\ ''■«> S\^ ''n'' V X v\ \0 V s,&''^,\'^ ^ 
 
 x'-" ^ Vs \ X ^ XX ^ '' V\\ *0 xN O' 
 
 s^ \ V 
 
 nN XX xs \Xt''0\ 'HVOs '''\XU^\Sxxxx''''-\^^ 
 
 '' x'"X ^\OV Xs\ xX ^ XX \x|x\s^ xOxO"X \ V-^-'X S ^vw\x«^ ss 
 
 ^ X X'^XW\ XxW 
 V x"' "V" 
 
 ^ .xx\x#x#^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 XXX'frx^^^ifX'' X's 
 
 ■'Xx^x-'" X sX^VxAxV^ " " X 
 
 XxxNSX , X VxxOXXWsn'VXs'XX #V\X xX x"'" \x 
 
 X \ x' S^^XX^ IfXVX^XVX^xXxxxAxxXx X,'- 
 
 XN^X^^Vx X'- \ %x x' ^X''''X\^^%^^ X^^^Cx \ O-^Vs ^sX ^ X x\^x 
 
 W'XX'XX c XXsXv*^^#Xfe'''XOX'X^XxS 
 
 ^ XsxXxxXxx Xx xXxxxA^N^ 
 
 xXv xxXXx'X 
 
 \X > ^ xX^ 
 
 X? 'o*XtO'X''VS|l^M^t' '< \X^%->; ! 
 
 •vx^.J-^x-xx.. 'xx;-x^cxxxx^xxxxx.xXx'X!x.;xxWiwkX|# 0 ^x'^:i^»^^^^^ 
 
 \'' x'x'-X'^. ' xx''x xx \> xX 
 
 w ^ '‘V 
 
 xV .x xXXXX\'x\VV X 
 
 ' X^ XX X X\ XX X 
 
 xofo^xl^i X^xx's xxV"^ ^ 
 
 xVV-xX \ V \xX ^x\ x\ x XO^, 
 
 \ x" t - 4 M%x 
 
 ■■•■■•■ ■••'■r'-^ 'Xxt'''^x'" 'O ' x'''xxyxx'Xx<%X(:^^^ 
 
 ^'04 V Xx X ^ ^ ^'xx^^^'«» 
 
 <4 ■'X 'X^TW: X ^x X xx xxxxxx x^ 
 
 -. x$x'.::xHA\lxe'x:''-" " ' xx^>^ 
 
 
 x|x\x\ ^ xv'''''"' .V x\x X V 
 
 '$\C' N \ \ \ Vx V \\ ■^ \\\^ ^ \^^ W ^V\\\ ^\ 
 
 \x,^x Xx^^, X X XX Xx'^xx.^'x^i^mx^ 
 
 'I'Vx ''t 'V%Oxt^ ^'O ' x^x#4^|«^ 
 
 ^4 ^^XX 44 ^ 4 xx\x\ 
 
 vW X xXX X, X \ ^ V 04% 4^x V 
 
 X ^'^'v^xxx , Y ^x \^>\v 40 IOxOm ■ 
 
 X ^#xXx'.- o,x,yXX 4 .. 'v ,.: .'.x^x&iX'X 
 
 Y 4 ^'V 4 xx\ ;^ 4 XxXx 44 x' 'X \^0 x^ t^X \«X^Xx\ 
 
 .„x\Xx.,^xx\xX\ x.x.^^s\ V \ 0 x 0 ...'V'x. . X , . \,';\,O 4 v^,W'\xx.xVxx 0 ^ 0 , Xx XX,O^Vx^V,Xx\X.. 
 
 X '\ x''X4\44x4mxXKX4 X X ^0 xxO x^^-'Xx^X^VX^xxYx^^'x'x^xXY4XY^ 
 
 :"" : , -' 0';^X4v " ' ' \x 'Y'V'X "'X 'XX ,Y:X^-X^«ix#-'C;X 
 
 o'x '4 44^:44^" 
 
 '"X'X'X'x'l* 
 
 X x>: X "txxxx'Vx 
 

 Illinois State 
 
 [ LABORATORY of NATURAL HISTOBV, 
 
 CHAMPAt6N, ILLINOIS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 e>s>T 
 
 F 
 
 
X 
 
 r 
 
 \ 
 
 [■ 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 L 
 
 9 
 
 ♦ 
 
/ 
 
 V * 
 
 
 ; 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 \ i 
 
 V 
 
 » 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 . 
 
 . f* / ^ 
 
 . t; 
 
 
 
 .3 
 
 
 
 ■•/ji 
 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 / ■*.. 
 v.l 
 
 
 ,\ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https ://arch i ve . o rg/detai Is/repo rtsof sped al kent 
 
A. D. 1888. 
 
f i . V * ' 
 
 ir 
 
 
 
 'liixy 
 
 -"■'1 
 
 ^■v 
 
 
 
 , A*;. i 
 
 •■>u ■ • 
 
 'S'- ■^ aVV**'' >'*.»''>• . 
 
 ^ -r> “^Ix* ■ ' •• - 
 
 . r--. ,• 
 
 VV ■' . ■ ■ - ff * • .1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 V/ 
 
 <y 
 
 
 • ■ '.. •^: 
 • 'IfV • V . 
 
 "A • 
 
 ■.>■ 
 
 .■ f 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 URBANA 
 
DOWN THE TENNESSEE RIVER, CALLOWAY CO.. KY. 
 
Geological Survey of Kentucky. 
 
 JOHN R. PROCTER, Director. 
 
 E; E O E/T 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION, 
 
 EMBRACING THE COUNTIES OF 
 
 BALLARD, CALLOWAY, FULTON, GRAVES, 
 HICKMAN, MCCRACKEN, AND 
 MARSHALL. 
 
 By R. H. LOUGHRIDGE, Ph. D. 
 
 6TEBE0TTPKD FOR THK SURVEY BY JOHN D. WOODS, PUBLIC PRINTER AND BINDER, FRANKFORT, KY. 
 
s 
 
 . 4 
 
 -V 
 
 ■A 
 
 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Page, 
 
 Letter of transmittal 2 
 
 History of the Purchase 7 
 
 Surface configuration: Elevation; Lowlands; Uplands; Plateaus of varying 
 elevations 8 
 
 Drainage Systems: Tennessee basin; Clark’s river basin; Ohio basin; Missis- 
 sippi basin 13 
 
 Transportation Facilities 16 
 
 Geological Features: Border of the Purchase; Paleozoic shelf 17 
 
 Devonian 22 
 
 Subcarboniferous 26 
 
 Cretaceous 32 
 
 Tertiary: Hickman; Lignitic; Lagrange 36 
 
 Quaternary : Gravel beds ; Tennessee river gravel ; Ore region gravel ; 
 
 Gravel conglomerate 57 
 
 Stratified drift : Area covered ; Deposition ; Sand and sandstones .... 63 
 
 Port Hudson: Blue clays; Micaceous clay loam of valleys 73 
 
 Loess or grey silt: Shells from loess 77 
 
 Brown loam, lower and upper 80 
 
 Alluvium: VpJley gravel 82 
 
 Economic Geoi,ogy 84 
 
 Clays: Uses; Methods of manufacture; Common brick; Front building brick ; 
 Terra-cotta lumber; Fire-brick; Gas retorts; Pottery; Earthenware; White- 
 ware and porcelain; Ornamental terra-cotta; Encaustic tile; Drain pipe or 
 
 tile 84 
 
 Character of the Purchase clays : Refractory clays; Hickman blufTs; Columbus 
 bluffs; White plastic clays; Black or bluish clays; Comparison with Ger- 
 man fire-clay; Unrefractory clays ; Ochreous clays 96 
 
 Lignite or brown coal 119 
 
 Iron ores: Of ore region gravel ; Of later gravel; Clay ironstone; Magnetite; 
 
 Iron pyrites 122 
 
 Vivianite: Galena; Gypsum; Greensand; Sand; Polishing powder 127 
 
 Water supply 134 
 
 Agricultural Features 139 
 
 Lowlands: River bottom lands; Bottoms of smaller streams; Valley lands; 
 
 Tennessee; Ohio; Clark’s river 141 
 
 Uplands: Cane hills; Flatwoods; Barrens; Oak and hickory lands 156 
 
 I I 3 J040 
 
4 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 ANTKiCJiTiES : Fulton county; Hickman county; Ballard county; McCracken 
 
 county; Mar.shall county 173 
 
 Appendix I; Description of fossil plants from Tennessee 196 
 
 Appendix II: Description of fossil plants from near Wickliffe 198 
 
 Appendix III: Kesult of examination of material from bored well in Paducah. . 321 
 
 Description OF Counties: Fulton; Hickman; Ballard; McCracken; Marshall; 
 Graves ; Calloway 201 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS, SECTIONS, ETC. 
 
 Down the Tennessee river, Calloway county Frontispiece. 
 
 Cretaceous beds at mouth of Cypress 3-6 
 
 Hickman Bluffs 38 
 
 Bluff at Columbus ^ .... 47 
 
 Irregular and cross lamination of sands at Columbus 54 
 
 Plain east of Columbus. Chalk Banks and Mississippi river 55 
 
 Railroad cut near Boaz 67 
 
 Escarpment of the bluff at Columbus 79 
 
 Swamp cypress, Calloway county 1.50 
 
 Bartrum oak, Calloway county 168 
 
 Indian fortification two miles east of Hickman 175 
 
 Indian mounds on Bayou de Chien 177 
 
 Indian fortification two miles south of Laketon 181 
 
 Indian mounds south of Mayfield creek 182 
 
 Indian mounds at Wickliffe 185 
 
 Indian footprints in sand rock 189 
 
 Indian mounds on Jonathan creek 193 
 
 Indian characters on rock at Haddock’s Ferry 194 
 
 Sketch of fossil leaves from Tennessee 197 
 
 Section of clay showing markings 269 
 
 Sketch showing section of the Paducah well and the great fault in Paleozoic 
 strata 323 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 Maps showing geology and elevations. 
 
 Showing agricultural features. 
 
 Showing deposition of gravel beds. 
 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
 
 Professor John R. Procter, Director: 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith my report on 
 that portion of Kentucky lying between the Tennessee and 
 Mississippi rivers, and known as the Jackson Purchase. 
 
 The report embraces : 
 
 1. A description of the general topographical, geological, 
 economic and agricultural features. 
 
 2. A chapter on antiquities. 
 
 3. A description of each of the seven counties included in 
 the region. 
 
 The report having, for the most part, been prepared before 
 the organization of all of that part of Ballard county south 
 of Mayfield creek into the new county of Carlisle, it would 
 have required much time and labor to revise the work with 
 reference to that county ; then, too, the maps that accom- 
 pany the report were already engraved and published, and 
 to have made new ones would have entailed a very heavy 
 expense upon the Survey. Under the circumstances, there- 
 fore, reference to the county of Carlisle is omitted. 
 
 It gives me pleasure to say that in my field work I have 
 met with every encouragement on the part of the citizens 
 of the region, many of whom gave me very material assist- 
 ance. Among these may be mentioned Mr. W. F. Bradshaw, 
 Dr. S. C. Caldwell and Capt. Golay (U. S. Engineer Corps), 
 of Paducah ; Mr. Lilley, of Birmingham, and Mr. Ed Brown, 
 of Buffalo Landing. 
 
 The Survey is also indebted to Mr. W. Taylor, Superin- 
 tendent, and Karl Langenbeck, Ph. D., Chemist of the Rook- 
 wood Pottery, Cincinnati, for tests made with more than 
 thirty samples of clays sent from the Purchase counties. 
 The specimens of crude “biscuit ware” and of beautifully 
 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
 
 decorated ware, have been presented to the Survey museum, 
 and have been the object of great admiration on the part 
 of visitors. 
 
 To Prof. Wetherby, of Cincinnati, the Survey is indebted 
 for determinations of shells from the Loess bluffs ; to Mr. 
 Angelo Heilprin for that of Tertiary fossil casts from near 
 Paducah, and to the U. S. Geological Survey for identifi- 
 cation of fossil flora from the clays and clay-stones of the 
 Tertiary of Kentucky. 
 
 With assurances of my high appreciation for the cordial 
 assistance and uniform courtesy which I have received from 
 yourself and from the officers of the Survey, 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 R. H. LOUGHRIDGE, Assistant Geologist. 
 
JACKSON’S PURCHASE. 
 
 The country embraced between the Mississippi, Ohio and 
 Tennessee rivers, and the Tennessee State line on the south, 
 and covering an area of about 2,340 square miles, is com- 
 monly known as “Jackson’s Purchase,” from the fact of its 
 having been purchased from the Chickasaw Indians by Gen. 
 Andrew Jackson, a commissioner appointed on the part of 
 the United States to make a treaty with them. 
 
 The history of the purchase, so far as I have been able to 
 ascertain from records and other sources, is as follows : 
 
 The Legislature of Kentucky, for the session of 1817, re- 
 cognizing the right and title of that region as belonging to 
 the Chickasaw Indians, memorialized Congress to purchase 
 the lands from the Indians This was acceded to, and Gov. 
 Isaac Shelby for Kentucky, and Gen. Andrew Jackson for 
 Tennessee, were appointed commissioners by the President. 
 They met with the Indian Council at King’s Mountain. The 
 Indians, however, had so strong an animosity toward Gov. 
 Shelby that they refused to treat with him, and Jackson was 
 obliged to conclude the treaty in his own name, promising, 
 on the part of the United States, to pay $20,000 annually 
 for fifteen years. The treaty was signed on October 19, 1818. 
 
 The following Legislature of Kentucky, recognizing the 
 fact that the State had “recently come into possession of a 
 large additional territory,” passed an act for the survey of 
 the line between this State and Tennessee. 
 
 The Purchase region became then a part of Livingston . 
 and Caldwell counties, but in 1821 was formed into Hick- 
 man county; the same act also outlining three other counties 
 which should be organized so soon as the x>opulation justi- 
 fied it. Calloway was formed in 1822, Graves in 1823, and 
 McCracken in 1824. 
 
 In 1842 Marshall county was cut off from Calloway, and 
 Ballard from Hickman, and in 1845 McCracken and Fulton 
 were organized from Hickman. 
 
8 
 
 GKOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The Purchase now embraces the seven counties above 
 enumerated, and had in 1880 an aggregate population of 
 96,348 persons, a little over one-half of whom were males. 
 The number of voters in 1880 was 21,588. 
 
 In 1830 the population of the Purchase was 14,163, which 
 was more than doubled in the next decade ; the county 
 of Graves receiving the largest accessions. Each succeeding 
 census shows a continued increase in population. 
 
 Graves took the lead among the counties in 1850, and has 
 kept that place to the present time, her population number- 
 ing 24,138. McCracken ranks next, 16,262, nearly half of 
 whom are included in the city of Paducah. 
 
 The surface of the country is very generally rolling, and 
 more or less broken and irregular from the many streams 
 and small tributaries that have deeply cut their way into 
 it. The broad areas of comparatively level uplands occupy- 
 ing the water-divides in various parts of the region, are 
 themselves quite generally grooved with ravines and gullies 
 along the borders of the streams, the light brown loam soil 
 being easily borne away during washing rains. On the large 
 creeks and rivers the country is generally very deeply eroded, 
 forming “breaks” or a broken and rough country. Such 
 is especially the case along the north and east borders of 
 Mayfield creek. 
 
 The most broken portions lie along the Tennessee river on 
 the east, through Calloway and Marshall counties, and along 
 the Mississippi river bluffs from the State line northward to 
 the town of Hickman. There are, however, no prominent 
 high points in any part of the region other than those that 
 represent the remnants of what was once a broad plain, and 
 ’ whose summits are no higher than the general level of the 
 country. 
 
 Elevation. — The altitude determinations, as given on the 
 map accompanying this report, were made chiefly with an 
 aneroid barometer. The readings being frequently repeated 
 and corrected for weather changes, with the low-water de- 
 terminations made by the United States engineers between 
 New Madrid and Paducah to serve as a base, it is believed 
 
OF THE Jackson’s ruRCHASE region. 
 
 9 
 
 that the elevations as given are approximately correct. 
 Back-water from the Paducah flood in 1883, along the vari- 
 ous streams, also furnished points from which to check ba- 
 rometer readings. 
 
 Low Lands . — Between Cairo and Hickman the Mississippi 
 river has a fall of sixteen feet. The low-water mark of the 
 river at Hickman is 266 feet above the sea ; the wide bot- 
 tom lands, subject to yearly overflows, being estimated to be 
 about 295 feet, while the old depot of the N. C. & St. L. 
 R. R. is 301 feel The bluffs rise 160 feet higher, that por- 
 tion of the town being 461 feet above the sea. The town of 
 Columbus, further up the river and located on its bank, has 
 an altitude of about 309 feet, while above it the bluffs rise 
 abruptly for 125 feet. 
 
 From Cairo to Paducah the Ohio has a rise of fourteen 
 feet, low-water mark at the latter place being 286 feet. Above 
 this, as shown by the river gauge, the banks rise fifty feet, 
 the town of Paducah having an altitude of 341 feet above th 
 sea.* 
 
 The Tennessee river, so far as can be ascertained, has a fall 
 of about fifteen feet from the Tennessee State line to Paducah. 
 Its eastern bank is at the immediate foot of Subcarboniferous 
 limestone and flint bluffs, while on the west the hills lie from 
 one-half mile to one mile from the bank. The bottom land 
 proper is an extremely narrow belt (too much so to be marked 
 on the map) subject to annual overflows. The rest of the val- 
 ley is mostly above overflow, and the central portion is higher 
 than that near the hills, which is usually occupied by a slough 
 or creek. From its border, the hills rise rather suddenly to 
 elevations of from 160 feet on the south to 100 feet on the 
 north. 
 
 Clark’s river has scarcely any bottom land, but is bordered 
 on the west by a broad and level valley, an extension of the 
 Ohio river valley, as far south as Carter’s Mill or Kaler Post- 
 office, a distance of nearly twelve miles in a direct line from 
 
 * The elevation of Paducah, as given by the C. 0. and S. W. R. R., and published 
 in the Dictionary of Altitudes of the United States Geological Survey, is 484 feet — 
 the error extending also eastward for all the railroad stations in the Purchase region.. 
 
10 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 its mouth. Back-water from the Paducah overflow reached 
 to Lyle’s Mill, showing a fall of about fifty feet to low- water 
 at Paducah. On the East Fork of Clark’s river the back- 
 water reached to within three miles of the bridge at Benton. 
 
 Mayfield creek, emptying into the Mississippi river, is bor- 
 dered by broad bottom lands to almost its source. There is a 
 fall of about sixty feet in the river from near Mayfield to 
 Blandville, to which back-water from Mississippi floods reaches 
 through a distance of only seven miles. On the north the 
 uplands rise abruptly to 120 feet above the creek ; but on the 
 south they rise more gradually for several miles before they 
 reach the same elevation as on the north. An exception to 
 this feature occurs at the junction of Mayfield and Mississippi 
 bottoms, where the high bluffs that face the latter river have 
 been cut in two by Mayfield creek, and present abrupt points 
 both on the north and south. 
 
 There is a difference of between thirty and forty feet between 
 the levels of the waters of Mayfield creek and Clark’s river 
 at the points where they come nearest each other, viz.: Boaz 
 and Kaler, a distance of four miles. 
 
 Obion creek and Bayou de Chien are each bordered by 
 wide and low bottoms, subject to overflow. Back-water from 
 Mississippi river floods reaches up the former to a point east 
 of Columbus ; and on the Bayou de Chien to a little above 
 the mouth of Little Bayou de Chien. 
 
 Uplands. — The highest elevation of the entire region is 
 along the dividing ridge from Pilot Oak, in Craves county, 
 eastward to Lynnville, and thence southward to the Ten- 
 nessee line, south of Murray, where an altitude of 600 feet 
 is reached ; this then passes south-eastward towards the Ten- 
 nessee river east of Paris, in the State of Tennessee. 
 
 The next highest portion of the Purchase region, that 
 lying about 500 feet above sea level, occurs on the south-east, 
 forming a broad section from the Tennessee line northward for 
 about ten miles, and westward beyond Crossland ; embracing, 
 also, the narrow water-divide that farther north reaches west- 
 ward by Lynnville and Pilot Oak and separates the head 
 waters of Mayfield, Obion and Bayou de Chien from those 
 
OF THE .Jackson’s puuciiask kkoion. 
 
 11 
 
 wliich flow south into Tennessee ; other northerly extensions 
 reach to Farmington and Kirksey. The surface presents 
 broad and comparatively level plateaus west of the Blood 
 river, not so much furrowed by eros’ions as are the lower 
 elevations of the Purchase, though small streams are numer- 
 ous. East of Blood river the country is very broken and 
 hilly, the streams having cut deeply arid broadly into the 
 loam and gravel material. 
 
 The third plateau of from 450 to 500 feet chiefly lies imme- 
 diately north of the one just mentioned, reaching to Benton, in 
 Marshall county ; while westward two long narrow arms pass, 
 the one south-west to the Tennessee line south of Feliciana, 
 and thence east to Crossland ; the other northward for ten or 
 more miles, and thence north-westward nearly to Woodville, 
 and on a course toward the Grand Chain of the Ohio ; its 
 northward trend forms the summit of the dividing ridge 
 separating the waters of the Mayfield creek and West Fork 
 of Clark’s river, rising abruptly from the former, but imme- 
 diately sloping towards the latter. The contour is highest 
 to the southward, where it gradually rises to the higher 
 elevations. 
 
 Another plateau of the same elevation occurs on a high 
 bluff bordering the Mississippi river, from Hickman south 
 into Tennessee, presenting a very abrupt face toward the 
 west, and sloping eastward from its immediate edge. 
 
 There is very little* room for doubt that it once continued 
 not only westward over the region where now the Mississipi^i 
 river flows, but northward to Illinois, to be subsequently cut 
 away by erosions. 
 
 At the Tennessee line the plateau falls gradually eastward 
 for several miles, but in the region of Hickman it is narrow, 
 and its eastern side is rather abrupt. 
 
 Between the Bayou de Chien and the Obion the upland has 
 receded eastward beyond the bluff plateau, and it is only after 
 passing to the north of the latter stream that we again find.it, 
 but then with an elevation but little above the main upland. 
 The bluff northward has a north-west trend which again 
 brings it toward the high plateau region, and its elevation 
 increases to 430 feet at Chalk Banks and Columbus, which 
 
12 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 points are five miles east of a direct north and south line 
 from Hickman. The bluffs here also have a gradual eastward 
 slope, the highest points being on the immediate brows of the 
 abrupt face. * 
 
 Between Columbus and Chalk Banks (two miles below) the 
 bluffs recede to the eastward, and have a much lower eleva- 
 tion. Still northward toward Wickliffe and beyond, the ele- 
 vations are less and less as the bluffs bend to the eastward 
 or. away from the supposed line of high plateau. 
 
 At Hickman the bluffs seem to have been cut away by 
 eroding floods, whose course was from the north-west, act- 
 ing at the same time upon the entire line of bluffs from 
 Cairo southward.* 
 
 The fourth area, embracing elevations of from 400 to 450 
 feet, forms a diagonal stretch of country from near the 
 Tennessee river on the north-east to near Clinton on the 
 south-west, extending also to the north-west on the north 
 side of Mayfield creek, and embracing the narrow bluffs 
 along the Mississippi river from Mayfield creek to Co- 
 lumbus, and southward, and also a broader region on the 
 south-west near the Tennessee line. 
 
 The lowest uplands, with elevation of from 350 to 400 feet, 
 embrace the flats or valley lands along the Tennessee and 
 Ohio rivers, and a broad region reaching from Mayfield creek 
 southward to the Tennessee line. 
 
 The former differ greatly from the latter, and will be sepa- 
 rately described elsewhere. 
 
 The surface of the latter is uneven from erosions by numer- 
 ous streams. 
 
 The deep trough-like depressions in the western portion of 
 the plain, would seem to have been caused by the debouche- 
 ment of the rapid and deep current of the Mississippi river 
 into the embayment in their south-westerly course, before 
 its momentum was checked. 
 
 The north side was apparently deeply eroded by impact of 
 the Ohio river current. 
 
 * Crowley’s ridge in the Mississippi river bottom in Arkansas, with its altitude 
 160 feet above the river, is doubtless a relic of the plateau. 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s 'purchase region. 
 
 13 
 
 Drainage. — A dividing ridge, lying nearly east and west 
 along the Tennessee State line, forms the Purchase region 
 into a water-shed ; the Tennessee on the east, flowing north- 
 ward, the Ohio on the north, flowing westward, and the Mis- 
 sissippi river on the west, flowing southward, receiving almost 
 the entire drainage water, the area drained south into the 
 State of Tennessee covering only about eighty-five square 
 miles. 
 
 The respective areas drained by each river are approxi- 
 mately 850 square miles into the Tennessee, 250 square miles 
 into Ohio, and 1,150 square miles into the Mississippi direct. 
 
 The general course of all of the larger interior streams is 
 to the north and north-west; those entering the Tennessee 
 river on the east flowing almost parallel with it for many 
 miles before turning east. 
 
 Tennessee Basin . — The north and south basin of the Ten- 
 nessee, omitting that of Clark’s river, is narrow, not exceed- 
 ing twelve miles in its greatest width within this State ; its 
 area is about 350 square miles. The only tributaries of note 
 are Blood river, in Calloway county, which, rising in Ten- 
 nessee, flows northward ten miles and turns abruptly to the 
 east, with a width of about twenty-five feet ; Jonathan’s 
 creek, rising in the northern part of Calloway, flowing north 
 for twelve miles, turns east three miles to the Tennessee Val- 
 ley, and again north to the river ; and Big and Little Bear 
 creek, the former lying within the valley, the latter in 
 the hills, but both uniting and emptying into the river. 
 These streams are narrow, and have but narrow bottom 
 lands on either side. 
 
 Cypress creek, another tributary, rises near Briensburg and 
 flows northward until it reaches the river flats, when it turns 
 westward for six miles, parallel with the general course of 
 the Tennessee river throughout. Its bottom lands, before 
 reaching the valley, are very broad, presenting, during cer- 
 tain seasons of the year, an almost impassable cypress swamp 
 several miles in width. After entering the valley there is 
 scarcely any bottom land along the creek. 
 
 Clark' s River Basin . — This stream, with its two forks and 
 
14 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND E(50NOMIC FEATURES 
 
 tributaries, drains an area of about 500 square miles. The 
 head waters of each fork are near together ; thence the 
 West Fork flows nearly northward and the East Fork east- 
 ward for nine miles, the latter then bends northward and 
 north-westward by Murray and Benton, uniting with the 
 former about five miles in a due course from the junction 
 with the Tennessee river. The main river is narrow, flows 
 between steep banks, and has but little true bottom land, 
 being bordered by a broad flat valley region. Each of the 
 forks has, on the contrary, from one-fourth to one-half mile 
 of well-timbered bottom land. 
 
 Ohio Basin . — The area drained by streams running into the 
 Ohio direct is about 250 square miles, embracing the coun- 
 try south of the river, almost to the bluffs of Mayfield 
 creek. 
 
 The streams are mostly very small, and have very little 
 bottom land. Massac, Clanton and Humphrey’s creeks are 
 the largest, the latter two uniting just before emptying into 
 the river. Shawnee creek, south of Humphrey’s creek, while 
 flowing west into the Ohio bottom lands, turns immediately 
 southward with a slough-like channel to the Mississippi river 
 at Wickliffe. 
 
 3Iississippi Basin . — The main drainage streams of the 
 Mississippi Basin are Mayfield, Obion and Bayou de Cliien. 
 
 An interesting feature connected with the Mayfield and 
 Bayou de Chien is, that they drain very little of the coun- 
 try on the north of their banks ; and that the north bluffs 
 of the Ohio and Mayfield creek are high and precipitous, 
 while on the south of each the country rises very gradually 
 for many miles before assuming the elevation of the north 
 bluffs. 
 
 Mayfield creek rises in the southern central part of the 
 region, flows northward to within twelve miles of the Ohio 
 river, and turns quite abruptly west to the Mississippi. Its 
 basin, covering an area of 890 square miles, is, south of May- 
 field, quite wide, but narrows at Mayfield and northward to 
 but four or five miles, while in its westerly course it receives 
 the drainage waters of a large scope of country on the south. 
 
OF TiiF Jackson’s purchask region. 
 
 15 
 
 The divide between these two parts of the basin lies just 
 east of Kansas, Pottsville and Anytime, but is low and 
 scarcely perceptible. From the east and north the creek 
 receives very little drainage, the high bluffs being often the 
 summit of the water-divide. These bluffs border the bot- 
 tom land from the Mississippi river bottoms east and south 
 nearly to Mayfield, with an elevation of about 120 feet. 
 They then become lower and less abrupt. On the south the 
 lauds rise gradually from low and rounded bluffs for many 
 miles, reaching, at Milburn and Fancy Farm, the elevation 
 of the bluffs north of the creek. 
 
 The main tributary is Little Mayfield creek, which rises 
 near Mayfield and unites with the main stream near Bland- 
 ville. Wilson’s creek is another tributary. Mayfield and 
 Little Mayfield creeks have wide and well-timbered bottom 
 lands. 
 
 The Obion creek drains a basin of about 250 square miles, 
 with head waters near those of Mayfield creek ; it flows 
 north-west into the southern part of Ballard county, and 
 abruptly turns west and south-west into the Mississippi river 
 not far above Hickman. It has comparatively large tribu- 
 taries on each side. Its banks are steep and regular, and 
 the stream is not very wide. 
 
 The Bayou de Chien, the last important stream of the 
 region, also has its head waters in the south and central 
 part of the Purchase region, and has a general westerly 
 course to the Mississippi river. Its basin covers an area of 
 165 square miles. The tributaries are Cane, Little Bayou de 
 Chien, Big Mud and Snapneck creeks. The creek enters the 
 Mississippi about a mile above the town of Hickman, or one 
 and a half miles below the mouth of the Obion. 
 
 There is little doubt that these two streams were once 
 united a little westward from their present mouths, and 
 flowed southward near the line of bluffs and independent of 
 the river, through what are now wide sloughs, and through 
 Reelfoot Lake into the Obion river, many miles south in 
 Tennessee, and thence to the Mississippi river. Not more 
 than thirty years ago there was a wide slough and bottom 
 land west of the present town of Hickman, where now the 
 
10 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 river has its most rapid current, and the mouths of the 
 Obion and Bayou de Chien were within 300 yards of each 
 other. The Morrow slough, in its course through the bot- 
 tom and in the continuation of its channel through the lake 
 and southward, resembles very much the channels of the 
 creeks. 
 
 Transportation. — The three rivers that form the three 
 sides of the Purchase region afford splendid and regular 
 transportation facilities for the contiguous country, and at 
 all seasons of the year, unless blocked with ice in winter. 
 The smaller streams in the interior are not at all navi- 
 gable, and, except for logging, they play no part in the 
 transportation problem. 
 
 .'here are also several railroads which run through the 
 region, and afford to the central and western sections addi- 
 tional facilities. 
 
 The C., 0. & S. W. R. R., connecting Paducah with Lou- 
 isville, runs south-westward via Fulton to Memphis, and 
 thence to the great south-west. The Illinois Central system, 
 reaching to Chicago on the north and New Orleans on the 
 south, enters the region at Cairo and passes out at Fulton. 
 The M. and O. R. R., reaching from Mobile northward, 
 enters the State at Jordan, and runs to Cairo ; a branch of 
 two miles length, from South Columbus to Columbus, con- 
 nects with the St. L. and Iron Mt. R. R. 
 
 Hickman is connected with Nashville by the N. C. & 
 St. L. R. R. The above roads cross each other at different 
 Doints southward in Tennessee. Hack lines (daily), carrying 
 ^nited States mails, connect Paducah with Benton, and on 
 .Iternate days with Blandville. Murray has a daily line to 
 Paris, Tennessee, and on alternate days to Mayfield. There 
 are daily mails between Mayfield and Columbus via Fancy 
 Farm, Milburn and Arlington; also between Wickliffe and 
 Blandville. Merchandise is brought to Murray from the 
 Tennessee river by wagons. The roads over most of the 
 region are in winter almost impassable. 
 
OF TiiK Jackson's pukchase ukoion. 
 
 17 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 The Purcliase region occupies an interesting geologic posi- 
 tion almost at the extreme northern extension of what was 
 once a bay or arm of the ocean, reaching northward from 
 the extreme south, and whose waters washed the Paleozoic 
 shores on the east and west. The northern shore line of the 
 embayment extended across the southern part of Illinois, 
 beginning below the mouth of the Cumberland, at New Lib- 
 erty on the east, and reaching south-westward parallel with 
 the Ohio river and but a few miles from it, until at a 
 point about fifteen miles north of Paducah it turned sharply 
 westward to within fifteen miles of the Mississippi, when it 
 bent south-west to the river at Santa Fe, opposite Com- 
 merce on the Missouri shore. The Tennessee river marks 
 what was then the eastern side of the embayment, while on 
 the west the shore line was twenty or thirty miles beyond 
 the present position of the Mississippi. 
 
 Within the region the following geologic formations have 
 been observed. They are given in the order of position, be- 
 ginning with the most recent or topmost: 
 
 Alluvium (of river and creek bottoms). 
 
 Quaternary. 
 
 Brown loam; surface loams of uplands. 
 
 Loe^s ; grey silt of Mississippi bluffs. 
 
 Port Hudson (Hilgard’s Louisiana); stiff dark and 
 bluish clays with calcareous concretions, under the 
 river alluvium, and overlaid in the Ohio valley by 
 micaceous loam. 
 
 Stratified Drift; rounded chert and quartz gravel in- 
 terstratified with coarse sand, the whole more or less 
 stained and cemented with iron oxide. 
 
 Tertiary. 
 
 Lagrange (of Salford’s Tennessee) stiff plastic clays, 
 variegated in color and interstratified with whitish 
 sand, and holding impressions of leaves. 
 
 Lignitic; blackish arenaceous clay and clay-stone, with 
 leaf impressions and beds of lignite and lignitic 
 peat. 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 2 
 
18 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Porter's Greek (of Safford’s Tennessee); massive and 
 jointed clays (locally called “soapstone”), somewhat 
 micaceous, blackish when wet, dark grey when dry. 
 
 Hickman (provisional, of the Hickman bluff) ; siliceous 
 clay-stone over a thick bed of buff-colored clays. 
 
 Cretaceous. 
 
 Ripley ; black clay in very thin laminae, separated by 
 fine white and highly micaceous sand ; beds of sharp 
 angular white and yellow micaceous sand, 100 feet 
 thick. 
 
 SUBCARBONIFEROUS. 
 
 Lov)er (or silicious, of Safford’s Tennessee) ; heavy lime- 
 stone beds intercalated with dark flint layers. 
 
 Devonian. 
 
 A region or belt of massive quartzose sand - rocks has 
 been referred provisionally to this formation. 
 
 The above, beginning with the oldest, will be considered 
 separately in the following pages. 
 
 Nature of the Border. — The geologic formations that 
 formed the bluffs around the embayment in Missouri, Illi- 
 nois and Kentucky are entirely of the Paleozoic, beginning 
 with the Calciferous and Potsdam on the extreme west, and 
 terminating with the Subcarboniferous on the east. 
 
 In Missouri the Lower Silurian formed the ancient shore 
 line, the Calciferous and Potsdam being exposed from the 
 Arkansas State line north-eastward, passing under the Tren- 
 ton before reaching the river below Cape Girardeau. The 
 dips have not been ascertained. In Illinois the Trenton 
 rocks are exposed along the Mississippi river as far south 
 as Santa Fe, and are overlaid on the east by a narrow belt 
 of the Cincinnati, which in turn pass under a broad region 
 of the Upper Silurian still eastward ; and reaching to Cache 
 river we find the Devonian quartzite sandstones and shales 
 occupying a belt some six or eight miles in width, its 
 course from the north being turned south-eastward, near the 
 old shore line, in the direction of Caledonia on the Ohio 
 river. The series of the latter as given in the Illinois Re- 
 port (vol. iii., p. 22) comprise black slates associated with 
 
OK THE Jackson’s puuohase keoion. 
 
 19 
 
 clierty siliceous limestone, which pass into a compact brittle 
 Hint rock and overlie a white quartzose massive sandstone ; 
 beneath this are the Oriskany beds of cherty silico- magnesian 
 limestone. 
 
 The Snbcarboniferous overlies the Devonian to the east- 
 ward, and extends to the Ohio river above the mouth of 
 the Cumberland, and southward to New Liberty. Its dips 
 are generally to the northeast ; a belt of the coal measures 
 appears in the northern part of Pope county. 
 
 In Kentucky, the Paleozoic south of the Ohio begins with 
 disturbances in the strata, producing a number of faults in 
 Livingston county, and, according to Mr. Norwood, have a 
 strike varying N. 30® to 50° E., and an easterly dip. The 
 St. Louis limestone forms the western wall of the fault, 
 while on the eastern side, and forming the hanging wall, is 
 a hard massive quartzose sandstone, which Mr. Norwood 
 thinks is of the Chester, though resembling the Devonian 
 rock mentioned above as occurring in Illinois. 
 
 At the distance of a mile south of Smithland another 
 sandstone outcrop, with an exposure of about fifty feet 
 thickness, forms a low and sharp ridge trending N. 10° 
 E., the rock dipping to the east. While the age of this 
 latter sandstone has not been definitely ascertained, there is 
 but little doubt that it is of the Devonian series ; not only 
 because of its strong lithological resemblance to the sand- 
 stone north of Cairo, but from the fact that the direction of 
 its strike places it almost in the line of disturbance that 
 brought up the Devonian in Hardin county. 111. The Grand 
 Chain of the Tennessee river, located about one mile below 
 Haddock’s Ferry, south of Smithland, is a high ledge of 
 dark flinty rock strata fifty feet thick, and stands twenty- 
 five feet above low water. It reaches out for 150 or more 
 yards from the Livingston county shore in a S. 30° W. 
 course. The ledge is very irregularly bedded, and dips at a 
 high angle to the south-east. Some parts of the flinty mass 
 are bent over to the west, and in places overlap other flinty 
 layers. The rocks doubtless belong to the siliceous or Lower 
 Subcarboniferous, and have been uptilted by the same force 
 that brought up the sandstone. This appears to be an east- 
 
20 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 cily anticlinal of that apparent uplift that extended north- 
 ward beyond Sniithland. A bluff of thinly bedded sandstone, 
 seemingly of the Chester, crops out in the north bluff of the 
 Tennessee river opposite the mouth of Cyjiress creek, below 
 the Grand Chain. 
 
 Southward, along the eastern side of the Tennessee river, 
 no extended observations have been made ; but, so far as 
 known, no other formation than the Lower Subcarbonifer- 
 ous appears anywhere until at a point beyond the southern 
 limit of the Kentucky Purchase region, where Prof. Salford 
 reports the exposure of Lower Silurian beds along the river. 
 The high bluffs opposite Birmingham, Marshall county, are 
 made of alternate layers of dark flint and limestone, the 
 former predominating towards the north, with a diji towards 
 the south. 
 
 Paleozoic Shelf. — The eastern side of the embayment 
 shows evidences of there having been two Paleozoic shore 
 lines, the oldest one at the beginning of the Cretaceous, 
 the other further eastward at the beginning of the Quater- 
 nary period. ^ 
 
 From the eastern bluff of the Tennessee river, whose Sub- 
 carboniferous rocks rise over 100 feet above the valley, there 
 extends westward a broad shelf of siliceous limestone at a 
 much lower elevation, and covered by Quaternary gravel and 
 brown loam. The western edge of this shelf must have been 
 the original shore line of Cretaceous and Tertiary seas, for 
 upon it no strata earlier than the Quaternary have been 
 observed. This edge seems to have been abruptly beveled 
 off, for Cretaceous sands and clays, appearing immediately 
 w^estward, have been penetrated to a depth of a hundred 
 feet and no older rocks reached. 
 
 This shelf reaches from the Tennessee line, where its width 
 is about a mile, as exposed in creek beds, northward beyond 
 the Tennessee river, into Livingston county, where it widens 
 to about three miles. In southern Illinois it underlies the 
 (Quaternary beds westward to the southern prolongation of the 
 Devonian and Silurian along the Mississijipi river. (Illinois 
 Reports, vol. iii.) In Kentucky, the Tennessee river evidently 
 s:^parated this narrow Paleozoic shelf from the main land. 
 
OF THE .IACKSON’S PUUCIIASK KPXilON. 
 
 21 
 
 cutting deeply into tlie rocks in its northward course, and 
 probably with the width of the present valley. Tui'uing 
 westward it found its way to the enibayment basin, prob- 
 ably just south of its i)resent bed, below what is now a Hat 
 valley region, for there seems to be an entii’e absence of 
 limestone to quite a depth in tliis region, between the out- 
 croi)s of that rock on the brow of the hills, one mile south 
 of Calvert City, aud that of the flinty, uplifted strata which 
 forms the so-called “Chains” at and below Haddock’s Ferry 
 (a little west of north of the former), which extend very far 
 out into the river and twenty-five feet above low-water. The 
 current of the river has, since then, worn away the northern 
 bank, confining itself to that side, and allowing the depo- 
 sition of Quaternary Port Hudson material where once the 
 river flowed. The long strip of Paleozoic rocks on the west 
 of the Tennessee river had, therefore, the form of a pen- 
 insula, reaching from the extreme south in the State of 
 Tennessee northward to Livingston county. 
 
 The Chains, composed of such hard flinty masses and offer- 
 ing such resistance to the wearing effects of the flowing 
 waters, do not seem to have extended southward very much 
 beyond their present limit, for otherwise they would have 
 formed an obstruction which would have prevented the wear- 
 ing away of the upper river bed, and we would not find at 
 the present day so small a fall in the river between the Ten- 
 nesse line and Paducah. 
 
 The geologic formations whose outcrops extended across 
 the basin at the time of its formation, were doubtless the 
 Silurian, Devonian, and Subcarboniferous, and perhaps the 
 Carboniferous. No outcrop or remnants of the Silurian 
 divisions are visible between its line of exposure along the 
 northern shore line in Illinois, east of the Mississippi river, 
 and that on the south-east in the beds of the Tennessee 
 river just south of the Tennessee State line, except those 
 occurring just east of Cache river, Illinois, not far from 
 Villa Ridge Station. (Illinois Report, vol. i, page 414.) 
 Here the so-called “Clear Creek Limestone” series of Up- 
 per Silurian are exposed. The erosion of this central and 
 western part of the embayment basin seems to have been 
 
22 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 very energetic, and to have progressed deeply ; no Silurian 
 fragments have been observed in the gravel deposits. 
 
 The Devonian belt, on the other hand, embraces a series 
 of harder rocks, among them the “Onandaga Quartzite 
 Sandstone” of the Illinois Report, which, seems to have 
 withstood, to some degree, the wearing effects of the waters, 
 for at a number of points we find large masses of the rock 
 emerging from Quaternary gravels. 
 
 DEVONIAN. 
 
 The rocks of the Devonian dip to the north-east, and the 
 south-east trend of the belt in Illinois, just before reaching 
 the old shore line, would, if prolonged into the Purchase 
 region, pass a few miles south of Paducah and on into 
 Tennessee. It is reasonable to suppose that this geologic 
 formation was once prominent along this line, even after the 
 removal of the softer rocks, for there are now massive 
 quartzite sandstones exposed at a number of points be- 
 tween Illinois on the north and Tennessee on the south- 
 east, and apparently in place. 
 
 In the Illinois portion of the basin, the exposure of the 
 sandstone beneath the Tertiary and Quaternary deposits have 
 not been largely observed ; but in Kentucky there are a 
 number of such exposures, and though there may be some 
 doubt as to their age, yet from their position in the direct 
 line of Devonian outcrop, and their strong resemblance to 
 the Onandaga sandstone, I have without much hesitation 
 referred them to that formation. The rock is white, mas- 
 sive and quartzose, sometimes so friable as to crumble to 
 sand by a blow from a hammer, and at other points ex- 
 tremely hard. No fossils have been found. The locations 
 have not been designated upon the map that accompanies 
 this report because of this uncertainty, and because they 
 are mostly overlaid by Quaternary deposits. Some of the 
 rocks seem to be in place, forming regular beds of unknown 
 thicknesses, while others appear as immense fragments or 
 remnants of broken-down strata, sinking so deeply in the 
 earth that it has been impossible to ascertain upon what 
 they rested. Some of these fragments have been removed 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S rURCHASE REGION. 
 
 23 
 
 from place, and lie buried in the Quaternary gravel, their 
 edges and surfaces being greatly water-worn. The most 
 northwesterly exposure of these rocks occurs at Palestine 
 Church, about three miles south of Metropolis, or seven 
 northwest of Paducah. There are here four large masses, 
 lying in a north and south line from each other, three of 
 them near together, their surfaces on a level with the marshy 
 flats in which they lie. The other lies in front of the church, 
 and has recently been dug up. Its surface is smooth and 
 rounded. 
 
 Southward from this, at Massac P. 0., there are loose frag- 
 ments of quartzose sandstone, a foot or more in thickness, 
 and three or four feet square on their surfaces, buried in the 
 gravel beds. Their surfaces are worn smooth, and the edges 
 are rounded, the evident effects of transportation to westward 
 from the line of Devonian outcrop, the removal probably 
 occurring at the time of gravel deposition. In the ravines 
 around this place beds of sand rock overlie the gravel, and 
 have also been struck in 'the digging of wells, but they are 
 of a different character from those described. 
 
 Another locality along the line of J;he Devonian is on the 
 place of Mrs. Flournoy, four miles south-west of Paducah. 
 Here the quartzite appear in immense masses, and do not 
 show signs of transportation. They lie along the bed of a 
 small branch, and are protruding from the ground. One of 
 the rocks has an exposed thickness of ten feet, its top 
 surface measuring twelve by twenty feet. It is massive in 
 structure, composed of fine and sharp grains of sand, in part 
 graduate into a hard quartzite, and in part so friable as 
 to easily pulverize beneath the blow of a hammer. Other 
 masses are found in the vicinity over an area of 25 acres, 
 and always at a lower level than the Quaternary gravel. 
 Wells sunk within 300 yards of these exposures pass through 
 Quaternary material and the black clay of the lower Eocene 
 at depths of thirty feet, or ten feet lower than the level of the 
 quartzite. 
 
 Between Mrs. Flournoy’s and Paducah, on the hills border- 
 ing the fiat valley region, another outcrop of the sand rock 
 occurs, while within a mile of the town, on the west, south- 
 
24 
 
 GEOLOOICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 west and south, numerous and large isolated fragments lie 
 embedded in the land, having evidently been brought by 
 some, strong hood. The most interesting point of exposure 
 in this part of the Purchase, however, occurs south and 
 south-west of Paducah, over a distance of several miles, 
 lying nearly east and west. The most easterly outcrop is 
 on the place of Mr. Byers, a little to the west of the May- 
 held and Paducah road, on Island creek. The eastern, 
 north-eastern and southern sides of the hill are here covered 
 with large masses of the quartzite, to an elevation of seven- 
 ty-hve feet, and the rock also forms in part the bed of the 
 branch. It has all the characteristics of the Devonian sand- 
 stones described above, though seemingly entirely free from 
 fossils. The rocks in the branch lie in close proximity lo 
 layers of soft micaceous sandstone, well charged with Eocene 
 fossil casts, and standing almost vertically, about hfty feet 
 thick, and with a strike nearly north and south. The 
 quartzites are overlaid by twenty feet of Quaternary gravel 
 and loam. A well on the south-west, about 100 yards dis- 
 tant, dug to a depth of lifty feet, struck the blue Eocene 
 Tertiary clay at twenty feet. 
 
 Westward from this point the quartzite is again found on 
 the place of Mr. Smith, one mile distant. It here is also 
 exposed in several i)laces in the banks of the branch, and 
 below about twenty feet of loam and gravel. The rocks are 
 massive and broad, having an exposed depth of several feet ; 
 one rock has an apparent dip of 20® S. 30° W., but this 
 may be merely local. All have their surfaces more or less • 
 stained with iron. Still south-westward, about a mile, the 
 rock is again exposed in the bed of another branch, form- 
 ing an almost solid ledge of fifty feet or more of exposed 
 length, and with an undetermined thickness. 
 
 The above are the chief exposures of the sand rock in this 
 part of the Purchase region, though small fragments were 
 picked up two miles south of Hard Money, in Graves county 
 In the southeastern portion of the region the quartzose sand 
 rock is most largely developed, especially around Murray and 
 in the hills bordering the Tennessee Valley west of Buffalo 
 Landing. 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s purciiask region. 25 
 
 / 
 
 The Murray exi)osures are in and near tlie road north of 
 tlie town, in tlie woods a mile south-west, and on the brow 
 of the hills facing Clark’s river to the right of the road 
 south of town. The rocks in the two latter localities are 
 very large, and do not show evidences of trans})ortation. 
 Some of them outcrop but little below the surface of the 
 uplands, and others lie as much as twenty or thirty feet 
 lower ; their upper surfaces are, in some instances, much 
 abraded and worn, but their edges are sharp ; they vary in 
 size from ten to as much as 300 square feet on the upper 
 surface, or with an area of twenty by fifteen feet and sev- 
 eral feet in height. These outcrops are many feet above 
 those near Paducah. Black Tertiary Joint clays (“soap- 
 stone”) form the bed of the river here, and are exposed in 
 the bluffs of streams north of town. 
 
 East of Murray quartzite sandstones again appear over a 
 large area, in broken or isolated masses, a mile or more 
 north of the Buffalo and Concord road, and three miles 
 west of the river, or some six miles north of the Tennessee 
 State line. Some of the lower rocks at the base of the hill 
 seem to be in place, and are about fifty feet below the 
 upper exposures. They are all massive, and their upper 
 part is surrounded by gravel and loam, which .also covers 
 them to a depth of thirty to forty feet. The base of the 
 * gravel bed is more or less cemented with iron oxide, por- 
 tions of the conglomerate being occasionally found attached 
 to the quartzites. In one instance the cementing material 
 had penetrated the sandstone for several inches in a band 
 two inches thick, coloring it at first black, and hardening the 
 mass for half an inch, when it graduates into the lighter 
 grey of the rock. This color line is regular and horizontal, 
 and is seen upon the sides of a number of the rocks. 
 
 Another outcrop of the same quartzite occurs a mile or 
 more northwest of this group ; its elevation is above the beds 
 of Subcarboniferous limestone that outcrop along the base 
 of the hills bordering the river valley, and would indicate a 
 Chester horizon for the quartzites of this region. This is fur- 
 ther strengthened by the southerly dip of the Lower Subcar- 
 boniferous limestones and flint beds opposite Birmingham, 
 
26 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATCKES 
 
 wliicli would bring the Chester beds down to the general level 
 of the country. But the rocks are much whiter and far more 
 quartzose than the Chester beds that cap the hills in Living- 
 ston county, or that appear in the eastern part of the State ; 
 then, again, although the southerly dipping Subcarbonifer- 
 ous limestones form so high and prominent bluffs along the 
 east bank of the river at Birmingham, we find, a few miles to 
 westward on the sides of the hills along the west border of 
 Little Bear creek, a large outcrop of these quartzites at a 
 much lower elevation than the limestones. It is, therefore, 
 most reasonable to conclude that one of the faults observed 
 by Mr. Norwood at the mouth of the Cumberland, extended 
 far southward through this region, and that the quartzites 
 east of Murray and those of Little Bear creek and Cumber- 
 land river were all brought up by that disturbance and are of 
 probable Devonian age. The Murray exposures are separated 
 from them by a broad trough, whose depth below the sand 
 rocks is at least 200 feet, now filled in with Cretaceous and 
 Quaternary material. 
 
 SUBCARBONIFEROUS. 
 
 This formation, which borders the embayment in Illinois 
 also, is exposed beneath the Quaternary along a number of 
 streams in a narrow belt on the west side of the Tennessee 
 river. A notable outcrop occurs in the bed of the Ohio river, 
 on the Illinois shore, forming what is known as the Grand 
 Chain. The exposure here embraces layers of siliceous lime- 
 stone, holding dark flinty masses. The fossils observed were 
 crinoid stems, Spirifer Linneatus, etc. The beds belong to 
 the Lower Subcarboniferous, and are exposed along the river 
 bank in low water seasons for a distance of about a mile. 
 The limestone is overlaid by alluvium, and in the bluffs of 
 the river by masses of white decomposing chert and white 
 siliceous earth, with a vertical exposure of ten feet. There 
 are a number of these chert outcrops, the first appearing 
 about fifty yards up the river from the limestone, each out- 
 crop having a length of about 1('*0 feet, rounded off at the ends 
 and separated from each other for a distance of seventy-five or 
 one hundred yards by later or Quaternary deposits. 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 27 
 
 The cliert pieces are sliarply angular and large, tlieir sur- 
 faces frequently half decomposed into the white siliceous 
 earth. The beds are, in places, cemented almost into a con- 
 glomerate. They are very similar to the siliceous beds oc- 
 curring a few miles west of Birmingham, in Marshall county, 
 and at Brandon’s Mill, in Calloway county. Quaternary 
 gravel of the stratified drift overlies the chert, and is in 
 turn covered by the brown loam. The bluffs of the Illinois 
 shore of the Ohio show no other exposure of rocks older 
 than the Tertiary until above the mouth of the Tennessee 
 river. The Little Chain below Joppa is formed by masses of 
 Quaternary pebble conglomerate lying in the bed of the river. 
 
 There are no bluffs on the Kentucky shore of the Ohio ; 
 the low flats come to the river and show only later Quater- 
 nary deposits from Cairo eastward until the Cretaceous clays 
 appear at Paducah ; passing thence up the Tennessee river, 
 the first outcrops of Paleozoic rocks are reached at Bar- 
 ber’s Landing, where a bluff of sandstone, probably of the 
 Chester series, appears on the Livingston county shore, and 
 is said to be in the bed of the river nearly across to the 
 southern shore. It is exposed for fifty yards along the river 
 and for forty feet in height, the whole capped by ten feet of 
 Quaternary gravel in large pieces, the lower portion in places 
 cemented wdth iron oxide and accompanied by some thin 
 sheets of hematite. The sandstone is softer than the quartz- 
 ite of the Paducah region. 
 
 The extreme u]jper rock is about twenty feet long, its surface 
 very smooth, and its upper edges highly rounded for eight 
 inches by the action of flowing water, probably during 
 the Quaternary period, at which time the gravel was also 
 left upon it. The upper ledges of the sandstone are thick 
 and massive ; those below are thin-bedded, more broken, and 
 contain in places much pyritous nuclei!, which, on weath- 
 ering, decompose into yellow and red ferruginous spots. 
 There are, also, numerous small impressions of what appear 
 to be calamites. The rocks very generally dip towards the 
 north-east. In the edge of the water a mass of the rock ten 
 feet thick and fifty feet long lies on edge, dipping nearly 
 east. How far below the water it reaches, or whether other 
 
28 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 rocks in the bed of the river have the same feature, could 
 not be ascertained. 
 
 On the opposite or southern side of the river, the valley 
 shows no outcrop of the sand rock, the Quaternary deeply 
 covering every thing. 
 
 Going up the river, and passing the massive and long 
 
 out-crops of uptilted Subcarboniferous hint rock, dipping 
 southeasterly and forming the Tennessee Grand Chain de- 
 scribed above, we find, just above Haddock’s Ferry, other 
 masses of dark flinty material forming another small shoal ; 
 it outcrops on the southern shore above low-water at the 
 ferry itself. Limestone ledges, similar to those of the Grand 
 Chain of the Ohio river, are exposed in the small streams 
 eastward of the ferry on the northern shore. From this 
 
 point southward the Subcarboniferous rocks are found along 
 the beds of streams or on their bordering hill-sides, and gen- 
 erally at a much lower elevation than the summits of the 
 rock strata east of the Tennessee river, thus forming a kind 
 of shelf around the embayment basin ; its western edge 
 being the old Cretaceous shore line, as mentioned on a pre- 
 vious page. 
 
 The most northerly outcrops of the limestone in Marshall 
 county occur in the bed of a branch one mile east of Cal- 
 vert City, and a short distance south of the railroad, at 
 
 about twenty feet below the level of the valley. Again, east 
 
 from this, it is exposed on the northern brow of the uplands 
 bordering the valley one mile south-west of Gilbertsville 
 at a point called “Limestone Hill.” The rock is associated 
 wfith some flinty layers, and is covered by a heavy Quater- 
 nary deposit. 
 
 Southward, along the base of the hills facing the val- 
 ley of the Tennessee, there are only chert and flint debris 
 in small quantities, until beyond the junction of the two 
 Bear creeks, where we find the hill-sides along Little Bear 
 covered with masses of this debris to a height of seventy- 
 five feet above the creeks. No limestone has been found, 
 though lime-sinks are abundant two miles to westward. The 
 chert is sharp and cellular, and, immediately south of these 
 sinks, occurs in large fragments, covering the hill-sides almost 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puuciiase region. ' 2 d 
 
 to tlieir very tops, and witli very little overlying Quaternary 
 loam. Southward the clierty material disappears in the bed 
 of Little Bear creek, before reaching the road leading from 
 Birmingham to Palma. 
 
 Four miles west of Birmingham, at Mrs. Stone’s, on the 
 head waters of Buckhorn creek, is exposed the white 
 siliceous eartli from decayed chert, similar to that at tlie 
 Grand Chain of the Ohio, and also to that at Brandon’s 
 mill, east of Murray, in Calloway county. It is also found 
 near Birmingham, but overlaid, as usual, by heavy Quater- 
 nary material. The outcrop at Mrs. Stone’s is the most 
 westerly appearance of the Subcarboniferous in this part of 
 the Purchase region. 
 
 Limestone appears in ledges along the base of the hills 
 west of Birmingham, or just south of the Benton road, 
 and extends for one-half mile south. Limekilns have been 
 erected here. The rock has been reported also to occur in 
 the deep gullies a little westward. 
 
 These cherty strata seem to be the lowest of the Lower 
 Subcarboniferous, their position being either under the Wa- 
 verly or forming a part of it. The southerly dip that 
 belongs to the beds in the hills opposite Birmingham has 
 not been observed in the more westerly outcrops, though it 
 doubtless exists, for on going south, the cherty masses are 
 not very prominent along the hills bordering the vdlley, until 
 near the Calloway county line, where they again appear, 
 forming possibly the south side of a synclinal basin. These 
 masses continue southward beyond Blood river, followed by 
 the appearance of still lower limestone beds in the south- 
 ern portion of Calloway county, and finally by the Silu- 
 rian uplift, just beyond the State line in Tennessee. In 
 the southern part of Marshall county the hills bordering the 
 valley at Aurora, and also on Jonathan creek at the crossing 
 of the road leading to Fairdealing, are quite cherty, the 
 flinty layers also appearing in the bed of the branches of 
 Clear creek on the Olive road. These are the most westerly 
 outcrops of the formation ; no limestone could be found. 
 Southward to Blood river, in Calloway county, the hill-sides 
 that face the river valley are covered with the cherty masses 
 
30 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 to elevations of one hundred feet, the extreme summits of the 
 hills being capped with Quaternary drift and loam. To west- 
 ward the exposures are lower in elevation, appearing only in 
 beds of streams. South-west from Highland the last outcrop 
 of the formation is at the first crossing of Ledbetter creek, 
 on the road to Shiloh. At other crossings westward in the 
 same valley no exposures occur. 
 
 This western shore line, on approaching Blood river in its 
 southerly extension, bends to the westward, and its sharp 
 chert appears at the foot of the hills facing Little Sugar 
 Tree creek at the crossing of the Newburg and Murray roads, 
 and ten feet above the bed of the creek, or fort}^ above the 
 valley of the Tennessee. Thence to Newburg the chert beds 
 are exposed on the hill-sides, and near the river are as high 
 as seventy-five feet above the valley — a rise eastward of thirty 
 feet in about three miles. On the north side of Wild Cat 
 creek, about three miles due south of the Little Sugar Tree 
 exposure, and a little more than a mile west of Blood river, 
 the hills are covered, for thirty-five feet from their base, with 
 the chert fragments overlaid by Quaternary gravel, con- 
 glomerate and loam. To westward the chert suddenly dis- 
 appears, giving place to Cretaceous sands. 
 
 No other Subcarboniferous chert exposures have been seen 
 on the east of Blood river, this shore line bending from 
 Wild Cat creek very sharply nearly eastward, passing a mile 
 south of Brandon’s mill in a south of east course to the 
 small tributaries of the Tennessee river, in whose beds the 
 chert appears at a distance of from two to three miles from the 
 river. The chert masses reach almost to the tops of the hills 
 that face Blood river, and cover their sides southward to 
 Pine Bluff. The top of the exposure is about one hundred 
 feet above the valley at Pine Bluff. White siliceous earth 
 from decomposing chert occurs in a number of places, sepa- 
 rating the layers and inclosing half decomposed pieces. These 
 Blood river hills are very broken and rough. Southward, 
 along the hills facing the river to Buffalo Landing, the chert 
 is seen on the hill-sides from the base to elevations of fifty 
 feet, but westward it is only seen along the beds of the 
 small streams, and associated with the whitish siliceous 
 
OF THE Jackson’s purctiask region. 
 
 31 
 
 earth. Thence to the Tennessee State line limestone beds 
 appear at the base of the hills, outcropping twenty feet at 
 Mr. Edward Brown’s on Shannon creek, and at other places 
 to the site of old Fort Hindman, within a short distance of 
 the river, where the exposure is nearly one hundred feet in 
 height. 
 
 The limestone at Mr. Brown’s is tine grained and quite 
 free from fossils or siliceous matter, while at Fort Hindman 
 there are intercalated bands and inclosures of dark flinty 
 masses, with geodes and Subcarboniferous fossils. There is 
 much shale in the lower portion of the bluff. Above the 
 limestone are twenty feet of chert and loam, the Quater- 
 nary gravel appearing on the higher hills back from this. 
 The fort is just north of the mouth of Cypress creek, along 
 whose bed the limestone is exposed to a half mile beyond 
 the crossing of the Murray and Paris road. It is here over- 
 laid by a little loose chert. Westward from Brown’s the 
 limestone outcrops in the bed of Shannon creek, a mile 
 beyond the old iron furnace. 
 
 There is a gradual rise in this strip or peninsula of the 
 Subcarboniferous, from its exposure near Calvert City south 
 of the Tennessee State line, and the rocks have been abruptly 
 beveled off on the west by either a faulting and sinking of 
 the region, or from the wearing away of strata by the great 
 currents of the four great rivers — Tennessee, Ohio, Cumber- 
 land, and Mississippi — that rushed through this region as a 
 gateway from the immense denudation of the country east, 
 north and north-west. 
 
 The. form of the embayment, however, would seem to pre- 
 clude the latter supposition, for the basin reached northward 
 beyond the mouths of the three first named rivers, with a 
 long, narrow neck separating it from the Ohio, while its ex- 
 tension eastward from the (then) mouth of the Mississippi 
 placed that portion out of the reach of these currents. 
 
 To what depth this beveled edge reaches is uncertain, but 
 certainly for a hundred feet, for wells sunk to that depth 
 within a short distance from it did not reach the bottom of 
 the Cretaceous. 
 
 Carboniferous rocks appear to be entirely absent from the 
 Purchase and adjoining territory. 
 
32 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 CRETACEOUS. 
 
 The long belt of Cretaceous clays and sands, that ex- 
 tends westwardly from Flint river (west of Macon, Georgia) 
 across Alabama, and turns north-westward through north-west 
 Alabama and north-east Mississippi, and northward through 
 Tennessee, reaches the Kentucky State line in a belt of about 
 ten miles in width ; thence it borders the Subcarboniferous 
 region, with about the same width northward through Callo- 
 way and Marshall counties, bending north-westward in the 
 latter county into McCracken county, and across the Ohio 
 river into Illinois. At no i^oint in the State has the for- 
 mation been found directly covering the Subcarboniferous 
 shelf ; but, on the contrary, it does not rise quite as high as 
 the old shore line, and abuts against it, the Quaternary' drift 
 and loam covering both formations. 
 
 The four divisions in Mississippi designated by Prof. Hil- 
 gard as Eutaw, Tombigbee Sand, Rotten Limestone, and 
 Ripley, successively disappear from the belt in its course 
 northward through Tennessee, the last or highest in the 
 series alone reacliing the Kentucky State line. 
 
 In lithological features the Kentucky beds can scarcely be 
 distinguished from the oldest of the above Cretaceous series 
 (Eutaw), and had the belt not been traced across Tennessee, 
 and its distinct separation from the latter been clearly re- 
 marked by Prof. Salford, I would have referred these beds 
 to the lowest instead of the uppermost group, chiefly because 
 of the entire absence of fossils, which so strongly mark the 
 Ripley beds in Mississippi and southern Tennessee. 
 
 The formation in Tennessee is supposed to be not less 
 than four hundred or five hundred feet in thickness. “It is 
 mostly made up of stratified sands ; occasionally an inter- 
 stratified bed of dark slaty clay, ten to thirty feet thick, is 
 met with, but more frequently a sandy bed laminated with 
 clayey leaves.” (Report of Tennessee, page 418.) 
 
 In Kentucky the same features characterize the Cretaceous 
 formation, but the beds are separable into the two distinct 
 divisions of sand beds and finely laminated micaceous clays; 
 the first occurring chiefly in the southern, and the last in 
 the northern portion of the belt, both hidden by Quaternary 
 
OK THE Jackson’s i*uuciiase ueoion. 
 
 33 
 
 material, and only exposed in the hill-sides and in the beds 
 of the streams. 
 
 Sand Beds . — These exposures are more general toward the 
 south of Callov/ay count}^ where Beechy creek and Blood 
 river and their tributaries have easily carved out for them- 
 selves deep and broad valleys, which are still in places 
 quite sandy. These sand beds are well exposed in a deep 
 mvine at the cross-roads two miles east of New Concord, on 
 the road to Buffalo Landing. The sand is partly white, and 
 in part colored yellow with iron oxide, and is very highly 
 micaceous. The grains are very sharp, and their quickly 
 polishing power on silver coins has given rise to the belief 
 with some persons living near, that it contains mercury. 
 
 There are other exposures of the sand beds southward in 
 the same valley. The whole is capped on the side of the 
 hill with the thinly laminated clay beds, which dip N. 10 E. 
 at a small angle. The thickness of the beds is not known, 
 but must be one hundred feet at least. A well on the place 
 of Mr. McChristian, in the valley of one of the Beechy forks, 
 and but a little west of the edge of the Subcarboniferous, was 
 dug sixty-five feet in the micaceous sand, at which depth 
 water was obtained, but the bottom of the sand not reached. 
 
 The abundant fiow of water indicates that an impervious 
 stratum of probably Subcarboniferous limestone or of chert 
 layers, is not far below. 
 
 The formation extends west of Blood river, exposed along 
 the streams, though often hidden by debris from the hills. 
 The bottom lands of McCulloch creek, on the State line, 
 are generall 3 ^ covered with deep white sands derived from 
 the Cretaceous, while in a well on Mr. Witherspoon’s place, 
 located on the hills above the creek, the white, sharp and 
 micaceous sands were struck at about twenty feet, and pen- 
 etrated fifty-four feet before water was found. White pipe 
 clay overlies the sand in a bed about two feet thick. Over 
 this are eighteen feet of Quaternary material. Tertiary clay 
 occurs a mile or more north of this. 
 
 Micaceous Clay . — Northward the exposures are not deep, 
 and are mostly of the dark sand}^ micaceous clays that ac- 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 3 
 
34 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 company the Cretaceous formation in Tennessee. The beds 
 are, however, not very marked, and it is often difficult to 
 distinguish them from the lignitic Tertiary clays that over- 
 lie them to westward. The entire absence of fossils from 
 the Cretaceous in Kentucky, and their occurrence in but one 
 locality in the Tertiary of the State, makes the determina- 
 tion of the age of any strata dependent entirely upon lith- 
 ological resemblances and continuities. 
 
 The relation between the laminated blue clay and the sand 
 beds is well seen at what is locally known as the “sand 
 hill” on the north edge of the bottoms of Clark’s river, two 
 miles north of Benton. The hill is covered with masses of 
 Quaternary gravel and gravel conglomerate, while, at its base 
 by the roadside, is exposed beneath the gravel the following : 
 
 1. Light blue, plastic and micaceous clay 
 
 2. Blue micaceous clay in thin lamina?, which are separated by very 
 
 fine and white micaceous sand 
 
 3. Irregular bed of iron-stone, in places concretionary and rounded . 
 
 4. White micaceous sand, colored yellow to red in upper two feet 
 
 — in thin layers, and separated by thin leaves of stiff', plastic 
 greyish clays — all dipping at slight angle S. 70 E. This is 
 exposed five feet, and is covered at a lower level by fifteen 
 feet of debris to the bottom lands 
 
 2 to 4 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 
 1 to 2 inches. 
 
 20 feet. 
 
 In the sand bed are a few concretionary nodules of fer- 
 ruginous sandstone, similar to those in the Cretaceous beds 
 in McChristian’s well, mentioned above. In a well in the 
 town of Benton the thinly^ laminated and micaceous clays 
 were penetrated at twenty or thirty feet from the surface. 
 
 Tertiary black clays are found to westward from Benton, 
 while northward from town the sandy micaceous clay beds 
 of the Cretaceous occur in the hill strata and in the banks 
 of some creeks. At Dishman’s old mill, on the edge of the 
 bottoms of Clark’s river, just south of Oakland P. O., the 
 clays were reached at a short depth below the surface, and 
 are highly pyritous. 
 
 An interesting locality is in the bottoms of Cypress creek, 
 just north of the railroad tank, near Cypress P. O. There 
 IS here a small area of land higher than the surrounding 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S FUKCIIASE UKOION. 
 
 :r> 
 
 bottoms, in the bluffs of which is exposed the following 
 section : 
 
 1. Yellow loam . . . 
 
 2. Coarse gravel 
 
 3. Iron-stone layer 
 
 4. Angular white sandstone in thin layers separated by shaly clay . . . . 
 
 5. Shale, white and yellow 
 
 6. Thinly laminated micaceous black clay with laminated line micaceous 
 
 sand to water’s edge 
 
 4 feet. 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 2 inches. 
 2 feet. 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 8 feet. 
 
 This is an isolated point, and the ends of the outcrop have 
 been rounded off, evidently before the Quaternary, as the 
 material of that formation, the gravel and loam, are bedded 
 on it. 
 
 SECTION NORTH OF LITTLE CYPRESS P. O. 
 
 1. Brown loam. 2. Gravel bed. 3. Ferruginous sandstone layer. 4. Mica- 
 ceous sandstone with clay seams. 5. Micaceous and sandy black clay. 
 
 The currents that flowed across this region, carving out 
 the fiats or valley of the river, seem to have failed to en- 
 tirely remove the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds, and we 
 here find what was then an island, having a base of Creta- 
 ceous clay and a capping of what is apparently a Tertiary 
 sandstone. Then came the Quaternary era, in which the 
 gravel, and finally the loam, was superimposed upon these 
 beds. On the opposite side of this isolated bluff, and at its 
 foot, is a ledge of the sandstone dipping north-west, which 
 has evidently been undermined and fallen in. To eastward 
 of it, in the bed of the creek, is a miniature anticlinal of the 
 same rock. One of the large masses incloses round lumps 
 of black clay, probably of the Tertiary formation. 
 
 On Clark’s river the Cretaceous clays have been penetrated 
 in borings near what is known as “the old fish trap,” a few 
 miles from Paducah, and are also exposed in the banks three 
 miles above the crossing of the railroad. They again appear 
 
36 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 in the banks of the Ohio at Paducah, the tunnel for the 
 water- works having been excavated in them. This is prol)- 
 ably very near the western limit of the formation, as on 
 the south and west the heavy Tertiary clays are found. In 
 the well of the water-works the Cretaceous is overlaid by 
 forty- three feet of Quaternary gravel and loam 
 
 In Illinois, the sandy shaly clays and micaceous sands, 
 occurring in the county of Massac (Illinois Geological Survey, 
 vol. i, pages 447-451), are undoubtedly a continuation of the 
 Cretaceous beds of Kentucky. The “white micaceous shaly 
 sand,” so frequently mentioned, is especially characteristic 
 of the formation in Tennessee and Kentucky. It forms a 
 narrow belt north-westward from Paducah, its beds exposed 
 in the banks of streams and in wells off from the Ohio river ; 
 also in the hills that border the river just west of the Pulaski 
 county line (page 447), and thence westward. 
 
 The course of the Ohio, after entering the embayment re- 
 gion, has evidently been largely influenced by the material 
 of this formation. Cutting its way south-westward through 
 the Quaternary material, it reaches the Cretaceous above 
 Paducah, and thence cutting through that formation to the 
 heavy plastic clay just south-west of Paducah, its course is 
 immediately turned north-westward through the easily yield- 
 ing sands of the Cretaceous, until again it is thrown south- 
 westward by the Subcarboniferous barrier at the Grand Chain, 
 and enters the Tertiary. 
 
 TERTIARY. 
 
 This formation reaches from the Cretaceous belt, just out- 
 lined, westward to the Mississippi river, being exposed in 
 many of the beds and banks of streams and in the bluffs 
 adjoining them, where the hill-side debris has been removed. 
 Quaternary material covers the formation upon the hills to 
 a depth of from ten to twenty feet. 
 
 There is a little fall in the surface of the Tertiary beds 
 from the eastern border westward to the bluffs of the Missis- 
 siiipi at Wickliffe, Columbus and Hickman, while along the 
 Tennessee State line they are nearly one hundred feet higher 
 than those occurring northward in the hills south of Padu- 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S FURCIIASK KKOION. 
 
 37 
 
 call ; the din’erence between the outcrops nfear Murray and 
 that of the same belt of black clay in the hills south-west 
 of Paducah being about ninety feet. The oidy jierceptible 
 dips occur in the Mississippi river outcrops, where alternat- 
 ing beds of white sand and clay are inclined to the north- 
 east and east. 
 
 The divisions of the Tertiary represented in Kentucky are 
 of the lowest of the formation, viz: the Lower Eocene or 
 the northern lignitic of Hilgard’s Mississippi report, and the 
 Porter’s creek and bluff lignite of Salford’s Tennessee rejiort, 
 together with the Lagrange or extreme upper group of clays 
 and sands which have been, by Prof. Safford, placed as a Ter- 
 tiary division, though having strong Quaternary features. 
 
 While the lignitic of Mississippi is the oldest of the 
 formations thus far observed, there is in Kentucky a Series 
 of beds that seem to underlie even the lignitic, and are 
 provisionally termed the Hickman group, from their prom- 
 inent occurrence in the bluffs of tfie Mississippi river at the 
 town of that name. 
 
 The Eocene subdivisions represented and described are, be- 
 ginning with the upper, 
 
 Lagrange group (of Salford’s Tennessee). 
 
 Lignitic ( Safford’ s Porter’s Creek and Bluff lignite). 
 Hickman (provisional) . 
 
 The upper Mississippi divisions of the Eocene, viz : Vicks- 
 burg, Jackson and Claiborne, are not represented either in 
 Tennessee or Kentucky. 
 
 HICKMAN GROUP. 
 
 The strata referred, under this name, to a geologic groiqi 
 other than the rest of the Eocene, are exposed in the bluffs 
 bordering the Mississippi bottom from Hickman south into 
 Tennessee. Their position, with reference to other Eocene 
 divisions, has not been positively ascertained, but there is 
 very strong evidence that they are older than the lignitic. 
 
 These exposures are embraced in a belt of country five 
 miles west of a line running south from the lignitic outcrops 
 at Columbus, and both of the formations have an apparent 
 slight easterly and north-westerly dip, which would carry the 
 Hickman beds much below those of Columbus. 
 
38 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 As exposed in the bluffs at Hickman, the group shows the 
 following section : 
 
 SECTION OF BLUFFS AT HICKMAN, KY. 
 
 4 feet. — Yellow or brownish yellow loam 
 
 50 feet. — Light grey silt 
 
 15 feet. — Dark brown loam 
 
 2 feet. — Brown loam with scattered gravel 
 
 1 foot.- 
 8 feet.- 
 
 -Dense bed of cherty gravel 
 -Gravel bed with sand and lumps of clay 
 
 6 feet. — Greenish, sometimes bluish joint clay . . . 
 
 2 feet. — Sand and claystone ledge 
 
 3 feet. — Thinly laminated, slate-colored joint clay, green 
 
 ish clay-stone and green clay' 
 
 10 feet. — Banded with yellow ferruginous lines 
 6 feet. — Slate colored clay-stone, often massive, easily 
 crumbling, jointed structure, with spots of opal 
 
 Greenish joint clay . 
 
 (a) River. (b) Cypress knees at 221 feet 
 
 Going eastward, the clay-stone of the above section is 
 exposed along the bluff's for a few hundred yards, and 
 apparently in very nearly horizontal beds. The underlying 
 clays appear in the bed of the creek a mile east of this, but 
 the clay-stone seems to have been removed by that denuda- 
 tion which took ])lace probably at the beginning of the Qua- 
 ternary. The clay-stone mentioned above is highly siliceous in 
 
OF TiiK .Jackson’s fukchask ukoion. 
 
 39 
 
 places, and holds dark opalescent masses which break easily. 
 These were observed only in the point of the bluff between 
 the ininip factory and the river. The clay-stone disappears 
 in the bluffs south of town. 
 
 Going south from Hickman, the green clays outcrop along 
 the bluffs as far as Mr. Carpenter’s on the east of Reelfoot 
 Lake, just beyond the State line. The bluffs here are about 
 one hundred and sixty-five feet high, rising quite abruptly 
 from the bottom lands. At their base an exposure shows 
 the following section beneath the grey silt and gravel : 
 
 Blue fetid clay at fifty feet above the river bottom 
 
 Ledge of solid clay-stone 
 
 Soft grey sandstone, with yellow streaks .... 
 Greenish or drab clays 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 1 foot. 
 
 6 inches. 
 45 feet. 
 
 The green clay was penetrated in a well on the south of 
 town within the eastward curve that the bluff makes, and 
 about two hundred and fifty yards from its foot. The sec- 
 tion presented was as follows : 
 
 Loam 
 
 Greenish or drab clay 
 
 Blue plastic clay, micaceous and fetid with small pieces of lignite . . . 
 AVhite sand to water 
 
 6 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 
 8 to 10 feet. 
 8 feet. 
 
 The above well was sunk in the flat bottom land of the 
 river. The w^ater is unhealthy, probably charged with Epsom 
 salts. 
 
 The green clay spreads easily where disintegrated from its 
 jointy nature, and has probably thus been deposited, during 
 the Quaternary, over what seem to be Port Hudson beds. 
 
 No wells have been dug to such a depth that we can as- 
 certain the thickness of this group, or the character of the 
 material underlying it. To westward on the Missouri shore, 
 the nearest bluff exposure is that of “Clay Bluff;” so that 
 we have in the Hickman series either beds synchronous with 
 the lignitic Columbus beds, but free from the dark organic 
 matter because of their distance from the shallow Tertiary 
 shore line, or of beds older than the Columbus. 
 
40 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The following analyses have been made of the sand rock 
 found in the Hickman beds : 
 
 No. 1440. Soft sandstone from the bluff at Hickman, Fulton 
 county, fifty feet above low water. A whitish, porous and 
 friable siliceous rock ; adheres to the tongue. Only slightly 
 plastic when powdered and rubbed up with water. Burns of 
 a light buff color. 
 
 No. 1441. Soft sandstone from Chickasaw Bluff, eight miles 
 south of Hickman, Fulton county. Bed ten feet thick, sim- 
 ilar to the preceding. 
 
