History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II, Part 52

Author: Pacific States Publishing Co. 4n; Anderson, George B
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles : Pacific States Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 680


USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 52


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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February 6, 1882, the El Paso & White Oaks Railroad Company was incorporated, with these incorporators: I. F. Herlow, J. A. Miller, S. H. Newman. B. H. Davis, Charles Davis, J. F. Harrison, N. B. Laughlin and D. M. Easton. Capital stock, $2,000,000; $144,000 was then reported as subscribed. Road to run from White Oaks, Lincoln county, passing north of Carizo Peak to Carizozo Springs; thence southerly, passing Sierra Blanca, to Tularosa: thence east of the White Sands to a point about twenty miles northeast of El Paso, a distance of 144 miles.


A complete list of the various railroad companies, including those now in operation, follows :


Created by special act of legislature: Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company, chartered January 24. 1857 ; amount of capital stock or life of


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RAILROADS


charter not given. Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona & California Railroad and Telegraph Company, chartered December 30, 1863, with $50,000 capital stock. New Mexican Railway Company, chartered February 2, 1860 ; capital stock, $500,000.


These roads chartered under the general incorporation laws, with the place of business, dates of the filing of their certificates and capital stock, were :


Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway Company, Hueco, March 24, 1898, $75,000.


Alamogordo Street Railway and Land Company, Alamogordo, April 1I, 1903, $50,000. Albuquerque, Copper City and Colorado Railroad Company, Albuquerque, Sep- tember 5, 1883, $1,000,000.


Albuquerque Eastern Railway Company, Albuquerque, July 22, 1901, $2,000.000.


Albuquerque Electric Street Railroad Company, Albuquerque, April 25, 1891, +90,000.


Albuquerque Railway and Improvement Company, Albuquerque, May 14, 1880. $5.000.


Albuquerque Street Railway Company, Albuquerque, June 13, 1896, $50,000. Albuquerque Traction Company, Albuquerque, August 25, 1903, $250,000.


Arizona and Colorado Railroad Company of New Mexico, Gallup, October 6, 1904. $5.000,000.


Arizona Eastern Railway Company of New Mexico, Lordsburg, October 6, 1904. $1,000,000.


Arizona and New Mexico Railway Company, Lordsburg, August 1, 1883, $1,500,000. Arkansas Valley and Cimarron Railway Company. Cimarron, November 12, 1872, $2.500,000.


Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company (Kansas) Santa Fe. February 11, 1859. $1.500,000.


Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway Company (Kansas) Las Vegas, De- cember 12, 1895, $233.486,000.


Atlantic and Pacific Extension of the Albuquerque Street Railroad Company, Albuquerque. January 1I, 1881. $5,000.


Brazos Valley Land and Railway Construction Company, Las Vegas, November 22, 1880. $500,000.


California Short Line Railway of New Mexico, Las Cruces. December 16, 1902, $1,250,000.


Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (California), Deming, August 8, 1881. $8.500,000.


Cerillos Coal Railroad Company. Santa Fe. Januarv 9, 1892, $2,500,000.


Cerrillos and Southern Railway Company. Santa Fe, January 7. 1882. $60,000.


Chicago, Rock Island and Choctaw Railway Company. Alamogordo, January 26, 1903. $1.500,000.


Chicago, Rock Island and El Paso Railway Company, Alamogordo, December 18. 1900, $7.500.000.


Chihuahua Eastern Railway Company, Albuquerque, February 2, 1892, $1,500,000. Chihuahua and Sierra Madra Railway Company, Deming, February 22, 1889, $8,000,000.


Clifton and Lordsburg Railway Company, Lordsburg, February 17, 1900, $500,000. Cimarron River and Taos Valley Railway Company, Raton, November 5, 1904. $1,000,000.


Cororodo, Columbus and Mexican Railroad Company, Deming, February 15.


1905. $5.000,000.


Cochiti and Northwestern Railway Company, Thornton, March 24, 1900, $1,500,- 000.


Colorado and Southern Railway Company (Colorado), Clayton, December 19, 1898, $48,000,000.


Columbus, New Mexico and Chicago Railway Company, Columbus, February 23, 1893. $5,000,000.


Columbus and Northern Railway Company, Columbus, March 14, 1899, $525,000.


