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SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA:
1874-'5-'6.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF
GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS
IN
PENNSYLVANIA AND OTHER STATES
J. P. LESLEY,
WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING
THE
ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST TO
THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS.
HARRISBURG:
PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
FOR THE SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
1876.




Entered, for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the year 1876, according
to acts of Congress,
By JOHN B. PEARSE,
Secretary of the Board of C(ommissioners of ieological Survey,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
WASHINGTON, D. c.
LANE S. HART,
State Printer and Binder,




BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS.
ffis Excellency, JOHIN F. HARTRANFT, Governor,
and ex-offieso President of the Board, Harrisburg.
ARIO PARDEE, -                        Hazleton.
WILLIAM A. INGHAM,                    Philadelphia.
HIENRY S. ECKERT, -.   -   -   - Reading.
[JENRY M\['CORMICK,  -    -   -   - Harrisburg.
JAMES MACFARLANE,-         -   -      Towanda.
JoUR B. PEARSE,  -   -         -   - Philadelhia.
ROBERT V. WILSON, M. D.,       -   - Clearfield.
HON. DANIEL J. MORRELL,             - Johnstown,
HIENRY W. OLIVER, -   -   -   -   - PittsburoSAMUEL Q. BROWN, -   -   -   -   - Pleasantville.
SECRETARY OF THE BOARD
JOHN B. PEARSE,                       Philadelphia
STATE GEOLCGIST.
PETER LESLEY, -   -   -   -   -   - Philadelphia.








PREFACE 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 pressure 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 published during the current summer and autumn; making
twenty-nine volumes in all.
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 all
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 correction 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.
PEILADELPHIA, 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 communication.
I have recently read, with a great deal of interest, your
"Historical Sketch of Geological Explorations in Pennsylvania, &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 Pennsylvania, from 1836 to 1842, and have, no doubt, fairly assigned
credit to the several assistants engaged upon it. Your intimate 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 Revision of the first survey ends with the close of its first year,
1851.
It is here, early summer of 1852, that my personal relations to the Survey began, and they were continued without 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 surveys, and in the revised work I was at home in every detail, 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, or "the skill" of McKinley,
but which were the production of my own hand and "crowquill" 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 attendant, Patrick Daly, whose judgment, almost amounting
to intuition 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, excepting 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 highways and railways, and cross-sections more or less numerous, which myself and party spent much time in running.
A portion of the Wyoming basin was actually triangulated
from a base measured on the "fiats" opposite XWilkes 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.                LETTER.
re-written by Prof. Rogers, and illustrated by sections executed 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 resumd 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 "Newkirk colliery," 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 revision in the field, and editorial labor in the cabinet," cannot 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, presumably, 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 apgparentibus el non
existentibus eadem est ratio.
I wish to express my satisfaction with the opinion expressed 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
habTe, 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 the "struggle for existence," I have long been withdrawn 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 support, while your scientific intelligence is free for a more general 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. ROGERS, Jr.








CIIAPTER I.
EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF THE GEOLOGY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Although the neighborhood of Philadelphia was explored by
amateur mineralogists as early as 1820, and those large and beautiful private cabinets of minerals began then to be collected
which afford rich materials for Dr. Genth's Report on the Mineralogy of Pennsylvania, to be published, this winter, as part of
the first fruits of the Second Geological 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 New Haven, Boston, Troyv and New York; but the
discipline was home-made in the halls of the American Plhilosophical Society and of the Academy 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 DeBeauinont, Sedgwick and Murchison reached
Philadelphia, it found the companions and disciples of Bartram and Wilson, McClure and Say, DaSerra, George Ord, and
Isaac Lea, ready to receive it and able t-) advance its progress
on American ground.
The early geological memoirs of this country, published in
the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, in the Transactions of the American Academy at Boston, and subsequently in the Transactions of the Connecticut
Academy of Arts and Sciences at IHartford, 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 Hfaven, 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. Soime 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
(3)




4 A.                 EARLY NOTICES OF
the wear and waste of time. Some one wiil hereafter collate
and claJ3ify them for the use of future students. A few of
t'aenm may be here mentioned, referring to the publications in
which thely are found by the initial letters.
At the Boston meetingf of the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists Dr. Dana read the title of what was, perhaps, the earliest geological report ever made on American
Geology, entitled, Contributions to the Mineralogical Klnowledge of the Eastern part of North America and its mountain
ranges, by Dr. I. D. Schdpf (3eytraige, &c.).
1780, Belknap on vitriol and sulphur, in New Hampshire.
(Trans. Amer. Acad.)
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, Bslknap on the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
(Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc.)
1785, Williams on earthquakes. (T. A. A.)
178', Baylies on Say Head, Martha's Vineyard. (T. A. A.)
1786, Thos. Hutchins on A Cascade near the Ohiopile Falls of
the Youghiogeny, twelve miles from  Uniontown, Fayette
County, Pennsylvania. (T. A. P. S. Vol. II, O. S. p. 50.)
This is perhaps t he first recorded geological sketch of any part
of Pennsylvania. It occupies but a single page, and was read
before the Society January 281h, 1786. It calls the coal measure
rock which makes the falls "a species of marble, beautifully
chequered with veins running in different directions, presenting, on a close inspection, a faint resemblance to a variety of
mathematical figures of different angles and magnitudes. A
thin flat stone from eight to ten inches thick, about twenty
feet wide, forms the upper part of the amphitheatre over
which the streanm precipitates. The whole front of the rock is
made up from top to bottom of a regular succession, principally
of limestone," &c.
1789, IIitchcock 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 New York. (T. A. A.)
1799, Thomas P. Smith, of Philadelphia, called attention to the
" crystalized basaltes " of the Conewago Hills in York County,
Pennsylvania, as deserving study. (T. A. Pi. S., Vol. IV, O. S.,
p. 415.) 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 address at Boston, in 1842; an address replete with facts respecting the early growth of science in this country. But the o, ject
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 1807 and 1808. It crowned its author
with the reputation of being the " William Smith of America,"
and the father of American Geology. I-e 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
spring of 1805 and June of 1806, and by numerous excursions
in England, Belgium and Scotland. I-e heard Jameson lecture




6 A.                 EARLY NOTICES OF
fresh from the feet of Werner; and Sir Jamcs HIall, the succe-?scr
and expositor of Hlutton.  Edinburgh was then an arena of excited conflict between the rival schools of fire and -water, and
Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crag and Castle Rock stood before
Silliman's eyes, representatives of East and West Rocks at
Neow 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 sphynx'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.
IHe 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 others, the
specific generic characters of Calamites, Sigillaria and Lepidodendra, all of them however under the common name of stone])l7ant ( Phytolithus, Matrtin: P. Verrucosts, Daiwsoni, sdlcatus, tranversus, parmatues, cancellatues, tesselatus and notatus). The botanical 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 noduiles 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 Philadelplhia, by Mr. Steinhauer. It is not only
s curious but an important fact that the author never alludes




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY..A. 7
to American coal measures, in a memoir read before the American 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 Philadelphia.  The Society originated on the 25th of January,
1812, when Mr. Thomas Say and a few other gentlemen resolved to meet once a week for receiving and imparting information.  The appearance of Wilson's " American Ornithology" 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. Nuttall, 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 Winm. Maclure only lent additional force to their efforts for the advancement of precise
science. The Academy was incorporated in 1817, and its Journal then began to be published. In 1825 a new and " spacious"
building at the corner of Twelfth and George streets was purchased 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 edifice 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, IIentz, and Goodman; Botany, by Nuttall, De
Schweinitz, Elliott, and S. W. Conrad; Geology and Mineralogy,
by Maclure, Nuttall, Vanuxem, 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 progress of all the sciences from year to year to the present day.




8 A.                EARLY NOTICES OF
1818. Jefferson on the Fossil Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, 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, N. S., p.
156 if.) Mr. Smith, in 1799, had pronounced in favor of the wet
deposit of the trap. Judge Gibson holds an even balance between 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, across the North and Cove
Mountains, the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers and Berry's
Mountain, cutting through all the formations from I to XI, representing at least 30,000 feet of rock; its width being sometimes
not more than four feet. Nl~or 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. 236,) 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. Chestnut 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 Atheneum, delivered before audiences, 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
Hulmboldt's, Werner's, and Macculloch'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 author's mnild 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 citations 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 mav read the first article in  Silliman's Journal for 1832, vol. 21, in which the editor makes his own statement 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." Inspired, 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 happened 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. Ile 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 floodforce blinds 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, canion, gap and precipice, gravel bed 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 ail minds looking at things through
this old lens.
On page 20 of Prof. Silliman's excellent paper we have a case
in point; proving too the consummate genius of old Hutton,
and the hardness of the roads which 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 valleys of England; and roundly asserts that " the excavation of
valleys can be ascribed to no other cause than a great flood."
In 1.828 Silliman's Journal (XIV, p. 1) published an article
"On the Mineralogy of Chester Co.," &c., by George W. Carpenter of Philadelphia, and another " On the Geology and Mineralogy of the Country near West Chester, Pa.," by J. Finch,
M. C. C. Dr. Genth's report will signify the value of these
papers. The lack of accuracy which characterized the communications 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 section from Boston water to Lake Erie which faces its title page.
NTo more accurate description of the belt to which the West
Chester rocks belong was written until 1833, when Dr. tHayden
described (in Silliman's Journal, XXIV, p. 349) the Chrome
Iron range north of Baltimore in Maryland, or the Bare Hills,




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.              A. 11
as they were called, A little mnap 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
lDr. Genth's Report on the Mineralogy of our State, published as
part of this Annual Report. About the saime 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 Wyomring on the Susquehanna" was published in his Journal, Vol. XVIII, p. 308.
Froml 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 survey of
Pennsylvania.  The carefully engraved map of the valley from
Nanticoke to Carbondale is simply an outrage to our present
geo,raphical 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 affects the weary 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!). Nevertheless, 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
HIenry Witham, England, F. G. S. It was read to the WVernerian Society, Dec. 5, 1829.
May 10, 1830, Professor Silliman, with Mr. George Jones,
started from New  -Ihaven 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 picture of the state in which the Summit Mine then was, with




12 A.                EARLY 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 him, although he says " the geological structure is extremely simple."  Mr. White had just opened
new mines at Room Run, from data obtained at Summit Mine.
1830. Mr. G. Jones, tutor at Yale, says (in Silliman's Journal
XVIII, p. 303), that in a recent visit to Mauch Chunk 1" 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, communicated 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. XVIII,
p. 118.)
1830. Cannel coal at Steubenville, O., 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 1.3; 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 appears 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 mountains, 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 New 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 Institute, as well as in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XTX, 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 geology preposterous. Dr. Eaton was the author of a Manual of
Geology; and yet, in this address, he divided the coal formations 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 Carbondale, 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 lowest of the upper secondary series;" and
fourth, the lignite coal of Amboy, in New Jersey. Such a classification shows how entirely Dr. Eaton's geology was book-learning 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 outlets, 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 New York do not exceed two inches"-a fair estimate can be made of his powers of
observation in the field, and a correct appreciation of the necessity for that State Geological Survey of New York, which was
commenced six years after he wrote. Everybody now knows that
the Worcester, Rhode Island, Blossburg, Towanda, Wilkesbarre,
Mauch Chunk and Pittsburg coal measures are of the same age,
and have been made to differ in quality only by the subsequent
application of heat, pressure, &c. The surveys of HIall and
Vanuxem  soon established the klnbwledge of the great fact
that the coal "slate formation" (XIII) of Tioga and Lycorrling counties in Pennsylvania overlies by several thousand feet
the black (Hamilton) slates (VIII) of the New York lakes.
Mr. Eaton's extraordinary statements were, however, not allowed to pass unchallenged; for Mr. David Thomas, C. E. Cor.
Mem. of the Linnean Soc. of Paris, &c., wrote to Silliman's
Journal (XIX, p. 323) from Greatfield, Cayuga county, N. Y.,
Nov. 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 different 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 [carboniferus] rock are always horizontal
or nearly so."'"  Ie 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
Geological Survey of Pennsylvania 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
Braclford Co., Pa. The plate was drawn by Miss T. Lee of
the Troy Female Seminary; and the fossil was named by him
Crotalus? reliqtus, or Arundo? crotaloides; for, as he says in explanation 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 deserves 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 suffices 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 VTIII and IX, far below the
base of the coal measures. In the paper, however, the author
repeats his blunder about tracing the black slates of VIII to
the coal mines of Blossburg. HIe says that the specimen " was
found by Dr. Rose 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 Bedford Springs, by Dr. IH. H. Hayden, were published in Silliman's
Journal (XIX p. 27). The author misapplies the term "' millstone-grit" to the Oneida sandstone (No. IV) of the surrounding 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 pulverulent sandstone, containing impressions of a variety of shells, as




16 A.               EARLY NOTICES OF
the producti, terebratule, a species of pecten, &c. These are
the third deposits of organic remains that appear, at least, in
order of position."  I-e 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 inquiring 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
Curnberland and Pittsburg, and the Topography, Scenery, &c.,
of that part of the Alleghany Mountains." lIe writes: " Before 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 resemble those of the coal from several localities on James River in
Virginia."  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 impressions." Fossil botany had evidently taken its first grasp of
the thinking and observing American mind; but its first principles 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 200
-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



PENNSYLVAN'IA GEOLOGY.           A. 17
aminecd a large heap at Smithfield where 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 ill
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. lie 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 together."'
Only two years intervened between the publications last de —
scribed and one by Pref. 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 adduced facts in proof of the correctness of the heading of this
article. Since its publication, Mr. James IIall, Adjunct Professor 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 are prevented by other engagements. At present I will merely give a list
of the names of those which we determined by the aid of Brongiart'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 described 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 Mountains transition. If organized remains are any evidence of the
equivalent characters of rocks, these mountains are surely secondary. They are the upper secondary of some distinguished European geologists, the upper stratum of the lower secondary of
others, while others seem unwilling to admit a division of the
secondary class. It appears to me that the Allegheny and Catskill 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 supported in the position I have taken in view of such equivalents,
and set forth in the last edition of my Text Book, by the additional 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
Neuropteris, Sphenopteris, Odontopteris, Tmeniopteris, 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. Pennsylvania 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 Philadelphia 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, Newberry and Dawson.




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.            A. 19
Had structural geology been as far advanced in 1833 as was
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 Brongiart to teach American
geologists what stared them 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 incontrovertible reality. The palheontologists 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
paleontologists; and he has always been among the earnest protestors against the pretensions of paleontology to decide ex catnedra 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, Allegheny County, was the object of Prof. Silliman's expedition.
IHis description of what is now so well known is of course interesting; 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 observers still lend the weight of their authority.
" As to the geographical origin of the spring, it can scarcely admit of a doubt that it rises from beds of bituminous coal below;
at what depths we know not, but probably far down; the formation 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 P'ennsylvania."
In these words we have a picture of the influence of Faton's
mistake of the continuity of the Blossburg coal through tLe




20  -.               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 belonging 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
says:
"I cannot learn that any considerable part of the large quantities 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 Pittsburg, 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 off 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 (Vol. XXIV,




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.              A. 21
p. 172): " Geologists are now convinced that the common bituminous 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 erroneous 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 1" obtain from a
small quantity of Schuylkill coal six specimens proving that
trees were at least present when the coal was formed, if vegetable 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 Northern States by a few cultivators of Geology and the allied
sciences of Natural History; that this activity was stimulated
and guided from abroad, especially from England; that it was
vague in its efforts 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 youthfulness, 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 observations, 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
an energy and effect as multiform and unerring as the European 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 Beaumont for the first of its Council of Twelve, was born in 1830,
and chartered by the fKing in 1832.
It must be remembered that the Geological Society of Pennsylvania was organized in 1832, 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, discovered'"Pecten, 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. Mao., 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 Natural History in New 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
Reading, 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 paper on "Geological Equivalents." (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 1.818; and to the lack of books.
"But such," he adds, "was the zeal of my students, that I was
driven to the work of giving names to our specimens, excepting
those which I could make out by the Linnuean 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 Woodward'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 with the remains offossil fish, about the
size of a herring or carpe; some specimens retaining the impressions 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 even know that these are two different valleys, nor their
situation; since he places them on the west branch of the




2:1 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 Nippenose 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 North Carolina habitually used by the inhabitants 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 Allegheny 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 ascribing 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. 11., in 1832. (Sill. Jour. XII, p. 116.)
But a most important step forward was made by the present
distinguished State Geologist and Archoeologist of Wisconsin,
in this same fruitful year of 1832. Messrs. D. and I. A. Lapham investigated the nature of the boulders of Ohio, and determined 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 iri the foregoing pages would never have been made in a
well-mapped land.
Edwin F. 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 Transactions 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 accompanied the paper. The nearly universal 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) presumed; 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, except as a contribution to the intellectual hunger of the age, and
was made wholly so by the publication of Dr. IIitchcock's Report on the Geology 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 accompanying 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 portrayed 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. S. 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 published in Vol. I of their Transactions, no doubt from the pen of
Mr. R. C. Taylor.
Dr. Rush Nott sent to Silliman's Journal, in 1833 (Vol.
XXIII, p. 49), a sketchy article on "Miscellaneous geological topics relating to the lower part of the Vale of the Mississippi."
Even from the other side of the Rocky Mountains came geological 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 observations, 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 expert of the Iron Manufacture; and a respected friend of moneymakers 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.                EASILY NOTICES OF
An article in Silliman's Journal, XXI, p. 71, 1882, " On the
variable rapidity of action between water and hot iron," was
followed, in 1833, by another: " On Economy of Fuel with reference 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.




