Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology GILBERT DENNISON

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Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology 54 Vol. 15

GILBERT DENNISON HARRIS (1864-1952 ) EARLY GEOLOGISTS IN LOUISIANA

HUBERT C. SKINNER

TULANE UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION 1773 - William Bartram, the renowned Louisiana was one of the frrst areas in naturalist, entered and crossed Lake America distant from the Atlantic Ocean to Pontchartrain to the river, which he as attract the attention of travellers and other cended for some distance above the site of observers who made geological commen Baton Rouge. He described the varicolored taries on the regions they visited. The great strata in the bluffs at Port Hudson and the Mississippi River and reports about the plains nearby of "whitish clay or chalk potential of the river for trade and access with veins of sea-shells, chiefly of those lit: to the immense interior of North America tle clams called les coquelles [Rangia cu formed the basis for this attraction. Before neata] interspersed with the white earth the year 1900, more than forty individuals or clay, so tenaceous and hard as to render did important geological work or made it quite sterile." He speculated about the significant observations about the geology origin of the cypress stump horizon more of the state of Louisiana. In 1899, Gilbert D than one hundred feet below the edge of Harris and Arthur C. Veatch reviewed the the bluffs and how it came to be so deeply contributions of many of these observers buried. in some detail. Among the early contribu 1801, 1803- William Dunbar of Natchez tors, the work of five men can be consid Mississippi Territory, communicated re~ ered to be major in its significance to the ports of fossil bones found west of the Mis knowledge of Louisiana geology. These sissippi River in 1801, and again, in 1803, are, in chronological order, John L. Rid of supposed elephant bones from the dell, Sir Charles Lyell, Raymond Thomas "country of the Apelousas." He also re sy, Eugene W. Hilgard, and Gilbert D. ported on the occurrence of oyster shells Harris. at depths of 22 feet below the present surface. EARLY OBSERVERS (1726-1832) 1812- Amos Stoddard, in his Sketches, The following list is based largely on the Historical and Descriptive of Louisiana, review by Harris and Veatch (1899, pp. 11- made several important geological obser 44) with additions and emendations from vations. On the Mississippi Delta, he wrote various other secondary sources and pri "Nothing is more certain than that the mary works. Among the subjects of great delta has gradually risen out of the sea, or interest to travellers were the bluffs at rather that it has been formed by alluvion Port Hudson, the Five Islands, the Mud substances, precipitated by the water from Lwnps, fossil bones, marine shells, iron the upper regions. It is calculated that ores, salt springs, and the age and origin from 1720 to 1800, a period of eighty years, of the delta. the land has advanced fifteen miles into 1722 - Pierre FranGois Xavier de Charl the sea; and there are those who assert, evoix commented on the recent age of for that it has advanced three miles within the mation of the lower delta region based on memory of middle aged men." On the Five "the quantity of shoals and little island' Islands, Major Stoddard stated "There is that have been seen to form in the various an island of about three miles in circumfer mouths of the river during the past twenty ence, situated in the gulf a few miles to the years". westward of the mouth of the Chafalia, 1726 - Daniel Coxe mentioned "many elevated more than two hundred feet springs, pitts, and lakes which afford most above the level of the sea and connected excellent common salt in great plenty" with the mainland by a sea marsh. Most of along the "River Natchitock" (some ten or the islands along the shores of the Mexican twelve leagues up the Mississippi), which gulf exhibit this proud pre-eminence, while the country for a great depth 1s most the loca l Indians used as the source of salt of the time covered with water. Some of for trade with their neighbors. 55 56 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15