 No. 1442. Soft sandstone from Chickasaw Bluff, near the 
 base ; eight miles south of Hickman, Fulton county. A dull 
 light-yellowish grey, porous, soft sandstone ; adheres strongly 
 to the tongue. Composed of minute rounded quartoze grains, 
 with a whitish cement. 
 
 ANALYSES OF SOFT SANDSTONES, FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 
 Hickman. 
 
 Eight miles S. of Hickman. 
 
 No. 1440. 
 
 No. 1441. 
 
 No. 1442. 
 
 Silica 
 
 81.060 
 
 89.160 
 
 94.060 
 
 Alumina and iron oxides 
 
 13.609 
 
 7.809 
 
 3 129 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 .560 
 
 .380 
 
 .380 
 
 Mae;nesia 
 
 .139 
 
 .086 
 
 .173 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 .051 
 
 .051 
 
 .051 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 
 .844 
 
 .707 
 
 .981 
 
 Potash 
 
 .231 
 
 .115 
 
 .230 
 
 Soda 
 
 .021 
 
 .080 
 
 .124 
 
 Water expelled at red heat 
 
 3.600 
 
 2.400 
 
 1.600 
 
 Total 
 
 100.115 
 
 100.788 
 
 100.728 
 
 The analyses show these sandstones to be somewhat gyp- 
 seous and clayey, the clay holding also potash, soda, magnesia 
 and phosphoric acid. 
 
 The Hickman rock possesses this clayey feature to a high 
 degree, but southward the sandstones are more and more 
 
OF TiiK Jackson's purchask ri<:oion. 
 
 41 
 
 sandy, and at the State line have less than one fourth of the 
 amount of clay. 
 
 LIONITIC GROUP. 
 
 This, the next lowest division of the Eocene, embraces 
 the two ^?ronps of Salford’s Tennessee, viz: Porter’s creek 
 and blnlT lignite, which he supposed were separated by his 
 Lagrange beds, but which are in reality one and the same 
 bed, as shown in the bluff of the Ohio on the Illinois shore 
 at Caledonia, as well as by the continuity of the belt on the 
 east, north and west of the Purchase region. 
 
 The belt, designated on the map by a bright yellow color, 
 enters from Tennessee with a width of about ten miles, passes 
 northward through the middle of Calloway county, soon 
 bends to the north-west, through the south-west corner of 
 Marshall, and passes diagonally, through the center of Mc- 
 Cracken and the northern part of Ballard county, into Illinois, 
 in the region of Caledonia, following a parallel course with 
 that of the Cretaceous already outlined. 
 
 Southward, along the Mississippi river bluffs, its first out- 
 crops occur two miles north of Wickliffe, Ballard county, and 
 in the bluffs between Wickliffe and Fort Jefferson, reaching 
 eastward seven miles to Blandville, and southward to Lake- 
 ton on the M. and O. R. R. Thence to Columbus the bluffs 
 are composed largely of alternating layers of sands and pipe 
 clays which belong to the higher Lagrange group ; but at 
 Columbus, and a mile above, and also at Chalk Bluff, two 
 miles south, the greatest exposures of the Lignitic beds 
 occur, and are apparently the last of the series in this direc- 
 tion, for the bluffs southward to the Obion and Bayou de 
 Chien recede and become lower eastward from the river, and 
 the beds disappear beneath the Quaternary deposits. 
 
 In Tennessee the group appears again in the Chickasaw 
 bluffs at Randolph, on the Mississippi river, with an ex- 
 posed thickness of ninety feet, and near Memphis, where 
 there are but twenty feet exposed. (Tennessee Geological 
 Report, page 429.) 
 
 The material of the group comprises — First. A lower heavy 
 bed of massive joint clay, black when wet. but drying to a 
 lead-grey color, and on exposure to air crumbling to a fine 
 
42 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 slialy mass. This is the Porter’s creek group of the Ten- 
 nessee series. It is popularly called “soapstone.” Along 
 the Mississippi river bluffs the clays, while dark and some- 
 what jointy, are more sandy than those on the eastern side, 
 of the region. Second. An upper bed of dark sandy clays, 
 holding two layers of lignite, each varying from two to four 
 feet in thickness, the topmost being about five feet from the 
 surface of the formation. This upper or lignitic portion of 
 the group, while, perhaps, at one time continuous from the 
 Mississippi river eastward nearly to the Cretaceous, has now 
 almost disappeared on the east, outcropping only on Panther 
 creek, six miles east of Mayfield, in Graves county. On the 
 west, however, in the neighborhood of Wickliffe, the lignite 
 beds reach for three miles to north and south, and for seven 
 miles eastward to Blandville. Elsewhere in the Purchase 
 counties they have not been observed. 
 
 The lignitic group is everywhere covered by heavy beds 
 of gravel and loam, rendering its examination, or even a 
 knowledge of the character and extension of its beds, de- 
 pendent entirely upon such exposures as have been made 
 by streams, gullies, and by well-digging and boring. The 
 following section shows the character of the series comjDris- 
 ing the group : 
 
 SECTION OF THE LIGNITIC GROUP. 
 
 Dark sandy clays 
 
 Lignite bed 
 
 Dark sandy clays 
 
 Lignite bed 
 
 Dark sandy clays 
 
 Clay-stone, with fossil leaf impressions 
 
 Dark sandy clay, the upper holding leaf impressions 
 
 Micaceous sandstone, with fossil casts 
 
 Black joint clay, changing to dark sandy clay . . . . 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 4 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 3 feet. 
 3 feet. 
 2 feet. 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 3 feet. 
 100 feet. 
 
 Beginning at the Tennessee State line on the south-east, and 
 going northward in Calloway county, we find black joint 
 clay exposed in the bed and bluffs of the East Fork of 
 Clark’s river at Paris bridge, one mile south of Murray, 
 the county seat. The clay here is in strata, each jointed or 
 
OK TIIK JACKSON’S PUKCIIASK REGION. 
 
 43 
 
 broken up into irregularly shaped blocks, the seams sepa- 
 rating them being tilled with yellow clay, whose coloring 
 matter has been derived from the overlying clayey gravel 
 beds. The clay forms a bed of about twenty feet ; it is very 
 brittle, and, when moist, cuts roughiy with a knife. Its analy- 
 sis is given in the chapter descriptive of the Purchase clays. 
 
 The clay outcrops again north of Murray, in the banks of 
 the creeks and along the roadside, as described in the Callo- 
 way county report at the end of this volume. At Wadesboro 
 its upper portion is so highly charged with iron as to make 
 of it a good yellow ochre. This is exposed in the bed of 
 the ravine just east of the main street, and is about ten 
 inches thick. The jointy character of the clay is well shown. 
 
 To the westward, the clays sink far below the surface, and 
 are covered by the sands and pipe clays of the Lagrange 
 group. In a well on the place of Mr. Miller the clay was 
 reached at a depth of about 130 feet, pieces of lignite 
 being found also. 
 
 In Marshall county (northward) exposures of the lower dark 
 joint clays occur about four miles west of Benton, and occa- 
 sionally in the banks of the West Fork of Clark’s river. The 
 upper beds of lignite overlie them on Panther creek, a small 
 stream west of the river, in Graves county, and six miles east 
 of Maytield. The lignite is very similar to that of Wicklitfe, 
 to be mentioned below. The bed is about six feet thick, the 
 upper and lower portions black, and holding pieces of ligni- 
 tized wood, the central portion being of a dark brown color, 
 and very light, tine-grained and compact — more of a iignitic- 
 peat in character. Its analysis, given in full in another chap- 
 ter, shows 69.40 per cent, of ash, and 26.47 per cent, of com- 
 bustible matter. It is overlaid by a bed of somewhat mica- 
 ceous grey sandy clay, eight feet thick, and similar to that at 
 Columbus. 
 
 The above bed of lignite is the only one exposed in the 
 eastern belt of the group, and outcrops for about lifty feet 
 along the creek. It was again exposed on the branch about 
 a mile northward. It contains numerous leaf impressions. 
 
 North-westward from Benton the lignitic formation is ex- 
 posed at a number of i^oints south from the river, and 
 
44 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FKATURES 
 
 also in the bluffs of West Fork, at Lyell’s mill, near Sym- 
 sonia. At this latter place the black joint clay has an 
 exposed thickness of eight feet, under two feet of soft mi- 
 caceous sandstone, here free from fossil casts — which is 
 overlaid in turn by three feet of the same black joint clay. 
 On the hills above the creek forty feet of Quaternary gravel 
 and loam cover the Tertiary. 
 
 doing down the river, the same clays form the immediate 
 steep bluff's at a number of points as far north as the old 
 lish-trap ford, four miles above the railroad crossing. Borings 
 made at this point showed the underlying micaceous sandy 
 clays of the Cretaceous. Here the exposure at the water’s 
 edge is the stiff joint clay, changing above to a dark mi- 
 caceous saudy clay, eight feet in all, and capped with the 
 micaceous sand-rock, two feet in thickness, in which no fos- 
 sils could be found ; over this occurs another bed of the 
 black clay. 
 
 The lower joint clay bed is very brittle, cuts very smoothly 
 with a knife, the chips crumbling readily. The transition to 
 the dark sandy clay above is sudden. These lower beds are 
 penetrated by seams of the micaceous sandstone, often cross- 
 ing each other, as if that rock material, on being deposited, 
 had filled broad cracks in the clay strata. Some were as 
 much as three inches in width, running east and west, and 
 exposed for twenty-five feet. The upper sandstone ledge is 
 horizontal, and in every respect is the same as that found 
 at Lyell’s mill and already mentioned. 
 
 To westward, the formation is next exposed in the foot of 
 the hills that border the broad flats of the Ohio. On the 
 road leading south from Paducah, and at points three and 
 four miles distant, fine exposures are had in the deep washes 
 by the side of the road. 
 
 There is a broad valley on the south of Eden’s hill, and on 
 rising from this valley, going southward, the most northern 
 of these outcrops is seen. The next exposure is about one 
 mile farther south, or on the south side of this hill, consist- 
 ing of twelve feet (exposed) of lignitic joint clay, below four 
 feet of micaceous sand-rock, in which are large numbers of 
 casts of Lower Eocene fossils ; about thirty feet of Quater- 
 
OK THE Jackson’s pukchase rechon. 
 
 45 
 
 nary gravel and loam overlie the bed. The strata seem to 
 dip slightly to the north. 
 
 The laminated sand-rock is again exposed a mile south, on 
 the eastern edge of the hill of hard Onandaga quartzite at 
 Mr. layers’; its outcrop is about lifty feet thick; tlie strata 
 are in an almost vertical position, and have a north and 
 south strike. It is in the bed of the creek, and may have 
 fallen in at some time by the undermining action of water, 
 though it is not broken up and its bedding is very regular. 
 Casts of. fossil shells were also found here. Its .surface is 
 about live feet below that of the outcrops on the north side 
 of this valley, in the section just described. On the west 
 side of the hill of quartzite, and but a short distance from 
 this sand-rock, a well, when dug, struck blackish joint clay 
 at about fifteen feet, and penetrated it for thirty-five or 
 forty feet without passing through it. 
 
 An interesting feature connected with the micaceous sand- 
 stone is, that it seems to have been confined to the east of 
 the line marking the exposures of quartzite. 
 
 The fossil casts found here have been determined by Prof. 
 Heilprin, of the Philadelj)hia Academy of Sciences, to com- 
 prise the following : 
 
 Nucula (in all probability N. onula). 
 
 Leda protexta. 
 
 Leda Costata (?) 
 
 Mysia ungulina. 
 
 Turritella Mortoni. 
 
 The lignitic belt, turning thence to the north-westward, is 
 not exposed, so far as known, excej)t at Maxon’s mill, and 
 in wells at several points between Paducah and Woodville. 
 Beyond this it has been cut through by the erosion that pre- 
 ceded the deposition of Quaternary Port Hudson clays and 
 stratified drift and loam, which now fill the basin between 
 Woodville and the Illinois bluffs of the Ohio, at Caledonia. 
 
 The Caledonia bluffs rise almost precijjitously from the 
 river shore to a height of about one hundred feet above low 
 water. At the time of my visit there was about nine feet 
 of water above the low-water mark, and at its edge was ex- 
 
46 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 posed a bed of greensand (glauconite) with hyaline sand and 
 dark clay. Above this are seventy-five feet of the dark joint 
 clay, weathering to a grey shale, and similar in every regard 
 to the clay beds of the lignitic, already described. On the 
 western end of the bluff the upper part of this clay gradu- 
 ates almost imperceptibly into the dark sandy clay of the 
 Columbus bluffs, with a thickness of about twenty feet. The 
 bluffs here are lower. 
 
 SECTION OF CALEDONIA BLUFFS. 
 
 Brown loam . . . . 
 
 Silt or loam 
 
 Gravel 
 
 Dark sandy clay, indurated 
 
 Dark joint clay, weathering into a grey shale and with cracks running 
 
 S. 20 W 
 
 Greensand (glauconite) with hyaline sand ; also some black sand and clay. 
 
 10 feet. 
 
 10 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 
 20 feet. 
 
 25 feet. 
 
 2 to 4 feet. 
 
 The micaceous sandstone of the Paducah series has disap- 
 peared, or has been merged into what seems to be its equiva- 
 lent — the heavy bed of indurated sandy clay. 
 
 There are no lignitic exposures south-westward and south- 
 ward in Kentucky, until Cane creek is reached, two miles 
 north of Wickliffe, or about twelve miles south of Caledonia. 
 The beds here exposed are the upper part of dark sandy clay 
 (the equivalent of the joint clay) and its overlying stratum 
 of lignite. The entire thickness shown is about ten feet. 
 
 The indurated sandy clay forms the bluffs along the Mis- 
 sissippi river at Columbus, and the so-called “chalk banks,” 
 two miles farther south. Dipping to the north-east, they 
 pass below the beds of lignite at Wickliffe and elsewhere. 
 
 The bluffs at Columbus show the following section ; 
 
 
 
 ^ Soil and subsoil 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 
 
 Gray silt or loam 
 
 25 feet. 
 
 Quaternary . 
 
 ■ 
 
 Brown loam and small quartz pebbles 
 
 4 feet. 
 
 
 
 Coarse gravel and sand 
 
 15 feet. 
 
 
 
 Dense gravel bed 
 
 20 feet. 
 
 
 
 Stiff variegated colored clay, with some sand layers .... 
 
 15 feet. 
 
 Tertiary . . 
 
 
 Dark sandy clays, with lignitic leaves, etc., in upper portion. 
 
 50 feet. 
 
 
 
 Covered with debris to water’s edge 
 
 15 feet. 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 URBANA 
 
BLUFF AT COLUMBUS, HICKMAN CO., KY. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s purchase region. 
 
 47 
 
 At the foot of the bluff, beneath the debris, there are vari- 
 egated and white sands, but belonging to a more recent for- 
 mation. The bluffs at the “chalk banks” show about the same 
 bedding. 
 
 The beds in each are indurated, when exposed, into a 
 greyish semi-sandstone. They contain much lignitic matter in 
 the form of leaves and sticks of wood ; descriptions of the 
 former are given below. Between Columbus and the “chalk 
 banks” there has been an extensive cutting away of the 
 bluffs, the plain or bottom land on which Columbus stands 
 reaching a mile eastward from the river. 
 
 These easterly bluffs are much lower than those that rise 
 immediately from the water’s edge — a feature of the entire 
 bluff region southward into Tennessee and beyond. The 
 grey lignitic clay outcrops in the bluffs north-east and east 
 of Columbus in but few places, having, it would seem, been 
 largely removed by some denuding agency before the depo- 
 sition of the sands and clays of the succeeding or Lagrange 
 division. This is to be observed prominently in the bluff 
 immediately north of the town, where heavy beds of fine 
 white sand, with interbedded stiff, plastic and variously col- 
 ored pipe clay, rise from the river ; while a short distance 
 up the river, in the same bluff, the lignitic beds rise to the 
 same height from the water’s edge. 
 
 The same feature is seen at the “chalk banks,” where 
 the sandy clays are replaced on the northern end by the 
 inters tratified sands and clays of the Lagrange group. It is 
 a question .whether the entire distance between these two 
 lignitic bluffs was not once occupied by the Lagrange, to be 
 subsequently removed by currents. 
 
 The upper beds of lignite do not appear in these bluffs, 
 nor at Randolph, Tennessee (Safford) ; but, as already men- 
 tioned, farther north-eastward, at Wickliffe and Blandville. 
 Immediately south of the former, the Illinois Central Railroad 
 has cut away a large portion of the beds at the base of the 
 hills, showing a vertical section in which the stratum of 
 lignite is seen in a long horizontal black or brown band, for 
 many hundred yards. Its position is about thirty feet above 
 the river bottom land, and within the upper part of the 
 lignitic sandy clays. 
 
48 
 
 OEOLOOIOAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Beneath tliis, at about ten feet, another bed is said to occur, 
 though not exposed except in a culvert under the bed of the 
 railroad, where it is said to have, at one time, caught fire and 
 slowly burned for many months. I rather believe it to be 
 simply a portion of the upper bed that has slid down from 
 its original position, as the bluffs are thus constantly doing, 
 much to the annoyance of the track hands. 
 
 The lignite stratum is about four feet thick, comprising a 
 central portion of two feet of very finely divided, light, 
 highly compact and brown lignite ; and an upper and lower 
 layer, a foot each, of black and fine lignitic matter, holding 
 also leaves and sticks. The entire mass, and especially the 
 central part, has the appearance of a bed of lignitic peat. 
 
 The following is a section of the bluff above mentioned : 
 
 12 feet. 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 15 feet. 
 10 feet. 
 
 C inches. 
 5 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 
 25 feet. 
 
 The lignite is again found in the deep ravines and creek 
 bottoms at a number of points, east of Wickliffe, to Bland- 
 ville, seven miles distant. At the latter place it resembles 
 in every respect the bed at Wickliffe, except that it is, in 
 places, very highly pyritous.. 
 
 At two miles west of Milburn, or twelve miles south of 
 Blandville, there is an exposure of plastic and black lignitic 
 clay, but at no other point have I been able to find any of 
 the beds of the formation ; on the contrary, the sands and 
 clays of the succeeding or Lagrange group are penetrated 
 in wells at sometimes even lower depths than the lignite, 
 and outcrop occasionally in the banks of streams. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the lignite beds ex- 
 tended eastward to the Cretaceous, covering almost the entire 
 country, and that the period was followed by a rapid current 
 
 Quaternary . 
 
 Laarransce, w: 
 
 Lignitic, 
 
 Grej' silt or loam 
 
 Brown loam with small gravel 
 
 I Hounded and angular chert gravel 
 
 1 Coarse sand, in part red and in part hyaline 
 
 Interstratified red and white clay and sand 
 
 ' Dark massive lignitic clay 
 
 Lignitic peat 
 
 Massive dark sandy clays with leaf impressions, etc., to 
 railroad track 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S FUKCHASE REGION, 
 
 4'.) 
 
 •of water, wliicli swejit away the greater part of the formation, 
 leaving the long line of clays on the east, the bluffs at Wick- 
 liffe and Columbus and intermediate points, as well as the 
 lignite bed east of Mayfield and the isolated point at Mil- 
 burn. 
 
 The fossil leaves described below were collected in the 
 chalky banks of the Mississippi river near Columbus, Ky., 
 by Dr. D. Dale Owen and L. Lesquereux. (The descriptions 
 are taken from the American Journal of Science and Arts, 
 2d Series, xxvii.) 
 
 1. Quercus virens (Michx.), live oak. The leaves of this 
 species are abundant in the strata. On this oak Michaux 
 remarks that its range of habitat does not extend to more 
 than ten to fifteen miles from the shores of the sea, in the 
 southern States. 
 
 2. Castanea nana (Muhl.) Our leaf is somewhat narrower 
 than generally found in this species, which now inhabits the 
 pine barrens of the south. 
 
 3. Ulmus alata (Michx.) This species is also mentioned 
 with some doubt. Our leaf is more pointed and its teeth 
 shorter. It might be only a variety of Ulmus Americana. 
 The only specimen is deficient. 
 
 With the above species there is another Ulmus, scarcely 
 one inch long, ovate, with nervation and form of teeth of the 
 genus which exactly resembles Ulmus minuta (Gopp) of the 
 Upper Miocene. Perhaps it may be a variety of the follow- 
 ing species. But it differs evidently in its simple teeth and 
 the rounded base of the leaves. 
 
 4. Planera Gmelini (Michx.) This species grows now in 
 the river swamps of Louisiana. 
 
 5. Prinos integrifoUa (Ell.) Two leaves of this species 
 were found in the “chalk banks.” They agree in every 
 point with the Prinos still living in Florida. 
 
 6. Ceanothus ^^Americanus'^ (L.) To this very variable and 
 common species, I refer with some doubt two leaves, one 
 large, regularly ovate-obtuse, with somewhat decurrent mar- 
 gins, the other oval-lanceolate, with rounded base. The ner- 
 vation and serrature of the leaves are just alike and agree 
 with C. Americanus. 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 4 
 
50 
 
 op:ological and economic features 
 
 7. Carya olivcEformis (Nutt), pecan. Fruit and leaves in 
 specimens. The geo<?faphical habitat of this species is still 
 the same as of old. 
 
 8. Oleditschia tricanthos (L.) A few detached leaflets evi- 
 dently belonging to the locust. 
 
 9. Acorus calamus (L.). Part of a broken leaf. 
 
 10. Some undeterminable catkins of Alnus or Betula. 
 
 Clay-stone . — The lignite beds are overlaid at Wickliffe by 
 
 a fine light grey colored clay-stone 'rich in fossil leaves. The 
 thickest bed, or what seems to be an accumulation of broken 
 pieces of the stone, occurs in the bank of the creek south- 
 east of the town, with a thickness of about ten feet, but 
 elsewhere there is only a thin layer of it, and not promi- 
 nently exposed. 
 
 During the lignitic period, this country between the Cre- 
 taceous shore line on the east and the western border was 
 a sea- marsh, at first deep, but soon, on filling up with the 
 dark sands, became shallow enough to support a rank veg- 
 etable- growth, the leaves and stems of which, falling and 
 sinking with the dark clays, were embedded in them. 
 
 The surface of the basin thus gradually rising, and at the 
 same time filling up until it was little else than a peat bog, 
 reached, as far as can be judged, from what are now the bluffs 
 of the Mississippi river eastward to the present Clark’s river, 
 and southward from the Illinois shore to a little south of 
 Mayfield. This peat was probably of moss, whose decay 
 would result in the finely divided material that we find 
 here. It is very compact, and almost entirely devoid of 
 leaves and sticks, except in the upper and lower sections of 
 the bed. Upon changing to lignite by age the peat proper 
 became of a dark brown color, and with a thickness of 
 about two feet. Leaves falling upon this peat formed, in 
 the course of time, a lignitic mass of from three to six 
 feet thick in all. Deeper water followed this period, and 
 another bed of dark sands covered the peat, to be followed 
 again by another shallow bog, and thus alternately to the 
 end of the period. There are two or more of these lignite 
 beds, and all are overlaid finally by two or more feet of 
 dark sandy clays. 
 
OF THE .IACKSON’S I'UUCIIASK REGION. 
 
 f)l 
 
 It is hard to arrive at any definite conclusion as to the 
 condition of tlie region at the end of the lignitic period, 
 or prior to the deposition of the succeeding Lagrange beds. 
 The absence of lignitic strata within a broad belt reaching 
 from the (at that time) mouth of the Mississippi eastward 
 for many miles, and finally southward into Tennessee, indi- 
 cates either that the river current swept far out into shallow 
 gulf marshes and kept this belt free from the deposits of 
 clay and vegetable matter, or that these deposits, covering 
 the entire region, were in this belt removed by a strong 
 and sudden current coming from the north-west, leaving a 
 deep basin to be again filled by later deposits of an en- 
 tirely different character, viz : the Lagrange group of sands 
 and clays. This latter view is sustained by, jirat, the out- 
 lying remnants of the lignitic beds, one at Panther creek, 
 six miles east of Mayfield, in Graves county, and another 
 two miles west of Milburn, in Ballard county : while on 
 the north of Mayfield creek the beds cover a large area, 
 and are continuous from Blandville westward to the river 
 bottom, its outlines forming a triangle whose apex is at 
 Blandville, and its base reaches from two miles north of 
 Wickliffe southward along the Mississippi bluffs to near 
 Laketon. Second. By the very evident removal of the lower 
 portion of the lignitic bluffs between Columbus and the 
 Chalk Banks, and again between the latter and the Hick- 
 man bluffs, as already alluded to, and the filling up of the 
 gap by the Lagrange beds. This presupposes the current 
 of the Mississippi river to have been far westward of its 
 present bed, or in a continuous . course with tlie river far 
 west of Cairo ; a strong current then coming from the 
 north-west must have cut its way by several channels 
 through the lignitic marshes southward for many miles ; 
 one from the present site of Cairo eastward until it met the 
 Ohio current and then turned southward ; another reach- 
 ing more southward, between the present Wickliffe and Co- 
 lumbus bluffs, cutting away the beds to Milburn, and also 
 removing, in its south-easterly course, the lignitic beds be- 
 tween the bluffs at Columbus and those at Chalk Banks (two 
 miles south), and on to the south of Milburn, leaving a small 
 
52 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 outcrop of black clays two miles west of the latter place and 
 joining the main current further southward. A portion of 
 this current cut away a long portion of the river bluffs be- 
 tween the Chalk Banks and Hickman, leaving but a narrow 
 belt of Eocene at the latter place, and affording a subse- 
 quent outlet for the waters of Obion and Bayou de Chien. 
 
 Within the territory thus outlined, as having been denuded 
 of its lignitic beds, I have found nothing older than the La- 
 grange sands and clays, and these reaching to dei)ths far 
 below the level of the lignitic at Columbus. 
 
 LAGRANGE GROUP. 
 
 This group, so named by Prof. Safford, in his Tennessee 
 report, from its largely developed beds near the town of La- 
 grange, is referred by him to the Eocene, though no fossil 
 shells have been found to verify his impressions. 
 
 The eleven specimens of fossil leaves from a thin local 
 sandstone in the bottom of a railroad cut near Somerville, 
 and the three specimens from the clays at Lagrange, Tennes- 
 see (Geol. of Tenn., pp. 425-6), indicate, according to Prof. 
 Lesquereux, a Miocene or Upper Tertiary age for these beds. 
 In Kentucky there are three distinct leaf-bearing beds, viz: 
 the dark arenaceous Tertiary clays of the Columbus bluffs, 
 described above, the Tertiary clay-stone of Wickliffe which 
 is clearly associated with the lignite, and the fine plastic 
 clays of Boaz Station, which resemble the Lagrange clays. 
 The leaf-bearing sandstone of Somerville has not been ob- 
 served in Kentucky. 
 
 The presence of fossil leaves in the Lagrange clays gives 
 to them their only, and even then a doubtful. Tertiary fea- 
 ture, while in all other respects the beds strongly resemble 
 the Quaternary deposits. Owing to this uncertainty as to age 
 I have, in this report, placed the Lagrange beds provision- 
 ally in the Tertiary but above the Eocene division (a position 
 higher than that given to them by Prof. Safford); though, 
 from my observations in Kentucky, I am strongly inclined to 
 believe, with Prof. Hilgard, that they are the lowest of the 
 Quaternary stratified drift. The boring of an artesian well is 
 being thought of by the citizens of Mayfield, and this, if done 
 
OF TIIK .IACICSON's PURCHASE UEGION. 
 
 to several hundred feet, may go far toward determining the 
 true age of these interstratified beds of tine clay and sands. 
 
 Prof. Salford included in the group not only the leaf- 
 bearing clays, but also the superlicial beds of sands be- 
 longing to the Quaternary that spread themselves over the 
 country southward ; but I have here restricted the name 
 Lagrange to the former, viz: the interstratified beds of 
 white sand and light colored pipe clays that occupy a 
 broad belt north and south through the central and west- 
 ern part of the region, between the eastern and western 
 belts of the lower lignitic, and that occupy, as it were, a 
 deep trough in that formation. 
 
 The belt has a width of about twenty-five miles on the 
 south, as it enters the State from Tennessee, passes north- 
 ward across Mayfield creek to the east of Blandville, and 
 then turns westward with very narrow limits. 
 
 On the west, along the Missisippi river bluffs, it fills broad 
 gaps in the lower lignitic beds, first between the mouth of 
 the Obion and Chalk Banks, then northward between the 
 latter and the Columbus bluffs ; then, after passing these 
 bluffs, it is seen northward to a little beyond Laketon, and 
 finally between Cane and Humphrey’s creeks, not in bluffs, 
 but found occasionally in wells and outcrops in creeks. 
 
 The material forming the beds of the formation are sands 
 and clays ; the former i)redominate, and are usually made 
 up of fine white non-micaceous sands, often stratified with 
 other colored sands. The clays in some localities are highly 
 gypseous, the fine needle-like crystals of which form clusters 
 throughout the clay bed. This is specially noticeable at Mr. 
 Hough’s, four miles south-west of Paducah, on whose place 
 the clay has a thickness of several feet. Again, at the foot 
 of the hill south of Benton, Marshall county, it was observed 
 in a thinner bed. 
 
 A strong point towards showing the Quaternary origin of 
 the Lagrange group is the ebb and flow structure peculiar 
 to the stratified drift, which is very prominently seen at Co- 
 lumbus in the bluffs north of the town. It forms the base 
 of the high sand and clay bluff. The following sketch was 
 made of the section. The laminae mostly slope to the north- 
 east as shown. 
 
54 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 SECTION SHOWING IRREGULAR CROSS LAMINATION OF VARI- 
 EGATED SANDS AT COLUMBUS, KY. 
 
 White pipe clay 
 
 White or slightly yellow sand.- 
 with horizontal ferruginous 
 lines and cross lamination 
 
 Purple sands with irregular 
 lamination 
 
 White and yellow sands with 
 the horizontal lines marked 
 by ferruginous matter . . . 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 12 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 
 24 inches. 
 
 8 inches. 
 
 18 inches. 
 
 6 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 
 Tile bluffs extending eastward or away from the river, with 
 a south front, show this clay and sand stratification very 
 well. The clay is deeply purple or reddish, varies from a few 
 inches to two or three feet in thickness, the washing rains 
 
 spreading it over the sides of the bluff and giving to the 
 
 whole a purplish color. The entire series have a very per- 
 ceptible dip of about ten degrees to the north-east. The 
 overlying gravels, etc., are almost horizontal. 
 
 On the north side of Chalk Banks (two miles south of 
 Columbus) the dark sandy lignitic clays of the foregoing 
 formation are exposed at the water’s edge, and the inter- 
 stratified clays and sands of the Lagrange are well seen 
 
 from the foot of the bluff to an elevation of twenty feet, 
 
 overlaid by thick beds of gravel, etc. The clays are more or 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF laiNOlS 
 URBANA 
 
I 
 
 PLAIN, EAST OF COLUMBUS, HICKMAN CO., KY. CHALK BLUFFS AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
 
 IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
OK Tii?: Jackson’s purchase region. 
 
 66 
 
 less i)urplisli in color, niul are in beds a lew indies thick, 
 alternating? with thicker beds of sand from two to four feet 
 thick. The sand bed is sprinkled with line clay particles. 
 The strata dip to the north-east as at Columbus. 
 
 This formation furnishes chielly the large beds of white and 
 colored clays that bear so important a relation to economic 
 geology. They are very variable in thickness, from a few 
 inches to several feet. They will be further described in the 
 chapter on Economic Geology. 
 
 Within the main belt of the formation, exposures to any 
 depth are rather rare, as the material is easily removed, and 
 the hill-side washings have very generally covered any out- 
 crops. In deep wells, however, the strata are penetrated, and 
 it is largely from this source that I have been enabled to trace 
 the formation. As a rule, water is obtained either in or just 
 below the gravel, the upper bed of the Lagrange series being 
 a thick, impervious clay, which prevents the percolation of 
 water. 
 
 In the northern part of Ballard county, between the Ohio 
 river and Mayfield creek, wells are dug or bored to dejDths 
 of from forty to sixty feet, those at Woodville being over 
 one hundred feet in depth. It often happens that no water 
 at all is found, because of the extreme thinness of the clay 
 beds. 
 
 An excellent opportunity for studying the stratification of 
 the Lagrange and later formations is afforded by the many 
 railroad cuts along the line of the C., O. & S. W. R. R. 
 from Paducah south to Fulton. Some of these cuts are deep 
 and long. The first, at Bond’s Station, shows only the loam 
 and heavy beds of rounded gravel, not stratified. At Flor- 
 ence Station the first exposure of pipe clay is at the edge of 
 and below the railroad track. It is highly plastic and vari- 
 egated in color, several feet thick, and underlaid by a red 
 sand. South from this the cuts usually show more or less 
 clay beneath the gravel and loam, the gravel often cemented 
 into a conglomerate. At about three miles from Boaz the 
 following section appears : 
 
 1. Surface loam 
 
 2. Yellow clay and some gravel • • 
 
 3. Variegated clay holding a few small white quartz pebbles 
 
 4. Yellow sand 
 
 6 feet. 
 
 2 feet. 
 4 feet. 
 
 3 feet. 
 
56 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The clay No. 3 is plastic when wet, but indurated when 
 dry, resembling the siliceous earth from decomposed Subcar- 
 boniferous chert. 
 
 A notable locality is in the long and deep cut one and a 
 bait miles north of Boaz. The clay, appearing at the base, 
 has an exposure of several feet, and a purple tint. The 
 nature of the overlying material is shown in a section given 
 under the discussion of the gravel beds. 
 
 At Boaz, in an old field just north of the depot, the clays 
 again appear near the surface, and at some distance from the 
 bluffs. The bed is about three feet thick over a coarse sand. 
 The upper half is of a purjile color, the lower creamy white, 
 and both contain well preserved impressions of leaves, some 
 of which have been submitted to the United States Geologi- 
 cal Survey for identification, the result of which will, I hope, 
 appear in time to be added as an .appendix to this report. 
 
 At Pryorsburg, a bluff to the east of town shows, beneath 
 the superficial loam and a foot of gravel, the following strata: 
 
 1. Yellow ocheroiis clay, somewhat plastic, and changing downward into 
 
 a purple and more compact variety, somewhat sandy 
 
 2. Highly colored purple joint clay, plastic and dipping to the north- 
 
 east; in laminaj with a fine micaceous sand (resembles the upper 
 Cretaceous beds) 
 
 3. Light bluish, fine sandy clay (white when dry) 
 
 4. Compact or indurated, very fine white siliceous earth. The grains are 
 
 very sharp and about one thousandth of an inch in diameter; thick- 
 ness probably 
 
 feet. 
 
 5 feet. ■ 
 2 feet. 
 
 25 feet. 
 
 The latter two beds resemble the lower portions of the 
 Cretaceous as found in the eastern part of Calloway county, 
 and seem to be an outlier of that formation. Nowhere else 
 in this county have the same character of material been found 
 as that of beds two, three and four. 
 
 There is an absence of the representatives of the lower lig- 
 nitic Tertiary at this point ; the Lagrange clays alone resting 
 on what seem to be the Cretaceous. 
 
 The beds of white pipe clay are not confined to the central 
 region, but reach eastward of the belt of lignitic clays, in 
 somewhat isolated areas, and are not so much interlaminated 
 with sands ; they are also devoid of fossil leaves, so far as as- 
 certained. In plasticity and other physical features, the clays 
 
OF THK Jackson’s purchase ukoion. f>7 
 
 are similar to the true Lagrange beds; tliey overlie directly 
 the black li,o;nitic clays, as observed at Rufus Morris’, three 
 miles east of New Providence, Calloway county. The upper 
 bed here has a thickness of about two feet, with two inches 
 of white sand in its upper part, a few pockets of sand in 
 terspei'sed through the main bed, and is underlaid by a 
 rather coarse ferruginous sand at its base. 
 
 On the Tennessee State line, a few miles south of this, the 
 thinly bedded clays and sands are again seen in a ravine by 
 the I'oadside, and beneath about twenty feet of loam and 
 gravel. A westerly or \V. 10 N. dip of the beds occurs in the 
 eastern slope of the hill that rises from Concord, on the road 
 to the south-east corner of the county. The clay is in layers 
 of from three to eight inches thick. At Russell’s pottery, 
 six miles east of Murray, there is a thick deposit of these 
 clays, local in occurrence, and utilized in the manufacture of 
 pottery. Another local deposit occurs at J. T. Pugh’s, three 
 miles east of Palma, also at Scale and at Mr. Burradell’s, 
 north of Briensburg, in Marshall county. 
 
 At Bell City (or Howard’s pottery), near me Tennessee line, 
 several beds occur in the hill sides. The upper parts of the 
 clay hold purplish sand concretions. In the southern part of 
 Graves county, three miles west of Lynnville, a massive and 
 highly plastic clay shows, on a smooth cross-section, prettily 
 banded lines. This clay is used at Pitman’s pottery. 
 
 The sand beds of the series are seemingly thickest in the 
 northern part of the belt, and become more and more inter- 
 laminated with clays as. we go southward into Tennessee. The 
 analyses and value of the vai’ious clays are given in the 
 chapter on Economic Geology. 
 
 QUATERNARY. 
 
 The Quaternary formation, as represented in this portion 
 of the State, embraces the following divisions, beginning with 
 the uppermost : 
 
 Brown loam of the table lands. 
 
 Loess or grey silt of river bluffs. 
 
 Port Hudson., 
 
 Gravel beds and stratified drift. 
 
58 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The formation overlies or caps the uplands of the entire 
 Purchase region, and even extends eastward upon the lower 
 highlands of the Subcarboniferous, between the Tennessee and 
 Cumberland rivers, in Livingston county. The two middle 
 divisions are limited in their occurrence to the neighborhood 
 of the large streams, as will be noticed under their respect- 
 ive descrixitions. 
 
 The several divisions are not conformable with each other, 
 nor are they regular in their deposition or thicknesses. They 
 only partially till the immense Mississippi basin, whose rim 
 on the east of the Tennessee river, on the north of the Ohio 
 and west of the Mississippi river, is formed of the old Pale- 
 ozoic rocks, the surface lying fifty to one hundred feet below 
 the rim escarpments. 
 
 GRAVEL BEDS. 
 
 The early part of the Quaternary period does not seem 
 to have witnessed the deposition of its sand and gravel 
 material in that stratified form that characterizes it in the 
 more southern portion of the great Mississippi embayment 
 basin, and to which the term stTCLtificd dvift has been 
 given ; for we find in the eastern part of the Purchase 
 region, along the Tennessee river uplands, beds in which no 
 stratification appears, and which differ in character from 
 .that of the stratified drift. Other beds also occur that are 
 unlike each of these, and which are also older than the 
 stratified drift. The following divisions of the gravel beds 
 are made for purposes of description, beginning with the 
 uppermost : 
 
 Stratified drift. 
 
 Gravel conglomerate. 
 
 Ore region gravel. 
 
 Tennessee river gravel. 
 
 The upper three are characterized by the presence of fossils 
 of the Carboniferous, the last by their entire absence. 
 
 Tennessee Riter Gravel.— M some period anterior to the 
 deposition of the great mass of gravel that forms so promi- 
 nent a feature of the Purchase region, beds of a Avhite and 
 well rounded, water-worn chert material were formed along 
 
OK TIIK JACKSONS PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 59 
 
 tlie border uplands facing the Tennessee river valley. They 
 are entirely devoid of fossils, and .were evidently derived 
 from Subcarboniferous chert layers similar to those that 
 occur througliout this border region, for they are permeated 
 with the white siliceous earth that is found with the chert, 
 the result of the decomposition of the latter in situ. The 
 beds are not continuous, and have been observed in but f«w 
 localities within the State, west of the river. They overlie 
 directly the Subcarboniferous beds. 
 
 The most southerly point at which they have been ob- 
 served, was in the south-eastern part of Marshall county, two 
 miles north-west of Aurora, where they were thrown out in 
 digging a well on" the place of Mr. Alford. The well is in 
 a branch valley, much below the level of the uplands, and 
 higher than the river valley. As given by Mr. Alford, the 
 following strata were penetra ted : 
 
 Brown loam 
 
 Hard cement gravel * . . 
 
 Loose cement gravel . . 
 
 White chert river-gravel 
 
 The last was not passed through, and no water was ob- 
 tained. The well had been dug many years before, and none 
 of the cement gravel could be found, for examination and 
 comparison with that of the stratified drift. It is more than 
 probable that it belongs to the iron ore and conglomerate 
 divisions, as given above. Angular chert of the Subcarbon- 
 iferous occurs on the hills west of and high above this local- 
 ity, and a few large rounded quartz pebbles or cobble-stones 
 were found on the hill-sides on the north. 
 
 In Livingston county, on the east of the Tennessee river, 
 this river gravel is found along the line of the C., O. & S. 
 W. R. R., upon the hills, and forming deep beds in the cuts. 
 In the Cumberland river valley or water-shed, they are over- 
 laid by the beds of stratified drift. 
 
 The valley of the Tennessee is deeply covered with the 
 micaceous clays of the Port Hudson group, and at no point 
 beneath these have the beds of the river gravel been found. 
 
 * Lo' ally called “cement gravel” from its tendency to form a conglomerate on 
 ■exposure to the weather. 
 
 5 feet. 
 
 5 feet. 
 30 feet. 
 64 feet. 
 
60 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Ore Region Gravel . — This term is applied by Prof. Safiford^ 
 to a large region of gravel deposits in West Tennessee, which 
 contain large accumulations of iron ore, and are found upon 
 the bluffs of the river and on the uplands on either side, 
 extending westward for eight or ten miles. The beds are 
 not continuous, occurring only in detached bodies. To what 
 extent they occur in Kentucky, east of the Tennessee river, 
 has not, as yet, been ascertained ; but so far as the country 
 west of the river is concerned, they are very limited, and 
 confined to the near border of the bluffs facing the river. 
 
 The gravel resembles in character that of the stratified 
 drift, in containing hornstone and fossils of the Carbonifer- 
 ous ; but the stratification pecidiar to the drift is wanting. 
 The beds which are so prominent in Tennessee, seem to thin 
 out in Kentucky, the only locality of importance being in the 
 south-east corner of Calloway county, and but a few miles 
 from the State line, where there are several heavy deposits, 
 two of which each hold masses of iron ore. At one of the beds 
 a furnace was operated many years ago, while from the other 
 the ore has been shipped to furnaces elsewhere. The beds 
 overlie the chert layers and limestone of the Subcarbonifer- 
 ous, as exposed in the adjoining bluffs, and are composed of 
 fifteen feet of gravel, chert fragments, and clay. Crinoidal 
 stems, large and small, occur in greatest abundance, while 
 throughout the mass are found very many fine, almost micro- 
 scopic crystals of pellucid quartz, in part of the smoky vari- 
 ety, and with both terminals perfect. The iron ore is partly 
 in plate form and partly concretionary, varying from one to 
 eight inches in thickness. Some masses are much larger. 
 
 A few miles north of these beds we find the large quartz- 
 ose sandstones of an older formation (Onandaga?), with their 
 upper portions embedded in this gravel. The latter is fre- 
 quently cemented to the sides of the rock by iron oxide, the 
 cementing line being quite horizontal, and the iron having, in 
 places, permeated for several inches into the sandstone, pro- 
 ducing at first a dark stain, which fades gradually toward 
 the interior of the rock. 
 
 In other parts of the Purchase counties the presence of 
 
 Geology of Tennessee, page 434. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s purchase region. 
 
 G1 
 
 tliis Quaternary iron ore marks tlie near oocurrence of either 
 Snboarboniferons chert layers, or of the hard qnartzose sand- 
 stone, whose outcrops are found in a line extending north- 
 westward from the above point, through the town of Murray, 
 and through the southern and western parts of McCracken 
 county, to the Grand Chain on tlie Ohio, and the Onandaga 
 sandstone region of Illinois ; for it is oi>ly at these points 
 that it has been found in masses of any prominence. 
 
 Gravel Conglomerate . — In the south-east part of Calloway 
 county there is a large area in which the gravel is cemented 
 into a very firm and hard conglomerate, from five to ten feet 
 in thickness. It underlies the surface loam upon the uplands 
 east of Murray, between the East Fork of Clark’s river and 
 Blood river, forming an almost continuous ledge between 
 these streams, and from the Tennessee State line northward, 
 for twelve or more miles, becoming more and more broken up 
 toward Hico and the southern part of Marshall county. It 
 is found also at other isolated points, especially eastward and 
 northward. The rock usually caps the beds of gravel, and, a 
 mile south of New Providence, is seventy-five feet above the 
 quartzose sandstone, which outcrops in the bed of a branch. 
 
 The rock is usually dark or blackish, the individual gravel 
 well rounded, the interstices filled with dark sand, and the 
 whole very strongly cemented together with iron oxide, mak- 
 ing a conglomerate not readily disintegrated by exposure. 
 The fracture of the rock is even, and directly through the 
 gravel, as if the whole had been homogeneous in structure. 
 
 To the north-westward small fragments of it are found in 
 the gravel beds of the stratified drift, one piece, found five 
 miles south of Paducah, containing several cubic feet, its 
 edges being somewhat water- worn, as if transported from a 
 distance. 
 
 The conglomerate seems to have extended originally north- 
 westward and northward, into Illinois, and to have been very 
 generally disintegrated, for fragments are frequently seen, 
 and in the bluffs at Joppa and Metropolis, on the Illinois 
 shore, large beds outcrop in the bluffs and in the river. It is 
 also confined almost entirely to that part of the region lying 
 east of the line of the Onandaga quartzite occurrences, al- 
 
62 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 ready described. Conglomerates, more recently formed, occur 
 throughout the region of the stratified drift, but they lack 
 that firmness and siliceous cement that characterizes the rocks 
 just described. They also break unevenly, and the gravel is 
 usually released, in its rounded unbroken state, from the 
 cementing iron oxide. 
 
 Near Baltimore, five miles west of Wingo, Graves county, 
 there is an exposure of conglomerate very similar in char- 
 acter to the above ; it is in heavy ledges, fifteen feet thick, 
 the gravel very coarse and red, and mixed with crinoidal 
 stems. 
 
 On the upland bluffs of the East Fork of Clark’s river, 
 near its junction with the West Fork, the conglomerate again 
 appears, covering an area of about three acres. It is massive 
 and much broken up into large fragments. 
 
 A most interesting locality, showing how this massive and 
 heavy bedded rock may be broken up by the undermining and 
 removal of underlying sand beds, is to be seen at the crossing 
 of Big Sugar Tree creek, six miles north-east of Murray, 
 Calloway county, on the Newburg road. On either side of 
 the creek valley, in the bluffs one-half mile apart, are huge 
 ledges of the gravel conglomerate, fifteen feet thick, over- 
 lying seventy-five feet of white and reddish micaceous sands, 
 belonging to the Cretaceous formation. Ten feet of brown 
 loam caps the conglomerate, giving to the valley a depth of 
 at least one hundred feet below the surface of the bordering 
 uplands. Within this valley are very large masses of the 
 rock scattered here and there, some standing nearly on edge, 
 and others nearly horizontal, and giving to this large valley 
 region, one-half mile wide and nearly the same in length, 
 an appearance of wildness so unusual to this country, that 
 it has received the name of “The Volcano” from Esquire 
 Mahan, on whose place it occurs. 
 
 The locality furnishes a splendid illustration of how the 
 surface of a country may suffer degradation, and its rocks 
 be broken down, disintegrated and carried away, even when 
 they otherwise could hardly be affected by weathering. This 
 ledge of conglomerate was once evidently continuous from 
 bluff to bluff, across this valley, and supported by the under- 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puuchask kkoion. 
 
 63 
 
 lying bed of sand. At some time these sands were washed 
 away, perliaps gradually, by some small stream from the 
 north, that had found its way, by percolation through the 
 bed ; or possibly by heavier floods that have acted quickly 
 and suddenly, not only in this, but also in other localities, 
 bearing away gravel and conglomerate fragments to be 
 deposited f^lsewhere. The sand being thus removed from 
 beneath the conglomerate, there remained an immense cave 
 over which the rock formed a natural covering, whose great 
 thickness and compact structure held it up until the dis- 
 tance between the end supports became too great, or until 
 some central column of sand was washed away, when the 
 whole fell in, breaking up into immense fragments, many 
 of which have since suffered disintegration, yielding great 
 piles or mounds of gravel which still, in part, remain. 
 
 The Stratified Drift . — The material of this, the oldest di- 
 vision, reaches very nearly over the whole of the uplands 
 of the Purchase, and overlies directly, or is spread over the 
 Subcarboniferous, Cretaceous, and Tertiary formations. 
 
 Before the deposition of the Quaternary material the sur- 
 face of the basin was made very uneven, by the wearing action 
 of the currents of the three large rivers that poured their 
 waters into it from the north-west, north-east and south-east, 
 as well as by many other minor currents induced by these, 
 in the then shallow sea or embayment. Thus were formed 
 the valleys along these streams. 
 
 The Tennessee river, in its northward course, confined be- 
 tween the high walls of Subcarboniferous limestone, and 
 suddenly deflected to the west, entered the basin at a point 
 where Big Cypress creek now unites with it, in the northern 
 part of Marshall county. The force of its current would 
 naturally produce a trough to westward, and, united with 
 the current of the Ohio river, which was also deflected from 
 a southerly to a westward course by the limestone bluffs of 
 Livingston county, a few miles east of the present site of Pa- 
 ducah, was amply sufficient to excavate the broad lowland 
 region, known as the Ohio flats or valley, that reaches a lit- 
 tle north of west for twenty-five miles, that river still skirt- 
 ing its northern border. The depth of this trough, where the 
 
64 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 currents of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers united, viz: where 
 Paducah now stands, was about forty- three feet below the 
 present level, as shown in the well of the water-works. The 
 depth is also greater here than to westward, where the force 
 of the current was probably broken, as it cut through the 
 Tertiary black and heavy joint clays below the Grand Chain, 
 whose ])owers of resistance were much greater than the more 
 sandy Cretaceous strata which it first met. It is also proba- 
 ble that additional resistance was afforded in the region of 
 Grand Chain, by the Paleozoic limestones and sandstones, 
 which even now rise above low-water level of the Ohio at 
 that place. In this portion of the trough the lower edge of 
 the Quaternary gravel is not more than thirty feet below the 
 present country surface. On the south side of this trough 
 the Tertiary and older beds rise many feet above the present 
 level of the flats, thus giving to the original trough a depth 
 of from fifty to seventy-five feet. 
 
 The width of the trough is from three to five miles, the 
 outline of the southern border being irregular. At Paducah 
 it reaches south for ten miles in a narrowing belt, and in 
 an almost direct line with the course of the Ohio river where 
 it enters the basin. A portion of the force of the current of 
 this river, therefore, seems to have cut southward, as well as 
 westward, through the Cretaceous clays, until it met the more 
 intractable joint clays, and was deflected, along the foot of 
 their bed, to north-westward. The wearing action was not 
 very great, for we find the bed of the trough to be very 
 shallow. The black joint clays are seen along the banks 
 of Clark’s river, from Lyell’s mill, the extreme end of the 
 trough, for several miles northward, and but a few feet be- 
 low the level of the flats, while the same clays outcrop 
 fifteen or twenty feet above that level, in the border hills 
 near Hard Money, Florence Station, and south-west of Pa- 
 ducah. 
 
 It is more than [)robable that the Mississippi river, with 
 its greater volume of water, had also excavated, southward, 
 a still deeper trough in the Tertiary clays underneath the 
 now broad bottom lands of Missouri. Along the border 
 bluffs of Kentucky and Tennessee on the east, and in 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 65 
 
 those of Crowley’s ridge of the Arkansas border on the 
 west, tlie Tertiary clays rise as high as seventy-five or 
 eighty feet above low-water of the river. 
 
 It is possible that the original corrosion occurred further 
 west than the present course of the river, and that, since 
 the deposition of the Quaternary beds, the river current has 
 been rapidly cutting the eastern bluffs to their present out- 
 lines. 
 
 At the beginning of the time of the stratified drift, the gen- 
 eral surface of the country within this basin was from one 
 hundred to one liundred and fifty feet higher on the south- 
 east, than on the west or north, the elevation above the 
 present level of the sea being a little more than five hun- 
 dred feet in Calloway county, falling to four hundred and 
 fifty feet along the ridge east of Mayfield creek, and in the 
 southern part of Marshall county to four hundred feet west 
 of Mayfield creek to Milburn (or within a few miles of Co- 
 lumbus), and in the northern half of Ballard county, at 
 Blandville, Hinkleville and Woodville (outside of the deep 
 Ohio trough already mentioned), and to three hundred and 
 seventy feet at Columbus and points south-east. At Hick- 
 man, and southward, the country again rose to about four 
 hundred feet. These figures are the approximate altitudes 
 of the base of the gravel beds above present sea level. 
 
 The material of the stratified drift comprises rounded or 
 water- worn sands and coarse gravel, deposited in thin, alter- 
 nating layers, or in thick beds which show more or less the 
 stratified structure. The gravel is the most prominent fea- 
 ture of the beds, and is derived almost entirely from the 
 chert beds of the Subcarboniferous, the fragments being 
 rounded or having their edges worn off by attrition with 
 each other in water during transportation, and varying in 
 size from the fraction of an inch to several inches in di- 
 ameter. Many small and prettily rounded white and col- 
 ored quartz pebbles are found associated with the gravel, 
 and are, doubtless, from the Carboniferous conglomerate, 
 whose waste material from the degradation of the country 
 is found very frequently in the interior of the State. There 
 are found in the beds occasional large fragments of chert — 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 5. 
 
(JO GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 as much as a six-inch cube in size— whose edges do not show 
 any traces of wear, and also fragments of gravel conglome- 
 rate that have evidently been broken from those larger masses, 
 already described. In some localities the gravel is inclined 
 to be soft, and easily crushed by the hand ; but in general 
 it is quite firm and hard, bearing a crushing weight of from 
 one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds, and much of 
 it still more, when ai)plied directly to the single piece. Horn- 
 stone is another constituent of these gravel beds, and varies 
 in color from nearly white to red. They, too, are much 
 rounded, but not so much so as the quartz pebbles. 
 
 Petrified wood, which is so characteristic of the Quater- 
 nary gravel in the States further south, and especially in 
 Texas, is very seldom found here. A large piece, measuring 
 a couple of feet in length and two by four inches in its 
 cross section, was picked up near the G-rand Chain in the 
 Ohio river west of Paducah, and a few small pieces have been 
 reported as having been found in gravel beds in other parts 
 of the Purchase. Silicilied Subcarboniferous fossils and fossil 
 casts occur abundantly in the cherty gravel ; crinoidal stems 
 of many varieties and sizes being especially numerous, both 
 in the loose state and in the gravel fragments. Next in 
 occurrence are the lace-like favosites and spirifers. A trilo- 
 bite cast was picked up from the gravel at Milburn, in south 
 Ballard county. 
 
 A prominent feature of these beds, and one which often 
 gives to them an economic importance, is the presence of 
 red oxide of iron which has permeated the mass, staining 
 the gravel and sand a red color of various intensity, and 
 very frequently, in combination with clay, forming a cement- 
 ing material which, on exposure, produces a firm gravel 
 conglomerate. The streets of Paducah are graded with this 
 gravel, and are quite firm and compact, bearing up heavily 
 loaded wagons. 
 
 Another result of this cementing property is seen in the 
 massive red sandstones, found in several portions of the Pur- 
 chase region where the gravel is absent. 
 
 For the examination of cross sections of the loam and gravel 
 beds, and as showing the irregularities, both in material and 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 07 
 
 lines of deposition and relations to underlying clays, the 
 various railroad cuts alford excellent opportunities. The fol- 
 lowing section is taken from a cnt on the C., O. & S. W. R. 
 H., one and a half miles north of Boaz, Graves county. 
 The cnt is about twenty feet deep and more than one hun- 
 dred yards long; 
 
 Area Cohered by the Stratified Drift . — As has been already 
 stated, the sand and gravel beds cover the entire Purchase 
 counties, with the exception of the Tennessee river valley 
 and that part of the Subcarboniferous highlands adjoining it 
 on the west, whose altitude is above the general level of the 
 gravel beds. Other exceptions are the bottom lands of the 
 many streams which have been excavated since the depo- 
 sition of the gravel, and now lie many feet below the latter ; 
 the deep gullies and ravines that have been washed out in 
 the hill-sides bordering these streams often expose the gravel 
 and sand. 
 
 So far as known, no gravel lies beneath that part of the 
 Mississippi river bottom embraced in this State north of 
 Hickman, the present bluffs having formerly extended much 
 further westward, and been cut away subsequent to the dep- 
 osition of the gravel. West of Hickman, near the foot of 
 Island No. 8, gravel was found, in the borings of the Missis- 
 sippi River Commission, to a depth of one hundred and 
 seventy-one feet. Nearer the bluffs south of Hickman no ex- 
 amination of strata below the surface of the alluvium has 
 been made. 
 
 Deposition of the Graeet . — The depth of the gravel beds 
 throughout the Purchase region varies greatly, but is, within 
 certain areas, quite constant. These different areas are shown 
 on the accompanying map. The area of greatest depth, viz : 
 
68 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 thirty feet and upwards, occurs on the south-east, in Cal- 
 loway and south Marshall counties, with an additional smaller 
 area on the ui)lands immediately east of Mayfield. The 
 former of these has approximate diameters of about sixteen 
 by eight miles, the longest lying in a north-west and south- 
 east course. 
 
 Another belt in which the beds are from twenty-jive to thirty 
 feet in thickness, enters the State from Tennessee, passes north- 
 westward, through the comities of Calloway and Marshall 
 into the south-east corner of McCracken. It has an average 
 width of about ten miles, except in Marshall county, where 
 it spreads out abruptly on either side for five or six miles, 
 again becoming very narrow to north-westward. Westward, 
 along the north side of Mayfield creek to the Mississip])i 
 river valley or bottom, there is a very narrow belt of gravel 
 of the same thickness, whose beds form precipitous bluffs and 
 are well exposed. The belt was, doubtless, originally wider, 
 and has been cut away by tlie encroachment of some strong 
 current from the south, for we find on the south side of the 
 creek a gradual rise from the bottom lands to southward, and 
 an entire absence of beds of gravel more than three to five feet 
 in thickness. The continuity of this narrow belt with the 
 large area before mentioned is interrupted by beds of less 
 thickness upon the high ridge that separates Mayfield creek 
 and the West Fork of Clark’s river. There may once have 
 been a continuation of the narrow belt of deep gravel south- 
 ward to Mayfield, where, on the east side of the creek, we 
 now find the beds of from twenty to thirty feet thickness 
 reaching eastward ; and it is also possible that the narrow 
 belt of gravel of about ten feet thickness, that extends a 
 short distance northward from Mayfield along the west side 
 of the creek, may be but a remnant from the degradation of 
 this supposed heavy and continuous belt, for the supervening 
 country is much lower than the gravel bluffs, and the now 
 existing gap is but eight miles. 
 
 On the Mississippi river bluffs at Columbus, and two 
 miles south, at the “chalk banks,” there are other isolated 
 areas of beds having a thickness of twenty-five feet; but 
 elsewhere in this part of the Purchase region the gravel 
 is much thinner. 
 
OF THK Jackson's puiumiase region. C59 
 
 Large areas of gravel, whose beds liave a thickness of from 
 fifteen to twenty feet^ occur on the east of the heavier beds 
 just described, reaching, in ])laces, almost to the brow of the 
 highlands facing the Tennessee river valley, and northward 
 to the border of that valley at Calvert City, and ten miles 
 westward. These beds are all on the highlands, and are often 
 exposed in the deep washes and ravines. North-westward 
 from Clark’s river, to and beyond Paducah, beds of this 
 thickness are found at a much lower level within the trough 
 of the Ohio river, already alluded to, and thirty feet below 
 the surface at Paducah, as shown in the well of the water- 
 works. Within the region of fiats south of Paducah, the 
 beds are not so thick, and come nearer the surface, while 
 westward, along the flats for several miles, and upon the 
 highlands south-westward, beds of fifteen feet thickness are 
 frequently exposed ; west of Mayfleld and Massac creeks, such 
 thicknesses very rarely occur. 
 
 The gravel beds thin out to broad areas of from ten to 
 fifteen feet thickness to the eastward, westward, and north- 
 ward from the heavy deposits already described. Such beds 
 are found in the eastern part of Marshall county in a narrow 
 belt extending sonthward, widening to a width of several 
 miles in south-east Marshall and north-east Calloway, and 
 separated from the brow of the Tennessee river highlands 
 by thinner deposits. In south Calloway, and thence in a 
 belt from six to eight miles in width, extending north-west 
 to Mayfield, in Graves county, there is a very large area of 
 these beds, Harris Grove and Farmington lying near the 
 south-west edge of the belt. Beyond Mayfleld creek, upon 
 a dividing ridge, the beds become thinner ; but we find 
 westward from Wingo, to and beyond Baltimore, another 
 narrow region in which a thickness of ten feet is maintained. 
 Going northward, on the east side of Mayfield creek, these 
 beds occupy a narrow belt upon the bluffs from Hickory 
 Grove and Boaz to Collierville ; and again, still northward, 
 within the Clark’s river flats, and nearly to Massac creek, 
 
 south-west of Paducah. North-westward within the Ohio 
 
 • 
 
 flats (or beneath the Port Hudson clays), opposite the town 
 of Metropolis, Illinois, the gravel has a thickness of but 
 
70 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 three or five feet for a few miles ; but in north-west Mc- 
 Cracken and north Ballard we find a large area beneath the 
 superficial clays in which the deposits are ten or more feet 
 thick. 
 
 With the exception of comparatively small areas lying 
 south and west of Paducah, in which the gravel has a depth 
 of jim feet and upward, the remainder or western half of 
 the Purchase region, embracing the greater part of Ballard, 
 west McCracken, Hickman, and west and south Graves, has 
 a very thin deposit of not more than three feet, thinning out 
 to southward and south westward, until in south-west Hick- 
 man, and over the entire uplands of Fulton, it is almost en- 
 tirely missing. A line marking the separation between this 
 and the heavier beds would pass from the Tennessee State 
 line, east of Crossland, north-westward to Mayfield creek ; 
 thence, following the east side of that creek until after the 
 latter has accomplished its westerly bend, the line would 
 pass quite abruptly northward to the Ohio, at Metropolis, 
 skipping, however, the very heavy beds of Mayfield creek. 
 
 A line marking approximately the limits of the gravel 
 would leave the Tennessee State line about four miles east 
 of the town of Fulton, and pass north-westward to McLeod's 
 Bluff, on Obion creek, seven miles south of Columbus. The 
 immediate bluffs facing the Mississippi bottom, from the 
 town of Hickman southward, contain a thin bed of gravel, 
 and there is another small area of thin beds near Cayce Sta- 
 tion, but otherwise in this part of the Purchase the gravel 
 is entirely replaced by sand. There are also other small 
 areas along the Tennessee State line eastward from Fulton, 
 in which the gravel is missing, as between Crossland and 
 Terrapin creek, east of Boydsville, and in the neighborhood 
 of Cuba, Graves county. 
 
 It will be seen from the map that these gravel beds, in 
 their several areas of thin and thick deposition, have a 
 general north-west and south-east course, and are thickest 
 on the south-east ; and that the heavy beds are almost en- 
 tirely confined to the eastern half of the Purchase coun- 
 ties, while in the western half they ai’e very thin, and to 
 south-westward disappear almost entirely, the country being 
 
oi<’ THE Jackson’s puuchask ueoion. 
 
 71 
 
 more elevated than on the north. The gravel also is liner 
 on the west, and especially near the border, where it disap- 
 pears. 
 
 Along the bluffs facing the Tennessee river valley, where 
 the Snbcarboniferons beds rise higli above the valley, the 
 gravel is quite thin and tine, and often is not found at all, 
 the superficial brown loam being the only representative of 
 the Quaternary formation. 
 
 Going eastward from the Tennessee river, in Livingston 
 county, along the line of the C., 0. & S. W. R. R., nothing 
 but limestone hills are observed for the first mile ; but still 
 eastward, and covering bills one hundred feet above the rail- 
 road track, are heavy deposits of a white water-worn cherty 
 gravel belonging to the earlier river deposits, as already 
 noticed near Aurora, Marshall county. Still eastward, mas- 
 sive gravel conglomerate rocks, five feet in thickness, and 
 with surfaces thirty by fifteen feet, appear above the white 
 gravel. They resemble the conglomerates that underlie so 
 large an area in south-east Calloway county. A mile east- 
 ward are exposed, for the first time, beds of the gravel and 
 sand of the stratified drift in a railroad cut one mile from 
 the Cumberland river bridge. At the base of the cut is a 
 bed of the white river-gravel five feet in thickness ; over 
 it a bed of red sand, from five to ten feet thick, and over 
 this, in the upper part of the cut, ten or twelve feet of 
 yellow hornstone and chert gravel. The latter rests upon 
 the eastern slope of the hill, and thins out to a thickness 
 of twelve inches at its foot, the whole being overlaid by 
 brown loam. Keokuk geodes are found in the upper gravel 
 bed at this place ; thence eastward, to the Cumberland river, 
 these upper or hornstone gravel beds are frequently seen, 
 and usually have an easterly slope toward the river. 
 
 Sand and Sandstone . — Along the border of the great gravel 
 region, the beds of gravel thin out, and give place to heavy 
 deposits of red and yellow sands of the stratified drift. The 
 latter are also found occasionally within the territory of the 
 gravel, especially in the western half of the Purchase counties, 
 Avhere the gra\ el is very thin. Along the bluffs reaching north 
 from Columbus, on the line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, 
 
72 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 to and a little beyond Laketon, in Ballard county, they are 
 found above the sands and clays of the Lagrange group. 
 The beds are often permeated with iron oxide, which gives 
 to them a reddish color, and frequently cements the mass 
 together into a more or less hard sandstone. In portions of 
 the beds, as near Laketon and Wicklitfe, respectively, the 
 sand is hyaline in character, and the grains of some of the 
 dark-red sandstones, when rubbed in the hand or otherwise 
 cleared of the adherent iron oxide or rust, are found to be 
 of the same. 
 
 Another feature of these sands is the presence of small 
 particles of white chert, which give to the bed and to the 
 sandstone a speckled appearance. Rocks of this character 
 are found a short distance north of Berkeley, on the M. & 
 O. R. R., also three miles east of Arlington, in Ballard 
 county, , and again, a few miles east of the town of Clinton, 
 Hickman county, where the sandstone forms a ledge six or 
 more feet thick. The rocks of these three localities resemble 
 each other very closely, being largely composed of hyaline 
 sand and sprinkled with the particles of white chert. That 
 from the latter place is utilized in Clinton and the sur- 
 rounding country as foundation stones for small houses, as it 
 disintegrates but very slowly, and is quite firm. Portions of 
 the bed are, however, still quite soft. 
 
 The red sand usually underlies the gravel wherever they 
 occur together, and in the heavier beds forms thin layers as 
 part of the stratification characteristic of the drift. 
 
 A prominent feature of the thick sand beds is the occur- 
 rence of rounded lumps of white or variegated pipe clay, 
 which, at the time of the sand deposition, were evidently 
 loosened from the underlying clay beds of the Lagrange 
 group, and were rounded by the action of disturbed waters 
 and embedded in these sands. Such features are met with 
 occasionally in Ballard and Hickman counties, and in Cal- 
 loway, a few miles east of Murray, where a broad valley has 
 been cut through the gravel conglomerate into the under- 
 lying material, probably previous to the deposition of the 
 stratified drift, to be partially refilled by the sands and the 
 clay lumps which were, doubtless, derived from the clay beds 
 that underlie the conglomerate. 
 
OF THE Jackson's fukchase ufjhon. 
 
 73 
 
 PORT HUDSON GROUP. 
 
 This formation in Kentucky appears to comprise two dis- 
 tinct beds — a lower one made nj) of dark blue or blackish 
 clays, which underlie the bottom alluvial lands of the large 
 rivers ; and an upper bed of greyish or dark micaceous loam 
 of the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys. 
 
 Blue Clays , — Beneath the alluvial loam of the Mississippi 
 river bottom, and at a depth of several feet, there are beds 
 of dark clays which, in their character, strongly resemble 
 those of the Port Hudson group, as first described by Prof, 
 p]. W. Hilgard in his Keport on the Geology of Louisiana. 
 They have been identified in the river bottom lands in Ar- 
 kansas, and, from the strong resemblance between them 
 and the Kentucky clays, I have referred the latter to that 
 formation. They are best exposed in the banks of the river 
 at Columbus, when the water is low, and also at Wickliffe, 
 a few miles south of Cairo. 
 
 At the former place the following section was observed: 
 
 Surface of sandy loam and recently deposited material 
 
 Dark to black alluvial loam 
 
 Still’ clay, sandy and crumbling, and holding seams of lighter sand . 
 
 Dark and heavy crumbling clay, stiffer than the above 
 
 Somewhat bluish, heavy and crumbling clay, very stiff, and holding white 
 calcareous concretions; reaching to water’s edge 
 
 1 foot. 
 
 2 feet. 
 8 feet. 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 6 feet. 
 
 The clays of the last two beds are highly plastic, some- 
 what mottled in color, cut smoothly when wet, and crumble 
 readily when dry, strongly resembling the buckshot clays of 
 the river bottom in Mississippi and Louisiana. Small pieces 
 of blackish semi-lignitized wood appear in the clays at Wick- 
 liffe, and also near the bluffs, two miles south of Columbus. 
 At the latter place the Tertiary stratum rises from the water’s 
 edge, and, as at the bluffs immediately north of Columbus, 
 cuts in two the otherwise almost continuous beds of the Port 
 Hudson and alluvium. 
 
 Another feature of the Port Hudson group, both here and 
 in the States south, is the presence of cypress knees and 
 logs within the clays, and covered by the later alluvial de- 
 posit. They are seen all along the river bank, from Hick- 
 
74 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 man to the Chalk Banks south of Columbus, and more rarely 
 northward. At Wickliffe the river banks show the following 
 
 section at 
 
 low water: 
 
 
 Alluvial loam with recent .stumps 
 
 G feet. 
 
 
 r Stiff blue plastic clay dippins; to the east 
 
 Silty or loamy strata, with ferruginous concretions .... 
 
 8 inches. 
 
 
 1 foot. 
 
 Fort Hudson - 
 
 Light blue plastic clay, with rootlets and pieces of ligni- 
 tized wood; some of the clay quite dark; exposed to 
 
 
 
 water’s edge 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 Cypress stumps j^enetrate this blue clay from below. 
 
 The elevation of these beds above sea level is about three 
 hundred feet. Along the Ohio river the beds extend, on the 
 Kentucky shore, to and beyond the Grand Chain, apjoearing 
 beneath the alluvial loam of the bottom lands, and but little 
 above the low-water mark. Calcareous concretions were not 
 observed in the blue clays, but fragments of lignite were 
 found. Just west of the city of Paducah the clay is again 
 exposed in a deep ravine, but is apparently a thin deposit, 
 rising a little above low-water mark. Coarse yellow sand is 
 interstratified with the lower portion of the bed, the upper 
 being thick, and here marked by the presence of bluish 
 specks of the mineral vivianite, a phosphate of iron. 
 
 The region about Paducah is an interesting one, as being 
 the point where the Cretaceous clays outcrop on the banks 
 of the Ohio river, and a number of later formations appear. 
 The Cretaceous beds, comprising thinlv laminated black clays, 
 the laminse separated by a thin sheet of very fine and highly 
 micaceous sand, are exposed on the east side of the foot of 
 Main street (or the boat landing), from about forty-three feet 
 below the surface of the bluff to the water’s edge. They have 
 not been observed on the western side of the landing. Pass- 
 ing south-westward a few miles, across the flats to the bluffs, 
 that rise one hundred feet higher, we find the Tertiary black 
 joint clays at their feet, and on a jilain higher than the 
 Cretaceous. These in turn are overlaid directly by the 
 Quaternary gravel and brown loam which caps the uifiands 
 southward. Within the flats or valleys, and about thirty 
 feet from the surface, the gravel is found in heavy beds, 
 covering the Cretaceous, and reaching westward at about 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puuchask ui-xjion. 75 
 
 one hundred feet below the level of the hill gravel, though 
 ooteniporaneous with it. 
 
 A feature of special interest here is the formation of an- 
 other trough within this original one, beginning at Paducah 
 and extending westward along the Ohio river to the Missis- 
 sippi, and marked by the narrow bottom land or surface 
 alluvium. It seems to have been formed by the combined 
 currents of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, acting suddenly 
 and with sufficient force to bear away the gravel previously 
 deposited along this line, and possibly ro cut away the gravel 
 bluffs along the Mississippi to their present outline, scatter- 
 ing their material over the eastern and middle parts of the 
 broad bottoms of the latter river, at various periods of the 
 Port Hudson era, as shown by the interstratiffcation of the 
 gravel, sand, and blue clays in the borings of the MississijDpi 
 River Commission. This trough was not entirely filled by 
 after-deposits of clays and alluvium ; and we find at Paducah, 
 and elsewhere along the Ohio bottom, a terrace of ten or 
 fifteen feet rising from it to the fiats or valley region. 
 
 Along the banks of the Tennessee river, except where the 
 uplands approach to the water’s edge, the blue clays of the 
 Port Hudson are found outcropping at low water, and pre- 
 senting the same characteristics as have already been given. 
 At Highland Landing, in the north-east corner of Calloway 
 county, they are dotted with the white and bright blue par- 
 ticles of mcianite as at Paducah, though more abundant and 
 larger. 
 
 The clays extend up the river to the point where the high 
 Subcarboniferous bluffs reach to the water’s edge, and which 
 mark the line between the two States. Beyond this they 
 have not been observed. They are overlaid by yellowish, 
 micaceous, clajmy loams, presently to be mentioned. 
 
 At Highland the following section appears : 
 
 Micaceous and yellowish loam 
 
 Interlaminated light bluish clay and j'ellow sand 
 
 -Blue micaceous cla}', in layers one to two feet each, with some yellow 
 sand and ferruginous concretions; the lower dotted with vivianite 
 particles; reaches to water’s edge 
 
 7 feet. 
 15 feet. 
 
 10 feet. 
 
76 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The clay is quite plastic, and, as shown by tests, makes a 
 very pretty bright red ware. It seems to underlie almost the 
 entire valley, and is covered, in part, at the foot of the west- 
 ern bluffs, by gravel washings from the hills. 
 
 At Birmingham, the bluish clays appear sixteen feet be- 
 neath the loam along the river front, and also in the valley 
 on the west, the central portion being occupied by alternat- 
 ing strata of sand and pipe clays. 
 
 Micaceous Clay Loam Bed . — Immediately overlying the 
 blue clays just described, and covering both the Tennessee 
 and Ohio river valleys of flats, there is a deposit of brown- 
 ish-yellow loam, differing from the brown loam of the up- 
 lands, in being quite micaceous. It has a thickness of 
 from fifteen to twenty-five feet. 
 
 The age of this bed is a matter of conjecture, though, for a 
 number of reasons, I have placed it as Port Hudson, for it 
 overlies the stratified drift ; apparently underlies the brown 
 loam, being covered by it to a depth of a few feet, and is 
 not sufficiently silty in character to make it a part of the 
 loess. 
 
 An examination of the beds exposed in the ravines around 
 Paducah showed the presence, in places, of many calcareous 
 concretions and of darkened rootlets. The lower portion of 
 the bed has also a tendency toward a dark color. The fol- 
 lowing section was obtained near town : 
 
 Soil, light grey loam 
 
 Brown clay loam subsoil 
 
 Brown micaceous under-clay, becoming stiffcr downward, and witli much 
 
 bog ore; at ten feet whitish calcareous concretions 
 
 Rather bluish micaceous and massive clays, dark when damp ; seams are 
 filled with brownish clays and some concretions ; to bottom of the ravine . 
 
 1 foot. 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 25 feet. 
 4 feet. 
 
 The bottom of the ravine is about level with the upper 
 edge of the blue clays in the bank of the Ohio, already men- 
 tioned. The micaceous character of the clays is especially 
 noticeable in the valley of the Tennessee. 
 
 The formation reaches up Clark’s river valley to the head 
 of the valley flats at Lyell’s mill, and up the East Fork of 
 the river, on the south side, to and beyond Benton, Marshall 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puuoiiase region. 
 
 77 
 
 county. Alon^ Mayfield creek, in Ballard county, it extends 
 beyond Lovelaceville. In all these bottoms it produces a 
 heavy crawfishy land. 
 
 loess or .grey silt BLUFB’S. 
 
 This formation overlies the gravel beds of the stratified 
 drift along the immediate bluffs that face the bottom lands 
 of the Mississippi river, and its position in the geologic 
 series is most probably below the Port Hudson group, just 
 described. Its beds are the continuation northward of the 
 similar beds of Mississippi and Louisiana, and, so far as 
 ascertained, differ in no respect from them. The beds, 
 usually twenty to thirty feet thick, are made up of a fine 
 grey calcareous silt, nearly homogeneous throughout, and 
 frequently containing long reddish concretions or small tubes, 
 whose central part is usually darker than the exterior, and 
 sometimes with a central orifice nearly the entire length, 
 as if formed by rootlets. 
 
 Another characteristic feature of the silt is the occurrence 
 of a large number of fresh water shells, an enumeration of 
 which may be found below. 
 
 The formation is not continuous through Kentucky, though 
 it may originally have been so ; there is a sudden slope to 
 eastward from the very edge of the bluffs in that portion 
 south of Hickman, thus limiting it to a very narrow belt. 
 Between this town and the McLeod’s Bluff, eight miles 
 south of Columbus, the silt has been entirely removed, 
 together with the high bluffs, while at this bluff, and on to 
 Columbus, it is continuous. Northward from Columbus it 
 occupies a narrow belt to a point three or four miles beyond 
 Wickliffe, when it disappears from the bluffs, which are 
 here very much lower than on the south. The most north- 
 erly deposit observed was on the bank of Cane creek. It, 
 however, occurs on the high Illinois bluffs of the Ohio at 
 New Caledonia, almost due north from Wickliffe. I have 
 not observed it eastward from this point along the Ohio 
 river. 
 
 The silt in the bluff at Hickman, as shown in the section 
 on page 38, has a thickness of about fifty feet, overlaid by 
 
78 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 three or four feet of a yellowish-brown loam. The silt is 
 not uniform in character throughout, but contains ash-colored 
 seams and patches. Between the true silt and the underly- 
 ing gravel there is a bed more clayey and darker in color, 
 fifteen feet in thickness, the lower four or live of which con- 
 tains scattered and prettily rounded small white and colored 
 quartz gravel. No shells were found in it, and it bears 
 some resemblance to the lower bed of the upland brown 
 loam that covers the entire region, though the small gravel 
 does not appear in the latter. 
 
 Immediately at Hickman the silt bluffs are very narrow, 
 the descent to the lower country being quite sudden ; but 
 southward the formation widens out to several miles, though 
 with a gradual slope from the brow of the bluff eastward. 
 