PENNSYLVANIA 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
Philadelphia and organized the Geological Society of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Peter A. Browne was a leader in this movement, so important 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 B1. Gibson, Richard IIarlan 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, Recording 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 32;
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
tablished 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 1810, the "Association of American Geologists (and Naturalists);" 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 different 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 American science, and agrees in time with the commencement of
that series of State Geological Surveys, which up to 18 1, 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
of Vol. XI, for 1833.
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 formations 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 associations, and particularly the uses to which they can be applied in
the arts, and their subserviency to the comforts and conveniences 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 disseminate the useful information thus obtained by geological
maps, charts and essays.
"The Society shall consist of such persons as may subscribe




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.     A. 31
to this Constitution, and such 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 objects 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 Geological 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 furnishing 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 Mont/hly Journal of Geology and Natural Science of this City,
the valuable information thus procured will be publicly acknowledged, 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-disposed individuals, and of known and competent surveyors. They
call for 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 Cavern 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 themselves, then good drawings of the same. "Please wrap all
specimens carefully 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., Corresponding Secretary, and giving information by mail of the time and
manner in which the package was sent. Signed by order of the
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 Comrmittee of Legislature appointed to consider it:




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.     A. 33
"Th e 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 complete 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 Natural
Science of Lancaster, and of Montgomery County, and from the
Geological Society of Pennsylvania, go on to say, that they considered 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 undertake the direction and responsibility of the work."  The Society
had replied, " That they will receive and assume the responsibility 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 suitable posts or stones, set for that purpose."
Turning to the full text of the Society's reply, which accompanies the report of the committee, this project for establishing
3




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, Northampton,
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 mountains, and near by Stonerstown, Williamsburg, Huntingdon,
Birmingham, Philipsburg, IKarthouse, Coudersport and Port
Allegheny.
The western meridian should leave at right angles the Virginia State line at the Monongahela River, and crossing Greene,
Fayette, Washington, Allegheny, Butler, Venango, Crawford
and Erie Counties, to Lake Erie, pass near Greensburg, NewT
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
Ihowever would not be much assisted by three meridian lines
drawn over hill and vale, even if leveled with all needful care.
Nior 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, areof little
use in geology. Nothing but a close net-work, or gridiron systenl, 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 PENNSYLVANIA.     A. 35
commenced their respective State surveys, under the direction
of Dr. G. Troost, Mr. Lardner Vanuxeln, and Prof. Edward
l1itchcock. 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 extending through the State, and shall in like manner engage to conduct a geological and topographical survey of the State and to
furnish for the use of the State [blank] copies of the map, profiles 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 Secretary 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 judge 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 Inspection 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 TIlE
" 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, New 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 sentiment 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 Geological 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 members, singly, was capable of such a task; and no society habituated 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 significant sentences deserving record: "Documents had been prepared, 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; minerals, sent to the Secretary by citizens of the State, had been




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.     A. 87
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 now
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. Featherstonhauth,
of England; Dr. Richard Harlan; Dr. Jacob Green, Professor
of Chemistry in the Jefferson Medical College; Mr. Jas. Dickson, 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 Nashville, (one of Napoleon's savants in
EgyEt); 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 most distinguished civil engineers of the United States;
Mr. Timothy A. Conrad, afterwards paleontologist of the New
York Survey; Mr. I.'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 officers were its vice presidents, IIenry S. Tanner and Samuel 1-I.
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 1agazine of Geology, edited by Mr.
Featherstonhaugh, who, in 1834 and 1835, quitted Philadelphia to make reconnoisance surveys in the far west for the
United States government, and at an advanced age, died recently ill France. -One of his papers in the transactions of the




38 A.             THE 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. G. W. Featherstonhaugh's Monthly American Journal of
Geology and Natural History," published at Mr. H. R. Porter's,
No. 121 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. One "G 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 beneath the roots of all 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 _Faucoides Alleghaniensis from No. XII, ii also
mentioned.
In the September number appeared a long article "G on the
value of geological information to engineers," &c., and a savage
attack upon Dr. Hays, for defending his friend Godman, 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 "6 heaps" of tusks and teeth found,
in 1816, near Canstadt on the Neckar, and at Thiede in Brunswick.*
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
cical scratches found on such remains, and makes cle play the
principal role in all phenomena of this kind.
In the December number appears a description of Harlan's
Fucoides Brongniartii, as found "in conmpact sandstone subjacent to the coal formation," and yet "6 near Lockport, N. Y."
This was five years before the beginning of the New York geological survey.
A paper on the primary rocks of Philadelphia, as a continuation 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-Baltimore 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 resumB of the
societies and magazines of science published in 1832 in the
United States; and in this, mention is made of 6" the American
Geological Society," established at New Haven, Connecticut,
" and founded many years ago," but then defunct; its president,
Win. M'Clure, resident in Mexico; and the society itself without a house, collections or transactions.
The circular letter of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania
to citizens of the Commonwealth, voted at its meeting, February 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 THIIE
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 promised to make full and honorable acknowledgments in the
monthly issues of Featherstonhaugh's Geological Magazine, for
all assistance rendered.
[At this time appeared Dr. C. T. Jackson and Mr. Alger's geology of Nova Scotia (116 pages) in better style than anything
yet given to the public.]
In the April number of 1832 appeared Mr. P. C. Taylor'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 Norfolk," published in London in 1827. The illustrations of his early papers in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London, Sec. Ser. Vol. II,
are strong, but not so neat. This memoir had been read before
the Geological So3iety 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 consequently prefixes to his March number instructive sections of
irnjected trap beds borrowed from M'Culloch'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 New 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
by a Committee of the Cabinet of Science of Bradford,iounty, Pa.
respecting the bituminous coal and iron ores of that district,
and traces of copper. "Major Long, of that county, had detected gold and silver in particular rocks," &c. The Towanda
mines were then wrought to some extent and the coal sent on
snow-sleds to Ithica.
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 desirableness of a State Survey.
In the June number of 1832, appeared Dr. Jacob Green's Synopsis of the Fossil Trilobites of North Amlerica, with ten of them
rudely lithographed on a frontispiece plate. The central figure
(paradoxus spinosus) was perhaps intended for the since so celebrated Paradoxides flarlani, and believed for a long time to have
been dropped on the Boston wharves from the ballast of somne
European ship, until a Boston banker, who had purchased a
country house near the Quincy granite quarries, found multitudes 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 specimens and described the species at the next weekly meeting of
the Boston Natural History Society. It then became known
that thousands of these first found fossils of Eastern New England had been for years systematically pitched into Boston harbor to make foundations for the wharves.
Mr. R. C. Taylor read the first paper published in the Transactions of the Geological Society; and afterwards, others of considerable 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 Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania," being the substance of a
description of Dr. Harlan's Fucoides Alleghaniensis, which he
communicated with a drawinig of the fossil to the London Magazine 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 fuci in
the old red (Catskill, No. IX) of the Allegheny mountain, at
long distances apart. Others had been noticed in Long Narrows, below Lewistown, on the Juniata river, where the Pennsylvania 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 layers 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 uncornformnable
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. Geol. 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 rocks 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




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.    A. 43
fairly stated; and the contorted strata on the Juniata are beautifully displayed. But this paper possesses a peculiar interest to
us now, showing, as it does very clearly, that Mr. Taylor localized the Broad Top coal in far older (" graywacke") 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 Geological Survey.
This memoir talkes 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 c" Report 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 Pennsylvania coal than
has ever before been presented to the public," with having repeated, 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 opportunities of investigating the relation, ages and the geological 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 condemnIng 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 Pennsylvania; 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.             TRE INFLUENCE OF T1RE
But by far the most interesting narrative in the memoir is
that (on page 188) where Mr. Taylor describe2 the Oldest Coal
Measures, lying at the base of the Devonian system, (IHamilton,
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 Susquehanna river; a coal formation several hundred feet thick,
and traceable along the Lewistown valley. Mr. Taylor says
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 Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, in a prolongation of Berry's mountain, 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 decided 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 carbonaceous deposits within that extensive area; and have reasons, 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 Bituminous Coal Area of Western Pennsylvania, cut off 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 larg'e
sums of money have been spent, even as late as 1860, long after




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF 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 credulous 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 explorations 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 imbricata, Lychopodiolites dichstomus, and Striaticulmus,
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 imagine no reason why the Broad Top basin should not extend
across the Lower Juniata to the Susquehanna river.
By the First Geological Survey under Prof. H. D. Rogers,
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 Geological Survey of Pennsylvania.
3. "Notice as to the evidences of an ancient lake, which appears to have formerly filled the limestone valley of Kishacoquillas, in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania."  A few neat little
landscapes accompany this paper, and among their stiff mathematical 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, because 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 beautiful marginal terraces of our interior limestone valleys with
Mr. Taylor's eyes, any more than a merchant or a machinist can
see boats and kites as a child sees them. Mr. Taylor's colored
section of the valley is a curiosity; rich in historical suggestions of the progress of Pennsylvania 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 discovered its basin form, but remained uninformed as to its
western limits. But he avoided Eaton's great blunder. He
says with great decision: "Northward of this mineral district
it would be in vain to search for these coal strata; for independent of the geological character of that country being dissimilar, 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 structure 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 sumnmit 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 character, and quite as extraordinary; for he gives the dips down
the Tioga river to Corning, in New 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 commonly 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 accumulated knowledge of the last half century, can only brood




GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.     A. 47
amazed. But the same prejudices which saw lake terraces in
Kishacoquillas valley could blind the eye to dips which, although 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 explorers, whose very errors must be handled with a curious respect. He calculated that the rocks in the banks of the Chemung must plunge to a depth of " 6,275 feet below the summit
of the surrounding hills of the Tioga (i3lossburg) 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 New York; so that a total
thickness of 35,000 feet at Harrisburg, 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 Corning, 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 " cornstone" 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
Hollidaysburg, 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. " Review-of Geological Phenomena... in Virginia and
Maryland," &c., (page 314.)  In this he gives also a plate of
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 ]ands. 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, beautifully 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 Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania.
Dr. Gerard Troost was State Geologist of Tennessee, and his
three memoirs in the Transactions relate to the history of Geology in that State.
Mr. Edward Miller was a Civil Engineer of great ability, in
charge of the construction of the State railway across the Allegheny 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 pernmitted him to make a geological section of the Old Red sand* It is entirely proper to make it known that Mr. Taylor's manuscript maps
of the gold regions of Virginia, &c., &c., are still in the possession of his widow,
Mrs. Emily Taylor, 2043 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, who would gladly sell
them to some geologist who might not only make them useful, but aid in keeping 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 PENNSYLVANIA.        A. 49
stone system (XII, XI, X, IX and VIII); and this he published
(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 lus in
capital stead in our annual report this year (1874-'5); comparing it, as we then could, with the elaborate section which Mr.
Platt has had made for his report on the Clearfield and Jefferson
district, along the Snow Shoe and Bellefonte railroad. Mr.
Platt 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
18.33, cannot now, perhaps, be recovered.
Mr. Miller's lowest and first division of rocks, containing
the Helderberg limestones (No. VI) and Oriskany (No. VII) is:
not measured; his second division, of Hamilton, Portage and
Chemung rocks (No. 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 geologists, 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.
His most interesting observation is that of the bed of " silicious 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 atBlossburg.
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. IHe called one species Pecopteris
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. macrophylla
or N. flexuosa 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 bituminous Coal Measures of Allegheny, Ohio, &c., to the secondary formations —the rocks would lead us to the former opinion,
the fossils in some instances to the latter, so far as they have
been examined from both localities."
But fossil botany must not claim to have dispersed this error;
for it clung to the minds of geologists long after the topographical and structural studies of Frazer, Jackson, M'Kinley
and Henderson, without any aid from fossils, made it a ridiculous 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:  Turbo tabulatus, T. insectus, Stylifer primogenia,
Pecten armigerus and Productus confragosus.  But he avoids
committing himself to the grauwacke theory, although he alludes to it. Two years afterwards he was disproving it himself in the capacity of palseontologist 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
stellefolium, but which he evidently suspects may be an Astero.
phyllites or Annularia.
Mr. H. Kioehler read a paper "' On the anthracite deposit at
Tamaqu, i:chuylkill 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 PENNSYLVANIA.    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; but the anticlinal
lying more towards the centre of the basin is not noticed. The
vertical and horizontal scales are the same, the contouring excellent, and the accomlpanying map is well lined.
Of the remaining eight or ten memoirs published in the transactions 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 accompln.ished 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 Montgomery 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 Tertiary 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 county, which, in this, resembles that of
Brandon in Vermont, and deserves the most minute investigation.
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.               HISTORY 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 connection of these brown hematite ores with the Devonian and
Silurian (or Cambrian) rocks along the outcrops of which
alone they occur.




GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA.      A. 53
CHAPT ERn,  III.
A 1ISTORY OF THE FIRST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYL.
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 pa,; ti e
salaries of a geologist, two assistants, and a chemist.
Professor Henry I)D. Rogers was appointed geologist, MIr.
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 Pennsylvania; and on this determination, as a sure foundation, all sub.
sequent work in the Appalachian mountain belt of the Atlantic 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 Tussey 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 Potomac,-we may consider that then the general geology of Pennsylvania and of the Atlantic States was settled. It has, in
fact, sufifred no modification of any great importance in stratigraphy since that time.
Yellow creek (with its prolongation Sandy run) will always
have a classical interest for American geologists. It is one ot
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.




54 A.                HISTORY OF THE.
Professor Frazer was fond of telling his geological friends
the story of this adventure, explaining how, up to the rendezvous of the geologist and his two assistants at Huntingdon one
summer Sunday, their explorations had been a series of embarrassments; their note books filled with a confused mass of irreconcilable statements; their cross-sections contradictory in
themselves when compared together; and the geology of Pennsylvania 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 following week, and by Prof. Booth afterwards on the Potomac.
From  that moment everything went smoothly; all contradictions vanished; their back notes became luminous, and the
northern outcrops of Hall and Vanuxem, in New 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 mountain 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 truthfully 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 Palaeozoic system was divided into twelve parts or formations, 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,  of the Secud Mountain.
IX. Red sandstone,
VIII. Olive shales, &c.
VII. Cherry sandstone.
VI. Limestone.




FIRST SURVEY, 1836              A. 55
V. Red shale and fossil ore.
IV. Gray sandstone,  of the First Mountain.
III. White sandstene,
I. imestone, } of the Lebanon Valley.
No modification of this system of numbers would have been
needed had the survey been commenced on the Schuylkill, instead 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 completeness. It could not be forseen that all the elements exhibited
along one hundred miles of one river, the Juniata, were compacted 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 yeals, —demolisbed 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 season'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
EJlie 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 towards 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




56 A.                HISTORY. OF TiHE
the spring of 1837, by enlarging the appropriation to allow of
four assistants instead of two. These were Mr. Samuel S. Haldeman, Mr. Alexander M'Kinley, Mr. Charles B. Trego and
Mr. James D. Whelpley.
The appropriation for incidental expenses permitted the employment of four aids or sub-assistants: Mr. Alfred F. Darley,
Mr. Edwin Haldeman, 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 becamle Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and editing secretary of the Franklin Institute, Secretary 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 remained 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 difficult, forty years ago, than
the discovery of persons of a scientific education, suitable for
LiCh 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 tolerable 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 SURVEY, 1837.            A. 57
Lehigh and Susquehanna rivers and the New 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 efforts
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'IKinley. Mr. Trego studied the Lehigh
country, and Mr. iHaldeman the country of the Middle Susquehanna.
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 Champlain. This Mr. Rogers now had to call No. I. The limestones
(I) became therefore No. II; and the slates (II) became for the
same reason No. 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 massive 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, EKittatinny,) composed
mainly of one sand-rock, or a series of alternate sand and mudrocks. The two sands, III and IV, of the last year of the survey, 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 Ao.               HISTORY OF THE
3. The above changes left the numbering of the formations
above IV unchanged. But by this year's work another discovery was made: that the lowest sand-rock of the Coal Measures (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 iNo. 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 that no formations named elsewhere were absent
here; until he was certain that Pennsylvania possessed no peculiar 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. Meantime 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 represent. 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 SURVEY, 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 work 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 Pennsylvania and Virginia, are miserably thinned down and impoverished, or disappear entirely, when followed into other districts
of the Continent.
Had Mr. Rogers not adopted another nomenclature 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. Safford 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
methods
But after all said and done, the inherent objections to numbering the rocks remain potent, and oblige all geologists to employ in their descriptive geology another system: that of geographical names. Among the twelve great formations of Pennsylvania there is no place found for one of the most important
of the groups of New York and Upper Canada: the Niagara.
This formation, which makes at its northern outcrop so mountainous 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 No. 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 mountain in New Jersey; and Mr. Safford separates it into two huge
formations, the Ocoee, 10,000 feet thick, and the Chilhowee,
2,000 feet thick, in Eastern Tennessee. If Dr.Newberry had adopted 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 Naturalists and Geologists, April, 1843, page 20 of his address. Idea formed in 1840,'three years before."




60 A.                HISTORY OF THE
For our No. I and the greater part of No. II do not appear
above the surface in that State; and No. 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.
Geographical names for rock strata become therefore a necessity. 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. Sometimes 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 formation. Each must have a name. If letters be used for this purpose, (the plan pursued by Mr. Safford,) Ia., Ib., Ic., IIa, IIb,
IIe, &c. then the old difficulty is encountered in a slightly different 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: Ia, Ibl, Ib2, Ic, &c., or,
Ia', Ia", Ia"', &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 discovered 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 deposit 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, 18 37.             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 formations, i. e. organized beings, which
have been born at a certain point of time, grown in an ascertainable bhape, 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 geologists mlay, at the same moment, give different names to thie
same formation in different 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 Iria1
geologists have done, in calling a certain system the Cambrosilurian system, which Sedgewickl claimed to be the upper part
of his Cambrian, and Murchison insisted was the lower 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, Laurentian. They are historic fixtures, like the higher titles of the
nobility and rich.landed gentry of Europe. Their circle is exclusive. It is exceedingly difficult for a newcomer to get in,
even ifter the purchase of a part of their estates. It is doubtful if Dr. Hunt's Norian System will " make a family," or Professor 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 accepted title for the foundation of the Old-Age System in all
parts of North America, where Geologists have found its char.




62 A.                HISTORY OF 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 sediments. 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 out that there are several 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 System of Middle England 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 North-Eastern Ohio. A world of Carboniferous 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 Monongahela 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 Survey, 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 carboniferous system down so as to take in almost the whole Devonian system.
Dr. I)awson 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 fiourishing 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 "carboniferous" system, not merely the Devonian, but the Silurian, Huronian and even Laurentian systems. WVith the same propriety
we might include in it the Trias, because of its North Carolina
Coal Measures; and the Cretaceous and Tertiary systems, because of their Rocky mountain coal beds. All the formations
of the world from the lowest to the most recent, would then become "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 obliterate the word Devonian from the column of formations, —for
very different reasons, be it remarked, from those which influence 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 geograghical names
for our various Coal Measures; had we established a Monongahela 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 therefore it need never be changed. It says:   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. Lardner 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 geologists were pretty well agreed upon the names of the formations




64 A.                HISTORY OF 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. HE. D. Rogers, of Pennsylvania,
and W. B. Rogers, of Virginia, failed to produce a common
system of names for these three important States. The New
York names were used in the:New 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 system 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, Onondaga, Niagara, 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 Delthyris Shaly limestone between them; and the Birdseye limestone of the Trenton group.
Of the third kind are: the Coal Measures, the Sub-carboniferous 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 New
York geologists, was a great convenience to them, and has been
a great convenience to the geologists of other States. Nor is
it any more flagrant departure from consistency than the English 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 Neo.
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 conlmon people
of a part of England-the Oolite and Lias being called the Jurassic system, a geographical name; the New Red, named from
its color, or the Triassic system, so named because divisible into
three; the Permian system, a geographical name; the Carboniferous 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 inhabited the west of England in the time of the Romans; the
Cambrian system, named after the 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 meanings of which many a battle has been fought.
The fact is: things, litke people, are named by accident, christened 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 stmrets 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 efforts 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.




66 A.                HISTORY OF THE
which first strike the imagination as characteristic, no matter
what learned or what aesthetic system of nomenclature may
happen to be violated.
If, therefore, the New York rocks were well named and early
named where they sink to descend, southward, under the southern 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. ZNo 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 district, 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 New York: Is this rock of mine your
Potsdam, your Niagara, your Waterlime; or is it different?
When he meets a Canadian geologist the first question he asks
him is this: What rock in Pennsylvania must I call "' Laurentian?" Is our South Mountain " Iluronian?"  Am I to name
our Philadelphia belt "Quebec Group;" or what else? The instructed discoverer always gives names to the uninstructed
searcher. The New York geologists were ahead of those of
Pennsylvania in naming 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' 1"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.
Safford's Tennessee names will find themselves at home in Pennsylvania; 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.