them are impregnated with sulphur, and osaurus. The locality, in Ouachita Parish, one of them has been known to be on fire lies about two hundred yards from the for at least three months." Stoddard re Ouachita River and the bones were ex ported the production of rock salt from posed some forty feet below the present saline springs near Natchitoches as about surface "embedded in a bank of sea marl". "two hundred and fo rti barrels of salt per In addition, the nearby hills were reported month," and on the cause of the rapids at as not composed of "rocks", but "a few Alexandria as "two ledges of hard indu sandy stones and pebbles, nearly all silice rated clay, or soft rock which extend ous, are occasionally seen scattered on across the channel at about three-fourths their summits or in the beds of the numer of a mile from each other," and that "Stone ous creeks fed by springs issuing from or pit-coal is an article of some impor them." Further, he observed "Sea shells tance ... " near Natchitoches. . . . in several places . . . among others, 1816, 1818- William Darby was another pectenites, belemnites, etc." and that "In perceptive traveller who included geologi these hills very few ores are found except cal facts and occurrences within the text of those of iron, which are abundant in two his two travel narratives. He described different places; but no measures have fully the river systems in the Louisiana been taken to ascertain their value." area and the terraces or "prairies" in the 1833 - Samuel G. Morton concluded southwestern region. He visited Petite that the "ferruginous sand formation" (re Anse (now Avery Island) and reported on ported by Nuttall) and the fossil Basilo the salt spring from which salt has been saurus bones (of Harlan's report) should recovered . Darby observed rock expo be assigned to the "Cretaceous Group of sures on the western side of Sicily Island the United States." and correlated them (quite correctly) with 1834- Timothy A. Conrad studied the similar exposures on the Red River at shells found in association with the Basilo Alexandria. He noted dead cypress trees saurus and referred them to the "Eocene in Lake Bistineau and ascribed the origin series" and stated that the "commones1 of this and similar isolated lakes to the fossil is Corbula oniscus, a common Clai "choking up" of smaller stream valleys by borne fossil." He suggested that the fossil the sediments of the Red River. Darby bones were from a nearby "Cretaceous fo und marine she lls in the banks of the stratum, not from the Eocene". Later, in Red Ri ver , probably at the locality now 1841, Conrad described additional species known as Montgomery Landing. of Eocene mollusks from the Basiolsaurus 1821 - Thomas Nuttall compared the locality. ferruginous conglomerates e xte nding for 1838 - M. Demeril recognized the verte "more than a thousand miles above Alex brae known as Basilosaurus to be from a andria" with the New Jersey conglomerate cetacean rather than a reptile. (later erroneously interpreted as Cretace 1838, 1839- William M. Carpenter com ous in age by Morton). municated to the American Journal of Sci 1824 - George Graham, in his reports ence discoveries of fossil vertebrate re from the general land office for 1824, gave mains at two localities in southern Louisi the locations of two salt springs to the ana. Equus teeth and fragments of the jaw north of the Red River. of a mastodon were found on Little Bayou 1829 - Richard Delafield described the Sara in West Feliciana Parish and addi topography and the life history of the Mud tional mastodon bones were found near Lumps in the Passes of the Mississippi. Opelousas. Also, he re-described the P ort DEVELOPMENTAL PERIOD (1832-1867) Hudson section and traced it eastward in the Florida parishes. 1832 - Richard Harlan published the 1839-1841- John L. Riddell worked ex first formal, systematic paper on the geolo tensively on the geology of Texas and Lou gy of Louisiana, Notice of Fossil Bones isiana, organized the Geological Commit found in the Tertiary Fonnation of the tee of the State of Louisiana, and forward State of Louisiana. This report described ed the results of the Louisiana surveys to the bones of a "huge lizard-like reptile" the State Printer but these became lost be for which Harlan proposed the name Basil- fore publication and no trace of this work No. 2 Early Louisiana Geologists 57 is known to have survived. (see full tions at Fort Jessup and stated that their account of Riddell's work below) age is Tertiary. 1839 - Richard Owen [English) exam 1853 - Charles Ellet, another civil engi ined new and better preserved specimens ?eer, prepared an extensive work contain of Basilosaurus vertebrae which had been mg plans for flood control and improved brought to him in London by Dr. Richard navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi Harlan and pronounced them the remains nvers. An appendix dealt with the bars of "an aquatic mammal of dugong, or present in the passes in the lower delta whale-like affinities." In 1841, Owen re area. Later in the same year, A. C. Jones named the species Zeuglodon cetoides. published a severely critical review of this 1839- Captain Andrew Talcott (in Tot book. ten, 1840) made an accurate map of the 1860 - Raymond Thomassy's Geologie mouths of the Mississippi River and pre Prattgue de la Louisiane, the first compre pared drawings of two of the Mud Lumps hensive attempt to describe the geology of for a War Department publication. Louisiana was issued (by the author) in 1841 - A. C. Jones, an engineer, pub New Orleans and Paris, in 1860. Thomassy, lished a careful description of the physical an hydraulic engineer, was concerned nature of and character of the Mud Lumps mainly with the role of the Mississippi River in the lower passes of the Mississippi River. in the geological formation of the lower 1846 - Sir Charles Lyell visited America delta region. In particular, he emphasized for the second time , came to the South, water absorption and "diminution of vol reached Mobile and travelled on through ume" gulfward and "volcanic forces" in the waters of Mississippi Sound to Lake the origin of the Mud Lumps and the Five Pontchartrain and the city of New Orleans. Islands which he recognied to be salt in As he went downriver to the mouths of the trusions. (see full account below) Mississippi and upriver to Port Hudson 1861 - Andrew A. Humphreys and and beyond, he made numerous cogent Henry L. Abbott completed their study of observations about the local geology and the hydrography and geology of the entire the hydrodynamics of the river and its Mississippi Basin. They considered the depositional activity. (see full account river alluviums to be a thin stratum of below) river deposits underlain by blue clays of 1848- Montroville W. Dickeson read a Tertiary or Cretaceous age. The older joint paper (with Andrew Brown) before clays were recognized in the bluffs at the first meeting of the American Associa Vicksburg, in the Yazoo river valley, and tion for the Advancement of Science at at a depth of about forty feet under the P hiladelphia. In this paper, The Sediment city of New Orleans. Their extensive work of the Mississippi River, Dr. Dickeson was revised and reissued in 1876. In the stated that the delta of the Mississippi later edition, the "original mouth" of the River has been in the process of forming Mississippi River was stated to be "near for at least 14,204 years. the efflux of the Plaquemine, 220 miles 1850 - Daniel Drake gave a good de from the Gulf." The yearly advance of the scription of the Mud Lumps and proposed passes of the river was computed at 262 the gas theory for their origin within the feet, with the advance from the Plaque pages of his medical work A Systematic mine efflux estimated to have taken 4400 Treatise, Historical, Etiological, and Prac years. tical, on the Principal Diseases of the In 1864 - An effort toward a general sur terior V alley of North A merica , as they ap vey of the geology of Louisiana and its pear in the Caucasian, African, Indian mineral resources began early in 1864 with and Esquimaux varieties of its population. the appointment by Governor Henry W. In this excellent example of how signifi Allen of a commission headed by John B. cant geological work can be concealed in Robertson of New Orleans to begin a sys unlike ly places, Dr. Drake included a geo tematic investigation of the agricultural, logic section from a well on Lake Pont geological, and mineral resources of the chartrain and the exposed section from a state. George P. Merrill (1920, p. 124) in his gas tank excavation at New Orleans. Fur history of American state geological and the r, he described the geological forma- natural history surveys stated quite erro- 58 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15 neously that this was "the first step taken made an excursion to the intermediate by State authority toward a general sur three of the Five Islands, (Petite Anse or vey". The Riddell survey of 1839-1841 was Avery Island, Weeks Island, and Cote actually the first such "step" authorized by Blanche Island). In his preliminary report the state and paid for by state funds. which appeared in 1869 he attributed the Judge Robertson was assisted in his studies rock salt to being formed by evaporation by Charles Tripp, mineralogist and metal in a series of lagoons, considered it under lurgist; John H. Jones, skilled ironmaster; lain by early Quaternary marine clays, and, Captain John Roy, practical machin and explained the hills as accidents of dif ist and artisan. The report of the Robert fere ntial erosion. In another work publish son Survey comprising 25 octavo pages ed in the same year he reviewed the geol was published in the legislative reports for ogy of western, central and northern Lou 1867. The surface geology in central and isiana. Hilgard continued to write on the northern Louisiana was described in very geology of Louisiana for nearly twenty general and simple terms, including men years. (see full account below) tion of "vast hills, sometimes over 200 feet 1869- Frederick V. Hopkins began his in height . .. unheaved by volcanic action work on the Louisiana survey with three . and covered with fragments of red geological excursions during 1869 in north sandstone formerly stratified. " This last ern Louisiana and completed his "first an reference evidently is to the characteristic nual report" later in the same year . He de ferruginous sandstones which had been scribed the known geological formations reported by several earlier observers. The from the Cretaceous to the recent or allu Five Islands were described and were vial formations and included a simple stated to be of volcanic origin. The rock cross-section illustrating his views of the salt of Petite Anse (Avery Island) was stratigraphic position of the strata and the noted and compared with the "salines of structure of the area. Hopkins commented north Louisiana and their deposits of on the subsurface section in wells connect bones." The iron region of northern Loui ed with various salt-works and gave a sec siana was re ported as quite exte nsive, and tion in detail from the sulphur well at Cal was said to be "so abundant as absolutely casieu (see Harris and Veatch , p . 33). He at some points to obstruct agriculture.'' suggested that "The sulphur was fo rmed Also, "Vast crops of rich ores may be seen by reducing the gypsum with vegetable piled up in the fields." Various other min matter. The carbonic acid, olefiant gas and eral deposits were mentioned including the marsh gas produced by the process, lead, copper, limestones, clays, ochres, have each left the proof of its presence, i . gypsum and soda springs, lignite, peat, e., the limestone stratum No. 5 contains and petroleum. the former, the petroleum is made from 1865 - Richard Owen [American], then the olefi ant gas" and the "small low colonel of an Indiana regiment stationed at mounds of that and other regions were New Iberia, briefly examined the geologi formed by the escaping of these gases." cal nature of Petite Anse and the deposits He described the lithology, paleontology, of rock salt which had been mined since and distribution of the "Mansfield group," the early days of the war. Prof. Owen con the "Jacks on group," the "Vicksburg for cluded that these islands were not of vol mation," the "Grand Gulf group," and the canic origin, but were wind and wave "Drift P eriod." All of these geologic units formed dunes like those along the south had been included in Hilgard's geologic ern shore of Lake Michigan. The salt beds sections. The Second Annual Report of the he attributed to the result of the evapora Geological Survey of Louisiana was com tion of sea water in lagoons behind the ple ted in 1870 and published the following protecting ridges or dunes, which were year , accompanied by the first geological filled and refilled during periods of excep map of the state; it is colored. He corre tionally high tides. lated the "Mansfield group" with marine Jackson beds, and included long lists of RECONNAISSANCE P ERIOD (1867-1892) Jackson and Vicksburg fossils. The second 1867- Eugene W. Hilgard, working for report is merely a corrected and augment the Smithsonian Institution, came to Loui ed revision of the first report, to which was siana, travelled down the Mississippi, and added the colored geological map. The No.2 Early Louisiana Geologists 59 third A.~nual,Report is devoted principally A map was prepared showing the distribu to the Dnft and the alluvmm which he tion of the ores and he included drawings traces in terms of its depth and character to illustrate some exposures. Johnson's through much of southern Louisiana. He stratigraphy follows Hilgard's interpreta recorded loess 150 feet thick in the Tunica tiOns, but he found several new locali ties Hills and included a long list of Paleozoic for fossils and his extensive collections fossils found in the pebbles of the "drift were placed in the United States National gravels" which he regarded as Quaternary Museum. Truman H. Aldrich studied the m age and formed by "an arctic current mollusks and was enabled to correct some flowing from Hudson bay." previous correlations. In 1891, Johnson 1870- Arthur M. Edwards in Results of published a brief report on The Nita Cre a Microscopical Examination of Specimens vasse in which he stated that the Pontchar of Sand obtained from an A rtesian Well at train clays (which he correlated with the New Orleans reported a gas bearing light Port Hudson beds) were deposited during grayish sand with fine specks of organic a former period when the M ississippi material at 32 feet, clear transparent quartz River debouched through Manchac. sand with black organic specks and a "few 1888 - Frank H. Knowlton described comminuted mollusks" at 49 feet, and fine two species of fossil palm wood, Palmoxy sea-bottom deposits with many sea-shells lon quenstedti and Palmoxylon cellulosum, at 71 feet. Edwards recorded Diatomaceae from Rapides Parish which had been col of the same species now found living off lected by Johnson in 1886. Later, Knowl the coasts of Florida and South Carolina. ton described more fossil wood from other 1874- S. Dana Hayes made an analysis Louisiana localities. of lignite taken from a deposit two miles south of Shreveport, re porting that it "has LOUISIANA EXPERIMENT STATIONS a specific gravity of 1.143, it is nearly black ( 1892-1899) in color, and its lignitic structure is not so 1892, 1893 - Dr. Otto Lerch worked on distinct as usual; but it dissolves comletely the geology of Northern Louisiana during in caustic soda solution." the l'arly part of 1892. Later m the year. hP 1875 - Caleb G. Forshey in his Report of published A Preliminary Report upon the Survey and Borings made at the Proposed Hills of Louisiana, North of Vicksburg, S ite of the Lake Borgne Ou tlet based on 14 Shreveport and Pacific Railroad, a work of "soundings" to depths of 70 to 100 feet 52 pages with text-figures largely con noted marine shells be longing to species cerned with the description of localities now living in Florida wa te rs and reported along the route of the railroad. He provid violent eruptions from depths of 60 to 70 ed an account of Rayburn's Salt Works, feet of shells and mud with hydrogen gas including the stratigraphy of the area and which ''burns with a reddish fl ame." He was the first observer to report Cretaceous compared this with phe nomena observed fossils from this locality. Seven analyses of a t the Mud Lumps. artesian wells and spring-waters, ten soil 1875 - William M. Gabb stated that the analyses, tests on three specimens of iron Gulf of Mexico was more ope n in Miocene ore and two samples of lignite, and a list of time than it is today based on his study of fossils from the Green Sand Marl north the marine Miocene deposits in the West east of Mount Lebanon were included. Indies and in Costa Rica. Lerch continued with field work during 1884, 1889- Joseph L eidy published a the summer months of 1892, and in 1893 short report in 1884 on fo ssil bones from his A Preliminary Report upon the Hills of Petite Anse, followed by a longer more de Louisiana, South of the Vicksburg, Shreve tailPd report in 1889. He listed Mastodon port and Pacific Railroad appeared, deal americanus, Mylodon harlani (?), and ing with the topography, drainage and Equus major among the species from lakes of the area, followed by the various formations exposed in this portion of the Petite Anse. 1885, 1886 and 1891 - Law rence C. state from the known Cretaceous outcrops Johnson surveyed the iron ores of Louisi at Drake's Salt Works and other localities through the overlying Tertiary beds ex ana and northeastern Texas for the United posed in this region. These include the States Geological Survey (published 1888). Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15 60