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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO


Dawson Railway Company, Alamogordo, July 13. 1901, $3.000,000.


Deming and Clifton Railroad Company, Silver City, January 23. 1883, $2,500,000. Deming, Sierra Madra and Pacific Railroad Company, Deming, October 21 .. 1887, $1,000,000.


Deming and Utah Railway Company, Deming, January 5, 1892, $3,000,000.


Denver and New Orleans Railroad Company (Colorado), Las Vegas. January 25, 1881, $15,000,000.


Denver and New Orleans Railway Company, Springer. December 22, 1881, $1,200,000.


Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company, Santa Fe, November 28, 1870, $2.500,000.


Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company (Colorado), Santa Fe, April 13. 1871, $2,500,000.


Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company (Colorado). Santa Fé, February 8, 1878. $2.500,000.


Same Company (New Mexico). February 8. 1878, $1,000,000.


Same Company (Colorado), Chama, July 14. 1886, $73.500,000.


Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad Company (Colorado), Las Vegas, April 12, 1887. $30,000,000.


Denver, Texas and Gulf Railroad Company (Colorado), Las Vegas, May 29, 1885. $15.000,000.


Durango, Albuquerque and Gulf Railway Company, Albuquerque, December 12, 1904. $6,000,000.


Durango Southern Railroad Company of New Mexico, Santa Fe, June 2. 1883, $1,500,000.


Eastern Railway Company of New Mexico. Las Vegas, October 30, 1902. $9,625,000.


El Paso and Durango Railroad Company, Santa Fé, December 13, 1904. $800,000. El Paso and New Mexico Railroad Company, Mesilla, October 14. 1882, $18,000.


El Paso and Northeastern Railway Company. Santa Fe. October 21, 1897, $2.700,000.


El Paso, Pecos Valley and Eastern Railway Company, Roswell, October 24. 1900, $7.811,500.


El Paso and Rio Grande Railroad and Telegraph Company, Santa Fé, November 18. 1871, $50,000.000.


El Paso and Rock Island Railway Company, Alamogordo, December 11, 1900, $2.500,000.


El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company (Arizona). (formerly South- western Railroad Company of Arizona), Deming, October 19. 1900, $7,000,000.


El Paso, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and Telegraph Company of New Mexico, Las Cruces, October 6. 1885. $1.800,000.


El Paso and White Oaks Railroad Company of New Mexico. Las Cruces, Feb- ruary 2. 1882. $2,000,000.


El Paso and White Oaks Railway Company, White Oaks, September 16. 1897, $2,600,000.


Gulf. Albuquerque and Northwestern Railroad Company, Albuquerque, Novem- ber 5. 1886, $15.000,000.


Gulf. Brazos Valley and Pacific Railway. Las Vegas, January 31, 1890, $10.000.000. Gulf, Rio Grande and Pacific Railway and Construction Company, Deming, July 13, 1896, $6,500,000.


Hanover Railroad Company, Santa Fé, May 1, 1899. $70,000.


Jemez Valley Hot Springs Railroad Company. Santa Fe, January 6. 1881, $300,000.


Kansas City. El Paso and Mexican Railroad Company of New Mexico, Las Cruces. June 19, 1888, $2,800,000.


Kansas, Texas and Mexican Railway Company (Kansas), Lawrence. Kas., Jan- mary 27, 1888. $50,000,000.


Lake Valley Railroad Company, Santa Fé, September 25, 1882, $600,000.


Las Cruces and Organs Railroad Company, Las Cruces, April 5. 1890, $300,000.


Las Vegas Belt Line Street Railway Company. Las Vegas, April 13, 1882, $100,000.


Las Vegas and Gulf Railroad Company, Las Vegas, October 19, 1882, $4.000,000.


Las Vegas and Hot Springs Electric Railway, Light and Power Company, Las Vegas, May 2, 1901, $350,000.


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RAILROADS


Las Vegas and Hot Springs Street Railroad Company, Las Vegas, August II, 1880, $50,000.


Las Vegas Street Railway Company, Las Vegas, December 20, 1880, $100,000. Lordsburg and Clifton Railroad Company, Santa Fé, July 24, 1882, $1,400,000.


