Massachusetts to Upper Canada. 
 The United States geologists had made discoveries in the region 
 of the upper lakes. The outline form, as well as the solid con- 
 tents of the Old-Age ocean, which once covered the United 
 States, and in which the Palaeozoic formations from Potsdam 
 to Coal Measures had been deposited, was by this time (1840) 
 pretty well known. The limits of the coal fields were fixed. 
 The system of great downthrow faults in the South had been ob- 
 served, and the gradual passage into it of the northern system 
 of great anticlinals. The extension of the fossil ore* beyond 
 
 * Not, however, as then thought, the upper Clinton Fossil ore beds of Dan- 
 ville and Frankstown in Pennsylvania, but the lower or rock fossil ore bed 
 at the base of the Clinton, mined by R. H. Powell, on the flank of Tussey 
 mountain south of Huntingdon. The Pennsylvania fossil ore proper seems 
 to be wanting in Tennessee. 
 
100 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Tennessee had been determined, and some idea had been got oi 
 the most ancient continental rocks, which formed the moun- 
 tainous shores around the Paleozoic sea. 
 
 In 1840, therefore, the geologists of America were prepared 
 to come together in consultation. On the 2d of April, they 
 met in the rooms of the Franklin Institute, and organized 
 themselves into an " Association of American Geologists." Dr. 
 Edward Hitchcock, State Geologist of Massachusetts, was 
 elected chairman, and with him were present the geologist of 
 Vermont, Mr. C. B. Hayden, the New York geologists, Lewis 
 C. Beck, Lardner Vanuxem, Wm. "W". Mather, Ebenezer Em- 
 mons, James Hall and Timothy A. Conrad ; the Pennsylvania 
 geologists, Henrj'^ D. Rogers, Charles B. Trego, Martin H. Boye, 
 Robert E. Rogers and Alexander M'Kinley ; the geoligist of 
 Delaware, James C. Booth ; the geologists of Michigan, Doug- 
 lass Houghton and Bel a Hubbard ; the distinguished English 
 geologist, Richard Cowling Taylor, and the eminent geologist 
 employed by the United States government, Walter R. John- 
 son, both of these last mentioned being residents of Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 The influence of this association on the growth and spread 
 of science in America cannot be overestimated. The second of 
 its meetings took place during the second week of April, 1841, 
 in the rooms of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadel- 
 phia, when Dr. Hitchcock delivered his retiring address, and 
 Prof. Silliman was elected to preside. At its third meeting, 
 (^1842,) held in Boston, Prof. Silliman read his address, which 
 was long remembered and talked of, and Prof. H. D. Rogers 
 was elected chairman. At the fourth meeting at Albany, 
 (1843,) Prof. Rogers delivered his address, in which he resumed 
 his own and his brother's knowledge of Appalachian geology, 
 and announced their new nomenclature. The fifth meeting 
 was held at Washington, in May, 1844 ; the sixth at New Ha- 
 ven, in April, 1845 ; the seventh in 1846, and the eighth at 
 Boston, in September, 1847. 
 
 At each meeting new members were received, papers were 
 read, important discoveries were announced, and individual 
 views were well argued pro and con. A few short, and now all 
 too precious pamphlets, containing the minutes of the meetings. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1840. A-. 101 
 
 and revised addresses, were published, and this slight literature 
 is all that visibly' remains of these annual displays of intellec- 
 tual activity the eft'ects of which upon the assembled field 
 workers were deep and wide in their bearing upon the theory 
 and practice of geology in America ; re-acting on all public and 
 private surveying ; counteracting charlatanism and ignorance, 
 and reinforcing the spirit of every genuine investigation. A 
 large proportion of the men who were systematically pursuing 
 any branch of natural science attached themselves, one by one, 
 to the society, which broadened its title to receive them, soon 
 calling itself the "Association of American Geologists and ]S"at- 
 uralists." 
 
 By the time, however, that its eighth meeting in September 
 1847 arrived, working geology had received a death-blow. 
 Most of the State Surveys were in the popular phrase " fin- 
 ished." The financial panic and crisis of that year stopped 
 speculative investments. Mr. Agassiz, after revolutionizing 
 some of the most important geological views of Englishmen, 
 had settled in America. That meeting was held in Boston, 
 where natural history was weak and physics strong. The phy- 
 sicists of Cambridge demanded entrance and, being admitted, 
 seized at once the government of the old association, and changed 
 its aspects and its polity. Its very name was ignored ; the num- 
 bering of its annual meetings was stopped ; and its memory 
 was swallowed up in the "Proceedings of the First Meeting 
 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 held at Philadelphia, September, 1848." 
 
 This episode is needful to explain the state of things under 
 which field work in Pennsylvania was recommenced in the 
 spring of 1840, and continued to its close. 
 
 Mr. Rogers himself revised the first district, ]y ing south and 
 east of the South mountains, for his final report. 
 
 Mr. Trego crossed to the east side of the Susquehanna river 
 and made a. general survey of the Great Valley through Dau- 
 phin, Lebanon, Berks, Lehigh and ISTorthampton counties ; 
 sending specimens from the ore mines recently opened along 
 the foot of the Reading and Allentown hills, to Mr. Boye, to 
 be analyzed for the benefit of the Anthracite Iron Industry 
 iust establishing itself upon the Lehigh river. 
 
102 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Mr. Trego was then transferred to the Devonian country be- 
 tween the Anthracite coal iields and the Susquehanna river, to 
 gather topographical data for a geological map of the Stale. 
 
 Mr. Lesley made a topographical and geological sketch map 
 of the Devonian and Silurian belt between the Kittatinny moun- 
 tain on the south, and the Pottsville and Maucli Chunk coal field 
 on the north, extending from near Harrisburg to the New York 
 State line at the Delaware river. The Port Clinton group of 
 anticlinals wore arranged ; and the geology of the Focono moun 
 tain at Lehigh, was correlated with that of the Catskill moun- 
 tains in New York. 
 
 Mr. Lesley then joined the camp of Mr. Hodge, at the summit 
 of the Allegheny, and explored with him the Somerset and 
 Fayette county coal basins. 
 
 Dr. Henderson perfected his topographical and geological 
 sketch map of the belt of closely complicated hills and vales 
 ranging through Perry, Juniata, Union, Huntingdon and Frank- 
 lin counties, from the Susquehanna river to the Maryland State 
 line. This beautiful product of a rare genius for patient, close 
 and accurate investigation, is one of the monuments of the first 
 survey. As an illustration of geological science, it leaves little 
 to desire, and as it was never separately published, but engrossed 
 in the general geological map of Pennsylvania, it deserves pub- 
 lication still. Mr. Rogers always spoke of it with admiration 
 and does not conceal this sentiment in his annual report. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley finished his study of the middle belt, including 
 the Broad Top coal field, from Huntingdon to the Marjdand State 
 line. But the complicated structure of Broad Top completely 
 foiled him, and no wonder; for the writer somej'ears later spent 
 two entire seasons there, setting more than 11,000 stakes on run 
 and leveled lines within its limits, without entirely unraveling 
 the plot of movement in its Coal ]\Ieasures. Mr. Fulton has been 
 at work upon them ever since ; and still there is much to learn. 
 A few months of additional instrumental work, however, will 
 finis!i an elaborate topographical and geological map of this most 
 interesting and important little semi-bituminous coal field. 
 
 Dr. Jackson continued and completed his study of tlie Bed- 
 ford-Somerset belt facing the Allegheny mountain as far as to 
 the Maryland line, and collected materials for the State map ; al- 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1840. A. 103 
 
 though he had no skill for map-making himself, and did not at- 
 tempt it. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley and Dr. Jackson filled up the residue of this 
 season's work in the south-west corner of the State. 
 
 Mr. Hodge carried southward his survey of the first bituminous 
 coal basin from where he left off in 1839 upon the Tangascootac 
 in Centre county, through the Beech Creek, Snow Shoe, Clear- 
 field and Mt. Pleasant country. Mr. Ward was his companion 
 this year instead of Mr. Stone, and his camp consisted of two 
 tents, a wagon and three horses, with three brothers for his 
 working hands, two of whom he had trained the previous year, 
 and a cook, who hunted and could occasionidlj' dig. In August, 
 Mr. Lesley joined this party, which had by that time reached 
 Loretto. The camp was then moved from station to station every 
 week or ten days, down the Conemaugh and up the Sandy, down 
 Castleman's river, and back through Ligonier valley, and wp.s 
 bioken up when a foot of snow was on the ground. 
 
 Mr. Lehman, the talented artist of the Survey, was in this 
 camp for more than a month. The rest of the season he was 
 sketching elsewhere in the State. Mr. Hodge confined his ex- 
 plorations chiefly to the iron ore beds, and Mr. Lesley his, as 
 much as possible, to the coal beds. The ore of XI was studied 
 along the face of the Allegheny mountain, and on the anticlinal 
 mountains bounding Ligonier valley. Every effort was made to 
 comprehend the character, order and extent of the ore deposits 
 ot the Coal Measures. The Cumbria Iron Works at Johnstown, 
 the largest in America, have made these deposits famous. The 
 proprietors have recently employed Mr. John Fulton to make an 
 instrumental geological survey of them, and granted leave to the 
 Board of Commissioners of the State Survey to publish Mr. Ful- 
 ton's map and report next winter. 
 
 Dr. Jackson and Mr. M'Kinley, after finishing their belts of 
 country in Middle Pennsylvania, spent the last three months of 
 the season in Greene and southern Washington counties, tracing 
 the outcrops and making rudely measured sections of the Upper 
 Barren Measures overlying the AVaynesburg seam, to make sure 
 that they held no workable bed of bituminous coal, and to com- 
 plete our knowledge of the coal series of Pennsylvania to the 
 topmost layer. 
 
104 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mr. Holl was occupied this year in Mr. Hodge's old district of 
 Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Butler and western Venango. A per- 
 fectly satisfactory account had not yet been given of the very 
 difficult geology of the lowest part of the Coal Measures border- 
 ing on the Lake Erie high lands ; nor was enough yet known of 
 the way in which the Barren Measures influenced, for practical 
 purposes, the shape of the ground between the AUogljeny and 
 the Beaver rivers, where they covered the workable beds of the 
 Freeport system. All this was pretty well made out by Mr. 
 Holl in a general way. But no part of Pennsylvania calls now 
 for an accurate instrumental survey more imperatively than this, 
 which has become the great oil producing region. 
 
 The most striking discoveries of the Survey in 1840 were : the 
 discovery of the great fault of the M'Connellsburg Cove in 
 Franklin (now Fulton) county, by Dr. Henderson ; the detection 
 of the small outlying fragment of the Pittsburg coal bed in the 
 Ligonier valley ; and the certain identification of the same bed 
 with others above it at Salisbury in Somerset county, by Mr. 
 Hodge's f)arty. Mr. M'Kinley had noticed another minute frag- 
 ment of it left at the summit of the Broad Top mountain, but 
 does not seem to have recognized its identity ; nor is anj' allu- 
 sion made in the Final Report to the immense theoretical im- 
 portance of this occurrence. 
 
 But the really important fruits of the Survey in 1840 were of a 
 nature not to be specially stated : a completion of the preparation 
 for publishing a true map of Middle Pennsylvania, one of the most 
 complicated and curious portions of the earth's surface ; and a 
 definite establishment of the order of the coal beds over all West- 
 ern and Northern Pennsylvania, leaving no room for doubt that 
 one law governed the whole deposit, and that it could be safely 
 asserted that about a dozen workable coal beds could be identi- 
 fied everywhere within the limits of its eroded edges. It was 
 also made perfectly evident, that the interval between any two 
 beds perpetually varied within certain limits ; and that the thick- 
 ness and quality of each bed varied incessantly, for any one who 
 wished to trace it from one point in its area to another. This 
 became still more evident after Dr. Jackson's study of the West- 
 moreland coals in the following year, and the evidence has gone 
 on accumulating in the hands of all the western geologists to the 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1840. A. 105 
 
 present day. The last expression of it will be presented with 
 this First Annual Report of the Second Survey of Pennsylvania, 
 in the shape of a n.emoir on the subject, by Piof. J. J. Steven- 
 son : " On the alleged Parallelism of Goal Beds." 
 
 The Annual Report for 1840, made a pamphlet of 179 pages, 
 68 of which were taken up by suites of analyses of ores of iron 
 and zinc-lead, cast iron, coals and limestones. The rest of the 
 report was given to a description of the Reading and Easton 
 range of the South mountain, and to the description of the First, 
 Second and Third Bituminous Coal basins between tlie West 
 Branch of the Susquehanna and the Maryland State line. 
 
 The publication of the results of the Survey hero ceased ; for 
 the Annual Report of 1841 was a small pamphlet, merely stating 
 in general terms the distribution of work during that year. A 
 vast mass of materials was reserved for the Final Report, which, 
 however, did not appear for seventeen years, viz: in 1858. 
 
 Mr. Hodge became one of the foremost of American geologists, 
 noted for accuracy of observation, truthfulness of statement, 
 clearness of style and unwearied activity. He was probably 
 better acquainted with the Georgia gold field than any one else. 
 He was well versed in Lake Superior geology. He made nu- 
 merous professional surveys in the coal regions ; and the last 
 large work of his life was a topographical and geological map of 
 the consolidated lands of the Cumberland Coal Basin in Mary- 
 land. For several years he was co-editor of Appleton's Encyclo- 
 paedia, and wrote most of the articles on geological subjects, 
 amounting in all to an entire volume of the series. His articles • 
 on coal and iron are models of such literature. His right arm be- 
 came paralyzed, but he continued to work with his left. He spent 
 several years superintending mines in Nevada territory, and in 
 1872 met his death in a great storm which sunk the steamer in 
 which he had embarked for a port on the north shore of Lake 
 Superior, mourned by a large circle of friends to whom he had 
 become an object of equal respect and affection. 
 
 Dr. Henderson, after serving many years on sea and on land, 
 until he was senior surgeon of the United States Navy, was ap- 
 pointed Officer in charge of the Laboratory of New York, the 
 business of which he reorganized and carried on with signal 
 ability, up to the time of his sudden death from an abcess in the 
 
106 A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ear, in the spring of 1875, aged 58. He had exchanged botany 
 and ornithology, the passions of his youth, for mechanical phy- 
 sics, and spent all his leisure hours, for many years, in discussing 
 the problem of a hot air engine, and in constructing models, in 
 whole or in part, in his little workshop, at the diiferent Naval 
 Asylums over which he had charge when on shore. He was a 
 man of most loveable nature, pure heart and exalted intellect, 
 and was universally respected and lamented. 
 
 Mr. Trego became secretary and editor of the Franklin Insti- 
 tute, and afterwards secretary, treasurer and librarian of the 
 American Philosophical Society. His passion for botany and hor- 
 ticulture was practical, and he retained his farm in Bucks county, 
 even during his residence in Philadelphia, where he died at the 
 advanced age of 80 j'ears in 1871. 
 
 The sixth year of the First Geological Survey of Pennsyl- 
 vania was in 1841. 
 
 The field work came to a close this year; the expenses of the 
 Survey falling to $12,675. 
 
 An Annual Report of only 28 pages was presented February 
 9, 1842. It stated that field work commenced in May, 1841, with 
 a reduced force of assistants. Mr. Hodge, Dr. Henderson and 
 Mr. Trego had resigned. 
 
 Mr. M'Kinley resumed work in the Broad Top coal basin and 
 then upon his map of the Wyoming Valley or Third Anthracite 
 . Coal Field, tracing all its numerous anticlinals and studying the 
 collieries. 
 
 Mr. HoU completed his work north of the Ohio and west of 
 the Allegheny rivers, and was then ordered to examine special 
 points of geological interest along the entire line of the Juniata 
 river. 
 
 Dr. Jackson, with Mr. Ward, made a close and extensive study 
 of the Westmoreland County Coal Field, traced the beds, and es- 
 tablished the exact range and force of the anticlinals which part 
 into three basins, south of the Kiskiminetas. 
 
 Mr. Boye was engaged in the Third and Fourth Bituminous 
 Coal regions, south of the Mahoning and north of the Kiski- 
 minetas rivers. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1841. A. 107 
 
 Mr. Lesley, with one companion, made a topographical and 
 geological reconnoisance of the northern counties, from To- 
 wanda on the North Branch, keeping in the Fourth and Fifth coal 
 basins, as far as Kittanning on the Allegheny river, and Punxa- 
 tawuey on the Mahoning. He then took up the study of Whelp- 
 ley's map of the anthracite coal fields, to add to it what had been 
 omitted, or what had been exposed to observation by later min- 
 ing operations. 
 
 Dr. R. E. Rogers continued to make the required chemical an- 
 alyses of ores, coals, cements, furnace-fluxes, &c. 
 
 It will be noticed, that while certain rude limitations of the 
 districts above named kept the gentlemen of the Survey en- 
 tirely asunder, their respective operations overlapped each othen 
 and overlaid the previous surveys made by themselves or other 
 members of the corps. While it would be hard for any one not 
 personally acquainted with the history of the Survey to assign 
 anything like due credit to the skill and enthusiasm of each, by 
 pointing to any discoveries or generalizations published by the 
 Chief Geologist, yet, the benefit to the State of this method of 
 completing the Survey was indubitablj' great ; for the facts ob- 
 served by one were sure to be verified or modified in form or 
 statement by the report of anotlier, and generalizaticjns arrived 
 at in one district came into harmony with tliose arrived at in an- 
 other. Pennsylvania geology owes its consistency and com- 
 pleteness to the frequency with which every part of the State 
 was gone over, not only by the same, but by different members 
 of the corps. What one eye missed another caught; what one 
 mind mistook the next observer rectified. Not a shadow of 
 doubt or suspicion of grave mistake was left attaching, at the 
 end of 1841, to any important statement to be made by j\Ir. Ro- 
 gers in his Final Report; and as a consequence, the Assistants 
 of 1874 remark with astonishment and pleasure how perfectly 
 trustworthj" the map and report of 1858 are, so far as they pre- 
 tend to represent wliat twenty-six years ago could be observed. 
 The report of the First Survey of Pennsylvania, in this respect, 
 stands quite by itself among American publications of its class 
 and date. 
 
 What Mr. Rogers in his Annual Report of 1841 says of the 
 Sixth Bituminous Goal Basin north of the Ohio river, states the 
 
108 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 most important result of this year's work, and represents the 
 largest generalization arrived at by the Survey. He could have 
 said of all six basins, throughout the length and breadth of North- 
 ern and Western Pennsylvania, that "the detailed examinations 
 made during the past year have now made it certain, that the 
 limestones and many of the coal seams are continuous over very 
 extensive areas, though the individual beds frequently change 
 much their thickness and external aspect. The included sand- 
 stones, slates and other more mechanicallj' formed rocks display, 
 however incessant variations of thickness and composition, which 
 make it impossible to trace these individually over any very 
 wide extent of country. Thus two seams of coal, in some' places 
 separated by sixty I'eet of sti'ata, will at other points lie within 
 twenty feet of each other." Professor J. J. Stevenson's memoir 
 on the alleged parallelism of coal beds, written at my request, 
 and published with this report, will exhibit the extreme limit 
 to which Mr. Rogers' statemont might have reached, had the ex- 
 plorations of Messrs. HoU, M'Kinley and Jackson, in 1840 and 
 1841, been extended over south-eastern Ohio and West Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 The life-long study of the anthracite basins made by Mr. 
 Sheafer, has revealed the applicability of the statement, in its 
 strongest terms, to that region. The study of the Illinois coals 
 by Mr. "Worthen, of the Iowa coals by Mr Hall and Mr. White, 
 and of the Missouri coals by Mr. Brodhead and Mr. Norwood, 
 extend the law of infinite variability to all areas of the Carbon- 
 iferous Formation. Dr. Le Conte has shown that the law holds 
 good of the Cretaceous (or Tertiary) coal system of the Rocky 
 mountains from Denver City to Santa Fe. It has long been 
 known by Coal Geologists of England. It will be well illus- 
 trated by Mr. Piatt's report of his Clearfield and Jefferson dis- 
 trict; and I will be able to exhibit one of the first steps of its 
 discovery, by reproducing the sheet of Jackson's sections in 
 "Westmoreland, which I collated in 1843. 
 
 The only other most important result of the field-work of 
 1841 deserving special mention, was the careful location upon 
 the map of Pennsylvania of the anticlinal axes separating the 
 third, fourth, fifth and sixth Bituminous Coal basins. This 
 was accomplished by the separate action of the Assistants dis- 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1842. A. 109 
 
 tributed over the vphole Coal Area for a distance of two hun- 
 dred miles. But much uncertainty remained respecting the 
 exact geographical location of the crown of the arch along 
 these anticlinals in the great pine-forest wilderness of Lycom- 
 ing, Potter, Elk, Clearfield and Jefferson counties ; and subse- 
 quent surveys have very seriously modified the position and 
 shape of the third, fourth and fifth coal basins in M'Kean 
 county, and in certain local districts of the other counties men- 
 tioned above. The general run of the basins is, indeed, exactly 
 that laid down on the Geological State map ; but very import- 
 ant practical changes will be made in the blue lines marking 
 the outcrops of the limestones, and in the edges of the dark 
 color marking the outcrops of the Lower Coal Measures, and 
 the distribution of the outlying patches of workable coal beds 
 in Elk, M'Kean and Potter counties. 
 
 A third fruit of the sixth season's field-work was the com- 
 pletion of Mr. M'Kinley's map of the Wyoming Coal Basin, 
 upon which he succeeded in portraying almost all, if not abso- 
 lutely all, of those subordinate diagonal anticlinal and syncli- 
 nal axes, the number and regularity of which distinguish this 
 anthracite field. The patient toil and carefulness of this geolo- 
 gist, disciplined to his task by the previous mapping of compli- 
 cated structure on a larger scale — that of the Buffalo and Seven 
 Mountains, west of the Susquehanna river — may be estimated 
 by those who find still useful the Wilkesbarre portion of the 
 Anthracite Map published by Mr. Eogers in the Atlas of the 
 Final Report of 1858. But it must be remembered that that 
 map was engraven in Scotland, and without being subjected to 
 the revision of Mr. M'Kinley, Dr. Whelpley, and its other 
 authors. These gentlemen must not be held responsible for any 
 errors of copyists and engravers which it may exhibit. 
 
 The same is true of the Lehigh, Mahanoy, Shamokin and 
 Schuylkill portions of this map. 
 
 1842 would have been the seventh year of the Survey, had it 
 proceeded. But the winter of 1841-'2 was passed by the Leg- 
 islature without the usual annual appropriation for the Geo- 
 logical Survey; and Mr. Rogers was left without sufficient 
 
110 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 means to put his assistants again in the field, and with all the 
 accumulated wealth of the Survey on his hands, unable to ex- 
 tend it, revise it, arrange it, illustrate it, or publish it. 
 
 Piles of annual reports of assistants now called for the au- 
 thors to become editors ; but these had all disappeared, leaving 
 their unrevised manuscripts, their rough sketches, their unfin- 
 ished maps, their uncatalogued, unstudied mineral and fossil 
 collections behind. No matter which one of these reports the 
 Chief Geologist might take in hand, he was sure to encounter 
 on its first dozen pages a dozen nuts to crack for which he had 
 no cracker. He had acquired, of course, a more or less vague, 
 more or less distinct knowledge of all parts of the State. Only 
 his assistants knew the several parts of the State positively. 
 Thousands of local and personal names stood written in the re- 
 ports of which he had never heard a whisper, and of which he 
 could make no use for comprehending, verifying or correcting 
 the geographical and geological descrijjtions. The mere mass 
 of this crude, heterogeneous personal manuscript was appalling. 
 To edit it properly, intelligently, was to repeat in the office the 
 work of the whole corps in the field. It was to task one man 
 with the work of a number of men multiplied by the number 
 of years they had been employed. 
 
 "Were it not for the lesson to be derived from the inquiry it 
 would be useless now to inquire why Mr. Rogers found himself 
 in this condition, — why the assistant geologists dispersed, — 
 why the Legislature stopped the appropriation. Much might 
 be told and yet leave room for conjecture. " The financial em- 
 barrassments of the Commonwealth " was the stereotyped ex- 
 planation ofii'ered by Mr. Bigham's Committee, in their report 
 to the Legislature of 1851* : — 
 
 "At the time of the organization of the Survey, it was esti- 
 mated that it would occupy at least ten years, but the financial 
 embarrassments of the Commonwealth made it expedient and 
 indeed compulsory, to withhold further appropriations after the 
 si^th year, and bring it abruptly to a close before it could be 
 thoroughly completed in all its parts. Anxious to make the 
 
 * Report of the joint committee of tlie Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives of Pennsylvania on the Publication of the Geological Surveys. (ISJ 
 pages.) 
 
FIRST SUAVEY, 1842. A. Ill 
 
 work as full and symmetrical as possible, the State Geologist 
 continued the exploration, and devoted himself to the prepara- 
 tion of the general final report for three years longer, laboring 
 for the chief part of this period without salary, and at his own 
 expense." 
 
 Great indeed must be the "financial embarrassments" of a 
 Commonwealth when its economies descend so low as to decline 
 such inexpensive appropriations for securing the continuance 
 of a national enterprise, and for reaping from it a national 
 benefit. 
 
 The explanation is inadequate. In truth, the worth of a Sur- 
 vey of the geological structure and mineral character of the 
 soil of the State to all its citizens was not appreciated, nor com- 
 prehended, thirtj' j'ears ago. 
 
 The language of science was then an unknown tongue, and 
 sounded in the ears of the people like the chattering of animals 
 or idiots. The disputes of geologists respecting doubtful points, 
 if listened to at all, were regarded as good evidence of the worth- 
 lessness of all their theories ; and the truths in which they 
 agreed seemed to clergy and laity alike the insanities of an ex- 
 alted imagination, or the impious utterances of an irreligious 
 temper. 
 
 The mines of the State were (with some most honorable ex- 
 ceptions) bossed by the commonest miners' from foreign and 
 quite different geological regions, who had suddenly exchanged 
 the character and position of hewers of coal and pumpers of 
 water at home, for the character and position of mining engi- 
 neers in America. Ignorant, undisciplined, obstinate, narrow 
 minded and superstitious by nature and habit, and rendered 
 presumptuous and dogmatic by their strange advancement, they 
 were as unwilling to accept as they were unable to acquire a 
 correct knowledge of our geology, so different from their own, 
 and hated professional geologists because these had never lived 
 in childhood, pick in hand, under ground, — because they taught 
 new things hard to comprehend, — and because they denied the 
 propriety of mining the coal of Schuylkill county on the plan 
 of the collieries of South Wales, or of employing the ancient 
 methods of the Cornish tinworks to the brown hematite banks 
 .of the Lebanon Valley. The jealousy of professional and "theo- 
 
112 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 retical" interference with traditional and "practical" usages, 
 which has not yet quite disappeared from our mining regions, 
 was in 1842 in all its vigor ; and was shared by the landed pro- 
 prietors, the directors of companies and the general superinten- 
 dents of collieries and mines. A wave of suspicion and dislike, 
 pushed before it by the First Geological Survey through its 
 whole progress, brought it at last to a dead stop. 
 
 The hastily written annual reports of the State Geologist to 
 the Legislature, small in size, fragmentary in order, and neces- 
 sarily inadequate to exhibit the work accomplished, — indeed 
 not intended for that purpose, but merely to serve as respectful 
 and earnest pleas for an annual appropriation — strengthened 
 the suspicion and dislike of the people of the State towards 
 the survey, and established in all minds, except those few who 
 were in a condition to judge of what that survey was doing, 
 an unconquerable and irresistible conviction that it was a sham 
 and an extravagance — even at the miserable rate of $10,000 or 
 $15,000 per annum. 
 
 The Committee Report asserts that " at the time of the or- 
 ganization of the survey it was estimated that it would occupy 
 at least ten years." Some vague suggestion of that sort might 
 have been uttered, but the people of the State never heard of 
 it, and were impatient to have all the counties surveyed at 
 once, and finished up in the very first year. The State Geolo- 
 gist was embarassed by demands of this kind from all parts of 
 the State during the entire progress of the survey, and was 
 compelled to spend his time every winter in the unprofitable 
 task of excusing the great work to the membei-s of the Legis- 
 lature for not proceeding with an unnatural and impossible ce- 
 lerity. 
 
 In spite of the teachings of half a century of scientific ex- 
 ploration people still think that a geological survey can be 
 carried on with flippant and discursive speed. They will wait 
 patiently upon the slow and orderly progress of any other great 
 enterprise, but imagine this to be exceptional. It was no more 
 reasonable that the survey should occupy ten than twenty 
 years. 
 
 In its very nature a geological survey is continuous ad libitum^ 
 and should be perpetual. Its first stages are rapid and of the 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1842. A. 11? 
 
 nature of a reconnoisance, or general survey of the country to 
 be afterwards better surveyed. As it advances it discovers its 
 own future work and prepares itself to do it. The longer it 
 lasts the more local, special, exact and important it becomes. 
 Ifew difficulties arise and fresh problems call for investigation. 
 The publication of what is discovered or determined ought to 
 follow step by step its discovery or determination. To carry 
 on field-work straight ahead, never stopping to revise, collate, 
 compare, calculate, map and publish, is as absurd for a survey ' 
 as it is .mprovident for the Commonwealth. But to do this,, 
 is to make the survey practically perpetual. If the field-work 
 of the six summer months be followed by six months of office 
 work in winter (and no less will answer) and the results be 
 published immediately for the use of the citizens, there will be 
 plenty of demands for field-work on the same ground the next 
 summer. 
 
 It is easy to sketch out the geology of a district, but when 
 the sketch is made the hard work is just begun ; the picture i» 
 still to be painted. The Eeports of Progress in Clearfield and 
 Jefierson counties in 1874, and in Cambria and Somerset coun- 
 ties in 1875, for example, valuable as they will be considered 
 by the people of those counties, are merely complete catalogues 
 of the coal mines, &c., with descriptions of the openings and 
 an index to their geographical position and ownership. The 
 Survey is now prepared to study the relationships of the beds 
 to one another ; the interval rocks ; their variations in thick- 
 ness and quality ; their extent ; their relation to tide water in 
 detail ; and to show this b^- a series of accurate local topograph- 
 ical maps and carefully measured seel ions. And before this 
 slow, close, instrumental part of the work can be finished there 
 will be a fresh development of facts, by new mines and explora- 
 tions, and by the extension of old mines, which will require 
 still more of this slow, close, instrumental work, and its pub- 
 lication. 
 
 In other and more difficult districts, all that has been said 
 above holds true in even a greater degree. There are very many 
 years of work to be done in the whole central belt of the State 
 before a proper and reliable presentation of the facts can be 
 made in all its geographical breadth and in all their geological 
 8— A. 
 
114 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 significance to the public; and it will require quite as many 
 years for the best organized and best trained corps of geologists 
 to work out of darkness into light the extraordinarily difficult 
 geology of the entire south-east section of the State. 
 
 "Whatever were the causes to bring it about, this was the re- 
 sult : The First Survey was at an end. 
 
 For three years Mr. Rogers endeavored to deal singly with 
 an immense mass of material, the accumulated production of 
 several years of labor of many geologists, more than one of 
 whom was his equal in theoretical geology and his superior in 
 field-work, in the vain attempt to reduce this mass to symmetry 
 and illustrate it for publication. That he failed was a matter 
 of course ; and no fault of his. He must have been one of the 
 immortal hero-gods of the classic mythology to have succeeded 
 in the eftbrt. To say that he " continued the exploration" of 
 the State was an exaggerated statement of the committee ; be- 
 cause one man could do nothing in so vast a field, a field so vast 
 that twenty men had been lost in it for years. And being de- 
 prived of salary he was obliged to pursue his profession as a 
 geological expert wherever his clients might direct, but with 
 all the advantages which his official title of State Geologist 
 conferred. The time thus spent and thus paid enlarged his 
 own views and confirmed his reputation at home and abroad, 
 but could go but a little way towards " continuing the explora- 
 tion" of the State. 
 
 Weither could he advance much in the " preparation of the 
 general final report." In fact this was done in Boston in the 
 winter of 1847-8. There the manuscript reports of the assist- 
 ants were hastily adjusted together, slightly altered in phrase- 
 ology here and there, and a copj' of the whole made for the 
 Legislature. A second revision for the Edinburgh press was 
 made ten years later, and in this the more important step was 
 taken of altering the nomenclature ; substituting Auroral^ Ma- 
 tinal, Levant, &c. for formation No. I, No. II, No. Ill, No. IV, 
 &c. And the further modification of the phraseology was 
 effected ; as well as the introduction of new views and new 
 facts obtained by Mr. Rogers during the previous dozen years. 
 To the old report thus modified were added Mr. Lesquereux's 
 report on the botany of the coal ; and some general geological 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1842. A, 115 
 
 chapters on coal, iron, &c. from Mr. Rogers' own vigorous and 
 elegant pen, which stand as monuments of his genius and 
 models for the imitation of geologists who have survived him. 
 
 "When the corps of 1841 was disbanded, Mr. Sheafer settled 
 as a mining engineer at Pottsville, Mr. Hodge exercised the 
 same profession in various parts of the United States, Mr. 
 Trego and Mr. Ward lived in Philadelphia, Dr. Henderson 
 went into the United States Navy, Dr. Jackson into the prac- 
 tice of medicine at Blairsville, Mr. HoU returned to Europe, 
 Mr. M'Kinley commenced the study of law in Philadelphia, 
 Mr. Boye practised chemistry, and afterwards became a farmer, 
 and Mr. Lesley indulged in the luxury of a course of theology 
 at Princeton. 
 
 Here, at Princeton, chiefly, but also at Philadelphia during 
 the vacations of 1842 and 1843, were put together, on requi- 
 sition of the State Geologist, the materials furnished by the 
 Assistant Geologists of the Survey for the construction of ihe 
 topographical and geological, colored, Map of the State, and for 
 the construction also of thirteen long sections across the State, 
 most .of which were in 1857 engraved on the same plate with 
 the map. 
 
 It is not necessary to describe the difficulties encountered in 
 the construction of this Map. They were due to more than 
 one cause. The materials were of every variety of excellence, 
 from finished maimscripts carefully colored, to the rudest pen 
 sketches on which the limits and characters of the formations 
 and the shapes and directions of the hills and valleys were 
 slightly indicated. In several counties of the State no attempt 
 at all had been made to represent the geographical outcrops of 
 the formations ; nor could the attempt have been successful for 
 want of good maps of those counties previous to the work of 
 the survey. The best county maps extant at that time were 
 very imperfect, and as for the State map published by Melish, 
 it was a wilderness of blunders more or less absurd. Not a 
 single county line was in its proper place. The actual latitude 
 and longitude of not one county town had been determined. 
 The largest rivers were erroneously portrayed ; the smaller 
 streams were universally fanciful ; mountains were made to 
 cross streams, or were omitted altogether ; and those which 
 
116 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 carried outcropping rocks of diiFerent geological ages were rep- 
 resented recklessly as continuous or connecting ridges. As a 
 topographical or geographical statement all the northern and 
 western half of Melish's Map was simply a monstrous mis- 
 nomer. 
 
 Yet this was the only available basis for the proposed Geo- 
 logical State Map, and the author had to make the best of the 
 situation. Nor has the Legislature of Pennsylvania taken steps 
 since 1842 towards giving the Commonwealth a good State Map 
 by organizing a trigonometrical, or even an astronomical and 
 telegraphic survey, by which at least the place of some one point 
 in each county could be accurately fixed to serve as a datum 
 pivot of adjustment and rectification for county surveys. 
 
 The author of the Geological Map of Pennsylvania, in 1842, 
 had in his hands such of the county maps as had been geologi- 
 cally colored ; other county maps, corrected as to the water 
 courses here and there ; the manuscript district geological maps 
 of Whelpley, M'Kinley, Henderson and Jackson ; and sections 
 of the Melish State Map colored geologically, in whole or in 
 part, and corrected for streams and mountains in certain places, 
 by other Assistants. 
 