"lower Eocene beds" or the "lower lig 1896 - William W. Clendenin continued nitic ., the "marine Claiborne" or "upper the work for the Experiment Stations in lignitic" beds, the " Arcadia Clays," the 1894 and 1895 with investigations in the "Jackson beds," the " Vicksburg," the "Florida Parishes of East Louisiana" and "Grand Gulf," the Red Sandy Clays," the the " Bluff, Prairie and Hill Lands of "Sands and Gravel of the Drift," and final Southern Louisiana." His reports on the ly, the "Alluvium. " Among the economic general topographical features of these mate rials discussed are the Winnfield areas appeared in 1896. He considered the "Marble," various building stones, gravels, " Five Islands" to have been uplifted sub iron, clay, kaolin, salt, and lignite with sequent to the deposition of the Lafayette a nalyses of 45 soil samples, ten marls, and gravels, rather that the product of pre four lignites. To explain the northwest Tertiary erosion as suggested by Hilgard. southeast trend of the outcrops, Lerch He included several well sections from concluded "that at the close of the Mesozo southern Louisiana in his reports and ic time enormous plutonic forces convulsed, wrote a general account of the life history fractured, faulted and folded the Cretace and development of a river and related ous strata, throwing up mountain chains of this to the Mississippi River and its devel vast extent and raising them far above the opment. waters of the Gulf." 1899 - Charles W. Johnson published 1894 - Gilbert D. Harris made a brief New and Interesting species in the "Isaac vis it to Bossier and Claiborne parishes Lea Collection of Eocene Mollusca" listing during his work on the Tertiary deposits of and describing species from the J ackson southern Arkansas to determine what and lower Claiborne beds in Louisiana. could be gained from the fossiliferous de 1898, 1899 - Gilbert D. Harris, assisted posits of Louisiana to assist in classifyin g by Arthur C. Veatch and others began equivalent strata in Arkansas. His obser working on the geology of Louisiana. Har vations and results were published (1894) ris was appointed as Geologist-in-charge to in the Arkansas Geological Survey Annual the Geological Survey of Louisiana and Report for 1892. This represents the first continued in this position until 1909. With involvement of Gilbert D. Harris in the ge Gilbert D. Harris, the early formative ology of Louisiana. stages of Louisiana geological work ended 1895 - Edward D. Cope published notes and the modern period of study began. "On Some Pleistocene Mammalia from (see full account below) Petite Anse , La." Therein, he reported two new species of Mylodon and one of JOHN L. RIDDELL Equus. Though the primary interests of John 1895 , 1896- T. Wayland Vaughan pub Leonard Riddell (1807-1865) were directed li shed The Stratigraphy of Northwestern toward the other sciences, notably chemis Louisiana based on field work between try and botany, and to the field of medi 1889 and late 1894. Vaughan treated the cine, his geological contributions were stratigraphy chronologically beginning considerable. Riddell's importance to the with the Cretaceous and continuing development of geology in the midwest through the Jackson, Claiborne (to which and the south has been overlooked by his he referred Lerch's "Arcadia Clays"), torians. For the complete historical treat Vicksburg, and Grand Gulf beds. New ment of Riddell, his life, and his multi units described include the "Cocksfi eld faceted accomplishments see John Leonard F erry beds" and the "Sparta Sands." Riddell by Karlem Riess (1977), which is a Va ughan opposed Lerch's structural dis principal source for much of the present turba nce at the "close of the Cretaceous narrative. de position" and proposed in its place a John L. Riddell's early education was in peri od of erosion between the Cretaceous Massachusetts and New York. From 1827 and the Eocene strata. in 1896, Vaughan to 1829 he attended Rensselaer School in published an expanded version of this Troy, New York, where he studied under work with a bibliography and lists and de Amos Eaton, the celebrated first American '> Cf!fHJons o f foss il s as United States Geo teacher of geology. Riddell received his log•cal Survey, Bu lletin 142. Bachelor of Arts degree in 1829, and sev- No.2 Early Louisiana Geologists 61 era! years later (1832) was awarded the 1839 with detailed descriptions of the soil, Master of Arts degree (in absentia). Rid rocks, springs, and terrain of the region dell's first scientific lecture, A New Theory surveyed. He included analyses of waters of the Earth, was delivered at Rensselaer from the mineral springs and commented School on August 16, 1829, and dealt with on the brown coal or lignite deposits and the various geological formations on Earth their commercial possibilities as fuels - and the types of fossil remains found with long before the time of Robert T. Hill' these formations (Riess, 1977, p. 5-6). Finally, in 1841, the Geological Commit Between 1830 and 1832, John L. Riddell tee of the State of Louisiana was appointed travelled extensively in New York, Ontar with Riddell as Chairman. The other com io, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, presenting mitteemen were Dr. W. M. Carpenter, Dr. public lectures on chemistry, physics, and Thomas Ingalls, Dr. J osiah Hale, Caleb G. botany, supported by subscription fees. Forshey, and P. E. Trastour. The results Late in 1832, he was appointed professor of their work were turned over to the of chemistry and botany at the Ohio Re State Printer but, tragically, were lost be formed Medical College, Worthington, fore being published and no trace of the Ohio. During his two years at Worthing manuscript is known to exist today. The ton, he began studying the geology of the specimens collected by the Geological state, and in 1833, Geology of Ohio, his first Committee were left with the Medical De formal paper on geological subjects was partment of the University of Louisiana. published in the Western Journal of the In 1844, John L. Riddell was appointed Medical and Physical Sciences. In 1834, he to the State Flood Prevention Committee moved to Cincinnati where he attended by the Governor of Louisiana. 1n 1845, De the Medical College of Ohio and was posits of the Mississippi and Changes at its awarded the M. D. degree in 1836. During Mouth was read before the Association of 1835 and 1836, he completed several other American Geologists and Naturalists and geological articles, including On the Vege later was published in DeBow's Commerci table Origin of Coal (1835), Geological al Review as Sedimentary Deposits of the Features of Ohio (1836), and Geological Mississippi. Also. a pamphlet Remarks on Ramble on the Western Reserve (1837). In the Dynamics of the Mississippi River and 1836, Riddell married for the fi rst time, other matters pertaining thereto was printed and worked on a Survey of the Geology of and distributed m New Orleans. Riddell Ohio under Dr. Samuel P . Hildreth. Rid estimated that 119,250 years were required dell's portion of this report was submitted to create the Mississippi delta !Riess, 1977, and published in 1837. p. 38). In 1851, Riddell conceived of and de In October 1836, John L. Riddell and his signed the stereoscopic binocular micro· wife moved to New Orleans where Dr. scope. He built the instrument and tested Riddell had been offered the professorship it in 1852, and on July 30, 1853, he de in chemistry at the New Orleans Medical scribed his invention before the American College. He was destined to reside in this Association for the Advancement of Sci city until his d eath nearly thirty years later. ence. This without doubt is the most sig In 1839, Riddell began his attempts to se nificant of his scientific or technological cure authorization by the State Legislature achievements. John L. Riddell was one of to conduct a geological survey. In mid the founders of the New Orleans Academy April to late May in the same year and of Sciences in 1853, and in 1855, he was again in mid-September to mid-Novem elected President of the Academy wh1ch ber, he made geological excursions to honor he retained until his death in 1865. Texas , in part to search for Spanish gold In 1855, the New Orleans Academy of and silver mines. His Texas surveys were Science revived the Geological Survey quite extensive , and one complete volume project, but as the Stale Legislature faded of Riddell's m anuscript Journal is filled to support the proJect w1th enthus1asm, with his observations on Te xas formations, the survey was never completed. flora, Mexican food, bits of history, and liv ing conditions on these excursions (Riess, SIR CHARLES LYELL 1977, p. 31). Observations on the Geology of In !845-1846, Charles Lyell 11797-18751, Trinity Couty, Texas was published in the renowned Brit1sh geolog1st, made a sec- American Journal of Science and Arts m {)2 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. Jo

