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ENGINEER DEPARTMENT, U. 8. ARMY.

Puddige (da 1

OF THE

EXPLORING EXPEDITION

FROM SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, TO THE JUNCTION OF THE GRAND AND
GREEN RIVERS OF THE GREAT COLORADO OF THE WEST,

IN 1859,

UNDER THE COMMAND OF

2
CAPT. Ic N. MACOMB,
CORPS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS

(NOW COLONEL OF ENGINEERS) ;

WITH

GEOLOGICAL REPORT

OLOGICAL 97

BY A ot
Ve

p Ps <i CL \
PROF. J. S. NEWBERRY, \ 1882
GEOLOGIST OF THE EXPEDITION. Kw! B RAR Z

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1876.

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OFFICE OF THE CHIEF. OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, D. C., June 28, 1875.

Sir: When Major Macomb, of the Topographical Engineers (now colonel of
engineers), made his report of an important exploration in New Mexico, in 1859, he
was unable to furnish the report on the geology of that region, owing to the fact that
Dr. J. S. Newberry, the geologist who accompanied him, was then actively employed
in his duties on the Sanitary Commission in the West.

Colonel Macomb has recently transmitted to this Office Dr. Newberry’s report,
with its twenty-two illustrations; and I have respectfully to recommend that it be printed
at the Government Printing-Office, and that 1,500 copies be furnished for the use of
the Engineer Department upon the usual requisition; also, that this Office be authorized
to. procure the necessary copies of the illustrations. :

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. A. Humpareys,
Brig. Gen., Chief of Engineers.

Hon. WiitiaAm W. Bevxnap,

Secretary of War.

Approved:

By order of the Secretary of War:
H. 'T. Crossy,

Chief Clerk.
JUNE 28, 1875.

CONTENTS,

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
GENERAL REPORT.

Report of November 1, 1860.
Report of November 27, 1861.

GEOLOGICAL REPORT.

PREFATORY NOTE.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
CHAPTER I.

GEOLOGY OF THE ROUTE BETWEEN St. LOUIS AND SANTA FS.

General geological sketch—Independence to Dragoon Creek—Carboniferous strata—Character of coal and Coal
Measures of Kansas—Due to what causes—Coal-plants of Kansas—Molluscous fossils—Dragoon Creek to Cottonwood
Creek—Permo-Carboniferous and Permian strata—Difficulty of separating these formations—Cottonwood Creek to
Walnut Creek—Gypsum formationIts parallelism—W alnut Creek to Pawnee Fork—Lower Cretaceous rocks—Sand-
stones withimpressions of leaves—Pawnee Fork to Cimarron—Tertiary strata—Arkansas basin—Its relation to that of
White River—Cimarron to Enchanted Spring—Jurassic? rocks—Enchanted Spring to Cottonwood Spring—Lower
Cretaceous and Tertiary beds—Cottonwood Spring to Canadian—Trap buttes and mesas near Raton Mountains—
Cretaceous rocks of the Canadian—Table-lands skirting the Rocky Mountains—Canadian to Las Vegas—Trap plateau
at Burgwin’s Spring—Cretaceous strata at Fort Union and Las Vegas.

CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY OF THE VICINITY OF SANTA FR.

Santa Fé Mountains—Granite—General geological features, its character and contained minerals—Relations of the
Santa Fé mountains—Placer Mountains—Cretaceous and Triassic rocks—Cretaceous lignite converted into anthra-
cite by an outburst of trap—Gold of the Placer Mountains—Copper—Iron—The Cereillos—Gold—Silver—Lead—
Copper—Iron—Turquoise—Ancient Chalchuit] mines—The Sandia Mountain—The Valles—Stratified rocks—Carbo-
niferous formations—Santa Fé section—Section at Pecos Village—Permo-Carboniferous beds—Gypsum formation—
Section at San José—Fossil plants—Cretaceous formation—Subdivisions of the system—Yellow sandstones of
Cafion Blanco—Cretaceous—Sections at Gallisteo and Pope’s Well—Tertiary beds of fresh-water origin.

CHAPTER U1.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY BORDERING THE UPPER COLORADO.

Bird’s-eye view of the Colorado plateau and its surroundings—Mountain-chains by which the plateau is encircled—
Rocky Mountain system—Its extent and general structure—Different features which it presents on different paral-
lels—Differeft ranges of the Rocky Mountains, probably not of the same age—Rocky Mountain region has suffered

Yi

¥E TABLE OF CONTENTS.

alternations of elevation and depression—The Cretaceous epoch an era of subsidence—The Tertiary, of elevation—
Mogollon Mountains—Probably not a distinct system—Mountains of the Lower Colorado a part of the Sierra
Nevada system—Relation of the Sierra Nevada to the Rocky Mountains—Cerbat Mountains—Wasatch Mountains—
San Francisco group—Recent voleanie phenomena of the Great Central Plateau—Mount Taylor—Sierra Tucane—
Sierras Abajo, La Sal, &c.—Structure of the Colorado plateau—Devonian and Silurian rocks of the Great Caion—
Carboniferous formation—Triassic and Cretaceous rocks—Similarity of structure of the valleys of the Little
Colorado, San Juan, Grand, and Green Rivers—High mesas of Navajo country and Upper San Juan.

CHAPTER IV.
GEOLOGY OF THE ROUTE FROM SANTA FS TO THE STERRA DE LA PLATA.

Structure of the valley of the Rio Grande—The valley of the Chama—Abiquiu—Copper-mines—Fossil plants—Ruins
of Los Cafones—Abiquin Peak—Platean country bordering the Upper Chama—Arroyo Seco—Triassic marls—
Navajo Spring—Cretaceous sandstones and plateau—Banks of the Nutria—Middle Cretaceous beds—Vada del
Chama—Section of valley of the Chama—Hligh mesa of Upper Cretaceous rocks—Laguna de los Cavallos—Divide
between the waters of the Rio Grande and San Juan—General view of the structure of the surrounding country—
Mountain-chains—Belt of foot-hills—Table-lands—Rio Navajo—Cerro del Navajo—Sierra del Navajo—Rito Blanco—
The Pagosa—Sierra San Juan and associated mountain-ranges—Cretaceous rocks and fossils ~The Piedra Parada—
Rio Piedra—Broken mesa—View from high divide—Rio de Los Pinos—Sierra de Los Pinos—Rio Florido—Valley of
the Animas—Ruins on the Animas—Crossing of the Animas—Structure of the mountains drained by the Animas—
Rio de La Plata—Delightful camp—Cretaceous rocks and fossils—Sierra de La Plata—Metalliferous veins of the
Sierra de La Plata.

CHAPTER V.

GEOLOGY OF THE SAGE PLAIN AND VALLEY OF THE UPPER COLORADO.

General features of the northern portion of the Colorado basin—Aspects and structure of the Sage plain—Mesa Verde
Enormous denudation of the Colorado plateau—Crossing the Sage plain—Rio de Los Mancos—Rio Dolores—Section
of Lower Cretaceous rocks—Ruins on the Dolores—Sierra San Miguel—Surouara—Tierra Blanca—Guajelotes—Canon
Pintado—Triassic rocks—Saurian bones—La Senejal—Eroded buttes—Casa Colorado—Ojo Verde—Sierra La Sal—
Excursion to Grand River—Cafion Colorado—Plateau bordering the Colorado River—Eroded monuments—
Labyrinth Canon—Ruined buildings—Summit of the Carboniferous formation—Section of Triassic rocks—Remark-
able country about the junction of Grand and Green Rivers—Singular eroded buttes and pinnacles—Net-work of
canons—Cafion of Grand River—Section of Carboniferous strata—Transverse section of the Colorado Valiey—
Return to Sage plain—Journey southward to the San Juan—Sierra Abajo.

CHAPTER. VI.

GEOLOGY OF THE BANKS OF THE SAN JUAN.

General features of the country bordering the San Jnuan—Section of Lower Cretaceous strata south of Sierra Abajo—
Bird’s-eye view of country bordering San Juan—High mesas of the Navajo country—Triassie rocks of Lower San
Juan—Lower Cretaceous strata of Camp 37—Middle Cretaceous beds and fossils south of Le Late—The Needles—
The Creston—Upper Cretaceous strata at mouth of the Animas—Ruins in the San Juan Valley—Cation Largo—
Sections of Upper Cretaceous strata—Plateau country bordering Cation Largo—Buttes of marls and sandstones,
highest members of the series of sedimentary rocks composing Colorado platean—General section of Upper Creta-
ccous strata—Nascimiento Mountain, its structure and relations—Notes on the different formations exposed on its
sides—Journey through country bordering western base of Nascimiento Mountain—Divide between San Juan and
Rio Grande—Mount Taylor—Cabiezon—Tertiary strata at Jemez—The Valles—Trap plateaus.

DESCRIPTIONS OF CRETACEOUS FOSSILS, BY F, B. MEEK.

DESCRIPTIONS OF CARBONIFEROUS AND TRIASSIC FOSSILS, BY J. S. NEWBERRY, GEOLOGIST OF THE
EXPEDITION.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. VIL

ILLUSTRATIONS.
LANDSCAPE VIEWS.
Page
Plate I. Abiquiu Peak, looking westerly ...--. aaa N 2 pi aie ele ok ee eRe oe hgh AL oe saa mi ee 69
P1gGG Da NOR -V BOOMIEL Unatnn, TUNED GLOUACEONS MGEK Jca cna 5. 2205s 2 Oded oon nos een ge seo nee cnn n ce cutee ses 71
Se La 7a a ante Peat a ee OLN WY OG ima O% © oo Sl cig So en maid Gaui wan one wanes donne h Caveuvinne 78
Plate IY. The Pagosa and San Juan River, looking easterly ...-.. -- 2.6 cnn e cece coe eee cnn mee teens ween 76
Plate ‘VY. Rio Dolores and Sierra de la Plata. From near Camp 21... 22. 02.00 0-2 oc conn e cece ne cee ne wees 86
Plate VI. Casa Colorado and La Sal Mountains, looking northerly... ..---.------ -----+ +--+ 2+ seers ener eee 92
Plate VII. Head of Labyrinth Creek, looking southeasterly ...-.. ...--. .---2. 22-222 ------ SE Ss Rete ie vaio 96
Pitts yaueeemene of Oafion Colorado. Erosion of Triassic series ....., 2.2... oeae conn es ce ceae csv cen coeenerns 98
Mineo. Uuower San Juan; looking west, From near Camp 35.........- .----0 scene. scene naeeen vane wseney 102
Se we. EDO NGOUIG i arr UIP ORTON ii posit an oa Sukn boo ew ina pe ececen See nes Shpede dp edne sneae =. 106
Pree OL, The Ontrack w= 5 «earn oe Wea Goats noe ced eo hans wen eay owners 112
Trap Dike. Rommeme, SOuun OF Sania £6, Naw Mexico .25.-. 2.2200 co scbs eddie ene e acces cnn cds con pwaees 51
SO ENR ase Sn 3h 5s has aon vn nas cod new sone cus ERone buen whee Uh ebs -ye ) agansis 75
te Tene ie Pie, LI VEU OAM... ces. olcn oc an ee oeae Guo eawted sod. e DRR Sew kame vee ee 94
PALEONTOLOGY.

Plates I to VII, inclusive, at end of Descriptions of Fossils, by F. B. Meek and Dr. J. 8. Newberry.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

Unirep States ENGINEER’s OFFICE,
Rock Island, Iil., June 18, 1875.

GeneRAL: I have this day forwarded to you the Geological Report of Dr. J. 8.
Newberry, geologist of the San Juan exploration party, which went from Santa Fé,
New Mexico, to the vicinity of the junction of Grand and Green Rivers, in Utah, and
back to Santa Fé, in the summer of 1859, and which party was in my charge.

This is the report to which I alluded in my report to you of November 1, 1860,
as setting forth whatever the route above mentioned afforded of interest to the publie
at large or to the man of science. I trust it way be found possible to publish it.

The report is arranged in seven chapters, with a prefatory note, and is accom-
panied by the following sketches and drawings, viz:

Eleven water-color sketches, showing characteristic scenery of the region in
Northwestern New Mexico, Southwestern Colorado, and Southeastern Utah. Also,
eleven drawings (eight of fossils and three of scenery), all of which are interesting and
important in connection with the report.

My map of the route was engraved on a steel plate, and is on the files of the
Engineer Department.

I remain, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

J. N. Macomp,
Colonel of Engineers, United States Army.
Brig. Gen. A. A. Humpnreys,
Chief of Engineers, United States Army.

EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS.

CEH Neen ty EVP Oak

RA OSG

Wasuinaton, D. C., November 1, 1860.

Sir: For the information of the War Department, I beg leave to submit the fol-
lowing remarks upon the exploration made by me, during the summer of 1859, in
New Mexico and Utah.

About the middle of July, 1859, my party set out from Santa Fé, New Mexico,
and pursued a northwesterly course, crossing the Rio Grande Bravo del Norte at the
old Indian pueblo of San Juan, and following up the valley of the Rio Chama, pass-
ing by the pueblo of Abiquiu, the outpost of settlement in that direction, being about
fifty-two miles from Santa F'¢. We continued up the Chama Valley for some forty-five
miles more, when we left it and crossed the dividing ridge between the waters of the
Gulf of Mexico and those of the Gulf of California, at a remarkable point, where there
is a small lake called Laguna de los Caballos, when we struck upon the headwaters
of the San Juan River, crossing several branches before we came to the main stream.
This we crossed in latitude 37° 14’ 48” north and longitude 107° 2’ 47” west, where there
is a hot spring, of temperature about 140° Fahrenheit and of magnificent dimensions.
We looked down through its limpid waters until the power of vision was lost in the
cavernous depths whence the waters flow. From this point our route was westerly for
about seventy miles, over a region very much broken and intersected by rapid mount-
ain streams (branches of the San Juan), which afford an abundant supply of good
water and have the appearance of being permanent. We had frequent rains, however,
in this part of our route, and the grazing was thus far excellent. Up to a point about
forty-five miles westward from the “Pagosa,” or great hot spring above alluded to, we
were accompanied by Mr. Albert H. Pfeiffer, sub-agent for the Utah Indians, and his
interpreter, Neponocino Valdez, to both of whom we are indebted for acts of hospi-
tality and for facilitating our passage through the country of the Capotes and other
bands of the Utah Indians, in whose vicinity our route happened to lead us.

In latitude 87° 16’ and longitude 108° 4’, we passed along the southern base ot
the mountain group known as “Sierra de la Plata;” hence in a northwesterly direction
for about one hundred and twenty miles, over gloomy barrens, covered chiefly with.
Artemesia, but affording a scanty pasturage in some of the small valleys. The August
rains favored us, and we had no scarcity of water on our route to the “Ojo Verde,” in
latitude 38° 14’ 50”, longitude 109° 26’ 40’, a point about three hundred and forty
miles from Santa Fé.< The greater part of our journey from Abiquiu to this point was

6 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

by the old Spanish trail, which has not heretofore been accurately laid down upon any
map. ‘This trail is much talked of as having been the route of commerce between
California and New Mexieo in the days of the old Spanish rule, but it seems to have
been superseded by the routes to the north and south of it, which have been opened
by modern enterprise.

At the “Ojo Verde” the Spanish trail strikes off more northwardly, to seek a prac-
ticable crossing of Grand and Green Rivers. » We left the trail here, and, leaving the
main body of our party encamped at the spring, with a small party of nine, went to the
westward some thirty miles, under the guidance of an Indian, who had joined us
many days previously, on our route to look for the junction of the Grand and Green
Rivers. This part of our journey was very rough and dangerous, from the precipitous
nature of the route, winding down the sides of deep and grand cations, and it is fortu-
nate that no attempt was anda to bring forward our oaks train, as we must have lost
many mules by it, and, moreover Gthits was not sufficient pasture for the few animals
that we had with us. 1 cannot conceive of a more worthless and impracticable region
than the one we now found ourselves in. I doubt not there are repetitions ol
varieties of it for hundreds of miles down the canon of the Great Colorado, for I have
heard of but one crossing of that river above the vicinity of the Mojave villages, and

I have reason to doubt if that one (1 Vado de los Padres) is practicable, except with
ihe utmost care, even for a pack-mule.

On leaving the “Ojo Verde” we traveled south for about seventy miles, passing
by the castern base of the Sierra Abajo, until we struck the San Juan River, in lati-
tude 87° 16 27” and longitude 109° 24’ 43”, on the 2d September, 1859. We found
bottom-land of the river at this point of a iit and loose soil, into which the feet of
the mules would frequently sink for some 18 inches. We followed up the river,
remaining on its right bank for some one hundred and SONAR miles, until we came oppo-
site to the mouth of Canon Largo, in latitude 36° 43/28” and longitude 107° 43’ 29”,
In the course of our march we observed many ruins of houses Fd found quantities
of fragments of pottery scattered over the ground, indicating that the valley was once
occupied by a race probably of the same origin and character as the Pueblo Indians
extant in New Mexico. The fate of those former occupants of that dreary region is
involved in mystery. It requires, however, no effort of the imagination to fancy that
they may have been starved or frozen to death; for the winters are severe and fuel is
very scarce there.

I have no doubt that the warm season is very short there, otherwise more of the
valley of the San Juan would be cultivated by the Navajos, who are a corn-growing
people, for the river affords abundant water for irrigation, and carries soil enough to
enrich and renew the fields.

On the 15th September, 1859, we forded the San Juan, opposite Canon Largo, with
no little danger, the strong current and deep water sweeping down some of the mules,
which were recovered with difficulty. We were fortunate in passing through Camon
Largo just after heavy rains, as I learned afterward that the command of Major Simon-
son, which passed through the canon in July, had suffered much for the want of water.
‘There is one fine spring in the cation, about thirty-five miles from San Juan, but no other

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 7

reliable water until the San José spring is reached, about thirty miles farther to the
southeast. From the last-named water we followed down the valley of the Puerco (a
branch of the Rio del Norte) for about forty miles, when we crossed the southern spur
of the Nacimiento Mountain and came to the old pueblo of Jemez, about fifty-six
miles to the west. by south from Santa Fé. The route has been passed over by
wagons from Santa Fé to a point a short distance to the westward of Jemez, and also
from Santa Fé to the upper valley of the Chama, a short distance above Abiquiu, but
on the remainder of the route passed over by my party there is no evidence of a
wagon having ever been seen, and a suitable road for wagons could only be made at
a heavy cost for construction, and it would doubtless meet with much opposition on
the part of the Navajos and Utahs, whose country it would pass through.

During the expedition my time was taken up with the astronomical observations
requisite for laying down the route. In these observations I was assisted by Mr. F. P.
Fisher, who noted the time and kept the record for me with accuracy and neatness.
Mr. Fisher also carried a barometer throughout the march. All computations required
for the astronomical observations were necessarily made by myself.

Mr. C. H. Dimmock made an excellent sketch of the route, which he has drawn in
one large map upon a scale of half an inch to the mile. This map I have tested by the
results of my astronomical observations and computations with very great satisfaction.

Messrs. Dorsey and Vail carried barometers and thermometers, and kept daily
records of the indications of those instruments, chiefly from the readings of Mr. Vail.
Mr. Dorsey also assisted the geologist in making some of the collections of natural
history specimens.

Dr. J. 8. Newberry, the geologist of the expedition, was particularly zealous and
energetic in his examinations of the country, and I expect from him a report setting
forth whatever there may be of interest in the route either to the public at large or to
the man of science.

I am now engaged, under your direction, in preparing for publication, upon a scale
suitable for ordinary use, a map of the region visited by my party, which will exhibit
with all requisite minuteness and accuracy of detail the features of the country, cover-
ing an area of some twelve thousand square miles, which has heretofore been indicated
upon the maps under the head of ‘ unexplored.”

The expedition was accompanied by a detachment of infantry under the command
of Lieut. M. Cogswell, of the Eighth Regiment, to whom we are indebted for ‘our safe
escort through a wild and inhospitable tract of country, partly occupied by hostile and
treacherous Indians. |

I was directed, on my return to Santa Fé, to reduce my party and come in to
Washington to prepare my report, and, on my way, to stop at the southwest corner of
the Territory of Kansas, to set up a ney monument at a point some two and a quarter
miles to the east of the one originally placed there. I accordingly diverged from the
usual route across the plains from Fort Union and went up the Cimarron to the point
indicated, and retraced that part of the thirty-seventh parallel from the’ old monument to
the merdian of 103°, as laid down upon the map accompanying my instructions, and at
the intersection of these two geographical lines I erected a rough stone monument. The

8 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

original monument above alluded to is of earth and sods. This duty was finished about
the middle of November, 1859, when the thermometer was ranging from zero to about
16° above.

[ was accompanied to this position by a small detachment of troops under the
command of Lieut. Hl. M. Enos, of the regiment of mounted riflemen, to whose vigi-
lance I am indebted for a safe transit to Fort Leavenworth, at a time when the Indians
of the great plains had manifested the most decided determination to be troublesome.

I remain, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J. N. Macoms,
Captain Topographical Lingineers.
Capt. A. A. Humpnreys,
Top. engineers, in charge of Office of Explorations and Surveys.

Wasninaton, D. C., November 27, 1861.

Cotonen: At the time of making my last annual report I was engaged in the
preparation of a map of the region visited by the party which I conducted in the summer
of 1859. The map was finished, and is now in the hands of an engraver, who prom-
ises to give ine the finished plate by the month of March next. :

The report upon the geology, &e., of the same region has been written by Dr.
Newberry, and I hoped to have had it in my possession to send in for publication with
the annual report from the Bureau of Topographieal Engineers, but, owing to the delay
in finishing some of the drawings for illustrating the report, and to the fact that the
veologist has for some months been actively employed with the duties of the “sanitary
commission” in the West, I am not yet in the receipt of his results. J may add for
myself that, as in the case of every available officer of the Government, my time has
been so much engrossed by the duties which have pressed upon me, arising out of the
existing state of affairs in our country, that I have been prevented from pushing the
reports and maps, &e., of the San Juan exploration to a conclusion. I hope, however,
that they will all be rendered to me before the close of the session of Congress now
about to commence.

All of which is respectfully submitted by your obedient servant,

J. N. Macoms,
Lieut. Col., Aid-de-camp to Maj. Gen. McClellan, and Major Top'l Engineers.

Lieut. Col. H. Bacne,

Commanding Corps Topographical Engineers, U. S. A.

EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM)SANTA FE TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS.

Pe OGICAL REPO.

BY

Wao, INT WISIGREY, IME. Ios Solas DD.

GEOLOGIST TO THE EXPEDITION.

2SF

PREFATORY NOTE.

CotumBiA CoLLece,
New York, June 1, 1875.

~The following report was prepared for publication at the time indicated by the
date ‘of my letter to Captain (now Colonel) Macomb, but the breaking out of the
rebellion arrested the publication of all the reports of surveys made by the Govern-
ment expeditions immediately previous to this event. The reports of the surveys
made by Lieutenant (now General) G. K. Warren, United States Engineers, Captain
(now General) W. F. Raynolds, the report of the Northwestern Boundary Commission,
and some others, were in this category, and much most valuable information in regard
to the far West has been lost to the country and the world by the suppression of
these important documents.

As attention is now again drawn to the region bordering the San Juan and Upper
Colorado, and several parties are occupied in exploring adjacent districts, the results
of the explorations made by the San Juan Exploring Expedition have acquired an
importance in this connection which has rendered their publication desirable. ‘They
are therefore now given to the public. Although much has been learned in regard to
the geology of the country drained by the Colorado River during the last ten years,
and much that has a bearing on the subject-matter of this report, none of this lately-
acquired knowledge is referred to on its pages, but they are printed precisely as written
in 1860.

This course has been pursued as the only just and natural one. The observations
made fifteen years ago, if accurately made, have equal value now as then; if inaccurate,
it is only right that the credit of the correction of errors should belong to those who
make such corrections. The geological narrative now given stands, therefore, just as
written, and is a fair exponent of the state of our geographical and geological knowledge
of the West at the date of its preparation. It is evident that to modify the report so as
to conform to all the conclusions more recently reached, would be to falsify the record
and greatly impair the independence and value of the statements it includes. The
truth or error of these statements will soon be demonstrated by the extension of the
explorations of other parties into this field. It is but just that the eredit or discredit of
the trial to which the report is to be subjected should belong to.the writer. Knowing
that his work was done honestly, and believing that it was in the main accurately done,
he accepts the entire responsibility of it, whether for praise or blame.

J.S.N.

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL,

Wasuinaton, D. C., May 1, 1860.

Dear Sir: I submit herewith my report on the geology of the country traversed
by the San Juan Exploring Expedition, in which I had the honor to serve under your
command,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. S. NewBerry.

Capt. J. N. Macoms,

Topographical I:ngineers, United States Army.

© EY Aaa 1.

GEOLOGY OF THE ,ROUTE BETWEEN INDEPENDENCE AND
SANTA FE.

JENERAL GEOLOGICAL SKETCH — INDEPENDENCE TO DRAGOON CREEK — CARBONIFEROUS
STRATA — CHARACTER OF GOAL AND CoAL-MEASURES OF KANSAS — DUE TO WHAT
CAUSES—COAL-PLANTS OF KANSAS—MORUSCAS FOSSILS—DRAGOON OREEK TO COTTON-
wood CREEK—PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN STRATA— DIFFICULTY: OF SEPA-
RATING THESE FORMATIONS—CoTronwooD CREEK TO WALNUT CREEK—GYPSUM FORMA.
TION—ITS PARALLELISM — WALNUT CREEK TO PAWNEE ForRK— LOWER CRETACEOUS
ROCKS—SANDSTONES WITH IMPRESSIONS OF CAVES—PAWNEE ForK TO CIMARRON—TERTI-
ARY STRATA—ARKANSAS BASIN—ITS RELATION TO THAT OF WHITE RIVER—CIMARRON TO
ENCHANTED SPRING—JURASSIC (?) ROCKS—ENCHANTED SPRING TO COTTONWOOD SPRING—
LOWER CRETACEOUS AND TERTIARY BEDS—CoTTONWOOD SPRING TO CANADIAN—TRAP
BUTTES AND MESAS NEAR RATroN MOUNTAINS—CRETACEOUS ROCKS OF THE CANADIAN—
TABLE-LANDS SKIRTING THE Rocky MOoUNTAINS—CANADIAN TO LAS VEGAS — TRAP
PLATEAU TO BURGEOIN’S SPRING —CORETACEOUS STRATA AT Fort UNnrton AND LAS
VEGAS.

The geology of the country bordering the Santa Fé road is described somewhat
in detail in Chapter X of my report to Lieut. J. C. Ives, U.S. A., on the geology of
the Colorado country. It will not, therefore, be necessary to devote as much time
and space to this portion of our field of explorations as though it were before wholly
unknown. In our recent journey from Independence, Mo., to Santa Fé, however, we
passed over quite a large area not traversed on the route from Santa Fé to Fort
Leavenworth. In repassing also the route formerly traveled, our stopping-places
were, in many instances, different ; many new exposures of the rocks were examined,
and observations were made by which it is now possible to define much more accu-
rately than was formerly done the geographi ‘al limits of the different formations met
with. Iam happy to say that the conclusions arrived at in my former report on the
geology of this region, in regard to the relative position of the various strata noticed,
were fully confirmed by our later observations; and the value of the facts now
reported consists, for the most part, in the more accurate limitation of the surface-
boundaries of the formations, and in the paleontological evidence which they furnish
of the age of strata before, in a great degree, conjectural. The number of fossils
discovered in our late transit of the plains was large in the Carboniferous, Permian, and
Cretaceous rocks, but I had constant occasion to regret that our means of transporta-

16 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

tion were so limited that I was compelled to leave much behind that would have been
of great interest if brought in. Among the localities most rich in fossils, to which I
would call the attention of future collectors, are the exposures of the Upper Carbon-
iferous series in Eastern Kansas, near Uniontown, at Rockhouse, Walter’s Station,
and Burlingame; Permo-Carboniferous, at Dragoon Creek and Wilmington; true
Permian on the hill-tops east of Council Grove, and on Cottonwood Creek; Lower
Cretaceous at the crossing of Pawnee Fork, at Cedar and Cottonwood Springs, and
Whetstone Creek; Middle Cretaceous (Upper Cretaceous of former report) in the
valley of Red Fork of Canadian, particularly at the “Breaks of Red River.”

INDEPENDENCE TO DRAGOON CREEK.

The surface-rocks of all Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri belong to the
Coal-Measures. These are exposed in many places along the banks of the Missouri,
and include beds of coal which are extensively worked at Lexington. In Kansas I
have examined the out-crops of the Coal-Measures at various points on the road from
Independence westward, about Leavenworth City, along the valley of the Kansas, on the
Stranger, Grasshopper Creeks, &c. ‘Taken as a whole, the Coal-Measures of this region
present a marked contrast with those of the northern portion of the Illinois coal-field,
and a still greater one with those of the Ohio and Pennsylvania. This difference con-
sists in the much smaller aggregate quantity of carbonaceous matter and in the vast
preponderance of organic over mechanical sediments, 7. ¢., of limestones over the sand-
stones and shales, which make up the great mass of the Carboniferous series in the
northern portion of the Allegheny coal-field. As I have formerly remarked, this dif-
ference seems to be a consequence of the fact that, during the Carboniferous epoch, the
region occupied by the coal-basin of Missouri and Kansas was more remote from the
source from which the mechanical sediments were derived, and was much more fre-
quently, or at least for longer periods, submerged beneath the water of the ocean than
the region with which I have compared it. Professor Hall has indicated a similar dif-
ference of structure between the northern and southern portions of the Hlinois coal-
field, and has clearly shown how the great calcareous masses of the southern extremity
of this coal-basin are the records of the existence of an open sea in the regions where
they exist, while the coal, sandstones, and shales were accumulating on the low shores
or shallows bordering the continent which lay to the north.

In my former report, I have described the progressive change which was noticed
in the structure of the Carboniferous series in going from New Mexico to Ohio, and
have shown how the great masses of limestone without beds of coal, and almost with-
out any mechanical admixture, were succeeded in Kansas by a series of thick, but
distinctly separated beds of Fusilina limestone, between which were thinner strata of
fine argillaceous shale, with a few seams of cannel or cannel-like coal; and that in
Ohio the Fusilina limestones, not individually, but as a group, are represented by the
thin calcareous bands which separate the greatly-preponderating masses of mechan-
ical sediment. Further examination has fully verified the accuracy of these observa-
tions, and has confirmed in all its general bearings the theory by which the phenomena
were explained. It should be observed, however, that the change which has been

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 17

remarked by Professor Hall in the structure of the coal-basins, going ‘from north to
south, and by myself from northeast to southwest, is not uniformly progressive through-
out their entire extent, but was modified locally by the sinuosities of the shore-line of
the northern main-land, and by the presence of islands at a greater or less distance from
the shore toward the south and southwest; in illustration of which we may cite the
comparative barrenness of the Coal-Measures of Northern and Central Illinois, where,
as in Kansas, the calcareous strata vastly predominate, with the greater development
of strata and mechanical sediments in Southern Illinois and Kentucky; so also the
productive Coal-Measures of the region about Fort Belknap, in Texas, where the quan-
tity of carbonaceous and sandy matter is equal to, if not greater than, that of Kansas
directly north. At Sante Fé, also, as will be seen from the description hereafter to be
given of the geology of that vicinity, the Carboniferous series includes a great thickness
of coarse sandstone filled with the impressions of land-plants, evidently transported no
very great distance from their place of origin. As we progress southward, however,
we ultimately reach the limit of traces of the existence of terrestrial surfaces during
the coal period, as in Southern and Southwestern New Mexico, where the entire Car-
boniferous series is represented by a calcareous mass, all an organic or chemical pre-
cipitate from the waters of the ocean, and the proof of the uninterrupted existence of
an open sea in that region throughout the entire carboniferous epoch.

Coal—The coals of Missouri and Kansas have all, to a certain extent, a common
character, as compared with those of the Alleghany coal-fields; they are softer, and
contain a larger amount of volatile matter, of water, and of sulphur. Some of them
are cannel, frequently handsome and of good quality, and those which are not strictly
cannel are more or less like it in chemical composition and physical structure, and they
frequently have layers of cannel running through them. They are generally quite
tender, and when exposed to the action of the weather, like the Cretaceous and Ter-
tiary coals of the western part of the continent, which they so much resemble, they
are prone to “slack,” or to break up into innumerable rhomboidal or cubical fragments.

The causes of the peculiar character of the coals of Kansas are to be sought, I
think, in the physical conditions attending their formation, rather than in any peculi-
arity of the vegetation from which they were derived. In a paper, published in the
American Journal of Science, of March, 1857, I have attempted to show that the char-
acters which distinguish cannels from other bituminous coals are for the most part due
to the excess of water in which they were submerged during the process of their for-
mation. I have also been led to suppose that this cause has, to a considerable degree,
given to the western coals the characters they exhibit; that the carbonaceous matter
composing them was, during its accumulation, more thoroughly saturated or more
completely submerged than that composing the coal-strata of the Alleghany basin;
and that when the coal-seams had attained their entire thickness they were not, imme-
diately buried beneath heavy masses of mechanical sediment, by the weight of which
all the effects of great pressure would be obtained, but, instead, were submerged per-
haps deeply beneath water, the pressure of which would be expended. in all directions,
and would, therefore, not act as a distinct compress on the saturated mass. That the
chemical characters of these coals have been in any great degree modified by this cause

3SF

18 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

I will not insist, but by submerging a porous body, such as a sponge, it will be seen
that the pressure of the superincumbent water has no tendency to bring its particles in
contact or consolidate it. The excess of sulphur is doubtless due to the decomposition
of the numerous marine organisms which inhabited the water by which the coal was
saturated or submerged.

Fossils—The conditions under which the coal-strata of Kansas have been formed
were not favorable to the preservation of a large number of plants; less than a dozen
species having been discovered there up to the present time. ‘These are Cordaites
borassifolia, Annularia sphenophydoides, Sphenophyllum dentatum, Alethopteris Serlir, Pecop-
teris arborescens, Neuropteris flexuosa, N. hirsutu, and Sigillaria Menardi. These plants
are all found in the coal-formation east of the Mississippi.

The molluscous fossils of this region have been pretty thoroughly worked up by
Messrs. Shumard, Swallow, and Meck. They are enumerated in the papers of these
gentlemen in the proceedings of the Saint Louis and Philadelphia academies ; and in
Chapter X of my report on the Geology of the Colorado Country.

In some portions of Eastern Kansas the Upper Carboniferous limestones contain
the remains of echinoderms, of which the spines and plates sometimes almost com-
pletely cover the weathered surfaces of the rocks. They all belong to the genus
Archeocidaris, and constitute several species described by Messrs. Shumard and Hall.
These fossils present a new feature in the Carboniferous fauna to one who has studied
that formation only east of the Mississippi, where they are exceedingly rare. They are,
however, equally common in the Carboniferous rocks of New Mexico; one of the
Kansas species recurring in great numbers at Pecos Village, near Santa Fé, and. sev-
eral others of large size, described in my report to Lieutenant Ives, are conspicuous
features in the limestones, equivalents of the Coal-Measures, on the banks of the Col-
orado. ;

The Fusilinas, which give character to the Fusilina limestones of Missouri and
Kansas, have attracted the attention and excited the surprise of every geologist who
has visited that region. The Coal-Measure limestones are almost everywhere crowded
with them, and in many instances they compose by far the greater portion of their
mass. It is not easy to say what influences could have fostered this enormous develop-
ment of Foraminiferous life in the sea from which the Kansas limestones were deposited ;
for these fossils, like the echinoderms of which I have spoken, are almost unknown
east of the Mississippi; but, unlike them, are comparatively rare in the limestones of
New Mexico.

DRAGOON CREEK TO COTTONWOOD CREEK.

The Carboniferous rocks which I have described as so characteristic of Kastern
Kansas, prevail without interruption over all the interval between Independence, Mo.,
and Dragoon Creek. Although the exposures of the underlying rocks are frequent
along the Sante Fé road, the surface is merely undulated, nowhere broken, and there
are no deep excavations formed by the draining streams. As a consequence the order of
succession of strata could not be fully made out, and it is probable that not every num-
ber of the series is anywhere visible along our line of examination. It is not certain,
therefore, that there are not beds of coal or other valuable minerals still lying concealed

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 19

by the prairie-grass or beneath the widely-spread Drift deposits over which passes the
great thoroughfare of the Sante Fé road. As far as I could see or learn, however, the
Coal-Measures are there generally barren of useful minerals. The iron-ores and the
fire-clays, so abundantly associated with the coal-beds in Ohio and Pennsylvania, are
almost entirely wanting, and but a single outcrop of a coal-seam of workable thick-
ness—that of Burlingame, described in my former report—is known in the vicimity of
our route. The coal-strata of this region are, however, not only less numerous, but
less continuous than are those east of the Mississippi, and it is highly probable that
local but valuable deposits of mineral-fucl will hereafter be discovered where their
existence is not now suspected.

At Dragoon Creek we reach the extreme summit of the Carboniferous formation,
and first meet with those which may be regarded as distinctly Permian. As has been
remarked, in the discussion of this question on a former occasion, it is exceedingly
difficult, if not impossible, to separate these two formations in this region by any well-
defined line ‘This is clearly shown also by the able analysis of the geological struc-
ture of Eastern Kansas by Messrs. Meek and Hayden, and Swallow and Hawn, and
especially by the difference of opinion which still exists among these gentlemen as to
where the line of demarcation should be drawn. The rocks of that country are conform-
able throughout, and the materials composing them are so similar as to indicate great
uniformity in the physical conditions which attended their deposition. The fossils
which they contain must therefore be our only guide in their classification ; and these,
though numerous and well marked, are so distributed as to give fair ground for con-
siderable difference of honest opinion

Beneath the variegated non-fossiliferous series of the Trias, are certain beds of
magnesian limestone which contain a large number of fossils, for the most part gener-
ically identical with, and specifically closely allied to, the most characteristic forms of
the Permian of Europe. These consist of species of Bakevellia, Leda, Axinus, Monotis,
Pseudomonotis, Myalina, Pleurophorous, Productus, Athyris, Chonetes, Nautilus, Bellerophon,
Murchisonia, &c. Of these one species of Monotis, and another of Myalina, are scarcely
distinguishable from those which occur in the Coal-Measures below, though very possi-
bly distinct. The Athyris, however—a variety of A. subtilita, but broader and more
eibbous than the common form—recurs in the underlying strata with a fauna decidedly
Carboniferous. ‘The same is probably true of a species of Bellerophon common in these
magnesian limestones. The Productus mentioned (P. Cathounianus) is s rarcely differ-
ent from P. semireticulatus.. With the possible exceptions I have enumerated the fauna
of this group is decidedly Permian in character; and if the Permian formation is to be
regarded as distinct from the Carboniferous, which is scarcely to be doubted, although
the separation would not have been made if our American strata had been the basis of
eeological classification, this upper group of magnesian limestones should undoubtedly
be ealled Permian. Below the magnesian rocks to which I have referred, occur numer-
ous alternations of magnesian limestones and variously-colored clays which contain a
mingling of Carboniferous and Permian fossils, or perhaps more properly a mingling of
the species contained in the upper group of magnesian limestones with others common
in the Carboniferous strata below, added to which are a few species that seem to be

20 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

restricted to this geological horizon. In the upper part of this intermediate group of
strata, we have the Bakevellia, Plewrophorous, Avinus, &c., of the beds above, and a fauna
perhaps more Permian than Carboniferous, but below we soon reach a level where the
Carboniferous types predominate. This group of strata has been regarded by Professor
Swallow as all of Permian age, while Mr. Meek terms it Permo-Carboniferous, draw-
ing the line which marks the base of the Permian at the base of the first group of mag-
nesian limestones, and restricting this term to those members of the series in which the
Permian fata predominates over the Carboniferous.

From this interlocking of the Carboniferous and Permian faunze, it is evident that
the line of separation between the two formations must continue to be debatable
ground; and as there is, in fact, a group which contains a mingled fauna—in truth, a
Permo-Carboniferous group—we must introduce this new member into the geological
series, or fix upon some conventional line which shall form the boundary between the
sununit of the Carboniferous and the base of the Permian formations. ‘To avoid com-
plicating the geological scale, the latter course would undoubtedly be the wiser one;
and since there is neither physical nor vital break in the series, it is perhaps not a
matter of great consequence whether the line be drawn at the horizon where the first
Permian type makes its appearance, or at the horizon beyond which the last Carbon-
iferous species ceases to exist, or even at the point, if indeed it were determinable,
where the species of the two formations are represented in equal numbers; in other
words, whether at the top, bottom, or middle of the Permo-Carboniferous group. It
will be seen by reference to the papers which have been before cited, that, while con-
taining several Permian types, the fauna of the ‘ Lower Permian” group of Swallow
and Hawn has considerably more of the Carboniferous than Permian character; and
as great bodies attract more strongly than small ones, it seems more natural that the
debatable ground should be ceded to the great and well-defined Carboniferous series,
of which the symmetry would suffer without it, rather than to the comparatively insig-
nificant and ill-defined Permian formation. It seems probable, therefore, that the
“Lower Permian” group of Swallow and Hawn will be regarded as an integral portion
of the Carboniferous system, while the term Permian will be restricted to the Permian
of Meek and Hayden, to the ‘Upper Permian” of Swallow and Hawn. It is evident
that only those strata should be regarded as Permian in which the Permian fauna pre-
dominates.

In the hills bordering Dragoon Creek I first found limestones containing the group
of fossils—Pleurophorous, Bakevellia, Axinus, Bellerophon, &c.—to which I have referred
above. I*arther west, toward Council Grove, the hills are capped with yellow mag-
nesian limestone, in many places crowded with the valves of Bakevellia parva. Over a
considerable area in this vicinity the highlands are occupied by what may be consid-
ered true Permian strata, while the valleys of all the water-courses are excavated to
and into the Permo-Carboniferous, or, as I have called them, Upper Carboniferous
strata.

At Council Grove, Diamond Spring, Lost Spring, and Cottonwood Creek, obser-
vations were made and fossils collected by Major Hawn, Messrs. Meek and Hayden,
and myself last year. The geology of all these points is nearly the same. At each the

TO JUNOTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 21

Permian magnesian limestones occupy the general surface, but are cut through bythe
valleys of the draining streams. Below them are exposed strata containing Orthisina
umbraculum Productus Calhounianus ; spines of a species of Arch@ocidaris, regarded
by Professor Swallow as identical with A. Verneuiliana, King; a small Athyris, and a
Ithynchonella ; all of which belong rather to the Carboniferous than to the Permian
fauna. Near Cottonwood Creek the Upper Magnesian limestone, or true Permian, is
highly fossiliferous; containing great numbers of Myalina perattenuata, Monotis (Pseu-
domonotis), Hawni, Bakevellia parva, and many other species deseribed by Meek and
Hayden, who collected largely at this locality.

COTTONWOOD CREEK TO WALNUT CREEK.
THE GYPSUM FORMATION.

On the west side of Cottonwood Creek, the Permian limestones pass beneath the
surface, and are not distinctly recognizable at any western point upon the Sante Fé
road. They are succeeded by a series of reddish-yellow and white indurated marls,
forming a part of the great Gypsum formation,” which is so couspicuous a feature in
the geology of the Indian Territory, New Mexico, and Western Texas. This group
fills the interval between the Permian strata, which I have described, and the base of
the Cretaceous system; including representatives of perhaps portions of the Permian,
the ‘Triassic, and Jurassic formations of the Old World. The magnificent exposures of
this series which abound in New Mexico, have been noticed by every geologist and
almost every traveler who has entered that country. It will be seen by reference to
the reports upon the geology of the Southwest made to the Government by the writer
or others, that this formation is everywhere characterized by great poverty of fos-
sils, and for this reason, as well as from the general similarity of its lithological char-
acters from base to summit, and in different localities, it has been hitherto impossible to
separate it by satisfactory dividing lines, or to determine with accuracy the equivalence
of any of its parts with the different formations which it may be supposed to repre-
sent. The study devoted to this group of strata by the writer, while connected with
the party under the command of Lieutenant Ives, was not wholly fruitless, but it must
be confessed that, as far as regards the determination of the parallelism of its sub-
divisions with the strata to which they have been referred, it enables him rather to say
what they are not, than what they are. The observations made upon this formation in
our recent explorations of the country bordering the San Juan and Upper Colorado
Rivers—where it is very largely developed—will be detailed in the subsequent chap-
ters of this report, and it is hoped that they will serve to throw some additional light
on this difficult and perplexing subject. |

The materials composing the Gypsum formation are usually so soft that in a
country well supplied with rain and covered with vegetation they present few satisfac-
tory exposures, and are even usually wholly concealed from view. This is the char-
acter of the district now under consideration, and it is only heré and there that the
traveler can obtain even a glimpse of its geological substructure. It is evident, how-
ever, from the limited space occupied by the outcrop of this group, taken in connec-

22 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

tion with the nearly horizontal position of the strata, that the interval which here sep-
arates the Carboniferous and Cretaceous series is far less than at any point where it
has been examined farther to the south and west. This is also proved from the sec-
tions given by Messrs. Meek and Hayden in the report of their explorations in Kansas,
where it is shown that the rocks filling this gap have not more than one-third or one-
fourth the thickness of those which occupy the same relative position in New Mexico.

The interesting discovery by Dr. Hayden of a group of strata in the Black
Hills, which represent a portion of the Gypsum formation and yet contain numerous
well-marked Jurassic fossils, shows that this series exhibits in different localities consid-
erable diversity of character and development, and encourages us to hope that here-
after similar industry and energy, by bringing to light other localities where these
strata are fossiliferous, will permit an accurate classification to be made of them on
paleontological grounds. It may then be possible to establish a parallelism between
subdivisions of this group and the Jura and Trias of Kurope, but it is evident that
until unmistakable Triassic fossils are discovered in the Southwest, even this general
parallelism can hardly be said to be established. That it will ever be possible to iden-
tify in the members of the Gypsum formation the Oolite, Lias, the Marnes-Irisées, the
Muschelkalk, and Gres-bigarré, is more than doubtful.

On the banks of the Little Arkansas there is an exposure of laminated, yellowish-
white, fine-grained, rippled-marked sandstone, and a singular cellular amygdaloid-like
magnesian (?) limestone, which apparently belong to the Gypsum formation, yet which
exhibit lithological characters such as I have not elsewhere seen in any member of
that group. As far as observed they contain no fossils whatever, and without further
evidence it is impossible to say what are their precise equivalents in other localities.

I shall soon have occasion, in speaking of the geology of the region bordering the
Upper Cimarron, to refer to another group of strata which underlie the Lower Creta-
ceous rocks and hold a place usually occupied by a portion of the Gypsum series.
‘These strata present characters somewhat at variance with those usually exhibited by
the Gypsiferous group, and such as have led me to suspect that they form part of a
somewhat local deposit, which may be the representative of the Jurassic strata, dis-
covered by Dr. Hayden in Nebraska. I have been able to discover no evidence
of the existence of similar rocks, beneath the Cretaceous and above the Permian, east
of Walnut Creek.

WALNUT CREEK TO PAWNEE FORK.

LOWER CRETACEOUS ROCKS.

Before reaching Walnut Creek, the Santa Fé road enters the valley of the Arkansas,
which is several miles in width, and is bounded on the north and west by the abrupt
edges of the “high prairie,” a nearly level plateau, which occupies an immense area west
of this point. In this plateau the tributaries of the Arkansas have excavated valleys
of greater or less breadth, but they are generally narrow and are separated by ‘“ divides”
of the high prairie, which to the eye are as level as the surface of still water, and are
everywhere covered with a velvety carpet of buffalo-grass. Smoky Tall Fork of the
Kansas, Cottonwood Creek, the Little Arkansas, Cow Creek, Walnut Creek, &e., all

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 23

traverse, at least through a part of their courses, channels which they have excavated
in the “high prairie.”

Throughout the greater part of the area drained by these streams the geological
substratum of the plateau I have described is the Lower Cretaceous sandstone, or,
more properly, a group of strata, though sometimes consisting of but a single bed,
which forms the base of the Cretaceous system; No. 1 of Meek and Hayden’s Ne-
braska section of the Cretaceous series. This group is composed principally and some-
times exclusively of thick-bedded, coarse-grained, ferruginous sandstone, containing
as characteristic fossils a large number of species of angiospermous leaves. Around
the edge of the high prairie this sandstone caps or composes many isolated buttes which
have been severed from their connection with-the plateau by aqueous erosion. Such,
we learn from Messrs. Meek and Hayden, is the structure of the Smoky Hills, from
which they obtained a large part of the impressions of leaves described by the writer,
and such also is the structure of Pawnee Rock, which stands near the road be-
tween Walnut Creek and Pawnee Fork. At Allison’s ranch, on Walnut Creek, this
sandstone has precisely the lithological characters of that from the Smoky Hills, but
I was not able fo detect in it any traces of fossils. At Walnut Creek, however, twenty-
five miles distant, vegetable impressions are abundant, including, apparently, some of
the same species obtained from Smoky Hill, Blackbird Hill, &e. :

The geological horizon marked by this Lower Cretaceous sandstone group is per-
haps the best defined of all in the entire geological series in the Southwest, and more
generally useful as a plane of reference than any other. From the resistant character
of the materials composing this group, it has held its place over an immense extent of
country from which the softer superior strata have been removed. When the upper
members of the Cretaceous formation are present, as is the case in much of the coun-
try hereafter to be described, the Lower Cretaceous sandstones are covered with more
than a thousand feet of limestones, or calcareous shales filled with the remains of ma-
rine organisms, and evidently a deposit from the waters of the ocean. In an analysis
of the Cretaceous formation, to be given in a succeeding chapter of this report, I shall
attempt to deduce, from the composition and fossil contents of the different members
of this series, something of the history of the changing phases of the physical geog-
raphy of the central portion of the continent during their deposition. I may say,
however, in passing, that these coarse Cretaceous sandstones are exclusively mechan-
ical deposits, and such as have not been transported any very great distance from their
place of origin; that, extending as they do from the vicinity of the Mississippi all the way
to the base of the Rocky Mountains, they mark a period of general subsidence in all this
portion of the continent—a period through which the sea was eradually encroaching
upon the land. The shore-line was then constantly marching inland, leaving behind it
proofs of the power of its littoral waves; which comminuted and sifted the barriers op-
posing their progress, and formed of their ruins these beds of stratified sands and
pebbles, which may be regarded as only an unbroken series of ancient sea-beaches.
The finer materials, washed by the shore-waves, were taken into suspension or solu-
tion by the sea-water, and, mingled with or composing the remains of marine animals,
were spread over the ocean bottom as the shales and limestones of which I have betore

e

24 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

spoken. This encroachment of the sea took place from east to west, and the invading
flood is now represented by the Gulf of Mexico. This is indicated by the facts that
the Lower Cretaceous sandstones thin out and disappear toward the south and east,
where nearly the entire Cretaceous series is represented by marine and organic sedi-
ments; while, as we go toward the west and northwest, on the contrary, the sandstones
increase in thickness, He superincumbent strata become less and less calcareous, until
ultimately, as we approach the shores of the continent not submerged by the Creta-
ceous ocean, the mechanical sediments greatly preponderate over the organic, and beds
of sandstone and shale of enormous thickness, the direct débris of the laxid, represent
all the subdivisions of the chalk formation. |

. [have spoken in my former report of the parallelism between the Lower Creta-
ceous strata of New México and those of Nebraska, as described by Meek and Hay-
den, and those of New Jersey, by Professor Cook. How accurately the Lower Cre-
taceous rocks of the district now under consideration represent those of the regions
just mentioned will be seen in the following section :

Section of Lower Cretaceous rocks at the crossing of Pawnee Fork.

No. 1. Soft, coarse sandstone, dark reddish-brown, yellow, or nearly white; lower
part finer, and containing impressions of dicotyledonous leaves (Salix, &e.) to summit
of cliff, about 50 feet.

Light dove-colored clay, with lignite and broken leaves, 10 feet.

3. Yellow sandy clay with vegetable impressions to bed of stream; about 15 feet
exposed.

I had not time fully to explore this locality, but the fossils are quite numerous and
very accessible. The species of Salix referred to is apparently identical with S. AZeek,
obtained at Smoky Hill by Meek and Hayden. The dove-colored clay which under-
lies the sandstone is scar cely distinguishable from that which holds a similar position
in New Jersey, and which, Tike this, is filled with vegetable matter.

By reference to the section of the rocks of Kansas given by Messrs. ae and
Hayden, in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Acé wong January, 1 859, it will be
noticed that the “red, are n, and yellowish coarse-grained sandstone, containing
leaves of dicotyledonous trees, forming the summits of the Smoky Hills,” is underlaid
by ‘whitish, very fine-grained, argillaceous sandstone, with bluish, purple, and ash-
colored clays.” Though containing at that locality no vegetable impressions, it is
evident that these latter beds are the equivalents, of those Benoned beneath the sand-
stone on Pawnee Fork.

PAWNEE FORK TO CROSSING OF CIMARRON.
TERTIARY STRATA.
After leaving Pawnee Fork the Santa Fé road crosses the margin of an immense

Tertiary basin, to which I first called attention in my report on the geology of the
Colorado country, and designated by the name of the “Tertiary basin of the

Arkansas.”

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 25

During my former transit of the plains I formed the opinion that the western
boundary of this ‘Tertiary belt was passed near the crossing of the Cimarron; and it
is still a ge that ‘Tertiary strata will not be found west of that point which are con-
tinuous with those forming the table-lands bordering the Arkansas, but during the past
season I noticed similar beds recurring at various points quite up to the bases of the
Rocky Mountains, and I think we have evidence that at one time Tertiary rocks
occupied the surface of a large territory in this region, from which they have been
entirely removed, or so nearly so as to be represented by isolated and often widely
separated patches.

As will be seen by reference to the sections exposed at various points along the
western portion of the Santa Fé road, these Tertiary rocks are entirely uncontormable
to those upon which they rest; are of very much later date, and were deposited, not
only subsequent to the mexodl when the entire series of Cretaceous strata had been
laid down, but after they had been much disturbed, and elevated to such a point that
valleys, eroded by surface action, had been cut down to and through-the base of that
series. In different localities the Tertiary strata rest up on the Middle or Lower
Cretaceous rocks, or even on the underlying Triassic formation.