 To harmonize these heterogenous materials it was necessary, 
 first of all, to discover the amount of county-line and river 
 errata in the Melish State Map. There being no reliable lines 
 except those of railway and canal surveys (most of which were 
 inaccessible), and no astronomically or trigonometrically deter- 
 mined points of departure, all the available county maps were 
 brought together, and their errors of county line adjustment* 
 driven from the eastern and western borders of the State towards 
 the centre, and so accumulated along the Susquehanna river. 
 The total error on the lines of parallel being thus approximately 
 known, this error was distributed back again east and west over 
 the whole State ; so that the fundamental skeleton of the map 
 was " tempered " like a piano-forte; being erroneous through- 
 out, but with all the local errors reduced to a minimum. 
 
 Upon this county-line scheme was then laid down the topo- 
 graphy of each county separately, good, bad or indiiferent as 
 
 *Not one north and south line of a county could be found which fitted the 
 north and south line of the adjoining county. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1842. A. 117 
 
 might happen ; corrected in its details by reference to the manu- 
 script geological maps before mentioned, so far as they extended, 
 and by the verbal or pencil notes of the Assistants in districts 
 not geologically mapped. The mountains, which had been the 
 chief guides of the geologists, being carried over from county 
 to county, as the best guides to the corrected representations 
 of the minor water courses. 
 
 The mountain belt was then colored m geologically on the 
 basis of the mountain arrangement ; the south-east division of 
 the State, from the geologically colored county maps of some 
 of the assistants ; and the northern arid western bituminous 
 coal area, by reference to the outcrops of the Ferriferous Lime- 
 stone of the Lower Coal Measures, and the Pittsburg Coal Bed 
 of the Upper, as got from all the reports. 
 
 When the map was finished, thirteen lines were drawn across 
 it, radiating from the south-east towards the north, north-west 
 and west ; and vertical sections along these lines were con- 
 structed to illustrate the contour of the surfate and the order 
 and attitude of the rocks at and beneath it. Several of these 
 sections were long enough to cross the entire State ; the others, 
 intermediate and shorter, crossed only the mountain belt, and 
 the coal fields. 
 
 Several hundred local sections, diagrams and sketches were 
 then drawn, to be used as plate illustrations of the Final Re- 
 port, or as wood-cuts to be inserted in its text. The majority 
 of these were columnar sections of anthracite and bituminous 
 coal strata, or of single coal beds. Many were mere re-produc- 
 tions of the Devonian and Silurian rock-sections drawn by such 
 of the assistants as had skill and taste for that kind of work. 
 All the columnar sections were drawn to one scale for compari- 
 son, and such of the manuscript drawings of rock structure in 
 the reports as needed it were reduced to a common scale. 
 
 All this was entirely apart from the production of finished 
 landscape and other drawings by Mr. Lehmann the regular artist 
 of the Survey, and occupied the writer about eighteen months 
 in 1842 and 1843 ; and it may properl3- be said that with this 
 the work of the First Geological Survey ended. 
 
118 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In December, 1846, at the request of Prof. Rogers, the writer 
 went to Boston, where Mr. Rogers then resided, and during tlie 
 ensuing five months made duplicate copies of the State Map, 
 the long sections, and several hundreds of the other drawings, 
 and assisted him in arranging and duplicating the reports. The 
 originals remained in his hands. The duplicates were trans- 
 mitted to the Secretary of the Commonwealth at Harrisburg. 
 An effort was made to obtain an appropriation at the session of 
 1848 to publish them, which failed, and they were permitted to 
 lie in the archives of the State. 
 
 In 1850, the subject of the publication of the fruits of the 
 First Survey was anxiously discussed by a number of gentle- 
 men, among whom Mr. William Parker Foulke, of Philadel- 
 phia, was perhaps the most prominent. With the aid of Mr. 
 Peter W. Sheafer, of Pottsville, these gentlemen succeeded in 
 representing the case so forcibly, that the Legislature was in- 
 duced to appoint a joint committee of both houses, of which 
 Col. Bigham was chairman, to consider the subject of an ap- 
 propriation to cover the estimated expense of publication. 
 
 An elaborate report was made by the committee and printed 
 in the House Journal, 1851, Yol. II, page 131, and also, sepa- 
 rately, in a pamphlet of 16 pages. 
 
 A few extracts from this report will serve to explain the 
 next stage of this history, namely : the resumption of field 
 work in 1851. 
 
 Tho whole mass of information and material collected by the Survey, 
 and thus finally systematized, arranged and prepared for the press, was in 
 compliance with the law, deposited in the office of the Secretary of the Com- 
 monwealth, early in the year 1847, to await publication by the Legislature. 
 In that position it has been allowed to remain to the present time, its largo 
 accumulation of carefully collected and patiently digested faotf, bearing" di- 
 rectly on many of the most important industrial interests of the State not 
 yet made practically available to any of the useful ends for which the Survey 
 was undertaken. The knowledge of our mineral possessions, thus success- 
 fully secured for the benefit of tho citizens of Pennsylvania and the world, 
 has, it appears, cost the Commonwealth an outlay of about $76,657, but by a 
 short sighted economy, this fund of precious information, paid for by the 
 people, is not yet the people's property. It is a valuable capital lying idle 
 a capital which your committee think is capable of yielding rich returns, but 
 it is also susceptible, like much other wealth, of passing to waste by neglect. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1850. A. 119 
 
 Already certain portions of the work, fresh and full of practical utility ten 
 years ago, when the surveys were recent, are behind the wants of the day, 
 and need minute revision. 
 
 After giving " a concise and imperfect description of the form 
 and scope" of the proposed Geological Report, the committee 
 go on to say : 
 
 In its present shape, it embodies faithfullyand fully the results of the Sur- 
 vey as carried on, up to and even beyond the cessation of the appropriations 
 for it. The book and its illustrations actually consist of about three-fourths 
 of the total quantity of material which it is now in contemplation to finally 
 produce. 
 
 As we now possess it, the extent of the text is equivalent to about 800 quarto 
 pages. The maps are two in number, but these are both of them elaborate. 
 The quantity of geological sections and other delineations of stratification is 
 estimated at three-fourths of the final amount, while the pictorial illustra- 
 tions and the fossils are less in the same proportion. The publication at the 
 date of the completion of the Survey, when an appropriation for that pur- 
 pose was earnestly suggested by the State Geologist, would have been an act 
 of the soundest public policy, promoting in many ways the industrial pros- 
 perity of all parts of the Commonwealth. In the interim there has been, in 
 this [the Anthracite] and the other mining districts of the State, a prodigi- 
 ous advance in all our colliery operations in the developmeot of our mineral 
 deposits, contributing to, and at the same time calling for an increase of ex- 
 actness in geological description. 
 
 Your committee recommend that a careful revision shall be made of all 
 those parts of the Survey which the lapse of the time has been making obso- 
 lete, and th.at in its altered and expanded shape, the final report shall be 
 published in a style of accuracy and taste, essential to its scientific character 
 and its practical objects, and creditable to the reputation and resources of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 It has been ascertained from estimates submitted to a committee of the 
 Legislature in 1848, that an edition of one thousand copies, quarto size, with 
 the maps and other illustrations, in the form of a separate atlas could have 
 been procured in the best style of the art for about $19,000, and an eminent pub- 
 lishing firm, has, at a request from your present committee, presented pro- 
 posals for executing it in a satisfactory manner, under the indispensable super- 
 vision of the State Geologist, its author, and in conformity to conditions sug- 
 gested by the committee. These proposals stipulate to produce an edition 
 of one thousand copies for the sum of $15,833, in further consideration of the 
 transfer by the State of the copy-right to the publishers. The contemplated 
 enlargement of the book and its illustrations, growing out of the proposed 
 additional surveys and revision, will cost about $3,886, out of the $15,833 of 
 total cost. By this very moderate increase in the expense of publication, 
 j'our committee firmly believe the true value of the work, as a practical 
 guide to the development of our mineral wealth, and in its usefulness to the 
 whole community, will be more than doubled. 
 
 To publish the report in the shape it has at present, without the amend- 
 ments and revision required by the extensive progress made within the 
 past ten years in developments conijecte.d with the coal fields, the iron manu- 
 factures, and also the agriculture of the State, would be to give the public a 
 body of statements. In some parts already half superseded by more exact and 
 
120 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 recent knowledge. Every duty of patriotism to the Commonvrealth, and 
 every view of policy to her interests, should prompt the Legislature to pub- 
 lish to the world the fullest and clearest representation procurable, of the 
 resources which she possesses ; but to put forth descriptions, some of them 
 which are behind the developments of the day, would be not to proclaim her 
 true resources, but to disparage them. 
 
 A systematic re-survey of a large portion of the Anthracite districts will 
 be indispensable, and a revision of the more progressive districts of the Bitu- 
 minous coal fields west of the mountains, seems scarcely less important. 
 
 Among the fruits of such a re-examination will be an increased degree of 
 accuracy in the general geological map, a new geological and topographical 
 map of all the anthracite basins, to supersede the present very creditable one 
 which now accompanies the report, and a minute guide map to the individual 
 coal beds of a large part of the Pottsville basin. There will likewise be pro- 
 duced an extensive series of working sections, such as are felt to be greatly 
 needed by the mining engineer and collier, in their riskful and expensive 
 operations. The distribution and situation of the nearly horizontal layers of 
 coal, iron ore, limestone, and other materials in the western counties, will be 
 yet more fully illustrated than they are now, by an additional set of vertical 
 sections or columns, showing the strata in their several depths below the 
 surface of the county in each neighborhood, and their relative thicknesses 
 and distances apart. 
 
 It is easy to see from this catalogue of proposed additions to 
 ;the mass of geological materials provided by the surveys of 
 1836 to '1-8^2, that two results would be sure to flow from any 
 favorable action of the Legislature of 1850-1 upon the report 
 of its committee, viz : 1. The virtual absorption of that mass 
 into a new and larger mass, with the annihilation of all historic 
 individuality of the old work and the old workers ; and 2. The 
 setting on foot of a new survey of the State, with a new corps 
 of Assistants, under the former State Geologist, with an in- 
 definite prolongation of field work and an equally indefinite 
 postponement of the date of publication. For no guarantees 
 could be given to the Commonwealth, as to time, quantity and 
 quality, in 1851, beyond those offered each j'ear from 1836 to 
 1842. Nor could the Legislators outside of their committee 
 judge of the report even in its then state ; much less could 
 they imagine what it would be after further field work. Even 
 the committee were obliged to take the word of the State Geolo- 
 gist for the truth of what they affirmed in their report, which 
 indeed bears internal evidence of having been written by him. 
 
 These considerations w^eighed heavily on the debate when 
 the report came up for acceptance or rejection. Every one la- 
 mented that the State Geologist had not originally arranged 
 for the publication of the reports of his Assistants, pure and 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1850. A. 121 
 
 simple, under their own supervision, annually, during the course 
 of the survey. Every one blamed the Legislature of 1848 for 
 not immediately putting to press the manuscript which the 
 State Geologist transmitted to Ilarrisburg. But few were dis- 
 posed to give the State Geologist power to re-inaugurate the 
 survey on its old footing. 
 
 But the cry for some report of the old survey, whatever it 
 might be, and under any auspices whatever, which came from 
 all parts of the State was so loud, and the few who knew the 
 value of such a publication were so active in its advocacy, that 
 opposition to the conditions attached to the publication was 
 silenced, and the Report of the Joint Committee was adopted. 
 But the affair had to be carefully managed, and the project for 
 extending the field work had to be kept as much in the back- 
 ground as possible. The paragraphs of the Committee's report, 
 which immediately follow those above quoted, will suffice to 
 indicate this necessity, and they describe beforehand very fairly 
 the actual character of the field work of 1852 : — - 
 
 To represent the geology with this degree of fidelity and close analysis, the 
 re-survey should be conducted with the aid of instruments for measuring and 
 leveling this. More critical research should be facilitated by the labors of a 
 small band of miners, for exposing the outcrops of the coals and other strata. 
 The State Geologist will, therefore, require the services of a corps of geologi- 
 cal surveyors. Thus provided, he could complete, it is believed, the revision 
 so much to be desired in two seasons of field examination. It is estimated 
 also, that about two additional years will be then required to enable him to 
 embody the results of these and his other resenrches into the report, and to 
 supervise the publication of the whole. The already matured portions of the 
 work, such as the topography of the general map, and a large proportion of 
 the more elaborate sections, the engraving of \» hich will involve much time, 
 can be advantageously commenced upon almost immediately. Your com- 
 mittee has ascertained, that upon this plan, the survey can bo perfected as 
 far as its practical and scientific objects demand, and the text and illustrations 
 of the report amended and increased, and published with the requisite .ac- 
 curacy in a period of about four years from the present date. The cost to be 
 incurred by the proposed revision, including a salary to the chief geologist 
 for the four years of his supervision of the press and his other services, and 
 the pay to his assistant corps of surveyors, and a small band of miners, for 
 two seasons, will amount, upon a rigidly economical estimate to $16,167. 
 Your committee, therefore, recommend for the revision and publication of 
 the final geological report, a total appropriation of $32,000. 
 
 This appropriation was voted and the State Geologist imme- 
 diately organized his corps of assistants and set them to work 
 in the Anthracite Region, where the largest results were to be 
 expected, and where the most important accumulation of new 
 
122 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 knowledge had been made, through the mining operations of 
 the ten years which had elapsed between 1841 and 1851. lie 
 had himself been employed by the anthracite coal companies as 
 an expert. And Mr. Sheafer, having settled permanently at 
 Pottsville, had become the principal local geologist and mining 
 engineer of the region, and now knew more about its geology 
 than any one else. How the State Geologist himself viewed 
 the situation may be gathered from the next paragraph of the 
 Committee's Report : — ■ 
 
 If this thorough revision is authorized, the committee believe that the de- 
 lay in publication will be fullj' repaid. A large portion of this time has been 
 devoted by Prof. Rogers in the emploj' of private companies, to detailed and 
 thorough explorations of portions of the mining districts. The knowledge 
 thus acquired, and the opportunities he has since enjoyed, of comparing his 
 own views on this eminently progressive science, with the opinions of scien- 
 tific men throughout America and Europe, must largely add to the value of 
 this publication. And, perhaps, it is not out of place for us to add that in 
 addition to all other motives to promjit him to fidelity in the execution of 
 this trust, he is fully aware that upon the merits of this work, his reputation 
 among men of science must stand or fall. 
 
 This sentence was intended to be, and was, a complete refu- 
 tation of all the censures which had been so freely cast upon 
 the State Geologist for the non-appearance of the final report 
 hitherto. He had always shared with his old assistants the 
 two prime elements of a successful scientific character: love 
 of geology as a science, and personal ambition as a geologist 
 In their case the first greatly predominated over the second. 
 With him the two were more equally balanced. Therefore it 
 was folly to charge against him a desire to withhold from the 
 public the results of a splendid train of research, by the publi- 
 cation of which he must needs appear to the scientific world 
 a discoverer and an investigator of the first order of merit. 
 The delay had indeed benefited him in this respect, that it left 
 him to stand alone in the sunshine of this great work; for most 
 of his assistants had dispersed to seek avocations of a difterent 
 kind, and none of their contributions to Pemisylvanian, that is 
 to say, to Appalachian geology had appeared, or now could 
 ever appear over their own names, or redound to their credit. 
 But for the long delay of such publication the Legislature was 
 alone to blame. 
 
 It is not to be supposed, however, that the scientific results 
 of the survey had been buried out of the sight of the learned 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1850. A. 123 
 
 world because they had not been given by tlie Legislature to 
 the people of the State most deeply interested in acquiring a 
 knowledge of them. The geologists both of America and of 
 Europe had been kept en rapport with the survey, by the visits 
 of Logan and Lyell in 1841, by memoirs read at the meetings 
 of the Geological Association, by private correspondence, and 
 especially by a visit of the State Geologist to Europe in 1848. 
 At the annual meeting of the British Association at Swansea 
 in 1848, Mr. Rogers was the lion of the Geological Section, 
 and there he had an ample opportunity for exhibiting his map 
 and sections, and astonishing his hearers with detailed and il- 
 lustrated descriptions of geological phenomena grander in ex- 
 tent, and more admirable in simplicity of structure, than any- 
 thing they had been permitted to study at home.* IsTor were his 
 theories less exciting than his facts, delivered as they were with 
 a charming eloquence, seldom equalled and never excelled. The 
 attentions he secured were unbounded and cordial, and con- 
 firmed him in his zeal for the publication of the work of the 
 survey in the most complete and elegant shape possible. Two 
 unexpected consequences resulted from this visit after a number 
 of years had passed : his settlement as a professor of science in 
 the University at Glasgow ; and the final publication of the 
 work of the survey, in magnificent style, at Edinburgh instead 
 of at Philadelphia. 
 
 His acquaintance with the Chiefs of the Geological Surveys 
 of Great Britain and of France enabled him also to draw a 
 lust comparison between them and his own, and by no means 
 to the prejudice of that of Pennsylvania. This accounts for 
 an allusion to these surveys in the report of the Joint Commit- 
 tee. After mentioning the expenditure of over $200,000 on 
 the New York State Survey, and before speaking of the resump- 
 tion of the surveys of Massachusetts and South Carolina, the 
 Committee say : 
 
 *Keport of the XVIIIth meeting of the B. A. P. A. S., held at Swansea in 
 August 1848 : London 1849. Transactions of the Sections, page 74, " On the 
 Geology of Pennsylvania, by Professor H. D. Rogers. Professor Rogers ex- 
 hibited a general map of North America, the State Survey of Pennsylvania, 
 
 and many other maps and sections colored geologically 
 
 Professor Rogers then gave a summary of his theory of the origin of these 
 
 great parallel foldings in the Appalachian strata Drawings 
 
 were exhibited of the Anthracite Coal mines on the Lehigh river " 
 
124 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The great Geological Survey of France, engrossed the time of two geolo- 
 gists in chief, and a numerous corps of geological engineers of the French 
 Scliool of Mines, for a term of twelve years, in the production of a geological 
 map, and of two volumes of descriptive text. 
 
 We may add that Great Britain, sensible of the vital importance to all her 
 industrial interests, of a thorough examination of her strata, has been con- 
 ducting a close find very elaborate Geological Survey for about twenty years, 
 and that for the past twelve or thirteen years it has been on an. organization 
 both extensive and costly, commensurate with the greatness of her mineral 
 wealth, and worthy of her high ambition and eminent practical wisdom. 
 
 A recognition of the utility of this species of investigation, is further shown 
 In the pains taken in several countries to publish periodicals devoted espe- 
 cially to geology and the arts pertaining to it. Such a publication is the 
 "Annales des Mines," issued under the auspices of the French government, 
 and such is the work produced at intervals by the British government, enti- 
 tled "Memoir of the Geological Sui-vey of Great Britain and Ireland." A 
 further proof of this high estimation of the science, is the fact that the French 
 government supports, at a large expense, her School of Mines, for the espe- 
 cial object of educating and training skillful mining engineers and practical 
 geologists, to aid, whenever called upon, the development of her resources; 
 and so fully awake is the British government to the dependence of much ot 
 her industrial prosperity upon her efforts for encouraging practical and scien- 
 tific geology, that it is fostering with much care a nobly endowed institution 
 in London, called the Museum of Economic Geology, where everything that 
 can illustrate the stratification and mineral wealth of the country, everything 
 that can assist her people to a clear knowledge of the composition of their 
 mineral raw materials, to the best methods of finding, tracing and raising 
 them from the earth, and afterwards converting them to the useful purposes 
 of life, are collected and displayed gratuitously for the insjiection of the pub- 
 lic, or the special study of the numerous classes needing the information. 
 A library of books on geology and the kindred sciences, on mining and the 
 arts connected with it ; a bureau of geological and mining charts, embracing 
 plans and a registry of all underground workings and surveys; also models 
 of the best machinery connected with mining, of the best aiTangement for 
 ventilation, and of the various methods in use in different countries for prop- 
 ping, timbering and draining, are here assembled and accessible for study. 
 To these means of information are added a valuable geological museum, of 
 all the rooks and their contents, and the soils derived from them, every kind 
 of coal for fuel, metallic ore for molting, clay for the manufacture of pottery 
 or porcelain, and sands for glass making, and every species of building stoue 
 and ornamental rock, in rough and dressed or polished state, is here arranged 
 for inspection; and to add yet further to the instruction they convey, every 
 species of mineral raw material which is transformed in the operations of the 
 arts, is exposed in all its successive stages of manufacture to its highest state 
 of finish. 
 
 Two chemical analytical laboratories for the examination of fuels, assay of 
 ores and their Indispensable researches, and a noble lecture room as a means 
 of diffusing yet wider to the industrial public, the fruitful facts and princi- 
 ples of geological science and its arts, complete the admirable working ma- 
 chinery of this wisely planned institution. Its respective departments are 
 administered by geologists and chemists, who are among the verj' ablest m 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1850. A 125 
 
 Great Britain, and it is presided over by one of the foremost of European 
 geologists, Sir Henry de La Beohe, who is at the same time at the head of 
 the geological survey of the country, with which this museum of economic 
 geology is intimately connected. 
 
 The rest of the Committee's Report (pp. 8 to 16) is an expo- 
 sition of the practical value of a geological survey in every 
 point of view, including summary descriptions of the coal and 
 iron industries of the State, which need not be here further 
 alluded to. 
 
 In 1851 the field work of the First Geological Survey of 
 Pennsylvania re-commenced. 
 
 Mr. P. W. Sheafer took charge of the underground work. 
 Mr. John Sheafer headed the transit and level party for cross- 
 barrina: the surface. M. Edouard Desor volunteered his servi- 
 ces for the study of the surface geology. Mr. Leo Lesquereux 
 was the fossil botanist, and Mr. Lesley placed the data thus ob- 
 tained on paper. Mr. Rogers was himself with the party a con- 
 siderable part of the season, which lasted until November. 
 
 The first part of the season was spent in a thorough transit- 
 survey of the Shamokin and Trevorton coal basins from Ash 
 land westward. The latter part was spent in a similar survey of 
 the Pottsville coal basin from Donaldson and Trevorton on the 
 west to New Philadelphia on the east. The cross-lines ex- 
 tended across the west part of the Mine Hill basin and to the 
 north brow of the Broad mountain. 
 
 The work was prosecuted with untiring energy from first to 
 last, and the mapping kept pace with the instrumental work. 
 Long straight transit lines were leveled and staked, from side 
 to side of each coal field, at intervals of 2,000 feet. Longitudi- 
 nal lines were then run, tying the cross lines- together. With 
 these Mr. Peter Sheafer connected every gangway mouth, shaft, 
 slope and trial pit which then existed, and carried his surveys 
 along these under ground. The terraces which mark the out- 
 crops of the coal beds on the mountain-sides were also run, 
 when needful, and always exhibited on the maps. The mapping 
 was on a scale of about 1,000' to 1", so that no feature of the 
 surface was lost. The railways were plotted down, and the 
 principal roads also. Every colliery was designated. 
 
126 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The apparant slowness, however, with which such a work 
 must move on kept the Chief Geologist in a state of impa- 
 tience, dreading lest the remaining portions of the Anthracite 
 Coal Region could not be finished in the same elaborate style 
 in another year. The corps disbanded at the approach of 
 snow and did not re-assemble in the spring. 
 
 In 1852, therefore, the State Geologist engaged a talented 
 Finlander, Mr. Augustus A. Dalson, to do what he could with 
 a single assistant, Mr. Henry W. Poole,* towards a very small 
 representation of the whole Anthracite Coal Field, by reducing 
 the great sheet maps of 1851, and adding to the areas then 
 thoroughly surveyed such an exhibition of the eastern part of 
 the Pottsville basin, and of the Mahanoy and Beaver Meadow 
 basins, as his limited means, and the use of Whelpley's and 
 M'Kinley's maps would permit. This Mr. Dalson did with 
 great skill and taste, and his reduced map appears in the Atlas 
 of the Final Report (1858); but with a wrong title; for to him 
 alone ought the credit of this reduction to be given, the 
 present writerf having had nothing to do with it beyond fur- 
 nishing the originals from which the closely surveyed parts ot 
 it were reduced. At the same time there could not be a greater 
 ■mistake committed, than that of saying, as the State Geologist 
 does on page viii of his preface to the Final Report : " The 
 beautiful large map of the Anthracite Region is by Mr. Dalson, 
 chiefly from his own surveys-X " 
 
 "What was accomplished in other parts of the State during 
 these two years 1851, 1852, was merely nominal, and amounted 
 to little. But the years 1852, 1853 and 1854 were very import- 
 ant for the unwearied efforts of Mr. Rogers to revise his im- 
 mense wealth of facts, and to leave no new important develop- 
 
 * The inventor of the euharmonic organ. 
 
 t The latter, indeed, never saw the map until it was published, and was in 
 nowise its author. 
 
 f In the paragraph in which this statement is made, no mention is made of 
 Mr John Sheafer, who headed the surveying party. Mr. W. B. Rogers, Jr., is 
 also spoken of as the onlyother assistant geologist with Prof. Desor. Whereas 
 he was then a student, and was not seen by those who were engaged on this 
 survey of 1851 at all. Mr. P. W. Sheaferis only quoted as a "surveyor (per- 
 forming also geological functions)" ; whereas he was the geologistof the sur- 
 vey of 1851 par excellence, knowing more of the field than all the rest of us 
 combined. 
 
riKST SURVEY, 1855. A. 127 
 
 ment of geology in the State unnoticed. He visited most of 
 the principal iron mines, and especially investigated the classic 
 region of the fossil ore about Danville. His memoir on this, 
 included in his Final Report, is masterly. But one man can 
 do little or nothing by himself in so great and varied a field of 
 scientific labor, however signal his zeal and ability. The First 
 Survey of Pennsylvania maybe truly said to close in 1851. All 
 between that and the appearance of the Final Report in 1858 
 was of the nature of superficial revision in the field, and edi- 
 torial labor in the cabinet. Tliere was no museum ; no arranged 
 collections ; no students of the minerals and fossils of the State. 
 Mr. Rogers was, himself, neither mineralogist nor palaeontolo- 
 gist, and never professed to be. His structural geology also 
 had all been provided for him by the old survey. But let any 
 one read the special memoirs with which he closes the second 
 volume of his Final Report, and there can be no sentiment but 
 one of admiration for the breadth of his views, and the clear- 
 ness, force and elegance of his delineations. No geological pa- 
 per has ever appeared, excelling, in every good scientific quality, 
 his memoir on coal. 
 
 To form a safe estimate of the diligence of the State Geologist 
 during these years it is only necessary to observe that, with the 
 exception of Mr. Lesquereux's beautiful memoir on the Coal 
 Plants (pages 837 to 884"), 275 quarto pages, in fine print, at the 
 end of the Second Volume, viz : from page 698 to page 1022, 
 are entirely from his own pen, and represent the devotion of 
 more than twenty years of observation and reflection to some 
 of the grandest problems in geology. 
 
 In 1855 the Final Report was expected by the terms of the 
 act of 1851. The State Geologist had asked but four years, 
 and they were out ; but the book was not. Why not — the fol- 
 lowing Report of a Select Committee of Inquiry, appointed by 
 the Senate of Pennsylvania, will sufficiently explain. The 
 document is too valuable not to be placed on record, nncurtailed 
 in this history : 
 
128 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Report of the Select Committee of the Senate of Pennsylvania in relation to 
 the progress and present condition of the State Geological Survey. 
 
 The committee appointed to inquire into tlie progress and present condition 
 of the State Geological survey, and what steps are necessary to complete the 
 publication of the report, submit the following statement : 
 
 In the year 1851, the State Geological survey, which owing to the financial 
 embarrassments of the State had been suspended for a number of years, was, 
 in consequence of the earnest and repeated desires of a large portion of the 
 Commonwealth, brought to the consideration of the Legislature, with a view 
 to the final publication of the great and valuable mass of materials that had 
 been collected. The Legislature, after having been placed in possession of 
 the historj- of the work and the causes of its suspension, in an elaborate re- 
 port, (to be found In House Journal, 1851, vol. 2, page 131.) made an appro- 
 priation of thirty-two thousand dollars, for the revision of such portions of 
 the field work as, from the rapid development of the mining regions of the 
 State, required re-survey, and for the publication of the report itself, with th« 
 accompanying mai^s, plans, cuts and sections, in a style suitable to the re- 
 quirements of the work, and the reputation of the Commonwealth. A joint 
 committee, consisting of two members of each House, with the then Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth, was authorized to issue proposals for a contract, under 
 which the publication of the work might be made in accordance with the 
 design of the Legislature, (Pamphlet laws 1851, page 636. ) Several bids were 
 received, from which the committee selected that of Hogan & Thompson, ot 
 the city of Philadelphia, as deemed most favorable to tlie interests of the 
 Commonwealth, and the proper puDlication of the work. The proposals upon 
 which the bids were founded, and the contract ultimately entered into, contem- 
 plated the application of eighteen thousand dollars to the revision of the field 
 work, incl uding the indispensable services of the State Geologist, and fourteen 
 thousand dollars to the publication of the report. The last instalment of 
 eight thousand to be retained until the completion of the work, which it was 
 anticipated would cover a period of four years. The geologist was to receive 
 his portion of the appropriation from the publishers, who were to draw and 
 disburse all the funds. Under this arrangement the geologist. Professor Ro- 
 gers, commenced his field work early in the spring of 1851, and continued 
 with a small band of assistants actively engaged, until the close of the sea- 
 son suspended his field labors. The firm of Hogan <fe Thompson having in- 
 termediately been dissolved, and its successor being compelled to suspend 
 payment, no part of the appropriation was paid by them to the State Geologist, 
 according to the agreement. In this embarrassing position, and having con- 
 sumed his own means in the expectation of Immediate reimbursement, he 
 appealed to the Legislature for redress. Through the aid of a special com- 
 mittee, a settlement of his account was effected with the publishers, and an 
 arrangement was made, by which, for the future, he was authorized to draw 
 that portion of the appropriation intended for the field work, directly from 
 the treasury (Pamphlet laws 1852, page 388.) At this period, the spring ot 
 1852, a large amount of material, consisting of the general geological map of 
 the State, sectional drawings, &c., was ready for the press, and was amply 
 sufficient to occupy all the available resources at the qommand of publishing 
 houses of the highest ability, for fully two years. The geological map was 
 placed in the hands of the publishers for engraving, but they, although urged 
 by the geologist, neglected to put him in communication with the engraver 
 aeleotod for the purpose, although the necessities of the work, and the terms 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1855. A. 129 
 
 of the agreement between the publishers and the geologist, alike required the 
 constant personal supervision of the latter over the work, as it passed through 
 the engraver's hands. Meanwliile, the publishing firm which had succeeded 
 that with which the committee originally contracted, was finally dissolved by 
 the death of the senior partner, and another firm took its place, which, after 
 a short-livod existence, soon likewise disappeared. No commercial firm then 
 remained even in name, to represent the parties with whom the Common- 
 wealth had contracted. Although the publishers had drawn, on account of 
 their contract, the sum of four thousand dollars over and above the amount 
 paid to Mr. Rogers, they do not appear to have made any progress towards 
 the publication of the work. 
 
 The time limited for its completion, will expire on the 14th day of April, 
 1855. Your committee, therefore, addressed letters to the original firm and 
 their successors, inquiring as to the progress of the work and probability of 
 its completion. Answers have been received from most of the parties inter- 
 ested, which admit that nothing has been done, and amount to a virtual aban- 
 donment of the contract. From the information before the committee, they 
 are induced to believe that the four thousand dollars so advanced to the pub- 
 lishers, and for which the State has received no equivalent, is totally lost, as 
 no sufficient security was taken to cover these advances. 
 
 In this recital, your committee have not felt themselves called upon to make 
 any particular reference to the want of proper management, which has re- 
 sulted in this loss to the State, and the delay in the publication of so valuable 
 a work. The duties of their inquiry will be best discharged by concluding 
 this brief history of the matter, with some suggestions as to the most effectual 
 m -de of extricating the work from its present difficulties, and securing its 
 early and complete publication, according to the original design of the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Of the fourteen thousand dollars appropriated by the act of 1851, for the 
 publication of the report, the sum of four thousand dollars was drawn, as 
 already stated, by Hogan & Thompson ; and of the eighteen thousand dollars, 
 intended to cover the expenses of revising the field work, the sum of fifteen 
 thousand dollars has been drawn by Mr. Rogers. The latter gentleman has 
 exhibited vouchers for the whole amount, and has been engaged from April 
 to the middle of November of last year, in prosecuting, with his corps of as- 
 sistants, the field researches. By perseverance in his field and closet labors, 
 the State Geologist has now a large accumulation of prepared matter in readi- 
 ness for publication. All the geological and topographical maps are fin- shed ; 
 so likewise the pictorial illustrations of the work, and nearly all the geologi- 
 cal sections, columns of diagrams, sketches and drawings of the fossil or- 
 ganic remains. A schedule of these materials is annexed. The text of the 
 final report, intended to be, in many of its parts, entirely re-written or much 
 expanded, to embrace the results of the minute revision the survey has under- 
 gone, is likewise in an advanced stage of preparation, and can readily be com- 
 pleted before it will be practicable to enter on the printing of the letter-press. 
 Treating, as the work does, of features, where scrupulous accuracy and mi- 
 nuteness of delineation is indispensable, it will need the immediate and con- 
 stant supervision of the author in nearly every portion ; and it is believed, 
 upon a careful estimate, that it will require about three years for its faithful 
 execution. The difficulty of having such a work properly supervised in its 
 progress of publication, is abundantly evident in the embarrassments which 
 
 9— A. 
 
130 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 have Impeded it thus far. The policy of imposing such a duty on a joint com- 
 mittee of the Legislature, as heretofore, is very questionable, as it cannot be 
 supposed that they can give it the attention requisite ; nor, indeed, that they 
 would be likely to possess the peculiar qualifications for such a task. 
 
 In view of these facts, it has occurred to your committee that they can 
 suggest no more prudent or economical plan than to confide the whole work, 
 in its supervision and publication, to the State Geologist himself. With him 
 it has been the work of a life time ; and his professional reputation is in- 
 volved in the manner in which the results of so much labor and research 
 shall be spread before the world. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, at the invitation of the committee, has offered to assume the 
 contract upon the same terms as heretofore agreed upon between the State 
 and Messrs. Hogan & Thompson. The proposal of this firm, at the time, 
 was about the same as those of other publication houses of established means 
 and character ; but it is believed that the increased value of material, labor 
 and artistic skill, during the last four years, will enhance the cost of such a 
 publication nearly twenty per cent. The chief inducement to Mr. Rogers, in 
 undertaking the task, would be in the subsequent control of the copy-right of 
 a work, in which his professional, as well as his pecuniary interest would be 
 BO extensively embarked. He offers the most ample security, and is willing 
 that the State should protect itself in the time and mode of payment. These 
 considerations, together with the character of Mr. Rogers, and his qualiflca^ 
 tions for such an undertaking, afford an ample guaranty for the faithful per- 
 formance of the contract. His written proposal, dated February 10th, 1855, 
 is hereto annexed. From this it will appear that no further payment will be 
 required than the balance of the appropriation made by the act of 1851, ex- 
 cepting the sum of four thousand dollars, to replace the amount advanced to 
 Hogan <fe Thompson. 
 
 There is, however, one alteration that your committee would recommend. 
 The great map will be the most important feature of the report ; for it is 
 intended to exhibit not only every geological, but every geographical and to- 
 pographical feature of the State. In order to embrace so vast an amount of 
 detail, it has been found necessary to reduce the work to a fineness that none 
 but the most skillful artists can execute. By enlarging this map to twice its 
 present scale, it will correspond in size with Barnes' map of Pennsylvania, 
 published in 1854, under the supervision of Wm. E. Morris, Esq., and will 
 exhibit clearly and distinctly to the eye, the minutest results of the Survey.* 
 The variations in the physical character of the State can be faithfully por- 
 trayed; not merely the mountain ridges, which contain such incalculable 
 mineral wealth, but the benches and spurs of those mountains, with the 
 mining drifts and collieries. The State could not present to her citizens the 
 results of this Survey, in a more useful or acceptable shape ; and the increased 
 expense will be no objection, as the State Geologist is willing to undertake to 
 produce a map of double the present scale, for an addional charge of two 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 With a view of relieving this matter of its present difficulties, and of ac- 
 complishing the object above indicated, your committee submit a supplement 
 
 * This sentence embodies two errors : for the map was not enlarged to dou- 
 ble the size, but from 7^ to 5 miles to the inch as can be seen below; and 
 secondly most of the " minute details" on Henderson's map were not and 
 could not be exhibited. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1855. A. 131 
 
 to the several acts relating to the geological survej', and authorizing the 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth to contract with Mr. Rogers for the publica- 
 tion of the report, upon the same terms as agreed upon hy the former con- 
 tractors. 
 