 At one point in the formation in the northern part of the 
 bluff there is a great abundance of shells, many of them 
 large. A collection was made and sent to Prof. Wetherby, 
 of Cincinnati, who has identified the following species : 
 
 1. Conulus chersina. 
 
 2. Hyalina arborea. 
 
 3. Helicina orbiculata. 
 
 4. Helicina profunda. 
 
 5. Limnaea desidiosa. 
 
 6. Mesodon profunda. 
 
 7. Mesodon albolabris. 
 
 8. Macrocycles concava. 
 
 9. Patula alternata. 
 
 10. Patula perspectiva. 
 
 11. Patula solitaria. 
 
 12. Stenotrema monadon. 
 
 13. Stenotrema hirsuta. 
 
 14. Treodopsis appressa. 
 
 The following were obtained by Prof. Safford, at Memphis, 
 Tenn. (Greol. of Tenn.. page 434); 
 
 1. Helix appressa. 6. Cyclas, sp. ? 
 
 2. H. hirsuta. 7. Amnicola lapidaria. 
 
 3. H. monadon. 8. Succinea, sp. ? 
 
 4. H. solitaria. 
 
 5. Planorbis bicarinatus. 
 
 9. Lymnea, sp. ? 
 
 At Columbus the silt bed is thinner than at Hickman, the 
 bluffs showing a thickness of only twenty-five or thirty feet. 
 It is overlaid by four feet of loamy soil and subsoil, and 
 underlaid by about four feet of the stiff, darker loam that 
 apjiears at Hickman, in a bed fifteen feet thick. Shells are 
 very rare in these beds, and especially those of the larger 
 species, none of the latter being seen. In the railroad cut, 
 east of Columbus, a portion of the silt is well filled with 
 
library 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 URBANA 
 
ESCARPMENT OF BLUFF AT COLUMBUS, HICKMAN CO., KY. 
 
OF TiiK Jackson’s puuchask ueoion. 
 
 79 
 
 small shells, whose species have not yet been determined. 
 Kounded and reddish concretionary forms are abundant, also 
 seams of ferruginous clay holding shells. 
 
 At other localities northward, at Wicklilfe and Caledonia, 
 the silt beds are thin, and no shells were observed. 
 
 It is a matter worthy of note, that the largest shells were 
 found only in the most westerly exposures of the silt^ viz. : 
 at Hickman ; while in the more easterly bluffs at Columbus, 
 and elsewhere, including that in the railroad cut, just north- 
 east of Hickman, only small species were found ; and in the 
 still more easterly bluffs at Wickliffe none were observed. 
 
 The following analyses show the chemical compQsition of 
 this silt: 
 
 No. 2142. Loess, from the bluff at Hickman, Fulton 
 county ; contains remains of land and fresh water shells. 
 It is somewhat plastic ; not very coherent when burnt, and 
 acquires a very light brick color; before the blow-pipe it 
 fuses into a light grey slag. 
 
 No. 2659. Loess or Orey Silt, near top of bluff at Hick- 
 man, Fulton county ; greyish cinnamon color. The siliceous 
 residue, insoluble in acids, contains 1.410 per cent, of potash, 
 and 1.268 per cent, of soda. 
 
 No. 17. Loess from the river bluff at Memphis, Tennessee. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF LOESS OR OREY SILT. 
 
 Dried at 212° F 
 
 Kentucky: 
 
 Tennessee: 
 
 Fulton County. 
 
 Shelby County. 
 
 Hickman. 
 
 Memphis. 
 
 No. 2142. 
 
 No. 2659. 
 
 No. 17. 
 
 Silica 
 
 68.860 
 
 67.295 
 
 76.503 
 
 Alumina 
 
 12.980 
 
 4 062 
 
 3.102 
 
 Iron oxide 
 
 2 240 
 
 2.125 
 
 4.687 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 9.587 
 
 14 900 
 
 9.528 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 1.182 
 
 7.670 
 
 3.291 
 
 Potash 
 
 1.773 
 
 .521 
 
 .433 
 
 Soda 
 
 1.278 
 
 1.082 
 
 .180 
 
 Manganese 1 
 
 
 
 .094 
 
 Phosphoric acid >■ 
 
 Not estimated. 
 
 .173 
 
 .319 
 
 Sulphuric acid. . J 
 
 
 
 .060 
 
 Water and loss 
 
 2.100 
 
 2.172 
 
 1 . 730 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 99.927 
 
GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 80 
 
 The analysis of the Memphis specimen is taken from the 
 Tenth Census Report on Cotton Production in the Southern 
 States, and is here given for comparison with the Kentucky 
 beds. It and No. 2659 are representations of the true grey 
 silt, of the upper part of the bed. The Memphis specimen 
 contains nearly ten per cent, more of the fine silt, but much 
 less of lime, potash and soda. The proportion of soda, solu- 
 ble and insoluble, is enormous in the Kentucky specimen. 
 
 The two Kentucky specimens are respectively from the 
 lower and upper portions of the bed, the former being far 
 more clayey, and containing more soluble potash but less 
 lime. 
 
 BROWN LOAM. 
 
 The gravel or stratified drift formation was followed upon 
 the uplands, in the interior, away from the loess hills, by 
 that of a clayey loam, having a thickness of from twenty to 
 thirty feet, and which covered the entire Purchase counties, 
 to be subsequently largely removed by erosion along the 
 present creek and river valleys, as well as in minor ravines. 
 
 There are two beds of the brown loam, an upper and 
 lower, perhaps separated from each other, in the bluff sec- 
 tions along the Mississippi river, by the heavy silt or loess 
 formation. 
 
 The upper bed is thin, not more than three or four feet, 
 and forms the immediate surface of the uplands between 
 the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. The lower has a much 
 greater thickness, is lighter in color, and generally permeated 
 with seams of a still lighter grey silt. 
 
 At the close of the stratified drift period the gravel was 
 left in uneven beds, either by original deposition or because 
 of the effect of the erosion of the surface by those floods 
 which acted at the same time upon the deposits along the 
 Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In many of the inland gravel 
 hills it has been observed that their outer edges are thinner 
 than in the central portion, the whole having a slope to either 
 side, though the base was horizontal. 
 
 Upon this uneven surface the brown loam was deposited, 
 with quite a uniform thickness, the surface of the forma- 
 tion following the contour of that of the underlying beds. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s purchase ki<:oion. 
 
 81 
 
 It is very usual to tind, in an exposure, a central nucleus 
 of i)robably a pre-Quaternary bed of clay and sand, covered 
 by the gravel of the stratilied drift, either in a horizontal 
 bed, with the edges on either side thinned out, or in a 
 bed dipping to either side conformable to the surface of the 
 underlying stratum. Over the gravel we find the brown 
 loam lying conformably upon it. 
 
 The lower portion of the loess in the bluffs of the Missis- , 
 sippi river, which seems to be the equivalent of the interior 
 lower loam, is darker in color than both the overlying grey 
 silt and the upper loam. In the lower portion of its bed there 
 are numerous well rounded and prettily colored quartz gravel, 
 very small, and increasing in quantity downward, as the 
 gravel of the stratified drift is approached. No cherty frag- 
 ments or fossils of any description, whether of the Carbon- 
 iferous or of the fresh water species of the overlying silt, 
 have been found in the bed. The gravel has not been ob- 
 served in this brown loam in the interior of the country. 
 
 On leaving the bluffs and proceeding inland, a feature in 
 this lower loam bed presents itself which distinguishes it 
 from the upper, and is interesting in showing a possible 
 relationship with the silt. The upper portion of the bed is 
 usually permeated with streaks of a grey, silty material 
 reaching downward, and plainly seen in freshly exposed 
 vertical surfaces in road cuts. The beds have the appear- 
 ance of having been cracked open by drying, and the seams 
 filled with the silt, perhaps borne in highly charged waters. 
 Whether or not this was from the silt of the bluffs is a 
 matter of conjecture, but the two have a strong resemblance 
 to each other. 
 
 Upper Brown Loam Beds . — The loess or grey silt was fol- 
 lowed by the deposition upon its surface of a few feet of a 
 light yellow or brown loam, which also extended eastward 
 over the ujilands of the entire Purchase counties, resting 
 directly upon the lower loam bed, as has already been men- 
 tioned. In the valleys or fiats of the rivers it covers, in a 
 thin deposit, the micaceous clays of the Port Hudson forma- 
 tion, except in the Tennessee valley, where it is absent. This 
 loam forms the surface soils and subsoils throughout the up- 
 
 GEOL. SXJR. — 6. 
 
82 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUEES 
 
 land region. The silt percolations observed in the under bed 
 of loam do not apjiear in this upper bed ; and the two beds 
 otherwise seem to graduate into each other, the line separat- 
 ing them being undistinguishable. 
 
 ALLUVIAL, KIVER BOTTOM, OR RECENT FORMATION. 
 
 The alluvial formation lying along the immediate water- 
 courses is properly limited to the three large rivers, with 
 minor belts along Clark’s river and Mayfield creek. The 
 bottom lands of the other streams are mostly made up of 
 washings from the hill-sides, being changed by ill-drainage 
 into a heavy crawfishy clay. 
 
 The alluvial region of the Mississippi is broad from bluff to 
 bluff ; but only a comparatively small proportion is included 
 within the State of Kentucky, and all of this is subject to 
 Dverhow in high water seasons. The river has for many 
 years been encroaching on and wearing away the Kentucky 
 or eastern banks, and inflicting great damage to the towns 
 of Columbus and Hickman. The latter has especially suf- 
 fered in that portion lying at the foot of the bluffs, and 
 within the past two years the railroad depot, to escape de- 
 struction, has been removed to the north-east of town, and 
 back from the river. Many years ago, and within the recol- 
 lection of many persons now living in Hickman, the river 
 flowed a mile further west, the main current passing to the 
 west of Island No. 6, and a broad cypress swamp existed 
 where the river now runs. Columbus is also suffering, 
 though perhaps to a less degree. Within the last twenty 
 years the river has cut away about 200 feet from the town 
 front, portions of it going faster than others. A small levee 
 has been thrown up along the banks to protect the town 
 from overflow, the water of the river having risen higher 
 during the past few years than it has been known to do 
 heretofore. The river bottom between Cairo and the Ten- 
 nessee State line is interspersed with sloughs and lakes, the 
 latter frequently forming a chain by connection with each 
 other and with the river by means of these sluggish and 
 narrow streams. 
 
 Abrupt and almost perpendicular bluffs face the Missis- 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 83 
 
 sippi bottom, be^?inning a few miles north of Wicklille, and 
 reaching to the Tennessee line, a feature which does not 
 belong to the Ohio bottom or valley land lying within Ken- 
 tucky. 
 
 It would appear that this bottom region of the Mississippi 
 was cut out at a season of very high hood by the waters 
 of the Mississippi (perhaps aided by those of the Ohio), 
 after the deposition of the grey silt or loess formation. To 
 what depth this occurred is not known ; but in the bluffs 
 the lower divisions of the Eocene Tertiary are exposed. 
 This erosion of the bluffs at present only takes place at 
 points where the river current sweeps their base, the inte- 
 rior bluffs not being affected by the sluggish waters that 
 reach them in overflows. 
 
 Another feature of the bottom region is the presence of 
 ridges of sand in the interior, and along the river bank, 
 representing two eras of deposition. The oldest deposits are 
 situated some distance from the river, but parallel with its 
 present course, and were formed apparently previous to the 
 present alluvial deposit. The ridges of sand are long and 
 narrow, and are still subject to overflow from very high 
 floods. The most prominent of these is Sassafras ridge, 
 lying about seven miles below the town of Hickman. 
 
 The other and more recent sand ridges lie along the imme- 
 diate bank of the river, and are still in process of formation 
 by the yearly addition of sand from the partial checking of 
 the river current in periods of overflow. In the valley of 
 the Ohio similar sand ridges of both eras are seen, especially 
 in the wide bottom lands below the Grand Chain, the most 
 prominent of which lies near Turner’s Landing. The newer 
 deposits along the river bank reach still further up the river. 
 
 In the suburbs of Paducah there is a low surface ridge 
 or elevation of closely intermixed fine gravel and dark 
 loam, five to eight feet in depth. It lies nearly north and 
 south through the central part of the cemetery, from a 
 point five miles south of Paducah. It has no lines of strati- 
 fication, and its material was derived doubtless from the 
 gravel and loam beds of the uplands, and washed into this 
 position. The belt is quite broad, and but little elevated 
 above the valley. 
 
84 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 
 
 The economical features of the Purchase counties embrace 
 the soils, the beds of pottery clays, the building materials, 
 polishing powders or sands, lignite or brown coal, iron ore, 
 etc. They will be described under their respective heads ; the 
 soils in the chapter given to the agricultural features. 
 
 CLAYS. 
 
 Next to the soils and timbers, the material of greatest 
 economic importance occurring naturally in the counties of 
 the Purchase region, is found in the extensive deposits of 
 clay, in beds of varying thicknesses and characters. While 
 they underlie the greater part of the country, it is only in 
 the hill-side ravines, and in the bluffs bordering the streams, 
 that their exposures can be seen. 
 
 These clays are derived from the decomposition of the 
 argillaceous shales and rocks of formations older than those 
 with which they are now found, and have been transported 
 to this basin from distant localities, by rivers or other cur- 
 rents, and meeting here the quiet waters of what was then 
 an arm of the sea, were allowed to settle to the bottom, 
 gradually filling up the basin. The shallow nature of the 
 basin is shown in the black clays, which are chiefly colored 
 with organic or vegetable decay, and in the beds of lignite 
 and the decayed leaves in the clays. 
 
 The deposition of these dark clays seems to have been fol- 
 lowed by a sinking of the region, producing river currents, 
 which swept away the beds in the central part of the region, 
 north to south ; again followed by a season, or alternating 
 seasons, of rest and disturbance, during which beds of white 
 clays and of sand were deposited, Such seems to be, in brief, 
 the history of the deposition of these beds during the Creta- 
 ceous, Tertiary, and early Quaternary times, after which the 
 heavy deposits of gravel and loam were made, which now 
 cover the entire region. 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 85 
 
 Uses of Clay. — The uses to which clay can be put are 
 dependent upon its character and composition ; and its value 
 is dependent upon these uses, and also upon its abundance, 
 as well as the transportation facilities, and the ease with 
 which it can be extracted from its bed. 
 
 The following list of articles that are manufactured from 
 clay, together with the methods of manufacture, is taken 
 from the “Report on the Mineral Resources of the United 
 States,” by the United States Geological Survey: 
 
 ARTICLES MANUFACTURED FROM CLAY. 
 
 I. Building materials: 
 
 1. Common building brick. 
 
 2. Front building brick (pressed brick, molded intaglio, 
 
 or ornamental brick). 
 
 3. Hollow- brick. 
 
 4. Glazed brick. 
 
 5. Roofing tile. 
 
 6. Flue linings. 
 
 7. Door knobs and hardware porcelain. 
 
 8. Terra-cotta lumber. 
 
 9. Hollow tile, fire-proofing or castings. 
 
 II. Refractory materials: 
 
 1. Fire brick. 
 
 2. Gas retorts. 
 
 3. Retorts for zinc works and for other metallurgical pur- 
 
 poses. 
 
 4. Glass pots. 
 
 5. Stove and zinc linings. 
 
 6. Chemists’ and assayers’ utensils. 
 
 III. Pottery: 
 
 1. Stoneware. 
 
 2. Earthenware (yellow ware, Rockingham ware). 
 
 3. Granite or ironstone ware. 
 
 4. White ware. 
 
 5. Porcelain (as part of the mixture). 
 
 IV. Ornamental ware : 
 
 1. Encaustic tile, for walls and floors. 
 
 2. Ornamental pottery. 
 
 3. Ornamental terra-cotta. 
 
86 
 
 (JEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUEES 
 
 V. Miscellaneous: 
 
 1. Sewer pipe. 
 
 2. Drain pipe or drain tile. 
 
 3. Flower pots. 
 
 4. Garden border edging. 
 
 5. Telegraph insulators. 
 
 6. Well tubing. 
 
 7. Receivers for acids. 
 
 8. Water filters and coolers. 
 
 9. Lamp stands. 
 
 Clay is also largely used in furnace work for luting, for 
 weighting and sizing paper, and in making alum ; while the 
 yellow and red ochreous clays are used as paints. 
 
 METHODS OF MANUFACTUEE. 
 
 The following are extracts taken from the U. S. report 
 just mentioned, in which the methods are selected from 
 official reports made on the industries in the different 
 States, chiefly Ohio and New Jersey, and exact details are 
 given. The most important of these methods are now pre- 
 sented in this chapter for the benefit of any persons in the 
 Purchase counties who may be interested in such manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Common Brick . — “There is a great variety in the quality 
 of brick produced in different localities, due to differences in 
 the clay used, and to the care taken in manufacture. Clay 
 carrying a large amount of lime is generally avoided, as this 
 would be made caustic in burning, and upon subsequent ex- 
 posure to the weather would be hydrated, and cause the 
 brick to crumble.” 
 
 In the Purchase counties, only the clayey brown loam that 
 underlies the soil of the uplands is used for brick, and the 
 ordinary methods of making are employed, such as mixing 
 into a pasty mass in a crude manner, molding in boxes by 
 hand, drying in the yard, and stacking and burning. It is 
 unnecessary to go into detail, as the methods are well known. 
 
 Front Building Brick . — “The general operations are simi- 
 lar to those followed in making common brick, but a better 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE KE(iION. 
 
 87 
 
 quality of clay is required, and all the operations are more 
 carefully i)erformed. Pressed bricks are j)roduced by a 
 combination of the hand and machine processes. The mold- 
 ing is usually done by hand, the green bricks being molded 
 larger than the size required, and then compressed to it in a 
 brick press. The molding sand is an important item in 
 making the bricks, as their color and smoothness depend 
 upon it. The molding, pressing, and drying are entirely 
 done under cover, and the bricks are laid on their faces in 
 drying, instead of being put on edge, as is done with com- 
 mon ones. They are put in the kilns with great care, common 
 brick being used to make the arches, and four or five courses 
 of them being laid over the arches before the pressed brick 
 are piled. The ends and edges of the kiln are also covered 
 with pressed brick, and after it is filled, common brick are 
 put on the top. The firing is conducted slowly and with 
 care, ten or twelve days being the usual length of time re- 
 quired, and when burned, the kiln is slowly cooled. After 
 cooling, the bricks are sorted, and defective ones are re- 
 jected.” 
 
 Terra-cotta Lumber . — “A kaolinite, or clay without grit, 
 unmixed with sand or sandy clay, is mixed with sawdust, 
 worked by machinery into slabs, burned, sawed and dressed, 
 and in this condition is ready for market. It is claimed that 
 it is indestructible by fire, water, frost, acids, gases or age. 
 It is a very poor conductor of heat, dampness and sound, 
 and is said to expand and contract but little under changes 
 of temperature. Its weight is put down as one-half that of 
 brick, two-thirds that of "marble or granite, and one-seventh 
 that of iron ; and it can be worked with edge tools, bored 
 and sawed, and holds nails like timber.” 
 
 Fire-brick . — “While common brick can be made from the 
 poorer grades of clay, containing such impurities as iron, 
 lime, magnesia, soda and potash, fire-brick demand a clay 
 of great purity, and their refractoriness depends in a large 
 measure upon this purity. The reason for this is evident, 
 since if iron, lime, magnesia, soda or potash were present, 
 they would, at the high temperatures to which the finished 
 brick is to be exposed, form fusible compounds with the 
 
88 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 silica present, and the brick would be destroyed, linkers 
 mix with such pure clay a certain amount, varying with 
 the formula of the individual makers, of calcined clay and 
 coarse sand, or so-called feldspar. The clays and flint for 
 the mixture being selected, they are thoroughly mixed by 
 grinding them together. This grinding is done in different 
 ways in the districts. A common method is that in which 
 the charge is introduced into a large circular cast-iron pan, 
 which revolves on an upright axis. Two or more large 
 cast-iron wheels, which turn on a horizontal axis, are put in 
 the pan. As it revolves, the wheels turn and crush and mix 
 the clay. Water in proper amounts is introduced during the 
 operation, and the grinding is continued until the feeling of 
 the mass shows the workmen that the proper consistency has 
 been reached. After grinding, the clay is molded, either 
 by hand or machines, like common brick. The hand-made 
 brick are then pressed in a steel brass-lined chamber by 
 lever power. The machine-made ones are not pressed. The 
 pressed brick are now dried, either in covered sheds in the 
 open air, or in chambers heated for the purpose. After they 
 are sufficiently dried they are piled in the kilns, being 
 separated from each other by layers of non-vitrifiable sand. 
 The time required for burning is about six days, and the 
 firing is conducted with the utmost care, as upon it the per- 
 fection of the brick largely depends. A low fire is used at 
 first, increasing gradually until the proper temperature is 
 reached. The fires are kept at this for several hours, and 
 are then drawn, and the kiln is allowed to cool for three or 
 four days before opening. The kilns used are of various 
 kinds, some makers preferring up-draft and some down-draft, 
 and their size depends on the extent of business carried on.'’ 
 Gas Retorts . — “The clay used in making these retorts must 
 be able to stand strong heat without tendency to soften, since 
 they have to sustain their own great weight and also that of 
 the charge they contain. Great care is exercised in com- 
 pounding the mixture from which they are made. The 
 failure of a retort would entail a considerable loss, aside 
 from its own cost. Calcined clay is used in large amounts, 
 but it is more finely crushed than for fire-brick, and requires 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S rUUClIASE UKCHON. 
 
 89 
 
 a very good and plastic bond clay. The retort is shaped 
 from the tempered clay by tilling the si)ace between a large 
 sheet-iron shell and a wooden core. The shell is placed in 
 position and the tloor covered with clay four inches deep 
 and tamped. The core is then introduced and adjusted so 
 that it is separated from the walls on all sides by a space of 
 four inches. The clay is then tilled in in small amounts, and 
 gently tamped. When the retort is high enough, tlie core is 
 withdrawn by a crane, and the mouth of the retort is made 
 by hand. The shell, which is made in two sections, is then 
 unbolted, and the tinished retort is left standing on end. It 
 is left in this position to dry for several weeks, and is finally 
 removed to the kiln to be burnt. Burning is done in ordi- 
 nary fire-brick kilns, and bricks are piled about the retorts 
 to keep them in place, and from sagging. Retorts for zinc 
 works and for other similar purposes, are built in like man- 
 ner.” 
 
 ’"DTTERY. 
 
 “Before giving the methods used in manufacturing pottery, 
 it is necessary to define the various kinds given in the pre- 
 ceding list, made in this country. The compact and concise 
 definitions used in the Ohio report are quoted : ‘ Stoneware 
 is the product of an unmixed, natural clay, burned at high 
 enough heat to oblige the impurities to combine with free 
 silica, and thus cause an incipient vitrification or fretting, 
 without loss of shape. It should be impermeable to water 
 without any glazing on it ; but it frequently fails in this point. 
 Its color is bluish-grey, and is due to combined iron.’ 
 
 ‘Earthenware is a product of very similar clays, burned 
 too lightly to vitrify the body or combine the iron ; it is of 
 a yellow or red color, from the free iron, and is porous unless 
 glazed.’ 
 
 ‘China (the iron-stone china made in this country) is a 
 mixture of several clays with powdered silica, and enough 
 potash feldspar to make the body vitreous on burning. 
 Porcelain is made in the same way, but in very different 
 proportions of material ; white iron-stone china is thick and 
 opaque ; porcelain is often as thin as an egg-shell, and nearly 
 
90 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 clear enough to be called translucent. China is of a dead or 
 bluish-white color, while porcelain is of a creamy-white tint’ 
 
 Stoneware . — ‘The operations are: (1) Wetting the clay; 
 (2) grinding ; (3) wedging ; (4) turning ; (5) drying ; (6) slip- 
 ping ; (7) burning ; (8) sorting the product. In very many 
 places the clay is put in a bin before using, and allowed to 
 stand over night after drenching with water. This precau- 
 tion is well taken in small works where horse-power only is 
 used in grinding. In the largest steam works it is unneces- 
 sary. The grinders for stoneware clays are of several kinds ; 
 the simplest is a pug-mill. The next machine has no spe- 
 cific name, but is the one in use in all the country potteries.’ 
 
 “It is a square frame, pivoted on an upright beam, which 
 runs through the point of crossing of the diagonals, on the 
 projecting ends of which are fastened cart wheels, which work 
 in a circular trough beneath. The whole frame revolves by 
 the motion of a large frame above, which receives its power 
 from the horse or engine.' The motion is slow, but by 
 weighting the corners of the frame the wheels in their rev- 
 olution manage to cut the clay to pieces quite effectually. 
 Such a machine, which can easily be made by any village 
 mechanic, can grind from one thousand two hundred to one 
 thousand five hundred pounds at a charge, and will occupy 
 about two hours in doing it. This amount of clay will make 
 from one hundred and eighty to one hundred and ninety 
 gallons of ware. The clay, after grinding, is balled into 
 large masses, and wet-blanketed to keej) until used. The 
 clay, after being ground, is put through a process called 
 ‘wedging.’ 
 
 “This treatment is sux>posed to eliminate blebs, or spaces 
 in the clay, and any larger jDieces of foreign matter. When 
 wedged, it is rolled up into wads or balls, which have a 
 definite weight for each kind of ware, and is then ready to 
 be turned.” Turning will be described later under white 
 ware. The articles made are crocks, fruit jars, jugs, milk 
 pans, churns, etc. As fast as the ware is made it is dried. 
 In small j^otteries this is done in the sun, but in the larger 
 ones the ware is piled on shelves in a room artificially 
 heated. The dry ware is next “slipj)ed.” This term means 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 91 
 
 the coverin'^ of the ware witli any wash or solution. The 
 slip used with stoneware is made by stining a very fine- 
 grained clay into water. The ware, when dipped into this, 
 receives a thin coating of the susi)ended clay, and this coat- 
 ing, when heated in the kiln, vitrifies and gives a glassy 
 surface. The color of the glaze depends on the composi- 
 tion of the clay used in the slip. That containing alkalies 
 and alkaline earths only, with silica, would give a light- 
 colored glaze, while that containing iron would give a darker 
 color.” 
 
 A partial analysis of the Albany, New York, slip, as given 
 in the Ohio report, shows the following composition : 
 
 Sesquioxide of iron 
 
 Potash 
 
 Soda 
 
 1.43 
 
 3.17 
 
 .74 
 
 5.34 
 
 There is present also a large amount of carbonates of lime 
 and magnesia, which are undetermined. 
 
 “The main trouble to be overcome in the use of slip glazes 
 is a tendencj^ to blister or blubber. The cause of this is not 
 definitely known. Every potter has his theory. The opinion 
 of several of the most intelligent has been, that undue haste 
 in burning is the most frequent cause, and that the wares 
 should be heated to a low red- heat for several hours before 
 any higher heat is attempted, after which raising of the heat 
 can do no harm.” 
 
 Earthenware . — The character of the clays used in making- 
 earthenware is nearly the same as that used for stoneware. 
 “In some places the same clay is made into both kinds of 
 ware, the only differences between them being in the pro- 
 cesses employed. Generally, however, the clay for earthen- 
 ware should carry less sand, and any iron present should be 
 disseminated uniformly through it. The clay is allowed to 
 slack in the air, after mixing, for a time sufficient to partially 
 weather it. It is then washed, by which it is freed from sand 
 and impurities, the clay remaining in susj)ension, and poured 
 ^off into vats, where it is allowed to settle. By this washing 
 
92 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKICS 
 
 the clay also becomes uniform in color. The washed clay 
 is allowed to dry in the vats on long exposure, or the water 
 is pressed out of it by subjecting it to great pressure in 
 bags. After the clay is pressed it is rolled into a wad, and 
 still in a moist and plastic condition, is put in a close room, 
 and piled and covered with blankets until it is used. The 
 next step is ‘wedging’ or ‘slipping.’ A block of both 
 colors, about 12 by 12 by 6 inches, is cut and sliced up by 
 a wire in six or eight layers each. They are filled alter- 
 nately into a new block one foot cube. This is then lifted 
 and thrown down with violence to consolidate the layers. 
 It is then cut and welded again by a blow, and so on until 
 the colors are marbled in fine alternating streaks. The clay 
 is then ready for the potter. There are three methods in 
 use for fashioning the numerous articles made from clay, 
 viz: throwing, press- work and casting. The former is used 
 chiefly in making earthenware, the latter two in making 
 white ware and porcelain. ‘The first and most ancient is 
 that of throwing, in which the thrower or jigger throws 
 down a lump of clay upon the revolving table of his 
 lathe. Using both hands, he works the lump into the shape 
 of a rude cone, and then flattens the mass within a few 
 inches of the table, the object of his operation being to 
 force out any air bubbles that may remain in the clay. By 
 means of his hands and fingers, and referring constantly to 
 measuring sticks, he fashions the vessel according to a model 
 or after his own fancy.” This method is in use in all of 
 the potteries throughout the counties of the Purchase. 
 
 “Press-work is done in moulds of plaster of Paris, one-half 
 of the pattern being formed on one side of the mould, and 
 the other half on the other side. The two moulding pieces 
 are then accurately fitted together. Handles are moulded 
 separately, and fastened on with slip. Casting is done for 
 articles of verj^ irregular shape. The two halves of the 
 mould are fastened together, and slip is poured in until 
 the cavity is quite full. As the moulds are previously 
 thoroughly dried, the absorbent power of the plaster soon 
 attracts the water, and makes the coating of the clay next 
 to it stiff and doughy. When the liquid is poured out this 
 
OF THE Jackson’s purchase region. 9:j 
 
 donglij' coatiiio: remains. H eacli lialf has been cast sepa- 
 rately, as is usually the practice, the halves are allowed to 
 dry to the green or most tenacious state, and are then 
 joined with slip. This method is that usually employed in 
 moulding porcelain.” 
 
 “The ware, now being formed, is next put in seggars for 
 burning. Seggars are vessels of lire-clay, in which all the ar- 
 ticles, except the most common earthenware, are burnt. They 
 are made of clay slabs, roughly cut with a spade, and worked 
 with a mallet over an oval form. The bottom is put on 
 separatelj’, and the seggar is burnt before it is used. In 
 earthenware making, the seggars are filled, the pieces being 
 separated from each other by pins or cockspurs, and the 
 covers are luted on. They are then piled in the kilns one 
 above the other. After the kiln is filled, the openings are 
 luted, and the fire is started; at first slowly, and gradually 
 raised ; the firing generally occupies forty-eight hours, and 
 about the same time is required in cooling down. When 
 cool, the seggars are removed, and the biscuits taken out. 
 The biscuit- is very porous, and when dressed of all promi- 
 nences is ready for the glaze. 
 
 ‘The theory of the glazing of pottery is very simple, but 
 in its application lies the excellence of one ware over an- 
 other. There are certain substances that have the power of 
 fusing under heat in the presence of free silica to a clear, 
 transx>arent silicate, of which glass is a type. To make a 
 potter’s product useful, it must have its tendency to absorb 
 liquids removed, which is done by wetting the biscuit ware 
 with a substance which will fuse to a clear glass with the 
 silica of the clay, and give a smooth, imperishable finish to 
 the work.’ The alkalies, borax, lead, etc., are usually em- 
 ployed in the glazes ; the proportions and the constituents for 
 each glaze being usually kep)t secret by the potter. The glazes 
 for yellow ware are usually made of litharge, flint, spar and 
 paris white, mixed in a vat with a thin sliji of pure clay, to 
 keep the heavier bodies from settling out.” 
 
 White Ware and Porcelain . — “The main distinction be- 
 tween the yellow ware and white ware manufacture, is in 
 the preparation of the clay ‘body.’ This ‘body’ or mixture 
 
94 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 of clays, flint, and spar, to be used in the moulds, is the great 
 secret of each establishment. Usually not more than two 
 men in the works know it. The clays chosen are selected 
 with reference to jilasticity, shrinkage, liability to crack, 
 color, etc. ; in a mixture, at least one light clay is employed, 
 and the aim is to keeii the mixture of clays as light in tint 
 as may be, and still secure the other qualities necessary. The 
 flint is used in the finest state of division, and is perfectly 
 white, as is also the spar. The body mixture of kaolin alone 
 would, if heated, be liable to crack without apparent cause, 
 and would be infusible at the heat applied. By adding silica, 
 which sometimes forms nearly one-half the mixture, the 
 body is very much whitened, and the clay is much more like 
 a stoneware clay in composition, and is prepared to vitrify 
 on heating ; but because of the purity of the reagents, 
 there is nothing present to cause vitrification with the 
 free silica. Should this body be burned, all tendency to 
 shrink or crack would be gone, but tlie bond would be very 
 slight that would hold the mass together ; a blow on a thin 
 edge would give a dull wooden sound, which well illustrates 
 the lack of close union between the particles. By adding 
 spar the mixture is complete ; the color is corrected by the 
 flint, as well as the tendency to shrink and crack, and with 
 the presence of the sjiar, the burning immediately causes a 
 thorough vitrification of the whole mass to a homogeneous 
 solid, with a slightly glassy fracture. A blow now would 
 give a clear, ringing sound. The glazes used in vvhite ware 
 are much more complicated than for yellow ware, and re- 
 quire, perhaps, the most skillful work of all to get just 
 right ; there is more value placed on the composition of a 
 good glaze than any secret about a pottery, even including 
 the composition of the body.” 
 
 “The white ware made in our potteries is graded as: (1) iron- 
 stone china ; (2) majolica ; (3) C. C. ware, a grade of white 
 ware made from poorer clays, and cheaper and inferior. 
 China differs from majolica much as yellow differs from 
 Rockingham ware, in finish and glazing alone. The glazes 
 used in majolica are applied after the first or body glaze, 
 in a soft pasty state and in dabs, which would presage a 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s i*urciiase kkoion. 
 
 95 
 
 very rough appearance when finished ; but on heating tliey 
 melt and flow over the ware, making an effective play of 
 color. The colors used are in the glaze, and differ from all 
 other styles in being neither beneath nor above it.” 
 
 “In the decoration of glass, pottery, enamels, etc., the color- 
 ing agents used are the metallic oxides, these being the only 
 bodies whose coloring effects would last at the temperature 
 used. The forms in which these oxides are used are called 
 enaniel paints, and are mixtures of- the requisite oxide, with 
 suitable bases and fluxes, so that on heating, the latter unite 
 to foi’in a glass which receives its color from the accompany- 
 ing oxide. There are several well-marked styles of pottery 
 decoration now used, such as painting, striping, and hand- 
 painting and printing. The decoration is usually placed 
 upon the already glazed ware.” 
 
 Ornamental Terra-Cotta . — “The clay used is a gritty, plastic 
 one, and no special care is taken in preparing it, save that 
 it is thoroughly ground. Teria-cotta proper burns in the 
 ' kiln to a hardness that give the articles, when struck, the 
 ring of iron. The clays are more or less largely colored with 
 oxide of iron. According as this is present in greater or 
 less color, the ware produced is red, buff or brown in color. 
 The clay is pressed with the hand into the mold, and the 
 objects are afterward finished by liand. 
 
 Terra-cotta is used for making chimney tops, outside and 
 inside ornamentation for buildings, lawn vases, statuary, etc.” 
 
 Encaustic or Enameled Tile . — “The clays are washed and 
 beaten uj) to a slip, the necessary metallic oxides added to 
 give them the desired color, then strained, evaporated to a 
 paste, and stacked in open cribs in a steam-heated room 
 until perfectly dry. It is then reduced to powder, and uni- 
 formly moistened, and is then molded. The simplest tiles 
 are made from clay of one color, and the process consists in 
 stamping so much clay powder into a confined space, and 
 consolidating it by enormous pressure. Next come the tile 
 made of two colored clays. The first stamping makes the 
 body, but leaves indentations in its surface, into which the 
 second clay is put, and this is pressed into place. The tile 
 is then scraped to get a cleanly-drawn line of both colors. 
 
96 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 and again stamped with a flat die. They are dried in steam- 
 heated closets for as much as six weeks after forming, in 
 order to insure their perfect dryness before burning. The 
 tiles are sold in the biscuit state, or are glazed, plain colored, 
 or majolica.” 
 
 Drain Pipe or Tile . — Almost any clay that will make 
 good brick can be used for drain pipe. The clay is wet 
 down after being dug, and then ground and delivered to the 
 auger machine. “The auger machine consists of a cylindri- 
 cal shell of iron jilate, inside of which works a screw or 
 auger. A hopper at one end catches and collects the clay 
 as it comes from the grinder, and it is dropped upon the 
 revolving screw. It is caught uj) and carried forward, and 
 is soon forced out at the other end through the orifice in 
 the die. The machine has a set of dies of from two to 
 twelve inches, and can make any size at will. Besides the 
 circular tile, by alterations in the die, fire-proofing, square 
 tile, perforated brick, etc., can be made. There are a great 
 many styles of auger machines in use. The shaped clay 
 issuing from the machine is cut into lengths, and set on end. 
 on the drying floors. The tiles are then dried and burnt.” . 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE PURCHASE CLAYS. 
 
 There are in various parts of the region a number of pot- 
 teries engaged in the manufacture of the very ordinary brown 
 jugs and jars. These potteries are generally crude, and 
 worked at a very small expense. They are distributed as 
 follows: One at Pottertown, six miles east of Murray, Cal- 
 loway county ; one at Bell City, and another three miles 
 south of Lynnville, in the southern part of Graves countj^ ; 
 one at Paducah, in McCracken county, the clay being ob- 
 tained by flats from beds below Metropolis, on the Illinois 
 shore of the Ohio river ; two at Columbus, Hickman county, 
 the clay -being in part obtained from the bluffs, two miles 
 below Columbus, and in part from near Wickliff'e, in Ballard 
 county. The clays from Wickliffe have also been shipped 
 to Union City, Tennessee, for the manufacture of tiles. 
 
 In order to more fully test the value of these clays for 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PUUCIIASE HEOION. 
 
 97 
 
 the finer qualities of ware, arrangements were made with the 
 Kookwood Pottery, of Cincinnati, by which their adaptability 
 for the deconited wares was ascertained. Average specimens 
 from the most important beds were shipped to the pottery, 
 a-nd the results obtained are incorporated wdth the report on 
 the respective beds, in the following pages. 
 
 The clays are divided into three classes — refractory^ unre- 
 fractory, and ochreous. The former are si)ecially suited to 
 the manufacture of fire-brick, and similar articles, whose 
 chief property is resistance to the effects of a high heat. 
 Those of the second class fuse to a greater or less extent in 
 a high heat, and are more suitable for various forms of pot- 
 tery, etc. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter regarding these 
 clays written by Mr. Karl Langenbeck, of the factory of 
 Decorative Art in Terra-cotta, etc., in Cincinnati. Speaking 
 in regard to the establishment of a pottery for making regu- 
 lar table-ware, cups, saucers, plates, bowls, pitchers, etc., he 
 says: “I think it would be a very paying thing, because you 
 have raw material equal to the finest in England ; the articles 
 have a constant and ready sale, and are subject to heavy 
 freight rates in transportation from New York, Trenton, or 
 East Liverpool, so that they should be j^roduced near a 
 market, and Kentucky is known as a good market. The 
 practical experience I have had with the clay from Russell’s, 
 near Murray, and with other clays of the district, have taught 
 me their peculiarities, and I can freely say, that from their 
 great plasticity, they are most easily and cheaply worked, 
 and from their binding qualities, entail less loss in the kiln 
 than any others I have ever met with. The Russell clay, 
 with the addition of some flint, makes a very beautiful 
 ivory-ware, almost exactly resembling that made by the cel- 
 brated firm of Copeland & Sons, in England, for table and 
 toilet sets.” 
 
 EEFRACTOKY CLAYS. 
 
 The majority of the clays of this part of the State have 
 been found to be highly refractory when tested before the 
 blow-pipe, though many of them contain high percentages of 
 iron and potasli, on which their fusibility depends. They 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 7. 
 
98 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC EEATUKES 
 
 vary in color from nearly white to black, and are more or 
 less sandy in their character. Tliey are found in all of 
 the counties, and in beds varying from two to many feet in 
 thickness. Samples from many of these localities have been 
 analyzed, and the results are given below, preceded by a 
 descrij)tion of each bed. For convenience the clays are di- 
 vided into the following groups: Drab Clays of the Hickman 
 Bhif's, Siliceous Clays of the Columbus Bluffs, the White or 
 light-colored plastic Clays, and the Black or dark bluish- 
 black Clays. 
 
 Clays of the Hickman Bluffs, Fulton County. — The blulfs 
 rise about one hundred and eighty feet above that portion 
 of the town lying on the river bank, and, as shown in the 
 section on page 38, comprise sixty-five feet of loam and 
 silt, and eleven feet of gravel and sand above the clays. The 
 succeeding beds downward comprise clays, clay-stones, and 
 joint clays, varying from each other somewhat in composi- 
 tion, and in their refractory character. In the following 
 table of analyses, these beds are placed and described in 
 descending order, the first two numbers being of specimens 
 taken from the bed immediately underlying the gravel, but 
 one-fourth of a mile apart. 
 
 No. 2137. Greenish, sometimes bluish sandy refractory 
 joint clay, taken from beneath the gravel bed, one-fourth 
 of a mile north of Hickman, Fulton county. The clay i» 
 quite plastic, burns hard, and of a light greyish-buff tint. 
 Before the blow-pipe it fuses with great difficulty. The bed 
 is several feet thick. 
 
 No. 2136. Greenish, sometimes bluish sandy refractory 
 joint clay, taken from beneath the gravel bed, in the bluffs 
 in the upper part of Hickman, Fulton county. The dried 
 clay is of a light grey tint, colored in parts buff and ferru- 
 ginous. It is moderately plastic, and does not calcine very 
 hard, acquiring a handsome light brick color. It is refrac- 
 tory before the blow-pipe. The clay crumbles easily, and 
 has a thickness of about six feet. 
 
 No. 2139. Soft crumbling clay -stone, refractory, greyish, 
 and somewhat sandy, forming a ledge under the preceding 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 99 
 
 about two feet tliick. It is somewhat oclireous and quite 
 ])lastic. It burns hard, of a light grey-buff tint, and before 
 the blow-pipe it fuses with difficulty. 
 
 No. 2140. Slate colored or bluish refractory joint clay, 
 from the Hickman bluff, and underlying the preceding. It 
 is lilac-grey when dried, somewhat oclireous, quite plastic, 
 and burns quite hard to a light brownish tint. It is quite 
 refractory before the blow pipe. The bed is several feet 
 tliick. 
 
 No. 2138. Greenish clay-stone and green refractory clay, 
 from the Hickman bluffs, and underlying the preceding. It 
 is banded with yellow ferruginous lines, crumbles easily, 
 and in places is quite solid. The dried clay is light grey 
 in color. It is quite plastic, calcines to a light brick color, 
 and is quite refractory before the blow-pipe. The bed is 
 about ten feet thick. 
 
 No. 2141. Greenish indurated and refractory joint clay, 
 from the lower portion of the Hickman bluff, and separated 
 from the preceding No. 2188 by eight feet of massive slate- 
 colored clay-stone, having a jointed structure, and in places 
 holding masses of dark opal. The clay on drying assumes a 
 light olive-grey color. It calcines quite hard to a brownish- 
 buff color, and is quite refractory before the blow-pipe. The 
 bed is at least fifty feet thick, passing below the level of the 
 alluvial plain. This clay has not been found elsewhere within 
 the Purchase counties than along the bluffs southward to the 
 Teunessee line. 
 
 No. 2135. Greenish refractory clays, from the bluffs at 
 Hickmau, ninety-five feet above low water. This is the same 
 bed as that of No. 2141. The dried clay is of a light grey 
 tint, considerably mottled with light brownish ochreous mate- 
 rial. It is quite plastic with water, calcines to a reddish 
 buff color, and is refractory before the blow-pipe, but sintered 
 somewhat. 
 
 No. 2134. Indurated clay from the bluff at Hickman, forty- 
 five feet above low-Avater. This is also of the greenish clay 
 bed No. 2141, but contains more iron. It is quite plastic 
 with water, calcines to a light buff color, and fuses before 
 the blow-pipe into a grey slag. 
 
100 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 CLAYS OP THE BLUFF AT HICKMAN, FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 Aib Dbied. 
 
 BeDeath the Gravel. 
 
 Descending order beneath No. 2136. 
 
 Above low water. 
 
 mile N. 
 of llick- 
 nian. 
 
 Refracto - 
 ry Clay, 
 Hickman 
 
 Unrefrac- 
 tory grey- 
 ish Clay. 
 
 Refractory Claye. 
 
 
 Unrefrac- 
 tory clays 
 
 Bluish 
 joint clay 
 
 Greenish 
 )el. clay. 
 
 Greenish 
 joint clay 
 
 95 ft. 
 
 45 ft. 
 
 No. 2137_ 
 
 No. 2136. 
 
 No. 2139. 
 
 No. 2140. 
 
 No. 2138. 
 
 No. 2141. 
 
 No. 2135. 
 
 No. 2134. 
 
 Silica 
 
 71 . 340 
 
 83 380 
 
 71.080 
 
 74.100 
 
 83.600 
 
 77.960 
 
 76.860 
 
 64 800 
 
 Alumina . . . 
 
 17. J90 
 
 9.800 
 
 19 050 
 
 16 460 
 
 9.940 
 
 13 970 
 
 14 600 
 
 21.070 
 
 Iron peroxide . . 
 
 2.770 
 
 2.120 
 
 2.810 
 
 2.700 
 
 2.500 
 
 2.390 
 
 3.020 
 
 5.270 
 
 
 1.612 
 
 .963 
 
 .627 
 
 .358 
 
 .358 
 
 .134 
 
 .425 
 
 1.400 
 
 Magnesia .... 
 
 .209 
 
 .187 
 
 .403 
 
 .187 
 
 .173 
 
 .163 
 
 .308 
 
 .050 
 
 Poraeb 
 
 .925 
 
 .617 
 
 .678 
 
 .559 
 
 .639 
 
 .797 
 
 .736 
 
 .646 
 
 
 .232 
 
 .118 
 
 .225 
 
 .135 
 
 .109 
 
 .124 
 
 .257 
 
 .202 
 
 Water, etc. . . . 
 
 5.722 
 
 2 815 
 
 5.227 
 
 5.501 
 
 2.881 
 
 4.462 
 
 3.794 
 
 6.562 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 lOO.OOO 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Dr. Peter says of these clays : It is evident that the Ter- 
 tiary bluffs, from which these clays were collected, offer 
 some valuable materials to the industrial arts. Some of 
 these are quite refractory in the fire, especially Nos. 2136, 
 2138, 2140, and 2141, and would, probably, make good fire- 
 bricks, etc. ; others of them could be employed for terra- 
 cotta work and other forms of pottery, while some of these 
 abundant deposits might, no doubt, be used with advantage, 
 in mixture with the more calcareous soft material found in 
 some of these beds, in the manufacture of hydraulic cement 
 of the character of the celebrated Portland cement. 
 
 Clays of the Columbus Bluffs . — The bluffs that face the 
 Mississippi river at Columbus, and at the “chalk banks” 
 two miles below, rise more than one hundred feet above 
 the town, the upper portion composed of thirty feet each of 
 grey silt or loess and gravel. Beneath the gravel there is a 
 bed of variegated colored plastic clay, fifteen feet in thick- 
 ness. Beneath this there are about eighty-five feet of sili- 
 ceous clays, bluish when freshly exposed, but on drying 
 become greyish and highly indurated. The bed incloses 
 fragments of stems, bark and leaves, and belongs to the 
 lignitic division of the Tertiary formation. The bed in the 
 Columbus bluff is not continuous, but has been cut away in 
 that portion lying nearest the town, and its place filled with 
 thin beds of clay and indurated sands of the Lagrange group. 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 101 
 
 It also forms the bluff that rises immediately from the 
 water’s edge at the “chalk banks.” The three analyses that 
 are given below are of this bed, and Dr. Peter reports that 
 they are all very infusible before the blow-pipe, and burn 
 hard to a light cream color. Their refractory character in 
 the fire makes them useful for fire-brick, though the high 
 percentage of potash probably unfits them for use in glass 
 works where an extreme heat is employed. Their fine sili- 
 ceous character might also make them useful as a scouring 
 material. 
 
 These clay-beds are exposed in the bluffs east of the town ; 
 the siliceous clays in the deep ravine by the Clinton road, 
 and the upper plastic clays in the face of the bluff, south of 
 the railroad cut, and by the road leading down the edge of 
 the bottom. At the “chalk banks,” the siliceous fire-clays 
 have again been cut away on the north side, and in their 
 place we find the interstratified beds of fine plastic clays 
 and white sand. 
 
 The same is true of the bluffs north of the Columbus ex- 
 posures, none of the siliceous beds having been observed 
 until a short distance beyond Laketon, after which they 
 are seen occasionally as far as Wickliffe, and northward to 
 Cane creek. Belonging, as they do, to the lower or lignitic 
 Tertiary formation, we naturally find them, further east, as- 
 sociated with the belt of dark clays in McCracken and 
 Graves counties. Analyses of specimens from several locali- 
 ties are given below. 
 
 No. 2715. Fire-clay^ from the bluff above Columbus, 
 Hickman county ; taken sixty-five feet above low- water. 
 It is plastic, and owes this property to the state of very 
 fine division of the large quantity of siliceous sand which 
 it contains; its 10.260 per cent, of alumina being equivalent 
 to only 25.920 per cent, of kaolin, the basis of true clay. 
 
 No. 2162. Clay, from the bluffs in the upper part of the 
 town of Columbus, Hickman county. This is the same bed 
 as the preceding ; is of a light grey color, almost white, and 
 quite sandy. It is plastic, burns hard, and of a light cream 
 color. 
 
102 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 2161. Clay, from the “chalk banks,” two miles below 
 Columbus, Hickman county. It burns hard, is refractory 
 before the blow-pipe, only sintering a little. 
 
 WHITE AND SILICEOUS REFRACTORY CLAYS OF HICKMAN 
 
 COUNTY. 
 
 Am Dried. 
 
 Bluffs north of Columbus. 
 
 Chalk Banks 
 2 miles south 
 of Columbus. 
 
 No. 2715. 
 
 No. 2162. 
 
 No. 2161. 
 
 Silica 
 
 85.180 
 
 84.918 
 
 76.360 
 
 Alumina 
 
 10.200 
 
 10.560 
 
 14.951 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 1.120 
 
 1.102 
 
 2.109 
 
 Lime 
 
 trace. 
 
 .572 
 
 .325 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .064 
 
 .108 
 
 .173 
 
 Potash 
 
 .954 
 
 .651 
 
 1.171 
 
 Soda 
 
 .146 
 
 not est. 
 
 .125 
 
 Water, etc 
 
 2.276 
 
 2.089 
 
 4.786 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand 
 
 
 68.500 
 
 69.000 
 
 The clays from the bluffs north of Columbus are the most 
 refractory, and, in composition, compare well with the Ger- 
 man glass-pot clay — containing less iron and a little more 
 potash. The alumina percentage is low, though, perhaps, 
 sufficient. At any rate, the clays of both Columbus and the 
 “chalk banks” are fully worth a trial at an intense heat. 
 
 White or light colored Plastic Clays . — These are found 
 in greater or less beds in each of the counties, but belong 
 especially to the formation known as the Lagrange group of 
 the Tertiary, and were deposited since the deposition of the 
 black clays. They are usually white or light purple in color, 
 highly plastic when dry, adhering strongly to the tongue, 
 and when cut present a very smooth, unctuous surface. The 
 beds vary in thickness from a few inches to many feet. The 
 chief localities of occurrence are as follows: 
 
 No. 2640. White Pipe-clay., from Rufus Morris’ place, three 
 miles east of New Providence, Calloway county. It is over- 
 laid by about ten feet of loam and gravel. The bed is made 
 up of two inches of clay, then two inches of a white sand. 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 103 
 
 overlying anotlier bed of about eighteen inches of white 
 clay, which rests upon a thin layer of ferruginous sandstone. 
 The latter separates it from the bed of black pyritous clay, 
 No. ISCG, described elsewhere. The thickest part of the bed 
 contains small pockets of a fine white sand, and occasional 
 spots of ochreous clay. This clay, at the Rookwood pottery, 
 made a white biscuit when unglazed, but, on being glazed, 
 became of a brownish-white color, unsuited to the finer 
 classes of ware. 
 
 No. 2643. White Plastic Clay^ from Russell’s pottery, six 
 miles north-east of Murray, Calloway county. A section of 
 the bed shows the following: a surface covering of six feet 
 of brown loam, four and a half feet of sandy clay, one foot 
 of white clay, one and a half feet of black clay, and three 
 feet of fine white clay, underlaid by brownish sandy clay 
 and yellow micaceous sand. At the Rookwood pottery, this 
 clay made a beautiful, light cream-colored ware. Dr. Lan- 
 genbeck says of this clay: “With the addition of sonae 
 Hint, makes a very beautiful ivory-ware, almost exactly 
 resembling that made by the celebrated firm of Copeland 
 & Sons, in England, for table and toilet sets.” It requires 
 a high heat for burning, and would be improved by mixing 
 with other clays. 
 
 No. 2639. White Clay, from one mile east of Wyatt’s 
 school-house, in the north-west corner of Calloway county. 
 This clay is very white, has a few ochreous spots, and is 
 exposed at a number of points in the bank of a creek be- 
 neath a few feet deposit of gravel and loam, and in beds 
 from three to ten feet thick, its true thickness being un- 
 known. It outcrops also in the bluff at Backusburg. In 
 places it has a bluish and in others a pinkish tint. The 
 upper eighteen inches of the bed is usually of a mottled 
 character, but altogether is highly plastic. The beds here 
 belong to Messrs. Sanders, Keen and Jackson; quantities of 
 the clay have been shipped to the Evansville stoneware pot- 
 teries, but the yellow ferruginous spots unfit it for such 
 white ware. The Rookwood trials produced a brownish- 
 white color when glazed. 
 
104 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 2666. Clay^ from Howard’s pottery at Bell City, 
 Graves county. The clay is of a light brownish-grey color 
 with yellow ferruginous spots, and with some purplish, 
 round and hollow concretions. It is infusible before the 
 blow-pipe. The bed is from six to ten feet thick, and is 
 used here in the manufacture of the ordinary brown jugs, 
 jars, etc. It burns at a moderate temperature, and, with a 
 white slip-clay, would make cream-colored ware. 
 
 No. 2663. Slijf Plastic Clay, from Pittman’s bank, three 
 miles west of Lynnville, Graves county. The clay is very 
 line, of a brownish-grey color, and infusible before the blow- 
 pipe It is used by Mr. Pittman at his x>ottery, two miles 
 south of Lynnville, but its very stiff and intractable charac- 
 ter compels him to mix with it a silty clay found in the 
 hill-sides near the pottery. 
 
 The clay bed is very massive, its fresh, vertical surface 
 showing very pretty lamination markings. The bed is ex- 
 posed for ten or fifteen feet in thickness, is partly purplish 
 in color, and holds some thin layers of a line sand. The 
 tests at the Rookwood pottery show a shrinkage of about 
 ten per cent.; the unglazed biscuit is milky- white, but the 
 glazing gives to it a brownish color. 
 
 No. 2141. Clay from Wm. P. Arnett’s land on Panther 
 creek, six miles east of Mayfield, Graves county. The bed 
 is exposed for about eight feet above the water, a bed of 
 lignite appearing below the water at a point near by. The 
 clay is bluish when wet but grey when dry, and is quite 
 sandy. It is quite plastic, and burns to a light salmon 
 color ; does not become very hard unless exposed to a very 
 high temperature. It is refractory before the blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2573. Fire-clay, from the bank of the branch near 
 the stave factory at Wickliffe, Ballard county. This bed is 
 exposed for a thickness of ten or twelve feet, and under- 
 lies a thin bed of lignite. It is again exposed in the bluffs 
 between Wickliffe and Fort Jefferson. It is dark-grey in 
 color, highly siliceous, with more than fifty-three per cent, 
 of fine sand, and fuses with difficulty before the blow-pipe ; 
 it calcines white. The Rookwood pottery-tests show that 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puuchase kkoion. 
 
 105 
 
 it burns with moderate heat to a buff or light yellowish- 
 brown color, and would make the Rockingham ware. 
 
 No. 2568. Refractory White Clay, from one-half mile 
 north-west of Blandville, Ballard county. It is quite i)las- 
 tic, contains no appreciable coarse sand. It is infusible be- 
 fore the blow-pipe, and calcines white. 
 
 No. 2104. Refractory Clay, from near Moore’s mill, one 
 mile south-west of Blandville, Ballard county. It is ex- 
 posed in the foot of the high bluffs that face the bottom 
 lands of Maylield creek. A bed of lignite overlies it at 
 another point.^ When freshly exposed it is bluish in 
 color, but dries to a light grey color, nearly white, but 
 with some yellow ochreous spots. It is quite plastic, cal- 
 cines to a light salmon color, and is quite refractory before 
 the blow-pipe. It contains nearly forty-eight per cent, of 
 white sand, which was so fine that it was somewhat plastic 
 while wet and adherent when dry. The shrinkage of this 
 clay, as shown by ^:ests at the Rookwood pottery, is about 
 fifteen per cent., and the ware made from it is colored dark 
 buff or yellowish. 
 
 No. 2571. White Plastic Clay, from the banks of Cane 
 creek, two miles north of Wickliffe, Ballard county. This 
 is silty in character, but quite plastic, as shown in the 
 large percentage of alumina present. The bed has a thick- 
 ness of several feet. It contains much fine white opaque 
 sand ; is infusible before the blow-pipe, and calcines white. 
 It would make a good fire-brick, containing, as it does, com- 
 paratively little iron and potash in its composition. 
 
 No. 2105. Clay from the farm of T. D. Campbell, near 
 Lake ton, Ballard county. It has a light purplish-grey color, 
 with a few ochreous specks, and somewhat sandy. It is quite 
 plastic, decrepitates strongly when exposed to heat, unless it 
 is thoroughly dry. Calcines hard, and before the blow-pipe 
 is quite refractory. 
 
 No. 4. Clay from Mr. Samuel’s farm, four miles south of 
 Blandville, Ballard county. Exhibits minute spangles of mica 
 under the lens ; heated before the blow-pipe, it becomes first 
 dark colored, then burns white. 
 
106 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 2570. Plastic Clay, from Geo. Ryan’s place, on the 
 north bluff of Little Mayfield creek, four miles north-east of 
 Milburn, Ballard county. It is exposed in a number of 
 places along this bluff, with a thickness of four feet. It is 
 very stiff, and contains some fine sand. It is infusible be- 
 fore the blow-pipe, and calcines to a light-grey color. 
 
 No. 2569. Bluish Plastic Clay, from a ravine near the 
 road, three miles east of Blandville, Ballard county. On 
 drying, it is of a light buff -grey color; contains no coarse 
 sand. Before the blow-pipe it fuses with difficulty, and 
 calcines to a light grey color. It has an observed thickness 
 of about three feet, and underlies a bed of red sand. 
 
 No. 2759. Micaceous Clay, from the place of F. N. Bur- 
 radell, five miles north of Benton, Marshall county. It 
 occurs in layers with white sand, and is interspersed with 
 small pockets of the sand, but otherwise is quite jjlastic. 
 It outcrops in several places, but its thickness is not known. 
 It is infusible before the blow-pipe, and calcines hard. 
 Washed in water, it left 70.33 per cent, of fine whitish 
 sand, containing small mica scales. The Rookwood test 
 gave a milky-white unglazed biscuit, which became a rather 
 dark cream color on glazing. Its shrinkage is ten per cent. 
 
 No. 2763. Micaceous Clay, from J. T. Pugh’s place, two 
 miles east of Palma, Marshall county. When freshly ex- 
 posed it has a light bluish cast, but becomes greyish on dry- 
 ing. It is plastic, and fuses with great difficulty before the 
 blow-pipe. It holds small pockets of a white sand, and has 
 a thickness of several feet. The Rookwood test produced 
 a white unglazed biscuit, which on glazing became a dark 
 cream color. Its shrinkage is about fifteen per cent. 
 
 No. 2211. Clay from Mr. MuniePs, five miles south of 
 Paducah, McCracken county. The bed is massive, and its 
 thickness unknown. The clay is bluish when first exposed, 
 but dries to a light grey color, nearly white, and mottled 
 with a very light ochreous material. It is quite plastic ; 
 before the blow-pipe it burnt hard, of a light grey color, 
 nearly white, and finally fused with great difficulty. Tests 
 made in the Rookwood pottery gave a white, unglazed 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S rURCHASE REGION 
 
 107 
 
 biscuit, and showed a shrinkage of about fifteen per cent. 
 The clay is exposed on the side of a long sloping hill, and 
 has but comparatively little surface covering of earth. 
 
 REFRACTORY WHITE OR LIGHT COLORED CLAYS. 
 
 Aia Dried. 
 
 • 
 
 Calloway County. 
 
 Graves County. 
 
 Marshall f-o. 
 
 McCr. 
 
 Co. 
 
 -j -3. 
 
 s:®- 
 
 2 '9 
 
 g s 
 
 o 
 
 • ^ 
 . n 
 
 . ^ 
 
 of 
 
 si 
 
 a 
 
 ^ oT 
 
 §. 
 
 * S’ 
 
 o> 
 ® 
 > B3 
 
 m 
 
 Near Wyatt’s school 
 bouse 
 
 Howard’ 8, Bell 
 City 
 
 Pittman’s, 3 miles 
 west of Lynnville . 
 
 Panther creek east 
 of Mayfield .... 
 
 Burradell’s, 6 miles 
 north of Benton . . 
 
 Pugh’s, 2 miles east 
 of Palma 
 
 South of Paducah . 
 
 No.2640 
 
 No. 2643 
 
 No. 2639 
 
 No. 2666 
 
 No. 2663 
 
 No. 2141 
 
 No. 2759 
 
 No. 2763 
 
 No. 2211 
 
 Silica 
 
 61.680 
 
 57.840 
 
 46.020 
 
 56.980 
 
 62.680 
 
 75.650 
 
 84.580 
 
 62.920 
 
 64 480 
 
 Alumina 
 
 28.600 
 
 30.340 
 
 38 980 
 
 32. '60 
 
 25.880 
 
 16.751 
 
 10. 650 
 
 29.880 
 
 24.691 
 
 Iron peroxide ..... 
 
 1.680 
 
 1.180 
 
 trace. 
 
 2.160 
 
 2.900 
 
 1.198 
 
 .330 
 
 trace. 
 
 1.869 
 
 Lime 
 
 .101 
 
 .011 
 
 .773 
 
 trace. 
 
 trace. 
 
 trace. 
 
 .1.37 
 
 trace. 
 
 .448 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .136 
 
 .050 
 
 .136 
 
 .209 
 
 .319 
 
 .144 
 
 .101 
 
 . .209 
 
 .137 
 
 Potash 
 
 1 158 
 
 .618 
 
 .309 
 
 .838 
 
 1.147 
 
 1.094 
 
 .954 
 
 1 .564 
 
 1.457 
 
 Soda 
 
 .822 
 
 .519 
 
 .172 
 
 .111 
 
 ,928 
 
 .216 
 
 .292 
 
 .172 
 
 .083 
 
 Water, etc 
 
 5.923 
 
 9.442 
 
 13.610 
 
 7.542 
 
 6.146 
 
 5.047 
 
 2.956 
 
 5.255 
 
 6.835 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100 000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand 
 
 
 
 
 16.440 
 
 
 63.000 
 
 70.330 
 
 
 
 REFRACTORY WHITE AND LIGHT COLORED CLAYS. 
 
 Ballard County. 
 
 Aie Dried. 
 
 Wickliffe 
 
 Blandville 
 
 South-west of Bland- 
 ville 
 
 Cane creek, north of 
 Wickliffe 
 
 Campbell’s, near 
 Laketon 
 
 Four miles sooth of 
 Blandville .... 
 
 Four miles north- 
 east of Milburn. . 
 
 Three miles east of 
 Blandville .... 
 
 No. 2573 
 
 No. 2568 
 
 No. 2104 
 
 No. 2571 
 
 No. 2105 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 No. 2570 
 
 No. 2569 
 
 Silica 
 
 73.240 
 
 74.840 
 
 74.460 
 
 63.840 
 
 67.501 
 
 71.940 
 
 76.540 
 
 71.180 
 
 Alumina 
 
 15.760 
 
 16.580 
 
 18.070 
 
 26.040 
 
 23.051 
 
 20.700 
 
 14.820 
 
 20.800 
 
 Iron peroxide. . . 
 
 1.920 
 
 1.400 
 
 1.633 
 
 .740 
 
 2.109 
 
 trace. 
 
 .960 
 
 1 780 
 
 Lime 
 
 .325 
 
 .269 
 
 .314 
 
 trace. 
 
 .257 
 
 .370 
 
 trace. 
 
 trace. 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .519 
 
 .209 
 
 245 
 
 .137 
 
 .065 
 
 .360 
 
 .331 
 
 101 
 
 Potash 
 
 1.467 
 
 1.293 
 
 .940 
 
 .714 
 
 .412 
 
 .630 
 
 .926 
 
 .247 
 
 Soda 
 
 .147 
 
 .283 
 
 .021 
 
 .207 
 
 .020 
 
 
 .229 
 
 .291 
 
 Water, etc 
 
 6.622 
 
 6.126 
 
 4.317 
 
 8.322 
 
 6.585 
 
 6.200 
 
 6.194 
 
 5.601 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 lUO.OOO 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.190 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand 
 
 53 490 
 
 
 48.000 
 
 44.000 
 
 
 
 
 
 Of the above clays, that from near Wyatt’s school-house, 
 in the north-western corner of Calloway county, is, by far, 
 
108 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 the richest in clay, and at the same time contains the least 
 amount of alkalies and iron, and the highest percentage of 
 lime. The bed itself, however, is more or less permeated 
 with light streaks of yellow ochre, which would give to the 
 whole more than a trace of iron. The next in purity, or in 
 freedom from iron and the alkalies, is that from four miles 
 south of Blandville, in Ballard county (No. 4), which con- 
 tains but little more than half a per cent, of iron and alka- 
 lies. The two clays from Marshall county, and the specimen 
 from Cane creek, immediately north of Wickliffe, in Ballard 
 county, come next, with their one and a half per cent., re- 
 spectively, while in all the other specimens the combined 
 percentages of iron, potash and soda are above two per cent. 
 
 A few of the clays contain a very large amount of sand; 
 but this would be separated from the finer material in the 
 ]irocess of manufacture of any ware. The analyses are, 
 therefore, calculated upon only the fine material. 
 
 Black and BluisJi-hlack Clays . — The clays- of this division 
 are confined to the Cretaceous and lower or lignitic Tertiary 
 belts that pass through Calloway, Marshall, McCracken and 
 Ballard counties, and also to the Port Hudson division of 
 the Quaternary, which occurs in the valley and bottom lands 
 of the three bordering rivers. The dark color is chiefly due 
 to decayed vegetable matter, which burns out with sufficient 
 heat. The dark color is also intensified by moisture, becom- 
 ing a lighter black on drying. 
 
 The clays of the Cretaceous and Tertiary divisions are 
 very refractory, and would possibly make good fire-brick ; 
 but those of the Port Hudson contain so large an amount 
 of iron and potash that they fuse with readiness before the 
 blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2641. Black Plastic Clay., from Rufus Morris’ place, 
 three miles east of New Providence, Calloway county. It 
 underlies the white plastic clay No. 1865, and its thickness is 
 unknown. On drying, it becomes a light slate color. It con- 
 tains, in places, much iron pyrites in small rounded grains. 
 It is imperfectly laminated, fine-grained, and its powder is 
 quite soft. 
 
 No. 2642. Stiff Bark Joint Clay., or so-called “soapstone,” 
 
OF THE Jackson's fukchask uechon. 
 
 109 
 
 from the blulT of the East Fork of Clark’s river, at the Paris 
 bridge, sonth of Murray, Calloway county. It is the charac- 
 teristic clay of the eastern outcrop of the lignitic Tertiary, 
 reaching from the Tennessee State line northward to Padu- 
 cah, and thence westward to Caledonia, on the Ohio river. 
 Its thickness is, at some points, as much as ninety feet. It 
 is more or less ochreous in character, its fractures or joints 
 being usually permeated with yellow ochre. It is highly 
 indurated and somewhat micaceous. Tests made * at the 
 Rookwood i^ottery indicate that it can not be used for glazed 
 ware because of the shivering of the glaze. It might be 
 successfully used in the manufacture of water jars, which 
 require no glazing. The unglazed biscuit is pink in color. 
 Mixed with an equal weight of the white . j^lastic clay from 
 Russell's pottery, east of Murray, it receives a good glaze, 
 and makes a light chocolate-colored ware, dotted with black 
 specks from the mica particles. 
 
 No. 2644. Dark Clay, from the place of F. H. Mahan, 
 Esq., six miles east of Murray, Calloway county. The clay 
 is black when freshly exposed, but on drying becomes a 
 purplish-slate color, and contains fine white sand and min- 
 ute specks of mica. Its depth is not known, but must be 
 many feet. It is here exposed in the side of a long sloping 
 hill, and there are but a few feet of overlying material. The 
 Rookwood tests produced a yellowish-white ware, a little 
 darker than that from Russell’s pottery, which is so highly 
 admired. Dr. Langenbeck, who superintended the tests, 
 thinks, that mixed with a little flint it would not require 
 high heat, and would make very pretty cream-colored ware. 
 
 The dark color of these clays seems to be due to the vege- 
 table matter, which burns out, leaving a greyish mass. The 
 alkali percentages are about what are found in the other 
 clays, while that of the iron in the specimen from the 
 Paris bridge, near Murray, is very large, showing itself 
 as a yellow ochre in the cracks and seams in the clay. 
 The amount of lime is very small. 
 
110 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 REFRACTORY BLACK CLAYS. 
 
 Air Dried. 
 
 Calloway County. 
 
 Morris’, east 
 of New Prov- 
 idence. 
 
 At Paris 
 Bridge, 
 Murray. 
 
 Mahan’s, 
 north-east of 
 Murray. 
 
 Black Plastic 
 Clay. 
 
 Stiff joint 
 Clay. 
 
 Bluish Clay. 
 
 No. 2641. 
 
 No. 2642. 
 
 No. 2644. 
 
 Silica ■ ■ . , 
 
 66.680 
 
 66.380 
 
 54.140 
 
 Alumina 
 
 29.700 
 
 16.480 
 
 32.140 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 1.480 
 
 3.500 
 
 1.040 
 
 Lime 
 
 trace. 
 
 ,213 
 
 .011 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .281 
 
 .497 
 
 .032 
 
 Potash 
 
 1.004 
 
 .928 
 
 .965 
 
 Soda 
 
 .274 
 
 .228 
 
 .468 
 
 W ater expelled at 380° F 
 
 10.581 
 
 11.774 
 
 11.204 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand i 
 
 
 39,780 
 
 39.000 
 
 COMPARISON WITH GERMAN CLAYS. 
 
 A number of our Kentucky clays compare very favorably 
 in their analytical results with the German glass-pot clays, 
 which are so celebrated for their great refractory character. 
 As will be seen in the table given below, the percentages of 
 iron and potash, the injurious ingredients, are comparatively 
 but little above those of the German clays, and in several 
 instances one or the other is much less ; while in the Callo ■ 
 way county clay, No. 2639, there is only a trace of iron, a 
 small amount of potash, and very large percentages of silica 
 and alumina, making this a far purer clay than the German ; 
 in fact almost a TcaoUnite or hydrous silicate of alumina, a 
 mineral with the composition of — silica 46.3, alumina 39.8, 
 and water 13.9 per cent. 
 
 There is but little doubt that these clays can take the 
 place of the German clays in those establishments where 
 they would be required to withstand the most intense heat. 
 They are at least worthy of the trial. Transportation facili- 
 ties alone are in favor of the German clays, which are 
 brought over as ballast in vessels, and, therefore, at a very 
 low cost to those who use them. 
 
OF THK JACKSON’S PUUCIIASE IlEOION. 
 
 11 ] 
 
 The German fire-clays are supposed to be the most refrac- 
 tory clays known, and are imported for the construction of 
 crucibles to withstand a very high heat, but particularly for 
 our glass manufacturers, who seem to agree that no other 
 known clay will so conipletely withstand the great heat of 
 their furnaces, and the fluxing influence of the melted glass, 
 as this. It is consequently almost universally used by them 
 as the material for the construction of the glass-pots or 
 large crucibles in which the glass is made and melted. On 
 a visit to the International Centennial Exhibition at Phila- 
 delphia, the attention of Dr. Peter, the chemist of this Sur- 
 vey, was attracted to an exhibit of this clay, made by J. 
 Goebel & Co., importers of German clay and manufacturers 
 of crucibles, etc.. Maiden Lane, New York. It showed the 
 clay in its natural and prepared conditions, and accompany- 
 ing the specimens was a report of the chemical analysis of 
 the material, said to have been made in Germany, a copy 
 of which is given below. Dr. Peter also secured a sample 
 from what appeared to be a washed and prepared specimen 
 on exhibition, which had been moulded into a cubical block, 
 and which he has analyzed. 
 
 Another specimen was obtained at the co-operative window- 
 glass works, at the foot of Coal Hill, opposite Pittsburg, 
 from a barrel of the material which was said to be in the 
 condition in which it was imported from Germany. Its 
 analysis was also made by Dr. Peter, and is given below. 
 
 H. German Clay, obtained at the Centennial Exhibition. 
 
 It is of a light grey color ; adheres strongly to the tongue, 
 and exhibits a large irregularly conchoidal fracture. Before 
 the blow pipe, it fused only on the extremity of the small 
 pointed fragment into a white slag. 
 
 I. German Glass-jpot Clay, obtained at the co-operative • 
 window-glass works in Pittsburg. This had not been re- 
 worked or washed. It resembles the preceding, but is a 
 little more friable and slightly lighter colored. Its powder, 
 however, is somewhat darker than the powder of that. 
 Before the blow-pipe, it acted like the preceding. 
 
 J. Copy of the analysis of this clay made in Germany, 
 as exhibited by J. Goebel & Co. 
 
112 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 203^. Refractory Clay, from one mile east of Wyatt’s 
 school-lioiise, in the north-western part of Calloway county, 
 Kentucky. 
 
 No. 2162. Refractory Clay, from the bluffs at Columbus, 
 Hickman county. 
 
 No. 2571. Refractory Clay, from Cane creek, two miles 
 north of Wickliffe, Ballard county. 
 
 No. 4. Refractory Clay, from four miles south of Bland- 
 ville, Ballard county. 
 
 No. 2643. Refractory Clay, from Russell’s pottery, six 
 miles east of Murray, Calloway county. This clay is pre- 
 eminent for the beautifully cream- colored ware made from it 
 at the Rookwood pottery, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 The above Kentucky clays have been described on a pre- 
 vious page, and their analyses given. 
 
 COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF GERMAN GLASS-POT CLAY AND 
 
 KENTUCKY CLAYS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kentucky Clays. 
 
 Dried at 212° F. 
 
 German Clays. 
 
 o 
 
 p 
 
 C o* 
 
 S ^ 
 
 3 
 
 o‘ 
 
 avr 
 
 % 3 
 
 D a 
 << 
 
 Ballard Co. 
 
 O 
 
 £. 
 
 § < 
 p.* 
 
 Q 
 
 
 H. 
 
 I. 
 
 J. 
 
 No. 2639 
 
 No. 2162 
 
 No. 2571 
 
 No. 4 
 
 No. 2613 
 
 Silica and sand 
 
 Alumina 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 Iron sulphide 
 
 Lime 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 Potash 
 
 Soda 
 
 Water expelled at red heat . . . 
 
 70,860 
 
 20.900 
 
 1.560 
 
 .347 
 
 .220 
 
 .578 
 
 .112 
 
 6.800 
 
 73.660 
 
 19.460 
 
 1.560 
 
 .168 
 
 .209 
 
 .520 
 
 .046 
 
 6.200 
 
 70 60 
 23.60 
 
 V'ld 
 
 .36 
 .45 
 not est. 
 not est 
 •*3.89 
 
 46 020 
 38 980 
 trace. 
 
 ni 
 
 136 
 
 .309 
 
 .172 
 
 13.610 
 
 84 918 
 10.560 
 1.102 
 
 .572 
 .108 
 .651 
 not est 
 2 089 
 
 63 840 
 26.040 
 .740 
 
 trace. 
 
 .137 
 
 .714 
 
 ,207 
 
 8.322 
 
 71 . 940 
 20.700 
 trace. 
 
 .370 
 
 .350 
 
 .630 
 
 * 6.200 
 
 57.840 
 
 30.340 
 
 1.180 
 
 .011 
 
 .050 
 
 .618 
 
 519 
 
 9.442 
 
 Total 
 
 101.377 
 
 101 .’823 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100 000 
 
 100.090 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand 
 
 4,000 
 
 3.500 
 
 
 
 
 44.00 
 
 
 
 ’Organic matter and loss. 
 
 UNREFRACTORY CLAYS. 
 
 Clays of this class, which yield more or less readily to the 
 heat of the blow-pipe, and fuse into slag, are found in a num- 
 ber of the counties, but seem to be chiefly confined to those 
 lying on the eastern side of the Purchase region, viz. : Me- 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 113 
 
 Cracken, Graves, Marshall and Calloway; all of those ex 
 aniined on the west being entirely on nearly infusible. They 
 vary in color from nearly white to dark black, some of them 
 highly gypseous, and two others having a sprinkling of 
 specks of the mineral viviianite, a phosphate of iron. 
 
 Geologically, they are older than the Quaternary, and, as 
 the class of infusible clays just described, are covered by 
 the gravel, sand and brown loam of that period. They 
 embrace some of the white varieties belonging to the in- 
 termediate period between the Tertiary and Quaternary, and 
 the black clays of the next higher or ^ Port Hudson group. 
 As will be seen from the analyses given below, they differ 
 from the refractory class in having a larger proportion of 
 i^otash and iron, which imparts to them their fusible char- 
 acter. 
 
 The following are some of the localities examined, and the 
 composition of the clay from each is given below : 
 
 No. 2777. Stiff Clay, from a deep ravine on the place of 
 W. J. Jones, four miles south of Paducah, McCracken 
 county. The bed has an exposure of several feet, the cen- 
 tral six inches of which is very brittle, with some yellow 
 ochre. It is overlaid by fifteen or twenty feet of gravel and 
 loam. When freshly exposed it has a bluish color, which 
 changes on drying to a greyish tint. It fuses with difficulty 
 before the blow-pipe, and calcines white. The Rookwood 
 tests produced a buff-colored unglazed biscuit, and showed 
 a shrinkage of about fifteen per cent. 
 
 No. 2779. Gypseous Clay, from W. J. Hough’s, four miles 
 south-west of Paducah, McCracken county. It has an ex- 
 posure of about five feet, and contains small pockets of fine 
 needle crystals of gypsum ; it is in places somewhat sandy 
 and with ochreous spots. It is exposed in the bank of a 
 branch, and has but a few feet of surface covering of gravel 
 and loam. It calcines white, and fuses slightly before the 
 blow-pijje. The Rookwood pottery test shows a shrinkage 
 of about twelve and a half per cent., the glazed biscuit 
 having a dark-cream or light-buff-color. 
 
 No. 2778. Purplish Plastic Clay, from Mitchell’s place, 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 8. 
 
114 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 north bluff of Mayfield creek, three miles east of Lovelace* 
 ville, McCracken county. The bed is about three feet thick, 
 and variegated in color from white to purple and yellowish. 
 It is sandy in places, and fuses to a grey color before the 
 blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2664. Stiff Plastic Clay, from the railroad cut imme- 
 diately south of Guill Hill and three miles south of Wingo, 
 Graves county. This clay has a bluish cast while fresh in 
 its bed, but dries to a whiter color. It is fused with great 
 difficulty before the blow-pipe. 
 
 A section of the cut shows surface loam five feet, gravel 
 one to three feet, thin and uneven purplish clay a few 
 inches, indurated red sand five feet, fine mottled micaceous 
 sand in thin lamime, somewhat clayey, three feet, and the 
 bed of the above plastic clay, three feet of which is ex- 
 posed in the foot of the bank. This clay has been tried for 
 the ordinary pottery ; but, after burning, the ware cracked, 
 and not knowing how to obviate the difficulty, the work 
 was abandoned by the owner. The tests made at the 
 Rookwood pottery produced a brownish biscuit even when 
 unglazed, whose shrinkage was, however, only seven and 
 one-half per cent. 
 
