Part I. Report of progress in 1869, by J. S. Newberry, chief geologist. Part II. Report of progress in the second district, by E. B. Andrews, assist. geologist. Part III. Report on geology of Montgomery County, by Edward Orton, assist. geologist.

66
was made by Capt. Jas. Patterson, of Rockville, who takes an intelligent
interest in all such matters, from this slate, at Fairview, Kentucky, a little
below Rockville. Through the generosity of Capt. P. I obtained some
fine specimens this summer at Rockville. They are yet to be studied and
described. This black slate in the Waverly is said to be a fish-bed
throughout its entire extent through the State.
The conditions under which this slate was formed must have been very
similar to those existing when the great Black Slate was deposited, viz.,
quiet water and a commingling with the sediments of a vast amount of
minute organic matter. No trace of bitumen is elsewhere seen in any
other part of this great formation.
This Waverly Black Slate is evidently a very wide-spread stratum. It
is not only found extending through the Waverly formation to the north,
but it evidently accompanies the Waverly rocks in their dip under the
coal measures. I have little doubt that the deep oil wells in the West
Virginia uplift pass through it. While this uplift is located in the
center of the great coal basin, it brings to the surface the strata of the
lowest part of the productive coal measures. At Burning Spring, Wirt
county, West Virginia, the lowest seam of coal is brought up. Below this
coal the oil producers begin to bore. No true conglomerate is found, but
the sandstone and shales of the Waverly are considerably thickened, as
we should expect in going from Ohio eastward. All the wells, so far as,
I can learn, which are sunk to the requisite depth, pass through from 15
to 20 feet of "black slate," which I cannot doubt is the black slate of the
Waverly. I give a section of a well bored at Burning Spring, by A. B.
McFarland, Esq., an intelligent citizen of Parkersburg. (See Fig. 1.)
Over the black slate we find, on the Ohio river, 1 ft. 7 in. of compact
blue clay, upon which rest 3 ft. 9 in. of blue and drab shales impeifectly
laminated. Then comes the famous stratum of sandstone called the
*: city ledge." It was first quarried nearly forty years ago by the late
John Loughery, Esq., and the same stratum is still very largely quarried
by Messrs. T. L. Caden & Bro., Mueller, Adams, Flagg, and others, in
vicinity of Rockville and Buena Vista, on the Ohio river. Near Rockville the stratum is 3 ft. 5 in. thick. The same "city ledge" on W. J.
Flagg's land is 4 ft. 6 in., and at another place 3 ft. 11 in. At the latter
place there is an under layer 2 feet thick, separated by 3k inches of blue
sandy shale. Here the lower layer is quarried. On Upper Twin creek
the same stratum is found, although it is not here wrought. One-fourth
of a mile east of Stony Run, 3] miles below Portsmouth, the equivalent
of the city ledge is quarried. Here are three layers, measuring 1 ft. 9 in.,
1 ft. 9 in., and 2 ft. 10 in., separated by thin layers of shale 3 inches thick.
It is a fortunate fact that everywhere the rock over the city ledge is a
comparatively soft shale. This greatly facilitates the work of stripping
off the superincumbent material. These overlying clay shales afford a