The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1908-07-30
Ell PaSO Vas Once at Bottom of Sea; Site
Covered With Water.

OUtSICu Will WdlEI.
That Ell Paso and vicinity, now in
the center of an arid region several
hundred miles across, was once be-
meath the ocean, is borne out by the
evidences on all hands. This fact is
undisputed, for geological maps show
that the Gulf of Mexico at Une time
covered all of this region and that
the Organ, Franklin, Sacramento
and other mountains in this region
are new compared to the mountains
in other parts of the country.
The proof that this region was once
an ocean bed is found on all sides and
the surrounding country offers I'M
usual opportunities for biologists in
their studies. An afternoons walk
in the vicinity of the city will bring
forth some striking proofs that the
ocean once covered the country there
abouts and that it was not always
dry and mountainous. 1t is evident,
too, that the ocean was shifted by an
earthquake and volcanic upheaval,
for the strata of earth were twisted
in the upheaval and still show the
great disturbance to which the re-
gion was subjected.
Even on the topmost crags of
silent old Mount Franklin which over
looks the city and is now over 1000
feet above the sea level, there are
evidences of the one time presence
of the sea. Huge shells, embedded
in the slatelike rock, bones of fish,
fOssilized and preserved in excellent
condition, and other evidences are
plentiful. Only this week d Herald
man on a trip up Mount Franklin
found several very fine specimens of
fish bone preserved in this petrified
form and he was able to break off
one piece, a fine specimen, although
short, and bring it down. The speci-
men was foot long before it was
broken.
Fern prints are also visible on
many of these immense stones, and
shells of all sorts, found nowhere ex-
cept in the sea, are as numerous in
these stones as the Mexican dagger
plants of the present are on the sur
face.
For these revelations if for no
other reason, d trip up Mt. Franklin
by person of studious mine is very
interesting but no less interesting is
a trip west of the city TO the tunnel
on the Southwestern railroad. At
the east end of the tunnel the rail-
road company had to make a very
= deep cut and on the banks of this cut
the layers of rock, as gradually de-
posted in mud form by the ocean,
are very plain, and the stratas are
torn and twisted, many standing al
) most on end. Many shells of differ,
) ent varieties are also found scattered
through this shale-like stone, much
) of which is hard enough to bear writ.
ing on, some of it impregnated with
: excellent specimens of sheet mica,
but the shells are not as large as
those found in the still harder stones
on the sides and top of Mt. Franklin,
! higher up.
All the shells are, however, unques-
tionably from the sea and no of them
belong to any dry land species, but
the formation in which they are
found is itself enough to satisfy the
observer that it is an ocean deposit
and not the mere accumula tiOn OF
centuries in a desert country.
However, science no longer requires
) these evidences to prove that the sea
once covered this section, and they
are merely interesting studies in the
: chain of evidence that has ALREADY
connected this region with the bed
of the Gulf of Mexico of long ago
They are proofs that even the
am teur can find and it is interest.
ing and instructive to hunt for them
They lend an additional charm to the
study of the history and geology OF
this section of the country.