 No. 2665. Plastic Clay, from the hill-side immediately 
 north of Boaz Station, Graves county. The bed is com- 
 posed of three feet of a creamy-white clay, underlaid by 
 two feet of a stiff purple clay, both containing beautiful 
 impressions of fossil leaves. A sand underlies the bed. But 
 little trouble would be experienced in getting out this clay 
 for shipment or for local use, as the surface covering is but 
 a few feet thick until the bluffs are reached some distance 
 eastward. 
 
 The white clay, tested at the Rookwood pottery, burned 
 at a low temperature, and made a biscuit rather too dark 
 for cream-colored ware, though, when unglazed, it is milky- 
 white. 
 
 No. 2760. Plastic Clay, from H. S. Gray’s place, in the 
 bed of a branch immediately south of Scale, Marshall county. 
 The clay is bluish* when freshly exposed, but dries to a 
 
OF Tii?: Jackson’s ruKciiASE up:oion. 
 
 115 
 
 greyish -white, and contains some spots of yellow oclire, 
 with some line sand in thin laminm. It fused before the 
 blow-pipe. The Rookwood test gave a bulf-colored glazed 
 biscuit. 
 
 No. 2762. DarTc Clay, with small specks of deep blue 
 vivianite from the Tennessee river landing at Highland, Mar- 
 shall county. On drying it becomes a light greyish-brown 
 color. The particles of vivianite are frequently white on 
 being freshly exposed, but turn blue after a while. The 
 bank of the river here is made up of a surface deposit of 
 seven feet of micaceous loam, fifteen feet of interlaminated 
 light-bluish clay and yellow sand, ten feet of blue micaceous 
 clay in layers of one and two feet thickness, with some yel- 
 low sand and ferruginous concretions. The lower clay bed 
 contains the vivianite. The large amount of iron and potash 
 in this clay causes it to fuse before the blow-pipe. On burn- 
 ing it makes a dark red biscuit, and m’ixed with fine sand 
 would make nice pressed red brick and terra-cotta. 
 
 No. 2781. Blue Micaceous Clay, with small particles of 
 vivianite, from a deep ravine, opening into the Ohio, in the 
 western edge of Paducah, McCracken county. This clay, 
 like that of Highland, just described, is interlaminated with 
 a yellow sand, and overlaid by eight or ten feet of loam. 
 Before the blow-pipe it fuses to a grey mass. 
 
 No. 2780. Micaceous Clay, from Mr. Armstrong’s place, 
 one-half mile east of Boring’s Ford, on Clark’s river, or 
 seven miles south-east of Paducah, McCracken county. The 
 clay is very sandy and micaceous, bluish when wet, but 
 dries to dark grey color. The thickness is unknown. The 
 upper six inches has a yellow color, the whole overlaid 
 by but a few feet of gravel and loam. Before the blow- 
 pipe it fuses to a grey color. At the Rookwood pottery 
 the ochre gave to the biscuit a handsome deep brick- red 
 color. The shrinkage was about twelve per cent. 
 
116 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURPIS 
 
 UNREPRACTORY CLAYS. 
 
 Air Dried. 
 
 Light Colored Clay. 
 
 Bluish or Dark Clays. 
 
 McCracken County. 
 
 Graves County. 
 
 Marshall Co. 
 
 McCracken Co. 
 
 Jones’, three miles 
 south of Paducah. 
 
 a 
 
 2," 
 
 a." 
 
 §3 
 
 p — 
 
 ‘^05 
 
 ’ CO 
 
 Mitchell’s, 3 miles E. 
 of Lovelaceville . 
 
 Guill Hill, south of 
 Wingo 
 
 Boaz 
 
 Gray's, near Scale. 
 
 Highland Landing 
 on Tenn. river . . 
 
 Paducah 
 
 Armstrong’s, S. E of 
 Paducah 
 
 No. 2777 
 
 No. 2779 
 
 No. 2778 
 
 No. 2664 
 
 No. 2665 
 
 No. 2760 
 
 No. 2762 
 
 No. 2781 
 
 No. 2780 
 
 Silica 
 
 59., 500 
 
 67.580 
 
 66.. 320 
 
 75 120 
 
 61.920 
 
 52.580 
 
 60.980 
 
 73.192 
 
 69.220 
 
 Alumina 
 
 24.960 
 
 20.040 
 
 22.930 
 
 15.960 
 
 30.060 
 
 31.070 
 
 18.480 
 
 16.540 
 
 17.540 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 .720 
 
 .640 
 
 1.190 
 
 1.420 
 
 .300 
 
 1.610 
 
 7. 500 
 
 1.840 
 
 1.440 
 
 Lime 
 
 .325 
 
 o 1.743 
 
 .437 
 
 trace 
 
 trace. 
 
 .137 
 
 .780 
 
 .36U 
 
 .437 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .396 
 
 .1.58 
 
 .209 
 
 .317 
 
 .064 
 
 .245 
 
 1.128 
 
 461 
 
 -858 
 
 PotaBh . . ..... 
 
 1.934 
 
 1.340 
 
 1.107 
 
 1.351 
 
 1.602 
 
 1.775 
 
 2.664 
 
 1 . 969 
 
 2,452 
 
 Soda 
 
 .286 
 
 .075 
 
 .470 
 
 .245 
 
 .239 
 
 .318 
 
 .627 
 
 .Ml 
 
 .472 
 
 Water, etc 
 
 11 879 
 
 8.524 
 
 7.337 
 
 6 587 
 
 5.815 
 
 12.365 
 
 7.841 
 
 5.088 
 
 7.. 581 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100 000 
 
 100 000 
 
 Sand 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .... 
 
 
 66.60 
 
 60 580 
 
 (a) Mostly as gypsum. 
 
 In all of the above analyses the potash percentages are 
 very high, that of the vivianite clays of Highland Landing 
 and Paducah being exceptionally so. The soda percentages 
 of the last two are also very high, the combined alkali per- 
 centage of the Highland clay being thus raised to over three 
 and three-tenths. The clay containing the next highest 
 alkali percentage is that of the Armstrong place, east of 
 Paducah, which, although extremely sandy in character, has 
 nearly three per cent, of potash and soda. In general, all 
 of these unrefractory clays contain a larger amount of alkali 
 than do those of the refractory class, while in the iron per- 
 centages the differences are not so great. In the latter the 
 Highland beds again stand out prominently with their seven 
 and a half percentage. 
 
 OCHREOUS CLAYS. 
 
 At a number of points in the Purchase counties there are 
 beds of clay so highly colored with yellow ochre as to make 
 them useful as coloring pigments, and they have been used 
 for this purpose to some extent locally. On burning they 
 
OF THE Jackson’s pukciiase iieoion. 
 
 117 
 
 become oxidized into a bright red color. They would also 
 make the beautifully red pressed brick so much in demand 
 for house fronts. 
 
 In addition to these, there are certain bluish clays which, 
 on burning, make a very pretty red brick. One of these 
 beds outcrops in the banks of the Tennessee river at High- 
 land Landing, Marshall county. Its analysis and descrip- 
 tion are given on a previous page. An analysis has been 
 made of but one specimen, and that from near Wickliffe, 
 Ballard county. 
 
 In Ballard county there are three prominent localities of 
 occurrence, near Wickliffe and Laketon, respectively. At the 
 former place the clay is exposed in a deep ravine that cuts 
 into the hill north of town, on the Harkless place. The 
 bed is apparently several feet in thickness, beneath fifty or 
 more feet of loam and gravel. It is rather difficult of access. 
 The clay is a bright yellow, quite free from sand, and has 
 been used in Wickliffe as a paint for wagons. It fuses be- 
 fore the blow-pipe into a black slag. Tested at the Rook- 
 wood pottery, it made a bright red biscuit, which, on glazing, 
 became black. Its shrinkage is about seventeen per cent. 
 Its analysis is given below. 
 
 No. 2572. Yellow Ochre, from the Harkless place, imme- 
 diately north of Wickliffe, Ballard county. On calcining it 
 becomes a handsome Venetian red color, and fuses before 
 the blow-pipe into a blackish mass. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE OCHREOUS CLAYS OF BALLARD COUNTY. 
 
 Silica . . . . 
 Alumina . . . 
 Iron peroxide 
 Lime . . . . 
 Magnesia . . 
 Water, etc. . . 
 
 44.840 
 
 22.831 
 
 20.350 
 
 .101 
 
 .138 
 
 11.740 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 Another exposure of this bed is seen in the deep ravine 
 that cuts northward into the hills from Fort Jefferson, south 
 of Wickliffe. Near Laketon, in this county, there are two 
 
118 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATL'’RES 
 
 exposures, one on the land of Mr. Hogancamp, two miles 
 north of Laketon, and which also occurs at the foot of a 
 deep ravine, opening westward into the Mississippi bottom, 
 and with a thickness of two feet or more. It has a bright 
 yellow color, and is quite free from sand. On Sandy creek, 
 two miles south of Laketon, the ochre is again exposed in 
 a bed several feet in thickness (said to be ten), near the 
 residence of Mr. T. J. Wilson, and extending down the 
 creek some distance toward the Mississippi bottom, near 
 which it is found embedded in rounded and large lumps 
 in the heavy beds of white sands. It is somewhat interlam- 
 inated with whitish clay, and is quite plastic. It contains 
 about twenty-six and a half per cent, of fine white sand, 
 composed of rounded grains of transparent quartz ; there is 
 present also a little mica in very fine particles. The ochre 
 may be easily separated from the sand by washing and 
 allowing the latter to settle while the ochre remains sus- 
 pended and is poured off with the water. The clay calcines 
 to a bright red color, and fuses before the blow-pipe to a 
 black slag. 
 
 In McCracken county there is a bed of ochre, about six 
 inches thick, comprising the upper portion of the clay bed 
 on Mr. Armstrong’s place, one-half mile east of the Boring 
 Ford on Clark’s river, or seven miles from Paducah. It is 
 somewhat sandy in character, but burns to a dark-red brick, 
 and with a shrinkage of about fifteen per cent. It contains 
 much sand, but this can be easily separated from the ochre 
 by washing. 
 
 At Wadesboro, in Calloway county, another but thin bed 
 of yellow ochre occurs in the gully immediately east of the 
 store-houses that line the street. The clay is jointed in 
 structure, and forms the upper surface of the black joint- 
 clay, or so-called soapstone, that is characteristic of this 
 eastern lignitic belt. It has a bright yellow color, its iron 
 being derived, doubtless, from the superincumbent ferrugi- 
 nous gravel and sand ; the bed is from six to ten indies 
 thick. The clay calcines to a handsome red color, and be- 
 fore the blow-pipe fuses to a black color. Its shrinkage on 
 burning is about fifteen per cent. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puhchase region. 
 
 119 
 
 LIGNITE OR RROIVN COAL. 
 
 Beds of this Tertiary coal are found outcropping at two 
 points witliin the Purchase counties. From its slightly bitu- 
 minous character, it has been mistaken by those living near 
 it (and uninformed on the subject) for the outcroppings of 
 true carboniferous stone-coal, supposing that weathering has 
 produced the rotten or shaly character, and that on open- 
 ing up the beds, and penetrating far into them, the true coal 
 will be found. This false idea has given rise to visions of 
 wealth and to an increase in price of the land, not only in 
 this but in other southern States. The coal cannot be said 
 to have any commercial value, except at Laredo, Texas 
 (where a good quality is mined and sold at six dollars per 
 ton), for although it burns, it gives an insufficient heat for 
 the more ordinary purposes ; and the impurities contained 
 in the mass, together with the clayey character and imper- 
 fect carbonization, give rise to a very large percentage of 
 ash. At Laredo, the lignite resembles cannel coal, a change 
 from the true lignite, produced, perhaps, during the partial 
 metamorphism of the rocks of the region during the vol- 
 canic activity of the neighboring mountains of Mexico, 
 which resulted in the eruptive dykes extending thence to 
 the region of Austin, Texas. 
 
 The lignites of the northern part of Texas, as well as of 
 the other States, are coarse-grained, generally show more or 
 less the structure of the original wood, and yield from four 
 to twenty-four per cent, of ash. 
 
 In Kentucky the lignites differ from those of other States 
 in being finer, more compact and homogeneous in character, 
 and with comparatively little woody structure. The mass 
 resembles rather a dense peat or accumulation of fine vegeta- 
 tion, which, through age, has become blackened and changed 
 to a lignite. The mass is not laminated in structure (except 
 on the outer edges), is very fine grained, and easily sawed 
 or chopped with a hatchet into solid blocks. This fine grain 
 character especially fits it for purposes for which that of 
 other States is unsuited, viz : in the machinery used in a new 
 process for refining sugar. The attention of the manufac- 
 turers in Glasgow, Scotland, was drawn to this lignite, and 
 
120 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 at their request samples were sent for trial. They report 
 that the tests were eminently satisfactory, and that they 
 proposed to use large amounts should the cost of transiior- 
 tation warrant it. 
 
 The most extensive and important occurrence of the lig- 
 nite is at Wickliffe, on the line of railroad in the county 
 of Ballard. It is well exposed in the railroad cut, just south 
 of the depot, appearing last year as a long black band in 
 the freshly exposed perpendicular surface of the eastern 
 side, and before covered by earth slides. The bluff is formed 
 of about fifty feet of Quaternary loam, gravel and clays, 
 overlying about forty feet of Tertiary dark sandy clays in 
 which the lignite appears at about five feet below its surface. 
 
 The lignite is about four feet thick, and its cross-section 
 shows the following differences in character: 
 
 Shaly or rotten clayey brown lignite 
 
 Blackish lignite, with hard fragments 
 
 Light, compact, fine grain and brownish lignite 
 Black lignite 
 
 18 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 
 The upper part contains in one place thin crystals of 
 clear Selenite. Iron pyrites is also found occasionally, but 
 the beds appear to be very generally free from this mineral. 
 
 Another and thinner seam of lignite is said to exist sev- 
 eral feet below this, but was not visible, except perhaps 
 under the railroad track, near what is known as the 
 “Camel’s Back,” a short section of the track which, be- 
 cause of the sliding out of the bluffs, has been thrown into 
 a hump-shaped condition, and remains so in spite of the 
 efforts of the workmen to correct it. Near this section, and 
 exposed in a culvert beneath the track, is a bed of lignite 
 which once caught fire, and is said to have burned steadily 
 for six or more months. This may, however, be but a fallen 
 portion of the main bed. 
 
 The lignite is also found in the beds of the creeks and 
 ravines immediately east of Wickliffe, and in the bank of 
 Cane creek, two miles north. The bed at the latter local- 
 ity is, however, thin. Still eastward from Wickliffe it is 
 
OF TiiK Jackson's pukchask kpxjion. 
 
 121 
 
 found occasionally in the bind’s that face the bottoms of 
 Mayfield creek as far east as Blandville, and probably be- 
 yond. 
 
 The Blandville lignite, in the bed of the branch in the 
 south-west part of town, is very similar in character to that 
 at Wicklid’e, except that it is more highly pyritons, that 
 mineral appearing in bright silvery sheets, and partly in 
 lumps, permeating the npi)er part of the bed. 
 
 The only other exposure of lignite found within the Pur- 
 chase counties occurs on Panther creek, in Graves county, 
 on the land of Mr. Obadiah Whitt. It outcrops at the 
 water’s edge, reaching three feet above, and said to be sev- 
 eral feet below the water. It very much resembles that of 
 Ballard county, its upper portion being black, and having 
 imi)ressions of vegetable leaves and sticks, the central part 
 being lighter brown and more compact. In the analysis 
 given below, the sample was evidently taken from the upper 
 part. 
 
 The coal is again found a short distance further down the 
 creek. It is, however, entirely covered by the creek alluvium. 
 
 The composition of the above lignites is shown in the fol- 
 lowing analyses made for the Survey by Dr. Robert Peter. 
 The samples were dried at the ordinary temperature, except 
 that of No. 2144, which was dried at 212° F. 
 
 No. 3. Lignite, from the bluffs of Fort Jefferson, imme- 
 diately south of Wickliffe, Ballard county. A dull brown- 
 ish-black friable substance, full of irregular cracks or fissures 
 which appear to have been produced by shrinkage or drying ; 
 quite absorbent of moisture, adhering slightly to the tongue ; 
 fresh fracture j)roducing a dull, pitch-like luster in some of 
 the layers, approaching in some parts the luster of coal. 
 Over the spirit lamp, on platinum foil, it burnt at first with 
 a smoky fiame, somewhat like coal, but with the odor of 
 peat ; it continues to burn like punk or rotten wood when 
 removed from the liame, until it is reduced to a bulky ash. 
 
 No. 214. Lignite from the same bluff. 
 
 No. 215. Brown Coal or Lignite, from one and one-half 
 miles north-west of Blandville, Ballard county. 
 
122 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Xo. 2144. Brown Coal or Lignite, from Mr, Wm. Arnett’s 
 land on Panther creek, six miles east of Mayfield, Graves 
 county. The bed shows about three feet above the creek ; 
 is said to be several feet below that level. 
 
 ANALYSES OF LIGNITE OR BROWN COAL. 
 
 
 Ballard County. 
 
 Graves Co. 
 
 WickliflTe. 
 
 Blandville. 
 
 Panther Cr. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 No. 214. 
 
 No. 215. 
 
 No. 2144. 
 
 Moisture 
 
 13.20 
 
 30.00 
 
 11.50 
 
 4,13 
 
 Volatile combustible matter. . 
 
 37.40 
 
 23.00 
 
 48.00 
 
 16.22 
 
 Fixed carbon in coke .... 
 
 38 10 
 
 40.00 
 
 31.00 
 
 10.25 
 
 Ashes 
 
 11.30 
 
 7.00 
 
 9.50 
 
 69 40 
 
 Total 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 Total volatile matter .... 
 
 50.00 
 
 53.00 
 
 59.50 
 
 20.35 
 
 Coke 
 
 49.40 
 
 47.00 
 
 40.50 
 
 79.65 
 
 Total 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 Specific gravity 
 
 1 219 
 
 1.201 
 
 1.173 
 
 
 The ashes of No. 3 was buff -colored, and was found to 
 contain a trace of phosphoric acid, and notable quantities 
 of oxide of iron, alumina and lime. When dried at 212° F. 
 its composition was — 
 
 Volatile combustible matter 
 
 Fixed carbon 
 
 Ashes 
 
 43.088 
 
 43,894 
 
 13.018 
 
 No. 2144 was dried at 212° F. The ash was found to con- 
 tain a considerable proportion of alumina, some little lime 
 and magnesia, as well as a trace of phosphoric acid. As 
 this material contains a little more than thirty-six per cent, 
 of combustible matters, it could scarcely be made available 
 as a fuel. Possibly it may find use as a cheap pigment. 
 
 IRON ORES. 
 
 The iron ores found in the region are entirely Quaternary 
 in origin, and occur associated with the gravel deposits in, 
 however, but few localities. These localities are also nearly 
 
OF THE Jackson’s fdkciiase ukoion. 
 
 123 
 
 in a line nortli-west and south-east, and in almost every 
 instance adjoining the outcrops of hard Onandaga quartzite. 
 The ore is a linionite, occurring in irregular plates, from 
 one-half to two inches in thickness, and in all variety of 
 forms. It sometimes incloses clay, and often has cemented 
 to its surface the Quaternary gravel. The beds may be 
 classed in two divisions, or as belonging to the up^ier and 
 lower gravels, respectively, and varying in their outward 
 ai^pearance. In addition to these, there are ores of a more 
 recent origin, and also some magnetite, all of which will 
 be mentioned under their resjiective heads. 
 
 Iron of the Ore Region Gravel . — The beds thus named by 
 Prof. Saft’ord, in his Tennessee Report, are found, in this sec- 
 tion of the State, only in the south-eastern part of Calloway 
 county, near the Tennessee river, and south of Blood river, 
 in what is locally known as “The Coalings,” overlying di- 
 rectly the limestones and cherts of the Subcarboniferous. 
 These are the most important beds within the Purchase 
 counties, viewed economically, and in years past they have 
 been extensively worked. The ore is embedded within the 
 gravel deposit in pieces, large and small, partly specular on 
 some of its surfaces, and with interstices holding some gravel 
 and clay. To secure the ore, great excavations have been 
 made in the thick gravel beds ; but in spite of this expense 
 it is said to have been gotten out in “j^aying quantities.” 
 There are two of these beds within a few miles of each 
 other. At one, near Shannon creek, a furnace was in opera- 
 tion for a number of years, the entire surrounding country 
 (“Coalings”) being denuded of its timber to supply char- 
 coal for the reduction of the ore. Either the exhaustion of 
 the fuel, or the expense of obtaining the ore from the gravel 
 beds, caused a suspension of the works. Prom the other 
 bed, or Marbery’s bank, the ore was shipi^ed to the furnaces 
 on the east side of the Tennessee river. At this locality 
 the ore is concretionary in part, and in plates cemented to 
 dark flinty fragments, the whole forming locally a solid 
 ledge a foot in thickness, the ore being from one to eight 
 inches thick, and under about fifteen feet of cherty and 
 clayey debris. Fine and clear crystals of dark qiaartz, both 
 terminals perfect, occur in the cherty beds in abundance. 
 
324 
 
 gp:olo(;ical and economic features 
 
 Iron of the Later Gravel . — These beds have already been 
 alluded to as occurring in a belt lying north-west and south- 
 east, though the ore has been observed in but a few localities. 
 The gravel with which it is associated is of the stratified drift 
 * or upper Quaternary bed, though from its position at the 
 base of those beds, and the strong resemblance to the ore 
 just described, it may have been formed jjrior to the strati- 
 fied drift period. Its close association also with the mas- 
 sive quartzose sandstone at each of its exposures would 
 indicate this. 
 
 There are two of these iron beds in McCracken county, 
 west and south-west of Paducah. On the place of W. J. 
 Flournoy, four miles west of town, the ore forms a ledge 
 from four to six inches thick beneath the gravel, arid about 
 fifty feet below the surface of the adjoining upland. Im- 
 mense boulders of Onandaga quartzite sandstone lie to the 
 west of and adjoining it, and perhaps j^ass under it, though 
 in a well a hundred yards to the east neither the iron or the 
 sandstone was found. The ore is not in any great quantity. 
 South-east from this point, or five miles south-west of Pa- 
 ducah, at Mrs. Alexander’s place, rounded lumps of the 
 same limonite ore occur at the foot of the elevation on 
 which the house stands. Some of the ore is in curved 
 layers. As at Mr. Flournoy’s, there does not seem to be 
 any great quantity of it. The following analysis gives its 
 composition, dried at 212° F. : 
 
 No. 144. LIMONITE, FROM MRS. ALEXANDER'S, FIVE MILES FROM 
 PADUCAH, ON BLANDVILLE ROAD, McCRACKEN COUNTA'. 
 
 Oxide of iron 
 
 Alumina 
 
 Oxide of manganese . . . 
 
 Potash 
 
 Soda 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 Cpmbined water .... 
 Silica and insoluble silicates 
 
 Total 
 
 83 80- 
 .60 
 .50 
 .13 
 trace, 
 trace. 
 
 .07 
 8.30 
 6 60 
 
 100.00 
 
 58.68 
 
 Iron in the above 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PUUCIIASE REGION. 
 
 125 
 
 This analysis gives probably a fair average of all the iron 
 ores within the Purchase counties, both in the lower and 
 upper gravel beds. 
 
 Another occurrence of the ore is at Mr. McClure’s, two 
 miles south of Hard Money, in GJ-raves county, and in a line 
 south-east from those localities already mentioned. Frag- 
 ments of the quartzite sandstone were picked up in the 
 neighborhood, though no large boulders were found. The 
 ore occurs in curved plates, forming boulder-like masses, 
 and with sharp angles, and sometimes holding ochreous 
 clay. It, as well as the ore of the other localities, has the 
 appearance of having been formed by evaporation and crys- 
 tallization from a solution of the iron oxide that had per- 
 meated through the open seams and cracks in the clayey 
 gravel beds to the more imiiervious clay beds. The mass of 
 the ore is crystalline in character, the outer face roughened 
 by contact with the fine gravel and sand, the inner surface 
 smooth and bright or specular, the cross-section through the 
 ore being capable of receiving a bright polish. 
 
 At Mr. McClure’s there is quite an amount of the ore 
 fragments in spots, but no regular bed has been found, and 
 it is not at all likely that it occurs in paying quantities. 
 
 Iron ore, very similar in character to the above, also occurs 
 on the place of Mr. Cox, a few miles west of Birmingham, 
 Marshall count}'. The masses are found at the base’ of the 
 Quaternary gravel, and immediately overlying the Subcar- 
 boniferous beds. 
 
 Clay Iron-stone . — Specimens of beautifully banded clay 
 iron-stone occur in a deep gully in the field of Mr. Jones, 
 three miles south of Paducah. 
 
 Magnetite . — This has been found at only one point within 
 this region, and then not in any quantity, a few pieces only 
 having been picked up at the foot of the bluff, on the bank 
 of the Ohio, near the Grand Chain. At this point the cherty 
 layers and limestones of the Subcarboniferous rise above the 
 river surface, and appear in the bluff below the Quaternary 
 gravel. The ore is- very compact, and highly magnetic. 
 There is nothing to indicate the near x>resence of any body 
 of it, and these pieces have doubth?ss been brought here 
 
120 GEOI-OGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 from other localities, possibly from the magnetite region of 
 Connellsville, West Virginia. 
 
 Iron Pyrites — is a very commonly occurring mineral 
 in the black clays of the Tertiary lignitic belt, which ex- 
 tends from the southern part of Calloway county north- 
 westward toward Paducah and to Caledonia, and also along 
 the blulfs of the Mississippi river. The mineral appears 
 either in thin sheets or in small lumps, the surface some- 
 times blackened by oxidation and by the admixture of 
 black clay, but usually bright and shining with a silvery, 
 or sometimes with a golden luster, which, from its decep- 
 tive character, has won for it the name of “Fool’s Grold,” 
 The finder of this mineral has often had visions of gold 
 mines fioating before his imagination, and frequently spends 
 much money in making excavations in the ground, or in 
 having specimens analyzed by some so-called chemist, who 
 generally announces the presence of gold, silver, bismuth, 
 or some other metal. The test which would prove the char- 
 acter of pyrites (a compound of iron and sulphur) is very 
 simple, and can be made by any person. The usual trial 
 by persons in the country is to mix with it some fluxing 
 material, such as blue vitriol or sugar of lead, and then 
 melt it down in an iron spoon or ladle in a blacksmith’s 
 forge. The flux, and frequently the pyrites itself, forms 
 metallic looking lumps, which deceives the workman. The 
 following is the true test which should be applied: Powder 
 the mineral finely, and place three or four thimbles full of 
 it on a clean shovel, and heat the latter to redness in an 
 open fire, without bellows or fan. The mineral will turn 
 black, and then burn with a blue sulphur flame, the odor 
 of whose fumes will be recognized. When the flame has 
 expired, stir the powder with a stick, and heat to redness 
 on the shovel. On cooling, the powder will be at first 
 
 black, and then turn red, being then simply a red ochre, 
 containing no metal but iron. Iron pyrites, when powdered 
 and moistened, and left exposed to the air for a time, 
 
 gradually changes into copperas. The only use to which 
 the mineral can be put is in the manufacture of sulphur 
 
 and sulphuric acid, and even for that purpose it would 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PUUCIIASK REGION. 127 
 
 not be profitably mined, except where it can be obtained 
 in almost inexhaustible quantities. 
 
 VIVIANITE. 
 
 In the black Port Hudson clays in the ravine that empties 
 into the river just west of Paducah, and in the same black 
 clays that are exposed in the Tennessee river bank at High- 
 land Landing, in north-east Calloway county, there are small 
 specks, in part a bright blue and in part a white color, 
 that, upon analysis, proved to be the mineral vioianite, a 
 phosphate of iron. These soft clayey particles are most 
 abundant at the latter locality, but in neither are they in 
 sufficient amount to be used as a pigment, or to so enrich 
 the inclosing clay as to make it valuable as a' fertilizer.* 
 
 GALENA. 
 
 Pieces of this ore of lead have been picked up in various 
 localities throughout the Purchase counties, and have led to 
 the supposition that they are but the outcrops of veins of 
 the mineral, the continuation of those occurring at Rosiclair 
 and near the mouth of the Cumberland river above Smith- 
 land. So far as my observation extends, there are here no 
 indications of the presence of such lead deposits, even within 
 the belt of Subcarboniferous rocks lying along the west side 
 of the Tennessee river. The strike of some of the faults 
 that hold the lead and zinc ores at Rosiclair, it is true, is in 
 ‘ a S. S. W. course, but it is more than probable that they 
 are ore-bearing for only a short distance ; and had they ever 
 reached as far as this basin region, they, together with the 
 accompanying limestones and sandstones, have been partially 
 removed by denudation, and their surface subsequently cov- 
 ered by several hundred feet of clays, sands, and gravel. 
 It is, at least, very certain that no lead, silver, or zinc 
 veins occur between the Mississippi river and the belt of 
 Subcarboniferous rocks, and that the tales regarding silver 
 mines on Clark’s river are all myths, so far as any natural 
 deposit is concerned. 
 
 As to the origin of the fragments that have been found. 
 
 *The same mineral was found in the dark clay underlying Washington, D. C. 
 
128 
 
 OKOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 also in the clay under the bluffs along the Elkhorn creek 
 and tiibutaries, in Pike county, Ky,, and there is scarcely a 
 doubt that they have been brought or dropped in the various 
 localities by human agencies, probably by the Indians, who 
 obtained the ore in other States, and probably deposited 
 masses of it in the banks of the streams or other points, 
 where they could have easy access to it. That they did use 
 the ore for some imrpose is shown in the fact that quite a 
 large mass of it was found in an Indian mound on the bluffs 
 of the Mississippi river, north of Laketon, in Ballard county, 
 and other pieces in mounds ehewhere. 
 
 The report of a silver mine having once been found on 
 Clark’s river has its origin, so far as can be ascertained, 
 with a gang of counterfeiters, who, for a long time, carried 
 on their operations somewhere on the borders of that stream, 
 and who naturally were anxious to establish the belief that 
 they were doing legitimate Avork in the development of the 
 mine. Near the point at which it is supposed that they 
 worked, there is an abrupt bluff * forming the river bank, 
 and in the exposed black Tertiary clay there occurs quite 
 a quantity of large nodules of iron pyrites, which have been 
 erroneously thought by some persons to “lead to silver 
 ore;” the clay also is in places highly micaceous, giving to 
 the mass a sparkling appearance. 
 
 GYPSUM. 
 
 This mineral, important for agricultural purposes, occurs 
 but sparingly within the Purchase counties, and then only in 
 association with the white plastic clays of the Quaternary 
 and Lagrange groups, and occasionally with the lignite beds. 
 It is found in small masses or pockets, of not more than 
 one half inch diameter, and in the form of radiated crys- 
 tals, and sometimes in thin sheets of Selenite. It has been 
 observed in the clay bed on the place of Mr. Hough, four 
 miles south-west of Paducah, in the clay outcropping in 
 the branch south of Benton, and in the lignite of the 
 Fort Jefferson bluff, near Wickliffe. At no j3oint does it 
 occur in sufficient quantity for commercial or agricultural 
 purposes. 
 
 GREENSAND. 
 
 No beds of this valuable potash fertilizing material have 
 been found within this part of the State. They were, how- 
 
OK TIIK JACKSON’S PUUCHASK KKGION. 
 
 120 
 
 ever, observed :it the foot of the Ohio bluffs, at Caledonia, 
 on the Illinois shore, being well exposed for four feet at low 
 water, and easily accessible at the water’s edge. The thick- 
 ness is mdvnown. The mass is very friable, dark green in 
 color, and composed of a little black clay and hyaline sand, 
 with a large proi)ortion of the green grains of glauconite, a 
 lK)tash mineral. The bed lies at the base of the lignitic 
 Tertiary black sandy and joint clays, which here have a 
 thickness of forty-five feet. The following analysis, made 
 by Dr. Robert Peter for the Survey, shows its composition: 
 
 GLAUCONITIC CLAY, TAKEN PROM THE FOOT OF THE OHIO 
 BLUFF, AT CALEDONIA, ILLINOIS. 
 
 Silica or sand, 
 Alumina . . . 
 Iron peroxide 
 Lime . . . . 
 Magnesia . . 
 Potash . . . . 
 
 Soda 
 
 AVater, etc. . 
 
 Total . . 
 
 59 
 
 940 
 
 13 
 
 370 
 
 10 
 
 210 
 
 
 ,549 
 
 2 
 
 010 
 
 3 
 
 243 
 
 
 .078 
 
 10 
 
 600 
 
 100 
 
 000 
 
 Sand . — Deep beds of sand, varying from jiure white to 
 red and yellow, occur in several of the geological formations 
 represented in the Purchase counties. These formations are 
 the Cretaceous, the Lagrange division of the Tertiary, and 
 the stratified drift of the Quaternary. The massive Onan- 
 daga quartzite rocks that outcrop at certain points south and 
 south-west of Paducah, and in east Calloway county, would, 
 if crushed, make a very clear and pellucid sand, suitable for 
 glass manufacture. The grains are sharp, and quite free from 
 iron stains. 
 
 The sand-beds of the Cretaceous, occurring east of Mur- 
 ray, in Calloway county, and near Benton, in Marshall 
 county, are very deep, and highly charged with fine parti- 
 cles of mica, which give to it a sparkling appearance. The 
 grains are sharp and the sand can be used as a coarse pol- 
 ishing material. 
 
 In Calloway county the beds are well exposed at the 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 9. 
 
130 
 
 G?:OLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 cross-roads, north-east of New Concord, and southward in 
 the hills facing the valley of Beechy creek. The sands are 
 variegated in color, but mostly white, and are slightly cal- 
 careous. The analyses by Dr. Peter given below show them 
 to be quite free from impurities. o , 
 
 The sand-bed, occurring on the north side of Clark s river 
 and two miles from Benton, Marshall county, is well known 
 as the “Sand Hill.” It underlies a black clay, and is 
 stratified, its layers having a south-easterly dip. The upper 
 part of the bed has a yellowish color from the iron, in 
 solution, brought by percolation from the overlying beds, 
 but, in the main, is white and micaceous, and holds thin 
 layers of a plastic clay. Its exposure is from six to ten 
 feet, being hidden below by debris from the bluff above. 
 A few concretionary forms of sand, cemented with iron, 
 occur occasionally in the sand. The analysis of this sand 
 is also given below. 
 
 No. 2636. Fine Micaceous Sand, slightly calcareous; Cre- 
 taceous formation. Taken from a heavy bed, two miles 
 north-east of New Concord, Calloway county. 
 
 No. 2637. Sand, apparently similar to the preceding, but 
 slightly colored light-brownish with iron oxide. Taken from 
 the same locality as the above. 
 
 No 2758. White Sand, Cretaceous formation, taken from 
 the Sand Hill on the north side of Clark’s river, two miles- 
 north of Benton, Marshall county. A fine hyaline quartz 
 sand, with a yellowish tint. Contains small mica specks. 
 
 ANALYSES OP SANDS. 
 
 4 
 
 
 Calloway County. 
 
 Marshall Co. 
 
 Near New 
 
 Concord. 
 
 Near Benton. 
 
 No. 2636. 
 
 No. 2637. 
 
 No. 2758. 
 
 Organic and volatile matters 
 
 1.816 
 
 0.690 
 
 0.395 
 
 Alumina, iron oxide, etc 
 
 .605 
 
 .505 
 
 .323 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 .090 
 
 .095 
 
 trace. 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .232 
 
 trace. 
 
 .017 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 .044 
 
 trace. 
 
 .093 
 
 
 not est. 
 
 .289 
 
 .189 
 
 Water expelled at 380° F 
 
 .000 
 
 .000 
 
 .054 
 
 Sand and insoluble silicates 
 
 97.395 
 
 98.145 
 
 98.989 
 
 Totals 
 
 100.181 
 
 99.724 
 
 100.057 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture 
 
 0.075 
 
 0.025 
 
 0.050 
 
 Potash in the insoluble residue 
 
 0.074 
 
 not est. 
 
 .001 
 
OF THK JACKSON’S PUKCIIASE RE(iION. 
 
 m 
 
 The Tertiary sands, belonging to the Lagrange group of 
 interstratilied sands and pipe-clays, are usually quite white, 
 and, in large part, of the clear hyaline variety. The beds 
 between the clay strata vary in thickness, and could, with 
 some difficulty, be kept free from clay admixtures. The 
 beds are most largely exposed at points along the bluffs 
 facing the Mississippi river bottom, from the mouth of May- 
 field creek southward to Columbus. A prominent exposure 
 is at the water-tank, one mile south of Laketon, the bed 
 here rising about fifty feet above the raih’oad track. The 
 sand is, however, intermixed with two per cent, or more 
 of fine clayey i^articles, which injure it for the manufacture 
 of fine glass ware. The grains are rounded, and largely of 
 hyaline quartz, mixed with some very fine sand. 
 
 Ip the bluffs north of the town of Columbus there is a 
 very thick bed of fine white sand, colored, in part, from iron 
 percolations from the gravel above, and composed of over 
 ninety-nine per cent, of pure hyaline quartz grains. 
 
 All of the above Cretaceous and Tertiary sands would be 
 useful in the manufacture of any but the finer kinds of 
 glass ware, in mixing with the stiff plastic clays for the 
 manufacture of pottery, etc, and in mixing with mortar 
 and cement. 
 
 The sand of the stratified drift is very generally colored 
 yellow and red from iron oxide, which injures it for any but 
 ordinary uses. The beds are found interstratified with the 
 gravel, and also alone in the south-western part of the Pur- 
 chase counties. 
 
 POLISHING POWDER. 
 
 There are several localities within the Purchase region in 
 Avhich occur beds of a fine siliceous earth, or sharp, silty 
 sand, which could be utilized as a polishing powder for 
 silver or other metals. The most prominent of these places 
 is at Pryorsburg, Graves county. The beds are here ex- 
 posed in a bluff' a short distance east of town, on the 
 east of the first branch. There are two grades of the 
 powder in this bluff, one made up of extremely fine and 
 sharp grains, one thousandth of an inch in diameter, whose 
 grittiness between the finger is just perceptible, while the 
 
132 
 
 GEOLO(;iCAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 other grade is a little coarser, the diameter of the grains 
 being about twice as large as the former, A little clay 
 accompanies the powder. The thickness of the entire bed 
 is unknown, as there is a large amount of debris at the 
 foot of the bluff. 
 
 The bluff shows about fifteen feet of loam and gravel, and 
 ten feet of purplish plastic clays, above these beds of fine 
 sand, which are exposed ten or fifteen feet thick, and slope 
 to the north-east. The beds are much indurated, but the 
 l>owder readily yields to attrition. Put uj) in packages, it 
 should find a ready sale as polishing powder. 
 
 Another bed of fine silty or arenaceous clay, also suitable 
 as a polishing material, occurs in the railroad cut three 
 miles north of Boaz Station, Graves county. It is very 
 similar to the beds of decomposed Subcarboniferous chert 
 of the eastern part of Marshall and Calloway counties, a 
 few pieces of the rounded chert being embedded in it. It 
 is light brownish-grey in color, indurated, or of the hard- 
 ness of chalk, and contains about two and a half per cent, 
 of very fine white sand. Prom the analysis which is given 
 below, it will be seen that it contains a very large amount 
 of potash, as indeed do most of the clays of the region. It 
 is refractory before the blow-pipe, and fuses with great 
 difficulty. Many of the clays of the Purchase counties are 
 more or less arenaceous, and might serve the purpose of a 
 polishing or finishing material. 
 
 The beds of decomposed chert of the Subcarboniferous 
 belt, along the west side of the Tennessee river, are made 
 up of a white, non-plastic, siliceous earth, indurated, but 
 friable and easily crumbling, and which is infusible before 
 the blow-pipe. 
 
 In Marshall county this earth is exposed in the bed of 
 the branch on the place of Mrs. Lou. Stone, four miles 
 west of Birmingham, and at several points nearer town ; 
 fragments of undecomposed and angular chert are inclosed 
 in the beds. 
 
 In Calloway county the white earth is more prominently 
 and extensively developed in the hills bordering Blood river 
 on the east, in the neighborhood of Brandon’s Mill. The 
 
OF rilF .lACKSON's PUJtCHASE REGION. 
 
 133 
 
 beds are here exposed for ten or more feet in thickness 
 above the bottom of the ravines or brandies, and are made 
 up of alternating layers of chert and siliceous earth. The 
 same beds are also found eastward in the hills facing the 
 Tennessee river, in the region of Buffalo Landing. 
 
 All of these siliceous earths are very similar in their com 
 position, being chiefly silica, with some alumina and potash, 
 as will be seen from the analyses given below. 
 
 No. 2G62. Arenaceous Clay, from the railroad cut three 
 miles north of Boaz, Graves county. 
 
 No. 2764. Siliceous Earth, or decomposed white chert, 
 from Mrs. Lou. Stone’s place, four miles west of Birming- 
 ham, Marshall county. 
 
 No. 2638. Siliceous Earth, from Brandon’s Mill, on Blood 
 river, Calloway county. 
 
 No. 2761. Ash-colored Earth, from a cistern on the old 
 Winter’s place, eight miles south-east of Olive Post-office, 
 Marshall county. 
 
 COMPOSITION OF SILICEOUS EARTHS. 
 
 
 GR.A.VES 
 
 County. 
 
 Marshall 
 
 County. 
 
 Calloway 
 
 County. 
 
 Marshall 
 
 County. 
 
 Air Dried. 
 
 3 m. N. of 
 Boaz. 
 
 4 m. W. of 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Brandon’s 
 
 Mill. 
 
 Winter’s 
 
 Place. 
 
 
 No. 2662. 
 
 No. 2764. 
 
 No. 2638. 
 
 No. 2761. 
 
 Silica 
 
 76.780 
 
 93.700 
 
 87.300 
 
 91.580 
 
 Alumina 
 
 14.740 
 
 3.580 
 
 10.480 
 
 5.980 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 1.640 
 
 
 trace. 
 
 .220 
 
 Lime 
 
 trace. 
 
 trace. 
 
 .045 
 
 .045 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .389 
 
 .127 
 
 .281 
 
 .055 
 
 Potash 
 
 1.440 
 
 .618 
 
 .888 
 
 .094 
 
 Soda 
 
 .117 
 
 .117 
 
 .209 
 
 .032 
 
 Water 
 
 4.894 
 
 1.858 
 
 .797 
 
 1.994 
 
 Total 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 100.000 
 
 Sand 
 
 2.400 
 
 
 
 
 The earths from Marshall and Calloway counties, being 
 very fine and highly siliceous, with very little of such 
 fluxing materials as iron oxide, lime, soda and magnesia 
 
134 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 (though the potash percentage is high), could be well used 
 to mix with plastic clays to reduce their shrinkage, and 
 also as scouring and polishing bricks. They might also be 
 used in glass-making. 
 
 WATER SUPPLY. 
 
 The large streams of the country have a continuous flow 
 throughout the year, except near their sources; but the 
 water is mostly sluggish and muddy, holding in suspension 
 the clay derived from the bordering hill-sides. The smaller 
 streams or creeks become dry during the summer months, 
 the water standing in pools along their beds. There is, 
 however, always a sufficient supply for stock running at 
 large. 
 
 For domestic purposes the people are dependent chiefly 
 on wells and cisterns, though small springs are found fre 
 quently issuing from the hill-sides and banks of streams. 
 
 The wells vary in depth and in character of water, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the country and the geological forma- 
 tion. The water stratum is almost always the sand or gravel 
 overlying immediately a thick bed of impervious clays. 
 
 In the hills bordering the Tennessee valley, and within 
 the Subcarboniferous belt, water is hard to obtain in wells, 
 except by penetrating the cherty or flinty layers which un- 
 derlie the Quaternary gravel, sand, and clay. The thick- 
 ness of these layers is not known. In a well three miles 
 west of Birmingham, Marshall county, no water was obtained 
 after penetrating thirty feet of loam, gravel and pipe-clay, 
 and then twelve feet of the chert. Near Aurora, in the 
 south-eastern part of the same county, more than one 
 hundred feet of cherty material were penetrated without 
 finding water; while west of this, on one of the branches 
 tributary to Jonathan creek, water was obtained after pass- 
 ing through forty feet of the chert. Southward, in Calloway 
 county, the limestone beds approach nearer the^ surface, the 
 chert is thinner, and water is sometimes obtained at fiom 
 twenty to thirty feet. 
 
 The Cretaceous formation, forming a belt west of the 
 above, is represented by beds of sands, and black, thinlj 
 
OK THE Jackson’s pukchase region. 
 
 135 
 
 laminated clays. The wells are, therefore, usually very 
 deep — one hundred or more feet — though sometimes water 
 is obtained above the black clays which ovei'lie the sands. 
 
 In Calloway county, east of New Concord, a well on the 
 place of Mr. Christian was dug sixty-hve feet in the white 
 micaceous sand, and delightfully cool and clear water was 
 reached. Curbing was required, and to prevent the sand 
 from coming in at the bottom, grass, rocks, and gravel were 
 thrown in. A few miles south-west, on Mr. Alexander’s 
 place, water was obtained below fifty-four feet of the sand. 
 At Hico, in the northern part of the county, and east of 
 Briensburg, Marshall county, wells are dug one hundred feet. 
 In the latter county, the black clay often forms a sufficiently 
 thick and impervious stratum to support a water vein ; and 
 near Fair Dealing, Palma, and Calvert City, wells are sunk 
 frequently to a dej)th of only fifty or seventy-five feet. 
 
 At Paducah, the well of the ice factory, after penetrating 
 through loam and gravel -for about forty feet, reached water 
 in sand at one hundi’ed and ten feet from the surface. The 
 water is strongly chalybeate, as shown in the following 
 analysis, made by Dr. Barnum, of Louisville. 
 
 Chalybeate Water, from the well of the ice factory in 
 Paducah, McCracken county. It has been largely used as a 
 tonic by the citizens, and the cup in use has been thickly 
 incrusted with the iron. 
 
 Silicates 
 
 Carbonate of iron . . . . 
 Oxide of iron and alumina 
 Sulphate of magnesia . . 
 Chloride of sodium . . . 
 Chloride of aluminum . . 
 Bromine and iodine . . . 
 
 1.707 grains. 
 3.500 grains. 
 2.310 grains. 
 0.663 grains. 
 
 2.540 grains. 
 
 “The whole combined so as to possess strong tonic and 
 alterative properties, without the disagreeable styptic taste 
 common to most chalybeate waters.” 
 
136 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The well of the vinegar works, in Paducah, passed through 
 the following strata : 
 
 Loam and gravel 
 
 r Black and blue clay 
 „ . Colored sand . . . 
 
 Cretaceous.^ Blue clay .... 
 
 Sand 
 
 40 
 
 feet 
 
 8 
 
 feet. 
 
 6 
 
 feet. 
 
 8 
 
 feet. 
 
 00 
 
 feet. 
 
 112 
 
 feet. 
 
 The wells along the lignitic Tertiary belt, lying west of 
 the Cretaceous, are usually not more than thirty or forty 
 feet deep, water being found at the base of the gravel. The 
 impervious clay, which immediately underlies the gravel, is 
 black and more or less pyritous and fetid, giving a disagree- 
 able taste and unhealthy properties to the water. The clay 
 bed is very thick, one hundred or more feet, and very few 
 wells, if any, have passed through it. In a well on the hills 
 south of Paducah, one hundred and forty feet of clay was 
 penetrated and no water found. Cisterns are, therefore, 
 largely in use in this region, which extends from the Ten- 
 nessee State line northward via Murray, between Clark’s 
 river and Mayfield creek towards Paducah, and thence west- 
 ward toward Caledonia. 
 
 In the region underlaid by Lagrange sands and clays, in 
 the south and west parts of Graves county, at Mayfield, 
 Lynnville, Cuba and Stubblefield, and also in Hickman 
 and south Ballard counties, it is difficult to find a good 
 vein of water on the uplands at a less depth than from 
 seventy-five to one hundred feet, and even more. Cisterns 
 are, therefore, largely used. In Fulton county wells are from 
 fifty to seventy-five feet deep. 
 
 In the Tennessee valley, at Birmingham, Marshall county, 
 water is obtained at fifteen to twenty feet, while on the 
 north, near Calvert City, it is found at from twenty-five 
 to thirty feet. 
 
 In the Ohio valley or flats, wells are, at Paducah, near 
 the river, more than one hundred feet deep, as shown above ; 
 but in the southern and south-western parts of the town, 
 and westward to the Mississippi river, they are from fifty to 
 sixty feet. 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s pukoiiase region. 
 
 137 
 
 In the ^lississippi river bottom, south-west of Hickman, 
 near the Sassafras ridge, water is found at fifteen or twenty 
 feet in a blackish sand beneath sands and blue clays. 
 
 'Phere are a number of springs in the Purchase counties 
 whose waters are more or less chalybeate in character. A 
 few belong to the class of sulphur springs, the water being 
 charged with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The latter are 
 usually contined to the belt of bluish-black clays of the 
 eastern and northern counties, and the sulphur is due to 
 the iron pyrites occurring in those clays. 
 
 The chalybeate springs are most numerous, and largely 
 derive their iron also from the pyritous clays, and from the 
 highly ochreous gravel and clay beds. There are none, how- 
 ever, that have gained particular notoriety, and the waters of 
 but few have been analyzed. The following analyses, except- 
 ing that of the Paducah well, have been obtained from the 
 reports of Dr. Robert Peter, Chemist of the Survey : 
 
 No. 1438. Clinlyheate Water, from Nick Combs’ spring, 
 lOur miles south-west of Hickman, Fulton county. This con- 
 tains free carbonic acid, and 0.302 per cent, of saline matters 
 in 1000 parts of water. These consist of iron, manganese, 
 lime and magnesia carbonates, with some lime and magnesia 
 sulphates. It is probably a valuable chalybeate water. 
 
 No. 2107(A.) Water from Bluff Spring, Ballard county, 
 on the road from Columbus to Cairo, in the “milk sick” 
 region, and supposed by some to cause this sickness. This 
 water has deposited a considerable brownish sediment, which 
 did not all dissolve in hydrochloric acid. Analysis showed 
 the presence of some free carbonic acid, much of bi-car- 
 bonates of lime and magnesia, some little bi-carbonate of 
 iron and of chlorine and sulphuric acid. The water had a 
 slightly alkaline reaction, and the spectroscope showed the 
 presence of a trace of lithium. There is no reason to sup- 
 pose that the water has any thing to do with the causation 
 of milk sickness. 
 
 No. 2107(5.) Water from the Mahon Spring, Ballard 
 county. Said to be unhealthy, and by some thought to 
 cause “milk sickness.” On examination, it gave similar 
 
138 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 reactions with the water from the Bluff Spring, but did not 
 seem to contain as much iron ; and there was no brown 
 sediment in the bottle. A weighed portion of the water, 
 evaporated to dryness, left only 0.36 per cent, of whitish 
 saline residue in 1000 of the water. The soluble part of 
 this had an alkaline reaction, and the spectroscope showed 
 the presence in it of soda and lithia. It seems to be a 
 perfectly wholesome water, although, like the above, some- 
 what “hard,” from the presence of lime and magnesia bi- 
 carbonates. 
 
 No. 2554. Mineral Water from the old Kilgore spring, 
 two miles south of Blandville, Ballard county. It is in the 
 bank of a creek and ten feet below the surface of Mayfield 
 bottom, and flows perhaps two barrels per minute. It is a 
 slightly chalybeate and alkaline saline water. It is clear 
 when fresh, and has a temperature of 58° F. Contains only 
 0.064 grammes of solid contents in a thousand. There were 
 carbonates, chlorides and sulphates of iron, soda, lime and 
 magnesia, with a trace of lithia, and some silica. It is a 
 good weak chalybeate water. . 
 
 Mineral Water from the McGee Spring, Hurricane creek, 
 south-east of Blandville, Ballard county. The water is clear, 
 but deposits a sediment in cups and pitchers in use. The 
 temperature is 60° F. The spring is also in the bank of 
 the creek, but is protected from overflow. Its flow is not 
 great. 
 
 Evaporated to dryness, the water left 1.644 grains of solid 
 matter in a thousand. This residue was composed of the 
 following : 
 
 Carbonate of iron. . . 
 Carbonate of lime . . 
 Carbonate of magnesia 
 Chloride ol' magnesium 
 Chloride of sodium . . 
 Carbonate of soda . . 
 Sulphate of potash . . 
 Silica 
 
 0. 376 grains. 
 .166 grains. 
 .029 grains. 
 .152 grains. 
 .082 grains. 
 .487 grains. 
 .112 grains. 
 .240 grains. 
 
 Total in 1000 
 
 1 . 644 grains. 
 
 This is a good alkaline, saline, chalybeate water, contain- 
 ing only a trace of organic matters, and not too much saline 
 materials. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s furchase region. 
 
 139 
 
 AGRICU LTU R A L FEAT U R ES. 
 
 That portion of the State lying west of the Tennessee river, 
 and known as the Purchase Region, differs from tliat on 
 the east, not only in its geological and topographical, but 
 also in its agricultural features. The general surface of the 
 uplands is lower, varying from four hundred to six hundred 
 feet above the level of the sea; and while there are no high 
 hills or mountains, it is rendered very uneven by the numer- 
 ous large streams and their many tributaries, each having 
 in turn their deep ravines bordered by gullies and washes, 
 the soil being very light and easily transported by the 
 drainage waters. After each heavy rainfall the streams are 
 heavily charged with the brownish yellow loam from the 
 hill-sides and open fields. Between the streams there are 
 often large areas of uplands presenting a very level sur- 
 face ; their southern and western edges bordering the larger 
 streams, generally descend abruptly and almost perpendic- 
 ularly ; those on the opposite side sloping gradually to the 
 level of the bottom lands. This feature is prominently seen 
 along the bluffs of the Mississippi river, along the bluffs on 
 the northern or Illinois side of the Ohio, and those on the 
 northern and eastern side of Mayfield creek, from its mouth 
 almost to the town of Mayfield. Again, these bordering 
 bluffs are usually higher than the general surface of the 
 interior of the country, the drainage waters flowing almost 
 from their very edge towards the interior and away from 
 the streams into their smaller tributaries. 
 
 The lands of the region also differ from those of the east- 
 ern part of the State, in being almost entirely free from those 
 rocks and rock fragments that characterize the country east 
 of the Tennessee river. There is, again, an absence of those 
 limestones that give to the Blue-grass region their extreme 
 fertility, and of those sharp and angular cherty fragments 
 that are associated with so much of the land among the hills 
 and mountains of the State. Instead of the latter, there are 
 beds of rounded gravel which lie below the surface of the 
 soil at such a depth as not to interfere with its tilling quali- 
 ties. 
 
 Another difference between the lands of the uplands of 
 
140 
 
 GEOLO(iICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 the two sections lies, not only in the greater depth of those 
 of the Purchase region, but in their having been formed of 
 material transported from distant regions through the agen- 
 cy of water, those of the rest of the State being formed 
 generally in situ from the disintegration of the local rock 
 formations. 
 
 The lands of the Purchase region have a depth of from 
 ten to twenty or even thirty feet, before the beds of gravel or 
 impermeable clays are reached; they are made up of the 
 two beds of light brownish loam which cover almost the en- 
 tire uplands of the region, and extend southward through 
 Tennessee into Mississippi. The country, too, is entirely 
 covered with a timber growth, except where removed for 
 purposes of soil tillage. A large portion was, however, once 
 an open prairie, with no vegetation other than grass and 
 weeds, but which has now grown up in a low growth of 
 red and black jack oaks, and is known as “the barrens.” 
 
 The lands are divided naturally into the following classes, 
 and under which heads they will be further described; 
 
 Among the wild forage plants that are quite common to 
 the entire country, is a clover known as Japan clover. 
 {Lesjpedeza striata). It suddenly appeared a few years ago, 
 almost simultaneously, in various sections of the country, 
 and is regarded with high favor, especially as grazing for 
 sheep. It is found along road-sides, and grows well on old 
 fields, crowding out the sedge grass and weeds. It gives 
 no trouble in fields under cultivation. 
 
 The cultivation of cotton was, during the war, carried on 
 only on a small scale in localities as far north as Paducah; 
 but the short seasons cut the crops short with a yield of 
 only 300 to 500 pounds of seed-cotton per acre, one-half of 
 the bolls not coming to maturity. 
 
 The planting season began about the first of May, blooms 
 
 Lowlands . . 
 
 Uplands 
 
 f Cane hills or bluff lands. 
 J Flatwoods. 
 
 I Red oak Barrens. 
 
 Oak and hickory lands. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s puin'hase uegion. 
 
 141 
 
 appeared in July, and picking began about the first of Oc- 
 tober. 
 
 KIVEU nOTTOM OR ALLUVIAL LANDS. 
 
 The alluvial or first bottom lands of the three great rivers 
 that border the Purchase region on its three sides cover an 
 aggregate area of about one hundred and sixty-live square 
 miles, being almost entirely confined to the Mississippi river. 
 The greatest width of the alluvial region is at the Tennessee 
 State line, where, from the town of Hickman westward to 
 New Madrid, on the Missouri shore, the distance is about 
 twenty miles ; the bottom is, however, divided by a south- 
 ward or horseshoe bend of the Mississippi river, which en- 
 tirely isolates a large part of the lands from the rest of the 
 State of Kentucky. 
 
 Northward to Wickliffe, a portion of the bottom is in 
 places several miles wide, but at several points is entirely 
 absent, the current of the river sweeping the foot of the 
 projecting highlands. In the region of the junction of the 
 Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the bottom lands are more than 
 five miles in width on the Kentucky shore ; but as we follow 
 the Ohio up its course we find the lands becoming more and 
 more narrow until, at the Grand Chain, where the river bends 
 nearly at right- angles from its hortli-west to its south-west 
 course, the width is not more than a mile, and beyond this 
 point eastward to Paducah it is almost nothing. Along the 
 Tennessee river there is scarcely any alluvial land, and the 
 sapie is true of other large streams of the region, the bot- 
 tom lands of the latter being more clayey and of a stiff 
 crawfish character. 
 
 The Mississippi bottom is a broad and very level tract of 
 land, interspersed with sloughs and lakes, and entirely sub- 
 ject to the yearly overflows of the river. The houses, in 
 which the planters dwell, are usually raised above high-water 
 mark by means of posts on which they rest as foundations. 
 Along the immediate bank of the river the lands are usually 
 higher than in the interior, being really a belt of sand de- 
 posited by the river current during high water. Its inter- 
 mixture with the finer river sediments gives to this sand a 
 degree of fertility suitable for the maintenance of good crops 
 
142 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 of corn, and it is upon this belt that the river farms are 
 mostly found. Cottonwood is its most prominent timber 
 growth. 
 
 The interior of the bottom region is low and swampy, its 
 soils made up of the rich alluvium yearly brought down by 
 the river current and deposited during overflows from the 
 more sluggish waters. The surface of this interior region is 
 but slightly elevated above the ordinary river water level, 
 and but a small proportion of it is considered suitable for 
 tillage, because of its swampy character. The little drainage 
 it has is largely into the prongs of Reelfoot Lake, which 
 reach northward from the Tennessee portion of the bottom, 
 the lake itself being tributary to the Obion river many miles 
 south. 
 
 The soils are deep and rich loams, black from the large 
 amount of decayed vegetation. There is an entire absence, 
 so far as examined, of those buckshot clays that form so 
 prominent a feature of the Mississippi bottom lands in 
 Mississippi and Louisiana, though beneath the alluvium are 
 found the blue clays of the Port Hudson geological forma- 
 tion, and to which the buckshot clays are believed to belong. 
 These interior or back-lands are valuable chiefly for their 
 magnificent timber growth of black walnut and red gum ; 
 there is also a large growth of hickorj^ ash, sweet gum, 
 pecan, water and overcup oaks and catalpa. Much lumber 
 is annually taken from these river bottoms. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity of the high bluffs that border 
 the bottoms on the east there are frequent areas of this 
 alluvial loam that are sufficiently elevated for successful 
 cultivation, as for instance on the south of the town of 
 Hickman, where they are under tillage and produce fine 
 crops of corn. The soil has a depth of several feef, and is 
 loose and warm in character. Analyses showing its chemical 
 composition are given below, of samples taken from two 
 localities. 
 
 The lands northward from Hickman, in the counties of 
 Hickman and Ballard, have the same character as those on 
 the south, except that there is an absence of the sand front- 
 land, because of the 3'eaily cutting away of the eastern bank 
 
OK THE Jackson’s purchase kkoion. 
 
 113 
 
 of the river. A portion of it just south of the “chalk 
 banks,” two miles south of Columbus, is under cultivation. 
 
 The alluvial lauds of the Ohio river bottom are similar to 
 those of the Mississippi river in their general features, hav- 
 ing, like the latter, a front-land of white sandy ridges, and 
 an interior or back-land of richer and dark alluvial lands, 
 lower in elevation, and interspersed with lakes and sloughs. 
 
 While the. lands of these two river bottoms are similar in 
 their physical features, they differ in chemical composition, 
 as will be seen in the analyses given below. 
 
 In North Ballard and McCracken counties the bottoms are 
 very narrow, the valley or flats approaching, in some places, 
 very near to the river. At Paducah there are no bottom 
 lands nearer than about a mile below the town, the flats 
 forming a bluff some fifty feet above low-water mark, and 
 affording a splendid boat landing. On the Illinois shore, 
 opposite Paducah, the bottoms are very broad, narrowing 
 toward Metropolis, a few miles below. 
 
 Along the Tennessee river there are no first bottoms 
 worthy of mention, the river having cut its way north- 
 Avard through the Paleozoic limestones and sandstones to 
 within a few miles of its junction with the Ohio, and form- 
 ing a deep channel from which the waters scarcely ever 
 escape to overflow the valley that borders the stream. The 
 alluvial lands, therefore, are found only in very irregular 
 and limited areas along the banks. 
 
 In the low flats that lie along near the foot of the upland 
 bluffs, we sometimes find larger areas of overflowed or allu- 
 vial lands, differing greatly from those of the valley, and 
 quite rich in character. In the south-eastern part of Callo- 
 way county, near the Tennessee State line, such tracts occur 
 and are generally under cultivation. The soil has a timber 
 growth of hickory, white, water and red oaks, poplar, 
 gum, linn, box elder, some ash and sycamore; black locust 
 springs up on lands that have once been in cultivation. 
 On the second bottoms, which have an elevation a little 
 above that of the first, the growth is white and red oaks, 
 poplar, black locust and hickory. These first bottom lands 
 produce an average of ten barrels of corn per acre. Their 
 
144 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUllES 
 
 chemical composition is given below. Near Birmingham there 
 is an additional growth of pin oak and a few walnuts. 
 
 No. 2123. Virgin Soil from the Mississippi bottom, three 
 miles south-west from Hickman, Fulton county. Principal 
 growth, white oak, hickory, gum and beech. The dried soil 
 is in pretty firm clods, of a light yellowish-umber color. All 
 of its siliceous residue, remaining after digestion in acids, 
 l^assed through the fine* sieve, except a small proportion of 
 small particles of partly decomposed concretions, and only 
 one or two small quartz grains. 
 
 No. 2124. Soil from the surface of a field twelve years 
 in corn without manure. Mississippi bottom land, about two 
 miles south of Hickman, Fulton county. Yield this season 
 (1878) over fifty bushels of corn per acre. Dried soil in 
 friable clods, of an umber color. 
 
 No. 2557. Virgin Soil of the Ohio river bottom, taken 
 eight inches deep, from Clear Lake ridge, four miles west of 
 Barlow, Ballard county. When dry, it is of a dark greyish- 
 brown color. The clods are small and friable, and the soil 
 contains a small quantity of fine white quartz sand. 
 
 No. 2622. Virgin Soil of first bottom of the Tennessee 
 river on W. E. Brown’s place, south of Shannon creek, Cal- 
 loway county ; is of a greyish-brown color, and contains 
 only a small quantity of fine sand. 
 
 *The fine sieve lias about 4,000 meshes to the inch square. 
 
OK TIIK JACKSON’S PURCIIASP: KKGION. 
 
 145 
 
 llIVER FIRST 150TT0M LANDJ^. 
 
 Composition, Dried at 212° F. 
 
 Mississippi River. 
 
 Ohio River. 
 
 Tenn. R. 
 
 Fulton County. 
 
 Rallard Co. 
 
 Callo’y Co. 
 
 3 miles S. 
 W. of Hick- 
 man. 
 
 2 miles S. 
 of Hick- 
 man. 
 
 4 miles W. 
 of Barlow. 
 
 Brown’s 
 place, Buf. 
 Landing. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Cult’d soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 No. 2123. 
 
 No. 2124. 
 
 No. 2557. 
 
 No. 2622. 
 
 Organic and volatile matter . . 
 
 9.305 
 
 4.725 
 
 5.772 
 
 6.080 
 
 Alumina and manganese' oxide ■> 
 
 .10.437 
 
 ) 5.127 
 
 6.876 
 
 8.171 
 
 Iron peroxide i 
 
 
 } 
 
 4.124 
 
 4.791 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 1.385 
 
 1.045 
 
 .210 
 
 .280 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .461 
 
 .234 
 
 .273 
 
 .461 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 .198 
 
 .198 
 
 .226 
 
 218 
 
 Potash 
 
 .142 
 
 .321 
 
 .723 
 
 .461 
 
 Soda 
 
 
 .419 
 
 .145 
 
 
 AVatcr expelled at 380° 
 
 3 110 
 
 1.150 
 
 1 . 263 
 
 2.1.35 
 
 Sand and insoluble silicates. . . 
 
 74.840 
 
 87.145 
 
 80.999 
 
 77.719 
 
 Total 
 
 99.878 
 
 100 364 
 
 100.611 
 
 100.316 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture 
 
 4.100 
 
 2.350 
 
 2.290 
 
 2.6.50 
 
 Potash in insoluble silicates. . . 
 
 1.889 
 
 1.814 
 
 1.069 
 
 1.487 
 
 Soda in insoluble silicates . . . 
 
 .607 
 
 .858 
 
 .277 
 
 .253 
 
 The above analyses show marked differences in the com- 
 position of the bottom soils of the three rivers, the virgin 
 soil of the Mississippi being richest in decayed vegetation, 
 alumina, lime and magnesia, all of whose percentages are 
 large. Its phosphoric acid is lower than that of the other 
 two rivers, though still in fair amounts, and its potash per- 
 centage is low for a soil so rich in lime and decayed vegeta- 
 tion. It is especially surprising that so large an amount (1.889) 
 should remain in an insoluble condition in the presence of 
 so large a per cent, of the latter two ingredients, whose 
 office is to render it available for the use of plants. 
 
 . A notable feature in the analysis of the Ohio bottom soil 
 is the very high percentage of potash ; that of the phos- 
 phoric acid and vegetable matter is very fair. The soil is 
 not as clayey as that of the Mississippi bottom, and the 
 power for retaining hygroscopic moisture is consequently 
 not as great. 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 10. 
 
146 
 
 (iEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The soil of the Tennessee bottom is well supplied with 
 both potash and phosphoric acid in an available condition, 
 while in the insoluble portion there is a large percentage of 
 the former. It is less sandy than the Ohio bottom soil, and 
 there are larger percentages of decayed vegetation and hy- 
 groscopic moisture. 
 
 Sand Ridges . — The sandy ridges in the Ohio bottom lie 
 parallel with the present course of the river, and at a distance 
 of about a mile, and have a width of about half a mile, bor- 
 dered on either side by small lakes and sloughs. Their 
 lengths are respectively only from one to two miles, and their 
 soil is chiefly a reddish sand with some decayed vegetation. 
 Some of them have a breadth giving sufficient area for culti- 
 vation, yielding, it is claimed, fifteen bushels of wheat or 
 forty bushels of corn per acre. The soil is not durable. 
 
 The sand ridge of the Mississippi bottom below Hickman, 
 lying north-east and south-west, known as the Sassafras 
 Ridge, is overflowed at extreme high-water of the river. It 
 has a growth of gum, cottonwood, oak, ash and sassafras. 
 The latter was formerly the chief growth, but has been cut 
 out for rails. The surface of the ridge is uneven, wide and 
 long, and its soil is sandy, but mostly under cultivation, 
 yielding, it is claimed, twelve to fourteen barrels of corn per 
 acre. 
 
 Bottom Lands of Other Streams . — The lowlands that com- 
 prise the bottoms of other streams in the Purchase counties 
 are not alluvial in character, but are formed by the washing 
 down of the neighboring brown loam hills, by small streams, 
 the currents of which, being checked upon the bottom plain, 
 permitted the deposition of the sediment in part. The flat 
 nature of the bottoms prevents any natural drainage, and 
 hence this sediment has become compacted and leached, pro- 
 ducing a whitish, cold and stiff soil, highly crawfishy in 
 character, and covered by a thin deposit of decayed vegeta- 
 tion. The bottoms are annually overflowed, but very little 
 sediment is deposited from the current. It is only near the 
 bluffs that any deposition takes place, and that is from the 
 adjoining hills. A tall and heavy timber growth usually 
 shades these bottom lauds, and yearly adds to the amount 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s pukciiase ue(jion. 
 
 147 
 
 of vegetable decay. Comparatively little of these lands are 
 under cultivation. 
 
 Of the many streams, Mayfield creek has the broadest 
 bottom land, and more of it is under cultivation than on 
 any other, but even then the amount is very small. The 
 timber growth is white oak, hickory, sweet gum, a little 
 poplar, walnut, redbud, papaw and catalpa. The soil is 
 generally a bluish clay, on which clover and herds grass 
 flourish. Other crops do not grow well except near the 
 foot of the bluff ; corn is here the chief crop. 
 
 The bottom lands of the two forks of Clark’s river are 
 next in width, in some places being as much as two miles. 
 Their timber growth is finer than on any other of these 
 minor streams, consisting of white and Spanish oaks, poplar, 
 hickory, sweet and black gums, some walnut, dogwood and 
 sassafras, with an undergrowth of papaw. 
 
 The bottoms of Obion and Bayou de Chien are compara- 
 tively narrow, and of no special importance except for their 
 timber, which consists of water and white oaks, hickory, 
 cypress, black and sweet gums, maple, sassafras (two and 
 one-half feet in diameter), and some birch. 
 
 The following soils from several of these streams have 
 been analyzed : 
 
 No. 2100. Virgin Bottom Soil, near Shelton and Moore’s 
 mill, on Mayfield creek, Ballard county ; said to produce 
 good hay, but to be otherwise unproductive. Original 
 growth, black, white and red oak, sweet gum, elm, persim- 
 mon and hickory. 
 
 No. 2101. Top Bottom Soil, from an old field long in cul- 
 tivation ; on Mayfield creek, Ballard county. 
 
 No. 2102. Bottom Subsoil of the next preceding; on May- 
 field creek. 
 
 No. 2556. Bottom Soil; crawfishy ; on West Fork of May- 
 field creek, Ballard county, taken to the depth of ten inches, 
 near the bridge on the road from Blandville to Milburn. 
 
 No. 2757. Bottom Soil, of West Fork of Clark’s river, 
 near Brewer’s old mill, Marshall county. Rich yellow loam 
 soil. Sample taken to the depth of ten inches. Growth 
 exclusively beech. 
 
148 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 2749. Virgin Bottom Boil; from East Fork of Clark’s 
 river near Benton, Marshall county. Soil crawfishy. Sample 
 taken ten inches deeii. Growth mostly white oak. 
 
 No. 2621. Virgin Bottom Boil, of Clark’s river. Taken 
 ten inches deep. Murray, Calloway county. 
 
 No. 27)58. Virgin Bottom Boil; of Obion creek, south of 
 Arlington, Ballard county. Taken to the depth of ten 
 inches. 
 
 No. 128. White Bottom Boil of Bayou de Chien, at Mos- 
 cow, Hickman county, Kentucky (Quaternary formation). 
 
 BOTTOM LANDS OF OTHER STREAMS. 
 
 
 
 Mayfield Cheek. 
 
 
 Clark’s River. 
 
 Obion. 
 
 Bayou 
 
 deChien 
 
 
 
 
 Ballard County. 
 
 
 Marshall Co. 
 
 1 
 
 Cal. Co. 
 
 Ballard 
 
 County. 
 
 Hick- 
 man Co. 
 
 Composition, Dried at 
 212° F. 
 
 
 Near Blandville. 
 
 
 Brew- 
 
 er’sMill 
 
 Benton. 
 
 Mur- 
 
 ray. 
 
 Nr. Ar- 
 liugt’n. 
 
 Mos 
 
 cow. 
 
 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Cnl. soil 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 
 Ko. 2100 
 
 No. 2101 
 
 No. 2102 
 
 No. 2556 
 
 No. 2757 
 
 No. 2749 
 
 No. 2621 
 
 No.2558 
 
 No. 128. 
 
 Organic aud volatile 
 matters 
 
 
 3.210 
 
 2 565 
 
 2.125 
 
 3.306 
 
 3.394 
 
 3.757 
 
 3 475 
 
 4.635 
 
 2.000 
 
 Alumina and manganese 
 oxide 
 
 
 6.150 
 
 1 
 
 1 3.864 
 
 1 5.088 
 
 2 945 
 
 3.248 
 
 3.706 
 
 3.612 
 
 4 217 
 
 1 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 Lime 
 
 
 .165 
 
 >- 
 
 j 
 
 .385 
 
 1 
 
 .245 
 
 1 860 
 .196 
 
 •1.764 
 
 .146 
 
 1.360 
 
 .026 
 
 2.116 
 
 .021 
 
 1.915 
 
 1.463 
 
 1- 6.170 
 1.150 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 
 .268 
 
 .163 
 
 .184 
 
 .181 
 
 .180 
 
 . 143 
 
 .180 
 
 .267 
 
 .160 
 
 Phosphoric acid .... 
 
 
 .115 
 
 .061 
 
 .077 
 
 .008 
 
 .084 
 
 .109 
 
 .062 
 
 .133 
 
 .129 
 
 Potash 
 
 
 .203 
 
 .319 
 
 .276 
 
 .477 
 
 .172 
 
 .083 
 
 310 
 
 .504 
 
 .170 
 
 Soda 
 
 
 .364 
 
 .362 
 
 .129 
 
 .389 
 
 
 .'210 
 
 
 not est. 
 
 .020 
 
 Water expelled at 380°F. 
 
 
 1.065 
 
 .635 
 
 .675 
 
 .556 
 
 1.028 
 
 .683 
 
 1 100 
 
 .941 
 
 
 S ind and insoluble sili- 
 cates 
 
 
 88.890 
 
 92.010 
 
 91.. 570 
 
 90.616 
 
 89.757 
 
 90 070 
 
 88.432 
 
 86.856 
 
 90 570 
 
 Total 
 
 100 420 
 
 100.364 
 
 100 369 
 
 100.534 
 
 99.773 
 
 100.047 
 
 99.308 
 
 100.931 
 
 100,369 
 
 Hygroscopic moieture. . 
 
 
 1.865 
 
 1.075 
 
 1.125 
 
 1.100 
 
 1.300 
 
 1.520 
 
 1.450 
 
 1.625 
 
 
 Potash in the insoluble 
 silicates 
 
 1 
 
 1.650 
 
 1 .'358 
 
 1.401 
 
 1.497 
 
 1.604 
 
 1.438 
 
 1.146 
 
 1.435 
 
 
 Soda in the insoluble 
 silicates 
 
 
 1.150 
 
 .616 
 
 .911 
 
 .834 
 
 .698 
 
 .402 
 
 .535 
 
 1.243 
 
 1 . . . . 
 
 The Mayfield creek lands are fairly supplied with pota-'.i 
 and lime, but the phosphoric acid is deficient in all except 
 in No. 2100, where the proportion is fair. The cultivated 
 soil shows a falling off in phosphoric acid, but an increase 
 of potash at the expense of that held as insoluble silicate, 
 and due, perhaps, to the loosening and aeration as well as 
 the drainage afforded by tillage. 
 
OF THE JACKSON S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 149 
 
 VALLEY LANDS. 
 
 The valleys that border the Tennessee, Ohio and Clark’s 
 rivers, are from lifteen to thirty feet higher than the bottoms 
 proper, and can hardly be classed as subject to overflow. 
 Neither are they properly a second hottom of those streams. 
 
 TJie Tennessee River Valley . — The width of this valley, be- 
 ginning at the Tennessee State line, where the limestone 
 escarpments almost reach the river, varies from one to one 
 and a half miles northward until Gilbertsville is reached, 
 whence to westward it widens to three miles at Calvert City, 
 and again narrows to the upland bluffs, which rise from 
 the water’s edge at Lawton’s Bluff. Thence to the mouth 
 of Clark’s river, where it merges into the broad flats of 
 that river, the valley is very narrow. 
 
 The eastern border of the valley from the State line to 
 and beyond Gilbertsville is against high limestone bluffs ; 
 the western, which is at a greater distance from the river, 
 is also bounded by bluffs, at whose base limestones are ex- 
 posed in several places, and on whose sides chert debris is 
 generally found. The last exposure of limestone' is near 
 Gilbertsville, where the river cut its way through this nar- 
 row belt of rock and entered the basin of the old gulf 
 embayment which is now filled with sands and clays. The 
 line of bluffs, however, fall in elevation from one hundred 
 and sixty feet at the Tennessee line to about seventy-five, 
 near Gilbertsville, and beyond to Lawton’s Bluflf. 
 
 The surface of the valley presents an uneven plain, the 
 central part being higher than that lying along the river 
 on the east and that adjoining the bluffs 'on the west, and 
 comprising, too, the greater portion of the area. The lower 
 lands are subject to overflow from high-water from the river, 
 and have usually a stiff crawfishy soil, dark from decayed 
 vegetation, and are not very much under cultivation. 
 
 The valley upland soil is a yellowish loam very similar to 
 that of the high interior uplands of the Purchase counties, 
 but differing from the latter in being micaceous. It has a 
 depth of from ten to twelve feet, overlying directly the blue 
 micaceous clays that outcrop along the river bank at numer- 
 ous places. 
 
150 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The soil is said to produce eight barrels of corn, one 
 thousand pounds of tobacco, or fifteen to twenty bushels of 
 wheat per acre. 
 
 The lands are in many places very flat and inclined to be 
 cold, heavy and crawfishy, from insufficient natural drain- 
 age. These flats usually have a growth of hickory, red and 
 post oaks, and sassafras, showing a fertile soil. Wherever 
 there is sufficient drainage the land is light and loamy, fria- 
 ble and easily tilled. North of Calvert City the growth is 
 chiefly white and black oaks, hickory, poplar and dogwood, 
 the soil being a dark loam, producing about seventy bushels 
 of corn, fifteen bushels of wheat, or one thousand pounds 
 of tobacco per acre. 
 
 There are a number of small streams which either lie 
 entirely within this valley or have their source within the 
 bordering uplands, and for the greater part of their lengths 
 run through the flats that lie at the foot of the highlands, 
 then suddenly turning to the river. They have usually but 
 little bottom land, though in places they are bordered by 
 flat swamps. 
 
 The Shannon creek bottom, in the south-east part of Cal- 
 loway county, and entirely within this river valley, has a 
 surface loam soil, black from decayed vegetation. It spreads 
 out over a broad flat in places, presenting a swamp covered 
 with white and red oaks, and poplar, some hickory and wal- 
 nut, and a dense undergrowth of gum and hazel. The soil 
 is thin, averaging about six inches in depth, and suddenly 
 changes to a compact crawfishy white clay subsoil. The 
 analyses of both soil and subsoil are given below. Cypress 
 creek has scarcely any bottom lands. 
 
 The analyses given below show the chemical composition of 
 these valley lands. 
 
