Statement by Wilbur A. Nelson

Nelson---4.

[illegible] sea [end illegible] form of life. This was the age of the early invertebrates. These rocks are well exposed to the east of Dayton in the East Tennessee Valley region.

Then came the time interval which the geologist calls the Ordovician, the time when primitive fishes, corals, and land plants came into existence. Some of these first corals in fossil form have been found in the western edge of Dayton. This time interval was followed by another series of rocks which, in East Tennessee, contain the red iron ore deposits which are used by the iron furnaces of this section. The rocks of this age are known as the Silurian, and during this time life further developed and scorpions and lung fishes came into existence.

The series goes on. Layer after layer of rocks were laid down, each series of which has been given a name by geologists so that they can be easily referred to. Next came the Great Age of fishes, and their remains are found in the rocks which the geologists call the Devonian and Mississippion series. The black slate, which crops out at the foot of Waldens Ridge, as well as the limestones lying above it, which form the side of the mountain to the west of Dayton, are layers belonging to these series. These rocks are full of the remains of animal life.

Then came the period in which the ancient plants flourished and produced great coal deposits, the age which has been called the Carboniferous. The extensive coal deposits of the Tennessee coal field, the edge of which caps the mountain a few miles west of Dayton, are of this age, and wonderfully preserved plant remains are found in the slates which lie on top of the different coal seams. This is a fact well known by the coal miners of this section. And what has been stated above as to Tennessee is but on illustration of how the different geolic