The vicinity of the Raton Mountains has, in former times, been the theater of
violent and wide-spread volcanic action. At that time numerous mountain masses and
subordinate buttes of trap were thrown up, and floods of lava poured out, covering an
extensive area in their vicinity. During this period of violence the Cretaceous rocks
were locally much disturbed and Beulacrpliosed, and the lowest members of that
series clevated to, and perhaps far above, the surface of the ocean. At some time sub-
sequent to the period of greatest volcanic activity, and yet apparently before the fires
in this great furnace were: entirely extinguished, the T ertiary strata began to be
deposited in the depressions, and over the irregularities which then oxsind on the
surface. Unfortunately, in all the localities where | examined these strata, they seemed
to be destitute of fossils. We are, therefore, as yet without the light which they
would throw upon the conditions of their deposition, and the conclusions to which I
have arrived in reference to the precise age of these beds are to a certain extent con-
jectural, and liable to be modified by future discoveries, yet there seems to be good
reason for supposing that they are what I have called them, Tertiary, and that they
are continuous with the Tertiary basins of Northwestern Kansas and Nebraska. The
reasons for this conclusion are, first, that these deposits are considerably more recent
than any portion of the Cretaceous series represented in the region in which they
exist; second, that in their lithological characters and the circumstances of their depo-
eect they are the exact counterparts of the fresh-water ‘Tertiary strata of. the basins
to which I have referred, and which are also only locally and rarely fossiliferous ; third,
that the Tertiary strata of the Upper Platte extend southward toward the Arkansas,
where their only possible representatives are those under consideration ; fourth,
Tertiary fossils are said to have been found in these beds on the banks of the Arkansas,
above the crossing. . :

In lithological characters the Tertiary rocks of the Arkansas basin are considerably
unlike any marine deposit with which I am familiar, but the greater portion of them

4S F

26 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

strikingly resemble the fresh-water Tertiary limestones of the Paris basin; and, as I
have said, are undistinguishable from those of the ‘“bad-lands” of the Upper Missouri,
shown by their fossils to be all of fresh-water or estuary origin. The great mass of
the Arkansas beds is made up of white or cream-colored limestone, closely resembling
much of the calcareous tufa deposited from springs, and frequently containing masses of
black or red, very light and porous scoria; with this tufaceous limestone-are associated
strata of more compact laminated cream-colored limestone; a bed of coarse, friable
light-colored sandstone, frequently a conglomerate ; and at a higher level a stratum of
exceedingly coarse conglomerate, of which the pebbles, if such they can be called,
are often 6 or 8 inches in diameter. ‘These pebbles are principally composed of
quartz or the harder erupted rocks, basalt, porphyry, &e., with occasionally a frag-
ment of Carboniferous limestone. I noticed that in going toward the west the mate-
rials composing these sandstones and conglomerates became much coarser, showing that
they had been derived from the direction of the Rocky Mountains. Although the
Tertiary basins of the West have been studied in but a small portion of their extent,
and we are as yet very far from being in possession of all the facts in reference to
their areas, their structure, or their fossils, which will permit us to write in full the
history of their deposition, the observations already made all seem to point to the eon-
clusion that the Tertiary epoch was an era of progressive elevation over all the central
portions of our continent ; and that during the greater part of this epoch, the continent
had nearly the form and area which it has at present. The purely marine Tertiaries
appear to be restricted to the immediate vicinity of the present ocean ;; and to a
narrow belt along the valley of the Mississippi, which continued to be occupied till a
comparatively recent period by an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. So far as at present
known, all the Tertiary strata which are found between the Mississippi and the Sierra
Nevada are of fresh-water or estuary origin. The gradual retrocession of the ocean
is also indicated by the fact reported by Dr. Hayden that where estuary shells are
found in the Tertiary strata of Nebraska they are ‘generally restricted to the lower beds
of the series; the overlying strata containing fresh-water species. We are led to infer,
therefore, that the Tertiary basins which skirt the bases of the Rocky Mountains, were Gnce
the beds of rivers and lakes of the Tertiary continent; and, except m the immediate
vicinity of the coast-line, were wholly occupied by fresh water. It is also probable
that some of these basins occupy former lines of drainage from the Rocky Motntains;
and that the beds of coarse sand and gravel made up of fragments of crystalline rocks,
wholly foreign to the localities where they are found, but abundant in and peculiar to
the Rocky Mountains, were transported from their distant places of origin by the rapid
currents of these ancient rivers. The further consideration of these facts, as well as
others bearing on the subject of the physical geography of the central portions of the
continent during the Tertiary epoch, must be deferred to a subsequent portion of this
report, where it will more properly find place.

The details of structure of the Tertiary basin of the Arkansas will be, perhaps,
most readily understood by a few extracts from my notes, made at various points along
our route where the Tertiary strata are exposed. ‘‘ After leaving Pawnee Fork, the road
passes over level bottom-lands for several miles, where it divides; the left-hand branch

TO JUNOTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 27

following the windings of the Arkansas; the other, called the ‘dry road,’ rising on to
and crossing the table-land which separates the valleys of Pawnee Fork and the
Upper Arkansas. This table-land is underlain by a white tufaceous limestone, exposed
in the bed of the Coon Creeks, and still better at the point where the dry road comes
down again to the Arkansas. It is also thrown out in many different places from the
burrows of the prairie-dogs. In lithological characters, this rock is precisely like a
portion of the strata of the ‘bad-lands’ of Nebraska; contains no fossils, but a few
pebbles of crystalline rock. At the Caches, sixteen miles below the crossing of the
Arkansas, the same stratum is seen overlaid by some thirty feet of coarse, soft, light-
brown conglomerate, much cross-stratified. The cement is coarse silicious sand; the
pebbles, from the size of an egg downward, of granite, trap, quartz, porphyry, trachyte,
Jasper, quartzite, chert, &e., with a few of Carboniferous limestone.”

“At the crossing of the Arkansas, the following section is exposed :

“1. Spongy tufaceous limestone like that on Dry road.

“2. Coarse, soft conglomerate, same as at Caches, 35 feet.

“3. ‘Tufaceous limestone, like No. 1, to base.”

“The sand-hills, which border the Arkansas on the south side, seem to have been
derived from the decomposition of the Tertiary conglomerate.”

“The same stratum forms the banks of the Cimarron, and has apparently given
character to its sandy and sterile valley. The ‘Jornada,’ the divide between the
Arkansas and Cimarron, is another portion of the high prairie, precisely like, in physi-
ral and geological structure, that crossed by the ‘dry road.”

“At Kighteen-mile ridge, on the Cimarron, the coarse conglomerate and chalky tufa
are exposed, as at many points below. The conglomerate is composed of a coarse
sandy cement, with pebbles from the size of shot to eight inches in diameter. The
larger ones are compact, fine-grained, reddish-yellow sandstone, doubtless of Lower
Cretaceous age, and such as comes to the surface farther westward. Others are com-
posed of granite, amygdaloid, clay-slate, quartz, jasper, &c. The greater size of the
pebbles in this conglomerate perhaps indicates that, in going westward, we are
approaching the source from which they were derived. The conglomerate would
seem to be a drift from the Rocky Mountains, where, and where only, as far as I am
aware, such materials occur in place. If this is true, when on the Cimarron, we were
doubtless standing in the chamel of a great line of drainage of the Tertiary epoch.”

At the middle spring of the Cimarron a very instructive and interesting section is
exposed, in which we again see the base of the Tertiary series. On Pawnee Fork, the
tufaccous limestones and conglomerate which I have described rest upon the coarse
ferruginous Lower Cretaceous sandstone. Here we find them underlain by soft yellow
or red sandstone, of which the place is considerably lower than that last mentioned.
In other localities further west we shall see that these Tertiary beds rest first on Lower
Cretaceous sandstone, then on trap, again upon the Middle Cretaceous limestones and
shales, and, finally, upon the red calcareous’ sandstones of the Trias. The elements
composing the section of the middle spring of the Cimarron are indicated in the fol-
lowing table:

a

28 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Section of strata at Middle Spring of Cimarron.

Feet.

1. Coarse gravel from disintegrated conglomerate ......-...--.-...--2.----- 6

2. Spongy, tufaceous limestone, cream-colored..............---------- Sebati RS

GB. OL GALE ¥ Wilke CHORIN COLOR OU et henernans satires hing OPO hci Suet: vs

4. Laminated, tufaceous limestone, cream-colored. ................----------- 6
5. Massive, tufaceous limestone, upper part hardest, containing balls of red and

Pipe BOGE ce ee my na eee ee Nea 8 SE 50)

6. Cream-colored tufa, similar to No. 5, but softer.....-...2.222-2..--2...-- 19

7. Hard, foliated tufaceous limestone. -... -- aoe eR Se 5

Bie.) cow OT Meme, BOT, MaNsIVG BADEShOHe <0. es ek ow 40)

The cream-colored tufaceous limestones of the above section are the equivalents
of the lower tufaceous limestone of the Arkansas, and, though containing no fossils,
are doubtless Tertiary. The balls of scoria which they include, though not positive
evidence of the fact, may be regarded as an indication that voleanie action was going
on somewhere in this vicinity during their deposition. If this was the case, the scoria
must have been derived from the vicinity of the Raton Mountains, where voleanic
eruptions were taking place, geologically speaking, about that time.

Scoria is very frequently contained in the Tertiary strata near the Rocky Mount-
ains; a fact which has suggested the thought that the water from which these tufaceous
limestones were deposited may, in some instances, have been heated, and that this is
one reason why they contain so few fossils.

The sandstone which forms the base of the section, at the Middle Spring of the
Cimarron, will be soon noticed, in connection with the group to which it belongs; but
_ its place in the series, as has been stated, is below the Lower Cretaceous sandstone.

- We have here abundant evidence of the entire unconformability of the Tertiary
beds with those on which they rest, and that they were deposited in basins scooped out
of the underlying rocks, doubtless by subaerial action, precisely as similar valleys or
basins are forming at the present day.

A few miles further westward the Lower Cretaceous, and even some portions of
the Middle Cretaceous strata, are found in place, and there is no question but that they
once stretched over all the adjacent country, and occupied the place since held by the
Tertiary beds, but, by the long action of eroding agents, they had been entirely re-
moved or deeply excavated before the Tertiary limestones began to be deposited; and
that subsequently this latter series filled up and obliterated all traces of that ancient
denudation. . During the present epoch the process of erosion has again begun, and the
valleys of the Cimarron and Arkansas are being for the second time excavated.

CROSSING OF CIMARRON TO ENCHANTED SPRING.
JURASSIC ? ROCKS.

At the crossing of the Cimarron, and for some miles west of that’ point, the Ter-
tiary strata have been entirely removed; the bottom of. the basin exposed and deeply
eroded. It is here composed of a series of strata of which the sandstone, lying at the
base of the cliff at the Middle Spring, forms a part. This series consists of a number

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 29

of alternations of strata which are quite different in color, texture, and composition.
‘They are, as far as my observation extended, destitute of fossils, and it is therefore im-
possible to fix accurately their place in the geological scale. It will be seen from the
section given below that they underlie the coarse red and yellow sandstones of Lower
Cretaceous age, which have been so frequently referred to in the preceding pages.
They are, however, in lithological characters quite unlike the strata which are een-
erally found immediately beneath the Lower Cretaceous sandstones of New Mexico.
The position they hold is apparently the same with-that of the Jurassic rocks discov-
ered by Dr. Hayden in the Black Hills. It is possible, therefore, and perhaps prob-
able, that they are of the same age. It will, however, be necessary to wait the
detection of fossils in the group before its place in the series can be more than conjec-
tured. The section taken from the summits of the hills at Enebanted Spring, down
the side of the valley toward the Cimarron, as far as the rocks were exposed, is as
follows:
1. Gray, yellow, or brown coarse sand-rock, the equivalent of that of the Smoky
Hills, here containing obscure impressions of large dicotyledonous leaves, 70
feet.

2. Thin layers of laminated brown sandstones, with very smooth surfaces, z0 feet.
3. ILlard light-blue or dove-colored limestone in thin layers, Jurassic? 50 feet.

4. Slope covered, about 30 feet.

5. Yellow or reddish quartzose sandstone, 2 feet.

6. Red shale, 5 feet.

7. Yellow calcareous sandstone or silicious limestone, with ferruginous concretions,

20 feet.
8. Brecciated conglomerate, 5 feet.
9. Blood-red shale, 25 feet.
10. Yellow calcareous sandstone, similar to No. 7, 8 feet.
11. Blood-red shale, with one or two narrow bands of green, 10 feet. :

‘12. Red and yellow argillaceous limestone, somewhat concretionary, often laminated,
sun-cracked and ripple-marked, pierced by vertical cavities from one to two
inches in diameter, to base, 8 feet. 3

Much of the coarse sand-rock, No. 1 of the section, is precisely like that contain-

ing the fossil plants of Blackbird Hill, Nebraska; being partly dark-brown and ferru-
ginous, and partly gray, quartz-like, and intensely hard. Other portions of the mass
are yellow and softer, in this respect resembling the general aspect of this rock in New
Mexico. ‘The limestone, No. 3 of the section, is the most interesting feature of the group,
and the one to which we must look for fossils that shall determine its age. It is a fine-
grained, homogeneous rock, such as I have nowhere seen near the same geological
horizon in the Southwest. With the exception of the limestone, I should have no great
difficulty in supposing that this group represented the strata which in New Mexico im-
mediately underlie the Lower Cretaceous sandstones; but the limestone is entirely for-
eign to the geology of those portions of New Mexico which I have examined. I am
strongly inclined to believe that it is a member of the series not represented further to
the south and west, and I shall be surprised if it does not yield to future explorers well-
marked Jurassic fossils.

30 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

ENCHANTED SPRING TO COTTONWOOD SPRING.
TERTIARY AND LOWER CRETACEOUS STRATA.

At Enchanted Spring the Lower Cretaceous sandstones form a line of bold bluffs,
which border the excavated valley of the Cimarron. From this point up to the base
of the mountains the surface has nothing of the monotony of the plains below, but is
greatly varied, and the scenery is frequently impressive, occasionally grand. With
the exception, however, of the volcanic outlayers of the Raton Mountains, there are
few evidences of the action of violent disturbing causes, and the variety which the
scenery presents is due almost entirely to the erosion of nearly horizontal strata by the
drainage from the Rocky Mountains. Here the traveler, journeying to New Mexico,
obtains his first view of the peculiar and impressive scenery so characteristic of nearly
all portions of the great central plateau of the continent. Here he first hears the word
mesa, and sees it embodied in the long lines of table-lands which fill the horizon and
stretch away in perspective, like the walls of Cyclopean ¢ities. I have, in a former
report, described somewhat in detail the phenomena of erosion which are presented by
the high table-land bordering the Rocky Mountains. It is, therefore, only necessary
for me to say in this connection that the views then advanced in reference to the origin
of the great natural features of that region, its mesas and caions, have been fully con-
firmed by subsequent observation, and that-there éan Be no question that they are to
be reearded simply as phenomena of surface erosion, of which they are the orandest
examples known.

The geology of the region lying between Enchanted Spring and Cottonwood
Spring is similar throughout. The rocky basis of the country is formed by the Lower
Cretaceous sandstone, covered here and there with patches of white tufaceous Tertiary
limestone. ‘These Tertiary beds were, perhaps, once continuous, but now form only a
relatively thin covering over the divides between the streams, being wholly removed
from the valleys and low lands. As on the Arkansas, they are without fossils as far as
observed, and were deposited nearly horizontally over the irregular surface of the
‘underlying sandstone.

A section of the strata at Cedar Spring is as follows:

(a.) Tertiary.

1. White, chalky, tufaceous limestone, with hard, gray, compact bands. - - -- 15 feet,
2. Cream-colored, spongy, tufaceous limestone, (similar to that on the Arkan-
sistant elon) seen sore eer So. ee a Ciccagte ai rene: 2 40 feet.

(b.) Cretaceous.

Yellow fine-grained sandstone, with obscure impressions of fucoids- - - - - - - 6 feet,

2. Light blue or white shale, with many obscure vegetable impressions, about 4 feet.
3. Yellow sandstone, soft and rather coarse, in thin (often rippled-marked)
layers, containing impressions of dicotyledonous leaves, resembling those

Ck, SULLA AIR NOT ONS an id <5 I ER Se RMS thin’. = = «8 SE es 5 feet.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. OL

4. Bluish shale, containing impressions of leaves, and a thin bed of lignite-... 4 feet.

c y > a 7 - 5 ° i . > . 2

5. Yellow soft sandstone, with impressions of dicotyledonous leaves, apparently
identical with some of those from Smoky Hill, to base of section... .-- - 50 feet.

From Cedar Spring to MeNee’s Creek the road passes over a high prairie under-
lain by Tertiary limestones. At MeNee’s Creck the Tertiary rocks are cut through and
the Cretaceous series freely opened. No fossils were found here, but the rock is eener-
ally similar to that at Cedar Spring. At Cottonwood Spring the surface rock is Tertiary
tufaceous limestone, which is cut through by the stream, and its line of junction with
the underlying Cretaceous rocks exposed. The sandstone is here considerably disturbed
and metamorphosed apparently by the upheaval of the erupted mass of the ‘ Rabbit-
ear Buttes,” which are near by. Upon the uneven surface of the sandstone the
Tertiary strata are laid down nearly or quite horizontally, and have evidently been but
little disturbed since their deposition. In the upper part of the Cretaceous sandstone
near the spring I found many vegetable impressions, generally trunks of trees and
fragments of wood, and also some leaves. One of these is apparently a Saliz, and
perhaps identical with S. Meekii. There are also others, which are similar to the leaves
found at Smoky Hill. ‘Che metamorphosis of the Cretaceous strata is shown not only in
the peroxidation of the iron which they contain, but an associated clay-shale is rendered
nearly as white and as hard as porcelain; the contained iron being segregated in thin
vein-like bands.

COTTONWOOD SPRING TO RED FORK UF CANADIAN,
TRAP, TERTIARY, AND CRETACEOUS ROCKS.

The interval indicated by the above heading includes a portion of the voleanic
district adjacent to the Raton Mountains, to which I have before alluded. Rabbit-ear,
Round Mound, Wagon Mound, &e., form part of a group of trap buttes, which are
scattered over the prairie for a long distance east of the mountains. ‘They are in some.
cases entirely isolated, and seem to mark minor vents, where a portion of the molten
matter contained in some vast subterranean reservoir found exit. Othexs are connected
by sheets of trap, and in some instances are but portions of a volcanic flood, separated
from their connections by subsequent erosions. Toward the mountains the erupted
material more completely covers the country, and forms extensive mesas, or high table-
lands, which have been deeply eut by the canons of the streams once flowing over
but now through them. They have also been left in strong relief by the cutting down
of the country bordering them on the east. .

~ In many places the sheets of trap are covered by Tertiary tufa, which has been
deposited quietly and uniformly over their surfaces, and is evidently much more recent
than they. This Tertiary bed is here not of great thickness, and perhaps represents
only the extreme upper portion of the series described in the preceding pages.

Wherever the trap is cut through in the stream-beds it is found resting on the
Lower Cretaceous sandstones, which are in such cases somewhat metamorphosed ; being
vitrified, or at least hardened; the iron being peroxidized, and more or less segregated
in bands or veins. In other localities the Lower Cretaceous sandstone is covered by

.

32 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

the Tertiary tufa; but, over large areas, it is itself the surface rock. At Whetstone
Creek this group is exposed in the banks of the stream, and shows a great number of
alternations of very fine-grained, laminated sandstone, with more argillaceous bands.
These strata contain fossil plants in large numbers, which would undoubtedly well
reward collectors who could have more time to devote to the locality than was at my
command. Several of the species noticed there are apparently different from those
obtained from outcrops of this formation from other localities, but a narrow leaf, per-
haps a Salix, seems to be identical with one obtained at Smoky Hill, Pawnee Fork, &c,

A remarkable fissure has been opened by voleanic force in the rocks containing
these planfs. It is about four and a half feet wide following the main jointings of the
sandstones, which here run nearly east and west. No trap fills the fissure, but it is
evident that it was once a kind of flue through which a vast amount of heat escaped
from below. Its sides are blackened, glazed, and blistered, and the sandstone which
forms its immediate walls is considerably metamorphosed ; to the depth of an inch it is
vitrified; back of this it is converted into a hard, blue, sonorous rock, resembling a
compact basalt. The effect of heat is noticeable in the changed-condition of the sand-
stone several fect from the sides of the fissure, but at a distance of twenty feet the rock
again exhibits its normal appearance.

VALLEY OF THE CANADIAN.

MIDDLE CRETACEOUS STRATA.

The valley of the Red Fork of the Canadian is a broad eroded trough, excavated
almost entirely in the great group of limestones and calcareous shales which rest upon
the sandstone group I have so frequently referred to as the Lower Cretaceous saud-
stones.. The overlying calcareous mass, which contains immense numbers of Cre-
taceous fossils, is apparently the equivalent of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of Meek and Hayden’s
Nebraska section.

In my former notes on the geology of this region, I designated this series as Upper
Cretaceous, to distinguish it from the Lower Cretaceous sandstone group. At that time
I had seen no evidence of the existence in New Mexico of higher members of the
Cretaceous formation. In our recent explorations of the San Juan country, where
this series is very largely developed, I found the equivalents of the strata under con-
sideration covered by soft sandstones and marls, which I regarded as also members of
the great Cretaceous formation. This latter group is, therefore, more properly Upper
Cretaceous, and the calcareous strata of the Canadian and their equivalents will be
designated in the subsequent portions of this report as Middle Cretaceous.

In describing the Cretaceous strata of the country bordering the San Juan, I shall
have occasion to return to the subject of the classification of the rocks belonging to
this series, as developed in New Mexico, and, as far as practicable, establish a paral-
lelism between them and those of the Upper Missouri, as described in the Nebraska
section of Messrs. Meek and Hayden. I may here say, however, that the division of
the Cretaceous rocks of New Mexico into three great groups—Upper, Middle, and
Lower—will be found to be the most convenient, if not the only one practicable

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 33

Wherever I have observed them these different divisions are marked by obvious and
distinctive lithological characters, and the fossils contained by each group are usually
recognizable at a glance. Those of the Lower sandstone group being generally angi-
ospermous leaves; those of the Middle group, marine shells and the remains of fishes;
those of the Upper division, as far as yet observed, being leaves and trunks of trees
different from those found below. It is true, that in Southeastern New Mexico and
Texas there is very little sandy matter in any of the Cretaceous rocks, while in the
Rocky Mountains the upper and lower arenaceous divisions are greatly developed, and
the limestones have nearly disappeared from the middle division. This latter group is,
however, distinctly marked even there; consisting of calcareous shales, with thin bands
of limestone and beds of lignite, interstratified with layers, of greater or less thickness,
of fine-grained sandstones, usually containing considerable lime.

On the banks of the Canadian, from 800 to 1,000 feet of the Middle Cretaceous
strata all exposed.

The section from the summit of the hills at the “Breaks of Red River,” down to
the bed of the stream; is as follows: ;

1. Rolled gravel, composed of fragments of porphyry, trap, Paleozoic limestone,
&e., drift from the Rocky Mountains.

2. Light-blue compact limestone, on exposure cracking into flattish chips or
“spalls,” containing Inoceramus problematicus, Gryphaea Pitcheri, &e.

3. Ferruginous, laminated, sandy limestone, with rounded concretions, one to five
feet in diameter, of compact blue limestone, much cracked, and fissures filled with
crystallized carbonate of lime. This rock 4s a great store-house of fossils, of which,
perhaps, the most abundant is a remarkably neat little Ostrea, hitherto undescribed,
which I have called Ostrea elegantula; one of the most common and widely distributed
Middle Cretaceous fossils of New Mexico. With this are Inoceramus fragilis, H. & M.,
I. Crispti?, Ammonites percarinatus, Shark’s teeth (Lamna and Oxyrhina), &e. The
surfaces of the layers of this stratum are covered with small Ostreas (O. congeata), and
fragments of Inoceramus, which resemble fish-scales; thickness 80 feet.

4. Light-blue compact limestone in thin beds, weathering white, similar to No. 2;
about 30 feet exposed. From this point to the bed of the river, some 700 to 800 feet,
the cliffs are composed of blue compact limestone in thin beds, alternating with dark-
blue and brownish bituminous calcareous shales, which underlie the preceding mem-
bers of the section, and rest upon the Lower Cretaceous sandstones. In every part of
these lower limestones Jnoceramus problematicus is exceedingly abundant. They also
contain large numbers of Gryphea Pitcheri, of which remarkably large and fine speci-
mens were collected a short distance east of the crossing.

All the foregoing calcareous beds rest upon the sandstones of Lower Creta-
ceous age to which I have so frequently referred. ‘These sandstones form the bed of
the Canadian at the crossing and the walls of the canon below, and here exhibit nearly
the same lithological characters as at many localities where they are exposed farther
eastward. They seem to be somewhat disturbed and hardened, and it is possible that
a slight unconformability may be discovered between them and the overlying rocks-
This is a mere suspicion, however, which I could not verify or disprove in the time at

SSF

o4 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

my command. The divide between the valleys of the Red Fork and its tributary, the
Oc: ité, as well as the western bank of the Ocat¢, is formed of the Middle Cretaceous
limestones and marl, enumerated in the preceding section.

The structure of the picturesque table-lands from which these streams issue I had
no opportunity of determining, as they lie several miles north of the road, but I could
see that they are in part covered by a thick layer of trap, to which their nearly hori-
zontal surfaces and precipitous sides are doubtless due.

VALLEY OF THE CANADIAN TO LAS VEGAS.

As far westward as Burgwin’s Spring,

numerous localities, usually resting upon trap, which is the prevailing surface-rock, and

yatches of Tertiary tufa appear in
|

which caps the picturesque mesas bordering the road on either side. Here, as farther
vast, Numerous trap buttes stud the prairies, and there are several lines of trap hills
which run off toward the south as diverging spurs from the Raton Mountains. Near
Dragoon Spring, by a long and painful ascent we reached the summit of a trap mesa,
apparently the continuation of the table-lands bordering the U pper Canadian. The
underlying sedimentary rocks are here concealed by the débris of their trappean cover-
ing. <A few miles farther westward, however, the Lower Cretaceous sandstones aeain
come into view, and it is probable that they here form the surface over which the vol-
canic flood was poured. The trap of all this region exhibits great similarity of char-
acter; its weathered surfaces are black, while within it is dark brown or gray. It is
generally more or less vesicular, sometimes quite scoriaceous.

About Fort Union the only rocks visible are a mass of vesicular trap similar to
that just described, apparently only a narrow and local lava-stream, and the Lower
Cretaceous sandstones, which are very fully exposed. his latter group has here a
thickness of at least 300 feet, perhaps considerably more, as its line of junction with
the underlying rocks is nowhere reached. It forms the hills at the base of which the
fort is located, and a large part of Gallinas Mountain. Probably still older strata are
thrown up at the latter locality, but I had no opportunity to look for them. Just
below Fort Union the Cretaceous sandstones, dipping to the south and east, away
from the mountains, pass beneath the surface, and are succeeded by the Middle Creta-
ceous limestones so fully exposed on the banks of the Canadian. These rocks occupy all
the interval between this point and Las Vegas. On my former visit to Las Vegas I was
unable to discover any fossils in the blue ieniont which crops out there, though ]
regarded it as equivalent to the Middle Cretaceous beds elsewhere examined. ‘This
conjecture I was able more recently fully to confirm by finding in it Inoceramus prob-
lematicus and other fossils of that horizon.

At Las Vegas the road leaves the prairies, and thence to Santa Fé is constantly
involved in the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. As the geology of this portion of
our route is somewhat complicated, and was studied principally on excursions made at
different times from Santa Fé, it will perhaps more properly form part of a distinct
chapter, where the structure of a limited geographical district is considered by itself,
and where the light derived from this one of its parts may serve to illuminate the
others. his division is the more natural, as in this vicinity we passed out of the

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND A) ND GREEN RIVERS. Sy,
great basin in which we had so long been journeying—the valley of the Mississippi—
and entered that of the Rio Grande. At Las Vegas, too, the granite of the Rocky
Mountains is first seen in place, forming the axis of a subordinate anticlinal, on the
eastern flanks of which the Triassie and the Carboniferous formations re-appear in suc-
cession, thus bringing us to the base of the section which has occupied our attention
in the preceding pages. The exposures of these strata are much less full and satisfac-
tory here than nearer Santa I¢, where they are also less metamorphosed and more
fossiliferous, and where the contrast and coincidences which their exposures present
with their eastern outcrops may be more accurately determined.

36 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Ee Es Beye. Seeks BSS = Mal hac Bo

GEOLOGY OF THE VICINITY OF SANTA FE.

GENERAL GEOLOGICAL FEATURES—SANTA EF MOUNTAINS—GRANITE—ITS CHARACTER AND
GONTAINED MINERALS—RELATIONS OF THE SANTA FE MOUNTAINS—PLACER MOUNTAINS—
CRETACEOUS AND TRIASSIC ROCKS—CRETACEOUS LIGNITE CONVERTED INTO ANTHRACITE
BY AN OUTBURST OF TRAP—GOLD OF THE PLACER MOUNTAINS—COPPER—IRON—THE
CERRILLOS—GOLD —SILVER—LEAD—CoOPPER—IRON—TURQUOISE—ANCIENT CHALCHUITL
Mines—Turt SANDIA MountTaAIN—THE VALLES—STRATIFIED ROCKS—CARBONIFEROUS
FORMATION—SANTA F% SECTION—SECTION AT PECOS VILLAGE—PERMO-CARBONIFEROUS
BEDS—GYPSUM FORMATION—SECTION AT SAN JOSH—FOSSLL PLAN'TS—CRETACEOUS FORMA-
TION—SUBDIVISION OF ‘THE SYSTEM—YELLOW SANDSTONES OF CANON BLANCO CRETA-
COSOUS—SECTIONS AT GALLISTEO AND POPE’S WELL—TERTIARY BEDS OF FRESH-WATER
ORIGIN.

The region about Santa Fé has occupied the attention of several geologists who
have visited New Mexico, among whom Messrs. Wislizenus, Marcou, and Blake have
given full reports of their observations upon it. I also was able to devote a short time
to its study while connected with the party of Lieutenant Ives in 1858, a résumé of
the observations then made being given in my report to that officer. It might, there-
fore, be supposed that this subject was by this time freed from all bikouae, and, per-
haps, exhausted of all interest. This is, however, far from being true, as may be shown
in few words. The geological structure of that region is complicated by several distinct
lines of upheaval, which have been classed together i in the so-called Rocky Mountain
system; and yet the relations of these groups and chains of mountains are far from
being fully understood, or at least demonstrated. They have been regarded, perhaps
justly, as of the same age, but, as will be seen, when we come to speak of them more
in detail, evidence of complete synchronism is yet wanting, while there are some facts
which seem to point to a contrary conclusion.

Aside from the obscurity which hangs over the erupted rocks, an obscurity that
cannot be dissipated without much careful study in the field as well as in the labora-
tory, the splendid exposures of the three great groups of sedimentary strata, the Car-
boniferous, the Triassic, and the Cretaceous—to say nothing of the Tertiary beds
largely developed, but without fossils—deserve and demand for their full analysis more
time than has yet been devoted to them. The three months spent in the vicinity of
Santa Fé during the past season by our party have, I trust, not been entirely without

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. ov

value, as regards the determination of doubtful points in the geology of this region.
It must be confessed, however, that many questions are left unsettled which we had
hoped to solve, and I am convinced that there are few localities within the field of the
American geologist where patient and accurate investigation would be so likely to
result in the discovery of facts of high scientific value as in that under consideration.

SANTA FE MOUNTAINS.

As I have mentioned in my former report, the great mass of the Santa Fé Mount-
ains is composed of coarse, red, feldspathic granite, which ,if not peculiar to, is at least
highly characteristic of, many of the mountain ranges of the central portion of the con-
tinent included in what is known as the Rocky Mountain system. As we shall see
further on, a granite to the eye identical with this forms the core or axis of the Nasci-
miento Mountain, the Sierra de la Plata, and other of the more westerly ranges of this
system. In the Coast Mountains of California or Oregon, in the Cascade Mountains,
or in the Sierra Nevada, though I have examined outcrops of granite in many thousand
different localities, I have never seen even a hand specimen similar in character to the
red granite of the Rocky Mountains. It will be seen, by reference to the description
formerly given of the country bordering the Lower Colorado, that the granites of all
the mountain ranges which cross that stream in the lower 500 miles of its course are
like those of the Pacific coast, white or grey, and contain a large quantity of albite.
In the bottom of the canon of the Great-Colorado, north of the San Francisco Mount-
ain, where the river flows in a granitic trough, this rock, which is covered by several
thousand feet of Paleozoic strata, is generally grey and fine-grained. It is, however,
in many places penetrated by veins, or replaced by masses of a bright-red granite
very similar to that of the Santa Fé Mountains. This was the first locality in which,
coming eastward from the Pacific, I met with a rock of this character. In the Alle-
ghanies, or the mountains of New England, I have never seen any granite like that
of the Rocky Mountains, but, in the bowlder-drift of the Mississippi, and in places
north of the great lakes, a rock is found much more closely resembling it. In this,
however, the crystals of feldspar are of a less decided red than those of the Canadian
rock, being pale rose-red, those of Santa Fé a bright brick-red. ‘To the erosion of the
red granites of the Rocky Mountains, during the Paleozoic and Secondary ages, I have
been inclined to attribute the prevailing red color of so large a part of the sedimentary
rocks. -On the banks of the Colorado, several hundred feet of the Carboniferous strata
consist of blood-red sandstones and shales, with large quantities of gypsum; nearly the
entire interval between the summit of the Carboniferous system and the base of the
Cretaceous is filled with similar materials, and some portions of the Upper Cretaceous
strata have the same decided tint.

The granite of the Santa I¢é Mountains is not universally of the character I have
described; occasionally it is seen to be light-colored, grey or white, as it is near Rock
Corral, a few miles east of Santa I°¢, on the Independence road. Veins of quartz
and epidote are very common in the granite of the Santa Fé Mountains; the former
being numerous and large. I was never able, however, to discover in them any traces
of metallic minerals. They are certainly not the repositories of the copper, lead,
silver, and gold which are found in the region immediately about Santa Fé.

38 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

The relations which the Santa Fé Mountains sustain to the geology of the sur-
rounding region may be given in a few words. . Like most of the ranges which go to
make up the complex group of the Rocky Mountains, though attaining a great altitude,
this is comparatively short. How far it may be traced to the north, we are at present
not able to say; probably not more than fifty or sixty miles. It is then succeeded by
other ranges, which, with more or less interruption, extend to and beyond the parks,
forming the broad mountain belt which gives character to the topography of the cen-
tral portions of the continent. On the south it falls off abruptly near Santa Fé, and
either wholly disappears or is represented at a distant point by some of the mountain
chains which lie east of the Rio Grande. The trend of this chain—a few degrees west
of north and east of south—would, if prolonged, strike altogether to the eastward of
its nearest neighbors on the south, Placer and Sandia Mountains. The altitude of its
highest peak is supposed to be between twelve and thirteen thousand feet.

Upon the flanks of the Santa Fé Mountains, where not removed, the sedimentary
rocks rest in regular order, and are, with the exception of the Tertiary, nearly or
quite conformable.

THE PLACER MOUNTAINS.

From the southern base of the Santa Fé Mountains the surface descends toward
the south, to the valley of Galisteo Creek, some twenty miles distant ; thence it rises
avain, three or four miles, to the base of the Placer Mountains; the course of Galisteo
Creek being nearly east and west, following the line of greatest depression between
the adjacent mountain groups. This depression forms a natural pass from the plains
to the valley of the Rio Grande, affording a practicable and convenient railroad route.
Viewed as a whole, the interval between the Santa Fé and Placer Mountains may be
regarded as a plain, the inequalities of the surface being slight compared with those
of the surrounding country. It is cut, however, by numerous eroded valleys and
ravines, and a limited portion of it is occupied by a group of erupted hills—Los Cer-

rillos—some of which have an altitude of several hundred feet.

The rocks exposed in the valley of Galisteo Creek are mostly of a sedimentary
character, representing portions of the Triassic, Cretaceous, and ‘Tertiary formations,
East of the Cerrillos, though much disturbed, these are but little changed in structure ;
the Cretaceous strata abounding in fossils characteristic of the middle and lower beds
—the first, mollusks; the second, angiospermous leaves—the Triassic rocks containing
great numbers of silicified trunks of coniferous trees similar to those so frequently
met with in tlie same formation farther westward. The stratified rocks are, however,
in several localities, cut by trap dikes, which, offering greater resistance to erosion,
have been left in strong relief above the surface. Two of these, one north, the other
south of the village of Galisteo, are particularly conspicuous, running with a nearly
parallel course in an east and west direction for seve ‘al miles across the country. Of
these the southern is the most remarkable, standing like a huge, nearly-continuous
wall, its crest being in many places a hundred and fifty feet above the plain bordering
‘t on either side. West of the Cerrillos similar but smaller dikes are common, and a
large area on both sides of the Rio Grande is nothing less than a lava-plain, the flood
which formed it having apparently flowed from one or several volcanic vents near the

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RLVERS. 39

eastern base of the Valles, the mountain-chain forming the western boundary of this
portion of the valley of the Rio Grande. In this lava-plain the Rio Grande has
excavated the canon through which it flows above Santo Domingo, and its cut edge
forms the high mesa-wall which borders Galisteo Creek on the north, from the Cerril-
los to its mouth.

It is only near the, Rio Grande that the Tertiary beds to which I have referred
make their appearance. Ilere they are altogether similar to those I have described as
oceurring on the Arkansas and other localities east of the mountains, viz, white tufa-
ceous limestones and beds of conglomerate, the pebbles mainly of pumice or trap, and
all without fossils.

On both sides of Galisteo Creek the Cretaceous strata contain beds of lignite,
On the south side, in the foot-hills of the Placer Mountains, an outburst and overflow
of trap has, over a limited area, changed the lignite into bright, hard anthracite
coal. This will doubtless have considerable economical value. The bed is four to
five feet thick, included between strata of bluish argillaceous shale, with bands of
nodular iron-ore, the whole forming an accurate copy of the most characteristic see-
tions afforded by the Coal-Measures of the Mississippi Valley.

The Placer Mountains form a group rather than a chain, their extent east and
west being nearly or quite equal to that north and south. They are made up, how-
ever, of a series of short lines of upheaval, having a trend somewhat north of west
and south of east. Like most isolated mountains and mountain groups, as distinguished
from the chains which have come under my observation in Central and Western North
America, they are composed, for the most part, of rocks decidedly eruptive in charac-
ter, and to a much less degree than their neighbors the Sandia and Santa Fé Mount-
ains, Consist of granite or stratified materials.

The principal constituents of the Placer Mountains are porphyry, trachyte, tufa,
and trap, with masses of granite and mica-slate. About their bases, and in some cases
upon their flanks, the stratified rocks of the country may all be found, but are less
fully exposed than in the more important mountain ranges of this region. ‘The Placer
Mountains have received their name from the gold which they furnish; considerable
quantities having been taken during a long period of years from the placers of their
bases and slopes. More recently, systematic mining operations have been commenced
in the auriferous rocks, and a limited amount of gold has been extracted from them.
The gold of the Placer Mountains is of remarkable purity, and there is no question
but that a great deal of it exists there, yet it is quite doubtful whether these gold-dig-
gings will ever become very productive, from the fact that it will be difficult, if not
impossible, ever to bring ,to the placers an adequate supply of water, and the gold is
so sparsely and widely distributed through the metalliferous rock that mining and crush-
ing it will be but moderately compensated by the quantity obtained.

The “Old Placer” has been worked by the Mexican population since the first oecu-
pation of the country by the Spaniards, and probably was a place of resort by their
predecessors the Pueblo Indians. The gold is obtained in the bed of an intermittent
stream flowing through a ravine which separates two of the principal peaks, and in and
beneath the débris which has accumulated where this gorge opens into the valley of

40 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

Galisteo Creek. It generally occurs in fine scales, and but few nuggets of any consid-
erable size have been found. The supply of water for washing out the metal is so
small and irregular that gold-digging here is too uncertain a business to be depended
upon as a means of subsistence by any considerable number of miners. Only a few
Mexican families reside in the vicinity, and these employ but part of their time in gold-
washing. When the quantity of water is sufficient to enable them to wash out the
eold, the average gain of each man provided with shovel and shallow wooden wash-
pan, batea, may perhaps be estimated at a dollar per day.

Some Frenchmen formerly resided here, who, for a long time, carried on mining
operations in a somewhat systematic manner. They ex savated the gold-bearing rock;
erushed it between blocks of porphyry, made to revolve by mule-power; the gold
being extracted by quicksilver. The auriferous rock is said to have yielded about
thirty dollars of gold to the ton. With their rude processes of obtaining the gold it is
probable that the operations of these parties were not very remunerative, as they have
been now for some years discontinued. An American company has recently purchased a
proprietorship at the Old Placer; but, as they represent, from the want of proper machin-
ery and the difficulty of obtaining laborers skilled in the business, the experiment has so
far been unsuccessful. The quantity of gold which exists here is, however, evidently
large, and it is quite possible that, with more ample means, with more skillful operators,
and better machinery, these mines might be worked with profit to the proprietors. It is
possible, too, that something might be done by building reservoirs to merease, or at
least to regulate, the supply of water for the placer, and thus render it more produc-
tive. Itis true, however, that the fall of rain in all this region is both small and exceed-
ingly irregular, and the structure of this mountain group, so limited in extent and so
simple, would render it difficult, if not impossible, to utilize fully the few and _ fitful
rains by which it is visited.

The rock containing the gold at the Old Placer has been regarded by some who have
visited the locality as an altered sandstone, but there can be, I think, little doubt that it
is the gossan of an auriferous quartz vein. The material now excavated is a cellular
silicious rock, of which some portions are soft and ochrey, others hard and quartz-like.
In some localities it is associated with a soft yellow tufa, in others with a hard trachyte
or porphyry. ‘The same rock recurs in the Cerrillos; and I have received from the
gold diggings of Pike’s Peak specimens of auriferous vein-stone presenting precisely
the same characters.

Copper.—Considerable copper is found at the Old Placer, though as yet no effort
has been made to turn it to account, and it is doubtful whether the quantity is sufficient
to make it a proper object of attention im an economical point of view. I obtained
from there, however, very beautiful specimens of the sulphides of copper and iron, both
yellow and variegated (chalcopyrite and bornite).

Tron.—Many large masses of magnetic iron ore were noticed about the Old Placer,
and it is said to occur in abundance there in place. ‘This ore is very pure, of a nearly
uniform dull black color, less crystalline in appearance, and containing less silica than
the Champlain and Canada ores. That which is freshly mined is highly magnetic in
character, and often exhibits the properties of the loadstone.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 4]

LOS CERRILLOS.

These are a group of hills or small mountains between Santa Fé and the Placer
Mountains, on the north side of Galisteo Creek. The highest has an altitude of per-
haps a thousand feet; they are somewhat conical in form, and have no distinct linear
arrangement. West of them are several smaller hills, extending off toward the Rio
Grande, of which one, from its perfect symmetry called the Potato Hill, will probably
attract the attention of all who visit that region. The Cerrillos are wholly eruptive in
character, mainly trap and trachyte, and by their upheaval seem to have little disturbed
the sedimentary plateau on which they rest. They are principally interesting from
their minerals, and contain many old mines worked by the Spaniards or Indians.
There are found there gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, and turquoise or “chalchuitl.”
The gold apparently exists in but small quantity; a single locality only, so far as known,
having furnished it. It there occurs in a quartz vein, running through a yellow sili-
cious trachyte similar to that of the Placer Mountains. The silver is found, in combi-
nation with lead and copper, in veins in trachyte. These veins have a direction a little
west of north and east of south. By many it is believed that the silver mines of the
Cerrillos are very rich, and that they will at some time be a source of great wealth to
their possessors. The veins which I examined, however, are not promising; where
exposed they are not rich, and the evidence is wholly wanting that they will prove
more so upon further exploration. The most interesting mines of the Cerrillos are
those from which the chalchuitl was taken by the ancient inhabitants of the country.
Of these there are several, but one much more extensive than the others—that so fully
described by Mr. W. P. Blake, Amer. Jour. Science, Vol. xxv, p. 227. The chalchuwitl
occurs in a yellow, porous, trychytic porphyry, in numerous thin and interrupted
veins. The mineral is rather abundant, but most of it is of an inferior quality, being
of an apple-green color. Pieces of the requisite blue tint, and of sufficient size to form
the ear-drops or nose-jewels worn by the Indians, could probably only be obtained by
long and laborious excavation; the value which they have always borne attesting their
rarity. We found but a single specimen of the requisite purity after some hours’ search,
and that less than a fourth of an inch in diameter. These mines have undoubtedly
been worked for ages; the conical cavity which marks the site of the most extensive
one being still a hundred feet in depth by nearly two hundred feet in diameter. Prob-
ably no excavation has been made here since the occupation of the country by the
Spaniards, but the Pueblo Indians and the Navajoes are still in the habit of visiting the
spot and digging in the loose rock thrown out by the ancient miners for fragments
which they have overlooked. The chalchuitl is not unfrequently found about the ruins
which are seattered over New Mexico, and the value set upon it by the ancient inhab-
itants is still retained by the modern Indians. I have seen ornaments of it worn by
the Apaches, Mohaves, the Navajoes and Pueblos, and so highly prized that a fragment
of fine quality no larger than the nail of one’s little finger and one-eighth of an inch in
thickness was regarded as worth a mule or a good horse. The Indians are excellent
judges, too, of the quality of the article, discriminating accurately between the different
shades of color, and not to be deceived by any base imitation.

6SF

42 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Of the two great mountain chains visible from Santa Fé, referred to in the pre-
ceding pages, the Sandia and the Valles, the former is so fully described in the reports
of other geologists (Messrs. Marcou and Blake), and in my report upon the geology of
the country bordering the Colorado, that it is scarcely necessary that anything more
should now be said in reference to it. The Valles, lying west of the Rio Grande, will
be more appropriately noticed hereafter in the description to be given of the geology
of the country between the Rio Grande and the Colorado along the route of our ex-
pedition. This region includes numerous important mountain ranges, which will be
best examined from a point of view where their relations can be most clearly seen.

The stratified rocks of the neighborhood of Santa Fé now claim our attention, and
the features which they present will perhaps be most readily appreciated from a résumé
of each formation considered by itself.

CARBONIFEROUS STRATA,

The rocks of this age are exposed in numerous localities in the vicinity of Santa
IXé, and are apparently the oldest sedimentary strata represented in that region. It is
possible that Devonian and Silurian rocks exist inthis part of New Mexico; but if so,
they have hitherto escaped detection, and are probably concealed by a covering of
more recent materials. It is certain that at Santa Fé, in several localities where I had
an opportunity of seeing the line of junction of the sedimentary and crystalline rocks,
the Carboniferous limestones, the equivalents of the Coal-Measures, rest directly upon
the granite, or a layer of coarse sandstone two or three feet thick intervenes, the only
possible representative of the older rocks. It will be remembered by those who have
reul the description given in the report of Lieutenant Ives of the section presented
in the cation of the Great Colorado, that in the table-lands west of the Rocky Mount-
ains an interval of over three thousand feet occurs between the base of the Coal-
Measure limestones and the surface of the granite. This interval is filled by a series
of limestones, shales, and sandstones, which I have supposed to represent the Lower
Carboniferous, Devonian, and Silurian formations. All that great mass of sediment is
wanting at Santa I°¢ It is wanting, too, on the more westerly ranges of the Rocky
Mountains, and also from those which border the table-lands at their western verge.
The absence of this group of rocks in all these localities seems to me to be accounted
for only by supposing that they were deposited after some of the great lines of up-
heaval which traverse the central portion of the continent had already attained consid-
erable elevation above the surfaces which bordered them. The facts revealed in the
canon of the Colorado show plainly that the granitic basis of this country was consol-
_idated previous to the deposition of the Paleozoic strata, and that over many of the
minor irregularities of the sea-bottom the older sedimentary rocks were quietly and
horizontally laid down, surrounding and abutting against granitic pinnacles, which
rose above the shallow waters in which they were deposited. These inferences, if con-
firmed by future observations, will considerably modify the hitherto accepted ideas in
regard to the age of the ranges of the Rocky Mountains. We are at least warranted
in the conclusion that these great lines of fracture in the earth’s crust are few of them
wholly of modern date, and it even seems probable that through all the geological

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS.

.

43

ages they have served as hinges upon which the great plates of the earth's crust
turned, as, in repeated elevations and depressions, the angles which they inclose have
been ever varying.

a

The following detailed sections of the Carboniferous strata, exposed in the hills
immediately back of Santa Fé, will be read with interest by all those who are familiar
with the Carboniferous rocks of the valley of the Mississippi.

Section of strata at Santa I’é.

io J

MOL. TOGUISN-VOLLOW CONMOmorate were eos’. Yor svi eet aL
Head BHalo Ad “Saunas, WihnoUl losses. cee ces Sw Os eS Sa.
Yellow magnesian, shaly limestone, containing large numbers of Orthisina
umbraculum end Products semirencwwnuss oo. os Ne er SS eee.
ned wad ‘yellow santa wanouriormnte nae es fs SS Se, -
Red and yellow argillaceous shale, with thin bands of ferruginous sandy lime-
BtONG 0. a ee ee ee, Ae 2 ee ee gee
Yellow and pink shale, with bands of caleareous nodules..........-.----
Yellowish-pink (flesh-colored) limestone, containing Productus nodosus, Spirifer
OMMNETULUS, ACOLeEE MOTI OCae ree Evi. fo. aed Ss te ted e 0
Red and yellow shale, with layers of limestone nodules. ......-...------.
Yellow limestonewitr parings'or stale sso Soe Se PR Sa
Soft red shales, with two bands of intensely hard, grey, quartzose, fine con-
elomerate, with numerous but obscure impressions of stems of plants. - - -
Yellowish-blue compact limestone, with Productus semireticulatus, Spirifer cam-
OF Ans, “OC, 4 Deeae terse mney ol, Sd pee
Purple, pink, and yellow shales, with thin bands of ferruginous limestone, con-
tainting the’ sume fossa thexpow above ou VOM eee ree

Coarse. massive, silicious sandstone, with laree erains of quartz, containine
y] ) >] oD oD ] oD
DUP C! : COMIN. CLS RT ene, Os Se Ree oes chia aes.
G ray clay bse te ee cel Oe a UR AE 5 SE, ye Si aime ete

iray limestone, with DProductus semireticulatus, P. nodosus, &e..-.--------
Pipe Ane Vee Hee a Nest abies OY Led ewes oss oad

Ferruginous foliated limestone, with Orthisina umbraculum, Spirifer cameratus,
A aps TARR are ASR aE Bis i PE oe Ss
Reddish-gray, compact limestone, with Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, Produc-
tus nodosus, P. Rogersi, P. scabriculus, P. semireticulatus, Athyris subtilita,
oat aria ee ee NEO 5 cot dans oO ae > Se MOE ee ee

8

44 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

‘ Feet
RESO MN SS Ble cp oon wc oN RR OR Pee tom RE es hE sc ee ee 2
Gi eS HERERO eee Soe ks CS, ae ree CS oa yo. Sag Rea 3%s 3
Be RT erates sig te Sik a Bole OE ERIE a te EAI a SW ks woe Ee. gO 7

28. Dark-red or coarse gray sandstone, with obscure impressions of Lepidodendra
GEE RAPMOT ie is Gast 3s 6 ky 4a ee Oe ees Pe eS a ee See ON, 8
29. Gray and red shales, or indurated clays.......--:....-..- SAR Salers Tore 5
30. Dark-red ferruginous limestones, with nodules of red chert........-.--.-- 15
31. Grayish-blue o1 reddish silicious limestone, rather massive, without fossils.. 30

32. Compact crinoidal limestone, reddish or gray in places, made up of bodies and

stems of crinoids, the latter often large; also containing fish-teeth, spines

of Archeocidaris and great numbers of Productus nodosus, P. Rogersi,
Athyris subtilita, Spier CUMOPas, Goce. . vibes ws. sy ------- - nee 25

33. Dark-red ferruginous sandstone, sometimes a conglomerate and quartzose, in
other localities soft and coarse... ..- . - Soe Gere fas Pe oe oe eee as ss 10

34. Red, blue, green, and yellow, and mottled indurated clay, with nodules of
seepory Cliots Abe DOUGMLes 622 2. t Sate ct Me ee ers eee 18

35. Cherty coneretionary limestone, gray, yellow, blue, red, and contains a few
Srttatr Win enn UOC-NDGCIOS. < .\5. a peru Geeeiae or owe st da es. ou 35

36. Foliated silicious limestone, gray, yellow, or mottled, with dendritic man-
ganese in the joints; no fossils; like the last, frequently a handsome marble... 20

37. Red massive granite to base.

In the preceding section bed No. 1 is certainly not amember of the Carboniferous
series, but is probably the base of the Triassic formation. It is, however,. less coherent
and of lighter color than any of the lower members of this group as they appear when
exposed near Santa Fé. It is conformable to the rocks below, while the 'Tertiaries of
that vicmity are, I believe, always unconformable. It will be seen that in this section
well-known Carboniferous fossils are found within less than 50 feet of the granite. I,
therefore, the older rocks are represented here, they are restricted to a portion of that
limited space. Without positive evidence to the contrary, I must regard all the rocks
of the section, except bed No. 1, as Carboniferous, and as the equivalents of the upper
division of that great formation; that is, the Coal-Measures. As before remarked, in
the walls of the canon of the Great Colorado is a limestone mass, lying beneath the Coal-
Measure limestones, which I have supposed might be the Mountain limestone; but of
whatever age, that rock and the strata which underlie it are here wholly wanting.
There are doubtless some geologists who will regard the granitic base of the preceding
section as a metamorphosed condition of the sedimentary rocks which are here due
beneath the Carboniferous strata; but this view of the case seems to me wholly unten-
able. ‘The massive, unstratified, red granite of the Santa '¢é Mountains presents char-
acters, both in its physical structure and chemical composition, which could never be
assumed in any possible phase of metamorphism by the older Paleozoic rocks of the
Colorado Canon. Much the greater part of their mass is calcareous, and only the
extreme upper and lower portions are red. Again, the lower members of the series of
sedimentary strata at Santa Fé are but slightly, if at all, metamorphosed. Even if
those which rest on the granite in the preceding section be supposed to be changed from

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 45

their original condition, in the sueceeding section, taken in a locality less than two miles
distant, the lowest sedimentary rock is not in the least affected by the proximity of the
granite. These facts conclusively show, as it seems to me, that the granite was already
consolidated before the sedimentary rocks were deposited upon it, and that the reason why
the strata underlying the Carboniferous rocks in the Colorado basin are here wanting is
_ simply this: that the surface of the granite upon which they should have been deposited
was here too high to receive them. It will be noticed that in the foregoing section of
the Coal-Measure strata there are no beds of coal, and yet the preponderance of
mechanical over organic sediments, that is, of shales and sandstones over limestones,
and especially the presence of coarse sandstones and conglomerates, give to this section
a character strongly contrasting with that of the strata of the same age in Kansas—a
character unquestionably due to the closer and more constant proximity to high land.