ond visit to the United States of America, land and sea had taken place with a mag a geological excursion during which he nitude of approximately 150 feet. At Nat came to Louisiana to view and study th e chez and at Vicksburg Lyell was able to Mississippi River and its delta. He reached inspect the great loess bluffs standing 200 the city of New Orleans on the 24th of feet above the level of the river at Vicks Fe bruary 1846 by travell ing from Mobile burg and to recognize beneath these wind through the " inland passage" a natural transported deposits "a marine tertiary channe l positioned within the offs hore deposit, of the Eoce ne period, in which we bars along the Alabama-Mississippi coast collected many shells and corals." (1849, p. and into Lake Pontchartrain to a landing 208) six miles north of the city. Foremost The visit of Charles Lyell to Louisiana in among the eminent scientists he met with 1846 was productive and yielded signifi at New Orleans were William Marbe ry cant observations about Louisiana geolo Carpenter and John Leonard Riddell. Dr. gy. E specially noteworthy are his com Carpenter, first Dean of the Louisiana ments on the origin of and age of the lower School of Medicine, had an excelle nt delta, the nature of and origin of Lake knowledge of botany and geology a nd he Pontchartrain, his descriptions of the ex accompanied Mr. Lyell on an e xcursion posed Tertiary strata and the overlying down the Mississippi River to its mouths loess deposits in the bluffs near Vicksburg, and on another to Lake P ontchartrain. In his vie ws on the "fossil Forest" in the 1838, Dr. Carpenter had publi shed an a rti bluffs at Port Hudson, and his discussions cle on Bartram's "fossil forest" at Port of the evidences for subsidence and the Hudson (above Ba ton Rouge) and was proba ble rates of this subsidence in both anxious to have his famous visitor examine the Port Hudson area and in the lower this section and to rende r his geological d e lta ic plain of the Mississippi River. For a opinion on the locality. Dr. Ridde ll , profes more complete account of Lyell's observa sor of chemistry at what is now Tulane tions see Charles Lyell in Louisiana University, had calculated fro m his e xperi (Skinne r, 1976, p. 243-248) and for Lye ll 's ments the proportion of sedim ent con own descriptions of his excursions in Loui tained in the waters tra nsported annually siana see A Second Visit to the United by the Mississippi River. Charles Lyell uti States of North America (Lyell, 1849, v. II, lized the observations of both Ca rpenter p. llO et seq. ). and Riddell and Riddell 's experimentally derived figures on ri ver sedime nts as a RAYMOND THOMASSY basis for his own estimates of the antiquity Marie-Joseph Raymond Thomassy (1810- of the lower delta of the Mississippi River. 1863), a French hydraulic engineer, came He further commented on the nature and to the United States about 1850 and visited origin of the "narrow banks, protruded for New Orleans where he became fascinated so many miles into the Gulf of Mexico" and with the dynamic power of the Mississippi on the relative stability of these banks as River and the physical characteristics and demonstrated by comparison of the ob origin of the coastal plain of Louisiana. His served terrane with olde r maps of the low intense interest and scientific curiosity re er delta region. Lyell calculated that the sulted in Geologie Pratique de La Louisi 13,600 square m iles of delta must have ane, published by the author in New Or taken about 67, 000 years to form, an ob leans in 1860. servation that is most impressive at this Thomassy was proud, arrogant, ambiti early date. ous, and an ardent French nationalist. On March 10, 1846, Charles Lyell left These characteristics produce an unfortu New Orleans and began to ascend the nate bias in his work, which must be rec river. At Port Hudson, he disembarked to onciled before his ideas can be reviewed view the bluffs containing the "fossil and evaluated. On one occasion, his arro forest" as described to him by Dr. Carpen gance in comparing the Mississippi River ter. Though his examination of Carpen unfavorably with rivers in France led to a ter's locality was greatly hampered by challenge from a Creole gentleman to a h1gh water, he was able to fmd a similar duel over the honor (and power) "f the buried fo rest at a higher level and to esti Mississippi River. Thomassy survived the mate that changes in the relative levels of duel with only a painful and disfiguring No. 2 Early Louisiana Geologists 63 facial injury to remind him of the incident. gy, submarine hydrology and related In his Geologie Pratique, Thomassy sug topics, most of which is of limited geologi gested that the study of the alluvial lands cal interest; however, this is to be ex would provide the key to the great prob pected as he was primarily a hydraulic le ms of Louisiana geology, and throw light engineer. upon "analogous terrains of anterior Thomassy's observations are significant periods." He discussed mineral springs, and important. He was the first to describe artesian wells, mud springs and mud the emergent domes of the Five Islands as lumps, in a ddition to hydrothermal and salt intrusions and the first to attempt to volca nic forces and the evidence for sub explain their origin. He figured and de terranean convulsions in forming the Five scribed the mud lumps near the mouths of Isla nds of southern Louisiana. He stated the river and attempted to explain them. the need for a map depicting soils and He presented a series of maps illustrating agriculture, and listed native raw materi changes in the Louisiana coastline be a ls or "treasures" that should be exploited tween 1684 and 1859, especially in the area for the good of the people: plaster, kaolin, of the present Balize delta, and computed plastic clays, limes, and hydraulic mortars. the rate of advance of the delta at 100 Thomassy considered the role of water meters per year. His work was the first to be the greatest and most active of the comprehensive effort to describe the geol geologic "forces' which contributed to the ogy of Louisiana, a monumental project at fo r mation of Louisiana, but he considered this early date. For a more complete ac .. volcanic forces" also to be major in im count of Thomassy and his work see portance, especia lly in the origin of the Skinner (1979, in press). F ive Islands a nd the mud lumps. He re counted in detail the history of the dis EUGENE W. HILGARD covery of the Mississippi River and pre Eugene Waldemar Hilgard (1833-1916), sente d a series of maps depicting the born and educated in Germany, was State changing nature of the lower delta region. Geologist of Mississippi (1858-1860) and Thomassy considered the Five Islands, professor of chemistry at the University of a series of emergent salt domes, to be Mississippi (!865-1873!. In 1867, under the fo rme d by some sort of volcanic action, direction of the Smithsonian Institution, concentra ted from the saline waters by Hilgard made a trip down the Mississippi hydrothermal forces, a nd elevated by River and to the central three of the Five aqueous eruption. He suggested that the Islands. The preliminary report on this re sa lt masses could be exploited as a source connaissance work appeared in the Amer of sa lt. In 1861-1862, the effects of the Civil ican Journal of Science in 1869. He con War resulte d in the sinking of pits or shafts sidered the rock salt to be produced by a t Avery Island (the n called fie Petite evaporation from a lagoon or a series of Anse) to mine salt for local use. Upon re lagoons, overlying early Quaternary ceiving word of confirmation of his salt in marine clays. The Five Islands were inter trusion theory in the origin of these domes, preted simply as accidents of differential Thomassy re turned to L ouisiana from erosion. Later in 1869 Sammary Results of France to view the salt pits and to write a a late Geological Reconnaissance of Loui supple ment to his earlier work (Thomassy, siww appeared in the same journal. The 1863). geological ··terranes·· recognized included: Raymond Thomassy described the delta as a mixture of fluvial and marine origins Alluvium a nd gauged its advance at 100 meters per 350 to 600 feel year or one mile in sixteen years. He Port Hudson Group 100 to 175 feel noted a most salie nt characte ristic, the de Orange Sand Group sand and viation of the lower course of the river Grand Gulf Group claystones from its southward course toward the Vicksburg Group c. 50 feel of southeast, a nd reported on marine shells marine Tertiary recovered from sedime nts be neath New beds Orleans . Much of the text deals with lignitiferous beds hydrog ra phy, dra inage and other engi Mansfield Group neering problems, subterranean hydrolo- 64 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15