FIRST 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 employed as sub-divisions of the English systems: I, II, III representing the Cambro-silurian; IV, V, VI, Silurian; VII,VIII,
Devonian; IX, Old Red; X, XI, Sub-Carboniferous; XII, Carboniferous. If some geologists prefer to call IV Middle Silurian, 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 nomenclature 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 North 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 tlhickness, the immensity of their range, and the inexhaustible 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 secondary rocks on an equally expanded scale, or so admirably developed for geological investigation.
" The gigantic magnitude of the areas covered by these thirteen formations, may be conceived, when I state that they not
only occupy the entire surface of Pennsylvania, with the exception 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 successfully, 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 northwestern States and Canada, to the northern shores of Lake Huron
and Lake Superior.
" Within the xwhole 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 combined grandeur and simplicity of structure of the enormous geological basin which they embrace, we turn with grateful satisfaction, 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."
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 SURVEY, 1838.            A. 69
made 118 printed pages without illustrations. But in nowise
represented the amount of admirable work accomplished in various 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, severally; 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. Iloll, of
England. Mr. James T. HIodge, 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. Sheafer continued their instrumental
work for mapping the Southern and Middle anthracite fields.
Second district.
Mr. M'Kinley and Dr. Jackson studied the labyrinth of mountains between the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers and the Allegheny 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 country, from the west line of Armstrong and Venango 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 Clearfield and Centre counties; a country at that time an almost unbroken wilderness, roamed over by the elk and the panther.




70 A.                HISTORY OF THE
His object was to organize for the ensuing year a camlp surveN
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; that the
bituminous coal  measures covered the half of the State lying
back of the Allegheny mountain; that the New Red rocks
made a belt through Berks, Bucks, Lancaster, York and Adams;
that wholly different, older and ulrecognizable rocks occupied
the South mountains; and that still other and equally undeterminable formations occupied the south-easter'n 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 region in the State, that of the Anthracite coal felds.
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 to 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 anthracite; 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 mountain 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 indirectly upon those problems of structure which even then began 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 of the detailed geographical geology of Pennsylvania was grasped by Mro 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 in 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 desirable 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 districts is obviously the only mode by which, in a limited number
of years, the requisite degree of precision can be attained. Each
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 difficulties 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 OF THE
alone, until he shall have mastered its geology and mineral resources in all their local details, an important economy of time
is effected, 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 employ6e will alter the arrangement of an entire corps. Few of the geologists of 1838 occupied the same
districts in 1839 and 1840.
What the scientific and practical gains of the third year of
the First Survey were can be more easily imagined than described. Every place was new; every detail of information a
discovery. Not 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 wonder, 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 subject.
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 neutral 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 examiqation 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 IKiskiminetas, where their two districts joined, Mr. IHodge'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. AI'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'Kinney 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 shale deposit in
those sub-divisions, from the bottom to the top; from the Red
Shale of XI and the Conglonlerate XII, near the New Yorkl State
line, to the Brownsville and Waynesburg coal beds at the Virginia State line. Mr. Ilodge even carried his section down two
thousand feet below the Conglonmerate, 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 southwest angle of the State.
The reconnoisance which Mr. Trego and Mr. Ward made of
Cambria, Somerset, Fayette and Indiana counties, revealed the
same state of things in the south-eastern portion of the Bituminous Coal Region of Pennsylvania. The Lower Coal Measures were everywhere covered with a great thickness of Barren Measures, (much thicker than in Messrs. M'Kinney and
lodge's districts further west;) and also the almost complete
removal of the Upper Coal Measures fronl the surface of the
country. The remains of the Pittsburg bed, and those immediately above it in one or two isolated hill-tops were, however,
not discovered, or at least certainly recognized, until the following 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 Report:"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 subdivisions, 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 Bituminous 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 contained 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 circle two hundred miles in length from  north-east to southwest, 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 NTew York, was seen to take in all the north-western 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 second basins, Mr. M'Kinney was studying the southern portions of
the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, and Mr. Hodge only the northern 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 continuations of these basins in BradfQrd 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 subdivided into two in Cambria and Somerset counties and Virginia,
and that there lay in front of it, and east of the Allegheny mountain, (taken as the edge of the bituminous coal field,) other coal
basins,-such as the Frostburg-Cumberland basin on the Maryland 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 befbre the many minor purturbations 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 irregularities 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
1838, 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 their 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 conglomerate 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 a "wave theory," so famous in




FIRST SURVEY, 1838.     A.. 77
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 Pottsville and other anthracite coal basins, to the vastly larger waves
of the mountain country of Middle Pennsylvania.
This Rule 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 basiil. Gradually the total
number of beds at Pottsville, Shamokin and Wilkesbarre (where
the basins were deepest) and their order of sulperposition 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. Rogers 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
Pennsylvania-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 confidence that the coal area had once extended still further south, viz:
as far as to Easton, Reading, Harrisburg, Chambersburg and Hagerstown; 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 outliers 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 themselves 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 preserved as continuous sheets, with patches of the beds above scattered over them. In the country north of the Conemaugh (Kiskiminetas) 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 Measures were all there, covered and protected by the upper Barren
Measures.
In the preceding year, 1837, sufficient notice had been taken
of the small crest-waves (anticlinal) which traverse the anthracite 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 that
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 geologist. 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, presenting to the sky the worn outcrops of every kind of rockcoal, shale, slate, sandrock, conglomerate, limestone-in ridges
and valleys, of every height from a hundrel 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 outcrops of coal beds; water gaps and wind gaps,
occasioned by slight cross fractures, 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 contentions of boss miners, proprietors and speculators, over the underground 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 perfect 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 remarkable 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 be appreciated only on reflecting that it was not
only topographical, but geological; and that it was accomplished 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 1842. 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 1838 and completed in 1839 a topographical map of the mountain country west of the Susquehanna 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, lNittany, Tussey, Standing Stone and
Jack's mountains; and the limestone valleys-Penn's, Brush,
Nittany, Sugar and 1ishacoquillas. This, also, is a region of
rare geological topography. The zigzags and terraces of No.
IV are its.predominating feature; and the upturned -keel mountains of IV its most striking phenomenon. Its general character 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 attention. 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 Silurian 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 Susqnuehanna river and the Buffalo mountains. It is thrown




FIRST SURVEY, 1838.            A. 81
inLo six waves, one of whichl, 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 Penn's
Valley; along the flanks of the Buffalo mountains; around
the end and along the north side of Muncy mountain, past
Williamsport to Bellefonte and Hollidaysburg.
In 1838 Dr. Jackson,-a man of singular but erratic genius,
who became a distinguished physician in Western Pennsylvania, and died surgeon-in-chief of the Army of the Cumberland soon after the battle of Lookout mountain near Chattanooga, 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 Nittany Valley, Brush Valley, Penn's Valley, Sinking.
Creek Valley and Kishacoquillas Valley, he came to the conclusion 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 decomposition. This view was not only new and strange to the iron
masters and miners of the region, but was opposed to the prevailing 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 surrounding salld-rocks of IV, and been collected in the hollows
of the limestone surface of the valleys. The manuscript reports of Mr. Bocking, twenty years later, were based upon substantially the same idea. Dr. Hitchcock, after studying the
brown hematite deposits of the limestones in Vermont, Massachusetts 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 Tertiary. Even in 1873 Dr. T. S. HIunt connected the easternmost
range of these ores with the chemical and mechanical dissolution of the iron bearing metamorphic slates of the ZBlue Ridge
6-A.




82 A.                  HISTORY OF THE
and the Piedmont region.  Dr. Newberry 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 November, page 764, he writes:
"A belt of limonite ore-beds passes down along the flanks of the Alleghenies from Maine to Georgia; and these deposits occur chiefly along the outcrops of the metamorphic Silurlan limestones..... Everything indicates that these deposits were formed by the accumulation of the oxide of
iron precipitated from the ferruginous drainage of the iron bearing Allegheny highlands. In date they range from the Cretaceous to the present
time," &c.
This notion, which is one of those deceptive, broad generalizations naturally and justifiably indulged in by men of science,
whose knowledge is extensive, but who have not found opportunity to study the phenomena in question at sufficient length
and detail in the field, was set aside by R. M. S. Jackson in
1838-, after a thorough examination of the case, with eyes from
the 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 followingo it through Morrison's cove, IKishacoquillas, 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 i 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. 88
of the back 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 parallel valleys, in some of which, although admirably adapted to
hold them, not a traee of such ores are now to be found? Mr.
Rogers' flood came from the north. This must come from the
south.
Hiad 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 Valley, and in these back valleys, and especially an
elaborate re-examination of part of Jackson's district of 1838
by Mr. Franklin Platt 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 No. 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 lNittany valley, many of which are highly interesting 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 arrived at concerning the origin of the ore, nor any general practical rule discovered, calculated to conduct us with a desirable
degree of certainty, in a search after large deposits of the mineral. Some light has, however, been gained from other quarters of the State, through observations made upon the same
formation.  If these should be corroborated by future researches, 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 examinations connected with the survey shall have been more advanced,
to enter into the complicated enquiries arising out of the scientific 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 Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, 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 sedimentary geology which could only bud and blossom 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 ai-r carried down from the surface to great
depths by water, which, on its way thither, is heated and reascends in hot springs,-the oxygen of the air being consumed
by carbon disseminated through the rocks in the form of carbonate of iron; the carbon and oxygen flying off 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. G.
and i., 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 carbonaceous 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 limestone 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 (Palmozoic)
Rock System; which is precisely true, and perfectly well represents 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




FIRST SURVEY, 1838.            A. 85
Rock regions of Europe, in the almost total absence of downthrow 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 OldAge Rocks had been pressed; to heights higher than the IHima.
laya mountains, and to depths deeper than the deepest ocean
soundings. Arched roofs of Coal Measures, invisible to coml1mon 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 Mehoopany and 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 restoyed
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, expressed 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 discovery, 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 determinable 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 inl 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 affords us ampler materials out of which to get material 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 physical 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 magnitude and violence might have happened. He had only to imagine earthquake waves, in the fiery ocean underneath, sufficiently 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 accounted 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 sweeping away of the upper formations, and the removal of the rockwave 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 accumulations 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 iminds 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 important 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 C.ommonwealth, February 8, 1840, makes a
printed pamphlet of 215 pages, 45 of which contain analyses of
Iron ores by Dr. R. 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. HIoll explored the south-east corner of the State, south of
the New Red Formation, viz: The Bristol and Germantowrn
hills, Chester, Delaware and (south) Lancaster counties. First
District.
Mr. Trego waswithdrawn from Somerset and Fayette to explore 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 Sus



88 A.                HISTORY OF THE
quehanna river, and Mr. Lesley remained to continue alone the
collection of information furnished by the collieries, and to enlarge the borders of Mr. Whelpley's map, by taking in Devonian 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.  T'hird Distri t.
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
mountain and the Allegheny mountain, as far south-west as;Bedfbrd. 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; -ap 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 journeys 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 lying on the high Allegheny Mountain table-land
of Wyoming, Sullivan, Lyconming and Clinton counties, cut
through by the deep gorges of the Loyalsock, Lycoming, Pine,
Larry's and Tangascootac creeks, and by the North 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 Survey was not successful. The instruments were all broken in the carriage, and
no records of observations were ever published. This line across the Western 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 explorations, leaving but few tracts in the State, of any geological interest, 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; and 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, containing about 3,000 specimens. The whole collection had reached
8,000, of which 4,000 had been temporarily classified for analysis 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 tracing 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 auspicious 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. Localities yielding zircons, beryls and large garnets, agates, tourmaline, corundum, sapphire, asbestos and porcelain clay (kaolin) were visited and described; the margins of gneissl and, micaslate land and talc-slate land, with steatite (soap stone) and serpentine, were defined with some truthfulness upon the map,
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 instrumental survey in this or in any other district; and that being 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 uncertain; although every marble quarry and iron ore bed in it,
from Willow Grove at its eastern end, past Downingtown, to
its western end in Lancaster county was visited, and the well
exposed rocks along the Schuylkill river fbanks 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 Pottsville, 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; but his exposures and labors by day and night undermined his constitution, and he died a few years afterwards in New England.
His name should be held in the front rank of honor, as one of
the pioneers of that industry which has made Pennsylvania in
a special manner famous. Mr. Thomas had been of the beginnings 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, president 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 locomotives habitually drew trains of coal cars up the steep gradients of the Beaver Meadow railroad for a number of years before 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 anthracite Coal Measures; and he gave directions that every outcrop
of iron bearing sandstone or shale should be 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 fdr practical
use what costs too much to procure.
Already before the close of 1839 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 years,-with its record of gangways driven and shafts
sunk to follow or to strike beds of coal-measure ironstone and
blackband ore,-confirms the soundness of the geological sentiment on this subject then formed. There may exist exceptionally thick and extensive sheets of ironstone somewhere underground, concealed in the measures which lie between the
coal beds; and such a plate may be accidentally struck in any
month of allny 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 Survey 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 mines
of ironstone overlooked the locality from the hills above.
The year 1839 may be called the Iron Year of the First Survey for yet other reasons. Mr. Ilodge, in his systematic study
of the coal patches thinly coating the Allegheny table land,
had to lead his camping party innumerable times over the vertical outcrop-escarpment of the Conglomerate No. XII, which
makes a cornice around all the mountain spurs of that country.
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 his laborious
life in it, in preference to the Lake Superior copper,-and lost
all he had, Mr. Rogers, 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 sometimes four feet thick, and seemed to lie in an almost unbroken
sheet beneath one-half the State of Pennsylvania, would be one




fIRST 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 Missouri. Perhaps it will yet become so when population condenses, 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 (1839) afforded the required geological explanation of the sub-conglonmerate 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 hematites of Eastern and Middle Pennsylvania are to the Anthracite Blast Furnace production of the country now; being a
deposit co-extensive with the Lower Coal Measures in Pennsylvania, 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 Franklin (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
Red River (1828,) Amanda and Raccoon (1831,) Caroline and
Clinton, built in 1833.
Mr. Rogers 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 State, is
beginning to be appreciated. I need hardly, therefore, dwell
upon it any further than to mention the following circumstances in its favor: The richness of this ore, far exceeding that
of the nodular variety common in the slates of the coal measures, 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 particularly 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 fossiliferous 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 important 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 obvious 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 exaggerated, 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 NorthWestern Pennsylvania; 17 in North-Eastern Ohio; 48 in SouthEastern Ohio and 24 in Eastern Kentucky-193 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. kNow that the 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
No. 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 specimens 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 resembles 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. H-enderson's observations of it led him shrewdly to an important 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 VII1
(just over the Oriskany sandstone, VII) is a soft brown hema* In October, 1875, this ore was found in the same transition layers VIIIIX, (top of Chemung and bottom of Catskill,) in Aughwick valley, in a cutting 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. Carlt's Report of Progress for 1874, pages I. 99 and I. 100.




96 A.               HISTORY OF THE
tite, 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, chemical and mechanical; that the bed would always be found to
yield to deep mining some other kind of ore. In the brownhematite 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 ironstone, like those which occur abundantly in the Coal Measures.
In fact the deposit of ironstone just overlying the Conglomerate No. 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 repetition 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-Canmbrian age, on top
of the Potsdam  sandstone, No. 1. The different degrees in
which the carbonate has been turned into oxide (clay ironstone
into brown hematite) would then be proportionate to the respective 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 (Paleozoic) system.
In 1839 a flood of light thus began to pour in upon the before 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 between Ilarrisburg and fagerstown.
For, at the close of 1839, Mr. Trego visited all the ore banks
of the Cumberland Valley; and although he constructed no




FIRST SITVVEY, 1839.            A. 97
theory, he recorded many facts, which were summarily published in Mr. Rogers' annual report for 1839, and which, when
viewed in the light of our present knowledge, suffice to overthrow the drift-theory of the brown hematite beds, and to confirm 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 becoming 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 orunderneath the dolomites.
Prof. Prime will shnw, in his report, that one range of brown
hematite ore beds west of the Lehigh, are connected with potash slate (damourite) beds., The ore seems, so far as his observations 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 attention 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
Adanms some of them in the Cambrian rocks, others in the
New Red. This is but preliminary to a more complete investigation 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 geology is of any avail where difficulties accumulate, it should
be expended here; and we may cheerfully hope for good results.
Already it suggested itself to AMr. 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 connect 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 geological 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 Geological Survey of Pennsylvania 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 EY, 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 nowv in excellent train, and experienced in research, 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 discoveries were no longer possible.  The science of Pennsylvania
geology had now passed safely through its arduous terms of infancy 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 efficient 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.  WVhat he thus learned
abroad reacted wholesomely upon the survey at home. The geological structure of the Appalachian formations were thus studiously followed from Virginia to Alabama, and from Pennsylvania 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 outcrops, 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 contents of the Old-Age ocean, which once covered the United
States, and in which the PalTfozoic formations from  Potsdam
to Coal Measures had been deposited, was by this tilme (1840)
pretty well known.  The limits of the coal fields were fixed.
The system of great downthrow faults in the South had been observed, 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 Danville 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 OF THE
Tennessee had been determined, and some idea had been got ol
the most ancient continental rocks, which formed the mountainous shores around the Palseozoic 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,  min. W. Mather, Ebenezer Emmons, James Hall and Timothy A. Conrad; the Pennsylvania
geologists, Henry D. Rogers, Charles B. Trego, Martin H. Boy6,
Robert E. Rogers and Alexander M'Kinley; the geoligist of
Delaware, James C. Booth; the geologists of Michigan, Douglass Houghton and Bela Hubbard; the distinguished English
geologist, Richard Cowling Taylor, and the eminent geologist
employed by the United States government, Walter R. Johnson, both of these last mentioned being residents of Philadelphia.
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 tlhe Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, when Dr. Hitchcock delivered his retiring address, and
Prof. Silliman was elected to preside. At its third meeting,
t1842,) 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 WVashington, in May, 1844; the sixth at New Haven, 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 intellectual activity the effects 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 Anmerican Geologists and Naturalists."
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 "finished." 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 physicists 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 numbering 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, lying south and
east of the South mountains, for his final report.
Mhr. Trego crossed to the east side of the Susquehanna river
and made a general survey of the Great Valley through Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties;
sending specimens from the ore mines recently opened alon1g
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 OF THE
Mr. Trego was then transferred to the Devonian country be.
tween the Anthracite coal fields and the Susquehanna river, to
gather topographical data for a geological map of the State.
Mr. Lesley made a topographical and geological sketch map
of the Devonian and Silurian belt between the Kittatinny mountain on the south, and the Pottsville and Mauch 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 were arranged; and the geology of the Pocono 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 Franklin 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 publication still. Mr. Rogers always spoke of it with admiration
and does not conceal this sentiment in his annual report.
Mr. M'Kiinley finished his study of the middle belt, including
the Broad Top coal field, from Huntingdon to the Maryland State
line. But the complicated structure of Broad Top completely
foiled him, and no wonder; for the writer some years 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 Measures. 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
finish 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 the Bedford-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 attempt 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 i839 upon the Tangascootac
in Centre county, through the Beech Creek, Snow Shoe, Clearfield 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 occasionally 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 tell days, down the Conemaugh and up the Sandy, down
Castleman's river, and back through Ligonier valley, and waqs
broken 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 explorations 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
of the Coal Measures. The Cambria 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. Fulton'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 Waynesburg seam, to make sure
that they held no workable bed of bituminous coal, and to complete our knowledge of the coal series of Pennsylvania to the
topmost layer.