Section of the Carboniferous rocks in the gorge of Santa Fé River.

No. 2% :-
Feet. Inches.
1. Conipact.d line desis oo ee ee a igh tg oe 10
40TH]
PJ AGLES: DIG Wie ed, MIO RS AE ce Ra neg Le Wk a oe OS Sue oN Ty 12

3. Pinkish shelly limestone, a mass of fossils, containing Athyris Roysii,
A. bovidens, A. subtilita, Spirifer cameratus, S. lineatus, Productus
nodosus, P. semireticulatus, P. scabriculus, P. Rogersi, Orthisina umbra-
culum, Orthis Michilini (?), Rhynchonella uta, Platyceras, sp., Nautilus,

Sly ROG oy Divisio ab wea ES a in Eo MP ite thee Reasor ss ho ky cress 5
B.. PO WIL DIAGs BRO BTORMIGW BUA Ons hynttenes emacs bate bee tae sew ok 4
Oy ACLY AOAC MIO fee CYNE He wt ome ty REN Cates Sy SPSS = aes 6
6. Goad ine. s.'s Po Ethene we wp epee Rd a Eo note. se cue AEE 4
7... SAP OSH. GAC : DUGG BIRD ii cete, Ae ate ane de old pa 10
8. Crinoidal limestone, equivalent of No. 32 of preceding section; very fos-
SUTOTOUS . wi 25.6 8 here 4's wobigtna at erie ape Meno Ge me ae Saks oi 4
9. Bituminous and argillageous shalocicnuc us few. sn Gk ee ev. SS. 13
10. Crinoidal limestone, equivalent of No. 32 of preceding section... ..-- - 6
11. Gray and blue shale, with bands of bituminous shale and coaly maiter,
with Calamites and leaves of. Cordaiigsssa iD ies Vio Le ee ee Ve 5
EZ POMPOUS SAAGSLONG <tiks 90s AN din w Fb rarest ay pee Ot oe We Se eed 4
Lobe: (ATE TN EM RUBIO: 0 cs So pnd bem le Oman teen Bek Laon ola elo dk 8
14. Massive concretionary and brecciated gray limestone, containing crinoi-
dal columns, Athyris subtilita, Productus semireticulatus, &e.... 2. - 6
15. Foliated limestone, gray and mottled, with dendritic manganese. . . - - - 15
i 8; AGG Re BOL Ww Uine SEMOSTODGe-6-j000S « ane) coda nce ee bbws 3

17. Red granite, passing mto mica slate, to base.

In this section the Carboniferous fossils approach nearer the eranite than in the
5
preceding one, and the sandstone No. 16 is very soft, and exhibits no trace of meta-
morphism. Another section, (No. 3), taken at the south base of Cerro Gordo, will, with
the preceding one, suffice to give a clear idea of the character of the Carboniferous
i Ds ? tas)
strata near Santa Fé.

46 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FP.

Section No. 3.

4; CBR Ba AR ane Si. DSS RASS. Ge Saas. Sa be Re Re 10
2. Soft greenish sandstone, including a band of ferruginous conglomerate, con-

taining impressions of Lepidodendra....-...---.----+-.--++---+---+---+- 16
8. Gray marl, with nodules of blue limestone---....--.-...---.-----+++---- 6
4, Yellow and mottled limestone, (a handsome marble).....-....------------ 10
5. Blue, concretionary, cherty, silicious limestone, same as No. 35, section No.1. 50
6. Shelly argillaceous limestone, (same as No. 36 of section No. 1)-.---.------ 16
7. Yellow micaceous sandy shale, very soft .------------ Dpeahe: ety Stews vee 3
8. Coarse, soft white sandstone, sometimes a conglomerate. -.---.-----.------- 5
9. Red massive granite, to base.

The other localities in the vicinity, where the Carboniferous strata are exposed,
are on the Sandia, Placer, and Jemez Mountains, and in the valley of the Pecos, at
and below Pecos Village. They underlie, it-is true, almost all parts of New Mexico,
but are only visible on the flanks of the mountains and in some of the valleys, which
are cut through the overlying rocks. I had not an opportunity of obtaining a complete
section of the Carboniferous group on the Sandia and Placer Mountains, as only a
portion of the series is exposed in the localities which I examined. As far as
observed, however, they seem there to be but little metamorphosed, and contain many of
the fossils most characteristic of the Coal-Measure strata of Santa Fé and of the valley
of the Mississippi. At Jemez, the rocks of this age rest upon the opposite sides of the
red granite core of the mountain, are inclined at a high angle, and are highly fossil-
iferous. The features which they present there will, however, be described more in
detail in a succeeding portion of this report.

The exposiires of the Carboniferous strata, at and near Pecos Village, are of pecu-
liar interest, for, although the section which they afford is less complete than at Santa
Fé, the line of junction between the Carboniferous and Triassic series is more distinctly
marked, and the upper beds of the former group are more fossiliferous. The strata
forming the cliff at Pecos Village are the equivalents of the upper portion of the Santa
Fé section, consisting of beds of limestone, separated by layers of shale and sandstone,
the former containing, as characteristic fossils, Athyris subtilita, Productus semireticu-
latus, P. scabriculus, P. Rogersi, Spirifer cameratus, &e. The dip is here from the
mountains toward the south and east, and, near the old Pecos church, all the Carbon-
iferous series pass beneath the chocolate-colored sandstones and shales—the base of
the Triassic formation—and disappear. The upper member of the underlying group
is a brownish, rough, somewhat sandy limestone, of which portions are more purely
caleareous. This bed contains a large number of fossils, as far as observed, without
exception, such as are common in the Upper Carboniferous strata—Permo-Carbonifer-
ous of Meek and Hayden—of Kansas. These are a Monotis, not well preserved, but
resembling M. Hawni (and, perhaps, as much, another found in the Middle and Upper
Coal-Measures of Missouri and Kansas), Athyris subtilita ?, the same found in the
Upper Carboniferous and Permian beds of Kansas, referred doubtfully to A. subtilita
by Mr. Meck, and which is larger, broader, and more gibbous than what is known

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 47

under that name in. the Coal-Measures east of the Mississippi, yet accords well with
the figures and descriptions of the type specimens by Professor Hall; spines of Arche-
ocidaris, in great numbers, scarcely distinguishable from A. aculeatus of Shumard;
a Bellerophon, very like, if not identical with, one found in the Upper Carboniferous
and Permian of Kansas; a species of Myalina (M. perattenuata), and an undeter-
mined Avicula. These fossils occur in great numbers, and there are, perhaps, other
species, which I have not enumerated, contained in the bed. It will be seen that in
this list of fossils there are none which are peculiarly Permian. The Bakevellia, Pleuro-
phorus, Axvinus, and the species of Murchisonia, which give character to the fauna of the
upper magnesian limestone of Kansas, are here all wanting. It is evident, therefore,
that the question whether this bed shall be regarded as of Permian age depends upon
where the conventional line shall be drawn dividing the Permian and Carboniferous
formations in Kansas. If that line be drawn at the base of No. 10 of Meek and Hay-
den’s section, this stratum would be excluded from the Permian and connected with the
Carboniferous series below. Should the Permo-Carboniferous beds of Meek and Hay-
den be included in the Permian, this would, of course, be Permian. If these beds
were divided midway, this would probably fall into the Permian division, but it might
-be necessary to divide even this stratum, only 3 or 4 feet in thickness.

TRIASSIC FORMATION.

The Red Beds of the Gypsiferous series form a conspicuous feature in the geology.
of the neighborhood of Santa Fé, being very freely opened both in the valley of the
Rio Grande and in that of the Pecos. Ina previous report I have given a general
description of the rocks of this formation as developed in this vicinity, and have com-
pared the sections which they present with those of their equivalents in the Navajo
country and other parts of New Mexico, where I have examined them. The question
of their precise place in the geological series is also there discussed at some length, so
that already much has been said, which, though essential to a full presentation of the
facts relating to this group, need not be here repeated. A general résumé of this for-
mation will also be given in a succeeding ehapter. I have before remarked, in the
description given of the geology of the country bordering the Santa Fé road, that the
vertical interval occupied by the Gypsum series in Kansas is much less than in New
Mexico. This fact will be at once obvious to the traveler coming from the East when
he enters the valley of the Pecos. . Where last seen on the Kansas, Little Arkansas,
or Cow Creek, ‘the Red Beds” which represent this group have nowhere a thickness
of more than 500 or 600 feet, while at Pecos village more than 1,000 feet of the series
is exposed in a single section, and its entire thickness in the vicinity of Santa I'é can-
not be less than 1,500 or 1,600 feet. By Mr. Marcou, this formation, considered as the
equivalent of the Trias of Europe, is represented as attaining a thickness of 5,000 to
6,000 feet; but even in the Navajo country or on the San Juan, where it is apparently
most fully developed, its entire thickness is not more than 2,500 feet. In the Pecos
section the red sandstones and shales rest directly upon the Coal-Measure limestones,
and the Permian magnesian rocks of Kansas are entirely wanting. It is possible,
however, as I have before stated, that they are represented by the extreme upper
portion of the calcareous beds and by a part of the overlying red sandstones and

48 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE.

shales—the ‘‘Saliferous group” of my former report; the ‘Bunter Sandstein” or lower
division of the Trias of Marcou. In the valley of the Pecos, both at Pecos Village and
San José, I obtained from the Lower Red Beds vegetable impressions, which, if more
perfectly preserved, would probably enable us to draw the lines of classification more
sharply than has hitherto been possible. As it is, they give us reason to suspect that
the lower portion of the Gypsum series should be regarded as of Permian age; and,
by proving that these strata are not entirely without fossils, encourage us to hope that
their place in the series may soon be accurately determined.

The mesa bordering the valley of the Pecos on the south forms a part of the great
table-land which stretches away eastward from the base of the mountains, of which a
portion has received the name of the Llano Estacado. Except where cut by the valleys
it is continued throughout, and has, apparently, everywhere the same geological struc-
ture. ‘The section afforded by its eut edge in the valley of the Pecos is as follows:

, Feet*
1. Yellow and brownish foliated sandstones with alternations of red, purple, and
gray shale, forming detached buttes on the mesa, without fossils... .. ~~ -- 200
2. Yellow, massive sandstone, summit of cliff, without fossils.............--.- 150
3. Red, white, or green, soft calcareous sandstones and shales with gypsum, with-
OURO umeneman ya ae asa Gs LS yree HIS 2 OS eC eee bee 800
4. Red and green sandstones and conglomerates, separated by thicker beds of
green, blue, and purple shales, with oxide of iron and copper, and with ferns,
Walchia? and Calamites........-.---- us Caines 5 en OPO! pou ek woes eh 200
5. Limestones and sandstones containing Carboniferous fossils, to bed of stream.

In this section I have supposed Nos. 1 and 2 to represent the Lower Cretaceous
sandstone group. No fossils were discovered in them in this vicinity, but on the banks
of Galisteo Creek, a few miles farther south, in the yellow sandstones which rest on
the red gypsiferous strata, I found the leaves of angiospermous dicotyledonous trees,
which prove them to belong to the Cretaceous system.

No. 3 of the section is apparently entirely without fossils, and consists of a series of
alternations of deep or pale red and white—rarely greenish—indurated marls or soft,
fine caleareous sandstones. No analysis has been made of these beds, but they prob-
ably contain as much sulphate as carbonate of lime. ‘They are precisely similar to
the strata forming the upper of the two plainly-marked divisions of the Gypsum series
throughout Western New Mexico—what I have called in my former report the Varie-
gated marls—and are distinguished by striking lithological characters from the
“Saliferous sandstone group” which underlie them, and form No. 4 of the section.

This latter group is nowhere exposed in a section which could conveniently be
measured, but its thickness is somewhere between 200 and 250 feet. A very good
idea may be formed of its prevailing character from the following section taken at the
village of San José; the first stratum being the highest:

1. Coarse reddish or gray sandstone, frequently a conglomerate -.------------ 8

2. Chocolate-colored or greenish foliated micaceous sandstone shading into shale;
containing a band of compact dark-gray silicious limestone, weathering
DEGREE D Rare aS os PO i eae IE Bate SS WE ORY Oe hn oe SR 20

ann
iy
- Wage 8

; peers oo
cS WEI sh
E, POPE'S \
TRAP DYKE, }
TRAE A
~

KBPYVTCO
YEW MEXICO
FE IN AVL
* SANTA FE, NEW
5. OF SANTA
cats toe

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 49

Feet.
3. Foliated micaceous sandstone, generally gray, but often brownish-red, with
very smooth surfaces; the red portions presenting precisely the lithological
characters of the brown freestone of the Northern Atlantic States. The
lighter portions more compact, containing many impressions of vegetable
Senne Bi SiR bran Ghroe OL. MiaIONNE oo uss a nui v, Set Sin age ee 11
4. Chocolate and greenish micaceous shales. ....---..------------+--------- 18
5. Purplish-eray conglomerate, quite hard, containing much peroxide of iron. - - 10
Re TE ME as oe i a We wo a wip ee «oT 30
7. Conglomerate, with masses of peroxide of iron and copper ---------------- 4)
8. Purple and green shales to covered slope eI i Me ane et ER, = he, wr elitists 20

At Pecos, on about the same level geologically with the stratum containing the
vegetable remains of the preceding section, I found the surfaces of slabs of red sand-
stone marked with impressions of a large and handsome fern, evidently a Pecopteris,
but too imperfect for specific determination or description. There is no doubt that,
with more time than I had at command, fossil plants would be found in the valley of
the Pecos, which would throw much light upon the geological age of the lower divi-
sion of the Gypsum formation. Those which I obtained are insufficient to decide any
of the questions which have been raised in regard to the parallelism of the beds con-
taining them with those of other countries, while they may perhaps justly afford
eround for a suspicion that the classification which refers all the Gypsum formation to
the Trias may be in part erroneous. Calamites are ordinarily of little value in deter-
mining nice points of geological parallelism, and the specimens here obtained are few
and imperfect. The same has been said of the ferns. The Walchia however, if
undoubtedly such, would afford good evidence that the strata which contain it should
be classed with the Permian of Europe, as that genus, as restricted by Brongniart, is
confined to the Permian and older formations. But in the Trias, Walchia is succeeded
and represented by Voltzia, a closely allied conifer, so similar that imperfect specimens
of the two genera are not readily distinguishable; and until more and better specimens
can be procured from the Pecos Valley, I should scarcely be justified in saying that
the plant to which I have referred is a Walchia of Permian age, and not a Voltzia, an
evidence of the Triassic date of the rock containing it. The specimens before me,
however, have all the characters, so far as preserved, of the Walchias, but exhibit none
of the cones, which would be decisive. The branchlets are closely approximated,
pinnate and parallel, covered with small falcate or subulate, acute leaves, apparently
more acute and less fleshy than the smaller leaves of Voltzta heterophylla, or even V,
acutifolia, There is also, apparently, no tendency of the foliage to assume the dimor-
phous character so marked a feature in the Voltzias Tf a Voltzia, it is evidently a new
species, quite distinct from those of Kurope. Until farther information can be obtained
in reference to this plant, Lam disposed to regard it as a Walchia, and as very similar
in its general aspects to W. Schlotheimii of the schists of Lodeve. By Messrs. Unger
and Endlicher the genus Walchia is not recognized, its species being placed by these
authors, as formerly by Brongniart, in Lycopodites. Sternberg, and more recently
Brongniart, have, however, regarded it as distinct, and the latter author compares it with
the Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria excelsa).

7SF

5O EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

CRETACEOUS FORMATION.

Except for the surface erosion, which has so greatly modified the topography of
the region surrounding Santa Fé, we should. still find the Cretaceous strata reaching
high up on the slopes of the mountains and completely covering the underlying rocks,
now so freely exposed, both on the mountain-sides and in the valleys of the streams.
So deep and wide-spread has been the denudation, however, that, from the mountains
proper, the Triassic and Cretaceous rocks have been wholly removed, and of the
sedimentary series nothing but a part of the Carboniferous strata is left. The Triassic
beds are generally soft and have offered little resistance to the mountain-torrents which
have acted upon them, but they were once all covered with the massive, though not
hard, sandstones of the Lower Cretaceous group, and, where these were not broken up
by the upheaval of the mountain crests and cones, they have protected the Red Beds
below, so that we find the latter in full thickness all around the bases of the mountain
masses, still covered by the harder strata to which they owe their preservation.

The Upper Cretaceous rocks are also soft, and it is now necessary to go a long
way from Santa I*é before anything like a fair representation of the upper portion of
this series can be found. Indeed, east of the mountains the extreme Upper Cretaceous
strata are only seen in place near the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. In the
valley of the Rio Grande none remain, and it is only after crossing the main divide,
between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, and seeing the magnificent exposures
of the Cretaceous series in the valley of the San Juan, that we can form a just con-
ception of the grand scale on which the Chalk formation was originally built up in
New Mexico, or of the enormous denudation which this region has suffered since it
was raised above the surface of the ocean. The attention of every traveler over the
great central plateau of our continent is attracted to the canons which give character
to the’ scenery, and when he learns that they are simply the effects of surface
erosion, they become sources of unending wonder and interest; but, notwitlistanding
their magnitude and impressiveness as records of the lapse of countless ages, it is quite
certain that they are referable to a single producing cause, viz., the slow, though con-
stant, erosive action of running water. The proof of the truth of this assertion is given
in my report on the geology of the country bordering the Lower Colorado, to which
I have already frequently referred. .

In the description of the Cretaceous strata, which came under our observation on
our first expedition through New Mexico, I divided them into two groups, which I
denominated Upper and Lower Cretaceous; that being the most simple and natural
division of the strata exposed in Kastern New Mexico and the Indian Territory. 1 had
at that time, however, no opportunity of examining the extreme upper portion of the
formation, and it was only when, going west from Santa Fé, we had passed the divide
between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, that we gained any knowledge of the
upper thousand feet of the series. These we found to be made up of a group of rocks
quite unlike, in lithological characters and fossils, the calcareous beds—Upper Creta-
ceous of my former report—of the banks of the Canadian. These true Upper Creta-
ceous beds will be described in detail in a subsequent chapter, and, as they do not

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. D1

appear in the vicinity of Santa Fé, they require to be mentioned only as constituting
the group which I have denominated Upper Cretaceous in the present report, and to
distinguish them from the “ Upper Cretaceous” of a former one, which I am compelled
to regard as the middle portion of the series. :

The Cretaceous formation, then, as exhibited in the vicinity of Santa Fé, consists
of the two groups to which [ have referred in the preceding pages as Lower and Mid-
dle, on a former occasion as Lower and Upper Cretaceous. Of these the first con-
sists, as elsewhere in New Mexico, mainly of coarse yellow sandstones with impres-
sions of angiosperm dicotyledonous leaves; the second, of caleareous shales and
ferruginous, shaly, sandy limestones, with numerous marine fossils, such as Ammonites,
Nautilus, Inoceramus, Gryphea, tish-teeth, &c. Of these two groups the lower caps the
cliffs bordering the valley of the Pecos on the south, forming the floor of the great plateau
which stretches away southeast, where it becomes the Llano Estacado. It is not vet
demonstrated that all the yellow standstone formation of this plateau belongs to the Creta-
ceous formation, and that itis not in part, as claimed by M. Marcou, of Jurassic age. |
should say, however, that in the vicinity of Santa Fé I was able to discover no Jurassic
fossils ; but, on the contrary, near Galisteo, in the yellow sandstone specifically noticed
by M. Marcou, and regarded by him as Jurassic and identical with that of the Llano, |
foundimpressions of dicotyledonous leaves, which prove it to be Cretaceous. In the vicin-
ity of the mountains the stratification is considerably disturbed, and in many localities
the Cretaceous rocks are broken through or removed by erosion; but, with local excep-
tions, they constitute the surface formation in all the area examined by our party east of
the Sandia and Placer Mountains, and south and east of the mountains of Santa Fé.

The valley of Galisteo Creek has cut through the Middle and Lower Cretaceous
rocks, and has freely exposed the Red Beds below. Going from the base of the Cer-
rillos to Galisteo Creek, after passing the eruptive material which composes this eroup
of hills, the Middle Cretaceous shales are seen occupying a belt a mile or more in
width on the north side of the stream. Beneath them are the yellow Cretaceous sand-
stones, underlying which are the blood-red sandstones and shales of the Trias. On
the south side of the creek, ascending toward the base of the Placer Mountains, this
section is again encountered. The Middle Cretaceous shales here contain beds of lig-
nite several fect in thickness; at one point, by an eruption and overflow of trap, this
lignite has been metamorphosed and converted into a compact and_ brilliant
anthracite. ere

The boring made by Captain Pope, U.S. A., near Galisteo, in the hope of obtain-
ing water that should spontancously rise above the surface, was nearly all done in the
Middle Cretaceous shales, which here have a thickness of at least thirteen hundred
feet. ‘The work was commenced in Tertiary tufaceous limestone precisely like that
so frequently mentioned in Chapter I. After passing through twenty-five feet of this
material the shales were struck, and they had not been passed through at the time the
work was abandoned — It is to be regretted that the experiment had not been carried
somewhat further, as it is highly probable that the Lower Cretaceous sandstones would
soou have been reached, and, dipping down as they do from the Placer Mountains, it
is at least possible that the water flowing through them would rise to the surface. A

52 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

section of the rocks exposed east of Captain Pope’s well is as follows, the thicknesses
being estimated :

Feet
Coneretionary tufaceous Tertiary limestone, cream-colored or white... -- -- 25
2. Gray and yellow shales, with concretions of yellowish-brown limestone, 3 to
5 feet in diameter, with numerous casts of Circeopsis crassa, &c., traversed
by bands of blue compact limestone, containing impressions of Lnocera-
ee a tag cen awta ee © me ee ee ee eo 1, 000
8. Grayish or yellowish sandstone .-..--...--.----------+-+---------+---- 100
4. Gray or bluish shale, with bands of red, including thin layers of arenaceous
limestone, containing, as characteristic fossils, Ostrea lugubris, Gryphea
Pitcheri, Ammonites percarinatus, Inoceramus problematicus ...-.-------- 300
5. Brownish or yellow thick-bedded sandstone, with layers of shale con-
taining impressions of dicotyledenous leaves.-....------------------ 350

G. White, fine-grained, calcareous sandstones. *
7. Red calcareous sandstones and mars.

In this section Nos. 6 and 7 belong to the Trias, and are the equivalents of
the red and white calcareous sandstones exposed in the valley of the Pecos and in
Apache Cafion.

TERTIARY FORMATIONS.

Tertiary rocks are not a marked feature in the geology of the vicinity of Santa
Fé, but they are visible in a great number of exposures, and usually form isolated
patches of limited area, the remnants of more extensive deposits, now for the most
part removed by surface-erosion, to which their yielding nature has offered little
resistance. As is true of the patches of Tertiary lying along the eastern bases of the
mountains, these beds are of very unequal thickness in different localities, and, in
many instances, are mere local accumulations, filling depressions or exci iations in the
surfaces on which they were deposited. So far as my observation extended, they
contained no fossils. In lithological characters they exhibit a remarkable resemblance
to the Tertiary strata of the Arkansas basin; like those, consisting of beds of calcareous
tufa, with bands of more compact tufaccous limestone and conglomerates, in which the
pebbles are, for the most part, composed of volcanic materials, basalt, porphyry,
trachyte, and scoria. I have little doubt that these beds have been stratified in fresh
water, and that the period of their deposition was one in which volcanic forces were
in vigorous action in the region where they occur. As will be noticed in the succeed-
ing portions of our geological narrative, no similar deposits were discovered by our
party in the region Ber dering the San Juan and Upper Colorado, though older Terti-.
aries, probably Eocene, occupy a limited district west of the Nacimiento Mountains.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. D3

ha Oh A de a et a

GENERAL VIEW OF THE GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY BORDERING
THE UPPER COLORADO. <

BIRDS-EYK VIEW OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU AND ITS SURROUNDINGS—MOUNTAIN CHAINS
BY WHICH THE PLATEAU 1S ENCIRCLED—RocKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM—ITS EXTENT AND
GENERAL STRUCTURE—DIFFERENT FEATURES WHICH IT PRESENTS ON DIFFERENT PARAL-
LELS—DIFFERENT RANGES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS PROBABLY NOT OF THE SAME
AGE—ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION HAS SUFFERED ALTERNATIONS OF ELEVATION AND DEPRES.
SLON—THE CRETACEOUS EPOCH AN ERA OF SUBSIDENCE—THE TERTIARY OF ELEVATION—
MOGOLLON MOUNTAINS PROBABLY NOT A DISTINCT SYSTEM—MOUNTAINS OF THE LOWER
COLORADOS A PART OF THE SIERRA NEVADA SYSTEM—RELATIONS OF ‘THK STERRA
NEVADA TO THE Rocky MouNTAINS—CERBAT MOUNTAINS—WASATCH MOUN'TAINS—SAN
FRANCISCO GROUP—RECENT VOLCANIC PHENOMENA OF TITE GREAT CENTRAL PLATEAU—
Mount TAYLOR—SIERRA TUCANE—SLERRAS ABAJO, LA SAL, ETC.—STRUCLURE OF THE
JOLORADO PLATEAU-—DEVONIAN AND SILURIAN ROCKS OF THE GREAT CANON—CARBON-
IFEROUS FORMATION—TRIASSIC AND CRETACEOUS ROCKS—SIMILARITY OF STRUCTURE OF
THE VALLEYS OF THE LITTLE COLORADO, SAN JUAN, GRAND, AND GREEN RIVERS—
HIGH MESAS OF NAVAJO COUNTRY AND UPPER SAN JUAN.

A brief description of the general features of the structure of the country border-
ing the Colorado will be a necessary introduction to the more detailed analysis of the
geology of the region west of the Rio Grande, explored by the San Juan expedition.

The country bordering the San Juan forms a part of one great geological district,
of which the structure, though not alike throughout, considered in its totality, exhibits
a remarkable symmetry. This district I have in part described in the fifth chapter of
my report to Lieutenant Ives, and have designated by the name of the Basin of the

olorado. It is, in fact, geologically a basin; topographically, a great plateau. Could
one be elevated to a sufficient height over the center of this region, and be gifted with
superhuman powers of vision, he would see beneath him what would appear to be a
ereat plain, bounded on every side by mountain ranges, and here and there dotted by
isolated mountain masses, rising like islands above its surface. He would see, too, the
profound chasm of the Colorado Canon scoring with tortuous and diagonal course the
plain, throughout the entire length of its greatest diameter; for nearly five hundred
miles the stream flowing from 3,000 to 6,000 feet below the general level, and at all
points bordered by abrupt, frequently perpendicular crags and precipices. Most of
the surface beneath him he would perceive to be arid and desert-like; barren wastes
of rock and sand; nowhere continuous forests or carpets of herbaceous vegetation;

54 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FR

only here and there dwarfed and scattered pines and cedars and threads of green along
the streams; the surface marked with long lines of mesa walls, the abrupt, often verti-
cal sides of broad valleys of erosion; over considerable areas the denudation of. soft
materials, of varied and vivid colors, having fretted the surface into wonderfully truth-
ful imitations of Cyclopean cities, crumbled by time, or devastated by fire, giving
double force to the sense of desolation which the scene inspired.

Such, in general terms, are the external features of the plateau country west of
the Rocky Mountains, through which the Colorado flows. Perhaps no portion of the
earth’s surface is more irremediably sterile, none more hopelessly lost to human occu-
pation, and yet it is but the wreck and ruin of a region rich and beautiful, changed
and impoverished by the deepening chamnels of its draining streams; the most striking
and suggestive example of over-drainage of which we have any knowledge.

‘To prevent misapprehension, it should be stated that, around the margins of the
Colorado plateau, at the immediate bases of the mountains, the traveler will behold
many scenes of beauty and fertility strikingly in contrast with the aspect of the country
nearer the river. Here are limited districts deserving our highest encomiums; regions
of green and flowery mountain valleys, of clear, cold, and copious streams; of magnifi-
cent forests; with an atmosphere of unrivalled purity, and a climate delightfully tem-
pered. Here, too, are the mineral treasures of which the sedimentary rocks of the
plateau furnish almost none; and here will be congregated the mining population,
whose business it will be through future ages to extract for our use the mineral wealth
with which many of these mountain ranges are stored.

Though valueless to the agriculturist; dreaded and shunned by the emigrant,
the miner, and even the adventurous trapper, the Colorado plateau is to the geologist
a paradise. Nowhere on the earth’s surface, so far as we know, are the secrets of its
structure so fully revealed as here.

I need hardly say that, with the exception of the isolated mountains to which I
have referred, the rocks composing the plateau are sedimentary throughout. They
include strata representing the entire Cretaceous formation, the ‘Triassic, perhaps
locally, though not yet identified the Jurassic, the Carboniferous, Devonian, and
Silurian. In the different parts of its course the Colorado cuts through successively all
these strata, and near the western margin of the table-land has worn a furrow 60" feet
deep in the underlying
and its tributaries reveal in the most clear and unmistakable manner the superposi-
tion, thickness, and mineral character of the sediments forming the table-land to even

eranite. The sections afforded by the canons of the Colorado

the most hurried observer; and when, with time and patience, we shall have collected
a full series of their characteristic fossils—there as elsewhere only locally abundant—
we shall be able to write with unusual fullness and precision both the zodlogical and
physical history of the epochs of their —

A summary of the results of geological observations made while connected with
two expeditions organized for the exploration of the course of the Colorado is briefly
as follows: ° as!

The phenomena presented by the geology of the area drained by the Colorado—

which embraces all Arizona, the western half of New Mexico, and much of Colorado

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 55

and Utah—naturally fall into two great groups: first, that of the mountain ranges;
second, that of the great plateau which they inclose. For convenience, these will be
considered separately.

MOUNTAINS SURROUNDING THE COLORADO BASIN.

Nothing like a thorough exploration of the numerous and complicated mountain
systems of the region under consideration has as yet been made, and years of patient
study must be devoted to the subject before their intimate structure or relations to each
other will be fully comprehended. Only a skeleton sketch of their extent, structure,
and direction can now be honestly given, and the inferences drawn from the facts
already observed will be liable to considerable modification in the light of future ex-
plorations,

The mountain chains and groups under consideration are as follows:

1. The Rocky Mountain system.
2. The Mogollon Mountains.
Cerbat and Aquarius ranges.
4. ‘The mountains of Lower Colorado (Black and Mohave Mountains, &c.).
5. The Wasatch Mountains.
6. The San Francisco group (lately an active voleano).
7. The Mount Taylor (San Mateo) (lately an active volcano).
8. The Sierra Tucane (isolated mountain).
9. The Sierra Abajo (isolated mountain).

1J. The Sierra La Sal (isolated mountain).

11. The Sierra La Late (isolated mountain).

By reference to the accompanying map it will be seen that the vast mountain-belt
of the Rocky Mountain system, the great backbone of our continent, forms the eastern
boundary of the Colorado basin, and, by its drainage, supplies by far the greater part
of the flow of that stream. In the deep sinuosities of outline, occasioned by the inter-
ruption of many of the ranges of this great system, the courses of the San Juan, Grand
River, and Little Colorado are laid. Between the Rocky Mountains on the east, and
the Wasatch, Aquarius, and Cerbat ranges on the west, the Colorado plateau lies as
a comparatively level plain, its northern and southern boundaries less accurately
defined, and im part as yet unknown.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SYSTEM.

In the preceding chapter and in another report, I have given my own observa-
tions on portions of this mountain system, and have expressed my views upon the
indefinite and shadowy nature of the classification, according to which all portions
of the immense and irregular mountain-bél which traverses the central portion
of our continent are included in a single name and_ referred to a single epoch in
geological history. So far as the limited explorations by geologists have extended,
it is true that a general uniformity of composition and trend has been observed,
and, as. will be seen in the subsequent pages, I have now no new facts to report
which indicate the necessity of its separation into several distinct systems. The

56 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

evidence on this point is, however, for the most part negative. Many great ranges,
now supposed to belong to the Rocky Mountains; have not been visited, and of those
which have been examined almost none have been studied as closely as is desirable.
If, as the facts in our possession seem to render probable, all the ranges now grouped
together in the Rocky Mountain system have the same essential structure, the contem-
plation of this system as a whole is calculated to give us new and broader views of the
action of the forces by which mountain-chains have been elevated. For example, con-
fining our observation to our present field of inquiry, we have in Southern Utah and
Northern New Mexico a broad, almost unbroken mountain-belt, extending from the
western margin of the plains, westwardly to the western bases of the Sierra La Plata
and Sierra San Miguel, a distanedof nearly three hundred miles. This area is, with
the exception of the valley of the: Rio Grande, wholly oceupied by mountain-ranges
of great elevation, and the ni wrow valleys which divide them. On all the older maps
tis western half of this region ig represented as occupied by the great ranges of the
Sierra San Juan and Sierra La Plata, to which a nearly east and west trend was
assigned, Our recent explorafions, however, have given a new aspect to this mountain
eroup. We found the western, like the shaticins portion, to be composed of a number
of prominent chains having a-general north and south trend. The structure of these
western mountains is similar to that of the ranges near Santa Fé, described in the pre-
ceding chapter, viz: an axis ‘of red granite, flanked on either side by strata of highly
inclined but almost unchanged Carboniferous limestone, containing most of our charac-
teristic Coal-Measure fossils; above the limestones, entirely conformable, the red
beds of the Gypsum series, (Triassic); upon this, also conformable, the different mem-
bers of the Cretaceous formation. All these western mountain-ranges are comparatively
short; terminating on the north in the open area traversed by Grand River and its
tributaries; on the south reaching out, like so many fingers, into the plain country
bordering the San Juan.

A transverse section of the Rocky Mountains, drawn a little north of wont from

Anton Chico across the Rio Grande, exhibits features as different from that just

described as could well be imagined. Just north of this line the lofty ranges of the
Santa I°é Mountains fall off abruptly and disappear. West of the Rio Grande, and in
its immediate vicinity, lie the north and south ranges of the Valles, and the Nacimi-
ento Mountain; altogether perhaps twenty miles in width. West of the Nacimiento
the eduitoniaiy plateau extends to and beyond the Colorado. On the line of this
profile, or in its immediate vicinity, the Rocky Mountain ranges haye dwindled to
comparative insignificance.

In a profile drawn parallel with the last, a little farther south, the Rocky Mountain
belt assumes far more respectable dimensions. East of the Rio Grande the Sandia
Mountain rises as a frowning wall 7,000 feet above the valley; 12,000 above the sea.

West of the river is the extinct voleano of San Mateo, to which I shall have occasion °

to refer again, then the Sierra Madre, northwest of which, en échelon, are the chains
of the Sierras Tunecha and Cariso, both of which terminate south of the San Juan.

South of this line the mountains again narrow and diminish, and the headwaters
of the Colorado Chiquito reach far over toward the Rio Grande.

>
2

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. ot

Still fuither south, on and below the parallel of 34°, an almost unbroken succes-
sion of mountains stretch from the Sierra Blanca, the Sacramento, and Guadalupe
Mountains, all the way across to the Colorado. Of these, those lying near the Rio
Grande, both east and west, have apparently a structure similar to that of the ranges of
the Rocky Mountains further north. West of these an immense area is occupied by
the Mogollon Sierras, as yet almost unknown. Still further west are the ranges cross-
ing the Lower Colorado, and belonging to the system of the Sierra Nevada. What is
the relative space occupied by these different mountain groups; whether they repre-
sent one, two, or three distinct systems; and if distinct, what are their relative ages,
are questions which future observations alone can answer.

In regard to the precise age of the Rocky Mountains, as before stated, we want
more extended and minute observations before we can determine whether the elevation
of all parts of the system was synchronous, and whether, if so, it is to be referred to
a single epoch, or was continued through several geological periods. There are, how-
ever, some facts which lead me to conclude that the elevation of the different ranges
now referred to this system was not in all cases synchronous, and that they are the
result of the action of forces operating through all geological time, from the earliest
Paleozoic period to the present. Still further—as a corollary to the last proposition—
the Rocky Mountain region has suffered several alternations of elevation and depression.
Much of the evidence on this subject is given in my report to Lieutenant Ives, page
—. It is briefly as follows:

1. The Paleozoic strata, several thousand feet in thickness, which underlie the Car-
boniferous formation in the great canon of the Colorado, are wholly wanting on the sides
and summits of the mountain ranges which bound the Colorado basin, both on the east
and west—Cerbat and Aquarius ranges, Santa Fé and Nacimiento Mountains, Sierras
La Plata, Cariso, &e. On these ranges the Carboniferous strata, very little metamor-
phosed, rest directly upon the granite; the natural inference from these facts being that
the mountains enumerated above existed, at least in embryo, previous to the deposi-
tion of the older Paleozoic rocks, and were elevated above the ocean from which the
lower strata of the Colorado section were deposited.

2. The explorations of Dr. Hayden have demonstrated that the granitic axis of
the Black Hills is flanked by the Potsdam sandstone, now exposed by upheaval, and
overlaid by the Carboniferous and more recent strata; the evidence being conclusive
that this portion of the Rocky Mountain system was beneath the waters of the primeval
ocean. :
3 In the fresh lava-streams of the Raton Mountains, the Valles, in the Mal-
pais near Fort Stanton, and about San Mateo, as well as in various other portions of
the Rocky Mountain region, we have evidence that most violent volcanic action has
been in operation distinctly within the present epoch, having been continued from the
Middle Tertiary period, if not dating back still further.

4, As stated in the descriptions of the Arkansas Tertiary basin and the geology
of the region about Cottonwood Spring, (Chapter I,) we have satisfactory proof that,
previous to the deposition of the Lower Cretaceous strata, the central portion of the
continent was above the ocean level, and that the Cretaceous sediments were mainly

8 SF

g

58 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

deposited during a period in which a subsidence of several thousand fect took place.
This is shown by the immense extent of the Lower Cretaceous sandstones, a littoral
formation, the immediate débris of the land, containing only and abundantly the remains
of land-plants; these sandstones being overlaid by a great thickness of marine strata.

5. At the close of the Cretaceous age a period of elevation began, which continued
to the Drift epoch, when the continent was again depressed, to be again elevated,
though not having as yet reached its former level.

The facts upon which these conclusions are based are briefly these: (a.) The
Tertiary beds of the country bordering the Rocky Mountains on the east are mainly
_ fresh-water deposits. (b.) They were precipitated upon surfaces which had suffered
enormous subaerial erosion, filling troughs and basins excavated in the Cretaceous or
Gypsum formations; the Tertiary strata being unconformable. (¢.) The investigations
of Messrs. Meek and Hayden have shown that in these Tertiary basins the lower beds
sometimes contain estuary shells, the upper exclusively fresh-water species.

6. We may fairly infer from the facts given above that the great elevatory move-
ment, which gave to the Rocky Mountain region the character it now exhibits, took
place between the close of the Cretaceous period and that of the Miocene ‘Tertiary.
To this general rule, however, we cannot yet say that there are not marked exceptions.

MOGOLLON MOUNTAINS.

Perhaps no important mountain chains within the territory of the United States
are so little known as these. No geologist has ever visited the region which they
occupy, and I am not aware that any record’ has been made of the observations
of the Army officers or others who have traversed it. In his synopsis of the
mountains of North America, M. Marcou has referred the Mogollon ranges to a
distinct system, and has assigned to them a trend very different from those of the
mountains nearest them on either side. This classification has been, however, advanced
on grounds wholly inswflicient, and may be considered as purely imaginary. As I
have stated in my former report, my own convictions are that future explorations will
show that the ranges of the Mogollon and Sierra Blanca have a north and south or
northwest and southeast trend, and are to be grouped with the Rocky Mountain ranges
on the east, or those of the Sierra Nevada system on the west. My reasons for this
belief are, that verbal statements of parties who have visited these mountains indicate
their structure to be essentially that of the Rocky Mountains; i. é., axes of red or
grayish granite, flanked by Carboniferous limestones with their characteristic fossils;
some of which, such as Productus semireticulatus, have been brought in. In addition to
this, it may be said that ranges of mountains, with an east and west trend, would bea
strange anomaly in the topography of New Mexico. Such a thing I have not yet met
with in any portion of the central or western parts of our continent which I have visited.

MOUNTAINS OF THE LOWER COLORADO.
These ranges, which form the southwestern boundary of the table-lands, seem

but continuations of the metalliferous chains of Sonora, passing with a northwest
trend up into Nevada and California, there blending with the Sierra Nevada. In trend

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 59

and structure they seem to accord with that system, and in the present state of our
knowledge would naturally be included in it. In composition they generally exhibit
a marked difference from the ranges of the Rocky Mountain system. They are _
composed in a much greater degree of purely eruptive rocks, whole ranges being formed
of trachytes, tufas, porphyries, amygdaloids, &c., in endless variety. Their granites
are generally white or gray. Metamorphic rocks are abundant among them, consisting
of gneiss, mica-slate, clay-slate, taleose-slate, and limestone, the latter highly meta-
morphosed and crystalline, forming white, blue, gray, and clouded marbles; so far as
observed, wholly destitute of fossils. They are richin valuable minerals; large quanti-
ties of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron having already been discovered in them.
The Black Mountains may be regarded as the most northerly, as well as the most
important, of these ranges which cross the Colorado. This chain crosses below the
mouth of the Virgen, and thence seems to trend away northwesterly toward Washoe.
It may be anticipated that the stores of metallic wealth so characteristic of these ranges
will be discovered in the unexplored region into which they are prolonged after crossing
the Colorado.

The question of the relative -age of the Colorado Mountains, and hence of the
‘Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, is one of great geological interest, and yet one

on which at present we have almost no light. The prevailing mineralogical characters
of the two systems are, as has been said, considerably alike, and yet it remains to be
proven that in their southern prolongations they do not blend in one.

Ihave suspected that the metamorphic limestone of the Sierra Nevada is of Car-
boniferous age, and that it holds a position corresponding to that of the Rocky Moun-
tains. It is, however, so generally metamorphosed that all traces of fossils have disap-
peared. By reference to my report to Lieutenant Williamson, (P. R. R. Rep., vol.
VI, Geol. Rep., p. 27,) it will be seen that near Mount Shasta a Paleozoic limestone of
great thickness is exposed, which is highly fosilliferous. By Dr. Trask, who has exam-
ined it, itis regarded as Carboniferous. A further examination of this interesting locality
may, perhaps, give us the information which we so much desire.

CERBAT MOUNTAINS.

These mountains, with their associates, the Aquarius and Aztec ranges, are so
fully described in my first report on the geology of the Colorado country, that
nothing need now be said of them further than what is necessary to give them their
proper place in the wider view which later observations permit me to give of the Colo-
rado Basin; of this basin these mountains form the western margin. Against their
sides the older Paleozoic rocks seem to abut, and on their flanks the Carboniferous
rocks rest, just as on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, three hundred miles eastward.

In trend and composition these mountains seem to share the characters of the
Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain systems. Their granites are gray, and the sedi-
mentary rocks rest upon them nearly unchanged; the metamorphic slates and limestones
of the Colorado ranges not having been discovered. Their trend is slightly west of °
north, nearly parallel with that of the Sierra Madre, their vis-a-vis.

60 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FS

WASATCH MOUNTAINS.

At present it is impossible to say what is the extent, or very definitely what
is the structure of the great mountain groups bordering the Great Salt Lake and
extending thence southward toward the Colorado. Of these the more conspicuous
ranges, lying east and south of the lake, have been designated by the name of
Wasatch. From the explorations of Captains Gunnison, Whipple, and Fremont, we
learn that a series of mountain ranges extend south and west from these to and be-
yond the Vegas de Santa Clara. . In this region they form the northwestern boundary
of the Colorado plateau, holding the same relation to that great area of stratified
rocks as do the Aquarius and Aztec ranges farther south. Their flanks are covered
with Carboniferous limestones, turned up and broken through by their granitic axis.
How broad the mountain belt may be which exhibits this character we do not yet
definitely know. We are informed, however, that there are several distinct ranges:
having a trend north and south, or a little east of north by west of south. Going
westward these ranges merge insensibly in the “lost mountains” of the Great Basin,
some of which retain, in a greater or less degree, the structure of the Wasatch ranges,
while others are composed mainly of trappean rocks, having the composition and
ragged, picturesque outlines of the cockscomb sierras of the Lower Colorado. All this
portion of the continent is thickly set with mountain groups or ranges, forming a laby-
rinth whose mysteries years of patient effort will hardly suffice to penetrate and reveal.
This region has been recently traversed by Captain Simpson, United States Topograph-
ical Engineers, with interesting though as yet unpublished results. Among the collec-
tions made by Mr. H. Engelman, the geologist of the party, are a few Devonian fos-
sils, such as Atrypa reticularis and several species of Spirifera, described by Mr. Meek
(Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. J uly, 1860), the first instance where fossils of this age
have been found so far west.

Up to the present time we have no well-marked geological criteria by which to
distinguish the Wasatch ranges from those of the Rocky Mountains, and it is possible
that future explorations will show that the Colorado Basin is completely encircled by

the widely separated chains of the same vast mountain system.
bys

SAN FRANCISCO GROUP.

Of the San Francisco Mountain and its associates, Bill Williams, Mount Ken-
drick, and Mount Sitgreaves, a detailed description is given in the seventh chap-
ter of my report to Lieutenant Ives, United States Topographical Engineers. By
reference to that description and the accompanying geological map it will be seen
that these mountains are great volcanic foci, the eruptions from which have coy-
ered all the adjacent country with lava. The precise date of the commencement of
the volcanic action in this region cannot, perhaps, be accurately determined, but it is evi-
dent that the greater portion of the erupted material was thrown out, geologically speak-
ing, at a comparatively recent, epoch, at a time when the topographical features of that
vicinity were in all essential particulars the same as now; when the high plateau from
which these mountains rise was already a plateau elevated several thousand feet above

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 61

the sea. Its surface-rock was then Carboniferous limestone, from which the overlying
formations had been entirely removed, and in which lines of drainage had been exca-
vated, having the general direction and character of the present stream-beds. There
is evidence that the cones of the mountains themselves, and the floods of lava which
surround them, have been formed by a series of eruptions, and that the latest of these
paroxysms occurred within a few years.

As I have previously remarked, the eruption of the material composing and sur-
rounding these voleanoes has produced comparatively little disturbance of the sedi-
mentary rocks upon which they rest. We have as yet no evidence that they form part
of any well-marked line of upheaval, nor is there any obvious connection between
these mountains and any of the chains which surround them, or with any of the other
voleanie vents which are scattered over the great central plateau. My attention was
particularly directed to this point by Baron Humboldt, through Mr. Mollhausen, before
visiting New Mexico; and I was particularly requested to examine the country be-
tween the San Francisco Mountain and San Mateo, to detect, if possible, some connect-
ing link, Such as lines of upheaval or of volcanic vents. I was, however, able to dis-
cover no proof whatever of any relationship between the two other than the perfect
correspondence which their local phenomena present. It is true that east of the Little
“Colorado, just south of the Moqui Villages, is a series of buttes composed of compar-
atively recent volcanic matter, which made its exit from a number of vents in that
vicinity; but the sedimentary rocks are scarcely at all disturbed, even in the intervals
between these trap buttes, and the country on either side is entirely free from dikes,
faults, or displacements of any kind which would indicate the action of disturbing
forces along the line connecting San Francisco Mountain and San Mateo. s

It is a somewhat remarkable fact that voleanic vents similar to those under con-
sideration, though of less magnitude, are scattered over the entire area of the central
table-lands, from Mexico far up ‘into the British possessions. About many of these the
evidence abounds that their fires have only been quite recently extinguished, and yet
in none, so far as we know, are they now burning. The cause of this simultaneous
cessation of an action, lately so wide-spread and vigorous, becomes an interesting sub-
ject of inquiry.

SAN MATEO (MOUNT TAYLOR). »

This is the second in importance of the great extinct voleanoes of the central por-
tion of our continent which have come under my observation. It has an altitude of
between 11,000 to 12,000 feet, perhaps a thousand feet less than that of the San Fran-
cisco Mountain. It stands quite alone, and has no apparent connection with any other
peak or range. Like most isolated mountains, it is composed of erupted material, and
seems to have been wholly formed by the accumulation of ejected matter around a
voleanic vent. As has been remarked of the San Francisco Mountain, this voleano has
been in vigorous action at a very recent period. The lava-streams of its latest eruptions
present precisely the same appearance as those of Vesuvius, when but just cooled; and
it is difficult to believe that they have been exposed to the action of the atmosphere
even for so much as a hundred years.

62 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

The existence of great volcanos, like San Francisco Mountain and San Mateo, in
full blast, many hundred miles from the sea, is a powerful argument against the theory
which restricts all voleanos to the vicinity of large bodies of water.

SIERRA TUCANE (NAVAJO MOUNTAIN).

This mountain is situated near the junction of the San Juan and Colorado
Rivers, and was, therefore, not reached by either of the expeditions with which I
have been connected. As seen from a distance, it seems to be a mountain of very
considerable elevation, either solitary or associated with a few subordinate peaks,
forming a group of limited extent. What its structure is we can, of course, only con-
jecture, but from its isolated character we may be quite sure that it is composed of
erupted material; and it should probably be grouped with the North Side Mountains,
the Sierra Abajo, Sierra La Sal, La Late, &e., which are scattered like islands over
the surface of the plateau. The description of these latter groups, as well as that of
the Rocky Mountain ranges lying on or near our trail, will be given in the succeeding
chapters devoted to the geology of our route.

THE COLORADO PLATEAU.

In the preceding pages, where I have referred to the area under consideration,
Ihave used indiscriminately the terms plateaw and basin; the one having reference
to the prevailing character of the surface, the other to the geological structure. Both
terms are sufficiently appropriate; for, when viewed as a whole, it has a distinctly
plateau character, formed by a series of table-lands, which rise step by step from the
Carboniferous limestone to the summit of the Cretaceous formation, and from the broad
valleys of erosion, in which its cations are scored, to the summits of the divides between
its draining streams. In the geological portion of the report of the Colorado Expedition
will be found both a general and a detailed description of the topography and structure
of the central and southern portions of the Colorado Plateau. The observations made
on our recent explorations enable me to complete, in a great degree, the sketch, much
of which was then only given in outline; to make important additions to the informa-
tion then gained of both the geographical and vertical extension of the sedimentary
strata which are there represented, and, by satisfactory proofs, confirm views before
only conjectural. ,

Adding to the facts then given those more recently observed, we find that the
generalities of the structure of the Colorado plateau or basin are as follows :

On both the eastern and western sides, Carboniferous strata, the equivalents of the
Coal-Measures in age, are seen resting on the granitic axes of the bounding mountains,
dipping at first rapidly, then more gradually, toward the center of the basin or
trough. On the eastern side the Carboniferous strata are exposed only in a narrow
belt along the mountain-sides, almost immediately passing beneath the Triassic and
Cretaceous strata, which there have an aggregate thickness of 5,000 feet or more. On
the western side, on the contrary, the first easterly dip of the Carboniferous rocks is
succeeded by a gentle rise toward the east; a broad arch being formed, of which the

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 63

eastern slope reaches as far as the Little Colorado.” Up to this point the more recent
formations have been removed from the Carboniferous, and this occupies a broad belt
of country, indicated in the geological map, accompanying the report of Lieuten-
ant Ives. As we go northward this Carboniferous belt rapidly narrows, and on the
flanks of the Wasatch Mountains it exhibits simply a line of outcrop, as on the opposite
ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Along the Little Colorado the Carbon:ferous lime-
stones dip beneath the overlying rocks, and are lost to view in all the interval between
that point and the Rocky Mountains. On the east side of the Little Colorado, its
valley is bounded by a mesa composed of the Triassic marls and red sandstones, which
form a distinct step in the table-lands, reaching eastward for many miles, with a still
greater extension north and south. Above this, on the east and north, the Lower Creta-
ceous rocks form a third plateau, along its margin cut into detached mesas and messil-
las by valleys of excavation. Farther east and north these mesas combine, and the
Cretaceous rocks in an unbroken sheet underlie the whole country.

The broad eroded valleys of the San Juan, of Grand and Green Rivers, and the
Upper Colorado generally, exhibit precisely the same structure as that of the valley
of the Little Colorado. The Carboniferous limestones are exposed in the canons of
these streams, while the broader valleys through which they flow are excavated in the
‘red Triassic rocks; large surfaces of which are exposed on the banks of all these
streams. The process of erosion has there, as on the Little Colorado, everywhere left
the most surprising monuments of its action; domes, castles, walls, spires, which by
their vivid colors and fantastic outlines attract the attention and excite the wonder of
every explorer who beholds them. Above the Triassic rocks the Lower Cretaceous
sandstones—massive beds of comparatively resistent material—cap mesas which stretch
away to a great distance both east and west of the Colorado. They form the floor of
the great sage-plain lying between the Sierra La Plata and Sierra Abajo. South of
the Sierra La Plata they are covered by the Middle and Upper Cretaceous beds form-
ing the Mesa Verde—the third great step in the table-lands above the Carboniferous—
which on the east connects with the plateau bordering Catton Largo and extending to
the base of the Nacimiento Mountain. High table-lands are visible west of the
Colorado, where it is formed by the junction of Grand and Green Rivers, evidently
corresponding to the Cretaceous mesas just mentioned, but whether they correspond
precisely to it in geological structure can only be determined by further explorations,

The country bordering the Upper Grand and Green Rivers, as described by Dr.
Schiel (Pacific R. R. Rep., vol. 2), by Mr. Egloffstein and Colonel Henderson, who
have kindly communicated to me their observations, has essentially the same structure
with that bordering the Little Colorado and the San Juan. The Triassic rocks are
freely exposed in the valleys of erosion, while table-lands floored with Cretaceous
strata occupy the greater portion of the intervals between the mountain chains. This
margin of the Colorado basin is very irregular, and its outline has not been accurately
traced.

