The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-01-24
THE STORY OF THE ROCKS.


MAI. HoTcHKIss ON THE GEOLOGY OF
VIRGINIA - TWO HOURS ENTERTAIN
MENT AND INSTRUCTION.
If any one had been disposed to doubt
/ the popularity in Staunton Of scientific lee.
| lures he should haze been present at the
Y. NJ. G. A. room last Thursday night
Upon the shortest notice, and with MIR.
Scharf's ever popular reading going on in the
same house, an audience which entirely
| filled the room, and which in intelligence
and appreciation would have made up fol
the deficiency had it's number been less than
half as great, assembled to hear the second
| lecture of Maj. ] ed Hotchkiss upon that pro-
! life snbiect-Virginia.
This time he spoke of the geology" of the
State-read, as he said, the 'Story of the
Rocks, - from the stony rages OF the great
volume OF nature, the preface to which
reaches back into that far prehistoric period
of which the rocky records alone are left us
! But the tale they tell is of wondrous inter-
est, and its language cannot be misnnder-
stood.
Time was. when from the vast ocean, the
| first dry land OF Virginia made its appear.
ancc. II was that country between tic
western base of the Blue Ridge and the
eastern side of the Middle country at
| the head OF tide; its borders were the
shores OF the ocean cast and west. And SO
| Middle, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge Virginia
are the oldest portion OF the State-thc pri
mary region. The second formed land was
the great valley. broad belt OF scacoast
along the shores of subsidi;:g ocean, where
corals were abundant, making it limestone
region. Successfully the other sections OF
the State come forth, the last being the
Tidewater where the remains Of plants and
animals found in the rocks and the soils do
not differ greatly from the plants and ami
mails now living-they belong to the same
families. The beds of mineral substances
there found are rarely converted into real
rocks, but lie rs beds of sand. gravel, clay,
&C., much the same as when they were de-
posted in shallow waters by the ocean ard
inllowing rivers.
The geological formations ale thirteen in
nnmber-rangng from the primary granite
to the aluvium now forming on the eastern
shore. These succeeded each other in reg
ular order, but the convulsive upheavals
of nature have tossed them into great waves,
as if for the greater convenience of man.
The Valley is the region of cambrian and
Lower Silurian rocks-a country MAIN
y of limestone, slate and shaie. And vet
she is rich in the value and variety Of
her treasures. Gaping the mountains
on either side is the white sandstone :;
while between them are the priceless ores !;
the beautiful coral marble, where the stone
lilies are found, and fossils and shells
without number. And here, too, are val
liable beds of, semi-anthractc coal, but
when nature made these she was but an APP
prentice at the business. Her masterpiece
in this line is found in the great Appala
chan coal-field--one Of the most remarka
Bile in the world for the mum Der, thickness,
quality and variety of its seams of bitumi-
nous coal.
1t would be impossible to do justice to
Maj. l1otckiss' lecture in the space. at our
disposal. There could be but one objection
raised to it, and that was that it contained
too much information. Not that the icfor-
nation was not presented in the most at
tractive and impressive manner, but it
was poured on too fast to be taken in,
and was of such quality that one wanted it
all. Children ana grey headed men were
alike interested, ard at no time during the
hour and half or two hgrs of delivery did
the lecturer fail to claim the closest atten-
ton.
We understand that an effort is being
made to induce Maj. IIotchkiss to deliver a
series Of eight or ten lectures upon scien-
tifc subjects connected with the State. We
know of nothing which would prove more
pleasant and profitable to our citizens, or
in which they would take greater interest.
1t would certainly be an agreeable way of
spending these long winter evenings.