 No. 2752. Virgin, Crawfishy, or Glady Soil, of Tennessee 
 valley, one mile north of Calvert City, Marshall county. 
 Sample taken to the depth of twelve inches. Growth, red 
 and post oaks, hickory and dogwood. The soil is mottled 
 yellow and white in color, and silty *in character. The sub- 
 soil seems to be of the same character. 
 
 No. 2753. Virgin Loam Soil, of the central portion of 
 Tennessee river valley, one mile north of Birmingham, Mar 
 shall county. Sample taken to the depth of twelve inches. 
 Growth, oak and sassafras 
 
SWAMP CYPRESS, CALLOWAY CO., KY. 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 URBANA 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 151 
 
 No. 2751. Virgin Soil. Dark sandy loam, from low ridge 
 of Tennessee river valley, two miles below the mouth of 
 Jonathan creek, Marshall county. Sample taken to the 
 depth of twelve inches. Grrowth, white and Spanish oaks 
 and dogwood. 
 
 No. 2747. Virgin Soil of the crawfish flats of the Tennes- 
 see river valley, Marshall county ; two miles below the mouth 
 of Jonathan creek. Sample taken to the depth of eight 
 inches. Growth, hickory and red and post oaks, and sas- 
 safras. 
 
 No. 2748. Subsoil of the next preceding soil; color some- 
 what lighter than that. Clods are firmer. Contained about 
 8.9 per cent, of bog iron. 
 
 No. 2627. Virgin Soil of the valley of the Tennessee river; 
 AV. E. Brown’s place, south of Shannon creek, Calloway 
 county. When dry it is of a dark greyish-brown color ; 
 clods are friable. Contains small bog iron ore. 
 
 No. 2628. Subsoil of the next preceding ; when dry it is 
 of a light reddish, greyish-brown color. Clods are friable. 
 
 N o. 2634. Virgin Bottom Soil, of Shannon creek ; is umber 
 color ; clods are friable. 
 
 No. 2635. Subsoil of the next preceding; taken at the 
 depth of six to twelve inches. A stiff yellowish clay. 
 
 TENNESSEE RIVER YALLEY LANDS. 
 
 
 
 Marshall County. 
 
 
 Calloway County. 
 
 CoMPOsiTif'N, Dried at 
 212° F. 
 
 Calvert 
 
 City. 
 
 Bir- 
 
 ming- 
 
 ham 
 
 Two Miles North of 
 Jonathan Creek. 
 
 Brown’s Place 
 N. Buffalo Ld. 
 
 Shannon Creek. 
 
 Glady 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Loam 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Loam 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Glady 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Glady 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Loam 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Loam 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Loam 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Glady 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 
 No. 2752 
 
 Nn. 2753 
 
 No. 2751 
 
 No. 2747 
 
 No. 2748 
 
 No. 2627 
 
 No. 2628 
 
 No. 2634 
 
 No. 2635 
 
 Organic and volatile 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 matter . .... 
 
 3.506 
 
 4.411 
 
 3 467 
 
 3.443 
 
 2.373 
 
 5 482 
 
 2.627 
 
 5.848 
 
 3.500 
 
 Alumina and manga- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 nese oxide 
 
 3 030 
 
 4 448 
 
 4 875 
 
 3.303 
 
 5 021 
 
 3 595 
 
 5 333 
 
 4.982 
 
 4 332 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 2 037 
 
 3 395 
 
 2 332 
 
 1.955 
 
 2 630 
 
 3.060 
 
 4 365 
 
 2 455 
 
 5.575 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 trace. 
 
 trace 
 
 .046 
 
 .025 
 
 trace. 
 
 .147 
 
 .222 
 
 .163 
 
 .132 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .281 
 
 .344 
 
 .194 
 
 .162 
 
 .139 
 
 245 
 
 180 
 
 .378 
 
 .364 
 
 Phosphoric acid .... 
 
 . 110 
 
 ,094 
 
 .113 
 
 .136 
 
 .110 
 
 .124 
 
 .124 
 
 .249 
 
 .159 
 
 Potash 
 
 .305 
 
 .160 
 
 .192 
 
 .047 
 
 .515 
 
 .246 
 
 .517 
 
 .259 
 
 .604 
 
 oda 
 
 .046 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Water expelled at 380° 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 F . . 
 
 .509 
 
 .557 
 
 531 
 
 .607 
 
 .227 
 
 1 401 
 
 .859 
 
 1 323 
 
 ,814 
 
 ^aud and insoluble eiii- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cates 
 
 89 613 
 
 86.678 
 
 88.460 
 
 90.217 
 
 88.877 
 
 84.792 
 
 86 200 
 
 84.356 
 
 84 426 
 
 Total 
 
 99.467 
 
 100.087 
 
 100.210 
 
 99.895 
 
 99.892 
 
 99.092 
 
 100.427 
 
 100.013 
 
 99.906 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture . 
 
 1.900 
 
 1 400 
 
 1.225 
 
 1.300 
 
 1 100 
 
 1.500 
 
 1.050 
 
 1.850 
 
 1.700 
 
 Potash in insoluble sili* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cates 
 
 1.506 
 
 1.614 
 
 1,600 
 
 1.544 
 
 .515 
 
 1,469 
 
 1.360 
 
 1.268 
 
 1.380 
 
 Soda in insoluble sili- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cates 
 
 .312 
 
 .598 
 
 .398 
 
 1.418 
 
 .153 
 
 .267 
 
 .694 
 
 .309 
 
 .588 
 
 Fine quartz sand . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2.050 
 
 2.200 
 
152 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 From the above it will be seen that none of these lands are 
 very clayey ; but, on the contrary, are largely made up of a 
 fine silty material insoluble in acids. 
 
 The lime percentage is almost nothing in the lower portion 
 of the valley; is very small in the central part, and much 
 greater, though still small, in the upper portion near the 
 Tennessee State line, where limestone becomes a more promi- 
 nent rock in the hills. The magnesia percentage is more 
 constant throughout the valley. 
 
 The phosphoric acid percentage is very variable, being 
 small in all of the soils, and fair in the land of Shannon ' 
 creek. 
 
 The amount of potash is deficient in the glady soil near 
 Jonathan creek, though large in its subsoil; is fair in the 
 lands of the lower portion of the valley, and soils of the 
 upper portion, while the subsoils of the latte'r are very rich 
 in it. The insoluble silicates contain extremely large per- 
 centages of potash, except in the glady subsoil near Jona- 
 than creek. 
 
 In decayed vegetation the lands of the upper part of the 
 valley are again richer than in the central or lower portion, 
 being marked by a denser and greater variety of under- 
 growth. 
 
 Valley of the Ohio . — This valley, exclusive of the bottom 
 lands, lies entirely within Kentucky, and covers an area of 
 about seventy-five square miles, from Paducah, where it 
 joins that of the Tennessee and Clark’s rivers, westward to 
 the Mississippi bottom. 
 
 At first the valley has a width but little more than two 
 miles ; but when near the Ballard county line it suddenly 
 widens, the southern limit changing from its north-west to a 
 south-west and west course, giving to it a width of about six 
 miles. 
 
 The surface of this valley is uneven, and lies about thirty 
 feet above the bottom lands and one hundred below that of 
 the bordering uplands. 
 
 This highland border is usually quite abrupt in the region 
 of Paducah ; . but westward the change from the valley to 
 the hills is somewhat more gradual. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s i*uuciiase uk(hon. 153 
 
 The bottoms bordering the streams that cut across the val- 
 ley are but little below the general level, and are very narrow. 
 
 The character of the valley lands is very similar to that 
 of the Tennessee. Its soils are brownish loams, more or less 
 micaceous, light and mellow where properly drained, but 
 whitish and crawlishy, cold and compact, where drainage is 
 wanting. On the latter lands, which embrace the Jlats of 
 rhe valley, water usually stands for some time after rains, 
 slowly permeating the soil and producing a leaching effect. 
 The growth of these flats is generally post oak, with some 
 hickory. 
 
 Very little of the valley land is under cultivation, because 
 of its cold, stiff and untillable character. 
 
 Analyses of samples of the soil from several localities are 
 given below. 
 
 Valley of Clark's River . — The valley of this stream begins 
 properly just below Kaler post office, in Graves county, on 
 the West Fork, where, from a mere point, it widens slowly 
 to me McCracKen county lirxS at Hard Money, where it sud- 
 denly turns westward for a mile or so, and thence, to near 
 Paducah, has a very uneven upland border, which rises one 
 hundred feet above it. Its extreme width, from Florence to 
 the junction of the East and West Fork, is about five miles. 
 On the East Fork it begins above the town, and thence, to 
 the main body, has an average width of less than a mile. 
 The river has scarcely any bottom land within the valley. 
 
 The surface of the valley is very level and with no drain- 
 age, and its soils, in consequence, have a whitish, leached 
 character, cold, stiff and crawlishy, affording very little land 
 naturally fit for cultivation. Along the borders of streams 
 or gullies, however, the water, percolating through the soil, 
 has an opportunity to escape into these channels, and we find 
 very narrow belts that are thus rendered tillable, being light, 
 open and brownish-yellow ; but such are not in abundance. 
 
 The valley land is chiefly valuable for its fine timber, 
 embracing large oaks and hickory. There is comparatively 
 little undergrowth, and this gives to the region an open 
 appearance. An analysis of a representative soil is given 
 below. 
 
164 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 2.561. Yirgin Soil of the fiatwood loam, Bandana, 
 Ballard county ; it is of a yellowish-brown color. Clods are 
 friable. Contains some shot iron ore and a few small quartz 
 pebbles. Taken to a depth of ten inches. Timber growth 
 is post oak and hickory. 
 
 N o. 2562. Subsoil of the next preceding ; it is of a dirty 
 light-yellowish color, and contains only a little shot iron ore ; 
 the clods are firm. Taken from ten to sixteen inches. 
 
 No. 2767. Soil of the oak and hickory fiat lands of Albert 
 Bradshaw, south-west of Paducah, McCracken county. When 
 dry it is of a brownish-grey color. Clods are firm. The soil 
 contains a small quantity of fine hyaline quartz sand. Taken 
 to a depth of ten inches. Timber growth, post oak and 
 hickory. 
 
 No. 2768. Subsoil of the next preceding ; it is of a lighter 
 and more yellowish color than the preceding. Clods are 
 firm. Contains 2.75 per cent, of fine hyaline quartz sand. 
 Taken from ten to fifteen inches. 
 
 No. 2773. Virgin Soil of post oak flatwoods, one mile 
 west of Paducah, on Hinkleville road, McCracken county. 
 The soil is brownish-grey ; the clods are friable. Contains 
 2.3 per cent, shot iron ore, and a little hyaline quartz sand. 
 Taken to a depth of ten inches. Timber, chiefly post oak. 
 
 No. 2774. Subsoil of the next preceding ; when dry is of 
 a light yellowish-grey color. Clods are quite friable. Con- 
 tains some shot iron ore and a small quantity of fine quartz 
 sand. Taken from ten to fifteen inches. 
 
 No. 2775. Virgin Soil of the post oak flatwoods, near the 
 county line north of Woodville, McCracken county; when 
 dry is of a light-grey or ashy color, and friable. Contains 
 some shot iron ore. Taken to a depth of ten inches. Tim- 
 ber growth, almost exclusively post oak. 
 
 No. 2776. Subsoil of the next preceding; it is of a very 
 light-grey color. Small clods are somewhat firm. Contains 
 some shot iron ore and hyaline quartz sand. Taken from 
 ten to fifteen inches deep. 
 
 No. 2750. Yirgin Soil of post oak fiats of East Fork of 
 Clark’s river, north of Stringtown, Marshall county. It is 
 crawfishy in character. Contains some shot iron ore and fine 
 white sand. Taken, to a depth of ten inches. Subsoil appar- 
 ently similar in character to the soil. Timber growth, post 
 oak, chiefly. 
 
KIVER VALLEY OR FLAT LANDS. 
 
 OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 155 
 
 (C 
 
 > 
 
 c 2 
 
 U 1 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 c 
 
 IS 
 
 o 
 
 ’S) 
 
 c 
 
 Ph 
 
 c 3 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 lO CO O CD 
 
 ^ r— 1- 
 
 
 
 ?§ 
 
 O *1" CD 
 
 
 
 0^ CO 1- 
 
 X CS 1- 
 
 X DO »D 
 
 O X Dl 
 
 
 
 00 CD O O 
 
 1 -^ ^ o cs o 
 
 I'- 
 
 X CS CD 
 
 
 
 CO 3* CO 
 
 
 
 1- 
 
 05 
 
 rH r-H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 “ 
 
 (M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 !25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <— 
 
 1- 
 
 »D O — 
 
 iD O UO 
 
 
 X DO 
 
 X 
 
 O CD 05 
 
 
 I'- 
 
 CO C5 1.0 CD 
 
 X X cs 
 
 
 -D 
 
 X 
 
 iO CD ^ 
 
 CA 
 
 (M 
 
 CD CN O r-M 
 
 DJ O 1-1 
 
 
 CD 
 
 o 
 
 O CD DO 
 
 
 
 ^ CO r-l 
 
 
 
 DJ 
 
 d 
 
 f-^ i-H rH 
 
 72 
 
 t2; 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 t- 
 
 CO CO CO ^ 
 
 -- -M 05 iD X CD 
 
 CD 
 
 CD CD DO 
 
 • 
 
 t>- 
 
 00 — CO i-^ 
 
 O O 1- 
 
 ^ X DO 
 
 
 1 - TJ' CD 
 
 
 
 O 00 O rH 
 
 ^ O ^ 
 
 
 lO 
 
 
 X -3 O 
 
 32 
 
 o 
 
 (M OS r-f 
 
 
 
 DO 
 
 d 
 
 O 1-H ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 t'- 
 
 05 CS r-« 
 
 1— 05 D1 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 O CD X 
 
 
 t— 
 
 O 00 C5 
 
 CS 1 - o 
 
 
 CD 
 
 t— 
 
 O X r-H 
 
 U3 
 
 
 CO 05 ^ O CO O CO 
 
 
 t'- 
 
 p- 
 
 1'- 1— 
 
 
 d 
 
 (N CO 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 r-H 1 -H 
 
 72 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 I'' 
 
 t>- CD CD I'- 
 
 ID 
 
 I'- 
 
 CD X 
 
 X 
 
 0X3^ 
 
 
 t-- 
 
 o CO X is 
 
 
 X 
 
 TJ1 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 O DO o 
 
 
 CN 
 
 CD 00 O «— 
 
 X O ^ 
 
 O 05 DO 
 
 DO 
 
 cD 3* 
 
 72 
 
 
 SS uO CO 
 
 
 
 t'- 
 
 o 
 
 r-H rH 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 35 
 
 ^ X O -t' 
 
 iD I'' 
 
 (N 00 O 
 
 X 
 
 CD X O 
 
 
 t- 
 
 X 1- ^ CD 
 
 X cs 
 
 X X 05 
 
 o 
 
 DO -t* O 
 
 
 C'J 
 
 !>• iC 
 
 O O DO O 
 
 Tf 
 
 o 
 
 X X cD 
 
 3 
 
 
 CO CD X 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 CS rH 
 
 72 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 L- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 lO ^ O 
 
 CD O ^ 
 
 05 
 
 05 X 
 
 05 
 
 O CD O 
 
 
 V- 
 
 X O Ci ^ 
 
 r-< t'' 
 
 
 O X 
 
 X 
 
 ID r- X 
 
 
 (M 
 
 CO X O (M O ^ CS 
 
 
 05 D4 
 
 CD 
 
 t- DO 
 
 72 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 DO 1-H 
 
 
 Z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 'N 
 
 
 rjH uO DO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 Tj* X ir^ CD 
 
 CD X CD 
 
 
 iD 1-H «-H 
 
 
 O 
 
 1-H (N 
 
 ^ DO X 
 
 TfH CD 
 
 05 
 
 P- 05 CD 
 
 (ji 
 
 (N 
 
 ^ o o o 
 
 X ^ 
 
 
 CD X 
 
 DO 
 
 CO uD O 
 
 Xi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 d 
 
 CS X 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 d 
 
 
 72 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 CS 05 X ^ 
 
 X X O X DO DO 
 
 X 
 
 O 05 X 
 
 
 uO 
 
 TtH X CD 05 o C5 
 
 
 'Tii lO 
 
 lO 
 
 X X O 
 
 
 
 CD CD X O 
 
 .-H ^ DO DO X 05 
 
 X 
 
 TjH TJ1 DO 
 
 72 
 
 
 X CS 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 r-H 1 -H .-H 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 
 <1 
 
 » 
 
 > 
 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 23 
 
 ^ i 
 
 ”o rr 
 
 3 
 
 IZh 
 
 o 
 
 Ph 
 
 r2 pc< 
 3 
 
 >> 
 
 3 
 
 PP 
 
 H 
 
 <1 
 
 (P 
 
 s 
 
 Q 
 
 :s 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 (J 
 
 T 3 
 
 : X 
 
 ) o 
 
 S- ^ 2 a.- 
 
 — « G3 3 C« 
 
 C3 ^ 
 
 ^ 3 
 
 P,— 
 
 X rp 
 0 ? c 
 
 • t- 
 
 bS) o 
 
 
 C3 c5 
 
 o’? 
 
 ^ 72 
 
 is -3 
 c 3 C 
 > c 8 
 
 bCj 
 
 : ^ 
 : “3 
 
156 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES . 
 
 A notable feature in all of the above analyses is the low 
 l)ercenta(je of both lime, phosphoric acid, and of decayed 
 vegetable matter. 
 
 The potash is in fair amounts in all except the lands of the 
 post oak hats around Paducah ; while, on the contrary, the 
 percentage is very good in the soil of the flats near String- 
 town on the East Fork of Clark’s river, and in the subsoil 
 of the Ohio valley, near Bandana. 
 
 A marked difference is observed in the lands of the oak 
 and hickory flats, and those of the post oak flats, near Padu- 
 cah, the former having nearly double the amount of lime, a 
 little more phosphoric acid, and much more potash ; this, 
 too, although the amount of potash in the insoluble condi- 
 tion is greatest in the poorer soil. The reason for this lies, 
 probably, in the action of the larger amount of decayed vege- 
 tation in the oak and hickory land. 
 
 The soil of Clark’s river valley, near Stringtown, is the 
 richest of all the above soils in its potash and phosphoric 
 acid. Lime is, however, deficient, and its surface is too flat 
 for good drainage. 
 
 UPLANDS. 
 
 The physical features of the uplands of the Purchase have 
 already been given on a previous page. They comprise an 
 uneven surface, grooved by many streams and their small 
 tributaries, which have cut deep into the soft brown loam 
 of the surface, the gravel underlying, and the under-clays 
 and sands. The uplands bordering these streams are in turn 
 often deeply gullied and washed for some distance back from 
 the bottoms, the soil being easily carried away by rains. 
 
 The uplands comprise several divisions ; the Gane Hills or 
 bluff lands that cap the high bluffs bordering the Mississippi 
 river bottom ; the timbered (oak and hickory) region, or that 
 portion bearing a large and varied growth of oaks, hickory, 
 l>oplar, etc., and so designated popularly to distinguish them 
 from the Barrens, another division which was originally an 
 open prairie ; and the Flatwoods, which occupy only a small 
 area in Calloway county. 
 
 At present the entire region is timbered, except where 
 cut away for tillage purposes. 
 
 The divisions are considered separately. 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. I.')? 
 
 CANE HILL OR HLUFF REGION. 
 
 The lands belonging to this division are confined exclu- 
 sively to the high bluffs that border the bottom lands of 
 the Mississippi river, forming a narrow belt, which is con- 
 tinued southward through the States of Tennessee and Missis- 
 sippi into Louisiana, and is characterized throughout by the 
 same soils and timber growth, together with an undergrowth 
 of cane, whence the name of Cane Hills. The surface is 
 underlaid by a grey calcareous silt, having a depth of from 
 ten to as much as thirty feet, and which forms another 
 distinguishing feature of the belt. 
 
 In Kentucky the region reaches from the Tennessee State 
 line northward to Shawnee creek bej^ond Wickliffe, Ballard 
 county. Northward it was probably at some time continu- 
 ous into the State of Illinois, as it appears on the Ohio 
 bluffs at Caledonia; but all traces of the formation between 
 these points have been swept away by the floods that exca- 
 vated the broad valley flats along the south side of the Ohio 
 river and, at a later period, the broad bottoms of the Mis- 
 sissippi, from Wickliffe to Caledonia. 
 
 The fact that the present belt is highest along its river 
 border, and that this border is highest in its most westerly 
 portion, viz., at the Tennessee line, gradually falling in ele- 
 vation northward as the border recedes eastward, indicates 
 that at some time the bluffs were very much wider, having 
 been worn away by the combined currents of the three great 
 rivers ; those portions offering greatest resistance in their 
 compact Tertiary clay deposits still standing out to the 
 water’s edge, and gradually yielding to the undermining 
 action of the river current. 
 
 The region in Kentucky covers about forty-five square 
 miles, and is widest along the Tennessee State line, reach- 
 ing eastward to about Snapneck creek, a distance of about 
 four miles. The slope inland is here very gradual, but 
 northward, as the belt rapidly narrows, the ridge feature is 
 more and more prominent, until at the town of Hickman, 
 where the ridge comes to a point, its eastern descent is 
 very abrupt. After passing the wide bottoms of Bayou de 
 Chien and Obion creek, the Cane Hills begin again at Me- 
 
158 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Leod’s Bluff, with an elevation of but fifty feet; but, along 
 the north-westerly trend, the bluffs rise, and at Chalk 
 Banks” and at Columbus they have an elevation of about 
 one hundred and eighty feet above the bottom lands. Here' 
 they have a rather gradual slope to the Obion creek. Groing 
 still northward from Columbus, the bluffs recede from the 
 river to the eastward, and consequently become lower, ter- 
 minating at Shawnee creek in low elevations and but a small 
 width. 
 
 The soil of the Cane Hills region is a light loam, dark 
 from decayed vegetation, and considered to be the richest 
 upland within the Purchase Region. The timber growth 
 indicates this in its splendid walnuts, poplars, maples, white 
 and Spanish oaks, and in the cane undergrowth. 
 
 The surface of the region is, however, so broken and cut 
 up by the deep ravines and washes that have been pro- 
 duced by the drainage waters flowing from the edge of the 
 bluffs toward the interior, that it is only occasionally that 
 areas of level land can be found sufficient for fields of any 
 size, except in the broader region near the Tennessee line. 
 
 The following analyses of samples of these lands, from 
 several localities, have been made by Dr. Peter for the 
 Survey. 
 
 ’ No. 2128. Virgin Soil. Farm of Capt. Henry Tyler, three 
 miles south-east from Hickman, Fulton county. Growth, 
 mostly poplar, maple, white and Spanish oaks, and some 
 walnut. Contained but a small proportion of partly-rounded 
 ferruginous particles. 
 
 No. 2129. Subsoil of the next preceding, etc., taken twenty- 
 four inches below the surface. 
 
 No 2130. Soil from an old field near the location of the 
 next preceding soil, on Capt. Henry Tyler’s tarm, near Hick- 
 man, Fulton county. Taken ten inches deep. The yield 
 is sixty-five bushels of corn per acre. 
 
 No. 2131. Subsoil of the next preceding; taken carefully 
 from fifteen to twenty-four inches below the surface. The 
 bulk of the sample is from twenty-four inches below the 
 
 surface. 
 
OF THE Jackson’s i’ukciiase ueoion. 
 
 159 
 
 No. 2132. Virgin Upland Soil on Capt. Henry Tyler’s 
 farm, near Hickman, Fulton county. Timber, proportion in 
 order named : black walnut, white oak, sugar maple, and red 
 oak. 
 
 No. 2133. Subsoil of the next preceding soil, from Capt. 
 Tyler’s farm ; taken twelve to twenty-four inches below the 
 surface. 
 
 No. 2164. Soil. Two years in cultivation in corn. Thought 
 to be the prevailing upland soil in Hickman county. 
 
 No. 2566. Virgin, Dark, Bluff Loam Soil. Near the 
 mouth of Mayfield creek, Ballard county. Taken eight 
 inches deep. Growth, poplar, white oak and hickory. 
 
 No. 2567. Subsoil of the next preceding ; bluff loam ; taken 
 from eight to twelve inches below the surface. 
 
 GKEY SILT OK BLUFF LANDS. 
 
 
 
 
 Fulton 
 
 County, 
 
 
 
 Hick- 
 man Co. 
 
 Ballard County. 
 
 
 Near Hickman. 
 
 Colum 
 
 bus 
 
 South 0 May • 
 field Creek. 
 
 Composition Dried at 
 
 
 Cultivated. 
 
 
 Virgin. 
 
 
 
 
 212® F. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cultiva- 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ted Soil. 
 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 2128 
 
 No. 2129 
 
 No 2130 
 
 No. 2131 
 
 No 2132 
 
 No. 2133 
 
 No. 2164 
 
 No. 2560 
 
 No. 2567 
 
 Organic and volatile 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 matter 
 
 3.090 
 
 2.285 
 
 8 375 
 
 4,140 
 
 2 860 
 
 2.165 
 
 4 140 
 
 3.733 
 
 1.281 
 
 Alumina and manga, 
 nese oxide 
 
 1 
 
 j-3 825 
 
 It.too 
 
 1 
 
 U 860 
 
 ] 
 
 I- 10.560 
 
 1 
 
 i-3.560 
 
 1 
 
 '(■6.550 
 
 1 
 
 [•3.694 
 
 2 130 
 
 3.268 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 
 j 
 
 j 
 
 j 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 
 1.519 
 
 2.224 
 
 Lime 
 
 .395 
 
 .145 
 
 1.395 
 
 .795 
 
 .345 
 
 .110 
 
 .495 
 
 .349 
 
 .146 
 
 ]^Iagne?ia 
 
 .214 
 
 268 
 
 .,598 
 
 .169 
 
 .142 
 
 .232 
 
 .232 
 
 .175 
 
 .234 
 
 Phosphoric acid .... 
 
 .125 
 
 .115 
 
 .125 
 
 .115 
 
 .125 
 
 .140 
 
 .1.56 
 
 .095 
 
 .078 
 
 Potash 
 
 .066 
 
 .186 
 
 .332 
 
 .208 
 
 .074 
 
 .275 
 
 .182 
 
 .265 
 
 .109 
 
 Soda 
 
 Water expelled at 380° 
 
 not est. 
 
 .142 
 
 .073 
 
 317 
 
 .182 
 
 .050 
 
 .564 
 
 .057 
 
 .023 
 
 F 
 
 Sand and insoluble sili- 
 
 1.050 
 
 .840 
 
 2.650 
 
 1.501 
 
 .975 
 
 .650 
 
 1.010 
 
 1.064 
 
 .958 
 
 cates 
 
 91 125 
 
 87.795 
 
 79.340 
 
 82 395 
 
 91.740 
 
 89 670 
 
 90 095 
 
 90.303 
 
 91 . 069 
 
 Total 
 
 99.890 
 
 99 476 
 
 99.748 
 
 100.200 
 
 100 003 
 
 99.842 
 
 100.568 
 
 99.690 
 
 99 390 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture . 
 Potash in the insoluble 
 
 1 335 
 
 2 610 
 
 3 585 
 
 3.975 
 
 1.000 
 
 1.725 
 
 1.735 
 
 1.300 
 
 .900 
 
 silicates 
 
 Soda in the insoluble 
 
 1 784 
 
 1.675 
 
 1.865 
 
 1.873 
 
 1.969 
 
 1 935 
 
 1.899 
 
 1.859 
 
 2.031 
 
 silicates 
 
 1 208 
 
 .893 
 
 1.030 
 
 .841 
 
 .8t2 
 
 .991 
 
 .573 
 
 1.025 
 
 .927 
 
 The above soils, being derived from calcaceous silt, show 
 naturally a fair percentage of lime — that of the soil No. 2130, 
 and its subsoil, being very large. 
 
160 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 As a whole, the percentage of phosphoric acid in the 
 different soils is fair for a soil with so little clay — that 
 of the soil of the Columbus bluffs being the greatest. 
 
 The potash percentage varies greatly — is low in several 
 instances, and fair in the richer soils. 
 
 THE FLATWOODS. 
 
 In the counties of Marshall and Calloway there are large 
 areas of uplands that are very level, and are known as 
 “the Flatwoods.” That in Marshall county lies south-west 
 of Benton, and covers an area of nearly ten square miles 
 upon the divide between the drainage waters of the East 
 and West Forks of Clark’s river. The surface is a little 
 undulating, and in the low places the soil is inclined to be 
 crawfishy, with a post oak growth. On the higher places 
 it is the brownish-yellow loam of the rest of the county, 
 with a timber growth of black oak and hickory, and some 
 white oak, dogwood and sassafras. The soil is said to yield 
 about twenty-five bushels of corn, or ten of wheat per acre ; 
 it is, however, best for tobacco, of which it yields from 
 eight hundred to one thousand pounds per acre. 
 
 The Flatwoods of Calloway county lie south of Murray, 
 reaching from the south side of the river to the Tennessee 
 State line, covering an area about six miles long and two 
 to three in breadth, or about sixteen square miles of sur- 
 face. It is the northern termination of that long and narrow 
 belt reaching from the central part of Alabama north-west- 
 ward and northward through north-east Mississippi and West 
 Tennessee, and possessing features very similar throughout.* 
 
 In Kentucky, the Flatwoods presents a very level surface, 
 with large bodies of stiff, whitish, crawfishy land, timbered 
 with a growth of red and post oaks ; the better lands, with 
 their loamy soils, having an additional intermixture of hick- 
 ory. The crawfish lands are impervious to a depth of sev- 
 eral feet, and in wet seasons water stands in ponds upon 
 these flats for a long time. These soils yield very poorly, 
 
 ■*See Tenth Census Reports on Cotton Production for these States, volumes 
 V and VI. 
 
OK TIIK JACKSON’S PUKCIIASE IlKOION, 
 
 161 
 
 the average being, it is said, but iive bushels of corn, ten of 
 wheat, or seven hundred pounds of tobacco per acre. 
 
 The following analyses of these Flatvvoods lands have been 
 made by T)r. Peter for the Survey, the soils having been col- 
 lected during the progress of the Survey. 
 
 No. 2G3i. Virgin Soil of the post oak Flatwoods, two 
 miles east of the Murray and Paris road, near the State line, 
 Calloway county. Taken six inches deep. When dry it is 
 of a dirty grey-buff color ; clods are friable. It contains 
 some bog iron ore and tine white quartz sand. Timber 
 growth is post and red oaks. 
 
 No. 2633. Subsoil of the next preceding. It is of a light 
 yellowish-grey color. Taken from six to ten inches in depth. 
 The clods are somewhat firmer than those of the preceding, 
 and the soil contains some shot iron ore and fine white quartz 
 sand. 
 
 No. 2625. Virgin Soil of upland, one mile north of New 
 Providence, Calloway county. Taken six inches deep. When 
 dry it is of a light grey-brown color; clods are friable, and 
 the soil contains some shot iron ore. Timber growth is 
 post and red oaks and hickory. 
 
 No. 2626. Subsoil of the next preceding. It is of a lighter 
 color, and more reddish than the preceding, and the clods 
 are firmer. 
 
 No. 2754. Flatwood Virgin Soil, four miles south of Ben- 
 ton, on Harvey road, Marshall county. Taken eight inches. 
 When dry it is of a light grey-brown color, and contains a 
 small quantity of shot iron ore. Timber growth comprises 
 red and white oaks, hickory and sassafras. 
 
 No. 2755. Subsoil of the next preceding. Taken from eight 
 to fourteen inches deep. It is of a light grey-brown color. 
 The clods are moderately firm. 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 11 . 
 
162 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUEES 
 
 UPLAND FLAT WOODS SOILS. 
 
 Dried at 212° F. 
 
 Calloway County. 
 
 Mak.shall Co. 
 
 Two miles east of 
 the Murray and 
 Paris road. 
 
 One mile north of 
 New Providence. 
 
 Four miles south 
 of Benton. 
 
 Crawfish 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Crawfish 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 Soil. 
 
 Subsoil. 
 
 No. 2632 
 
 No. 2633 
 
 No. 2625 
 
 No. 2626 
 
 No. 2754 
 
 No. 2755 
 
 Organic and volatile matter . 
 
 2.650 
 
 2.188 
 
 2.862 
 
 2.569 
 
 2.949 
 
 2.330 
 
 Alumina and mangan’se oxide 
 
 1.989 
 
 2.899 
 
 3.321 
 
 4.920 
 
 3.671 
 
 4.037 
 
 Iron peroxide 
 
 2.564 
 
 2.836 
 
 2.968 
 
 4.145 
 
 2.077 
 
 2.667 
 
 Lime carbonate 
 
 .652 
 
 .096 
 
 trace. 
 
 .046 
 
 .046 
 
 .046. 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 .089 
 
 .153 
 
 .234 
 
 .215 
 
 .226 
 
 .327 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 .076 
 
 .094 
 
 .062 
 
 .062 
 
 .046 
 
 .014 
 
 Potash 
 
 .068 
 
 .127 
 
 .369 
 
 .151 
 
 .117 
 
 .079 
 
 Soda 
 
 
 
 
 .097 
 
 • • 
 
 .048 
 
 Water expelled at 380° . . . 
 
 .657 
 
 .522 
 
 .824 
 
 .755 
 
 .974 
 
 .794 
 
 Sand and insoluble silicates . 
 
 91.345 
 
 90.900 
 
 89.353 
 
 86.342 
 
 89.452 
 
 89.453 
 
 Total 
 
 100 090 
 
 99.815 
 
 99.993 
 
 99.302 
 
 99.558 
 
 99.795 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture. . . . 
 
 1.150 
 
 1.300 
 
 0.950 
 
 1.125 
 
 1.300 
 
 1.300 
 
 Potash in insoluble silicates . 
 
 1.090 
 
 1.093 
 
 1.245 
 
 1.264 
 
 1.434 
 
 1.462 
 
 Soda in insoluble silicates. . 
 
 .455 
 
 .439 
 
 .374 
 
 .339 
 
 .542 
 
 .430 
 
 Fine quartz sand 
 
 5.800 
 
 5.050 
 
 
 
 
 
 It will be seen at a glance that these soils and subsoils 
 are deficient in phosphoric acid, and also in potash, in an 
 available form, with the exception of the soil from near New 
 Providence, which has a fair amount of the latter. , 
 
 The soil and subsoil. Nos. 2632 and 2633, from the typical 
 flatwoods, near the Tennessee line, are crawfishy in character, 
 and contain much less clay than the others whose analyses 
 are given ; there are larger percentages of phosphoric acid 
 and lime than in the others. 
 
 The analyses of the lands from the other two localities 
 in Calloway and Marshall counties show them to be more 
 clayey and somewhat richer than the first, a result to be 
 expected, because of their better drainage and more loamy 
 condition. 
 
 In all of the specimens the analyses show that while the 
 alkalies are present in very large amounts, they are very 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCJIASK UKGION. lOIi 
 
 largely held in an insoluble condition as silicate. The remedy 
 is obviously the application of lime to release the potash 
 and render it available for the plant roots, the mechanical 
 condition also being improved by thorough drainage. The 
 phosphoric acid must be supplied by some fertilizer. 
 
 UPLAND “barrens.” 
 
 There is within the Purchase counties a broad region of 
 country which was formerly an open treeless prairie, but 
 which, within the past thirty years, has been covered with 
 a low growth of red and black jack oaks, and is still known 
 as the Barrens.'''' In the country west of Mayfield to Obion 
 creek it is said that twenty-five years ago the prairie grass 
 was as high as the head of a man on horseback. 
 
 The region occupies the central part of the Purchase coun- 
 try, and comprises two regions — the first beginning at the 
 Tennessee State line in the southern part of Graves county, 
 reaches northeastward and northward into south Marshall 
 and northern Graves. It is outlined on the agricultural map 
 accompanying this report. Beginning a little west of Boyds- 
 ville, the eastern limit, with very irregular outlines, passes 
 east of Harris Grove, a little west of Murray, north to and 
 a little beyond Wadesboro, thence west nearly to the West 
 Fork of Clark’s river, and from west side of that river north- 
 westward to Ragsdale, Mayfield creek bluffs. It embraces 
 the country west of the latter creek from two or three miles 
 west of Lewisburg, southward via Kansas, Pottsville, Fancy 
 Farm, Dublin and Wingo, to the Tennessee line. The region 
 passes but a very short distance into Tennessee, apparently 
 limited by the water divide that separates the streams of 
 that State from those of this part of Kentucky. 
 
 The second and large region lies still north-west from 
 this region, but separated from it by the uplands that bor 
 der the north side of Mayfield creek. This tract has its 
 western limit in a line with that of the southern barrens, 
 and reaches from Hazlewood south-east to and beyond 
 Slater post-office, and thence it bends north-east to near 
 Maxon’s Mill post-office, and is limited on the northern 
 border by the Ohio river valley. 
 
1G4 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The entire area covered by the Barrens is about five hun- 
 dred square miles. Within this area most of the streams 
 are bordered by the so-called timbered uplands in narrow 
 belts. 
 
 The growth that first sprang up on the prairies was black 
 jack oak, which, as the soil was improved by decayed veg- 
 etation, was replaced by red oak, which at present is only 
 about twenty or twenty-five feet high, the tops presenting 
 quite an even appearance. A larger post oak tree is occa- 
 sionally found standing among the other oaks. 
 
 In its general character, excepting the growth, the Bar- 
 rens region is very similar to the Oak and Hickory uplands, 
 and it often happens that the timber itself changes but 
 gradually from one to the other. 
 
 In their chemical composition, also, the lands of the two 
 divisions are very similar, as may be seen from the analyses 
 of their respective soils. 
 
 The soil is a brown loam, several feet in depth, the subsoil 
 being lighter in color, and permeated by seams of a whiter 
 and more silty character. 
 
 In the flat portions of the region the soil has a still and 
 white crawfishy nature, often containing much red and yel- 
 low ferruginous concretionary gravel or bog iron ore. It is 
 said that only upon these bog ore tracts will water remain 
 for any length of time in ponds prepared for watering 
 purposes ; the other lands being so loose that water will 
 percolate downward and drain off. 
 
 The tilling qualities of the Barrens land is the same as 
 of other uplands. The crops are corn, wheat and tobacco, 
 the land being especially adapted to the latter. 
 
 A tobacco merchant in Milburn asserts that he can at 
 sight determine the kind of land a crop of tobacco has 
 been raised upon, when offered to him for purchase; that 
 from the Barrens having small stems, small fibre, dark 
 color and good body; that of the oak and hickory uplands 
 being the reverse in condition. 
 
 The yield in tobacco is from eight hundred to one thou- 
 sand pounds per acre. For corn and wheat the yield is no 
 better than on other lands. 
 
 Analyses have been made of the following soils, as shown 
 in the table below. 
 
 No. 2096. Barrens Soil. Farm of W. H. Reeves, about 
 
OF THE JACKSON S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 105 
 
 six miles north of Blandville. Four years in cultivation 
 in tobacco, three years in corn, and four in wheat. The 
 dried soil is in friable lumps, of a dirty yellowish-brown 
 color. It contains a few soft ferruginous concretions and 
 small quartz pebbles. 
 
 No. 2097. Subsoil of the field above described. Sample 
 taken twelve to eighteen inches below the surface. The 
 dried subsoil is in friable clods ; its color is somewhat lighter 
 than that of the preceding. It contains only a few small, 
 rounded ferruginous concretions. 
 
 No. 2559. Virgin Upland Brown Loam Soil from Bar- 
 rens, one mile south-east of Hazelwood, Ballard county. 
 Contains some bog iron ore. Taken eight inches deep. 
 Timber growth comprises red and black jack oaks. 
 
 No. 2560. Subsoil of the next preceding. Contains some 
 bog iron ore. Taken eight to fourteen inches deep. 
 
 No. 2771. Virgin Soil of Red Oak Barrens, four miles 
 east of Woodville, McCracken county. Soil is of a grey- 
 brown color. Clpds are friable. Taken eight inches deep. 
 The silicious residue contains a small quantity of fine hyaline 
 quartz sand. Timber growth is small red and post oaks ; 
 occasionally a large oak tree. 
 
 No. 2772. Subsoil of next preceding. It is of a brown- 
 ish-buff color, lighter colored than the preceding. Taken 
 from eight to twelve inches deep. Clods are friable. Con- 
 tains 3.60 per cent, of bog iron ore. 
 
 No. 2660. Virgin Soil of Black Jack Oak Barrens,, three 
 miles north-west of Mayfield, Graves county. Taken six 
 inches deep. Soil, when dry, is of a brownish-grey color. 
 Clods are friable. 
 
 No. 2661. Subsoil of the next preceding. Taken from six 
 to twelve inches. When dry is of a greyish-buff color. Clods 
 are comparatively firm. 
 
 No. 2623. Virgin Soil of the Big Barrens. Ten miles 
 northwest of Murray, Calloway county. Taken six inches 
 deep. The dried soil is of a greyish-brown color. Clods are 
 friable. It contains some bog iron ore and fine white sand. 
 Timber growth, red, black jack and post oak, and some 
 hickory, all small. 
 
 No. 2624. Subsoil of next preceding. Taken from six to 
 twelve inches. It is of a lighter and more reddish grey- 
 brown color than the preceding. Clods are more firm. 
 
COMPOSITIOIS! OF BARRENS SOILS. 
 
 166 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND 
 
 ECONOMIC 
 
 FEATURES 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 n o 
 
 
 -P CD I* Ci 
 
 O CD 
 
 b- 
 
 0 X 04 
 
 
 •4^ 
 
 
 
 C<J 
 
 CO CO 
 
 
 CO d: O X 00 
 
 CD O 
 
 -P 
 
 tO t'- 05 
 
 
 9 . 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O “M 
 
 
 O O CO . 
 
 X i-i 
 
 1- 
 
 04 X 1- 
 
 o 
 
 
 CO 
 
 IM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (M >0 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 if 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 c: 
 
 
 
 CN 
 
 o o 
 
 
 CN CD »D CO -t’ O O CO 
 
 04 
 
 0 04 »- 
 
 pj 
 
 
 
 
 C3 
 
 -f C: 
 
 
 CD c: c; X r-i 
 
 CD X 
 
 to 
 
 tO 05 X 
 
 hj 
 
 iz 
 
 ^ o 
 
 
 'o 
 
 
 O ^ 
 
 
 X O O O -H 
 
 O X 
 
 0 
 
 ^ to X 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 CO CO 
 
 
 (M 
 
 ^ X 
 X 
 
 d 
 
 0 
 
 l-H ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 i'' O c: O Ci CD CO 
 
 
 to 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 OG r-i 
 
 
 X -f CO -*t< r— ( CO 
 
 uO ^ 
 
 X 
 
 04 1- 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 (N 
 
 ^ o 
 
 
 --p r- 04 O 1— O 
 
 ^ X 
 
 t- 
 
 to X X 
 
 
 CO tG 
 
 
 
 
 CM CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 04 
 
 ^ Oi 
 
 05 
 
 0 .-1 
 
 Q 
 
 5 ‘r 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 c/; 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o ^ 
 S o 
 
 t- . 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 O CD 
 
 
 CD CD C5 O * 
 
 CD uO 
 
 0 
 
 to 04 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 fD 
 
 CO CO 
 
 
 tD c: iC X tP 
 
 o o 
 
 
 ^ X 0 
 
 
 
 "o 
 
 (M 
 
 CD CD 
 
 
 1- O 1-^ O * 
 
 CD 04 
 
 to 
 
 05 1— TP 
 
 c: 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 £ 
 
 OA G^’ 
 
 
 1-H 
 
 
 05 
 
 d ^ r-H 
 
 o 
 
 CH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 
 
 
 
 cO 
 
 
 CO 1- O i-O CD X to CO 
 
 05 
 
 0 04 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 t- 
 
 CO 
 
 
 XC0C5O»-HCDXO 
 
 
 0 to CD 
 
 
 oj ;z: 
 
 
 (O' 
 
 rO 
 
 (M 
 
 CO o:> 
 
 
 X o oi O 01 
 
 X X 
 
 04 
 
 to 04 ^ 
 
 
 CO > 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 <N 
 
 
 04 
 
 X 
 
 d 
 
 
 w 
 
 0) 
 
 r:= o 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 0 
 
 
 1 
 
 c ^ 
 
 
 
 
 CO O'. 
 
 
 co-^o*— 00404CO 
 
 1'- 
 
 to X X 
 
 ! 
 
 
 • 
 
 t'' 
 
 CD CO 
 
 
 CD CO 04 04 CC O 
 
 CD X 
 
 t— 
 
 to ^ 
 
 1 o 
 
 
 
 
 (N 
 
 00 O 
 
 
 t'- ^ 04 ^ X 
 
 CD O 
 
 X 
 
 CD to to 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 d 
 
 CO TP 
 
 
 04 
 
 * cc 
 
 d 
 
 1 — t l-T 
 
 i ^ 
 
 
 
 !2; 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 0 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O CO 
 
 
 X 1-H 04 04 CD ^ 
 
 to 05 
 
 to 
 
 0 05 04 
 
 
 
 
 
 iO 
 
 
 
 O O X (ft 04 ^ 
 
 
 X 04 X 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 
 
 CO 
 
 rQ 
 
 3 
 
 C<J 
 
 d 
 
 O CD 
 
 
 ^ O 04 O X D 
 04 ' ’ ' * o 
 
 Tp 04 
 
 * d 
 
 05 
 
 d 
 
 T-H 04 0 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 05 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ci 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 uO 
 
 CD uO 
 
 
 t'- CD 04 o ^ 
 
 1-H O 
 
 
 to CD ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 O CD 
 
 
 O O CO CD 04 (ft 
 
 1- <J5 
 
 
 Cft 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 "o 
 
 (M 
 
 o o 
 
 
 C: O r-( O Tp <V 
 
 to CD 
 
 0 
 
 1— 1 -p 0 
 
 1 o 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 d 
 
 CO CO 
 
 
 >— ' “o 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 0 
 
 
 , R 
 
 
 
 
 t'- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 -C . 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 o ' 
 
 t-- 
 
 lO X X O X O to 
 
 to 
 
 0 04 -rp 
 
 
 
 
 > o 
 
 O 
 
 o . 
 
 Ci 
 
 . Ci O O 
 
 CD 05 
 
 X 
 
 0 X 
 
 i 
 
 h3 
 
 o — 
 c •> 
 
 
 
 (N 
 
 d 
 
 t^ 
 
 (M ‘ 
 
 O 
 
 04 X O TP f— f 
 
 t— X 
 t— 
 
 X 
 
 0 
 
 X ’•P CD 
 04 r-^ 
 
 ! 
 
 M'S 
 
 
 o t: 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s« 
 
 
 
 Ci 
 
 CD ‘ 
 
 
 to CD c: 04 to O 
 
 
 0 05 0 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 • 
 
 o 
 
 , CC' Ci TP CC X 04 
 
 05 
 
 0 1 -T X 
 
 
 
 
 ■h CO 
 
 (N 
 
 o 
 
 d: 
 
 O X 04 04 04 
 
 05 r-H 
 
 04 
 
 0 CD CD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d 
 
 * 
 
 uO 
 
 
 t" 
 
 0 
 
 04 r-H 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 d ® 
 
 !z; 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (N 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 << 
 
 
 . o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fl 
 
 
 -3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 pd 
 
 
 C X 
 
 
 
 Cft 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c o 
 
 
 
 _ • o 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 c3 (0 
 
 
 
 ^ a 
 o 
 
 
 • Cft 
 
 c5 0 
 
 . 0 H-» 
 
 
 
 izT 
 
 o 
 
 
 £ g 
 
 o ^ 
 
 
 o 3 : 
 
 .jj _£ 
 
 
 HI ^ 
 
 p rt: 0 
 
 S-* Oj • — 
 
 3 r3 
 
 TJ P Cft 
 
 
 
 
 
 ci 
 
 
 
 «3 X> 
 
 
 •T rO 0 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 O 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 . o 
 
 o rt ’ '§ 
 
 t:; r; . c! . 
 
 ^ 0 
 
 ^ 3 
 
 
 2^3 
 R3 3 
 
 .« S3 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 S == 
 
 
 ^ n • S . 
 
 c.— 
 
 
 R-- 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 c: 
 
 c 
 
 g'i 
 
 M R 
 
 d< 
 
 
 Iron pero 
 Lime carl 
 Magnesia 
 Phosphor 
 Potash . 
 Soda . . 
 
 X 
 
 « 3 
 c5 
 
 DS 
 
 II 
 
 Total 
 
 0 0 .3 
 0 — 
 
 cft s 
 
 C -G .3 
 ^ _ 
 
 dace 
 
OK TIIK JACKSON’S rUUCIIASE REGION. 
 
 1G7 
 
 In the above analyses the cnltivated soil • is clearly the 
 richest in lime and phosphoric acid, the presence of so much 
 lime pointing to the conclusion that manures of some kind 
 have been used, or that the spot from which the sample was 
 taken was enriched in some way far above the natural con- 
 dition of the lands represented by the other analyses, and 
 which show a great deficiency in lime and phosphoric acid. 
 
 The potash percentage in the Hazelwood soils and subsoils 
 is very large, especially in the latter; the amount is fair in 
 lands near Woodville, and in the Calloway county subsoil, 
 but very low in other lands, excluding the cultivated soil 
 already mentioned. There is, however, a very large amount 
 of potash in the insoluble silicates, which liming and the 
 application of decayed vegetation would render available. 
 The phosphoric acid must be added in the form of fertil- 
 izers, before the land can attain any degree of durable rich- 
 ness. 
 
 OAK AND HICKORY UPLANDS. 
 
 This division covers a little less than two-thirds of the 
 entire uplands, reaching from the foot of the Cane Hills on 
 the west, to the brow of the -highlands that face the Ten- 
 nessee valley on the east, excluding the region of Barrens 
 that occupy a large central portion of the country. 
 
 The surface is rolling and somewhat broken, in conse- 
 quence of the denudation by streams, and is well timbered 
 with red, black, Spanish and post oaks and hickory, and 
 an undergrowth of dogwood and sassafras. 
 
 The soil is a brown loam, some four feet in depth, over- 
 lying a lighter colored loam, which is often permeated with 
 seams of a lighter or greyish-ashy silt. These seams appar- 
 ently represent cracks produced in the original deposit by 
 drying, and which were tilled by silt at the time of the 
 deposition of the silt of the Cane Hills ; they contain 
 scarcely any clay. This under-clay varies in depth from a 
 few feet to as much as twenty, and overlies the gravel 
 beds of the Quaternary age. 
 
 The loam contains but about ten per cent, of clay, the rest 
 being mostly silica in a fine state of division, holding also 
 mineral silicates. 
 
168 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 When drained, the soil is light and loose, and of a bright 
 brownish-color ; but where, on the contrary, drainage is defi- 
 cient, the iron in the loam is accumulated in the jiools of 
 water into the form of small blackisli concretions or bog 
 ore, and the soil becomes whitish and highly compact, dif- 
 fering but little, however, in its chemical composition from 
 the better and well-drained land. 
 
 These lands are highly productive for a few years, yield- 
 ing good crops of corn and tobacco. The latter crop does 
 best on the Barrens, where it is also said to be much finer in 
 character. 
 
 Analyses of the following samples show the average com- 
 position of these uplands : 
 
 No. 1437. Subsoil of an old tobacco field. The soil 
 proper has been washed away. Field about one hundred 
 and fifty feet above the Mississippi river, four miles east of 
 Hickman, Fulton county. 
 
 No. 2125. Virgin Soil, from the land of Dr. G. W. Pascal, 
 half a mile north of Fulton, Fulton county. 
 
 No. 2126. Surface Soil, from an old field forty years in 
 cultivation. Farm of Dr. Pascal, half a mile from Fulton, 
 Fulton county. Sample taken three to twelve inches below 
 the surface. 
 
 No. 2127. Subsoil of the next preceding. Taken from 
 thirteen to twenty inches below the surface. Contained 
 small ferruginous concretions. 
 
 No. 2563. Virgin Dark Loam Soil; from Barlow, Ballard 
 county. Taken to the depth of eight inches. Timber, white 
 oak, poplar, gum and sassafras. Contained a little bog iron 
 ore. 
 
 No. 2564. Subsoil of the next preceding; taken from 
 eight to ten inches below the surface. 
 
 No. 2. Soil from the north-western part of Ballard county, 
 near Col. Gholson’s. 
 
 No. 219. Subsoil from the north-western' part of Ballard 
 county, from near Col. Gholson’s. Contained rounded frag- 
 ments of bog iron ore. 
 
 No. 2098. Subsoil of the uplands around Bland ville, Bal- 
 lard county. Taken from eighteen to twenty-four inches. 
 
BARTRAM OAK. CALLOWAY CO., KY. 
 ( heleroiih^Ua.) 
 
library 
 
 UNlVtRSaV OF ILLINOIS 
 URBANA 
 
OF THE JACKSON'S PUUCIIASE REGION, 1()!> 
 
 below the smi'ace. Cliaracteristic of most of the uiihiiid sub 
 soils in the “Jackson Purchase.” 
 
 No. 2099. Under-clay of the uplands around Blandville. 
 'faken several feet below the surface. It crops out just below 
 the gravel-bed, and is several feet thick. It is observed 
 nearly all over the “Jackson Purchase” where there is much 
 soil. Shows some thin, dark-colored intiltrations of iron and 
 manganese oxides. 
 
 No. 1. Soil from heavy timbered land, southern part of 
 Ballard county, between the waters of Bowles and west 
 branch of Mayfield creeks. 
 
 No. 218. Subsoil of heavily timbered land, southern part 
 of Ballard county. Contained some particles of iron ore. 
 
 No. 2061. Surface Soil from the farm of L. M. Flournoy, 
 three miles from Paducah, McCracken county. Taken to the 
 depth of eight inches. Forest growth, mostly oaks of various 
 species, with some hickories, etc. The corn crop averages 
 twenty-five to forty bushels per acre. It is good tobacco 
 soil, and considered an average soil of the county. 
 
 No. 2062. Subsoil of the next preceding, etc. 
 
 No. 206:^. Under-clay of the two preceding sods, etc. 
 (Sand beneath this.) 
 
 No. 2769. Virgin Brown Loam Soil; New Hope Church; 
 south-west corner of McCracken county. Sample taken to 
 the depth of six inches. Timber, white and red oaks, hickory, 
 dogwood and sassafras. 
 
 No. 2770. Subsoil of the next preceding. Taken at the 
 depth of from six to twelve inches. Contained a little bog 
 iron ore. 
 
 No. 2629. Virgin Upland Soil, five miles east of Murray, 
 Calloway county, Taken to the depth of ten inches. The 
 soil is dark for one inch, and then a light brown loam, to 
 the subsoil. Growth, red oak chiefly, some post oak and 
 hickory. Contained a small quantity of bog iron ore. 
 
 No. 2630. Virgin Upland Sandy Loam Soil of the “Coal- 
 ings” of the south east corner of Calloway county. Taken 
 to the depth of six inches. Original growth, red, black, 
 Spanish and post oaks, and hickory. Contained a little small 
 bog iron ore. 
 
 No. 2631. Subsoil of the next preceding. Taken to the 
 depth of between six and twelve inches. Small quantity of 
 small bog iron ore contained in it. 
 
OAK AND HICKORY UPLANDS. 
 
 170 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 p 
 
 O 
 
 U 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 
 « ^ 
 
 CO 
 
 wT ^ 
 O O 
 
 c 
 
 
 3 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ».o o 
 
 O CO 
 CO CO 
 
 O^C 5 CO'M^c:r'- 
 CC CN X I - 00 W -t 
 X ^ -M O 04 o; X .- 
 
 i-Hr^r-'OOXt^O 
 X c: 04 04 X -f ».o 
 
 O ^ X o X O i-O o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 X 
 
 d 
 
 O C5 r-H X t-^ O uo 
 O Tt< o X o *o 
 ^ C> O O o O X 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 04 
 
 6 
 
 uo X X I'- — * o O 
 r— *0 c: O 1 -- O 
 04 o ^ — o cr. 
 
 O h- X 
 
 o o o 
 
 1 — ( TP 
 
 »0 l-H O 
 :c 04 o 
 04 O O 
 
 o »■- X 
 04 04 
 
 *o 
 
 o o ^ 
 o o ^ 
 
 O O C: 
 
 to O X 
 04 O O 
 ^ t- o 
 
 04 
 
 04 
 
 d 
 
 !z; 
 
 tO «— ' lO »— ' X O tO 
 Ci X 04 O O O 
 ri X I— < r-( o c: X 
 
 lO 04 uo 
 X cr. ^ 
 lO X 
 
 ;z; 
 
 D 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 h-; 
 
 3 
 
 3 '13 
 
 U ^ 
 
 O 
 
 !z; 
 
 4 miles E. 
 of Hick- 
 man . . 
 
 o 
 
 O 04 CO O to to 
 Ci CO to c; <N t- -t 
 1-H rH 04 1-1 
 
 ^ Oi 
 O CO -7^ 
 rp CO 
 
 O tO to Oi ^ tO tO 
 CO to w 04 
 
 X 1— I o O o Ci 
 
 to X 
 X CO 04 
 CO X 
 
 O 04 O 04 O O 
 X T-H i'- »0 I'- to Ci 
 Oq Tt< r-i O CO Tf< 
 
 O O CO 
 
 to I'- o 
 
 04 X 
 
 o 
 
 04 
 
 P 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 n 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 c;;) 
 
 o 
 
 5^ 
 
 b/D 
 
 "o S 
 > 
 
 c3 ^ 
 
 .Si c 
 
 OJ 7i 
 
 -3 c 
 
 11 
 
 g. " O ■ ! 
 c s Ski'S csi 
 
 C -r f= o c fe 
 
 HH I— I h-( CO r- 
 
OAK AND HICKORY HFLANDS. 
 
 OF TIIK JACKSON S PURCIIASK REGION, 
 
 171 
 
 JN 
 
 H 
 
 U 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 ;h 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 h) 
 
 1-3 
 
 7} 
 c ' 
 
 bD C 
 c 3 
 
 O [£3 
 
 3 
 
 5 miles E. 
 of Mur- 
 ray . . . 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 ??:3 
 
 a> »o 
 o t- 
 
 O ^ CO --I* O O 'M 
 uO ^ 1-- 35 w O 
 
 <>3 O CM O 3^ i/; uO 
 
 O • • 
 
 ^ ^ O 
 
 C 00 
 
 I- o ^ CO ^ ^ CO *— t 
 
 OCM CMCO^OCOIaiOCO 
 
 Or- 
 
 ^ o -r X o CM 
 rHTt^^OiCO'MCO'N 
 1^1 -hCMOCMOXt-h 
 
 o o 
 
 ».o O I- 
 O X CM 
 
 ir? iO ^ 
 o CM 
 X O rji 
 
 O I- r^ 
 
 O O rH 
 1-. CO ^ 
 
 fc- 
 
 5 C ■*-» 
 
 gi 
 
 o 
 
 I- 
 
 Xi 
 
 3 
 
 73 
 
 oo oooooo 
 
 r-« W uo O r-. CM CM 
 
 rHO CMi-hX-^t-iO 
 
 ;2; 
 
 o 
 
 Z5 
 
 X CM 
 
 O rH X CO O 
 
 O rH g O O 
 
 E- 
 
 O 
 
 :j 
 
 p 
 
 <3 
 
 P 
 
 h3 
 
 <3 
 
 2:3 
 
 
 c 3 *V 
 
 & c 
 
 cP2 
 
 O 1.0 — O tO o o o 
 
 CO 
 
 X OOi-h,-hXt}itP 
 
 o 
 
 F- lOTj<Xr-COOO 
 
 O O O CO O O T-H 
 
 O rH UO O r-H O r- 
 
 o 
 
 12; 
 
 Xi 
 
 3 
 
 73 
 
 O 
 
 iz; 
 
 o 
 
 ;z; 
 
 Tt< o ^ 05 CC 
 
 X X o ^ ^ 
 
 .-H CM ^ hh o 
 
 
 Xi 
 
 3 
 
 73 
 
 ^ CM 
 
 o o 
 
 CO CD 
 
 OCDCMCD*^*JXO 
 X CM CM I" U3C50 
 XOCMt-hO DcDt^ 
 
 O 
 
 |Zi 
 
 o x> 
 ^ o 
 
 X> 05 
 
 CM0050050X'TtH 
 
 HHTfCOOl-HOXC5 
 
 f-^rHCMrHTj1CMOX 
 
 73 
 
 O 
 
 ;z; 
 
 lO O *D 
 XXX 
 O O 
 
 lO 05 ^ 
 X X CO 
 CM X O 
 
 O uo t^ 
 O rH tO 
 X Tt< CM 
 
 CM 
 
 <3 
 
 P 
 
 5 
 
 Q 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 p 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 :5 b/D 
 
 § ^ 
 
 .3 c 
 
 3 ' 
 
 o ^ 
 
 3 P ? 
 
 ^ o ^ 
 
 ■§ 
 o « 
 O --c 
 X c« 
 
 O! G 
 P-— 
 X r 3 
 
 ■+^ cn 
 ' cS O 
 • a 
 
 5 D 'yj 
 
 ;hP 
 
 “r S Ci 35 rcJ 
 
 2 -5 -3 C 
 
 HH D“ ,P O ^ as 
 
 Ph P-i X Vj 
 
 « o' 
 ‘O.'" 
 c 3 , 
 
 C; .— 
 
 C -G . 
 
 ^ D 
 
172 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 The average of composition of tlie soils in the above show 
 about .090 per cent, of phosphoric acid and .192 per cent, of 
 ])otasli, a very low i^ercentage of each for these soils. In 
 the insoluble silicates there is, however, an average of about 
 one and a half percentage of potash, from which source a 
 sufficiency of that substance might be rendered available by 
 jiroper methods. 
 
 The subsoils, on the contrary, are fairly supplied with both 
 phosphoric acid and potash, the averages being respectively 
 .155 and .248 per cent. 
 
 In all of the soils and subsoils the amount of lime is small, 
 almost a deficiency ; while, on the other hand, that of mag- 
 nesia is high in several of them. 
 
OF THE JACKSON'S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 173 
 
 ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Earthworks and ancient mounds, which are found so 
 abundantly on the Missouri and Illinois shores of the Missis- 
 sippi and Ohio rivers, occur also on the Kentucky shore, and 
 chiefly upon the sharp spurs that reach out from the high 
 bluffs bordering the Mississippi river bottom. These spurs 
 run to a point, and thus afforded a large degree of protection 
 by their extremely abrupt sides, or at least could be easily 
 ■ defended ; while at the junction with the main land or bluffs 
 a line of earthworks or embankments, from one side to the 
 other, very generally were thrown up as a point of defense 
 against a foe approaching from that direction. It is within 
 such inclosures that the mounds are now found. 
 
 Along the Ohio river and streams of the interior, very few 
 have been observed. The following detailed description, by 
 counties, covers the more important of these remains. The 
 mounds have very generally been visited by relic hunters, 
 who do no more than dig a hole or two into the surface of 
 each, after first probing with a sharp iron instrument. Many 
 relics have been gathered and carried away ; but a systematic 
 and careful examination would, doubtless, greatly reward the 
 searcher, for not only relics, but for information regarding 
 the life history of this ancient people. 
 
 Fulton County . — There is abundant evidence that the 
 bluffs at Hickman were once the scene of Indian life and set- 
 tlement, for we find many remnants of earthworks thrown up 
 by them. In the southern part of the bluff portion of the 
 town, and not far from the Methodist Church, are numerous 
 small excavations, bordered by circular ridges about fifteen 
 feet in diameter, and two or three feet deep in the center, evi- 
 dently the site of wigwams. They lie in two rows, and I am 
 told once extended nearly two hundred yards, but have been 
 effaced by the erection of buildings and by other recent im- 
 provements on the ridge. The rows are about fifty feet apart, 
 and the circles about twenty feet from each other. Back 
 of the main rows are a few scattering circles. Pieces of 
 baked clay, pottery, etc., have been picked up on the place. 
 
 On the bluffs, south, about three-quarters of a mile, have 
 been found skeleton remains, human teeth, bones, etc., and 
 these are still being exposed by the sliding in of the bluffs. 
 
174 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 The most interesting locality, however, is that of an ancient 
 fortification or earthworks, situated about a mile north- east 
 of Hickman, a short distance from the railroad on the north 
 side, and on the bluffs of the Mississippi and Bayou de Chien 
 bottoms. These bluffs are here about seventy-five feet high, 
 and quite abrupt, and gradually slope eastward for a short 
 distance to a flat area, which is intersected by a branch or deep 
 ravine running northward to the Bayou de Chien. A sketch 
 of the earthworks is given below. It represents a large in- 
 closure of about two acres, extending southeastward nearly 
 to the branch, when it is abruptly narrowed for six hundred 
 feet further. The low elevation that borders it on the south 
 for about five hundred feet is now partly plowed down in 
 the cultivated field that lies along the bluff, and is somewhat 
 broken in the fiat until it turns northeastward, where it is 
 very prominent. While it would in itself be scarcely recog- 
 nized as a line of earthworks by any person passing over it, 
 yet when the other and prominent lines are followed and 
 outlined, its own connection is clearly seen. Its course is 
 N. 50 W. or parallel with the other sides, and has a width 
 of ten to fifteen feet, much worn away by drainage of the 
 slope. When near the branch it turns due east for about 
 fifty-five feet, and then N. 40 E. for about one hundred and 
 eighty-five feet, to a mound somewhat higher. 
 
 On. the north side of the inclosure another line of earth- 
 works appears parallel with the one on the south, but begin- 
 ning about half way between the bluff and branch. It is 
 very regular and unbroken for about one hundred and ninety 
 feet, when it turns S. 60 E. for nearly fifty feet, and thence 
 S. 40 W. for about one hundred and ninety feet to another 
 mound within about ninety-five feet of the former one. This 
 ridge is also prominent and broad; the mounds are about 
 twenty-five feet in diameter, and from them two parallel lines 
 of earthworks turn S. 40 E. for six hundred feet. They are 
 high and wide, and lying, as they do, in a fiat cultivated field, 
 are very prominent. Their width is about twenty feet. On 
 the south-east they turn towards each other and terminate, 
 leaving an opening of about twenty-five feet. This was pro- 
 tected on the interior by a large mound 45x35 feet and higher 
 than the earthworks, leaving but a very narrow opening. 
 
OF THE JACKSON S PUKCIIASE UEOION, 
 
 175 
 
 Tlie bniiicli that crosses these narrow inclosures is fifty 
 feet wide and about fifteen feet deep, its banks very steep 
 and abrupt. Within the large inclosure there is a small 
 mound about twenty feet in diameter, directly in front of 
 the opening to the narrow fort, and at a distance of about 
 one hundred and seventy-five feet. 
 
 For drainage inirposes, apparently, a deep and narrow 
 ditch was dug from either corner of the large inclosure to 
 the branch. 
 
 large inclosure was presumably occupied by the tribe as a 
 
176 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 habitation, for fragments of pottery are very abundant, espe- 
 cially near the top of the bluff. It was protected by the 
 steep bluffs and by the earthworks against small forces ; 
 but in an emergency, or against overwhelming numbers, 
 the tribe could retreat into the narrow inclosure, and with 
 a deep ditch at one end and a protected gateway at the 
 other, could better defend themselves. An earthen headless 
 image, found in this place, was presented to the museum by 
 C. W. Bryant, of Hickman. 
 
 Another group of mounds occurs in the bottom of Bayou 
 de Chien, five miles east of Hickman, on the place of Lewis 
 Lumsford. The position of the group is represented in the 
 following cut. 
 
 The mounds are located on a low elevation or plateau about 
 ten feet above the bottom land, which extends out from the 
 uj)lands one-fourth of a mile distant. The plateau is cut in 
 two, however, by a narrow portion of the bottom, leaving a 
 section of about five hundred feet in length and two hun- 
 dred and fifty feet in width, which was selected as a site 
 for the mounds. 
 
 There are three prominent mounds and several smaller 
 ones. The most southerly of the large ones is twenty feet 
 high, rectangular in shape, 85x50 in surface measurement, 
 its greatest length being east and west. Its sides are very 
 abrupt and the top level. Pieces of burnt and unburnt 
 clay were dug from the surface, the mound having been, in 
 part at least, used probably for the manufacture of pottery. 
 
 The other rectangular mound, lying nearly due north from 
 this, has a surface area of 55x50 feet, its greatest length 
 being N. 60 E. North-east from this mound is a circular one 
 about fifty feet diameter on top and fifteen feet high. It is 
 immediately on the bank of Bayou de Chien, and is connected 
 with the larger mound by a low elevation some five feet 
 higher than the jilateau. 
 
 Three small and low mounds lie on the east of the low in- 
 terior, two of them being round and twenty-five and fifty 
 feet in diameter, respectively, the other being about forty 
 feet square. 
 
 On the southwestern edge of the plateau another large 
 
OF THE Jackson’s pukciiase keoion. 
 
 177 
 
 and rounded mound ten feet high and forty feet in diameter 
 occurs. 
 
 On tlie southern edge are large numbers of excavations 
 rounded, ten or fifteen feet in diameter. 
 
 Indian Mounds on Bayou de Chien, five miles east of Hickman, Fulton county. 
 
 Isolated mounds occur in other parts of the county. A 
 very large one occupies the north-east point of Sassafras 
 ridge, in the Mississippi river bottom, at the foot of Fish 
 Lake. It is about twenty feet high, one hundred and 
 twenty in length, N. 20 E., and 65 feet in breadth. One side 
 has largely been dug down by parties in search for relics. 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 12 . 
 
178 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 A small mound lies near it on the east, and another about 
 one hundred and fifty feet distant on the south-west, both 
 about twenty feet in diameter, and low. 
 
 Fragments of pottery are abundant, some of them being 
 of vessels that had notches chipped in on the edge, and 
 others marked thus a y a y a y 
 
 Hickman County . — At McLeod’s Bluff, on Obion creek, 
 south of Columbus, there is a large mound, fifteen feet in 
 height, rounded in form, with a diameter of about seventy- 
 five feet. The surface is quite level, and is at present used 
 as a grave-yard. Between it and the edge of the bluff there 
 is another small mound but a few feet high and about ten 
 feet in diameter. 
 
 The soil here has that deep rich character so usual around 
 mounds, and beneath it at the edge of the bluff are fre- 
 quently exposed pieces of pottery and charcoal, and bones 
 and teeth, not only of men, but of small animals. The pot- 
 tery is made partly of blue clay and sand, and smoothly 
 baked, while other pieces are still in the crude condition, 
 and made with black clay. 
 
 The bluff fronts Obion creek on the south for about two 
 hundred and fifty feet, while on the west its edge extends 
 back along the Mississippi bottom, and on the other side 
 along a branch bottom for some fifteen hundred or more 
 feet. The mounds are thus situated on an off-shoot from 
 the main upland, though at a much lower elevation above 
 the river bottom. At about six hundred feet from the 
 front there is a low elevation, as if thrown up artificially 
 for protection against an approach from the interior of the 
 uj)lands. It is about four feet high, but slopes so gradually 
 inward as not to attract immediate attention from any one 
 passing. Its outer slope is abrupt. The line, as in similar 
 groups of mounds on the river bluffs in Ballard county, 
 forms an obtuse angle with apex outward, one side run- 
 ning thence southward on one side for about one hundred 
 and twenty-five feet, and on the other for about 65 feet 
 N. 50 E. 
 
 On the bluff back or east from the Chalk Banks there are 
 
OF tup: Jackson’s purciiasp: rpxuon. 179 
 
 several mounds, some distance from each other, and near the 
 brow of the bluff. 
 
 Mr. AV. J. Kerr, who has lived here sixty years, informs 
 me that the outlines of an old fort or inclosure were once 
 very distinct on this bluff ; but since the land has been 
 cleared and cultivated the old earthworks have been obliter- 
 ated. It reached eastward from near the brow of the bluff 
 for one hundred and seventy-five or two hundred yards, the 
 eight acres inclosed being surrounded by an elevation three 
 or four feet high, the eastern side being at right-angles to 
 the others. At each corner a low mound was raised. 
 
 On the south side another or inside line of earthworks was 
 thrown up about ninety feet from the first, and parallel with 
 it from the bluff eastward. 
 
 In the portion nearest the bluff numerous small excava- 
 tions in the surface are observable, and fragments of pottery 
 are very plentiful. The mounds are mostly round, not very 
 high, and twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter. The one on 
 the south-west is oblong, 30x50 feet. 
 
 At a point of the bluff southward, just beyond where the 
 Chalk Banks terminate, and where the road turns to Mr. 
 Kerr’s house, very many human bones have been exposed 
 below the surface by the wearing away of the bluff. 
 
 A number of relics, chiefly Hint and stone imirlements, 
 have been found in this locality. The most interesting is in 
 the possession of Mr. Kerr. It is made from quartz, in part 
 amethystine, and seems intended to represent a hen in sitting 
 posture, a hole being drilled through the head in place of 
 eyes. In size, it is hardly an inch long and half an inch 
 in height. 
 
 On the bluffs between Obion creek and Bayou de Chien 
 there are several small mounds, isolated and of no special 
 importance. Lying near the foot of these bluffs, and con- 
 necting the two streams, there is a slough, known as “the 
 Lake,” and thought by some to have been dug artificially to 
 connect the mounds on McLeod’s bluff with those near the 
 .mouth of Mud creek on the Bayou de Chien, in Fulton 
 county. 
 
 As seen near the road leading from Clinton to Hickman, 
 
180 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATUKES 
 
 “the Lake” presents an irregular and crooked outline, with 
 banks about seventy-five feet apart and fifteen feet deep. 
 Several smaller sloughs connect with it. Its banks, both here 
 and on Bayou de Chien, are sharply defined, as are also 
 those of the large streams. It joins the Bayou de Chien 
 but a short distance below the grouji of mounds, but on the 
 Obion its junction is more than half a mile below McLeod’s 
 bluff. There is not evidence sufficient to show that it is 
 any thing more than a natural slough. 
 
 Ballard County . — In this county, which is bordered by a 
 larger river front than any other county of the Purchase 
 region, there are probably also a greater number of Indian 
 mounds and earthworks, and they are for the most part 
 located upon the sharp spurs that reach out from the bluff 
 facing the Mississippi river bottom. 
 
 Going north from the Hickman county line, the first 
 locality of importance and prominence is upon one of these 
 spurs, forming the south bluff of Sandy creek, and two miles 
 south of Laketon, and whose summit is about ninety feet 
 above the river bottom plain. 
 
 On entering this spur from inland we first pass through 
 an old field, now in cultivation, for about one hundred and 
 fifty yards to a point where the spur is cut into from either 
 side, leaving a width of only about two hundred and fifty 
 feet. Here we find the fence perched upon a low line of 
 earthworks which are worn down to but about five feet in 
 elevation, and with a width of about fifteen feet, connect- 
 ing the two points of indenture. Beginning on the west, 
 the earthworks have a direct east course for one hundred 
 and fifty feet, when they turn north-east to other edge of 
 the bluff, a distance of about one hundred and twenty-five 
 feet, with three different courses, that of the first forty 
 feet is N. 60 E., the next fifty feet is N. 45 E., and the 
 next thirty-five feet is N. 30 E. There are no excavations 
 along this line to indicate from whence the dirt was obtained 
 for this work. 
 
 Within this inclosure the summit of this spur widens to 
 about three hundred feet, and is again abruptly narrowed 
 to thr<ie hundred and seventy-five feet by deep indentations 
 
OF TIIK .IACKSON’S I’URCTIASE REGION. 
 
 181 
 
 on either side, at which point is a rounded mound now 
 about six feet higli and forty feet in diameter. This is tlie 
 only mound observed upon this portion of the ridge. Be- 
 tween it and tlie embankment already described, the surface 
 is quite level and timbered. Going northward still further, 
 the ridge is seen to continue for about one hundred and 
 eighty feet, when it is suddenly narrowed to a number of 
 sharp points, sinking about ten feet, but all bordered by 
 very abrupt and deep slopes to the bottom below. 
 
 Ancient Fortification upon a spur of the south blufi of Sandy creek, two miles south 
 of Laketon, Ballard county, one-fourth of a mile from M. & O. R. R. 
 
 Another and more interesting group of mounds are located 
 upon another of these bluff spurs about half way between 
 Laketon and Mayfield creek, or where the Punckney Bend 
 
182 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 road enters the Mississippi bottom from the east, and on the 
 land of Dr. Wm. Graves. 
 
 Indian Fortification and Mounds on a spur of bluffs near the Punckney Bend road, 
 south of the mouth of Mayfield creek, Ballard county. 
 
 The space in the center is low and flat, with a very rich soil. 
 
 The numbers represent diameters of, and distances between, mounds. 
 
 The spur is somewhat lower than the main bluff ridge, and 
 projects nearly westward from it for a distance of a couple 
 of hundred yards, bordered on either side by deep canon- 
 
OF TIIK JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 183 
 
 like ravines, to the bottoms of wliicli the descent is very 
 abrupt. At tlie point of the spur there is a very narrow off- 
 shoot, which, with a curving course, slopes to the lowlands 
 beneatli, and seems to have been once used as an easy means 
 of reaching the river from the bluff ; for there is a deeply 
 worn path along its summit. The spur has a width varying 
 from fifty to five hundred feet. 
 
 On going out on the spur from the bluff ridge there is a 
 gentle slope to a point where lateral denudation has left a 
 very narrow summit, and here are found the first evidences of 
 artificial earthworks. As shown on the diagram, these are in 
 the form of an embankment, presenting an irregular front 
 to the east, about five feet in elevation. The irregularity is 
 caused by three bastion -like extensions, each about ten feet 
 wide, and reaching out, respectively, nine, eighteen and nine 
 feet, their fronts and sides, and also the front of the em- 
 bankment between them, being quite steep. The central 
 projection has, during the past few years, been leveled or 
 cut down, to admit of the passage of teams into the interior. 
 From the brow of this line of earthworks the surface is 
 quite level for about forty feet to the first mound, and thence 
 to the interior of the mound-area there is a gentle slope. 
 
 As shown in the diagram, there are three large mounds, 
 with eight or more smaller ones. The first of the former (C), 
 situated about fifty feet from the earthworks, already de- 
 scribed, is round, and has a diameter of about thirty feet 
 and an elevation of about twenty feet. A tall beech tree, 
 three feet in diameter, stands upon it. An excavation in its 
 top, by relic hunters, some years ago, exposed jneces of bone, 
 earthenware, and some galena. Between it and the brow of 
 the ridge on the north are two small mounds several feet in 
 height, and with diameters of about fifteen feet. Around 
 them are small excavations as if for the material for the 
 mounds. 
 
 In a N. 60 W. course from the first mound, and at a dis- 
 tance of about one hundred and ten feet, there is another 
 peculiarly constructed mound (B) about twenty feet high, 
 twenty-five feet wide, and about one hundred and thirty 
 feet long. It is near the western margin of the ridge; it has 
 
184 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 a nearly east and west course, its northern side being in 
 nearly a straight line, its southern side having a concave 
 outline, its ends rounded, perhaps by erosion ; upon each 
 end is perched a mound about twenty-five feet in diameter, 
 and a few feet high. The surface of this large mound is 
 otherwise quite level ; a few pieces of pottery were picked up 
 on it. 
 
 Lying at nearly a right-angle to the west end of this is 
 the third large mound (A), with the same elevation, a length 
 north and south of one hundred feet, and a top width of for- 
 ty-five feet. The surface is quite level, with the exception of 
 a small mound on the north end, which seems to have been 
 the scene of pottery manufacture, as fragments of burnt and 
 unburnt moulded pieces were found mixed in its earth with 
 pieces of charcoal. The form of this large mound was ap- 
 parently originally a rectangle, with its corners beveled, the 
 inner sides still retaining that form, while the outer or 
 westerly sides are rounded. 
 