Lordsburg and Hachita Railroad' Company, Lordsburg, August 8, 1901, $500,000.


Las Vegas Railway and Power Company, Las Vegas, September 13, 1905, $200,000.


Las Vegas, Mora and Taos Railway Company, Las Vegas, January 5, 1898, $1,700,000.


Lordsburg and Pyramid Railroad Company, Lordsburg, May 28, 1906, $60,000. Maxwell Land Grant and Railway Company, Cimarron, May 12, 1870, $5,000,000.


Mesilla Valley, White Oaks and Eastern Railway Company, Las Cruces, Feb- ruary II, 1888, $5,000,000.


Mexican Northern Pacific Railway Company, Limited, Deming, July 5, 1892, $1,000,000.


Mexican Pacific Railway Company, Deming, February 24, 1891, $1,000,000.


Mexican Southern Railway Company (formerly Mexican and Guatemala Coloni- zation and Railway Company), Santa Fé, $10,000,000.


Mississippi, Albuquerque and Inter-Ocean Railway Company, Albuquerque, De- cember 28, 1881, $35,000,000.


Mississippi Valley and Pacific Railroad Company, Santa Fé, November 1, 1869, $40,000,000.


New Mexican Railroad Company, Santa Fé, January 16, 1882, $37,000,000.


New Mexico Central Railroad Company, Santa Fé, January 15, 1872, $10,000,000.


New Mexico Central and Southern Railway Company, Socorro, May 9, 1881, $7,500,000.


New Mexico, Chihuahua and Southern Railroad Company, Santa Fé, February 26, 1880, $1,800,000.


New Mexico and Colorado Grand Trunk Railway, Santa Fe, February 21, 1872, $12,000,000.


New Mexico and Gulf Railway Company, Santa Fé, February 21, 1872, $20,000,000. New Mexico Midland Railway Company, Santa Fe, June 11, 1904, $500,000.


New Mexico Northern Railway Company, Albuquerque, December 1, 1902, $1,000,000.


New Mexico and Pacific Railroad Company, Raton, September 29, 1902, $1.750,000. New Mexico Railroad Development and Land Company, Las Vegas, January 7, 1897, $5,000,000.


New Mexico Railway and Coal Company (New Jersey), White Oaks, May 5, 1897, $4,000,000.


New Mexico Railway Company. Santa Fé, December 24, 1877, $10,000,000.


New Mexico and Southern Pacific Railroad Company, Santa Fe, February 6, 1878, $9,500,000.


New Mexico and Western Railroad Company, Las Vegas, April 5, 1897, $2,500,000. New Mexico and Western Railway Company, Maxwell City, December 9, 1895, $2,500,000.


Northern New Mexico and Gulf Railway Company, El Rito, September 21, 1905, $300,000.


Organ Mountain Railroad Company, Las Cruces, January 30, 1882, $400,000. Pecos Railway Construction and Land Company (Colorado), Carlsbad, April 2, 1897, $100,000.


$6,324,000.


Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railroad Company, Carlsbad, June 14, 1897,


Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railroad Company, Carlsbad, June 14, 1897,


$6,324,000.


Pecos Valley Railway Company (Consolidation of Pecos Valley Railroad Com- pany and Pecos Northern Railroad Company), Albuquerque, August 27, 1890, $8,000,000.


Ralston City and Gila River Railroad Company, Las Cruces, July 5, 1870, $1,500,- 000.


Rio del Norte and Santa Fé Railroad Company, Fernando de Taos, March 13, 1872, $2,000,000.


Rio Grande and Cochiti Railway Company (formerly Santa Fé and Cochiti Rail- way Company), Santa Fé, May 2, 1895, $250,000.


Vol. II. 25


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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO


Raton Gas and Railway Company, Raton, November 11, 1894, $100,000.


Rio Grande Valley Electric Railway Company, Las Cruces, March 4, 1905, $1,000,000.


Rio Grande and Hot Springs Street Rail Road Company, Socorro, September 17, 1883, $25,000. Rio Grande, Mexico and Pacific Railroad Extension Company, Santa Fé, April 18, 1881, $1,000,000.


Rio Grande, Mexico and Pacific Railroad Company, Santa Fé, June 19, 1880, $20,000,000.