104 A.                HISTORY OF THE
Mr. Hell was occupied this year in IMr. Hodge's old district of
Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Butler and western, Venango. A perfectly satisfactory account had not yet been given of the very
difficult geology of the lowest part of the Coal Measures bordering 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 Allegheny and
the Beaver rivers, where they covered the workable beds of the
Freeport system. All this was pretty -well made out by Mr.
Iloll 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 fiagment 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 p[arty. Mr. M'Kinley had noticed another minute fragment of it left at the summit of the Broad Top mountain, but
does not seem to have recognized its identity; nor is any allusion made in the Final Report to the immense theoretical importance 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 Western and Northern Pennsylvania, leaving no room for doubt thatone law governed the whole deposit, and that it could be safely
asserted that about a dozen workable coal beds could be identified 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 thickness 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 Westmoreland 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 iremoir on the subject, by Prof. J. J. Stevenson: " On the alleged Parallelism of Coal 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 thle West
Branch of the Susquehanna and the Maryland State line.
The publication of the results of the Survey here 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 numerous 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 Maryland. For several years he was co-editor of Appleton's Encyclopcedia, 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 became 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 appointed 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 physics, 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 different Naval
Asvlums 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 Institute, and afterwards secretary, treasurer and librarian of the
American Philosophical Society. His passion for botany and horticulture 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 years in 1874.
The sixth year of the First Geological Survey of Peunsyl.
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. Holl 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 established 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 Kiskiminetas rivers.




FIRST SURVEY, 1841.             A. 107
Mr. Lesley, with one companion, made a topographical and
geological reconnoisance of the northern counties, from Towanda on the North Branch, keeping in the Fourth and Fifth coal
basins, as far as Kittanning on the Allegheny river, and Punxa.
tawney on the Mahoning. IIe then took up the study of Whelpley's map of the anthracite coal fields, to add to it what had been
omitted, or what had been exposed to observation by later mining operations.
Dr. R. E. Rogers continued to make the required chemical analyses 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 entirely asunder, their respective operations overlapped each other,
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 indubitably great; for the facts observed by one were sure to be verified or modified in form or
statement by the report of another, and generalizations arrived
at in one district came into harmony with those arrived at in another.  Pennsylvania geology owes its consistency and completeness 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 Mr. Rogers in his Final Report; and as a consequence, the Assistants
of 1874 remark with astonishment and pleasure how perfectly
trustworthy the map and report of 1858 are, so far as they pretend to represent what 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 Coal 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 Northern 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 sandstones, slates and other more mechanically 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 feet of strata, 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 MrI. Rogers' statement might have reached, had the explorations of Messrs. Holl, M'Kinley and Jackson, in 1840 and
1841, been extended over south-eastern Ohio and West Virginia.
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. WVorthen, 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 Carboniferous 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 illustrated by Mr. Platt's report of his Clearfield and Jefferson district; and I will be able to exhibit one of the first steps of its
discovery, by reproducing the sheet of Jackson's sections in
Westmnoreland, 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 whole Coal Area for a distance of two hundred 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 Lycoming, Potter, Elk, Clearfield and Jefferson counties; and subsequent 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 mentioned above. The general run of the basins is, indeed, exactly
that laid down on the Geological State map; but very important 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'K(ean and Po)tter counties.
A third fruit of the sixth season's field-work was the completion of Mr. M'Kinley's map of the Wyoming Coal Basin,
upon which he succeeded in portraying almost all, if not absolutely all, of those subordinate diagonal anticlinal and synclinal axes, the number and regularity of which distinguish this
anthracite field. The patient toil and carefulness of this geologist, disciplined to his task by the previous mapping of complicated 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. Rogers 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 Legislature without the usual annual appropriation for the Geological 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 Survev on his hands, unable to extend it, revise it, arrange it, illustrate it, or publish it.
Piles of annual reports of assistants now called for the authors to become editors; but these had all disappeared, leaving
their unrevised manuscripts, their rough sketches, their unfinished 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 reports 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 descriptions.  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 embarrassments of the Commonwealth" was the stereotyped explanation offered by Mr. Bigham's Committee, in their report
to the Legislature of 1851*:"At the time of the organization of the Survey, it was estimated 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
sixth 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 the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania on the Publication of the Geological Surveys. (138
pages. )




FIRST SURVEY, 1842.            A. 111
work as full and symmetrical as possible, the State Geologist
continued the exploration, and devoted himself to the preparation 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 nlust 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 Survey of the geological structure and mineral character of the
soil of the State to all its citizens was not appreciated, nor comnprehended, thirty years 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 worthlessness of all their theories; and the truths in which they
agreed seemed to clergy and laity alike the insanities of an exalted imagination, or the impious utterances of an irreligious
temper.
The mines of the State were (with some most honorable exceptions) 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 engineers 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
retlcal" 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 proprietors, the directors of companies and the general superintendents 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 necessarily inadequate to exhibit the work accomplished,-indeed
not intended for that purpose, hut 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 organization 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 Geologist 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 members of the Legislature for not proceeding with an unnatural and impossible celerity.
In spite of the teachings of half a century of scientific exploration 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. 11q
nature of a re.onnoisance, 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.
New 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
O(f 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 is
still to be painted. The Reports of Progress in Clearfield and
Jefferson counties in 1874, and in Camnbria and Somerset coun —
ties in 1875, for example, valuable as they will be consideredc
by the people of those counties, are merely complete catalogues
of the coal mines, &c., with descriptions of the openings andl
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 thickness and quality; their extent; their relation to tide water in,
detail; and to show this by a series of accurate local topographical maps and carefully measured sections. 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 explorations, and by the extension of old mines, which will require
still more of this slow, close, instrumental work, and its publication.
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 TIIE
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 result: 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 symmnetry
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 effort. To say that he "continued the exploration" of
the State was an exaggerated statement of the committee; because 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 deprived 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 exploration" of the State.
Neither 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 copy 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, Matinal, Levan.t, &c. for formation No. I, No. II, No. III, 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 Niavy, Dr. Jackson into the practice of medicine at Blairsville, Mr. Holl returned to Europe,
Mr. M'IKinley 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 requisition 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 manuscripts 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 attemlpt
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 different geological aiges were represented 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 misnomer.
Yet this was the only available basis for the proposed Geological 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
byv organizing a trigonometrical, or even an astrononlical 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 geologically colored; other county maps, corrected as to the water
courses here and there; the manuscript district geological maps
of Whelp]ey, M'iKinley, Henderson and Jackson; and sections
of the Melish State Map colored geololoically, 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 determined 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 "6 tempered" like a piano-forte; being erroneous throughout, but with all the local errors reduced to a minimum.
Upon this county-line scheme was then laid down the topography of each county separately, good, bad or indifferent as
* Not one north and south line of a counlty 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 manuscript 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 in geologically on the
basis of the mountain arrangement; the south-east division of
the State, fronl the geologically colored county maps of some
of the assistants; and the northern and western bitunminous
coal area, by reference to the outcrops of the Ferriferous Limestone 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
At, radiating from the south-east towards the north, north-west
and west; and vertical sections along these lines were constructed to illustrate the contour of the surface 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 Report, 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-productions of the Devonian and Silurian rock-sections drawn bv such
of the assistants as had skill and taste for that kind of work.
All the columnar sections were drawn to one scale for comparison, 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 properly 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 Pro. Rogers, the writer
went to Boston, where Mr. Rogers then resided, and during the
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 transmitted 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 illn 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 gentlemen, among whom  Mr. William  Parker Foulke, of Philadelphia, 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 induced to appoint a joint committee of both houses, of which
Col. Bigham was chairmah, to consider the subject of an appropriation to cover the estimated expense of publication.
An elaborate report was made by the committee and printed
in the House Journal, 1851, Vol. II, page 131, and also, separately, 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.
The whole mass of information and material collected by the Survey,
and thus finally systematized, arranged and prepared for the press, was in
compliance witlh the law, deposited in the office of the Secretary of the Comumonwealth, early in the year 1847, to await publication by the Legislature.
In that position it has been allowed to remain to the present tilne, its large
accumulation of carefully collected and patiently digested facth', bearingdirectly 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 successfully secured for the benefit of the 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 peopil'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 faithfully and fully the results of the Survey 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 illustrations 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 purpose was earnestly suggested by the State Geologist, would have been an act
of the soundest public policy, promoting in many ways the industrial prosperity 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 prodigious advance in all our colliery operations in the development of our mineral
deposits, contributing to, and at the same time calling for an increase of exactness 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 obsolete, and that 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 thousa.nd 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 publishing firm, has, at a request from your present committee, presented proposals for executing it in a satisfactory manner, under the indispensable supervision of the State Geologist, its author, and in conformity to conditions suggested by the committee. These proposals stipulate to produce an edition
of one thousand copies for the sumn 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,
your 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 amendments and revision required by the extensive progress made within the
past ten years in developments connecte.d with the coal fields, the iron manufactures, 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 THIE
recent knowledge. Every duty of patriotism to the Commonwealth, 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 Bituminous 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 produced 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 1842, 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 nlew 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 indefinite 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 year 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 Geologist for the truth of what they affirmed  in their report, which
indeed bears internal evidence of having been written by him.
These considerations weighed 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 Iarrisburg.  But few were disposed 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 background as possible.'Thle 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 geological surveyors. Thus provided, lie 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 researches 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 committee has ascertained, that upon this plan, the survey can be 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 accuracy 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 immediately 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. Ite
had himself been employed by the anthracite coal comnlpanies 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 delay in publication will be fully repaid. A large portion of this time has been
devoted by Prof. Rogers in the employ 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 scientific 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 prompt 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 refutation of all the censures which had been so freely cast upon
the State Geologist for the non-appearance of the final report
hitherto. IHe 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 publication 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 different
kind, and none of their contributions to Pennlsylvanian, that is
to say, to Appalachian geology had appeared, or now  could
ever appear over their own nframes, 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 the Legislature to
the people of the State most deeply interested in acquiring a
knowledge of them.  The geologists both of Americ- and of
Europe had been kept en rapport with the survey, by the visits
of Logan and Lyell in 1841, by memoirs readl at the rmeetings
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 fbr exhibiting his map
and sections, and astonishing his hearers with detailed and illustrated descriptions of geological phenomena grander in extent, and more admirable in simplicity of structure, than anything they had been permitted to study at home.* Nor 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 confirmed him in his zeal for the -ublication 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
just 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 resurption of the surveys of Massachusetts and South Carolina, the
Committee say:
* Report of the XVIIIth meeting of the B. A. F. A. S., held at Swansea in
August 1848: London 1849. Transactions of the Sections, page 74, " On ths
Geology of Pennsylvania, by Professor H. D. Rogers. Professor Rogers exhibited 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 geologists in chief, and a numerous corps of geological engineers of the French
School 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 conducting a close and 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 especially to geology and the arts pertaining to it. Stuch 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, entitled "Memoir of the Geological Survey 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 especial object of educating and training skillful miling 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 of
her industrial prosperity upon her efforts for encouraging practical and scientific 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 inspection of the public, 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 arrangement for
ventilation, and of the various methods in use in different countries for propping, timbering and draining, are here assembled ald accessible for study.
To these means of information are added a valuable geological museum, of
all the rocks and their contents, and the soils derived from themf every kind
of coal for fuel, metallic ore for melting, clay for the manufacture of pottery
or porcelain, a-)d sands for glass making, and every species of building stone
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 mlanufacture 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 principles of geological science and its arts, complete the admirable working machinery of this wisely planned institution. Its respective departments are
administered by geologists and chemists, who are among the very ablest in




FIRST SURVEY, 1850.             A  125
Great Britain, and it is presided over by one of the foremost of European
geologists, Sir Henry de La Beche, 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 exposition 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-conmmenced.
Mr. P. W. Sheafer took charge of the underground work.
Mr. John Sheafer headed the transit and level party for crossbarring the surface. M. Edonard Desor volunteered his services for the study of the surface geology.  Mr. Leo Lesquereux
was the fossil botanist, and Mr. Lesley placed the data thus obtained on paper.  Mr. Rogers was himself with the party a considerable part of the season,which lasted until November.
The first part of the season was spent in a thorough transitsurvey 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 extended 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. Longitudinal 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 outcrops 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 writert having had nothing to do with it beyond furnishing 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,
hiefly from his owon surreys.: "
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 werevery imlportant for the unwearied efforts of Mr. Rogers to revise his immense 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.
$ 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. Sheafer is only quoted as a " surveyor (performing also geological functions) "; whereas he was the geologist of the survey of 1851 par excellence, knowing more of the field than all the rest of us
combined.




FIRST 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 mlay be 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 editorial labor in the cabinet. There was no museum; no arranged
collections; no students of the minerals and fossils of the State.
Mr. Rogers was, himself, neither minleralogist nor paloeontologist, 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 clearness, 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 following 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, imncurtailed
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 the 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 history of the work and the causes of its suspension, in an elaborate report, (to be found in House Journal, 1851, vol. 2, page 131,) made an appropriation 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 the
accompanying maps, plans, cuts and sections, in a style suitable to the requirements 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, of
the city of Philadelphia, as deeiiied most favorable to the interests of the
Commonwealth, and the proper publication of the work. The proposals upon
which the bi ds were founded, and the contract ultimately entered into, contemplated 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 Rogers, 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 season suspended his field labors. The firm of Hogan & Thompson having intermediately 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 consumed his own means in the expectation of immediate reimbursement, he
appealed to the Legislature for redress. Through the aid of a special committee, 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 of
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?ommand 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
selected 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. Meanwhile, 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-lived existence, soon likewise disappeared. No commercial firm then
remained even In name, to represent the parties with whom the Commonwealth 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 interested, which admit that nothing has been done, and amount to a virtual abandonment of the contract. From the information before the committee, they
are induced to believe that the four thousand dollars so advanced to the publishers, 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 resulted 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 Legislature.
Of the fourteen thousand dollars appropriated by the act of 1851, for the
publication of the report, the suml 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 assistants, the field researches. By perseverance in his field and closet labors,
the State Geologist has now a large accumulation of prepared matter in readiness for publication. All the geological and topographical maps are fin.,s4ed;
so likewise the pictorial illustrations of the work, and nearly all the geological sections, columns of diagrams, sketches and drawings of the fossil organic 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 undergone, is likewise in an advanced stage of preparation, and can readily be completed 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 minuteness of delineation is indispensable, it will need the immediate and constant 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 committee 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 involved 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
so 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 qualifications for such an undertaking, afford an ample guaranty for the faithful performance 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, excepting the'sum of four thousand dollars, to replace the amount advanced to
Hogan & 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 topographical 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 Wim. 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 portrayed; 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 accomplishing the object above indicated, your committee submit a supplement
* This sentence embodies two errors: for the map was not enlarged to double the size, but from 71 to 5 miles to o 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 survey, and authorizing the
Secretary of the Commonwealth to contract with Mr. Rogers for the publication of the report, upon the same terms as agreed upon by the former contractors.
N. B. BROWNE,
FR. JORDAN.
HARRISBURG, -February 10, 1855.
To the C7ommittee 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 cannot 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 & Thompson, 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 patiently 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 editing the work, if awarded to another publisher; and I will observe that this renunciation of salary makes my offer, compared with all former bids by other parties, cheaper, at the moderate rate of salary I have received, by four thousand five hundred dollars.
In reply to your inquiry respecting the cost of enlarging the general geological and topographical niap of the State, to twice the scale upon which it
has been prepared, I would say that it will require, upon an approximate estimate about two thousand dollars additional appropriation to re-construct
and 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 intelligent persol,understanding the wants of the community in the matter of an
exact topographical map of the State, can for one moment doubt.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
HENRY D. ROGERS.
Statement of the materials of the Final Report of the Geological Survey, now
readyfor engraving, &c.
1. General Geological and Topographical Map of Pennsylvania, (I inch=-71
miles.)
2. Topographical Map of entire Anthracite region, (2 inch=- mile.)
3. Topographical and Geological Map of Pottsville coal field, (12 inch-l
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 THE
Geological Sections.
1. All the detailed sections of the coal strata of the Pottsville basin illustrating the positions, dips, distances apart and relative thicknesses of the several 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
sections. (To be 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 several anthracite basins.
5. A series of sections across the bituminous coal fields of the northern and
western counties.
6. All 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 bituminous, 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 gangwava in mines.
Sections not pertainizg especially to the Coal Fields.
1. A series of fourteen elaborate general sections, traversing the State from
S. E. to N. Wt., 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 mountain.
4. Several local sections, illustrating the geology of the lower or S. E. counties.
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 sketches, 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 ready 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.
(Ready for engraving.).Drawings of.Fossils.
The thirty plates of drawings of organic remains mentioned in the schedule
of material rendered in 1851, are 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
chiefly 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 Geologist is bestowing a portion of his attention to the supervision of the engraving 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 documents 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 libraries, and to second-hand book stores. Each of the Assistants
received a copy. The rest of the edition belonged to the State
Geologist, 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 Nostrand in New 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 23 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 striking-the Pulpit Rocks at Huntingdon-forms the vignette to
Vol. I; another equally fine-the old Baltimore Company's
outcrop near Wilkesbarre-the vignette to Vol. II; and the
third-a very effective interior, looking towards the entrancefaces 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. Rogers' 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 nlaps in the second volume;
one at page 675, of the mining district of Chester and Montgormery-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-would 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 i-57, describing
the boundaries, water sheds, anticlinal, synclinal and monoclinal 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 IKittatinny (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) lBald Eagle
mountain at Muncy-illustrate this Chapter in a perfectly satisfactory manner. These illustrations are only equalled by recently published sketches of the Rocky Mountain surveys.
The Geology of Pennsylvania is then introduced (p. 59-60)
by a short classification of the rocks into gneissic or hypozoic,
and paloeozoic.
PART Io Metamorphic Strata of Pennsylvania.  An introductory 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 Chester V alley (pages 66-82).  This is sub-divided into three belts,
a southern, middle and northern, crossing the Schuylkill river
above Philadelphia, and the Brandywine west 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 background of hills.t  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 restoring 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 criticism; and the classification of the gneiss into three belts needs revision. The
error seems to have been committed of regarding the gentle north dip at
Philadelphia as a nearly horizontal cleavage plane, instead of plane of stratification (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 made; and because the theoretical view, entertained at that tin.e, took for granted a continuous ascent in the order of formations from Philadelphia to Spring Mill.




136 A.                 HISTORY OF THE
Chapter 2. The Middle Zone of Gneiss, north of the Chester
Valley, and south of the New 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 Mountains (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.Palceozoic, or ancient fossiliferous strata of
Pennsylvania, occupies the remaining pages (104-586) of Vol.
I, and the first 666 pages of Vol. II.
INTRODUCTORY BOOK.
Chapter 1 (104-109) gives a short synopsis of the twelve great
formations, from r" Primal " to " Seral," including the Coal Measures,-with their New York Survey synonyms, and their characteristic qualities and thicknesses in various critical places in
and out of Pennsylvania.
Chapter 2 (110-120) sub-divides the Palseozoic region into
nine districts, and the districts into many belts.
Chapter 3 (122-146) gives a summary description, or bird's
eye view, of the twelve great formations and their sub-divisions; their lithological characters; and tables of varying thickness in different parts of the State.
Boo~K 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 No. 1, along the south
And yet the resemblance of the northern and southern rocks 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 Valley of the Wissahickon."
A hasty preliminary map survey 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 that 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
Schu -lkill, equalled that of the Swiss Alps.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.            A. 137
side of the Chester valley; first, geIlerally, 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. Nor can it be comprehended until a close instrumnental survey of every 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 stlructure 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; woodcut, fig. 15, as an illustration of surface creep acquires now a
new interest in the light of the discoveries (1874) of glacial action around Philadelphia, to which action the bent outcrops
may be ascribed.
Chapter 2. Primal Series, bounding the middle gneissic district around WVaynesburg in northern Chester county; in the
North Valley hill and Mine Ridge; in the Welsh mountains;
and in Chiques rock, at Columbia; (173-182.)
Wood-cuts 21, 22 and 23 are 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 Columbia, and 24a an admirable illustration of the way our large
hematite ore beds are sub-divided, massed, and crushed underneath loads of contorted tinted clays. A large amount of instrumental work is needful to cast light on the difficult geology
of the large district thus summarily disposed of in this short
chapter.