 The space between the ends of these two large mounds is 
 protected on the outside by a smaller mound, some twenty 
 feet in diameter and ten in height, rounded in form. 
 
 The group thus described forms the ends and northern side 
 of a space doubtless occupied by the tribe, while on the 
 south side is a row of smaller mounds, the largest of which 
 is about thirty by twenty feet on its surface, and having 
 an elevation of about six feet. 
 
 The area thus inclosed is low and flat, about one hundred 
 and twenty- five feet wide by two hundred and thirty feet 
 long, and with a very rich black loam soil, much richer than 
 that of the rest of the ridge — a feature characteristic of the 
 soil bordering the mounds of other localities. Near the 
 western end there is a deep excavation, now filled-in to 
 within a few feet of the surface. 
 
 To the west of this, and outside of the inclosure, are two 
 other but smaller mounds, but ten feet in diameter and a 
 few feet high. 
 
 Proceeding northward along the bluffs, we find another 
 group of mounds on the high bluffs, immediately north of 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s ruuciiASK region. 
 
 185 
 
 WicklifTe, and here also occupying a spur running out in a 
 south-west course from the bluff, but at a lower level. 
 
 The surface is, for the most part, quite even, sloping 
 gently from the main bluff to about sixty feet above the 
 railroad, and is bordered by very abrupt slopes to the deep 
 ravines and bottom lands of the river. At one point near 
 the bluff, on the north side, a ravine cuts deeply into the 
 spur, leaving to the latter a width of a little more than 
 one hundred feet, and across this, as on the spur south of 
 Mayfield creek, there is a low line of earthworks, as if for 
 protection against an approach from the bluff. 
 
 Indian Mounds 
 on spur of bluffs at 
 Wickliffe, Ballard Co. 
 
186 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 A low mound occupies an almost central place on this 
 narrow point, and from it the embankment reaches for sev- 
 enty-five feet in a N. 80 W. course on the one side, to the 
 point of the penetrating ravine, and in a S. 20 E. course 
 to fhe opposite side of the spur. These embankments are 
 now but two or three feet above the level of the spur. 
 The mound is a little higher. The entire line is so nearly 
 worn down that at first it would not attract the notice of 
 any one passing. 
 
 Within that part of the spur thus inclosed there are two 
 large mounds which occupy the center, and seven or more 
 large ones arranged around these, and near the border of 
 the ridge. 
 
 Going inward from the earthworks just described, we first 
 come to a small mound some twenty feet in diameter and 
 four or five feet high. Next, and almost in the center, is a 
 large mound forty feet square, its sides lying with the car- 
 dinal points of the compass. Its summit is quite level, and 
 about fifteen feet above the general surface. About sixty- 
 five feet from this, and also occupying a central and more 
 westerly point, lies the other high mound. Its elevation is 
 about fifteen feet, its length eighty feet S. 25 W., and width 
 about fifty feet. Its ends are rather rounded in form, that 
 of the east sinking abruptly to a lower prong, reaching out 
 thirty-five feet, and with not more than half the width of 
 the mound. 
 
 The outlines of the spur of the bluff, the relative sizes 
 and positions of the mounds, etc., are represented in the 
 accompanying diagram. Numerous small excavations occur 
 in the surface of the spur. Upon one of the mounds stand 
 two trees — a poplar, four feet in diameter, and a beech, 
 nearly three feet. 
 
 In a search made by digging a small hole into the central 
 part of the largest mound, by relic-hunters, some mussel 
 shells and pieces of charcoal were obtained. 
 
 On the extreme summit of the bluffs there are two small 
 mounds, some ten feet or more in diameter, and three or four 
 feet high. 
 
 Leaving the bluffs of the Mississippi and following the 
 
OK TiiK Jackson’s purchase region. 
 
 187 
 
 Ohio, we find in the bottom, a mile from the banks of the 
 hitter, in the northern part of the county, near Terrell’s 
 Landing, opposite Mound City, Illinois, a couple of large 
 mounds. They are situated on the south bank of a slough, 
 and are more or less rounded, except on the sides nearly 
 facing each other. One of them has a surface area of for- 
 ty-five by forty-five feet, and is about twelve feet high. A 
 negro cabin is perched upon it, and cultivated fields extend 
 to eastward and southward from its foot. There are several 
 red oak trees, each about two feet in diameter, growing on 
 its summit. 
 
 The other mound lies about seventy-five feet distant in a 
 south-west course, the two connected by an elevation about 
 six feet above the bottom land, and about forty-five feet in 
 width. 
 
 The second mound is also nearly rounded in form, and its 
 level surface is about eighteen feet above the base, or twenty- 
 five feet above the bed of the slough, and twenty-five feet 
 wide. It also has a large tree growing on the summit. 
 Fragments of jjottery and pieces of flint are abundant on 
 both mounds. It is said that relic-hunters, by digging, a 
 few years ago, found a piece of galena and a few earthern 
 vessels in the highest of the mounds. 
 
 During high-water overflows from the river, these elevated 
 points are used as places of refuge for stock ; the sides and 
 summits are much worn away. 
 
 Foot-prints in Sandstone . — A locality of very special in- 
 terest occurs a couple of miles north-east of Wickliffe, in 
 the bed of a small branch emptying into Cane’ creek from 
 the north, and on the place of Mrs. R. Burns. In the bed 
 of this branch is a broad sandstone, reddish in color, its 
 surface somewhat uneven from the action of water running 
 over it, and covering an extent of about twenty feet in length. 
 In its width it is exposed for only about six feet, being cov- 
 ered in the valley to the west by the washings from the hill- 
 side. 
 
 The hills rise about forty feet above this rock, and are 
 formed of Quaternary silt, loam and gravel — the rock disap- 
 pearing beneath them. Upon the surface of the sandstone 
 
188 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 are easily traced human foot-prints and large bird tracks, 
 in some cases deeply indented one-lialf inch, with the con- 
 formation of the bottom of the foot and toes ; in others but 
 shallow imprints, oue-eighth of an inch deep, in which the 
 toes do not appear, and in which there is lacking the bare- 
 foot feature, indicating rather a moccasined foot. The tracks 
 are in every direction and position, the stream flowing across 
 them in a northward course. 
 
 A peculiarity of the imprints is in the fact that all but 
 three are of the left foot. 
 
 In some cases the toes are deeply indented, while the rest 
 of the sole of the foot is shallow ; sometimes the space be- 
 tween the toes is filled. 
 
 A sketch showing the position and size of each foot was 
 made by means of tracing linen and pencil ; and is given 
 below in a form reduced by photography. The outer lines 
 mark the extreme limits, while the interior lines indicate 
 the deepest portion of the track. 
 
 The rock is several feet thick, reaches across the branch 
 and into the opposite bank on the east. Upon the latter 
 portion a large bird track was seen, and also what seems to 
 be a part of a human foot-print. 
 
 The following are the measurements and peculiarities of 
 each track, as numbered in the accompanying photographic 
 print : 
 
 No. 1. Right foot. Central impression deep, with sloping 
 sides, and showing a clear outline of the instep. The toe 
 impressions are very faint, and only in the lowest depression, 
 and sink a little below its surface. Extreme length, Ilf 
 inches; spread of toes, 5| inches. The foot was apparently 
 moccasined, the toes having nearly worn through. The outer 
 line shows the edge of the moccasin. 
 
 No. 2. Lett foot, the probable mate of No. 1. The toes 
 not so apparent, but still discernible. Instep shallow; heel 
 and ball of foot deeper, as indicated in the sketch. Also 
 covered by a moccasin. Extreme length, llj inches ; heel, 2J 
 inches ; and spread of toes, 6 inches. 
 
 No. 3. Right foot of a child. Deep impression of foot 
 and toes ; that of the two smallest toes combined. Length, 
 inches ; heel, 2 inches ; toes, 3 inches. 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S PURCHASE REGION. 
 
 189 
 
 No. 4. Left foot highly deformed. Impression distinct; 
 big toe projected ; second and third absent in imprint. 
 Length, 7 inches ; heel, 2 inches ; toes, 3| inches, the balls 
 sinking deeply. 
 
 Foot-prints in Sandstone near Wicklifife, Kentucky. 
 
190 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 No. 5. Left foot, probably with moccasin; deep impres- 
 sion, with no toes ; sloping inward on all sides to the inner 
 depression. Length, -9 inches; heel, 3 inches; toes, 4J inches. 
 
 No. 6. Left foot, with irregular toe impressions. The heel 
 deeply, and rest of foot shallowly impressed, except the big 
 toe, which sinks deeply. Length, 9 inches ; heel, inches ; 
 toes, 4i inches ; spaces between the toes but slightly raised. 
 
 No. 7. Right foot ; very broad, but shallow impression, 
 deepest near the heel ; toes run together. Length, inches ; 
 heel and toes, each, 3| inches. 
 
 No. 8. Left foot; shallow impression, but deeper heel; 
 the toes distinct, but imprints widely separated, and the sand 
 filling the intervening spaces apparently removed Length, 11 
 inches ; heel, inches ; toes, 6 inches. 
 
 No. 9. Left foot, with moccasin. Impression shallow, with 
 slope from outer to inner line ; foot broad, but heel very 
 narrow. Length, 8^ inches ; heel, 2J inches ; toes, 5 inches. 
 
 No. 10. Left foot, deep impression, sloping upward at 
 edges; toes widely separated, and not very distinct, except 
 the largest ; sand between toes not removed ; no instep. Ex- 
 treme length, 12 inches ; heel, 3J inches ; toes, inches. 
 Inside length. 8| inches ; heel, 2J inches ; toes, 4 inches. Big 
 toe, outside length, 2J inches ; width, If inches. Big toe, 
 inside length, 1§ inches ; width, IJ inches. 
 
 No. 11. Shallow impression, but toes deeply impressed. 
 Length, lOj inches ; heel, 3 inches ; toes, 5^ inches ; big toe, 
 2 by \\ inches. 
 
 Nos. 12 and 13. Shallow impression ; heels a little deeper ; 
 toes apparently hid beneath the thin ledge on which are 
 the other foot-prints. 
 
 No. 14. Right foot ; shallow impression, but heel a little 
 deeper; toe imprints either lost by the breaking off of the 
 rock, or by the foot reaching beyond the edge. It lies a 
 little above No. 15. 
 
 No. 15. Left foot; shallow impression, but heel and toes 
 deeper. It is upon the lower surface with 12 and 13, and 
 below the large body of foot-prints. Length, lOJ inches ; 
 width of heel, 3 inches ; toes, 5J inches ; big toe, 2 by 1^ 
 inches. 
 
OF THE JACKSON’S FURCIIASE REGION. 
 
 191 
 
 No. 16. Left foot ; sliallow impression of the foot, but the 
 toes deeply depressed. Length of foot, 9 inches ; spread of 
 toes, 0 indies ; width of heel, 3 inches. 
 
 No. 17. Bird track ; deep impression ; the back toe over- 
 lapping the foot imprint No. 1. Spread of toes, 5^ inches ; 
 length of toes, 3 inches. 
 
 No. 18. Bird track. Spread of toes, inches ; length of 
 toes, inches. 
 
 No. 19. Bird track; deep impression; back toe absent. 
 Spread of toes, 4^ inches ; center toe, 3J inches, and side toes, 
 3 inches long. 
 
 No. 20. Bird track ; only three toes appear. Spread, 
 inches ; length of middle toe, 6^ inches ; side toes, 5 and 4 
 inches. 
 
 The foot-prints seem to be naturally formed by the direct 
 imprint of the feet in the slightly yielding Quaternary sand, 
 before the latter was hardened into a rock by the permea- 
 tion of iron oxide, the cementing material. These sand- 
 stones are, in other localities, even in this day, in process of 
 formation, wherever the sands and gravel of the Quaternary 
 gravel-beds are exposed to the action of the we'ather. A 
 very great antiquity, therefore, can not be claimed for these 
 tracks — at least, not more remote than the mound-builders, 
 or Indians, whose mounds and earthworks are found upon 
 the Mississippi river bluffs, a mile or more to westward. 
 
 In all the above foot prints there is an entire absence of 
 any thing like the mark of an implement that could be used 
 in chiseling them into shape. 
 
 McCracken County . — The only mound visited in this county 
 was that on the place of Mr. McCutclieon, one mile west of 
 Paducah. It is about fifteen feet high, oblong in form, meas- 
 uring about one hundred feet north and south, and seventy- 
 five feet east and west. An old and rotten stump on the 
 summit has a diameter of two and one-half feet. The 
 central part of the mound is a little concave. A dwelling- 
 house is situated on it, the cellar of which was dug through 
 three feet of rich loam soil, two feet of white or yellow sand, 
 two feet of ashes and charcoal and clay. 
 
 The mound is surrounded by about six acres of a very 
 
192 
 
 GEOLOGIOAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 rich, dark loam, three feet in depth, in which were pieces 
 of mussel shells. This character of soil is often a notable 
 feature of other mound surroundings. The soil is all under 
 cultivation, and said to yield seventy-five barrels of potatoes 
 per acre. Around the mound were originally twelve or fif- 
 teen smaller ones, respectively six or seven feet high and 
 twenty-five feet in diameter ; but many of them have been 
 plowed down, and can scarcely be distinguished. Arrow- 
 heads and fragments of pottery are abundant, and Mr. 
 McCutcheon informs me that a nest of five or six nearly 
 perfect vessels was plowed up in the field, together with a 
 large piece of stone-coal. Among other things, the han- 
 dle of some vessel, made of a bluish clay, about two inches 
 long, and shaped like a wrist and hand, with half closed 
 fingers, was found. 
 
 Marshall County . — In the neighborhood of Sharp, in the 
 north-western part of the county, there are a couple of small 
 mounds in an old field, but now nearly obliterated by long- 
 continued cultivation of the latter. The field has very many 
 fragments of mussel shells, and the soil immediately about 
 the mounds is very rich. 
 
 South-east from this, on the “Bottom road,” between Ben- 
 ton and Paducah, and near the crossing of Chestnut creek, 
 and situated upon the uplands overlooking the bottoms of 
 Clark’s river, is a mound measuring thirty-five feet north and 
 south, and twenty-seven feet east and west. It is rounded 
 in form, its surface slightly depressed in the center, and has 
 an elevation of about six feet. Flint chips and fragments 
 of pottery are abundant. 
 
 A more important locality is on the place of Mr. W. F. 
 Hinson, on Jonathan creek, eastern part of the county. 
 There are here three large mounds, grouped with four or 
 more small ones. Their relative position is given on the 
 following diagram. 
 
 The mounds are situated in a broad fiat reaching south- 
 ward from the largest ones. The most southerly of the large 
 mounds has a trend of IM. 80 E., and is oblong in shape, 
 with a length of about one hundred and ten and a width 
 of thirty-six feet. A little north-east from it is an elevation 
 
OF THE Jackson’s i’ukchase region. 
 
 193 
 
 Indian Mounds on the place of Mr. W. F. Hinson, on Jonathan creek, Marshall 
 
 county, Kentucky. 
 
 of peculiar sliape, but, so far as could be ascertained, is 
 artiticial. Its height is fifteen feet, and its length about one 
 hundred and fifty feet. Its sides have the appearance of 
 having been worn away, leaving a sharp angle to westward, 
 and somewhat concave sides, while the north and south 
 ends are narrow. North east from this, about three hundred 
 and fifty feet, and in the bottom land of Jonathan creek, 
 there is a very large and high mound, rectangular in shape, 
 and lying seventy-five feet in a N. 70 E., and sixty-five feet 
 S. 20 E. Its height is about twenty feet. 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 13 . 
 
194 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC FEATURES 
 
 Fragments of pottery are abundant in the vicinity of the- 
 mounds; but, so far as known, nothing of special interest 
 has been found. 
 
 At Haddock’s ferry, on the Tennessee river, north of Cal- 
 vert City, there are masses of chert rock and fragments 
 which also form shoals in the bed of the river on the north 
 side. Upon one of these rocks, a few hundred yards above 
 the ferry, there are markings which show age, and were, 
 perhaps (or according to the “oldest inhabitant”), made by 
 the Indians. Their form and position are given below. Some 
 of the characters are much worn away, but the outlines are 
 distinctly traceable. The surface of the rock is rather un- 
 even. 
 
 The accompanying tracing shows the relative size and posi- 
 tion of each of the figures. 
 
OK TIIK .IACKSON’S PUKCIIASK HK(iION. 
 
 195 
 
 The uppermost figure is that of a boy, and is two feet 
 long. The head round, five and one-half inches in diameter, 
 with eyes and mouth represented by small holes The body 
 rectangular, eleven inches long and live and one-half inches 
 wide; the ai’ms, as straight lines, five inches long; the hands 
 as round holes; the legs, straight lines, six inches long, and 
 each turned outward two inches at the end, for the feet. 
 
 The most remarkable character, however, is the representa- 
 tion of a Maltese Cross, fourteen inches in measurement. The 
 lower part is nearly obliterated. To the west of the cross are 
 a number of rounded characters as shown, the largest of 
 which, with a central ring, is four and one-half inches in 
 diameter ; the next, with cross lines, four inches, and the 
 others three inches each, besides a small one. 
 
 The fourth and last figure on the east of the* cross is more 
 nearly erased, by the wear of the rock, than are the others. 
 From what is left, it was probably a representation of some 
 bird — possibly an owl, one of whose prominent ears still re- 
 main — while, in place of the other, there is only a wide and 
 long groove connecting the different worn parts of the rock. 
 The head is six inches in diameter, and the body, now 
 obliterated, is twelve inches. The tail is twelve inches long 
 and four and one-half inches wide, and the lines which, per- 
 haps, are intended to represent the feathers of the tail and 
 wings are, respectively, six inches. There are six of the 
 former, and four for each wing. The rock upon which these 
 characters are made is exposed only during low-water seasons 
 of the river. 
 
 Graves and Galloway Counties . — In these counties there are 
 but few mounds, and these are isolated and uninteresting. In 
 the latter county, on the high upland bordering Clark’s river 
 at Backusburg, was a group of small ones, but now so cut 
 into and disfigured by relic-hunters that their outlines are 
 scarcely discernible. A number of excavations occur here 
 also, in which are fragments of unburnt and moulded pot- 
 tery clay. 
 
 In Graves county, a few small mounds occur on the place 
 of Mr. J. R. Ray, on Panther creek, a few stone relics, having 
 been found. 
 

 Species of Fossil Plants collected near Somerville, Tenn., 
 by Dr. J. M. Safford. Described and figured by L. Les- 
 quereux, in Silliman’s Journal (May, 1859). The descrip- 
 tions and figures are taken from the “Geology of Tennes- 
 see,” by Prof. Safford, a work now out of print and very 
 difficult to obtain: 
 
 Fia. 1. Quercus crassinervis (Ung.) The specimen is broken, and shows only 
 the middle part of a large, sharply dentate leaf, apparently oval-lanceolate in out- 
 line. The broad nerves, and the running of the secondary nerves to the point 
 of the teeth, as the form of the acute teeth, would refer this species to (Quercus 
 crassinervis (Ung.), a species found in the Upper Miocene of Europe. 
 
 Fig. 2. Quercus Saffordi (Lsqx.) Fig. 2, a, b, c. Leaves nearly linear, rarely 
 an inch broad, four to six inches long, gradually tapering to a point. Margins 
 regularly and distinctly mucronate-serrate, entire near the base and decurrent in 
 a broad petiole or enlarged nerve. Medial nerve, broad and flat; secondary nerve, 
 oblique, straight, running to the point of the teeth, and alternating with shorter 
 and slender ones. There is not any published fossil species that might be com- 
 pared with this. It is distantly related to living species of southern Texas and 
 Mexico, but among the leaves kindly furnished to me for comparison by Dr. Asa 
 Gray, there were none of these new species to which it could be referred. 
 
 Fig. 3. Quercus myrtifolia (Willd.) Inhabits now the islands south of Geor- 
 gia and along the coasts of Florida. Comparison of living specimens with this 
 fossil shows a perfect identity of form and venation. 
 
 Fig. 4. Andromeda vaccinifolice affinis (Lsqx.), a, b. Thick, oval-lanceolate, 
 pointed or obtuse leaves, with perfectly the same size, outline and nervation as 
 the A. vaccinifoUa (Heer), a plant of the Upper Miocene of Europe. Its nearest 
 relative in America is, I think, Andromeda acuminata (Michx.) 
 
 Fig. 5. Andromeda dubia (Lesqx.) A thick, smooth, round elliptical, obtusely 
 pointed leaf, with entire wavy, somewhat reflexed margins and obsolete nervation. 
 It is related to Andromeda ferruginea (Michx.), of the pine barrens of the South. 
 
 Fig. 6. Primus Caroliniana (Michx.) (Wild orange tree.) The species is 
 now confined to the islands, and near the coasts of Carolina, Georgia, etc., and in 
 the Bahama Islands, where it is at its true latitude. Michaux remarks that this 
 species is not found on the mainland, at a distance of two to ten miles from the 
 shores, where the temperature is five to six degrees colder in the winter, and pro- 
 portionally milder in the summer. 
 
 Fig. 7. Elceagnus inoequalis (Lsqx.) Leaf long elliptical, obtuse with entire 
 wavy margin, rounded near the base on one side, and about one inch longer, and 
 decurrent on the other side of the short petiole. Secondary nerves well marked, 
 thick near the base, emerging in acute angle, with a camptodrome much divided 
 nervation. I do not know of any living species to which this could be compared. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 197 
 
 Among tho fossil plants published till now, its nearest relative is Elceagnus 
 acuminaUis (Web.), of the Miocene of Europe. 
 
 Fig. 8. Sapotaeites Americanus (Lsqx.) Though tho specimen shows only 
 the upper part of tho loaf, tho form and tho nervation agree well with that of 
 the species of this genus found the Miocene of Europe. I have not seen any 
 other specimen but the one figured here. 
 
 Fig. 9. Salix? densinervis (Lsqx.I Leaves narrow, one and a half to two 
 inches long, lanceolate or tapering at both ends, entire. Medial nerve scarcely 
 
198 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 inflated at the base. Secondary nerves very close, anastomosing as in the leaflets 
 of a fern or of a Trifolium. This nervation is quite peculiar for a Salix, and 
 probably, when better specimens aj-e found, the plant will be referred to another 
 genus. 
 
 Fig. 10. Qwerews Lyellii. 
 
 Fig. 11. Fruit of Fagns ferruginea (Michx.) (Red beech.) This fruit is some- 
 what more distinctly ribboil on the sides and margins than in our living species; 
 but the characters are not marked enough to permit a separation. Though the 
 range of the American beech is indicated as rather northern, the tree is found most 
 abundant, and of the most remarkable growth, on the Tertiary, and even the 
 Cretaceous formations of the south, even in Louisiana. 
 
 zi. 
 
 Specimens of fossil leaves from the two geological horizons, Lignitic and La- 
 grange, occurring respectively at Wicklifie, in Ballard county, and Boaz Station, 
 in Graves county, were collected and sent to the United States Geological Survey 
 for identification of species. 
 
 This has been done by Prof. Leo Lesquereux, through the kindness of the Director 
 and the chief of the division of Paleobotany, and the results are given below. Only 
 the names of the different species have been furnished us, but it is expected that a 
 report embracing a full description of each will soon appear in the Tenth Volume 
 of the Proceedings of the National Museum. 
 
 1. Fossil leaves from clay-stone beds in the bluff" of a branch in the south-eastern 
 part of Wickliffe, Ballard county, Kentucky. Geologically, they belong to the 
 Lignitic or Lower Eocene division of the Tertiary, a thin bed of lignite appearing 
 in the same bluff a little westward: 
 
 Myrica elaenoides {sp. nov.) 
 Myrica copeana. Lx. 
 
 Ficus multinervis, Heer. 
 Sapindus falcifolius, Heer. 
 Sapindus dubius, Heer. 
 Sapindus angustifolius, Lx. 
 
 Laurus Californica (?) Lx. 
 Q^uercus Saffordii, Lx. 
 
 Juglans rugosa. Lx. 
 
 Salix angusta, Heer. 
 
 Salix media, Al. Br. 
 
 Fragment of a leaf of Ailanthus. 
 
 2. Fossil leaves found in a pinkish plastic clay near the foot of the bluffs facing 
 Mayfield creek, at Boaz Station, Graves county. The bed belongs to the Lagrange 
 group of probably Upper Tertiary: 
 
 Sapindus falcifolius, Heer. Laurus Californica, Lx. 
 
 Quercus nervifolia, Al. Br. Ficus multinervis, Heer. 
 
 Quercus cuspidata, Vng. 
 
 3. In the indurated sandy clay or fire-clay forming the base of the so-called 
 “chalk banks,” two miles south of Columbus, are numerous fragments of lignitized 
 sticks, leaves, etc. The bed belongs to the Lignitic or Lower Eocene division of the 
 Tertiary. Among these was found a single specimen, well preserved, that Prof. 
 I.esquereux terms “Fruit of Fagus,” and for which Prof. Ward proposes the name 
 Fagiis Loughridgei 
 
THE COUNTIES OF 
 
 JACKSON’S PURCHASE. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 pp. 199, 200. 
 

 
DESCRIPTIONS OF COUNTIES. 
 
 FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 Fulton, the extreme south-western county of the State, was 
 organized from Hickman in 1845, and has an area of about 
 178.6 square miles, of which about seventy are embraced in 
 the Mississippi bottom region. 
 
 The drainage waters of the entire middle and eastern por- 
 tions of the county are carried northward into the Bayou de 
 Chien and thence westward into the Mississippi river, there 
 being but a very small area along the Tennessee line, which 
 is drained southward into that State. Again, on the west, 
 the drainage is eastward, or away from the bluffs that bor- 
 der the bottoms of the Mississippi river, the waters reaching 
 that river only through the stream that flows southward into 
 Tennessee. The divide, therefore, that forms the southern 
 rim of the Purchase drainage basin, from the Tennessee river 
 westward, leaves the State line at the point where the N. C. 
 & L. R. R. crosses it from Union City, and turns northwest- 
 ward to the town of Hickman. 
 
 The main channel of the Mississippi river once passed west 
 of Island No. 6, through what is now but a slough. East of 
 the island a small current flowed, and between it and the 
 bluffs there was, in 1842, a bottom one-quarter of a mile 
 wide. Within this latter a broad cypress brake or slough 
 extended southward, apparently connecting with what is now 
 known as the Morrow slough, that, beginning at the river a 
 mile from Hickman, connects with Reelfoot Lake. 
 
 There is also every reason to believe that the Obion and 
 Bayou de Chien were once united before reaching the river, 
 but had become separated by the wearing away of the 
 river banks. We are informed by some of the citizens living 
 in the vicinity, that about thirty years ago the mouths of the 
 two streams were within four hundred yards of each other, 
 
202 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGKICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 though now separated by one and a half miles. Since then 
 the current of the river, thrown against the eastern bank, has 
 carried it away, not only removing all traces of the lowland 
 in front of Hickman, but threatens to sweep the river por- 
 tion of the town itself away. The railroad tracks along the 
 front have been repeatedly relaid, nearer each time to the 
 foot of the bluff, and have been finally removed and the depot 
 located out of town. 
 
 The Morrow slough, mentioned above, has a broad and 
 deep channel, with abrupt banks, and lies along the eastern 
 side of Reelfoot Lake several miles before entering it. The 
 channel even then preserves its identity, and, according to 
 Mr. Carpenter, who lives at the lake, has a depth of twelve 
 feet and width of one hundred feet ; it crosses the lake in a 
 west course, then follows the west side for about ten miles, 
 crosses again to the east, and thence to the Obion river, 
 fifteen miles distant. 
 
 The strong resemblance between the channel of the slough 
 and those of the Obion and Bayou de Chien, their continuity 
 in general course, as well as with that of the Hickman slough, 
 now swept away, makes very plausible the theory that these 
 two streams once unitedly found their way through this 
 slough channel southward to the Obion river, in Tennessee, 
 before entering the Mississippi. 
 
 The Mississippi bottom presents a comparatively level sur- 
 face, interspersed with a number of large lakes and ponds, 
 which are connected by sloughs with either Reelfoot Lake 
 on the south or the Mississippi river. The bottom lies about 
 forty feet above low- water, and is, therefore, subject to an- 
 nual overflows. It is very heavily timbered with walnut, 
 hickory, ash, sweet and red gums, water and overcup oaks, 
 pecan, sycamore, cottonwood, willow, catalpa and papaw. 
 On the bottom and low ridges sweet gum, spicewood, honey 
 locust, swamp dogwood and sugar maple, persimmon, redbud, 
 mulberry, some black and red haws, cane and elder brush, 
 form the chief growth. 
 
 A few low sandy ridges lie parallel with the river and not 
 far from it, the most prominent among which is the Sassafras 
 ridge, with a length of about three miles and a width of 
 
OF FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 203 
 
 froHi one-fourth to one-Juilf mile. Its elevation above the 
 suiTOHiuling bottom is only about ten feet, and it is subject 
 to high-water overtlows. The growth is cottonwood, oak, 
 ash and sassafwas. It is said that walnut was once the 
 chief growth, but was cut off and used for fence rails. 
 
 That portion of the bottom lying in New Madrid bend is 
 entirely isolated from the rest of the State, and can net be 
 reached by land except by passing through a portion of 
 Tennessee or Missouri. It is but a few feet above overflow, 
 and is largely in cultivation. 
 
 The uplands of the county comprise a bluff ridge along the 
 border of the Mississippi river bottom, and lower lands in 
 the interior. South from the Bayou de Chien to the Tennes- 
 see State line the uplands rise from the bottom region very 
 abruptly and steeply to an elevation of over one hundred 
 and sixty feet, presenting fronts to westward. At Hickman 
 their extreme elevation is one hundred and eighty feet above 
 the business x^^rt of town, or two hundred and twenty-five 
 feet above low-water, and about four hundred and eighty feet 
 above the sea. The summit of this bluff ridge is narrow, 
 falling suddenly on the east for fifty or sixty feet, with 
 still another fall eastward to the general level of the up- 
 lands, or fifty to seventy-five feet above the river bottoms. 
 
 Southward, the bluff ridge widens, but its immediate west- 
 ern front forms a sharp water-divide, the gullies which mark 
 the head-waters of easterly flowing streams usually approach- 
 ing to within fifteen or twenty feet of the edge of the brow 
 of the bluff, cutting the surface of the plateau sharj^ly into 
 deep ravines, and giving to the country a very broken and 
 hilly character. This is especially so in the southern portion 
 near the State line, where the general elevation falls gradually 
 eastward from one hundred and sixty feet above the bottom 
 to about sixty feet at Reelfoot creek, a decline of about one 
 hundred feet in a distance of five and a half miles. 
 
 This ridge is a continuation of the line of bluff or cane 
 hills that border the Mississippi river bottom in Louisiana 
 through Mississippi and Tennessee. It has a timber growth 
 ■of beech, poplar, hickory, elm, oaks, black locust, walnut. 
 
204 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 ironwood, hornbeam, dogwood and sassafras. Cane under- 
 growth was once luxuriant. 
 
 On the north of Bayou de Chien, in this county, this high 
 ridge is not found ; the bottom lands reach four miles further 
 eastward than at Hickman, and the bluffs that border them 
 are much lower, and present features similar to the ordinary 
 uplands lying due southward. 
 
 The rest of the county lying east of the bluff ridge is com- 
 paratively level or but slightly rolling, cut into by the several 
 streams, and presenting broad and arable lands, originally 
 timbered with white and red oaks, hickory and sweet gum. 
 The general surface has an elevation of from fifty to seventy- 
 five feet above the Mississippi bottom, rising thirty-five or 
 forty feet higher to the ridge, along which the M. & 0. R. R. 
 is laid, and again falls eastward. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 The uplands of the county are composed of Quaternary 
 loams and sands to a depth of from twenty- five to forty 
 feet, and the underlying older formations are exposed only in 
 the vertical banks of the various streams (where not covered 
 by eroded material), and especially in the high bluffs that 
 border or face the Mississippi river bottom. The formations 
 thus exposed in the county comprise 
 
 Quaternary 
 
 Tertiary 
 
 Alluvial or recent. 
 Brown loam. 
 
 Loess and bluff. 
 Port Hudson. 
 Stratified drift. 
 Lagrange. 
 
 Lower Eocene. 
 
 The series are well seen at Hickman, where they are ex- 
 posed in the almost vertical bluffs and in the banks of the 
 river at low-water seasons. 
 
 The following section is given in the order, position and 
 thickness of the different strata : 
 
OF FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 20.5 
 
 SECTION OF BLUFF AT HICKMAN. 
 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Yellow or brownish yellow loiun. 
 
 
 4 
 
 >* 
 
 < 
 
 60 
 
 Light grey silt or loess with calcareous concretions and very numer- 
 ous land shells. 
 
 s . 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 f- 
 
 ■< 
 
 D 
 
 O’ 
 
 15 
 
 Dark brown loam with some scattered gravel in the lower two feet. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Dense deposit of hornstone and chert gravel and loam. 
 
 
 10 
 
 Heavy bed of gravel, with red sand and clay somewhat stratified. 
 
 
 6 
 
 Greenish or sometimes bluish sandy joint clay, crumbling easily. 
 
 
 2 
 
 Ledge of sand and claystone, crumbly, greyish and soft. 
 
 
 
 Thinly laminated slate-colored or bluish joint clay. 
 
 Tertiary. 
 
 10 
 
 Greenish clay-stone and green clay, soft, banded with j’ellow ferru- 
 ginous lines, crumbles easily, and in places is quite solid. 
 
 8 
 
 Slate colored clay-stone, massive, jointed structure, in places contain- 
 ing a dark opal in small lumps. 
 
 
 50 
 
 Greenish joint clay, the exposure hidden by the alluvial loam of the 
 bottoms. 
 
 TEETIAEY FOEMATION. 
 
 The lower eighty feet of strata and material that are here 
 referred to, the Tertiary formation, have not been recognized 
 elsewhere in any other county. They form a group peculiar 
 to themselves, and in nowise resembling any other of the 
 Tertiary series, either in this or other States, so far as I can 
 ascertain ; and I have, for that reason, provisionally given to 
 them the name Hickman Group, from the locality where best 
 exposed. 
 
 The position of the group, with relation to the lignitic, 
 which is represented in the other counties of the Purchase, 
 has not been positively ascertained ; but from its easterly 
 dip, and its more westerly position than the Columbus beds, 
 
206 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 and the resemblance of the uppermost six feet to the sandy 
 clays of the latter, there seems to be little doubt that it 
 underlies the lignitic black and grey clays, probably form- 
 ing a part of that group. 
 
 The lowest member of the series, as exposed in the Hick- 
 man bluff, is a light greenish or drab colored and stiff joint- 
 clay, crumbling and hardening on exposure ; it is compact 
 and hard, and has an exposed thickness of fifty feet. In a 
 well in the southern part of town the clay was exposed to 
 a depth of five feet, and under it ten feet of blue, plastic, 
 micaceous and lignitic clay over ten feet of white sand. 
 This well was within the curve formed by the south-easterly 
 trend of the bluff, and the strata are probably a part of the 
 Tertiary series. This is rendered more probable from the fact 
 that in another well, outside of this bluff curve, or within 
 the river bottom, blue alluvial sediment was penetrated to 
 twenty -two and a half feet, where cypress knees, leaves, logs, 
 etc., were found. 
 
 Immediately overlying the clay, at the north end of the 
 main bluff, is a ledge of slate-colored clay-stone, very brittle, 
 breaking with sharp and jointy fracture, crumbling on ex- 
 posure to air, and containing small lumps of a dark but 
 very brittle opal, inclosed in a semi- opal matrix or mass. 
 The opal was found only in this portion of the bluff. The 
 ledge of clay-stone is about eight feet thick, but not homoge- 
 neous in structure. It is overlaid by ten feet of a softer 
 clay-stone, crumbling readily, and for the most part thinly 
 laminated, the laminae separated by seams of yellow ochre- 
 ous clay. Above the clay stone is a stratum of blackish-blue 
 clay one foot in thickness, and in turn overlaid by two feet 
 of sandy clay-stone, the series capped by another layer six 
 . feet thick of blue or green colored clay, quite brittle, and 
 resembling somewhat the grey “soapstone” clay of the lignitic 
 series found in other counties. 
 
 The clay-stone ledge is again exposed in a deep ravine or 
 creek near the spring on the place of Mr. T. R. McMahon, 
 in the eastern part of town. It is here two feet thick, and is 
 both overlaid and underlaid by the greenish clays. Still 
 eastward, in the bed of a creek one mile or more from town, 
 
OF FULTON ('OUNTY. 
 
 207 
 
 tlie clay is exposed to the depth of a couple of feet. Beyond 
 this, at Mud creek, only the bluish clays of the upper strata 
 could be found. 
 
 This series of clays and clay-stones are exposed southward 
 into Tennessee, the last bluff examined being near Reel foot 
 Lake, east of Mr. Carpenter’s. Here the ledge of clay-stone 
 is a foot thick, lies fifty feet above the bottom land, under- 
 laid by six feet of a softer clayey grey sandstone permeated 
 with streaks of yellow, and in turn underlaid by the grey 
 clays. Blue clays here also overlie the clay-stone ledge, and 
 eastward are found exposed in a deep ravine. They have a 
 disagreeable fetid odor, and are not micaceous. The eastern 
 limit of the formation seems to be just beyond Blue Mud 
 creek, where the top stratum of blue clay is found in wells 
 below the superficial loam and gravel, and also in some of 
 the creeks. On the south-west of Cayce station it is reached 
 at from twenty to forty feet, and has been penetrated for ten 
 feet without reaching its limit. 
 
 Lignitic Group . — In the Hickman bluff, and overlying the 
 ledge of clay-stone referred to the provisional Hickman 
 group., there is a stratum of a light bluish sandy clay which 
 is probably the representative of the lignitic beds so promi- 
 nent in all of the other counties of the Purchase region. 
 
 Its resemblance to the indurated sandy clay beds of the 
 Columbus bluffs on the north, and its continuation south- 
 ward into Tennessee, where Prof. Safford reports the exist- 
 ence of bluff lignite, make it more than probable that its 
 reference to the lignitic group is correct. As already stated, 
 the clays are well exposed in the high bluffs at the Tennessee 
 State line near Mr. Carpenter’s, and also eastward in the 
 deep ravines, and, as at Hickman, overlie directly the clay- 
 stone ledge. 
 
 The bed has a thickness of six feet, and is overlaid by the 
 gravel dei)osits of the Quaternary. 
 
 Lagrange Group . — This formation appears immediately 
 overlying the Hickman and lignitic clays, or at least begins 
 just as the latter cease. It seems to be the uppermost of 
 the series, being overlaid by Quaternary gravel and sand. It 
 does not apppar in the Hickman hlnff. 
 
208 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The group embraces white and yellow sands, with occa- 
 sional layers of white or bluish-white plastic pipe-clay a few 
 inches in thickness. No exposure could be found; but in 
 wells that have been dug to any great depth these strata 
 were passed through. White sand is especially prominent. 
 
 At Cayce station a well was dug through twenty feet of 
 loam, four feet of pipe-clay, and thirty-six feet of red and 
 white sand, with some clay — in all sixty feet— and no water 
 found. A couple of miles westward the strata are diiferent, 
 and the blue fetid clay is reached at twenty feet. At Wes- 
 ley, five miles north of Pulton, twenty feet of loam, twenty- 
 live feet of red sand, and fifty feet of white sand and layers 
 of clay, were penetrated. At Fulton, in a valley, four feet 
 of loam, ten feet of pipe-clay, twenty-five feet of white sand, 
 one and a half feet of pipe -clay, and three feet of white sand 
 were passed through in digging a well. Two miles north-east 
 of Fulton white sand was found at a depth of one hundred 
 and sixty feet. 
 
 QUATERNARY FORMATION. 
 
 Stratified Drift . — The Tertiary strata are overlaid directly 
 in the Hickman bluff by eleven feet of rather coarse and 
 rounded hornstone and chert gravel, mixed with red and 
 yellow sand and some clay. The usual water-worn Subcar- 
 boniferous crinoids, etc., are found, but not abundantly. The 
 deposit is somewhat stratified, and has a general inclination 
 east or north-eastward. The upper part of the bed is espe- 
 cially dense or compacted, containing more stiff red clay than 
 the lower bed. At one point the following stratification was 
 
 apparent : 
 
 Dense gravel and loam bed 12 inches. 
 
 Dense gravel and red clay, highly cemented 8 inches. 
 
 Dense gravel and red sand, loose in character 8 feet. 
 
 Lumps of blue plastic clay are dispersed throughout the 
 bed, and frequently inclose a few gravel. 
 
 In the brown loam or silt that overlies the gravel, a few 
 scattering pieces of quartz gravel, from red to black in color, 
 occur for a foot or two, and occasionally some hornstone is 
 found. 
 
OK FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 209 
 
 Southward, toward Reelfoot Lake, the gravel-beds are seen, 
 but with a thickness of only a foot or two, while eastward 
 from the immediate bluff, and for many miles, it is, so far 
 as known, entirely absent, a red sand taking its place. In 
 most wells water is obtained in the blue clay at thirty or 
 forty feet from the surface. 
 
 What seems to be an isolated bed of gravel was found in 
 a well one mile south of Cayce station, and was four feet 
 in thickness. A gravel conglomerate and some loose gravel 
 occurs a mile south of Wesley; but the bed is thin and the 
 gravel fine. A little gravel is also occasionally found in 
 wells near Fulton and at Jourdan station. 
 
 Port Hudson. — This formation, which, geologically, is 
 placed above the stratified sands and gravel, is found ex- 
 posed along the banks of the Mississippi below the alluvial 
 deposit. Its material consist of blue and stiff clays, inclos- 
 ing some pieces of lignite. The beds are also marked by old 
 cypress stumps, which are found still in an upright posi- 
 tion, buried below the alluvial proper. 
 
 In the broad bottom region these materials are reached at 
 ten to fifteen feet, as shown in digging wells. In the low 
 portion of Hickman, cypress knees, weeds, and a cypress log, 
 were struck in a well at twenty-two and a half feet. In a 
 well near Sassafras ridge, in the western part of the bottom, 
 after passing through four feet of alluvial loam and ten feet 
 of white and yellow sand, two feet of blue clay was pene- 
 trated, and water was found in a blackish sand. Some lig- 
 nite and fossil leaves were observed in the clay. 
 
 Loess or Bluff Formation . — This formation is confined to 
 the bluffs that border the Mississippi bottom, lying in this 
 county between the Bayou de Chien and the State line, and, 
 in elevation, is above the general level of the rest of the 
 county. Its material consists of a light-colored soft and fine 
 silt, yellowish when moist, and grey and compact or indu- 
 rated when dry. It contains numbers of land shells. (See 
 page 78.) 
 
 The bed of silt is about fifty feet thick, changing below to 
 a more clayey loam, in which the shells were not found, and 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 14 . 
 
210 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGKICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 which, with a thickness of about fifteen feet, directly overlies 
 the gravel, and incloses a few scattering small colored quartz 
 I)ebbles in the lower two feet. 
 
 The silt beds of the bluff contain also numerous calcare- 
 ous concretions and yellow tube-like forms, showing, when 
 broken, concentric layers and a small central hole, as if made 
 by some rootlet. Near the upper part of the bed such root- 
 lets were seen as long strings inserted in the interior of 
 these forms. On the summit of the bluff the silt is covered 
 with four or five feet of yellow loam. 
 
 Brown Loam . — This material forms the surface of the up- 
 lands of the county, and has a general depth of from fifteen to 
 twenty feet. The upper two feet is usually a light yellowish 
 loam where drained, while the lower portion is more com- 
 pact, lighter colored, and permeated by seams of a whitish 
 silty material. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 Fulton county does not possess those varied features that 
 characterize some of the other counties of the Purchase, for 
 in its uplands there is lacking the fiatwoods and the barrens ; 
 and in its lowlands we do not find a belt of valley land along 
 its river, as in McCracken, Ballard, Marshall and Calloway 
 counties. 
 
 Uplands . — The uplands of the county embrace the high 
 Cane Hills ridge, or bluff lands, along the Mississix>pi bot- 
 tom, and the lower and more level country reaching east 
 across the county. 
 
 The Gane Hills form a narrow belt on the north, near Hick- 
 man, and a wider but very broken section on the south, thus 
 affording a comparatively small area suitable for tillage. The 
 soil is, however, very rich and fertile, formed from the cal- 
 careous silt or loess of the bluff, and, where bodies large 
 enough for farms are found, will repay the husbandman for 
 his labor. 
 
 An analysis of the silt on page 79 shows it to be extremely 
 rich in potash and soda and magnesia, and with a large per- 
 centage of lime, a richness also indicated by the large timber 
 growth of poplar, oak, walnut, etc., whose roots draw the 
 
OF FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 211 
 
 necessary food from this silt. Cane undergrowth is a cliarac- 
 teristic feature of the surface growth throughout the leno-th 
 of the bluir. 
 
 The remaining uplands of the county, known as the oak 
 and hickory hroion loam lands, have a brownish loam soil, 
 loose in texture where well drained, or where Iving along 
 the edges of ill-drained flats, and has a depth of two to four 
 feet to the more compact under-clay. The immediate sur- 
 face soil is usually dark from decayed vegetation. On flat 
 areas, where there is no natural drainage, the soil becomes 
 heavy, crawflshy and leached, the iron and a portion of the 
 other ingredients withdrawn in the form of small rounded 
 bog ore gravel. These spots are marked by a whitish soil. 
 
 The timber growth of these uplands comprises white and 
 red oaks, and hickory, with dogwood and sassafras, and per- 
 simmon ; poplar is conflned to the country west of Mud 
 creek. 
 
 A comparison of the analyses of virgin soils from near 
 Hickman and Fulton, given in the general report (page 159), 
 show the strongest difl'erences in their potash and phos- 
 phoric acid ; those from the former place being deficient 
 
 the amount of potash available for plants, while having a 
 fair amount of phosphoric acid; and the soil from Fulton hav- 
 ing a fair percentage of potash and rather a deficiency in 
 phosphoric acid. The insoluble portions of the soil, however, 
 hold a large amount of the former constituent (more than 
 one and a half per cent.), which should be made available 
 by the addition of more lime to all these soils. 
 
 The subsoils are naturally poorer in vegetable or organic 
 matter, but are more clayey in character, and contain less 
 hme and larger percentages of potash and phosphoric acid 
 than their soils. The differences are so great in the latter 
 two elements of plant food that they point clearly to deep 
 subsoil plowing as one means of keeping up the fertility. 
 
 The uplands wash into ravines and gullies very badly on 
 hill-sides, unless well cared for. Little or no hill-side ditch- 
 ing or horizontal plowing was observed, the crops being 
 usually “laid by” with the rows forming excellent water 
 drains down the hill-sides, with a consequent loss of soil. 
 
213 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The central and eastern portions of the county, from the 
 bluffs of the river bottom eastward beyond the M. & 0. R. R., 
 are very generally opened up and in cultivation, the roads 
 passing almost continuously through lanes. 
 
 The crops of the uplands are chiefly corn and wheat, the 
 average yield being, in good seasons, eight to ten barrels of 
 the former, or ten to fifteen bushels of wheat per acre. 
 Some tobacco is cultivated, but the plant grows too large 
 and coarse. In the neighborhood of Wesley it is said to 
 yield one thousand pounds per acre. A little cotton has 
 also been produced in the southern part of the county, 
 but the seasons are too short for the complete opening of 
 the bolls. The plant grows luxuriantly. East of Cayce, land- 
 plaster or gypsum is said to be used extensively on the 
 lands. 
 
 Bottom Lands . — The bottom lands of the Mississippi river 
 cover an area of about seventy square miles, by far the 
 greater part of which are subject to overflow, and not under 
 cultivation. Along the river bank, with a width of about a 
 mile, there is a belt of sandy lands somewhat higher, which, 
 together with some low ridges in the swamp, are sufficiently 
 elevated to escape disastrous floods, except in unusual high- 
 water seasons. Such lands embrace almost the only tilled 
 area, the rest being valuable chiefly for their fine timber 
 growth, though having a very rich and light alluvial loam 
 soil, several feet in depth, which would produce immense 
 crops. Corn is the chief and almost only crop cultivated 
 in the bottom, the sandy lands, including Sassafras ridge, 
 yielding from sixty to seventy bushels of corn per acre. 
 
 New Madrid Bend is several feet higher than the main bot- 
 tom region, and for the most part is above ordinary high- 
 water. Large farms lie along the river, producing both corn 
 and wheat. 
 
 Analyses made of samples of these soils from near Hick- 
 man are given in the general report. (See page 145.) 
 
 The most notable feature brought out by the analyses is 
 the large amounts of organic matter and lime carbonate, 
 which are valuable additions where so little potash occurs 
 in an available form and so much held in an insoluble con- 
 
OF FULTON COUNTY 
 
 2i:J 
 
 dition. Tlie phosplioric acid percentage is good, with, how- 
 ever, comparatively little to fall back on in the insoluble 
 residues when the soil becomes at all exhausted. 
 
 In the cultivated soil, the land is seen to not only hold its 
 own, but to impi'ove by the plowing, the phosi)horic acid 
 remaining the same, and the available potash increasing at 
 the expense of the insoluble portion. The alumina and 
 iron oxide (probably the latter, chiefly) seem to have gone 
 into an insoluble form. The withdraAval of the corn crop 
 seems not to have affected the land. 
 
 The lands of the bottom above Hickman are similar in 
 character to those on the south. Along the river bank 
 cj’press stumps stand in the underlying blue clays, and are 
 embedded and covered by the alluvial loam. 
 
 The bottom reaches eastward for several miles, and has a 
 heavy timber growth similar to that already given. 
 
 Those portions of the bottom land of the Obion creek and 
 Bayou de Chien, lying within this county, are formed by 
 overflows from the Mississippi river, chiefly, and are similar 
 to the lands already described. 
 
 On Little Bayou de Chien, and smaller streams, the lands 
 are formed by washings from the brown loam uplands, and 
 are yellowish and stiffer than the river lands, and crawfishy 
 to a large degree. The surface soil is dark or black to a 
 depth of an inch. Their valleys are usually from one-fourth 
 to one-half mile in wddth, and not very much in cultivation. 
 The growffh comprises white and other oaks, hickory, gum. 
 and some pecan. 
 
 ECONOMIC FEATURES. 
 
 There are no minerals occurring in this county that deserve 
 attention. Some iron, in the form of oxide, occurs in the 
 gravel beds of the bluffs, staining them yellow or red, and 
 forming a cementing material for the gravel conglomerates ; 
 occasionally a thin sheet of limonite is found, but in no 
 great quantity. To this iron oxide is due the chalybeate 
 character of so many of the springs that come from beneath 
 the gravel. 
 
214 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULUURAL FEATURES 
 
 In some of the clays (especially the blue) are frequently 
 found bright particles of iron pyrites, having yellow or sil- 
 very colors, and often mistaken for gold or silver. They 
 give rise, by decomposition, to the fetid or disagreeable odor 
 so generally observed in the blue clays, and to the sulphur 
 springs which sometimes are found issuing from these clays, 
 and which are recognized by the accompanying odor. 
 
 A chalybeate water from Nick Combs’ spring, four miles 
 south-west of Hickman, was, on analysis, found to contain 
 free carbonic acid and 0.302 grains of saline matters in one 
 thousand of water. This consists of iron, manganese, lime 
 and magnesia carbonates, with some lime and magnesia sul- 
 phates. 
 
 Potter' s Clay^ Etc . — The bluffs at Hickman, and southward 
 to the Tennessee State line, contain an inexhaustible amount 
 of pure clay, free from coarse sand and pyrites, and which 
 doubtless could be utilized in the manufacture of tiling, 
 terra-cotta and pottery. The clay is said to have been suc- 
 cessfully tried for fire-brick ; but the amount of potash it 
 contains would seem to unfit it for the severest tests. The 
 greenish color is probably due to diffused glauconitic clay. 
 
 Analyses have been made of the following specimens of 
 clay from this county, with results as given in the general 
 report : 
 
 No. 2141. Clay ; bed about twenty feet thick or more 
 above the railroad track ; upper part of the town of Hick- 
 man ; of a pretty uniform olive-grey color ; calcines quite 
 hard, and is quite refractory before the blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2136. Clay from the bluff at Hickman; upper part of 
 town ; first clay below gravel bed ; about four feet thick. It 
 is of a light-greyish tint, and ferruginous in parts by infil- 
 tration; moderately plastic; it did not calcine very hard, 
 acquiring a handsome light brick color, and is refractory 
 before the blow pipe. 
 
 No. 2138. Clay from the Hickman bluff; upper part of 
 town; it lies about ten feet below the gravel bed, and is 
 about four feet thick ; it is light-grey in color, infiltrated 
 somewhat with ochreous material in striae, and is quite 
 
OF FULTON COUNTY. 
 
 2ir> 
 
 plastic ; calcined to a li^ht brick color, and is quite re- 
 fractory before the blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2140. Clay from Hickman blulTs ; upper part of town ; 
 tlie bed is about five feet thick, below No. 2139 ; light lilac- 
 grey color, and stained with an ochre on the exterior ; it is 
 quite plastic, buiais quite hard and to a light-brownish buff 
 tint, and is quite refractory before the blow-pipe. 
 
 No. 2134. Indurated clay from Hickman bluff; forty-five 
 feet above low-water ; grey color, with some light ferruginous 
 stains in fissures ; quite plastic with water when powdered. 
 It calcines to a light-buff color, and fuses before the blow- 
 pipe into a grey slag. 
 
 No. 2135. Clay from Hickman bluff ; ninety-five feet above 
 low- water; it is quite plastic with water, calcines to a red- 
 dish buff color, and is refractory before the blow-pipe, but 
 sintered somewhat. 
 
 No. 2137. Clay from Hickman bluff ; same bed as No. 
 2136, but one-fourth mile further up the bluff ; three to four 
 feet thick ; it is quite plastic, burns hard and to a light grey- 
 ish buff tint, and fuses with great difficulty before the blow- 
 pipe. 
 
 No. 2139. Clay above No. 2138; it is about four feet 
 thick, quite plastic, and burns hard; of a light grey-buff 
 tint; fuses with difficulty before the blow-pipe. 
 
 Dr. Peter remarks: “The refractory clays would probably 
 make good fire-brick, etc. ; others of the above could be em- 
 ployed for terra-cotta work and other forms of pottery, while 
 some of these abundant deposits might, no doubt, be used 
 with advantage in mixture with the more calcareous soft 
 material, found in some of these beds, in the manufacture 
 of hydraulic cement of the character of the celebrated Port- 
 land cement.” 
 
 The following samples of the clay-stones, or indurated 
 siliceous clay and concretions, that occur in the bluffs border- 
 ing the Mississippi bottom, have been analyzed and given in 
 the general report : 
 
 No. 1439. Indurated siliceous clay (clay-stone), from the 
 bluffs, one hundred feet above low- water mark, at Hickman ; 
 is somewhat plastic when powdered and rubbed up with water. 
 
216 
 
 GKOLOOIOAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 No. 1440. Siliceous concretion, or soft sandstone, from 
 the bluff at Hickman, fifty feet above low water ; slightly 
 plastic when jiowdered and rubbed up with water ; adheres to 
 the tongue. 
 
 No. 1441. Siliceous concretion from Chickasaw Bluff, eight 
 miles south of Hickman ; a light-grey or dove-colored soft 
 and porous siliceous rock, adhering to the tongue ; scarcely 
 at all plastic when powdered and rubbed up with water. 
 
 No. 1442. Soft sandstone, Chickasaw Bluff, near the base, 
 eight miles south of Hickman ; a dull light yellowish-grey 
 porous soft sandstone ; adheres strongly to the tongue ; com- 
 posed of minute rounded quartzose grains with whitish cement. 
 
 “These siliceous deposits do not contain enough mineral 
 fertilizing ingredients to make them available for application 
 to the soil, nor enough alumina to constitute a good plastic 
 clay. Yet they may be made useful in tempering clay 
 which contains too much alumina, or for the formation of 
 common glass and for scouring purposes. Some of them are 
 plastic enough to enable them to be moulded, and the sili- 
 ceous material is fine enough in some to permit them to be 
 used as ‘bath brick’ for household scouring.” 
 
 The white and bluish pipe-clays that occur in strata in 
 the sands of the Lagrange group, in the eastern part of the 
 county, are covered too deeply by the sands and loams of 
 the Quaternary to be utilized profitably, though they un- 
 doubtedly would make splendid ware. So far as known, 
 no outcrop occurs in any of the creeks or gullies within the 
 county. There is, in the bluff of a creek immediately north 
 of the town of Fulton, a small exposure of a light bluish 
 jdastic clay, but is intermixed with yellowish sand. 
 
 The gravel of the bluff at Hickman has been largely utilized 
 in gi’ading the streets of the town. It is of the cementing 
 variety, being mixed with iron oxide, clay and sand, which 
 rapidly harden on being packed and exposed to the air. 
 
 The grey silt, comprising a fifty-foot bed in the top of the 
 bluff at Hickman and southward, is a fine polishing powder, 
 and has also been used by dentists as a moulding clay for 
 casts. 
 
OF HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 217 
 
 HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 The county of Hickman now contains an area of about 229.. 5 
 square miles, nearly all of which is uplands, there being but 
 about twenty miles of bottom lands within the Mississipi>i 
 river bottom, including Wolf Island, and about thirty square 
 miles of bottom along the larger streams. It originally em- 
 braced all of Jackson’s Purchase, and was organized in 1821 
 from Caldwell and Livingston. 
 
 The general surface of the county is rolling, and was orig- 
 inally well timbered, and is drained by Obion creek and 
 Bayou de Chien, the former flowing at flrst north-westward 
 and then turning nearly abruptly south-westward, the Bayou 
 de Chien on the south having a nearly continuous westward 
 course, both streams entering the Mississippi on the south- 
 west and not far apart. The Obion has very much the 
 largest drainage basin within the county, the water-divide 
 being very near the Bayou de Chien, and limiting its northern 
 tributaries to very small streams. 
 
 The general level of the uplands cast of Clinton is about 
 four hundred and fifty feet above the sea, falling westward 
 to three hundred and fifty feet at the Clinton depot, and 
 three hundred feet at Obion creek, but rising again to four 
 hundred and thirty feet on the bluffs at Columbus. Here 
 there is an abrupt descent to the town, located in a broad 
 flat (originally the Mississippi bottom) two hundred and eight 
 feet above the sea or thirty-five feet above low-water. 
 
 The river bottom is here limited to a narrow belt, of not 
 more than three miles in length, by the bluffs at Columbus 
 and the “chalk banks” on the south, both of which come 
 immediately to the water’s edge. South of the latter bluff 
 the bottom widens rapidly, the river having a more south- 
 westerly course, and the bluff itself turning south-eastward 
 to the Obion creek, by which it is cut in two at McLeod’s 
 bluff. The bottom here has a width of about three miles. 
 
 The bluff ridge, forming a sharp water-divide between the 
 Mississippi bottom on the west and the small tributaries of 
 the Obion on the east, maintains its high elevation until the 
 bluff turns south-eastward, when its summit falls rapidly to 
 about three hundred and fifty-five feet at McLeod’s bluff. 
 
218 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Between the Obion and Bayou de Chien the uplands ter- 
 minate in a low blulf not more than sixty feet above the 
 bottom land, a short distance from the county line. Back- 
 water from extreme hoods in the Mississippi reach to a 
 point south of Clinton on the Bayou de Chien, and about 
 west of Spring Hill on the Obion. 
 
 The current of the Mississippi, thrown against the eastern 
 banks, has been rapidly undermining the bluffs on the north 
 of Columbus, and portions are annually falling in. It is said 
 that in the spring of 1847 seven acres were carried away. 
 The town itself is also suffering greatly by the washing 
 away of the river front. At the “chalk banks” the indu- 
 rated material affords greater resistance to the current, and 
 the bluff remains unaffected. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 The entire uplands of the county have a superficial de- 
 posit of from fifteen to thirty feet of brown loams, which 
 very generally hide the Tertiary strata. These latter are, 
 however, well exposed in the high bluffs at Columbus and 
 “chalk banks,” and much light is thrown on their occur- 
 rence elsewhere by the deep wells that have been dug. 
 
 The Columbus bluffs do not present a uniform outcropping 
 of each stratum, and different characters and material some- 
 times appear at the same levels, making it often difficult 
 to arrive at a definite conclusion as to the relations and posi- 
 tion of each. 
 
 SECTION OF BLUFF AT COLUMBUS. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Soil and subsoil. 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 Grey calcareous silt or loess. 
 
 30 
 
 Coarse gravel with yellow sand and clay, in part cemented together. 
 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 Grey, chocolate and variegated colored stiff clays. 
 
 85 
 
 Siliceous earths or clays; white or grey when dry, but bluish when 
 wet or damp; becomes highly indurated on exposure; incloses lig- 
 nitic stems, leaves, and pieces of bark. 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 Light grey whitish clay ; disappears below water. 
 
OF HICKMAN county. 
 
 219 
 
 The lower 110 feet of tlie above belong to the Tertiary, 
 while the upper 6.5 feet are of the Quaternary. More recent 
 deposits occur in the bottom lands at the foot of the bluffs. 
 
 TERTIARY FORMATION. 
 
 Ligniiic or Lower Eocene . — The lignitic strata have a very 
 limited exposure within this county, being confined to the two 
 bluffs at Columbus and the “chalk banks.” It is elsewhere 
 replaced or overlaid by the later, or Lagrange group. 
 
 The siliceous earth or clay forming the bluff to an eleva- 
 tion of ninety-five feet above low-water is, in places, more 
 clayey than in others. Where freshly uncovered, the ma- 
 terial is soft and dark in color, sometimes bluish, and more 
 or less plastic. On drying it becomes grey, and hardens 
 into a solid mass, which, however, is inclined to crumble when 
 wet. Large blocks of this indurated earth lie at the foot of 
 the bluff. 
 
 Blackened and lignitic stems and leaves are found through- 
 out the bed, and are best shown in the dried and hardened 
 portions, the leaves being frequently well preserved. A piece 
 of bark six inches in width was observed. In the bluffs east 
 of Columbus an exposure of this siliceous clay-bed is again 
 seen. 
 
 At the “chalk banks,” two miles south of Columbus, where 
 the bluffs come to the water’s edge, this siliceous earth has, 
 by its long exposure, been made to present a white appear- 
 ance, and hence the name given to it by river men. This 
 name is, however, a misnomer, and is apt to mislead, for 
 there is here an entire absence of anything resembling 
 chalk. The bluff is highly indurated, and presents a bold 
 face to the river, with a dip of about fifteen degrees to the 
 east. The interior of the hardened masses is dark or some- 
 what bluish, and incloses lignitic sticks and leaves. A small 
 nut, resembling that of a beech {Fagus), was found in one 
 place. 
 
 Lagrange Group . — The plastic, white and variegated clays, 
 interstratified with sand, have been referred to this group, 
 which is, so far as can be determined, an intermediate bed 
 between the Eocene Tertiary and the Quaternary stratified 
 drift. 
 
220 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 In the Columbus bluffs it is seen in the clays that imme- 
 diately underlie the gravel beds, and in the deep beds of 
 white sand, with their associated layers of clay, that appear 
 on the south of the Columbus bluff and on the north of the 
 “chalk bank.” 
 
 In the Columbus bluff the sand bank rises from the wa- 
 ter’s edge (immediately south of the Tertiary siliceous earth 
 bluff), to an elevation of ninety-five feet above low-water, 
 and shows plainly the strata of white or bluish- white pipe- 
 clay. The sand is fine, and varies in color from white to 
 yellow. Portions show beautifully the cross-lamination pe- 
 culiar to the stratified drift. A section taken from one 
 point is given in the general report. (Page 54.) 
 
 The sand and clay strata are here overlaid directly by a 
 
 thick bed of loess, but where they appear elsewhere the 
 
 gravel bed is in place between them and the grey silt or 
 
 loess. The dip of this group is to the east. The bluff, 
 
 in its eastern trend from this point, until it again curves 
 southward, shows well the strata. The deep bed of white 
 sand dips below a series of purplish clays and sands, the 
 former imparting its color to the outcropping sand and giv- 
 ing to the bluff the appearance of a large bed of purple clays. 
 
 The clays are in layers of from a few inches to a foot, or 
 even two feet, in thickness, each separated by several feet of 
 variously colored sand, the series being overlaid by the heavy 
 deposit of gravel and loam. 
 
 At the “chalk banks” the same series appears, but with • 
 some blue plastic clay at the base of the bluff or level of 
 the swamp land. 
 
 It would seem that the Lagrange series of sands and -clays 
 had been deposited here after the erosion of the Tertiary 
 strata had taken place. The trough or valley being filled, the 
 deposition of the material was extended over the adjacent 
 Eocene clays, as shown by the beds immediately below the 
 gravel. 
 
 Eastward, in the interior of the county, this clay and sand 
 series is again reached below the superficial gravel and loams, 
 as appears in the deepest wells, neither the blue lignitic clays 
 or the siliceous earth of the Columbus bluffs being anywhere 
 
OF HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 221 
 
 observed. Unfortunately no well has penetrated deep enough 
 to determine the true thickness of the strata or the character 
 of the underlying material. In Clinton, after passing through 
 ten to fifteen feet each of loam and gravel, sixty feet of red 
 and white sand and clay strata were penetrated, , water being 
 obtained in the white sand at one hundred and twelve feet. 
 An impervious clay doubtless underlies it. 
 
 At Oakton, nearer the bluffs, wells are usually dug bat 
 fifteen or tw^enty feet, the water being from seepage, through 
 white and yellow sands. Blue clay is reached below the 
 sand at fifty feet, and in one well was penetrated thirty 
 feet, no water being found. In these wells no white clays 
 were found. Near Wesley, in the south western part of the 
 county, a well passed through twenty feet of surface loam, 
 twenty- five feet of red sand, and fifty feet of white sand 
 and thin white pipe-clay strata of the Lagrange group. 
 
 On the Obion, at McLeod’s bluff, and in the bluffs between 
 the Obion and Bayou de Chien, the lowest stratum exposed 
 is the bed of the red sand below five feet of gravel and 
 about thirty feet of surface silt. 
 
 QUATERNARY. 
 
 Stratified Drift . — This division or upper stratified drift has 
 its greatest thickness of thirty feet on the bluffs at Colum- 
 bus and the “chalk banks.” 
 
 Its material is coarse hornstone and chert gravel, with a 
 little small, white and colored quartz, all being more or 
 less water-worn, but the latter especially so. Subcarbonifer- 
 ous crinoid stems and other fossils, also water- worn, are 
 abundant. Among them at Columbus were found several 
 pieces of Lithostrotian Canadense. One piece of cherty rock 
 observed was half a cubic foot in size, and weighed twelve or 
 fifteen pounds. The gravel is very highly stained to a bright 
 red with iron oxide, and this color has given rise to the 
 name “Iron Banks,” by which these bluffs have been distin- 
 guished. They are, however, no more ferruginous than the 
 great body of gravel deposits over the Purchase region. 
 
 The beds are more or less stratified with thin but not 
 continuous layers of red sands. There is a perceptible in- 
 
222 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 clination of the layers to the east, but not of the bed itself. 
 In the Columbus bluff they present, with the overlying grey 
 silt and loam, a vertical face of at least sixty feet down to 
 the clay stratum below. Much is cemented into a hard con- 
 glomerate by the clay and ferric oxide. In the upper portion 
 of the gravel bed, in the north end of the bluff, the stratifica- 
 tion is well seen, and embraces, below the superficial silt and 
 
 loam, the following: 
 
 Red loamy clay and gravel, in thin irregular 
 
 layers 6 feet. 
 
 Yellow sand, with lumps of blue or purple 
 
 plastic clay, thinning to south-west 1 to 3 feet. 
 
 Red and yellow sand 3 feet. 
 
 Heavy gravel bed 20 to 30 feet. 
 
 At the “chalk banks” the bed is very similar to the main 
 bluff at Columbus; but at McLeod’s bluff, on the Obion, 
 there are but five feet of gravel outcropping from beneath 
 the grey silt and loam. It seems to be largely replaced by 
 red sand. It is, too, at a much lower level than the beds 
 above described. 
 
 Going eastward to Clinton, we find the gravel with a thick- 
 ness of about ten feet ; but in the southern part of the county 
 the bed thins out, and is seldom found either in ravines or in 
 wells. Wherever it appears north of Clinton, as at Spring 
 Hill and Cypress post-office, it is small and in thin beds, 
 showing a near approach to the limits of the deposit. East 
 of Clinton it is found in wells at a depth of about fifteen 
 feet on the uplands, and has a thickness of about four feet. 
 The bluffs of the Obion show from two to four feet of gravel 
 above a thick bed of yellow sand. 
 
 There is much ferruginous sandstone in the county, vary- 
 ing in color from yellow to dark red — chiefly the latter. The 
 most noted locality is that of the -quarry about five miles 
 east of Clinton, on the north brakes of Bayou de Chien. The 
 sandstone is made up of coarse grains of a clear hyaline sand 
 cemented together with ferric oxide, forming ledges as much 
 as six feet in thickness, much of it hard and durable, other 
 portions soft and easily crushed. The rock is specked 
 throughout by small grains of white cherty material. 
 
OK HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 223 
 
 The rock is used in Clinton as supports for frame buildings, 
 being easily quarried and dressed. 
 
 Bluff Loam and Silt. — This upper division of the Quater- 
 nery is well observed in the Columbus blulfs, where, with a 
 thickness of thirty feet or more, it overlies the gravel bed, 
 forming at one place part of a vertical exposure. 
 
 The grey silt or loess has a thickness of about twenty-five 
 feet, changing below to a more clayey and brownish loam, 
 five feet in thickness, the lower two feet of which contains 
 usually a few scattered rounded quartz gravel. It has the 
 calcareous and concretionary nature that characterizes it else- 
 where, but at this point does not contain the great numbers 
 of fresh water and land shells that are found at Hickman, 
 Fulton county. 
 
 In a deep cut on the M. & O. R. R., east of Columbus, 
 the grey silt is prominently exposed, and in it have been 
 found abundantly, and sometimes well preserved, shells be- 
 longing to the species Helix, Helicina, Mesodon, Succinia, 
 Patula, Cyclas, Planorhis, Limnea, etc. (See page 78.) 
 These shells are especially abundant in a bluish silt at the 
 south end of the cut, which also contains very numerous 
 reddish and cylindrical concretionary forms with small cen- 
 tral holes, as if once occupied by rootlets ; also seams of 
 ferruginous clay holding many of the shells. The small 
 forms are best preserved, the large ones being very gener- 
 ally broken or crushed. They are found also in the rail- 
 road cut between Columbus and South Columbus junction. 
 
 The formation lies chiefly along the bluffs that border 
 the Mississippi river bottom from Columbus southward to 
 the Obion at McLeod’s bluff, where a thickness of about 
 thirty feet is observed above about eight feet of light loam 
 and clay. Still southward, between the Obion and Bayou 
 de Chien, the silt was not found, the bluffs being formed 
 or capped by the brown loam. 
 
 Eastward from the line of bluffs the silt was found to ex- 
 tend nearly to the Obion creek on the Columbus and Clinton 
 road. 
 
 As seen by the analysis of a sample from the M. & O. R. R. 
 
224 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 cut near Columbus, the silt is rich in carbonate of lime and 
 magnesia. The potash and phosphoric acid were not deter- 
 mined, but analyses of the same formation in Fulton county 
 and in Tennessee show the presence of 1.7 per cent, of pot- 
 ash (Page 79.) 
 
 The hills in which this silt occurs are marked by a heavy 
 growth of white oak, hickory, poplar, black walnut, black 
 and red oaks, black and sweet gums, persimmon, and a lit- 
 tle maple, dogwood, elm, etc. 
 
 A cane undergrowth once prevailed on the bluffs, but is . 
 kept down by the grazing of stock. These hills are a con- 
 tinuation of what are known as the cane hills of Louisiana, 
 Mississippi and Tennessee. 
 
 Brown Loam . — On the east of the Obion, and covering 
 the rest of the county, the stratum of more clayey loam 
 is the prevailing deposit immediately over the gravel beds. 
 
 It is here a stiff and tenacious material, permeated with 
 seams of what appears to be a whitish silt, and having a 
 thickness of about twenty feet. The upper two feet is of a 
 more reddish loam, loose and homogeneous, especially where 
 good drainage is had. 
 
 This loam was dej)osited upon the beds of gravel in layers 
 of apparently even thicknesses, regardless of the irregular 
 surface of the latter. This is often well shown in cuts where 
 the gravel is covered evenly on top and on the sides of the 
 hill. Subsequent denudation has added to the unevenness 
 of the surface of the deposit. 
 
 Port Hudson Group . — This formation, more recent than the 
 stratified drift, occurs in this county only below the alluvial 
 deposits of the Mississippi, its outcrop being observed along 
 the river banks. It is also reached in wells in the bottom 
 lands and at a depth of from fifteen to twenty feet below the 
 surface. 
 
 It is well exposed in the river banks at Columbus, where 
 a section presents the following strata: 
 
 Very recent .. \ loam..... 4 inches. 
 
 " ( Black clay, gravel, glass, etc 8 inches. 
 
OF HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 225 
 
 Alluvial 
 
 Dark sandy alluvial loam 15 inches. 
 
 Black sandy alluvial loam 8 inches. 
 
 " Stiff yellow clay, sandy and crumb- 
 ling, and having seams of lighter 
 
 Pori Hudson. - 
 
 sand 
 
 Heavy crumbling black clay, stiffer 
 
 than the above 
 
 The same as the last, but a deeper 
 blue, and holding white calcareous 
 concretions, to water’s edge 
 
 8 feet. 
 3 feet. 
 
 6 feet. 
 
 The clay of the last stratum is very plastic, smooth and 
 mottled in color. Cypress stumps standing erect are a promi- 
 nent feature of this clay bed below Columbus, and are -cov- 
 ered by the alluvial deposits. One of the stumps is said 
 to have been fifteen feet in circumference. The tops of the 
 stumps appear on nearly a horizontal line. 
 
 The beds extend southward into Fulton county. Just 
 south of “chalk banks” the blue clay contains many frag- 
 ments of lignite, or similar woody pieces. Much yellow 
 and white concretions also occur, and cypress stumps are a 
 prominent feature. 
 
 ECONOMIC FEATUEES. 
 
 Potter’’ s Clay, Etc . — The clays that form so prominent a 
 feature in the Columbus and other bluffs bordering the Mis- 
 sissippi river, have been subjected to analyses and tests as 
 given in the general report. (Page 102.) They embrace the 
 following : 
 
 No. 129. White earth; base of “chalk banks,” two miles 
 below Columbus; color, light grey; it has rather a harsh 
 feel, and adheres to the tongue; dried at 212° F., it lost 
 five per cent, of moisture. 
 
 No. 2161. Clay from “chalk bank,” two miles below 
 Columbus ; light buff and lead grey color ; has a few ferru- 
 ginous impressions of vegetable leaves ; seems to be quite 
 sandy, yet is quite plastic and burns hard, and of a very 
 light cream color. It is refractory before the blow-pipe, 
 only sintering a little. On washing the air-dried clay with 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 15 
 
226 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGUICULTUKAL FEATURES 
 
 water, it left about 69 per cent, of a very fine sand, of a drab- 
 color, containing a few very small spangles of mica. 
 
 No. 2162. Clay from the bluffs at Columbus; almost 
 while ; quite sandy and quite plastic ; burns hard, to a light 
 cream color, and is quite refractory before the blow-piije. 
 The air-dried clay washed in water left 68.5 per cent, of 
 fine sand of a light grey color, nearly white, which is com- 
 posed of very small rounded grains of quartz, with a few 
 small specks of mica. 
 
 No. 127. White earth ; from the white deposit of the 
 bluffs at Columbus. A nearly white, fine, granular, solt 
 mass, easily crushed with the lingers to a fine granular 
 powder. 
 
 No. — . White earth overlying the siliceous earth or No. 
 127, of the bluff at Columbus. 
 
 Dr. Peter makes the following comment on some of the 
 analytical results: No doubt No. 2162, if it will burn hard 
 enough, would make quite refractory fire-brick; and it, as 
 well as that from the “chalk banks,” might be made avail- 
 able for terra-cotta and other forms of pottery ware. No. 
 2162 is less refractory, because, doubtless, of its larger pro- 
 portions of iron peroxide and potash*. 
 
 A comparison between these and the celebrated glass-pot 
 clay of Grermany shows that the main difference is in a larger 
 proportion of potash in the Hickman county clays. Whether 
 this would be fatal to the application of these refractory 
 clays in the glass works, is a question worthy of a practical 
 trial on a small scale. 
 
 Nos. 127 and 129 contain much less potash than those re- 
 marked by Dr. Peter, and unless the large amounts of lime 
 and magnesia would prove injurious, would seem to be even 
 more suitable for the purj^yoses named. 
 
 The clays above analyzed belong to the Tertiary beds 
 proper. Those of the Lagrange group, appearing ’as white 
 plastic strata in the heavy beds of white sand, have not 
 been analyzed. They would doubtless make good iron-stone 
 ware. For the ordinary pottery they are too intractable, 
 and would require the admixture of a more siliceous clay 
 in order to be readily worked up into a homogeneous mass. 
 
OF HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 227 
 
 Such plastic clays occur in the bluff east of Columbus, where 
 they can be easily and cheaply obtained. 
 
 Two potteries have been in operation in Columbus for some 
 time. They use a blue clay from the base of the sand and 
 clay bluff just north of the ‘‘chalk banks.” It is, however, 
 obtained with difficulty, and only during low- water seasons 
 in the river. It is easily worked or kneaded, and makes 
 good pottery. Clays are also brought from Wickliffe, in 
 Ballard county. 
 
 Sand . — The white sand of the Lagrange group, which at 
 Columbus and the “chalk banks” forms high bluffs, is nearly 
 white, and contains some fine particles of clay. It has in 
 places a purple color. The grains of sand are of hyaline 
 quartz and rounded. When washed in water, 99.4 per cent, 
 of nearly pure white sand remains. 
 
 “The sand is doubtless pure enough for the manufacture 
 of any but the very finest of glass.” 
 
 It is often shipped per railroad to Union City and other 
 points. 
 
 Gravel . — The gravel of the bluffs around Columbus is of 
 the cementing character, which makes it useful for grading 
 streets and roads, and is being used for that purpose in 
 Columbus. The beds are very thick and the gravel easily 
 accessible. Instead of ferruginous clays, a red sand accom- 
 panies the gravel in some places and impairs its usefulness. 
 
 East of Columbus the gravel is not exposed in sufficient 
 thickness and quantity to make profitable its removal to 
 desired points. 
 
 AGEICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 The uplands of the county, comprising by far the greater 
 part of its area, and, therefore, almost exclusively the agri- 
 cultural portion, lie from fifty to one hundred feet above 
 the bottom lands of the streams, the bluffs at Columbus hav- 
 ing an elevation of one hundred and twenty feet above the 
 Mississippi bottom. 
 
 Large areas of this upland are level or slightly rolling, 
 presenting fine farming tracts which have already been 
 largely inclosed and under cultivation. 
 
228 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Cane Hills or Bluff Land . — From the edges of the bluffs 
 that face the Mississippi bottom southward from Columbus 
 to Obion creek, the surface of the country slopes eastward, 
 and is very broken and washed into deep ravines and gul- 
 lies by the streams that flow from the bluff eastward to the 
 creek. This drainage feature of the river bluffs is charac- 
 teristic throughout their extent. Upon the high bluffs them- 
 selves are some large farms, but the rest is almost too uneven 
 for successful cultivation, except in small areas. 
 