 N. B. BROWNE, 
 FR. JORDAN. 
 
 Haekisbukg, February 10, 1855. 
 To the Committee in charge Oj the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania : 
 
 Gentlemen : — Influenced by a strong desire to see the Geological Survey 
 published, and believing, after much examination of the matter, that this can- 
 not be accomplished so profitably to the true interests of the Commonwealth, 
 as by my assuming the task myself, I hereby avow my willingness to accept 
 the contract for publishing the final report of the said Survey, consisting of 
 the materials defined in schedules formerly presented, on the same terms as 
 were heretofore agreed upon between the State and Messrs. Hogan & Thomp- 
 son, provided this shall not interfere with the payment of the balance still 
 due me as State Geologist for services under any contract or appropriations. 
 
 I wish to be allowed three years for the deliberate and careful execution of 
 this responsible duty, of producing, in the highest style of accuracy, this pa- 
 tiently elaborated and permanent picture of mineral wealth and geological 
 structure of Pennsylvania. 
 
 In accepting this contract, I would forego the salary to which I should 
 otherwise be equitably entitled, for indispensable services in supervising and 
 virtually editmg the work, if awarded to another publisher; and I will ob- 
 serve that this renunciation of salary makes my offer, compared with all for- 
 mer bids by other parties, cheaper, at the moderate rate of salary I have re- 
 ceived, by four thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 In reply to your Inquiry respecting the cost of enlarging the general geo- 
 logical and topographical map of the State, to twice the scale upon which it 
 has been prepared, I would say that it will require, upon an approximate es. 
 timate about two thousand dollars additional appropriation to re-construct 
 ind engrave the map in this larger form. That this suggested expansion 
 would enhance its value for both geographical and geological reference in a 
 much higher proportion than the additional cost would measure, no intel- 
 ligent person, understanding the wants of the community in the matter of an 
 exact topographical map of the State, can for one moment doubt. 
 Very respecfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 HENRY D. ROGERS. 
 
 Statement of the materials of the Final Report of the Geological Survey, now 
 ready for engraving, <&c. 
 
 1. General Geological and Topographical Map of Pennsylvania, (1 inch=7i 
 miles.) 
 
 2. Topographical Map of entire Anthracite region, (| inch=l mile.) 
 
 3. Topographical and Geological Map of Pottsville coal field, (1| inch— 1 
 mile.) 
 
 4. Small Map of coal fields and avenues to market. 
 
 5. Small Map of lead and copper district of Chester and Montgomery. 
 
132 A. HISTORY OF THF 
 
 Geological Sections. 
 
 1. All the detailed sections of the coal strata of the Pottsville basin illus- 
 trating the positions, dips, distances apart and relative thicknesses of the sev- 
 eral coal beds for every two or three miles from Mauch Chunk to Dauphin, 
 embracing about twelve principal sections and a number of subordinate 
 ones. (To be reduced in scale in the engraving.) 
 
 2. A series of similar detailed sections, illustrating the structure of the 
 great middle coal fields, the Shamokin, Mahanoy and Lehigh basins, about 
 eight principal sections, with several intermediate local ones. (To be reduced 
 in scale.) 
 
 3. A similar suite of exact sections of the coal strata of the Wyoming and 
 Lackawanna basin, about eight chief ones with several lesser intermediate 
 seciions. (To he reduced.) 
 
 4. About ten principal and several smaller vertical columns of the strata, 
 showing the thicknesses and the intervals between the coal beds in the sev- 
 eral anthracite basins. 
 
 5. A series of sections across the bituminous coal fields of the northern and 
 western counties. 
 
 6. Aij extensive suite of vertical and columnar sections of the bituminous 
 coal measures, illustrating the stratification in some fifty important localities. 
 
 7. About fifty diagrams of individual coal seams, anthracite and bitumin- 
 ous, showing the sub-divisionS; qualities of coal and slaty partings in each 
 bed. 
 
 8. Diagrams illustrating the courses of outcrops of coal beds, and of gang- 
 ways. i_n mines. 
 
 Sections not pertaining especially to the Coal Fields, 
 
 1. A series of fourteen elaborate general sections, traversing the State from 
 S. E. to N. W., to elucidate the general map. 
 
 2. A series of more local sections, explaining the stratification of districts 
 on the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Juniata, Kiskiminetas 
 and Allegheny rivers. 
 
 3. A suite of sections showing, in detail, the structure and stratification of 
 the counties S. W. of the Susquehanna, and S. E. of the Allegheny moun- 
 tain. 
 
 4. Several local sections, illustrating the geology of the lower or S. E. coun- 
 ties. 
 
 Pictorial Illustrations. 
 
 1. Ten water-color views of scenery, to be engraved on copper, or color- 
 printed on stone. (All ready.) 
 
 2. A series of outline sl<etches, thirty in number, of Topographical and 
 Geological features, and of mines, quarries and mine fixtures, to be etched on 
 stone or copper. (The greater part now readj' for the engraver.) 
 
 3. Several elaborate pictorial sections, or panoramic geological views, in 
 eluding a full one on the Schuylkill from Philadelphia to near Norristown. 
 (Beady for engraving.) 
 
 Drawings of Fossils. 
 
 The thirty plates of drawings of organic remains mentioned in the schedule 
 of material rendered in 1851, ars now finished, and awaiting the best artistic 
 skill of a scientific lithographer. 
 
FIRST SURVEY, 1855. A, 133 
 
 Text. 
 Of the text, about five hundred pages of descriptive matter, pertaining 
 oliiefly to districts which have undergone a close revision, are written. Now 
 that the chief mass of the field work is finished, the uncompleted parts of the 
 revised text, with other remaining closet work, can proceed, while the Geolo- 
 gist is bestowing a portion of his attention to the supervision of the engrav- 
 ing of the extensive body of illustrations designated in the foregoing list. 
 Respectfully submitted by 
 
 H. D. ROGERS. 
 
 The recommendations of the Committee were adopted, and 
 the contract transferred to the State Geologist. All the docu- 
 ments of the survey became his personal property ; as well as 
 the copyright of the book and atlas when published. One 
 thousand copies were distributed among the members of the 
 Legislature, and found their way into public and private libra- 
 ries, and to second-hand book stores. Each of the Assistants 
 received a copy. The rest of the edition belonged to the State 
 G-eologist, who arranged for its sale by Johnston in Edinburgh, 
 and Lippencott & Co. in Philadelphia. Several hundred copies 
 remained unsold at his death, and what remain of these may 
 be purchased of Van ISTostrand in ISTew York. 
 
 The two quarto volumes of the Final Report contain 1631 
 pages of clearly printed matter, with 778 beautifully engraved 
 wood-cuts inserted in the text ; 7 engraved plates of geological 
 sections, uncolored ; and 28 plates of coal plant fossils, engraved 
 by W. & A. K. Johnston, Edinburg. These are bound at the 
 end of the second volume. 
 
 There are also 6 double page engravings of sections along the 
 rivers of the State, and 2 three-page plates of vertical sections, 
 bound in or at the end of the first volume. 
 
 Beautiful colored lithographs of three of Lehman's finest 
 water-color paintings are also given. One of the most strik- 
 ing — the Pulpit Rocks at Huntingdon — forms the vignette to 
 Vol. I ; another equall}' fine — the old Baltimore Company's 
 outcrop near Wilkesbarre — the vignette to Vol. II ; and the 
 third — a very eifective interior, looking towards the entrance — 
 faces page 382. 
 
 These, however, are the only reproductions in colors of a long 
 series of exquisite water-color drawings, made by the talented 
 artist, for the survey, most of them easel pictures, fit for the 
 walls of any museum in the world.. The scenery of no region 
 
134 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 has ever been more magnificently represented, and that with as 
 much faithfulness to its natural history, as skill and taste in 
 color and perspective. These paintings would have made a 
 large and charming art gallery for the Capitol at Harrisburg. 
 Whether they are scattered now, never to be re-collected, or 
 whether they remain in the possession of Mr. Eogers' heirs, is 
 not known. 
 
 Besides these numerous water-color paintings, Mr. Lehman, 
 during the years of his engagement on the survey, executed a 
 still more extensive suite of pencil and pen and ink sketches of 
 scenery in all parts of the State, illustrative of its topography 
 and geology. Twenty-three of these are reproduced as one 
 page plates in Vol. I, and twenty in Vol. II. This represents 
 only a small selection from the whole portfolio, and of such as 
 were best fitted by their shape to appear on a quarto page. 
 
 Besides all this, there are two maps in the second volume ; 
 one at page 675, of the mining district of Chester and Mont- 
 gomery counties ; and one at page 1019 of the anthracite and 
 bituminous coal fields of the State. 
 
 A description of the wealth of facts presented and illustrated 
 in this remarkable book — one of unexampled excellence in its 
 day, reflecting the highest honor upon authors, editor and 
 artist — woald be in vain attempted here. But the plan of its 
 arrangement should be stated, and the book itself left to the 
 research of its readers. 
 
 Description of the Final Report of 1858. 
 
 Volume One commences with an introductory memoir on the 
 Physical Geography of Pennsylvania, pages 1-57, describing 
 the boundaries, water sheds, anticlinal, synclinal and monocli- 
 nal mountains, their scenery and structure, their crests and 
 gaps, the river basins, rain fall, temperature and prevailing 
 winds — of the different districts of the State. Lehman's 
 sketches of the gneiss rock mass at the mouth of the Wissa- 
 hiccon, — of the Kittatinny (Silurian) mountain (and two of 
 its gaps) as seen from the Summit mine, — of the east end of the 
 Bald Eagle (Silurian) mountain, as seen from the west, — of the 
 high synclinal end of the Terrace (Devonian) mountain, as seen 
 from Huntingdon, — of the Tamaqua anthracite coal basin, as 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 135 
 
 seen from the Summit mine (in the foreground),— of the Pass 
 of the Lehigh through the Second (Devonian) mountain below 
 Mauch Chunk, — of the Upper Coal Measure country about 
 Canonsburg in Washington county,— and of the bend of the 
 Susquehanna around the dying synclinal (Silurian) Bald Eagle 
 mountain at Muncy — illustrate this Chapter in a perfectly sat- 
 isfactory manner. These illustrations are only equalled by re- 
 cently published sketches of the Eocky Mountain surveys. 
 
 The Geology of Pennsylvania is then introduced (p. 59-60) 
 by a short classification of the rocks into gneissic or hypozoic, 
 and palaeozoic. 
 
 PART I. Metamorphic Strata of Pennsylvania. An intro- 
 ductory chapter (62-66) classifies these along the Atlantic Slope 
 of the Middle and Southern States ; and then the gneissic rocks 
 of Pennsylvania proper, into three districts. 
 
 Chapter 1. The Southern Zone of Gneiss, south of the Ches- 
 ter Valley (pages 66-82). This is sub-divided into three belts, 
 a southern, middle and northern, crossing the Schuylkill river 
 above Philadelphia, and the Brandyv^inewest of West Chester. 
 A running landscape section of the left bank of the Schuylkill* 
 shows the outcrops from Spring Mill down to Manayunk 
 bridge, with the mills and other buildings against a back- 
 ground of hills.f Another detailed section is given along the 
 Wissahickon creek. 
 
 * Drawn by Mr. Dalson ? 
 
 t This section must not be taken without much caution as a basis for res- 
 toring the structure, for the gaps are long and numerous, and the variations 
 of strike are not shown. The exposures along the opposite right bank are 
 even more important, and the two series must be combined. No map of the 
 strikes was made ; and this is an indispensable prerequisite for so difficult an 
 investigation. 
 
 The text, also, descriptive of this interesting section, is open to serious criti- 
 cism; and the classification of the gneiss into three belts peeds revision. The 
 error seems to have been committed of regarding the gentle north dip at 
 Philadelphia as a nearly horizontal cleavage plane, instead oi plane of strati- 
 fication (p. 70), which supposition renders any attempt at an interpretation 
 of the structure fruitless. 
 
 Another great defect in the section, as given, is the absence of south dips, 
 for a long distance north of the soapstone quarry. These make the structure 
 between the quarry and Spring Mill a high sharp anticlinal, dying rapidly 
 eastward. This was not comprehended, because no map was miide ; and be- 
 cause the theoretical view, entertained at that time, took for granted a con- 
 tinuous ascent in the order of formations from Philadelphia to Spring Mill. 
 
136 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Chapter 2. The Middle Zone of Gneiss, north of the Chester 
 Valley, and south of the ISTew Red country (pages 83-90.) The 
 difference between these (now known to be Laurentian) gneisses 
 and the soft (Huronian ?) gneisses of chapter I is well set forth, 
 and the iron ores of the district are alluded to. 
 
 Chapter 3. The Northern Zone of Gneiss, of the South Moun- 
 tains (pages 91-103.) The minerals of Chestnut Hill north of 
 Easton, the Highlands south of the Lehigh as far as Reading, 
 with a section along the Delaware river (98), and unconformable 
 contacts of Primal on gneiss (100), and other sections across 
 the range towards and at Reading (102, 103) are described. 
 
 PART II. The Palceozoie, or ancient fossiliferous strata of 
 Pennsj'lvania, occupies the remaining pages (104-586) of Vol. 
 I, and the first 666 pages of Vol. II. 
 
 Introductoey Book. 
 
 Chapter 1 (104-109") gives a short synopsis of the twelve great 
 formations, from "Primal" to "Serai," including the Coal Mea- 
 sures, — with their K"ew York Survey synonyms, and their char- 
 acteristic qualities and thicknesses in various critical places in 
 and out of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Chapter 2 (110-120) sub-divides the Palaeozoic region into 
 nine districts, and the districts into many bolts. 
 
 Chapter 3 (122-146) gives a summary description, or bird's 
 eye view, of the twelve great formations and their sub-divi- 
 sions ; their lithological characters ; and tables of varying thick- 
 ness in different parts of the State. 
 
 Book I. Primal and Auroral Strata of the Atlantic Slope; [pages 
 149-236.) 
 
 Division I. Primal Series. Introduction. 
 
 Chapter 1. Primal Series, southern belt. This describes the 
 
 supposed Potsdam sandstone and slate ISTo. 1, along the south 
 
 And yet the resemblance of the northern and southern roolis is noticed ; and 
 some astonishment is expressed (page 73) that the "northern zone," half a 
 mile wide on the Schuylkill, should "run to a point before reaching the Val- 
 ley of the Wissahickon. " 
 
 A hasty preliminary map survej' of the dips and strikes along the river, 
 made by Messrs. Young and Fagen in 1874, sufficed to show that this chapter 
 must be re-written, and to prove tliat in the early days of the world's history 
 a double crested mountain range extended from Trenton, past Philadelphia 
 towards Baltimore, the height of which, on the present cross-line of the 
 Suhu ,-lkill, equalled that of the Swiss Alps. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 137 
 
 Side of the Chester valley ; first, generally, east and west of the 
 Schuylkill river, and then in detail ; with the four anticlinals 
 east of Willow Grove; the quarries; the belts of serpentine 
 south of the valley, and the serpentine and chrome iron ore on 
 the Maryland line (149-171.) 
 
 This chapter is illustrated by 12 wood-cuts, mostly sections, 
 some of which show the plicated structure of the district very 
 well ; but it is evident that a great deal of hard work has to 
 be done in Philadelphia, southern Montgomery, Delaware, 
 southern Chester and southern Lancaster counties, before the 
 geology of this corner of the State can be really understood. 
 Nothing could well be more meagre and unsatisfactory than 
 our knowledge of it, embodied in this chapter of the Final 
 Report of 1858. ITor can it be comprehended until a close in- 
 strumental survey of everj' part of it be made. Its limestones, 
 serpentines and iron ores must else remain in the mystery in 
 which this chapter leaves them. It is evident that the theory 
 of structure here given is, as a whole, utterly unreliable and ir 
 many important respects wrong. 
 
 Plates 3 and 4, at the end of the volume, show the exposures 
 along Brandywine creek. 
 
 Wood-cut, fig. 20, is a good illustration of cleavage; wood- 
 out, fig. 15, as an illustration of surface creep acquires now a 
 new interest in the light of the discoveries (1874). of glacial ac- 
 tion around Philadelphia, to which action the bent outcrops 
 may be ascribed. 
 
 Chapter 2. Primal Series, bounding the middle gneissic dis- 
 trict around Waynesburg in northern Chester county ; in the 
 ITorth Valley hill and Mine Ridge ; in the Welsh mountains ; 
 and in Chiques rock, at Columbia; (173-182.) 
 
 Wood-cuts 21, 22 and 23 arc beautiful folded sections across 
 the Chester valley and North Valley hill. Wood-cut 24 gives 
 a very doubtful theory of the Chestnut Hill ore region at Co- 
 lumbia, and 24a an admirable illustration of the way our large 
 hematite ore beds are sub-divided, massed, and crushed under- 
 neath loads of contorted tinted clays. A large amount of in- 
 strumental work is needful to cast light on the difiicult geology 
 of the large district thus summarily disposed of in this short 
 chapter. 
 
138 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Chapter 3. Pnmal Strata on the Susquehanna and in York 
 county, (184-195.) 
 
 Plate 5, line 1, at the end of the volume, gives the exposures 
 along the left, bauk or Lancaster county side, from the Chiques 
 Furnace to (Columbia. 
 
 Plate 6, of seven long lines, gives all the observed rock-ex- 
 posures along the right oaiik or York county side, from the 
 Maryland line up to WnghtsviUo, opposite Columbia. These 
 sections are in the main excellent, and show the minute care 
 bestowed upon the south-east problems by Prof. Eogers after 
 the close of the survey in 18-12. But their trxtt interpretation 
 waits for a complete instnirnental survey of the York and Lan- 
 caster border country, by whicti alone the numerous inland 
 outcrops can be properl}' referred to the river banks, and the 
 actual structure be learned. In 1874, I'rofessor Frazer com- 
 menced this work, and his section along the west bank assjsts 
 in the interpretation of a part of the line. At least two years 
 of hard work in York and Lancaster is needed. 
 
 The geological description of York county in this chapter 
 is extraordinarily meagre, and amounts to little mori3 than the 
 re-production of the scanty notes published in one of the annual 
 reports. 
 
 Chapter 4. Primal Pocks of the South mountain, between the 
 Delaware and Schuylkill, (196-202.) The sandstones at Easton, 
 Bethlehem, Allentown and Womelsdorf are located, and the 
 outcrops indicated geographically. 
 
 Chapter 5. South Mountains, south-west of the Susquehanna, 
 (203-207.) Into these live pages are thrown a few cursory 
 notes, all that the First Survey had to say of this large and 
 most important district of the State. One wood-cut (fig. 25) 
 illustrates its supposed structure along the line of the " Get- 
 tysburg railroad," or pike from Gettysburg to Chambersburg. 
 The total ignorance of Huronian and Laurentian geology 
 which prevailed even as late as twenty years ago made the 
 problem of our South Mountains insoluble. But the real 
 explanation of the failure of the First Survey to elucidate 
 this geology is to be sought in the fact that no instrumental 
 survey was ever made of these mountains. This is one of the 
 tasks commenced by the Second Survey. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 139 
 
 Division II. Auroral Series. 
 
 Chapter 1. General description of the Chester Valley lime- 
 stones ; trap dykes ; marble quarries ; iron ore banks ; and the 
 insulated limestone basins of Lancaster county with their iron 
 ores, (209-219.) 
 
 Here is inserted the double page plate of the exposures along 
 the Schuylkill river; and at the end of the volume Plates I 
 and II repeat this section in a less picturesque manner, but in 
 greater detail and on a true scale. Four pictures are given (on 
 one page, opposite 213,) of quarry faces of limestone and slate, 
 illustrating admirably the cleavage in all its type forms. These 
 are very instructive. The same thing is shown in sketches ac- 
 companying Fig. 27, page 218. 
 
 Chapter 2. Auroral limestone in the isolated basins of Lancas- 
 ter, York, Adams and Chester counties, with trap dykes, iron 
 ores, &c. (220-231) and little wood-cuts, (figs. 29 and 30) of Kev- 
 in's quarry west of the Brandywine, and the broken saddle of 
 gneiss pushing up the Jimestone at Bailey's between Ifew Lon- 
 don and Kennett Square. In this chapter we have a good deal 
 that we miss in Chapter 1 of Division I. 
 
 Chapter 3. Auroral Limestone of the South mountains, be- 
 tween the Delaware and Schuylkill, with the zinc mines of the 
 Saucon, (233-236.) The similar synclinal limestone valley south 
 of Carlisle is not alluded to here. 
 
 BOOK II. Second District. Kittatinny Valley. 
 
 Chapter 1 . Boundaries ; dimensions ; cleavage ; typical for- 
 mations (F. I and F. II) — ^Auroral Magnesian limestone ; Ma- 
 tinal limestone ; Matinal black slate ; Matinal newer slate ; 
 fossils; structure; (237-240.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Auroral Limestone from Easton to Reading. Sec- 
 tion (text) along the Delaware. Cleavage. (241-245.) 
 
 Chapter 3. Matinal Slate from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, 
 (246-249.) Here is inserted wood-cut 31, showing overturned 
 and compressed folds in the slate near Harrisburg, very instruc- 
 tive Wood-cut 32 exhibits the roofing-slate cleavage at the 
 Delaware "Water Gap. The quarries at Slatington are des- 
 cribed ; and the surface covering of boulders remarked, but 
 assigned to diluvial instead of to glacial action. — Hydraulic 
 lime. 
 
l40 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Chapter 4. Auroral Limestone from Reading to Harris Dui-g, 
 All that is told of it is on page 251. 
 
 Chapter 5. Matinal Slate from the Schuylkill to the Susque- 
 hanna, with its iron ores, tongues of limestone, shore-breccia 
 at Bunkers' Hill, and outlying Hole mountain, (252-256.) 
 
 Chapter 6. Auroral Limestone from Harrisburg to Greencastle, 
 (257-259.) 
 
 Chapter 7. Matinal Slate from the Susquehanna to the Mary- 
 land line, page 260. 
 
 Chapter 8. Auroral Limestone and Matinal Slate belts in Frank- 
 lin county, (261, 262.) 
 
 Nothing could be more unsatisfactory than the description 
 as above given of this most important belt of the State. But 
 what else could be expected from a survey forty j'ears ago, not 
 organized on an instrumental basis, unable to dig or bore, and 
 at a time preceding the opening of most of the iron ore mines 
 of the Great Valley. The few mines which then aftbrded op- 
 portunities for observation are sketched in the report. 
 
 Chapter 9. Iron Ores of the Kittatinny valley, (263-267;) in 
 which not a section or diagram is given ; and almost the only 
 important contribution to our knowledge is that of the borings 
 at the Copperas Mine, near Trexlertown. 
 
 To make up for the deficiency of this chapter, I'rof. Rogers 
 has discussed the iron ores of the Great Valley, with those of 
 the country to the south of it, in the light cast upon them be- 
 tween 1840 and 1855, in a separate memoir, extending from 
 page 712 to page 740 of Volume II. But even this is of little 
 value. The Second Survey has therefore taken up the investi- 
 gation de novo, and as if nothing at all had been done in the 
 Groat Valley, and hopes, by making an elaborate contour line 
 map of the entire belt across the State, to arrive at some clear 
 statement of its geology, especially in relation to the iron ore 
 deposits. 
 
 BOOK III. Stroudsburg-Orwigsburg Valley. 
 
 Chapler 1. Limits of the district and character of the formations, 
 embracing the Silurian and Devonian, up to the Coal, i. e. from 
 the Oiseida, No. IV, to the Catskill, IX and X; in other words, 
 all that belt of valley land lying back of the Blue, Kittatinny, 
 or First Mountain, and in front of the CatskiH, Pocono, Mauch 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 141 
 
 Chunk, or Second Mountain, from the Delaware river and New 
 York State line to the Susquehanna river above Harrisburg, 
 (270-279.) 
 
 Chapters 2 and 3 (280-281) give short descriptions of the belt 
 along the Delaware, with a section at Walpack Bend, (fig. 33.) 
 
 Chapter 4 (283-287) continues it to the Wind Gap, with 
 charming cuts of structure at Stroudsburg, (figs. 34, 35, 36.) 
 
 Chapter 5 (287-289) continues it to the Schuylkill with a cu- 
 rious diagrammatic comparison of the curves at the Wind Gap 
 and Lehigh Water Gap (fig. 37) and a totally false section of 
 Stone Eidge at the Lehigh, (fig. 38.) 
 
 Chapter 6 (289-292) continues it to the Swatara, with a sec- 
 tion along the Little Schuylkill (fig. 39) showing the series of 
 anticlinals, but not showing the fault in the Blue mountain, 
 (fig. 39.) 
 
 Chapter 7 (293) continues it to the Susquehanna, and fig. 41 
 shows the difl:erence in contour j)roduced by a difference in dip. 
 
 Beautiful sections through the Delaware and Lehigh Water 
 Gaps are given on lines 5, 6,7 of Plate V at the end of the vol- 
 ume. In 1875, Mr. Chance has made more perfect studies of 
 these gaps, with contour line maps of them, and they will be 
 modelled in plaster and colored, as type specimens of this fea- 
 ture of our geology. He has efiected important structural 
 changes in the section north of the Lehigh Gap; and Mr. C 
 E. Hall has added glacial phenomena ; but the sections on Plate 
 V" are nevertheless excellent. On the same plate, line 3, the Gap 
 of the Susquehanna is shown ; but a much more elaborate sec- 
 tion is given in iig. 60, on page 328. And, opposite page 365 
 's Lehman's fine landscape sketch of the ends of the mountain, 
 separated by the broad river. 
 
 BOOK IV. North-Eastern District, (294-312) ; occupied exclu- 
 sively by Devonian rocks. 
 
 Chapter 1 (294-302) sketches broadly the Vergent, Ponent 
 and Vespertine formations, their thickness, lithology, ripple 
 marks, false bedding and fossils. 
 
 Chapter 2 (303, 304) gives the structure and a few local details 
 of the Delaware river (Catskill) highlands. 
 
 Chapter 3 C305, 306) gives the structure and some local details 
 of Wayne and Susquehanna counties. 
 
142 A. histokY of the 
 
 Chapter 4 (307, 312) sketches the Bradford and Tioga county 
 finger-mountains, the Wellsboro' and other valleys, the Mans- 
 field limestone and iron-ore-belt outcrops (page 309, and fig. 43); 
 a vertical section on the Tioga river (fig. 42) ; the remarkable 
 wide spread (glacial ?) deposit of New York limestone-boulders 
 over the country (page 310); E. C. T&,ylor's (Vespertine) lime- 
 stone-outcrop south of Wellsboro' (fig. 44) ; and a remarkable 
 lake and (glacial moraine?) ridge on Crooked Creek (312.) 
 
 These chapters are extremely meagre ; and therefore Mr. Sher- 
 wood was appointed to make, in 1875, a systematic survey of 
 this Eourth District of the First Survey. He will be prepared 
 to hand in, this winter, a geologically colored map of Bradford 
 and Tioga counties, illustrating his report, in which the more 
 important (Chemung) horizons are carefully traced and des- 
 cribed. 
 
 BOOK Y. Lower Juniata District. 
 
 Division I. Perry and N. W. Franklin counties; the first 
 and second synclinals, back of the Blue or North mountain, and 
 in front of the Tuscarora mountain, (313-366.) "We here enter 
 on the carefully worked up mountain belt of the State ; and in 
 Dr. A. A. Henderson's old district. 
 
 Chapter 1. Sherman's Valley. North Horse Valley. Burn's 
 Valley. Path Valley. Amberson's Valley. M'Connellsburg 
 Cove. — The structure is carefully described ; with the great 
 fault along the north side of Path Valley (319,) and its iron 
 ores (322) ; the great fault opening the Cove; Lowry's Knob ; 
 and the fossil ore shales of Little Scrub, Dickey's, Cove and 
 Little Cove mountains. 
 
 Henderson's Figs. 45 to 51, of the Path Valley fault and 
 iron ore, are curious and valuable, although subsequent mining 
 operations, and private surveys, have revealed features hidden 
 in 1839, tending to modify somewhat his conclusions. Fig. 
 52 repeats the fault at the Carrick bank with a difi'erent inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 Henderson's Figs. 53 to 59 tell the whole story of the M'- 
 Connellsburg fault beautifully. The shattered fragments of 
 Oneida (No. 4, Levant white S. S.) caught in the feult, as 
 shown in figs. 54, 55, 56, are specially noteworthy. 
 
FINAL KBPOBT OF 1858. A. 143 
 
 Chapter 2. Levant, Surgent and Scalent (Oneida, Medina, IV, 
 Clinton, &c., V,) formations in Perry and Franklin counties 
 (328-345), in detail. The Levant is shown in a section of the 
 Blue mountain at Harrisburg (fig. 60), carefully drawn, but 
 without the mathematical elements, and therefore only general ; 
 and the Surgent and Scalent series are sketched on page 329. 
 
 Levant Series; geographical distribution (330-336.) In this 
 Henderson gives his mountain system, as it occupies his 
 map: — Tuscarora mountain, Conecocheague (1^'orth) mountain, 
 Bower's mountain. Round Top, Dividing mountain. Rising 
 mountain, Amberson's knob, Clark's knob, Jordan's knob and 
 Parnell's knob. The Kittatinny, K'orth or Blue mountain is 
 traced and described minutely (334-336) from Harrisburg west 
 to Mercersburg, with its hooks, gaps and anticlinals. 
 
 Surgent Series; geographical distribution (336-345.) In this 
 Hpnderson shows all the outcrops of the Clinton, (No. V,) red 
 shales holding the fossil iron ore, of which, however, he has 
 very little to say, because it was at that early day scarcely any 
 where opened. This is almost the only deficiency in this part 
 of the Final Report of 1858 ; and this deficiency is being reme- 
 died by the Surveys of 1874, '5 and '6, by the minute detailed 
 examination of these outcrops by Mr. Dewees. Henderson 
 mapped the undeveloped outcrop of the formation with great 
 care in Pfout's, Raccoon, Shaefter's, Kennedy's, South Horse 
 and Horse valleys, and along the flanks of all the Levant QSo. 
 rV) mountains, above mentioned. 
 
 The structure of the region is given by Henderson's cross 
 section, in figs. 61 to 63, on page 345. 
 
 Chapter 3. Scalent, Premeridian (VI) and Meredian (VII) strata 
 in Perry county, (345-354.) 
 
 The marls and limestones of VI, (Ifl"iagara, Lower Helder- 
 berg, &c.,) are described by Henderson together, and traced by 
 him through all their meandering convolutions, in Pfout's val- 
 ley and Raccoon valley, (346) and along and across nineteen 
 anticlinals numbered from south to north, (346-350.) 
 
 The Oriskany sandstone ridge, QSo. VII, Meridian,) which 
 carries these limestones on its flank, and is bent backward and 
 forward by these anticlinals, is described with the same care, 
 
144 A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 (350-354); the anticlinals and synclinals being beautifully 
 drawn in wood cuts 64 to 68. 
 
 Chapter 4. Cadent and Vergent (VIII) strata in Perry county, 
 (355-362) in Wildcat ridge, Raccoon ridge. Half Fall moun- 
 tain, Dick's ridge, Mahanoy ridge, and Fishing Creek valley; 
 with the iron ores of Juniata Furnace (358) and Perry Fur- 
 nace, (360) and at Oak Grove, (362.) The anticlinals and syn- 
 clinals of the district are again exhibited in section in Hender- 
 son's cuts, ligs. 69 to 71, page 362. 
 
 Chapter 5. Ponent (Red Catskill, IX) rocks in Perry county 
 (363, 364), with the anticlinals and synclinals again shown in 
 figs. 72, 73. Here come in notices of Berry's mountain, Buf- 
 falo mountain, (Middle ridge. Hominy ridge, VIII,) Cove 
 mountain and Peters' mountain. 
 
 Chapter 6. Vespertine Conglomerate (Whit* Catskill X) and 
 Umbral Red Shale (XI) in BuiFalo mountain, in Hunter's val- 
 ley and in the Cove, north of Harrisburg ; with a notice of the 
 north end of the wonderful, thin, trap dyke which crosses the 
 Susquehanna river at Duncannon, (the mouth of the Juniata,) 
 and may be traced in a straight line southward to Boiling 
 Springs south of Carlisle, cutting all the formations. More of 
 Henderson's cross-sections, with anticlinals and synclinals, are 
 given in figs. 74, 75, page 366. They have no special reference 
 to this chapter ; lying west of the district, and showing the fault 
 in Path valley. But no other arrangement of the wood-cuts 
 was feasible, inasmuch as they cross all the formations, while 
 the text follows each formation along its outcrop, ^j this ar- 
 rangement of the report reference to the sections is made diffi- 
 cult and tedious. But it was unavoidable ; or Dr. Henderson 
 would have devised a better method. 
 
 Division II. Tuscarora Valley. — This is the third great syn- 
 clinal belt, and includes the third great anticlinal belt of Shade 
 and Black Log mountains, extending from the Susquehanna, 
 in Union county, to the northern part of Fulton county (367- 
 395.) The fossil ores of this range will furnish the staple of 
 Mr. Dewees' Report of Progress for 1874-'5. 
 
 Chapter 1. Levant (IV) in East Shade mountain and Blue 
 Ridge. 
 
 Chapter 2. Black Log Valley (II and III) ; Western Shade 
 
FINAL EEPOKT OF 1858. A. 145 
 
 mountain ; Meadow, Cook's, Shade and Pott's gaps. The ex- 
 traordinary cross fault, filled with iron ore, mined at the crest 
 of the Black Log mountain, south of Orbisonia, is alluded to 
 on page 371. 
 
 Chapter 3. The Tuscarora valley in detail ; its Clinton red 
 shales and fossil ore of Slenderdale ridge, the Juniata Long 
 Narrows ; Lost Creek valley ; the fossil ores at Mifflintown ; 
 on Forge ridge ; in Licking Creek valley ; Kurtz' valley ; Tus- 
 carora valley proper (378) and its sub-dividing ridges and fos- 
 sil ore outcrops ; Pfout's valley (380) ; Thompsontown ; Water- 
 loo (381) ; Burnt Cabins ; the M'Connellsburg cove fault (again ;, 
 381.) 
 
 Chapter 4. The limestones (VI) of Tuscarora valley, along 
 the Slenderdale ridge and over the same ground again to the- 
 M'Connellsburg cove, (383-387.) 
 
 Chapter 5. The Oriskany (VII) ridges, (388-390 ) 
 
 Chapter 6. The Slate hills of VIII, from the Susquehanna 
 river across the Juniata, through Tuscarora, Kurtz's, Pfout's 
 and Little Aughwick valleys ; with their Devonian iron ores 
 (390-395.) 
 
 No wood-cuts accompany any of the chapters in this division ; 
 because Henderson's sections cross his entire district, and are 
 given in the previous division of the report. 
 
 Division III. Lewistown Valley. This remarkable belt of 
 low land between mountain walls extends from Selinsgrove on 
 the Susquehanna river, past Lewistown, into Maryland, and 
 formed the northern limit of Henderson's field, and the north- 
 ern border of his manuscript colored map. It was the first 
 ground occupied by the Mr Dewees' party in 1874, and will be 
 richly illustrated by contour-line maps of Mr. Billin, and 
 the instrumental cross-sections of Mr. Ashburner. Mr. Leh- 
 mann's landscape sketch of the Blue hill on the Susquehanna at 
 Iforthumberlaud, and Dr. Henderson's cross-section at Lewis- 
 town (fig. 77, page 406), his little cross-section of Dry valley (fig. 
 79, page 409), and his two minute map-cuts of the limestone 
 knobs at Beavertown, and of the topography of Forge ridge, 
 are the only illustrations of its geology given in the Final Ee- 
 port. 
 
 10— A. 
 