Cretaceous Formation 907 feet of lime Subsequent work by Hilgard important stone sulphur to Louisiana geology includes Note on Lig and gypsum nite beds and their Under-clays (1874), The beds Later Tertiary of the Gulf of Mexico (1881), Salines of Louisiana (1883), Report on Cot To explain the occurrence of the Orange ton Production in the United States con Sand, he suggested that "in late Quater taining a brief summary of the geological nary times the Gulf coast has suffered a features of Louisiana (1884), The Classifi depression to the extent of at least nme cation and Paleontology of the United hund red feet (perhaps more), and during States Tertiary Deposits (1885), The Old the Terrace epoch, a contrary motion of Tertiary of the Southwest (1885), and The about half that amount." He continued with a discussion of Salines of Northern Equivalence in Time of American Marine Louisiana, including the methods of pro and Intra-continental Terranes (1887). F or ducing brine from wells from 15 to 1100 a longer and more complete account of feet in depth, and described the artesian Hilgard's work in Louisiana see Harris wells of Calcasieu at "the head of the and Veatch (1899, p. 23-32). bayou Choupique." At the Troy meeting of the American Association (1869), Hil GILBERT D. HARRIS gard read On the Geology of the Delta and Gilbert Dennison Harris ( 1864-1952) at the Mud-lumps of the Passes of the Missis tended Cornell University (1883-1888) and sippi . in which he stated that the delta graduated in 1886 in the same class with plain is covered by river deposits only to a Robert T . Hill and David White. He pur .. comparatively insignificant depth." The sued graduate study in geology under mud-lumps are discussed at length and Henry S. Williams but left Cornell in 1888 are attributed to eruption of a mixture of to take a position with the Arkansas Geo mud, wate r, and combustible gas. logical Survey. The following year, Harris In 1871 On the Geological History of the joined the United States Geological Survey Gulf of Mexico was read before the Amer where he worked first in the Paleozoic ican Association, describing a Cretaceous Division and later under William H. Dall in .. backbone" passing through the state to the Cenozoic Division. He continued with the north and northwest with the strata his work in Arkansas during 1891-1892 and dipping away on either side. In 1872, a as a part of this work made his first excur Smithsonian memoir Geology of Lower sion to Louisiana (see above); the results Louisiana and the Rock Salt of Petite Anse of his studies of the Tertiary deposits of expanded his views on the origin of the Arkansas appeared (1894) in volume II of rock salt, and attributed the Five Islands the Arkansas Geological Survey Annual to e rosion-formed outlier remnants of a Report for 1892. Cretaceous ridge or "backbone" travers In 1894, Gilbert D. Harris was appointed ing Louisiana, which though once covered to the faculty at Corne ll and remained by Tertiary deposits had been exhumed. there until his retirement in 1934. For a full The salt he considered to be of Cretaceous treatment of the life and scientific accom age. plishments of Gilbert D. Haris see Kather Hilgard's Supplementary and Final Re ine Van Winkle Palmer's Memorial (1953), port of a Geological Reconnaissance of the the main source of much of the material in State of Louisiana, a 44 page pamphlet the present narrative. published in 1873 under the auspices of the In 1898, while teaching at Cornell, Har New Orleans Academy of Sciences and of ris was appointed Geologist-in-charge to the Louisiana Bureau of Immigration, was the Geological Survey of Louisiana, and termed by Harris and Veatch (1899, p. 29) continued in this capacity until 1909. He "the most complete statement of the geolo spent mid-December to late March each gy of the State heretofore published." year in Louisiana, teaching during the They recommend that " It should be con summer and fall at the University and sulted by any and all who care to become working on reports of the previous field familiar with the geology of the State." It season for the Survey. His capable student, certainly is the most complete and defini Arthur C. Veatch, became Harris's assist tive work by Hilgard on the geology of ant on the Survey and an instructor at Louisiana. Cornell. Veatch worked in Louisiana for No.2 Early Louisiana Geologists 65 most of the year 1898 and, in the following served as field assistants for Harris during year, the first extensive work (354 pp.), A the next few years. Preliminary Report on The Geology of Lou The Geological Survey of Louisiana Re isiana, appeared under the joint author port of 1905 [published 1907] comprises ship of Harris and Veatch (1899). This four papers by various authors based on comprehensive report remains even today the 1903, 1904, and 1905 field seasons. a standard reference on the geology of These four papers are designated as Bul Louisiana. After an historical review of letins I, II , III , and IV on the title page of previous work on the state, the strati the collected volume, but may be found as graphy and economic geology of Louisiana separate numbered bulletins of the [first] a re considered in detail, followed by nine Louisiana Geological Survey; these are special reports on the geology of specific somewhat less common than the collected areas, faunas, floras , surveying, and map volume, Report of 1905. In similar fashion, making. Among the special reports, The the Report of 1907 contains numbered Bul Five Islands by Veatch, and The Cretace letins 5, 6, and 7 of the Louisiana Geologi ous and Lower Eocene Faunas of Louisi cal Survey, each dealing with a discrete ana by Harris, are of special significance. subject on some aspect of Louisiana geolo A Geological Map of Louisiana with the gy or hydrology. outcrops of the strata indicated by colored With the establishment of the Geological patterns accompanied the stratigraphic Survey of Louisiana under the direction of portion of the Preliminary Report. Gilbert D. Harris, the initial or formative Three years later, A Report [of 1902} on period in the comprehension of the geolo The Geology of Louisiana, was published , gy of Louisiana came to an end. The Har based on the work of the 1900, 1901, and ris Survey brought systematic order to the 1902 field seasons. Jov. A. A. Pacheco, investigation of Louisiana geology and in Assistant Geologist, joined Harris and augurated the modern period of study. Veatch as one of the principal authors for the 1902 report. It consists of eight special BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCES reports similar in scope to those in the Re port for 1899; three are by Gilbert D. Har BARTRAM, WILLIAM, 1791, Travels through ris, three are by Veatch, one is by Harris North and South Carolina, Georgia, east and west Florida, the Cherokee country, the ex R. and Pacheco, and one is by A. Harris of tensive territories of the Muscogulges, or the United States Coast and Geodetic Sur Creek Confederacy, and the country of the vey. The first of the reports, The Tertiary Choctaws: Philadelphia, embellished with Geology of the Mississippi Embayment by copper plates, p. 431-435. G. D. Harris, is of special importance in CARPENTER, WILLIAM M., 1838, Interesting placing Louisiana and its geology into re Fossils found in Louisiana: Amer. Journ. gional perspective and into the general Sci., v. 34, p. 201-203, illus. structural framework of the Gulf of Mexico CARPENTER, WILLIAM M. , 1839, Miscellane ous Notices in Opelousas, Attakapas, etc.: region. A colored map of the Tertiary de Amer. Journ. Sci., v. 35, p. 344-346. posits in the central embayment area, in CLENDENIN, WILLIAM W., 1897 , A Prelimi cluding the state of Mississippi and parts of nary Report upon the Florida Parishes of Arkansas and Tennessee in addition to East Louisiana and the Bluff, Prairie, and Louisiana, is a part of this special report. Hill Lands of Southwest Louisiana: Louisiana The eighth report, Oil in Louisiana, also State Exp. Sta., Geol. Agri. Louisiana, pt. 4, by G. D. Harris, reviews the beginning of p. 257-290. oil exploration activities in Louisiana. CONRAD, TIMOTHY A., 1834, Observations on the Tertiary and more Recent Formations Later in 1902, Veatch left the state sur of a Portion of the Southern States: Acad. vey for the United States Geological Sur Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, Journ., v. 7, p. 116- vey to prepare a report on the geology and 129. underground water resources of Louisi COPE, EDWARD D., 1895, On some Pleisto ana, which ultimately appeared as USGS cene Mammalia from Petite Anse, Lows1ana: Professional Paper 46 in 1906. Pacheco re Amer. Phil. Soc., Proc., v. 34, p. 458-468, illus. mained with Harris and was joined by COXE, DANIEL, 1726, A description of the Leopold Reinecke, Francis L. Whitney, English province of Carolina, by the Spam ards called Florida and by the French La John L. Rich, and several others who 66 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15