Same Company, Santa Fé, April 18, 1881, $20,000,000.


Rio Grande and Pagosa Springs Railroad Company in New Mexico, Rio Arriba County, February 4, 1895, $25,000.


Rio Grande Railroad and Telegraph Company, Santa Fé, February 1, 1870, $20,000,000.


Rio Grande, Silver City and Western Railroad Company, Silver City, June 13, 1881, $500,000.


Rio Grande and Santa Fé Railroad Company, Santa Fé, July 1, 1895, $375,000. Rio Grande and Southwestern Railroad Company, Lumberton, February 23, 1903, $150,000.


Rio Grande and Utah Railway Company, Santa Fé. January 25, 1888, $4,500,000. St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Railroad Company, Raton,


1905.


San Antonio and Carthage Railway Company, Socorro, June 1, 1904, $140,000.


San Antonio and Eastern Railway Company, San Antonio, June 8, 1904, $240,000.


Santa Fé Central Railway Company (formerly Santa Fé, Albuquerque and Pacific Railroad Company), Santa Fé, December 7, 1900, $2,500,000.


Santa Fé and Denver Railroad Company, Santa Fé, May 4, 1880, $250,000.


Santa Fé and Mexican Pacific Railway Company (formerly International Grant Trunk Railway Company), Santa Fé, March 3, 1883, $25,000,000.


Santa Fé Railroad Company, Santa Fé, July 8, 1881, $30,000.


Santa Fé Railway Company, Santa Fé, October 6, 1900, $250,000.


Santa Fé and San Juan Railroad Company, Santa Fé, August 14, 1876, $500,000. Santa Fé Southern Railway Company, Santa Fé, January 24, 1889, $1,200,000.


Santa Fé Street Railroad Company, Santa Fe, August 6, 1881, $25,000.


Santa Fé Street Railway Company Santa Fe, July 23, 1886 $40,000.


Silver City, Deming and Pacific Railroad Company, Silver City, March 23, 1882, $10,000,000.


Silver City and Northern Railroad Company, Silver City, March 13, 1891, $100,000. Silver City, Pinos Altos and Mogollon Railroad Company, Silver City, August 24, 1889, $300,000.


Silver City and Pinos Altos Railroad Company, Silver City. April 3, 1888, $100,000. Silver City Railroad and Telegraph Company, Santa Fe, November 7, 1872, $2,000,000.


Santa Rita Railroad Company, Santa Fé, December 24, 1897, $50,000.


St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Railroad Company, Raton, February 25, 1905, $2,250,000.


St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Railway Company, Raton, June 26, 1905, $3,500,000.


Santa Fé, Raton and Eastern Railroad Company, Raton, February 9, 1905, $300,- 000.


Sloan, San Felipe and Western Railway Company, Santa Fé, December 19, 1903. $250,000.


Socorro Railroad Company, Socorro, December 6, 1881, $75,000.


Socorro Street Railway Company, Socorro, June II, 1881, $50,000.


Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua Railway and Development Company (California), Graham, November 16, 1899, $1,250,000.


Southern Pacific Railroad Company (California), Deming, March 10, 1902, $1 59.455,000.


Southern Pacific Railroad Company of New Mexico, Santa Fé, April 14, 1879, $10,000,000.


Southwestern Lumber and Railway Company (formerly United States Land and Colonization Company), Fort Bascom. August 28. 1875. $1.300,000.


Southwestern Railroad of New Mexico, Deming, May 21, 1901, $2,000,000.


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RAILROADS


Torrance, Roswell and Gulf Railway Company, Albuquerque, December 30, 1904, $2,500,000.


Texas, Santa Fé and Northern Railroad Company, Santa Fé, December 10, 1880, $12,000,000. Trinidad and Rocky Mountain Railroad Company (Colorado), Raton, Decem- ber 11, 1888, $3,000,000.


Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway Company (Colorado), Folsom, April 1, 1890, $36,000,000.


United States Central Railway Company, Cimarron, July 14, 1871, $10,000,000.


United States Railroad Development and Land Company, Mora, December 2, 1895, $1,000,000.


White Oaks and Kansas City Railway Company, Santa Fe, January 19, 1898, $4,000,000. Western Pacific Railroad Company (California), San Francisco, August 8, 1881, $5,400,000.