146 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Chapter 1. Character of the formations : — Surgent ; fossil ore; 
 Scalent ; marls ; limestone ; Premeridian ; Meridian (VII) shale; 
 sand ; Cadent ; older black slate ; ore ; Vergent ; Ponent, (IX) 
 (396-401.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Topographical features : — Meridian (VII) ridges 
 through Dry valley ; at Lewistown, &c. (401-403.) 
 
 Chapter 3. Flexures or Axes : — Jack's ; Shade ; Moser's val- 
 ley; Adamsburg valley; at Lewistown four axes described 
 (407), with their steep ridges, iron ore, limestone, &c. (403-409.) 
 
 Chapter 4. Iron Ores : — Only one page is given to the fossil 
 ore of V, and the hematites of VIII, (410.) 
 
 Chapter 5. From Lewistown to Maryland ; in the Lewistown 
 (Juniata) valley ; in Pigeon cove ; in Little Scrub ridge ; end- 
 ing with a slight notice of the fossil ore in the Little Cove. — 
 Sulphate of barytes is mentioned (414) in the red shale of V, 
 (411-416.) 
 
 Chapter 6. Limestones of VI throughout the belt, (416-420.) 
 
 Chapter 7. Sandstone of VII throughout the belt, (420-424.) 
 The Oriskany (Meridian) ore at Chester furnace is noticed, 
 (421.) 
 
 Chapter 8. Shales and Sands of VIII throughout the belt 
 (424-429) ; ore of the Oreen Briar valley, (426.) 
 
 Chapter 9. Catskill (IX and X) at the south-west end of the 
 belt in the great Aughwick valley and Big Scrub ridge, (429- 
 431.) 
 
 Chapter 10. Iron ores of the district (431-433.) Only two 
 pages are given to this subject, and only a description of the 
 small operations at the old Matilda, Hope, Hanover, Chester 
 and Brookland furnaces. 
 
 It may be said that the Fifth Book of the Final Report of 
 1858 is a very exact reproduction of Henderson's statement, 
 very full as to the complicated structure and lithology of the 
 region, but almost destitute of information as to its lime, sand 
 and iron ore treasures, and therefore of the very highest scien- 
 tific value, but of very inferior practical importance. It is from 
 a practical or metallurgic point of view that the present survey 
 regards its work in this district. 
 
 BOOK VI. Upper Juniata District, (434-575.) From Jack's 
 mountain to the Allegheny mountain, and from Danville to 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 147 
 
 Cumberland. This great interior belt of Silurian and Devonian 
 formations, two hundred miles long by fifty wide, studied by 
 M'Kinley and Jackson, is divided into two anticlinal and two 
 synclinal zones. 
 
 Division I. Montour Ridge Anticlinal Zone. 
 
 Chapter 1. Levant, Scalent and Surgent of Montour ridge, 
 with. its fossil ore ; — Premeridian, Meridian, Cadent and Ver- 
 gent of Union county and the Muncy hills, (434-440.) — De- 
 scriptive section at Danville (435.) — Vertical section at Mun- 
 cy(439.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Montour ridge in detail, with three cross-sections 
 (figs. 81, 82, 88) showing the iron ore beds, and vertical sectiorf, 
 at Danville (fig. 84.) The Danville mines (443.) Montour's 
 ridge further east and west. A thorough discussion of the 
 quantities of hard and soft ore in the ridge. — This is one of the 
 most carefully written and valuable chapters in the report (441- 
 450.) 
 
 Chapter 3. The Devonian flanks of Montour's ridge (451, 
 452.) 
 
 Division II. Fishing Creek anticlinal valley (Devonian,) 
 north of the Third Anthracite coal field. 
 
 Chapter 1. Upper Fishing Creek (453, 454,) 
 
 Chapter 2. Muncy Hills synclinal (454-156.) 
 
 Chapter 3. Bufi'alo valley, west of the Susquehanna (456- 
 460.) 
 
 Division III. Third Belt, between Jack's mountain and 
 Bald Eagle mountain ; the Buffalo, and Seven mountains. 
 Stone, Tussey, &c. 
 
 Chapter 1. General structure (461-40 9.) Lehmann's beautiful 
 outline pictures of the terrace-bordered Kishacoquillas valley, 
 and a view of Black Log and Shade mountains from Mifilin- 
 town are here given. 
 
 Chapter 2. Character of the formations (469-475.") The Au- 
 roral and Matinal of the valleys, and the Levant of the moun- 
 tains, with a descriptive section at Bellefonte, are carefully de- 
 fined. 
 
 Chapter 3. Kishacoquillas valley, in detail, with its folds, and 
 coves, and keel-sh.aped partitions, and terraces, its rocks, and its 
 
148 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 iron mines, (475-480.) — Lehmann's striking view of the moun- 
 tains of IV at the east end. 
 
 Chapter 4. The Seven mountains, (480-483.) Three of M'- 
 Kinley's cross-sections (figs. 85, 86, 87) show the antiolinals. 
 
 Chapter 5. Buffalo, ITittany and Bald Eagle mountains (483- 
 489.) Short, Brush, Nittany, Big mountains are defined ; Su- 
 gar, Pheasant, Oval and Nippenose valleys are explained, and 
 two cross-sections of them are given (figs. 91, 92.) Longitudinal 
 views of the way these looped mountains are drained through 
 ranges of gaps (figs. 88, 89, 90) are very instructive. The ra- 
 vines in the south terrace of B'ippenose valley are finely shown 
 in fig. 94. Lesley's sketch of the " eddy hill" in Anti's gap of 
 N"ippenoso valley (fig. 93) is re-enforced by Lehmann's beautiful 
 page landscape of the Lehigh Water Gap, with a similar (gla- 
 cial ?) mound in the foreground. This picture ought to have 
 been given with the text of Book II, chapter 3. 
 
 Chapter 6. !N"ippenose valley (490.) 
 
 Chapter 7. Sugar valley (491), with M'Kinley's cross-section. 
 
 Chapter 8. Brush valley (492), with a section of its uneym- 
 metrical axis (fig. 96.) 
 
 Chapter 9. Penn's valley (493.) 
 
 Chapter 10. Ifittany valley (494-498.) 
 
 Chapter 11. Iron Ores of IsTittany valley (499) ; naming the 
 old banks. This is a very poor description ; but without a 
 good local map little more could be done. A complete map of 
 this ore region, and its continuation to Bedford, will be pub- 
 lished by the present survey. 
 
 Chapter 12. ISTittany valley continued westward (500-503.) 
 Lehmann's picture of the Natural Bridge in Canoe valley, illus- 
 trates the erosion of all these limestone valleys. 
 
 Chapter 13. Canoe valley (504-506) with a side view of the 
 Tussey mountain terrace (fig. 97.) Lehmann's fine landscape 
 view of the Indian Chief Rock near Williamsburg, shows tne 
 cleavage. 
 
 Chapter 14. Morrison's cove (507) with Jackson's section of 
 the Bloomfield ore outcrop (fig. 98) is good for nothing. It does 
 not show the fault, and is otherwise imperfect. 
 
 Chapter 15. Snake Spring valley and Friend's cove (508.) 
 
 Chapter 16. Bean's cove (509) fig. 99. 
 
. FINAL EEPORT OF 1858. A. 149 
 
 Chapter 17. Will's mountain and Millikin'a cove (510) brings 
 the belt to the Maryland line, and is pictured grandly by Leh- 
 mann. On the same large plate is placed Lehmann's charming 
 sketch of the famous view from the hill -top back of Lewis- 
 tovrn, showing the entrance to the Long K'arrows, the terraces 
 of Black Log, and the great anticlinal mass of East Shade 
 mountain. With these pictures the division appropriately 
 ends. 
 
 Division IV. Broad Top Synclinal. 
 
 Chapter 1. Stone valley (512-521) ; its anticlinals running 
 into the Seven mountains and the curious spurs of Tussey 
 mountain ; the fossil ore (V) of the mountains ; the Oriskany 
 sandstone (VII) of Warrior's ridge ; its pulpit-rocks, illustrated 
 by diagrams (figs. 100, 101) ; and pictured in Lehmann's two 
 landscape sketches of Stone ridge on the Juniata below Hun- 
 tingdon (facing pages 519 and 520), and in the beautiful col- 
 ored vignette plate to this volume, hj Lehmann. 
 
 Chapter 2. Hare valley (521) ; with a diagram (fig. 102) of 
 the duplex form of Jack's mountain. 
 
 Chapter 3. Woodcock valley (522-527) ; with three cross-sec- 
 tions (figs. 103, 104, 105 ) The more recent developments of 
 the fossil ore by R. H. Powell and others are not described. 
 
 Chapter 4. Tub-mill harbour (527.) 
 
 Chapter 5. Broad Top (528-533) ; with one small cross-sec- 
 tion of no value, fig, 106 ; — Trough Creek valley and its ore of 
 XI ; — descriptive section of the Red Shale mass of XL This 
 slight sketch amounts virtually to ignoring this important coal 
 field ; and little is added to it in Volume II devoted to coal. 
 In fact no geological description of Broad Top has ever ap- 
 peared, although private surveys have made it very clear, and 
 large private maps will be published by the present State Sur- 
 vey in 1876. 
 
 Division V. Fifth belt along the Allegheny mountain. 
 
 Chapter 1. U})per Silurian formations at Milton, Muncy, 
 Williamsport and Jersey Shore (534-541), with a vertical sec- 
 tion of the same at Cumberland on the Potomac for compari- 
 son, (fig. 108.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Upper Silurian, between Williamsport and Belle- 
 fonte (545-552); with descriptive sections and cross-sections (figs. 
 
150 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 109, 111) ; a curious diagram section through the Bald Eagle 
 mouutain to show its belts pf vegetation (fig. 110) ; and Lehmann's 
 landscape view of Bellefonte and the gap. 
 
 Chapter 3. Devonian between Muncy and Bellefonte (548- 
 552) ; with an instructive cross-section of a group of anticli- 
 nals on Larry's creek (fig. 112) ; and another through Short 
 mountain, showing the place of the Vergent ore lifted by the 
 Canoe run anticlinal (fig. 113.) 
 
 Chapter 4. Silurian and Devonian from Bellefonte to Holli- 
 daysburg (552-555) ; with the fossil-ore outcrops at Hannah 
 furnace in section (fig. 114) ; a cross-section and excellent cIorc 
 description of the limestone strata at Bell's Mills (fig. 117.) A 
 set of lengthwise drawings by Lesley of the efl'ects of changes 
 of structure on the topography of the Bald Eagle mountain is 
 given in fig. 115 ; and his map diagram of the theory of the 
 formation of the Hollidaysburg hatchet, in fig. 116. Lehmann'sj 
 magnificent picture of the terraced end of the Canoe mountain, 
 as seen from Sinking valley, faces page 555. 
 
 Chapter 5. Silurian and fossil ore south of Frankstown and 
 Hollidaysburg (555-558); with a curious drawing of the dis- 
 placement of Canoe mountain at the fault (fig. 118) ; and a 
 landscape sketch from Blue Knob, of the anticlinal end of Dun- 
 ning's mountain at Hollidaysburg (fig. 119.) 
 
 Chapter 6. Lower Helderberg, Oriskany and Devonian, south 
 from Hollidaysburg (558, 559) ; with three cross-sections (figs. 
 120-122) ; and Lehmann's fine landscape view of the Allegheny 
 escarpment, with its high terrace knobs and ravines, taken from 
 the rocks above Hollidaj'sburg. 
 
 Chapter 7. The fossil ore of V in Dutch Corner near Bed- 
 ford (560) ; with a cross -section. A good report of this im- 
 portant ore region will be given in 1876. 
 
 Chapter 8. Devonian in Blair county, along Chestnut ridge, 
 (561, 562) with a section and description of Lime ridge near 
 Bedford (fig. 124.) 
 
 Chapter 9. Devonian south-west of Buckstown (563-565) ; 
 with two more of Jackson's cross-sections : at Buckstown (fig. 
 125) ; and on the Bedford pike (fig. 126); with a diagram sec- 
 tion (fig. 127) to show the normal form of the escarpment of 
 the Allegheny mountain. 
 
FINAL REPOET OF 1858. A. 151 
 
 Chapter 10. Bedford Synclinal Basin to the Maryland line 
 (565-570) ; with Jackson's rude sketch map of the Bedford 
 neighborhood (fig. 126) and his cross-sections (figs. 129-134), 
 showing the plications under the town and the larger anticli- 
 nals of the region. 
 
 Chapter 11. Country west of Buflfalo mountain (570-575) ; 
 with Jackson's sections (figs. 135, 136) showing the larger fea- 
 tures of the structure, but utterly worthless for any close local 
 study of the geology in detail. 
 
 The whole of the district thus described, or rather sketched, 
 in this book of the report, deserves a thorough instrumental 
 survey. 
 
 BOOK VII. Seventh district in the north-west corner of (lie 
 State. 
 
 Chapter 1. Erie, Crawford and Warren counties, where the 
 Devonian formations rise from beneath the Bituminous Coal 
 field and border on Lake Erie (576-581.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Economical Details of the same (582-586.) 
 
 The few pages given to this region show plainly how barren 
 a field it was regarded previous to the discoveries of oil and 
 gas ; previous also to the creation of a demand for the bitumin- 
 ous coal of Western Pennsylvania by the western manufac- 
 turers of New York, and by the mining and metallurgical in- 
 dustries of the Upper Lakes. 
 
 BOOK VIIL Anthracite Coal Region (Vol. II, p. 1-465.) 
 Introduction (1-21.) Position of the anthracite basins in the 
 mountain chain; the surrounding Vespertine (X) mountains, and 
 Umbral (XI) red shale valleys ; stratification of the Coal mea- 
 sures ; Serai Conglomerate (XII), Lower Coal and Lower Barren 
 measures. Upper Coal and Upper Barren measures ; with a typ- 
 ical cross-section, fig. 187, (16) and a detailed description of 
 the great conglomerate.. 
 Division I. Southern, or Schuylkill Region (26-235.) 
 Chapter 1. General structure and sub-divisions (26-41.) Le- 
 high and Little Schuylkill district, Schuylkill and Swatara dis- 
 trict , Mine Hill basin, Wiconisco basin and Dauphin basin ; — 
 the basins A, Aa, B, C, Be, Cb, Cc, c, cc, and anticlinals A, AB, 
 C, b, c, cc, between Mauch Chunk and Patterson ; basins CD, D, 
 
152 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Dd, DF, DE, EF, F, FH and GH, FG, f and ff, ff and fff, FFF 
 and FFFF, and their corresponding separating anticlinals be- 
 tween Patterson and Pottsville ; — basins H and I, li, Ji, JK, 
 K, and axes, between Tuscarora and Mill Creek ; — basins C and 
 E west, EF, EG, GH, Hh, hi, iJ, JK, between Mill Creek a,nd 
 "West ITorwegian ;— the western series of flexures ; anticlinals 
 L, M, L (or F west), LM, IST, MIST, 0, P, PP, QQ, Q, Q, R, B, 
 RR, RRR, S or K, QR, RS, S, between Pottsville and Tre- 
 mont. 
 
 This will give some idea of Mr. Rogers' system of notation, 
 by which he endeavored to overcome the extraordinary difficul- 
 ties attendant upon a detailed geographical and geological de- 
 scription in language of the plications which, on the map, are 
 indicated by long and short straight black lines. It requires 
 patient attention to his system of lettering, both in the text 
 and on the map, to enahle the reader to comprehend the local 
 geology. 
 
 All the other anthracite coal iields are provided with corres- 
 ponding sets of letters to distinguish their plications ; but lo- 
 cal geographical names, better known to miners and residents, 
 are also freely used in the report. It is perhaps a pity that 
 these local names were not exclusively adopted, and mere num- 
 bers used on the map to refer to them. 
 
 Chapter 2. Xesquehoning and Panther Creek (or Tamaqua) 
 district (47-75.) Mauoh Chunk end of the basin ; synclinal 
 belts ; Nesquehoning mines, with cross-section (fig. 138) ; coals 
 in tunnels 1 and 2 ; coal seams ; Rhume Run mine (figs. 139, 
 140, 141) ; Summit mine, sub-divisions shown in Vertical 
 section (fig. 142) ; — Local types of the coal measures east ot 
 Tamaqua ; — groups and principal coal beds ; shutes at Mauch 
 Chunk; tunnels. A little picture of a cave-working in the 
 great bed at the Summit mine forms a tail piece to Chapter 4, 
 Division II, Book VIII. And Lehmann's landscape view on 
 page — 'Shows the Summit mine to great advantage. An ideal 
 cross-section of the basin is given on line 1 of Plate VI, at the 
 end of the volume. Mr. Rothwell's recent work supersedes 
 this. 
 
 Chapter 3. Tamaqua Coal Measures (76-83), with vertical sec- 
 tions of beds C, D, E ; and cross-section of Greenwood tunnel. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 153 
 
 A noble cross-section at Tamaqua is given on the first line of 
 Plate I at the end of the volume. 
 
 Chapter 4. Schuylkill District (84-96.) The anticlinals are 
 again deecribed, to show what beds are lifted to the surface, and 
 especially the Peach mountain axes. 
 
 Chapter b. Tamaqua to Silver Creek in detail (96-119). Twelve 
 croBs-sections exhibit the order and attitude of the coals in the 
 basin, and seven vertical sections show the individual coal beds. 
 Lehmann'g picture of the Newark Tunnel colliery gives a fair 
 idea of the country and the mode of reaching the coal, above 
 and below ground. A long cross-section from Middleport to 
 the summit of Sharp mountain is given on line 2 of Plate I, at 
 the end of the volume. 
 
 Chapter 6. Silver Creek to Mill Creek in detail (119-140). 
 "Whelpley's beautiful section of the roll in Potts and "Whites' 
 tunnel (fig. 167 on page 127) is a fine expression of the plicated 
 and squeezed condition of many of the coal beds in the central 
 belt of the basin. Two other sections cross the basin. A beau- 
 tiful full cross-section of the basin along Silver creek is given 
 on line 3, Plate I. A still longer and finer cross-section from 
 Port Carbon up Mill creek, through the Mine Hill gap to the 
 summit of Broad Mountain, occupies lines 4 and 5 of Plate I. 
 All these are on the basis of Whelpley's work, filled in with 
 details subsequently obtained. 
 
 Chapter 7. Mill Creek to West Norwegian in detail (141-152). 
 The collieries are taken in order and discussed, with two cross- 
 sections. Here is given, in tabular form, the description of the 
 outcrops in the Pottsville gap, a fine vertical section of which 
 is produced in Plate II at the end of the volume. Seventy- 
 four strata are described. Whelpley's three long sections from 
 Pottsville across the basin up East, Middle and West Norwe- 
 gian creeks, and a section of the G-ate Vein measures in Potts- 
 ville, occupy lines 1, 2, 3 of Plate II. 
 
 Chapter 8. West Norwegian to Swatara in detail (152-167), 
 describes the anticlinals, troughs and coal beds on West and 
 West West Branches. Fig. 173 gives the Otto tunnel. Whelp- 
 ley's sections along the West Branch and Wolf creek, at Mi- 
 nersville, and through Silvertown, occupy the 4, 5, 6 lines of 
 
154 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Plate II. Other smaller sections on Swatara creek waters oc- 
 cupy lines 1 and 2 of Plate III. 
 
 Chapter 9. Colleries between "West Norwegian and Swatara 
 (168-179) on "Wolf and Middle creek. Fig. 174 gives a curious 
 sketch of the twist by which the Bast and Pearson slope leaves 
 one bed and takes another in its descent. Fig. 175, Serrill's 
 tunnel coals. 
 
 Chapter 10. Middle creek to Tremont and Donaldson (179- 
 188). Two tunnel sections, and two vertical columns illustrate 
 this in the text, and a long section at Donaldson appears in 
 Plate III, with some smaller ones. "Whelpley's beauti:^ul cross- 
 section of the west end of the Pottsville basin, showing the 
 overturned Devonian and Carboniferous in Second and Sharp 
 mountains on the left, the four sub-basins and three anticlinals at 
 Tremont and Donaldson, and a landscape back-ground, or bird's- 
 eye- view, westward, of the ranges of mountains, and the fork- 
 ing of the Pottsville basin into the Dauphin basin on the south 
 and the Lykens Valley ("Wiconisco) basin on the north, is one 
 of the most striking illustrations in this volume (fig. 176, page 
 180.) 
 
 Chapter 11. "Wiconisco and Dauphin basins (188-198) general 
 description ; then in detail ; with four superb synclinal cross- 
 sections (figs. 181-184). Cross-sections of Red mountain at 
 Tremont ; Sharp mountain coals at Pausch and Swatara gaps ; 
 a long section on Rausch creek from Little Lick mountain to 
 Sharp mountain, with the Red mountain axis in it ; and fine 
 cross-sections at Bear gap and Klinger's gap, occupy lines 3, 4, 
 5 of Plate III at the end of the volume. These, and other 
 sections above mentioned, were perfected or wholly constructed 
 by the work of 1851. 
 
 Chapter 12. Mine Hill basin (198-212) and first a description 
 of the Mine Hill and its anticlinal, which splits this basin off 
 from the Pottsville basin proper. Four cross and one vertical 
 section come in the text (figs. 184-188.) 
 
 Chapter 13. Important coal beds and their local names (212- 
 225). This is a most valuable index to the colleries ; and the 
 local and duplicate names of some of the best beds are given 
 on all the ground above described. Of course the list is sus- 
 ceptible of great enlargement, now that twenty years of min- 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 155 
 
 ing operations have elapsed since this chapter was written. It 
 is equally true that the descriptive text of all the foregoing 
 dozen chapters of this book must be hereafter modified in its 
 minuter details, and a few important errors be corrected. But 
 the principal part of the work is done and its description stands 
 firm. What is now required is to bring up our knowledge of 
 the underground geology to date. A thousand valuable facts 
 have been revealed by the lengthened gangways and tunnels, 
 and by the deepening of slopes and shafts. JSTo essential modifi- 
 cation, however, is possible. All that the sinking of the great 
 shaft of the Reading Company has proven, is predicted in the 
 descriptive text and cross-sections of these chapters, although 
 it was an important event, the proving of Whelpley's assertions 
 in 1839 ; and a still more important event, the getting by this 
 shaft a true section of the measures in the deep, for no surface 
 study possible could define the exact shape of the tongued fiex- 
 ures in the centres of the sub-synclinals, nor the exact amount of 
 distortion of the crowns of the sub-anticlinals, undergrovind. 
 The lq,udation of M'Ginnis for predicting the underlay of the 
 Big Bed where he sunk his trial shaft, was infinitely absurd, 
 for the whole thing was already published in detail in the re- 
 port of 1858, if the Pottsville people had taken the trouble to 
 read it. The excitement at that time, and the delighted aston- 
 ishment of the coal-world at the more recent success of the Read- 
 ing Co.'s shaft, are our best evidences of the sad fact that 
 Mr. Rogers' Final Report of the abundant accurate work of 
 the First Geological Survey in the Anthracite Region has, in 
 reality, never got into the hands of the owners, operators and 
 miners of the Schuylkill region, — has never been seen or read. It 
 is a great pity. But the book was too bulky and too costly to 
 get into many hands, and if some idea of its contents will in- 
 duce the owners and operators of the anthracite coal region to 
 clean out Van Nostrand's stock of the remaining copies of the 
 edition, so that one or two hundred copies may be distributed 
 among the mining engineers, superintendents and boss miners 
 of the region, or be placed where they can be studied, the object 
 of this sketch of one of the most remarkable books the world 
 has ever seen will be reached. 
 
 Chapter 14. Small coal basins on Broad mountain (225, 226). 
 
156 A. HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 The two very pretty but worthless cross-sections, figs. 189, 190, 
 furnish all the information got up to 1859. These basins were 
 considered very unimportant. It is now known that they de- 
 serve a thorough survey and elaborate description. 
 
 Chapter 15. Classification of Pottsville coal beds (226-233.) 
 This chapter is Mr. Rogers' own production, and he alone must 
 be held responsible for its accuracy. It is illustrated with the 
 following combined vertical sections of the coal measures, viz : 
 
 Fig. 191. Coal strata at the Little Schuylkill. 
 
 Fig. 192. Coal strata on Silver creek. 
 
 Fig. 193. Coal strata on Mill creek. 
 
 Fig. 194. The lower part of the same for comparison. 
 
 Fig. 195. Coal strata on West Branch and Wolf creek, and 
 
 Fig. 196. Coal strata at Donaldson ; Thick mountain ; of 
 which sections the principal feature is, of course, the Big Bed 
 near the bottom of the measures, 55 feet thick in fig. 192, and 
 sub-divided by many feet or yards of parting rock in the other 
 sections. The old error of making two great beds, the " Mam- 
 moth" and the " Jugular Vein" is here shunned. Mr. Rogers 
 neither letters nor numbers his beds, but gives the accepted 
 local names. Mr. Daddow's attempt to transfer from the Bi- 
 tuminous region and apply to the Anthracite coal beds the let- 
 ters of the alphabet was a mistake and a failure ; and it may be 
 useful to remark here that all that is valuable in Daddow's 
 Book on Coal was taken from Rogers' Report of 1858, with 
 the addition of chapters filled with geological nonsense, against 
 the influence of which upon their minds students and miners 
 should be warned. The author is now dead ; therefore severer 
 criticism is improper. But a needful lesson is taught by the 
 fact that, had the report of the First Survey been published in 
 a cheap and handy form and become thus universally distribu- 
 ted and discussed, it would never have been supplanted, in its 
 r51e as a text book of geological knowledge for the citizens of 
 Pennsylvania, by a mischievous travesty, disgraceful to the 
 author and the age. 
 
 Gha der 16. Faults and Slips (234-238). This chapter, fur- 
 nished with facts and drawings by Whelpley, shows the settling 
 of the upturned rocks of the Sharp mountain, sliding on each 
 other (fig. 197) ; the dying of an anticlinal (fig. 198) ; a swell 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 157 
 
 and crush in a coal bed (figs, 199, 202, 203), from actual in- 
 stances ; and the modes in which the flexures break and slip, 
 doubling the outcrops (figs. 200, 201.) — Mr. Eogers writes his 
 own beautiful chapter on this subject, expanding it so to take 
 in all the principal phenomena, on pages 885-916 of this vol 
 ume — (See below.) 
 
 Division II. Beaver Meadow Begion. 
 
 Chapter 1. Greneral Description of this Eastern Middle An- 
 thracite Coal Field (239-243.) The antic! inals of Green moun- 
 tain, Dreck's ridge. Council ridge, &c. &c. and the Beaver Mea- 
 dow, Hazleton, Black Creek and other basins. 
 
 Chapter 2. Beaver Meadow Basin (244-251) with two sections 
 of the Big Bed (figs. 205, 206)' and two little cross-sections. 
 
 Chapter 3. Hazelton Basin (252-260) with three poor little 
 cross-sections, and two sections of the Big Bed. M'Kinley's 
 long sections from Hazleton south to Spring mountain, and 
 across all the basins through Hazleton, are given on lines 1 and 
 2, Plate IV, at the end of the volume. 
 
 Chapter 4. Black Creek Basin (260-264.) Whelpley's seven 
 original little cross-sections (figs. 215-221) merely hint at the 
 structure. A world of exploration has been done in this and 
 the Hazleton basin since 1851, none of which appears in this 
 report, and it may be said not to really describe the region in 
 any proper sense of the term. A new and thorough survey of 
 the whole plateau is called for. 
 
 Division III. Mahanay and Shamokin or " Western Middle" 
 Coal Field. 
 
 Chapter 1. Mahanoy coal region (265-306.) General struc- 
 ture and topography. The three Mahanoy and the three Sha- 
 mokin basins, with their subordinate troughs and antic! inals, 
 are described and illustrated by some of Whelpley's neatest 
 little drawings, cross-sections, showing merely the conglomerate 
 and cover of coal measures, such as the end of Head mountain 
 (fig. 225) ; its two basins (fig. 226) ; the eastern origin of Bear 
 Eidge axis (fig. 227) ; and four others (figs. 229-232) showing 
 its increasing importance further west; his general section 
 across the region (fig. 224) ; and his lovely little broken anti- 
 clinal crest (fig. 228.) — There are also sections of the beds cut 
 
158 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in Bear Ridge tunnel (fig. 233) ; through Green Ridge gap (fig. 
 236) ; and Shamokin gap ; and eight columnar sections of the 
 Mammoth bed and one or two others. — The subsequent instru- 
 mental survey of 1851 furnished the four long elaborate sec- 
 tions across the Mahanoy and Shamokin basins, presented on 
 Plate IV, and the two magnificent sections at Trevorton on 
 Plate VI. 
 
 Chapter 2. "West of Shamokin gap (306-317). Trevorton and 
 the Zerbe's Run basin, surveyed by Mr. Rogers before 1851, il- 
 lustrated by five cuts of the coals in the text and two noble 
 sections at Eyster's gap, on Plate VI. An interesting wood- 
 cut on page 317 shows the slate roof of Coal 10, near Trevor- 
 ton, covered with a mat of flattened stems of sigillaria. 
 
 Division IV. Wyoming Coal Field. 
 
 Chapter 1 Form and features of the Valley of the Northern 
 Anthracite coal field (318-330); general view of the strata, 
 with six of M'Kinley's vertical sections: — at Cobb's gap; Solo- 
 mon's gap ; Nanticoke ; Kingston ; Wilkesbarre ; Mill Creek 
 (figs. 251-256) ; general structure of the basin ; undulations ; 
 Campbell's ledge conglomerate, plicated slightly (fig. 257) ; Coal 
 Measures ; sub-divisions of the field : — 1. Carbondale, 2. Scran- 
 ton, 3. Pittston, 4. "Wilkesbarre, &c. and 5. Wyoming, &c. 
 which are taken up in that order and described in detail in the 
 following chapters. — Plate VI, at the end of the volume, gives 
 M'Kinley's long cross-section of the basin opposite Warrior- 
 path gap. 
 
 Chapter 2. Carbondale and Archbald district (330-337); 
 Lackawanna valley, upper end ; with vertical sections of the 
 Great Bed at Carbondale (fig. 259) and two other beds ; and of 
 the coal measures at Archbald (fig. 260.) 
 
 Clmpter 3. Scranton district (338-360) ; with its undulations ; 
 the Roaring Brook basin ; Pine Brook basin ; Diamond Coal 
 mines ; between Hyde Park and Pittston ; between Spring- 
 brook and Scranton ; the iron ores around Scranton ; Roaring 
 Brook Falls, with Lehmann's very pretty sketch of the cascade 
 facing page 338. 
 
 The coal beds of this basin are lettered A, B, C, &c. from be- 
 low upward, according to M'Kinley's original classification. 
 The series is shown in columnar fig. 262 at Scranton, and hori- 
 
FINAL BBPOKT OF 1858. A. 159 
 
 zontal fig. 266. The Diamond Mine vertical section is given 
 in figs. 269, 270, and its big coal in figs. 271-274 ; the same 
 bed in the New York and Pennsylvania Company's slope in 
 fig. 263 ; and coals B, D, F, in figs. 264, 265, 268.— M'Kinley's 
 Red Shale (XI) section (fig. 275) deserves notice for its iron 
 ore. 
 
 M'Kinley's long section across the basin through Scranton, 
 (line 1, Plate V, end of volume,) extends from the top of the 
 mountain south to the Providence road. Excellent as it was 
 in that early day, it can now be greatly improved. 
 
 Chapter 3. Pittston and Mill Creek district (861-375) ; axes 
 VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, X7I (See 
 fig. 278), and the corresponding basins from V to XVII are 
 worked out by M'Kinley with great care, as they echelon across 
 the valley. A general vertical section at Pittston is given in 
 fig. 276. A construction of the underground by means of the 
 slope of the Pennsylvania Co. at Port G-rifiith, and boring (fig. 
 278) is very instructive. The coal beds are traced from Wilcox's 
 towards Pittston, and two coal bed sections are given (figs. 280, 
 281.) Finally a long section across the basin at Pittston is 
 given on line 2, of Plate V, at the end of the volum.e. 
 
 Chapter 4. "Wilkesbarre, ITanticoke and Shickshinny district, 
 south side of the river (376-405) ; axes and basins XVII, XVIII, 
 XIX, and their sub-divisions are described with particularity 
 by M'Kinley, whose short cross-sections, figs. 286, 289, 291, 292, 
 293, 296 and 298, and long sections across the basin between 
 Wilkesbarre and Pittston, and Mr. Rogers' very thorough sec- 
 tion up through Solomon's gap, on lines 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of 
 Plate V at the end of the volume — give a very fair view of the 
 geology of this important coal field. 
 
 Its chief feature is, of course, the Mammoth or Baltimore 
 bed, vertical cuts of which, at the old mine (fig. 283,) at Black- 
 man's (fig. 287), at Landmesser's (fig. 288), are given ; while 
 Lehmann's colored interior of the mine, facing page 882, is a 
 worthy representation of its magnificence, rivaling as it does 
 the rock-temples of India. Lehmann's colored exterior of the 
 mine (vignette to Volume II) is almost as fine ; and yet these 
 plates are but shrunk and insufficient reproductions of the 
 much finer and larger originals. An exquisite sketch, after 
 
160 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Lehmaun's picture oi the Nanticoke gap, faces page 399, and 
 exhibits the curious coquetry' of the Susquehanna in leaving 
 the valley, after having entered it at Pittston, to flow be- 
 tween the Conglomerate ridge and the White Catskill (Shick- 
 shinny) mountain ; then after a number of miles turning sharplj'' 
 to cut off its end, leaving a minute patch of its coal mounted 
 on a pedestal of conglomerate, fractured curiously as shown in 
 figs. 297, a and b. 
 
 The Coal Measures are exhibited in the tunnel sections, 
 and by vertical sections (fig. 290) on Carey's run, and (fig. 294) 
 at Hog-Back 4 miles west of I^anticoke. 
 
 One of the most curious crush-faults in any coal field is beau- 
 tifully pictured in fig. 284, a section of anticlinal XIX, near 
 the foot of the lower plane in Solomon's gap. 
 
 Chapter 6. Wyoming, Kingston and Plymouth district (405- 
 412) ; with special descriptions of the Great Bed at Plymouth 
 (figs. 303, 305, 806), Bennett's bed (fig. 307), Cooper's Orchard 
 bed (fig. 308), and the Gould bed. Small section of other beds 
 are given ; a tall vertical col umn of all the beds in the mea- 
 sures (fig. 299) ; and interesting cut of the thinning away of 
 the Great Bed (fig. 303), and two small cross-sections north of 
 Plymouth (figs. 310, 311.) A large body of valuable know- 
 ledge, since obtained, awaits publication. 
 
 It ought to be known that besides numerous surface maps 
 and underground maps of coUeries by the Messrs. Harden, 
 father and son, and other mining engineers, there is a fine large 
 contour- line map of the whole Third Anthracite Coal Field pub- 
 lished by Mr. Roth well, which would be a most valuable con- 
 tribution to the reports of the Second Geological Survey. 
 
 Appendix to Book VIII. 
 
 This is Mr. Rogers' revision of the Pottsville or Southern An 
 thracite coal field, purporting to be carefully collected and veri- 
 fied notes of collieries, bringing down the knowledge of the field 
 to 1858, the date of publication of the Final Report, (pages 
 413-442). These notes are arranged in an order from east to 
 west : at Tuscarora, Middleport, Casca-William'a valley, Silver 
 Creek, Zachariah run, East Rosendale, Crow Hollow, Mill 
 Creek, East and West Norwegian, West Branch, Mineraville, 
 Wolf Creek, W. W. Branch, Muddy Branch, Swatara, Middle 
 
FINAL EBPOKT OF 1858. A. 161 
 
 Creek, Donaldson, Eansh Gap, Bear Gap ; and in the Mine 
 Hill valley. No illustrationB are given, except one of a ground 
 plan of the Otto White and Grey Ash colleries, fig. 312, (434); 
 but these notes contain a body of valuable records of that date, 
 and descriptions of discoveries in the course of operations. The 
 most interesting relates to the splitting of the Mammoth Bed 
 into three large widely separated beds, with separate local 
 names, towards the western end of the field, and this forms a 
 standard of comparison for similar phenomena in all coal 
 regions, having a most important bearing upon the Theories of 
 Coal. 
 