Lou1siane. and also of the great and famous Sta., Geol. Agri. Louisiana, pt. 5, 354 pp., River Meschacebe, or Missisipi: London, sec illus., map. ond edition, pp. 10, 11. HARRIS, GILBERT D., ARTHUR C. VEATCH, DARBY, WILLIAM, 1816, A Geographical De and JOV. A. A. PACHECO, 1902, A Report scription of the State of Louisiana: Philadel on the Geology of Louisiana: Louisiana State phia, pp. 23-48, 211. Exp. Sta., Geol. Agri. Louisiana, pt. 6, 288 DARBY, WILLIAM, 1818, The Emigrant's pp., ill us., map. Guide to the Western and Southwestern HARRIS, GILBERT D., ARTHUR C. VEATCH, States and Territories; comprising a Geo and others, 1905, Reports on the Geology of graphical and Statistical Description o the Louisiana: Louisiana Geol. Surv., Bulls. I, II, States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, III, IV, 514 pp., illus., maps. Kentucky and Ohio: New York, p. 68-89. HAYES, S. DANA, 1874, Analysis of Lignite DELAFIELD, RICHARD, 1829, Report on the near Shreveport, Louisiana: Chemical News, Survey of the Passes of the Mississippi: v. 30, pp. 153, 154. Twenty-first Congress, First Session, House HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1869, Preliminary Ex. Doc., v. I, no. 7, p. 7-14. Report of a Geological Reconnaissance of DICKESON, MONTROVILLE W. and AN Louisiana: Debow's New Orleans Monthly DREW BROWN, 1849, The Sediment of the Review, nos. 37, 38, p. 754-769. Mississippi River: Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1869, On the Geology Proc. , v. I, p. 42-55. of Lower Louisiana and the Rock Salt De DRAKE, DANIEL, 1850, A Systematic Treatise, posit of Petite Anse: Amer. Journ. Sci., n. s. , Historical, Etiological, and Practical, on the v. 47, p. 77-88. Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1869, Summary of North America, as they appear in the Cauca Results of a Late Geological Reconnaissance sian, African, Indian and Esquimaux varieties of Louisiana: Amer. Journ. Sci., 2d ser., v. of its Population: Cincinnati, Ohio, pp. 48, p. 331-346. DUNBAR, WILLIAM, 1801, extract of letter: HILGARD, EUGENE W. , 1870, Report on the Amer. Phil. Soc., Trans., v. VI, p. 40-42. Geological Age of the Mississippi Delta : DUNBAR, WILLIAM, 1803, extract of letter: Washington, 16 pp. Amer. Phil. Soc., Trans., v. VI, p. 55-58. HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1871, On the Geology EDWARDS, ARTHUR M., 1870, Results of a of the Delta and the Mud Lumps of the Microscopical Examination of Specimens of Passes of the Mississippi: Amer. Journ. Sci., Sand obtained from an Artesian Well at New 3d ser., v. I, pp. 238-246, 356-388, 425-435. Orleans: New York Lyceum Nat. Hist., HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1871, On the Geologi Annals, v. 9, p. 329-333. cal History of the Gulf of Mexico: Amer. ELLET, CHARLES, 1853, The Mississippi and Journ. Sci., 3d ser., v. 2, p. 391-404; also, Ohio Rivers; with an appendix on the Bars at 1872, Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Proc., v. 20, p. the Mouth of the Mississippi: Lippincott & 222-236, map. Co., Philadelphia, 367 pp. HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1872, On the Geology FORSHEY, CALEB G., 1875, Report of Survey of Lower Louisiana and the Salt Deposit on and Borings made at the Proposed Site of Petite Anse Island: Smithsonian Contr. Lake Borgne Outlet: Forty-fourth Congress, Knowledge, v. 23, art. 3, 34 pp., map. First Session, House Exec. Doc., v. 1, pt. 2, HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1873, Supplementary p. 546-548; v. 2, pt. I, p. 622-629. and Final Report of a Geological Reconnais GABB, WILLIAM M., 1875, Note on the Geolo sance of Louisiana: New Orleans, 44 pp. gy of Costa Rica: Amer. Journ. Sci., 2d ser., HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1874, Note on Lignite v. 9, p. 320. Beds and their Underclays: Amer. Journ. GRAHAM, GEORGE, 1824, Report of the Com Sci., 3d ser., v. 7, p. 208-210. missioner of the General Land Office in Rela HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1881, The Later Ter tion to Lead Mines and Springs: Eighteenth tiary of the Gulf of Mexico: Amer. Journ. Congress, First Session, House Ex. Doc., v 6, Sci., 3d ser., v. 22, p. 58-65, map. no. 128, pp. 14, 15. HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1883, The Salines of HARLAN, RICHARD, 1834, Notice of Fossil Louisiana: U. S. Geol. Surv., Min. Res. for Bones found in the Tertiary Formation of the 1882, p. 554-565. State of Louisiana: Amer. Phil. Soc., Trans., HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1884, Review of the n. s., v. 4, p. 397-403. General Soil Map of the Cotton States: U. S. HARRIS, GILBERT D., 1894, Tertiary Geology Tenth Census, v. 5, pp. 15, 16, map. of Southern Arkansas: Arkansas Geol Surv HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1885, The Classifica Report for 1892, v. II, 207 pp., illus., ~ap .. , tion and Paleontology of the United States HARRIS, GILBERT D., and ARTHUR C. Tertiary Deposits: Science, v. 6, p. 44. VEATCH, 1899, A Preliminary Report on the HILGARD, EUGENE W., 1887, The Equiva Geology of Louisiana: Louisiana State Exp. lence in Time of American Marine and Intra- No. 2 Early LouisiaM Geologists 67