Between the Little Colorado and the San Juan the country is almost exclusively
occupied by Cretaceous rocks. The Lower Cretaceous sandstones are here largely
developed, containing numerous impressions of leaves of land-plants and heavy beds

64 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

of lignite, which have attracted the attention of all the exploring parties who have
entered this region, and have been mentioned in their notes as beds of bituminous coal.
The higher table-lands between the San Juan and Little Colorado have an altitude of
about 8,000 feet, and are composed of the upper members of the Cretaceous forma-
tion, corresponding in all respects with the Mesa Verde north of the San Juan, with
which they were at one time undoubtedly continuous; the immense void which now
separates them having been removed by erosion. This high table-land—the “white
mesa” of my former report—seems to reach westwardly to and beyond the Great
Colorado, but its western boundaries have not been accurately determined. Where
this mesa is cut by the Colorado that stream is supposed to have an elevation of less than
2,000 feet above the level of the sea. The awfully grand precipices—over a mile in
height—which overhang it, I have described in my former report on the geology of
this region.

On the eastern margin of the Colorado plateau, especially in that part of it which
borders Cation Largo, and forms the western base of the Nacimiento Mountain, a
series of variegated gypsiferous strata overlie the Upper Cretaceous beds of the Mesa
Verde, and occupy a considerable superficial area. These strata seem to be conform-
able to the Cretaceous rocks below, and may form the summit of this series, or, as I
have suggested in another chapter, they may be Tertiary. If so, they belong to an
older division of the Tertiary series than the chalky beds of Santa Fé and the plains,
and represent a group not elsewhere seen in any part of the Colorado plateau. What-
ever their age, these strata form the geological summit of the plateau series of sediments.

‘
\ 4
yA
A

1

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 65

Faia ae ee eV

GEOLOGY OF THE ROUTE FROM SANTA FE TO THE SIERRA LA.
PLATA.

STRUCTURE OF THE VALLEY OF THE Rio GRANDE—THE VALLEY OF THE CHAMA—ABIQUIU-
COPPER MINES—FossiL PLANTS—RuINS oF Los CANONES—ABIQUIU PEAK—PLATEAU
COUNTRY BORDERING THE Uprprr OCnamMA—ARRroyo SECO—TRIASSIO MARLS—NAVAJO
SPRING—CRETACEOUS SANDSTONES AND PLATEAU—BANKS OF TIE NUTRIA—MIDDLE OnrF-
TACEOUS BEDS—VADA DEL CHAMA—SECTION OF VALLEY OF THE CHAMA—HIGH MESA
OF UPPER CRETACEOUS ROCKS—LAGUNA DE LOS CAVALLOS—DIVIDE BETWEEN THE
WATERS OF THE RIO GRANDE AND SAN JUAN—GENERAL VIEW OF THE STRUCTURE OF
THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY—MOUNTAIN CHAINS—BELT OF FOOT-HILLS—TABLE LANDS—
Rio NAVAJO—CERRO DEL NAVAJO—SIERRA DEL NAVAJO—RiTo BLANCO—THE PAGOSA—
SIERRA SAN JUAN AND ASSOCIATED MOUNTAIN RANGES—ORETACEOUS ROCKS AND FOS-
SILS—THE PrepRA PARADA—Rio PIEDRA—BROKEN MESA—VIEW FROM HIGH DIVIDE—
R10 DE LOS PrNOoS—SIERRA DE LOS Prnos—RIo FLORIDO—VALLEY OF THE ANIMAS—
RUINS ON THE ANIMAS—OROSSING OF THE ANIMAS—STRUCTURE OF THE MOUNTAINS
DRAINED BY THE ANIMAS—RIO DE LA PLATA—DELIGHTFUL CAMP—CRETACEOUS ROCKS
AND FOSSILS —SIERRA DE LA PLATA—METALLIFEROUS VEINS OF THE SIERRA DE LA PLATA.

VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE.

The structure of the Rio Grande Valley seems to be essentially the same
throughout its entire extent—that is, as far as it is really a valley, viz., from its
northern extremity to Kl Paso. Throughout all this interval it is a synclinal
trough, lying between imperfectly parallel ranges of mountains. At El Paso the
river breaks through its eastern wall, and, thence to its mouth, follows a devious
course determined by the local obstacles which it meets, no longer modified by the
meridional topography of the Rocky Mountain system. Opposite and above Santa Fé
the trough in which the river flows is bounded on the east by the lofty ranges of the
Santa I°é Mountains and their northern representatives, which extend in an unbroken
series to the Parks; on the west, immediately opposite Santa Fé, by the bold and
picturesque chains of the Valles. These mountains have but a limited extent, falling
off suddenly on the north, and leaving a low pass, which is traversed by the Chama.
North of the Chama they are succeeded by the mountains of Conejos, which connect

with the wide-spread and tangled maze of high sierras, to which I have referred in the
ISF

66 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

preceding chapter; mountains somewhat vaguely designated on different maps as
Sierras San Juan, Sahwatch, &c. By the Mexican mountaineers, all the mountain
mass, drained by the western headwaters of the Rio Grande, is known under the name
of the Sierra El Wanico.

On both sides of the valley the Carboniferous strata may be seen exposed in
numerous localities, dipping rapidly inward toward the river; resting conformably upon
these, the red beds of the Triassic series, here soft, sandy, and extensively eroded. Over
a large part of the valley surface the drift from the adjacent mountains is spread so
thickly that the rocky substrata are wholly concealed. It is possible, therefore, that
in some localities the Cretaceous rocks hold their relative position there, as elsewhere,
upon the ‘Trias. I cannot say, however, that I have ever seen the Cretaceous strata
in the immediate valley of the Rio Grande, except on the slopes of the Organ Mount-
ains, above El Paso.

Between Santa Fé and the mouth of the Chama the country is much broken and
generally sterile. Rounded gravel hills, dotted with scrubby trees of cedar and pinon,
and eroded buttes of pale red, pulverulent sandstone, everywhere meet the eye and
vive character to the scenery. Among these, wind threads of fertility, following the
courses of the streams, marked by lines of cottonwood, by meadows of coarse grass,
and, in some localities, by fields of grain. On the west side of the river the scenery is
bolder, the surface more broken and unproductive; the character which it exhibits hay-
ing been given, for the most part, by floods of lava poured out from the Valles, now
remaining in sheets and masses of black and ragged trap. Reaching up toward the
mountains are many valleys of erosion in which the parti-colored strata of the Triassic
series are visible, even at a distance of many miles.

VALLEY OF THE CHAMA.

The course of the Chama, as before stated, lies in a natural gap in the mountains
bordering the Rio Grande on the west. Below Abiquiu its valley has essentially the
character of that of the Rio Grande, of which it may be indeed said to form a part.
On the southwest it is bounded by the slopes and the trap mesas of the Valles, and on
the north by the gentler declivities of the mountains of Conejos. At Abiquiu these
‘boundaries closely approach each other, and the river seems to have burst through the
low axis of elevation connecting the Valles with the northern mountains. On the
south side the trap mesas come flush up to the stream, and, just below the village,
overhang it in a cliff 800 feet in height. On the north side are high and broken
hills of erupted rock, formed by a series of dikes crossing each other at different
angles; the principal one having a trend nearly north and south, from which diverge
one with a northeast and southwest trend, and another running a little north of west
by south of east. These minor dikes are also much broken and forked. The gate
through which the river passes this axis of elevation is exceedingly bold and
picturesque ; its beauty being enhanced by a high and ragged butte of rock, which
stands disconnected from either side, partially blocking up the gap. It should also be
mentioned that a similar line of displacement crosses the river below Abiquiu, in the
form of a sharp interrupted ridge, known throughout that region as the Cuchillo or

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 67

Knife. By both these axes the sedimentary rocks are much disturbed and metamor-
phosed.

On the north side of the river at Abiquiu, just beyond the ancient ruins which
crown the bluff, is a little valley cut from soft white and blue conglomerate, sand-
stones, and iol which, though destitute of fossils, I have suspected to be of Tertiary
age. ‘This deposit is entirely local, and seems to have filled a basin or valley, as the
fresh-water Tertiaries of the interior of the continent so frequently do. The strata
have a thickness of perhaps 150 feet, and have been worn by erosion into most strik-
ing imitations of spires, churches, pyramids, monumental columns, and castles. At
Jemez, a few miles south of Abiquiu, the picturesque buttes, which stand isolated in
the open valley, are composed of precisely similar materials. These latter are
evidently remnants of a mass which once filled the valley about them, nearly all of
which has been removed by erosion. They are to be classed with the other patches
of fresh-water Tertiary in the vicinity of Santa Fé; local deposits made after all the
great topographical features of the surrounding country had received nearly their
present forms. As the most perfect parallelism seems to exist between the castellated
buttes of Abiquiu and Jemez, I am disposed to refer them to the same epoch.

Above Abiquiu the Chama flows through a country quite different from that which
I have deseribed. West of the Valles, the Nacimiento Mountain terminates abruptly,
leaving a large area of open country between tt and the mountains which may be
supposed to be its representative on the north. This area, topographically and geo-
logically, is but a portion of the great Colorado plateau; there being nothing but a
low line of elevation—the prolongation of the Nacimiento axis, by which the strata
are not often broken through—to separate it from the table-lands bordering Canon
Largo and the Upper San Juan. After leaving the mountains in which it takes its
rise, the valley of the Chama is, therefore, as far as Abiquiu, a valley of erosion, and
is bordered on either side by the cut edges of the different steps of the plateau. Im-
mediately above Abiquiu, the sides of the valley are composed of the Triassic forma-
tion. A few miles further west, the Lower Cretaceous sandstones cap the table-lands
and floor a plain, the precise counterpart, except in extent, of the great sage-plain west
of the Sierra dela Plata. At the Vada del Chama, still higher up the stream, we reach
the base of a wall, more than a thousand feet in height, composed of the Middle and
Upper Cretaceous strata, corresponding, and woldins: connecting, with the table-land
bordering Cation Largo, of which a full description will be given hereafter.

ABIQUIU COPPER MINES.

In a former chapter | have referred to the deposits of copper found in the sedi-
mentary strata in various portions of New Mexico, and have enumerated several locali-
ties—San Miguel, Jemez, &e.—where this copper exists in considerable abundance,
aud where mines were formerly extensively worked to obtain it. The old mines of
Abiquiu belong to this category. ‘To the residents of the vicinity they are objects of
much interest and some wonder, and having had our curiosity excited by their glow-
ing accounts of them, while our party was at Abiquiu we paid them a visit, under the
guidance of Mr. Albert H. Péeiffer, resident Indian agent, whose intimate knowledge

Capt JN Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah.

Plate I.

¥

et we &
SRY

EMS Ia) xe paees E

> 2 - -

Ra a ae

oe » ‘ ‘

ee
1h

re

ABIQUIU PEAK LO Orem WESTE

68 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

of the country, joined to his unextinguishable enthusiasm and good nature, made him
an invaluable companion in our explorations during the time that he accompanied us,

- As these deposits of copper are matters of some geological interest, I take the liberty

of transcribing from my journal the description of our visit to the “Cobre” of Abiquiu.

“July 17.—Started this morning, with Mr. Pfeiffer and several members of our
party, for the copper mines, situated some nine miles north of Abiquiu. As we rose
from the valley, we were gratified by the most charming view we had yet beheld in
New Mexico. The alluvial bottom-lands, covered with groves of vivid green cotton-
woods, alternating with fields of wheat and corn, interspersed among which were the
white-washed adobe houses of the residents, each with its walled corral, its garden,
and its clumps of apricot-trees, formed a scene of fertility and rural beauty rare enough
in a country whose sterility is proverbial. Above the valley rose the frowning battle-
ments of the trap mesas, which sweep around the foot of the Valles, and the rough
and rocky slopes stretching up to their lofty and picturesque summits. “In another
direction were above, the peculiar outline of Abiquiu Peak, and below, the rocky gate
from which the river issues.

“Leaving the Chama, we passed up the eroded valley of an intermittent tributary.
This is excavated in the Triassic series, and its sides exhibit bands of brilliant color,
red, orange, blue, white, &c., as vivid as could be drawn from an artist's color-box.
In some localities the red sandstones—usually soft and fine-grained—are replaced by
coarse conglomerates or masses of cemented bowlders, generally of large size. ‘These
bowlders are composed of quartzose and syenitic rock, hard and smoothly rounded.
They indicate stronger currents and more violence of action, during the deposition of
the Trias, than in any other locality where I have observed it; also, closer approach
to the source of the material of which these beds are composed. Ascending the arroyo,
toward its head, we found the strata rising rapidly toward the north, and cut through
so as to expose the saliferous sandstones—the lowest member of the Trias—in sections
of at least 200 feet. This group here consists of thick-bedded, chocolate sandstones,
like those of New Jersey and the Connecticut Valley, except that here and there they
showed large patches of white, interstratified with green and brown shales. Here, as
on the Little Colorado, this formation contains much saline matter, as shown by num-
erous salt springs and a white saline efflorescence on the surfaces of the rock itself.

‘The Cobre, is situated in the face of the cliffs, bordering an eroded valley drained into
ithe Chama, below Abiquiu. These cliffs are composed at base of the saliferous sand-
‘stones and ‘interstratified marls, some 250 fect in thickness; above these, blood-red
-marls and calcareous sandstones, 200 fect thick; the whole crowned by coarse yellow

‘sandstones, having a thickness of about 150 feet; a section corresponding to that on

the Pecos, but exhibiting a much less thickness of the red marls and calcareous sand-
9 oO

stones. The copper occurs in the base of the yellow sandstones just above the marls.
‘To reach the most important of the ancient mines of this vicinity, we climbed up the

face of the southern cliffs of the valley, over the red sandstones and marls, till we
reached the coarse yellow sandstones which overlie them. Here we found an entrance,

five by six feet in dimensions, which led to a series of. galleries, having a combined

length of perhaps a hundred yards. The work exhibits considerable skill in the use

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 69

of tools, and a familiarity with the business of mining. The roof is carefully braced
where weak, and old galleries are closed by well-laid walls of masonry. From the
style in which the excavation is done, and from the perfect preservation of the wood-
work, | attribute this and other similar mines in this region to the earlier Spanish
explorers. The rock which contains the ore is very coarse, frequently a conglomerate,
with bands of light-gray clay. The copper is distributed with considerable uniformity
through a layer four or five feet in thickness. It occurs in the form of sulphide of
copper and iron, (erubescite,) and green carbonate, replacing trunks of trees and frag-
ments of wood, and in concretions and botryoidal masses scattered among the pebbles
of quartz, or as minute points of carbonate specking the shales. It has evidently been
deposited from solution, investing and replacing the wood precisely as the sulphide of
iron is prone to do.

“The most interesting incident of our visit to this copper-mine was the discovery
in the shale roof-stone of thousands of in{pressions of plants, of which abundant speci-
mens were procured. ‘They are mostly cycadaceous—Otazamites and Pterozamites—
witha few conifers (Brachyphyllumand Voltzia?). The species are probably new, and
will not afford the means of determining with precision the age of the stratum contain-
ing them, but the discovery is of great geological interest, as showing the wide distri-
bution of the cycadaceous flora of the Triassic and Jurassic epochs, and gives addi-
tional confirmation of the generalization of Brongniart, who pe ee this epoch in y
the botanical history of the world as the reign af Gymnosperms.”*

On the 19th of July we left Abiquiu for the ascent of the Shee Peak. My
notes of the trip are as follows: —

“Left camp at 7 a.m. The train, mioving on to the Arroyo Seco, passed up the
Chama to a point just above Abiquiu, and then turned to the left and ascended, by a
long and difficult road, the high mesa which overlooks the valley on the south side.
T ee mesa is here full a oudind feet above the Chama, and is connected with that of
~which the broken edge forms a bold headland below the town, known as Abiquiu
Cliff. The upper part of this mesa is composed of trap, below which are exposed sev-
eral hundred feet of the variegated marls (Trias), and the white tufaccous Tertiary beds,
all quite soft, and, in many places on both sides of the Chama, very fantastically eroded.
‘The mesa over which we passed extended, with a nearly level surface, several miles
toward the peak. It is covered with groves of pifion, separated by prairies uniformly
coated with grama grass, now very short and dry. Arriving at the western border of
this mesa, we looked directly down into the narrow but fertile valley in which is nestled
the little Mexican village of Los Cationes. Descending by a steep and tortuous path,

ve left our mules at the bottom and climbed a detached mesilla which stands at the
junction of the two branches of the valley, and on which is situated an ancient and
ruined pueblo, once a stone-built town of considerable size. Even its name is now lost,
and of the inhabitants whose busy hands constructed its walls, and whose | feet in suc-

: Desotigdings of thesd planta will be found 1 in i another chapter, where i i is s show n a vt the most conspicuous specics
(Otozamites Macombii) is the same with one found in the Triassic strata of Los Bronces, Sonora, where it occurs in com-
pany with Pecopleris Stutgardtensis, Teniopteris magnifolia, and other well-known Triassic plants of Virginia, North Caro-
lina, and Europe. We have, therefore, in theso plants evidence of the Triassic age of all the variegated gypsiferous
rocks of northern New Mexico ; for the Lower Cretaceous sandstones immediately overlie the plant-bed of the Cobre.

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate I.

NEAR VADO Pee CHAMA,

UPPER CRETAGHO US MES A.

70 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

cessive generations wore so deeply the threshold of its entrance, no tradition now re-
mains. ‘The mesa on which it stands is some 500 feet in height, is composed of a cel-
lular trachyte, and the top is only to be reached by a narrow and difficult path. The
houses are now in ruins, but were once numerous, and all built of dressed stone.
Within the town we noticed a dozen or more estuffas excavated from the solid rock.
They aré circular in form, 18-20 feet in diameter by 10 or 12 in depth. They all ex-
hibited evidence of once having been covered with wooden superstructures. _ In most of
them, four excavations on opposite sides would seem to have been used as the sockets
for the insertion of wooden posts, and in one is a niche cut in the side, with a chimney
leading from it; probably the place where the sacred fire was kept perpetually burning.
The style of architecture in which this town was built, as well as the estugfas, show that
its inhabitants belonged to the race of Pueblo Indians; a race now nearly extinct, but
once occupying every habitable portion of New Mexico.

‘Spending the night at Los Cationes, we started this morning very early for the
ascent of the peak. This we mostly accomplished on mule-back; passing over a suc-
cession of hills composed of the variegated marls—containing beds of gypsum of great
thickness—covered witha forest of piNonand cedar. When we had arrived within 500
feet of the summit, we left our mules and commenced the ascent on foot. This part of
the mountain is very steep, and the upper 200 feet is a perpendicular wall of trap-rock.
The summit we found to form a cuchillo, a narrow, knife-like ridge, bounded on every
side by vertical precipices. Its height above the sea is about 9,000 feet. The extreme
summit is covered with pion, and the slope with yellow pine, Douglass spruce, the
western balsam-fir, and the quaking-asp. The view from the summit was particularly
fine, sweeping a circle of fifty miles radius, except toward the Valles, which are very
near, and fill the southeastern horizon. On the east we looked down the valley of the
Chama, across that of the Rio Grande, and our-view in this direction was bounded by
the high and unbroken ranges of the Santa Fé Mountains. Northeast the Taos Mount-
ains and the Spanish Peaks were plainly visible. On,the north the foreground was
filled with the low and near mountains of Conejos, beyond which, north of west, we
could just discern the picturesque summits of the Sierra San Juan, and Sierra de la
Plata. In the northwest we overlooked the course of the Chama for many miles, and
the comparatively level and open country through which it flows. Almost beneath us
was the junction of the Puerco and Chama, in a broad valley of excavation, as red as
blood, from the exposed surfaces of the eroded marls; farther west, higher table-lands,
composed of the yellow and blue rocks of the Lower and Middle Cretaceous.

‘Descending from the mountain, we regained the trail of our party at Arroyo Seco,
There we were surrounded by a series of buttes of most varied and fantastic forms,
worked out by erosion from the marl series of the Trias. ‘Their colors are exceed-
ingly brilliant, crimson and orange being the most conspicuous. ‘The vivid green and
level valley is framed by these colored cliffs, forming a most beautiful and impressive
picture.”

At Arroyo Seco the trail we were following leaves the river and enters a canon,
which cuts the plateau bordering the valley from base to summit. Most of the section
exposed in its walls is composed of the Triassic marls, which includes beds of gypsum

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 71

in some places 150 feet thick. Above the marls are the yellow sandstones—the base
of the Cretaceous—which floor the plateau on either side. Pursuing a northerly
direction, we gradually rose through the Trias, and at Navajo Springs reached the base
of the Cretaceous sandstones. Continuing our ascent, two or three miles farther on we
reached the base of the canon, and emerged upon the plateau of which I have before
spoken. This plateau extends northward to the Vada del Chama, where it begins to
be broken by the foot-hills of the mountains. Westward it reaches to and beyond
the source of the Chama, and is broken through and locally disturbed by the upheaval]
of the Gallinas Mountain, which seems to be situated on the Nacimiento axis. Over
this platean the Lower Cretaceous sandstones form the general substratum, but here
and there are rounded knolls, composed of the dark shales and blue shaly limestones,
the lower part of the middle division of the Cretaceous formation, here, as at a thou-
sand other points on our route, characterized by the presence of Gryphea Pitcheri, Ino-
ceramus problematicus, Ostra congesta, &c. The more level portions of the plateau are
covered with sage bushes, with here and there more moist and fertile spots, sustaining
grasses and annual plants, conspicuous among which is the wild sunflower (//elian-
thus). he knolls are usually covered with groves of pifion. As a whole, this pla-
teau country has little agricultural value, although there are portions of it which will
afford good grazing for stock.

Between the Cebolla and Nutria, the Middle Cretaceous rocks occupy a consider-
able area, and attain a thickness of perhaps a hundred feet. ‘They present precisely
the same lithological characters and fossils as do their equivalents on the banks of the
Canadian and Ocaté, east of the Rocky Mountains, viz., thin layers of hard dark-
blue or ferruginotis limestone alternating with layers of bitumino-calcareous shales.

At the Vada del Chama we again encamped on the banks of this stream in a very
beautiful region, one of considerable fertility and of great geological interest. On
the east side of the river are high and broken hills—the foot-hills of the mountains—
covered with forests of splendid pine timber. These hills are mainly composed of the
Lower Cretaceous sandstones, having a thickness of nearly 300 feet. Here, as farther
west, they contain beds of lignite, and the impressions of dicotyledonous leaves. ‘They
are considerably broken up, but have a general and rapid dip toward the southwest.
On the opposite side of the valley is a mesa, with bold, nearly perpendicular faces
over 1,000 feet high, composed of the Middle and Upper Cretaceous rocks lying nearly
horizontal. Between these elevated banks lies the excavated valley of the river, with
its narrow but fertile bottom-lands, its winding stream of pure cold water, its groves
of cottonwood, and its grassy meadows spangled with flowers. The structure of the
valley will be more readily comprehended from the accompanying section than from
any detailed description I could give of it.

Transverse section of the valley of the Chama at the Vada.

Feet.
1. Yellowish brown sandstone (Lower Cretaceous) ............-.--------- 125
2. Brown and black shales, often dark olive, with beds of lignite.........-- 50

Se Rommel Nine tae. oS lf Oe PR ee ee ee 70

72 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

4. Black shales with bands of light-dove-colored limestone. ....--..---...-- 150
The upper of these shale-beds is greenish-brown, with bands of foliated
sandy limestone, containing immense numbers of fragmentary or entire
fossils. These are principally Inoceramus problematicus, I. fragilis, Ostrea
congesta, Baculites anceps, Scaphites Warreni, S. laviformis, €c.
5. Bluish-black shales, with concretions and bands of limestone containing a
large undulated Inoceramus, the broken fragments of which are thickly
SRT eEE LDEF ate COMIOIREe. Soot Cor ce SS OS OE ae ee teres eae % 1, 000
The lithological characters of this division are nearly the same through-
out, but the limestone bands and fossils are nearly restricted to the lower
portion. - The layers of limestone are from 6 to 12 inches in thickness,
quite pure and compact, blue in color, but weathering reddish yellow,
and breaking on exposure in vertical prisms, like starch.
6. A light dove-colored sandy limestone or calcareous sandstone, weathering
yellow, massive toward the top, foliated below, without PoNbuis he Ps eee 200
7. This, the eap-rock of the high mesa, is a higher member of the Cretaceous
series than has before been met with in New Mexico. Our subsequent
observations showed it to be the base of the third great division of this
formation as developed on the Colorado Plateau.
8. Gravel hills, valley drift.

At the Laguna de los Cavallos. we reached the summit of the divide between the
waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic, at the height of 7,600 feet. No conspicuous
elevation marks the summit, but the strata are somewhat broken by a line of displace-
ment, apparently a continuation of the Nacimiento axis. The country about the
Taguna may be taken as a type, both as regards its general aspects and its geological
structure, of all that bordering our route while we were skirting the bases of the
mountain ranges, the drainage of which supplies the flow of the 5an Juan River and
its tributaries. This region includes three topographical belts or districts in which the
physical features exhibit the most striking contrasts, viz., the mountains, the foot-hills,
and the table-lands. The mountainous district includes a large number of lofty
chains, having a north and south trend and the general characteristics of the Rocky
Mountain system, connected by thousands of interlocking spurs, or separated by nar-
row valleys, traversed by clear, cold, and rapid streams. These ranges terminate
southward en échelon, and, when viewed from a distance, present the appearance of
a continuous sierra, having a northwest and southeast trend. The outlines of these
mountains are bold and picturesque; their highest summits having an altitude of
12,000 or 13,000 feet, entirely bare of vegetation, and showing, here and _ there,
patches of perpetual snow; their slopes covered with forests of spruce and fir above,
of yellow pine below; many of their gorges set with thickets of serub-oak and quak-
ing-asp.

Along the base of the mountains stretches a belt of foot-hills, a region of which
the surface is broken into rounded or abrupt hills, from 100 to 1,000 feet in height,
eenerally composed of sedimentary rocks, very much disturbed, often pitched about

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 13

in the greatest confusion. These hills are covered with noble forests of yellow pine, with
open intervals where grama and bunch grass grow with great luxuriance. Between the
hills are charming mountain valleys, carpeted with fine grass, in the summer season
pertect gardens of flowers, through which meander cool and sparkling mountain
streams, fringed with thickets of willow, or shaded by groves of the narrow-leaved
cottonwood. Through this delightful region our route lay, going from Santa Fé
toward the Colorado. On our return we traversed the third of the districts I have
enumerated, that of the table-lands. Where unaffected by the disturbing forces
which have elevated the mountain, chains, the sedimentary rocks lie nearly horizontal,
forming a wide plateau deeply canoned by the streams which take their rise in the
mountains, ;

Although the generalities of the country of the foot-hills, with which we at present
have to do, may be given in few words, perhaps a more detailed deseription will be
needed to convey all the information that may be sought of a region destined to become
the home of many of our countrymen, and, therefore, of considerable economical and
political importance. For the purpose of satisfying the want I have anticipated, I shall,
from time to time, copy from my journal suéh detailed descriptions of local scenery or
structure as may seem best fitted to complete the picture I have already sketched.
From my notes made at our camp on the Rio Navajo, sixteen miles west of Laguna
de los Cavallos, I take the following extracts :

“From the Laguna our route westward passed through a beautiful and fertile
country, the trail winding among hills composed of Upper Cretaceous rocks, covered
with trees of yellow pine, often attaining large size. On the south is a high mesa, with
picturesque broken edges, a continuation of that east of the Laguna bordering the
valley of the Chama. On the north is a similar wall in which the strata are more highly
inclined. Beyond this is another valley or series of valleys which border the bases of
the mountains connected on the east with the Tierra Maria, a charming spot at the
forks of the Chama, where the Mexicans had formerly a settlement, now abandoned
on account of the depredations of the Indians. The drainage toward the west begins
a mile west of the Laguna, and the Rio Navajo is the first of the tributaries of the San
Juan. This is asinall but rapid stream which rises in the Sierra del Navajo, of which the
southern extremity is but a few miles distant from our camp. ‘This range apparently
forms the divide north of the Laguna, the drainage of its eastern slope falling into the
Chama, its western forming the Rio Navajo. The material washed down from the
Sierra del Navajo is mostly eruptive in character, trap, trachyte, and porphyry, and
the outlines of this extremity of the range show that it is mainly composed of rocks of
this character. Just above our camp the river issues from a magnificent wooded
gorge, which it has cut through the chain of Cretaceous hills that I have mentioned
as bordering our route of to-day on the right. A little below our camp is an isolated
mesa, an outlier of the great table-lands which spread out to the south. This mesa,
called by our guide the Cerro del Navajo, has a superficial area of perhaps 100 acres,
a relative altitude of 1,500 or 1,600 feet, and an absolute altitude of about 8,500 feet.
It is-entirely composed of the Middle and Upper Cretaceous rocks, lying nearly hori-
zontal, and stands a stupendous monument of the erosion which this region has suffered.

10 SF

74 ‘ EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

* * * As we approached Rito Blanco we entered a narrow ravine or canon
cut in the Upper Cretaceous rocks—yellow sandstones and gray shales---which tele -
deepens till, at its junction with the Rito, its bounding hills have an altitude of
least 1,000 feet. |

“This canon is very picturesque; the sides covered with yellow pine, Douglas’
and Menzies’ spruces, the latter now for the first time seen in New Mexico. It grows
here very beautifully,,somewhat more spreading than in Oregon, the foliage very
dense and silvered. Among the evergreens are slopes on which grow thickets of wild
cherry, serviceberry, and gooseberry, all now in fruit. In the bottom are bushes of
black currant, also fruiting, all these berries are called manzinitas—little apples—by
the Mexicans,.but the serviceberry is particularly distinguished by this name by those
who would be exact. The California manzinita has better claim to the name, and is a
very different plant. The cliffs of Rito Blanco are frequently precipitous, but so
widely separated as to leave a pretty valley between. They are wholly composed of
Cretaceous strata, mainly of the middle division, with a capping of the yellow sand-
stones and marls of the upper member of the formation.” :

Pagosa, July 28—“ Left Rito Blanco early this morning, passing through a
country similar to that of yesterday. At 9 o'clock, came down a pretty ravine to the
San Juan, here 30 yards wide, 3 feet deep, very rapid. At this point it enters.a
canon, cut in the Upper Cretaceous sandstone, which has a strong lécal dip toward the
north. Above this canon is a delightful valley, running up to the foot-hills of the San
Juan Mountains, which are here very beautiful in form, and lofty, as patches of snaw
are visible upon them. The river San Juan here issues from the narrow valley
between the Sierra San Juan and Sierra del Navajo, where it takes its rise, and this is
apparently the first interval of level land through which it flows. In the upper part
of this valley is the Pagosa, one of the most remarkable hot springs on the continent,
well known, even famous, among the Indian tribes, but, up to the time of our visit,
never having been seen by the whites. It can hardly be doubted that in future years
it will become a celebrated place of resort, both for those who shall reside in the sur-
rounding country, and for wonder-hunting health-seeking travelers from other lands.
There is scarcely a more beautiful place on the face of the earth. The valley is
three miles long by one broad; a verdant meadow of the ‘finest grass, thickly
strewed with flowers, through which winds the bright and rapid river, ganigined by
clumps of willows, and most graceful groups of cotton-wood. On every side are hills
covered with gigantic pines or the slender Oregon spruces, and on the north, far above
these, rise the forest-clad slopes and craggy crests of two great Sierras. The Pagosa
is at the edge of this prairie. As the river leaves the great wooded gorge embraced
between the San Juan and Navajo Mountains, and comes out into this beautiful
amphitheater, it sweeps round in a curve, inclosing some 20 acres. From all parts
of this space, which is evenly turfed over, the surface rises very gently to the center.
Here is a great basin, oval in form, 40 by 50 feet in diameter, its walls of white rock,
of unfathomable depth, in which the deep-blue water seethes and surges as in a boil-
ing caldron, giving off a column of vapor which in damp weather is visible for miles,
The water, though hot, is not at the boiling-point, and the ebullition is produced by

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 7)

the escape of gases, which are generated in enormous quantities. The temperature at
the side of the basin is 140°; in the center, perhaps something higher. The gases
with which the water is charged consist, in part at least, of carbonic acid and sulphu-
retted hydrogen ; the former giving it an effervescence, like that of soda-water, and the
sane pungent taste. The sulphur is also perceptible by taste and smell; a strong sul-
phurous odor, which is distinguishable at some distance, being exhaled from the spring.
When cooled, the water has a strong mineral taste, though rather agreeable than other-
wise.” It was freely drank by all our party while in this vicinity with no unpleasant
effects, but, on the contrary, a decided sharpening of the appetite. No analysis has
yet been made of it, but it is evident that the large amount of saline matter it contains
is of somewhat complex composition, and such as gives it a character unlike that of
the water of any other mineral spring with which I am familiar. ‘To make a rude
comparison, the water of the Pagosa might be imperfectly imitated by mixing Blue
Lick and Congress water’ and heating the compound to 140°. The flow of water
from the Pagosa is very largé, and it finds its way into the San Juan by several subter-
terranean channels. The deposit from it is very copious, generally snow-white,
but in many places bright pink or green in color. It floats in erusts which revolve
upon the surface of the basin I have described, and which envelop the bodies of
water-beetles, frogs and snakes that have incautiously plunged into it. When first
precipitated this deposit consists, in a great degree, of chloride of sodium, but mingled
with this are silicates—probably of soda, lime, and potassa—which form a hard and
indestructible white rock. In the lapse of ages an immense amount of this material
has been thrown out from this spring. All the low, broad mound, which I have men-
tioned as surrounding the basin, is composed of it, and over an area of ten to twenty acres
it has a thickness of at least twenty feet. This is shown on the banks of the San Juan,
which is for some distance bordered by walls of this material, having an altitude of
twelve to fifteen feet. :

The geology of all this region is Cretaceous. The upper members of the series
are exposed in all the hills surrounding the Pagosa; and it is evident its waters issue
from the bitumino-calcareous shales forming its middle division. These shales are of
marine origin, have a thickness of over 1,000 feet, contain many animal remains, and
are highly charged with salts and sulphur; in all these respects resembling the Hamil-
ton group of the New York geologists. I think it is true that mineral springs more
frequently flow from rocks of this character than any other, and I have been led to
suppose that the water of such springs derives its peculiar character immediately from
the rock from which it emanates. It is certain that hot water, forced through these
strata, would dissolve and carry off many of their constituent elements, and would
become the agent by which an extensive range of chemical combinations would take
place. In the case of the Pagosa, the hot water is doubtless derived from a great depth,
yet it is entirely possible that the gases and salts which it contains are all derived from
the superficial strata through which it passes.

THE SIERRA SAN JUAN.

This name has been applied by geographers to several distinet mountain
ranges which really exist in this portion of the continent; or, more generally, to

Capl .J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate Ill.

LA PIEDRA PARADA. BOGSING WEST.

76 IXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

a great imaginary chain, which was assigned an inordinate extent and a trend
altogether hypothetical and abnormal. It is to be hoped that one result of our
expedition will be to bring something like order out of the confusion of ideas which
has prevailed in regard to the intricate mountain ranges of this region. As has been
before intimated, these ranges, though numerous, exhibit no exceptional features, and
are comparatively simple and harmonious in structure and trend; while it is true that
the great mountain belt north of the San Juan River, with its higher chains, their thou-
sand interlocking spurs and narrow valleys, form a labyrinth whose extent and intri-
cacy will at present defy all attempts at detailed topographical analysis. It is equally
true that a general topographical character has been given to all of this region by a
comparatively few lines of lofty summits, which have nearly a north and south trend,
and seem to form an integral portion of the Rocky Mountain system. This great truth
may be learned ata glance by the drainage of this country; this all flows through
streams which have approximately a north and south direction. On the south, the
tributaries of the San Juan, the. Navajo, the Blanco, the Upper San Juan, the Piedra,
the Pinos, the Florido, the Animas, the La Plata, and the Mancos, all flow southward,
and most of them issue from the north and south valleys, lymg between the parallel
‘ranges to which I have so frequently referred. On the north side of this mountain-belt
similar topographical features present themselves. The tributaries of Grand River,
which sweep the bases of the northern extremities of these ranges, almost without
exception issue from valleys which have approximately a north and south direction;
hence, it is plainly apparent that one great fundamental idea pervades the topography
of all this region, and that one great foree has given shape to all its principal topo-
eraphical features. ,

Most of the prominent ranges visible from our route have received from the Indians
and Mexicans distinct names, by which they are well known to those who know the
country; for example, the chain north of the Laguna, of which the southern extremity
is drained by the Chama and Rio Navajo, is called the Sierra del Rio Navajo or the
Sierra del Navajo. From between the spurs of this sierra flows the Rito Blanco (Little
White River), so called from the milky color given to its waters by the Cretaceous
shales. From the valley separating the upper part of this sierra from the Sierra San
Juan, which does not extend so far south, issues that branch of the San Juan River
which retains its name. West of the San Juan Mountains, as we shall see as we pro-
gress with our geological narrative, the Rio de los Pinos issues from the valley between
the Sierra San Juan and the Sierra de los Pinos; ‘beyond the Sierra de los Pinos,
the great valley of the Animas; then the Sierra de la Plata, west and north of which
lies the Sierra San Miguel; west and south of the latter chain, the broad expanse of the
Colorado Plateau. From this sketch, it will be seen that the great east and west chains
of the Sierra San Juan and Sierra de la Plata, which form so conspicuous features on
some of our maps, have really no existence, and need therefore no longer vex us as
incongruous elements in the orology of our country.

Like the Santa Fé Mountains, the Sierra San Juan terminates abruptly south-
ward, standing out as a bold headland on the margin of the sea-like plateau. The
altitude of its highest summits must be nearly 13,000 feet, as snow lies on them in

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 77

places throughout the year, while from the Sandia and Santa Fé Mountains—over
12,000 feet in height—it entirely disappears in midsummer. Only a small portion of
the range came under our observation ; but enough was seen to show that its struc-
ture was essentially the same with that of the other chains belonging to the same
series which we were able to examine more fully. The southern extremity is mostly
eruptive in character, consisting of basaltic trap, porphyry, and trachyte, some of the
latter containing crystals of feldspar of large size. As usual, the summits composed of
these materials present very varied and picturesque outlines. In the opposite chain
of the Sierra del Navajo are some castellated summits, which, as seen through a
powertul glass, presented an appearance exceedingly imposing and beautiful. Among
these are precipices, ornamented with imitations of columns, arches, and pilasters,
which form some of the grandest specimens of nature’s Gothic architecture | have
»ver beheld. When viewed from some nearer point they must be even awful in their
sublimity.

The Cretaceous strata at the base of the San Juan Mountains are highly fossil-
liferous, and yielded me a large number of species. The ferruginous, sandy lime-
stones and shales near the base of the middle division of the Cretaceous series, where
exposed just north of the Pagosa, are almost made up of the shells of Ostrea, Inocera-
mus, Ammonites, &e. This is the horizon from which the oysters, gryphieas, fish-
teeth, &c., were collected in such abundance on the Canadian, at Galisteo, at the ford
of the Chama, and various other points on our route. ‘These fossils are limited to the
first hundred feet of the shale-beds above the Lower Cretaceous sandstones; the most
abundant at the Pagosa are Ostrea lugubris, O. uniformis, Meek, un. sp., Lnoceramus prob-
lematicus, and I. fragilis 1 also found here an interesting series of the teeth of
Ptychodus Whipplei, described at length in the chapter on Paleontology. Above the
beds in which these fossils are found, the black bituminous shales contain large, gener-
ally broken, shells of Nautilus and Inoceramus, thickly set with Ostrea congesta.

All the interval between the Pagosa and Rio Piedra is occupied by Cretaceous
rocks. Over large surfaces the Lower Cretaceous sandstones are laid bare, generally
much disturbed, and somewhat changed. The only fossils discovered were indistinct
vegetable impressions, among which the most conspicuous is a tuberculated fucoid
(Halymenites) common in the Cretaceous sandstones of all this region. Here, as at the
‘Tierra Maria, these rocks are cut by jointsinto blocks of nearly uniform size. Of these
joints the most strongly marked have a bearing approximately north and south; the
others cross these nearly at right angles. In the great number of localities in New
Mexico where I observed jointings of these rocks, I found them to have similar direc-
tions, and to be in no case influenced by local disturbances, nor having any obvious
connection with the prevailing dip. This rule is of so general application that I have
been driven to refer the jointing of all the rocks of this region to one great common
cause. This has seemed to me probably magnetic, but may possibly be connected
with the action of the forces which have given to all the great lines of elevation a
general north and south trend.

On the Nutria Frances, a small tributary of the Rio Piedra, the black shales of
the Middle Cretaceous are exposed in various places. They here contain large Jno-

Capl. J N.Macomb, Exp in New Mexico & Utah. Plate IV.

*

4 *
PALE RR we RS
heh ee ae

THE PAGOSA & SAN JUAN RIVER,

LO OR TNE & RASS tert bey

78 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

cerami, Nautili, and fish-scales. ‘The Piedra Parada, a well-known landmark, which
has conferred its name upon the Rio Piedra, is a chimney-like column of rock, rising
with its base to the height of eight or nine hundred feet above the surrounding coun-
try. It is itself composed of the Upper Cretaceous sandstone, resting apon a base of
dark shales, (Middle Cretaceous,) and is a remnant of a plateau now almost entirely
removed by erosion.

The valley of the Rio Piedra is, in physical aspect and geological structure, the
counterpart of that of the Rito Blanco, already described; the only noteworthy point
of difference being that the Upper Cretaceous sandstone here contains beds of lig-
nite of considerable thickness, though of limited lateral extent. The disturbances
which the Cretaceous strata have suffered in this region are very well shown
in the immediate vicinity of our camp on the Piedra. On the east side of the
river the plateau, with which the Piedra Parada was once connected, stretches
away south for several miles, with a rapid dip in that direction. On the west
side is a mesa of which the cut-edge rises abruptly from the margin of the
stream to the height of over twelve hundred feet. This mesa is composed of
precisely the same materials as that bounding the valley on the east, but its strata

are almost perfectly horizontal. Just above our camp this mesa is broken short

off by a line of fracture running nearly east and west; its component rocks, set nearly
on edge, forming a wall which rises to the height of eighteen hundred feet above the
river. Between this disrupted mass and the mesa from which it has been broken is a
low pass through which our trail ran.

Soon after leaving the Rio Piedra we began to ascend rapidly and soon rose on
to a high divide between the Piedra and Rio de los Pinos. This divide seems to be an
axis of elevation, running southward from the mountains between the Piedra and Pinos.
It is composed of Cretaceous rocks irregularly broken up, generally inclined at a high
angle. It has an altitude of about sixteen hundred feet above our camp on the Piedra.
The view from its summit is peculiarly grand and interesting; eastward the Navajo and
San Juan mountains bound the horizon, terminating southward in the Cerro. del Nav-
ajo. On the south and west sides of these ranges the rivers we have recently passed
take their rise, and their valleys may in part be followed by the eye. None of the
summits visible in this direction are covered with perpetual snow, but all bear patches
in the higher valleys. as

Nearer us than the mountains was a labyrinth of hills, spread out before us as on
amap. These seem to have been generally formed by a series of breaks in the Cre-
taceous rocks, and, so far as we could see, are all composed of these materials.

Toward the west our view was quite different. In that direction we looked
down on what seemed an extensive plain, extending northward to the base of the
Sierra de la Plata, now for the first time distinctly seen, and on the south bounded by
high mesas, through an opening in which, the gap of the Rio las Animas, was visible
the high chain of the Carriso Mountains south of the San Juan This plain before us
we subsequently found to be a basin-like space, lying between the mountains on the
north and the table-lands south; a depressed area, completel y inclosed in high
lands, except where these are cut by the narrow gorges through which the waters of

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 79

the Animas and the Pinos have forced their way to join the San Juan. It is, in fact, an
expansion of the valley of the Animas, has been mainly excavated by its current, and
is everywhere covered with beds of transported material washed down from the mount-
ains.*

As we descended into the valley and thus opened it more to the north, we gained
sight of a chain of mountains in that direction, which our guide calls Sierra de los
Pinos. These are quite lofty, and consist, as I discovered from the drift brought down
from them, of quartzites, silicious slates, limestone, and granite, with some trap, but
with a prevalence of metamorphic over erupted rocks. ‘The Rio de los Pinos is a clear,
cold, trout-stream, full as large as the San Juan at the Pagosa. The bottom-lands are
wooded with willows, cottonwood, alder, &e., and scattered trees of yellow pine, the
latter of which mark its course in the open sage-covered country through which it
dows, 9~7 have naturally suggested the name which it bears.

The interval between the Rio de los Pinos and Rio Florido is underlaid by the
Middle Cretaceous shales; is gently rolling in outline, its more level surfaces covered
with sage (Artemisia tridentata), its rounded hills with cedars or serub-oak. Here
and there are meadows of good grass, with a strong growth of annual plants. On the
whole, however, the country is less picturesque and_ less productive than that lying
sovth and east of it.

The Rio Florido, or River of Flowers, is so named from the flowery meadows which
line its banks; meadows which, so far as we could see, are no broader, greener, or
more flowery than those which border the other rivers of this region. It is, however,
a bright, handsome stream, similar in character to the Pinos, and about half as large.
It is probably not more than thirty or forty miles in length; rises in the foot-hills of the
Sierra de los Pinos, and joins the Animas some fifteen miles southwest from where we
crossed it. The bowlders which it has brought down from its sources are quite varied
in character, and probably give a very fair representation of the geology of the
mountains which it drains. Of these many are composed of coarse red granite, much
like that of the Santa Fé Mountains, black and white porphyry, closely resembling
that. which is so abundant at the gold-mines in the Placer Mountains; blue limestone,
containing many of the characteristic Coal-Measure fossils so common at Santa Fé, such
as Productus semirecticulatus, P. nodosus, Spirifer cameratus, Chonetes mesoloba, &c.; with
these are masses of red and white sandstone, probably ‘Triassic.

~The course of the Florido lies altogether within the basin-like area of which I
have before spoken. The extent and character of this area were fully learned in an
FSegtigiey: veh I made from our camp on the Florido, about forty miles down the
alluaas, to visit some extensive and interesting ruins situated in the valley of that
- stream some twenty miles above its mouth. From my notes of this trip I make the
following extracts:

“August 4th—Left camp early with Pfeiffer, the Indian agent, Messrs. Fisher and
Dorsey, and several Indians, to visit the ruins reported to exist at a certain point on the
banks of the Animas; crossed over in a direct line to the Animas, a distance of about
ten miles. All this interval is occupied by a gravel mesa, of which the surface is

* Since named Animas Park.

80 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

gently rolling, generally covered with grass or sage-bushes, with scattered trees of
pinon and cedar. Reaching the Animas we found it flowing in a valley one to three
miles wide, bounded by gravel terraces, of which there are two, sometimes three, dis-
tinctly visible. Near the mouth of the Florido the first terrace, which is near the
stream, has an altitude of about 50 feet; the second, 260. feet higher; the third, the
general surface of the plain which we crossed, 200 feet higher still. All these terraces
are, I suppose, of local origin, having been left by the sinking of the bed of the stream
consequent upon the cutting Sots of the gorge it has opened in the table-lands south.
Between the junction of the Florido with the Animas and the valley of the San Juan,

the table-land seems to be continuous, but has its greatest altitude along its northern
margin. Immediately after receiving the Florido the Animas enters a deep and narrow
canon, in which it flows for several miles; the walls of this canon are 1,500 to 1,600
feet in height; in places nearly vertical; the rocks exposed are principally sandstones,
of which the prevailing color is a light brownish-yellow, sometimes becoming a pale
red. These sandstones belong to the Upper Cretaceous series, which is here more
fully exposed than anywhere in that portion of our route already passed over.
Through the canon the river is very rapid and much obstructed by rocks, and can-
not be followed on horseback; below this the valley widens and the declivities of
the bluffs which bound it become more gentle; the bottom-lands are from a mile to
two milesin width, and quite fertile; the river is bordered by thickets of willow and
buffalo-berry, with groups and sometimes groves of cottonwood. It is in this part of
the valley that the ruins are situated. The principal structures are large pueblos,
handsomely built of stone, and in a pretty good state of preservation. ‘The external
walls are composed of yellow Cretaceous sandstone, dressed to a common smooth
surface without hammer-marks; in some places they are still 25 feet in height. As
usual in buildings of this kind, the walls were unbroken by door or window to the
height of 15 fect above the foundation. The interior shows a great number of small

rooms, many of which are in a perfect state of preservation, and handsomely plastered.
These larger structures are surrounded by mounds and fragments of masonry, mark-
ing the sites of great numbers of subordinate buildings; the whole affording conclu-
sive evidence that a large population once had its home here. The fragments of highly

ornamented and glazed pottery which cover the surface in the vicinity of these build-

ings, as well as the peculiar style of architecture in which they are constructed, show

that the people who built and occupied these structures belonged to the common

aboriginal race of this region, now generally known as the Puehlo Indians.

“After our return from the ruins on the Animas, our party mov«d over and encamr~t
on that stream, at the point where it is crossed by the old Spanish trail. It is nearly
a hundred yards wide, deep and rapid, and, at the present stage of water, not easily
forded. It here issues from the hills and enters the basin before dseetied, Above
this point it flows through a broad mountain valley not yet explored, but of which the
general features are given by the two great mountain groups which border it on the
east and west—the Sierra de los Pinos and Sierra de la Plata. Of these the Sierra de
la Plata is the most conspicuous feature in the scenery, a broad and lofty mountain
belt stretching continuously northward as far as the eye can reach.

TO JUNOTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. . VBs

“The drift from the mountains drained by the Animas shows that their structure is
essentially that of the Santa Fé Mountains and the other principal ranges of the Rocky
Mountain system. In this transported material are blocks, often weighing several tons,
of red granite, similar to that of Santa Fé; gray granite, not unlike that forming the
base of the section in the Colorado Canon at the mouth of Diamond River, described
in my former report; Carboniferous limestone, with many of the fossils found at Santa
Fé and in the Coal-Measures of the Mississippi Valley; black and white porphyry,
trachyte, trap, and metamorphosed red sandstone. No traces of Silurian or Devonian
rocks were discovered. The hills just above our camp are composed of red sandstone
and conglomerate (Triassic), very much disturbed.”

Below the crossing of the Spanish trail the valley of the Animas is susceptible of
cultivation to the junction of the Florido, though the belt of arable land is narrow, and,
in part at least, can only be cultivated by irrigation.

In regard to the origin of the broad valley or basin which borders this part of the
course of the Animas, I think we may safely say that its features were given by the
disturbances which this region has suffered; that, in the breaking up of the table- lands,
a basin-like depression was left, into which the Animas flowed, and which it partially
filled with gravel and bowlders brought down from the mountains above. Subse-
quently, the enclosing walls of this area were cut down, along the natural line of drain-
age, until the river reached its present level, and what was its bed at different epochs,
now forms gravel terraces high above it.

The geology of that portion of our route lying between the Animas and the Rio
de la Plata is precisely similar to that of most of the country previously passed through;
the only rocks exposed are those of the upper portion of the Cretaceous formation, which
compose broken hills flanking the eastern and southern slopes of the Sierra de la Plata.
Among these hills the trail winds, following the courses of the. picturesque and fertile,
though narrow, valleys which separate them. From the headwaters of a small tribu-
tary of the Animas we crossed over a divide which rises to the height of about 1,000
feet above our Camp 17; thence descending nearly as much, we struck the La Plata
just where it issues from the mountain-gorges in which it takes its rise. Of our camp
on the La Plata I find the following description in my notes: “The Rio de la Plata is a
beautifully clear, cold, mountain-brook; like the Animas and other streams we have
recently Ane well-stocked with trout. The valley in which it flows, as it issues
from the mountains, is exceedingly beautiful, and our camp one of the oe delightful
imaginable. Our tents are pitched in the shade of a cluster of gigantic pines, such as
are scattered, here and there, singly or‘in groups, over the surface of the valley, sepa-
rated by meadows thickly coated with the finest gramma grass. Stretching off andi
ward, a wall of verdure, tinted with the fresh and vivid green of cottonwoods and
willows, marks, while it conceals, the course of the sparkling stream whose murmuring
How comes softly to the ear. On either side of the valley rise picturesque wooded
hills, which bound the view both east and west; between these on the south an open
vista reveals, far in the distance, the blue chains of the Sierra del Carriso and Tune-
cha. On the north the bold and lofty summits of the Sierra de la Plata look down
upon us in this pure atmosphere with an apparent proximity almost startling. Patches

ll 8 F

82 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

of snow are visible upon them, which, by their wasting, supply the flow of the Rio de
la Plata, which rises in the gorges beneath them.”

The geology of the vicinity is similar to that of much of our route already passed;
the prevailing rocks*are Upper Cretaceous, which compose the hills bordering the val-
ley ; the thick mass of sandstone, which forms the Piedra Parada, caps these hills and has
a rapid dip away from the mountains; this is succeeded below by a series of gray and
yellow foliated sandstones or sandy shales, containing immense quantities of fucoidal
stems, so many indeed that these casts make up the greater part of the deposit. They
are a half-inch in diameter, the surface covered with indistinct annular markings. — Be-
side the fucoids, these beds contain the well-known Cretaceous fossil, Ammonites pla-
centa, and in lenticular masses of limestone immense numbers of Baculites anceps, Car-
dium bellalum, Meek, Astarte Shumardi, M., Aporrhais Newberryi, Meek, &ce.

Several of these fossils are common in the Upper Cretaceous beds of Nebraska
(Nos. 4 and 5 of Meek and Hayden’s section of the Cretaceous rocks of Nebraska),
and afford satisfactory confirmation of the parallelism before suggested between the
rocks of this region and those of more eastern localities. The Baculites are so numer-
ous as to form in some places half the bulk of the rock. Of these, the greater num-
ber are ornamented with nodes, in the manner of B. asper (Roemer), with which they
may be identical. The smooth ones resemble B. ovatus and 2. compressus. They vary
much in form, some being nearly cylindrical, others much compressed, with every pos-
sible variety between these extremes. All, however, as it seems to me, belongs to one
species.

From the summit of the hills, near camp, we have a fine view of the country
south of us to the San Juan. All this interval is occupied by a mesa composed of the
Upper Cretaceous rocks, deeply scored along the lines of drainage. The dip of the
rocks composing this plateau is here southward, and very rapid; farther from the bases
of the mountains they seem to lie nearly horizontal.