 BOOK Ylll— Continued {U8-i66.) 
 
 This is a short and unsatisfactory' chapter on the Broad Top 
 Coal Basin, with a little wood-cut map of the north prong of 
 East Broad Top coal basin (fig. 314) ; eight cuts of coal beds ; 
 a vertical column in Round Knob (fig. 322), and another on 
 Sandy Run (fig. 324.) This interesting region has been elabor- 
 ately surveyed by Lesley and Fulton, and the map after being 
 revised and enlarged in 1875 and J 876, will be published in the 
 Reports of Progress of the Second Survey, 
 
 On page 465 Mr. Rogers gives his short summary table of 
 anthracite, semi-bituminous and bituminous coal areas, the to- 
 tal coal area in Pennsylvania being estimated at 12,655.77 
 square miles. 
 
 BOOK IX. Bituminous Coal Fields. 
 
 Division I. Vespertine {X) and Umhral {XT) series in the Bi- 
 tuminous Coal Region (466.) — Their topographical relations. 
 
 Chapter 1. Vespertine (X) conglomerate ; modifications of 
 type and thickness (467.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Umhral {XI) red shale (468-473) ; geographical 
 distribution ; modifications of type ; columnar sections at Lick 
 run ; Ralston ; Conemaugh gap ; Laurel Hill ; Chestnut Ridge 
 (figs. 326-330) ; 1,05a feet of rocks from the coal down to VIII 
 are described in this last section of the fitie gap at Blairsville. 
 Lehmann's landscape of the plains of Western Pennsylvania, 
 as seen through the Loyalhanna gap from the turnpike sum- 
 mit of Laurel Hill in Somerset county, faces page 468. 
 11— A. 
 
162 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Division II. General View of Bituminous Coal Strata. 
 
 Introductory chapter. Coal strata of Western Pennsylvania 
 (474-479.) Greneral vertical columnar section, compiled from 
 all the counties west of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers 
 from Mercer to Greene. General description of the basins and 
 axes. 
 
 Sub-division I. North of the Gonemaugh and Ohio. 
 
 Chapter 1. First basin and axis (480.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Second basin and axis (482.) 
 
 Chapter 3. Third basin and axis (483.) 
 
 Chapter 4. Fourth basin and axis (485.) 
 
 Chapter 5. Fifth basin and axis (486.) 
 
 Chapter 6. Sixth basin and final outcrop (488.) Much of this 
 description holds good ; but the careful study of Clearfield 
 county by Mr. Platt in 1874, has seriously modified the old 
 classification of J. T. Hodge. The 1st and 2d basins of Lycom- 
 ing become the 1st of Cambria, and therefore that the 3d basin 
 of Potter is the 2d basin of Clearfield, &c. Also the 1st 
 
 basin is sub-divided into two by short anticlinals along its cen- 
 tre-line, and that its two sub-divisions correspond to Hodges' 
 1st and 2d basins. It is too late to alter the numberino- of the 
 basins as a whole. In the reports of the Present Survey no 
 change will be made, except in the Pine Creek and Lycoming 
 Creek country, and there only by calling the 1st and 2d basins 
 " first basin," the 3d " second," &c. 
 
 Sub-division II. South of the Conemaugh and Ohio. 
 
 Chapter 1. First basin and sub-divisions (494.) 
 
 Chapter 2. Second or Ligonier basin (497.) 
 
 Chapter 3. Third basin and sub-divisions. Upper or Greene 
 County group (499-507.) In this chapter Mr. Rogers abandons 
 the numbering of the basins south of the Conemaugh without 
 good reason, for some of the anticlinals can be traced with great 
 regularity across that artificial boundary. The remarkable 
 anticlinals and synclinals worked out by Prof. Stevenson and 
 Mr. White in Greene and Washington in 1875 were unknown 
 in 1858, and would greatly change the descriptions in this 
 chapter. The Pittsburg bed is well described, and two cuts of 
 it given in fig. 332. Plate YII, at the end of the volume, gives 
 
FINAL REPORT OP 1858. A. 163 
 
 one very long (6 lines) section of the coal measures along the 
 Pennsylvania railroad from Altoona to Pittsburg. 
 
 Sub-division III. Detailed description. 
 
 Chapter 1. First Bituminous Basin east of Pine creek (507- 
 510) ; with four coal bed cuts of the one only workable coal 
 bed of the region north of Williamsport. 
 
 Chapter 2. Second Bituminous Basin east of Pine creek (511- 
 519) ; with columnar sections at Fall Creek, Gatiss' (Towanda 
 basin), Ealston Old Mines, Astonville, Cartersville, and Otter's 
 Run ; and four cuts of the big bed of the Towanda basin ; with 
 a cross-section and landscape background of the valley which 
 splits the Towanda mountain. Private surveys of the Towanda 
 mountain will be published in 1876. The section at Ralston, 
 (750 feet) given in the text and column on page 515 (fig. 345), 
 shows the coal, Conglomerate (XTI), Red shale (XI) and iron 
 ore, Catskill rocks (K. and IX) and top of the Chemung (VIII), 
 with its iron ore near the bed of the Lycoming valley. 
 
 Chapters. Third or Blosshurg basin (519-524); with seven 
 small columnar sections of the coal measures ; and one (fig. 
 359) of the whole series from the coal down to the Red Cat- 
 skill (IX), 620 feet. 
 
 Chapter 4. Fourth basin east of Pine Creek (524.) 
 
 Chapter 5. Fifth basin east of the Genesee river (525). 
 
 Chapter 6. Between Pine Creek and the Susquehanna West 
 Branch (526). These four chapters give nothing but the rude 
 reconnoissance of the country made in 1841, when the country 
 was a wilderness. In 1876 a careful survey of it will be com- 
 menced extending from Ridgeway, Warren and Renovo east- 
 ward to Blossburg and Ralston. 
 
 Chapter 7. First basin in Centre and Clearfield (527-533) with 
 six little vertical sections of Hodge. 
 
 Chapter 8. Second basin in Centre and Clearfield (533-538) 
 with three columnar sections of Hodge, and Lesley's two dia- 
 gram sections with background to show the erosion of the Sus- 
 quehanna valleys and ravines (figs. 864, 365.) 
 . Chapter 9. Third basin in Clearfield and Jefi:erson (538-540) 
 with one columnar section, and a cut of the Caledonia iron 
 beds 
 
164 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Chapter 10. Fourth basin in Elk and Jefferson counties (540- 
 •545), with Lesley's eight columnar sections at Reynoldsville, 
 &c. The country covered by the reconnoisance described in the 
 above chapters, has been re-surveyed in 1874 by Mr. Franklin 
 Piatt, and described in his Report of Progress for that year, 
 vs^ith 139 wood-cuts and ten maps and long sections. 
 
 Chapter 11. Fifth and Sixth basins in Potter, M'Kean, Elk 
 and Forest counties (546-553), with five meagre columnar sec- 
 tions. This exceedingly important region was a wilderness 
 when these notes were taken, more than thirty years ago. Rail- 
 roads now traverse it, and a large population cultivates it ; 
 mines have been opened to supply the Buffalo market ; and a 
 thorough survey will- be attempted in 1876, which should oc- 
 cup}'' at least two seasons. General Thos. L. Kane has spent 
 twenty years in laborious and expensive researches, and has 
 caused accurate local maps to be made ; other explorers have 
 also accomplished much ; and a broad basis is thus laid for a 
 new and complete survey. 
 
 Chapter 12. Sixth basin from M'Kean county south-westward, 
 with columnar sections on the S. Branch of Kenzua creek and 
 Tunamaguont ; and nine cuts of the lowest coal bed and its 
 relationship to the Conglomerate (XII). All this is very ob- 
 scure and uncertain, and involves the difficult subject of the 
 " Tionesta sandrock" and its supposed coal series. The Present 
 Survey is studying the question instrv.mentally to reach reliable 
 conclusions. Mr. Garll revolutionized our ideas of the strati- 
 graphy in 1874, and has been laying a broad basis in 1875 for 
 the settlement of the case in 1876. The investigation extends 
 for more than a hundred miles, viz: from Beaver to Sharon, 
 from Sharon to Meadville and Warren, and from Oil City to 
 Ridgway; and nothing can be asserted with absolute confi- 
 dence until the results along the whole line are collated and 
 harmonized. Lesley's 1841 diagram section west of Smethport 
 is given in fig. 886 ; and a subsequent rude vertical diagram of 
 the hill-side rocks at Warren in fig. 392. Mr. Randall's sec- 
 tion at Warren, in Carll's Report of 1874, improves upon it ; 
 but much has yet to be done before the relations of the con- 
 glomerates of the Catskill series, and the sandstones of the 
 Chemung series, at and around Warren, are differentiated in a 
 pure way. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 165 
 
 Chapter 13. Tionesta (Sharon ?) coal series west of Franklin 
 (561-564) with 5 columnar sections. — -It is probable that the 
 nomenclature to be adopted in future reports will distinguish 
 three Conglomerates, upper, middle and lower ; and that these 
 will be called the Pennsylvania Conglomerate (XII), the New 
 York Conglomerate (2d mountain sand, or Garland Rock,) and 
 the Berea Grit (3d mountain sand.) 
 
 Chapter 14. Bottom coals ot Mercer and Eeaver and Law- 
 rence counties (564-567) with eight columnar sections. A spe- 
 cial survey in 1875 by Mr. Chance, and previous private sur- 
 veys (See "Wrigley's Report of Progress, 1874,) replace most of 
 this chapter. 
 
 Chapter 15. Clarion series, in Jefferson and Clarion counties 
 (567-572), with eight of Lesley's columnar sections of 1841. 
 
 Chapter 16. Clarion series west of the Allegheny river (572- 
 576), with seven columnar sections of Ifodge, M'Kinney, &c., 
 and a cut (fig. 426) showing the gentle south dip of the Lower 
 Coal Measures in the north-west corner of Lawrence county. 
 
 Chapter 17. Freeport series west of the Allegheny river (576- 
 580), with three columnar sections, on Sugar creek, Allegheny 
 river and Ohio river. 
 
 Chapter 18. Freeport series west of the Beaver river (580-583), 
 with five columnar sections. 
 
 Chapter IQ. Fifth basin; Red Bank ; Jefierson county (583- 
 586), with seven columnar sections, and Lesley's landscape 
 background section of the valley of the Clarion at Armstrong's 
 mill (fig. 435), showing the cap-plates of coal measui'es on the 
 summits of the country. (See the contour-line maps at New 
 Bethlehem, in Piatt's Report of Progress for 1874.) 
 
 Chapter 20. Third and Fourth basins ; Mahoning and Cowan- 
 shannock creeks ; Indiana and Armstrong counties (586-589); 
 with eight columnar sections ; fig. 443 showing the great Rey- 
 noldsville bed at Punxatawny. 
 
 Chapter 21. Third basin in Indiana county (580-591), with 
 three columnar sections. This county and eastern Armstrong 
 are almost unknown to geology. The district will be thor- 
 oughly surveyed in 1876. 
 
 Chapter 22. Fourth and Fifth basins, north of the Kiskamini- 
 tas; Kittanning and Freeport (592-599), with ten columnar 
 
166 A. HISTOKT OF THE 
 
 sections carefully studied along the rivers ; but the interior lit 
 tie known. A very remarkable wood-cut illustration of cross 
 (oblique or current) bedding in Freeport sandstone at Leech- 
 burg is given (fig. 459.) 
 
 Chajjter 23. Third basin (first sub-division) at Blairsville, 
 Saltsburg, &c. (599-602), with four of Jackson's columnar sec- 
 tions. Fig. 466 gives 400 feet of measures on Chestnut Ridge. 
 
 Chapter 24. Loioer Coal Measwrs along Chestnut Ridge, 
 (Loyalhamia, Jacob's creek, Mount's creek, &c.) to the Mary- 
 laud line (603-616), with three of Jackson's columns ; five small 
 cross-sections ; two local-cut maps (figs. 471, 479) showing the 
 outcrop of the Pittsburg (Connellsville) coal bed and iron ore ; 
 and three of Jackson's rude diagrams of extraordinary varia- 
 tions in the thickness of coal beds. It is a pity that these 
 were not accurately portrayed to scale. As they stand they 
 excite curiosity, but teach nothing reliable respecting the gene- 
 sis of coal beds, nor respecting the possible water currents and 
 changes of level, so often talked about in a reckless and igno- 
 rant manner. All such portraiture of abnormal exhibitions are 
 mischievous, unless they be mathematically accurate in detail, 
 and placed before the eye of the geologist precisely as they are 
 in nature. The rough sketches, which field-workers too often 
 indulge in, acquire authority when they are delicately engraved 
 by artists (who are not of course geologists,) and do more harm 
 than good, because they are accepted as real data for reasoning. 
 The fancy of the bookmaker is tickled, but the earnest student 
 is misled. 
 
 Chapter 25. Pittsburg Coal Bed and Upper Coal System facing 
 Chestnut Ridge (616-628), with 29 sections of the bed, and 4 
 columnar sections including the coal beds above it, by Jackson. 
 
 Chapter 26. Pittsburg series, in the Second sub-division of the 
 Third Basin (Jackson's Fourth Basin), with four cuts of the 
 bed around Greensburg, a.nd a columnar section at New Alex- 
 andria (fig. 514). 
 
 Chapter 27. The Pittsburg coals around Pittsburg (630-685), 
 with a collated columnar section (fig. 515), showing 475 feet of 
 measures from the Pittsburg bed down to the Upper Freeport 
 bed made along the Allegheny river bank. Lehmann's land- 
 scape of Pittsburg and the union of the rivers to form the 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 167 
 
 Ohio, with the eddy-hill on which Allegheny College stands 
 in the middle distance, faces page 630. Lehmann ascended 
 Grant's Hill every day of the Aveek in vain, and finally made 
 his picture on Sunday, when the vail of smoke was removed. 
 The outline re-production here given poorly suggests the beauty 
 of the original. 
 
 Chapter 28. Pittsburg series south of G-reensburg in the third 
 trough of the Third basin (636-650), with eight columnar sec- 
 tions of the rocks underlying the Pittsburg bed ; eight cuts of 
 the bed itself; thirteen, of the measures overlying it, including 
 the Redbank, Sewickley and "Waynesburg coal beds, and the 
 great limestone. Some of these columns (of Jackson and M'- 
 Kinle}') give 500 feet of measures. Fig. 522 shows the sub- 
 divisions of the limestone. Fig. 528 is an instructive diagram 
 section of its outcrop, creeping down hill and crushing out the 
 slate, so as to permit the lowest layer of limestone to become 
 the apparent roof of the coal bed In fig. 529 two diagrams 
 show the cavernous erosion which has gone in the body of the 
 limestone, and the subsequent interjection of ferruginous clay. 
 Four cuts of the Waynesburg coal bed are given in figs. 545, 
 548. The whole of this chapter will be set aside by Prof. J. J. 
 Stevenson's Eeport of Progress of 1875, in which his and Mr. 
 White's thorough survey of Greene, Washington, South Butler 
 and South Allegheny is described. 
 
 Chapter 29. First and Second Basin ; Somerset and Fayette 
 counties (650-665), with fifteen original columnar sections by 
 Hodge and Lesley in 1840, by means of which they established 
 the alphabetical sj-stem of the coal beds now so widely adop- 
 ted. But it was never intended to apply beyond a limited 
 region, and has done more harm than good. The Ohio Geolo- 
 gists have wisely repudiated it, but unwisely substitute an 
 equally local and imperfect alphabetical nomenclature in its 
 place. Its application to north-western Pennsylvania has turned 
 out a partial failure ; to say nothing of the absurd attempt to 
 substitute it for the old and classic nomenclature of the An- 
 thracite Collieries l^o permanent system of lettering our coal 
 beds can be successfully adopted for many years ; if, indeed, it 
 be not impracticable from the very nature of the case, owing 
 to the disappearance or coalessence of the coal beds when traced 
 
168 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 from one district into another. An earnest attempt by the 
 writer in 1841, 1842, to accomplish a " harmony," merely in 
 "Western Pennsylvania, proved abortive and was abandoned. 
 "WTiere one man fails, however, another may succeed. — Lesley's 
 little sketch section of the process by which Castleman's river 
 is eroding its channel, is given in fig. 5ii2 ; and a specimen of 
 ancient erosion inside the coal measures, in fig. 563. In Ste- 
 venson's Report of Progress for 1875, underground (ancient) 
 valleys of erosion, affecting large sections of the Barren Mea- 
 sures in Washington and Greene counties, will be described. — 
 This chapter will be superseded by Mr. Piatt's Report of 1875. 
 Chapter 30. Sharon (sub-conglomerate) series in southern 
 Somerset and Fayette (665, 666.) This is a hint of the import- 
 ant expansion of the lowest coal measures through the Southern 
 States. (See Stevenson's memoirs on Virginia coals.) 
 
 PART III. Mesozoie Red Sandstone. 
 
 Introductory Chapter (667-671.) 
 
 Chapter 1. Detailed description (672-678.) Red shale and 
 sandstone. Boundary in the Chester County lead region. 
 
 A colored geological map of the Lead and Copper mining district 
 of Chester and Montgomery counties, along the line of junc- 
 tion of the Laurentian (?) Gneiss and the New Red, from Val- 
 ley Forge, above Philadelphia, westward, occupies the space of 
 two pages, and is bound in at page 674. 
 
 On this map are shown the mines, trap dykes, and patches of 
 conglomerate at the base of the Ifew Red ; the termination of 
 the E"orth Valley Hill (Potsdam S. S. JSTo. 1, ?) a little east of 
 Valley creek ; and the way in which the Auroral limestone 
 laps round it, and slides under the JSTew Red ; a fine place to 
 study this being in the ravine at Port Kennedy. 
 
 Chapter 2. Lower Calcareous Conglomerate westof the Susque- 
 hanna, along the south limit of the JSTew Red (679, 680). 
 
 Chapter 3. Upper Calcareous Conglomerate, (Potomac marble) 
 on the Delaware, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, &c. to the Maryland 
 line (681-684) ; with a little section at Monroe on the Delaware 
 (fig. 567) ; and a most remarkable chasm in the Auroral lime- 
 stone (No. II) near Reading, filled with the Potomac marble 
 breccia (fig. 568.) 
 
 This whole subject requires reconsideration, as the surveys of 
 
PINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 169 
 
 1874 and 1875 in York and Adams counties show. The appa- 
 rently unbroken dip of the ISTew Red towards the north has 
 been proved to be a deception by the mining operations at Dills- 
 burg, and the English geologists have made a like discovery in 
 their New Red country. The formation was accounted a bar- 
 ren field of research and neglected by the First Survey. It re- 
 quires close and patient attention, throughout its whole extent, 
 from the Present Survey ; and no part of the State more needs 
 to be accurately mapped in contour lines. Professor Frazer has 
 found not only upthrows but a regular small anticlinal in the 
 ISTew Red, the southern border of which appears on all the 
 cross-sections illustrating his Rciport of 1874. 
 
 Chapter 4. Trap dykes in the JSTew Red (684-697) ; with Mr 
 Rogers' cross-section sketch of a dyke through shales in a rail- 
 road cut near Gettysburg (fig. 569), showing the alteration of 
 the shales near the planes of contact. — (See Frazer's Report ot 
 1874.) The organic remains found in the New Red (692, 693). 
 No mention is made by Mr. Rogers of Mr. C. M. "Wheatley"s large 
 private collection at Phcenixville, which, if not soon purchased 
 by the Legislature, or some public spirited citizen, will go, like 
 Lesquereux's unrivalled collection of coal plants, to the Cam- 
 bridge Museum, or to some other distant centre of science far 
 outside the State to which it belongs. Mr. "Wheatly secured 
 the fossils thrown out by the miners when the Reading railroad 
 tunnel was executed. Such an opportunity will not soon re- 
 cur. Mr. Rogers discusses the theoretical age of our New Red, 
 and decides against its reference to a Permian date, and in favor 
 of calling it Triassic or Jurassic. To support this view he de- 
 scribes the New Red of the Connecticut river, and of the James, 
 Dan and Deep rivers in the South (694-697.) 
 
 PART IV. Igneous Mocks and Minerals, Veins and Ores. 
 The rarity of unstratified and igneous rocks in Pennsylvania ; 
 granitic dykes ; greenstone (706). 
 
 Geological relations of the mineral veins near Phcenixville ; 
 Wheatley lode and mines, with its trap-dykes, its extent and 
 condition in 1853, produce and branch lodes ; Brookdale mine 
 (707). 
 
 Granitic and trappean veins in the Gneiss north of the Ches- 
 
170 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ter valley ; Knauertowu iron and copper veins ; Elizabeth cop- 
 per mine ; Steel's iron ore pits ; Hopewell Furnace ore pits. 
 
 Warwick iron mines ; Leighton iron mines (fig. 571) ; War- 
 wick mine (fig. 572); Knauertown mine; others (708). Old 
 copper mine in Lancaster county. 
 
 Catalogue of localities for mineral collectors (709). 
 
 Iron Ores of the Qneissic and Palaeozoic Formations of Penn- 
 sylvania. Introductory remarks (712). 
 
 Chapter 1. Magnetic and Chrome iron ores (713-717). Metal- 
 liferous veins of the South mountains : Lehigh Hill ; Durham ; 
 Mount Pleasant , Penn's mount ; table of analyses. 
 
 Chapter 2. Primal iron ores (718-721) : — Cornwall iron mine, 
 with a section ■ along the Lebanon valley (fig. 574), and across 
 the three ore-hills, with a sketch map of the ore basin (fig. 575- 
 577). This mine needs much further explanation. Other geolo- 
 gists take views opposed to those here stated. — Surface ores. — 
 Table of analyses. 
 
 Cha.2)ter 3. Auroral and Matinal iron ores (722-728) ; 1. on 
 the Lehigh ; 2. bet'w^een Allentown and Reading ; with four 
 cuts and long tables of analyses. This imperfect statement 
 will be replaced by the Reports of Prof. Prime's Surveys of 
 1874, 1875 and 1876. 
 
 Chapter 4. Fossil iron ores of For. V (729-731), with a dif- 
 ferentiated section at Hollidaysburg (fig. 583), showing also 
 two small down-throw faults [of doubtful existence.] Table of 
 analyses. 
 
 Chapter 5. Iron ores of VI and VIII (731, 732). Table of 
 analyses. 
 
 Chapter 6. Iron ores of VIII, Devonian, (732, 733). Table 
 of analyses. 
 
 Chapter 7. Iron ore of XI. Sub-carboniferous, (734). Table 
 of analyses. 
 
 Chapter 8. Iron ores of the Coal Measures, (735-739). Prof. 
 William B. Rogers' theory of the origin and accumulation of 
 this ore. In this memoir the distinguished geologist of Vir- 
 ginia shows, first, that it abounds only in measures abounding 
 in fossil plant forms ; — secondly, chiefly near, or close to, coal 
 beds ; — thirdly, that it is absent in red formations, which are 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 171 
 
 well known to be almost destitute of organic I'emains ; but 
 where the ISTew Red, for example, holds coal beds, there also it 
 holds beds of this iron ore ; — fourthly, that in non ore-bearing 
 formations, the iron is equally abundant, but has not been con- 
 centrated ; — fifthly, that to explain the widely spreading ore 
 beds by mineral springs or chemical precipitation is inadmissa- 
 ble ; — sixthly, that all the sediments of the Coal Measure age 
 were charged with sesquioxide of iron in a difl'used state ; so 
 much of it as lay near organic matter was reduced to protoxide 
 and concentrated in nodules or layers as protocarbonate of iron, 
 by filtration and segregation, in the wet mud and sand. At 
 the same time the mud lost its reddish color and assumed the 
 characteristic grey tone of all coal measures. It is possible that 
 the process has not even now wholly ceased. The carbonic acid 
 set free from the organisms would dissolve the protocarbonate 
 of iron diflE"used through porous Sandstone and carry it down 
 against the horizontal top-face of the next lower water-bearing 
 clay rock, where it would in time by access of air alone, or in 
 water, be turned again into limonite. Table of analyses (739, 
 740.) 
 
 Here properly the Final Report of 1858 ends. But its author 
 added some important memoirs of his own on the geology of 
 the United States and other countries, to show how important 
 an influence the Survey of Pennsylvania had exerted upon the 
 growth of the science everywhere. 
 
 Sketch of the Geology of the United States (741-775) with one 
 illustration (fig. 584), a synoptical diagram of the European 
 formations and their supposed equivalents in America.* 
 
 This memoir would make a very good text-book, if printed 
 
 separately. The use of the fanciful names Primal, Auroral, 
 
 Matinal, &c. in it throughout is a very slight blemish (if any), 
 
 and the New York names are also given. The author's per- 
 
 *Iu this Mr. Rogers seems to adopt Murohison's error (which that geolo- 
 gist afterwards corrected) of making the Bala and Caradoc different rooks, 
 instead of the same ; but in fact he had the courage to side with Sedgewick 
 in that unhappy controversy, as may be seen by the term Cambrian being 
 applied to all below the Wenlock (our No V.) Mr. Rogers' Caradoc is a 
 sandstone, and no doubt the May Hill sandstone (our Oneida, No. IV.) 
 
172 A. HISTORY OE THE 
 
 sonal acquaintance with English geology, and the judicial char- 
 acter of his mind, fitted him for deciding properly many moot 
 points which his scholarship enabled him to state clearly and 
 forcibly in a condensed form. Being written previous to 1858, 
 this memoir leaves out of view the geology of the Great West, 
 which has been very recently explored.* 
 
 After a general introduction, the series of rocks commencing 
 with the lowest (Primal, Potsdam), are successively described, 
 always in the following order : Description ; Thickness ; Geo- 
 graphical Distribution ; Fossils ; Equivalents abroad. 
 
 It is remarkable that no allusion is made to the glacial theory 
 of Agassiz in the latter pages of this memoir, which treat of 
 the Pleistocene and Drift deposits, except in one sentence (page 
 775) : " the new direction imparted is constantly such as a mov- 
 ing fluid or plastic mass would take in sweeping round or past 
 the obstructing barriers."t The author maintains, but with a 
 slightly relaxing grasp, his hold upon his own theory of an 
 ocean translated across the continent by earthquake movements. 
 Almost his last sentence (page 755) is : " The mere agitation or 
 pulsating movement of the crust would suffice," &c.; and 'again : 
 " the inundation would take the form of stupendous currents, 
 the strewing power of which would be adequate," &c. Were 
 Mr. Rogers happily living to re- write this memoir, under the 
 influence of recent discoveries and discussions, his views would 
 be greatly modified, and this memoir would be nearly all that 
 is required for a text book in our schools and colleges, if fur- 
 nished with proper wood-euts.:j: 
 
 Mr. Lehmann's striking picture of the Spanish Hill near 
 
 *"The recent researches of Mr. Blake and Dr. Trask" (page 773) refers to 
 the Mexican Boundary Survey and the very earliest Californian Survey, co- 
 temporaneous with the first placer mining. 
 
 ■f For the latest, clearest and most concise statement of the whole subject 
 of glacial erosion and transportation see J. G. Goodohild's paper (No. Ill) 
 on Drift, in the London Geological Magazine, No. 129, Nov. 1874, pp. 496-510. 
 
 For a synopsis of Mr. Alfred Tylor's views see Geological Magazine No. 
 135, supplement, Sep. 1875; with curious wood-out illustrations. 
 
 X It is very curious and Instructive to observe how the old cataclysmic del- 
 uge of Rogers, as opposed to the glacial droppings of Agassiz, has been re- 
 cently introduced into the Glacial Drift Theory by Dana, and the two woven 
 in together. Dana's melting-ice flood is, however, a very different thing 
 from Rogers' translated Arctic ocean flood. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 173 
 
 Athens, Tioga county, Pa. is inserted, facing page 774, to illus- 
 trate the paragraph on the JSTorthern Drift. 
 
 Conditions of the Physical Geography attending the production 
 of the Palceozoic Strata of the United States (776-811.) 
 
 This admirable memoir has but one defect worth noticing, 
 viz : its convulsive or catastrophic tone. The movements of 
 the crust of the earth at the various epochs of nonconforma- 
 bility are represented as sudden and violent changes of the rela- 
 tive levels of land and sea ; and Mr. Rogers shows throughout 
 its pages how little sympathy he felt with the uniformitarianism 
 of Lyell, and those extremely slow and reluctant changes of the 
 earth's surface which all living geologists agree to presup- 
 pose in their hypotheses. 
 
 After preliminary observations, the author describes, in regu- 
 lar order from the oldest to the youngest, the depositions and 
 disturbances of the Primal Period, and of the Auroral Period ; 
 the Auroral Blue limestone, &c.; the Palseontological break be- 
 tween the Auroral and Matinal series ; the depositions and 
 disturbances of the Matinal Period ; the stupendous crust 
 movement and revolution in the earth's inhabitants at the close 
 of the Matinal Period ;* disturbances of the Levant, — Sur- 
 gent. — Scalent, &c. &c. up to the Umbral. 
 
 Here a new subject commences : — Of the Limits of the Ap- 
 palachian Coal Strata ; — Of the nature of Coal Strata ; — Of the 
 Phenomena connected with the Coal-seams ; — Of the intimate 
 Mechanical Structure of the Coal ; — Of the Character of the 
 Strata in immediate contact with the Coal-seams ; — The Fire- 
 clay floor ; — Of the Roof of the Coal ; — Of the direct contact 
 
 *Fig. 586, " Hasbrouck'8 quarry, Rondout, showing unoonformity of Pre- 
 meridian (VI) upon Matinal (II) strata," la probably a great and important 
 mistake, as shown by the fault at Port Clinton on the Schuylkill, where the 
 phenomenon is repeated in the same form, but with vertical Levant (IV,) 
 and horizontal Matinal CHI)- This is certainly nota case of nonconformity, 
 but a case of simple fracture and upthrow. All Mr. Rogers' conclusions, 
 based upon his figure, should be entertained with grave doubts, if not with 
 incredulity. In this fig. 586, we have the teaching of an old lesson, that the 
 iketcher is a dangerous companion for the geologist. The upper part of the 
 line of contact is cunningly drawn, so as to support the nonconformity hy- 
 pothesis; whereas this upper limit of the exposure was probably so filled in 
 with local fragments as to permit the sketch to be made in any way that best 
 suited the nations of the observer. The downward crush of the horizontal 
 rocks is of itself sufficient to prove the fact that it is a case of upthrow. 
 
174 A HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of Coal-beds and Marine Limestones ; — Theory of the Origin 
 of the Coal Strata ; and in this the pulsating earthquake and 
 tidal wave idea is most ingeniously used to account for the kill- 
 ing of each coal bed and its burial under a sandstone roof.* 
 
 The change from Bituminous to Anthracite is then explained 
 in some paragraphs. — On Gradation in the proportion of vola- 
 tile matter in the coal of the Appalachian basins ; in which is 
 shown the connection between a disturbed state of the crust 
 and an anthracitic character of the coal. 
 
 The fossils of the coal are spoken of in general terms in the 
 last paragraph, which serves as an introduction to Lesquereux's 
 memoir further on. 
 
 A small separate memoir " Of the formative actions concerned 
 in the production of the Palaeozoic and other strata" (8!1 1-815) 
 gives the author's views of the action of water in geology, and 
 is illustrated by two wood-cuts (figs. 587 and 588) showing 
 how Mr. Rogers conceived of the re-distribution of gravel and 
 sand by the back-lash of a tidal wave. 
 
 Tlie Fossils of Pennsylvania are described in two important 
 memoirs, one by Mr. Rogers : On the Organic Remains of the 
 Palaeozoic strata of Pennsylvania (815-836), and the other bj' 
 Mr. Leo Lesquereux on the Coal Plants (837-884). 
 
 Fossils of the Primal Strata : Seolithus linearis (fig. 589) and 
 Paradoxides spinosus (fig. 590). 
 
 Auroral : LeptcBua incrassata (591), Atrypa plidfera (592), 3Iur- 
 chisonia bicincta (598). Raphistoma staminea (bQ'i), Macluria mag- 
 na (585), Orthoceras multicameratum (596), and others not figured 
 here, but figured in Hall's Palaeontology of New York and 
 elsewhere; about one hundred species in all, embracing plants, 
 polyzoa, mollusca and crustaceans. 
 
 Matinal: IL 300 species, (200 restricted to the Trenton 
 limestone,) nine-tenths of which differ from those of the Au- 
 
 * No allusion is made to the possible growth of coal beds over a continent 
 perhaps at altitudes hundreds of feet above the ocean level ; nor is this idea 
 suggested in any of our text-books ; although it may be used with much ef- 
 fect for explaining some of the latest discoveries respecting the bifurcation of 
 coal-beds ; and the origin of such deposits of coal as occur in the Missouri 
 limestone. 
 
FINAL REi>ORT OP 1858. A. 175 
 
 roral limestone next below. Of these are figured Chcefetes ly- 
 coperdon (597), Stridopora acuta (598), Leptasna sericea (599), 
 Leptcena alternata (600), Orthis testudinaria (601), Orthis pecti- 
 nella (602), Lingula curta (604), Orbicula (n. s. ? 603), Ambony- 
 chia bellastriata (605), Pleurotomaria subconica (606), Bellerophon 
 bilobatus (607), Orthoceras vertebrale (609), Conularia Trentonen- 
 sis (610), Isotelus gigas (611), and Trinucleus concentricus (612.) 
 
 Matinal Shale: III. Characteristic and common forms are 
 given in figures: Graptolithus priscus (612), Calymene JBeckii 
 (613), Agnostos lobatus (614), Lingula quadrata (615), Delthyris 
 lynx (616), Avicula insueta (617), Modiolopsis modiolaris (618), 
 Gyrtolithes ornatus (619), Pleurotomaria bilix (620), Ormoceras 
 crebrisepium (621). Glyptocrinus decadactylus (622) ; with a list of 
 those prevailing in the back valleys. All these forms wholly 
 disappear before reaching the next age of the — 
 
 Levant : IV. The principal fossil of these strata is the sea- 
 weed, Arthrophycus Harlani (623) ; with a small whorled shell 
 Bucania trilobatus (624), and Lingula cuneata. 
 
 Surgent ; V. Of about 120 species known in 1858, are fig- 
 ured: Biithrotrephis gracilis f {625), Busophycus bilobatus {626), 
 Cornulites (627), Avicula sidjplana (628), Lingula oblonga (629), 
 Leptcena depressa (630), Leptcena patenta (631), Atrypa congesta 
 (632), Atrypa reticularis (633), Atrypa intermedia (634), Orthis 
 elegantula (635), Orthoceras imbricatum (636), Calymene Clintoni 
 (637). 
 
 Scalent: V, Onondaga salt group and Water lime. Bey- 
 richia Pennsylvanica* and the little thorn-like Teutaculites orna- 
 tus (638) mark this horizon, which is rich in trilobites and other 
 fossils. Mr. Rogers here figures (639) a spine of Onchus {?) 
 Deweii (from Hall's Plate LXVI) and pronounces against it as 
 a,Jish spine. 
 
 Premeridian : VI, Lower Helderberg ; very fossiliferous ; the 
 most abundant forms being figured as Atrypa peculiaris (640), 
 Atrypa — ? (641), Atrypa Icevis (642), Delthyris macropleura (643), 
 Spirifer sulcatus (644), Rhynconella nobilis (645), Pentamerus 
 galeatus (646), Platyostoma (647), Strophomena punciulifera (648). 
 
 * On page 834 Mr. Rogers prints notes by Mr. T. Rupert Jones, Curator of 
 the Tjondon Geological Society's museum, on the nature of the Beyrichia 
 Maccoyiana, B. Pennsylvanica, Leperditia ovata, L. Oibbera v. scalaris, and 
 L. Pennsylvanica, which forms a large part of the mass of our No. V fossil 
 ore ; and gives figures of them (695-699) in various stages of their growth. 
 
176 A. HiSTORy OP the 
 
 Meridian: VII, Oriskany. Undeecribed Calymene audi Orbi- 
 cula near MoorestoAvn, north of Montour's ridge, and at Franks- 
 town. The characteristic and conspicuous forms are figured as 
 Meganteris ovoides (649), Spirifer arenosa (650), and the most re- 
 markable of all Atrypa unguiformis (651) or horse-print shell, 
 by which this key rock of Pennsylvanian geology may always 
 be recognized. 
 