continental Tertiaries: Science, v. 9, pp. 535, MERRILL, GEORGE P., 1906, Contributions to 536. the History of American Geology: Smithsoni HOPKINS, FREDERICK V., 1870, First Annu an Inst. Ann. Rpt., Rpt. U. S. Nat!. Mus. for al Report of the Louisiana State Geological 1904, pp. 187-733, illus. Survey: Louisiana State University, Ann. MERRILL, GEORGE P. , 1920, Contributions to Rept. for 1869, p. 77-109. a History of American State Geological and HOPKINS, FREDERICK V., 1871 , Second An Natural History Surveys: U. S. Natl. Mus. , nual Report of the Geological Survey of Loui Bull. 109, 549 pp., illus. siand: Louisiana State University, Ann. Rpt. MORTON, SAMUEL G., 1834, Synopsis of the for 1870, 35 pp., map. Organic Remains of the Cretaceous Group of HOPKINS, FREDERICK V. , 1872, Third An the United States: Philadelphia, 88 pp., illus, nual Report of the Geological Survey of Loui + appendices, 12 pp. siana: Louisiana State University, Ann. Rpt. NUTTALL, THOMAS, 1821, Geological Struc for 1871, p. 163-206, map. ture of the Valley of the Mississippi: Acad. HUMPHREYS, ANDREW A., and HENRY L. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, Journ., 1st ser., v. 2, ABBOTT, 1861 and 1876, Report upon the p. 14-52. Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi OWEN, RICHARD [English], 1839, Observa River: U. S. Army, Corps Topographical En tions on the Teeth of the Zeuglodon, Basilo gineers, Prof. Papers, no. 4, 615 pp., 20 pis., saurus of Dr. Harlan: Geol. Soc. London, Philadelphia (1861); Reprint with Additions, Proc., v. 3, p. 24-28. Prof. Papers, no. 13, 691 pp., maps, Washing OWEN, RICHARD [English], 1841, Observa ton (1876). tions on the Basilosaurus of Dr. Harlan (Zeu JOHNSON, CHARLES W. , 1899, New and In glodon ceroides Owen): Geol. Soc. London, teresting Species in the "Isaac Lea collection Trans., v. 6, p. 69-79. of Eocene Mollusca": Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila OWEN, RICHARD [American], 1866, On the delphia, Proc. for 1899, p. 71-82, illus. Deposit of Rock Salt at New Iberia: Acad. JOHNSON, LAWRENCE C., 1888, The Iron Sci. St. Louis, Trans., v. 2, p. 250-252. Regions of Northern Louisiana and Eastern PALMER, KATHERINE VAN WINKLE, 1953, Texas: Fiftieth Congress, First Session, Memorial, Gilbert Dennison Harris (1862-1952): House Exec. Doc. 195, 54 pp., map. Bull. Amer. Paleontology, v. 35, no. 146, 24 JOHNSON, LAWRENCE C., 1891 , The Nita pp. Crevasse, Louisiana: Geol. Soc. America, RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1833, Observations on the Bull., v. 2, p. 20-25. Geology of the Central Parts of the State of JONES, A. C., 1841, Mud-lumps at the Mouths Ohio: West. Journ. Medicine Phys. Sci., v. 7, of the Mississippi: Franklin Inst., Journ., 3d p. 356-363. ser., v. 2, p. 83. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1835, On the Vegetable KNOWLTON, FRANK H. , 1888, Description of Origin of Coal: Mirror, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan Two Species of Palmoxylnn, one new, from uary 17, 1835. Louisiana: U. S. Natl. Mus. , Proc., v. 11, p. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1836, Geological Features 89-91, illus. of Ohio: Geol. Surv. Ohio, Columbus, pp. LEIDY, JOSEPH, 1884, Fossil Bones from Lou RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1636, A Geological Ram isiana: Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, Proc., ble on the Western Reserve: Cincinnati, v. 26, p. 22. Ohio, pp. LEIDY, JOSEPH, 1889, Notice of some Mam RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1836, Geological Features malian Remains from the Salt Mine of Petite of Ohio: Gazette, Newark, Ohio, April 13, Anse, Louisiana: Wagner Free lnst. Sci., 1836. 1836. Trans., v. 2, p. 33-40, illus. RIDDELL. JOHN L.. Remarks on the LERCH, OTTO, 1892, A Preliminary Report Geological Features of Ohio: Cincinnati, upon the Hills of Louisiana North of the Ohio. 12 pp. Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad: RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1837, Geological Survey Louisiana State Exp. Sta. , Geol. Agri. Louisi of Ohio: Ohio General Assembly, Rpt. 60, ana, pt. 1, p. 1-51. Columbus, Ohio, 34 pp. LERCH, OTTO, 1893, A P1·eliminary Report RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1839, Observations on the upon the Hills of Louisiana South of the Geology of the Trinity County, Texas, made Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad during an Excursion there in April and May, to Alexandria, Louisiana: Louisiana State 1839: Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, v. 37, p. 211-217. Exp. Sta. , Geol. Agri. Louisiana, pt. 2, p. 53- RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1846, Sedimentary De posits of the Mississippi: DeBow's Commeret 158. LYELL, CHARLES, 1849, A Second Visit to al Review. v. 2, p. 434-439. the United States of America: John Murray, RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1850, Remarks on the London, 2 vols.; I, xii + 368 pp.; II , xii + 385 Dynamics of the Mississippi River, and other Matters Pertaining Thereto: New Orleans, pp. 68 Tulane Studies in Geology and Paleontology Vol. 15