Zuni Mountain Railway Company., Albuquerque, August 29, 1891, $1,000,000.


The total number of railroads chartered to transact business in New Mexico, including those which had previously been incorporated in an- other state or territory, has been one hundred and fifty-four, and the sum total of the authorized capital stock of all these corporations was $1,218,- 234,000.


A corporation styled "The New Mexico Telegraph Company" was authorized by act of the legislature in 1867. The incorporators named in the charter were Theodore Adams, Thomas Wilson, Lucien Scott, John D. Perry, Miguel E. Pino, Francisco Perea. Charles B. Morehead, Jr., Miguel A. Otero, Thomas Carney, Ambrosio Armijo and their associates. The company was organized for the purpose of "buying, building, owning and operating a telegraph line from some point within a state or territory lying east of the Rocky mountains to Santa Fé and such other points as the said company may desire." This was the first telegraph company chartered in New Mexico. It was permitted to have a capital stock of $2,000,000. The act was repealed January 18, 1868.


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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO


A BRIEF GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO.


BY W. G. TIGHT, PH. D., UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, ALBUQUERQUE.


In presenting a brief geological history of New Mexico in such terms that those who have not had special technical geological training may understand this history, through which the Territory has passed, it seems necessary to give a few fundamental facts of general geology as a basis for a more particular application to New Mexico.


Our historic records, dating back to the early Spanish occupancy, two or three hundred years ago, indicate that this region was inhabited by man, probably for centuries before that time, and there is still evi- dence of a people that inhabited this region in remote times, in the ex- tensive and magnificent ruins that are scattered throughout this region. Perhaps this interval of time might amount to a thousand or two, or possibly ten thousand years, and yet long as this may seem, it takes us back into geological history but a day.


The features of the earth, the hills and valleys, the arid climate, the animals and the plants all were similar to those of the present time. It is necessary to properly understand geological history to almost lose sight of the question of time, as measured in thousands of years, and go back into hundreds of thousands, millions and perhaps billions of years ago. All geological processes are slow in their operation and while great changes have been produced in the structure and face of the earth's surface, it has taken great intervals of time to produce these changes. Again, the poet speaks of the eternal and everlasting hills, but the geologist speaks of the hills and the mountains as the most unstable and most rapidly destroyed of all of the land forms. Every rain storm passing over the great mountain lands, carries down more or less of the earth and sand and rock to the lower level. The higher the mountain, as a rule, the greater the precipitation on its sides and therefore, the more rapidly is the mountain torn down. This process, called erosion, continuing for count- less centuries, will eventually wear away the mountain mass and reduce what was a great mountain system with its base, perhaps, resting upon a mighty plateau, hundreds or even thousands of feet above sea-level, to a more or less level plain, rising scarcely above the level of the sea. This process of erosion of mountain masses and mighty plateans to nearly level plains has taken place not only once but many times in the history of the world. Erosion, then, is the great force which is constantly tending to reduce the elevations of the land, which are above the sea, to the level of the ocean. If there were no other forces operating in the earth, tending to elevate the great masses of its crust above the level of the ocean, its surface would be covered with a universal sea. Besides the erosion which is produced by the falling rain and the


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GEOLOGICAL HISTORY


running off of the waters in brooklets, streams and rivers, the ocean itself is ever beating its waves against the margins of the continent and wearing back the coast lines, carrying the sands and gravels out into the deeper waters and cutting off, like a great saw, all that part of the land, which is above the ocean.