 Post-meridian : VIII, Cauda-galli grit. Mr. Rogers gives no 
 figure of the fucoides cauda-galli, or Cock's-tail sea-weed, and 
 says that the shales which contain it (just over the Oriskany 
 sandstone) scarcely appears in the State. But splendid speci- 
 mens appear at Tyrone and elsewhere. 
 
 Gadent : VIII, Hamilton Lower black slate. The most com- 
 mon shell is Atrypa limitaris (652), and next, Orbicula minuta 
 (653) and the delicate Orthoceras sublatum (654) ; Cyathophyllum 
 turbinatum (655); a JFenestella {6bQ) ; Avicula decussata (657), 
 Modiola eompressa (658), Avicula flabella {Qb9), Mierodon bella- 
 striata (660), Orthonota undulata (661), other Aviculas (662, 663), 
 Strophomena crenisiria (665), Strophomena demissa (666), Spiri- 
 fer spiriferoides (667), Spirifer mucronata (668) very abundant, 
 Delihyris medialis (669), Delthyris congesta (670), Atrypa aspera 
 (671), Tropidolepis carinatus (672), Delthyris granulifera (673), 
 Froductus hirsutus (674) : the interesting coal plant Lepidoden- 
 dron primcevis (675), and with it, in the same slates, the deli- 
 cate whorled shell Qoniatites interrvptus? (676). The most com- 
 mon trilobites are Calymene bufo, and Homalonotus Dekaii. 
 
 Vergent : VIII, Portage and Chemung. Of the scanty flora 
 and fauna of this great mass in central Pennsylvania, are fig- 
 ured only one plant, a Lepidodendron (677) ; and Avicula dam- 
 
 noniensis (678), Avicula (679), Strophomena Ghemungen- 
 
 sis (680), Atrypa hystrix (681), Atrypa eximia (682), and Delthy- 
 ris euspidata (683). 
 
 Ponent : IX, Lower Catskill. Only one figure (684) of a name- 
 less fern is given in the text ; but a wonderfully fine leaf is 
 shown in Plate XXII, at the end of the volume. 
 
 Vespertine : X, Upper Catskill ; and Umbral, XI red shale ; 
 describes Mr. Isaac Lea's discovery of four large lizard-like /ooi 
 prints at Mount Carbon near Pottsville, and to the subsequent 
 discovery of other smaller foot prints in the gap of the West 
 
FINAL EEPOKT OF 1858. A. 177 
 
 Branch 2 miles west of Pottsville ; and gives a wood-cut (685) 
 of corrugated impressions in the red shale ; and another (686) 
 of the supposed track of some shell-fish in the mud of that 
 ancient shore. A beautiful Lepidodendron from X is given in 
 Plate XXI, and a specimen of cock's-tail sea-weed. A mag- 
 nificent plant " resembling a Desmarestia" from the red shale 
 occupies Plate XXIII. 
 
 Coal Measures: In 1857 Mr. W. B. Rogers, Jr. discovered in 
 coal slate near the mouth of the Ravensdale tunnel, casts of an 
 Avicula ? and of a Tellenomya ? and these Mr. Rogers considers 
 to be the first shells discovered in the anthracite measures of 
 Pennsylvania. In the limestones of the Bituminous Fields 
 some forms are abundant ; on page 833 are figured a Pentremi- 
 tes (688), an Avicula (689), a Nucula? (690), a Pleurotomaria 
 (691), Nautilus decoratus (692), a minute Lingula (693), and a 
 large Spirifer (694.) 
 
 This memoir, then, gives wood-cuts of ninety (90) charac- 
 teristic and commonly observed fossils (mostly shells) from most; 
 of the sub-divisions of the Palaeozoic System in Pennsylvania,, 
 and would, if separately published, furnish a useful little hand- 
 book to the citizens of the State. Its value to geologists study- 
 ing the ancient fiora and fauna is verj' small ; but such students 
 will necessarily resort to the large volumes of the New York 
 Survey, and no publication of the fossils of Pennsylvania, how- 
 ever elaborately prepared, could set aside this necessity. A pre- 
 liminary Report of Progress will be made by Mr. 0. E. Hall, 
 the Assistant in charge of the fossil collections of the Second 
 Survey, showing the extent of such collections during the years 
 1874 and 1875. A few new specimens have been found. 
 
 It has been a subject of much speculation and enquiry what 
 became of the large collections of fossils made by the Assist- 
 ants of Mr. Rogers during the prosecution of the first survey, 
 from 1885 to 1841. Three collections of the minerals remained 
 in the State ; but the fossils disappeared. It was supposed that 
 Mr. Rogers took them to places in other States and in Great 
 Britain where thej'^ could best be studied. He, himself, resided 
 in Boston until he accepted a Chair of Natural History in the 
 Glasgow University, where he died. But it is evident from the 
 memoir above described that the fossils were never studied in 
 12— A. 
 
178 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 any true sense of the term, for there are no descriptions of them 
 in the Final Report ; except the dereriptions of the fossil plants 
 of the Coal Measures by Mr. Lesquereax. 
 
 It now appears that Mr. Rogers took the State collection of 
 fossils with him to Boston, and thence to Glasgow ; whence 
 they have been returned to Boston, and are now incorporated 
 in the cabinet of the Boston ISTatural History Society ; for, in 
 the annual report of Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, Custodian of the 
 Cabinet of the Boston Society of Natural History, dated May 
 5th, 1875, it is announced that the mineral collections of 
 Henry D. and William B. Rogers has been included in the so 
 called " American collection" of the society, revised by Mr. 
 Crosby, and mounted by Miss Washburn. 
 
 Mr. Hyatt, after speaking of Mr. Crosby's arrangement, 
 adds : — " This work includes the naming and mounting of the 
 Henry D. and William B. Rogers' collections, principally of fos- 
 sils from Pennsylvania, the Cleveland collection of Devonian 
 specimens, and the formation of an Educational collection from 
 the duplicates. The latter is progressing rapidly, and will soon 
 be as complete as the society can aflbrd to make it." 
 
 Mr. Hyatt goes on to say : — " The Rogers collections have 
 suffered much damage from the loss of labels; this is particu- 
 larly the case with the Henry D. Rogers collection, -nhich was 
 packed with the greatest carelessness by the parties entrusted 
 with its transmission to America, after the death of Professor 
 Rogers in Glasgow. The sudden illness of Mr. William B. 
 IRogers, in the midst of his labors, unfortunately left his own 
 collection also in great disorder. But it is a matter of sincere 
 congratulation that the honored member of our society has so 
 far recovered from his illness as to be again able to work with 
 us. He has already reviewed the labels of a portion of his 
 own collection, and expects to be able to continue his efforts 
 until the whole of his own and his brother's collections have 
 been revised. The south-east room in the basement was fitted 
 up partly with the old cases which were removed from the for- 
 mer botanical room, and partly with the cabinets of the Rogers 
 collections, and now serves as a general work room, as a lecture 
 room and laboratory for the students of the Institute of Tech- 
 nology, and also as a storage room for the Rogers collections 
 and the Educational collection." 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 179 
 
 It is probable that Prof. Hyatt has been misinformed respec- 
 ting the alleged carelessness of the Glasgow packer ; for the 
 mineral collections of the Pennsylvania Survey wei-e in the 
 same condition 35 years ago ; divorced from their field labels, 
 and not all of them even ticlceted with numbers ; and worse 
 than all, the catalogues had disappeared. The immense collec- 
 tions of that great and protracted survey, both mineral and or- 
 ganic, had therefore never any real scientific value. ITor was 
 this in more than a small degree Mr. Rogers' fault. He had a 
 large corps and a miserably small annual appropriation, to ob- 
 tain which he had to make fight against a false sentiment of 
 economy, and a universal ignorance and indifterance in relation 
 to science. He had no proper head-quarters ; no museum ; no 
 available paid assistance for museum work ; and his surplus 
 funds were spent in freight charges which were then high, 
 while the service was slow and irregular. He always looked 
 forward to a time when the field work should be ended, and he 
 could set himself to an undisturbed study and arrangement of 
 the collections. But that time never came. His corps was dis- 
 banded ; his Final Report was to be written, and that without 
 pay. The immense quarto which finally appeared should re- 
 lieve his memory of any charge of want of interest in or effort 
 to complete the work ; for it was simply a physical impossi- 
 bility that one man should do the work of many. His error lay 
 m the attempt. There were a dozen men of science in Phila- 
 delphia ready and anxious to distribute among themselves the 
 various tasks of studying tne collections, mineral, vegetable 
 and animal, — labeling, arranging and preparing descriptions 
 of them for publication, — without other pay than the personal 
 reputation to accrue therefrom. The Academy of Natural Sci- 
 ences was then in its pristine activity, and its rooms were the 
 natural and safe head-quarters of the State Geological Survey 
 if Mr. Rogers chose to make them such, and to share the labors 
 and honors of the great work with his fellows in science. The 
 law compelled him to place a part of the collections at Pitts- 
 burg ; there they were burnt up. The law obliged him to place 
 duplicates at Harrisburg ; there they were stolen, and finally 
 sent to the Insane Asylum. The law prescribed the localiza- 
 tion of the rest at Philadelphia ; there he concentrated the best ; 
 
180 A. HiyrouY op the 
 
 and all the fossils. Had he deposited these in the Museum of 
 the Academy, if only during the six years of collection, chey 
 would probably have been in a state of systematic arrangement, 
 and their descriptions published, — without trouble to himself, 
 with profit to his reputation, and with benefit and pleasure to 
 the experts who should volunteer, and to the world at large 
 impatiently waiting for its appearance, — by the time the sur- 
 vey was finished. But he preferred to attempt impossibilities 
 and to labor alone. The result was inevitable ; nothing was 
 published for many years ; the collections remained unstudied 
 and were in a great measure destroyed, and what remains is al- 
 most valueless. The minerals, without labels or catologue, in 
 a garret in Philadelphia, are quite worthless. The fossils, also 
 without labels and uncatalogued, are of no value except to the 
 comparative zoologist, and in this sense may be said to have 
 found a comfortable home, with a reasonable prospect of being 
 of some use for instruction in the Museum of the B. N". H. So- 
 ciety in Boston. As it is now impossible to tell where they 
 were found, they cannot afford us any help in our present eff^orts 
 to characterize and identify our formations by their contained 
 fossils. 
 
 The above story, thus unexpectedly brought into a clear light 
 by the recent report of Prof. Hyatt, is fraught with instruc- 
 tion and warning. It shows how indispensable to the safety 
 and utility of the collections of any great survey is a Museum 
 Building, with a salaried curator, and a paid or volunteer ser- 
 vice, to lable, arrange, study, describe and publish, as well as to 
 give access to the public. Without some such permanent and 
 convenient home for collections they must be wasted, scattered 
 and destroyed ; or even if fortunately preserved, they can be 
 of no public utility. 
 
 J^ossil Plants of the Coal Strata of Pennsylvania (835-884,) 
 with XX Plates at the end of the volume. 
 
 In a short introduction Mr. Rogers states that in this me- 
 moir Mr. Lesquereux publishes 11 new species of fossil plants, 
 by far the greater part of the specimens collected by himself; 
 a few being first seen and studied in the rich cabinets of Mr. 
 Clarkson, at Carbondale, in the Third Anthracite coal field, and 
 
FINAL HEPORT OF 1858. A. 181 
 
 of the Rer. Mr. Moore, at Greensburg, in tlie Third Bitumin- 
 ous coal basin. 
 
 These new species constitute about one-half of the total num- 
 ber of well-defined forms detected by him in the Coal Measures 
 of Pennsylvania previous to ISST.* Of the 220 species then 
 known, more than 100 had been found in Europe, and 50 more 
 were extremely like European species ; but all the actually new, 
 or America7i species, also were closely related to those of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 The species were more numerous and abundant in the An- 
 thracite than in the Bituminous coal fields. 
 
 The white-ash lower coal measures are more sandy, gravelly, 
 or disturbed in sedimentation than the red-ash upper measures, 
 and their beds are more irregular ; correspondingly local and 
 variable is the vegetation as studied by Lesquereux. The lower 
 beds abound also in large tree-plants, and the upper in small 
 shrubby plants. 
 
 The aim of this distinguished botanist was to identify plants 
 or groups of plants as characteristic, so that the miner could tell 
 which of the beds he was working by noticing the plant-species 
 in his roof slates. His success was, however, only partial ; and 
 he limits the applicability of this test in his memoir. But he 
 considered the test good within certain limits. Sometimes, 
 however, it failed signally ; as for example, when he found the 
 fossil-plants of the Salem vem so exactly like those of the Gate 
 vein at Pottsville as to convince him that the two were one and 
 the same bed ; whereas, by the structural geology of the lo- 
 cality it was clearly proven that the Salem lies several hun- 
 dred feet above the Gate. 
 
 For nearly twenty years since writing this memoir Mr. Les- 
 quereux has continued to prosecute his researches on this im- 
 portant subject, in Kentucky and Arkansas under David Dale 
 Owen, in Illinois under Mr. Worth en, in Indiana under Mr. 
 Coxe, and in Kansas, and the Rocky mountains under Dr. Hay- 
 den ; while Mr. Whitney has submitted to him the plants of 
 
 * In his essay on the botany of the coal measures, published in Hayden's 
 Report of 1874, Mr. Lesquereux gives the number of species ot ferns alone, 
 known now, as 350 ; of which nearly one-half have been detected in the Car- 
 boniferous of the United States. This is an index of me progress of the 
 science. 
 
182 A. BISTORT OF THE 
 
 Califoruia, and large collections from other coal fields of 
 America, tertiary and cretaceous, as well as carboniferous, have 
 beeia placed at his disposal for study and publication. His wri- 
 tings are voluminous ; his plates numerous and beautiful ; and 
 ne stands naturally at the head of the fossil botanists of 
 America. In 1857 the Second Geological Survey will publish 
 his report on the Coal Plants of North America, with especial 
 reference to the fossil botany of Pennsylvania, illustrated by 
 himself with about sixty plates of characteristic species. Into 
 this work he pours the treasures of knowledge of a long life of 
 incessant labor in this field of his afl'ections, and geologists will 
 get a hand-book for field work, in the Coal Measure districts, 
 as perfect as the most copious experience and highest ability 
 can produce. 
 
 General Remarks on the Distribution of the coal-plants of Penn- 
 sylvania, and on the formation of the coal, (837-847) make the in- 
 troduction to Mr. Lesquereux's 
 
 Description of the Fossil Plants found in the Anthracite and Bi- 
 tuminous Goal Measures of Pennsylvania (847-884.) 
 
 In his general remarks he discusses the subjects : which spe- 
 cies are characteristic of the lower and upper measures ; the bo- 
 tanical relationships of the anthracite and bituminous mea- 
 sures ; the botanical resemblances of American and European 
 coal measures ; the completeness or incompleteness of the pic- 
 ture which the fossils aflbrd us of the living vegetation of the 
 coal age ; the probable beginnings, growth and destruction of 
 a coal bed ; the analogy presented now by living peat bogs and 
 cypress swamps ; and the means at our command to compre- 
 hend the quality of the soil and climate of the world in the 
 Coal Era, and in the Northern hemisphere. 
 
 In this descriptive part of the memoir Mr. Lesquereux di- 
 vides the plants of the Coal Measures into classes, and describes 
 the genera and species of each class separately : — • 
 
 First Class. — Funginece ; or mushrooms, only one of which, 
 Polyjjorites Bowmanni, Lindl, had ever been detected. The small 
 points on the stems of ferns may be mushrooms, but they may 
 be accidental, for they occur abundantly on the surfaces of coal- 
 slate, especially at Treverton, where the slates are sometimes 
 
FINAL REPORT OP 1858. A. 183 
 
 full of holes (from the size of a needle's head to that of a pea) 
 filled with a brown powder (like the spores of the Spherice), but 
 under the microscope showing no structure.* 
 
 Second Class. — Algm ; or sea-weeds. ITot a single species of 
 the true sea-weeds had then been found in the coal measures 
 of Pennsylvania. Many species were known in the Sub-carbo- 
 niferous, Devonian and Silurian rocks, and Mr. Lesquereux as- 
 cribed to their presence the petroleum. In 1863, however, he 
 found fucoids in contact with a coal-bed, and others in coal 
 measure rocks still higher up. — (See Report of Progress, J. 
 1874, third memoir : On Slippery Eock Creek.) Mr. Lesquereux 
 divides the Algse into : — 
 
 1. CHONDRITES : Sternberg. 
 
 1. G. Antiquus. Stern. {Buthotrephis ? flexuosa. Hall ) 
 
 2. ' G. Fargionis. Stern. (See Plate XVII, figs. 13 to 17.) 
 
 II. FUCOIBES. Harlan. (See Pinnularia, Plate XVU.) 
 
 1. F. Alleghaniensis. Harlan. 
 
 2. F. Brogniarti. Harlan. 
 
 Third Class. — Muscites ; or mosses, of which, although the 
 coal-beds were largely composed of them, not a single species 
 can be made out, so completely has the texture of the plant 
 been destroyed. Experiments made with modern mosses show 
 that they melt down into an indistinguishable mass when 
 steeped for a long in water, f 
 
 Fourth Class. — Calamarim ;X or reeds, which are very abund- 
 ant in all coal measure rocks, and are often seen as standing 
 forests where the ocean breaks the coal measures down in ver- 
 tical clifiB, as at Sydney, and on the Bay of Funda. They are 
 divisable into : — 
 
 L GALAMITFS, Suck.; or Reeds 
 
 1. C. decoratus, Brongt, 
 
 2. G. SuckovU, Brongt. 
 
 3. G. ramosus, Brongt. 
 
 4. C. eruciaius, Stern. 
 
 * In the Australian and other coal fields resinous matters occur distributed 
 in the rocks ; and many coal beds are charged with vegetable pollen. 
 
 t See Hull on the Coal Fields of Great Britain. 
 
 t The Aiterophyllites seems to be a part of this plant (See Plate 1, figs. 1, 
 
 la, 2, 3.) 
 
!84 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 5. G. undulatus, ±5roiigt. 
 
 6. C. Czsiu, Brongt. 
 
 7. C dubius, Artis Antidil. Phitol. 
 
 8. C. eanncBformis, Brongt. 
 
 9. G. pachyderma, Brongt. 
 
 10. G. bistriatus, Lesq. (Plate II, fig. 1.) 
 
 11. C. disjunctus, Lesq. (Plate II, fig. 5.) 
 
 12. G. approximatus, Brongt. 
 
 II. EQUISETES, Sternb. ; or Horse-tails. 
 1. E. stellifolius, Unger.* 
 
 IIL ASTEROPHYLLITES, Brongt. 
 
 1. A. gracilis, Brongt. 
 
 2. A. equisetiformis, Brongt. 
 
 3. A. foliosa, Lindl. and Hutt. 
 
 4. A. crassicaulis, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 1 — la.) 
 6. A. ovalis, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 2.) 
 
 6. A. sublcevis, Lesq. (Plate I, figs. 3, 9.) 
 
 7. A. tuberculata, Brongt. 
 
 8. A. lanceolata, Lesq. (Plate VII, fig. 32.) 
 
 9. A. aperta, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 4.) 
 10. A. Brardil, Brongt. 
 
 IV. ANNULABIA, BrongLf 
 
 1. An. minuta, Brongt. 
 
 2. An. fertilis, Sternb. 
 
 3. An. longifolia, Brongt. 
 
 4. An. sphenophylloides, Unger. (Plate I, 5, 5a.) 
 V. SFHENOPHTLLUM, Brougt.:t 
 
 1. S. Schlotheimil, Brongt. i (Plate I, 8, 8a, 8b.') 
 
 2. S. ema.rginatum, Brongt. 
 
 3. *S'. Jilicidmis, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 6.) 
 
 * This is Harlan's Equisitum stellifolium and not a horse-tail, but an Annu- 
 laria. What Harlan called branches are leaves. The plant which Harlan 
 described, and which has caused geologists who could not visit the specimen 
 to say that horse-tails grew in the Coal Era is a true coal plant, probably An- 
 nularia fertilis of Brogniart ; but the real Equisetes came into existence after 
 the Coal Bra. Sternberg's Equisetites mirabilis is the stem of an unknown 
 plant of which nothing more can be said. 
 
 t Lesquereux refuses Unger's classitioation of these with Asterophyllites. 
 
 % Ordinarily found with Asterophyllites, but although often seemingly 
 never really belonging to the same plant. 
 
 II Entirely covering the slates of the South Salem vein at PottsvlUe. 
 
FIKAL BEPOKT OF 1858. A. 185 
 
 4. S. trifoliatum, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 7.) 
 
 5. S. oblongifolium, Unger. 
 
 • PiFTH Class. — Filices; or ferns, remains of which are far 
 more abundant than of any other class in the coal measures ; 
 and the experimental maceration of living ferns in water for 
 one or two years prove that thej' are the least destructable of 
 plants. Their classification is difficult, because there are few 
 reliable characteristic features. Goppert's new basis of classifi- 
 cation — the form and position of the fructifications — is not 
 good. The only available grounds of distinction between the 
 species are the forms of the leaves and leaflets and the direction 
 and ramification of the veins and veinlets. 
 
 I. NEUROPTERIDE^ ; froud primate, or bi-pinnate. 
 Secondary veins, either rising from a medial nerve, vanishing 
 above, or all emerging and branching from the base without 
 any distinct medial nerve. ITo fruit ever found, although the 
 plants are abundant. 
 
 1. NOEGGERATHIA, Sternb. 
 
 1. N. obliqua, Gopp. 
 
 2. N. obiusa, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 11.) 
 
 3. N. minor, Lesq. (Plate 1, 10.) 
 
 4. N. Bockschiana, Lesq.* (Plate III, 1, la, lb, Ic, Id.) 
 
 2. CYCLOPTERJS, Brongt. 
 
 1. 0. flabellata, Brongt. 
 
 2. C. jimbriata, Lesq. (Plate IV, 17, 18.) 
 
 3. C. lacinata, Lesq. (Plate XIX, 3.) 
 
 4. C. undans, Lesq. (V, 3 to 7.) 
 
 5. C. elegans, Lesq. (V, 4.) 
 
 6. C. trichomanoides, Brongt. 
 
 7. G. liirsuta, Lesq. (IV, 1 to 16.) 
 
 8. C. orbicularis, Brongt. 
 
 9. C Germari, Gopp. 
 
 8. NEUROPTERIS,Brongt. • 
 
 1. K Rogersi, Lesq. (VII, 2.) 
 
 2. N. hirsuta. Lesq. (Ill, 6 ; IV, 1-16.) 
 
 3. N. Clarksoni, Lesq. (VI, fig 1.) 
 
 4. N. fissa, Lesq. (Ill, fig. 2.) 
 
 • In No. X, opposite Mauoh Chunk. (IV, 19 to 22; V, 1,2.) 
 
186 A. HISTORY OP THE 
 
 5. N. smilacifoUa, Sternb. (XX, 4- 
 
 6. N. plicata, Sternb. 
 
 7. N. flexuosa, Brongt. 
 
 8. N. Loschu, Brongt. (XX, 3.) 
 
 9. N. rotundifolia, Brongt. 
 
 10. N. tenidfolia, Brongt. 
 
 11. N. gigantea, Brongt. 
 
 12. N. Grangeri, Brongt. 
 
 13. N. CisiU, Brongt. 
 
 14. N. delicatula, Lesq. (XX, 2.) 
 
 15. N. WillersU, Brongt. (Ill, 3.) 
 
 16. N. gibbosa, Lesq. (V, 3.) 
 
 17. N. undans, Lesq. (V, 1, 2.) 
 
 18. N. crenulata, Brongt. 
 
 19. N. tenuinervis, Lesq. (V, 7, 8.) 
 
 20. N. dentaia, Lesq. (V, 9, 10.) 
 
 21. N. Desoril, Lesq. (V, 11, 12 ; XX, 5, 6, 7, 8.) 
 
 22. N. heterophylla, Brongt. 
 
 23. N. minor, Lesq. (Ill, 4.) 
 
 24. N. rarinervis, Buub. 
 
 25. N. MoorU, Lesq. (XIX, 1.) 
 
 26. K adiantes, Lesq. (XX, 1.) 
 
 4. ODONTOPTERIS, Brongt. 
 
 1. 0. squamosa, Lesq. (XIX, 2, 26.) 
 
 2. 0. .Bmrcfw, Brongt. 
 
 3. 0. crenulata, Brongt. 
 
 4. 0. Schlotheimii, Brongt. (VII.) 
 
 5. 0. dvhia, Lesq. 
 
 5. DYCTIOFTHBIS, Grnth. 
 
 1. D. Obliqua, Bunb.* (VIII, 6.) 
 II. SPHENOPTERWE^ ; frond bi-tripinnale or bi-tn- 
 pinnatifid ; pinnules sometimes entire, but mostly lobate, the 
 lobes wedfe-form at the base, dentate or div^ersely divided ; 
 nerves pinnate, with a primary nerve more or less distinct and 
 flexuous ; secondary nerves obliquely ascending, either simple 
 in each lobe or division, or dichotomous, fureate at the apex; 
 fructifications punctiform or marginal. 
 * South Salem vein and at Treverton. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 187 
 
 1. SPHENOPTERIS, Brongt. 
 
 1. 8. Darallia, Gbpp. 
 
 2. S. tenella, Brongt. 
 
 3. S. Gravenhorstu, Brono-t. 
 
 4. iS^. Dvhuissonu, Brongt. 
 
 5. S. abbreviata, 1^68(1. (IX, It, lb.) 
 
 6. S. intermedia, Lesq. (VIII, 8, 9, 9a.) 
 
 7. S. flagellaris, Lesq. (XVIII, 1.) 
 8 S. plieaia, Lesq. (IX, 3.) 
 
 9. S. latifolia, Brongt. 
 
 10. S. acuta, Brongt. 
 
 11. S. glandulosa, Lesq. (IX, 2.) 
 
 12. S. decipiens, Lesq. (XVIII, 2.) 
 
 13. S. polyphylla, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 14. S. Newberry i,'heB(i. (IX, 4.) 
 
 15. S. Lesquereuxii, Necob. (X, 1.) 
 
 16. S. squamosa, Lesq. (X, 3.) 
 
 17. S. artemesicefoUa, Brongt. 
 
 2. HYMENOPHYLLITES,(^o^^. 
 
 1. H. furcatus? Gbpp 
 
 2. H. Hildreti, Lesq. (IX, 5, 5a.) 
 
 3. H. capiUaris, Lesq. (IX, 6.) 
 
 3. PACHYPHYLLUM,-Lesq. 
 
 1. P. jiwhriatum, Lesq. (VIII, 2.) 
 
 2. P. affine, Lesq. (VIII, 1.) 
 
 3. P. hirsutum, Lesq. (VIII, 3.) 
 
 4. P. laceratum, Lesq. 
 
 5. P. laduca, Lesq. (VIII, 4, 5,) 
 
 ni. PECOPTEPWEJE ; frond either simple, pinnate, bi- 
 tripinnate, or bi-tripinnatifid ; pinnules attached to the raehis 
 by the whole of an equal or dilated base, ordinarily united to 
 gether, and very seldom attenuated ; medial nerve strongly 
 marked ; secondary nerves or nervules ordinarily perpendicular 
 to the medial nerve, or diverging from it, simple, and rarely 
 forking or dichotomous, bi-trifurcate. Fruit-dots marginal, 
 either attached to nerves and lengthened, or punctiform.* 
 
 * All Goppert's specias except Asplenites nodosus, characterized by forir 
 and position of fructitioation, are remove,d fiom this section by Lesquereux 
 The ^enas is overcharged with heterogeneous species. 
 
188 A. HISTORY OF Tin 
 
 1. ASPLENITES, Gbpp. 
 
 1. A. rubra, Lesq. 
 
 2. ALETH0PTERI8, Sternb. and Gopp. 
 
 1. Al. lonchitidis, Sterub. 
 
 2. Al. Pennsylvanica, Lesq. (XI, 1, 2.' 
 
 3. M. aquilina, Gopp. 
 
 4. JH. urophylla, Gopp. 
 
 5. Al. Serlii, Gopp. 
 
 6. Ai. marginata, Gopp. 
 
 7. Al. distans, Lesq. (XII, 2.) 
 
 8. Al. obscura, Lesq. (I, 13, 14.) 
 
 9. -ii^. serrula, Lesq. (XII, 1.) 
 
 10. ^?. nervosa, Gopp. (XVHI, 3.) 
 
 11. Al. Icevis, Lesq. 
 
 12. -^^. muricata, Gopp. 
 
 3. OALLIPTERIS, Brongt. 
 
 1. C. Sullivantii, Lesq. (V, 13.) 
 
 4. PECOPTERIS, Brongt. 
 
 1. P. C'isffi, Brongt. 
 
 2. P. polymorpha, Brongt. 
 
 3. P. distans, Lesq. (XI, 3.) 
 
 4. P. velutina, Lesq. (XII, 3.) 
 
 5. P. ouata, Brongt. 
 
 6. P. notata, Lesq. (XVIII,4.) 
 
 7. P- oreopteridis, Brongt. 
 
 8. P. pusilla, Lesq. (XI, 4.) 
 9, 10. P. arborescens, Brongt. 
 
 11. P. cyathea, Brongt. 
 
 12. P. arguta, Brongt. 
 
 13. P. abbreviata, Brongt. 
 
 14. P. unita, Brongt. 
 
 15. P. concinna, Lesq. (XI, 5.) 
 ^ 16. P. penn'ceformis, Brongt. 
 
 17. P plumosa, Brongt. 
 
 18. P. Sillimanni, Brongt. 
 
 19. P. LoscM, Brongt. 
 
 20. P. decarrens, Lesq. (XI, 5a.) 
 
 21. P- incompleta. Lesq. (1, 12.'^ 
 
FINAL RBPOKT OF 1858. -A. 189 
 
 Besides these, are ferns of Tindetermined affinities. 
 CREMAPTORIS, V. P. Schimper. 
 
 1. C. Pennsylvanica, Lesq. (Ill, 5.) 
 SCOLOPENBRITES, Lesq. 
 
 1. S. grossedeniata, Lesq. (VIII, 7.) 
 
 Certain stems of trees are also uncertainly related to other 
 fossil remains ; of these are: — 
 
 /. CAULOPTERIS, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 1. C. punctata, Lesq. (XIII, 1.) 
 
 2. C. gigantea, Lesq. (XIII, 2.) 
 
 3. C. Cisiii, Brongt. 
 II. PSARONIUS,Corda. 
 
 Ill DIPLOSTEQIUM, Corda. 
 1. D. Rrownianum, Corda. 
 IV. STIGMARIA,Brongt. 
 
 1. St. ficoides, Brongt.* 
 
 2. St. anabathra, Corda, 
 
 3. St. costata, Lesq. (II, 3.) 
 
 4. St. umbonata, Lesq. 
 
 5. St. irregularis, Lesq. (II, 4.) 
 
 6. St. radicans, Lesq. (II, 2.) - 
 
 7. St. minuta, Lesq. (XVI, 1, 2.) 
 V. SIGILLARIA, Brongt. 
 
 1. Si. lepidodendrifolia, Brongt. 
 
 2. Si. sculpta, Lesq. (XIII, 5.) 
 
 3. Si. obliqua, Brongt 
 
 4. Si. fissa, Lesq. (XIII, 4.) 
 
 6. Si. dilatata, Lesq. (XIII, 5.) 
 
 6. St. Schimperi, Lesq. (XIV, 1.; 
 
 7. Si. stellata, Lesq. (XIV, 2.) 
 
 8. Si. Menardi, Lesq. 
 
 9. Si. Brardil, Brongt. 
 
 * Lesquereux here corrects an old error. Sir W. E. Logan's dlseorery that 
 this fossil characterizes the underclay of all coal beds has been accepted Ijy 
 all geologists. Lesquereux says that it is a mistake. He has found the fos- 
 Bil evenly distributed in the whole extent of the coal basin, but generally in 
 greater abundance in the low beds of coal. Sometimes an astonishing 
 abundance ot it prevails in the roof slates, as well as in the floor-clay; in 
 certain localities excluding all other forms of vegetation. 
 
190 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 10. Si. Befrandi, Brorigt. 
 
 11. Si. Serlii, Brongt. 
 
 12. Si. tessellaia, Brongt. 
 
 13. Si. elegans, Brongt. 
 
 14. Si. BroehantU, Brongt. 
 
 15. Si. alveolaria, Brongt. 
 
 16. Si. scutellata, Brongt. 
 
 17. Si. Sillimanni, Brongt. 
 
 18. Si. oculata, Brongt. 
 
 19. Si polita, Lesq. (XIII, 3.) 
 
 20. Si. dubia, Lesq. 
 
 21. Si. obovata, Lesq. (XIV, 4.) 
 
 22. Si. reniformis, Brongt. 
 
 23. Si. Imvigata, Brongt. 
 
 24. Si. elongata,Brongt. 
 
 25. Si. rugosa, Brongt. 
 
 26. Si. alternans, Land, and Hutt. 
 
 27. Si. eatenulata, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 28. Si. discoidea, Lesq. (XIV, 5.) 
 
 VI. SYRINaODENDRON, Stern, and BrongU 
 
 1. Sy. pachyderma, Brongt. 
 
 2. Sy. cyclostegium, Brongt. 
 
 VII. LEPIDODHNDRON, Sternb. 
 
 1. L. aculeatum, Sternb. 
 
 2. L. rugosum, Sternb. 
 8. L. crenatum, Sternb. 
 
 4. L. obovatum, Sternb. 
 
 5. L. modulatum, Lesq. (XV, L) 
 
 6. L. giganteum, Lesq. (XV, 1.) 
 
 7. L. vestitum, Lesq. (XVI, 3.) 
 
 8. L. conicum, Lesq. (XV, 3.) 
 
 9. L. oeulatum, Lesq. (XVI, 4.) 
 
 10. L. distans, Lesq. (XVI, 5.) 
 
 11. L. rimosum, Sternb. 
 
 12. L. obtusum, Lesq. (XVI, 6.) 
 
 13. L. carinatum, Lesq. (XV, 4.) 
 
 14. L. clypeatum, Lesq. (XV, 5 ; XVI, 7.) 
 
 15. L. sigillarioides, Lesq. (XV, G.) 
 
 16. Ij. MieleckU, Gopp. 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 191 
 
 VIII. ULOBENDRON, Ehodes. 
 
 1. U. majus, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 2. U. Lindleyanum, Sternb. 
 
 The fruits found in the coal meaaures are divided into the 
 following genera and species : — 
 /. LEPIDOPHYLLUM, Brongt. 
 
 1. L. acuminatum, Lesq. (XVII, 2.) 
 
 2. L. obtusum, Lesq. (XVII, 3.) 
 
 3. L. lanceolaium; Brongt. (XVII, 1.) 
 
 4. L. qffine, Lefsq. (XVII, 5.) 
 
 5. L. hastatum, Lesq. (XVII, 7.) 
 
 6. L. brevifolium, Lesq. (XVII, 6.) 
 
 7. L. pUcatiim, Lesq. (XVII, 4.( 
 
 8. L. lineari, Brongt. 
 
 II LEPID08TE0BU8, Brongt. 
 
 1. L. ornaius, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 2. L. variabilis, Lend, and Hutt. 
 
 3. L. pinaster, Lend, and Hutt. 
 
 III BRAG HYP HYLLUM, Brongt (?) 
 
 1. B. obtusum, Lesq. (XVII, 8.) 
 
 IV. CARDIOCARPON, Brongt. 
 
 1. C. Trevortoni, Lesq. 
 
 2. C. plicatum, Lesq. (XVII, 9.) 
 
 3. C. punctatum (?) 
 
 V. TRIG ONOCARP UM, Brongt. 
 
 1. T. Schulzianum, Gopp. 
 
 2. T. Hildreti, Lesq. 
 
 3. T. oblongum, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 VI RHABD0CARP08, Gbpp. and Berg. 
 
 1. R. amygdalceformis, Gbpp. and Berg. 
 
 2. R. venosus, Lesq. 
 
 VII CARP0LITHE8, Sternb. 
 