138 A.                HISTORY OF THE
Chapter 3. Prtnal 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 bank or Lancaster couI.ty side, from the Chiques
Furnace to (C olumbint.-a.
Plate 6, of seven l onrg lines, gives all the observed rock-exposures along the righllt oank or York county side, from the
Maryland line up to WrigihtsvJlle, o):pposite Columbia.  These
sections are in the main  exellent, atrd show the minute care
bestowed upon the south-east problems by Prof Rogers after
the close of the survey il 11842.  But their true interpretation
waits for a complete',instriure netal survey of the York and Lancaster border country, by Vwh1ict alone the numerous inland
outcrops can be properly referred to the river banks, and the
actual structure be learned. In 1874, iProfessor Frazer cornmenced this work, and his section alonlg the west bank assists
in the interpretation of a part of tile 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 rnore than the
re-production of the scanty notes published in one of the annual
reports.
Chapter 4. Primal Rocks of the South mountain, betwreecn the
Delaware and Schuylkill, (196-202.) The sandstones at Easton,
Bethlehem, Allentown and WVomelsdorf are located, and the
outcrops indicated geographically.
Chapter 5. South Mountains, south-west of the Susquehanna,
(203-207.) Into these five 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 "Gettysburg 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 th  Second Survey.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.             A. 139
DIVISION II. Auroral Series.
Chapter 1. General description of the Chester Valley limestones; trap dykes; mnarble 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 ill
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 accompanying Fig. 27, page 218.
Chapter 2. Auroral limestone in the isolated basins of Lancaster, York, Adams and Chester counties, with trap dykes, iron
ores, &c. (220-231) and little wood-cuts, (figs. 29 and 30) of Nevin's quarry west of the Brandywine, and the broken saddle of
gneiss pushing up the limestone at Bailey's between New London and Kennett Square. In this chapter we have a good deal
that we miss in Chapter I of Division I.
(chapter 3. Auroral Limestone of the South mountains, between 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.
Clihapter 1. Boundaries; dimensions; cleavage; typical formations (F. I and F. II)-Auroral Magnesian limestone; Matinal limestone; Matinal black slate' Matinal newer slate;
fossils, structure; (237-240.)
Chapter 2. Auroral Limestone from Easton to Reading.  Section (text) along the Delaware.  Cleavage. (241-245.)
Chtapter 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 instructive  Wood-cut 32 exhibits the roofing-slate cleavage at the
Delaware WVater Gap. The quarries at Slatington are described; and the surface covering of boulders remarked, but
assigned to diluvial instead of to glacial action.-Hydraulic
lime.




i 40 A.               HISTORY OF THE
Chapter 4. Auroral Limestone from  Reading to Harrismurg.
All that is told of it is on page 251.
Chapter 5. Jiatinal Slate from the Schuylkill to the Susquehanna, with its iron ores, tongues of limestone, shore-breccia
at Bunkers' Hill, and outlying I-Iole mountain, (252-256.)
Chacter 6. Auroral Limestone from Harrisburg to Greencastle,
(257-259.)
Chcater 7. Matinal Slate from the Susquehanna to the Maryland line, page 260.
Chapter 8. Auroral Limestone and Matinal Slate belts in Franklin 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 years 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 afforded opportunities 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, P'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 between 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 investigation de novo, and as if nothing at all had been done in the
Great 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 IIl. Stroudsbur- q-Orwigsburg Valley.
Chapater 1. Litidts of the district and character of the formations,
embracing the Silurian and I)evonian, up to the Coal, i. e. from
the OnLeida, 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 fMountain, and in front of the CatskiFl, 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 curioun diagrammatic comparison of the curves at the Wind Gap
and Lehigh Water Gap (fig. 37) and a totally false section of
Stone Ridge at the Lehigh, (fig. 38.)
(Chapter 6 (289-292) continues it to the Swatara, with a section 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 difference in contour produced 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 volame. 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 feature of our geology.  He has effected important structural
changes in the section north of the Lehigh Gap; and Mr. C.
E. 1Hall 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 section is given in fig. 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 exclusively 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 (305, 306) gives the structure and some local details
of Wayne and Susquehanna counties.




142 A.               HISTORY OF THE
Chapter 4 (307, 312) sketches the Bradlford and Tioga county
finger-mountains, the Wellsboro' and other valleys, the Mansfield 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); R. C. Taylor's (Vespertine) limestone-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. Sherwood was appointed to make, in 1875, a systematic survey of
this Fourth 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 described.
BOOK V. Lower Juniata _District.
DIVISION I. Perry and N. WV. 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 different interpretation.
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 fault, as
shown in figs. 54, 55, 56, are specially noteworthy.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.           A. 143
Chapter 2. Levant, Surgent and Scalent (Oneida, Medina, IV,
Clinton, &e., 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 (North) 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,:North or Blue mountain is
traced and described minutely (334-336) from Harrisburg west
to Mercersburg, with its hooks, gaps and anticlina]ls.
Surgent Se'ries; geographical distribution (336-345.) In this
Henderson 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 remedied by the Surveys of 1874,'3 and'6, by the minute detailed
examination of these outcrops by Mr. IDewees.  Henderson
mapped the undeveloped outcrop of the formation with great
care in Pfout's, Raccoon, Shaeffer's, Kennedy's, South Horse
and Horse valleys, and along the flanks of all the Levant (No.
IV) 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, (Niagara, Lower Helderberg, &c.,) are described by Henderson together, and traced by
him through all their meandering convolutions, in Pfout's valley and Raccoon valley, (346) and along and across nineteen
anticlinals numbered from south to north, (346-350.)
The Oriskany sandstone ridge, (No. 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 Vereygent (VIII) strata in Perry county,
(355-362) in Wildcat ridge, Raccoon ridge, H{alf Fall mountain, Dick's ridge, Mahanoy ridge, and Fishing Creek valley;
with the iron ores of Juniata Furnace (358) and Perry Furnace, (360) and at Oak Grove, (362.) The anticlinals and synclinals of the district are again exhibited in section in Henderson's cuts, ligs. 69 to 71, page 362.
Chapter 5. Ponent (Red Catskill, IX) rocks in Perry county
(363, 364), with the anticlinals and syneclinals again shown in
figs. 72, 73. Here coine in notices of Berry's mountain, Buffalo mountain, (Middle ridge, HIominy  ridge, VIII,) Cove
mountain and Peters' mountain.
Chapter 6. Vespertine( Conglo7merate- (White Catskill X) and
Undmbral Red Shale (XI) in Buffalo mountain, in hIunter's valley 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 Carllsle, 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. By this arrangement of the report reference to the sections is made difficult and tedious. But it was unavoidable; or Dr. Henderson
would have devised a better method.
DIVISION II. Tuscarora Valley.-This is the third great synclinal 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 (367395.) 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 REPORT OF 1858.             A. 145
mountain; Meadow, Cook's, Shade and Pott's gaps. The extraordinary 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; KIurtz' valley; Tuscarora valley proper (378) and its sub-dividing ridges and fo)ssil ore outcrops; Pfout's valley (380); Thompsontown; Waterloo (381); B3urnt 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. Thie Slate hills of VIII, from  the Susquelhanna!
river across the Juniata, through Tuscarora, Kurtz's, Pfout's
and Little Aughwick valleys; with their iDevonian iron ores
(390-395.)
_No wood-cuts accompany any of the chapters in this division;
because 1Henderson'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 onl
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
richlly illustrated by contour-line maps of Mr. Billin, and
the instrumental cross-sections of Mr. Ashburner.  Mr. Lehmann's landscape sketch of the Blue hill on the Susquehanna at
Northumberland, and Dr. HIenderson's cross-section at Lewistown (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 Report.
10-A.




146 A.                HISTORY OF THE
Chapter 1. Character of the formations:-Surgent; fossil ore:
Sca-lent; 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 valley; 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; ending with a slight notice of the fossil ore in the Little Cove.Sulphate of barptes 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) or — at Chester furnace is noticed,
(421.)
Chapter 8. Shales and Sands of VIII throughout the belt
(424-429); ore of the Green 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.)
Cihapter 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 scientific value, but of very inferior practical importance. It is from
a practical or metallurgic point of view that the present survey
regards its work inl 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 bv 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 Vergent of Union county and the Muncy hills, (434-440.) —Descriptive section at Danville (435.)-Vertical section at Muncy (439.)
Chapter 2. Montour ridge in detail, with three cross-sections
(figs. 81, 82, 83) showing the iron ore beds, and vertical section,
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 (441450.)
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. Buffalo valley, west of the Susquehanna (456460.)
DIVISION III. Third Belt, between Jack's mountain and
Bald Eagle mountain; the Buffalo, and Seven mountains,
Stone, Tussey, &c.
Chapter 1. General structure (461-4(i9.) Lehmann's beautiful
outline pictures of the terrace-bordered Kishacoquillas valley,
and a view of Black Log and Shade mountains from Mifflintown are here given.
Chapter 2. Character of the formations (469-475.) The Auroral and Matinal of the valleys, and the Levant of the mountains, with a descriptive section at Bellefonte, are carefully defined.
Chapter 3. Kishacoquillas valley, in detail, with its folds, and
coves, and kell-shated partitions, and terraces, its rocks, aw1(l its




148 A.               HISTORY OF THE
iron mines, (475-480.)-Lehmann's striking view of the mountains 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 anticlinals.
Chapter 5. Buffalo, Nittany and Bald Eagle mountains (483489.) Short, Brush, Nittany, Big mountains are defined; Sugar, Pheasant, Oval and Nippenose valleys are explained, an(d
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 ravines in the south terrace of Nippenose valley are finely shown
in fig. 94. Lesley's sketch of the "6 eddy hill" in Anti's gap of
Nippenose valley (fig. 93) is re-enforced by Lehmann's beautiful
page landscape of the Lehigh Water Gap, with a similar (glacial?) mound in the foreground. This picture ought to have
been given with the text of Book II, chapter 3.
Chapter 6. Nippenose valley (490.)
Chapter 7. Sugar valley (491), with M'IKinley's cross-section.
Chapter 8. Brush valley (492), with a section of its unsymmetrical axis (fig. 96.)
Chapter 9. Penn's valley (493.)
Chapter 10. Nittany valley (494-498.)
Chapter 11, Iron Ores of Nittany 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 published by the present survey.
Chapter 12. Nittany valley continued westward (500-503.)
Lehmann's picture of the Natural Bridge in Canoe valley, illustrates 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 REPORT OF 1858.,A. 149
Chapter 17. Will's mountain and Millikin's cove (510) brings
the belt to the Maryland line, and is pictured grandly by Lehmann.  On the same large plate is placed Lehmann's charming
sketch of the famous view from  the hill-top back of Lewistown, showing the entrance to the Long Narrows, 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.
C/azcpter 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 Huntingdon (facing pages 519 and 520), and in the beautiful colored vignette plate to this volume, by Lehmann.
CThapter 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-sections (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-section of no value, fig, 106; —Troughh Creek valley and its ore of
XI;-descriptive section of the Red Shale mass of XI. 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 appeared, although private surveys have made it very clear, and
large private maps will be published by the present State Survey in 1876.
DIVISION V. Fifth belt along the A.llcyherty mnounLtain.
Chaipter 1.'Upper Silurian formations at Milton, Muncy,
Williamsport arnd Jersey Shore (5)34 —41)),   withti a vertical section of the same at Cumnberland *on the Potomact foir comparison, (fig. 108.)
CYap,(-tr 2. l.pper Silur:.an, between Williamsport and Bellefont e (545-552); witlh desriptive set i lS andl cross-sections (figs.
-~cc,~,(nls and cross-sectio~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ns fis




150 A.                HISTORY OF THE
109, 111); a curious diagram section through the Bald Eagle
mountain to show its belts of vegetation (fig. 110); and Lehmann's
lalndscape view of Bellefonte and the gap.
Chapter 3. Devonian between Mullcy and Bellefonte (548552); with an instructive cross-section of a group of anticlinals 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 Hollidaysburg (552-555); with the fossil-ore outcrops at Hannah
furnace in section (fig. 114); a cross-section and excellent close
description of the limestone strata at Bell's Mills (fig. 117.) A
set of lengthwise drawings by Lesley of the effects 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'sq
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 displacement of Canoe mountain at the fault (fig. 118); and a
landscape sketch from Blue Knob, of the anticlinal end of Dunning's mountain at Hollidaysburg (fig. 119.)
Chapter 6. Lower Helderberg, Oriskany and Devonian, south
from HIollidaysburg (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 Hollidaysburg.
Chapter 7. The fossil ore of V in Dutch Corner near Bed.
ford (560); with a cross-section. A good report of this important 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 section (fig. 127) to show the normal form of the escarpment of
the Allegheny mountain.




FINAL REPORT 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 anticlinals of the region.
Chapter 11. Country west of 3uffalo mountain (570-575);
with Jackion's sections (figs. 135, 136) showing the larger features 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 the
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 bituniinous coal of Western Pennsylvania by the western manufacturers of New York, and by the mining and metallurgical industries of the Upper Lakes.
BOOK VIII. 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
Umlbral (XI) red shale valleys; stratification of the'Coal leasures; Seral Conglomerate (XII), Lower Coal and Lower Barren
measures, Upper Coal and Upper Barren measures; with a typical cross-section, fig. 137, (16) and a detailed description of
the great conglomerate..
DiVISION 1. Southern, or Schuylkill Region (26-235.)
Chapter 1. General structure and sub-divisions (26-41.) Lehigh and Little Schuylkill district, Schuylkill and Swataradistrici, Mine tlill basin, Wiconisco basin and Dauphin basin;the basins A, Aa, B, C, Be, Cb, Cc, c, cc, and anticlinals A, AB,
6,b, c, cc, between Mauch Chunk and Patterson; basins CD, D,




152 A.               HISTORY OF THE
Id, DF, DE, EF, F, FH and G H, FG, f and ff, ff and fff, FFF
and FFFF, and their corresponding separating anticlinals between Patterson and Pottsville;-basins H and I, Ii, Ji, JK,
K, and axes, between Tuscarora and Mill Creek;-basins C and
E west, EF, FG, GI1t, Hh, hI, iJ, JK, between Mill Creek and
West Norwegian; —the western series of fiexures; anticlinals
L, M, L (or F west), LM, N, MN, 0, P, PP, QQ,, Q, R, R,
RR, RRR, S or K, QR, RS, S, between Pottsville and Tremont.
This will give some idea of Mr. Rogers' system of notation,
by which lie endeavored to overcome the extraordinary difficulties attendant upon a detailed geographical and geological description 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 enable the reader to comprehend the local
geology.
All the other anthracite coal fields are provided with corresponding sets of letters to distinguish their plications; but local 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 numbers used on the map to refer to them.
Chapter 2. Nesquehoning and Panther Creek (or Tamaqua)
district (47-75.) Mauch 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 sections 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 described, to show what beds are lifted to the surface, and
especially the Peach mountain axes.
Chapter 5. Tamaqua to Silver Creek in detail (96-119). Twelve
cross-sections exhibit the order and attitude of the coals in the
basin, and seven vertical sections show the individual coal beds.
Lehmann's 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 beautiful 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 crosssections. 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. Seventyfour 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 Gate Vein measures in Pottsville, 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. Whelpley's sections along the West Branch and Wolf creek, at Minersville, and through Silvertown, occupy the 4, 5, 6 lines of




154 A.               HISTORY OF THE
Plate II. Other smaller sections on Swatara creek waters occupy lines I 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 (179188). 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. Whelpleys beautiul crosssection 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, orbird'seye-view, westward, of the ranges of mountains, and the forking 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 crosssections (figs. 181-184). Cross-sections of Red mountain at
Tremont; Sharp mountain coals at Rausch 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 (212225). 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 susceptible of great enlargement, now that twenty years of miu



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. No essential modification, 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 flexures in the centres of the sub-synclinals, nor the exact amount of
distortion of the crowns of the sub-anticlinals, underground.
The laudation 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 report of 1858, if the Pottsville people had taken the trouble to
read it. The excitement at that time, and the delighted astonishment of the coal-world at the more recent success of the Reading 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 reglon,-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 induce 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.                HISTORY OF TILE
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 deserve 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'" Mami
moth" and the " Jugular Vein" is here shunned. Mr. Rogers
neither letters nor numbers his beds, but gives the accepted
local names.  Mr. Daddlow's attempt to transfer from the Bitlminous 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 thle report of the First Survey been published in
a cheap and handy form and become thus universally distributed and discussed, it would never have been supplanted, {n its
r8le as a text book of geological knowledge for the citizens of
Pennsylvania, by a mischievous travesty, disgraceful to the
author and the age.
Cha ter 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 instances; and the modes in which the flexures break and slip,
doubling the outcrops (figs. 200, 201.)-Mr. Rogers 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 Region.
Chapter 1. General Description of this Eastern Middle Anthracite Coal Field (239-243.) The anticlinals of Green mountairl, Dreck's ridge, Council ridge, &c. &c. and the Beaver Meadow, 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.
Ch/apter 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. Mahanoy and Shamokin or " Western Middle"
Coal Field.
Chapter 1. lMahanoy coal region (265-306.)  General structure and topography. The three Mahanoy and the three Shamokin basins, with their subordinate troughs and anticlinals,
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
Ridge axis (fig. 227); and four others (figs. 229-232) showing
its increasing importance furthe.r west; his general section
across the region (fig. 224); and his lovely little broken anticlinal 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 Shamokil gap; and eight columnar seetions of the
Mammoth bed and one or two others.-The subsequent instrumental survey of 1851 furnished the four long elaborate sections 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, illustrated by five cuts of the coals in the text and two noble
sections at Eyster's gap, on Plate VI. An interesting woodcut on page 317 shows the slate roof of Coal 10, near Trevorton, 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; Solomon's gap; Nanticoke; Kingston; Wilkesbarre; Mill Creek
(figs. 251-256); general structure of the basin; undulations;
Campbell's ledle conglomerate, plicated slightly (fig. 257); Coal
Measures; sub-divisions of the field: —1. Carbondale, 2. Scranton, 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 Warriorpath 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.)
Chapter 3. Scranton district (338-360); with its undulations;
the Roaring Brook basin; Pine Brook basin; Diamond Coal
mines; between Hyde Park and Pittston; between Springbrook 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 below upward, according to M'Kinley's original classification.
The series is shown in columnar fig. 262 at Scranton, and hori