In the course of long geological time, the ocean itself, through its wave action, would plane down the continent and so reduce the land area that all would be universal ocean. If a well is drilled into the earth at any point on its surface, to a considerable depth and then a thermometer is introduced into the well, it is found that the temperature of the earth increases toward the center. This increase in tem- perature amounts on the average to about one degree for every fifty feet of depth. It is therefore a well established fact that at no great depth below the surface of the earth, the temperature must be equal to that of molten rock, and that the very interior portions of the earth must have almost inconceivable high temperatures. If it were not for the fact that the pressure also increases with depth into the interior of the earth, it would be true that the interior of the earth would be in a molten condition. With the high increase of pressure it is prob -. ably true that the earth may be considered for all practical purposes as solid. However, if from any cause, such as the production of a great crack or fissure, running out into the earth. that pressure should be re- lieved, the interior portion would become immediately fluid and would be forced out upon the surface. That molten material from the interior of the earth has been in past geological ages and is at the present time being spread out upon its surface, is manifest from the great lava flows that cover certain portions of our own territory and are pour- ing out from great volcanoes of the earth today. The earth, itself, is a highly heated sphere, only cooled down upon its outer surface, and it is constantly radiating its heat into the space which surrounds it. It is the law of cooling bodies that as they lose their heat they contract in volume. The earth, then, must be also contracting in volume in obedi- ence to this law, but it is such a large body that the loss of heat from its surface is not uniform over all areas. The heat would be given up to the water on the oceans' floors more rapidly than it would be given up to the air over the land areas, and from many other causes there might be a difference in radiation over large areas of the earth. This would mean that the areas which lose their heat most rapidly would be subject to greater contraction and therefore there must be developed through the mass of the earth great strains and stresses, as these great masses tend to approach the state of equilibrium the ocean areas con- tracting more rapidly than the land areas would tend to sink deeper into the body of the earth and the land areas to rise higher above the level of the sea. The outer portion of the earth heing so much cooler and more rigid than the inner portion it is evidently true that as the whole earth contracts in losing its heat into space, the inner portion will contract more rapidly than the outer portion and therefore the outer portion must be wrinkled and crumpled in order to fit closely onto the interior por- tion. This wrinkling and crumbling on the outer portion of the sphere has resulted time and time again in the world's history in elevating great areas of its crust thousands and thousands of feet above the level of


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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO


the sea, or in other words has produced through geological time great systems of mountains over all parts of its surface.


It is known that the levels of the continent above the surface of the ocean are not constant, that sometimes the great continental land areas move upward and their elevation above the sea is increased, and again for long periods of time they gradually move downward and the sea gradu- ally encroaches upon the continents, and that many times in geological history the ocean has covered that portion of the earth's surface which is now known as the great continents, so that it may be understood that there is only a limited portion of the continent which has not been many times, in geological history, below the surface of the ocean and again and again far above the level of the ocean. We have said that the ocean is constantly sawing away at the coastlines and car- rying the sands and the sediments far out over its floors. The ocean is also the great mother of life. It is teeming with animal forms that secrete lime skeletons or shells. Countless generations of these forms live and die, and their skeletons and shells accumulate on the ocean floor to be later solidified into what is known as the limestone rocks of the mountains and continents. The ocean floor is therefore a great field of the earth where the sediments of the land and the remains of ocean life accummulate. Then in the history of geological time what is at one time ocean floor becomes land area. These sediments and de- posits make what are known as the stratified rocks of the earth. On every continent if the thickness of these rocks is measured it is found that it amounts to hundreds of thousands of feet. It must be true, that in the building of the earth, when a good portion of its surface is below the ocean then the stratified rocks are being formed, and when that portion is elevated above the ocean these stratified rocks are again being worn down by erosion and carried back into the sea to form parts of other sedimentary beds. Such an area, passing the second time under the ocean, would again become a field of sedimentation, but there would be a line of de- markation between the first sedimentary beds and the second which would represent a long land period of erosion. Such a line of demarkation is called by geologists an unconformity. A plain of unconformity always represents the period when the region was above the sea as a land area.


From the foregoing it must appear that the first sediments or rocks to be formed must be at the bottom of the pile and those last formed at the top, so that the order of geological history of deposition can be determined by the relative position of the different stratified rocks. Geologists have studied most of the stratified rocks of the earth and have determined the order of super-position and it has been found that these rocks formed a more or less uniform series from bottom to top, interrupted at certain points by great plains of unconformity. The age when any particular rock was formed can be determined if its posi- tion in this serics is known. There must have been a time in the world's history, away back in the beginning of things, when this present process had its start. This great series of stratified rocks, wherever studied on the earth, is found to rest upon older rocks which are called igneous, because they are not stratified and show evidence of having crys- tallized from the molten condition. Such rocks are known as granites, syeanites and are called also crystalline rocks as distinguished from the




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