 1. C. fraxiniformis, Gopp. and Berg. 
 
 2. a bifidus, Lesq. (XVII, 10.) 
 
 3. C. disjunctus, Lesq. (XVII, 11.) 
 
 4. C. amminatus, Sternb. (?) 
 
 5. C. platimarginatus, Lesq. (XVII, 12.) 
 
 6. C. hicuspidatus, Sternb. 
 
 7. C. multistriatus Sternb. 
 
192 A. HiSTORy OP the 
 
 VIII. — C. umbonatus, Sternb. This is scarcely a fruit, and 
 looks more like a nodule of iron ore than like an organic relic. 
 The following also Lesquereux considered either wrong or 
 wongly placed: — 
 1. COBDAITES. 
 
 1. C. borassifoHa, Ung. 
 II. F0ACITJE8, Brongt. 
 in. CYPEBITES, Lind. and Hutt. 
 IV. PINNULABIA, Lind. and Hutt. 
 
 1. P. Calamitarum, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 9.) 
 
 2. P. pinnata, Lesq. (XVn, 18.) 
 
 3. P. fucoides, Lesq. (XVII, 19.) 
 
 4. P. horizontalis, Lesq. (XVII, 21.) 
 
 5. P. capillacea, Lind. and Hutt. (XVII, 22.) 
 
 6. P. confervoides, Lesq. (XVII, 20.) 
 
 At the close of this beautiful memoir Mr. Rogers remarks 
 (page 878) that it was the result of Mr. Lesquereux's researches 
 in 1852-1854 for the State of Pennsylvania,* and expresses 
 what has always seemed to other geologists a wholly unjustifi- 
 able displeasure that the distinguished palseontologist, growing 
 hopeless of seeing his descriptions of the rich new fiora which 
 he had discovered appear in print, should have secured his title 
 to his numerous generic and specific names, first by including 
 them in his report to the Kentucky Survey, and secondly by 
 permitting the Pottsville Scientific Association to publish an 
 enlarged and amended " Catalogue of Coal Plants of North 
 America," read by him before that association in February, 
 1858. 
 
 This catalogue is reproduced on pages 878-883, and gives in 
 the smallest space, and plainest form, all that was known of 
 Coal Botany in American Geology in 1858. 
 
 On the laws of Structure of the more disturbed zones of the 
 
 earth's crust (885-916.) 
 
 Classification of the several types of orographic structure visible 
 
 * "Under my direction, at tlie expense of the Commonwealth." It is evi- 
 dent that such work cannot be under the direction of another person, espe- 
 cially of one ignorant of the subject ; and the amount and manner of pay, i* 
 told, would excite considerable astonishment. 
 
FINAL REPORT OP 1858. A. 193 
 
 in the Apjoalachians and other undulated mountmn-cnains (917- 
 941.) 
 
 Ill these two memoirs illustrated bj' sixty -six -wood-cirts, 
 chiefly diagrams (figs. 7 C 0-766), Mr. Rogers resumed all the 
 physical laws of erosion, transportation, deposition, elevation 
 and plication of rock masses discovered by the geologists of the 
 survey, with certain theories of his own respecting the forces 
 and agencies which might be supposed to have folded them up 
 and swept them away. He lays down as a basis of reasoning 
 the fluidity of the interior of the planet, the comparative thin- 
 ness of the crust, the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes 
 in former times, great waves in the subjacent ocean of lava 
 crumpling and buttrassing up the crust, and great waves in the 
 surface ocean of water sweeping over the uplifted folds and 
 planing them down into low mountains and vallej's. These 
 theoretical speculations arc now almost forgotten, but the col- 
 lection and arrangement of the phj'sical facts of the survey by 
 which they were inspired are well displayed in these carefully 
 written memoirs : — 
 
 1. The parallelism of the anticlinal and synclinal folds (886) ; 
 
 2. The groups into which they are thrown upon a map (887) ; — 
 
 3. The forms of these waves ; the normal form, leaning for- 
 ward towards the north-west, as if the push came from the At- 
 lantic side (889) ; their axis planes ; their terminations (891) ; — 
 
 4. Gradations in flexure (892) ; — 5. Exceptional steepness to- 
 wards the south-east (894), with three wood-cuts of sections on 
 the Juniata, and a generalized section acrgss the mountain belt 
 (fig. 706) ; — 6. Fractures and faults, crosswise ; and whether our 
 gaps have been caused by such transverse dislocations (895), 
 with a wood-cut of the Delaware* "Water Gap (fig. 707) ; — 7. 
 Fractures lengthwise ; generally parallel to the axis planes ; 
 with six diagrams showing as many ways of faulting an anti- 
 clinal and synclinal curve (figs. 708-713) ; long faults ; and 
 Y-shaped faults ; — 8. Undulations and faults in Europe (899- 
 902) ; the resemblance of the Jura to the Appalachians ; the 
 fan-shaped structure of the Alps, with a cross- section (fig. 714) 
 looking very absurd since the Alpine studies of Favre, Studer, 
 
 *The instrumental survey of 1875 makes it almost certain that this gap was 
 not caused by a fracture. 
 13— A. 
 
194: A. ■ nisTOKY OF the 
 
 Hyrtl, &c. have been published ; — 9. Slaty cleavage and its cause 
 (902), with two diagrams showing its fan-structure on an anti- 
 clinal, and its alternate presence and absence in alternate 
 strata; — 10. Foliation (904) ; — 11. Prevailing theories of eleva- 
 tion (905), with a diagram (fig. 717) showing how Mr. Rogers 
 supposed the rock-waves to be stiffened into form by injected 
 lava; — 12. Views of geologists concerning cleavage and folia- 
 tion (907) and his objections to them; — 13. Mr. Eogers' own 
 theoretical views (911) with cuts of the New Hope and Gettys- 
 burg dykes (figs. 718-719) ; — 14. General resume, in 11 groups 
 of theses, stating the whole subject in the fewest possible words 
 (912-916.) 
 
 In the second treatise Mr. Rogers describes : — ■ 
 
 1. The erosion of horizontal strata, into plateaux, simple es- 
 carpments, and terraced plains (917), with six diagrams (figs. 
 720-725) ; — 2. The erosion of monoclinal strata, into ridged 
 plains, Avide valleys, crests, terraces, double crests, &c. (919), 
 with twelve diagrams (figs. 726-737) ; — 3. The erosion of anti- 
 clinal belts, into symmetrical mountains, canoe valleys, &c. (921) 
 with three diagrams (figs. 740-742) ; — 4. The erosion of syn- 
 clinal belts into keel-shaped mountains, &c. (924), with seven 
 diagrams (figs. 743-749) ; — 5. Features of local erosion ; coni- 
 cal bills ; buttes ; terraces ; transverse ravines ; gaps ; notches, 
 &c. (927-941), with sixteen diagrams (750-765), and a picture of 
 a face of rock near Wilkesbarre covered with diluvial scratches.* 
 
 Coal Fields of the United States and British Provinces (942- 
 968.) This is a sketok in four chapters of: 1. The Ifova Scotia 
 and New Brunswick fields ; — 2. The great Appalachian field 
 with a columnar diagram of the beds on the Cheat river in Vir- 
 ginia (fig. 767) ; — 3. The Illinois field ; with two columns of 
 measures at Henderson on the Ohio (figs. 768, 769) ; — 4. The 
 Iowa and Missouri field ; — V. The Missouri field. 
 
 Tables of analyses of all the best known Coals of North America 
 (969-976). 1. Seven from the British provinces. 2. Que of 
 Rhode Island ; 55 of Pennsylvania ; 51 of Virginia ; 58 of Ken- 
 tucky ; 1 of Indiana ; 86 of Southern Illinois ; 33 of Middle 
 Illinois ; 38 of Northern Illinois ; 1 of Missouri. 
 
 * Omitted from page 774, Vol. II. 
 
FINAL KEPORT OF 1858. A. 195 
 
 British Coalfields (977-987) with a table of the coal produce 
 in 1834-'5,=64,351,079 tons from 2,613 collieries. 
 
 Goal ; its composition, classification and varieties (988-997.) 
 Four kinds of coal described. 
 
 Conditions in the Composition and Structure of Coal affecting its 
 economic va^Me (997-1006). — On page 1000 is given a table of 
 relative density, composition, conditions of combustion, evap- 
 orating power, and consequent rank of 19 kinds of coal, foreign 
 and domestic, anthracite and bituminous, to illustrate the state- 
 ments made in this valuable paper, which deserves to be uni- 
 versally read and carefully' considered, not only by students of 
 geology and metallurgists, but by all who have dealings with 
 coal as heating, smelting or steam generating agent. 
 
 Methods of searching for, opening and mining Coal, pursued in 
 Pennsylvania (1007-1014.) 
 
 In this memoir the author describes first the outward indiccv- 
 tions of the presence of a coal bed (Lehmann's picture of the 
 coal benches on Locust mountain) ; then the mode of finding 
 it by trial shafts and the creep of its outcrop down hill (fig. 770), 
 with Lehmann's very fine picture of the overturned outcrop 
 near Newkirk ; boring and proving. 
 
 Then follow the methods of mining coal, with a figure (771) 
 of the mouth of a gangway in horizontal strata; Montelius' 
 open cut gangway mouth, Mill creek (fig. 772) ; Lehmann's pic- 
 ture of the gangway entrance to bed 14, at the Nesquehoning 
 mines, with side tracks and shutes ; plan of underground vrovk.- 
 ings on the Primrose bed, near Pottsvilje (fig. 773) ; tunnels ; 
 slopes. 
 
 Then a historical sketch of the introduction of coal as a do- 
 mestic fuel, with Lehmann's picture of an anthracite breaker 
 and slope, head-house &c. at Tuscarora. 
 
 American and European Coalfields forms a separate memoir 
 (1015-1017) in which the areas of the coal fields of the world 
 are tabulated; the total being 19'>,939 square miles for the 
 United States alone. The comparative table on page 1017 is 
 now superseded by more recent estimates. In a table of availa- 
 ble coal quantities, Pennsylvania is given 316,400,000,000 ; and 
 all North America 4,000,000,000,000 tons ; which has been in- 
 creased by the Rocky Mountain surveys of late years. 
 
196 A. HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Comparative quantities of fuel in Coal lands and forest lands 
 (1018) ; — Dynamic value of coal (1018) ; — amount of coal mined 
 (1018); — coal trade of Pennsylvania (1018-1820); — from short 
 separate chapters ; illustrated with a double page copper-plate 
 map of the coal fields of Pennsylvania by Lesley. 
 
 Statistics of the Iron trade (1020-1022) and a short account ot 
 the Nickel mine in Lancaster county. 
 
 A few additional illustrations are given on pp. 1023, 1024 ; 
 fig. 774, the snapped anticlinal of Nittany valley near Jackson- 
 ville, in which Mr. Rogers thinks the primal slates appear. 
 This is doubtful, as will be seen by the measured sections of 
 1873, 1874 and 1876 when published. — Fig. 775, cross-section 
 through the Ki&hacoquillas and Penn's valleys. — Fig. 776, cross- 
 section in Bedford county. — Fig. 777, cross-section at Hunting- 
 don. — and Fig. 778, cross-section, Whelpley's perspective cross- 
 section from Tamaqua northward, showing the parallelism of 
 the conglomerate ridges, &c. 
 
 A Glossary of terms (1025-1027.) 
 
 An Index (1028-1045) which, although copious, is both in- 
 adequate and imperfect. As the value of such a book must, 
 for the majority of its readers, depend on the excellence of its 
 index, it becomes an important question how to construct such 
 an index ; for while it seems needful that every geographical, 
 mineral and personal name to be mentioned on any page should 
 be found in the index, it is possible so to overload the index as 
 to make it an intolerable labor to refer to such names. It is safe 
 to say, however, that an index of only 18 pages is utterly in- 
 sufiicient for a book of 1,600 pages crowded throughout with 
 names, to every one of which some reader will wish particu- 
 larly to refer. In publishing the reports of the Second Geo- 
 logical Survey the greatest attention is bestowed upon the in- 
 dexes. Dr. Genth's Rep.ort of 1874 has 180 pages of text and 
 26 pages of index. Mr. Wrigley's 107 of text and 14 of index. 
 Mr. Carll's 108 of text and 19 of index. Mr. Prime's 66 of 
 text and 7 of index. Mr. M'Creath's 93 of text and 10 of in- 
 dex, — total 554 pages of text and 76 pages of index, or one 
 page of index for every 7J pages of text. The Final Report 
 of 1858 has but one page of index for 90 pages of text. Index- 
 making is a special art, and for the purposes of science should 
 
FINAL REPORT OF 1858. A. 197 
 
 he cultivated to the highest pitcli. The labor of preparing a 
 good index is great ; but patience and perseverance will be re- 
 warded by the gratitude of a thousand obliged readers. Dis- 
 coverers lose the credit of their discoveries b}' burying them in 
 the text of their report, without references in the index, and 
 therefore out of sight of other investigators, who naturally turn 
 to the index before they read a memoir, or in the press of their 
 own occupations depend upon the indexes of books which they 
 endeavor to collate. Personal quarrels would often be nipped 
 in the bud if the candid opponent could remember whereabout 
 in his antagonists' writings the obnoxious statements were to 
 be found, that he might re-consider them carefully before he 
 opposed them openly ; but the index-malcer has omitted them 
 for want of patience or for want of system. Authors reverse 
 their own statements, oppose their own conclusions, and forget 
 or distort their own discoveries, after the lapse of years, be- 
 cause they have insufficiently indexed their own writings. And 
 the public refuse to read many printed books because, as it is 
 justly said, nobody knows how or where to find what one needs 
 in them, for want of a perfect index. 
 
 The best way to make an index is to take some thousands of 
 visiting cards, and write on them separately each geographical 
 or other name which is encountered by the eye as it descends 
 each page, with the folio (page) on which it occurs. When all 
 are written the cards can be shuffled into an alphabetical order, 
 and the index be written out for the printer. If besides a gen- 
 eral alphabetical index, separate indexes of geographical names, 
 personal names, mineral species, fossils, &c. &c. be required, the 
 same cards may be shufiled again and again. Subjects of im- 
 portance can be written out on some of the cards. If the same 
 word occur on fifty difterent cards, but with different folios 
 (page numbers), these folios can be all transferred to one card, 
 thus diminishing the size of the pack to be shufiled before 
 writing out the index for the printer. The only safe rule is to 
 omit nothing, and not spare cards. 
 
 The Final Report of 1858 should have an index of at least 
 50 three-column pages to make it of easy reference. "With all 
 its defects, it is a book of rare beauty and value. 
 
lyS A. HISTORY OJ? OTHER STATE SURVEYS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A sketch of the History of other State Geological Surveys in the 
 United States, and of their relations to that of Pennsylvania. 
 
 A proper treatment of this subject would furnish for the stu- 
 dent of the Science of Geology a useful text-hook, and a guide 
 book for the practical geologist. The literature of State Sur- 
 veys has become so copious and cumbrous that earnest demands 
 are made for a summary of facts. To supply this demand 
 would task to their utmost the best talents in the closet and in 
 the field. No such attempt is made here. But it is proper 
 that he who surveys the geology of Pennsj-lvania should learn 
 the beginnings, progress and general results of surveys in other 
 States, and have some index to their jiublications ; for he is not 
 to presume that the whole circle of this science has been 
 rounded out within the limits of even so great a State as this; 
 nor that the types of stratification and structure revealed in it 
 suffice to explain entirely the geology of even neighboring 
 regions. The scale of our formations is large, but not com- 
 plete ; we must look beyond the limits of the State for its com- 
 pletion. Other States hold the keys to mors than one secret of 
 our State Geology. The reports of other geologists must sup- 
 plement our own. This chapter is intended merely to direct 
 attention to the number and value of such reports, and to indi- 
 cate their authors, the dates at which they were written, and 
 the circumstances under which they were published. Many of 
 these printed records are old and eftete ; their authoi's dead ; 
 their statements doubtful or disproved. But a far greater num- 
 ber of them are reservoirs of facts well observed and carefully 
 described, by able and zealous men, whose fame will last. It 
 is not possible to do full justice to their genius for investiga- 
 tion and to their diligent and long continued labors, for lack 
 of information of a personal kind ; but it is not only possible 
 but necessary to paint in some rude fashion, or draw in outline, 
 the story of their doings, which is in fact the history of the 
 growth and progress of Geology in America. There may be 
 
NORTH CAKOLINA. A. 199 
 
 found in this an incentive for otliers who remember better, or 
 have nearer means of information, to write a better treatise, in 
 which the exaggerations, errors and omissions of this sketch 
 sliall be corrected. 
 
 A chronological order having been adopted in preceding 
 chapters, the geological surveys of the United States follow 
 each other here according to their dates of organization ; and, to 
 II void an evident inconvenience, the work done in each State is 
 bwught down to 1875, whether the State has had but one, or 
 several surveys. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 North Carolina seems to have been the first or the Qnited 
 States to institute a Scientific Survey of its territory, in 1823. 
 This honorable position was assigned to South Carolina by 
 Mr. Vanuxem in his report on the geologj' of that State in 
 1826; but his successor, Mr. Tuomey, corrected the mistake 
 when he published his report of 1848. 
 
 The first suggestion of a State Geological Survey seems to 
 have been made by Judge Murphy as early as 1819. 
 
 In 1821 Prof. Olmsted wrote a letter on the subject, which 
 was considered at a session of the Legislature, but no action 
 was taken. 
 
 In 1823 a proposition of Prof Olmsted to spend his vacations 
 in North Carolina, was accepted by the Legislature, and an an- 
 nual appropriation of §250, for four years, was made, and was 
 afterwards continued two years longer. Dr. Mitchell, of Chapel 
 Hill College, N". C, taking Prof. Olmsted's place as State Geolo- 
 gist, when the latter removed to Yale College. The reports of 
 these six yeai-s explorations amounted, in all, to only 125 pages, 
 S°, and were published at intervals up to 1827. They related 
 onlj'to the eastern and middle portions of the State, and copies 
 of them became very scarce at an early day. 
 
 In 1838 Governor Dudley urged a renewal of surveys ; Gov- 
 ernor Morehead did the same in 1844 ; and Governor Graham 
 in 1846. 
 
200 A. HISTORY OF other state surveys. 
 
 In 1851-' 2, Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, one of tlio ISTew York 
 State Geologists was appointed State Geologist of ISTorth Caro- 
 lina, with an annual appropriation of $5,000 ; and he continued 
 in that office until his death in 1863. His son Dr. E. Emmons, 
 Jr., became, in course of time, his assistant. Five reports were 
 issued. 
 
 In 1852 Dr. Emmons published his first annual report on the 
 Agriculture of the Lower Counties, and on the Coal Basin of 
 Eockingham and Chatham counties. 
 
 In 1856, he published a Geological Report of the Midland 
 counties ; 351 pages, 8° ; with 8 plates of fossils ; sections 
 across the State, and a colored map of the Deep River Coal 
 field. In this very valuable volume, relating chiefly to the 
 mines of the middle portion of the State, will be found his ap- 
 plication to the southern field of his peculiar views of a " Ta- 
 conic System," underlying the Palreozoic System, in eastern 
 New York ; views so vehemently opposed, so long discussed, 
 and still unsettled. 
 
 In 1858, he published a Report on the Agriculture of the 
 Eastern Counties, with descriptions of the fossils of the marl 
 beds ; 314 pages, 8° ; with numerous wood-cuts in the text. 
 
 In 1860, he reported further on the Agriculture of North 
 Carolina, and again on the Swamp Lands of the State. Dr. 
 Curtis also published a report on the Woody Plants of the 
 State. Dr. Curtis' reports on the Mammals and Reptiles of 
 North Carolina remain unpublished ; as also Mr. C. D. Smith's 
 report on the Mountain District ; and much geological matter 
 relating to the whole State ; as well as Dr. Emmons' proposed 
 geological map of the State. During the civil war Dr. Em- 
 mons engaged in the business of manufacturing arms and am- 
 munition for the Confederacy. 
 
 In 1864, after the death of Dr. Emmons, Prof. W. C. Kerr 
 was appointed Stat6 Geologist ; published his first annual re- 
 port in 1865, 56 pages 8° ; and has continued to publish simi- 
 lar annual reports to the present date. To that of 1871 Prof. 
 Kerr added a treatise on the Mineralogj'' of North Carolina by 
 Dr. F. A. Genth, which formed a valuable appendix to the 
 volume, and has been separately printed. 
 
SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Substance of a report to his Excellency JOHN F. HA U TRANFT, 
 Governor of Pennsylvania, President of the Board of Commis- 
 sioners of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, dated 
 Philadelphia December 31, 1874: 
 
 The Act of Legislature ordering the Survey, was passed May 
 14th, 1874. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners met for organization at Harris- 
 burg, June 5th, 1874, at which meeting a Director of the Sur- 
 vey was chosen, and a general knowledge of the required work 
 was obtained. 
 
 At the second meeting of the Board at Harrisburg, June 26th, 
 1874, the rules and regulations of the Board were adopted, sala- 
 ries were fixed, appointments of assistants confirmed, the plan 
 of the Director of the Survey approved, and appropriations 
 made to meet the expenses of the ensuing quarter. 
 
 The plan of survey proposed and adopted after careful discus- 
 sion and modification to suit the limited means placed by the 
 Act of Legislature at the service of the Board, involved : 1. 
 The occupation of five specially important and hitherto little 
 studied districts of the State, requiring immediate attention. 
 2. The postponement for the present of work in the best known 
 anthracite and bituminous coal regions. 3. The postponement 
 for the present of systematic si udy of fossil forms, on a large 
 scale. 4. The establishment of a special laboratory at Harris- 
 burg for the analysis of irons, steels, iron ores and other blast- 
 furnace stock. 5. A special report, chiefly economical, on pe- 
 troleum. 6. A special re}X)rt on the mineralogy of the State, 
 as at present known. 7. The publication of the season's work 
 early in the winter and spring, in a series of separate, portable 
 ancl cheap volumes, so as to make them practically useful to the 
 largest number of persons, each volume containing the illustra- 
 tions of its own text, in the shape of maps and wood-cuts, and 
 
 [i A.J 
 
ii A. EAELT NOTICES OF 
 
 printed from stereotype plates for future use ; and finally, 8. 
 The exhibition of type specimens of the collections of the sur- 
 vey in a cabinet, in the rooms of the Board, at Harrisburg. 
 
 From among about one hundred and twenty applicants for 
 service in the survey the following gentlemen were chosen to 
 take charge of the five districts in which only the Board felt 
 authorized to commence work at first, in view of the fact, that 
 after the purchase of all the instruments required and the equip- 
 ments of the Iron and Steel Laboratory and Cabinet Rooms 
 at Harrisburg, there would remain of the first annual appro- 
 priation of $35,000, say $30,000 for the actual business of the 
 survey : 
 
 Mr. Andrew S. McCreath, of Baldwin, assistant in charge of 
 the Iron and Steel Laboratory, at Harrisburg. 
 
 Prof. Frederick Prime, Jr., of Easton, assistant in charge of 
 the Lehigh district. 
 
 Prof. Persifer Frazer, Jr., of Philadelphia, assistant in charge 
 of the York and Adams district. 
 
 Mr. John H. Dewees, of Shamoken, assistant in charge of 
 the Juniata district, ftir the special study of the Fossil Ore 
 belts. 
 
 Mr. Flanklin Piatt, of Philadelphia, assistant in charge of 
 the Clearfield and Jefferson bituminous coal district. 
 
 Mr. John F. Carll, of Pleasantville, assistant in charge of 
 the Oil Districts of "Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 Dr. F. A. Genth, of the University of Pennsylvania, Chem 
 ist and Mineralogist. 
 
 Mr. Henry E. "Wrigley, of Titusville, to prepare a special 
 economic report on the petroleum of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Mr. Edward B. Harden, of Philadelphia, Draughtsman. 
 
 These gentlemen commenced work at various dates in the 
 months of July and August, and have been actively employed 
 to the present time. The exceptionally genial and open autumn 
 weather of 1874 has permitted field-work to be prosecuted into 
 December, and Mr. Dewees is still in the field. 
 
 The field parties were made up by the appointment of the 
 following named gentlemen, all of them experienced Assistant 
 Civil Engineers, trained on the various railroad lines of our 
 State to the use of instruments, and good daughtsmen accus- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. Ill 
 
 tomed to reduce their field-notes to the form of the required 
 maps, profiles, cross-sections, vertical sections, &c., and of their 
 skill and diligence I cannot speak in terms too high : 
 
 Mr Ellis Clark, of Ambler, Pa., assistant to Prof. Prime; 
 Lehigh district. 
 
 Mr. Ambrose E. Lehmann, of Lebanon, Pa., assistant to Prof. 
 B'razer ; York and Adams district. 
 
 Mr. Charles E. Billin, of Philadelphia, assistant to Mr. 
 Dewees ; Juniata district. 
 
 Mr. Richard H. Sanders, of Philadelphia, assistant to Mr. 
 Piatt ; Clearfield and Jefierson district. 
 
 Mr. F. A. Hatch, of Johnstov/n, Pa., assistant to Mr. Carll ; 
 Venango and Armstrong district. 
 
 Mr. Frederick "Watts Foreman, of Harrisburg, was appointed 
 to act as the clerk of Mr. Pearse, the Secretary of the Board of 
 Commissioners, to have charge of the rooms of the Board, in 
 Harrisburg, and to assist Mr. McCreath in the Laboratory un- 
 til the issue of the Reports of Progress should require his at- 
 tention. 
 
 To render the various parties efficient, the following gentle- 
 men were appointed additional aids, or served as volunteers, 
 throughout the season : 
 
 Mr. Joseph R. Shimer, of Lafayette College, Easton, with 
 Prof. Prime. 
 
 Mr. Charles H. Allen, of Harrisburg, aid to Prof. Frazer, and 
 afterwards in the Museum at Harrisburg. 
 
 Mr. J. "W". Edwards, volunteer aid to Prof. Frazer, and after- 
 wards in the Lehigh district. 
 
 Mr. C. A. Ashburner, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid 
 to Mr. Dewees. 
 
 Mr. G. H. Christian, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania, 
 aid to Mr. Dewees. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Hale, of "Williams College, Mass., volunteer aid 
 to Mr. Dewees. 
 
 Mr. H. J. Fagen, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid to 
 Mr. Piatt. 
 
 Mr. C. A. Young, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid to 
 Mr. Piatt. 
 
 Mr. Henry M. Chance, of the University of Pennsylvania, 
 
IV A. E.\rXT NOTICES OP 
 
 volunteer assistant for making special surveys of the Delaware, 
 Lehigh and Schuylkill "Water Gaps. 
 
 The equipment of each field party consisted of the following 
 instruments, manufactured by Heller & Brightly of Philadel- 
 phia, viz : one transit with vertical circle and cross hairs, for 
 stadia measurement of distances, with telemeter rod ; one sur- 
 veyors' compass, with ball and socket on light tripod ; one 
 odometer, with ten foot wheel, copper tyre and Jacob staff, to 
 which the compass was transferable; two hand (Locke) levels; 
 two clinometers ; steel chain, table instruments, note books, &c. 
 
 As reliable aneroid barometers of sufficient delicacy could 
 neither be manufactured in this country nor imported from Eu- 
 rope by the ordinary channels of trade, and as the use of such 
 instruments is indispensable for doing the best modern geologi- 
 cal work, I visited myself, by permission of the Board, the fac- 
 tories of instruments of precision in Europe, sailing from Phila- 
 delphia the ] 3th of July, and returning to Philadelphia the 
 2d of September ; having organized the field parties and seen 
 them at work before my departure. 
 
 During the twenty -four days which I spent in Europe, I visi- 
 ted instrument makers in Rotterdam, Brussels, iN'eufchatel, Zu- 
 rich, Paris and London. My conviction is that no aneroid 
 barometer of the ordinary well-known patterns to be found in 
 the shops ean be considered a useful instrument in the special 
 work of those field geologists •who insist upon obtaining the 
 best practical results. I have used most of these forms, and have 
 found them obnoxious to the following objections : 1. Their 
 scale is so minute that the eyes are strained to read less than 
 40 or 50 foot variations of height; 2. Their action is irregular, 
 owing to imperfect workmanship in the capsules and gearing, 
 and especially to a back-lash in the joints ; 3. Their asserted 
 " compensation" for varying temperature is a delusion. One of 
 the most carefully constructed London aneroids of high price, 
 and marked " compensated," was recently sent to me for accep- 
 tance as a perfect instrument ; but on repeated trials with a 
 temperature-range between 35° and 95° F., it alternately lost 
 and gained 125 feet of height-reading. 
 
 Twenty years ago I devised a form of aneroid to overcome 
 these difficulties, and was fortunate enough to find in the dis- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. V 
 
 tinguished balance-maker of Europe, Mr,, Becker, one who 
 could make it for me. To his consummate mechanical genius 
 and perfect workmanship I owe an instrument which, after 
 years of practical experience with it on many surveys, I can 
 pronounce nearly perfect, as a geologist's aneroid. It has twelve 
 vacuum-boxes, mounted in two piles of six each, the piles sur- 
 rounded by a compensation yoke, and the index driven by a T 
 rachet. The dial plate gives a circuit of 14 inches. The in- 
 dex travels 7 inches for one of the mercurial column, and can 
 be adjusted to travel 7 inches for ] ,000 feet of elevation within 
 any section of the mercurial range. A set screw, placed be- 
 neath, carries back the index ; so that the 2,000 foot circuit 
 may be repeated eight times, if mountains are to be ascended 
 not exceeding a height of 16,000 feet. My object was, how- 
 ever, to obtain a large visible motion of the index in a country 
 like Pennsylvania, where the range from sea-level to the highest 
 mountain summits does not exceed 3,5 ?0 feet. Heights of 2 J 
 feet can be easily read at a glance. The compensation for ther- 
 mometer is very good, and the instrument is very light. Ordi- 
 nary aneroid barometers may satisfy explorers and travelers, 
 who wish to record considerable variations of altitude by ob- 
 servations at considerable intervals of time. But an accurate 
 field-geologist must read his aneroid ai every station, every feto 
 minutes, and must distinguish variations of altitude amounting 
 to only a few feet. The accuracy of his geological deductions 
 will always depend on the truthfulness of his topographical de- 
 lineations, and this again will depend on the number and relia- 
 bility of his aneroid observations. 
 
 The best makers in Europe told me candidly that they wei'e 
 unable to reproduce Mr. Becker's aneroid. Elliott and Bios., 
 Charing Cross, London, took drawings and measurements of 
 its interior, and promised to send me & facsimile for trial. Mr. 
 Becker had originally made five of these instruments, two of 
 which I own. A third was sent to the late Chief Engineer of 
 the Grand Duchy of Baden, Mr. Eisenlohr, who reported en- 
 thusiastically upon its behavior at the Swiss Congress in Ge- 
 neva in 1858 ( ? ). A fourth was possessed by Mr. Thomas 
 Blackwell, Managing Director of the Grand Trunk Railroad, 
 until his death. The fifth was carried by a German traveler 
 
vi A. EARLY NOTICES OF 
 
 across South America, and has also disappeared. I have a hope 
 that Mr. Becker may consent to manufacture more of these in- 
 struments for the use of the survey ; but he has thus far re- 
 fused, because, owing to the dearth of skilled workmen not 
 fully employed in other equally difficult tasks, he will be 
 obliged to undergo the labor himself, at an age when he desires 
 leasure to realize his conceptions of a still more accurate ane- 
 roid than the one he made for me, but of a form not suited, in 
 my opinion, to ordinary field work. These personal details 
 may seem out of place in a report like this. But I feel sure 
 that my fellow geologists, and all accomplished and ambitious 
 civil engineers will be gratified to learn the history of an at- 
 tempt to place at the disposal of their craft a piece of appara- 
 tus for which there has been persistent, growing and impatient 
 inquiry. 
 
 Feeling that some good form of aneroid must be obtained for 
 the survey, I ordered a dozen from M. Goldschmidt of Zurich, 
 after testing specimens in his shop. This instrument is coming 
 into use among civil engineers. It is a cylinder about 4 inches 
 high, on the top surface of which are described several concen- 
 tric scales, traversed by an index, moved by a button. By turn- 
 ing this button (and the index with it) the observer, looking 
 through an attached microscope into the interior of the box, 
 brings a needle point to a datum line. An observed number 
 on a small scale (visible in the field of the microscope) informs 
 him, then, by which one of the several scales on the lid of the 
 box he is to read (with the large index attached to the button) 
 the height of his station of observation above tide, in metres. Ad- 
 justments to half a metre may be made through the micro- 
 scope. 
 
 For want of aneroid barometers the work of the survey has 
 been greatly retarded. I feel sure that if two reliable aneroids 
 could have been given to each field party, at least twice as much 
 ground would have been gone over, and twice as large a report 
 would now be in process of publication. A few of the shop 
 aneroids were tried, and soon laid aside as useless, by the gen- 
 tlemen in charge of the difi'erent districts, and were only used 
 in exceptional parts of their work. 
 
 The method of survey pursued by all the field parties was 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. vil 
 
 essentially the same ; although the widely different characters 
 of the districts occupied caused great differences in the areas 
 gone over, and in the results obtained ; as will appear by the 
 published reports, and need not be specified here. 
 
 The method of survey adopted was as simple as a long ex- 
 perience of field work dictated to be possible. 
 
 Ease lines in each district were run and leveled along selec- 
 ted main roads and the topography carefully studied ; plotting 
 and contouring being done in the note-book in the field. From 
 these note-book plottings the maps have been made, both by re- 
 plottings and by transfer. 
 
 The note-books of the survey are all alike, one page being 
 cross-barred for plotting ; blue lines an inch apart ; red lines J 
 inch apart. The top of the page is always taken as north. 
 The last station before a line runs off one page is carefully lo- 
 cated in the same relative position within some square inch on 
 the next page. Consequently transfer of plotted lines from 
 note-book to sheet plotting paper is easy and continuous. The 
 opposite plain-ruled page holds the notes and sketches. Each 
 book is numbered, and has an index of lines run written on its 
 front cover, and a sketch-map of connected lines on its back 
 cover. All stations in one district are numbered continuously 
 from to 10,000, to prevent any two stations from having the 
 same number. Stations numbered in red ; level numbers and 
 contour- lines in blue; houses, fences, &c. in black. A perma- 
 nent original record of all the work done during the survey will 
 thus be preserved in a shape convenient for reference. Econ- 
 omy in note-books is disastrous to any large survey. 
 
 A universal scale was adopted for the whole survey, of 400 
 feet to the inch in the original plottings, and 1,600 feet to the 
 inch in the reductions. Local maps and sections will be pub- 
 lished thus reduced to a scale of 1,600. District maps will be 
 still further reduced by the camera to 3,2C0 or some still smaller 
 scale. The necessity for a rigid adherence to a common scale 
 will be appreciated by the geologists of the survey when they 
 come to compare together their own numerous sections and 
 those of each other, along the same belts of rock. It will make 
 the publications more useful to experts and the public, for 
 whose benefit the survey is intended. 
 
Viii A. EARLY HISTORY OP 
 
 "While the aids carried on the instrumental work, the assistant 
 in charge of the district studied its geology, made reconnois- 
 sances in advance, visited all the mines and important expasures, 
 and determined the direction in vrhich the field work of his 
 party should move forward, and the amount of such work 
 which was necessary or possible. Lines of outcrop were traced 
 and specimens collected and forwarded to headquarters for 
 anatysis. Transfers of the plottings to sheets were made in 
 bad weather, or in the evenings, and forwarded to Philadelphia 
 for reduction in the office. Railway surveys were obtained by 
 Mr. Harden, copied on the survey scale, and sent to the parties 
 in the field for their use. He also provided all materials re- 
 quired by the field parties, and kept records and accounts ot 
 what was done and expended. To his indefatigable diligence, 
 attention and ability, is largely due the smooth working of so 
 complicated a machine as a State survey necessarily is. 
 
 Citizens of the Commonwealth have exhibited much interest 
 in the operations of the parties in the field, and furnished in- 
 formation of great value. Unpublished reports and records ot 
 mines, borings, minerals and fossils have been freely tendered 
 for publication. A great deal of the private geological work 
 of recent years is at our command, and will eventually be used. 
 