The southern end of the Sierra de la Plata is composed mainly of light-colored
porphyry and other forms of erupted rock. It also consists in part of granite, with
mica and clay-slate, traversed by extensive veins of quartz and epidote, which are
metalliferous, containing magnetic iron, and sulphides of iron, copper, and lead; doubt-
less, also, in certain localities, silver and gold; at least there is better promise of the
discovery of the precious metals in these mountains than in any others we have visited
since leaving the Rio Grande.

The name given by the Spaniards to this great sierra, Silver Mountain, would
seem to indicate that at some time silver had been found there, but I cannot learn
that any definite knowledge is possessed by the Mexicans or the Indians of the existence
of metallic veins such as would justify their choice of a title so significant.

ee

lO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 83

OED Aw tH va

GEOLOGY OF THE SAGE-PLAIN AND VALLEY OF THE UPPER COLO-
RADO.

}ENERAL FEATURES OF THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE COLORADO BASIN—ASPECTS AND ©
STRUCTURE OF THE SAGE-PLAIN—MESA VERDE—ENORMOUS DENUDATION OF THE COLO-
RADO PLATEAU—CROSSING THE SAGE PLAIN—RIO DE LOS MANCOS—RIlvW DOLORES—SECTION
OF LOWER CRETACEOUS ROCGKS—RUINS ON THE DOLORES—SIERRA SAN MIGUEL—SUROU-
ARA—TIERRA BLANCA—GUAJELOTES—CANON PINTADO—TRIASSIC ROCKS—SAURIAN BONES
—LA TenrgAL—ERropep BUTTES—CASA COLORADO—OJo VERDE--SIERRA LA SaAL—THEXcurR-
SION TO GRAND RIVER—CANON COLORADO—PLATEAU BORDERING THE COLORADO RIVER—
ERODED .MONUMENTS—LABYRINTH CANON—RUINED BUILDINGS—SUMMI? OF THE CARBON-
IFBROUS FORMATION—SECTION OF TRIASSIC ROCKS—REMARKABLE COUNTRY ABOUT THE
JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS—SINGULAR ERODED BUTTES AND PINNACLES—
NETWORK OF GANONS—CANON OF GRAND RIVER—SECTION OF CARBONIFEROUS STRATA—
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE COLORADO VALLEY—RETURN ‘TO SAGE-PLAIN—J OURNEY
SOUTHWARD TO THE SAN JUAN—SITERRA ABAJO.

Between the Rio dela Plata and the Rio de los Mancos we skirted the base of the
extreme southern point 6f the Sierra de la Plata. These mountains terminate south-
ward in along slope, which falls down to a level of about 7,500 feet above the sea,
forming: a. plateau which extends southward to the San Juan, the Mesa Verde, to which -
I shall soon have occasion again to refer. This mesa terminates on the west by an
abrupt nearly vertical precipice from 1,200 to 1,500 feet in height. Between the mesa
and the mountains is a natural pass or puerta, through which the Spanish trail leads
where it crosses the divide. On the west this puerta opens to the right and left;
bounded on the north by the retreating southwesterly slopes of the Sierra de la Plata,
on the south by the wall-like edges of the Mesa Verde. As we stood on its threshold
we looked far out over a great plain, to the eye as limitless as the sea; the monotonous
outline of its surface varied only by two or three small island-like mountains, so distant
as scarcely to rise above the horizon line. Here we were to leave the lofty sierras of
the Rocky Mountain system, which had so long looked down on our camps and marches,
the picturesque scenery of the foot-hills, their flowery valleys and sparkling streams,
the grateful shade of their noble forests, and take our weary way across the arid ex-
panse of the great western plateau; a region whose dreary monotony is 6 ly broken by
frightful chasms, where alone the weary traveler finds shelter from ea heat of
a cloudless sun, and where he seeks, too often in vain, a cooling draught that shal]
slake his thirst. ‘To us, however, as well as to all the civilized world, it was a terra

84 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

incognita, and was viewed with eager interest, both as the scene of our future explora-
tions and asthe possible repository of truth which we might gather and add to the sum
total of human knowledge.

An outline sketch of this portion of the Colorado Plateau has been already given in
Chap. III, and but little more need be said to make its general features clearly compre-
hended. ‘The plain which stretches westward from the Sierra de la Plata—indicated on
the accompanying map, where it is called the Great Sage-plain—is part of an immense
plateau which once stretched continuously far beyond the course of the Colorado. — Tow
it has been divided by the canons of the draining streams, and how, by erosion, its
plateau character has been so modified as to be locally lost, will fully appear in the
progress of our geological narrative; yet no one who observes the orderly and un-
broken arrangement of its underlying rocks, the perfect correspondence of the sections
on opposite sides of the profound canons which cut. it, will hesitate to assent to the
assertion that an unbroken table-land once stretched from the base of the Sierra de la
Plata all the way across to the mountain chains west of the Colorado, and that from
this plateau, grain by grain, the sedimentary materials which once filled the broad and
deep valleys of the Colorado and San Juan have been removed by the currents of |
these streams. The mind is awestruck in the contemplation of the magnitude of the
element of time which enters into the analysis of the process by which these stupendous
monuments of erosion have been produced; but if the numerical faculty is batted in
the effort to count the years or ages which must have been consumed in the erosion of
the valleys and canons to which I have referred, even the imagination itself is lost when
called upon to estimate the eycles on cycles during which the much grander features
of the high table-lands were wrought from a plateau which once overspread mast of
the area of the Colorado Basin, burying the present Sage- plain 2,000 feet benéiith its
upper surface.

As I have before said, the Great Sage-plain is everywhere Ronee by the Lower
Cretaceous sandstones; massive resistent strata, 800 to 500 feet in thickifess. These
are succeeded in the ascending series, where the upper members of the formation are
present, by the Middle Cretaceous shales, principally soft argillaceous beds, from 1,200
to 1,500 feet in thickness. Above these belong the Upper Cretaceous sandstones and
marls, occupying an equal vertical space. Now, over the great plateau, floored and
protected by the Lower Cretaceous sandstones, are everywhere scattered mounds of
greater or less elevation, composed of the Middle Cretaceous shales, and in the inter-
val between these mounds are scattered thousands and millions of the fossils charac-
teristic of these shale-beds, washed, like pebbles, from their soft envelope. Here we
have conclusive evidence that the Middle Cretaceous shales once completely covered
the sandstone-floor of the Sage-plain from which they have been nearly removed by
aqueous action. As we approach the margin of the sandstone plateau, we find the
mounds of overlying shale becoming more numerous and higher, until, reaching the
edge of the high mesa, they blend in solid escarpments more than 1,000 feet: in
altitude, crowned by the massive, but soft, sandstones which form the third and upper
division of the Cretaceous series.

Such are some of the facts which may be observed about the base of the Mesa

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 85

Verde, facts of which the significance will be readily appreciated; but these are not
all the things that may be seen from the vicinity of our present standpoint. ‘The Mesa
Verde is, geologically, but a portion of the high table-lands which border the Upper
San Juan; the northern margin of which is followed by our route from the ford of the
Chama to the Mancos. Here this plateau terminates abruptly in a bold and most pic-
turesque wall, of which the general course, though varied by many salient and
re-entering angles, is nearly north and south from the Sierra de la Plata to the San Juan.
This mesa we completely encireled; examined it at a thousand points, and can speak
of its structure and extent with confidence. To obtain a just conception of the enor-
mous denudation which the Colorado Plateau has suffered, no better point of view
could possibly be selected than that of the summit of the Mesa Verde. The geologist
here has, as it seems to me, satisfactory proof of the proposition I have before made,
that, from the greater portion of the Colorado Plateau, strata more, than 2,000 feet in
thickness have been removed by erosion. He here has a view toward the west, limited
only by the powers of human vision. Directly west the Sage-plain stretches out nearly
horizontal, unmarked by any prominent feature, to the distance of a hundred miles.
There the island-like mountains, the Sierra Abajo and Sierra La Sal, rise from its sur-
face. South of these is the little doubled-peaked mountain, called by the Mexicans Las
Orejas del Oso—the bear's ears; beyond these his vision could not reach, but our
explorations enable us to tell him there lies the broad eroded valley of the Colorado,
bounded by two steps, of over 1,000 feet each, below the level of the Sage-plain, and
in the bottom of that valley, the chasm of the Colorado Canon, whose perpendicular
walls are 1,500 feet in height; beyond the trough of the Colorado, a plateau corre-
sponding to the Sage-plain, and beyond this a répresentative of the Mesa Verde.
Looking southwest, he would see the Sage-plain terminated in that direction by the
excavated valley of the San Juan; beyond this its representatives of similar character
and elevation; higher and more distant than these, the long perspective lines of the
lofty mesas north and west of the Moqui villages; the precise counterpart of that on
which he is supposed to stand. | ‘

On the northern margin of the plateau, we are assured by those who have been
there that the constituent rocks of the Mesa Verde are exposed, holding the same posi-
tions as here Are we not then driven by these facts to eonclude that, over all this
area of undisturbed sedimentary rocks, surrounded by table-lands composed of like
strata, presenting corresponding, but now widely separated faces, these strata once
stretched in unbroken connection; and that, from the great interval, where now wanting,
they have been removed by the same all-potent influence which has left such grand
and so similar records in the canons of the Colorado and its tributaries.

The geology of the country lying between the Sierra La Plata and Sierra Abajo
is so Monotonous as to require no lengthy description; all that need be said of it is
in brief notes of our different days’ maréehes contained in my journal. Krom these |
make the following extracts: ‘.

“ August 10th, Camp 21, 0n Rio Dolores—The Rio de los Mancos is a clear mount-
ain stream, formed by two branches, which unite just below our camp, and which
rise in the foot-hills of the Sierra de la Plata, on its western side. Each of the two

Capt _J.N.Macomb, Exp, in New Mexico & Utah. Plate vy.

- Sa ee .
7 a“ . %

J.J.YOUNG froma sketch by Df J. S. NEWBERRY.

RtO: D0 GORES oe. Soy aoe. 1s a oe
FROM NEAR CAMP 21,

86 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

branches is about the size of the La Plata; they flow through a pretty valley, and are
bordered by thickets of willow and alder, and groves of pine and cottonwood. As
usual, at such high elevation, the cottonwood is all of the narrow-leaved species—
Populus angustifolia, ‘The immediate banks of the Mancos are at this point composed
of the black shales, which overlie the Lower Cretaceous sandstones, containing Ostrea
congesta, Inoceramus problematicus, &e. Very near camp (19) is a clear, cold spring, of
which the water is highly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen ; another of the mineral
springs flowing from the dark Cretaceous shales, so common in New Mexico, where
they are known as Ojos heriondos. Soon after leaving the Mancos, we came upon the
Lower Cretaceous sandstones, which form the surface-rock to the Dolores. These
sandstones are covered in places by detached hills of overlying shales and light-blue
limestone, as usual, crowded with their characteristic fossils. The sandstones below
are exposed in all the ravines which we crossed, and in nearly every locality where |
examined them, I found in them impressions of angiospermous leaves, Populus, Salix,
Quercus, &c. After traveling 15 miles, we descended into a narrow valley of erosion,
traversed by a small clear stream, a tributary of the Dolores. The walls of the valley
are in places nearly perpendicular, and are composed of the Lower Cretaceous sand-
stones, of which some 200 feet are exposed. These are generally yellow and coarse,
but alternate with laminated, greenish, ripple-marked layers, beds of greenish and eray
shales, and occasional bands of lignite. Nearly all contain the impressions of the
stems of plants and dicotyledonous leaves, similar to those so frequently before seen
in the same formation. ‘The lowest stratum visible at this point, is a fine-grained com-
pact sandstone, very uniform in texture, and as white as loaf-sugar; a most beautiful
building material.” :

The country lying between the Mancos and Dolores is generally dry and sterile,
yet is everywhere covered with fragments of broken pottery, showing its former occu-
pation by a considerable number of inhabitants; it is now utterly deserted. Near the
mountains it is pretty well timbered; farther west, trees become more scattered and
smaller, the pines confined to the narrow valleys, the uplands dotted with eroves of
pinon and cedar, with wide intervals covered with sage-bushes and soap-plant, Yucca
angustifolia. ‘The Dolores rises on the west side of the Sierra de la Plata, many miles
north of our route, and is here a clear, rapid stream, as large as the San Juan at the
Pagosa. It runs through a beautiful but narrow valley, several hundred feet below
the surface of the surrounding country. This is a valley of excavation, cut in the
Lower Cretaceous rocks, which form bluffs on either side over 200 feet high, in many
places perpendicular. The bottom-lands are nearly level, half a mile wide, and very
fertile, covered with fine grass, with groves of cottonwood and willow, and scattered
trees of yellow pine. Near the river the thickets are overgrown with virein’s bower
and hop, which form almost impenetrable jungles. Great numbers of flowers ornament
the open grounds, generally of the species so common in the valleys before passed
through.

The bluffs bounding the river below our camp show the following section :

1. Soil with rolled gravel and bowlders, drift from the Sierra de la Plata, princi-
pally white and black porphyry like that on the Mancos and La Plata.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 87

Dark-blue caleareous shales with bands of dove-colored limestone, weathering

ipeer with thinner layers of brown sandy limestone.

In the shales are imbedded great numbers of Gryphea Pitcheri, generally of small
size but beautifully perfect. They exhibit a great variety of form, some being very
high and narrow; others broader, like the typical G. Pitcheri; others nearly orbicular,
like G. dilatata of the Oxford clay ; others still broader, with a transverse diameter con-
siderably greater than the antero-posterior. Between these various forms are connect-
ing links which seem to prove that all belong to one species. The dove-colored lime-
stones, here as on the Chama and Canadian, contain almost exclusively Jnoceramus
problematicus, and also exhibit the peculiar fracture noticed in the localities mentioned
above, and others, on exposure, cracking horizontally into concavo-convex chip-like
fragments, having sharp edges.

The ferruginous layers represent the fish-bed of the Pagosa, the Chama, the
Canadian, &e., a clearly defined geological horizon throughout all the Cretaceous area
of New Mexico; they contain here Ostrea lugubris and many fragments of Lnoceramus
I. problematicus and a much larger species probably not described.

3. Coarse yellow satdeiiees often a conglomerate, containing impressions of ae ‘O-
tyledonous leaves, Salix, &e., and thin bands.of lignite.

4. Greenish or light-brown soft calcareous sandstone, with local layers of blue
clay-shale and thin seams of lignite; no fossils observed.

Thick-bedded light-yellow or white sandstone, locally coarse or fine, some-
times a conglomerate contaiming quartz pebbles, generally fine-grained and nearly
white; no fossils.

Green or purple clay stones and shales.

7. Soft greenish sandstone.

Most of the strata enumerated above are exposed in the cliffs bordering the valley ;
for several miles are entirely unbroken, conformable throughout, and have a gentle dip
to the west. The facts here observed are of special interest as deciding beyond all
appeal the question of the relative age of the sandstone group containing angiosperm

ous leaves, so marked a feature in the geology of New Mexico. This is but one of

the great number of cases where these sandstones were found overlaid by strata con-

taining well known Cretaceous fossils. It is to be hoped that this mooted question

will now be considered settled, since it must be so in the mind of every honest inves-
tigator.

From the summit of the hill from which the preceding section was taken, we
obtained a magnificent view of a wide extent of country lying on every side of us. In
the east the Sierra de la Plata rose as a high and unbroken wé all, pr esenting a more
raried outline than when seen from the other side; south of se Sierra, the puerta
through which we had passed; beyond this, stretching far off southward, the green
slopes and lofty battlements of the Mesa Verde beetling over the plain like some high
and roek-bound coast above the level ocean; south, and near us, the miniature peak
and chain of La Late; far more distant, the Sierras Carriso and Tunec ‘ha in the Navajo
country ; occupying the whole western horizon the monotonous expanse of the Sage-
plain, beyond which rose the low summits of the Orejas del Oso, Sierra Abajo, wd

88 — EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Sierra la Sal. In the north appeared a new and grand: topographical feature. From
N. 10° W. to N. EK. magnetic stretched a chain of great mountains, higher and more
picturesque than any we haa seen. ‘These have no common name, but one of the
peaks is called, from the stream which washes its base, Sierra San Miguel.

Whether these mountains form a single chain or several, and what is their prevail-
ing trend cannot be said with certainty without closer inspection ; the overlapping lines
of their bases, which would decide that question, being concealed by intervening high-
lands. I should infer, however, from the view we had of them, that they represent
several distinct ranges, with a trend nearly north and south, set en cchelon. Between
the most easterly of these mountains and the Sierra de la Plata is a low gap, in which
stands a remarkable pinnacle of rock; even at a distance of seventy or eighty miles a
striking object. One of the mountains in this group bears a large surface of snow, and
its height cannot be less than 13,000 feet. Several others are nearly as lofty, and are |
cones of great beauty.

The hill from which we obtained this view is crowned with an extensive series of
very ancient ruins. The principal one is a pueblo, nearly 100 feet square, once sub-
stantially built of dressed stone, now a shapeless heap, in which the plan of the original
structure can, however, be traced. Like most of the ruined pueblos of New Mexico,
it consisted of a series of small rooms clustered together, like cells in a beehive. Near
the principal edifice are mounds of stone, representing subordinate buildings. Among’
these are numerous large depressions marking the places of cisterns or estuffas. Quan-
tities of broken pottery, similar to that so commonly seen in like circumstances, but
bearing the marks of great age, strew.the ground about these ruins. b,

A nile or two up the river are several other sfone houses built high up in the
cliffs, 150 feet above the stream; they are usually placed on ledges covered by pro-
jecting rocks, which act as roofs. ‘These houses are not large, and were probably
only occupied by the guardians of the fields once in cultivation below. All of these, as
well as the more extensive ruins before mentioned, are admirably located for defense,
and would be easily held by a handful of determined men against any number of
assailants armed only with the weapons of savage warfare.

Between our camp on the Dolores and Surouara no new geological feature was
noticed. The Lower Cretaceous sandstones everywhere form the’ rocky substratum,
here and there covered with patches of the overlying shale. From these shale-beds
millions of Gryphzeas have washed out, covering the surface and rattling under the
mule’s feet like gravel-stones. Sage is the predominant vegetation, and no water is
found in the interval; yet we passed several ruined buildings, and broken pottery is
scattered everywhere.

Surouaro is the name of a ruined town which must once have contained a popu-
lation of several thousands. The name is said to be of Indian (Utah) origin, and to
signify desolation, and certainly no better could have been selected. Vhe surround-
ing country is hopelessly sterile; and, whatever it once may have been, Surouaro is
now desolate enough. Here are two canons, cut in the sandstone by two former
streams. These unite nearly a mile below camp. All the interval of mesa between
them is covered with ruins. The houses are, many of them, large, and all built of

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 89

stone, hammer-dressed on the exposed faces. Fragments of pottery are exceedingly
common, though, like the buildings, showing great age. There is every evidence that
a large population resided here for many years, perhaps centuries, and that they
deserted it several hundred years ago; that they were Pueblo Indians, and hence
peaceful, industrious, and agricultural. How they managed to exist here, and how
their town was depopulated, are questions that suggest themselves at once, but cer-
tainly the former is the more puzzling. They may have been exterminated by the
Navajos and Utahs, warlike and aggressive tribes who occupy the adjacent region; but
where a population of many thousands once existed, now as many hundreds could not
be sustained, either by agriculture or the chase. The surrounding country contains
very little animal life, and almost none of it is now cultivable. It is 7,000 feet in
altitude, intensely cold in winter, and very dry throughout the year. ‘The want of
water alone would forbid the residence of any considerable number of persons at
Surouaro if everything else were furnished them. The arroyos, through which
streams seem to have once flowed, are now dry, and it was only with great difficulty
that sufficient water was obtained for the supply of our train. The remains of
metates (corn-mills) are abundant about the ruins, and corn was doubtless the staple
article of their existence, but none could now be raised here. The ruins of several
large reservoirs, built of masonry, may be seen at Surouaro, and there are traces of
acequias, which led to these, through which water was brought perhaps from a great
distance. At first sight the difficulties in the way of obtaining a supply of water
for any considerable population at this point would seem insurmountable, and the
readiest solution of the problem would be to infer a change of climate, by which this
region was made uninhabitable. Such a conclusion is not necessary, however, for the
skill and industry of the ancient inhabitants of the arid table-lands of New Mexico
and Arizona achieved wonders in the way of procuring a supply of water. Some-
times this was done by carefully collecting, in cisterns of masonry, every drop of a
trickling spring; sometimes by canals, through which water was brought from long
distances. The Moqui villages are now supplied, though rather scantily, by such
means, where, if the cisterns were to fall into ruins, a single traveler could hardly find
water enough for himself and horse.

From Surouaro to the base of the Sierra Abajo our experience was exceedingly mo-
notonous. ‘The physical aspects of the country are everywhere the same, and its geologi-
eal structure equally unvaried. The Lower Cretaceous sandstones here lie nearly
level, but are exposed in all the ravines, generally dry, which we crossed, while
low mounds of the overlying shales were almost constantly in sight; their characteris-
tic fossils lying about in such profusion that thousands of tons of them might have
been collected.

After leaving the immediate vicinity of the mountains, no beds of drift or trans-
ported materials of any kind were met with, and it is evident that the denudation
which the strata once covering the Sage-plain have suffered has not been effected by
any deep and wide-spread currents by which this country has been swept, but by the
quiet and long-continued action of atmospheric influences—rains, frosts, &c. No
flowing stream was met with in all this part of our route, and we were compelled to

12sF

90 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

depend for our supply of water upon the springs or pools to which we were led by
the trail we were following. At the Tierra Blanca we encamped at the finest of these
springs which we saw. Here the water issues from the base of a low cliff of sand-
stone, of which the surfaces are whitened by a saline effloresence, consisting in a great
degree of chloride of sodium; a phenomenon which has given to the locality the name
it bears.

Our next stopping place was at the Guajelotes, a large pool of bad surface-water;
a natural reservoir in the sandstone rocks, containing great numbers of water-lizards—
Stredon—called by the Mexicans guajelotes.

The Ojo del Cuerbo is a small spring similar to that of the Tierra Blanca, except
that the water is less abundant and is Sol lunar ous.

We had here approached comparatively near to the Sierras Abajo and La Sal,
the one being twenty, the other forty miles distant. Of isolated mountain ‘groups the
La Sal is considerably the higher and more extensive ; both are, however, of insig-
nificant dimensions as compared with the lofty ranges of the Sierra San Miguel.

Up to this point we had constantly met with fragments of broken pottery scat-
tered over the surface, and had frequently seen traces of ruined buildings.

CANON PINTADO.

Between the Sierras Abajo and La Sal passes a natural line of drainage, marked
above by a formidable cation, which furrows the Sage-plain many miles up toward the
Sierra San Miguel... North of the Sierra Abajo this canon terminates, or rather it opens
to the right and left, its walls extending to the bases of the two groups of mountains
I have mentioned, forming here the western terminus of the Sage-plain. ‘To reach the
second and lower plateau it is necessary to descend the cliffs which are formed by the
cut edge of the first; this we did, following the Spanish trail, at a point about fifteen
miles northeast of the Sierra Bis where a lateral cation enters the great one I haye
described a few miles above its mouth. Here we descended at once more than 1,000
feet, leaving behind us the plateau of the Sage-plain, with its unvarying topography
and monotonous Cretaceous geology, to enter the great’ eroded valley of Colo-

‘ado; a region of which the geology is all Triassic or Jurassic, and where the see
exhibits all the brilliant colors.which characterize the rocks of these formations in the
West, combined with all the vakicty of form which erosion ean produce. From the
vivid colors of the walls of the canon where we entered it, it was mamed by our party
Canon Pintado. Its walls are precipitous, ¢ generally alist perpendicular, the lower
half composed of strata which are bright red, green, Fallow or white; soft but massive
beds weathering, as such materials are so proneto do in this region, into arches, domes,
spires, towers, and a thousand other imitations of human architecture, all on a colos-
sal scale. The bottom is smooth and nearly level, in many places covered with the
finest gama grass, in others with the salt-bush (Sar cobatus),

A section “of the rocks exposed in the cafion is as follows, the thickness of the
strata being estimated :

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 91

Section of the cliffs of Caron Pintado.

Feet
I. Coarse yellow sandstone, floor of Sage-plain............-.-----.2..-.--- 200
2. Gray and green shales, intarstratified with coarse gray sandstones and yellow
Om intnhs . cae eee. et Se Shae 250
3. Red and green shales, with bands of whitish and greenish sandstone, with silici-
Rubee se OTP ey Pate eRG ea a te cla win Sok ween 350
4. Yellow and red massive caleareous sandstones............-.------------- 200

In the foregoing section No. 1 is the Lower Cretaceous sandstone forming the
surface-rock over all the country lying between the Sierra La Plata and Sierra Abajo.
A short distance back from the canon it is overlaid by patches of shale with Gryphzas,
aud therefore represents the surface of the. Lower Cretaceous group. No. 2 is proba-
bly also Cretaceous, though here containing no fossils by which this question could be
determined with certainty. A group of rocks, having similar lithological characters,
at the Moqui villages, lies between the red beds below and the massive leaf-bearing
sandstones above, and there contains Ammonites percarinatus and other Lower Creta-
ceous fossils. As will be seen in the progress of our geological narrative, at interme-
diate points on the San Juan a thickness of several hundred feet of soft green sand-
stones and green sandy shales separates the coarse yellow sandstones (the floor of the
Sage-plain) from the red gypsiferous rocks below. Until fossils shall be discovered in
these beds, it will be impossible to draw any sharply defined line marking the base of
the Cretaceous formation; and since the strata are here everywhere sotieathntle, it | is
extremely doubtful whether any such line of demarcation exists in nature.

Saurian bones.—On the north side of the cation just opposite our camp (26), in the
face of the cliff, about 250 feet above its base, I discovered the bones of a large Saurian.
Probably the greater part of the skeleton is still imbedded in the rock, as, although I spent
two days, with several assistants, in excavating at this point, the tools at our command
were too light for such heavy work as it proved to be, and we were compelled to
leave many bones, which we could see, but had not the means to extricate from their
envelopes. The special object of our efforts, the head, was not reached, but still
remains to reward some future geologist who shall visit this interesting locality, with
more time at his command and more adequate implements for rock excavation than
we possessed. ‘The bones we obtained were mainly those of the extremities: a femur
entire; the greater part of a humerus; several of the phalanges of the’toes; portions of
the ribs, and other large and, to me, quite incomprehensible bones. All of these have
been placed in the hands of the distinguished anatomist, Professor Leidy, who will
make them the subject of a special report. The size of the animal, as indicated by
these bones, must have been very large. The femur taken out measured 30 inches in
length, by 4 in diameter, at its smallest part, the articulations being much thicker. A
portion of the scapula which was taken out was 22 inches long and 16 wide at the
broadest part, and this but a fragment. ;

Near the locality where the larger skeleton was found a part of a rib of a smaller
individual was picked up, and on the opposite side of the valley a shapeless fragment
of a large bone was found at the foot of the cliff From these facts it is evident that

Capt. J. N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate VI

ape ehh TRS REY he pa
‘asia : 6 iy me EP
ge AN I Nieg GS

J.J.YOUNG froma sketch by Df J.-S. NEWBERRY. T. Sinclair & Son. lith. Phila.

CASA COLORADO & LA SAL-MOUNTAINS.

LOOKING NORTHEREY.

92 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

the Gypsum formation, usually so entirely barren of fossils, would here well repay
labor spent in its examination; and it is greatly to be desired that future explorers of
this far-off region will make an earnest effort to obtain what is, perhaps, here alone
obtainable, the means of settling the vexed question of the parallelism of the G ypsum
formation with deposits whose age has been accurately determined elsewhere.

In the same stratum with the Saurian bones I discovered the only fossil shells
have ever seen from that group of rocks in New Mexico. These have the form of Natica,
but are probably not susceptible of accurate classification.

Three miles below our “Saurian camp” (26), we reached the mouth of the Cation
Pintado, which here opens out on to the second step of the table-lands in the descent to
the Colorado. The surface-rock of this plateau is everywhere the soft, massive, cal-
‘areous sandstone or indurated marl which forms the base of the section in Canon
Pintado. It is a comparatively soft rock, and contains a great deal of gypsum, very
uniformly disseminated. It lies in thick beds, scarcely separated by any distinct part-
ings, and yet exhibits the most striking examples of oblique stratification which have
ever come under my observation; the inclined layers, which compose some of the beds,
forming an angle of 30° and 40° with the primary planes of stratification, which are
horizontal. ‘The slopes of the inclined layers are often £0 or 60 feet in length, with a
rise of 20 or 30, showing that they were deposited from water, at times very much
agitated. The colors of this rock are always very decided, but, in the same stratum,
or on the same horizon, they are exceedingly local; a lemon or orange yellow being
succeeded quite abruptly by rose-red, and this again by white. The prevailing shade
is, however, a red, deep blood-red, or some lighter tint, such as brick-red, rose-tint, or
flesh-color. It is a rather remarkable fact, that with such inclined and contorted layers
of deposition this rock should include so little coarse material, and it is impossible to
resist the conclusion that it is far more a chemical than mechanical precipitate, and
that the period of its deposition was the commencement of a great epoch, during which
peculiar physical conditions prevailed over not only the greater part of our continent,
but of the world, so peculiar and so widespread that we may almost call them cosmical.

Everywhere over the second plateau are scattered buttes and pinnacles, wrought,
from the massive calcareous sandstone and the overlying Saurian beds, by the erosion
which has swept from this surface all traces but these of the immense mass of sedi-
mentary rocks which once covered it. Of these one of the most striking seen from
our route is the Casa Colorado, represented on Plate VI. It is a detached butte, some
360 feet in height, composed of red sandstone covered with the harder layers of the
Saurian beds. Another symmetrical and beautiful dome, composed of the same mate-
rials, is lemon-yellow, with a base of red.

Our camps 27 and 28 were on what I have called the second plateau. Of these the
first was at La Tenejal, a deep excavation in the red sandstone, which retains so large
a quantity of surface-water, and for so long a time, as to become an important water-
ing-place on the Spanish trail. These natural reservoirs are frequently met with in
this region, and during the dry season are of vital importance not only to such travelers
as may be passing through it, but also to the small number of animals which here
make their home. It is not at all uncommon to meet with them even on the summits

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 93

of the sandstone buttes, which I have described, and it has often happened to me, after
a fatiguing climb to the top of some high cliff or pinnacle, to find its smooth-washed
summit-rock scooped out in cavities from 2 to 20 feet in diameter, holding sometimes
many barrels of the clearest rain-water, and affording me the two rarest possible
luxuries in this arid region—a drink of pure water and a cleansing and refreshing bath.

The Ojo Verde is a copious spring ina canon cut out of the red sandstone, ten
miles west of La Teneja. The surrounding country is very-sterile, sparsely set with
sage bushes and small cedars, but about the spring the bottom of the cation is cov-
ered with the greenest and most luxuriant grass. The La Sal Mountain shows very
finely from this point, distant twenty miles. It is seen to be composed of several short
ranges, separated by narrow valleys, having a trend several degrees north of east, but
these are set somewhat en échelon, and the direction of the longest diameter of the mount-
ain mass is north-northwest and south-southeast; such, at least, seems to be the
structure of this sierra as seen from a distance. Perhaps closer inspection would show
that the view obtained from this point was in some respects deceptive. Of the compo-
sition of the Sierra La Sal we know nothing except what was taught by the drifted
materials brought down in the canons through which the dfainage from it flows. Of
this transported material we saw but little, but that consisted mainly of trachytes. and
porphyry, indicating that it is composed of erupted rocks similar to those which form
the Sierra Abajo, of which it is in fact almost an exact counterpart. From the cliffs ,
over Ojo Verde we could see the strata composing both the upper and second plateaus,

rising from the east, south, and southwest on to the base of the Sierra La Sal, each

*

conspicuous stratum being distinctly traceable in the walls of the cations and valleys
which head in the sierra. It is evident, therefore, that the rocks composing the Colo-
rado Plateau are there locally upheaved, precisely as around the Sierra Abajo and the
other isolated mountains which I have already before enumerated, and to which I shall
have occasion again to refer.

VALLEY OF THE COLORADO.

The general features of the trough of the Colorado, at the junction of Grand
and Green Rivers, have been already sketched, but the detailed description of our ex-
plorations of this remarkable region yet remains to be given. From the difficulties in
the way of such exploration, reported by our scouts, it was not thought advisable to
attempt to reach the river with our entire party. A depot camp was therefore estab-
lished at Ojo Verde, where most of the men and animals remained, while a small de-
tachment, with which I was connected, made the desired reconnoissance of this part of
our route. Of this excursion I find in my journal the following descriptive notes :

August 22.—Started this morning for the junction of Grand and Green Rivers,
Captain Macomb, Lieutenant Cogswell, Mr. Dimmock, Mr. Campean, myself, and
three servants forming the party. On leaving camp we struck southwest, gradually
ascending for six miles, when we reached the brink of a magnificent canon twelve
hundred feet in depth, called, from the prevailing color of its walls, Canon Colorado,
into which with great difficulty we descended. The summits of the cliffs are here
nearly five hundred feet above the Ojo Verde, composed of the same rock exposed

v

Lb Adotbesesee

et EN TRS NAT Ye )
LFF x, LABY RINT i CAN eae

ee

fin"

94 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

there, the base of the section in Cation Pintado. The sandstone is here yellow or
straw-color, very massive, without fossils, and very remarkably cross-stratified. About
four hundred feet of this stratum are here exposed.

Below this succeed one hundred and fifty feet of red, foliated sandstone, with
some bands of red shale, precisely like the red sandstones of New Jersey and the
Connecticut River Valley. Below this two hundred and seventy feet of reddish-brown
sandstone, very massive, forming perpendicular faces. Still below, a series of green
and red thin-bedded sandstones and red and purple shales, three hundred and fifty feet
in thickness. The strata here rise gently to the westward, till, at a point ten miles
from Camp 28, a low anticlinal crosses our route. From thence to the river the dip is
westward. This part of the cafion is exceedingly grand and beautiful, both from the
form and coloring of its walls. A few pitions and cedars cling to the sides and crown
the summits of the walls, while scattered cottonwoods and thickets of willow, with
here and there a small tree of a new and peculiar species of ash, form a narrow thread
of vegetation along its bottom. This, and many similar gorges, form the channels
through which the drainage of the western slope of the Sierra Abajo reaches the Col-
orado. ‘Twelve miles west from the Ojo Verde the several canons unite by the elimi-
nation of their dividing walls, and debouch into a comparatively open country. De-
scending the cation we, therefore, at its mouth come out upon a third distinct plateau,
from whiidh the mesa cut by the Cation Colorado has been removed; its edges reced-
ing in magnificent broken walls south and northwest. From this point the view swept
westward over a wide extent of country, in its general aspects a plain, but ever ywhere
deeply cut by a tangled maze of cations, and thickly set w ith towers, castles, and spires
of most varied and strikitig forms; the most wonderful monuments of erosion which
our eyes, already experienced in objects of this kind, had beheld. Near the mesa we
were leaving stand detached portions of it of every possible form, from broad, flat
tables to slender cones crowned with pinnacles of the massive sandstone which
forms the perpendicular faces of the walls of the Carion Colorado. These castellated
buttes are from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet in height, and no language is ad-
equate to convey a just idea of the strange and impressive scenery foxined by their
erand and varied outlines. ‘Toward the west the view reached some thirty miles, there
bounded by long lines and bold angles of mesa walls similar to those behind us, while
in the intervening space the surface was diversified by columns, spires, castles, and
battlemented towers of colossal but often beautiful proportions, closely resembling
elaborate structures of art, but in effect far surpassing the most imposing monuments
of human skill. In the southwest was a long line of spires of white stone, standing
on red bases, thousands in numbe, but so slender as to recall the most delicate cary-
ing in ivory or the fairy architecture of some Gothic cathedral ; yet many, perhaps
most, were over five hundred feet in height, and thickly set in a narrow belt or series
some miles in length. Their appearance was so strange and beautiful as to call out
exclamations of delight from all our party.

Next to the pinnacles the most striking objects in our view were buttes of dark,
chocolate-colored rock, which had weathered into exact imitation of some of the feudal
castles of the Old World; yet, like all the other features in the scene, they were on a

,

des

>

p «Ae
a“
oe)

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 95

gigantic scale. ‘These buttes are composed of the liver-colored sandstones and choc
olate shales of the walls of the Cavion Colorado, which consist of a great number of
alternations of thinner or thicker layers of sandstone with those of shale. This strue-
ture in erosion gives rise to many curious and beautiful results, such as a beaded ap-
pearance in columns, while harder or thicker layers form their capitals and bases. — It
also produces what seem to be walls of masonry, with frieze and cornice.

Soon after issuing from the mouth of Cation Colorado, the little intermittent stream
which traverses it begins to cut the floor of the rocky plain that borders the Colorado
River, and, following that stream as the only possible avenue through which we could
reach our destination, we were soon buried in a deep and narrow gorge, which is thence
continuous till it joins the greater cation of Grand River. This eafion, from its many
windings and the many branches which open into it, we designated by the name of
Labyrinth Cafion. Its walls are from one to two hundred feet in height, so that there
is no egress from it for many miles. The bottom is occupied with cotton-woods, and
thickets of narrow-leayed willow, cane, and salt-bush; all of which, with fallen rocks,
quicksands, and deep water-holes, made the passage through it almost impossible.
Some two miles below the head of Labyrinth Canon we came upon the ruins of a large
number of houses of stone, evidently built by the Pueblo Indians, as they are similar
to those on the Dolores, and the pottery seattered about is identical with that before found
in so many places. It is very old but of excellent quality, made of red clay coated
with white, and handsomely figured. Here the houses are built in the sides of the
cliffs. A mile or two below we saw others crowning the inaccessible summits—inac-
cessible except by ladders—of picturesque detached buttes of red sandstone, which
rise to the height of one hundred and fifty feet above the bottom of the caion. Simi-
lar buildings were found lower down, and broken pottery was picked up upon the
summits of the cliffs overhanging Grand River; evidence that these dreadful cations
were once the homes of families belonging to that great people formerly spread over
all this region now so utterly sterile, solitary, and desolate.

At the ruined pueblos we reached the surface of the Carboniferous formation ;
having passed through the entire thickness of the Gypsum series since leaving the
Sage-plain.

The complete section of the walls of the Cation Colorado continued to this point,
is as follows:

Feet.

1. Yellow massive calcareous sandstone, base of preceding section. - -- ---- - -- 400

2. Red micaceous sandstones, interstratified with red shales. ........--..------ 150

&. Red: atid. teary WinseteO: ROREOTIO. co. 4.60 ee gs a an beers aera ore 270

/4, Green and red shelly sandstones, and red shales, softer than No. 2.--..-.-.-- 350

)5. Greenish-pray micaceous: conglomerate... . . «<n ween us awn gees ee nee 15
2G. Red and purple shale........-..---- a te eS 60.

Es RCI, RMON a6 os ach aan so 4 + on bye 0 wi opaety um ls niece awe nn 18

. Chocolate and purple soft sandstones and shales in thin bands --~..-------- 275

9... Sait Ee VGL-COlOmeG, Saad: Wellkt@- BATLGBCORC i ann w i onc a ne naw tum agence waters «= 75

10. Brick-colored massive, calcareous sandstone, weathering into towers and bot-
GSM Ror arars-2 chs wen 60 fa ere me wig eens rminicy Steen www ae ey 80

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. : Plate VII.

i sete eed

J.J.YOUNG froma sketch by Df J. S. NEWBERRY.

HEAD OF LABYRINTH CREEH ,.bOOK ING SOGTH-EASIERLY.

96 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANNA FE

Feet.
PE BEV OP ECU LOLOE . SATUS 2 Et Feae a ach neni GO ei ign as Pio eat Bese & Sins the nage 15
Digs eT AROSE SG. 5 whe CG = oa 9 Rone We Sige ok pa LER inistammet eth cn hile 2
See OL, PATIOS. TN LU 1 ooo. wcrc a> aca new ws ih alive ice eno =a 25
Mite COO SEO RHTLUREO RES APCD N08, 0. UNL LR i ew eee rar TR ose ene an eon 12

15. Blue limestone, containing Athyris subtilita, Spirifer cameratus, &c., and other
Carboniferous fossils.

Descending the cafion till night came upon us, we made our camp under the over-
hanging cliffs on the north side, where some pot-holes in the rocky bottom promised
us a supply of water.

August 23, Camp 29 to Grand River—Leaving servants and packs in camp, we to-
day descended the Canon of Labyrinth Creek, to its junction with Grand River. Until
within a mile of the junction, the character of the canonremains the same; a narrow gorge,
with vertical sides, from 150 to 300 feet in height, its bottom thickly grown with bushes
and obstructed with fallen rocks and timber, passable but with infinite difficulty. At
the place mentioned above, however, our progress was arrested by a perpendicular fall,
some 200 feet in height, occupying the whole breadth of the canon, and to reach Grand
River it was necessary to scale the walls which shut us in. This we accomplished
with some difficulty on the south side, to find ourselves upon the level of the rocky
plain into which we sunk when entering the cation. The view we here obtained was
most interesting, yet too limited to satisfy us. Looking down into the cafion we had
been following, we could see it deepening by successive falls until, a mile below, it
opened into the greater Canon of Grand River, a dark yawning chasm, with vertical
sides, in which we caught glimpses of the river 1,500 feet below where we stood. On
every side we were surrounded by columns, pinnacles, and castles of fantastic shapes,
which limited our view, and by impassable cations, which restricted our movements.
South of us, about a mile distant, rose one of the castle-like buttes, which I have
already mentioned, and to which, though with difficulty, we made our way. This
butte was composed of alternate layers of chocolate-colored sandstone and shale,
about 1,000 feet in height; its sides nearly perpendicular, but most curiously orna-
mented with columns and pilasters, porticos and colonnades, cornices and battlements,
flanked here and there with tall outstanding towers, and crowned with spires so slender
that it seemed as though a breath of air would suffice to topple them from their foun-
dations. To accomplish the object for which we had come so far, it seemed necessary
that we should ascend this butte. The day was perfectly clear and intensely hot; the
mercury standing at 92° in the shade, and the red sandstone, out of which the land- |
scape was carved, glowed in the heat of the burning sunshine. | Stripping off nearly
all our clothing, we made the attempt, and after two hours of most arduous labor
succeeded in reaching the summit. ‘The view which there burst upon us was such as
amply repaid us for all our toil. It baffles description, however, and I can only hope
that our sketches will give some faint idea of its strange and unearthly character.

The great cation of the Lower Colorado, with its cliffs a mile in height, affords
grander and more impressive scenes, but those haying far less variety and beauty of
detail than this. from the pinnacle on which we stood the eye swept over an area
some fifty miles in diameter, everywhere marked by features of more than ordinary

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 97

interest ; lofty lines of massive mesas rising in successive steps to form the frame of the
picture ; the interval between them more than 2,000 feet below their summits. A
great basin or sunken plain lay stretched out before us as on a map. Not a particle of
vegetation was anywhere discernible; nothing but bare and barren rocks of rich and
varied colors shimmering in the sunlight. Scattered over the plain were thousands of
the fantastically formed buttes to which I have so often referred in my notes; pyramids,
domes, towers, columns, spires, of every conceivable form and size. Among these by
far the most remarkable was the forest of Gothic spires, first and imperfectly seen as
we issued from the mouth of the Cafion Colorado. Nothing I can say will give
an adequate idea of the singular and surprising appearance which they presented from
this new and advantageous point of view. Singly, or in groups, they extend like
a belt of timber for a distance of several miles. Nothing in nature or in art offers a
parallel to these singular objects, but some idea of their appearance may be gained by
imagining the island of New York thickly set with spires like that of Trinity church,
but many of them full twice its height. Scarcely less striking features in the landscape
were the innumerable cafions by which the plain is cut. In every direction they ran
and ramified deep, dark, and ragged, impassable to everything but the winged bird.
Of these the most stupendous was that of Grand River, which washes two sides of the
base of the pinnacle on which we stood, a narrow chasm, as we estimated, full 1,500
feet in depth, into which the sun scarcely seemed to penetrate. At the bottom the
whole breadth of this cation is occupied by the turbid waters of Grand River, here a
sluggish stream, at least with no current visible to us who were more than 2,000 feet
above it. In this great artery a thousand lateral tributaries terminate, flowing through
channels precisely like that of Labyrinth Creek; underground passages by which inter-
mittent floods from the distant highlands are conducted through this country, producing
upon it no other effect than constantly to deepen their own’ beds. ‘Toward the south |
the cation of Grand River was easily traced. Perhaps four miles below our position it |
is joined by another great chasm coming in from the northwest, said by the Indians to
be that of Green River. From the point where we were it was inaccessible, but we
had every reason to credit their report in reference to it.

After reaching the elevated point from which we obtained this view, I neglected
to take the rest I so much needed, but spent the little time at my command in endeavor-
ing to put on paper some of the more striking features of the scene before us. Stand-
ing on the highest point, I made a hasty panoramic sketch of the entire landscape.
The effort had, however, nearly cost me dear; for before I had completed the circle
of the horizon I was seized with dreadful headache, giddiness, and nausea, and, alone
as I then was, had the greatest difficulty in rejoining my companions.

The greater part of the walls of the cation of Grand River are formed of Car
boniferous rocks; the summits of the cliffs are, however, composed of Triassic red
sandstone, the equivalent of those resting on the Carboniferous limestone on the Little
Colorado and in the valley of the Pecos. The Carboniferous cannot, therefore, be said
to be the surface formation anywhere in this region, as it is nowhere exposed except
in the trough of the Colorado, and there in the canons. The composition of that
portion of this formation to which I had access in the canon of Labyrinth Creek is as
follows; the Triassic sandstone resting on the upper member of the section :

13 $ F

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. : Plate VII.

J.J.YOUNG froma sketch by Df J.-S. NEWBERRY. ( Sinclair &

HEAD OF CANON. COLORADO

EROSION OF TRAASSAG -SERTES.

98 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Section of Carboniferous rocks in Labyrinth Cafion.
: Feet.
1. Blue slaty argillaceous limestone, with nodules of chert, and containing cri-

noidal columns in great numbers, Athyris subtilita, Bellerophon, Productus, dc. 20
2. Massive blue limestone, portions of which are quite sandy, generally variable

UE, CLREN = Carne EER ROE e o a ol OS a a co gh OE Sie a Ww any He 50
3. Slaty blue argillaceous limestone, somewhat cherty, crowded with fossils, among

which are Athyris subtilita, Spirifer cameratus, Productus semireticulatus, P.

scabriculus, P. Rogersi, P. punctatus, P. nodosus, Orthisina wnbraculum, Mya-

lina ampla, Pleurotomaria eacelsa—a large and fine new species—Allorisma

CU EUV ROO ee ae ecm aa gia ig Re BN ee ts 8 bai 4()
Ce: Tener an em PO IORI cy ttle oC ee ket a my Sane we ky 6
5. Bluish-white, red or mottled sandy limestone, no fossils. .....--.---------- 35
res ClUMGTOOUS HUGS, NO TOSMUS wan . oo 245i ts Fk. kes oes eee ees 7
7. Red or bluish-white, mottled sandy limestone, massive, no fossils... ....---- 25
8. Coarse blood-red sandstone, in some localities becoming red shale, no fossils... 22
9. Hard blue cherty limestone, with a few fossils of the same species found in No. 3. 36

The last number of the series forms the fall or precipice which stopped our prog-
ress down the cafion. The remainder of the section was inaccessible to us; as seen
from aboye it seemed to consist of alternations of strata, similar to those already
enumerated. If we may judge of the thickness of the Carboniferous formation in this
vicinity by what it is lower down on the Colorado, we cannot suppose that the base of
the series is reached in the cation of Grand River.

On comparing this exposure of the Carboniferous strata with that at Santa Fé,
described in Chapter II of this report, and those of the banks of the Colorado below
the mouth of the Little Colorado, noticed in my report to Lieutenant Ives, Chapter VI,
pp. 60 and 62, it will be seen that the fossils are generally identical; that, while two
or three new species were added in each locality to the Carboniferous fauna of the
Mississippi Valley, most of them are the same with the most common and characteristic
fossils of our Coal-Measures in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In lithological characters there is a general correspondence between all the locali-
ties in New Mexico where the Carboniferous rocks are fully exposed, but at Santa Fé
there is a greater proportion of coarse material, sandstones and conglomerates, than at
the more western localities. At Santa Fé, too, we find land-plants, characteristic Coal-
Measure forms, and even a thin bed of coal; all of which indicate the immediate prox-
imity of dry land. 7

Too little was learned of the lower part of the series on Grand River to enable
‘me to institute a fair comparison between the Carboniferous rocks at this locality and
those on Cataract Creek, 150 miles below. In the upper part of the formation we find,
however, here as there, cherty limestones with similar fossils, but the great beds of
eypsum of Cataract Creek are certainly wanting here.

Combining the sections exposed at different points along our route in our descent,
step by step, from the summit of the Mesa Verde to the cation of Grand River, we
have the following résumé of the strata and formations passed through :

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 99

General section of the Valley of the Colorado.

No. | Strata. Feet. | Formation. Locality.

1 | Soft, yellow sandstones, alternating with gray, purple, and green- |

ish marls, containing silicified coniferous wood..........-.----- 600 | Cretaceous. Mesa Verde. ~
2 | Dark bitumino-calcareous shales, with concretions and thin bands
of compact blue limestone weathering yellow. Fossils in the |
upper part, immediately beneath No. 1, Ammonites placenta,
Baculites anceps, Aporrhais Newberryi, &c.; toward the lower | |
part, Inoceramus, Nautilus, Ostrea congesta, fish-scales -......-.---| 1,200 .... do ....- 22... Do
Gray or dark-brown shales, with bands of dove-colored limestone
weathering white, and thin layers of brown sandy limestone. |
Fossils: Gryphaa Pitcheri, Inoceramus problematicus, I. fragilis, |
Ammonites percarinatus, A. Macombi, Ostrea lugubris, O. uniformis,
Ptychodus Whipplei, Lamna Texana, &6.....-2- .2ce0e weoes eenee | RGU jocss GO wune eon | Sage-plain.
4 Coarse, yellow sandstone, sometimes interstratified with beds of
shale and lignite. Fossils: Leaves of angiospermous plants,
Ne, Quy ous,” S863. SIo ees Sn fs FOC e eee OREO MA Eek 250 |.--.d0......-.. Do.
5 | Green and gray shales, and soft green or yellowish sandstones or i pane ; is
COUTIOMERAUS ot sai eV dee wees Fda e ieee vo oF le Se Re enEe Gee < U0: {aed ease ees Edge of Sage-plain.
6 | Red and green shales, with bands of soft, white, red or greenish |
| micaceous sandstones. Fossils: Saurian bones and silicified
WOU sy'E Sore Rorxt MRSA ahs ot ER: . VAPOR TS « oe ee cis 350 , Jurassic? Canon Pintado.
7 | Red, yellow, or white massive calcareous sandstone. No fossils.... 550 Triassic. Do.
8 | Red, thin-bedded sandstones, with red shales. No fossils........-. | 180 Jac 0 Sie vees Do.
9 | Red and brown massive sandstone, fine-grained, not hard. No
PORBEES eth ion. 24 we 0 ceed’ st. nddibotne sete bu bebabbin tl dees i. die DA oS Ounce se eee Colorado Cajon.
10 | Soft red sandstone, in thin layers, separated by beds of red or dark |
DROWN SHALOM wae 6 ave sone ou bade thts 5. cee bak lis sc sans 1: 20: Pesce hecnlewton est Do.
11 | Greenish-gray micaceous conglomerate and gray sandstone, sepa- |
Totes thy TOG UNG PUrpie GNMIGESE 2 cass OSs = eee 60ss8 soe s2 25s G2 {cess Go ota eee Do.
Soft, liver-colored sandstones, becoming, suddenly and locally, |
nearly white, with partings of shalS ars. et SO Ae | 350 | C0 w Obaromagy Do.
13 | Brick-red massive calcareous sandstones, with some like the last.... 164 |.-.. do..... 222. Do.
14 | Blue limestone, somewhat cherty. Fossils: Spirifer cameratus,
Athyris sublilita, Productus semireticulatus .........222.----------| 110 | Carboniferous. Cates of Grand
tiver.
15 | Bluish-white, red, or mottled sandy limestone, with partings of
TOU QUO Gt Sasa sows 1p 0s.04'as ik ECE yee Meas cect sc Golson C0 > cust Do.
16 | Hard blue cherty limestone. Fossils same as No. 14.........-2--.-- BO dani gn EO d waeilods Do.
17 | Alternations of blue limestone, red and gray sandstone, to bottom
| OF GBHON..... .00u saws see's cede et obo bauieet Lieey aise eweees cb owcc] 2, 000 j.2.3 0 -Givreuss Do.

Finding it impossible to pass down in the vicinity of the Colorado to its junction
with the San Juan, we were compelled to retrace our steps, and again ascending to
the Sage-plain, crossed southwardly over its western extremity, along the eastern base
of the Sierra Abajo, to the San Juan Valley. This part of our route afforded us little
that was new in any department, and need not, therefore, long detain us. We found
the structure of this portion of the Sage-plain precisely like that before passed over.
The Lower Cretaceous sandstones everywhere form the surface-rock, except where
covered with the overlying shales. The fossils of these shale-beds are often thickly
scattered over the surface, as in many localities enumerated on the preceding pages.
The plateau is here, as farther eastward, more or less broken by the canons of the
draining streams. These head in the Sierra Abajo and progressively deepen until they
terminate in the eroded valley of the San Juan. At various points along this part of
our route we saw ruins of ancient buildings, similar in character to those on the
Dolores; and fragments of broken pottery, an equally characteristic record. of the
Pueblo race, were everywhere met with.