 This region is underlaid by the fine calcareous grey silts of 
 the bluff formation, and has a fine timber growth of walnut, 
 poplar, maple, hickory, white oak, sweet gum, papaw, grape- 
 vines and cane. 
 
 The soils are devoted almost exclusively to crops of corn 
 and wheat. 
 
 Brown Loam Uplands . — The Obion creek, in its varied 
 course across the eastern, northern and western parts of the 
 county, is bordered on each side by a strip of country sev- 
 eral miles in width, which is much broken by the many 
 tributaries of that stream. Through the central part of the 
 county, from two or three miles west of Clinton eastward 
 nearly to the county line, and at the heads of the Obion 
 tributaries, there is a plateau some three or four miles wide 
 and about ten long, having a rolling surface, and very gen- 
 erally under fence or cultivation. Its elevation above the 
 Mississippi bottom is about one hundred feet. Ravines and 
 gullies occasionally cut deeply into its surface, giving good 
 drainage facilities to its flat lands. 
 
 On the south it is bordered by the westerly flowing Bayou 
 de Chien, whose tributaries give rise to another broken belt 
 of country along the southern border of the county. 
 
 A large proportion of these broken sections along both this 
 stream and Obion creek afford large areas of fine farming 
 lands, having easy drainage facilities. 
 
 The brown loam lands cover the greater part of the county 
 and overlie the lighter clayey deposits, which reach to a 
 depth of fifteen to twenty feet. 
 
 The soil, when well drained, is light, porous and very fer- 
 tile, the surface darkened by decayed vegetation to the 
 
OF HICKMAN COUNTY. 
 
 229 
 
 depth of but an incli or two. The subsoil differs only in 
 being a brighter yellow, and perhaps a little more claye^^ 
 'rhe growth comprises white and red oaks, hickory, persim- 
 mon and sassafras. On level tracks of land, where no drainage 
 facilities are had, the soil becomes glady or whitish, the result 
 of leaching by standing water, and there is an abundance of 
 a small soft gi’avel or bog iron ore (with a light-colored sur- 
 face, and brown or even black interior) in the subsoil. Such 
 spots are found in all flat lands of large area, and need 
 only drainage and deep tillage, with application of manures 
 (to restore lost plant food), to make them as good as the 
 rest. The bog iron ore or gravel is the result of the leach- 
 ing, the iron, etc., being obtained at the expense of the soil. 
 The lands wash badly into gullies, and efforts are seldom 
 made to counteract this by proper cultivation of the soil. 
 
 But one analysis has been made of the upland soils, and 
 this is given in the general report. (Page 159.) 
 
 In this there is a fair percentage of phosphoric acid (0.156), 
 vegetable matter (4.140), and lime (0.495), but a surprisingly 
 small amount of potash (0.182), in presence of so much lime, 
 especially as the insoluble portion of the soil retains so large 
 a percentage. The soda is excessive (0.564.) 
 
 The soil altogether has more the character of those derived 
 from the calcareous silt of the bluff than those of the brown 
 loam that cover the country east of Obion creek. The latter 
 usually have very little lime and phosphoric acid. 
 
 The crops of the county uplands are chiefly corn and wheat 
 the yield being about forty bushels of the former and fifteen 
 of wheat per acre. 
 
 Very little tobacco is produced, except in the central and 
 eastern parts of the county, its yield being about eight hun- 
 dred pounds per acre. Clover grows luxuriantly, yielding 
 it is claimed, two tons per acre and two crops per year. 
 Some cotton has been raised, but not profitably. 
 
 • Bottom Lands . — The bottom lands of the Mississippi are 
 subject to overflow, and are in cultivation only south of the 
 “chalk banks.” The soil is a rich alluvial loam, easily 
 tilled, and having a heavy timber growth of walnut, pecan, 
 
230 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 oaks, sycamore, cottonwood, cypress, hackberry, etc. The 
 bottom is interspei'sed with numerous sloughs and ponds. 
 
 The bottom lands of Obion and Bayou de Gliien are from 
 a half mile to one and a half miles in width, and are tim- 
 bered with beech, white and red oaks, walnut, cypress, elm, 
 poplar, and sweet gum. There is also some sweet brier and 
 cane undergrowth. 
 
 The soil is mostly a whitish heavy clay, crawtishy in na- 
 ture, and difficult to till. It is best suited for grasses, which 
 yield fine crops. Some of the lands, however, are under cul- 
 tivation in corn. 
 
 An analysis has been made of a white or light-grey soil 
 of Bayou de Chien bottom at Moscow. (Page 148.) It con 
 tains about 79 per cent, of rounded grains of clear quartz 
 and some irregular bog iron ore concretions. In this soil 
 there is a fair percentage of lime (l.lfi) and phosphoric acid 
 (0.13), but the potash (0.17) is low for so clayey a soil. 
 The organic matter (2.00) is also very small. However, with 
 good drainage and tillage, the soil should produce well for a 
 few years. 
 
 BALLARD COUNTY. 
 
 Ballard county was organized in 1842 from the counties of 
 Hickman and McCracken. It has an area of 426.2 square 
 miles, about sixty miles of which are comprised in the 
 Mississippi and Ohio bottom lands. 
 
 The bottoms along the Ohio river vary in width from about 
 a mile at Ogden’s landing to two or more miles south-west- 
 ward at Terrell’s landing; the bluffs thence have nearly a 
 due south course to Wickliffe, and the river, in its south- 
 west course, is bordered by . a bottom of nearly five miles 
 in width on the Kentucky side. The bottom lands of the 
 Mississippi, from Wickliffe south to Columbus, vary in 
 width from one- fourth of a mile to about three miles, due 
 to the winding course of the river and the regular south- 
 ward trend of the bluffs. 
 
OF HALLAUD COUNTY. 
 
 231 
 
 The bottom lands of Mayfield creek are about a mile in 
 width, those of smaller streams being from one-fourth and 
 less to one-half mile. 
 
 The bottom lands of the two rivers are interspersed with 
 ponds and lakes, long and narrow, which are usually con- 
 nected by sloughs in courses parallel with the rivers, the 
 entire system indicating the course of former currents which, 
 sweeping over these bottom lands, cut away the uplands to 
 their present very regular westward limits, which are marked 
 by high and abrupt bluffs. Low sand ridges, also parallel 
 with the streams, lie within the bottoms, and are formed 
 by dejiosits on either side of currents of water during the 
 river floods. These ridges afford almost the only farming 
 lands of the bottoms, being elevated above all but extreme 
 high-water, which yearly covers the lower lands. 
 
 The uplands of the county present a variety of features 
 of much interest, topographically as well as agriculturally. 
 With an extreme length north and south of thirty miles, the 
 county is divided unevenly by Mayfield creek flowing almost 
 due west from the McCracken county line to the Mississippi 
 river. This stream is almost entirely supplied by the waters 
 of that section of the county known as South Ballard, Little 
 Mayfield creek being the main tributary. A small part of 
 South Ballard is drained by Obion creek, which bends around 
 into this county for a short distance. 
 
 On the north side of the Mayfield creek its basin is very 
 narrow, and after passing beyond the immediate bluffs, we 
 find the northern part of the county drained, in part, by 
 Shawnee creek flowing westward, by Humphrey’s creek flow- 
 ing north-westward, and by Clanton creek, with at first a 
 northward and then a westward course, into the Ohio. 
 
 South of the mouth of Mayfield creek the bluffs that face 
 the Mississippi river bottoms form another divide, abrupt on 
 the west, but sloping more gradually eastward and from 
 almost its edge, throwing the streams in that direction into 
 the tributaries of Mayfield creek. This is the most northern 
 occurrence of a feature that marks the eastern bluffs of the 
 Mississippi river through Kentucky, Tennessee and Missis- 
 sippi and into Louisiana, the large rivers alone having sue- 
 
232 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 ceeded in piercing this bluff barrier. On the north of 
 Mayfield creek the high bluffs continue for a few miles 
 toward the north, but are not as abrujit as on the south, 
 and their continuity is broken by numerous small streams. 
 
 The bottoms at Ogden’s landing, on the extreme north, 
 have an approximate elevation of 315 feet above the sea. 
 They are bordered on the south by a very level jilateau or 
 flatwoods elevated from thirty to thirty-five feet above them, 
 which reaches south for six miles, its limit extending east- 
 ward along Humphrey’s creek to Oscar post-office, and north- 
 east two miles north of Woodville. From these flats the 
 country again rises rather suddenly, in places, to an eleva- 
 tion of from fifty to seventy-five feet up to the true uplands 
 of the county. Hinkleville and Barlow have respectively 
 appproximate elevations of four hundred and fifteen and 
 four hundred and twenty feet above the sea, while south, 
 on the divide between the waters of Mayfield and Hum- 
 phrey’s creeks, there is an altitude of about four hundred 
 and twenty-five feet. ^ 
 
 Still southward, we come suddenly to the brakes and ab- 
 rupt bluffs of Mayfield creek, rising one hundred and twenty 
 feet at Wickliffe, one hundred and twenty feet at Blandville,. 
 to about one hundred feet at Lovelaceville, above the bot- 
 toms. After passing the wide bottoms of the creek we do 
 not find any bluffs, but the country gradually rises south- 
 ward to Milburn, which seems to have an altitude of four 
 hundred and eighty-five feet above the sea, or fifty feet above 
 the bluffs at Columbus, and is the highest point in the county. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 Tertiary . — The Ohio river on the north sweeps along the 
 base of the uplands on the Illinois shore, and exposes the 
 Quaternary material, and, in places, the Tertiary black or 
 dark-grey clays, there being on the Kentucky side only a 
 broad and low bottom land. 
 
 At the Grand Chain are also exposed the flinty limestones 
 of the Lower Subcarboniferous., which outcrop only at low- 
 water on the north side of the river, and do not appeir at 
 all in the country south, this being the limit of the s!:c,, < 
 
OF BALLARD COUNTY. 
 
 233 
 
 Subcarboniferous rocks that underlies tlie Illinois Tertiary 
 and Quaternary beds. At Caledonia to westward the lower 
 portion of the bluffs are composed of the heavy joint Ter- 
 tiary clays, which are black when wet but grey when dry^ 
 and crumble into small slialy fragments. They are under- 
 laid by a bed of greensand from two to four feet thick. 
 
 In Ballard county, the lowest strata observed was that of 
 the black or grey lignitic clay and lignite beds overlying 
 dark sandy clays. The beds are best seen in the cut of the 
 Illinois Central Railroad, just south of Wickliffe, an expo- 
 sure being made by the removal of a long portion of the 
 high bluff on the east of the railroad. 
 
 BLUFF ONE MILE SOUTH OF WICKLIFFE. 
 
 Feet. 
 
 Light grey silt or loess. 
 
 12 
 
 >- 
 
 < 3 
 
 Brown loam (silty) with small quartz pebbles. 
 
 ae 1 
 < 
 
 15 
 
 Rounded and angular chert and hornstone gravel. 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 Coarse red sand. 
 
 f = \ 
 
 XP 1 
 
 S') ^ 
 
 5c 1 
 
 1 
 
 Interlaminated red and white clays and sands, two inches each 
 
 i 5 
 
 Dark massive lignitic clay. 
 
 ^ I 
 
 a 1 -J 
 
 Ml => 
 
 Lignitic peat. 
 
 i 
 
 1 25 
 
 Massive dark clays plastic and sometimes with leaf impres 
 sions to railroad track. 
 
 I I 
 
 The limit of exposure of the formation is from Wickliffe 
 east to Blandville, southeast to Milburn and back to Lake- 
 ton, seven miles south of Wickliflv, thus forming a triangle, 
 
234 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 with its base resting on the river and its apex at Milburn. 
 Outside of this area I have been unable to find any out- 
 crops, or to learn of the clays having been struck in the 
 deepest wells. It has apparently been swept away by cur- 
 rents, and its place occupied by the later Lagrange sands 
 and clays. They are overlaid by Quaternary material and by 
 a thin representation of the Lagrange group. 
 
 The lignitic clays vary from a dark to whitish color, and 
 contain more or less lignite, besides the bed of lignite itself, 
 and in places an abundance of leaf impressions. 
 
 The lignite bed possesses varied characters, and is doubt- 
 less a lignitic peat bed. The upper twelve inches is light 
 grey or brown, and shaly, containing probably very little 
 combustible matter. The next twelve inches is a black mass, 
 composed of srtiall woody fragments, leaves, etc., all lignitic 
 and easily broken up. It contains much selenite in crystals, 
 as does the upper bed. This in turn overlies what seems to 
 be originally a bed of peat, without fragments of sticks, but 
 a fine, indurated or compressed mass, brownish in color, very 
 light when dry, and cracking if exposed to the sun or heat 
 in drying. It is about a foot thick. It contains from twen- 
 ty-three to thirty-seven per cent, of combustible matter as 
 shown by the analysis on page 122. Under it is another bed 
 of black lignite in stick fragments, leaves, etc., similar to the 
 upper bed. The entire bed was well exposed for several 
 hundred yards by the removal of a portion of the bluff by 
 the railroad steam shovel, forming a long black line in the 
 lighter colored material. 
 
 In the base of the bluff and below the railroad track there 
 is another bed of the lignite thought to be six feet thick. 
 It was exposed in a culvert under the track, and at one, 
 time caught fire, burning or smouldering, it is said, for six; 
 months. It is now covered, and no opportunity was afforded 
 for examination. 
 
 Going eastward from the cut, we find the lignite outcrop- 
 ping in the beds of the streams and deep ravines for a mile, 
 though usually immediately covered by debris of gravel. 
 The accompanying plastic clays also appear. 
 
 The beds of lignite, etc., at Wickliffe, are about three- 
 
OF HALLAKD COUNTY. 
 
 235 
 
 fourths of a mile east of tlie Columbus bluffs in a due north 
 and south course, and the slight easterly dip of the latter, 
 if not interrupted, would bring them much below the Wick- 
 lilfe lignite beds. 
 
 In the bank of the branch that runs by the spoke- factory, 
 in the south part of town, the clays are overlaid at ten feet 
 by a thin bed of black lignite about a foot thick. On going 
 up the creek one-fourth of a mile, a clay-stone is exposed 
 in a bed six to eight feet above the water’s edge, and prob- 
 ably passing below it. The clay- stone is of a dark, creamy 
 white color, breaking into many fragments, thinly laminated, 
 and holding very many fossil leaf impressions, some of the 
 species of which are given in Appendix If of the general 
 report. 
 
 Its position is below the lignitic beds, and probably syn- 
 cronous with the leaf-bearing silicious earths of the Columbus 
 bluffs. 
 
 In the region of Bland ville, seven miles east of Wickliffe, 
 the upper bed of lignite is exposed in the bed of a branch 
 or deep ravine in the south western part of town, and is 
 very similar to the exposure near Wickliffe, except that 
 there is here an absence of the light shaly material that 
 forms the upper layer of the Wickliffe bed. There is also 
 an absence of selenite. In one place the Blandville bed is 
 very highly charged with iron pyrites in black pieces, in 
 sizes from a pea to sheets of several inches surface, and 
 when broken presents a bright silvery appearance. This 
 pyritous feature is, however, local, for at another exposure 
 near the lignite was very free from it. - 
 
 As at Wickliffe, the upper and lower portions of the lig- 
 nite are black and in layers, holding stick fragments, leaves, 
 etc., but in the center the mass is more of a lignitic peat, of 
 a brownish color, and compact. 
 
 Another bed of lignite occurs one and a half miles south- 
 west of Blandville, and doubtless the bed underlies the entire 
 ridge or upland between Blandville and Wickliffe. 
 
 Going south from Wickliffe, on the M. & O. R. R., the 
 road lies through Mayfield creek bottom, and nothing is seen 
 until after passing the steam sliovel excavations on the south 
 
236 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 of the creek. From there to Laketon the black leaf-bearing 
 clays are frequently exposed in the bluffs on the east of the 
 road, and in the few small cuts that are passed through at 
 the foot of the bluffs. A bed of lignite similar to the one 
 at Wickliffe is seen a short distance south of the creek, and 
 about twenty feet above the track, and underlaid by the 
 plastic clay. The bluffs here are about one hundred feet 
 high, composed mostly of Quaternary material. South of the 
 lignite, the cuts show ten feet of the leaf-bearing clays un- 
 derlaid by interlaminated sands and lignitic clays. Adams’ 
 cut especially presents a good exposure, the coarse yellow 
 sands and sand-rock forming the u^iper part of the bank, 
 while beneath is a dark, black plastic clay inclosing a great 
 abundance of leaves and some lignite. Eight feet of the clay 
 is exposed, though it extends probably very much deeper. 
 It is lighter colored on drying and becomes shaly. Its expo- 
 sure is about one. hundred feet in length. 
 
 In the cut immediately north of Laketon the dark leaf- 
 bearing clay contains much white sand in thin laminae, and 
 is exposed fifteen feet in thickness. Heavy beds of yellow 
 and white sands and ferruginous sandstone overlie it. This 
 is tke southern limit of the exposure of black clays, and 
 southward to Columbus we find only the group of heavy 
 sand beds with layers of pipe-clay that belongs to the La- 
 grange series. 
 
 Lagrange Group . — That the surface of the lignite forma- 
 tion was, after its deposition, very much corroded, is shown 
 in the exposures along the M. & O. R. R. south from Wick- 
 liffe, and especially south of Mayfield creek. Near Laketon 
 the Lagrange sands and clays begin to appear. 
 
 In the northern part of the county no outcrops or expos- 
 ures of the lignite clays could be found. The grey “soap- 
 stones” or shaly joint clays of the lower portion of the 
 group that form the high bluffs at Caledonia, and are ex- 
 posed so frequently over that portion of Illinois lying south 
 of Cache river, seem to be entirely absent, unless they under- 
 lie the flatwoods along the Ohio bottom land. This I believe 
 to be true ; for wells in that region derive their waters from 
 Quaternary sands, which would indicate the presence of a 
 
OF BALLAIID COUNTY. 
 
 237 
 
 heavy impervious clay-bed beneath, on wliich the water Hows. 
 
 Tlie lignite beds reach north from Wickliffe for a mile or 
 more, and are found outcropping in the bank of a branch 
 between beds of a highly plastic clay. The bed of lignite is 
 only about a foot in thickness. 
 
 About half way between Laketon and Berkeley there is an 
 exposure of white and purplish clays in alternating strata 
 with a tine and white sand, the latter varying in thickness 
 from a few inches to a foot, while the clay is usually but a 
 few inches. The lowest bed of the latter is prettily mottled, 
 white and purple in color, and is a foot thick. It is jointed 
 in structure; on drying, crumbles to a shale, and between 
 the teeth is not harsh. A yellow sand underlies it and 
 passes out of sight below the railroad track. 
 
 Eastward from Berkeley to Arlington, and beyond toward 
 Milburn, the country is not broken enough, and the ravines 
 not sufficiently deep to reveal the underlying formations. In 
 the deepest wells water is found in white sand far below the 
 level of the black clay, which is exposed two and a half 
 miles west of Milburn, and it is safe to presume that here it 
 has been removed, and its place now occupied by the mate- 
 rials of the Lagrange group. 
 
 In the region of Barlow and Hinkleville, north of Wick- 
 liffe and to the flatwoods, the country is high and rolling, 
 and no exposures of clays were found. 
 
 In wells, water is usually found at from sixty to one hun- 
 dred feet, and in a white sand below the gravel. White 
 pipe-clay is occasionally found. Beds of white clay and 
 sand occur in the banks along Cane creek four miles north 
 of Wickliffe. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Lovelaceville the same clays and 
 white sands are found, the former white and purple in color, 
 breaking with a conchoidal fracture, and similar in character 
 to the leaf-bearing clays of the Lagrange group. They ap- 
 pear also westward toward Blandville and south to Milburn ; 
 a well at the latter place reaching water in a fine white sand 
 at forty feet. A thick bed of white pipe-clay occurs in a ra- 
 vine back of the church in Milburn. 
 
238 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 QUATERNARY. 
 
 Gravel and Sand . — The heaviest deposits of gravel occur 
 along the north bluff of Mayfield creek, presenting a bold 
 and abrupt face to the south, and running east and west 
 through the county. The bed is twenty feet thick at Love- 
 laceville, twenty-five feet at Blandville, and fifteen feet at 
 Wickliffe. The gravel is composed of coarse chert and horn- 
 stone fragments with rounded edges, well water-worn quartz 
 pebbles of various colors, and mixed with yellow and red 
 sands and clays ; portions of the mass are sometimes cement- 
 ed together into a conglomerate varying in firmness. 
 
 Northward the bed thins out to four feet at Hinkleville, 
 but again thickens to ten feet at Barlow and fifteen feet at 
 Woodville ahd in the flatwoods region, all, however, covered 
 by a thick deposit of loam. 
 
 South from Mayfield creek the gravel bed, smaller in size, 
 while continuous below the loam, varies from one to four feet 
 along the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, and from five 
 to eight feet in the eastern part of the county southward to 
 Milburn. Near Arlington there is scarcely any gravel. Along 
 the line of the M. & O. R. R., south of Mayfield creek, in the 
 western part of the county, the gravel has an apparent thick- 
 ness of ten to fifteen feet, and overlies beds of red and white 
 sands, the latter largely of a clear hyaline character. The 
 colored sands, when well washed, are mostly of the same, the 
 color being derived chiefly from superficial iron stains. 
 
 Thick beds of these sands form the bluffs at the railroad 
 water tank south of Laketon, and thence to Columbus at 
 intervals. Near Wickliffe they overlie the lignite and clay 
 beds, and contain isolated lumps of white plastic clay. 
 
 The sand is frequently found cemented into sandstone, 
 often firm enough to bear considerable weight. Beds of 
 these are found along the M. & O. R. R. to Berkeley, and 
 over the southern part of the county. Near Berkeley the 
 rock is composed of hyaline grains cemented with red arid 
 dark ferric oxide, and contains fine particles of white chert, 
 as in the quarry east of Clinton, Hickman county. Tliree 
 miles east of Arlington they form ledges of very hard rock 
 several feet in thickn^rs. 
 
OF I5ALLAKD COUNTY. 
 
 239 
 
 The usual fossils are found in the gravel, including crinoids, 
 favosites, occasionally small Litliostrotian Canadense corals, 
 and oolitic fragments. In the gravel at Milburn, a piece of 
 chert with an impression of a trilobite was picked uj). 
 
 At the time just previous to the gravel deposition the 
 surface of the country was very uneven, as shown by the 
 relative positions of the beds. A deep trough occupied the 
 portion now marked by the llatwoods or river valleys along 
 the Ohio in the northern part of the county, its greatest 
 depth being just south of where the Ohio now flows, and 
 about the level of the top of the exposure of Subcarbon- 
 iferous limestone at Grand Chain. The trough narrowed 
 south-westward, or was merged into that of the Mississippi 
 river. 
 
 The base of the gravel now marks the former bottom of 
 the trough westward to Grand Chain, beyond which it 
 ceases. Its depth here is fifteen feet, and is overlaid by 
 from forty to sixty feet of superficial brown loam. 
 
 On the Illinois shore the gravel occupies a position about 
 twenty feet above the limestone. At the head of the Chain 
 this twenty feet is occupied by sharp, cherty, flint layers in 
 place, as part of the Subcarboniferous, the gravel resting 
 directly on them. The base of the gravel on the Kentucky 
 shore is, therefore, about twenty feet below what was appar- 
 ently, at the close of the Tertiary, a Subcarboniferous bar- 
 rier, the top of the gravel being about on a level with that 
 of the barrier. 
 
 On the edge of the trough, or on the uplands, we find the 
 base of the gravel at elevations of about four hundred feet 
 above the sea at Barlow, Woodville and Blandville, three 
 hundred and twenty-five at Wickliffe, the latter being forty 
 feet and the former one hundred and fifteen feet above that 
 at the Grand Chain. At Lovelaceville the gravel base is at 
 three hundred and eighty- five feet, and at Milburn four 
 hundred and sixty feet above the sea. 
 
 Loess or Grey Silt . — Immediately over the gravel is a 
 deposit of brown loam containing a few quartz pebbles, and 
 over this a grey silt or loess, all of the same bluff formation. 
 
 The upper part or grey silt occurs only along the Missis- 
 
240 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 sippi bluffs, and with a thickness of from fifteen to twenty 
 feet. In width it occupies the upland between Columbus 
 and Arlington on the south, but narrows northward to Wick- 
 liffe, the most northerly outcrop observed in the county being 
 on Cane creek, three miles north of Wickliffe. On the Illi- 
 nois shore it forms the summit of the bluffs at Caledonia. 
 
 The silt is a yellowish -grey, very fine, and contains calca- 
 reous concretions. At Caledonia small yellow ferruginous 
 tubular concretions were seen. 
 
 At no place in the county were any fresh water or land 
 shells observed in the silt. The silt is calcareous, as shown 
 by the analysis given on page 79. 
 
 A yellowish brown loam forms the superficial deposit all 
 over the county uplands, and gives rise to the soils and sub- 
 soils. The upper two feet is more of a yellow loam, the un- 
 derlying material being heavier and permeated with a light 
 colored and light silty seams, apparently the infiltration 
 through sun- cracks. 
 
 The loam varies in thickness from forty and sixty feet 
 in the fiatwoods, twenty feet along the Mayfield creek bluffs 
 and at Woodville, to sixteen feet at Woodville, and ten to 
 fifteen feet at Bandana and Barlow. The material remains 
 the same throughout, except where glady lands have pro- 
 duced bog iron ore and white silty soils. 
 
 ECONOMIC FEATURES. 
 
 The materials occurring in this county suitable for manu- 
 facturing purposes comprise brown coal or lignite, clays for 
 stoneware and fire-brick, sand and clays for building pur- 
 poses, ochre for paints, besides mineral waters, soils, timber, 
 etc. 
 
 Brown Goal or Lignite . — This variety of coal, but of a 
 much more recent period than the true stone-coal, occurs in 
 layers in the Tertiary clays, and are exposed in the bluffs 
 between Wickliffe and Fort Jefferson, and also near Bland- 
 ville. The main bed has a thickness of several feet, and is 
 very fine and peaty in character, except in the upper por 
 tions, which contain some pieces of black lignitized wood. 
 
OF BALLARD COUNTY. 
 
 241 
 
 Tlie color of the peaty portion is a dark brown. The mass is 
 more or less jiyritous in character ; that at Wickliffe but 
 slightly, and that at Blandville very much so. The charac- 
 ter of the coal and the conditions that surround the beds 
 have been fully described in the general report. 
 
 The uses to which this coal can be put are very limited, 
 because of the large amount of impurities it contains, and 
 the semi-carbonized character of its organic matter. It burns 
 but does not produce much heat, leaving nearly ten per cent, 
 of ash. Recent and satisfactory tests by a Scotland firm, 
 lead us to hope that a profitable demand for it will soon 
 spring up, in a new process ,for refining sugar. 
 
 Yelloio Oc7^re.— Beds of this material occur in the bluff of 
 creeks near Laketon, and in a deep ravine that cuts into the 
 high ridge immediately north of Wickliffe. At the former 
 place it is continuous for some distance, exposed along the 
 edge of the branch bottom that leads from Mr. Wilson’s 
 house westward into Sandy creek, south of Laketon; while 
 in the banks or bluffs of the latter, only large masses of it 
 were found embedded in the heavy deposits of hyaline and 
 opaque sands. Again, north of Laketon, it is exposed on 
 the place of Mr. Hogencamp, in a deep ravine or branch 
 running westward to the Mississippi bottom, at Adams’ cut 
 of the M. & O. R. R. The bed here seems to be two or 
 more feet thick, and the clay is bright yellow in color. 
 Near Wickliffe it appears at several points, but chiefly on 
 the land of the Harkless Bros., in a very deep ravine north 
 of the town. The bed is, aj)parently, several feet in thick- 
 ness, but its extent has not been ascertained. It is of a 
 very bright yellow color, fine texture, and has been used in 
 painting wagons. 
 
 All of these ochres are deeply covered by bluffs of sand, 
 gravel, and loam, and their extraction and bringing to mar- 
 ket would be attended with considerable expense. As tested 
 at the Rookwood pottery, in Cincinnati, they make a beau- 
 tiful red brick; but if glazed, the surface is deep black in 
 color. 
 
 Clays . — In the central and southern portions of the county 
 there are many exposures of white and variegated colored 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 16 . 
 
242 
 
 GKOLOGICAL AND AGKICULTUliAL FEATURES 
 
 clays, some of which are quite refractory. North of Cane 
 Creek and Hinkleville, there have been no exposures ob- 
 served ; a large portion of the region being occupied by the 
 river valley flats. 
 
 The clays that may be considered as the most valuable, 
 because of their convenience to transportation facilities, lie 
 on the western side of the county, exposed in the bluffs 
 that border the Mississippi bottom, and in the banks and 
 bottoms of the several streams tributary to that river. 
 
 They vary from the dark-grey and black clays of the Lig- 
 nitic formation, to the whitish and more plastic varieties of 
 the more recent or Lagrange group. 
 
 The black or dark clays are exposed at the base of the 
 bluffs along the Mississippi bottom, from Laketon to Wick- 
 liffe, along Mayfield creek to and beyond Blandville, along 
 Cane creek, north of, as well as in the creek bottom fiats 
 to the east of Wickliffe, and in an isolated bed, two miles 
 west of Milburn. They are for the most part covered 
 deeply by the Quaternary gravel and silt, though in many 
 places but little surface material covers them. This is espe- 
 cially so in the neighborhood of Wickliffe, where, in the 
 bed of the creek bottom that reaches east of town, the clay 
 is found immediately below the surface, and is, even now, 
 being dug up and shipped by railroad to points south. 
 
 These dark lignitic clays have an exposed thickness of 
 several feet, and are siliceous and refractory in character, 
 resembling thus those of the Columbus bluffs. Their de- 
 scription and analyses are given in the general report (page 
 107), and show that they are largely adapted to the manu- 
 facture of fire-proof material, such as fire-brick, tile, etc. 
 
 The second class, or whiter and more i^lastic clays, are not 
 extensively found in this county, their beds occurring almost 
 entirely in thin beds, separated by whitish sands. These are 
 seen in the high bluffs from Laketon southward, and at a 
 few points in the eastern part of the county, in all cases be- 
 low the gravel. Such beds are found a mile north of Bland- 
 ville, a few miles south of Blandville, where there was once 
 a pottery in operation, and in the town of Milburn. The 
 clays are of various colors, usually from white to purple,. 
 
OF BALLAKD COUNTY. 
 
 243 
 
 and in beds from a few inches to a couple of feet thick. 
 They are of no special value, though they would make the 
 ordinary brown jug and lighter-colored ware. (See analyses, 
 page 107. 
 
 Gravel . — This material, which occurs in such abundance and 
 in thick beds along the bluffs of the Mississippi and May- 
 field bottoms, and in thinner deposits in other parts of the 
 county, is well suited for use on road-beds and streets. Near 
 Wickliffe there is a large bed of it, which has been thus util- 
 ized on the streets of that town, at a cost of about ten cents 
 a yard. 
 
 AGRICULTUEAL FEATURES. 
 
 In its agricultural features, Ballard county presents a vari- 
 ety not found in any one of the other counties, embracing, 
 as it does, representative bodies of land of the Mississippi 
 alluvial bottom and grey silt bluffs on the west of the Ohio 
 valley on the north, and of the upland barrens and tim- 
 bered lands of the central portion of the Purchase counties. 
 
 The western part of the county being more hilly and 
 broken than the eastern and middle, we find the greater por- 
 tion of the tilled lands on the east and middle and south, the 
 extreme northern region being too level and ill-drained, and 
 the soils, therefore, unsuited for cultivation. 
 
 The lands of the county embrace the usual varieties, viz. : 
 
 Lowland . 
 
 River alluvial or bottoms. 
 - Creek clayey bottoms. 
 River valley or flats. 
 
 r Grey silt or Cane Hills. 
 
 Upland . . ^ Brown loam timbered lands. 
 
 [Brown loam “Barrens.” 
 
 The river alluvial or bottom lands embrace a large area 
 along the Mississippi river, from the Hickman county line, 
 near Columbus, northward to Cairo, and thence along the 
 Ohio river to the Grand Chain, beyond which there is but 
 a narrow strip to and beyond the McCracken county line. 
 These lands are subject to yearly overflows, the waters cov- 
 ering the entire bottoms, except, perhaps, the surface of the 
 
2l4 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 low and narrow sand ridges which lie parallel to the river, 
 and at no great distance from it. These ridges comprise 
 almost the only portion of the bottoms that are under culti- 
 vation, though even they are liable to inundation from high 
 floods. They are said to yield as much as sixty bushels of 
 corn per acre. 
 
 Along the immediate bank of the rivers there is a white 
 sand frontland, a little higher than the interior of the bot- 
 toms, and characterized by a growth of tall cottonwood trees. 
 
 The interior of the bottom or back -land has a rich alluvial 
 loam soil, deep and fertile, and covered with a heavy timber 
 growth, comprising hickory, sweet gum, some black and over- 
 cup oaks, pecan, walnut, locust, red and slippery elm, prickly 
 ash, hackberry and papaw. The undergrowth is very dense ; 
 cypress swamps are of frequent occurrence. 
 
 The bottoms of Mayfleld creek have a width of about a 
 mile, and are heavily timbered with white oak, hickory, 
 sweet gum, some poplar and walnut, redbud, papaw and 
 catalpa. 
 
 From Bland ville toward the Mississippi river there is much 
 poplar growth. The lands are subject to overflow, and back- 
 water from floods in the Mississippi river reach four miles 
 above Blandville, covering the creek bottoms, however, but 
 a short distance from the river bottoms. The soil is a whitish 
 clay, very compact and cold, and is entirely unsuited to culti- 
 vation, except near the upland bluffs, where it is covered by 
 washings of brown loam. 
 
 The soil is said to be best suited for pasturage in herds-grass. 
 Cane was once a prominent growth in the bottom, but has 
 been kept down by the grazing of cattle. 
 
 The newly-made land at the foot of the bluffs is generally 
 under cultivation, yielding thirty bushels of corn, and some- 
 times as much as sixty bushels. The land is said to yield 
 three tons of clover per acre. The crops are a little later 
 than on the uplands. 
 
 The bottoms of Clanton creek are about three-fourths of a 
 mile wide, and have a growth of post and white oaks and a 
 few red oaks. Humphrey’s creek has but little bottom land. 
 
 The west fork of Mayfleld creek has a wide bottom, well 
 
OF BALLARD COUNTY. 
 
 245 
 
 timbered with elm, maple, black oak, poplar, gum and syca- 
 more. Tlie soil is of the same character as that of Mayfield 
 creek — a heavy, whitish clay, having but little decayed vege- 
 table matter. It is not in cultivation because of its lack of 
 drainage, though in places, where this defect is corrected, 
 the land is said to yield as much as fifty or sixty bushels 
 of corn per acre. 
 
 The Ohio river valley region or flat woods, of the northern 
 part of the county, covers an area of about forty square miles, 
 and forms, as it were, a bench between the bottom lands and 
 the uplands, having an elevation of about twenty-five or 
 thirty feet above the former, and twenty-five or thirty below 
 the latter. It forms the western limit of the valley that lies 
 eastward along the southern border of the Ohio, and along 
 Clark’s and Tennessee rivers, and which preserves very nearly 
 the same features throughout. 
 
 The valley here is very broad, reaching from five miles north 
 of Hinkle ville, northward, to the Grand Chain or Ogden’s 
 Landing, a distance of six miles, though narrowing quite 
 abruptly up the river to but a mile or two. 
 
 The surface of the valley is quite level for the most part, 
 somewhat rolling in places, and timbered with a growth of post 
 oak chieflj^, some hickory, etc. The region is in many places 
 quite open and free from any dense undergrowth. This level 
 character is productive of whitish, compact, impervious soils, 
 on which water often accumulates in shallow swamps and 
 hats. The soils are, therefore, cold in character, lack suffi- 
 cient drainage, and, as shown by chemical analyses (page 
 154), dehcient in the chief elements of plant food. Bog iron 
 ore or black gravel occurs abundantly in places. 
 
 That these lands have been rendered thus cold and unpro- 
 ductive by ill-drainage and the leaching effects of stagnant 
 water, is shown by the fact that, along the immediate banks 
 of gullies and streams, and at points a little above the hats, 
 where natural drainage exists, the soils are light and loamy 
 and of a brownish-yellow color, very similar to the higher 
 uplands, and have a growth of oaks, hickory, gum, sassa- 
 fras and dogwood. The valley soils are very generally of 
 this cold, impervious nature, and we therefore hnd but a 
 small area under tillage. 
 
246 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The Bluff or Cane 7/?7Mand is found only along the bor 
 der of the Mississippi bottom, from whose edge it extends 
 inland but a short distance. These lands are the highest in 
 the county, and so gradually do they merge into the brown 
 loam uplands that the separating line is undistinguishable. 
 
 From the Hickman county line the bluffs are prominent as 
 far north as Cane creek, north of Wickliffe ; but beyond this 
 they are not noticeable, either in soil, timber or elevation, 
 until the Ohio river is passed, when, at Caledonia, they are 
 again prominent. 
 
 This bluff region is very considerably eroded by deep ra- 
 vines leading from the almost vertical face of the bluff inland, 
 and carrying drainage waters to interior streams. The land 
 of the region is, therefore, not largely under tillage, though 
 having a rich dark loam soil marked by a heavy timber growth 
 of poplar, oak and hickory. A dense cane undergrowth once 
 prevailed over the lands, but has been eaten down yearly by 
 stock. 
 
 The Upland Barrens embrace a large area in the northern 
 part of the county, or east and north of a line passing near 
 Northington’s store or Hazlewood post-office through a point 
 a little south of Hinkleville, and south-eastward into Mc- 
 Cracken county. The region is limited on the north by the 
 river valley or flats. 
 
 The surface is rolling and more or less broken, and in all 
 respects very similar to other uplands, except in its timber 
 growth, the region having been at one time an open prairie 
 — the continuation northward of a belt that reached to near 
 the Tennessee State line south of Graves county. It has 
 since grown up in a low growth of black-jack and red oaks, 
 all preserving a nearly uniform height. 
 
 The undergrowth is hazel and sumac ; the soil is a light- 
 brown loam about three or four feet in depth, over a more 
 clayey bed of loam, permeated with seams of a whiter, silty 
 material. The land is best suited to the cultivation of to- 
 bacco. Some portions of the surface of the Barrens are very 
 level, with but little natural drainage, and are, therefore, in- 
 clined to be glady and unproductive. The usual black bog 
 ore gravel occurs in such spots. 
 
OF m’ckackkn county. 
 
 247 
 
 The Umbered uplands, so designated popularly to distin- 
 guish them from the Barrens, and because they have a greater 
 variety of timber, and of larger growth, cover more than two 
 hundred square miles, an area of the county greater than 
 that occupied by any other division. This embraces all of 
 the uplands south of Mayfield creek except the bluff or Cane 
 Hills land, while on the north side it takes in all but the 
 Barrens and a small area of bluff lands, and lies between 
 the two latter. 
 
 The surface is more rolling and broken on the north than 
 on the south side of the creek, and is probably less under 
 tillage. The soil is a brownish-yellow loam, darkened by 
 decayed vegetation for a couple or more of inches, the sub- 
 soil being lighter brown, resting at three feet upon a bed of 
 more clayey loam, which is permeated with thin seams of a 
 greyish silt, as in other counties. 
 
 The timber of the lands of the southern part of the county 
 is black and white oak, hickory and dogwood. That of the 
 breaks on the north side of Mayfield creek is poplar, black 
 oak, hickory, black gum, dogwood, redbud, sassafras and 
 persimmon. To the west of the county poplar is more abun- 
 dant than elsewhere. 
 
 The soil is said to yield forty to fifty bushels of corn, ten 
 to fifteen of wheat, or eight hundred pounds of tobacco per 
 acre. The land washes readily into gullies and ravines, 
 against which injury, even in cultivated fields, none of the 
 ordinary precautions are taken, such as hillside ditching or 
 horizontilizing. 
 
 McCRACKEN COUNTY. 
 
 McCracken county was cut off from Hickman and organ- 
 ized in 1824. It has an area of about 2,373 square miles, and 
 is bordered on che north by the Tennessee and Ohio rivers. 
 
 Clark’s river flows in the eastern part of the county north- 
 ward into the Tennessee river, and these three streams are 
 bordered by a broad and nearly level flatwoods region, whose 
 
248 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULUURAL FEATURES 
 
 elevation is about fifty-five feet above low-water mark in the 
 Ohio, at Paducah, or three hundred and forty-four feet above 
 the sea. These fiats are from two to three miles in width, 
 and from them the country suddenly rises on the south to a 
 height of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and then 
 again gradually to the dividing ridge along the north side 
 of Mayfield creek, whose elevation is about one hundred 
 and ten feet above Paducah, or four hundred and fifty feet 
 above the sea. 
 
 Mayfield creek enters the county from Grraves county on 
 the south, and immediately turns westward into Ballard 
 county; otherwise the drainage of the county is all north- 
 ward into, the Tennessee and Ohio rivers by numerous small 
 and independent streams. 
 
 The surface of the uplands is rolling, but with large areas 
 of level land between the streams and at their head -waters. 
 
 On the breaks of the creeks the lands are often washed 
 into deep ravines and gullies. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 There are in this county several localities where very large 
 and massive quartzose sandstones are exposed, and which 
 seem to belong to the Onandaga quartzite series of the Illi- 
 nois Report. The grains are sharp and clear or whitish, 
 sometimes strongly cemented into a hard quartzite, and then 
 less so into a very friable mass. In one specimen the cement- 
 ing material was silica, which coated the sand grains. Iron 
 stains occur frequently. 
 
 The largest of these outcrops is at Mr. John Byer’s, four 
 miles south of Paducah, to the west of the Paducah and 
 Mayfield road. The rocks cover, to the height of seventy- 
 five feet, the north-east, east and south sides of a hill that 
 faces one of the branches of the head- waters of Island creek, 
 and also occur in the bed of the branch by the side of Ter- 
 tiary, micaceous sand-rocks. The quartzites are in large frag- 
 ments, some of them having a surface of six to eight feet 
 square, and an exposed thickness of two to four feet above 
 the ground. Their surfaces are mostly dark and smooth, show- 
 ing the wearing effects of water. 
 
OF m’ckacken county. 
 
 249 
 
 A gravel bed ten or fifteen feet thick overlies them on the 
 hill. A well dug seventy-five yards north of the rocks 
 passed through soil and loam six feet, gravel eight feet, and 
 blue or black joint-clay (“soapstone”), thirty-five feet, with- 
 out reaching water. The clay was not passed through and 
 no rocks were found. 
 
 A mile west of this, and on the same branch, the rocks in 
 large masses are again exposed in the bank at the foot of the 
 hills, over a distance of fifty yards. A black clay (Tertiary) 
 outcrops in the bed of the branch a little eastward, over- 
 laid by gravel in process of cementation into a hard conglom 
 erate. An indurated red sand also occurs in the bed of the 
 branch near by. 
 
 Still westward, near the Pepper’s mill and Clinton road, 
 another quartzite exposure occurs, the rocks being large and 
 water-worn on the surface, and lying below the gravel bed, 
 and over a distance of fifty feet. One of these rocks has a 
 surface area of twenty by ten feet. 
 
 There is another exposure on the place of VV. J. Flournoy, 
 a little west of north of the Byer’s place, and four miles 
 west of Paducah, near the crossing of Perkins creek. The 
 rocks here are numerous, scattered over one-half mile or 
 more, and are seen on the side of hills and in a ravine or 
 branch. One of these rises ten feet out of the ground, and 
 has a surface area of twelve by twenty feet. The rock is 
 sharp grained and massive, and the surface much water- 
 worn ; a piece had been blasted from it. In adjoining wells, 
 black joint-clay or “soapstone” is found below the gravel at 
 twenty feet from the surface, and has been penetrated sev- 
 enty-five feet without being passed through. 
 
 Again, near the crossing of the west fork of Massac creek, 
 on the place of Mr. Bryant, the quartzite or sandstone -is ex- 
 posed, not massive as elsewhere, but in layers two feet thick, 
 and for one hundred and fifty yards along the branch. The 
 same sandstone ledges are seen a short distance south of Mas- 
 sac post-office, in the road, on the side of the hill and in 
 ravines. They are from two to four feet thick and sharp- 
 grained. Masses of them, water-worn, occur in the gravel 
 beds on the north of town. 
 
250 nTOT.OGICAL AND AGEICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Besides these, there are other localities where large pieces 
 are isolated, water-worn, and appear to be erratic, probably 
 carried by the Quaternary tioods which brought the gravel 
 to its present bed. 
 
 Such pieces are found in the flats south and west of Padu- 
 cali, buried in the surface of the loams which overlie the 
 gravel, and not very far from the base of the hills. Another 
 group occurs at Palestine Church in the edge of the flats 
 south of Metropolis. All of these i:>ieces have a surface area 
 of several square feet each, and a thickness of from one to 
 three feet. 
 
 Cretaceous . — This formation is but feebly represented in this 
 county, and its exposure is limited to a belt of country, bor- 
 dering the Tennessee river from the Marshall county line to 
 Paducah, passing thence into Illinois. It is deepl}^ covered 
 by the superflcial loams and gravel, and its exposures are 
 not very frequent. Its material embraces very highly mica- 
 ceous, laminated black clays; their thin laminae separated by 
 a mixture of very fine sand and scales of mica, the whole 
 being underlaid by a bed of fine white micaceous and cal- 
 careous sand, the grains of which are very sharp. No fossils 
 have been found, and these beds have been referred to this 
 formation chiefly from their position below the black and 
 grey Tertiary joint-clays, from their similarity to the Tom- 
 bigbee and Ripley beds of Mississippi, and because of their 
 continuity with the latter through Tennessee. 
 
 The beds are best seen in the river bank at Paducah, where 
 they were recently exposed in digging the tunnel for the 
 water-works. The strata here consist only of the finely lam- 
 inated and pyritous shaly black clays and fine sands, the 
 underlying sands not having been reached. The well dug for 
 the old vinegar works in Paducah shows the following strata : 
 
 Loam or heavy yellowish clays 30 feet. 
 
 Gravel bed 10 feet. 
 
 Blackish-blue clay 8 feet. 
 
 Colored sand 6 feet. 
 
 Blackish-blue clay 8 feet. 
 
 White fine sand to water 50 feet* 
 
 112 feet. 
 
OF m’cracken county. 
 
 251 
 
 The blue clays in the above are the thinly laminated mica- 
 ceous clays already alluded to. The white sand is doubtless 
 synchronous with the white micaceous sand beds ot Calloway 
 county and with those oi Tennessee, which are there known 
 as Colt’ee Sands. 
 
 Tertiary .— lowest division of Eocene Tertiary, compris- 
 ing black or grey joint-clay or “soapstone,” and designated 
 “Porter’s creek group” in Tennessee, passes through the 
 county from the south-eastern corner north-westward into 
 north Ballard, and across the Ohio river into Illinois. 
 The clay is black when wet or when freshly exposed ; it is 
 jointed in structure, and cuts in a peculiarly harsh and brit- 
 tle manner. On drying it becomes grey in color and crum- 
 bles into a shale. It is pyritous. In the upper portion there 
 is usually a ledge of soft micaceous sand- rock which hardens 
 on exposure, and in some places contains casts of Eocene 
 fossils. The bed has a thickness of at least one hundred 
 feet, the lower portions being only reached in wells. It is 
 everywhere covered by the superficial Quaternary gravel and 
 loam. 
 
 In tlie extreme southern part of the county it forms steep 
 banks on the east side of Clark’s river and of its two forks. 
 The bluffs are well exposed ou the East Fork, at Captain 
 Edwards’ place, on the West Fork at Ly ell’s, and down 
 these streams to the Fish Trap Ford, in the big bend of 
 the main river. At the latter place a narrow belt of flat- 
 woods extends back from the river for a short distance. Its 
 river bluff shows eight or ten feet of Quaternary loam and 
 three feet of Tertiary bluish sandy clay overlying a ledge of 
 the grey micaceous sandstone eighteen to twenty-four inches 
 thick, and, from this to the water’s edge, eight feet of black 
 joint-clay. Below this it extends sixteen feet, as shown by 
 borings made in the vicinity, and is then underlaid by the 
 thinly laminated, highly micaceous, black clay and fine sand 
 belonging to the Cretaceous. 
 
 The Tertiary clays are very highly pyritous, the bright, 
 silvery looking mineral occurring in nodules of various sizes, 
 from half an inch to several inches in diameter. They have 
 frequently been mistaken, according to color, for silver or 
 
252 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 gold, and in part have given rise to the legends of “silver 
 mines on Clark’s river.” 
 
 The grey micaceous sandstone not only forms a regular 
 ledge over the “soapstone,” but penetrates it downward in 
 seams of several inches thickness, which sometimes cross 
 each other. The sandstone becomes indurated and crumbles 
 on drying. 
 
 Still further down the river, at the mouth of Si)ring creek, 
 about four miles from the Tennessee river, the following sec- 
 
 tion is exposed in the bluff: 
 
 Flatwoods soil and coarse ycdlow sandy micaceous loam 15 feet. 
 
 Coarsely laminated dark clay and yellowish sand 20 feet. 
 
 Deep blue plastic micaceous clays, to water’s edge 20 feet. 
 
 The micaceous sandstone ledge does not appear in this 
 place, and the strata seem to dip slightly to the north-west. 
 At Hard Money the black clay is found in wells. 
 
 Going north westward, we find another exposure of these 
 clays in the road on the north side of the hill, south of 
 Eden’s hill, or three miles south of Paducah, and again one 
 mile still further south on the south side of the hill. The 
 clays are at the base of these hills, and accompanied by the 
 micaceous sandstones. This sandstone, at the latter place, 
 is fossiliferous, containing casts of numerous Eocene varieties. 
 (See page 45.) 
 
 The following section shows the position and character of 
 the strata : 
 
 Soil and brown loam, probably 
 
 Red sand and gravel 
 
 Bluish pipe-clays 
 
 Grey sandy clay ledge without fossils 
 
 Grey sandy clay ledge with fossils 
 
 Dark joint-clay (soapstone) to foot of hill, weathering to a light 
 grey shale 
 
 20 feet. 
 10 to 15 feet. 
 2 feet. 
 4 feet. 
 2 feet. 
 
 6 feet. 
 
 The fossil portion of the ledge is about two feet thick ; it 
 again occurs in the bed of the branch that flows at the foot 
 of the quartzose sand-rock hill, a mile south, but here the 
 ledges are almost vertical, and seem to be fifty feet thick 
 with a due north and south trend. The rock is grey when 
 dry and greenish when wet, due probably to grains of green- 
 sand or glauconite. 
 
OF m’cuaoken county. 
 
 253 
 
 On Massac creek, at Maxon’s mill, the clay was reached at 
 about eighteen feet from the surface, in digging a well, and 
 the stratum was found to be ninety-eight feet thick, over- 
 lying a coarse, white sand, from whose bed water rose to a 
 height of sixty feet, and was so strongly impregnated with 
 fetid sulphur gas (sulphuretted hydrogen) as to be unfit for 
 use. The well was dug in the flats of Massac creek, above 
 which the uplands rise fifty feet. The joint-clay is found 
 along the banks of the creek, and has the same shaly i)roi^- 
 erties possessed by the beds on Clark’s river. 
 
 •Still westward, on the hills, three miles east of Woodville, 
 a well on Mr. Bradshaw’s place passed through twenty feet 
 of loam, six feet of gravel, and some light-colored yellow 
 sand, beneath which the joint-clay was struck and pene- 
 trated to a depth of one hundred and thirty feet from the 
 surface of the ground. 
 
 The flatwoods north of Woodville are, doubtless, under- 
 laid by this joint-clay or so-called “soapstone,” for it is 
 found outcropping in the Ohio river bluffs at Caledonia, due 
 westward from Woodville. In the southern part of the 
 county the clays do not appear. 
 
 In a well on Mrs. W. J. Flournoy’s place, four miles west 
 of Paducah, the black clay was reached at twenty feet and 
 penetrated for seventy-five feet. Lignite is said to have been 
 found in it. 
 
 Lagrange Group . — The south-western half of the county, 
 or that part south of a line from Woodville to Florence, is 
 embraced in that part of the Purchase Region in which the 
 black clays seem to have been in part removed, and replaced 
 by beds of fine sands, mostly white, and interstratified with 
 thin layers of pipe-clay. 
 
 In wells at Pepper’s mill, five miles south-west of Padu- 
 cah, the following section was observed: brown loam ten feet, 
 gravel eighteen feet, yellow or white sands eighty to one hun- 
 dred feet, in which water was found flowing over a black 
 clay which is said to have been penetrated nearly one hun- 
 dred feet, but not passed through. At Massac post-office, still 
 south-west, wells were dug through thirty feet of loam, 
 two feet of sandstone rock, forty feet of gravel, thirty-six 
 
254 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 feet of white sand, and four feet of quicksand to water— in 
 all one hundred and twelve feet. Such is said to be the 
 nature of wells between Massac and Lovelaceville and east- 
 ward toward Florence. 
 
 The bluffs on Mayfield creek are about one hundred feet 
 high, and are composed of thirty feet of brown loam and 
 soil, twenty-five feet of gravel, thirty feet of red sand, three 
 feet of white pipe-clay, and ten feet of white and yellow 
 sands. 
 
 This white pipe-clay usually marks the upper limit of the 
 Lagrange beds, though sometimes we find a thin Quaternary 
 stratum of clay beneath the gravel. 
 
 Quaternary Gravel Beds . — Deposits of gravel are found all 
 over the county, and occupy various altitudes. 
 
 At the close of the Tertiary period, or before the deposi- 
 tion of the gravels, there existed a deep basin along the west 
 side of Clark’s river, and thence along the south side of 
 the Tennessee and Ohio rivers into Ballard county, an area 
 now marked by the valley “fiatwoods.” The bed of the 
 basin was about ten feet above present low-water of the 
 rivers, and nearly sixty feet below the top of the Tertiary 
 strata of the adjoining upland. 
 
 From Paducah westward in this basin we find gravel beds 
 ten to fifteen feet thick, resting immediately upon the black 
 clays, but in the Clark’s river section they do not appear. 
 Opposite Metropolis, the bluffs, thirty feet above the river 
 bottom lands, approach to one-fourth mile of the river; their 
 height is, however, about that of the flats of Paducah. The 
 gravel here is only about twenty feet below the surface, or ten 
 feet higher than at Paducah. 
 
 On the uplands, south of the flatwoods, the beds of gravel 
 are from ten to fifteen feet thick, increasing in thickness 
 south to Mayfield creek, along whose bluffs twenty-five to 
 thirty feet are seen. In the western part of the county, 
 south of Woodville, the gravel bed is but from five to eight 
 feet thick. 
 
 The gravel is composed of fragments of Subcarboniferous 
 chert and hornstone with crinoidal stems, favosites and other 
 fossil forms. They are more or less rounded, but numerous 
 
OF m’cracken county. 
 
 255 
 
 fragments sliow very little effects of attrition and cannot liave 
 come from a very great distance. Some well rounded Car- 
 boniferons quartz pebbles are found in the beds, but are small. 
 The gravel shows some signs of stratification, though not as 
 much as in the bluffs of the Mississippi river. 
 
 Red ferruginous clays and sand are associated with the 
 gravel, and act energetically in cementing the mass into a 
 hard conglomerate. It is this that renders these beds so use- 
 ful for street grading and covering. 
 
 Small fragments of a conglomerate are sometimes found 
 in the beds, as if broken from large masses formed prior to 
 the deposition over the Tertiary and Cretaceous beds. 
 
 The gravel is not uniform in extent or thickness, having 
 either been deposited thus irregularly or subjected to erro-’ 
 sion before the deposition of the superficial loams. 
 
 Brown Loam . — These loams cover the gravel everywhere, 
 except in the river valleys. The upper two feet of the de- 
 ix»sit is of a brownish-yellow color, and, where drained, is 
 light, and affords a thrifty soil. Beneath this is a heavier 
 and more intractable loam, lighter in color and permeated 
 with lighter colored silty seams. 
 
 Throughout the county the thickness is from fifteen to 
 twenty feet, apparently regardless of the irregular contour 
 of the gravel beds, the surface of the loam deposit often 
 being seen to conform in slope to that of the gravel. 
 
 The light character of the loam renders it easily carried by 
 rains down hill-sides, and, as a consequence, its surface is 
 frequently cut up into deep ravines and gullies. 
 
 Port Hudson . — The lower bed of this formation covers the 
 gravel deposit in the valley of the Ohio and of Clark’s rivers, 
 and is represented by a yellowish micaceous loam from ten 
 to twenty feet thick. White calcareous concretions, very 
 similar to those found in the blue clays of the river bank 
 at Columbus, Ky., occur in the loam of the ravines around 
 Paducah. This bed is generally covered by a thin surface 
 deposit of loam, which, because of ill-drainage, is compact 
 and crawfishy in character. 
 
 Along the river bank, beneath the alluvial deposit, and 
 beginning just west of Paducah, are exposed the hlue clays 
 
256 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 that characterize the formation along the Mississippi river. 
 The clay is interstratified with thin beds of red, yellow and 
 white sands, and contains jiarticles of blue vivianite, a phos- 
 phate of iron. 
 
 Later Oranel . — After the deposition of the Port Hudson 
 clays, the flatwoods seem to have been swept by some deep 
 current, j)robably the Tennessee and Clark’s rivers, which 
 bore down from the adjoining hill-sides loam and tine gravel, 
 the latter being re-deposited in a low and wide ridge, which 
 extends from a point five miles south of Paducah, on the 
 line of railroad, in a nearly north and south course, through 
 the city cemetery on the west of town. The gravel is more 
 rounded than that of the other beds, and is uniformly mixed 
 with a fine loam. The bed is five to eight feet thick. A 
 similar deposit of gravel occurs on the east in the bottom of 
 Little Cypress creek, in Marshall county. 
 
 Loose gravel is also found scattered over the flatwoods as 
 far west as Metropolis. 
 
 ECONOMIC FEATURES. 
 
 The materials within, the county that are valuable from an 
 economic point of view, comprise, chiefly, clays, iron ore 
 and gravel. There are a few others that will be mentioned 
 below. 
 
 Clays. — In color the clays of the county vary from black 
 to white, each distributed according to geological formations. 
 
 The black clays are found in the Cretaceous and lower Ter- 
 tiary Eocene belts in the eastern and middle parts of the 
 county. Those of the former outcrop in the banks of Clark’s 
 river above the railroad bridge, and are highly micaceous in 
 character, and are in thin laminae which are separated by 
 a fine white micaceous sand. They are of no value. 
 
 The Tertiary black clays overlying these occur also in the 
 Clark’s river bluffs, with an exposure of about fifteen feet; 
 also, at the foot of the hills that rise above the fiats or val- 
 leys south of Paducah. These hills are capped with Quater- 
 nary gravel, sand and loam, a Tertiary micaceous sand-rock 
 stratum appearing below. The black clay exposure is here 
 only about twelve feet thick, but in wells and excavations 
 
OF m’crack?:n county. 
 
 2r>7 
 
 in the vicinity, as well as north-westward (or west of Padii 
 call), the thickness is found to be as much as ninety feet. 
 'Die clay is massive and jointj" in structure, breaking with 
 lounded fracture ; it is black when wet or damp, but dries 
 to a light slaty color, and is speckled with minute particles 
 of mica. An analysis of a specimen of the clay taken from 
 the same belt near Murray, Calloway county (page 110), shows 
 the presence of nearly one per cent, of potash, three and a 
 half of iron, and sixteen and a half of alumina, half a per 
 cent, of magnesia, and two-tenths of one per cent, of lime. 
 Tests made at the Rookwood Pottery, in Cincinnati, indicate 
 that it can not be used for glazed ware, because of the shiv- 
 ering of the glaze. The unglazed biscuit is pinkish in color, 
 while the tine particles of mica burn to black specks through- 
 out the mass. For dark ware that requires no glazing, it 
 could be used very sucessfully. 
 
 At Mr. John Munier’s, five miles south of Paducah, there 
 is, in the side of the hill beneath the road, a thick bed of a 
 highly plastic bluish clay, mottled with very light ochreous 
 material. It is quite refractory, fusing before the blow-pipe 
 with great difficulty. It makes a cream-colored ware. The 
 analysis (page 107) shows the presence of one and a half per 
 cent, of potash and soda, half per cent, of lime, and nearly 
 two of iron oxide. 
 
 The same clay occurs beneath the railroad bed at Florence 
 Station, southward from Munier’s. 
 
 On the east of Clark’s river, at the spring on the place of 
 Mr. Armstrong, there occurs another bed of bluish micaceous 
 clay, which, on exposure, dries to a dark grey. The thick- 
 ness is unknown. It is quite sandy, somewhat ochreous in 
 character, and fuses to a grey mass before the blow-pipe. 
 
 The yellow ochre in the clay, however, makes it of value, 
 as it burns to a handsome deep brick-red color, and could be 
 utilized in the manufacture of brick. The shrinkage is about 
 twelve per cent. It can be easily obtained, as it is overlaid 
 by but a few feet of gravel. The analysis of a sample taken 
 below the ochreous portion is given on page 116. 
 
 There is, in a ravine on the river bank, just below Paducah, 
 a thin bed of dark or black clays holding blue particles of 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 17 . 
 
258 
 
 GKOLOOICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 the mineral Vimanite. The bed is the same that outcrops; 
 at Highland Landing, on the Tennessee river, in south-east 
 Marshall county. On analysis it has been found to contain 
 nearly two per cent, of iron oxide. The amount of potash 
 and soda is more than two and a half per cent. The clay is 
 interlaminated with beds of yellow sand, and is of no value. 
 It fuses readily to a grey mass before the blow-pipe. 
 
 The whitish clays belong almost entirely to formations 
 later than the Lignitic Tertiary, and in this county are ex- 
 clusively found in the central and western portion. The 
 Lagrange formation embraces most of the beds. 
 
 At Mr. W. J. Hough’s place, four miles south-west of Pa- 
 ducah, there is an exposure of five feet of a whitish clay, 
 holding small masses of gypsum in needle crystals. It has 
 but few feet of overlying gravel and loam, and is, in places, 
 rather sandy. The analysis of a sample (page 116) shows 
 the presence of about one and a half per cent, of potash 
 and soda. Glazed ware from it has a dark cream-color. 
 
 Still further south-westward a very pretty, white, plastic 
 clay has been found on the places of Dr. Roof and Mrs, 
 Annie Grief, about ten miles from Paducah. The clay holds 
 some pockets of white sand, and is somewhat stained with 
 yellow ochre. Its thickness has not been ascertained, and 
 no tests or analyses have been made of it. It would, doubt- 
 less, make a fair cream-colored ware. There are but a few 
 feet of overlying material at the locality where observed on 
 Mrs. Griefs place, and there would be but little expense 
 attending its working. 
 
 The north bluffs of Mayfield creek are high and precip- 
 itous, and at their base there is a frequent exposure of a 
 whitish and purplish clay, that seems to be continuous under 
 that x>oHion of the county. An outcrop occurs near the 
 road opposite Lewisburg, having a thickness of three feet, 
 but overlaid by seventy five feet of red and yellow sand, 
 gravel and loam. 
 
 Again, near the county line to westward, on the place of 
 Mr. Mitchell, there is another outcrop of juirplish and white 
 clay ; it is sandy in places, and before the blow-jiipe fuses 
 to a grey mass. Its analysis is given on page 116. 
 
OF m’cuacken county. 
 
 2f)9 
 
 Iron Ores. — There are two localities in this county which 
 are marked by the presence of limonite, though in small 
 quantities. 
 
 One of these is at Mrs. Alexander’s place, five miles south- 
 west of Paducah. The ore occurs in rounded masses more 
 or less concretionary in form, some of them a foot or more in 
 diameter. Unfortunately, they are not in sufficient quantity 
 for use. The analysis on page 124 gives 83.8 per cent, of iron 
 oxide, equivalent to 58.7 per cent, of metallic iron. 
 
 The other locality of occurrence is on the i)lace of W. J. 
 Flournoy, four miles west of Paducah. Here the ore forms a 
 ledge of from four to six inches in thickness beneath the Qua- 
 ternary gravel. The bed is, however, only local, though frag- 
 ments of the ore have been found within a short distance 
 from it. In its semi-concretionary and banded character it 
 resembles that mentioned above, and it probably has the 
 same composition. 
 
 A clay iron-stone occurs in small quantities on the place 
 of Mr. Jones, three miles south of Paducah. Its edges pre- 
 sent very pretty banded lines of yellow, red and darker 
 colors. 
 
 GtY’psum. — This mineral has already been mentioned as oc- 
 curring in the clay at Mr. Hough's, four miles west of Padu- 
 cah. There is, however, no great quantity of it. 
 
 ViA'iANiTE. — In the blue clay alluded to as occurring in 
 a ravine leading into the Ohio river in the western limits of 
 Paducah, there is readily seen very many particles of the 
 blue mineral which, on analysis, proved to be Vimanite, a 
 phosphate of iron. In such small amount it has no value, 
 and its occurrence is only a matter of interest. 
 
 Gravel. — The thick beds of gravel that outcrop in the 
 ravines around Paducah and in the hill-sides in other parts 
 of the county, are very generally made up not only of gravel 
 but of ferruginous clay and sand, which give to them the 
 property of cementing to hard masses on exposure to the air. 
 This property is utilized in Paducah, the streets being cov- 
 ered to a depth of several inches with the freshly obtained 
 material, which, in a short time hardens and furnishes a firm 
 road-bed, capable of bearing up heavily loaded drays. The 
 
200 
 
 GKOL(XJICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 constant grinding of the latter, however, after a time, re- 
 duces the softer gravel to a powder, which in wet seasons 
 covers the streets with a soft mud an inch, more or less, in 
 depth, and in dry Aveather the fine dust is readily raised by 
 wind. The cost of graveling the streets is about one dollar 
 per yard. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 The various agricultural regions of the Purchase country 
 
 « 
 
 liave their representatives in McCracken county, with the 
 exception of the high bluff or grey silt lands bordering the 
 Mississippi bottom lands, and the flat woods of Calloway 
 county. The following divisions are described below : 
 
 ( Oak and hickory “Timbered” lands, 
 upianas. . . black-jack “Barrens.” 
 
 T i j River valley lands or flats. 
 
 Ltowianas. . ^ alluvial and creek bottoms. 
 
 Uplands. — The area embraced in the upland portion of 
 the county is about one hundred and forty square miles, or 
 about sixty per cent of the entire county. The remaining 
 forty per cent, comprises the valley and bottom lands of 
 the Tennessee, Clark’s and Ohio rivers. The vallej’S of 
 creeks are not taken from the estimate of the uplands, as 
 they are narrow, and would not affect the result very greatly. 
 The valley or flats of Clark’s river divides the uplands in 
 two, leaving about thirteen square miles only on the east. 
 
 The upland surface is more or less rolling and uneven, es- 
 pecially in the eastern and south-eastern portions, where the 
 many small streams have cut very deeply into the loose ma- 
 terial, often to depths of as much as one hundred feet below 
 the. general level. 
 
 In the western and south-western portions there are, Iioav- 
 ever, large tracts of land which have but an undulating sur- 
 face, rendered more uneven and broken along their drainage 
 streams and creeks by gullies and ravines, the result of wash- 
 ing rains. 
 
 These uplands abruptly terminate on the south at the brow 
 of the almost vertical bluffs that border the bottom lands of 
 Mayfield creek. On the north they decline more gradually 
 
OF M CHACKEN COUNTY. 
 
 261 
 
 to the Ohio valley, thou^th in the region of Paducah, and 
 thence southward, the hills facing the valley of Clark’s river 
 are quite high and abrupt. 
 
 The uplands are naturally divided into two regions — the 
 Oak and Hickory Lands, or, as popularly termed, “The Tim- 
 bered Region, ” and the Black-jack and Red Oak Barrens, 
 generally known as simply “The Barrens.” 
 
 Oak and Hickory Lands. — This division comprises two- 
 thirds of the uplands of the county, and has a timber growth 
 of post, red and Spanish oaks, hickory, etc. 
 
 The soil is a brownish-yellow loam, varying but little in 
 character to a depth of two or three feet, except that the 
 surface itself is darkened by a little decayed vegetation. It 
 is underlaid by another bed of loam, somewhat lighter in 
 color and permeated with seams of apparently inliltrated 
 silt, a feature characteristic of this bed throughout the Pur- 
 chase region. This latter is of greater depth than the upper 
 bed, the entire loam being usually from fifteen to twenty 
 feet deep. 
 
 Where well-drained, the soil is loose and easily tilled, pro- 
 ducing good crops. There are, however, large areas of flat 
 uplands, from which the waters are not readily drained, and 
 the soil, by a leaching process, has become white, compact 
 and crawfishy, filled with small, dark rounded ferruginous 
 concretions or bog ore. The soils of these uplands contain 
 small percentages of phosphoric acid, potash and lime, as 
 shown by the analyses given in the general report (page 170). 
 
 On the breaks or borders of Mayfield creek bottom the 
 growth consists of black oak, hickory, poplar, black gum, 
 dogwood, sassafras, persimmon and redbud. The soil here 
 contains more potash than that of the interior, and in fair 
 percentages, .329 per cent. The phosi3horic acid is low, not 
 a tenth of a per cent. The presence of a larger amount of 
 humus or decayed vegetation on the bluffs may account for 
 the difference in potash, as the amount held in an in- 
 soluble condition is less here than in the interior. Lime is 
 deficient everywhere 
 
 Barrens. — In the western part of the county, reaching from 
 the west fork of Massac creek to the Ballard county line, and 
 
2G2 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURKS 
 
 soutli from the river valley or flats to the road from Padu- 
 cah to Blandville, there is a large area, covering a little more 
 than fifty square miles, on which the upland timber is chiefly 
 a low red or black-jack oak, the region having once been 
 a prairie. Only along the creek bottoms is there a better 
 upland growth. The region is a continuation northward of 
 the large area of Barrens in Graves county, and separated 
 from it by the bottom lands of Mayfield creek, and the high 
 uplands that border that stream on the north side. This 
 region has a soil very similar to that of the oak and hickory 
 uplands, but it is thought to be better adapted to the culti- 
 vation of tobacco. 
 
 As in the oak and hickory region, there are also in the 
 Barrens tracts of badly drained lands on which water stands, 
 and which are whitish, stiff and crawfishy, with an accumu- 
 lation of small bog-ore gravel 
 
 An analysis (page 166) of a sample of this soil and its sub- 
 soil, taken from a point about four miles east of Woodville, 
 shows but a small clay percentage, a small amount each of 
 lime and available potash, a fair percentage of phosphoric 
 acid, and a large amount of soda. There is but little lime 
 in either soil or subsoil, while the potash in both, held in 
 an insoluble condition, is very large (1.5 per cent.) 
 
 The subsoil, taken at a depth of eight inches, contains 
 more available potash. 
 
 Both soil and subsoil are quite sandy (or silty), contain- 
 ing more than eighty-eight per cent, of insoluble matter, 
 and capable of holding but one and a half per cent, of moist- 
 ure. Compared with other lands of the same region at 
 Hazelwood, in Ballard county, we find in this lower percent- 
 ages of potash, but more phosphoric acid and lime, while 
 in comparison with the soils of the large region in Graves 
 county, this has larger percentages of potash, phosphoric 
 acid and lime. 
 
 Lowlands. — The area embraced in the river valley and 
 bottom lands is a little less than one hundred square miles, 
 or about forty per cent, of the total area of the county. 
 This lowland division comprises the hottom lands of the 
 creeks and rivers, and the somewhat higher valley lands of 
 
OF m’cuacken county. 
 
 203 
 
 the rivers. The creek bottoms, excepting that of Mayiield 
 creek, are, however, very narrow and of no special iinjwrt- 
 tance, as tliey are scarcely under tillage. 
 
 liinei' Valley Lands . — This region borders the Ohio river 
 for its entire length in the county, the Tennessee river from 
 its mouth (at Paducah) to and a little beyond the mouth of 
 Clark’s river, and along Clark’s river southward to and be- 
 yond the county line. The widths vary from about three 
 miles at the Graves county line, to five and a half miles 
 across the center of the valley of Clark’s river, and from 
 two and a half to three miles across the Ohio river valley. 
 At the Ballard county line on the north-west the valley 
 suddenly widens to five or six miles. 
 
 On the east of Clark’s river the limiting upland bluffs 
 pass from a point about a fourth of a mile east of the 
 railroad bridge, southward to the junction of the two forks. 
 A narrow belt thence extends along the south side of the 
 East Fork into Marshall county ; while on the east side of 
 the West Fork the uplands come to the bank of the stream. 
 
 The western limit of the valley of Clark’s river is marked 
 by rather abrupt bluffs, in irregular outline, for most of the 
 distance, beginning at the Graves county line at Hard Money, 
 passing northward via Florence and Bond’s stations to a 
 point one mile south-west of Paducah ; thence the southern 
 limit of the Ohio valley, marked by lower hills, passes slightly 
 north of west via Maxon’s mill to the Ballard county line, 
 about three miles north of Woodville. 
 
 The area thus embraced is little more than eighty square 
 miles. The surface is very level along Clark’s river to Pa- 
 ducah and westward to Massac creek, resembling a plain, 
 from which circumstance that city is sometimes called “The 
 Plains City.” The surface is very generally ill-drained, and 
 the soil in consequence stiff, cold and crawfishy, and consid- 
 •ered of little value for tillage. The growth is mostly post 
 oak, with tracts of hickory timber. 
 
 As shown by the analyses given in the general report (page 
 155), these lands have low percentages of available phosphoric 
 acid (from .030 to .110) and lime, and generally of potash 
 also (.167 to .302); there is, however, more than one per cent. 
 
204 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 of potash held in an insoluble condition. The post oak and 
 hickory lands are richer in available constituents than the 
 l>ost oak lands, as observed in the analyses of the contig- 
 uous tracts near Paducah. 
 
 Going down the valley from this plain, we find beyond 
 Massac creek, at Palestine Church, a tract of country reach- 
 ing from the uplands nearly to the river at Metropolis, that 
 is generally under cultivation, with better natural drainage 
 than that section just described. Its surface is, however, quite 
 level, and as we go still westward it becomes more and more 
 hat and ill-drained, and near the county line the soil assumes 
 an ash-colored and light character, and at the same time is 
 poorer in potash, phosphoric acid, lime and decayed vege- 
 tation, and has a growth chiehy of post oak, except near 
 the creeks and bottoms, where the soil is better and the 
 undergrowth and timber is heavier. 
 
 The hat lands of the two rivers thus described are scarcely 
 in cultivation, except in few small j)atches near Paducah. 
 
 The soil needs under-drainage, and deep and thorough cul- 
 tivation above every thing else. Then the application of phos- 
 phate manures, lime and decayed .vegetable matter would, 
 probably, render available a sufficient amount of the potash 
 that now exists in an insoluble condition. 
 
 Bottom Lands . — There are no alluvial soils within this 
 county except in a very narrow belt along the Ohio, begin- 
 ning a short distance below Paducah. Wherever it is in 
 strips of sufficient breadth for cultivation to any extent, it 
 is found to be rich and mellow, producing good crops. Its 
 growth is pecan, ash, hickory, elm, gums, cottonwood and 
 sycamore. 
 
 The undergrowth comprises dogwood, hackberry, some 
 papaw, redbud, black haw and large grapevines; some cane 
 is found. Along the Tennessee and Clark’s rivers there is, 
 within this county, very little bottom land, the valley Hats 
 extending generally to the banks of those streams. The 
 bottoms of Mayfield creek are broad and flat and subject 
 to overflow. They have a soil that is cold and heavy in 
 character, and whitish, except on the immediate surface, 
 which is dark from a little decayed vegetation. The growth 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 2Gr> 
 
 is white oak, hickory, sweet gum, a little poplar and wal- 
 nut, and an undergrowth of papaw, redbud and catalpa. 
 The land is not suited for cultivation, excei)t in grasses, 
 because of its heavy undrained character. Herds-grass is 
 said to do especially well. 
 
 MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 Marshall county was organized in 1842 from Calloway 
 county. It has an area of about 324.5 square miles, nearly 
 all of which is uplands, excepting the valley of the Ten- 
 nessee on the east and north, and the bottom lands of 
 Clark’s river, embracing in all about sixty square miles. 
 
 The valley of the Tennessee has an average width of two 
 miles on the north between Calvert City and the river, but 
 up the river above Grilbertsville to the Calloway county line, 
 its width is about a mile, greater or less in places. Its sur- 
 face is uneven, a low and broad elevation of from eight to 
 ten feet high traversing the length of the valley parallel 
 with the river. On either side of this ridge the lands are 
 low and glady. There is but a very narrow strip of bottom 
 land bordering the river. The elevations of Gilbertsville, Bir- 
 mingham and Aurora are respectively about 339, 347 and 
 350 feet above the sea. 
 
 The numerous streams that enter the valley usually run 
 parallel with the river for some distance, finally cutting 
 across to the latter. 
 
 From the valley the uplands rise rather abruptly to from 
 forty to sixty feet on the north near Calvert City, and eighty 
 feet near Birmingham and Aurora, to the dividing ridge be- 
 tween the waters of the Tennessee and east fork of Clark’s 
 rivers. This water-divide is highest on the south, viz. : four 
 hundred and seventy-two feet above the sea, and declines 
 northward to four hundred and fifty-seven at Briensburg, 
 four hundred and thirty-two at Scale, four hundred and 
 thirty at Palma, and four hundred and seventeen at Sharp. 
 
 The water- shed of the Tennessee is from five to nine miles 
 
266 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AKD AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 in vvidth, and very numerous streams drain the surface of 
 the country, which in tlie eastern jiart of the county is 
 very broken and hilly. The divide is very broad on the 
 north, and narrow on the south, j:»resenting altogether a 
 very large area of level and hne farming land. 
 
 The drainage basin of Clark’s river is but a few miles 
 in width, and the bottom land near Briensburg is one hun- 
 dred feet lower than that village. During the Paducah over- 
 flow, back-water from the Tennessee came within a couple 
 of miles of the Benton bridge. 
 
 The hills on either side of the bottom are quite abrupt, 
 blit are probably more so on the north side. , The bottom 
 lands are about a mile wide on the north side, but very 
 narrow on the south below Benton, rising six to ten feet to 
 the surface of the belt of level valley lands that on the 
 north-west connect with the broad flats of the Tennessee 
 and Ohio rivers. These valley lands are about a mile in 
 width, very level, and timbered with post oak. South of 
 Benton they merge gradually into the bottoms. 
 
 From the flats the country again rises to the divide between 
 the waters of the east and west forks of Clark’s river, at an 
 elevation of about four hundred and eighty feet above the 
 sea, or one hundred and twenty-five feet above the river. 
 
 The surface of this divide is broad and quite level, giving 
 rise to a section of country locally known as the Jlatwoods. 
 
 This, as well as the ridge on the north of Clark’s river, 
 has a north-west and south-east trend. 
 
 The west fork of Clark’s river drains but a small section 
 of the county in the south-west corner, its bottom lands 
 being about eighty-five feet below the high uplands. 
 
 GEOLOGIC FEATURES. 
 
 Marshall county is in the north-eastern portion of the old 
 gulf embayment, its eastern border resting on the Subcarbon- 
 iferous formation. We therefore find in the county a variety 
 of geologic formations, embracing the Subcarboniferous, Cre- 
 taceous, Tertiary and Quaternary. The coal measures are 
 entirely absent, the transition from Subcarboniferous to Cre- 
 taceous being abrupt. 
 
OF ]\IARSIIALL COUNTY. 
 
 C(57 
 
 From 'the Calloway county line on the south the forma- 
 tions have at first a northerly and then a north-westerly trend, 
 followin*^ in their line of outcrop a line parallel with the 
 old shore line. 
 