 Such materials for knowledge are sure to be evoked by a State 
 survey ; and an important part of the business of the gentle- 
 men in charge of districts has been to secure, examine and im- 
 prove these materials for their reports. 
 
 But the main intention of the Second Geological Survey of 
 Pennsylvania goes much beyond the collection of scattered 
 items of unpublished information. The records of the First 
 Geological Survey afford a thousand times more real informa- 
 tion about the geology of the State than can be thus gathered 
 up. The accuracy of most of the statements made by the 
 geologists whose reports are condensed and consolidated in the 
 final report of Prof. H. D. Rogers, published in 1858, is a mat- 
 ter of frequent remark and admiration with the assistants now 
 in the field. Yet the first survey was essentially a reconnois- 
 sance. Those engaged in it thirty years ago worked chiefly 
 without instuments of precision and under the greatest incon- 
 venience. Their views were broad, their isolated observations 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. ix 
 
 numerous and exact, but their districts never were accurately 
 surveyed by them, nor could be. The second survey is intended 
 to supply this lack ; to take up their work where they left off; 
 to reduce their general statements to precision ; to measure, 
 where they could only estimate ; to define, what they could 
 only indicate ; to demonstrate what they could see to be true, 
 but which they could not prove and show in all its truth. Geo- 
 logical field work now, and geological field work forty years 
 ago, differ as widely as the present methods of surveying an 
 anthracite coal property differ from- one of our old-fashioned 
 land warrant surveys. And 1 trust that the reports of 1874, 
 now in press, will make both the manner and the necessity of 
 this difference so manifest to everybody, that none will be dis- 
 posed to cavil at the quantity of work accomplished, or the 
 scrupulous attention which has been expended upon its details. 
 The following reports are either already in the printer's hands, 
 or nearly ready for publication : 
 
 A. My Report to the Board of Commissioners on the work 
 of 1874, followed by a history of Geological Exploration in 
 Pennsylvania from the beginning. 
 
 The object of this statement is to show what a Geological 
 State Survey really means ; what is its public necessity ; the 
 nature of the problems is solves ; how it works ; what are the 
 difficulties it encounters ; and its methods of overcoming them ; 
 its necessarily slow and laborious progress ; the imperfection of 
 its results ; the immense accumulation of facts ; its power to 
 stimulate the intellect of the State ; to sweep away costly su- 
 perstitions respecting the mineral resources of the Common- 
 wealth ; and to increase the phj^sical powers of society ; what 
 liscoveries have been made since 1835, and what questions of 
 geological importance remain unanswered. 
 
 This statement might be made in a more didactic form. But 
 when sketched as a history, it gains in power over the imagi- 
 nation more than it loses in systematic arrangement. In the 
 course of forty years every point of geological science has been 
 m turn, and many times, touched by the geologists of Pennsyl- 
 vania ; and citizens of the Commonwealth ought to have ex- 
 hibited to them the manly struggle of these past forty years— 
 a contest between our youthful, growing, strengthening and 
 
X A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 maturing science and the powers of darkness of the Under- 
 world, the stubborn instinct for concealment in Nature, and the 
 prejudices and falsifications of half-educated men. If this strife 
 be well painted, the future consequences of a victory of light 
 over darkness, of science over ignorance, in relation to the 
 Geology of our State, will be made clear to every one. There 
 will be no longer need to plead or apologize for a State Geologi- 
 cal Survey. 
 
 B. A Report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, by Dr. F. 
 A. Genth. 
 
 Dr. Genth gives the character of every kind of mineral 
 known to be found in Pennsylvania, with references to their 
 geographical situations, and to the public and private museums 
 in which specimens of them may be studied. This little volume 
 of about 220 pages will be a valuable text-book for the Public 
 Schools, as well as a. guide for the assistants on the survey. 
 
 C. A Report of Progress in York and Adams Counties, by 
 Prof. Persifor Frazer, Jr. 
 
 A map of the district, by Mr. Lehmann, and profile sections 
 illustrate this report. The map shows all the lines run and 
 leveled to connect the ore banks, which are seen to lie in belts. 
 
 D. A Report of Progress in Lehigh County, by Prof. Fred- 
 erick Prime, Jr. 
 
 A map of the district between Alburtis and Allentown, elabo- 
 rately contoured by Mr. Clarke, exhibits the arrangement of 
 about a hundred iron ore mines in three belts. 
 
 E. A Report of Progress in the Siluro-Cambrian Limestone 
 Valleys of Middle Pennsylvania, by Mr. Franklin Piatt. 
 
 F. A Report of Progress in the Juniata District, by Mr. 
 John H. Dewees. 
 
 A map of the southern flank of Jack's Mountain from Lo- 
 gan Gap to Jack's Narrows, elaborately contoured by Mr. Billin, 
 and — 
 
 Five profile sections drawn by Mr. Ashburner, illustrate this 
 Report, which not only relates the outcrops and mine openings 
 of the fossil ore of the mountain, and the brown hematite bed 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. XI 
 
 of McVeytown, but miimtely defines the Silurian and Devo- 
 nian formations from the Trenton up to the Hamilton. The 
 map of the mountain is intended to show how all the moun- 
 tain region of Pennsylvania might be and ought to be surveyed, 
 if the Legislature should provide the necessary funds for such 
 a work. 
 
 G. No work has been done in the anthracite region. 
 
 H. A Report of Progress in the Bituminous Coal Region of 
 Clearfield and Jefterson counties, by Mr. Franklin Piatt.. 
 
 Maps of the Osceola region ; of the Snowshoe basin ; of the 
 Clearfield basin ; and of the Reynoldsville basin, in contours ; 
 with local vertical sections, about a hundred in number, of in- 
 dividual coal beds, and columns of coal measures ; all drawn by 
 Mr. Sanders ; a map of the Red Bank cannel coal field ; and a 
 map of the bituminous coal adjoining ; by Mr. Blandy, pre- 
 sented to the survey by Mr. John Wilson, will illustrate this 
 report. 
 
 A report of a recent survey of the Johnstown coal field in 
 Cambria county ; and a map of the same by Mr. John Pulton, 
 of Saxton, Blair county, will be published, by permission. 
 
 A section of the sub-carboniferous rocks of the Allegheny 
 Mountain, underlying Mr. Piatt's district, by Messrs. Young 
 and Fagen, will accompany Mr. Piatt s report. 
 
 I. A Report of Progress in the Venango Oil Region, by Mr. 
 John F. Car 11, of Plea^antville. 
 
 A map of lines run and well-mouths leveled between Oil 
 (Jreek and the Allegheny River; with sections in two direc- 
 tions across the district, showing the number and slope of the 
 oil-bearing and mountain-sand rocks ; a vertical column of 
 rocks below the coal measures, showing the horizons of fossils, 
 &c., and a general map of the country, by Mr. Carll and Mr. 
 Hatch, will illustrate this report. 
 
 A Report of his observations around "Warren has been kindly 
 volunteered by Mr. F. A. Randall, of Wai-ren. 
 
 J. A Special Report on Petroleum, by Mr. Henry E. "Wrig- 
 ley, of Titusville, Venango county. 
 
 A small map of the Oil Regions of the Middle States and 
 
Xii A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 Canada ; a large map of the "West Pennsylvania and "West Vir- 
 ginia Oil Regions, with lines of geographical limitation be- 
 tween gas wells, light-oil wells, and heavy-oil wells ; a profile 
 section from Lake Erie to Butler, showing the general slope, 
 under ground ; a chart, showing the construction of derricks, 
 seed-bags, bull-wheels, boring-tools, &c. ; and a chart, showing 
 the I'elative life of wells and the number of live wells at the 
 beginning of each year, illustrate this report, which sketches, 
 in successive chapters, the history, boring, piping and refining 
 of petroleum, with special accounts of the principal wells. 
 
 A map and profile section from Clarion to Butler, carefully 
 made by Mr. Lucas, C. E., and kindly presented to the Survey 
 by Mr. Jos. D. Potts, of Philadelphia, will be published in the 
 same volume ; and a reduction of Mr. Lucas' section to the 
 same vertical and horizontal scale will show how exceedingly 
 gentle is the south-westward slope of the whole oil country 
 undergi'ound. 
 
 There was no good reason to expect from the survey, in the 
 first four months of its progress, any discoveries of importance. 
 Discoveries were the natural and parennial fruits of the First 
 Survey, because nothing was really known about tne geology 
 of the State, and little about that of the United States. Every 
 step made then was made on virgin ground ; every observation 
 had the charm of novelty ; every mountain and valley was a 
 separate riddle to be solved ; every formation was strange to 
 the eye, its contents unpredicted, its strata unclassified, their 
 outcrops untraced. The region was as much a field for dis- 
 covery as are the territories of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and 
 Nevada novi. 
 
 All this is of the past. The light of thirty years has rested 
 on the State, revealing to geologists every feature of its struc- 
 ture, seeming to leave no place for important discoveries. The 
 main business of the present survey is therefore critical exami- 
 nation, analysis, measurement, description and publication ; the 
 precise determination of qualities and quantities ; the finer es- 
 timation of place, position, posture, mineral nature, metallurgi- 
 cal fitness, and mining facility ; the verification of what has 
 been the subject of the comparatively rough statements of past 
 reports, and their authoritative re-statement in a more detailed 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. xiil 
 
 way, more intelligibly, and with all the corrections and addi- 
 tions which the business transactions of many individuals and 
 incorporated companies enable us to make. 
 
 Questions however of the highest importance have, in fact, 
 never yet been answered ; in spite of the successful efforts of 
 the first survey, and in spite of all the mining and exploring 
 that has been done in the last thirty years. Every year actually 
 reveals something unexpected. Discoveries are always possi- 
 ble ; and some have been made in the four months of field 
 operations just terminated. 
 
 Professor Prime seems to have found an important key to 
 the brown hematite deposits of the limestone valleys, by con- 
 necting them (instrumentally) with certain hydro-mica slate 
 beds containing potash, (damourite ?) which have hitherto been 
 over-looked. Faults discovered near Dillsburg, in York county, 
 may explain the structure of the whole New Red part of south- 
 eastern Pennsylvania ; and this discovery affects the mining 
 value of a large range of iron ore deposits. 
 
 The discovery of a great fault at Port Clinton, on the Schuyl- 
 kill, by Mr. Chance, throws light on some perplexing portions 
 of our geology. 
 
 The discovery of the extension of the outcrops of two small 
 coal beds (already known to exist in one of the Allegheny 
 Mountain ravines, near Altoona) makes an important addition 
 to our systematic geology ; for these beds lie several hundred 
 feet below the Conglomerate, and may possibly be of workable 
 thickness in neighborhoods where they are much wanted. 
 
 The identification of one of the " Mountain Sandrocks" of 
 Venango county, by Mr. Carll, with the " Conglomerate" of 
 Clean and Chattauqua Lake, puts an entirely new face on the 
 geology of our northern and north-western counties, and on 
 the published geologies of New York and Ohio ; and will have 
 an important influence on questions of underground measure- 
 ment in the oil regions. 
 
 Such discoveries are sufficient to encourage the hope that the 
 present survey of the State will not merely be successful in its 
 proper work of gathering up and publishing a mass of useful 
 discoveries made during the last twenty or thirty years, and 
 never yet described and explained to the citizens of the Com- 
 
XIV A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 monwealth, whose common property they ought to be, out may 
 make new and equally important discoveries of its own. This 
 can hardly fail to be the case, if the same care in observing all 
 facts, and the same precise method of bringing them by careful 
 instrumental measurements into their proper relations to each 
 other, continue to govern the operations of the survey, which 
 the reports, published this winter, will show to have been the 
 rule in the first field season just closed. 
 
 It is a source of regret that several districts of the State have 
 had to be entirely neglected for want of an appropriation equal 
 to the original estimate of the working expenses of so large a 
 survey. Two more working field parties might then have been 
 employed. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. XV 
 
 SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Reports of the Progress of the Work in 1875, made to the Governor 
 and Board of Commissioners August ith and November iih, cor- 
 rected to December Slst, 1875. 
 
 Experience has proved that al] surveys require equal amounts 
 of field work and office work. In railway surveying a heavy 
 force is usually kept at work in the office, plotting, mapping, 
 sectioning, calculating, and draughting working plans, because 
 the field work is pushed on through the winter months. But 
 geological surveying is necessarily stopped by the first general 
 heavy fall of snow, and cannot re-commence until the weather 
 becomes settled between the first and fifteenth of May. The 
 whole corps is therefore kept afoot seven months, and the re- 
 maining five months is employed in preparing reports, and il- 
 lustrating these with drawings. 
 
 The winter of 1874-'5 was spent in this manner by the geolo- 
 gists of the survey and their aids. It was impossible to di- 
 minish the corps and get through the work. The discussion 
 of geological note-hooks is peculiarly tedious, and requires much 
 study of already published works. Geological maps cover large 
 areas ; and geological sections, unless accurately constructed 
 and carefully drawn, are injurious rather than useful. The age 
 of fancy pictures in geology has passed away, and the demands 
 of the business world require geological statements to be as nearly 
 as possible mathematically correct. 
 
 Sufficient office work was accomplished to permit the corps 
 to take the field in May. The work of the laboratory, and 
 the arrangement of the collections, went on uninterruptedly 
 throughout the year. 
 
 By order of the Board of Commissioners two new districts 
 were occupied ; one in the south-west corner of the State, and 
 one on the New York State line. 
 
 With the exception of two of the volunteer aids, the same par- 
 ties, as in 1874, took the field in 1875, each in its own district. 
 
XVI A. EAKLY HISTORY OP 
 
 Prof. Prime, Mr. Clark and Mr. Kent, continued the close 
 survey of the Lehigh and Northampton limestone ore-helt ; 
 Prof. Frazer, Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Edwards, that of the York 
 and Adams county ore-helts and the South Mountains ; Mr. 
 Dewees, that of the fossil ore-belts. 
 
 Mr. Billen and Mr. Ashburner made a special survey of the 
 Aughwick valley and East Broad Top. 
 
 Mr. W. Gr. P-latt was appointed aid to Mr. Franklin Piatt, 
 whose survey extended from Clearfield county southward to 
 the State Line. 
 
 Mr. Sanders continued his mapping of Canoe valley and 
 Morrison's cove. Mr. YoTing studied the coke manufacture, 
 and surveyed the whole line of the Youghiogheny river. 
 
 Mr. Carll, with Mr. Hatch and Mr. Hale, continued the sur 
 vey of outcrop and underlay of the Oil and Mountain Sands. 
 
 Mr. Wrigley's connection with the survey, having been for 
 a special purpose, ceased on the handing in of his report. 
 
 Prof. J. J. Stevenson and his aid, Mr. J. C. "White, was ap- 
 pointed to occupy a new district : Washington and Greene. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Sherwood, assisted by his brother, was appointed 
 to survey another new district : Tioga and Bradford. 
 
 Mr. Chance made special studies of the "Water Caps, and 
 lastly a special survey of the Beaver River waters. 
 
 Mr. M'Creath,and his efficient temporary assistant, Mr. Ford, 
 have continued to analyze at Harrisburg the iron ores, coals, 
 fire-clays and limestones sent in from the dilferent districts. 
 
 Mr. C. E. Hall not only received and arranged, studied and 
 named all fossils collected, but made excursions alone, or with 
 volunteer students, to study in place characteristic species. 
 
 Dr. Genth has determined mineral species, and made, with 
 some volunteer aid from students, numerous analyses of new 
 minerals. He is chiefly occupied with special studies of the 
 trap-rocks, and of the mineral spring waters of the State. 
 
 Dr. T. Sterry Hunt is preparing a special report on the geo- 
 logical connection of the trap-dykes, iron ores and azoic. 
 
 Dr. S. P. Sadtler has commenced an analytical study of the 
 gas used in the western counties for iron making. 
 
 Mr. E. B. Harden has prepared a large number of drawings 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. xvil 
 
 of all kinds for publication in the Reports of Progress, and 
 been unremitting in bis attention to requisitions for materials 
 and facilities made upon headquarters. 
 
 Mr. Charles Allen has consulted the railway superintendents 
 and surveyors of the State, and collected from all quarters the 
 materials for his report on the Levels of places in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 I have myself done little beyond trying to make the survey 
 efficient, and directing it along channels of practical utility to 
 the Commonwealth, without sacrificing its scientific value. All 
 classes of the community have shown a ready willingness to 
 aid its progress, and manj' citizens of the State have exhibited 
 a zealous interest in its success, by freely placing at its disposal 
 their accumulations of facts, reports of private surveys, analy- 
 ses, experiments and specimens. All these will be published in 
 due time in the volumes of the Reports of Progress to which 
 they belong. Some of them will be mentioned in the follow- 
 ing list of reports already published, or to be published next 
 year. 
 
 The field work of the year 1875 has been of three kinds, 
 which explains a noticeable feature of the small skeleton maps 
 of 1874, 1875, 1876, herewith appended, viz : the smallness of 
 some of the districts surveyed, and the largeness of others. 
 
 The iron ore limestone areas of the State require and have 
 received, and will continue to receive, the most minute and ac- 
 curate surveying. Contour-line maps have been slowly and 
 patiently made of these areas, for it is useless to attempt to 
 hurry over work of this kind. The Oil Districts demand and 
 receive the same kind of attention. 
 
 The bituminous coal areas, on the other hand, although in 
 the end they ought to be surveyed minutely and mapped in 
 contours, get for the present, and at first, only a preliminary 
 survey of every known coal opening, with local sections. The 
 geology is simple in structure ; the rocks lie flat ; and there are 
 few faults. Two counties can, therefore, be thus surveyed by 
 one party in one season. In 1874, Clearfield and Jefferson were 
 thus surveyed. Cambria, Somerset, Washington, Greene, and 
 parts of other counties in 1875. In 187i>, Fayette, Westmore- 
 land, Indiana, Armstrong, and other counties west of the AUe- 
 B.— A. 
 
^V'iii A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 gheny river will receive the same attention. Tioga and Brad- 
 ford have been studied in like manner, although not in the coal 
 region proper. Their coal fields will be reported upon sepa^ 
 rately. 
 
 The size of the tinted portions of the little maps showing 
 the rate of progress of the survey is, therefore, no visible indi- 
 cation of the relative amount of 'work done by each party. 
 Quite as much zeal and skill were lavished upon the small black 
 spots as upon the large ones ; but in quite a different way, owing 
 to the different kinds of geological difficulties to be overcome, 
 and the different results to be attained. And the same remark 
 may be made of the reports. 
 
 The third kind of M^ork consists of statistical studies con- 
 nected with the geology of special districts, like that of the 
 Coke region. A special service was necessary for tabulating all 
 known Levels in the State, to which the surveying parties might 
 refer. Special studies of mineral springs, gas welts, &c., cannot 
 be shown upon a map, and cannot be brought into direct com- 
 parison with regard to the general field work. 
 
 It is a matter of constant surprise and anxiety how great a 
 variety of demands can legitimately be made upon a geological 
 survey, even when strictly confining itself to its proper busi- 
 ness, and doing nothing for the sake of display. It is under- 
 stood that, since the State has a Bureau of Statistics, the geo- 
 logical survey is not called upon to divert any of its energies 
 into that channel. It is also understood that neither Botany 
 nor Zoology nor Agriculture nor Metallurgy nor Manufactures 
 form natural and necessary parts of a geological survey, but 
 only come into view incidentally, when fossil plants or animals 
 are fofmd in the rocks, or there is a question of the applica- 
 bility of minerals as fertilizers, fuels, fluxes, ores, or stuffs for 
 chemicals. Yet a geologist must keep his eyes open in all these 
 directions, and suppress no fact because it is not technically ^eo-. 
 logical, which bears upon these the most important business in- 
 terests of the State. 
 
 The connection between Civil Engineering and Geology is so 
 intimate that the engineer and geologist should mutually assist 
 each other. Many geological questions arise in railway loca- 
 tion and construction. On the other hand geological conclu- 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOflY. A. x'lS 
 
 sions often depend on distances and levels, and on the shape ot 
 the surface, more than on the show of the rocks. All lines run 
 by civil engineers come very useful to the geological survey, and 
 are thankfully acknowledged and credited. All the document? 
 preserved in the railway offices of the State have been freely 
 placed at its disposal, and pains taken to give information ne- 
 cessary to make them useful to the Survey. Companies have 
 also not only readily oft'ered their new materials for publica- 
 tion, but taken the trouble to jDrepare and present to the survey 
 copies of railway survey maps, mineral land maps, plans of 
 mines, diagrams of furnaces, &c., made in their own offices. 
 
 The Goldschmidt aneroids arrived from Zurich shortly before 
 the commencement of field work, and were thoroughly tried. 
 It cannot be said that their behavior in the peculiar service to 
 which they were put proved satisfactory. They require the 
 greatest care in handling, not for fear of breaking them, for 
 they will bear rough usage, but to avoid large errors of read- 
 ing. They are hard upon the eyes ; awkward to carry and hold, 
 and not smooth in their movement, on account of the cheap 
 style in which they are put together. Their range is too great 
 and their scale too small. It is easy to misread an elevation 20 
 feet too high or too low. One or two of the assistants, how- 
 ever, report satisfactorily of the accu acy of those they used ; 
 and doubtless there is a great difl'erence in the manufacture. 
 
 Elliott & Co., of London, forwarded their copy of the Becker 
 aneroid in May, and a thorough trial was given to it. The 
 report was favorable. It is a good field-instrument for geo- 
 logical purposes. But it weighs twice as much as Becker's. 
 Becker & Sons' establishment at Rotterdam, has been only re- 
 cently broken up and transferred to l^ew York, and the ane- 
 roids promised in the spring have not yet been manufactured. 
 Enquiries for them have been received from other State Surveys 
 and many private observers are impatiently looking forward to 
 possessing them. It is of great importance to the ease and ra- 
 pidity of the field work of 1876 that they should be made, for 
 we are still dependent, in a great measure, upon our vertical 
 circle running for covering intermediate areas with contour 
 line work, and many of our geological indications are exhibited 
 or suggested by the features of the surface, and these are often- 
 
XX A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 times only to be expressed hj accurate contour line representa- 
 tions. 
 
 The publication of the work of 1874, was commenced in the 
 winter, and has been continued without intermission through 
 the spring, summer and fall of 1875. Each assistant prepared 
 his own report previous to taking the field in May, but the il- 
 lustrative maps and drawings were slowly finished, photographed 
 and printed at Philadelphia, while the manuscript text was 
 composed and printed in the State Printing House at Harris- 
 burg. 
 
 The Board has adopted the policy of— 1. publishing results 
 as fast as obtained ; 2. publishing district reports separately ; 
 3. publishing its own illustrations with each report ; and 4. ste- 
 reotyping for future use. 
 
 There can be no question about the propriety of this policy. 
 But its advantages are not without a drawback. It imposes 
 on the State Geologist unceasing labor as an editor, every day 
 of the entire year. Every sentence of every report must be re- 
 revised ; the proper illustrations provided in advance ; proofs 
 and revises passed between author, editor and printer, artist 
 and photo-lithographer ; and much of the finishing and all of 
 the final correcting done by the editor. In no other way can 
 tlie work be carried on satisfactorily. Delays of various kinds 
 are inevitable ; and are sometimes unexpected and vexatious. 
 The winter being spent in preparation of reports and illustra- 
 tions, the printing must be done in the seven field-working 
 months, while the assistants are scattered through the State. 
 Although extra artist- work was employed, the need of accuracy 
 in all delineations of surface and section work, and the need 
 of legibility in the fac-simile reductions of the large originals 
 by the photo-lithographic process, made the work slow. The 
 weather is also an important element of uncertainty and delay 
 in this process, to which, with all its drawbacks, modern 
 science, as well as the practical arts, is so deeply indebted. 
 
 In all the illustrations of the reports of the Survey beauty 
 of representation is kept secondary to precision of measurement 
 and distinctness of subject. No attempt is made to show off 
 the work by means of factitious or useless ornament. Whatever 
 impedes the student from readily comprehending, or quickly 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. Xxi 
 
 referring to what he wishes to see, is sedulously avoided. Let- 
 tering and entitling is done in a plain and simple style ; and 
 the artistic harmony of the map lines is frequently but design- 
 edly marred for the sake of putting prominently before the eye 
 those master lines which indicate the topography and geology 
 of a district. As the courses of streams are always determined 
 by the underground structure, special attention has been di- 
 rected to making the principal drainage of a district evident at 
 a glance. No road lines go upon a map beyond what are in- 
 dispensable for indicating the localities which have been sur- 
 veyed. Scales are multiplied and lengthened for easy use. 
 jS'ames are not allowed to accumulate, in order that the face of 
 the map may be open and legible. Numbers are used instead 
 of names, because they occupy less room ; names and numbers 
 being relegated to the margin of the map for reference. Small 
 streams are left unnamed, because all the maps of the survey 
 are intended to be used in the neighborhood ; and the identity 
 of brooks must be recognized by those who are familiar with 
 the mines, furnaces, rock cliffs, &c., existing on or near them. 
 
 In like manner great pains have been taken with all vertical 
 sections to keep them severely geological and practical. Let- 
 ters are employed for the names of the formations ; keys to the 
 meaning of such letters being arranged in the margin. All 
 sections are drawn strictly to nature, on the same scale vertical 
 and horizontal ; so measurements and calculations can safely 
 be made by civil and mining engineers. Mere illustrative or 
 diagrammatic sections are rejected, as being pretty but not 
 valuable, except for primary education ; and it is probable that 
 our method of instruction is still defective at precisely this 
 point. The schools would find their advantage in getting rid 
 of the thousands of fancy pictures in science still in use, by 
 substituting for them the real copies of nature which the re- 
 cent work of men of science has furnished. It is intended that 
 all the publications of the Pennsylvania survey shall be as real 
 and as little fanciful as possible : show facts as they look ; gen- 
 eralize to the least possible extent ; and in a word, imitate the 
 " working plans" of builders and artisans. Of course in this 
 policy there is no arrogance ; for it is simply the law of the 
 scientific age we live in. While these publications must, of 
 
Xxii A. EAKLY HISTOEY OF 
 
 course, fall far short of a perfect obedience to it, yet in recog- 
 nizing the law, and in endeavoring to be docile and obedient to 
 it, whatever errors are committed may be set to the account of 
 human infirmities, and not charged as reckless carelessness, or 
 willful subserviency to traditional custom. 
 
 It is in the policy of the survey to make its reports of progress 
 simple descriptions of work done, records of facts observed, 
 and explanations of the local geology of each district within 
 the limits of what is known by geologists ; avoiding the discus- 
 sion of abstruse questions, which do not concern the inhabi- 
 tants, and are still subjects of speculation among geologists. If 
 occasional references be made to those open questions, they are 
 made under protest, and only for the purpose of awakening at- 
 tention and stimulating enquiry. It is of the nature of reports 
 of progress that they should sometimes err ; but also that they 
 should publish their own recantations. The world cannot wait 
 for perfected knowledge of any subject of investigation. Pro- 
 gress presupposes improvement in abstract ideas, in the obser- 
 vation of facts, in the collection of statistics, and in the suggest- 
 ing of explanations of the phenomena of nature. The careful 
 and conscientious reports of trained observers must always 
 possess a permanent value, in spite of the misstatements which 
 lack of opportunity, defects of apparatus, or temporary bias of 
 mind may allow to slip into them. And such observers will 
 be first to acknowledge and earnest to redress such mistakes ; 
 while the blunders thus inadvertently committed will serve to 
 evoke the zeal and make public the knowledge of others. 
 
 Such considerations have induced the Board of Commis- 
 sioners of the Second Geological survey of Pennsylvania to issue 
 annual reports of progress as fast as they can safely be prepared ; 
 and the Legislature having ordered that all the publications of 
 the Survey shall be as cheap and handy as possible, and shall 
 be sold at cost to all citizens, the following octavo volumes have 
 been stereotyped and printed, and may be ordered at the rooms 
 of the Board, ]S"o. 223 Market street, Harrisburg, either stitched 
 or bound. Future reports will continue the paging ; so that the 
 series in any one district may hereafter be bound together as 
 a separate volume. 
 
 A. First and Second Annual Reports of the operations of the 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. XXUl 
 
 Survey in 1874 and 1875, preceded hj a history of Geological 
 Exploration in Pennsylvania and other States, with chapters 
 on the Geological N'omenclatures in use ; problems still to be 
 solved, &c. By J. P. Lesley. 
 
 The first three chapters which are now published as forming a 
 complete whole by themselves, were partly printed in December, 
 1874, and January 1875. But the pressing necessity for issu- 
 ing the first reports of the Assistant Geologists in the winter, 
 stopped the printing, which could not be resumed until No- 
 vember 1875. The same reason for postponing the publication 
 of the remaining chapters now holds good. These will be 
 issued in 1876. The text of the fourth chapter terminating at 
 the bottom of page 200, will re-commence at the top of page 
 201. The index cannot be prepared until the whole is printed. 
 
 B. Preliminary report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania. 
 By F. A. Genth. With an appendix on the Hj'drocarbon Com- 
 pounds. By Samuel P. Sadtler. — -180 pages, with an index of 
 26 pages, and a map of the State (uncolored) for reference to 
 
 ' the counties. 
 
 C. Report of Progress (in 1874) in York and Adams counties. 
 By'Persifer Frazer, Jr. — 100 pages 8°, with two maps, ten sec- 
 tions, plates of microscopic rock slicings, &c.* 
 
 D. Report of Progress (in 1874) on the Brown Hematite ore 
 ranges of Lehigh county, with a description of the mines lying 
 between Emaus, Alburtis and Fogelsville. By Frederick Prime, 
 Jr. — 66 pages, and 8 pages of index, with a contour line map, 
 and eight cuts, f 
 
 II. Report of Progress (in 1874) in the Bituminous Coal 
 Fields of Clearfield, Jefferson, and parts of Centre and Arm- 
 strong counties. By Franklin Piatt. — 275 pages 8°, and 18 
 pages of index ; eight maps, two sections and 139 cuts in the 
 text. 
 
 I. Report of Progress (^in 1874) in the Venango County Oil 
 District. By John F. Carll. To which are appended : Obser- 
 vations on the Geology around "Warren. By F. A. Randall. 
 
 *Eeady for distribution in February, 1876. 
 
 t The printing of these outs on the same press and on the same paper with 
 tbn text, was a mistake. They are spoilt in the process. For future editions, 
 impressions will be taken from the plates (which are excellent) on dry cal- 
 endered paper and bound in. 
 
Xxiv A. BAKLY HISTORY OF 
 
 Notes on the Comparative Geology of IS'orth-ea'jtern Oliio, 
 North -western Pennsylvania, and Western New York. By J. 
 P. Lesley. — ] 08 pages 8°, and 20 pages of index ; two maps, a 
 long section, and seven cuts in the text. 
 
 J. Special Report on the Petroleum of Pennsylvania, its pro- 
 duction, transportation, manufacture and statistics.* By Henry 
 E. Wrigley. — To which are added : Notes on a map and pro- 
 file of a line of levels through the Butler, Armstrong and Clarion 
 County Oil Fields ; with a geological section from well-dril- 
 lings. By I). Jones Lucas, Resident Engineer. — Notes on a 
 map and profile of a line of levels along Slippery Rock Creek, 
 with Leo Lesquereux's views of the connection hetween petro- 
 leum and fossil plants. By J. P. Lesley. — 107 pages 8°, and 
 16 pages of index ; five maps and sections, and a plate of the 
 parts of an oil-rig and machinery. 
 
 M. Report of Progress (in 1874, 1875) in the Laboratory at 
 Harrisburg. By Andrew S. McCreath. — 93 pages 8°, and 12 
 pages of index. 
 
 The following volumes are in preparation and will be issued 
 in all of 1876. " 
 
 N. Report on Lists of 2,500 Levels collected in 1875. By 
 Charles Allen. This will probably be published early in March, 
 1876, being intended as a first instalment of a complete record 
 of all obtainable levels in and around Pennsylvania, for the use 
 of the field parties of the Survey, for the use of Civil Engineers, 
 and for the use of County Surveyors 
 
 B (Continued.) Dr. Genth's report of 1875. 
 
 C (Continued.) Prof Frazer's report of 1875. 
 
 D (Continued.) Prof. Prime's report of 1875. 
 
 E. Report of Progress (in 1875) in Sinking and Canoe Val- 
 leys, and Morrison's Cove ; Brown Hematite ores of the Lower 
 Silurian valleys. By Mr. Piatt. With maps by Mr. Sanders. 
 
 F. Report of Progress (in 1874, 1875) in the Juniata District. 
 By John H. Dewees. This book has been delayed by the ne- 
 cessity for its copious illustration. It will give a description of 
 all the fossil ore out-crops along Jack's, Shade, Blue Ridge 
 Black Log and Tuscarora mountains ; with maps of Ferguson 
 Valley, Logan Gap, Orbisonia and the East Broad Top Rail- 
 
 * Erratum, p. 62, linfi 4, for 2473.9 read 3617.8 
 
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY. A. XXV 
 
 road line; and elaborate cross sections, showing the Silurian 
 and Devonian measures. 
 
 (j. Report of Progress (in 1875) in Tioga and Bradford coun- 
 ties. By Andrew JSherwood. With a colored out-crop map. 
 
 H (Continued.) Mr. Piatt's report of 1875, on Cambria and 
 Somerset counties. 
 
 I (Continued.) .Mr. Carll's report of 1875, on the Geology of 
 the Oil Regions. 
 
 K. RejKnt of Progress (in 1875) in Greene and Washington 
 counties and parts of Beaver and Allegheny. By J. J. Ste- 
 venson. With cross sections, and a map showing the depths at 
 which lie the principal coal beds. 
 
 O. Mr. Hall's report of the collections of fossils and rocks in 
 1874, 1875. 
 
 P. Mr. Lesquereux's report on the fossil Coal Plants of Penn- 
 sylvania and the United States ; illustrated by 60 plates ; and 
 intended to serve as a hand-hook for the Survey. 
 
 The three small maps of Pennsylvania accompanying this 
 volume, are intended to exhibit roughly to the eye the amount 
 of ground occupied by the field parties of the survey, in 1874 : 
 2d, in 1874 and 1875 together ; 3d, the amount of territory 
 likely to be surveyed, in the various "ways described in the pre- 
 ceding pages, in the three years 1874, 1875 and 1876. They 
 show therefore the rate at which the survey advances under its 
 present organization and with its present means. 
 
 It is evident from an inspection of these maps that nearly 
 one-half of the surface of the State will reniaiji to be examined 
 in 1877, 1878 and 1879, if the Legislature see fit to order the 
 continuance of the survey : — The important and diflicult forest 
 lands of the West Branch and Pine Creek ; — the extremely 
 complicated and difficult South-east section ; — the whole An- 
 thracite Region ; — remaining jiortionsof the Oil Region ;— and 
 numerous isolated small districts scattered about the State. 
 
 On the economical scale of $50,000 a year such a great work 
 cannot be made to move on faster, nor woula it be desirable to 
 increase the scale of the expenditure ; foi'good work ought not 
 to be ovcr-linrried. Its excellence depends upon attention to 
 detail.^, patient investigation of difficulties, the re-consideration 
 of doubtful conclusions, and continual help from all quarters, 
 
XXVI A. EARLY HISTORY OF 
 
 which can be nought tor only when needed, find never comes 
 instantly at the call. The i)resent organization of the survey 
 is perfectly manageable, and its trnits not nut nf [irojiortion to 
 the jiublishing ability ot the State I'rinting UtHce. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that an exact topographical survey 
 of the entire State nmst lie very niuuii more tedious and ex- 
 [lensive. But taking the county maps, as we have them, and 
 without contour-lines, we will be in a condition to issue some 
 geologically colored county majis every year so long as the survey 
 shall be permitted to go on, and be ready to publish such maps 
 of them all, or a complete Geological Atlas of the^State, a,t the 
 c'oseof 18TS 
 
Topographical Map of Pennsylvania. 
 
 A. 
 
TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, by J.PETER LESLEY. phiiadei.phia 
 
IE'!— «■• 
 
 
 ^ ^. 
 
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