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Classification of Rocks-Quatenary Formation-Tertiary-Cretaceous-Carboniferous - Devonian -Silurian-Azoic-Economic Geology-Coal-Iron-Lead-Copper-Zinc-Building Stone

-Marble -Gypsum-Lime-Clays-Paints-Springs-Water Power.

The stratified rocks of Missouri, as classified and treated of by Prof. G. C. Swallow, belong to the following divisions: I. Quatenary; II. Tertiary; III. Cretaceous; IV. Carboniferous; V. Devonian; VI. Silurian, VII. Azoic.

"The Quatenary formations, are the most recent, and the most valuable to

man: valuable, because they can be more readily utilized.

St. Louis city and county separated in 1877. Population for 1876 not given.

† Inc uding 92 Chinese, 2 half Chinese, and 96 Indians and half-breeds.

The Quatenary formation in Missouri, embraces the Alluvium, 30 feet thick; Bottom Prairie, 30 feet thick; Bluff, 200 feet thick; and Drift, 155 feet thick. The latest deposits are those which constitute the Alluvium, and includes the soils, pebbles and sand, clays, vegetable mold, bog, iron ore, marls, etc.

The Alluvium deposits, cover an area, within the limits of Missouri, of more than four millions acres of land, which are not surpassed for fertility by any region of country on the globe.

The Bluff Prairie formation is confined to the low lands, which are washed by the two great rivers which course our eastern and western boundaries, and while it is only about half as extensive as the Alluvial, it is equally as rich and productive.

"The Bluff formation," says Prof. Swallow, "rests upon the ridges and river bluffs, and descends along their slopes to the lowest valleys, the formation capping all the Bluffs of the Missouri from Fort Union to its mouth, and those of the Mississippi from Dubuque to the mouth of the Ohio. It forms the upper stratum beneath the soil of all the high lands, both timber and prairies, of all the counties north of the Osage and Missouri, and also St. Louis, and the Mississippi counties on the south.

Its greatest development is in the counties on the Missouri River from the Towa line to Boonville. In some localities it is 200 feet thick. At St. Joseph it is 140 at Boonville 100; and at St. Louis, in St. George's quarry, and the Big Mourd, it is about 50 feet; while its greatest observed thickness in Marion county was only 30 feet."

The Drift formation is that which lies beneath the Bluff formation, having, as Prof. Swallow informs us, three distinct deposits, to-wit: "Altered Drift, which are strata of sand and pebbles, seen in the banks of the Missouri, in the northwestern portion of the state.

The Boulder formation is a heterogeneous stratum of sand, gravel and boulder, and water-worn fragments of the older rocks.

Boulder Clay is a bed of bluish or brown sandy clay, through which pebbles are scattered in greater or less abundance. In some localities in northern

Missouri, this formation assumes a pure white, pipe-clay color.

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The Tertiary formation is made up of clays, shales, iron ores, sandstone, and sands, scattered along the bluffs, and edges of the bottoms, reaching from Commerce, Scott county, to Stoddard, and south to the Chalk Bluffs in Arkansas.

The Cretaceous formation lies beneath the Tertiary, and is composed of variegated sandstone, bluish-brown sandy slate, whitish-brown impure sandstone, fine white clay mingled with spotted flint, purple, red and blue clays, all being in the aggregate, 158 feet in thickness. There are no fossils in these rocks, and

nothing by which their age may be told.

The Carboniferous system includes the Upper Carboniferous or coalmeasures, and the Lower Carboniferous or Mountain limestone. The coalmeasures are made up of numerous strata of sandstones, limestones, shales, clays, marls, spathic iron ores, and coals.

The Carboniferous formation, including coal-measures and the beds of iron, embrace an area in Missouri of 27,000 square miles. The varieties of coal found in the State are the common bituminous and cannal coals, and they exist in quantities inexhaustible. The fact that these coal measures are full of fossils, which are always confined to the coal measures, enables the geologist to point them out, and the coal beds contained in them.

The rocks of the Lower Carboniferous formation are varied in color, and are quarried in many different parts of the State, being extensively utilized for building and other purposes.

Among the Lower Carboniferous rocks is found the Upper Archimedes Limestone, 200 feet; Ferruginous Sandstone, 195 feet; Middle Archimedes, 50

feet; St. Louis Limestone, 250 feet; Oölitic Limestone, 25 feet; Lower Archimedes Limestone, 350 feet; and Encrinital Limestone, 500 feet. These limestones generally contain fossils.

The Ferruginous limestone is soft when quarried, but becomes hard and durable after exposure. It contains large quantities of iron, and is found skirting the eastern coal measures from the mouth of the Des Moines to McDonald county. The St. Louis limestone is of various hues and tints, and very hard. It is found in Clark, Lewis and St. Louis counties.

The Lower Archimedes limestone includes partly the lead bearing rocks of Southwestern Missouri.

The Encrinital limestone is the most extensive of the divisions of Carboniferous limestone, and is made up of brown, buff, gray and white. In these strata are found the remains of corals and mollusks. This formation extends from Marion county to Greene county. The Devonian system contains: Chemung Group, Hamilton Group, Onondaga limestone and Oriskany sandstone. The rocks of the Devonian system are found in Marion, Ralls, Pike, Callaway, Saline and St. Genevieve counties.

The Chemung Group has three formations, Chouteau limestone, 85 feet; Vermicular sandstone and shales, 75 feet; Lithographic limestone, 125 feet.

The Chouteau limestone is in two divisions, when fully developed, and when first quarried is soft. It is not only good for building purposes but makes an excellent cement.

The Vermicular sandstone and shales are usually buff or yellowish brown, and perforated with pores.

The Lithographic limestone is a pure, fine, compact, evenly-textured limestone. Its color varies from light drab to buff and blue. It is called "pot met. al," because under the hammer it gives a sharp, ringing sound. It has but few fossils.

The Hamilton Group is made up of some 40 feet of blue shales, and 170 feet of crystalline limestone.

Onondaga limestone is usually a coarse, gray or buff crystalline, thick-bedded and cherty limestone. No formation in Missouri presents such variable and wide ly different lithological characters as the Onondaga.

The Oriskany sandstone is a light, gray limestone.

Of the Upper Silurian series there are the following formations: Lower Helderburg, 350 feet; Niagara Group, 200 feet; Cape Girardeau limestone, 60 feet. The Lower Helderberg is made up of buff, gray and reddish cherty and argillaceous limestone.

Niagara Group. The upper part of this group consists of red, yellow and ashcolored shales, with compact limestones, variegated with bands and nodules of chert.

The Cape Girardeau limestone, on the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, is a compact, bluish-gray, brittle limestone, with smooth fractures in layers from two to six inches in thickness, with argillaceous partings. These strata contain a great many fossils.

The Lower Silurian has the following ten formations, to-wit: Hudson River Group, 220 feet; Trenton limestone, 360 feet; Black River and Bird's Eye limestone, 175 feet; first Magnesian limestone, 200 feet; Saccharoidal sandstone, 125 feet; second Magnesian limestone, 250 feet; second sandstone, 115 feet; third Magnesian limestone, 350 feet; third sandstone, 60 feet; fourth Magnesian limestone, 350 feet.

Hudson River Group:-There are three formations which Prof. Swallow refers to in this group. These formations are found in the bluff above and below Louisiana; on the Grassy a few miles northwest of Louisiana, and in Ralls, Pike, Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve Counties.

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