Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-12-09
Second Lecture on Geology by Maj. Jed
H0tchkfss.

On last Saturday night, Major Hotchkfss de-
| livered in the Auditorium OF the Young Mems
| Christian Association building the second OF
| the series of lectures on Geology which he has
kindly agreed to deliver free of cost to all who
may avail themselves of the opportunity to be
| instructed upon that Interesting and faacinat-
| ing science. For the benefit of those present
on this occasion who were not when the first
| lecture was delivered, he briefly repeated
| portion of that lecture. showing how the first
three strata were formed as numbered by Prof
| William B. Rogers who first discovered the
order in which they were formed-No. l. Pots-
dam Sandstone; No. 2. The Limestone of this
Valley; and No. 3. slate and shale. He then
gave No. 4. which Is a sandstone which forms.
what he termed, the cornices of our mountains
being very hard 1t has not been washed
away.
No. s, is set Of sand rocks, a chapter IN the
great book o! nature with many parts. These
are called by some biologists the Clinton rocks.
There Is iron. ore In them. with the fossil i'm
pressions of the nummulites, round and fiat
like a nickel. and about that size. They are
numerous.
No. g., called the Heidelburg,ls that In which
marble, with the fossils of encrinites-stoue-
lilies-is found. as lat CraigsvlIle in this coun
ty.
No. is what Is known Oraniskay sand.
stone. The sand is yellow. like an inferior
quality of sugar. This has been disintegrated
and re lace by iron-ore such as that found at
Clifton Forge. 1t exists in great quantities 1t
is marked with fossil shells shaped like the
hooi Of horse.
No. s is slate, and is black, making the i'm.
preston on many that it contains coal. but
such is not the fact. and to seek for coal in No.
Is labor lost. In this county at some places
one neighbor will say his land is rich and an
other that his is poor. The former is where
No. comes to the surface, and the latter Nos.
At this period the oceans and seas were
abundantly supplied with fish. They swarm
ed with them and formed the great storehouse
of Oil and gas with which our houses are now
cheaply lighted. Here he had a good word to
say in behalf of the Standard Oil Company
which furnishes the world with cheap oil. The
hour having expired, he closed. 1t seemed a
short hour.
THIRD GEOLOGICAL LECTURE.
As the auditorium of the Y. NJ CA, building
will be occupied on Saturday night. Mel.
Hotchkis delivered his third lecture on geology
last Digit in which he gave the series of forma-
tions from No. to No.2O up to the era in which
we live. Nos. s and 8 make a group by them
selves known as the Devonian rocks. No.
makes our poor valleys. and is three miles in
thickness in some places as along the Allegha-
ny mountains. IT was at this time that the
sea brought for tn fish abundantly which made
the great reservoir of oil and gas. No. 9. This
is found on Elliott's Knob, now called Mt.
Rogers. in this county in which you can see the
red and green Devonshire states,
No. 10 was the age of plants, called the car
boniferous era. We have first the sub-carbon-
in xuhi yUa
plants, and hence not SO much coal as in the
true carboniferous era, and at this period the
coal of the Dora Coal Mines of this county was
formed. 1t is in pockets and not In sufficient
quantities TO make it profitable to mine. This
growth was in a. marsh. Then the waters
again covered the earth, and this was No. IL
when the Greenbrier Limestone was formed.
Then a great mass of mud which formed the
enormous mass of colored.rocks on New Riv-
er. This formed a depository for salt which at
Saltville is 500 feet thick. A sandstone caps
No. IL and ends the sub-carboniferous forma-
lions. Then we come to the true carbonifer-
oas embracing Nos. IL. 3D. IA, Is. and l6.
No. IL is sand rock upon which the plants
grew. Then fire clays, and brown stone on
top as at the Falls of the Kanawha.
In this formation is the semi bituminous
coal, which we burn here and call New River
coal. AS you so further West there is more
bitumen and less carbon In thescoal.
In No. ID is sand rock which is called the |
Flint Ledge.
No. IA. Sand rock of a softer character, and |
forms what is known as the barrens.
No. Is contains the Pittsburg coal and EN-.
braces an area OF many thousand square miles
and is free of shale.
No. l6 was the time when by the shrinkage
of the earth in theprocess of cooling the st rata
were turned up and thrown into folds.
Then came II and 1S-the Tertiary period.
and then the quarternary, the last that is now