Louisiana, Office of the Bee, 15 pp. SKINNER, HUBERT C., 1976, Charles Lyell RIDDELL, JOHN L., !853, On the Binocular in Louisiana: Tulane Stud. Geol. Paleont., v. Microscope: Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Proc., 12, no. 4, p. 243-248. SKINNER, HUBERT C., 1979, Raymond v. 7, p. 16-22. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1853, On the Binocular Thomassy and the Practical Geology of Loui Microscope: Ann. Nat. History, v. 11, pp. 259, siana: New Hampshire Bicentennial Confer ence of 1976, Proceedings, University Press 260. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1853, Notice of A Binocu of New England (in press), 12 pp. lar Microscope: Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, v. 15, STODDARD, MAJOR AMOS, 1812, Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana: Phil p. 68. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1853, Notice of a Binocu adelphia, pp. !58, 391-400. lar Microscope: Quart. Journ. Micros. Sci., v. TALCOTT, Captain ANDREW, in JOSEPH T. !, pp. 236, 237, 304. TOTTEN, 1840, Report to the War Depart RIDDELL, JOHN L., !853, On the Binocular ment for 1839: Twenty-sixth Congress, First Microscope: New Orleans Med. Surg. Journ., Session, Senate Doc., no. 463, v. 7, map, two v. !0, p. 321-327. drawings. RIDDELL, JOHN L., 1854, On the Binocular THOMASSY, RAYMOND, !860, Geologie Microscope: Quart. Journ. Micros. Sci., v. 2, Pratique de La Louisiane: New Orleans, the p. 18-24. author, lxvii + 264 pp., 6 folding plates. RIESS, KARLEM, 1977, John Leonard Riddell: THO MASSY, RAYMOND, 1863, Supplement a Tulane Stud. Geol. Paleont, v. 13, nos. 1,2, Ia Geologie Pratique de La Louisiane: Soc. Special Papers on the History of Science- 1, Ceo!. France, Bull., sec. ser., v. 8, p. 542-544. 110 pp., illus. VAUGHAN, T. WAYLAND, 1895, The Strati ROBERTSON, JOHN B., !867, Memorial and graphy of Northwestern Louisiana: Amer. Explorations in Relation to the Agricultural, Geologist, v. 15, p. 205-229. Mineral, and Manufacturing Resources of the VAUGHAN, T. WAYLAND, 1896, Geology and State: Louisiana Legislative Reports, Nev-.' Paleontology of Northwestern Louisiana: U. Orleans, 30 pp. S. Geol. Sw·v. Bull. 142, 65 pp., illus.

November 9, 1979

REVIEW

PALEOLITHIC SITE OF THE DOUARA CAVE AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF PAL MYRA BASIN IN SYRIA, Part 1: Stratigraphy and Paleogeography in the Late Quater nary, edited by Kazu~o Hanihara and Yutaka Sakaguchi. Published by the University of Tokyo Press, 1978, VI + 121 pp., illustrated. Distributed by ISBS, Inc., Forest Grove, Oregon, .$29.50

The Douara Cave was discovered in 1967 and was found to have been a habitation site for Nea?dert~al r:nan. This is a report of the 1974 survey of the cave area by the Tokyo Uni versity Scientific Expedition to Western Asia. Douara Cave is a?out 200 km northeast of Damascus, Syria and only 18 km from Palmyra, the wel!-knov.:~ oasts town. The stratigraphy of the deposits and paleoenvironments are dis cussed m add1t1on to descriptions of the stone implements and other cultural materials. Evi dence for the pr?ba.ble remains of a factory site for stone implement manufacture is pre sented and th~ Site IS .compared with other similar discoveries in the Palmyra Basin. Although th1s work IS probably of primary interest only to anthropologists its significance t~ the. stu~y of fossil man may appeal to a much broader readership amon~ geologists and biologists mterested in human paleontology. --H.C.S.