FINAL REPORT 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 lon  section across the basin through Scranton,
(line 1, Plate V, end of volume,) extends from the top of the
nmountaiin south to the Providence road. Excellent as it was
in that early day, it can now be greatly improved.
(ihapter 3. Pittston and Mill Creek district (361-375); axes
VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, X VI (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 Griffith, 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 volume.
Chapter 4. Wilkesbarre, Nanticoke 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 section 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 Blackman's (fig. 287), at Landmesser's (fig. 288), are given; while
Lehmann's colored interior of the mine, facing page 382, 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
Lehmann's picture oi the Nanticoke gap, face.q page 399, and
exhibits the curious coquetry of the Susquehanna in leaving
the valley, after having entered it at Pittston, to flow between the Conglomerate ridge and the White Catskill (Shickshinny) mountain; then after a number of miles turninlg sharply
to cut off its end, leaving a minute patch of its coal mounted
on a pedestal of conglomerate, fiactured 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 Nanticoke.
One of the most curious crush.faults in any coal field is beautifully pictured in fig. 284, a section of anticlinal XIX, near
the foot of the lower plane in Solomon's gap.
Chapters 6. Wyoming, Kingston and Plymouth district (405412); with special descriptions of the Great Bed at Plymouth
(figs. 303, 305, 306), 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 column of all the beds in the measures (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 knowledge, since obtained, awaits publication.
It ought to be known that besides numerous surface maps
and underground maps of colleries 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 published by Mr. Rothwell, which would be a most valuable contribution 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.
fled 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's valley, Silver
Creek, Zachariah run, East Rosendale, Crow  Hollow, Mill
Creek, East and West Norwegian, West Branch, Minersville,
Wolf Creek, WV. W. Branch, Muddy Branch, Swatara, Middle




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.           A. 181
Creek, Donaldson, Raush Gap, Bear Gap; and in the Mine
Hill valley. No illustrations are given, except one of a ground
plan of the Otto White and Grey Ash colleries, fig. 31-2, (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 VIII-Continued (448-465.)
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 elaborately surveyed by Lesley and Fulton, and the map after being
revised and enlarged in 1875 and 8T76, 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 total coal area in Pennsylvania being estimated at 12,655.77
square miles.
BOOK IX. _Bituminous Coal Fields.
DIvIsroN I. Vespertine (X) and Umbral (XI) series in the Bitumainous Coal Region (466.)-Their topographical relations.
Chapter 1. Vespertine (X) conglomerate; modifications of
type and thickness (467.)
Chapter 2. Umbral (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); 1,059 feet of rocks from the coal down to VIII
are described in this last section of the fine gap at Blairsville.
Lehmann's landscape of the plains of Western Pennsylvania,
as seen through the Loyalhanna gap from the turnpike summit 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.) General 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 Conemaugh and Ohio.
Chapter 1. _First basin and axis (480.)
Chapcter 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.)
Chcapter 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 Lycoming 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 centre-line, and that its two sub-divisions correspond to Hodges'
1st and 2d basins. It is too late to alter the numbering 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
"G first basin," the 3d 1" 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.)
ChcaPter 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 VII, at the end of the volume, gives




FINAL REPORT OF 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 (507510); 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 (511519); with columnar sections at Fall Creek, Gatiss' (Towanda
basin), Ralston 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 (XII), Red shale (XT) and iron
ore, Catskill rocks (X and IX) and top of the Chemung (VIII),
with its iron ore near the bed of the Lycoming valley.
Chapter 3. Third or Blossburg basin (519-524); with seven
small columnar sections of the coal measures; and one (fig.
35'9) of the whole series from  the coal down to the Red Catskill (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 comrn
menced extending from  Ridgeway, Warren and Renovo eastward to Blossburg and Ralston.
Chapter 7. First basin in Centre and Clearfield (527-533) with
six little vertical sections of Heodge.
Chapter 8. Second basin in Centre and Clearfield (533-538)
with three columnar sections of Hodge, and Lesley's two diagram sections with background to show the erosion of the Susquehanna valleys and ravines (figs. 364, 365.)
Chapter 9. Third basin in Clearfield and Jefferson (538-540)
with one columnar section, and a cut of the Caledonia iron
beds




164 A.               HISTORY OF TIIE
CGhapter 10. Fourth basin in Elk and Jefferson counties (540545), 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
Platt, and described in his Report of Progress for that year,
with 139 wood-cuts and ten maps and long sections.
Chapcter 11. Fifth and Sixth basilns in Potter, M'Kean, Elk
and Forest counties (546-553), with five meagre columnar sections. This exceedingly important region was a wilderness
when these notes were taken, more than thirty years ago. Railroads 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 occupy 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 IKenzua creekl and
Tunamaguont; and nine cuts of the lowest coal bed and its
relationship to the Conglomerate (XII). All this is very obscure and uncertain, and involves the difficult subject of the
"' Tionesta sandrock" and its supposed coal series. The Present
Survey is studying the question instrmmentally to reach reliable
conclusions. Mr. Carll revolutionized our ideas of the stratigraphy 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: irom  Beaver to Sharon,
from  Sharon to Meadville and Warren, and from Oil City to
Ridgway; and nothing can be asserted with absolute confidence until the results along the whole line are collated and
harmonized. Lesley's 1841 diagram section west of Smethport
is given in fig. 386; and a subsequent rude vertical diagram of
the hill-side rocks at Warren in fig. 392. Mr. Randall's section at Warren, in Carll's Report of 1874, improves upon it;
but much has vet to be done before the relations of the conglomerates of the Catskill series, and the sandstones of the
Chemung series, at and around Warren, are differentiated in a
sure 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 Nfew
York Conglomerate (2d mountain sand, or Garland Rock,) and
the Berea Grit (3d mountain sand.)
Chapter 14. Bottom coals of Mercer and Beaver and Lawrence counties (564-567) with eight columnar sections. A special survey in 1875 by Mr. Chance, and previous private surveys (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.
C(hapter 16. Clarion series west of the Allegheny river (572576), with seven columnar sections of I eodge, 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 (576580), 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 19. Fi/fth basin; Red Bank; Jefferson county (583586), 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 measures on the
summits of the country.  (See the contour-line maps at New
Bethlehem, in Platt's Report of Progress for 1874.)
Chapter 29. Third and Fourth basins; Mahoning and Cowanshannock creeks; Indiana and Armstrong counties (586-589);
with eight columnar sections; fig. 443 showing the great Reynoldsville bed at Punxatawny.
Chapter 21. Third basin in Indiana county (589-591), with
three columnar sections. This county and eastern Armstrong
are almost unknown to geology. The district will be thoroughly surveyed in 1-876.
Chapter 22. Fourth and Fifth basins, north of the Kiskaminitas; Kittanning and Freeport (592-599), with ten columnar




166 A.                HISTORY 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 Leechburg is given (fig. 459.)
Chapter 23. Third basin (first sub-division) at Blairsville,
Saltsburg, &c. (599-602), with four of Jackson's columnar sections. Fig. 466 gives 400 feet of measures on Chestnut Ridge.
Chzapter 24. Lower Coal Jleasures along Chestnut Ridge,
(Loyalhanna, Jacob's creek, Mount's creek, &c.) to the Marylaud 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 variations 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 genesis of coal beds, nor respecting the possible water currents and
changes of level, so often talked about in a reckless and ignorant 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, and a columnar section at New Alexandria (fig. 514).
Chapter 27. The Pittsburg coals around Pittsburg (630-635),
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 landscape of Pittsburg and the union of the rivers to form the




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.           A. 16 7
Ohio, with the eddy-hill on which Allegheny College stands
in the middle distance, faces page 630. Lehmann ascended
Grant's Htill every day of the week 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 Greensburg in the third
trough of the Third basin (636-650), with eight columnar sections 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'Kinley) give 500 feet of measures. Fig. 522 shows the subdivisions 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 Report 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 system of the coal beds now so widely adopted. But it was never intended to apply beyond a limited
region, and has done more harm than good. The Ohio Geologists 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 Anthracite Collieries No 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.
Where 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. 5362; and a specimen of
ancient erosion inside the coal measures, in fig. 563. In Stevenson's Report of Progress for 1875, underground (ancient)
valleys of erosion, affecting large sections of the Barren Measures in Washington and Greene counties, will be described.This chapter will be superseded by Mr. Platt's Report of 1875.
Chapter 30. Sharon (sub-conglomerate) series in southern
Somerset and Fayette (665, 666.) This is a hint of the important expansion of the lowest coal measures through the Southern
States. (See Stevenson's memoirs on Virginia coals.)
PART III. Mesozoic 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 junction of the Laurentian (?) Gneiss and the [New Red, from Valley 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 New Red; the termination of
the North Valley Hill (Potsdamn S. S. No. 1,?) a little east of
Valley creek; and the way in which the Auroral limestone
laps round it, and slides under the New Red; a fine place to
study this being in the ravine at Port Kennedy.
Chapter 2. Lower Calcareous Conglomerate west of the Susquehanna, along the south limit of the New Red (679, 680).
Chapter 3. Upper Ccalcareous 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 limestone (No. II) near Reading, filled with the Potomac marble
breccia (fig. 568.)
This whole subject requires reconsideration, as the surveys of




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.           A. 169
1874 and 1875 in York and Adams counties show. The apparently unbroken dip of tile New Red towards the north has
been proved to be a deception by the mining operations at Dillsburg, and the English geologists have made a like discovery in
their New Red country. The formation was accounted a barren field of research and neglected by the First Survey. It requires 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
New Red, the southern border of which appears on all the
cross-sections illustrating his Report of 1874.
Chapter 4. Trap dykes in the New Red (684-697); with Mr
Rogers' cross-section sketch of a dyke through shales in a railroad 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 Cambridge 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 recur. 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 describes the New Red of the Connecticut river, and of the James,
Dan and Deep rivers in the South (694-697.)
PART IV. Igneous Rocks and  i'nerals, Veins and Ores.
The rarity of unstratified and igneous rocks in Pennsylvania;
granitic dykes; greenstone (706).
Geological relations of the mineral veins near Phoenixville;
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; I(nauertown iron and copper veins; Elizabeth copper mine; Steel's iron ore pits; Hopewell Furnace ore pits.
Warwick iron mines; Leighton iron mines (fig. 571); War.
wick mine (fig. 572); IKnauertown mine; others (708). Old
copper mine in Lancaster county.
Catalogue of localities for mineral collectors (709).
Iron Ores of the Gneissic and Palceozoic Formations of Pennsylvania. Introductory remarks (712).
Chapter 1. Magnetic and Chrome iron ores (713-717). Metalliferous 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. 575577). This mine needs much further explanation. Other geologists take views opposed to those here stated.-Surface ores.Table of analyses.
Chapter 3. Auroral and Matinal iron ores (722-728); 1. on
the Lehigh; 2. between Allentown and Reading; with four
cuts and long tables of analyses. This imrperfect 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 differentiated 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 VITI, Devonian, (732, 733). Table
of analyses.
Chapter 7. Iron ore of XIZ  Sub-carboniferous, (734). Table
of analyses.
Chapter 8. Ir-on ores of the Coal OMeasures, (735-739). Prof.
William B. Rogers' theory of the origin and accumulation of
this ore. In this memoir the distinguished geologist of Virginia 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 remains; but
where the New 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 concentrated;-fifthly, that to explain the widely spreading ore
beds by mineral springs or chemical precipitation is inadmissable;-sixthly, that all, the sediments of the Coal Measure age
were charged with sesquioxide of iron in a diffused 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 diffused 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. Tlable 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* In this Mr. Rogers seems to adopt Murchison's error (which that geologist afterwards corrected) of making the Bala and Caradoc different rocks,
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 OF THE
sonal acquaintance with English geology, and the judicial character 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; Geographical _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 ill one sentence (page
775): e" the new direction imparted is constantly such as a moving 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 forml 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 furnished with proper wood-cuts.:
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, cotemporaneous with the first placer mining.
t For the latest, clearest and most concise statement of the whole subject
of glacial erosion and transportation see J. G. Goodehild's paper (No. IfI)
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-cut illustrations.
t It is very curious and instructive to observe how the old cataclysmic deluge of Rogers, as opposed to the glacial droppings of Agassiz, has been recently 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 illustrate the paragraph on the Northern Drift.
Conditions of the Physical Geography attending the production
of the Paleozoic 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 nonconformability are represented as sudden and violent changes of the relative 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 presuppose in their hypotheses.
After preliminary observations, the author describes, in regular 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 Palemontological break between 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,-Surgent.-Scalent, &c. &c. up to the Umbral.
Here a new subject commences:-Of the Limits of the Appalachian 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 Fireclay floor;-Of the Roof of the Coal;-Of the direct contact
* Fig. 586, " Hasbrouck's quarry, Rondout, shomwing unconformity of Premeridian (VI) upon Matinal (II) strata," is 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 (III). This is certainly not a 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
sketcher is a dangerous companion for the geologist. The upper part of the
line of contact is cunningly drawn, so as to support the nonconformity hypothesis; 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 iway that best
suited the nntions 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 killing 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 volatile 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 1-815)
gives tile 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.
7The Fossils of Pennsylvania are described in two important
memoirs, one by Mr. Rogers: On the Organic Remains of the
Palheozoic strata of Pennsylvania (815-836), and the other by
Mr. Leo Lesquereux on the Coal Plants (837-884).
Fossils of the Primal Strata: Scolithus linearis (fig. 589) and
Paradoxides spinosus (fig. 590).
Auroral: Leptcena inerassata (591), Atrypa plicifera (592), Murchisonia bicincta (593), Raphistoma staminea (594), Macluria magna (585), Orthoceras multicameratum (596), and others not figured
here, but figured in ITall's Paleontology of New York and
elsewhere; about one hundred species in all, embracing plants,
polyzoa, mollusca and crustaceans.
Matinal: II. 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 effect 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 REPORT OF 1858.               A. 175
roral limestone next below. Of these are figured Chcetetes lycoperdon (597), Strictopora acuta (598), Leptcena sericea (599),
Leptcena alternata (600), Orthis testudinaria (601), Orthis pectinella (602), Lingula curta (604), Orbicula (n. s.? 603), Ambonychia bellastriata (605), Pleurotomaria subeonica (606), Bellerophon
bilobatus (607), Orthoceras vertebrale (609), Conularia Trentonensis (610), Isotelusgigas (611), and Trinucleus coneentricus (612.)
Matinal Shale: III. Characteristic and common forms are
given in figures: Graptolithus priscus (612), Calymene Beckii
(613), Agnostos lobatus (614), Lingula quadrata (615), Delthyris
lynx (616), Avicula insueta (617), Modiolopsis modiolaris (618),
Cyrtolithes ornatus (619), Pleurotomaria bilix (620), Ormoceras
crebriseptum (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 theLevant: IV. The principal fossil of these strata is the seaweed, Arthrophycus Harlani (623); with a small whorled shell
Bucania trilobatus (624), and Lingula cuneata.
Surgent; V. Of about 120 species known in 1858, are figured: _Buthrotrephis gracilis? (625), Rusophycus bilobatus (626),
Cornulites (627), Avicula subplana (628), Lingula oblonga (629),
Leptxena 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.  Beyrichia Pevnsylvanica* and the little thorn-like Teutaculites ornatus (638) mark this horizon, which is rich in trilobites and other
fossils. Mr. Rogers here figures (639) a spine of Onchus (?)
Deweii (from HIall's Plate LXVI) and pronounces against it as
a fish spine.
Premeridian: VI, Lower Helderberg; very fossiliferous; the
most abundant forms being figured as Atrypa peculiaris (640),
Atrypa-? (641), Atrypa ievis (642), Delthyris macropleura (643),
Spirifer sulcatus (644), Rhynconella nobilis (645), Pentamerus
galeatus (646), Platyostoma (647), Strophomena punctulifera (648).
* On page 834 Mr. Rogers prints notes by Mr. T. Rupert Jones, Curator of
the London Geological Society's museum, on the nature of the.Beyrichia
I.~accoyiana, B. Pennsylvanica, Leperditia ovata, L. Gibbera 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.                 Hr'STORY OF THE
Meridian: VII, Oriskany. Undleecrbed Calymene and Orbicula near Moorestown, north of Montour's ridge, and at Frankstown.  The characteristic and conspicuous forms are figured as
Mieganteris ovoides (649), Spirifer arenosa (650), and the most remarkable 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 specimens appear at Tyrone and elsewhere.
Cadent: VIII, Hamilton Lower black slate. The most common shell is Atrypa limitaris (652), and next, Orbicula minuta
(653) and the delicate Orthoceras sublatum (654); Cyathophyllum
turbinatum  (655); a Fenestella (656); Avicula decussata (657),
Modiola compressa (658), Avicula flabella (659), Microdon bellastriata (660), Orthonota undulata (661),other Aviculas (662, 663),
Strophomena crenistria (665), Strophomena demissa (666), Spirifer spiriferoides (667), Spirifer rnucronata (668) very abundant,
Delthyris medialis (669), Delthyris congesta (670), Atrypa aspera
(671), Tropidolepis carinatus (672), Delthyris granulifera (673),
Productus hirsutus (674); the interesting coal plant Lepidodendron primcevis (675), and with it, in the same slates, the delicate whorled shell Goniatites interruptus? (676). The most common 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 figured only one plant, a Lepidodendron (677); and Avicula dam~noniensis (678), Avicula       (679), Strophomena Chemungensis (680), Atrypa hystrix (681), Atrypa eximia (682), and Delthyris cuspidata (683).
Ponent: IX, Lower Catskill. Only one figure (684) of a nameless 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 foot
prints at Mount Carbon near Pottsville, and to the subsequent
discovery of other smaller foot prints in the gap of the West




FINAL REPORT 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  magnificent plant "resembling a.Desmarestia" from  the red shale
occupies Plate XXIII.
Coal Measures: In 1857 Mr. vW. B. R1ogers, Jr. discovered in
coal slate near the mouth of the Ravensdale tunnel, casts of an
Avicula? and of a ]7ellenomya? 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 Pentrernites (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) characteristic and commonly observed fossils (mostly shells) from most
of the sub-divisions of the Paleozoic System in Pennsylvania,
and would, if separately published, furnish a useful little handbook to the citizens of the State. Its value to geologists studying the ancient flora and fauna is very small; but such students:
will necessarily resort to the large volumes of the New York
Survey, and no publication of the fossils of Pennsylvania, however elaborately prepared, could set aside this necessity. A preliminary Report of Progress will be made by Mr. C. 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 whatbecame of the large collections of fossils made by the Assist —
ants of Mr. Rogers during the prosecution of the first survey,.
from 1835 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 they 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 OF THE
any true sense of the term, for there are no descriptions of them
in the Final Report; except the descriptions 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 Natural 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 fossils 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 afford to make it."
Mr. Hyatt goes on to say:*-" The Rogers collections have
suffered much damage from the loss of labels; this is particularly the case with the Henry D. Rogers collection, xhich 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.
Rogers, 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 former 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 Technology, 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 respecting the alleged carelessness of the Glasgow packer; for the
mineral collections of the Pennsylvania Survey were in the
same condition 35 years ago; divorced from their field labels,
and not all of them even ticketed with numbers; and worse
than all, the catalogues had disappeared. The immense collections of that great and protracted survey, both mineral and organic, had therefore never any real scientific value. Nor was
this in more than a small degree Mr. Rogers' fault. Ile had a
large corps and a miserably small annual appropriation, to obtain which he had to make fight against a false sentiment of
economy, and a universal ignorance and indifferance 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. IIe 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 disbanded; his Final Report was to be written, and that without
pay. The immense quarto which finally appeared should relieve his memory of any charge of want of interest in or effort
to complete the work; for it was simply a physical impossibility that one man should do the work of many. His error lay
in the attempt. There were a dozen men of science in Philadelphia 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 Sciences 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 Pittsburg; 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 localization of the rest at Philadelphia; there he concentrated the best;




180 A.               HISrORY OF THE
and all the fossils. Had he deposited these in the Museum of
the Academy, if only during the six years of collection, they
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 survey 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 almost 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. Society in Boston. As it is now impossible to tell where they
were found, they cannot afford us any help in our present efforts
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 instruction and warning. It shows how indispensable to the safety
and utility of tile collections of any great survey is a Museum
Building, with a salaried curator, and a paid or volunteer service, 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.
Fossil 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 memoir Mr. Lesquereux publishes 110 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 ItEPORT OF 1858.             A. 181
of the Rev. Mr. Moore, at Greensburg, in the Third Bituminous coal basin.
These new species constitute about one-half of the total number of well-defined forms detected by him in the Coal Measures
of Pennsylvania previous to 1857.e  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 American species, also were closely related to those of Europe.
The species were more numerous and abundant in the Anthracite 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-tplants, 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 vein 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 locality it was clearly proven that the Salem lies several hun.
dred feet above the Gate.
For nearly twenty years since writing this memoir Mr. Lesquereux has continued to prosecute his researches on this important subject, in Kentueky and Arkansas under David Dale
Owen, in Illinois under Mr. Worthen, in Indiana under Mr.
Coxe, and in Kansas, and the Rocky mountains under Dr. IIayden; 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 of ferns alone,
known now, as 350; of which nearly one-half have been detected in the Carboniferous of the United States. This is an index of tne progress of the
science.