Sierra Abajo—Our near approach to the Sierra Abajo, while skirting its northern
and eastern bases, gave us a better knowledge of its extent and structure than we had
before obtained. ‘The impressions we then received of it are given in the following
extract from my notes: “August 30, Camp 31, Mormon Spring. Our last camp was

100 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA Ff

at the eastern base of the Sierra Abajo. Within the last few weeks we have been on
three sides of this sierra, and have learned its structure quite definitely. It is a
mountain group of no great elevation, its highest point rising some 2,000 feet above _
the Sage-plain, or perhaps 9,000 feet above the sea. It is composed of several distinct
ranges, of which the most westerly one is quite detached from the others. All these
ranges, of which there are apparently four, have a trend of about 25° east of north,
but being arranged somewhat en echelon, the most westerly range reaching farthest
north, the principal axis of the group has a northwest and southeast direction. The
sierra is composed geologically of an erupted nucleus, mainly a gray or bluish-white
trachyte, sometimes becoming a porphyry, surrounded by the upheaved, partially
eroded, sedimentary rocks. The Lower Cretaceous sandstones and Middle Cretaceous
shales are cut and exposed in all the ravines leading down from it, while nearly the
entire thickness of the Cretaceous series is shown in spurs which, in some localities,
project from its sides; apparently the remnants of a plateau corresponding to, and
once connected with, the Mesa Verde. Whether the Paleozoic rocks are anywhere
exposed upon the flanks of the Sierra Abajo I cannot certainly say, though we dis-
covered no traces of them. It is, however, probable that they will be found in some
of the deeper ravines, where, as in most of these isolated mountains composed mainly
of erupted material, they are doubtless but little disturbed, but are buried beneath the
ejected matter which has been thrown up through them.

The relations of the Cretaceous rocks to the igneous nucleus of the Sierra Abajo
are very peculiar, for, although we did not make the entire circuit of the mountain
mass, and I can, therefore, not speak definitely in regard to the western side. As far
as our observations extended we found the sedimentary strata rising on to the trachyte
core, as though it had been pushed up through them.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 101

wae Pye ht.

GEOLOGY OF THE BANKS OF THE SAN JUAN.

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY BORDERING THE SAN JUAN—SECTION OF LOWER CRE-
TACEOUS STRATA SOUTH OF SIERRA ABAJO—BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF COUNTRY BORDERING
SAN JUAN—HIGH MESAS OF THE NAVAJO COUNTRY—TRIASSIC ROCKS OF LOWER SAN
JUAN—LOWER CRETACEOUS STRATA OF CAMP 37—MIDDLE CRETACEOUS BEDS AND FOS-
SILS SOUTH OF LE LATE—THE NEEDLES—THE CRESTON—UPPER CRETACEOUS STRATA
AT MOUTH OF THE ANIMAS—RUINS IN THE SAN JUAN VALLEY—CANON LARGO—SECTIONS
OF UPPER CRETACEOUS STRATA—PLATEAU COUNTRY BORDERING CANON LARGO—BUTTES
OF MARLS AND SANDSTONES, HIGHEST MEMBERS OF THE SERIES OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
COMPOSING COLORADO PLATEAU—GENERAL SECTION OF UPpER ORETACEOUS STRATA—
NACIMIENTO MOUNTAIN, ITS STRUCTURE AND RELATIONS—NOTES ON THE DIFFERENT FOR-
MATIONS EXPOSED ON ITS SIDES—JOURNEY THROUGH COUNTRY BORDERING WESTERN BASE
OF NACIMIENTO MOUNTAIN—DIVIDE BETWEEN SAN JUAN AND Rio GRANDE—Movunt TAY-
LOR—CABEZON—TERTIARY STRATA AT JEMEZ—THE VALLES—TRAP PLATEAUS.

The great features in the structure of the country traversed by the San Juan
River have been given in a preceding chapter, and there now remains for the comple-
tion of the picture only the presentation of the more local details upon which the gen-
eralizations before advanced were based.

Anticipating in some degree the progress of our geological narrative, to render
the subject more readily comprehensible, the following outline sketch of the geology
of the immediate banks of the San Juan is here given:

Taking their rise in the valleys dividing the parallel ranges of the Rocky Moun-°

tains, Sierra de la Plata, Sierra de los Pinos, Sierra San Juan, &c., the tributaries of the

San Juan unite in the open country lying south of these mountain ranges to form a chan- |

nel of drainage, having nearly an east and west course, to the Colorado. In addition
to the tributaries of the San Juan which have been enumerated, far less important ones
flow from the east and south. These are the rivulet traversing Canon Largo, rising at
the north end of the Nacimiento Mountain, the Chaco, Gothic Creek, and the Chelly,
which drain the arid mesas of the Navajo country and the slopes of the Tunecha and
Carrizo.
The country tfaversed by the northern and more important branches of the San
Juan, bordering our outward-bound trail, has been fully described in the preceding
chapters. That bordering Cafion Largo and the course of the Chaco opens to us a new
geological field, and one which includes the exposures of the highest portion of the

»>

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate IX.

2 aetcy ies em
cre > ee . :
>
. 7
U :
guns — ~™>
ee

maw hein ga = aes

Se} aseee

abs Sate.»
‘ Sots “MO ip ie

. ee
AVE

J.JS.YOUNG froma sketch by OF J S. NEWBERRY

LOWER SAN. JUAN) LOORING WEST

FROM NEAR CAMP 35.

’

102 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

series forming the table-lands of the Colorado Plateau. | This interesting region requires
for its full illustration the detailed description to be hereafter given.
Its general character is, however, as foliows:

_ The Nacimiento Mountain here bursts up through the table-lands in an unbroken
wall forty miles in length, with a nearly north and south trend. On its western flank
the various stratified rocks composing the Colorado Plateau lie inclined at a high angle
with the horizon. Of these the Carboniferous series and the overlying Triassic forma-
tion stand nearly vertical. Upon these the Lower and Middle Cretaceous groups rest
with a gentler inclination, while the Upper Cretaceous sandstones, and perhaps Tertiary
strata, are represented in detached buttes and mesillas, the remnants of continuous
' sheets mostly removed by erosion. A few miles westward the disturbing influence of
the elevation of the Nacimiento range ceases to be visible, and the different stratified
rocks, which I have enumerated, hold a nearly horizontal position, which they main-
tain thence westward, with little variation, to and beyond the Colorado. Through the
table-lands which they here form, Cafion Largo is excavated, gradually deepening till it
joins the valley of the San Juan, where its walls have An altitude of 700 to 800 feet.
At the eastern terminus of Canon Largo, and along the base of the Nacimiento Mount-
ain, are scattered the insulated buttes to which I have before referred as representing
the summit of the series of conformable strata composing the Colorado Plateau; a group
of purple, white, and gray marls, interstratified with soft, yellow calcareous sandstones,
the latter predominating as we descend, and forming what has been described in the
preceding pages as the Upper Cretaceous group, containing, near its base, the fossils
collected on the Rio de la Plata, Ammonites placenta, Baculites anceps, &¢.; a horizon
probably corresponding to No. IV of Meek and Hayden’s Nebraska section. From the
perfect conformability throughout this group of rocks, their general lithological simi-
larity from summit to base, where they contain Cretaceous fossils; in short, from
absence of proof to the contrary, I have been driven to include them all provisionally
in the Cretaceous formation. It is by no means certain, however, that this classifica-
tion is rigidly correct, for it is not impossible that future investigations will prove that
the upper part of this group should be regarded as Eocene Tertiary. ‘That no Miocene
beds occur here, is, I think, certain, as all the information obtained of the geology of
the Rocky Mountain region goes to show that, between the time of the deposition of
the Upper Cretaceous strata and the Miocene epoch, important changes occurred in
the physical geography of the central portion of our continent—changes of level by
which the conformability prevailing throughout the sedimentary strata, from the Silu-
rian up, was finally interrupted. The only reasons we yet have for suspecting that
the upper portion of the series on the San Juan is Tertiary, are the inordinate thick-
ness—(if all Cretaceous) 3,000 to 4,000 feet—of the rocks which are more recent than
the Triassic formation; and the more suggestive fact that, in Texas, the Eocene beds
exhibit a marked lithological similarity to those forming the summit of the series at the
head of Canon Largo, and follow the Cretaceous strata in perfect conformability. We
can only say, therefore, that, with the evidence now before us, while it is possible, and
perhaps probable, that the uppermost members of the Colorado series are Eocene Ter-
tiary, we have as yet no proof that such is the case.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 103

The area occupied by the most recent strata found in the San Juan country is but
limited. The detached buttes which they form, and to which reference has before been
made, stretch southwesterly from the north end of Nacimiento Mountain toward San
Mateo, along the line of the divide between the Chaco and the Chelly; in other words,
between the waters of the Rio Grande and those of the San Juan. Westward from this
summit the table-land, which I have described in the preceding chapters as the pla-
teau of the Upper San Juan, extends to the distance of one hundred miles or more,
terminating in the mural faces of the Mesa Verde. Through this plateau Canon
Largo and its continuation, the valley of the San Juan, are cut to the meridian of the
Sierra de la Plata; thence, westward, the lower plateau of the Sage-plain stretches to
the margin of the valley of the Colorado. In this lower plateau the trough of the San
Juan is also deeply sunk; cutting through the Lower Cretaceous group, and exposing,
especially toward its mouth, many hundred feet of the underlying Triassic formation,
Throughout the whole of its course through the table-lands the valley of the San Juan
is a narrow trough, bounded by abrupt, often perpendicular, rocky sides; its rich and
verdant bottom-lands forming a thread of fertility which traverses a region elsewhere
arid and barren.

On our way south from the Sierra Abajo we struck the San Juan at a point some

fifty miles or more above its mouth. Before descending from the plateau of the Sage-
plain into the valley of the river, we obtained from several points views which swept
over all the country bordering the lower part of its course. Of these that from the
vicinity of Camp 33 was peculiarly comprehensive and grand; revealing features so
novel and striking that I regarded them as worthy of somewhat detailed description in
my note-book. That description is as follows :

“Soon after leaving camp (33) we obtained a beautiful view of all the country bor-
dering the Lower San Juan, of which nearly 10,000 square miles were at once visible.
From this point the eye swept a great semicircle from the Sierra de la Plata in the east
around southward to the Bear’s Ears in the west. From the Sierra de la Plata the long
line of the lofty Mesa Verde stretched southward to the valley of the San Juan, there
terminating in high and abrupt cliffs. In the open valley of the river stood the isolated
pinnacles of the Needles, a peculiar and picturesque feature even at this great distance.
In the southeast the bold front of the northern end of the Sierra del Carrizo rose frown-
ingly from the immediate borders of the valley, and stretched away southward in a
succession of peaks till lost in the distance.

“Directly south the view was bounded by the high and distant mesas of the Na-
vajo country, succeeded in the southwest by the still more lofty battlements of the great
white mesa formerly seen by us from the Moqui Villages, and described in my report to
Lieutenant Ives. Of these high table-lands the outlines were not only distinctly visible,
but grand and impressive at the distance of a hundred miles. Nearly west from us a
great gap opened in the high table-lands which limit the view in that direction; that
through which the San Juan flows to its junction with the Colorado. The features
presented by this remarkable gate-way are among the most striking and impressive
of any included in the scenery of the Colorado country. The distance between the
mesa walls on the north and south is perhaps ten miles, and scattered over the interval

104 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

are many castle-like buttes and slender towers, none of which can be less than 1,000
feet in height, their sides absolutely perpendicular, their forms wonderful imitations of
the structures of human art. Illuminated by the setting sun, the outlines of these sin-
gular objects came out sharp and distinct, with such exact similitude of art, and con-
trast with nature as usually displayed, that we could hardly resist the conviction that
we beheld the walls and towers of some Cyclopean city hitherto undiscovered in this
far-off region. Within the great area inclosed by the grander features I have enu-
merated, the country is set with numberless buttes and isolated mesas, which give to
the scene in a high degree the peculiar character I have so often referred to-as exhib-
ited by the eroded districts of the great central plateau. Here and there we caught
glimpses of the vivid green of the wooded bottom-lands of the river, generally con-
cealed by the intermediate and overhanging cliffs.”

The general geological structure of the wide area then seen was nearly as intelli-
gible and apparent as it could have been upon closer inspection; the higher mesas
everywhere composed of the Upper Cretaceous strata—isolated portions of a once con-
tinuous sheet; the plateau on which we stood the massive sandstones and conglomerates
of the Lower Cretaceous group; while the bottom of the trough of the San Juan, where
exposed, showed the blood-red tint of the Triassic rocks.

Near Camp 34 we descended from the plateau of the Sage-plain and encamped in
the valley of the Rito del Sierra Abajo, a few miles above its junction with the San
Juan. In this descent we passed over the cut edges of all the members of the Lower
Cretaceous group, which afforded me the following section:

Section of Lower Cretaceous strata at Camp 34.
Feet.

=

. Dove-colored calcareous shale, with Gryphea Pitcheri, in knolls on No. 2.
2. Yellow, coarse sandstone, often a conglomerate, with pebbles of black and

WHR Mise by 500s cee occ. ca 5. opie ok ee 25

3. Gray shale, with lignite and silicified wood ......./.: 2.00.0... Me 12
4. Yellowish, coarse sand-rock, with pebbles of flint (locally), sometimes mas-

SVG, deutiy Wane, UarZose 3... 52 ok en. eee 50

Dp, Seeeen WIR a tc Ree ee eee eee 2

6. Massive, nearly white sand-rock; the same noticed on the Dolores at Tierra _

STN OONE cig ace ae a Cee OUR Ts coon ec ee 16

7. Yellowish-white sand-rock, with pebbles of flint...........0..50.42.2-.. 12

8. Soft greenish-yellow sandstone, massive, but easily decomposed........--- 10

9. Verdigris-green concretionary, hard calcareous sandstone.............---- 2
10. Green and chocolate shales, with bands of fine argillaceous and calcareous

wasn Us po Vera colois. US ae. oo oes 30

$i; Deeeoman-youow sanustom. <2. rs a a ee 29
12. Green, chocolate, purple, pink, and white marls, with concretionary bands of

similar colors of hard, fine argillo-silicious rock ..............2-.-2----- 110

an Urstiomeyomow sundsend) tke NO, LPs. eo oS See 85

14. Soft greenish sandstone, decomposing like No. 8..........-. preter ss. Fe 8

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 105

Feet.
15. Soft greenish sandstones and shales, alternating with and replacing each other. 140

Locally, this group is very massive, hard, almost quartzose, like No. 4; in
other places, almost replaced by greenish shales. This is probably the
base of the Cretaceous system. Continuing the section down the valley
of the Rito to the San Juan, we have—

16. Red, white, and greenish thin-bedded micaceous sandstones, alternating with

red shales—the Saurian beds of Camp 26, No. 2 of section on page 91... -. 130
17. Red, massive, cross-stratified calcareous sandstones—No. 3 of section of Camp
26; No. 1 of section—(p. 95,) to river-bottoms -...------.-.--.------- 160

The last two members of the section evidently represent the upper portion of the
Gypsum formation (Trias.) They form the cliffs immediately bordering the valley
of the river at Camp 35, and the trough in which it flows from Camp 36 to its mouth.

The second bench, or higher cliffs bordering the valley at Camp 35, composed of
the Lower Cretaceous rocks, contain conglomerates—the equivalents of the upper
members of the preceding section—much coarser than those observed farther north;
the pebbles being frequently as large as the fist, with only sufficient paste to cement
them. Among these pebbles I noticed several composed of silicified wood, probably
derived from the erosion of the Triassic rocks.

In the trough of the San-Juan, at this point, are extensive beds and terraces, com-
posed of coarse gravel and bowlders, evidently brought down by the river from the
mountain-ranges which it drains, and, in some instances, the bowlders must have been
rolled by the stream fully two hundred miles from their place of origin.

The structure of the country about Camp 37 is quite fully given in my journal.
My notes are as follows: ‘That portion of the valley of the San Juan passed through
to-day is, in its general aspects, similar to that before described, but the cliffs border-
ing it are less continuous and abrupt. In many places they are 300 or 400 feet high,
perfect cafion walls, but oftener they recede from the river, leaving open areas; the
mouths of lateral valleys cutting up through the mesas toward the mountains.

‘““Geologically as physically, we have ascended considerably, and have just sunk
the ‘Saurian rocks’ (Upper Triassic?), leaving the cliffs bordering the valley com-
posed exclusively of Lower Cretaceous strata. During the greater part of to-day’s
march thin-bedded Triassic sandstones and shales formed the base of the wall along
which we passed. These rocks are here more argillaceous than farther north, contain
much saline matter, but no beds of gypsum, and no fossils so far as obseryed.” By
reference to my report on the geology of the Colorado expedition, it will be seen that
farther south they are still less sandy; at the Moqui Villages, consisting mostly of soft
red and green mars.

The Lower Cretaceous strata are here more fully exposed, and have a greater
thickness than where examined farther north and east; approaching more nearly the
character exhibited by this group at the Moqui Villages. The cliffs near camp are
composed of—

Feet
1. Yellow, coarse sandstones and conglomerates; floor of Sage-plain........--. 200
2 ECT AEE RUNES cs sb obey Ew, da kok ss oe eit 175
Aa Greenish-yellow sandstones and PY ORUMIEDRUGNU Pes i oe ew eet ed uence 250

148 F

Capt _J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate X.

ve ; ¥

43
4

2M Ele Bikey A

J.YOUNG froma sketch by Of J.-S. NEWBERRY

tHE NEEDLES, LOOKING Semi -wWeStekLy.

106 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

The character of the subdivisions will be better seen by the following analysis:

Ist. Yellow sandstone group; here less coarse and containing less conglomerate
than at camps 33, 34, and 35. As at those localities, on the Cimarron, in Kansas and
Nebraska a portion of this group is here an exceedingly hard, whitish, quartzose sand-
stone. Beds of lignite and silicified wood are common.

2d. Greenish shales and sandstones; the same group described in my notes on
the geology of the vicinity of Camp 34, Nos. 10, 11, 12 of section, page 104,
here much less highly colored, consisting of thick beds of greenish shale, locally pink
or purple, with bands of yellowish, greenish or purple concretionary silicious rock;
no fossils.

38d. Greenish sandstones and shales; the same group exposed in the lower part of
the section at Camp 34. The shales and sandstones frequently replace each other; the
group at Camp 37 being nearly all massive, yellowish-green sandstone, while, a few
miles below, the shales greatly predominate; no fossils discoverable.

“Mouth of the Mancos——Camp 88, thirteen miles. We have to-day ascended in the
geological scale, have nearly submerged the lowest member of the section at Camp
37, and the mesas back from the river on the north side run far up into the Middle
and Upper Cretaceous group. On the south side the mesas are not as high; the Lower
Cretaceous rocks forming the surface almost to the Sierra Carrizo, near which the
Upper Cretaceous beds appear again. The mesas north of our camp, composed of the
Middle Cretaceous strata,"extend north and east to the base of the Sierra Le Late, and,
if not cut off by the valley of the Mancos, would connect with the Mesa Verde. As
usual in all this region, the shales contain great numbers of Gryphaa Pitcheri.

“In the Lower Cretaceous sandstones, I here find impressions of dicotyledonous
loaves, similar to those found on the Dolores and elsewhere.

“As in other parts of the valley of the San Juan which we have passed through, the
rains of ancient buildings are here very frequently met with; some in the open ground
of the valley, some in or on the cliffs; all built of stone, surrounded by broken pot-
tery, evidently the remains of that great Pueblo race which once occupied all this
region, but which is now without an inhabitant.

“Camp 38, 39, 15 miles—In our march of to-day, a marked change has taken place
in the valley of the San Juan, which has become more open, is bounded by less high
aid abrupt walls; the bluffs, like the bottom, being covered with fine grass. This
change is dependent, mainly, upon the fact that we haye ascended from the Lower
to the Middle Cretaceous strata, and have passed from a region of coarse massive
sandstones to one where almost nothing but soft-blue shales are visible.

“Betore leaving the Lower Cretaceous sandstones, some interesting local peculiari-
ties were noticed in that group. The lignite, which in greater or less quantity they
always contain, about and above the mouth of the Mancos becomes a very conspicu-
ous feature in their structure. Of one cliff which we passed, not more than 100 feet
in height, full one-half was composed of carbonaceous matter. ‘The dip, as before, is
gently eastward, and at Camp 39 the Lower Cretaceous sandstones had entirely disap-
peared beneath the overlying rocks.

“Here the cliffs near the river are composed of the dark shales of the Middle Cre-

>

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 107°

taceous series, quite rich in fossils. Perhaps a hundred feet above the sandstones is a
band of brown, shelly, sandy limestone, which forms a projecting ledge in the face of
the cliffs, giving cornices and capitals to the castles and palaces into which they have
been worn. ‘This ferruginous stratum marks a distinct horizon, and may be traced
over an immense area in New Mexico. It is the same that I have before referred to in
my notes on the banks of the Dolores, Camp 21, the Pagosa, the ford of the Chama,
Galisteo, and the banks of the Canadian. This stratum is characterized by the following
fossils: Inoceramus problematicus, Ostrea lugubris, Scaphites larviformis, Ptychodus Whip-
plei, &c. Several undescribed species of Inoceramus, Ostrea, Ammonites, &e., are also
found in it; one of the Znocerami, abundant at Camp 39, being 2-3 feet in diameter.
The place of Gryphea Pitcheri is just beneath this stratum; while the overlying shales
are filled with fragments of a large Inoceramus, covered with the closely-set shells of
Ostrea congesta.

“A few miles north of Camp 39 is the southwestern corner of the Mesa Verde, which
stretches from this point northward to our former trail, and, eastward, forms the north
bank of the San Juan as far as the eye can reach. It has an a'titude of 2,000 feet
above camp, and presents, with its many detached buttes and pinnacles, its long and
lofty walls, a most grand and imposing object. On the south side of the river, now
quite near to us, stand out in strong relief the picturesque basaltic pinnacles of ‘The
Needles,’ while further south the view is bounded by the high ridges of the Carisso and
Tunecha Mountains.”

From Camp 40 we obtained a nearer and still better view of “The Needles,” which
is represented in the accompanying lithograph plate.

This is a mass of erupted rock, rising with perpendicular sides from the middle of
the valley. From all points, where seen by us, it has the appearance of an immense
cathedral, of rich umber-brown color, terminating in two spires. Its altitude is about
1,700 feet above its base; above the river 2,262 feet. It is everywhere surrounded by
stratified rocks, and its isolated position and peculiar form render its origin a matter of
some little doubt. My conviction, however, is very decided that its remarkable relief
is due to the washing away of the sediments which once surrounded it, and which
formed the mold in which it was cast. In no other way can I imagine its vertical
faces of 1,000 feet to have been formed.

For ten miles after leaving Camp 40 we were traveling along the trough of the
river excavated in the Middle Cretaceous shales; the Upper Cretaceous sandstones cap-
ping the bluffs on either side. We here reached what seemed to be, in the distance, a _
mesa wall crossing the river. This proved, however, to be a mass of dislocated and
ruptured strata, forming a huge broken wall, similar to that described in the Geology
of the Colorado Expedition, page 95, called by the Mexicans the Creston. This wall
marks a great line of fracture which traverses the country in a zigzag course from the
Sierra de la Plata southward toward the Tunecha Mountains. It crosses the river
nearly at right angles, with a trend N. 20° W. magnetic, forming a wall several hun- ,
dred feet high, cut by the river in a narrow passage, through which we worked our way
with extreme difficulty. ee

The Creston evidently once formed a dam across the valley of the San Juan, over

108 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

which its waters poured in a cascade. This is shown by the gravel terrace which,
east of it, rises to the height of 300 feet above the present bed of the stream. The
strata composing it are set at an angle of about 35°, and are the equivalents of those
which form the greater part of the Mesa Verde. As affording a more complete section
of the Upper Cretaceous rocks in this region than any I had before observed, I ex-
amined them with some care, and found them to consist of the following elements :

Section of rocks composing the Creston.

: Feet
1. Yellowish-brown calcareous sandstone, wenerally thick-bedded............ 260
»8 J.
2. Yellowish-brown sandy shale, with thin bands of sandstone and beds of lic-
aA ? D
DUO. - wie ca eet ee Sey eg ee i a Be ete eee es 150
3. Yellowish sandy limestone, with strata of hard blue limestone..........._. 70
4. Dove-colored and purplish shales, with beds of impure lignite............ 175
pur] ) g
5. Gray and purple shales, with bands of sandy limestone, and lines of conere-
y and pur} ) 4 ;
_ tions of umber-colored and purple iron-stones .....-........2.22..2.- 200
b, Sst CURCREGLGn RAMON OUCEMe < eeo SL oe eek ee ek See 20
7. Gray and purplish shales, with bands of ferruginous sandy limestone .... .- 170
8. Yellowish-brown sandstones, whitish above .......--- oe Soe ee 150
9. Gray and blue shales, continuous with those of Camps 39 and 40.

In this section, No. 1 is geologically the highest, and forms the most elevated por-
tion of the Creston.

The shales of No. 9 immediately overlie the ferruginous limestone of Camp 39,
which contains so many Inocerami, fish-teeth, &e.

The interval between these two groups represents the middle and upper portions
of the great group of shales which form the middle division of the Cretaceous system,
so often referred to in the preceding pages. .

As in the sections observed on the northern route, the bands of sandstone and fer-
ruginous sandy limestone are shown to be only local phenomena; since they sometimes
expand and assume great local importance, and again disappear and give place to a
nearly homogeneous mass of calcareous shales, 1,300 to 1,500 in thickness.

Among the strata forming the Creston are several beds of lignite, of which one,
six feet thick, visible for many miles along the river, is unusually compact and pure ;
in its general appearance precisely resembling some of the coal strata of the Carbon-
iferous series.

No fossils were discovered in any of the rocks here exposed above the Inoceramus
limestone, but probably impressions of plants would be obtained from the shales over
the lignite beds, if time were given to search for them.

From the Creston to the mouth of Cation Largo the banks of the San Juan are
composed throughout of the strata which have just been enumerated, lying in unbroken
sheets, with a gentle easterly dip. In these strata the valleys of the San Juan, La
Plata, and Animas have been deeply cut, and are bounded by abrupt, frequently per-
pendicular walls, the edges of table-lands, many hundred feet in height. The bottom-
lands of these valleys, though narrow, are fertile; sustaining a vigorous growth of grass,

enone

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 109

and along the margin of the streams groves of cottonwood, and thickets of willow and
buffalo-berry (leagnus argenteus ?).

Though now entirely deserted, these valleys were once occupied by a dense pop-
ulation, as is shown by the extensive ruins with which they are thickly set. Those on
the Animas, twenty miles above its mouth, have already been noticed.

At the junction of this stream with the San Juan the remains of a large, but very
ancient, town are visible, the foundations of many buildings of considerable size still
remaining, and traces of an acequia through which water was brought from a point some
miles above on the Animas. ne

Near Camp 43 also are the ruins of several large structures, of which portions of
the walls of stone are still standing, twenty or more feet.in height. Indeed, it may be
said that from the time we struck the San Juan we were never out of sight of ruins,
while we were following up its valley.

CANON LARGO.

At Camp 44 we left the valley of the San Juan and entered the mouth of Canon
Largo, which we followed up in an easterly direction until, at its head, near the western
base of the Nacimiento Mountain, we came out on to the surface of the great plateau
of the Upper San Juan, through which we had been so long passing, sunk far below
its surface in the excavated valleys which intersect it. Of these valleys Canon Largo
may be taken as atype. It differs in nothing from that of the San Juan or Animas,
except that, instead of a large perennial stream, a small, generally dry, arroyo traverses
its bottom, and its bounding cliffs, composed of the upper strata of the table-lands,
exhibit geological features not met with in other portions of our route.

By the easterly dip of the rocks and the rapidity of the fall of the stream, we were
constantly ascending in the series from the Creston to the head of Canon Largo. At
the mouth of the Animas we had nearly sunk the whole of the Middle Cretaceous group,
its upper members (gray shales and marls) forming the base of the high cliffs, composed
mainly of the Upper Cretaceous sandstortes, here very massive, and showing a thick-
ness of 600 to 700 feet. At the mouth of Caton Largo we had risen still higher in the
series, the Middle Cretaceous shales having entirely disappeared; the lofty cliffs which
bound the valley at this point being formed entirely of the Upper Cretaceous rocks,
alternations of soft yellow sandstones and white, gray, or purple marls. The lowest
member of this series here is the same with that which forms the summit of the Creston
section, and more fully exposed at the mouth of the Animas, where it presents perpen-
dicular faces of 300 to 400 feet of massive, homogeneous, soft, yellow, calcareous sand-
stone. <A few miles farther north, on the La Plata, this rock contains at its base Am-
monites placenta, Baculites ovatus, &c., which serve to mark very satisfactorily its place
in the geological scale, viz: Upper Cretaceous, No. IV or V, of Meek and Hayden’s
Nebraska section. ‘This is surmounted by some ten alternations of marls and sand-
stones in the cliffs bordering Cation Largo, the series being entirely conformable and
similar in lithological character throughout. At the head of Canon Largo, as we shall
see further on, these strata are succeeded by others, several hundred feet in thickness,
also conformable, but, lithologically, showing a preponderance of marls over the sand-

110 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

stones. Whether all this great group belongs, like its base, to the Cretaceous system,
we have at present no means of determining; the only fossils found being such as do
not suffice to solve the problem. These are, so far as observed, silicified wink of large
coniferous trees, and abundant, though rather obscure, impressions of angiospermous
leaves of species different from any found elsewhere in the Tertiary or Cretaceous
strata.

The character of the marls of this series is very well given in my notes upon the
lowest bed exposed at Camp 43, a few miles below the mouth of Cation Largo. These
notes are as follows:

“The hills which bound the valley opposite camp are about 250 feet high, com-
posed of greenish-gray and yellowish-white marls, generally very soft, but occasionally
containing lenticular masses of coarse sandstone and conglomerate. Dispersed through
the marls are many spherical concretions of ferruginous sandstone which decompose
on exposure; plates of selenite, in places covering the slopes, and masses of water-worn,
silicified, carbonized, calcified, or’ gypsumized wood. - All the beds contain much
saline matter (mostly sulphates) which effloresces on the exposed surfaces. ‘The pre-
vailing color of these marls is whitish, and in their general aspect the hills which
they form closely resemble the chalk-hills of Southern England.”

At Camp 44, I made the following entry in my journal:

“To-day we reached the mouth of the Cation Largo, and the crossing of the San
Juan. The valley is here, as below, moderately fertile, bounded by roused. hills of
chalky strata, with terraces of gravel near the river; all covered with good grass. The
soil of the bottom-lands is alkaline, often covered with salt-bush (Sarcobatus), but sus-
taining extensive groves of cottonwood and thickets of buffalo-berry; the latter loaded
with fruit. In poblagey little change i is noticeable; the dip of the rocks continues east-
erly, and we have the chalky marls mentioned in yesterday’s notes, sueceeded by a
stratum some 50 feet in thickness of yellowish, soft, odlitic, coarse-grained, calcareous
sandstone, so friable as.to be scarcely transportable, but very massive, and standing
in perpendicular faces in the cliffs. In thi& stratum is a band of gray clay-shale, in
which I find abundant impressions of leaves, but have been unable to obtain any
specimens sufliciently perfect for determination.

“Above this sandstone is a bed of greenish-white and purple marl, weathering like
the marls of the Trias, and closely resembling them in all things. Above the marl is
another bed of sandstone similar to that below; then another bed of marl, &c.”

At Camp 45, my journal says: “Canon Largo is bounded by high and precipitous
walls on either side, composed of soft yellow sandstones, and white and variegated
marls. The cliffs are not absolutely per pendicuiat, but ascend in grades; the gand-
stone forming vertical faces, the marl, slopes.”

“The alternations in this series present very little variety; the sandstones, some
ten in number, bein y like each? other; the marls, of about equal force, showing
no marked diitere aaa They often form rounded but furrowed hills, of which ihe
surfaces are whitened by a saline efflorescence or are covered with fragments of ferru-
-ginous concretions and fossil wood. This silicified wood is very abundant and seems
to be all coniferous.”

te

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. | - 111

“Since leaving the surface of the great sandstone-bed, the base of the Upper Cre-
taceous series, so fully exposed at the mouth of the Animas, we have passed up through
three strata of soft calcareous sandstone with an equal number of marl-beds; the
average thickness of the sandstone being about 50 feet, of the marl, 75.” "3 7

At Camp 46 I ascended the cliff on the south side of the cation,and found it to be
674 feet in height. The section of the strata composing it is as follows:

Feet.-—T7 ,7
1. Coarse soft yellow sandstone, partially conglomerate.................... 55
2. Greenish-white marl, with silicified wood..........-................... 50
3. Soft yellowish sandstone, partly conglomerate, with small quartz pebbles con-
taining obscure impressions of BN ea talc we ae oop ne bee 120
4. Greenish argillo-silicious rock, breaking into irregular masses above, shaly
Demmmanotar IDLO PUIG Bane ees eS and saci cicaiewauie2 50
5. Soft, white, massive, calcareous sandstone, in places traversed by veins of gyp-
ELMAN S wno-n bm brcrwacd ace t SY aE OR te EE Nake pias deg So, 20)
6. Gray or greenish-white marl, with bands of hard bluish-gray limestone, con-
Toda Mee HIN SALISH WPOOU....° rw a~sarec ei. nce... 80
FE ARETE es re RG “IR ena 88
8. Greenish-white and purple marl, with selenite, bands of concretionary limestone
Sieae ara G ODS OL Sipe OG GBs geen eke oc oie ce nes bak ck 80
Be fee memeMvanns, CORTES BORUSIOEGE. fC. SE oy vende fica 60
10. Greenish and purple marls, with goncretionary limestone... ...... 2.2... 109
From the summit of this cliff I was able to overlook most of the country border-3)

ing Cation Largo, and could see that it was occupied by broad mesas extending east\° . >
to the Nacimiento Mountain, and north to the bases of the Sierra de la Plata, Sierra _
San Juan, Navajo, &c., all of which were in full view. South and west higher por-
tions of the plateau limited my vision.
On this plain I noticed islands of higher strata than those on which I stood.
These are 300 or 400 feet in thickness, and of the same general character as the walls
of Cation Largo. Adding these to the strata exposed in Canon Largo, and those noticed
in the San Juan above the mouth of the Animas, and we have an aggregate thickness
of about 1,500 feet for this upper series alone.
In my notes made at Camp 47, I find the following memoranda: “In the expos-
ures I have now examined of the Upper Cretaceous (?) strata, I have enumerated eleven
beds of sandstone, with an equal number of marl-beds. The ageregate force of these
two groups is nearly the same, though each stratum is liable to great local variation ;
the section at one point being considerably different from that at others. The sand-
stones are quite variable in thickness, both as regards the same stratum at different
places, and comparing the different beds with each other. The summit of the cliffs
along Carion Largo is formed of a group of sandstones of unusu; ickness, in places
full 200 feet, with only thin partings of marl. This stratum ne the beds _
below and produced the -abruptness of the walls. It forms the floor of the adjactyy Msn
Sage-plain, from which the upper layers, being softer, have been removed by erosion.” Bats
At Camp 48 I write: “To-day left Canon Largo and came out on the plateau
ie

a Ta

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate XI.

nist RT

iy

npn a

&
2 re

J.J.YOUNG froma sketch by Df J §. NEWBERRY.

THE CABAZON

FROM NEAR CAMP 54.

Nites. a
. >

112 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

before mentioned. A sage-plain with rolling surface, fashioned by erosion, on which
rise the extreme Upper Cretaceous (?) strata in buttes and detached mesas.”
One of these buttes at Camp 48 afforded me the following section :

Feet.

1, Doll Seno aapGsionon. <> Sewer ern Mee, See Sy Serpe. oe ee . 60

Fe CHO SIIS LENE LTiS Mamee eee te eeeeeteer eme 70

3. Soft yellow sandstone with large concretions, weathering brown..........--- 50

4, Marl, greenish-white above, purple below.:.....-..-..-------....----:.- 75

5. Soft white sandstone with hard coneretions-........-.--..........-2-.--- 20
6. Marls, greenish-white above, purple below, with concretions of silicious lime-

SEO a tet eae eee hay G Sime mney webu La TRA 50

45 ROGET eC ISeT OCR ENAIS pal a Od a OSE ca Licarng ww, SENONES oe eee a2 30

Ors GREOMISN- Wie ABU, PUNO MONE. kas hn ek pe wwe wt wed Gee eee. 90

This series should be added to that of the cliff at Camp 46.
Just before reaching the base of the Nacimiento Mountain, we crossed the divide

between the Pacific and Atlantic, and reached the highest point, geologically, attained

on any part of our route. The immediate base of the mountain is swept by a line of
drainage which flows south along its western side, around its southern extremity
passes into the Puerco, and thence into the Rio Grande. The line of divide diverges
from the north end of the Nacimiento Mountain, running southwesterly to San Mateo
and the Sierra Madre. For at least a hundred miles it stretches across the table-lands
unmarked by any disruption of the strata or line of upheaval.

The crest of the water-shed is here formed of series of buttes and mesas com-
posed of soft, marly strata: the extreme summit of the great group, which, on nega-
tive rather than positive evidence, I have designated as Upper Cretaceous.

BUTTES WEST OF THE NACIMIENTO MOUNTAIN (EOCENE TERTIARY (?).

These buttes include about 400 feet of strata not included in the sections before

given, ‘They are as follows:

j Feet
1, Sott yellow sandstone . 22.0 .S0. 2... 022i te eee eee 40
2. Parplé, yellow, and greenish soft marls . 2520227222 ees 60
3. Soft yellow sandstone. .-. ss. 2.5. oe eee ee
4. Green, purple, yellow, and white marls, with thin layers of white sandstone. . 70
5. White ‘sandstone. Petey. vane 0 ore eee 25
6. Gresh tnd ptrnplo. mani’: sages oP. Se ee ee eee ee 80
{. Uoarse, Wiite: sandsione: Po. Press a ee eee 20
&: Witte uh parple merle ss vie rc a Pe ree oes ee ee 50
9. Soft yellow sandstone, summit of cliff in section at Camp 48.

These strata are all conformable among themselves and to those below ; lying
nearly or quite horizontal. The marls of this series are darker than those of the preceding
sections, having a purplish-green appearance at a distance. .The sandstones are very
soft, and being thinner than the marls they form but a slight interruption to the uni-
formity of the slope of the sides of the buttes, and are scarcely noticeable, except

‘TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 113

\

when quite near. No fossils were found in any part of this section, and the abun-
dance of selenite and the profuse efflorescence of the sulphates of alumina, magnesia,
&e., seem to indicate the prevalence of conditions unfavorable to life during the depo-
sition of these strata, as well as in the similar non-fossilliferous marls of the Trias.
Combining the sections observed at various points between the mouth of the Animas
and the Nacimiento Mountain, we have, for the aggregate thickness of the conforma-
ble and generally similar strata resting upon the Middle Cretaceous shales, 2,000 feet,
made up as follows :

Feet.

1. Marls and sandstone COLIN CARON Oe “CLWMMan et ots. sees cl ssl]. 380
2. Marls and sandstone section at Camp 48.............---+-..2-0----00- 445
3. Marls and sandstone section at Camp 46..-....-2.--....-..2.2-2+----- 674
4, Marls and sandstone in Peet POR SUR es 2s opps ewes s+ wu cs .3 - 2500
RAR not ae PR Ree Dee Feta esas + aK e Mews» 22 1, 999

It may be suspected, from the many alternations of similar strata in the preceding
sections, that there has been in some cases a repetition, but that is quite certainly not
the case. Although no fossils were found which might serve as criteria for the iden-
_ tification of strata, the geological exposures are so fuil that all the more important beds
may be traced without break or interruption, and the order of superposition accurately
determined by simple inspection of the interlocking of the different sections. In meas-
uring altitudes the barometer was constantly used, and the heights of inaccessible points
frequently obtained by triangulation. “By these means, and the use of Locke’s level
where necessary, all the generalities of the thickness of strata were determined with a
good degree of accuracy.

As regards the question of the precise geological age of this great group of sand-
stones and marls, as I have stated in the earlier part of this chapter, we have not, as
yet, the means of arriving at a perfectly satisfactory conclusion. ‘The lower part of
the series is, we know, Cretaceous; as it contains characteristic fossils of No. lV of Meek
and Hayden’s Nebraska section. The most natural inference, therefore, is, that a portion
at least of the overlying beds represent the upper part of No, IV and No, V of the
Nebraska section. Since there are no fossils in the upper beds, and since they are
apparently conformable to the lower, and generally similar to them in lithological
characters, we have evidence that they were deposited while the physical conditions
of this portion of the continent remained essentially the same. In one sense, therefore,
they do all belong to one great geological epoch, and, without evidence to the con-
trary, should be classed together.

This argument, however, has little force, for, as we have seen, all the sedimentary
strata of the Colorado plateau are conformable; and there is unusual similarity of
lithological charaeter among those which we know, by their fossils, belong to different
formations. ‘That none of these strata are Miocene may be safely affirmed, as previous
t> that_epoch'great and radical changes were effected in the physical geography of our
continent, and the uniformity which had characterized the deposition of the sediments
forming the great central plateau was entirely broken up; the sea retreating from the

15 8 F

114 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

central portion of the continent, throwing down its sediments only along the shores and
up the valley of the Mississippi; the inland Miocene-Tertiary having been deposited in
bodies of fresh water. It is possible, however, that some portion of this series is of
Eocene age, though of this we have as yet no proof.

It is true that, in Texas, the Kocene beds, distinctly marked by their fossils, are
lithologically similar to some of those under consideration, and they are there entirely
conformable to the Cretaceous strata, of which they seem but a continuation; the two
formations blending and not separable by any sharp lines of demarcation.

NACIMIENTO MOUNTAIN.

Though not a lofty or extensive mountain range, this is perhaps the most instruct-
ive and interesting of all those which I had an opportunity of examining in the western
country. Its extreme altitude is about 10,000 feet; its length something like 50 miles.
Throughout this distance it forms a single simple ridge of nearly uniform height, with
no peaks nor depressions. At either end it gradually falls off, and is lost in the level
of the plateau country which nearly surrounds it. Although its physical features are
so unpretending, its geological structure is in the highest degree Interesting and sug-
gestive; such indeed that it seems to me it not only furnishes a key to the mode of
formation of all the great ranges of the Rocky Mountain system to which it belongs,
but that, if properly studied, it would serve to explain nearly all the difficulties of
that now much-mooted subject, the origin of mountain chains. What its structure is
may be very briefly told.

The central core or axis of the Nacimiento Mountain is composed of massive red
_ granite, similar to that so common in the other ranges of the Rocky Mountain system.
This forms its summit and the greater part of its mass. Upon the slope of the granite
axis rests the Carboniferous formation, for the most part limestone, in many places
nearly vertical, yet but slightly metamorphosed. Outside of the Carboniferous are the
white and red sandstones, marls, and gypsums of the Trias; many of these beds also
standing quite vertical, but wholly unchanged. Outside of the Trias the Lower Cre-
taceous rocks form another distinct circle; beyond these, the Middle Cretaceous shales ;
still beyond, the great group of Upper Cretaceous sandstones and marls, which I have
just described.

When we stood on the summit of the mountain all these different formations
were spread out before us as on a geological map, each distinguishable by its color or
texture, and as readily recognized as though traced on a diagram for a lecture-room.

The impression produced upon my mind by our first ascent of the Sierra de Naci-
miento may be gathered from the following extracts from my notes:

“After arriving in camp (50) I went over with Mr. Fisher to the Nacimiento
Mountain, which we ascended. Our approach was up a beautiful but narrow valley,
through which a clear, cold stream flows for some distance, then sinks and rises at
intervals, forming a series of fine springs. The vegetation of thi$ valley is almost
identical with that of the valleys of our northern route; the elevation being nearly the
same—7,500 feet. ‘The timber is yellow pine, pifion, cedar, (two species,) bitter and
sweet cotton-wood, Gambell’s oak, and the narrow-leaved willow.* On the summit of

—— —_—_—_—__- —_——_-— nf rn — ———— $$$ $$
* Pinus ponderosa, P. edulis, Juniperus tetragona, J. virginiana, Populus angustifolia, P. monilifera, Quercus Gambelli,
Salix angustifolia.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 115

the mountain, Douglas’ spruce, yellow pine, the western balsam-fir, with thickets of
aspen, oak, maple, and red-flowered locust.* As we progressed we passed in succes-
sion over the upturned edges of all the sedimentary rocks seen on our route.

1. The Upper Cretaceous sandstones and marls, but slightly inclined, and not
reaching within two or three miles of the mountain.

2. The Middle Cretaceous shales, forming a broad belt of clay-soil, from which
project here and there ledges of the harder strata, filled with the fossils characteristic of
this formation—Inoceramus problematicus, Gryphea Pitcheri, Ostrea congesta, &e.

3. The Lower Cretaceous sandstones, from their hard and massive character, hay-
ing resisted erosion, are now forming hills and cliffs of considerable height.

4, The Triassic formation; its soft red marls, forming bare surfaces of blood-red
color, its sandstones standing out in strong relief, forming walls and palisades, often
nearly vertical, sometimes 40 or 50 feet in height, and only 5 or 6 feet in thickness.

5. The Carboniferous series, mostly massive gray or whitish limestone, reaching
far up on the mountain sides, scarcely at all metamorphosed, and filled with fossils.

6. A central core or axis of red granite forming the great mass of the range.

Our view from the summit was particularly fine. Immediately below us the dif-
ferent formations which I have enumerated were distinctly visible, running in parallel
bands along the mountain side. Some five miles north of our position the range falls
off and disappears in the plain, but the line of upheaval is distinctly marked by an
arching of the unbroken sedimentary rocks. The upper part of the arch is removed,
and the surface-rock is a pure white sandstone, probably Triassic, beneath which the ~
“red beds” appear, forming on the east side of the mountain a beautiful rose-red valley.

On the north we had a complete panorama of the mountains passed on our outward
route, a view sweeping from the Santa I*é and Taos Mountains to the Sierra de la Plata,

Toward the west stretched a vast plain, deeply scored by many lines of erosion, of
which Canon Largo may be taken as a type. ‘This plateau—the San Juan division of
the great Colorado Plateau—filled all the horizon, from the Sierra la Plata around to
San Mateo, the distant summits of the Carrizo and Chusca being just perceptible above
its surface. This great Cretaceous plain sweeps up with nearly horizontal strata to the
base of the Nacimiento; the series being most complete, the strata still horizontal, six
miles west of the mountain. At this point all the formations begin to rise toward the
east; their angles of elevation becoming greater as they approach the granitic axis,
where they are frequently quite vertical. The Nacimiento axis is here and farther
north the great divide between the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic, though, as before
stated, the drainage of most of its western slope passes around the south end into the
Puerco; the crest of the water-shed being formed by a line of high table-lands, which
passes southwesterly between the head-waters of the Chaco and the Puerco toward
Mount Taylor (San Mateo). The line of upheaval which forms the divide at Camp-
bell’s Pass, is widely different from the Nacimiento axis, being indeed no other than
that of the Sierra Madre, which is entirely lost northward, as we saw no indication of
it on the San Juan.

After leaving Camp 50, we made several days’ marches southward, skirting the

* Populus remuloides, Quercus Gambelli, Acer. sp. Robinia Neo Mexicana,

116 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

western base of the Nacimiento Mountain, until, reaching a practicable pass near its
southern extremity, we crossed over to the peublo of Jemez. The country traversed
in this part of our route we found to be much like the foot-lill region bordering the
northern mountains, very picturesque, well watered, covered with fine timber, the
valleys: rich and productive, but from their great elevation early touched with frost
and doubtless very cold in midwinter. Here, as almost everywhere else on our route,
we found numerous ruins of stone-built structures, evidence of the presence in ancient
time of a large population, where now neither Indian nor white man dwells.

In geology our experience was for the most part but a repetition of that already
described, as we were passing in review all the strata before so fully examined in the
valley of the San Juan. !

The exposures were here, however, exceedingly full and satisfactory, and I had
constantly reeurring opportunities of testing the accuracy of the classification pre-
viously adopted.

That the evidence furnished by our observations in this interesting region may be
consulted in the solution of any question that may be raised in regard to the geological
strueture of this portion of New Mexico, I transcribe from my note-book some of the
records made from day to day as we progressed on our journey.

“September 21, Camp 50 to 51.—To-day we followed south along the western base
of the Nacimiento Mountain, over a rolling surface, crossing many wooded hills and
pretty valleys formed by the erosion of the Cretaceous strata. This formation, as we
can see, occupies all the country southeast from us as far as Mount Taylor; there, as

I learned on a former expedition, it is cut through by the valley of the San José, but

beyond that extends, we know not how far, southward. At Camp 51 we have precisely
the same section as that described at Camp 50; all the formations, from the Carbon-
iferous to the Upper Cretaceous, lying in sheets, with edges upturned, along the base
of the mountain. There is, however, here a distinct valley worn out between the
Cretaceous table-land and the mountain. Near our camp are buttes and mesas several
hundred feet in height, composed of the yellow sandstones of Canon Largo, of which
the summits are thickly strewn with bowlders of red granite and limestone, evidently
washed down from the neighboring mountain before the intervening valley had been
eut out by the stream which now flows through it. The amount of erosion indicated
by the presence of this local drift where it is now found is enormous. I previously
noticed the same phenomena in many localities among the foot-hills of the northern
‘mountains. We find here everywhere in the sandstones great numbers of silicified
trees, many of them of very large size, apparently all coniferous. Fragments of these
trunks are strewed so abundantly over the surface that they have been used very
generally as building-stones in the construction of the ancient pueblos.

“In seams and pockets of fine clay in the sandstones I find abundant impressions
of angiospermous leaves, apparently of those of sycamore, alder, oak, &e., but the
material inclosing them is so friable that they cannot be taken out entire, nor can the
fragments be transported for determination. Among these impressions are some conif-
erous leaves and stems of a conifer or eyead, very much like the Ulodendron of the Coal-
Measures; a scaly trunk with elliptical disks three inches in diameter. I also obtained |
fragments of fern leaves, but too imperfect for determination.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 117

“September 22.—To-day we ascended the mountain in search of a pass, and found
the base and flanks covered by the upturned sedimentary series, just as at Camp 50;
the Trias here; as at Laguna, 50 miles south, containing immense masses of snowy
gypsum, a thing rarely seen on the San Juan or Grand River.”

In the coarse yellow sandstones and conglomerates overlying the red beds of the
Trias I find large quantities of the sulphide of copper, replacing trunks and branches
of trees, just as at the “Cobre,” near Abiquiu.

The summit of the mountain where we ascended is over 9,000 feet above the sea;.
it is covered with forests of yellow and sugar pine, Douglass spruce, and the western
balsam-fir,* interspersed with areas occupied by oak, maple, and aspen bushes, with
here and there poison-oak+ and red-flowered locust.

“September 23, Camp 51-52.—Failing to find a pass across the mountain, we to-
day resumed our course southward, camping as before on a tributary of the Puerco.
The country is generally similar to that seen yesterday, but, as we descend, the forests
of yellow pine are gradually succeeded by scattered clumps of pifion, and red and
white cedar on the hills, the valleys grassy as before. We have also descended some-
what in the geological scale, our present camp being surrounded by mesas of the
great sandstone of the Animas—the base of the Upper Cretaceous group—with an
exposure of several hundred feet of the underlying strata given in the section of the
Creston, viz, gray shales, with bands of concretionary iron-ore, strata of yellow or
brown sandstone and beds of lignite, all Middle Cretaceous; in the shale beds is much
erystallized @ypsum.

“September 24, Camp 52 to 53.—To-day our course has been southeasterly, ap-
proaching the southern end of the Nacimiento, through a region much like that of
yesterday, except that, as we have now penetrated deeply into the Middle Cretaceous
shales, the surface is less broken, the hills being rounded, with long, gentle slopes; the
timber has become more sparse, the country less picturesque and inviting. We have
here a fine view of all the interval between the Nacimiento and San Mateo. This was.
apparently once occupied by an unbroken sheet of Cretaceous rocks, now for the most
part removed through the agency of the tributaries of the Puerco. In the west and
northwest, high mesas fill the horizon, forming the line of divide to which I have be-
fore referred. Around the base of Mount Taylor, extending many miles in every di-
rection, is a plateau of trap, which has apparently flowed from this great extinet vol-
cano, covering all the sedimentary rocks in its vicinity. In the open valley of the
Puerco stand many picturesque trap buttes, having a general resemblance to the
Needles of the San Juan. Of these the most conspicuous, called by the Mexicans the

Cabazon, resembles in its outline a Spanish sombrero, but is of gigantic dimensions,

being at least 1,500 feet in height. |

“South from the Cabazon is a high level mesa, composed of Cretaceous rock,
which forms the divide between the Puerco and the San José. This I have seen
from the other side on a former expedition.

‘September 25, Camp 53-54.—To-day we crossed over the south end of the Naci-
miento Mountain to the pueblo of Jemez. The first part of our route was over the

*Pinus ponderos, P. Lambertiana, Abies Douglasi, and Abies grandis.
t Rhus diversiloba and Robinia Neo Mexicana.

118 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA F&, ETC.

upturned edges of the Cretaceous and ‘Triassic rocks; the angle of inclination becom-
ing greater as we approached the mountain. Our march afforded us many wild and
picturesque views, made so both by the ragged outlines of the hills and the bright
colors of the materials composing them; some consisting of blood-red sandstone ;
others of snow-white gypsum; others still of the two intermingled.

“After winding through a labyrinth of such hills, we reached the Carboniferous
strata, resting directly on the granite. The rocks of this formation are here more cal-
careous than at Santa Fé, and abound in fossils, among which I saw most of those
enumerated in the Santa Fé section, and, in addition to these, collected a coral and a
erinoid, which are apparently new. On descending the eastern slope of the mountain,
we found the.sedimentary rocks sueceeding each other precisely as before. Near the
pueblo of Jemez, however, the Cretaceous strata have been entirely removed, but
they are visible a few miles farther north. As on the western side, copper occurs
here near the junction: of the Trias with the Cretaceous. In the valley of Jemez
River are a number of buttes of white tufaceous rock, representing a geological
element of which we had seen no traces in all our explorations of the San Juan coun-
try. ‘These buttes are undoubtedly Tertiary, and, as I have stated in my notes on
the geology of the vicinity of Abiquiu, doubtless belong to the great series of fresh-
water deposits of Miocene and Pliocene age which skirt the eastern bases of the
Rocky Mountains. Here, as elsewhere, they are of local origin and limited extent ;
having been deposited in and partially filling an old eroded valley running north
and south along the eastern base of Nacimiento Mountain. By the action of Jemez
River this valley has again been washed out, leaving only here and there a mass of
Tertiary rock standing isolated or adhering unconformably to the sides of the trough
composed of the older strata.

“September 26, Jemez to Santo Domingo.—In this part of our route we were almost
constantly upon the trap mesas which skirt the southern end of the Valles, and
extend on the east side of the [io (Grande to the Cerillos. This great overflow of
trap, though deeply eroded by the Rio Grande, is geologically quite modern, present-
ing the same appearance, in all respects, as the trap plateaus which surround the
San Francisco Mountain, Mount Taylor, the Raton, &e.; all of which I have before
described.”

The Valles—No one has yet penetrated the Valles to study their geological
structure, but there can be little doubt of its general character. ‘This mountain group
is composed of a number of parallel ranges, of but limited extent, having the general
trend of all the chains of the Rocky Mountain system of this vicinity, separated by
several well-marked, picturesque, and fertile valleys, from which, rather paradoxically,
the mountains take their name. While we know that the sedimentary rocks are
visible in many places in the Valles, and that the principal axes are granitic, still the
presence of immense sheets and masses of trap give an aspect to the scenery and a
character to the geology somewhat different from those of most of the mountain regions
visited on the present expedition. On the eastern side of the Valles, to and beyond
the Rio Grande, nothing but trap is visible; and we here re-entered the region
so fully described in a preceding chapter.

EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. |

DESCRIPTIONS

OF THE

CRETACEOUS FOSSILS

COLLECTED ON THE

SAN JUAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION UNDER CAPT. J. N. MACOMB, U. S. ENGINEERS.

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A REPORT ON THE CRETACEOUS FOSSILS CONTAINED IN THE
COLLECTIONS BROUGHT FROM NEW MEXICO BY THE EXPLOR-
ING EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPT. J. N. MA-
COMB, OF THE UNITED STATES TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS.

BY FB. Manek.*

The following pages and the accompanying plates contain descriptions and illus-
trations of eleyen new species of Cretaceous fossils. Figures and descriptions have
also been added of a few previouslp known forms, of spedial interest as guides in iden-
tify ing the several formations, and in determining their relations to established horizons
in dig: same system elsewhere.

By reference to the able report of Dr. Newberry, the peolo gti of the expedi-
tion, it will be seen that he divides the Cretaceous rocks of New iexics into three
groups, as follows:

Tue Uprrr Diviston, consisting of gray, white, and purple marls, alternating
with soft, yellow, calcareous sandstone, altogether 1,500 feet in thickness. In this
group, a portion of which he thinks may possibly prove to be of Tertiary age, he
observed numerous silicified trunks of trees, together with leaves of Alnus, Platanus,
&e. At the base of the whole, he found a thin bed containing Placenticeras placenta, +
Baculites anceps, var., Anchura, Inoceramus, &e.

2. Tim Mippie Drviston is composed of dove-colored and ferruginous limestones,
shales, &c., altogether from 1,200 to 1,500 feet in thickness, and containing Prionocyclus,
Macombi, Scaphites larvaformis, Inoceramus problematicus, Ostrea congesta, &e.

3. ‘Tae Lower Division, consisting of yellow or brown sandstone and green shales,
250 to 400 feet in thickness, containing Ammonites, Exogyra, Plicatula, and leaves of
Salix, Platanus, Quercus, &e.

After a careful examination of the specimens from these roc ks, I fully concur with
Dr. New berry i in the opinion that all of those of the Lower Destin: with possibly

* This report W was 5 prep: ired in 1860, and has remained unpublished until this time (November, 1875). I have at
this latter date given it as careful a revision as numerous other engagements would permit; and, in doing this, several
changes of nomenclature were found to be necessary, in order to bring the whole up to the present more advanced state
of paleontological science, Such changes as refer to other publications issued at any date after that first above men-
tioned, were of course made in the revision of the MS. at the latter date.—F. B. M.

t The name Placenticeras was first proposed by me in the Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia,
1870; and again used in Hayden’s Second Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Terr itories, 297,
1872; also in Upper Missouri Palwontology, now iu the press (November, 1875). Ammonites placenta, Dekay, is the type
of the group.
10S F

122 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

the exception of a portion of its upper beds, represent the Dakota group (No. 1) of
Upper Missouri Cretaceous series; also that his Middle Division occupies the same
horizon as the Fort Benton and Niobrara groups (Nos. 2 and 3) of the Upper Mis-
souri section; while the lower bed at least, of his Upper Division, represents appar-
ently a blending of the Fort Pierre group and Fox Hills beds, Nos. 4 and 5 of the same.

The relations between the two sections will be more clearly understood by placing
the names of the several groups of each side by side; thus:

NEW MEXICAN CRETACEOUS SECTION. UPPER MISSOURI CRETACEOUS SECTION.

Rui ae Fox Hills Beds, No. 5

Upper Division (lowest bed at least)... .....-.- Rad orenaenty sh ask. ee
PI ( . ) Fort Pierre Group, No. 4.
ee 0 oe Niobrara Division, No. 3.
eR Cro ROHteY uc OS Soe Seer tage sN a + ORS ees
2 Fort Union Group, No. 2.

ie Ee en) ee ae Oe ek Dakota Group, No. 1.

The vegetable remains from the Lower Division of the New Mexican section (as
well as those from the others) have been investigated by Dr. Newberry, in whose
report the reader will find them fully described and illustrated. The molluscan
remains from the Lower Division are, Hxogyra columbella, M., Plicatula arenaria, M.,
Pinna (fragments), Gervillia? (fragments), Gryphea (undetermined fragments), and
Prionotropis Woolgari* (=Ammonites percarinatus, H. & M.).

The following is a list of the species described and identified from the Middle
Division, each of those followed by the letter M. being new, and described by the
writer from these collections, viz: Ostrea congesta, Conrad, O. lugubris, Conrad, O. uni-
formis, M., Gryphea Pitcheri, Morton, Exogyra arictina, Roemer, E. leviuscula, Roemer,
4s. columbella, M., Anomia nitida, M., Caprotina bicornis, M., Inoceramus fragilis, Hall &
Meek, L. problematicus, Schlotheim (sp.), I. latus, Mantell?, Crassatella Shumardi, M., Cypri-
mera? crassa, M., Turritella Leonensis, Roemer, Prionocyclus? Macombi,t M., Prionotropis
Woolgari, and Scaphites larvaformis, M. & HT.

Of these eighteen species, the following are common to the rocks of this horizon
in New Mexico, Kansas and Nebraska, viz., -Ostrea congesta, Inoceramus problemati-
cus, I. fragilis, I. latus ?, Scaphites larveformis, and Prionotropis Woolgari. None of
them, however, are known to occur in New Jersey, or at other localities east of the
Mississippi, in the United States; though Znoceramus problematicus, I. latus, and Priono-
tropis Woolgart oceur in Europe.

From the lowest bed of the Upper Division, the collection contains specimens of
Avicula Nebrascana, Evans & Shumard, Callista Deweyi, Meck & Hayden, Cardium
bellulum, M., Anchura? Newberryi, M., Baculites anceps, Lamarck ?, and Placenticeras
placenta, Dekay (sp.).

Avicula Nebrascana, Callista Deweyi, Baculites anceps ?, and Placenticeras placenta
are common to. this lowest bed of the Upper Division in New Mexico and the corre-
sponding horizon on the Upper Missouri; and Placenticeras placenta also oceurs in the
same position in New Jersey and Alabama, while Baculites anceps also oceurs in New

* The name Prionotropis proposed by me in the Paleontology of the Upper Missouri, now (November, 1875) in the
press; the American form there referred to Prionotropis Woolgari, Mantell, being the type. e

tThis generic name was proposed by me in Hayden’s Report of the Geological Survey of the Territories in 1872-
293 (foot-note), and the genus is more fully described in the Palwontology of the Upper Missouri, now in the press.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. tao

Jersey and in the Upper Chalk of Europe ; as well as on the North Platte, in the Fox
Hills Group of the Upper Missouri Cretaceous section.

Although it has been found convenient, throughout considerable areas on the
Upper Missoui to subdivide the equivalents of the Middle and Upper Divisions of the
New Mexican section each into two groups, this is not everywhere the case, and Dr.
Newberry did not find any well-marked physical breaks in either of these divisions in
New Mexico.

It is worthy of note that, as on the Upper Missouri, the strongest paleeontological
break is just where Dr. Newberry draws the line between his Middle and Upper
Divisions. Up to this time, not a single species is known to cross this line,‘either on
the Upper Missouri, in Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, or in New Mexico.

A careful study of extensive collections of these fossils, brought by Dr. Hayden
trom these rocks on the Upper Missouri, has satisfied me that the beds above this
horizon. represent the Upper or White Chalk of Europe (= “Etay® Sénonien,”
VOrbigny); while those below. (from which we have yet obtained fossils) represent
the Lower or Gray Chalk, and probably the Upper Greensand of Europe (= the
Turonien and Cénomanien, VOrbigny).* The evidence, so far as it goes, to be
derived from the New Mexican collections under consideration, warrants the same con-
clusion in regard to the rocks from which they were obtained.

LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
Genus OSTREA, Linn.
OSTREA LUGUBRIS, Conrad.

Plate I, figs. 1 a, b, c, d

Ostrea lugubris, Conrad (1857), U. 8. and Mex. Bound. Report, vol. 1, p. 156, plate 10, fig. 5 a, b.

Shell small, thin, oval, or subeireular. Lower valve attached by most of its under
surface; while its lateral and ventral margins rise abruptly, usually for a*short distance,
above the base of attachment, becoming at the same time ornamented by small regular
plications, which are sometimes rendered slightly rugose by marks of growth; beak
small, obtusely angular, usually turned a little to the left, and attached by its whole
under side; area short, triangular; muscular sear transversely ovate-reniform, and
placed near the left or anterior side. ‘Upper valve-flat, or sometimes a little convex
near the umbo, and slightly concave in the middle; marked by small regular plications,
which rarely extend to the umbo, and are often confined to the free margins.

Length of a large specimen, 0.95 inch; breadth of same, 0.65 inch; depth vary-
ing from 0.12 to 0.28 inch.

This seems to be a common and characteristic species in the lower portions of the
Middle Cretaceous of New Mexico. ‘The specimens usually have a proportionally larger
scar of attachment than that figured by Mr. Conrad. Where they are attached by the
whole under side of the lower valve, the plicated margins rise little above the base of
attachment; but where the scar of adhesion is small, the free plicated margins are more
produced; though it seems never to be a very deep shell. It was not gregarious to the

* Proceedings of the Ac: demy of Natural Sciences of Phil: udelphi: ar, January, 1862.

124 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FB

same extent as VU. congesta of Conrad; the specimens being usually found scattered
about on the surfaces of calcareous and sandy slabs, to which, in most instances, they
were evidently attached during the life of the animal.

Locality and position —Banks of the Canadian, Vado del Chama, Galisteo, Pagosa,
Middle Cretaceous of Dr. Newberry’s section.

OSTREA (GRYPHASA?) UNIFORMIS, Meek.
Plate I, figs. 2 a, b, ¢.

Shell small, rather thin, trigonal-ovate or subcircular in form, not oblique; under
valve rather deep, subcarinate along the middle, and arched beneath from the beak to
the opposite margin; beak curved upward, but truncated by the area so as to rise little
above the margins; area small; margins on each side of the area sometimes faintly
marked by fine crenulations along the groove for the reception of the edge of the upper
valve; surface marked by about three or four rather reeular plications on each side of
the larger mesial fold or carina; lines of growth obscure; muscular sear transversely
oval, moderately distinet; upper value unknown.

Length from the beak to the opposite extremity, 1.16 inches; antero-posterior
diameter, about 1 inch; convexity or depth of the under yalye, 0.65 inch.

This ts a very peculiar shell, and cannot be confounded with any other species
with which Iam acquainted. Its large, prominent, mesial fold, extending from near the
beak of the under valve to the opposite extremity, with three or four smaller plica-
tions on each side, give it much the appearance of some of the plicated Brachiapoda
when viewed on the under side. The folds, or plications, vary somewhat on different
specimens; but usually they are remarkably uniform for a species of this genus, and
impart to the free margin opposite the beak a zigzag character, very similar to the front
of some species of Spirifer. No specimens of the upper valve were obtained; but it
will probably be found to have a large mesial sinus corresponding to the elevation of
the other valve, and must possess a projection, curving down at the middle of the free
margin opposite the beaks, to fill the deep notch in the margin of the other valve.

Thinking this species might be identical with one or the other of two peculiar
oysters described by Dr. Shumard, from the Cretaceous rocks of Texas, under the names
O. bellaplicata and O. quadriplicata, I sent him sketches of our shell, and he wrote that
it is most nearly like his O. bellaplicata, though, he thinks, clearly distinct. The O. bel-
laplicata attains a much larger size, some of the specimens being as much as three inches
in diameter, while its hinge-line is proportionally much longer, and its surface distinctly
ornamented with concentric markings.

Locality and position —Pagosa; Middle Cretaceous of the New Mexican section.

Genus EXOGYRA, Say.

EXOGYRA COLUMBELLA, Meek.

Plato I, figs. 3 a, b, o, d.

Sheil small, rather thin, ovate; posterior side forming a semi-oval curve from the
umbo to the ventral edge; anterior side rounded below the beak; ventral margin

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 125

rounded, Lower valve convex, the most gibbous part sometimes forming an obtuse
umbonal prominence, which is not separated from the front by a suleus; beak slender,
pointed, and distinctly coiled to the left; surface ornamented by small, but distinct,
rather regular, radiating coste, which bifurcate along the umbonal ridge; marks of
growth rather obscure. Upper valve flat, oval, apparently smooth or only having ob-
scure lines of growth.

Length from the most prominent part of the umbo to the ventral margin, 1 inch;
transverse breadth, 0.72 inch; depth or convexity, about 0.42 inch.

It is possible that this shell may be identical with Z. leviusculaof Roemer (Kreid. von
‘Texas, plate ix, fig. 3 a, b,c); but withthe means of comparison now within my reach,
I can but regard it as distinct. All the specimens of it that I have yet seen are more
oval in form and have a less distinctly spiral beak than the form described by Roemer.
They also differ in having the under valve always marked by regular radiating costa,
while that of 22. leviuscula is generally quite smooth, or rarely presents traces of nearly
obsolete, rather broad, plications, as represented by fig. 3 ¢ of Roemer’s plate ix
(Kreid. von Texas). It seems likewise to be a thinner and less robust shell than
Roemer’s species, and holds a lower stratigraphical position. In surface-markings as
well as in general form, it closely resembles young specimens of 2. columba of Lamarck
(Anim. sans Vert., vi, 198) as figured by Goldfuss in his Petrefact. Germ. and by
VOrbigny in the Paléont. Frangais. It never attains more than one-eighth the size of
adult individuals of that species, however, and differs in having an oval instead of a
circular upper valve.

Locality and position—Covero, Lower Cretaceous; also at Sierra Abajo, from the
base of Middle Cretaceous, and at Galisteo, from the same member of Dr. Newberry’s
section.

Genus ANOMIA, Linn.
ANOMIA NITIDA, Meek.
Plate I, figs. 4 a, b.

Upper valve subcircular or a little oval transversely, very thin and brilliantly
pearly, depressed-convex, the most prominent part being near the middle; lateral mar-
gins nearly equally rounded, ventral border forming a semi-oval curve; cardinal mar-
gin arched, or apparently presenting a similar outline to the ventral side; beak small,
much compressed, nearly or quite marginal, and located at the middle of the dorsal
side; surface marked by fine, rather regular, obscure, concentric strie. (Under valve
unknown. )

Transverse diameter, 1.07 inches; diameter from the cardinal to the ventral mar-
gin, 0.89 inch. |

It is possible that some of the species referred to the genus Anomia from the Cre-
taceous and older rocks would be found to present fundamental differences from the
typical forms of this group if we could see the under valve and the hinge and muscu-
lar impressions. Some six or seven species are now known from the Cretaceous rocks
of this country, of nearly all of which, I believe, only upper valves have been found.

Locality and position—Pope’s Well; top of Middle Cretaceous.

126 .. EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Genus CAPROTINA, VOrbieny.
CAPROTINA (REQUIENIA?) BICORNIS, Meek.
Plate I, figs. 7 a, b.

Shell apparently nearly equivalve; valves produced in the form of two
oblique spiral horns; beaks greatly elevated, distinctly spiral, and directed obliquely
forward and outward, the turns of each being widely disconnected; aperture of
the valves comparatively small, ovate-subtrigonal in form, being a little higher than
wide, and nearly straight on the basal and anterior sides, which range at right angles
to each other; umbonal ridges rather prominent, spiral, and curving down to the ante-
rio-basal margin. In front of these ridges, the valves are flat, and behind them convex.
Surface ornamented by moderately distinct marks of growth.

Height, 2.43 inches; antero-posterior diameter, 1.74 inches; transverse diameter
between the extremities of the beaks, nearly 2.75 inches; height of aperture of the valves,
1.38 inches; antero-posterior diameter of same, 1.22 inches.

The only specimen of this curious fossil I have seen is imperfect, the beak of its
right valve being partly broken away. As near’as can be determined, its valves seem
to have been nearly equal, which, together with the greatly-produced and spiral char-
acter of its beaks, give it much the appearance of a Diceras. Still, as it shows no
traces of an external ligament, while its shell-structure and surface-marking are like
those of Caprotina, I do not feel warranted in placing it in the genus Diceras, though its
generic relations must remain doubtful until specimens showing the hinge and interior
can be seen. ,

The substance of the shell is of moderate thickness, and composed of two layers,
which readily separate. The inner layer seems to be compact, and presents a distinetly-
striated surface, the strie being parallel to each other and ranging at right angles to
the marks of growth. The outer layer appears to be more laminated, and breaks
readily at right angles to the surface. Where portions of the shell have been removed,
a distinct groove is seen extending from the posterior side of each valve spirally toward
the beak. These grooves appear to have been left by a ridge or lamina on the inner
side of each valve, and curve around the beak so as to be visible in an anterior view,
as represented at a, fig. 7 b, plate 1.

In form and general appearance, this shell is evidently rather closely allied to e-
quienia Archiaciana, VOrbigny (Pal. Frangais, Terr. Crét., iv, 863, plate 597). The
erooves left upon the cast of its interior by the spiral ridge, or lamina, extending
from the posterior side of each valve, are also exactly as in that species. It differs, how-
ever, in having much less prominent and angular umbonal ridges, while its valves seem
to be more nearly equal, and its beaks are more produced and more widely separated.

Locality and position—Fort Lancaster, Texas; from the middle portion of Dr.
}

Newberry’s section. , : : 3 .
Genus PLICATULA, Lam.

PLICATULA ARENARIA, Meek.
Plate I, figs. 5 a, b, ¢.

Shell small, broad-ovate, usually a little oblique; ventral margin rounded ; sides
converging to the beaks at an angle of about 70° to 80°; beaks more or less

-

—7t

j

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 127

angular. Under valve moderately convex. Upper valve nearly or quite flat. Sur-
face of each valve ornamented by eighteen to twenty small, rather sharply-elevated,
plications, only about half of which extend to the beaks, while the intermediate ones
usually extend from one-third to one-half way from the free margins; concentric
markings rather obscure.

Length from beak to the most prominent part of ventral margin, 0.50 inch; trans-
verse diameter, 0.43 inch ; convexity, 0.11 inch.

Resembles in size and form P. incongrua, Conrad (United States and Mexican
Boundary Report, vol. 1, plate 6, fig. 10, 1857), but differs in not haying squamose
concentric markings as well as in having shorter plications intercalated between those
that extend to the umbo. The substance of the shell must be thin, since the plications
are rather distinetly marked on internal casts.

Locality and position—Covero ; Lower Cretaceous of Dr. Newberry’s section.

Genus INOCERAMUS, Sowerby.

INOCERAMUS FRAGILIS, Hall and Meek.
Plate I, fig. 6.
Jnoceramus fragilis, Wall and Meek, Mem. American Acad. Arts and Sci., vol. 5, new series, plate 2, fig. 6.

The specimens of this species in the collection are larger than that first figured
and described by Professor Ifall and the writer, which is evidently a young shell.
They agree, however, so nearly in all other respects as to leaye no doubts in regard to
their identity. In comparing the figure here given with that first published in the
Memoirs of the American Academy, it should be borne in mind that the anterior side
of the latter was mistaken for the cardinal margin, both in the description and in the
rangement of the figure on the plate. The figure given on the accompanying plate
is correctly arranged, with the hinge-margin upward.

This species has a wide geographical distribution in the far west, having been col-
lected at several distantly-separated localities between Fort Benton on the Upper
Missouri and New Mexico in the far southwest. I have no knowledge of its occur-
rence anywhere east of the Mississippi.

Locality and position —Vado del Chamo; base of the Middle Cretaceous of Dr.
Newberry’s section.

Genus CRASSATELLA, Lam.
CRASSATELLA SHUMARDI, Meek.
Plate II, figs. 7 a, b,c.

Shell under medium size, very thick, oval-subtrigonal, moderately convex; extrem-
ities narrowly rounded; base forming a semi-oval curve; dorsal outline sloping from
the. beaks at an angle of about 100°; beaks moderately prominent, rather obtuse,
located slightly in advance of the middle; surface marked by fme lines of growth,
and small, regular, concentric ridges; escutcheon lanceolate; lunule lance-oval, rather
deep; muscular sears strongly impressed.

Length, 0.78 inch; height, 0.72 inch; convexity, 0.40 inch,

128 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

I have not seen very satisfactorily the hinge of this shell; but, as near as can be
determined from impressions left in the matrix, it appears to present the characters of
the genus Crassatella. tis chiefly remarkable for thickness of the valves in proportion
to the size of the shell.

Locality and position—Pope’s Well; top of Middle Cretaceous of New Mexican
section.

Genus CYPRIMERTA, Conrad.

JYPRIMERTA? CRASSA, Meck.
Plate I, figs. 8 a, b, e, d.

Shell lenticular, rather thick, moderately convex; beaks distinetly compressed, and
projecting very slightly beyond the regular curve of the cardinal margin; anterior mus-
cular impression narrow-subovate and acute above; posterior broader, and rhombic-
subquadrate; pallial line distinct, with a very faint sinuosity, or mere truncation,
immediately under the posterior muscular impression; surface merely marked by con
centric strie.

Height, 1.93 inches; length, or antero-posterior diameter, 2 inches.

I am not altogether sure that this species will be found to agree exactly in its
eenerie characters with Mr. Conrad’s genus Cyprimeria, as its hinge-teeth do not seem
to agree in some slight details with that of the type of that genus. Indeed, on first
preparing a description of it for this report, I had proposed a provisional subgeneric¢
name for it; but, on revising the MS., and comparing the figure, I find it resembles
Cyprimeria at least so nearly that I have concluded to refer it to that genus. This has,
however, been done partly because I am unwilling to propose a new name without
having the type-specimen at hand for further study, it being in New York, and the cir-
cumstances being such that I have to revise the MS. in great haste.*

The hinge of this shell may be described as follows: hinge-plate broad and
flat; anterior teeth compressed, the two in the right valve close together, and re-
ceiving that of the left between them, ranging very obliquely forward and downward ;
posterior tooth of right valve thicker, ranging obliquely backward and downward,
erooved along the middle, and fitting between the posterior teeth of the left valve.

Locality and position —Pope’s Well; top of the Middle Division of the New Mexican
Cretaceous section.

Genus CARDIUM, Linn.
CARDIUM BELLULUM, Meek.
Plate II, figs. 6 a, b.

Shell small, thin, ovate, a little oblique, gibbous, the most convex part of the
valves being somewhat above the middle; beaks elevated, rather slender, incurved,
slightly oblique, and located a little in advance of the middle; hinge very short, anterior
and antero-basal margins forming together a semi-oval or nearly semicircular curve ; pos-
tero-basal border prominent, and somewhat narrowly rounded; anal margin obliquely
truncated above, so as to form with the slope in front of the beaks an angle of nearly

* Since writing the above, I have again examined the type-species, and find that it agrees so nearly with Cyprimeria
that, so far as they show, there would seem to be no satisfactory reason for separating it.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 129

90°; surface ornamented by about thirty small, simple, radiating cost, all of which
appear to be continued to the beaks.

Height, 0.27 inch; breadth, 0.23 inch; convexity, 0.22 inch.

‘L ee may be fine concentric Rane on well-preserved specimens of this species,
though none are visible on that from shigk the above description is made out. The
radiating coste are small, regular, and about equal to the grooves between. They
are moderately well defined, but seem to become gradually obsolete toward the anterior
and posterior dorsal margins. It is a neat little shell, presenting a regular cordate out-
line as seen from the anterior or posterior side.

Locality and position —Rio de la Plata; base of upper member of the New Mexican
Cretaceous series.

GASTEROPODA.
Genus ACT ASON, Monttft.

ACTON INTERCALARIS, Meek.
Plate II, figs. 4 a, b, ¢.

Shell small, narrow-subovate, or subfusiform; spire rather elevated; volutions five
to five and a half, compressed-convex, increasing gradually in breadth, and more
rapidly in height; last one a little produced below, and forming about half the entire
length; suture well defined; aperture narrow-subovate, very acutely angular above;
surface marked by fine, slightly-impressed, punctured striz, about twelve of which may
be counted on the second turn.

Length, about 0.40 inch; breadth, 0.21 inch; apical angle nearly regular or a little
convex, divergence about 35°

The only specimen of this species in the collection has the lower part of the aper-
ture and a portion of the columella broken away. The aperture, however, was evi-
dently quite narrow, and the columella somewhat tortuous, with apparently one oblique
fold below the middle. The fine, punctate, revolving grooves are not more than from
one-third to one-half as wide as the spaces between on the second whorl, and can
scarcely be seen without the aid of a magnifier.

This shell is more nearly allied to A. subelliptica (Meek and Hayden), from the
Fort Pierre Group (=Cretaceous formation No. 4) of the Upper Missouri section,
than any other with which I am acquainted. It may be readily distinguished from
that species, however, by the much greater elevation of its spire in proportion to the
length of its body-whorl, being in this respect about intermediate between A. subelliptica
and A. attenuata (M. & H.), but quite distinct from them both.

Locality and position—Same as last.

Genus ANCHURA, onus

ANCHURA ? NEWBERRYI, Meek.
Plate I, fig. 5.
Shell of medium size, thin, fusiform; spire moderately elevated; volutions six, dis-
tinctly convex, increasing rather rapidly in size; suture well defined, Surface orna-
17 SF

130 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

mented by revolving lines, two of which, on the body-whorl, become so much larger
than the others as to form small carine. Of these two carinz, the upper only is seen
on the second turn, where it is much reduced in size; and, on those above, it is not
distinguishable from the other revolving lines. Marks of growth obscure; aperture
unknown; lip extended into a long appendage, the form of which cannot be determined
from the specimen examined.

Length, exclusive of the beak, 0.65 inch; breadth of body-whorl, exclusive of the
lip, 0.37 inch; apical angle slightly convex, divergence about 40°.

The collection contains but a single specimen of this species, and it is unfortunately
so firmly imbedded in the hard matrix that it is impossible to work out the labial
appendage. It evidently extends out, however, at least as much as 0.55 inch frem the
axis of the shell; and as its lower margin (which is thickened and a little reflexed) is
seen to curve downward, it is probable that there are two salient points to the lip, one
of which curves a little downward and the other upward. The lower margin of the lip
can be seen to extend out to / of fig. 5, plate 2.

The body-whorl contracts into the beak below, but the latter is broken from the
specimen, so that its form and length cannot be determined. Some eight or nine of the
revolving lines may be counted on the upper turns, and about twenty (including the two
carinze) on the body-whorl. Half of those on the under side of the body-volution are
larger than any of those above the carinze, while between each two of them there are
one or two smaller lines. ‘

In size and general appearance, this species (at least as seen with the lip concealed
‘in the matrix) bears some resemblance to A. Americana, Evans & Shumard (sp.), but
has a less-elevated spire, and differs in being destitute of vertical costae. In the latter
character, it is more nearly like A. sublevis, Meek & Hayden, from which it may be
readily distinguished by its two revolving carine on the body-whorl. It may be an
Aporrhas, and have to be called Aporrhas Newberryt.

Locality and position—Same as last.

CEPHALOPODA.
. Genus BACULITES, Lam.

BACULITES ANCEPS, var. OBTUSUS.*

Plate I, figs. 1 a, b, ¢, d, e, f, g, h.
Baculites anceps, Lamarck (1822), An. Sans Vert., vii, 648.—D’Orbigny (1835), Tab. des Céph., 75; and (1840) Paléont.
Fr. Terr. Crét., i, 565, plate 139, figs. 1, 7—Roemer, Texas, 416; and (1852) Kreid. von Texas, 36, taf. ii, figs. 3
a,b, c, &c.; and of many others.
Baculites vertebralis, Defrance (1816), Dict. Sci. Nat., Supp., iii, 168 ; and of some others, but not of Lamarck.

The collection under examination contains a number of specimens agreeing
almost exactly in size, form, and surface-undulations with those figured under the name
of B. anceps by Dr. F. Roemer, in his beautiful work on the Cretaceous rocks and fos-
sils of Texas. As Dr. Roemer gives no enlarged figures showing the details of the
septa of the Texas specimens, however, we have no means of determining whether or

* Originally I had not used the variety-name obtusus in connection with this shell ; but I have applied that name to
this form in the Upper Missouri Patzontology, now in the press (November 2, 1875), and add it here in revising fhe
MS. of this report.

*

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 131

not they agree with those of the forms under consideration, though it is probable they
will be found to present essentially the same characters. ita, shamfore, chiefly owing
to the probable identity of our specimens with those investigated by this distineuished
author (who doubtless had an opportunity to make direct comparisons with authentic
Kuropean examples of Lamark’s species) that those under examination are here
referred provisionally to B. anceps.

As I have had an opportunity to examine but two authentic specimens of B. anceps
from foreign localities, and these were mere fragments, I have no means of knowing
to what extent that species varies in form and internak characters. It is worthy =;
remark, however, that the two fragments of B. anceps here alluded to, as well as the
figures of that species given by Professor Bronn in his Lethea Geognostica, and those
given by @Orbigny in his Paldontologie francais, although agreeing very nearly in
form and surface-undulations, all differ from our New Mexican specimens, as well as
from those figured by Dr. Roemer, in being rather distinctly carinated on the dorsal side.
Again, on comparing the septa of the two European specimens of B. anceps mentioned
ibove with d@’Orbigny’s enlarged figure of the same, it was found that they agree quite
nearly in all their essential characters, while they both present rather marked differ-
ences from those of the New Mexican forms.

These differences consist not merely in the greater obtuseness of all the smaller
divisions of the septa-lobes of the specimens under examination, but also in the form
and mode of branching of the lobes themselves, as may be seen by reference to the
figures given on plate II. I strongly suspect these differences to be of specific impor-
tance; but, without other means of comparison than those now available, it is difficult
to determine whether this is the case or not. ;

It. will be observed that the figures on plate II represent two rather marked varie-
ties, some of the specimens being more slender and less compressed than others, and
provided with obtuse, nearly circular, nodes, instead of transversely-elongated, arcuate
undulations, as in the more compressed forms. A careful study of the whole series of
specimens, however, shows that there are intermediate gradations between these two
forms, while the septa: present almost precisely the same characters throughout the
entire series. .

These two extremes of form bear very nearly the same relations to each other that
B. asper of Morton does to his B. carinatus, which forms they also very closely resem-
ble in their external characters, excepting that neither of them is ever carinated on the
dorsal side, as in the typical B. carimatus of Morton. Dr. Roemer suggests that the
latter is probably not distinct from B. anceps of Lamarck; and Mr. Gabb, who
examined Dr. Morton’s typical specimens, has arrived at the conclusion that not only
that form (B. carinatus), but B. asper also, are merely varieties of B. anceps.* (See
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for November, 1861.)

Without expressing any decided opinion in regard to this latter conclusion (not
having seen the specimens upon which it is based), I would remark that the figures of
the septa of B. carinatus and B. asper given by Mr. Gabb, seem to present some rather
marked differences from those of B. anceps, though it is not improbable that there may

* Our figures 2 a and 2 b, on plate I, represent a section and a septum of B. anceps of Europe, for comparison.

132 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FR

be intermediate gradations connecting these extremes with Lamarck’s species. At any
rate, Mr. Gabb’s figures of the septa of B. carinatus and B. asper certainly differ so
materially from those of our New Mexican specimens (which, as already stated, are
“quite constant in their internal characters) as to make it desirable thatthe latter should
be designated by another name (at least as a variety), until all doubts in regard to their
relations can be removed by a direct comparison of a good series of specimens of all
the forms alluded to.
Locality and position—Same as preceding.

Genus PRIONOCYCLUS, Meek.

PRIONOCYCLUS? MacomMBI, Meek.
Plate U, figs. 3 a, b, ¢, d.

Shell discoidal ; umbilicus shallow, somewhat less than the diameter of the last
whorl from the ventral to the peripheral side, and showing all the inner turns; volu-
tions increasing gradually in size, very slightly embracing, compressed so as to be
nearly flat on the sides, but rounding into the umbilicus; periphery rather narrow,
nearly flat, and provided with a small mesial carina, which is very slightly waved in
outline; lateral margins of the periphery each having a row of small compressed nodes,
arranged one at the termination of each of the coste, with their longer diameters
nearly parallel to the peripheral keel; sides of each turn ornamented by from thirty-
six to forty rather obscure, slightly flexuous coste, only every second, third, or fourth
one of which extends across to the umbilical margin, where they are usually a little
swollen.

The septa are generally a little crowded in adult shells, and divided into two very
unequal principal lobes on each side. Siphonal lobe slightly longer than wide, and
ornamented by three branches on each side, the two terminal of which are a little
larger and much less spreading than the lateral pair, and each ornamented by some five
or six sharp digitations along the margins and at the extremity; while the first pair of
principal lateral branches above the terminal ones are of nearly the same form as the
latter, but more spreading, and the third pair are smaller, and merely provided with a
few digitations; first lateral sinus (dorsal saddle of old nomenclature) as long as the
siphonal lobe, but much. wider, and deeply divided into two unequal parts, of which
the one on the siphonal side is larger than the other; each of these principal divisions
being ornamented by some four or five short, irregular branchlets, with obtusely digi-
tate margins; first lateral lobe longer and slightly wider than the siphonal, and pro-
vided with some seven or eight short, rather unequal, merely digitate, and palmately-
spreading terminal and lateral branchlets; second lateral sinus narrower, but as long
as the first on the outer or siphonal side, and much shorter on the umbilical, having
two short, unequal, digitate, terminal branches at the end, and some three or four short,
irregular divisions along the oblique margin of the umbilical side; second lateral lobe
small, or scarcely more than twice as large as the auxiliary lobe of the siphonal sinus,
and somewhat irregularly bifid, the divisions being short, and, like the lateral margins,
more or less digitate.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 133

Greatest diameter of a specimen retaining only a small portion of the non-septate
outer whorl, 4.40 inches; greatest convexity of same, 0.95 inch; breadth of umbilicus,
1.35 inches; breadth of last whorl from the siphonal to the umbilical side, 1.80 inches.

Young specimens of this species differ materially from the adult; those not more
than an inch or an inch and a half in diameter being destitute of nodes, and provided
with a continuous instead of a waved carina. Their coste are also more crowded,
more numerous, and curve distinctly forward near the peripheral margins. At this
size, the shell closely resembles specimens of Ammonites percarinatus, Hall and Meek,
of the same age; but, as it advances in growth, it assumes quite different external
characters, while its septa differ at all ages.

It seems to be related to a Texas species, described by Dr. Shumard, in the Trans-
actions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences (vol. 1, p. 539), under the name of A.
Graysonensis. Dr. Shumard, however, to whom I sent sketches of it, regarded it as
clearly distinct. He wrote that he had seen quite a number of specimens of A.
Graysonensis, and that none of them attain more than one-third the size of the form
under consideration, while they are always destitute of nodes, and have a more dis-
tiuctly-waved carnia.

I am far from being satisfied that this shell belongs to the same group as that for
which I have, in one of Dr. Hayden’s Reports and again in the Upper Missouri Pale-
ontology, used the name Prionocyclus. It is certainly not a true Ammonites, however,
as that genus is restricted to typical forms, but more nearly allied to Prionocyclus. :

Named in honor of Capt. J. N. Macomb, of the United States Topographical Engi-
neers, commander of the expedition. :

Locality and position —Banks of Canadian; lower part of Middle Cretaceous of
New Mexican section.

EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS.

a

DESCRIPTIONS

OF THE

CARBONIFEROUS AND TRIASSIC FOSSILS

COLLECTED ON THE
SAN JUAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION UNDER CAPT. J. N. MACOMB, U. S. ENGINEERS,
BY

J. S. NEWBERRY.

GEOLOGIST OF THE EXPEDITION.

DESCRIPTIONS OF FOSSILS.

By J. S. Newberry.

Dettopus Mrrcurer, Newb.
Plate III, figs. 1, 1%

Teeth of medium size, thick and strong, cuneiform or spatulate in outline, strongly
arched in both senses, broader end uniformly rounded, lateral margins thickened and
rounded oyer, on one side depressed, on the other raised into a prominent marginal
ridge, which is separated from the central portion of the crown by a relatively deep
and narrow sulcus; whole surface of crown finely punctate, especially in the suleus,
and gently undulate. This is quite unlike any Coal-Measure Deltodus hitherto dis-
covered. In its general proportions and appearance, it is perhaps most like D. spatula-
tus, N. & W., from the Mountain limestone of Illinois; but in the present species the
marginal sulcus is much deeper and more conspicuous, and the granulation of the sur-
face finer.

Formation and locality—Coal-Measures ; Santa Fé, New Mexico.

Prycnopus Wuippier, Marcou.
Plate III, figs. 2-2

Teeth varying in form according to their places in the mouth; largest, conical in
profile; the central cone rounded above and on the lateral and posterior faces, expanded
below into a flattened, subquadrate base; summit of crown marked with a few distinct,
acute, transverse folds of enamel; anterior face covered with reticulate, radiating, raised
lines, as in Pt. Mortoni; upper surface of margins of base finely and reticulately
wrinkled; tuberosity of base small, subquadrate, with a broad suleus, having an
antero-posterior direction; the smaller teeth are relatively broader and lower, elliptical
or subtrigonal in outline; the central cone marked with a few coarse interrupted ridges.

This is the most conical tooth of the genus, the central cone being considerably
higher and narrower than in Pt. altior, Ag. The other known American species, Pt.
Mortoni, has also a decidedly conical form, in that respect differing from the European
species, but wants the transverse folds so characteristic of the flattened, quadrate spe-
cies of the Old World.

In the specimen figured by M. Marcou, the crown is worn smooth, the folds being
all gone. It is also more angular than those now figured; but the general resemblance

is so strong that I do not hesitate to consider them the same,
18S F

138 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

Formation and locality—The horizon at which the teeth of Ptychodus W hipplei
occur in the Cretaceous rocks of New Mexico is, according to my observations, very
clearly defined. It is below the middle of the series, generally within a hundred feet
of the yellow Lower Cretaceous leaf-bearing sandstones.

The rock containing them is a sandy, ferruginous limestone, lying in thin bands
divided by layers of dark calcareous (often bituminous) shale. The associate fossils
are Lamna Texana, Gryphea Pitcheri, Ostrea lugubris, O. uniformis, Inoceramus proble-
maticus, I. fragilis, Ammonites percarinatus, A. Macombu, Scaphites larviformis, &e.

The Ostrea of which M. Marcou speaks as oceurring with Pt. Whipplet is not O.
congesta, as he supposes, but O. lugubris of Conrad. The place of O. congesta is a little
higher in the series. Gryphea Pitcheri is found a few feet below. —

Of all these species, specimens were obtained on the banks of the Canadian at
Galisteo, at the ford of the Chama, and at the Pagosa.

Aruyris supTiuita, Hall, sp.

Wherever we found Carboniferous rocks in the West, we were sure to meet with
this wide-spread fossil. On the Colorado, west of the San Francisco Mountains, at the
junction of the Grand and Green Rivers, in the Sierra la Plata, at Santa Fé, and at Pecos,
it is abundant. At all these places, the most common form of the Coal-Measures in the
valley of the Mississippi is most numerously represented ; there, as here, varying some-
what in size, apparently accordingly as it was well or ill fed.

In the extreme upper Carboniferous or Permian beds, an Athyris is common which
has sometimes been considered as distinct from those obtained below, for it is usually
larger and more ventricose than the prevailing type of Coal-Measure specimens. It
may possibly be a distinct species, but it is true that in many places in the Coal-
Measures A. subtilita is found, assuming precisely the same form and reaching an
equal size. It will, therefore, be impossible to make two species of them until some
internal characters are found which can serve to distinguish them.

SPIRIFER CAMERATUS, Morton.

This shell is common in the limestone of the Carboniferous series at all points in
the route of our expedition where these rocks are exposed. Of the large number col-
lected in New Mexico and Utah, and a very much larger number examined, all exhibit
nearly the same character, the prevailing type as regards size and markings closely
resembling that figured by Professor Hall in Captain Stansbury’s Report under the
name of S. triplicatus. Specimens collected in Eastern Kansas and others obtained
from the banks of the Colorado are absolutely undistinguishable. The larger shell,
considered by Mr. Davidson identical with S. striatus of Martin, is nowhere met with
in New Mexico or Utah. It is abundant in the mountain limestone of Illinois and
Missouri, but I have never seen it from the Coal-Measures. Considering the marked
difference in form and position of these two shells, it is difficult to resist the conviction
that if the Kuropean paleontologists could study what they regard as American
representatives of S. striatus in great numbers as they occur in place, they would con-
sider them as forming two distinct species.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 139

SPrRIFER (‘TRiGoNoTRETA?) Texanus, Meek.
Plate III, figs. 5, 5°, and 5»,

Spirifer (Trigonotreta?) Texanus, Meek (1871), Proceed. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., xviii, 179.

Shell scarcely attaining a medium size, very gibbous in the adult, varying from
subquadrate or subelobose to longitudinally-subovate, the widest part being generally
in advance of the middle, and the length greater than the breadth; hinge-line short,
or in young individuals scarcely equaling the breadth of the valves, and in the adult
often proportionally very decidedly shorter, sometimes obtusely angular at the extrem-
ities, while in the more gibbous individuals its extremities.do not project beyond the
lateral slopes; anterior margin often somewhat emarginate in the middle. Dorsal
valve truncato-suborbicular or subquadrate, and moderately convex; beak incurved,
with a narrow area, but not prominent; mesial elevation commencing as a small simple
plication at the beak, but rapidly widening and becoming more prominent and angular,
with on each side several small costa, which divide so as to form altogether twelve to
sixteen at the front; lateral slopes having at the beak each two or three plications or
cost, which farther forward divide so as to form as many fascicles of three each, or
about nine on each side of the mesial fold. Ventral valve more gibbous than the other,
and more strongly arched than the other from the beak to the front; beak very promi-
nent in the adult, always strongly incurved over the hinge; cardinal area moderate,
well defined, and extending to the extremities of the hinge without narrowing strongly
laterally, rather distinctly arched with the beak; foramen slightly wider at the hinge
than high, open nearly or quite to the apex, and provided with a distinct linear mar-
ginal furrow on each side; mesial sinus angular, and commencing very small at the
beak, and widening and deepening rapidly to the front, where it terminates in a
strongly-curved triangular projection fitting into a corresponding sinus in the margin
of the other valve; surface as in the dorsal valve, the costs within the sinus being
smaller than those on the lateral slopes, and numbering about sixteen to twenty; fine,
rather obscure, undulating stris, and, near the front and lateral margins, a few stronger
marks of growth traverse the valves, parallel to the free margins; while numerous
small, rather scattering, but regularly-disposed granules, apparently the remaining
bases of minute spines, may be seen over the whole surface of well-preserved speci-
mens, which also sometimes show traces of very fine radiating strie. .

Length of one of the largest specimens seen, 1 inch; breadth of same, about 0.98
inch; convexity, 0.90 inch; length of hinge, 0.72 inch. Smaller specimens are propor-
tionally less gibbous, shorter, wider, and provided with a proportionally somewhat
longer hinge.

Small specimens of this species resemble a little the more gibbous varieties of
S. cameratus, with a very short hinge; but, in the adult, the valves become propor-
tionally more elongated anteriorly, and more gibbous, and the beak of the ventral
valve is so narrow, so much produced and incurved, as to present the appearance of
a Pentamerus. Its distinctly-granulated and minutely-striated surface, however, will
always serve to distinguish, even the specimens with the most extended hinge-line,
from the most gibbous varieties of S. cameratus, with a short hinge. Its granular sur-

140 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

face leads me to suspect that it may possibly be a Spiriferina; but as I have not been
able to see any certain indications of punctures, I hardly feel warranted in reterring it
to that group. I have not, however, given it an examination by the aid of higher
power than a strong hand-magnifier. Should a more thorough examination reveal the
usual punctate structure, and the internal septum of that group, it will of course have
to be called Spiriferina Texana.

Compared with foreign forms, this shell seems to be most nearl y like the extremely
narrow and elongated variety of S. duplicatus, Phillips, as illustrated by Mr. Davidson's
figure 8, Plate IV, Monogr. British Carboniferous Brachiopoda. It is much more
gibbous, however, with decidedly more prominent and more angular mesial sinus;
while its surface-granulations and minute strie serve to distinguish it. Although its
mesial fold has a very angular appearance, a careful examination shows it to be very
slightly flattened, or sometimes even marked by a linear furrow along its crest; and
there is sometimes also a slightly more prominent line along the middle of the angular

sinus of the other valve.
. Locality and position.—The type-specimen was found, by Mr. H. R. Roessler, asso-
ciated with Coal-Measure fossils in Young County, Texas. Dr. Newberry also has
specimens from the northwest corner of Jack County, west fork of Trinit y River, Texas.
I have never scen it from any locality north or east of Texas—(F. B. M.)

Propuctus Noposus, Newb.
Plate II, figs. 3-3 d.

This fine Productus, first collected on a former expedition, and described in my
report to Lieutenant Ives (Colorado Expedition, Geology, p. 124, plate 1, figs. 7-
7b), we found in large numbers at Santa Fé, and in many localities along our route
quite to the Colorado. Indeed, it is perhaps as common as any other species of the
genus in Western New Mexico and Southern Utah.

The figures now given of it will convey a much better impression of its true char-
acter than those before published. From these it will be seen that, with a near
approach in form and markings to P. cora and P. equicostatus, it is distinguished from
these and other species by the single line of conspicuous nodes, the bases of large
spines, which mark the median line of the ventral valve. In some specimens a corre-
sponding line of tubercles marks the dorsal valye; but they are always less distinctly
marked and are often entirely wanting.

Figures 3 c and 3 d show a somewhat remarkable variation in the length of the
vardinal border, but the wings are usually quite short, as in figures 3 b and 3 c.

PLEUROTOMARIA EXCELSA, Newb.
Plate III, figs. 4, 4%.

Shell large, long-conical in outline, higher than broad; whorls flattened out-
wardly above and below, having an angular section, the lower ones projecting consid-
erably beyond the upper, giving the shell a shouldered appearance ; surface smooth,
or marked with fine lines of growth. Height, 3.2 inches. Breadth, 2.6 inches. In its

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 141

large size and character of surface, this shell approaches P. Missouriensis, Swallow, but
is apparently something smaller and more elongated in outline. In P. AMissouriensis
the width of the base is greater than the height, while in our species the reverse is true.
In the Missouri specimen, which I saw in the hands of Governor Gilpin before it was
described, the whorls are so fitted together as to produce smooth and somewhat con-
‘ave sides; while in P. excelsa they are shouldered, and the outline of the sides is
straight or slightly convex.

Formation and locality—Upper part of the Carboniferous formation, in the canon
of Grand River, near its junction with Green River, Southern Utah.

Lamna T'exaAna, Roem.
Lamna Texana, Roemer, Kreide y. Texas, p. 21, taf. 1, fig. 7.
Found in company with Ptychodus Whipplet on the banks of the Canadian, at
Galisteo, and at the Pagosa in the ‘“fish-bed” near the base of the Middle Cretaceous
] co)
series.
OxyrninA MAnNTELLI, Agass.

Oxyrhina Mantelli, Ag., Roemer, Kreide y. Texas, p. 29, taf. 1, fig. 6.

This species occurs in the fish-bed of the Middle Cretaceous (No. 2 of Meck and
Hayden’s section) at the Pagosa. It is somewhat doubtful, however, whether it is
really identical with that described by Agassiz. Probably more material will show
that it is distinct. fm

OrozAmMitEs Macompu, Newb.
Plate IV, figs. 1,2; Plate VI, figs. 5, 5°.

Frond pinnate, pinne opposite or subalternate, approximate or imbricated, entire,
sessile; lower ones small, reniform, or circular; upper large, oblong, rounded, or trun-
cated at the extremity; base nearly as broad as apex, very slightly auricled and
rounded at upper and lower angles, attached to rachis by two-thirds to three-fourths
of entire breadth; nerves numerous, fine, but distinct, equal, forked, radiating from
the attached portion of the base to all parts of the lateral and apical margins ; rachis
slender, smooth, or finely striated longitudinally.

The outline of the entire frond is linear-lanceolate; different ones varying much in
breadth and in the spacing of the pinnules. At first sight, they seem to resemble closely
those of several of the Cycads of the Oolite, Wealden, and Chalk, but on more careful
examination they will be found to present characters widely different. The oblong or
quadrate truncated pinnules, increasing in length from the base upward, at once sug-
gest the species of Nilssonia and Pterophyllum, to which I have alluded, such as P. majus,
P. minus, P. Schaunbergense, Nilssonia compta, &¢., but the nervation (fine, equal, fork-
ing nerves, radiating from the attached portion of the base to all parts of the lateral
and terminal margins, ) and the mode of attachment to the rachis—each pinnule being
distinctly separated from the others, the base slightly auricled, with rounded lobes—
exclude it from both the preceding genera as at present constituted, and associate it
with that group of Zamites (Brong.) which form Fr. Braun’s genus Otozamites (Oto-
pteris, L. & H.). From all known species of that genus, it is, however, somewhat

142 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

widely separated by its general habit; yet, if the nervation and mode of: insertion on
the rachis of the pinnules afford good characters for generic classification, it must be
grouped with these.

By Unger and Goeppert the genus Otozamites is not recognized, and our fossil
would be classed by them in Zamites. Brongniart, however, claims that the section of
Zamites represented by Otozamites, Br., including species differing much among them-
selves, it is true, but having in common important botanical characters, may be very
properly regarded as forming a natural generic group.

As this species is distinctly new, it affords no very reliable evidence by which to
judge of the age of the formation in which it is found, and yet it was with very lively
pleasure that I discovered this and the associate Cyead in the copper-mines of New
Mexico. Extremely few fossils had been found at this horizon, although I had sought
them most carefully over a large area in which the red sandstones and shales are
exposed. On finding in the old copper-mine at Abiquiu great numbers of fossil plants,
I was more than pleased, and when upon examination they proved to be Cycads,
plants most characteristic of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks in the Old World, I felt
that we had here new and important evidence that the criteria of paleontology may
be trusted.

Among the Cycads of the Old World, the species most nearly allied to Oto. Ma-
combit is perhaps O. obtusa, Lind. & Hutt. (vol. 2, p. 128), from the Lias of England,
and yet it will be seen on comparison of the two species that they are quite distinetly
separated.

The discovery of this species by Mr. Remond in Sonora, associated with well-
marked ‘Triassic fossils, is a fact of great scientific value, and of very special interest
to me, as it proves that the entire thickness of the gypsiferous red sandstones and
marls of New Mexico, on and west of the Rio Grande, is made up of strata as old as
the Trias. There is no doubt of the existence of Jurassic rocks in the Rocky Mount-
ain region; but, so far as yet known, they do not occur on any part of the route fol-
lowed by M. Marcou, and where he claims to have discovered them.

The plant-beds of the Moqui villages and Abiquiu are overlain by the yellow
sandstones of the Cretaceous formation, and angiospermous leaves were found by us
in a number of localities within five or ten feet of the underlying red marls. On the
ast flank of the Rocky Mountains, in some places, as at Cold Spring, on the Santa Fé
road, I found a series of calcareous strata interposed between the Gypsum formation
and the Cretaceous sandstones, and these, since holding the place and having the
lithological character of the beds found by Dr. Hayden a little farther north, contain-
ing Jurassic fossils, are probably of that age. It is, however, true at the present
time that no Jurassic plants have been found on this continent.

Formation and locality.— Triassic strata: Abiquiu, New Mexico; Los Bronces, Sonora
(Mr. Remond); Yaki River, Sonora (Mr. Hartley).

ZAMITES OCCIDENTALIS, Newb.

Plate V, figs. 1, 1*, 2.

Frond _petioled, linear-lanceolate; pinnules springing from the rachis at an
angle of about 45°, rigid, coriaceous, closely approximated, linear in outline, 6-15

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 143

lines long, rounded or subacute at extremity, very slightly constricted at base;
nerves fine, parallel, scarcely visible ; rachis strong, chaffy.

In the form and attachment of the pinnules, this species approaches those grouped
by Fr. Braun under the name of Pterozamites, in which the pinnules are usually
linear and obtuse, and are attached to the rachis by the entire breadth of the base,
which is not constricted. In the upper pinnules of our plant, however, the bases are
very distinctly narrowed, and the attachment is sensibly oblique.

There is no described species of Zamites for which this will be likely to be mis-
taken, nor does it clearly fall into any of the groups of the genus which have been
esedblighed: With the lance-leaved species (Podozamites Fr. Braan), such as Z. dis-
tans, Z. lanceolatus, Z. undulatus, Z. falcatus, &c., it seems to have very little in common,
while from the group represented by Z. Feneonis, Z. pectinatus, Z. Taxinus, &e.
(Pterozamites Fr. Braun), in which the folioles are inserted by all their uncontracted
bases, it is separated by the slight though distinct expansion and constriction of the
bases of the leaves. It would, therefore, seem to be a sort of connecting link between
the groups with auricled and those with simple folioles. It approaches, however,
nearest to that group of species described by Goeppert and Dunker (Z. Dunkerianum
Gopp, Z Humboldtianum, Dunk., Z. Lyellianum Dunk., &c.) from the Wealden,
included by these authors in Pterophyllum, but by Brongniart in Zamites, and perhaps
nearest of all to Pter. Saxonicum, Reich. (Gaea, v. Saxon., p. 134, t. 4, f 14;
Gopp., “Flora des Quadersandsteins in Schlesien”, in Nova Acta Acad. Leop. Carol.
Cxs. Nat. Cur., Oct., 1847, p. 362, taf. xxxviii, fig. 13), from the Stn sl
(Cretaceous) of Saxony.