182 A.                HISTORY OF THE
California, and large collections from other coal fields of
America, tertiary and cretaceous, as well as carboniferous, have
been placed at his disposal for study and publication. IHis writings 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 i-ours the treasures of knowledge of a long life of
incessant labor in this field of his affections, 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 introduction to Mr. Lesquereux's
-Description of the Fossil Plants found in the Anthracite and Bituminous Coal Measures of Pennsylvania (847-884.)
In his general remarks he discusses the subjects: which species are characteristic of the lower and upper measures; the botanical relationships of the anthracite and bituminous measures; the botanical resemblances of American and European
coal measures; the completeness or incompleteness of the picture which the fossils afford 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 comprehend 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 divides the plants of the Coal Measures into classes, and describes
the genera and species of each class separately:FIRST CLASs.-Funginewe; or mushrooms, only one of which,
Polyporites 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 coalslate, especially at T'reverton, where the slates are sometimes




FINAL REPORT OF 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. —Algce; or sea-weeds. Not 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-carboniferous, Devonian and Silurian rocks, and Mr. Lesquereux ascribed 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 Rock Creek.) Mr. Lesquereux
divides the Algoe into:1. CGOND_RI7WES: Sternberg.
1. C. Antiquus.  Stern.  (Buthotrephis? flexuosa. Htall)
2. C. Fargionis,  Stern. (See Plate XVII, figs. 13 to 17.)
Il. PUCOIDES.  Harlan.  (See Pinnularia, Plate XVII.)
1. F. Alleghaniensis.  Harlan.
2. F. Brogniarti. Harlan.
THIRD CLASS.-AMuscites; 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.t
FOURTH CLASS. — Calamarice;: or reeds, which are very abundant in all coal measure rocks, and are often seen as standing
forests where the ocean breaks the coal measures down in vertical cliffs, as at Sydney, and on the Bay of Funda.  They are
divisable into:
I CALAMITES, Suck.; or REEDS
1. C. decoratus, Brongt,
2. C. Suckovil, Brongt.
3. C. ramosus, Brongt.
4. C. cruciatlus, Stern.
X 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 Asterophyllites seems to be a part of this plant. —(See Plate 1, figs. 1,
la, 2, 3.)




184 A.                  HISTORY OF THE
b. C. undulatus, lronlgt.
6. C. Oistii, Brongt.
7. C. dubitus, Artis Antidil. Phitol.
8. C. cannaoformis, Brongt.
9. C. pachyderma, Brongt.
10. C. bistriatus, Lesq.  (Plate II, fig. 1.)
11. C. disjunretus, Lesq.  (Plate II, fig. 5.)
12. C. approximatus, Brongt.
II  EQ UISETES, Sternb.; or HORSE-TAILS.
1. E. stellifolius, Unger.*
III: ASTER OPHYLLITES, Brongt.
1. A. gracilis, Brongt.
2. A. equisetiformis, Brongt.
3. A. foliosa, Lindl,. and Hutt.
4. A. crassicaulis, Lesq.  (Plate I, fig. 1 —a.)
5. A. ovalis, Lesq.  (Plate I, fig. 2.)
6. A. sublcvis, 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. Brardii, Brongt.
IV. ANNULARIA, Brongt.t
1. An. minuta, Brongt.
2. An. fertilis, Sternb.
3. An. longifolia, Brongt.
4. An. sphenophylloides, Unger. (Plate I, 5, 5a.)
V. SPENOPHYLL UM, Brongt.4
i. S. Schlotheimii, Brongt.ll  (Plate I, 8, 8a, 8b.)
2. S. emarginatum, Brongt.
3. S. filiculmis, Lesq. (Plate 1, fig. 6.)
* This is Harlan's.Equisitum stellifolium and not a horse-tail, but an Annularia. 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 Annulariafertilis of Brogniart; but the real Equisetes came into existence after
the Coal Era. Sternberg's Equisetites mirabilis is the stem of an unknown
plant of which nothing more can be said.
t Lesquereux refuses Unger's classification of these with Asterophyllites.
t Ordinarily foand with Asterophyllites, but although often seemingly
never really belonging to the same plant.
11 Entirely covering the slates of the South Salem vein at Pottsville.




FINAL: REPORT OF 1858.             A. 185
4. S. trifoliatum, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 7.)
5. S. oblongifolium, Unger.
FIFTH 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 they are the least destructable of
plants. Their classification is difficult, because there are few
reliable characteristic features. Gdppert's new basis of classification-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 NEUROPT'EBRIDEJJ; 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. No fruit ever found, although the
plants are abundant.
1. NOEGUGERA THIA, Sternb.
1. N. obliqua, Gdpp.
2. N. obtusa, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 11.)
3. N. minor, Lesq. (Plate I, 10.)
4. N. Bockschiana, Lesq.* (Plate III, 1, la, lb, 1c, ld.)
2. C YCL OPTERIS, Brongt.
1. 0. flabellata, Brongt.
2. C. fimbriata, 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. C. hirsuta, Lesq. (IV, 1 to 16.)
8. C. orbicularis, Brongt.
9. C. Germari, Gbpp.
8. NEUBROPTERIS, Brongt.
1. N. Rogersi, Lesq.  (VII, 2.)
2. N. hirsuta. Lesq. (III, 6; IV, 1-16.)
3. N. Clarksoni, Lesq. (VI, fig 1.)
4. 2N. fissa, Lesq. (III, fig. 2.)
* In No. X, opposite Mauch Chunk,  (IV, 19 to 22; V, 1, 2.)




186 A.                 HISTORY OF THE
5. N. smilacifolia, Sternb. (XX, 4.:
6. N. plicata, Sternb.
7. N. flexuosa, Brongt.
8. N. Loschii, Brongt. (XX, 3.)
9. N. rotundifolia, Brongt.
10. N. tenuifolia, Brongt.
11. N. gigantea, Brongt.
12. LV. Grangeri, Brongt.
13. N. Cistii, Brongt.
14. N. delicatula, Lesq. (XX, 2.)
15. N. Willersii, Brongt. (III, 8.)
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. dentata, Lesq. (V, 9, 10.)
21. N. Desorii, Lesq.  (V, 11, 12; XX, 5, 6, 7, 8.)
22. N. heterophylla, Brongt.
23. N. minor, Lesq.  (III, 4.)
24. N. rarinervis, Bunlb.
25. N. Moorii, Lesq.  (XIX, 1.)
26. N. adiantes, Lesq. (XX, 1.)
4. OIDONTOPTERIS, Brongt.
1. 0. squamosa, Lesq.  (XIX. 2, 26.)
2. 0. Brardii, Brongt.
3. 0. crenulata, Brongt.
4. 0. Schlotheimii, Brongt.  (VII.)
5. 0. dubia, Lesq.
5. D YCTIOPTERIS, Gutb.
1. D. Obliqua, Bunb.* (VIII, 6.)
II. SPHENOPTERID)EAI; frond bi-tripinnate or bi-tripinnatifid; pinnules sometimes entire, but mostly lobate, the
lobes wedge-form  at the base, dentate or diversely 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. S. Darallia, Gdpp.
2. S. tenella, Brongt.
3. S. Gravenhorstii, Brongt.
4. S. Dubuissonii, Brongt.
5. S. abbreviata, Lesq. (IX,l t, lb.)
6. S. intermedia, Lesq.  (VIII, 8, 9, 9a.)
7. S. flagellaris, Lesq. (XVIII, 1.)
8 S. plicata, 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. Newberryi, Lesq. (IX, 4.)
15. S. Lesquereuxii, Necob. (X, 1.)
16. S. squamosa% Lesq. (X, 3.)
17. S. artemesicefolia, Brongt.
2. HYMENOPHIYLLIT. ES, GSpp.
1. H. fureatus? Gdpp
2. H. Hildreti, Lesq. (IX, 5, 5a.)
3. H. capillaris, Lesq.  (IX, 6.)
8. PACCHYPHYLLUM, Lesq.
1. P. fimbriatum, Lesq. (VIII, 2.)
2. P. affine, Lesq. (VIII, 1.)
3. P. hirsutum, Lesq. (VIII, 3.)
4. P. laceratuam, Lesq.
5. P. lactuca, Lesq. (VIII, 4, 5,)
I~L  PECOPTERIDEZE; frond either simple, pinnate, bitripinnate, or bi-tripinnatifid; pinnules attached to the rachis
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 species except A8plenites nodosus, characterized by form
and position of fructification, are removed fiom this section by Lesquereux
The;enus is overcharged with heterogeneous species.




1.88 A..               HISTORY OF T11i
1. ASPLENITES, G6pp.
1. A. rubra, Lesq.
2. ALETHOPTERIS, Sternb. and Gopp.
1. Al. lonchitidis, Sterlb.
2. Al. Pennsylvanica, Lesq.  (XI, 1, 2.'
3. Al. aquilina, Gdpp.
4. Al. urophylla, G6pp.
5. Al1. Serlii, Gdpp.
6. zi. marginata, G6pp.
7. Al1. distans, Lesq. (XII, 2.)
8. Al. obscura, Lesq.  (I, 13, 14.)
9. Al. serrula, Lesqo (XII, 1.)
10. Al. nervosa, G6pp. (XVIII, 3.)
11. Al. Iavis, Lesq.
12. Al. muricata, G6pp.
3. CALLIPTERIS, Brongt.
1. C. Sullivantii, Lesq. (V, 13.)
4. PECOPTERIS, Brongt.
1. P. Cistii, Brongt.
2. P. polymorpha. Brongt.
3. P. distans, Lesq.  (XI, 3.)
4. P. velutina, Lesq.  (XII, 3.)
5. P. ovata, 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. pennceformis, Brongt.
17. P  plumosa, Brongt.
18. P. Sillimanni, Brongt.
19. P. Loschii, Brongt.
20. P. decurrens, Lesq. (XI, 5a.)
21. P. incompleta. Lesq.  (I, 12.)




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.                 A. 189
Besides thewe, are ferns of undetermined affinities.
CREMAPT)ORIS, V. P. Schimper.
1. C. Pennsylvanica, Lesq. (III, 5.)
SCOLOPENDRITES, Lesq.
1. S. grossedentata, Lesq. (VIII, 7.)
Certain stems of trees are also uncertainly related to other
fossil remains; of these are:I  CAULOPTERIS, Lind. and IHutt.
1. 0. punctata, Lesq. (XIII, 1.)
2. C. gigantea, Lesq. (XIII, 2.)
3. C. Oistii, Brongt.
IL PSARONIUS, Corda.
III. DIPLOSTEGIUM, Corda.
1. D. ]Brownianum, Corda.
IV. STIGMARIA, Brongt.
1. St. ficoides, Brongt.*
2. St. anabathra, Corda.
3. St. costata, Lesq. (II, 8.)
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.)
5. Si. dilatata, Lesq. (XIII, 5.)
6. St. Schimperi, Lesq.  (XIV, 1.)
7. Si. stellata, Lesq.  (XIV, 2.)
8. Si. Menardi, Lesq.
9. Sio Brardii, Brongt.
* Lesquereux here corrects an old error, Sir W. E. Logan's discovery that
this fossil characterizes the underclay of all coal beds has been accepted by
all geologists. Lesquereux says that it is a mistake. He has found the fossil 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 of 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. Dejrancii, Brongt.
11. Si. Serlii, Brongt.
12. Si. tessellata, Brongt.
13. Si. elegans, Brongt.
14. Si. BBroehantii, 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. icevigata, Brongt.
24. Si. elongata, Brongt.
25. Si. rugosa, Brongt.
26. Si. alternans, Lind. and Hutt.
27. Si. catenulata, Lind. and Hutto
28. Si. discoidea, Lesq. (XIV, 5.)
VI. SYJRINGODENDRON, Stern. and Brong;.
1. Sy. pachyderma, Brongt.
2. Sy. cyclostegium, Brongt.
VII. LEPIDODENDR ON, Sternb.
1. L. aculeatum, Sternb.
2. L. rugosum, Sternb.
3. L. crenatum, Sternb.
4. L. obovatum, Sternb.
5. L. modulaturnm, Lesq. (XV, 1.)
6. L. giganteum, Lesq. (XV, 1.)
7. L. vestitum, Lesq.  (XVI, 3.)
8. L. conicum, Lesq.  (XV, 3.)
9. L. oculatum, Lesq.  (XVI, 4.)
10. L. distans, Lesq. (XVI, 5.)
11. L. rimosum, Sternb.
12. L. obtusum, Lesq. (XVI, 6.)
13. L. carinatumrn, Lesq. (XV, 4.)
14. L. clypeatum, Lesq.  (XV, 5; XVI, 7.)
15, L. sigillarioides, Lesq. (XV, 6.)
16. L. Mieleckil, Gbpp.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.            A. 191
VIII. ULOODENDRON, Rhodes.
1. U. majus, Lind. and Hutt.
2. U. Lindleyanum, Sternb.
The fruits found in the coal measures are divided into the
following genera and species:I L.EPIDOPHYLL U3, Brongt.
1. L. acuminatum, Lesq. (XVII, 2.)
2. L. obtusum, Lesq. (XVII, 3.)
3. L. lanceolatum, Brongt.  (XVII, 1.)
4. L. agine, Lesq. (XVII, 5.)
5. L. hastatum, Lesq. (XVII, 7.)
6. L. brevifolium, Lesq. (XVII, 6.)
7. L. plicatum, Lesq. (XVII, 4.(
8. L. lineari, Brongt.
1. LEPIDOSTROB US, Brongt.
1. L. ornatus, Lind. and Hutt.
2. L. variabilis, Lend. and Hutt.
3. L. pinaster, Lend. and Hutt.
Ir. BRACHYPHYLL UM, Brongt (?)
1. B. obtusum, Lesq. (XVII, 8.)
IV. CARDIOCARP ON, Brongt.
1. C. Trevortoni, Lesq.
2. 0. plicatum, Lesq. (XVI1, 9.)
3. C. punetatum (?)
V. TRIGONOCARP UM. Brongt.
1. T. Schulzianum, Gopp.
2. T. Hildreti, Lesq.
3. T. oblongum, Lind. and Hutt.
VI RHABDOCARPOS, Gopp. and Berg.
1. R. amygdalceformis, Gopp. and Berg.
2. R. venosus, Lesq.
VII. CARP OLITHES, Sternb.
1. C. fraxiniformis, Gopp. and Berg.
2. C. bifidus, Lesq. (XVII, 10.)
3. C. disjunctus, Lesq. (XVII, 11.)
4. C. aouminatus, Sternb. (? )
5. C. platimarginatus, Lesq. (XVII, 12.,
6. C. bicuspidatus, Sternb.
7. C. multistriatus Sternb.




192 A.                 HISTORY OF THE
VIIL —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. CORDAIT ES.
1. C. borassifolia, Ung.
II POOACITES, Brongt.
III C YPERITES, Lind. and Hutt.
IV  PINNULARIA, Lind. and Hutt.
1. P. Calamitarum, Lesq. (Plate I, fig. 9.)
2. P. pinnata, Lesq.  (XVII, 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 unjustifiable displeasure that the distinguished palheontologist, growing
hopeless of seeing his descriptions of the rich new flora 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.)
Classilcation of the several types of orographic structure visible
"Under my direction, at the expense of the Commonwealth." It is evident that such work cannot be under the direction of another person, especially of one ignorant of the subject; and the amount and manner of pay, it
told, would excite considerable astonishment.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.              A. 193
in the Al'palachians and other undulated 7nountazn-enains (917941.)
In these two memoirs illustrated by sixty-six wood-cuts,
chiefly diagrams (figs. 700-766), Mir. 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
utnd swept them away.  He lays down as a basis of reasoning
the fluidity of the interior of the planet, the comparative thinness 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 valleys.  These
theoretical speculations are now almost forgotten, but the collection and arrangement of the physical 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 forward towards the north-west, as if the push came from the Atlantic side (889); their axis planes; their terminations (891);4. Gradations in flexure (892); —5. Exceptional steepness towards the south-east (894), with three wood-cuts of sections on.
the Juniata, and a generalized section across 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 anticlinal and synclinal curve (figs. 708-713); long faults; and
y-shaped faults; —8. Undulations and faults in Europe(899902); 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,
X The instrumental survey of 1875 makes it almost certain that this gap was
not caused by a frmature.
1l-A.




194 A.                HISTORY OF THE
Ilyrtl, &c. lave been published;-9. Slaty cleavage and its cause
(902), with two diagrams showing its fan-structure on an anticlinal, and its alternate presence and absence in alternate
strata;-10. Foliation (904);-11. Prevailing theories of elevation (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 foliation (907) and his objecticns to them;- 13. Mr. Rogers' own
theoretical views (911) with cuts of the New Hope and Gettysburg 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 escarpments, and terraced plains (917), with six diagrams (figs.
720-725);-2. The erosion of monoclinal strata, into ridged
plains, wide valleys, crests, terraces, double crests, &c. (919),
with twelve diagrams (figs. 726-737); —3. The erosion of anticlinal belts, into symmetrical mountains, canoe valleys, &c. (921)
with three diagrams (figs. 740-742); —4. The erosion of synclinal belts into keel-shaped mountains, &c. (924), with seven
diagrams (figs. 743-749);-5. Features of local erosion.; conical hills; 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 d iluvial scratches.*
Coal Fields of the United States and -British Provinces (942968.) This is a sketch in four chapters of: 1. The Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick fields;-2. The great Appalachian field
with a columnar diagram of the beds on the Cheat river in Virginia (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. Oue of
Rhode Island; 55 of Pennsylvania; 51 of Virginia; 58 of Kentucky; 1 of Indiana; 36 of Southern Illinois; 33 of Middle
Illinois; 38 of Northern Illinois; 1 of Missouri.
* Omitted from page 774, Vol. II.