Formation and locality—Top of Triassic series; Copper-mines near Abiquiu, New
Mexico.

PECOPTERIS BULLATUS, Bunbury.
Plate VI, figs. 1, 1*.

Among: the specimens collected by Mr. Remond at Los Bronces, Sonora, are
several of a Pecopteris in fruit, which is apparently identical with that first described
by Bunbury from the coal-strata of Richmond, Virginia, and subsequently found by
Professor Emmons in North Carolina. This species is considered by Professor Heer
as identical with Pecopteris Stutgardtensis, Brong., one of the most characteristic
plants of the Kuropean Trias.

Without more material, it would be presumption to attempt to decide this question ;
but that the plant before us is identical with that found in the Triassic strata of
Virginia and North Carolina there is little doubt, and it therefore becomes an impor-
tant connecting link between the eastern and the western exposures of ‘Triassic strata

Formation and locality—Triassic rocks; Los Bronees and on Yaki River
Sonora (Messrs. Remond and Hartley).

Prcopreris Mexicana, Newb.
Plate VI, figs. 2, 2

Frond bi- or tripinnate, small; pinnz elongated, narrow, linear, acute; pinnules
ovate, acute or subacute, sometimes faleate; nervules delicate and few, simple or

144 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

once-forked ; sori from 1 to 5 on basal portion of pinnules, seated on the nerves, and
apparently covered with an indusium.

This is an exceedingly neat and pretty species, quite distinct from any other with
which I am familiar. The plant was evidently small, and the fronds very delicate
and membranous.

In common with most of the smaller Mesozoic species of the genus, it had long,
narrow, riband-like pinnee, and pinnules more or less falecate. In the form of the
pinnules, the plant resembles Pecopteris Whitbiensis, but the neryation is less crowded,
the pinnz more elongated, and in size the one is but a miniature of the other.

Formation and locality—Triassic shales; at the Coal-mines of Los Bronces,

Sonora (Mr. Remond).
PECOPTERIS FALCATUS, Emmons.

Plate VI, fig. 3.

This is evidently the plant described by Professor Emmons (Geol. N. Carolina,
p. 327, fig. 9) as the fertile frond of his P. falcatus. No specimens of the barren
frond occur in the collection; but the resemblance of the plant before us to that
represented in the figure to which I have referred will be apparent to any observer.

Professor Heer considers P. falcatus of Emmons as identical with Laccopteris
germinans Goep. (Gatt. Foss. Pflanz. liv. 1 and 2, plate vi, fig. 8) from the Keuper of
Bayreuth; and he is probably correct in that conclusion, but the want of sterile
fronds in the collection made by Mr. Remond leaves this question as it was, and we
are now only able to identify, by means of this and the other species common to
these widely-separated localities, the plant-beds of Sonora with the Trias of North
Carolina and Richmond.

Formation and locality—lLos Bronces, Sonora (Mr. Remond).

PrEROPHYLLUM FRAGILE, Newb.
Plate VI, figs. 6 and 68.

Plant apparently delicate and fragile; midrib of frond slender and weak; pinnules
oblong on the center of the frond, quadrangular above and below; summit squarely
truncated; base attached to the rachis by its entire width; nerves fine, straight, simple,
parallel.

The figure now given of the central part of the frond is taken from the only spe-
cimen which shows distinctly the nervation and other diagnostic characters of the
species. In this the midrib is very delicate, and the pinnules are given off at a right
angle. The other figure (6*), which represents the base of a frond, is taken from a
specimen which may belong to another species, as the nervation is nearly obliterated,
and the pinnules are given off at an acute angle. I have thought it probable, however,
that this latter peculiarity was simply due to their position near the base of the frond.
With this exception, there is no tangible difference. Should this be found to be a con-
stant feature, however, it would make it necessary to establish a new species on the
specimen represented in fig. 6.

Formation and locality —Triassic strata; Los Bronces, Sonora, Mexico.

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 145

PreEROPHYLLUM ROBUSTUM, Newb.
Plate VI, fig. 7.

Leat large, 6 inches or more in width; pinnz strap-shaped, 3 inches in length;
bases expanded and coalescing; summit truncated or abruptly rounded; nervation
delicate; nerves simple, parallel with the border of the pinne.

‘Two specimens of this singular plant are contained in the collection made by Mr.
Remond, both imperfect, but both exhibiting the same characters. ‘These are so pecul-
iar that, without the evidence of to specimens, I would have said we had here simply
a frond of Teniopteris torn into strips, with an-accidental but striking regularity. It
seems hardly probable, however, though not impossible, that we should find in this
small collection two fronds torn in precisely the same way. Besides this, the curvature
of the sides of the divisions, where they coalesce at the base, is almost too regular to
be the result of accident. They are also too uniform in width to be the effect of
mechanical force. I have thought best, therefore, to describe this provisionally as a
distinct species of Pterophyllum. |

Formation and locality — Triassic strata; Los Bronces, Sonora.

Pp ig moo we iY N r]
ODOZAMITES CRASSIFOLIA, ewb.

Plate VI, fig. 10.
!

Plant large and strong; pinne long-elliptical or spatulate in form, thick and
coriaceous; nervation strong, but somewhat obscured by the thickness of the paren-
chyma; nerves parallel with the border, converging at both extremities of the pinne;
a more distinct nerve traverses the central line.

Only detached pinnee of this plant are contained in the collection made by Mr.
Remond, but of these there are quite a number. By their large size and thickness,
they are greatly different from those of any species of Podozamites hitherto described,
and the distinct median nerve which they show presents a feature not common, if
even known, in this genus. It is, therefore, possible that more complete specimens
will show it to have characters which should be given generic value.

Formation and locality —Triassic strata; Los Bronces, Sonora.

ALETHOPTERIS WuitNney1, Newb.
Plate VII, figs. 1, 1%, 1.

Frond pinnate or bipinnate; pinnules of lower portion large, 2-3 inches long,
narrowed above, broad below; the lower half of the base attached to, and decurrent
on, the rachis; the upper half detached and subcordate; upper pinnules shorter, be-
coming at last elliptical and even orbicular; nervation crowded; midrib strong; lat-
eral nerves fine and numerous, given off at nearly a right angle, simple or once forked.

The specimens of this plant are too fragmentary and imperfect to permit a full
and complete description of it. Enough remains, however, to show that it was a
strongly-marked species, and one quite distinct from any before described from this
horizon. ‘That portion of the frond contained in the collection made by Mr. Remond

19SF

146 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE

gives the impression of a large and strong plant, much more like some species from _
the Coal-formation than any hitherto found in the Triassic or Jurassic rocks. ‘The
detachment of the upper half of the base of the pinnules from the rachis is a feature
so peculiar that it will serve to distinguish it ata glance. At first sight, this would
seem to be accidental; but each of the pinnules of the larger specimens contained in
the collection before us shows it to exist in precisely the same degree, so that we must
conclude it to be a constant character.

This species is named in honor of Prof. J. D. Whitney, to whom I am indebted
for the opportunity of examining the Triassic plants collected by Mr. Remond.

Formation and locality —Triassic strata; Los Bronces, Sonora (Mr. Remond),.

Campropreris Remonpi, Newb. ,

Plate VII, figs. 2, 2°.

Frond digito-pinnate or spirally discoid, from one to two feet m diameter, con-
‘sisting of twenty or more pinnz radiating from a common center, and extended in the
same plane. The longest pimne are one foot in length and one and one-half to two
inches wide in their central and broadest portions. By the lower fourth of their length
they are united; above they are free, lanceolate in outline, with margins obtusely
dentate or erenate. The central nerve of each pinna is strong and flat. From this
the secondary nerves spring at a subacute angle, curve gently upward at their extrem-
ities, and terminate in the crenations of the border. The tertiary nervation is very
delicate, filling all the spaces between the secondary nerves with a somewhat irregu-
lar polygonal reticulation.

This remarkable fern evidently belongs to the same genus with that figured by
Schimper in his Paléontologie Vegetale (plate xhi, fig. 4) under the name of Campe
topteris serrata, and it seems to me highly probable to the same genus as Goeppert’s
Thaumatopteris Munsteri. It is specifically, however, quite distinct from both of these ;
the fronds being larger, the pinne broader and united by a greater portion of their
length, and the dentition of the margins being shallower and more rounded. The
nervation of Camptopteris serrata is not given, but in our plant it is very distinctly
shown. It consists of a series of secondary nerves springing from the midrib at an
angle little less than a right angle. These are gently arched upward, and terminate
in the denticles of the border. The interval between them is filled with a polygonal
network of rounded or quadrangular meshes, inside of which is a finer network, hay-
ing the same general character, the meshes being four-, five-, or six-angled. This is
also the nervation of Thaumatopteris, and since one plant, as shown by its peculiar form
of frond, is generically identical with the typical species of Camptopteris, and its ner-
vation can hardly be distinguished from that of Thaumatopteris, it tends to link these
two genera together. I should also mention that on one of the specimens brought by
Mr. Remond from Sonora besides the expanded pinnze of Camptopteris, we have one
spirally folded precisely like that figured by Goeppert (Gattungen, plate 1, fig. 3).

The discovery of this plant in the coal-strata of Los Bronces is a matter of no.
little geological interest, as no species of Camptopteris had been before discovered on
this continent. It also adds to the strength of the evidence of the Triassic age of the

TO JUNCTION OF GRAND AND GREEN RIVERS. 147

Los Bronees coal, as the two species of Camptopteris—C. serrata and C. quercifolia—
are both from the’ Upper Trias of Bayreuth. |
~The collection of Mr. Remond contains a large number of specimens of Camp-
topteris, although these are very much broken up; two of the more complete are now
figured. These show the form of the radiate, almost peltate frond, the character of the
margins, and nervation of the pinnee,
Lormation and locality—Triassic strata; Los Bronces, Sonora, Mexico.

‘TANIOPTERIS ELEGANS, Newb.
Plate VII, fig. 1.

Frond broadly spatulate or elliptical in outline; median nerve prominent and
roughened; lateral nerves remarkably strong, uniform, parallel, simple, issuing from
the median nerve at an acute angle. ‘They are straight below, but near the summit
of the frond are gently arched upward.

This fern will be distinguished at a glance from any of its associates by its’
remarkably strong and clear nervation. Fragments only of the frond are contained
in the collection, so that we are unable to indicate its exact form; but the portions
seen lead to the inference that when complete it was broadly spatulate or elliptical.
Among all the great group of the Teniopteride, there is none, so far as I know, which
has a nervation so distinctly-marked and exact as this one.

Formation and locality.—Triassic beds of Los Bronces, Mexico.

‘TANIOPTERIS GLOSSOPTEROIDES, Newb.
Plate VIII, figs. 2, 28.

Frond simple, spatulate in outline, one foot or more in length, two inches in
width at the broadest part. The base is long-wedge-shaped. The median nerve is
very strong and smooth ; the lateral nerves relatively sparse and distinct, given off at
an acute angle, dividing near the base, and more or less inosculating above to form
elongated and irregular meshes.

In their general aspect, the fronds of this fern bear considerable resemblance to
Leniopteris marantacea, so common in the Trias of Europe; but in that species the frond
is supposed to be pinnate, while in this it is unquestionably simple. The nerves in
our plant are also finer and anastomose much more frequently. It seems to me, how-
ever, that we have not sufficient ground for separating these plants generically, and I,
therefore, for the present, consider them simply as distinct species of the same genus.
Of the figures now published, fig. 2 represents the summit of the frond: fio. 2* the base.

Formation and locality— Triassic strata of Los Bronces, Sonora, Mexico.

‘THNIOPTERIS MAGNIFOLIA, Rogers.
Plate VIII, figs. 3, 4.

This species is abundantly represented in the collection made at Los Bronces by
Mr. Remond, and is perhaps the most important connecting link between the Triassic
beds of Sonora and those of North Carolina and Virginia. It may be recognized at

148 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE, ETC.

once by the remarkably fine, uniform, parallel, simple veins given off at right angles
from the midrib. None of the specimens obtained in Sonora rival in size the huge
fronds obtained from the coal-beds of Richmond; but it is nevertheless the largest
Sonora species, and the largest specimens are fully equal to the average of those found
in Virginia.

There are in the collection of Mr. Remond many simple, narrow fronds, in which
the nervation is similar to that described above, and the only difference I can discover
between these and the larger ones is in the greater relative width of the rachis in the
narrow fronds. — It is frequently as broad as in the larger ones, and is seen to be scaled
or chatty toward the base. These narrow fronds are contracted in width, and are more
or less waved or rufiled. Possibly these may represent another species, but the differ-
ence between the two forms seems hardly sufficient to justify me in considering them
distinct.

JEANPAULIA RADIATA, Newb.
Plate VII, fig. 6.

Fronds radiating from a common center and apparently forming a whorl. Each
subdivision has a wedge-shaped outline and is several times dichotomously branched.
The lacinia are nearly straight, flat, and marked by continuous parallel veins.

Detached portions of this plant could hardly be distinguished from Jeanpaulia
Munsteriana, Ung., from the Rheetic beds of Bayreuth, as will be seen by the figure
now published. The subdivisions of the fronds, or perhaps the distinct fronds, are,
however, narrower and straighter than in that species.

A large number of specimens of this plant occur in Mr. Remond’s collection, and
some of them possibly represent the European species, being stronger and having
the sub-divisions more curved than in the specimen figured.

It will be regarded as an interesting fact that a well-marked species of Jeanpaulia
is found in the Triassic of Sonora, and I have also to add that I have in my hands
specimens which indicate the existence of another species of this genus, closely allied
to, if not identical with, J. Munsteriana iv. the Triassic coal-formation of China. They
were collected by Prof. R. Pumpelly. I have seen, too, a large and strong species,
perhaps new, from the coal-basin of Richmond, Va., whence it was brought by Pref.
D. S. Martin.

cA Page
P32) 1 tt eee ey (Spe a aen eSe a de 5
Abiquiu copper-mines ..---.------ 22250 cer cre eres 67
Panes ce oot ee oan ne eo ar eae eee 69
Acton intercalaris .....--------- -----+ sree eee 129
Alethopteris Mexicana, (Plate VI.)
San ites toe Saas Mp iemtone oe oy mene Pa 18
Whitneyi .----.------ ---+ e222 se eee 145
AOOISN sca we sie ice en bene See - eine wer ssi 98
Ammonites. .c-. ------ -«+- 38, 51, 52,77, 91, 99, 102, 107; 133
Anchura Newberryi..---- .----- --++ se++ teert ort 128
PATE ARS. ces Borie oa Sin Curae Som Bey Lyre! ned |
Annularia sphenophylloides ..---------- +--+ ------ 18
Anomia nitida ..... ...-e. ee eee ee ee ee nee eee eee 125
Aporrhais ...... 2... .---20 ee cones reeeee cone cores 99
Aquarius Mountains ....----.--+-+ +++ seer rereeee 55, 60
Araucaria excelsa..---. .---- ------ eee ee eee eee 49
Archwocidaris .--.-. ---- --22 <5 pene eet eee ce eeee 18, 21, 47
Arkansas basin ....---- ---- -----+ eens connor eens 25
Arroyo Seco ...--. --- 220 enone e coc ene seen cee eeee 69, 70
AOLAMOSIBO Seaton one demas ch er ee hee a 5
AGH YRIN = tases tna reees 19, 21, 43, 45, 46, 96, 98, 99, 138
Atrypha....-. 2-0-2 00- cn ee cece e cree ne eens eecene 60
IANETOUL Eee ca oe di a wa dnien amen Rie eee eee 2 47
TASRU TIS oe ak Ge Siew Fe nin ain mee a iets, mieeoeeeetaneeyel 19, 20, 47
Aztec Mountains. :2. <1. /-2-< ane ie ve mnne ee 60
B.
Raculikestes so osc ces esa Se aan eae ee eee 72, 99, 102

anceps. .-
‘Bad Lands” of the Missouri -.....----

Nobrankiey 2s 2 tiew ego See 27
POR ICEL ee Seams ss eee aes ee Bee ae 19, 20, 21, 47
PAN GORE Oe cx ob seks nove Sere ae era ae 26, 32, 52
Rostls. Wate soi 3o.0s04~ lace eades Wouee ome ea eae e vO
Bellerophon ...-.. .----+ ---- 22 eeeeee ene ee- 19, 20, 21, 47
PIRGRS Ac see cs OSCe Re een CLR ee ee 29, 57
Brachyphyllum ..---..----- .---++ ++ +22 eee ee eee 69
Patton Canon: COlOTaOO: stan! coeds ~ bas sae eee 69
west of Nacimiento Mountain..-.--.-.------- 112
NOAH SARADUSD MIVOl .cdeshocet dca at eee 103, 104

C.
WRUOTON See ian ae ee hs Sole bd Hl Soe mY eee 1
Galan sass. -< whe oh a rch Sas ee 45, 49
Camptopteris Remondi..-.-....---.- +---------- ++ 146
Givion: OF GQIand WIV OL vo so note Resi wat 5 sw seael ence 97
GIGOL DIOL 205 ce tek ok oe a oe eae 97
Oncaea wan 4 are pee mee ba We ad bs 6, 64, 109
TEAETUAdE Otome a5 5 pe a oeike Ulin Ae as at ea Salon p 90, 92
CECT nites «aA OER ott ies a ae HS Tie en nc eRe a
Caprotina bicornis....--...-.--------------++---- 126
Oat BODHOLOUR LOOKS) <© ree seeags sont s65 15, 18, 63, 97, 106

Page.

EN DODITSOPOUSGASION a ttsrns ane ay aaa ee der Soe 16, 22, 62
Anim h-obete. Sree ss ot ks ee 95

BUCA oe eee ce 16, 17, 19, 42, 46, 66

Gardinm bentMattiesess Sc). -ce pe yeaa een oe 128
ChES GOlGTAGO Sis. - Sasa Ens ae kes SES Rs on 92
CORTE EAE ORO artis ol hs whine ene oon, ace 3 9g
(GENO POdares. \viaee aes son cpa yee wae oe > seas 130
Ger REMVLOTITAIDS fos cao ee oy eek cote <hly cle nae oa OU MOe
CORTULORT TU NGBIOL- UROL icstieecsre hn gn <7 Sate R eae 40, 41
OBITO- OL INAY RIO = sets doen <n < osu ley DPC e esos 73
Cia TOLL aul OD tna toes wey Pata y Auk ee wees 24
OUAHN lee = oe Sete ee a ae ee 41

CRIN WS 2 aes isi eo oe hea oe

Chonetes ..

were tee eee tee

GIMETPOR POLYOL 52-4500 op ance

SI et GL

hin Sw cen SRN eee

CUTDSONRIG S ie seta tn oN ore Sk Se ORC 52
UR Y ee oan irk eed ae apse siete tant eik eee 19, 24
CG [eC Sieh see SPIE NG, UPL ae ly ee a a NS = 17, 39, 98
GOSI=p lan tsa KAnwEs: bore eos Seek. Oe ree iW:
Coal-Measiress Luin se Sass 522 eons Oat eee 17
SATIS Sos Sie, ci icbcs dag tw a eee 16, 17

DIBRO Is acisicid a ace 2a woh Rg ee Se 16

PIERLT YER Oman Spee ae see ny en a 46

fc} ny: prs oe of ee a Pe a ny Maen tes eS I 68
OCOPSITGH: HOU). WM Se os te tana Peis slats ata Bee 7
COlOTSO WEN OL ho. OU: scat hen Ree ee 53
DSBS: & reat. 5d kane es 53, 55, 83, 93

IR OR «Si eae ee igh aes Seems 37, 42, 53, 93
COICO te <2 Ls. or COR ee ak 56
MOMUALNE S.No ie SRE cme eh cps 59, 64, 84
WIAUOAU Ecce saw rota eto k Rok tes Seg 54, 60, 62, 94

LCR ROINOTNUG. da Gn k's dakinn dan 602 Ry keene he 27, 29, 81

Conifers, Abiquiu copper-mines.......

COBREEy OL TRAGIC ods to ny otry Sas Sateen kw Ra maingle 40
ADOT <8 wis wire y See hise nie eee amaeeenes 67

LAOS AW OITITIORE cats PAs oe eee a te ga 41

FROGS DRO UNURID Sle sin SSE one ne es 59
Seite: 120k. coor Sie. wee ee 37
COLLOTROd Gren bie otha cs 1 ny eal See oe 18
PRs Soin wn oC eee ee ewes ao wuiae 30, 31

Cordaiten aerucse occ th, (ce ee aan e 45
Grassatelis Shur ards ss. Secs... sass cae eee ae we oe 127
WLERGON, Wee e ee aes ee ee Ene eS 107
Cretaceous formation..........---. 22, 25, 50, 63, 75, 77, 110
UDP6L Seka 32, 50, 71, 84, 108, 121

DOWEL eakees sche 16, 24, 32, 50, 63, 121

Mid@e?l se eho 16, 32, 71, 121

LOCKS 4 ood. . oy ote cee hee ee SS

SANCSTONG "032 wee es ore ee ae ets, 23, 34

OUCH dds 5s 2 Ee eke cp wale ice Oey ae 66
Gy primetiarvcrasspes slo sss ends se Siive SB SSS 128

150 INDEX.
D. Page. Page.
Deltodus Mercure) «cv .tns yadten es cestiawa ays <o<5-< 137 TTON, MAINGWC nc - po 2 <n mn ake Sane ems 41
WaimMoek, O; T sade wens 260s Sw bate an habe ed ews nes 7 Gtrinos COLON: ue one rao h we SER Gee ee Seeman 40
Divide, High 1.25.2 6ce on nen cee ewe oe cone ee cnnete 78 Rodin MOM Gains. . ci cae ys... - sue Se aenunS 59
between Rio Grande and San Juan ..-..-..-- 74 G1d DIRGHincass ches taxety sbi SS aer 40
DOWSOS, MIs. nee seeboun sons p aan > + <stisemeer ses 7 Rye ne ester On ee RE een ne SAIS 19, 31
Dragoon Creek ..--.. .. 222+ eeecee cece cee eee eee 18, 19
TN <I AR eee RNE S. e R a 81 J
E Jeanpaulia Munsteriana ...---..----------------- 143
HUTT GLING hace ceaee ces serene pw sky aly peomaee 18 ee Wie ore ft-or sa Algae et 4G. 67 ps
Bighteen-Mile Ridge. .... 0... .----. e+ seeeee see 27 = Sr ee Soin igh ating “and teat ER ee
% ° URASAIGMOL MANO at wooo ee Oe 21, 28, 51, 69
El Vado de los Padres ...-.. ..- 2-2 es eene eee eee eee: 6 fossil 16. 22. 29
Enchanted Spring ..---. .----+ -----+ eee cee eee cee 30 es ree een at ee oe
Enos, Lieut. H. M.... 2.22. ee nn eee cee eee teen es 8 7
Sroded buttes.. ...--. -------- -- 2-8 ee eeee 92, 96, 97, 107 BA RENE Cate eos eo aeeeees 95
eae MONG GNLN< ios 40 5teene ecw ews rah eae ae 94 | NE Rees Se Se peeioe a salee 98
Erosion . OSLO RE ee 28, 32, 37, 50, 67,73, 112 | Lagiina de los Cavallos .......--.-.-5--2-------3 5,72
of Colorado platean.....-. +--+ -++--+ -----s oa DigiaS iON baer oe en ab ee es caine 123
Exogyra columbella ...--...----- +--+ -+--++++--+- 124 Re ae eet ee RE SRG aS 33, 99, 141
F. Las Orejas del Oso.. .. -.---- ERE S Toren ee 85, 103
PusloboOlit an ack asennad sh pemss wueee star -nbscn sane 51, 108 VOZaS. 2c n. eee teen caer ee tenes recens eens 34
Fisher, Fo Poin nav wei e core ew ccc es cet eceeces “ La Teonejal ..2.. 2... nn. cone sae eee cence e cane ce enes 92
Fissure, volcanic ...... ..---- ---- +202 tee eee eee 32 TGVSh Cai leeo teads ware pee e see ceepesPioat = aI ge 38
iaN7e Lay ich Te dS caaelg ip ee Pas ca ea, Se ee PI ee 72,73 B11 RA RRA ON een ae epee i sera ne mt 37, 39, 41
Usted © eat 30 wits cae eG a plane rae Nay nN eRe eg 34 TSBU tale cle ioen sere oun. varie ek yale alae ae eS 19
Fossil plants ..-.. -..--..----+ +--+ 222+ +2 29, 32, 83, 69 Leplaodendron soos. ciao s cae emcee rn owany wees tes 46
Fossils, Carboniferous ...--..---------+- ---++++++- 18, 19 URES cose Sine caneas 5 Snowy kn 2 PU RARSE SANS Ra Mae PAT 22
Oretacdouss-+2---:.-- SS Se Pee 32, 33 PET OA LAN Ciena ee prea See deel peal See 26, 33
PIPORSIO 020% KRADISAG Shwe Hae jn esmaee seus 29 PMANIIGD sc outs ces oop see rien 16
a eet ee 19, 47 DIAS ORIBNS aes see ca ean nes 19, 21, 22
ener tea ee ee uh inn nas nam kara woes ween sas 18 TTGRODNS acc accas nck en eel 28
G. TR ZERUS oe scre Gods wae sss ok ce Sean wes sea pete ane 90
Bae ie wns 2b Cee ae es rn ar gt 38, 51 Tlano Pistacado:: 2 -.<-.--< --6esv sec esmeenencdece 48, 51
BENE Se SR Rae hee ee Sind ace 38, 48 TSOB CONONGR enc. tie 2S gure wee. to ne ar ae emaaioun 69
Agllinas wMouMtnine oes 2-2 SSo°.4 OSs SS Ac, sea 34 Cerrillos ...--. .--- tr nt 5 eee eRe 41
Mia PerOL GU aMEAM BUTT Senko ae goes) tigen oe onoe news 12) Lower Colorado Mountains. .....--- .---++-++++--+: 5
itht-of-Galisteo Oreck: xia ssecs u So dseseeswn-<. 09,40 Permian formation ....--...----+ +--+ -++++- 20
TOS GSLNOh co sons ano aware wee . SAL M.
Placer Mountains ..-..--.------ karst ae 39
Rocky Mountains .....----. ----------+- 59 | Manzanita ....-.-----.+---++ 222-2 eee e eee eee 74
ES ES a Ce CERES ee 37 MRT 2 hoe vee pen eee emia Cee one seem 21, 32, 112
CONN TARE V RT let a earcns alt cammasscebin ne * 96 | variegated ee ohne Be Ss Fe ree ew sine sae es 43
fa en AS RRO SS ae PEE Eee 27, 81 Marnés Inisees. 22s 2 eee eee Pee wae 22
SC. oh ee cee pees toe saree ares 37 | McNee’s Creek. .----- So nn sagind tread ra tana 31
Great Central Plateau ..--....-- 0. --.--- 0-22 eee 30, 50 Meek, I. B.....----. ---- +0 + e222 eee eee ee eee 119
TPap tee y Ole as pee ba A Sones Law a eve vie = oe 97 Mesa ...- ..---- .- 22-2 eee eee eee ee cece eee ee eee 30, 48
Rg AO SS CES 22 above the Chama......200eee2s000-e22e-es 69
Gryphea Pitcheri....---..--- 33, 51, 52, 71, 88, 99, 104, 115 broken. ...--- .2-- 222 eee eee cee e cee e eee cee 73
Guajelotes. .- .-nc~ ceeene seen ne eons coon ee eee eee 90 FLU sus Swot S ae coer anode Sateba anes wenn 73
Ciakt of Miatiotin nce Boteaccwbd ts = sn Saas toe . 24 ret WIS ion see wei eee oe Saw = 68 103
Gypsum formation. ..---...---. ---+---++--- 21, 47, 49, 92 VOrd6..- osc ei nome ee ans. Ody tupsikuy 207
its parallelism. ........-.------ 21 Mesas of Navajo and San Juan......---..----- 63, 64, 103
oe Hu Mines, COpper -.-.-4. 2-5 see nee ones seen teens reese 67
: - BON - ces sce se sem cee cone anes eens ween. 40
‘ Halymenites ween ee cee ee teens tee cent reece eens a pe ES ae een ae eee 41
High Divide em aa Ae pe CE ie Ba RIND RE EE : Mogollon Mountains........---.---..--------- 55, 57, 58
High Prairie. .---.------+----++ s+erre cece cers eee ec Be A pene oe agen er RE 19, 21, 46
AF Mormon Spring... . .0 2-2 one ncewee ses ee scene sank 99
Indian ornaments.....--------- ----------++-+---: 41 Mountains drained by Animas........---...-....- 81
PTO GOL OTL US seb tena te etn 51, 52, 77, 87; 99, 107 BE OUS rE ARGIOE SE a once pen treat dag eee ae nt 55, 114
Crispi . .-- <<. cadtenenameenaes seeces 33 Marchisonia. ....-. 2. - 0-2 eee ee cen eee cence eee 19, 47
fragilis.--.. .- 2-22 sacs weesey see --< 83, 72, 127 Mnschelktalk ..5 02 sien saswimens nce --00-<nenge-=* 22
problematicus .. .--- 33, 52, 71, 72, 108, 115, 127 Myalina. ..2<-. -onccnee sans scceurecsccwewss 19, 21, 47, 98

INDEX.

N. Page.
Nacimiento Mountain........ 7, 37, 56, 67, 102, 109, 112, 114
NGAUS 2 cee ca 19, 45, 51, 77, 99
N&VAO-S pre sso. aos beck oe 71
NGG OREO on SES peeenay Sng J hte Sr ia Os 103, 107
RBM: HP OPDONA ssn2 bos ariete de ietaeens So ow oo 97
Neuro ptenibgtlOcUu0da>.. snakes, .eeb Gattis ae Z 18
TAPSU Ge ooh a os vas ak ee 18
Vd Te) diva a 0 eo ence ee re ee 1,7, 9,135
O.
Ojo deb Cuerbo .. 2. cece sees wc nee cee ee reese 90
Ry RO ans oss bales A eee te mers va Berane sesas 5,93
Clos HeEHiOnd0s 2.2 2.5 co wens 2 0 ots eee ane B80 86
RPE THROU ign. no. NAR WERE A aw bs «ona ge Se nak yo AS 39, 40
3 Yai i See 2ieca ts ep an Sly raves c= NN ee (prey Ae om” 22
Opeias UGE!) OB... 25 keel coc n sn} eseewe vaeeree=-s 85, 103
ORE arg ves aus sau cea Sh Ge cans WMP eaR oe ta genhe 45
STILT er tas esis Pe 8 carn ig -* c's Gm RAED 21, 43, 45,98
Ostrea congesta ....--..-.----------. 33; 72,77, 87,99; 118
Gromantu la. oo. Clann onto anes we ae Bs 33
MIE DEIA: ~ a 0's hoe wcalne= ta << eS sane 52, 77; 107, 123
BGOLHE ca ee eee ot See he See hee us 124
PTET occas soca et ove ses vente ees 69, 141, 142
Macomilese- eee evan. sp eae ere eem 141
OSes one te ene = os ae nn eae 33, 141
PR.
Pachyphyllum...-.. .-...- +--+ see eee eee ee eee eee 69
Pagosa... 2-2 cee reece eee eee nee renee cee eee 5,74, 77
PAlYSS1S 52.5 oc ceee tebe baw eee co sane saeeee a4 69
PRWNGS-1 OL Kae eae ake 8 «Soe pee hae 22
Pecopteris arborescens .... .....----------+++2---- 18, 49
DPiliahltitesces Sacks Is = hrc need ee ene 143
PRECISE paige ST na < we areas ep ot cle 144
Maxighnar we ess. ere eee 143
Stutgardtensis ........... Pn aye ER 69
PO008 satin ne oa eet ee kan sa ate ee a 49
Permo-carboniferous group. .-.-.- .--+-- ---- «----- 20
Pfeiffer, Albert H ..2-.2.2-... ---.-- 2-24 -6-45, 67, 68, 69
PICAMe ALAC S cote ete oe es en oe wean 77
Piscean Mountaine sce ete han SS ae eee 38
Plateau west of Rocky Mountains ..--...-..-.------ 54
Plateaus bordering Cafion Largo ....-..---------- 109
Platycoras .... 2... - ceceee cece ee cence e cee ee ences 45
Pleurophorous.... .- 2. Sees eee eres 19, 20, 47
PIGULOCOMALIY ooo -< eee ee Si oo etna ae elas oes 938, 140
PLGA Prey OD GLIG. oc sc eee Ss an eer enn arte 126
POUOTeMUSeS OLAssUOUAR==<—- sss. aka ness Coen 145
Pope's Well... 225 sn ce tae ad cubes scemnas estas 51
HaASY CAE VN. onan io a oeranuntanne « 35M 26, 27, 41, 52, 76, 77, 81
Prioncyclus Macombii..... ----...-------------- 132, 133
CE Tire GL Vet if) 12a api one Mi Fe a2 19, 21, 43, 45, 46, 58, 98, 99, 140
ERROR Pee cnn are pe et lynde aie ww gk eon ¥
Q.

CRMs owece con ty Jangna bees >> sarees egeens 26, 27, 37, 41
QUeCIrCUS see SoS. Se aw he ace awn r carmes voeeee 99
Xi
RED DH AAI~DULLON 6 aaa ase ees a: Caen err 31
Raiiiiatielisen wee 2 ae ee am ena nas 3 - Sen ea wa ae 40
Ratone MOUntTOIIS Snape prec eo oe wb vom niw ecw ae as eere 25, 28
Red Deis aise. § vermin dao peace acco sn Sear 47,56
ROOF OLE OL- GANA Ish seen wa Seo ene ons temees 31, 32

EEO EE ener ks 5 Nin SRR ee i a 89
POTATO LATION veg ac piv aoe lame SA Stet Wee ene Lak 43
TLE G GUO Get acetates Salm ecay 5 Seni the te Nig me 21, 45
Aer eSNG ae hk wd bi Soa gees ALANA OR GIR Or OPEN a 81
ROR RIT nS 2 o's! mics ee ge A ca eA 35
AE GRS. Shen ates bo Sy Be 8 ete PS a 79
BES Fests Pat Saas eeas spp oan Pe ea 86
PROMINOr eas EO’. atte. 4s cee EA ae wes 79
ETRY Olea tea ED 3 wees su ses > mip tea 5)
IN ON On Seg eee sey 2 Sag a Moo a ein mivetbee aie baeore wes:
PORT ne ea soa ea ne ae ees Ree ee te 77,78
PUBOADS GO eR ne Sas awe Sioa ne ats wn 74, 76
5 RHA fe) SLOTS ist Rs SE 5 eae wn) ean ah to eee ed 37
ieee fbestipe pra ba ciate cl emigre ens eae OT a 77
DYHPDIROOIOLOG. oxo - 2:0 = Sun Siew ae har ey 68, 90, 92
Rocky Mountain system ..-..----. Popeye cree 55
Mountains, time of elevation of the.-....... 57
PERLITE EN LS ore ae ee EIR Soe 69
DeaatnG CXDOM fans coats nee n eke Sts 95
Te MET) WV OV = oa pecownc bew wen wl bos eae 109
PROTO LID OS as po wn See at eS 80
WOIGIGN soc = <> 22> an eae eee is 88
Ss.

SERED OE yao aoe aor a nr ee peg es Set Se 67, 83, 85, 89
PSUIOTONS STON wees coc. « i taxeendn sae acee dae aca 48
PRU EOK ee eee aes Tp wee eS eW Et 24, 31, 32, 87, 99
DAN CIS NIONNUAIN 2s. cs - wane eory ew n'-Syalveeesp ons 56, 77
DAN GaN Unies Sse en Seo pe aac ane mein ws oa oo ee 27
DBANURUONO aie erscue «cy a aa eee oe 24, 26, 33
Dan han GIsGO LOM DEhINS . oo =. xaemerite sagen ten00, OU
Ist Datin Nia 124 heat ills «ipa Sona ae een ay ee 5, 74, 75, 101, 106
Nao Oe EY Ole me = cap ka nw werd dork eumwe ay es 106
SOPRA ORCA Wises aoa fiir Roe Eminent weiss 7
Sar pists Se scg eo oon cane bees en eeee 55, 56, 60
Soni Oxteimaess cays. .t ~~ wap pee gene peo nen 5, 34, 36
POOLED Lakin pina snes Seal one mee oO ae 36, 37
NR GUALS: OF nv iai nn alate pee See LTS - 38, 39
RI GUPORILIS «wb ans oxwras ocr eee ete 37, 38, 56, 65
MEO M OMNI GIT Usiiern cdc 55 ss bs Aae a eR ale 118
DALCOD RUA bor at towne. wee or Sane ary a open aa we 90
MANNIE DONG eatin ots vei ecg teee, wap way seeeey 91
BOMBA AL aMID EE aici. aan ni eaenet ale we - 42; 121
SCUL acc memes fo oak cK eR Ee ee ooo oe 28, 52
Section of rocks at breaks of Red River......---..- os)

buttes west of Nacimiento
Mountain sos eu cs aden seers 112
Cation COlonado 2S oa8 ces et 95
PINCRIO . eta aoe sama 91
THOATD Orewa. eta oe 111
Chin p 34 2s. yor aces ett ee 104
Captain Pope’s Well ........-- 52
Cedar Spunee eae cenekuee 30
Cerro-Gotd os ier sae ke anes 46
ColoradG-Visllevccteceace.. woe. 99
Cliffs at Moqui villages........ 105
OPORTO Skeet — se te 3 < wn wee 108
crossing of Arkansas... ....-. 27
Enchanted Spring.-...-. reas 29
gorge of Santa Fé River....-.- 45
Labyrinthsbredic.ce< +9. .2-. 5 98
Middle Spring of Cimarron .... 28
PAW OG Ol hina trehtw a seh y eee 24

152

Page.

Section of rocks at Rio Dolores.... ........---.-.- 86

DANUA Og 208 8 oo oe ten ae cae 43

SET AR Ie: (Regie gk ah aeeepeenee eo Sw 48

in the Valley of the Chama....... 71

Pecos, feck 48

STOREASA DE] Oger sero Siete eke. ORE 6, 55, 62, 90, 100

GIG TION SI ITION tee & ons eke teas Cea eee 76, 79, 80

CG ar Pkt cgi i ee ee ca 5, 56, 76, 80, 82, 84, 88

GD: NPY Sah cate eit oan» SE FE en wim ick SOO 73, %6, 77

ALAN TSTY AVL Te eeteangy git SOPON t ag eel Nate Rec 3 Oe 66

ERS Re ee ets Fe 55, 62, 85, 88, 80, 93

LAR oss Sane at oie spi ones Sues hee a 55

NEBROTO accra See ane og eee Se eae oe 56, 62

PENTA eres ess a BA is Re eS 75, 76

PRIA TS UO so oo ecagit pau RO TS 5 eee 56, 88, 90

SRUGAIIO sons acne ae Saye Ee is en eae 55, 62

Bip saeMGU ancl: 4. een Seat ie te ue eR 18

PU GUIEtEE GDU ri"... es Sakon. Ae RSE RS = Sie ee 38, 110

Silver of Los Cerrillos .......... Nahi aar ts HOk nS sos 41

SY Gy ui are CES 2a eee cre 81, 82

PROCHAV MOTI SeI DN <a ieee a ce ee ace 59

SUNT bd De i isa dl Ne gs A, Oy eee 37

RORICEEICULT, Wl DPI ne xa Apc, US eae weve w ce acges - 6

ME Pidlirk 14 in Set lathe Sues ou wb gp anys Jeo mice 90

BSIOR VELL ODES ee wine en Sg ES 22

CRC ES Rg ote CRs wn Cu wmatesn wae 24

SPST AED UG Lak 2 See, Seep res | Stage ees see 6

BPSHOPL VEU OODUATONN 250. cca coy cerns = Gamera 18

PID DL Olnate pelle need bso deems 43, 45, 46, 60, 96, 98, 99, 138, 139

DICH wcarciewn> wed eons eethenidn ap ovanansieuee 88
a.

Table-lands skirting Rocky Mountains........---. 34

DUCSU i Gniieeies ihren oi. 4 1 es henten soeewes 69

GISTOEE. hws al Spay Stat iain gd van neon SAE

SADRBGDVOLUIUOS so 55-25 wan x one bas «eens 147

PERERA DEEN han Bese Wel alan nes dette 6 weber 147

Tertiary basin of the Arkansas.............-...-. 24

LORSUIB 0505 omnia eer. 5 oy ae eae, 25

strata . a Sk A OY 0s COV AUT Os 00; OF; OF

ist Famer CEs ass oe oe keke Nek aha ‘A116

|

fo)

INDEX.

TRBUINSEAREOIIG 0. chwtewn and id seer suet ase 146
Tierra Blanca. ... =... See Si initw Paes bee 90
1) ES a SPR aN he TA) nN ea sen sete Sree ee ee Lie
EES <a. ets Oe sD wi heed Pe OPAL ee 27, 31, 73, 77, 31
plateaus Re Lie Ren bg Ca herek 34, 117
buttes and mesas near Raton Mountains... .-. 31
SUTRAS ORLO RY ISULOD So ina cee eee eee 47, 63, 81, 102
rocks of Lower San Juan.-2 2... ...225.2.. 103
RUUIMTIEOL Oe aoe wet. a aKa een tay eae Ook aie 41
U.
Union one seen) ag ant peters oe Phe male <> chee vi
MED DOL MO OLOLEG O's S15 oaks wig ee eae ee ey oe Su ee 53
SPOUT COL DI AGLO Qin oe Le ee n> an oe 20
magnesian limestone. s- sons. .a~. eee 21
Va
VEO atlaltli ain fet Sonne ites wae Sa ee ee 8 fy
Vet teats 53. ceo. Sus rec’ core veg eo eae se be 7
Valdez, Noponooino .-. . 20 cine saeweavecd ies vecewe an 5
AVNER NG. OS 2c. es ee Sena 2 Uc oneiere aN car be ae 118
Vaile vr Ofte AM AS 3 o> .nicag wee ceasuew oie ats 76, 80, 81
ADIATIBUS doco irrer owas. oP ced oie oe 22, 28
Wanaclanice=so2 «1 cadtugenwoske sean 32, 34
Cimiarron....--. ee Rte nicely Pcwlgt ie 28, 30
Drttle=Colorad0 mee ee ee 63
EBC OH nna Sec a ein Ae ch a ea 48
View from High Divide...--- Se Dito Seen ee AE 78
of country bordering San Juan.......-.....-. 103
VolGaniG, ROUlORs saepese. noe com ewe 25, 31, 34, 38, 52, 60, 61, 62
Vi Lai te ene PAY carer SOS os oe ae gi wh ee pe ee 49, 69
Wa
Walohineeo. ts~-< oo Pa oe on ees 48, 49
WAI OLee Rees beats} Sacks ee A see eet ae Via
WVGBNGO DIMOU INURL cae Pee coe 5 we er a cea 55, 60
SW SUGL-BUD PLY ces dees Cw Oe w Uw cian Sa a ee aes
Z.
HiaMites:-OCCcldentalis, coc ss Lhe ake aero eet ne 142

Ira,

Tia.

Fria.

Fia.

Fig.

FIG,

Ira,

ria.

er ALT 1.

1, OSTREA LUGUBRIS..............- ar eee eer ee atareutewons Sots. ee Bilas oa SE Ss Soke
la. Under valve attached to a piece of rock, and showing the inside, with the muscular impression.

1b. Outside view of an upper valve of same.

le. Outside view of an under valve, showing the sear of attachment, which is unusually small.

1d. Inside view of another specimen.

ee EON EL rar ire cig aa teen | SR hsp e< Ste oe oe ore eer jun awe epotetotta
2a. Inside view of an under valve.

2b. Outside of same.

2¢. Lateral view of same.

3, EXOGYRA COLUMBELLA .........-. eee oh mec inte s ene ret ree Nc ea eee a el Sed ac a we
3a. Outside of under valve, from a wax cast taken in a mould left in the matrix.

3b. An internal cast of an under valye.

3e, Side view of same.

3d. An internal cast left in the rock, of the inside of the upper valve.

4, ANOMIA NITIDA ...... .... Es a Ae ie peer. 2 reg eng ae pt ae a a Nee enn :
4a. View of an upper valve, with only a portion of the shell attached to the cast.
4b, An outline side view of the same.

OMe TS APEVARTS. ov... ete nee: Syed oes. yee fe oc ve Ce eae Meee
5a. An internal cast of the under valve.

5b. Outside of the upper valve.

5c, A side view of same.

6. INGOBRASIUS SRAGIEG.... 2... .. . . ee cea ee 6 ae ee cogent ;
7. CAPROTINA BICORNIS ..... 9 Ae mo aa Sd Ne pace oe aie ee atte le ee ee lg Ss ash oe oan
7a. A view of one of the valves.

7b. The two valves together.

Ae OEE A, 9. ORRABA ccis Senet Seneca 4 hci Soc yloe ae men ee SMEs err ane oa Sie s DEE

8a. Outside of a right valve.

8b, An internal cast of the same valve, showing the muscular and pallial impressions and a cast of the
hinge.

8c. Hinge of the right valve.

8d. An anterior view.

Page.
123

124

124

126

128

CRETACEOUS

FOSSILS.

4

TY. Sinclair & Son. lith. Phila.

Fia.

iG,

lia.

lia.

lia.

Fra,

Fig.

Tia.

coded BS, BS 5) a Bi

1, BACULITES ANCEPS?.......--- Denes oxkn os ae Mane el Sing Sar ree
la. Side view.

1b, An antisiphonal view.

le. A section of same.

1d. A septum of same.

le. A more slender, less compressed individual, with rounded nodes instead of transverse costie.

1/. An antisiphonal view of same.

1g. An enlarged septum of the same.

1h. Transverse section of the same.

2, BACULITES ANCEPS, after D’Orbigny, for comparison

2a. Transverse section.

2b. A septum.

She RLU CAR EN EA INOS ma «ie MENS cba, RL Artes pce Clot oy kee Re Gan kee XE Celeb ea een
3a. Side view.

3b. An antisiphonal view.

3c. A septum of the same, enlarged.

3d, An antisipbonal view of a very smali specimen,

Meu ORMON INTHROMTARIO o 42202. yovusdessi-- scree ne ee ee ee ee
da. View showing the aperture, which is imperfect in the specimen figured.

4b. A back view of the same specimen.

4e. Surface-striw, enlarged.

5. ANCHURA? NEWBERRYI.......... PSs < kee a ee OM ee Sew or eta Sue one mace ee eee ee ee

6, CARDIOM BELLULUM..........0.... =a Se Pee Ser SPU eer ns wa Se Onc We Fev SSE eae ee Saw pees
6a. Side view.

6b, Anterior view (the left valve being restored).

7. CRASSATELLA SHUMARDI....... jdacceael tenn. Te eae x Sseuy Poa, Wl keas in ao eae EE Yor Ae mane
7a. View of a specimen, with the lower part of the valves imperfect.

7 b. Cardinal view of the same.

~

7¢e, An internal cast of a larger specimen.
8, AN UNDETERMINED BIVALVE, from the same rock as fig.

~
de

132

129

PALALONTOLOGY of CRETACEOUS FOSSILS.

Capt. Macombs Expls.

FB. Meek.del. T. Sinclair & Son. ith.

i
P Le Ane aod,
Page.
Fig. 1, Deltodus Mercurii, Newb., upper surface... .. a a ats Rees ow eed eaten e ls hee Pes" 107
la. zs a Newb., side view .....-.-- gow CB aecee oes SUES 7G Set cede. jas tear eee 137

Coal-Measures, Santa Fé, N. Mex.
137

IG, 2. Ptychodus Whipple, Marcou, upper surface .........-.. Sees Be sitet Ba Shier ala tiow's Rip ce ae eerie
2a. ¥ Marcon, side view ............ Pee pe Se mite A ~ Si tine Sal Pe Oe ee Pe ea oy a eee YS
2b. 2% bs Marcon, anterior fabOvea...s 2 eseeneet ee ek ay ere eS 2 tan See > gee EV
2c-2F. 7 Marcou, side and front view of small teeth .....- es fo bin wo shay dd See ES 137

Middle Cretaceous, Pagosa, Southwestern Colorado.

Fic. 3. Productus rodosus, Newb., ventral valve.............-..----- ate ok mn ete ee Sits 0s PkeS eee See - IAU
3a. a: Newhb., side view : ..i 7.2.65. OG, Soe eae fc ee pend astee Se Rema or JAD
3h, 3c.“ . Newb., specimen with narrow hinge. .....................--. shia cia: = Sateen neces, 140
3d. we . Newb., specimen with broad bing6 dav notes vec. Seeecbuk «.. oe » Noses Le ee eee & 140

Coal- Measures, Santa Fé, N. Mex.

Pig. 4. Pleurotomaria excelsa, New)., side view ......---. 2. -- A = aa gt Ae ee AOE OY ae A EP: owe wee tt AAG

4a. ~. A Nowb., basal aspoot sossceees coe ax Pipe S Pee LOR eRWE ea sak So hae ee seen? ta AU
Carboniferous strata, Canon of Colorado River, Southeastern Utah.

Ita. 5, Spirifer Teranns, Meek, side view, natural size.........-....-.. pte Wicas eat eA ee wepetrens” » ASO
5a, A dorsal view of same specimen, showing cardinal area and foramen..........-..ecceeseeececeeeee.cee 139
ob, A ventral view of a larger specimen, showing the deep angular mesial sinus.......... Ses +. Soe peas 189

CARBONIFEROUS & CRETACEOUS FOSSILS.

MATAOV ~£
) ry of
Wl Ol

LUI

T. Sinclaix

Po Adee. V2

I ta, 1,2. Olozamites Macombii, Newb., Copper-mines, near Abiquiu, N. Mex...... ..---.- ee eee cee eee cee eee cee ee :
» | 3,4. Branch of conifer, Copper-mines, near Abiquiu, N. Mex....... ..- 20+ ceende oon coon cee cece ees cece wees
y 4. Branch of conifer (Brachyphyllum ?), Copper-mines, near Abiquin, N. Mex ..-.... OS ee ee eS

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate IV.

T. Sinclair & Son. lith. Phila.

P Ls Aa ee

“ENG: 1, Ys Zamhtes dovidentalic, Newl...... ....-+ .-.-<+ .sdepiuas SOMONE as ade dap -od os ce 142
la. - 4 Newb., pinnw enlarged, Upper Trias, Copper mines, Abiquiu, N. Moxus. b> > sess 142
3. Olozamites Macombii, Newb., Upper Trias, Copper-mines, Abiquinja, Mek... ....5.... .225 cee lil
4. Branch of conifer (Pachyphyllum ?), Upper Trias, Copper-mines, A biquitg i, Mex, seul tos -.. ce,os-... 69
o. Cone of conifer (Pachyphyllum?), Upper Trias, Copper-mines, Abiquiu, NARUC. soo: s+. ge eee eens 69

Capt. J.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah. Plate VY.

I a A Was VY

Page.

VFI. 1. Peoomers. bullets, Donbourie- .<.. gigas ty - aa eechetye.. .--+-- in, ig ewe pe De oY ae ya

la, 5, « Bunbury, pinnules with sori, Trias, Los Bronoes, Sonora......-- 2... 2-2. see eee eee eee - 143

fo Qamlethopteris Metioana, Now Ds ~ «oi... mieeee ee we oe ee hig os 2 So 3 ie ne Ee eee Rs 143

2a. : Newb., pinna bearing fruit, Los Bronces, Sonor@ ......,2-.-. .2..-.----6---- dine 143

|, 3. Pecopteris falcatus, Emmons, in fruit, Los Bronces, Sonora ..-....--- teeageceecee scenes ee SS Rey ae 144
~ 4. Frond of undetermined fern in fruit, Los Bronces, Sonora ......-.-. Bens S's dee us ae _ BONS A

V5. Otozamites Macombii, Newhb., Los Broncés, Sonolda: yen. >. -.'<--~ laa eee es Be Pog A a's wg es E: ]

1/6, 6a. Pterophyllum delicatulum, Newb., Los Bronces, Sonora........... 2.2. -.-2 seeeee eee eeee mee eee an te 144

yi. Pterophyllum robustum, Newb., Los Bronces, Sonora.........-------.s-++-- 7 Se Sa Bias tt. Sasa HRD
(8. Podozamites crassifolia, Newb., Los Bronces, Sonora........ .-.--.----o-----eeee Se! Rae, - ae pe

y 9 Branch of conifer (Pachyphyllum?), Copper-mines, Abiquiu, N. Mex............2222.22220- cece cone Coca 69

( 10. Branch of conifer ( Palyssia ?), Los Bronces, Sonora........ .- bate a OIG eet MMe as vacuo ws ogo *. 145

Plate V1.

Capl a Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah.

| in EE gear Deis parr ee
— a a>

foes T' V Ad.

Fic. 1. Alethopteris Whitneyi, Newb., upper portion of frond.
la. aN ‘ Lower portion of frond......-..

1b. + 4 Summit-of frond, Los Bronces, Sonora .<....: ... cee eee ee cco

2. Camptopteris Remondi, Newb., central portion of frond

Qa. : Portion of pinna, showing nervation, Los Bronces, Sonora

Se

i na

es

Capt _JuJ.N.Macomb, Exp. in New Mexico & Utah.

Cele

Saar

i

RR

PisASw V Lid

Tage.
PRG. Tanieptemaetegais, New):, Los _Bronees, Sonora sasase ects ee.ces. 2bes0c She ae ses pe eetunbeeoe cs. woeaaeeax 147
y 2} 2. Laon rera.g ossap terordes, INOW D:s08, BLONCER HONOLD..ce. s- ..-2 2a)s oe See as Sees owe once sos meats oy ea
Doueiionerismaonty oud, ogers,’ bos Broncespmonoismesas cad. ~- -..0.. 2a tds ce enee ees soon oan ke 147
ha VERMA ay WRG OLUS VAI: t, 1708 DIONCGS, SeMOMNe capi Ne Ge ls yh awe bus Sues cepaweeh bash ake vs Bas wes e 147

j ) \fentoptens sp7, in fruit; summit of frond, Los Brontves, Sonora..-. .... .. 2225... .~ 252. dae nd aces anus oe
Va 6) Jeanpaulia radiata, Newhb., Los Bronces, Sonora.........-.-..--- ead wan eg i a ae eee Re a 142

Plate VII.

ixp. in New Mexico & Utah.

Capt. J.N.Macomb, E

Son. ith. Philo.

Sinclair &*

”
t