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.             A. 195
British Coal fields (977-987) with a table of the coal produce
in 1834-'5, 64,351,079 tons from 2,613 collieries.
Coal; its composition, classification and varieties (988-997.)
Four kinds of coal described.
Conditions in the Composition and Structure of Coal affecting its
economic value (997-1006).-On page 1000 is given a table of
relative density, composition, conditions of combustion, evaporating power, and consequent rank of 19 kinds of coal, foreign
and domestic, anthracite and bituminous, to illustrate the statements made in this valuable paper, which deserves to be universally 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 indications of the presence of a coal bed (Lehmann's picture of the
coal benches on Locust mountain); then the mode of findingg
it by trial shafts and the creep of its outcrop down hill (fig. 770),
with Lehmrann'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 picture of the gangway entrance to bed 14, at the Nesquehoning
mines, with side tracks and shutes; plan of underground work.
ings on the Primrose bed, near Pottsville (fig. 773); tunnels;
slopes.
Then a historical sketch of the introduction of coal as a domestic fuel, with Lehmann's picture of an anthracite breaker
and slope, head-house &c. at Tuscarora.
American and European Coalfelds 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 available coal quantities, Pennsylvania is given 316,400,000,000; and
all North America 4,000,000,000,000 tons; which has been increased by the Rocky Mountain surveys of late years.




196 A.                HISTORY OF TIHE
Comparative quantities of fuel in Coal lands and forest lands
(1018);-Dynam)nic 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. 1223, 1024;
fig. 774, the snapped anticlinal of Nitrany valley near Jacksonville, 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 Kishacoquillas and Penn's valleys.-Fig. 776, crosssection in Bedford county.-Fig. 777, cross-section at Huntingdon.-and Fig. 778, cross-section, Whelpley's perspective crosssection from Tamaqcua northward, showing the narallelism of
the conglomerate ridges, &c.
A Glossary of terms (1025-1027.)
An Intdex (1028-1045) which, although copious, is both inadequate 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 insufficient for a book of 1,600 pages crowded throughout with
names, to every one of which some reader will wish particularly to refer. In: publishing the reports of the Second Geological Survey the greatest attention is bestowed upon the indexes. Dr. Genlth's Retiort of 1874 has 180 pages of text and
26 pages of index. Mr. \;rigley'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 index,-total 554 pages of text and 76 pages of index, or one
page of index for every 71 pages of text. The Final Report
of 1858 has but one page of index for 90 pafes of text. Index.
making is a special art, and for the purposes of science should




FINAL REPORT OF 1858.            A. 197
be cultivated to the highest pitcel. The labor of preparing a
good index is great; but patience and perseverance will be rewarded by the gratitude of a thousand obliged readers. Discoverers lose the credit of their discoveries by 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-mnakcr has omitted thenm
for want of patience or for want of system. Authors reverse
their own statements, oppose their own conclusions, and forgot
or distort their own discoveries, after the lapse of years, because 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 general alphabetical index, separate indexes of geographical namnes,
personal names, mineral species, fossils, &c. &c. be required, the
same cards may be shuffled again and again.  Subjects of importance can be written out on some of the cards. If the same
word occur on fifty different 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 shuffled 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.




198 A.      ]ISTORY OF 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 student of the Science of Geology a useful text-book, and a guide
book for the practical geologist. The literature of State Surveys 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 lie who surveys the geology of Pennsylvania should learn
the beginnings, progress and general results of surveys in other
States, and have some index to their publications; 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 complete; we must look beyond the limits of the State for its completion.  Other States hold the keys to more than one secret of
our State Geology. The reports of other geologists must supplement our own. This chapter is intended merely to direct
attention to the number and value of such reports, and to indicate 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 effete; their authors dead;
their statements doubtful or disproved. But a far greater number 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 investigation 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




hNORTHI CAROLINA.             A. 199
found in this an incentive for others who remember better, or
have nearer means of information, to write a better treatise, in
which the exapg.erations, errors and omissions of this sketch
shall be correctel.
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
atvoid an evident inconvenience, the work done in each State is
briought 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 United
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 geology 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 annual appropriation of $250, for four years, was made, and was
-afterwards continued two years longer, Dr. Mitchell, of Chapel
IIill College, N. C., taking Prof. Olmsted's place as State Geologist, when the latter removed to Yale College. The reports of
these six years explorations amounted, in all, to only 125 pages,
80, and were published at intervals up to 1827. They related
only 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; Governor Morehead did the same in 1844; and Governor Graham
in 1846.




200 A.       IIISTORY OF OTIIER STATE SURVEYS.
In 1851- 2, Dr. Ebenezer Ernnons, one of the INew York
State Geologists was appoilted State Geologist of North Carolina, with an annual appropriation of $5,000; and he continued
in that office until his death in 1863. ]His son Dr. E. Epnrions,
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
Rockingham and Chatham counties.
In 1856, he published a Geological Report of the Midland
counties; 351 pages, 80; 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 application to the southern field of his peculiar views of a " Taconic System," underlying the Patlozoic 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 Awood-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
iNorth 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. Emmons engagedl in the business of manufacturing arms and ammunition for the Confederacy.
In 1864, after the death of Dr. Emmons, Prof. WV. C. Kerr
was appointed State Geologist; published his first annual report in 1865, 56 pages 8~; and has continued to publish similar annual reports to the present date. To that of 1871 Prof.
Kerr added a treatise on the Mineralogy 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 l? TRANFT,
Governor of Pennsylvania, President of the Board of Commissioners 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 Harrisburg, June 5th, 1874, at which meeting a Director of the Survey 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, salas
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 discussion 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 Harrisburg for the analysis of irons, steels, iron ores and other blastfurnace stock. 5. A special report, chiefly economical, on petroleum. 6. A special report 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
and cheap volumes, so as to make them practically useful to the
largest number of persons, each volume containing the illustrations of its own text, in the shape of maps and wood-cuts, and
[;i A.]




ii A.               EARLY NOTICES OF
printed from stereotype plates for future use; and finally, 8.
The exhibition of type specimens of the collections of the survey 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 equipments of the Iron and Steel Laboratory and Cabinet Rooms
at Harrisburg, there would remain of the first annual appropriation 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, for the special study of the Fossil Ore
belts.
Mr. Flanklin Platt, 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. iii
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.
Frazer; 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.
Platt; Clearfield and Jefferson district.
Mr. F. A. Hatch, of Johnstown, 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 until the issue of the Reports of Progress should require his attention 
To render the various parties efficient, the following gentlemen 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. JO W. Edwards, volunteer aid to Prof. Frazer, and afterwards in the Lehigh district.
Mr. C. A. Ashburner, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid
to Mr. I)ewees.
Mr. G. 1i. Christian, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania,
aid to Mr. Dewees.
Mr. Arthur Hale, of Williams College, Mass., volunteer aid
to Mr. DIewees.
Mr. fH. J. Fagen, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid to
Mr. Platt.
Mr. C. A. Young, of the University of Pennsylvania, aid to
Mr. Platt.
Mr. Ifenry M. Chance, of the University of Pennsylvaniia,




iv A.                E.A\r LY NOTICES OF
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 ieller & 13rightly of Philadelphia, viz: one transit with vertical circle and cross hairs, for
stadia measurement of distances, with telemeter rod; one surveyors' 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 clinorneters; steel chain, table instruments, note books, &c.
As reliable aneroid barometers of sufficient delicacy could
neither be manufactured in this country nor imported from Europe by the ordinary channels of trade, and as the use of such
instruments is indispensable for doing the best modern geological work, I visited myself, by permission of the Board, the faotories of instruments of precision in Europe, sailing from Philadelphia the 13th 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 visited instrument makers in Rotterdam, Brussels, Neufehatel, Zurich, 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 lave 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. Th'leir action is irregular,
owinllg 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 acceptance as a perfect instrument; but on repeated trials with a
temperature-range between 350 and 950~., it alternately lost
and gained 125 feet of heiglht-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 surrounded by a compensation yoke, and the index driven by a T
rachet. The dial plate gives a circuit of 14 inches. The index travels 7 inches for one of the mercurial column, and call
be adjusted to travel 7 inches for 1,000 feet of elevation within
any section of the mercurial range. A set screw, placed beneath, 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, however, 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'
feet can be easily read at a glance. The compensation for thermnometer is very good, and the instrument is very light. Ordinary aneroid barometers may satisfy explorers and travelers,
who wish to record considerable variations of altitude by observations at considerable intervals of time. But an accurate
field-geologist must read his aneroid at every station, everyfew
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 delineations, and this again will depend on the number and reliability of his aneroid observations.
The best makers in Europe told me candidly that they were
unable to reproduce Mr. Becker's aneroid. Elliott and Bros.,
Charing Cross, London, took drawings and measurements of
its interior, and promised to send me a fac-simile for trial. Mr.
Becker had originally made five of these instruments, two of
which I own. A third was sent to the'ate Chief Engineer of
the Grand Duchy of Baden, Mr. Elsenlohr, who reported enthusiastically upon its behavior at the Swiss Congress in Geneva 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 instruments for the use of the survey; but he has thus far refused, 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 aneroid 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 attempt to place at the disposal of their craft a piece of apparatus 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 concentric: scales, traversed by an index, moved by a button. By turning 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. Adjustments to half a metre may be made through the microscope.
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 gentlemen in charge of the different 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. vii
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 experience of field work dictated to be possible.
Base lines in each district were run and leveled along selected main roads and thle 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 replottings 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 i
inch apart. The top of the page is always taken as north.
The last station before a line runs off one page is carefully located 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 0 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 permanent original record of all the work done during the survey will
thus be preserved in a shape convenient for reference. Economy 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 published thus reduced to a scale of 1,600. D)istrict 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 OF
While the aids carried on the instrumental work, the assistant
in charge of the district studied its geology, made reconnoissances in advance, visited all the mines and important exposures,
and determined the direction in which 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
analysis. 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 required 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 information 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 gentlemen in charge of districts has been to secure, examine and improve 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 information 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. 1). Rogers, published in 1858, is a matter of frequent remark and admiration with the assistants now
in the field. Yet the first survey was essentially a reconnoissance. Those engaged in it thirty years ago worked chiefly
without instuments of precision and under the greatest inconvenience. 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. Geological field work now, and geological field work forty years
ago, differ as widely as the present methods of surveying an
anthracite coal property difer 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 disposed 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
Jifficulties 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 superstitions respecting the mineral resources of the Commonwealth; and to increase the physical powers of society; what
Discoveries 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 imagination more than it loses in systematic arrangement. In the
3ourse of forty years every point of geological science has been
in turn, and many times, touched by the geologists of Pennsylvania; and citizens of the Commonwealth ought to have exhibited 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 Underworld, 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 Geological 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. Frederick Prime, Jr.
A map of the district between Alburtis and Allentown, elaborately 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 Platt.
F. A Report of Progress in the Juniata District, by Mr.
John tI. Dewees.
A map of the southern flank of Jack's Mountain from Logan Gap to Jack's Narrows, elaborately contoured by Mr. Billin,
andFive 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 MeVeytown, but minutely defines the Silurian and Devonian formations from the Trenton up to the Hamilton. The
map of the mountain is intended to show how all the mountain 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 Jefferson counties, by Mr. Franklin Platt..
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 individual 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, presented 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 Fulton,
of Saxton, Blair county, will be published, by permission.
A section of the sub-carboniferous rocks of the Allegheny
Mountain, underlying Mr. Platt's district, by Messrs. Young
and Fagen, will accompany Mr. Platt s report.
I. A Report of Progress in the Venango Oil Region, by Mr.
John F. Carll, of Pleasgantville.
A map of lines run and well-mouths leveled between Oil
GCreek and the Allegheny River; with sections in two directions 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 Warren.
J. A Special Report on Petroleum, by Mr. Henry E. Wrigley, 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 Virginia Oil Regions, with lines of geographical limitation between 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 relative 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
underground.
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 perennial 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 discovery as are the territories of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and
Nevada now.
All this is of the past. The light of thirty years has rested
on the State, revealing to geologists every feature of its structure, seeming to leave no place for important discoveries. The
main business of the present survey is therefore critical examination, analysis, measurement, description and publication; the
precise determination of qualities and quantities; the finer estiimation of place, position, posture, mineral nature, metallurgical 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 additions which the business transactions of many individuals and
incorporated companies enable us to makte.
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 possible; 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 connecting 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 exp)lain the structure of the whole New Red part of southeastern 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 Schuylkill, 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) malkes 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
Olean 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 measurement 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 Comn



xiv A.               EARLY HISTORY OF
monwealth, whose common property they ought to be, out may
make new and equally imp.ortant 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 4th and November 4th, corrected to _December 31st, 1875.
Experience has proved that all 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 remaining five months is employed in preparing reports, and illustrating these with drawings.
The winter of 1874-'5 was spent in this manner by the geologists of the survey and their aids. It was impossible to diminish the corps and get through the work. The discussion
of geological note-books 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 parties, as in 1874, took the field in 1875, each in its own district.




xvI A.              EARLY HISTORY OF
Prof. Prime, Mr. Clark and Mr. IKent, continued the close
survey of the Lehigh and Northampton limestone ore-belt;
Prof. Frazer, Mr. Lehmann and Mr. Edwards, that of the York
and Adams county ore-belts 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. G. Platt was appointed aid to Mr. Franklin Platt,
whose survey extended from Clearfield county southward to
the State Line.
Mr. Sanders continued his mapping of Canoe valley and
Morrison's cove. Mr. Young studied the coke manufacture,
and surveyed the whole line of the Youghiogheny river.
Mr. Carll, with Mr. Iiatch 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 t~he handing in of his report.
Prof. J. J. Stevenson and his aid, Mr. J. C. White, was atm
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 Gaps, 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 different 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 geological 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. xvii
of all kinds for publication in the Reports of Progress, and
been unremitting in his 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 Pennsylvania.
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 many 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, analyses, 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 following 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 lhave
received, and will continue to receive, the most minute and accurate 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 1876, Fayette, Westmoreland, Indiana, Armstrong, and other counties west of the AlleB.-A.




xviii 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 indication 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 larqe 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 work consists of statistical studies connected 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 comparison with regard to the general field work.
It is a matter of constant surprise and anxiety how great a
variety of demran(ds can legitimately be made upon a geological
survey, even when strictly confining itself to its proper business, and doing nothing for the sake of display. It is understood that, since the State has a Bureau of Statistics, the geological 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 fonnd in the rocks, or there is a question of the applicability 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 geological, which bears upon these the most important business interests 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 location and construction.  On the other hand geological conclu



PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.            A. xiy
sions often depend on distances and levels, and on the shape of
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 documents
preserved in the railway offices of the State have been freely
placed at its disposal, and pains taken to give information necessary to make them  useful to the survey. Companies have
also not only readily offered their new materials for publication, but taken the trouble to prepare 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 cagre in handling, not for fear of breaking them, for
they will bear rough usage, but to avoid large errors of reading. 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, however, report satisfactorily of the accu acy of those they used;
and doubtless there is a great difference 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 geological purposes.  But it weighs twice as much as B1ecker's.
Becker & Sons' establishment at Rotterdam, has been only recently broken up and transferred to New 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 rapidity of the field work of 1876 that they should be made, for
we are still dependent, in a great nleasure, 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 by accurate contour line representations.
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 illustrative 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 IIarrisburg.
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. stereotyping 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 rerevised; 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
the 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 illustrations, 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 designedly 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 directed to mlaking the principal drainage of a district evident at
a glance. No road lines go upon a map beyond what are indispensable for indicating the localities which have been surveyed. Scales are multiplied and lengthened for easy use.
Names 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 illn 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. Letters 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 recent 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; generalize 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.             EARLY HISTORY OF
course, fall far short of a perfect obedience to it, yet in recognizin::g 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 discussion of abstruse questions, which (lo not concern the inhabitants, 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 attention 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. Progress presupposes improvement in abstract ideas, in the observation of facts, in the collection of statistics, and in the suggesting 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 Commissioners 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, No. 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 Secold Annual Reports of the operations of the




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.            A. xxiii
Survey in 1874 and 1875, pr, ceded by a history of Geological
Exploration in Pennsylvania and other States, with chapters
on the Geological Nomenclatures 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 issuing the first reports of the Assistant Geologists in the winter,
stopped the printing, which could not be resumed until Novernber 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 Hydrocarbon Compounds. 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 80, with two maps, ten sections, plates of microscopic rock slicings, &c.@
D. Report of Progress (in 1874) on the Brown ITematite 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. t
11. Report of Progress (in 1874) in the Bituminous Coal
Fields of Clearfield, Jefferson, and parts of Centre and Armstrong counties. By Franklin Platt.-275 pages 8~, and 18
pages of index; eight maps, two sections and 139 cuts in the
text.
I. Report of Progress iin 1874) in the Venango County Oil
District.  By John F. Carll.  To which are appended: Observations on the Geology around Warren. By F. A. Randall.
* Ready for distribution in February, 1876.
+ The printing of these cuts on the same press and on the same paper with
the 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 calendered paper and bound in.




XXiv A.             EARLY HISTORY OF
Notes on the Comparative Geology of North-ea-,tern Ohio,
lNorth-western Pennsylvania, and Western New York. By J.
P. Lesley.-] 08 pages 80, 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 production, transportation, manufacture and statistics.* B3y IIenry
E. Wrigley.-To which are added: Notes on a map and profile of a line of levels through the BIutler, Armstrong and Clarion
County Oil Fields; with a geological section from well-drillings. Bay D. 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 between petroleumn 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 Valleys, and Morrison's Cove; Brown Hematite ores of the Lower
Silurian valleys. By Mr. Platt. 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 necessity 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* Errattum, p. 62, line 4, for 2473.9 read 3617.8




PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY.             A. XXV
road line; atld elaborate cross sections, showing the Silurian
and D'evonian measures.
G. Rel,ort of Progress (in 1875).in Tioga and Bradford counties.  By Andrew Sherwood.  With a colored out-crop map.
H (Colltinued.) Mr. Platt's report of 1875, on Cambria and
[Somerset counties.
I (Conltilued.) Mr. Carll's report of 1875, on the Geology of
the Oil Regions.
K. Report of Progress (in 1875) in Greene and Washington
counties and parts of Beaver and Allegheny. By J. J. Stevenson.  WAAith cross sections, and a map showing the depths at
which lie the prilncipal coal beds.
0. 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 Pennsylvania and the United States; illustrated by 60 plates; and
intended to serve as a hand-book 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 preceding 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 remain to be examined
in 1877, 1878 and 1879, if the Legislature see fit to order the
continuance of the survey:-. The important and difficult forest
lands of the West Branch and Pine Creek; —the extremely
compllicated and difficult South-east section;-the whole Anthracite Region;-remaining portions of the Oil Region;-and
numerous isolated small districts scattered about the State.
(.)II the economical scale of $50,000 a year such a great work
carnilot be n made to move onl faster, nor woulo it be desirable to
increase the scale of the expenditure; for good work ought. uot
to be over-hurried.  Its excellence del,)ends upon attention to
dletails, Pabti(lit investigatiol of difficulties, the re-consideration
of' di.,ubtful conclusions, and continual help fron  all quarters,




xxvi A.                  EARLY  HISTORY OF
which can be sougllt for only when nleeded, and never comes
installtly at the call.  The pIresellt orgallization of the survey
is poertectly inalltiageable, alld its tl'uits  ol t illt Ot' lrol)ortion to
the plublishinlg al)ility iot the State P.'rinting Office.
It miust not be forgotten that all exact topographical survey
of thle entire State. liust ~be very 1iiucli more tedious and expeIlsive.  But takillt tie COUllty  ltapats as we have theni, and
wvitlout colltour-lines, we will l)e in a co1ndition to issue some
geologically colored coullty nlaps every year so long as the survey
shall be lperilitted to'(p ou)i, ail(t  be ready to tpublish such fuilaps
of thelm  all, or a, complete Geological Atlas of the State, at the
e1ose of 1 8 79