 SunoAKBONiFFROtis. — On the eastern side of the Tennessee 
 river, in the adjoining counties of Lyon and Trigg, the 
 Siliceous division of this formation rises in high and pre- 
 cipitons bluffs nearly from the water's edge; while in Liv- 
 ingston, on the north, the representative limestone and flinty 
 material are more or less hidden by Quaternary and Subcar- 
 boniferous debris for some distance back from the river. 
 
 On crossing the Tennessee river into Marshall county, we 
 do not immediately find high Subcarboniferous outcrops, but, 
 after passing the river valley, there is a low shelf or terrace 
 of that formation reaching inland from the river for a few 
 miles, and covered by Quaternary gravel and superficial loam. 
 The limestones have for the most part disappeared, leaving 
 their associated flint layers in place, exposed only in the 
 beds of the streams. On the west the formation suddenly 
 disappears, and, instead, we find the sands and clays of the 
 Cretaceous. 
 
 The only points in the county where the Siliceous group 
 appears on high ridges, are on Possum Trot ridge between 
 the forks of Bear creek, and on the sides of the ridges on 
 the west and south of Jonathan creek, near Aurora, in the 
 south-eastern corner of the county. 
 
 Upon this Subcarboniferous terrace I have been unable to 
 find any Cretaceous or Tertiary strata, and the conclusion is 
 plain that it was but a long and narrow belt reaching north- 
 ward from the Tennessee line through Calloway county, to a 
 point about a mile south of Gilbertsville, or to the edge of 
 the valley, where the river cut its way to westward through 
 the limestones. 
 
 In the Tennessee river, one mile below Haddock’s ferry, on 
 the Calvert and Smithland road, there is a long ledge of flint 
 strata extending out from the Livingston county shore in a 
 S. 30 W. course. It rises to about twenty feet above low- 
 water, reaches about two hundred yards from the shore, and 
 lias a wddth of fifty or sixty feet. Its south-west end is only 
 
268 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 about six feet above low-water, and suddenly terminates. 
 The strata or layers dip eastward very steeply, and at one 
 l)oint are much contorted. It forms what is locally known 
 as the Big Chain. 
 
 A short distance above the ferry there is another line of 
 outcrop of cellular chert in large masses, but without strati- 
 fication. It is known as the Little Chain, and has a strike 
 across the river of S. 60° W., reaching for two hundred or 
 three hundred yards from the north shore. 
 
 The south bank of the river at the ferry shows an outcrop 
 of the clierty masses, and forms an excellent landing. It is 
 covered by twenty feet of micaceous brown loam. 
 
 At Barber’s landing, just above the mouth of Cypress creek, 
 there is, on the north shore of the river, a high bluff of 
 quartzose sandstone. The bluff is about forty feet high, over- 
 laid by Quaternary gravel. Its Jower layers are thin and 
 much cracked. The rock incloses pyritous spots, and the 
 faces of the layers are much roughened by exposure. In 
 places, the edge of the rock is stained in banded yellow 
 lines, sometimes evenly, sometimes wavy. 
 
 Limestone appears one mile south-east of Calvert City in 
 the bed of Cypress creek, and also outcrops on the side of 
 Limestone Hill, one mile south of Gilbertsville. These points 
 mark the northern end of the long Subcarboniferous belt re- 
 ferred to above. Quaternary loam and gravel cove’’ the hills 
 southward to Bear creek, and it is only on the eastern side 
 facing the Tennessee valley that we find the associated sliarp 
 hints. Xo limestone appears here. 
 
 The Bear creek hills are high and rough, the main prong 
 of the creek howing along their eastern base, and in the val- 
 ley. The ridge between this and Little Bear is known as 
 “Possum Trot ridge.” Its summit is seventy-hve feet above 
 the valley, and its sides, almost to the top, are covered with 
 sharp hint fragments of the Siliceous group. The ridge rises 
 southward to the Paducah road, and the Quaternary loam 
 and some gravel covers these Paleozoic rocks. 
 
 On the west of the Little Bear the same hint hills are 
 encountered, but disappear to the westward. In the bed of 
 this stream the hint strata appear in regular beds. 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 'M) 
 
 One mile south-west of the junction of the two forks of 
 Bear creek there are, on the hills, many lime-sinks, having 
 diameters of from fifteen to twenty-five feet and depths of 
 from ten to fifteen feet, being largely filled by washings from 
 the hill-sides The ponds that occur north of these are also 
 mostly large sinks that have become filled with water. 
 
 South from the lime-sinks, near Mr. Riley’s place, on the 
 west side of Little Bear creek, there is, at about forty feet 
 up on the hill-side, an exposure of hard siliceous rocks, the 
 lower ledge a conglomerate two feet thick, and the upper a 
 bluish quartzite, three feet exposed. They have not been re- 
 cognized elsewhere in the county. 
 
 Going west from Birmingham we find an outcrop of blue 
 limestone forming a ledge in the ridge of the hills that face 
 the Tennessee valley. 
 
 The exposure continues for one-fourth of a mile southward 
 from the Benton road, and then disax>pears, the associated 
 hint alone being found on hill-sides to the Calloway county 
 line. 
 
 Still further west from Birmingham, the hint fragments 
 are found in the beds of creeks and branches for four or hve 
 miles. On the jjlace of Mrs. Lou. Stone, on the head-waters 
 of Buckhorn creek, the hint has decomj)Osed into a whitish 
 siliceous earth, holding some of the hint or hornstone frag- 
 ments. 
 
 It is brittle or crumbling, and is, 
 in part, stained yellow. It is several 
 feet in thickness. Some of the clay 
 still retains the original form of the 
 hint fragments, as is seen in the an 
 nexed horizontal section. The central 
 portion of each block is usually stained 
 yellow. 
 
 Southward from Birmingham to Aurora the countiy is hilly 
 and broken, especially beyond Jonathan creek, between which 
 and the Calloway count line hint fragments are a prominent 
 feature. The hills rise about one hundred feet above the river 
 valley, the hint api)earing on their sides to elevations of sev- 
 enty-hve feet above the valley^ North-westward, toward Fair 
 
270 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Dealing, the siliceous Subcarboniferous group is thus exposed 
 to one mile west of Jonathan creek, while on the Olive and 
 Aurora road its most westerly outcrop is seen on Clear creek, 
 east of Jonathan creek. 
 
 CRET.4CEOUS. — The series of micaceous sands and clays, that 
 have been referred to this formation, form a belt across the 
 county from south-east to north-west, and with a width of 
 from three to six miles. 
 
 The upper portion of the formation embraces from ten to 
 twenty-hve feet of thinly laminated dark micaceous clays, 
 their laminae separated by thin sheets of highly micaceous 
 and fine white sand. The lower comprises white and yellow 
 sands, laminated and micaceous, with very thin layers of a 
 bluish or light colored, sometimes white, pipe-clay. The lay- 
 ers of clay vary from a fraction of an inch to two or three 
 inches in thickness, and are separated by, sometimes, several 
 feet of sand. 
 
 The beds of the formation are covered everywhere by from 
 twenty-five to forty feet of Quaternary gravel and clay, and 
 it is only in bluffs or in banks of creeks and ravines that 
 exposures can be found. Wells, also, frequently penetrate 
 into the strata. 
 
 The east fork of Clark’s river very nearly marks the west- 
 ern limit of Cretaceous exposures, the upper clays being seen 
 at Dishman’s mill, Just south of Sharp on the north-west; 
 again in a well at eight feet in the bottom land four miles 
 south-east of this, and also on the side of the hills opposite 
 Benton. 
 
 The latter place shows both upper and lower beds, the 
 locality being known as the “Sand Hill.” The hills are 
 
 from fifty to sixty feet above the bottom lands of the 
 river, and are chiefly composed of loam and gravel, as 
 
 shown in the following section: 
 
 ] . Brown loam 20 feet. 
 
 2. Gravel beds in part cemented into a conglomerate .... 10 feet. 
 
 3. Light' blue plastic micaceous clay 2 to 4 feet. 
 
 4. Blue micaceous clay in thin lamina? separated by fine micaceous sand 
 
 and in horizontal layers 5 feet. 
 
 5. Thin layer of red hematite or iron-stone, irregularly deposited, and in 
 
 places concretionary or rounded 2 inches'. 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY, 
 
 271 
 
 6. Reddish and yellowish micaceous sands, changing to fine white sand 
 at one or two feet — in thin layers, and separated by slieets of stiff, 
 
 plastic greyish or whitish clays — exposed 26 feet. 
 
 7. Sand and clay debris to foot, but probably covering sand strata .... 15 feet. 
 
 The sand bed is in strata with a S. 70 E. dip, as nearly 
 as could be ascertained, and incloses a few concretionary 
 yellow sand nodules which are tilled with loose sand. 
 
 The upper blue clay bed is again exposed about one-fourth 
 mile eastward up the branch on the road leading to Briens- 
 burg. Still further east the Cretaceous beds rest against the 
 Subcarboniferous rocks. 
 
 In the northern part of the county, near Little Cyjiress 
 post-office, on the banks of the creek of the same name, 
 one-fourth mile north of the railroad tank, the Cretaceous 
 clays are exposed in the low bluff, showing the following 
 section ; 
 
 1. Yellow or brown loam 4 feet. 
 
 2. Coarse hornstone gravel 3 feet. 
 
 3. Ferruginous sandstone, uneven 2 to 4 inches, 
 
 4. Micaceous shale or shaly sandstone in thin layers, separated by light 
 
 slate-colored sand or clay stratum one inch thick. Breaks sharply 
 
 into fragments 4 feet 
 
 5. Bluish black clay in very thin lamin<e, micaceous and pyritous, and 
 
 separated by very thin sheets of fine white micaceous sand to 
 
 water’s edge 6 feet. 
 
 The sandstone No. 4 splits evenly and thinly, and in 
 ])laces is somewhat quartzose. At another point near this 
 it contains a few rounded and small lumps of black clay. 
 A section of this bluff is represented on page 35. 
 
 From the McCracken county line the Cretaceous formations 
 extends north westward, by way of Paducah, into Illinois. 
 
 Going southward from Calvert City, the country is high, 
 and the Cretaceous or other strata are so deeply buried by 
 loam and gravel as to be seldom exposed even in wells. 
 
 Four and a half miles south, a well dug sixty feet, reached 
 water in white sand. One and a half miles east of Palma, 
 a well passed through six feet of loam, twenty feet of 
 
 gravel, thirty-five feet of white and red sand, and five 
 
 feet of sand-rock. 
 
 South-east of Benton the Cretaceous belt is narrow, and 
 
 the clay is buried at sixty to eighty feet below the .sur- 
 
272 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 face. Three miles south of Olive, the blue micaceous sandj" 
 fetid clay was reached at about thirty feet. 
 
 On the west side of the river, in the side of the hills, on 
 the road from Olive to Wadesboro, and one mile from the 
 jatter village, the Cretaceous clay, light blue and thinly in- 
 terlaminated with tine micaceous sand, occurs in a ravine 
 by the road side. This is the most westerly outcrop in the 
 southern j)art of the county. Tertiary clays being found at 
 Wadesboro. 
 
 At Benton, the Cretaceous clays were reached in a well dug 
 at the mill, at a depth of thirty feet, and were not passed 
 through at fifty feet. 
 
 Tertiary. — The Lignitic or Lower Eocene division of the 
 Tertiary formation is alone represented in the county, and 
 underlies all that portion south-west from the east fork of 
 Clark’s river, on the line of the Cretaceous. 
 
 The Porter’s Greek (one of the Tennessee subdivisions) 
 beds of blackish clays or “soapstones,” alone make up the 
 series, being exposed along some of the streams, occasion- 
 ally in a ravine that cuts through the superticial gravel and 
 loams, and is also frequently reached in deeji wells. The 
 clay is blackish when wet or freshly exposed, and is very 
 brittle under the knife. It is jointed in structure, break- 
 ing with a conchoidal fracture, and when exposed to the 
 air, crumbles into a grey shale, very tenacious to the tongue. 
 
 West from Benton we find the clay outcropping in the 
 bluffs of the middle fork of Clark’s river, and again two 
 miles south-east of Stringtown, where a deep pit was once 
 dug into it by parties in search of coal. 
 
 The clay is again found three miles south-west of Benton, 
 in wells at a depth of thirty-five feet, and nearer town is 
 seen outcropping in the side of a hill by the road-side. 
 
 South from Benton, the “soapstone” or jointed clay is 
 exposed in a branch at Pace’s old school-house, two miles 
 north of Wadesboro. The joints are coated with yellowish 
 clay, as at Murray, in Calloway county, and elsewhere. 
 
 Ill Wadesboro, just across the line in Calloway county, the 
 clay is again ex^iosed in a ravine immediately in the rear 
 of the stores. It is deeply ochreous and jointed, and forms 
 a good rough paint. 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 27;i 
 
 Again, in a well two and three-fourth miles south-west of 
 Nick post-office, the black clay was reached at a slight depth. 
 It again appears along the west fork of Clark’s river. 
 
 The formation in this county is a part of the belt that 
 passes through Calloway county from Tennessee, and north- 
 westward through this county into McCracken county and 
 into Illinois. 
 
 Quaternary. — The entire surface of the county is covered 
 by the gravel and loam that belong to this age. 
 
 Prior to the gravel deposition, the surface of both the Cre- 
 taceous and Tertiary strata had been much denuded, and we 
 line! the Quaternary beds at all elevations. 
 
 The gravels are the lowest of the series, and, as in other 
 counties, are made up of more or less rounded fragments of 
 chert and hornstone from the Subcarboniferous rocks, and of 
 all sizes, from an English pea and smaller, to pieces holding 
 fffty or one hundred cubic inches. The usual fossil crinoids, 
 favosites, oolite pieces, etc., occur very generally. The thick- 
 ness of the beds varies greatly. 
 
 In the Tennessee valley no gravel is found. On the Subcar- 
 boniferous hills on the west, immediately facing the valley, 
 there is very little; while still westward the bed quickly in- 
 creases in depth as it recedes from the valley. 
 
 The beds are thinnest in the north and north-east portion 
 of the county, and vary from ffve to ten feet. Elsewhere 
 they are from fifteen to twenty feet thick, increasing to 
 twenty-five and thirty as we approach the Calloway county 
 line. 
 
 A red sand usually underlies the gravel on the northern 
 and eastern part of the county, and is more or less intermixed 
 with it throughout the entire area. 
 
 White pipe-clays are also of no unusual occurrence imme- 
 diately below the gravel or sand, but are frequently in thin 
 sheets with a fiue whitish sand, and inclose pockets of the 
 latter. 
 
 The gravel is often cemented into a hard conglomerate by 
 the ferruginous clays and ferric oxide, some of the masses 
 being so firm that a fracture would pass evenly through both 
 the gravel and the cementing material. Such rocks are found 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 18 
 
274 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGKICULTUKAL FEATURES 
 
 especially in the southern and eastern parts of the county,, 
 while on the south-west they are in thinner ledges. They 
 are not as prominent a feature of the county as southward 
 in eastern Calloway, and their beds are not as continuous. 
 They often ha.ve a thickness of several feet, and are dark 
 red in color, sometimes blackened by exposure or by lire. 
 Small fragments of conglomerate are frequently found else- 
 where among the loose gravel as if transported with it. 
 
 The rock is sometimes quarried and used for mill-stones, 
 and seem to answer for the x>urpose very well, but are got- 
 ten out and dressed with difficulty. A noted locality is 
 known as Millstone Hill, on the north side of Jonathan 
 creek, and about one and a half miles east of the Fair 
 Dealing and Aurora road. The rock is a conglomerate of 
 white and dark quartz or flint pebbles, and occurs in ledges 
 two or three feet thick. It is overlaid by twenty feet of 
 red and hard gravel conglomerate and sand-rock and loose 
 gravel, with some pieces of rounded quartzite, six inches in 
 diameter. 
 
 A ledge of ferruginous conglomerate is frequently exposed 
 along the east bluff of the east fork of Clark’s river, nearlj^ 
 capping the hills. It is prominent near Benton, and south- 
 eastward near the crossing of the Olive and Wadesboro road. 
 At the latter place it caj)s a narrow or backbone ridge, sev- 
 enty feet above the river, and is about four feet thick. It 
 also occurs near New Liberty Church on the west side of the 
 river. 
 
 The red sand underlying the gravel is often cemented 
 into a hard sand-rock — sometimes massive and sometimes in 
 thin layers. The rock is more generally an indurated sand, 
 which hardens on exposure. It is not usually very Arm, 
 and is almost useless as a building material, though some- 
 times used as underpinning for foundations of small and 
 light buildings. 
 
 In the Tennessee valley, the only gravel observed was at 
 Cypress P. O., and thence westward to the county line at 
 Lawton's bluff. It is at a higher elev,ation than that at 
 Paducah and further down the river, and seems to be the 
 eastern limit of the valley gravel. 
 
Ol'- MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 2 ?:) 
 
 The clays that form the lowest of the Quaternary series 
 are of a still’ plastic character, white or bluish-white in color, 
 and of various thicknesses. 
 
 The most northerly outcrop observed occurs on the place 
 of J. T. Pugh, two miles east of Palma, and at Stice’s old 
 mill place, still eastward, near the line of the Subcarbonifer- 
 (iiis outcrops. At both i)laces some white sand is associated 
 with the clay both in layers and in pockets. Southward the 
 -ame beds are found at Mr. Frank Burradel’s, three miles 
 north-west of Briensburg, and at Scale, where a small pot- 
 tery was once begun but failed because of want of experi- 
 enced workmen. Heavy beds are reported as occurring in 
 wells around Harvey, west of Benton. 
 
 The hrown loam that covers the county, and overlies the 
 gravel everywhere, is in two beds, and has a thickness in 
 this county of from ten to twenty feet. 
 
 The upper two feet is of a yellowish-brown color, light 
 when drained, and furnishing the best upland soils. Below 
 this it is of a stiffer character, lighter colored, and, as in 
 other counties, is j>ermeated with thin seams of whitish silt. 
 
 In the Tennessee valley, the deposit overlying the blue 
 clays is micaceous in character, though otherwise strongly 
 resembling the upland loams. 
 
 On hill-sides, the loams are easily washed away by the 
 rains, and huge ravines are of common occurrence. 
 
 Slides also take place on the sides of steep bluffs, a nota- 
 ble instance of which is to be seen two miles south of Ben- 
 ton, on the east side of Watch creek, and which has resulted 
 in the formation of the “sink” so well known in the county. 
 
 The hills here are about ninety feet above the creek, and 
 their sides are quite steep. A number of small terraces oc- 
 cur above each other along the foot of the hill, which have 
 clearly been formed by the sliding down of the loams and 
 gravel. 
 
 The “sink” occurs on the side of the hill about thirty feet 
 above the creek, and is rather rounded on all sides of the 
 interior basin except the west or outside, which is parallel 
 with this part of the hill. The side next the hill is very 
 steep, a continuation downwards of the bluff. The sink has 
 
27C 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 R diameter of about one hundred and fifty feet ; the outward 
 sides capped with conglomerate gravel, which prevent them 
 from being washed away. The sink holds water, and has 
 many logs, etc., in it. 
 
 Recent Oracel Bed . — In the bottom of Cypress creek, the 
 Paducah and Calvert City road lies for a distance of one- 
 fourth mile along a low elevation of .small, loose, but firmly 
 compacted gravel without a loam covering. It resembles the 
 low gravel ridges that cover the loam of the valley at Pa- 
 ducah — a more recent deposit than the loam. It is about 
 ten feet high and fifty yards wide and its trend is Is. 60 E. 
 
 The Port Hudson Group is represented in the valley of the 
 Tennessee by the blue clays and micaceous loams that make 
 up the beds exposed from low-water mark in the banks to 
 the surface of the valley. The clays are in layers of from 
 a few inches to a foot and more in thickness, and inter- 
 bedded with white, yellow, and red sands. The exposures 
 occur at several points from the Calloway county line on 
 the south, along the river to McCracken county. 
 
 The superficial loam accompanies the clay throughout the 
 entire valley. At Birmingham it is fifteen to twenty feet 
 thick. The river here seems at one time to have flowed on 
 either side of the valley, for Mr. Charles Lilley informs me 
 that in wells along the river front, and on the west side of the 
 valley, blue clays are reached at fifteen to eighteen feet, while 
 in the central part, comprising a width of about six hundred 
 yards, the clay is not reached at all, but alternating strata 
 of sand and pipe -clay are passed through for sixty feet, 
 water being found between the clay strata. 
 
 At Highland, near the Calloway county line, the following- 
 
 section was observed : 
 
 Brown loam, slightly micaceous 7 feet. 
 
 Interstratified light bluish clay and yellow sand 15 feet. 
 
 Blue micaceous clay in layers one to two feet thick, with some yellow 
 
 sand and ferruginous concretions 10 feet. 
 
 The lower bed or layer is speckled witli white and deep 
 blue particles of the mineral earth, rimanite — a iihosphate 
 of iron. 
 
 On the north, at Haddock's ferry, where the valley cuts 
 westward through the Subcarboniferous, the clays do not 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 277 
 
 outcrop on the river bank, the cliert and flint rock ledges 
 appearing instead. Toward Calvert City, however, the bine 
 and black fetid micaceous clays are reached in wells at ten 
 or fifteen feet. 
 
 Again, down the river at Barber’s Landing, the clays are 
 reached at eighteen feet, the following section of a well be 
 
 ing given: 
 
 Loiun 18 feet. 
 
 Hlue clay 6 indies. 
 
 Yellow clay 11 feet. 
 
 Yellow sand 6 inches. 
 
 Yellow clay to water. 
 
 ECONOMIC FEATURES. 
 
 The natural resources of the county comprise, chiefly, the 
 lands, timber and pipe-clays, besides small quantities of vari- 
 ous other material. All of these have been described in the 
 general report, and it is not necessary, in this place, to give 
 moi’e than a notice of the localities where each occurs, and 
 the general character of the most important. 
 
 Clays. — The varieties of clay occurring at different points 
 within the county comprise the greyish-black joint clay of 
 the Tertiary formation, and the more recent plastic, lighter 
 colored and more or less refractory pipe-clays, together with 
 a thinly laminated, dark and micaceous, Cretaceous clay, 
 which is exposed in the base of the sand-hill north of Ben- 
 ton, in thin layers, separated by micaceous sand. The latter 
 is again exi)osed below the foot of the ujDlands bordering 
 Clark’s river bottom near Sharp P. O. 
 
 The black joint clay of the Tertiary occurs to the west 
 of Benton, forming a part of that belt which reaches from 
 Murray, Calloway county, on the south, into McCracken 
 county on the north-west. Exposures may be seen a few 
 miles west of Benton at the foot of the uj^lands of the 
 middle fork of Clark’s river, at Brewers’ old mill on the 
 south-west, and near the road three miles south-east of 
 Stringtown, on the north-west. Wherever found, the clay 
 presents the same jointed, massive character, the joints 
 mostly conchoidal in form. The clay is slightly micaceous, 
 black when wet and dark-grey when dry. 
 
278 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The dark color seems to be due to the organic matter 
 which burns out, leaving a grey mass. Chemical analysis 
 shows the presence of nearly forty per cent, of sand, one 
 per cent, of potash, and a little lime, besides magnesia, iron 
 and soda, and a large amount of alumina. The clay is re- 
 fractory in nature, but will not take a glaze. It might be 
 used in the manufacture of water jars. 
 
 The plastic clays, variegated in color from white to purple, 
 are found chiefly to the east of the belt of the black joint 
 variety just mentioned, and always just below the gravel 
 beds. 
 
 At Cypress creek railroad tank, in the northern part of the 
 county, there is exposed, in the bed of a railroad cut, made 
 for the purpose of getting gravel for the road-bed, a stiff 
 lead-colored plastic clay, finely siliceous and micaceous in 
 character, very similar to that found at the Armstrong 
 place, a few miles south, on the east side of Clark’s river, 
 in McCracken county. The latter contains nearly two and a 
 half per cent, of potash, and is quite unrefractory, a prop- 
 erty that probably also belongs to this Cypress Creek bed. 
 The thickness of the bed has not been ascertained, and no 
 tests have been made. 
 
 Another lead-colored, micaceous clay occurs in the hill-side 
 at the spring near the house of Mr. J. T. Pugh, a few miles 
 east of Palma. It has a thickness of several feet, is plas- 
 tic, and fuses with great difficulty before the blow-pij)e. At 
 the Rookwood Pottery it formed a white unglazed biscuit, 
 which on glazing became a dark cream color. Its shrinkage 
 on burning was about fifteen per cent. This clay contains 
 only a trace of lime, but a little more than one and a half 
 per cent, of potash. 
 
 Going southward from this, we find another exposure of 
 the light colored and plastic clay at Mr. F. Burradell’s, several 
 miles north-east of Scale P. O. It occurs in some deep washes 
 in the hill-side within an old field east of the residence, and 
 is in beds of from a few inches to about two feet in thick- 
 ness, separated by yellowish sand, and holding pockets of 
 the same. The lower beds exposed are in thin layers. A 
 specimen from the thickest bed, and as free from sand pockets 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 270 
 
 as possible, was, on anal^’sis, found to contain seventy per cent, 
 of tine sand. After freeing it from the latter, it contained a 
 very little lime and nearly one per cent, of potash. The 
 clay is highly refractory, shrinks about ten per cent, on burn- 
 ing, yielding a milky-white biscuit, which, on glazing, becomes 
 darker. 
 
 An unrefractory clay occurs in the bed of a branch on the 
 place of Mr. S. G-ray, just south of Scale* post-office, and also 
 about a mile west of the latter, where a pottery was once es- 
 tablished for a short time. The clay is quite plastic, and 
 with variegated white, bluish and red colors, and occurs in 
 layers from a few inches to as much as two or more feet in 
 thickness, and interbedded with yellow and red sands. A 
 rather broad valley reaches to either side of the branch, and 
 there is, in consequence, but little surface covering above the 
 el ay. A chemical analysis of a sample of the clay shows 
 the presence of one and a half per cent, of iron, a very lit- 
 tle lime, and over two per cent, of alkalies. It is unrefrac- 
 tory, fusing before the blow- pipe, and in the pottery test gave 
 a buff-colored glazed biscuit. 
 
 These clays are exposed in other parts of the county, as 
 at Stice’s old mill, north of Briensburg, at Mr. Holland’s 
 place, a few miles west of Birmingham, and in the hill-sides 
 east of Clark’s river on the road to Fair Dealing, but are 
 not of sufficient purity or in quantities sufficient for working 
 purposes. A gypseous variety outcrops in a ravine on the 
 road-side just south of Benton, the gypsum occurring in 
 needle-shaped crystals. 
 
 The blue clays, already alluded to as occurring in the 
 valley of the Tennessee river, are well exposed at Highland 
 Landing in the south-east corner of the county. A section 
 at the river bank shows a surface-covering of seven feet of 
 a light brownish micaceous loam, fifteen feet of light bluish 
 clay interlaminated with yellow sands, and ten feet of blue 
 micaceous clay in layers of from one to two feet in thick- 
 ness, separated by irregular beds of yellow sand with fer- 
 ruginous concretions. The lower bed of clay is speckled 
 with white and blue particles of the mineral mmanite. This 
 bed is at water’s edge. The analysis of a sample of this 
 
280 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 clay (see general report) shows the presence of more than 
 seven per cent, of iron, nearly one of lime, and more than 
 three per cent, of alkalies. It fuses before the blow- pipe, 
 and on burning makes a dark red biscuit. 
 
 Siliceous Earth or Polishing Powder . — There is in the 
 county a line floury jjowder, rather clayey between the 
 fingers, though containing but little real clay, derived from 
 the decay of the chert or flint masses occurring sometimes 
 in the limestone of the Tennessee river section, or in thick 
 masses almost free from limestone. Chemical analysis shows 
 it to be composed of nearly ninety per cent, of silica, from 
 three to ten per cent, of alumina, a bare trace of lime, and 
 from three-tenths to one per cent, of alkalies. 
 
 No use has been found for this earth except as a fine pol- 
 ishing material for cutlery. It occurs at several points in 
 the eastern jiart of the county, especially within a few miles 
 of Birmingham along the base of the hills, and in the region 
 of Aurora. Pieces of the undecomposed chert frequently re- 
 main in the clay. 
 
 Iron Ore . — Very little iron ore occurs within the county, 
 though some hematite was found on the place of Mr. Cox, four 
 miles west of Birmingham ; it outcrops on the side of a hill 
 in his field, in the form of rounded irregular concretionary 
 masses, more or less specular on the inner surface, and in size 
 from small pieces to lumps weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. 
 There is, however, no indication of the presence of a suffi- 
 cient quantity for working. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 Each variety of land, both bottom and upland, that occurs 
 in the Purchase Region, is represented in this county, with the 
 exception of the Mississippi river alluvial and the Bluff or 
 Cane Hills. They embrace the following : 
 
 ( Oak and hickory timbered lands. 
 
 Uplands . Black-jack and low red oak barrens. 
 
 ( Flatwoods. 
 
 Tomland<f ^ valleys. 
 
 ijowLanas. ^ bottoms. 
 
OF MARSHALL COUNTY, 
 
 281 
 
 The surface of tlie country, while rolling and in places hilly, 
 is very generally level enough for tillage, and is all timbered 
 to a greater or less extent. A large proportion of the sur- 
 face has been cleared for cultivation — some of it now lying 
 out because of exhaustion. 
 
 The crops of the county embrace corn and tobacco chiedy, 
 with some small grains. Shipping facilities are afforded only 
 by the Tennessee river boats on the east and the C., 0. & S. 
 W. R. R, on the north, while for the greater part of the 
 county hauling by wagon to Paducah is resorted to. The 
 lands differ in no regard from those of similar regions in 
 other counties. 
 
 The lands are more generally under cultivation in the cen- 
 tral and western x>arts of the county, especially to the west 
 and north of Benton. The upland croi:)S comprise corn, to- 
 bacco and oats, with some wheat, the average yields being 
 about thirty-five bushels of corn, ten of wheat, and about 
 eight hundred j^ounds of tobacco per acre. 
 
 Dak and. Hickory or Timbered Uplands . — This designation 
 is poxmlarly ai^plied to those lands having a larger timber 
 growth than what are known as the Barrens or original prai- 
 ries. They comprise nearly all of the county uplands, and 
 resemble in their features the lands similarly designated in 
 other counties. The surface is much broken and washed into 
 gullies and deep ravines, presenting, on hill-sides, a more or 
 less serrated appearance. 
 
 On the divides between the streams the surface is quite 
 level or undulating, affording broad tracts of good farming 
 land. The eastern x>art of the county is more broken than 
 the western, but the soils of the hills are very similar 
 throughout. The timber growth is red, white and black 
 
 oaks, hickory and persimmon. The soil is a brownish 
 loam, light and warm where well drained, but where ill- 
 drained is compact, whitish, cold and imxDervious to water. 
 Decayed vegetation darkens the surface to the dex3th of an 
 inch or so. 
 
 The under-clay, at a depth of about three feet, is also a 
 loam lighter in color, and usually permeated with seams 
 of a light-grey silt, which is almost entirely free from clay. 
 
282 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The entire depth to the underlying gravel is from ten to 
 twenty feet. 
 
 The soil is so light and loose that on hill-sides it is readily 
 carried away by rains, the result being the formation of deep 
 gullies. Such are very commonly seen in old fields, and is one 
 of the causes of their abandonment. No analyses have been 
 made of the upland soils of this county, but judging from 
 those made of similar soils of other counties, there is a de- 
 ficiency of both lime and phosphoric acid, and a fair amount 
 of available potash. While, therefore, the soils would bear 
 cropping for a few years, there will soon be a need of sup- 
 plying both lime and phosphates. 
 
 Upland Barrens . — The area embraced in the country known 
 as the Barrens is only about twenty square miles, and lies 
 in the southern portion, being a mere border or offshoot 
 from the large central region of Graves and Calloway 
 counties. The outlines of the region are very irregular, 
 reaching north from Wadesboro about three miles or more, 
 and from the East fork westward to within a couple of 
 miles of the West fork of Clark’s river, and beyond the 
 latter to the county line. The streams within this area 
 are usually bordered by a narrow upland belt of larger 
 timber. The soil of the Barrens differs but little from 
 that of the Oak and Hickory Uplands already described, 
 and has a growth of black-jack and red oaks. It is re- 
 garded, however, as being especially suited to the cultiva- 
 tion of tobacco. 
 
 Flatwoods . — This name is used to designate a broad and 
 level upland region lying a few miles south-west of Benton, 
 and covering an area of about ten square miles. It lies on 
 the uplands that separate the waters of East and West fork 
 of Clark’s river. 
 
 The surface is undulating, a large portion so level as to be 
 glady, poorly drained, and, in consequence, having a soil that 
 has become whitish, impervious to water, more or less covered 
 or filled with small “black gravel” or bog iron ore, and al- 
 most untillable, except by a system of drainage. In those 
 places where there is good natural drainage, the soil is similar 
 to that of other timbered uplands in character and fertility. 
 
OK MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 283 
 
 The growth of tliis llatwoods region is post and l)lack oaks, 
 liickory, a little white oak, dogwood and sassafras. On the 
 glades post oak is prominent. 
 
 Valley of the Tennessee . — This region, bordered on one 
 side by the Tennessee river and on the other by the high 
 and rather abruptly rising uplands, has a width varying 
 from a mile at the Calloway county line and northward 
 to Gilbertsville, to about two miles on the north of Calvert 
 City, and embraces about forty square miles. 
 
 The surface of the valley is uneven, a low river front or 
 bottom lying on the east, and a slough or gum flat occupying 
 considerable space on the bluff side, leaving a low elevation 
 of fifteen feet in the center through its entire length, ex- 
 cept where cut in two by an occasional stream in its course 
 to the river. The timber of the valley is white and red oaks, 
 hickory and dogwood. The valley is now much under cul- 
 tivation, especially in that portion from Gilbertsville south- 
 ward along the central elevation, and toward the mouth of 
 Big Cypress creek on the north. The crops are chiefly corn 
 and oats. 
 
 The soils vary from a stiff clayey and crawflshy nature in 
 the flats, to a light micaceous loam on the higher central 
 lands, where natural drainage prevails. 
 
 In the broad portion of the valley, north of Calvert City, 
 most of the land is very level and ill drained, and the soil, in 
 consequence, has a whitish, leached appearance, and is com- 
 j)act and impervious to water. Analyses of these glady lands 
 (given in the general rej>ort) show the presence of a fair per- 
 centage of potash and probably of phosphoric acid, but there 
 is a great deficiency in lime, which, if supplied, would doubt- 
 less improve the mechanical texture of the soil, if drainage 
 was attended to, and would also render available much of 
 the large percentage of insoluble potash -minerals present. 
 The glady lands near the month of Jonathan creek show a 
 great deficiency of potash and lime in the soil, though the 
 subsoil has a large percentage of the former. The phos- 
 phoric acid is present in fair amounts. In the insoluble con- 
 dition there is a large percentage of potash awaiting the 
 action of lime and weathering 
 
284 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The better class of valley land, lying at a higher elevation, 
 shows no improvement in composition, its fertility being en- 
 tirely due to good natural drainage. The soil is said to yield 
 from fifty to sixty bushels of corn, or fifteen of wheat, per 
 acre. 
 
 Clark's River Valley Land . — The broad flats or valley of 
 Clark’s river south of Paducah, in McCracken county, ex- 
 tends up the south side of the East fork into this county. It 
 lies between the river bottom on the one hand and the up- 
 lands on the other, in a belt about a mile or less in width, 
 and reaching uj) the river, with a narrowing width to, and 
 a few miles beyond Benton. Its surface is quite level, and 
 is timbered with chiefly a post oak growth ; and its soil is- 
 whitish, compact, crawfisliy and impervious to water. The 
 absence of any natural drainage makes it cold and unsuited 
 to tillage. Comparatively little undergrowth appears, and the 
 valley is, in consequence, quite open. These lands are prob- 
 ably best adapted to the growth of grain. 
 
 Bottom Lands . — The bottom lands of the county comprise 
 but a small proportion of its area, and lie chiefiy along 
 Clark’s river and the smaller streams. On the Tennessee 
 river there is scarcely any land lower than the valley, the 
 bottoms appearing only here and there and in very narrow 
 strips. On the East fork of Clark’s river the bottoms lie 
 chiefly on the north side (the valley flats on the opposite 
 or south side), extending from the McCracken county line 
 nearly to Benton, with a width of about a mile ; beyond 
 Benton they continue into Marshall county, and chiefly on 
 the west side. In the region of Wadesboro they widen out 
 because of the junction of several small streams. The bot- 
 toms are subject to yearly overflow, and have a good timber 
 growth of red, black, water, post and white oaks, hickory,, 
 maple, sugar- tree, lynn, iron -wood, walnut, poplar, black and 
 sweet gums, some red gum, elm, catalpa, sycamore, cypress, 
 hornbeam, beech and papaw. 
 
 The soil is, for the most part, a whitish clay, compact and’ 
 undrained, and is derived from the washings from the border- 
 ing uplands. Because of this heavy nature it is generally 
 untillable, and scarcely under cultivation. The surface jior- 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 285 
 
 tion is darkened bj" decayed vegetation from the forest 
 growth. An analysis of a sample of the soil from near 
 Benton shows a deficiency in available potash and lime, and 
 a rather fair amount of phosphoric acid. In the insoluble 
 portion there is, however, a large amount of potash which 
 liming would, doubtless, render available. 
 
 West fork of Clark’s river crosses the corner of the countj^ 
 with a wide bottom well timbered with beech, poplar, gum 
 and oak. The soil is a dark loam, containing more available 
 potash and lime than the specimen from the East fork, though 
 still deficient in these elements. The percentage of insoluble 
 potash is more than one and a half. 
 
 The bottom land of Big Cypress Creek, in the northern 
 part of the county, is limited to that portion of the creek 
 lying in the uplands, for on emerging into the Tennessee val- 
 ley the stream cuts its way in a narrow channel westward to 
 the river. The bottom is flat, about two and one-half miles 
 in width, and with a length of about six miles from the val- 
 ley ; it receives a number of small and short tributaries. It 
 is largely covered with water, and has a prominent growth of 
 •cypress. 
 
 The bottom lands of other streams are of no special inter- 
 est, the soil being more or less crawfishy in character and 
 well timbered. 
 
 GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 Graves county has an area of 540 square miles, very nearly 
 all of which is upland. It was cut off from Hickman county 
 and organized in 1842. 
 
 In the southern part of the county, and within four miles 
 of Tennessee, occurs the highest portion of the entire Purchase 
 Region, forming an imperceptible plateau ridge, lying nearly 
 east and west, between Lynnville and Pilot Oak. From this 
 water-divide, small streams flow southward into the State of 
 Tennessee, while on the north are the head-waters of Bayou 
 de Chien, with a westerly course, of the Obion flowing 
 
28 e 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ANP AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 north-westerly, and of Mayfield creek, whose course is al- 
 most due northward (bearing slightly to the west), through 
 the county into McCracken, and thence west through Ballard 
 into the Mississippi river. 
 
 On the north-east the West fork of Clark’s river drains a 
 small area northward into the Tennessee river. The east 
 banks are abrupt and broken, the west much less so. 
 
 The basin of Mayfield creek is narrow, and northward be- 
 yond Mayfield lies almost exclusively on the west of the 
 creek. On the 3ast it is bordered by high, and, for the 
 most part, abrupt bluffs, from whose summit the waters flow 
 eastward into Clark’s river. 
 
 On the west the country rises gradually for about four 
 miles to another divide, which, trending north and south, 
 turns the waters of this north-western part of the county 
 westward into Ballard county, where they empty into this 
 creek. 
 
 South of Mayfield th^ streams spread out on either side, 
 the main stream having its extreme source in the south-west 
 corner of Calloway county. 
 
 The drainage basin of Obion creek, in this county, is wide, 
 but, as in the case of Mayfield creek, lies chiefly on the 
 south and west, the tributary streams on the north and east 
 being very short and insignificant. The north side is, how- 
 ever, not marked by high and abrupt bluffs as is Mayfield 
 creek. 
 
 The divide between Mayfield creek and Clark’s river, with 
 that on the south already alluded to, marks the highest por- 
 tion of the county, with approximate elevations above the 
 sea varying from 455 feet on the north near the McCracken 
 county line, 475 at West Plains, 515 east of Mayfield, and also 
 east of Farmington, to 550 at Lynnville, 625 four miles west, 
 and 550 at Pilot Oak, the ridge passing thence south-west- 
 ward into Tennessee. 
 
 The divide separating the waters of Mayfield creek from 
 those of the Obion, '^aries from 490 feet at Cuba, 440 near 
 Sedalia, 460 between Mayfield and Dublin, 440 at Mayfield 
 to 400 east of Pottsville. Extreme high water from the Ten- 
 nessee and Ohio rivers reaches, on Clark’s river, to a point 
 
OF OHAVES COUNTY. 
 
 287 
 
 tliree miles above Carter’s mill or Kaler post-office ; on May- 
 lield creek that from the Mississip])i does not reach into this 
 county. 
 
 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 The Subcarboniferoiis and Cretaceous formations of the ad- 
 joining counties of Calloway, Marshall and McCracken, are 
 not exposed at any point in Graves. Their material had been 
 completel}'' removed to a great depth before the deposition of 
 the succeeding Tertiary beds, and in their place we now ffnd 
 only the clays and sands of the latter formation, and the still 
 later gravels, sands and loams of the Quaternary period. 
 
 Tertiary. — The lowest geological formation represented in 
 this count is the Porter’s creek (Tennessee) group of black 
 “soapstone” or joint-clays belonging to the Lignitic division 
 of Eocene Tertiary. It is found outcropping only in the 
 north-eastern part of the county, notably in the banks of 
 Clark’s river, at Lyell's mill, west of Symsonia. 
 
 The clay is overlaid by the dark-greyish micaceous sand- 
 stone that accompanies it in McCracken county, and over 
 this by the Quaternary deposits. The following is a section 
 
 of the exposure at Lyell’ s mill : 
 
 Loam and superficial soil, etc., at top of the hill ! . 20 feet. 
 
 Gravel and yellow clay . 4 feet. 
 
 Ledge of gravel conglomerate 2 inches. 
 
 Red sand and a little gravel 3 feet. 
 
 Gravel, clay and yellow sand 15 feet. 
 
 Black joint-clay (soapstone) 3 feet. 
 
 Greyish micaceous sandstone 2 feet. 
 
 Black joint-clay (to water) 8 feet. 
 
 The gravel is coarse, some of the pieces being four by four 
 by two inches. Large geodes (Keokuk), crinoid stems, and 
 white, flinty and brown hornstone gravel occur in the mass. 
 The bed seems to dip slightly to the east. 
 
 The micaceous sandstone contains rounded pieces of the 
 black clay ; no fossils could be found, though casts of Eocene 
 shells are abundant in the same bed in McCracken county. 
 Seams of this sandstone frequently penetrate the underly- 
 ing clay in different directions, and cross each other, and are 
 from two to ten inches thick. 
 
288 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Tlie “soajistone” or black clay bed is continuous north- 
 westward tow^ard Paducah, covered deeply by gravel and 
 loam. It has been found in digging wells near Hard Money 
 post-office. It is dark or blackish when freshly exposed or 
 when wet, and is very brittle, having a rounded jointed frac- 
 ture, the joints sometimes stained with yellow ochreous clay. 
 On drying it is greyish in color, and inclined to shale or 
 crumble into fine pieces, and is very tenacious when applied 
 to the tongue. 
 
 The bed passes south-eastw'ard into Calloway county. Ap- 
 parently overlying this Porter’s Creek grouj) or “soapstone,” 
 or at least at a higher elevation, and occurring ten miles 
 south of it, we find the Lignitic beds that in Ballard county 
 occur near Wickliffe. They are exposed in the banks of 
 Panther Creek, a little north of east of Mayfield, on the 
 places of Mr. O. Whitts and of Q. A. Cromwell. The bed 
 is best exposed at the former, and is thought to have a thick- 
 ness of six feet, three feet being exj^osed above water’s edge. 
 The upper portion is full of broken leaves, stems, etc., and 
 breaks uj) in blocks and plates. The middle portion has 
 more of a massive and brownish appearance, as if of lignitic 
 jieat, so firm as to require a hatchet to cut it. It resembles in 
 every respect the bed near Wickliffe, Ballard county. 
 
 A stiff, plastic clay is said to underlie the lignite bed at 
 Mr. Cromwell’s. It has a thickness of but a few inches, over 
 a bed of coarse and variegated colored sand. A few hundred 
 yards south of the lignite is a bluff exposure of a bluish, 
 sandy clay, ten feet in thickness, disappearing below the 
 water, but doubtless overlying the lignite. These clays also 
 appear in the Wickliffe section. 
 
 W estward and southward these black clays and lignite seem 
 to have been removed to a depth of one hundred or more 
 feet, for in wells of that depth they do not appear, but 
 in their stead is the group of sands and interstratified clays 
 (the latter in thin layers), which has been designated by 
 Prof. Safford, in Tennessee, as the Lagrange Group. 
 
 Lagrange Group . — The true relationship of this to other 
 groups has not been fully determined, owing to an entire ab- 
 sence of fossils. 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 289 
 
 Leaf impressions have been found in the clay bed at Boaz, 
 .a little station on the C., O. & S. W. R. R., in the northern 
 part of the county, and have been reported elsewhere. 
 
 The thickness of the group has not been ascertained, but 
 it is probably one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. 
 But few deep wells have been dug into it, and then the under- 
 lying formation was not reached. Water is seldom obtained 
 at easy depths after passing through the gravel and upper bed 
 of sand, and digging is soon abandoned. In bored wells, 
 work is sometimes continued for one hundred feet without 
 tiiiding abundant water, and is then stopped. Cisterns are 
 most commonly resorted to all over the county for supplies 
 of water for domestic uses. 
 
 Tlie sand is mostly line and white, with admixtures of col- 
 ored streaks, and also micaceous ; irregular stratification is 
 generally observed in exposures. 
 
 North and north-west of Mayfield, wells have depths vary- 
 ing from thirty to fifty feet, a thick stratum of pipe-clay 
 affording an impervious bed for the waters of the gravel and 
 sand, a sufficient flow or supply being found at that point. 
 But at Mayfield and southward, we find wells of over one 
 hundred feet depth, and in some instances no water found. 
 In Stubblefield, south of Mayfield, eighty-five feet of sand 
 and clay were penetrated after going through thirty of loam 
 and gravel. At Mayfield, variegated colored clays and mica- 
 ceous sands were penetrated to over one hundred feet. Leaf 
 impressions were found in a white clay at eighty feet. 
 
 On the narrow dividing ridge between Mayfield creek and 
 Clark’s river, east of Boaz, wells are from sixty to one hun- 
 dred feet deep, passing through twelve to fifteen feet of loam, 
 four or five feet of gravel, fifteen to twenty feet of white 
 sand, and then sand and clay. Leaf impressions were found 
 in x>ipe-clays *at one hundred feet. 
 
 Quaternary. — The gravel beds of this formation cover 
 the entire county southward to the high land between Lynn- 
 ville and Feliciana, beyond which it apparently disappears. 
 It begins to thin out south of Sedalia and Wingo, and is then 
 often entirely absent in exposed bluffs near the Tennessee 
 State line. Lynnville and Boydville are within the gravel 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 19 . 
 
290 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 region, which reaches eastward through Calloway county to- 
 the Tennessee river, the bed being from five to ten feet thick. 
 
 The deposit is thickest and composed of the coarsest mate- 
 rial on the east of Mayfield creek, though varying much, even 
 in neighborhoods. In the region of Symsonia and Hard 
 Money, in the north-east part of the county, it is twenty 
 feet thick. Southward, it varies from ten to fifteen feet at 
 West Plains and Clear Spring, Mayfield, five miles south 
 of Mayfield, Stubblefield, and west to Wingo and Baltimore. 
 
 On the west of Mayfield creek it is from four to six feet 
 thick very generally as far south as Dublin. 
 
 Its material is uniform with that of other counties, and 
 composed of hornstone and cherty fragments, rounded more 
 or less at edges, coarse and fine in thick beds, but becoming 
 smaller as the limits of the gravel region are reached; it is 
 always associated with small and round, smoothly - water- 
 worn quartz pebbles, sometimes variously colored, but often 
 clear and limpid. Crinoid stems and other fossil impressions 
 from the Subcarboniferous are more or less abundant. Pieces 
 of siliceous oolite rock were found near Pryorsburg and May- 
 field. 
 
 The gravel is always more or less clayey and sandy, usu- 
 ally highly stained with ferric oxide to a red color. These 
 beds are then known as “cement gravel,” and are sometimes 
 used on streets, becoming hard and firm after packing and a 
 short exposure. In places, especially in some of the railroad 
 cuts south of Mayfield, the beds are of a white gravel, in 
 large bodies, this either being the color at the time of depo- 
 sition or the result of some leaching process by which the 
 iron stain has been removed. 
 
 The gravel is usually more or less interstratified with coarse 
 red sand, as also occurs in fine and coarse fragments. Near 
 Mayfield a bed twenty-five feet thick shows the following: 
 
 Upper gravel bed, not stratified but mixed 5 feet. 
 
 Coarse red sand with gravel in irregular layers 5 feet. 
 
 Gravel in layers of fine and coarse material, some of the fragments black, 
 
 and inclosing some blue clay and sand 15 feet. 
 
 Whitish sand exposed at base 1 foot. 
 
 The strata are mostly inclined westward. 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 291 
 
 Gravel and sand conglomerate, formed cementation by 
 ferric oxide, is common to all of the thick gravel beds, in large 
 and small masses, in irregular thicknesses and different degrees 
 of hardness. 
 
 The deep railroad cuts along the line of the C., O. & S. W. 
 R. R. afford excellent opportunities for examining the gravel 
 deposits, their material thicknesses and metliod of deposition, 
 as well as the character of the underlying material. Such a 
 cut occurs one and a half miles north of Boaz, in the north- 
 ern part of the county. (See section on page 07.) 
 
 The sand of the cut is hyaline, or of a clear, light-bluish 
 tint in character, and the beds contain purplish ferruginous 
 concretions. 
 
 The purple clays at the base are mostly covered with debris 
 from the bluff. They are exposed again near Boaz, on the 
 east, and contain fossil leaf impressions. The clay is very 
 plastic, the upper three feet being of a creamy-white color, 
 and the lower two feet a purple, both holding the leaves. 
 
 South from Mayfield, after passing the first gravel bed 
 whose section is mentioned above, the railroad cuts, for two 
 miles, expose below the brown superficial loam a red sandy 
 clay, containing only a little fine gravel. The hills are 
 higher than Mayfield, and it would seem as if their eleva- 
 tion was above the general plain of gravel deposition. At 
 three miles, beneath five feet of brown loam, is seen a yel- 
 lowish clay five feet thick, then a mottled light-colored clay 
 five feet in thickness, holding some scattered white gravel. 
 On the south end of the cut the gravels again appear in a 
 red sandy clay, and eight feet thick. The greater part of 
 the gravel is wdiite, some easily crushed, and resembling 
 strongly the material along the border of the Subcarbonifer- 
 ous. Some brown hornstone appears among it. 
 
 Thence to Pryorsburg the beds vary from five to ten feet, 
 and are largelj’ white, the chert being rounded only on their 
 edges. Much rounded quartz pebbles occur, in color varying 
 from white, green and red to black. The gravel is mostly 
 fine and thinly stratified with red sand. Toward Wingo the 
 beds increase in thickness, and near town are fifteen feet 
 thick, mostly of brown hornstone and stratified. Portions 
 
292 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGKICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 of the bed are cemented into a ferruginous conglomerate in 
 plates from one to six inches thick. 
 
 Continuing south from Wingo, the thick gravel beds con- 
 tinue for a mile or more, and are associated with some gravel 
 conglomerate. Much is coarse, one piece of chert containing, 
 probably, eight cubic inches. Some quartz pebbles occur also. 
 Near Brush creek, a stiff plastic clay, from yellow and drab 
 to purple in color, is exposed in the railroad cut below the 
 gravel. It is somewhat sandy and six feet in depth. 
 
 Beyond Brush creek the gravel beds become thinner, and 
 red sands and clays ai:>pear above them. 
 
 In what is known as the “Big Cut,” no gravel appears. 
 The superficial loam is six feet thick. It is underlaid by a 
 bright red sand mixed with lumps of clay, and standing out 
 from beneath the upper stratum, presents a striking appear- 
 ance with its brightly colored perpendicular face. It is four 
 feet thick, and crumbles on drying. Underlying this second 
 stratum is eight feet of an indurated sandy clay, permeated 
 with seams of a lighter material. Beneath this are purple, 
 yellow and red sandy clays four feet thick, and underlaid by 
 an indurated yellow sand, banded with white and red and 
 even horizontal seams. This hill is seventy-five feet above 
 Water Valley, and, as with the hills near Mayfield, seems 
 to be above the gravel plain, for on going southward we find, 
 in the next cut, a bed of gravel two feet thick, which is much 
 lower. We here find, also, six inches of variegated pii^e-clay 
 beneath the gravel, underlaid in turn by an indurated red 
 sand, inclosing specks of pipe- clay. The lowest exposure is 
 a yellow and bluish clay, porous and sandy, and four feet 
 thick. Towards Fulton very little gravel is seen. 
 
 At Baltimore and vicinity, west of the railroad, along Bush 
 creek, a massive and coarse gravel conglomerate outcrops 
 from the side of the hill, and is about four feet thick. The 
 rock is very firm, the fracture reaching evenly through the 
 gravel itself. Glravel overlies the rock for about ten feet. 
 
 The superficial brown loam that overlies the gravel and 
 sand all over the county varies in thickness from ten to 
 twenty feet, and is quite uniform in character everywhere. 
 
OF G HAVES COUNTY. 
 
 293 
 
 The upper two feet is usiiaNy of a brownish-yellow color, 
 that underlying being heavier and more iiiduiuted, and often 
 impervious to water. The lower bed is permeated with many 
 seams of a lighter colored silty material to some depth, as 
 if produced by intiltration of the grey silt into cracks. 
 
 There are no true sandy uplands in the county, though they 
 occur but a few miles southward in Tennessee. 
 
 ' ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 
 
 Broion Coal or Lignite . — There is no stone-coal in the 
 county, the formations all being of a much later age than 
 the Carboniferous. The only thing approaching it in appear- 
 ance is the brown coal or Lignite found on Panther creek, a 
 tributary of Clark’s river east of Mayfield. Some persons 
 have supposed that this was but the outcropping of what, on 
 tunneling into the vein, would prove to be stone-coal, but 
 this idea is erroneous. 
 
 The Lignite on Panther creek has a thickness of from six 
 to eight feet, and while portions of the bed show some pieces 
 of lignitic woody fragments, the body of the mass is of a 
 chocolate-colored peaty character, converted into lignite by 
 age. Numerous vegetable leaves occur in the upper i^ortion. 
 The following analysis shows its composition dried at 212° F. 
 
 LIGNITIC PEAT OK 
 
 BKOWN COAL 
 No. 2144. 
 
 FROM PANTHER 
 
 CREEK. 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture . . . 
 V olatile combustible matters 
 Fixed carbon in the coke . 
 Light ash, nearly white . . 
 
 . . t 
 
 * 1 
 
 4.13 
 
 16.22 
 
 10.25 
 
 69.40 
 
 
 
 
 100 00 
 
 Total volatile matters . . 
 Total pulverulent coke . . 
 
 
 
 20.35 
 
 79.65 
 
 
 
 
 100 00 
 
 “The ash was found to contain a considerable proportion 
 of alumina, some little lime and magnesia, as well as a trace 
 of phosphoric acid. As this material is only a little more 
 than thirty-six per cent, of combustible matters, it could 
 
294 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTUKAL FEATURES 
 
 scarcely be made available as *a fuel. Possibly it may find 
 use as a cliea]) pigment.” {Dr. Peter.) 
 
 Clays. — Throughout the county white pipe-clays are abun- 
 dant, and are penetrated in almost all wells that reach below 
 the gravel beds. Outcrops are also frequent in deep ravines, 
 and from these the clay can be easily obtained for use. 
 
 Along the line of railroad, from the northern jiart of the 
 county southward, the cuts frequently expose beds of clays, 
 sometimes of several feet thickness, suitable for either pot- 
 tery, fire-brick, terra-cotta or tiling. Deposits of sand or 
 gravel and loam always overlie them to depths varying from 
 a few feet to as much as twenty feet. 
 
 In the cut, three miles north of Boaz, and underlying six 
 feet of loam and two feet of a yellowish clay with some 
 gravel, is a pipe-clay, white and variegated in color, and hold- 
 ing some small white quartz pebbles. The bed is four feet 
 thick, and is underlaid by three feet of yellow sand. The up- 
 per part of the clay crumbles easily ; the lower three feet is 
 plastic when wet but hard and indurated when dry, strongly 
 resembling the siliceous earth of the Subcarboniferous chert 
 beds near the Tennessee river. 
 
 The cut, a mile or more north of Boaz, has already been de- 
 scribed. The clay here exposed is highly plastic, and colored 
 white and purple, and has a thickness of several feet. The same 
 bed exposed at Boaz is five feet thick, the two lower having 
 a light purple color, and is rich in fossil leaf impressions. 
 The bed also occurs in the bluff south of Boaz a short distance. 
 Southward of the latter no clays are exposed in the cuts until 
 one and a half miles south of Pryorsburg, where we find 
 white and purple clays in thin strata of one and two inches 
 in thickness, inclosed in beds of thinly laminated fine yellow 
 and red sands. No thick strata are exposed until two and 
 one-half miles south of Wingo, where, in a cut, wh find, under 
 thirteen feet of loam and gravel, a bed of plastic clay, white 
 and yellow to purple in color, and in places somewhat sandy 
 with a white hyaline sand. The bed is six feet thick. A 
 pottery was once in operation near here, the clay being ob- 
 tained in the bank of a branch, but, owing, probably, to 
 lack of “tempering,” the vessels cracked after burning, and 
 the works were abandoned. 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 295 
 
 The clays in the next or “Big Cut” are of wliite, purple, yel- 
 low and red colors and somewhat sandy. Their thickness 
 is four feet and they are underlaid by sand. 
 
 The bed is again exposed three miles north of Water 
 Valley, and is the last outcrop to that station and Fulton 
 on the State line. 
 
 Near Pryorsburg there is a bluff on the creek, in the 
 eastern part of town, which shows the following strata: 
 
 1. Loam and gravel, the latter exposed one foot 20 feet. 
 
 *2. Yellow ochreous clay, plastic but crumbly 1 foot. 
 
 3. Purple clay, more compact, somewhat sandy and easily worked .... feet. 
 
 4. Bluish and purple joint-clay, more plastic than the above and lighter col- 
 
 ored. In line laminic with line micaceous sand, and penetrated by 
 rootlets. Probable thickness 5 feet. 
 
 5. Light blue and tine sandy clay, grey when dry 2 feet. 
 
 (). White sandy clay, compact or indurated, very tine ] 
 
 7. Thin layer similar to No. 5 and six inches thick ! cft 
 
 8. Similar to No. 5 but indurated, dark when wet but white when dry . | 
 
 9. Plastic earth changing to a light yellow mottled appearance . } 
 
 10. Covered by debris from blutf 15 feet. 
 
 The lower fine strata are chalky or earthy in character, and 
 dip to the north-east at about five degrees, some of them at 
 a greater angle. The compact and fine earth. No. 6, would 
 be useful as a polishing jiowder. 
 
 On Panther creek, a hundred yards or more south of the 
 Lignite, on Obediah Whitt’s place, there is a blue sandy clay 
 in the eastern bank; eight feet exposed to the water’s edge. 
 It is in places sandy and micaceous in character, containing, 
 as shown by analysis, a little more than one per cent, each of 
 iron and potash and a trace of lime. 
 
 “It is quite plastic, and burns of a light salmon color; does 
 not become very hard unless exposed to a very high temper- 
 ature. It is refractory before the blow-pipe. It contains 
 more potash than the German glass-pot clay, which may 
 possibly cause it to be less available to the glass-maker. It 
 could, no doubt, be made useful for many purposes as a 
 fire-clay, as well as for various pottery applications.” (Z>r. 
 Peter.) 
 
 An exposure of very plastic clay, of several colors, is seen 
 at the School-house sj)ring, one mile south of the Lignite bed. 
 Thickness not known. 
 
 A very fine plastic clay occurs three miles west of Lynnville, 
 and is being used by Mr. ,1. W. Pittman in his pottery, which 
 is located two miles south of town. 
 
296 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 The clay is massive, and when dry very hard. It is prettily 
 marked on the vertical section by line lines, the edges of 
 laminae, and when cut with a knife, shows a polish. It 
 varies in color from white to grey and light purple; the 
 stratum is several feet thick, and is underlaid by sand. 
 
 For ordinary pottery it is too intractable and is, therefore, 
 mixed with a more sandy variety which occurs near the 
 establishment. It contains nearly three per cent, of iron, a 
 trace of lime, and a little more than one per cent, of potash. 
 A test at the Rookwood Pottery gave a milky-white unglazed 
 biscuit, which shows a shrinkage of about ten per cent. 
 
 Another clay locality is in the north-western part of the 
 county, in the east bluff of the creek near Lowe’s post-office. 
 The bed is about four feet thick, and is rather silty in char- 
 acter. White sand underlies it here and also in wells in the 
 neighborhood. 
 
 A bed of bluish plastic clay is also exposed on the Mc- 
 Cracken county line on the old Dolly Gillson place, near 
 Mrs. Houser’s, on the road from Paducah to Mayfield. It 
 is four feet in thickness, exposed in the bed of a branch, and 
 is overlaid by about twenty feet of loam. 
 
 Another bed of fine plastic clay occurs at Bell City, on the 
 east side of Terrapin creek. Its thickness is not known, but 
 four feet is exposed above ground, covered by eight feet of 
 loam. The clay is variegated in color, but chiefly a creamy - 
 white, and in places contains purple ferruginous concre- 
 tions filled with sand. The clay is being used at the pot- 
 tery of Mr. Howard near by, and a good ware is made from 
 it. It is infusible before the blow-pijDe, and analysis shows 
 the presence of over two per cent, of iron, a trace of lime, 
 and nearly one per cent, of potash. The amount of alumina 
 is greater than that of Pittman’s clay bank, mentioned above. 
 
 South of Bell City, along the east bluff of the creek, there 
 are other exposures of clay, but rather sandy in character. 
 
 The sand that accompanies these clay beds is often of suffi- 
 cient purity for ordinary glass, though the slight iron stain 
 and the small particles of clay that are usually intermixed 
 with it, unfits it for the finer glassware. 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 297 
 
 The brown loam that forms tlie superficial deposit over the 
 county makes good building brick when well burnt. 
 
 Iron Cre . — In the northern part of the county, on the place 
 of Mr. J. 11. McClure, two and one-half miles south of Hard 
 Money, there occurs a red hematite iron ore in plates of from 
 one to one and a half inches in thickness. It belongs to 
 the Quaternary gravel beds at whose base it lies; and some 
 of the plates are attached to and hold some gravel in their 
 irregular outlines. While there is much of the ore in the 
 neighborhood, it is not probable that there is a sufficient 
 amount to warrant any expense toward utilizing it. 
 
 Some of it has specular faces, and the edges are capable of 
 receiving quite a polish. It resembles that from Mrs. Alex- 
 ander’s place, in McCracken county, an analysis of which 
 showed 58.68 per cent, of iron, 8.3 per cent, of water, 6.60 per 
 cent, of silica, and 1.30 per cent, of other ingredients. 
 
 Thick beds of ferruginous sandstone also occur at Mr. Mc- 
 Clure’s, but of too soft a nature to be of value. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 The slightly rolling character of the greater part of the 
 uplands of Graves county renders them well-fitted for agri- 
 cultural purposes, and we find them very generally under 
 fence or cultivation. This is especially true of the uplands 
 away from the water-courses. 
 
 The most broken part of the county lies on the east side 
 of Mayfield creek below the town of Mayfield, where the 
 dividing ridge, rising abruptly from the creek to an elevation 
 of seventy-five feet, is furrowed eastward by many ravines and 
 branches, whose courses are to Clark’s river. This is especially 
 the case in that narrow portion of the ridge east of Boaz and 
 Viola, while north and south the ridge widens and presents 
 broader and more level lands. 
 
 Another broken region is embraced by the head-waters of 
 Bayou de Chien and Obion creek, in the south-western part 
 of the county. 
 
 The lands are all derived from the Quaternary loams, which 
 form a superficial deposit over the count}' of from fifteen to 
 
298 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 twenty feet thickness, except where thinned by denudation. 
 The upi^er layer of about two feet is a brown, loose and 
 light loam, which, when lying suitably for good drainage, is 
 of excellent fertility. When in hats, where the water can 
 accumulate on the surface and remain until evaporation, this 
 loam becomes packed, leached and whitened, the iron of 
 the soil, with some phosphoric acid, being converted into 
 small black gravel or bog iron ore. Such flats become glady 
 and crawflshy, and suitable for little else than grasses. They 
 may be reclaimed by thorough drainage, deep cultivation, 
 and the application of suitable fertilizers or manures. 
 
 The lands all wash readily on slopes into gullies and ra- 
 vines, and no efforts are made in cultivated fields to restrain 
 this tendency by either horizontalizing or ditching. 
 
 The uplands are divided into two general classes, viz. : the 
 “Red Oak Barrens” and the “Post Oak and Hickory Tim- 
 bered Lands.” 
 
 Barrens . — The Barrens cover a large proportion of the area 
 of the county, extending from Mayfield, along the west side 
 of Mayfield creek, northward to the county limit, westward to 
 near Dublin, southward to the Tennessee line, and east to the 
 county limits. The limits can only be approximately defined 
 because of the gradual merging of the Barrens into the tim- 
 bered region. From Mayfield creek, in the north-western part 
 of the county, the Barrens extend around, east and south, of 
 the head-waters of Brush and Wilson creeks along the county 
 line southward to Fancy Farm, south-east to the east of 
 Wingo, southward to the east of Feliciana and to the State 
 line. Eastward, along the State line, we find the “barrens” 
 beyond Dukedom a short distance, when they recede north- 
 ward around the heads of the small streams that flow into 
 the State of Tennessee, and around the head of Terrapin 
 creek into the county of Calloway. They cover the county 
 east of Mayfield creek, northward to a short distance be- 
 yond West Plains, and nearly to Spring Creek post-office. 
 
 Within the area thus outlined there is, usually, a narrow 
 strip of “timbered land” along the edge of the bottoms of 
 the larger streams. 
 
OF GRAVES COUNTY. 
 
 209 
 
 Within the memory of many persons now living, this region 
 was once an open prairie, with scarcely a tree or bush. One 
 gentleman remarked: “In 1854, a person could hardly get a 
 switch between Mayfield and the Obion creek. Prairie grass 
 grew as high as the head of a man on horse-back, and devil’s 
 shoe-strings and Indian red root plant were abundant.” 
 
 Since the opening uj) of this country to civilization, a growth 
 of red oak and black-jack oak has sprung up over the entire 
 region. These trees have, usually, a uniform height (except- 
 ing the undergrowth) of about twenty feet, and there is a 
 notable absence of other varieties or larger growths, except, 
 as remarked above, along the limits of the region or on bluffs 
 of large streams. 
 
 This red oak and black-jack Barrens region is regarded as 
 furnishing the best tobacco lands in the Purchase counties. 
 The soil is, apparently, poorer than that of the timbered 
 lands, and the plant does not run to weed so rapidly, thus 
 producing a finer grade of leaf. 
 
 When the prairies existed, the lands were considered worth- 
 less for tillage ; but since trees have sprung up, the soils have 
 been improved by the yearly fall of leaves, etc., and are now 
 of equal value with the timbered soils, each, however, for its 
 own purpose. The yield on the Barrens is about fifteen bushels 
 of wheat, eight of corn, or six to eight hundred pounds of 
 tobacco per acre. If planted continuously in corn or tobacco, 
 the lands are said to wear out in six or eight years. Clover 
 not only keeps up the fertility of land but redeems old worn- 
 out soils. 
 
 There is a large amount of fiat or glady land on the broad 
 water-divides, and especially on that on which Lynnville and 
 Pilot Oak are situated. Some of the soil is so thoroughly 
 leached as to be quite white and ashy, in fact, a white silt. 
 In water it settles to the bottom quickly, leaving but very 
 little clay in suspension. Small ponds are formed in these 
 flats. Wade’s pond, four miles west of Lynnville, covers 
 about three acres, and with an average depth of three feet. 
 
 The glady land, when cultivated, is said to yield well in 
 dry years, but in w^et seasons the crop is drowned out. An 
 analysis of a specimen of the soil and subsoil of the Barrens, 
 
300 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 tliree miles north-west of Mayfield, shows the presence of 
 insufficient amounts of lime, phosphoric acid and available 
 potash, though there is a large percentage of the latter in the 
 insoluble condition. The soil is sandy and requires the ad- 
 dition of lime. 
 
 Post Oak and Hickory Uplands. — The so-called timbered 
 lands have a growth of red, white and post oaks and hickory, 
 sassafras, and persimmon. The soil is very similar to that of 
 the Barrens and gives about the same product per acre. To- 
 bacco, however, yields a heavier grade. No analyses have 
 been made of these lands, but they resemble in character 
 those of the adjoining counties. 
 
 Cotton was once cultivated in patches of from two to five 
 acres each, in the middle and southern part of the county, 
 but seasons were too short to make it profitable. The weed 
 grew from two to three feet high, and is said to have yielded 
 about five hundred pounds of seed-cotton per acre. Planting 
 season was the last of April or early part of May, and kill- 
 ing frost occurred, usually, about the first of October. The 
 only cotton-gin accessible to this region is at Fulton. 
 
 Bottom Lands. — The lands lying along Mayfield creek and 
 Clark’s river are derived from the brown loam uplands, and 
 are, usually, heavy, clayey, intractable and crawfishy, except 
 near the uplands, where a slight slope gives sufficient drainage. 
 The surface is usually black from decayed vegetation. The 
 bottoms are from one-half to one mile in width in the lower 
 portions of the streams, and much less in the upper, and are 
 heavily timbered with poplar, gums, hickory, beech, white 
 and red oaks, walnut, maple and cypress. Chestnut is found 
 on Mayfield creek, south of Mayfield. The bottoms are val- 
 uable chiefly for their timber, as their lands are subject to 
 overflow. 
 
 Clark River Valley Flats.— flats (or valley) that in 
 McCracken county form so prominent a region along Tennes- 
 see and Clark’s rivers, extend up the latter stream into this 
 county. At the county line, the belt begins to narrow to a 
 little over a mile, and terminates just before reaching Carter’s 
 mill or Kaler post office. 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY, 
 
 301 
 
 Tlie valley is very level and open and lies above high water, 
 and is well timbered with post oak and hickory. The soil is 
 of a glady, crawtishy character, very compact and intractable, 
 and is of but little value for tillage. It can be well utilized 
 for grass and grazing purposes. Its timber is also valuable. 
 
 The bottom lands of Pryor’s creek, east of Mayfield, are 
 one-fourth of a mile wide, and nearly all in cultivation. 
 
 The soil is a loam, yielding ten barrels of corn or one thou- 
 sand pounds of tobacco per acre. The growth is red, black, 
 Spanish and water oaks, hickory, black walnut, red elm, pop- 
 lar, black, sweet gum, slippery elm, birch, some catalpa and 
 mulberry. 
 
 CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 • 
 
 Calloway county was cut off from Hickman county and 
 organized in 1822. It is the extreme south-eastern county of 
 the Purchase, has an area of 403 square miles, and is bor- 
 dered on the east by the Tennesseee river and on the south by 
 the State of Tennessee. 
 
 More than one-third of the area is drained by the Tennessee 
 and its tributaries. Blood river and Jonathan creek, the latter 
 flowing northward a short distance into Marshall county. The 
 basin of the Tennessee has an area of about 170 square miles. 
 The rest of the county is drained by the East and West forks 
 of Clark’s river, which flow independently north and north- 
 westward through Marshall county. The East fork basin has 
 an area of about 160 square miles, that of West fork about 
 45 square miles. A small area on the south-west sends its 
 waters into Mayfield creek, and southward into the Terrapin 
 creek. 
 
 The eastern portion of the county, or that of the Tennessee 
 river basin, is very hilly and broken, the hills rising suddenly 
 above the river valley to 125 feet on the north and 160 feet on 
 4he south. 
 
 Newberg, or Warburg as it is often called, situated on the 
 
302 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 river bank, is about 350 feet above the sea, or a few feet 
 higher than Paducah, back-water from the Paducah overflow, 
 in 1883, rising, it is said, fifty feet above low-water. The 
 hills here are 475 feet above the sea, while southward, between 
 Blood and Tennessee rivers, they rise to 560 and 540 feet. 
 Toward Blood river on the west the altitude falls to 410 feet, 
 but immediately rises again to 550 on the divide between the 
 basins of Clark’s and Tennessee rivers. On the Tennessee 
 State line the altitude of the divide is about 600 feet. On 
 the north, near the Marshall county line, it is only about 445 
 feet. 
 
 On the west of Clark’s river, Murray, the county seat, has 
 an altitude of about 510 feet, or 70 feet above Mayfield and 
 160 above Paducah. To westward, however, the county rises, 
 and on the divide between the two forks of Clark’s river we 
 find the altitude varying from 540 to 560 feet, or 140 feet 
 above Backusburg, in the valley of the West fork. 
 
 The above altitudes were determined by repeated readings 
 of an aneroid barometer, and, it is believed, very nearly ap- 
 proximate the true elevations above the sea. 
 
 GEOLOGIC FEATURES. 
 
 Almost the entire county is covered by thick beds of brown 
 loam and gravel of the Quaternary^ which hide the older for- 
 mations so completely that their outlines are only to be ascer- 
 tained by exposures along bluffs, creek banks, deep ravines 
 and in wells. 
 
 Tertiary material occupies all of that part of the county 
 west of the East fork of Clark’s river. The Eocene division 
 alone is represented. 
 
 Cretaceous sands and clays occupy a belt of country east 
 of the Tertiary, only the Ripley group being observed. 
 
 Still eastwai’d the Lower Subcarhoniferous rocks are found 
 outcropping at the base of the hills below the Quaternary, 
 while in the valley of the Tennessee they are covered by the 
 clays and sands of what seems to be the Port Hudson group ; 
 the river itself washes the base of the Subcarhoniferous cliffs 
 on the east. 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 3o:} 
 
 Tliere is very little true alluvial or bottom land along the 
 river. 
 
 Suhcarboniferous Formation . — Within this county the for- 
 mation forms a narrow belt or peninsular between the Cre- 
 taceous region and the valley of the Tennessee, reaching north- 
 ward through this county into Marshall. Only the lower or 
 Siliceous beds occur. 
 
 On the south, at Fort Hindman, near the Tennessee line, 
 the bluffs approach to within a very short distance of the river, 
 and expose a vertical section of limestone, shales and dark 
 hint inclosures, in all eighty feet in thickness, and capped by 
 twenty feet additional of chert fragments and Quaternary 
 gravel and brown loam. 
 
 The ujiper limestone strata contain a few Keokuk geodes, 
 and crinoidal stems. Westward, along Cypress creek, the lime- 
 stone exposures are found near the bed of the creek for two 
 and a half miles, or a half mile beyond the crossing of the 
 Concord and Paris Landing road, though the sharp flinty 
 fragments cover the sides of the hills for a short distance 
 above the limestone, overlaid by heavy beds of Quaternary 
 gravel and loam. 
 
 On Mr. Ed. Brown’s place, down the river, half-way between 
 the fort and Buffalo Landing, the most northerly outcrop of 
 blue limestone in this counQ' occurs. Its exposure is about 
 twenty feet thick, and there is an absence of Hint or fossils, 
 except a few crinoids. Westward from Buffalo Landing,, 
 the angular hint fragments, which mark the Suhcarboniferous, 
 disappear at about three miles, the width of the belt from 
 the Tennessee line northward to near Pine Bluff, being only 
 about two miles. It here widens out, the western limit pass- 
 ing westward about a mile south of Brandon’s Mill, to about 
 a mile and a half west of the latter place, and thence turn- 
 ing north. 
 
 The angular flint fragments and strata on hill-sides, with 
 siliceous clay, alone mark the formation. East of Brandon’s 
 Mill, and northward along the hills to Newberg and Highland', 
 this siliceous debris lie as high as one hundred feet above 
 the creeks and valley, but this elevation decreases westward 
 until the beds of chert disappear at the edge of the Cretan 
 ceous shore line. 
 
304 
 
 GEOLOGICAL ANT) AGRICULTURAL FEATUREf;. 
 
 On the road from Murray to Newberg the formation is first 
 observed on the west side of Little Sugar-tree creek, ten feet 
 being exposed, and thence eastward to the valley of the Ten- 
 nessee, on whose bordering hills the vertical exposure was 
 nearly one hundred feet. 
 
 In the region of Highland the belt narrows somewhat, or 
 is more generally covered by Quaternary material, the most 
 westerly exposure being observed in the valley of Ledbetter 
 creek, two miles due west from the river. 
 
 Quartzite . — There is a large area of a quartzose sandstone 
 resting upon the western limit of this Subcarboniferous ridge 
 one-half mile north of the Buffalo Landing and Concord road. 
 The rocks are large and massive, in ledges of five to ten feet 
 each, and apparently forty or fifty feet in thickness altogether. 
 
 They outcrop in the bed of a branch, on the sides of the 
 hills, and nearly at the summit, where their uppermost por- 
 tions are surrounded by gravel and loam beds, and also cov- 
 ered by twenty to forty feet of the same. 
 
 The rock is greyish-white and sharp, rather friable in places, 
 and a quartzite in others, the surface stained, to some extent, 
 with ferruginous spots. The gravel is often found cemented 
 to the sides of the sandstone, in one instance the cementing 
 material, ferric oxide, having penetrated the sandstone for 
 several inches, coloring it black and hardening it, gradually 
 fading out into the color and texture of the sandstone, and 
 showing regular horizontal upper and lower limits two inches 
 apart, conformable with the thickness and position of the 
 mass of cemented and adhering gravel. This was at the bot- 
 tom of the gravel deposit, the line being quite horizontal 
 both on this and other sand-rocks in the vicinity. The rocks 
 are scattered elsewhere, and altogether cover here an area of 
 probably a square mile. 
 
 They occur again on the hills in and- around Murray, ap- 
 pearing in isolated outcrops, but always massive and thick. 
 In and by the road going north Horn Murray, their most 
 northern exposure is seen. South of Murray, on the hills to 
 the west of the Paris bridge on Clark’s river, they present 
 large surfaces which are much weathered and water- worn. 
 One of the rocks lies on the hill-side, and a deep and wide 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 80 .^ 
 
 groove is out across its surface as if made l^y a rush of grave! 
 or other coarse material. 
 
 A mile or more south-west of Murray, there are a number 
 of other large sand-rocks exposed below the gravel beds in 
 a ravine or branch, all similar to those first described. 
 
 One mile south-east of New Providence, other outcrops 
 occur in a branch and with a thickness of several feet. A 
 ledge of gravel conglomerate rests in the hills seventy-five 
 feet above it. 
 
 Cretaceous Formation . — Cretaceous sands and clays occur 
 in a belt reaching northward from the Tennessee State line 
 into Marshall county; this is a continuation of the belt that 
 passes from Mississippi northward thi’ough Tennessee, only 
 the lower beds of the formation reaching the Kentucky State 
 line. These lower beds are classified as the Ripley group, 
 having been traced by Prof. Safford from Mississippi through 
 Tennessee to the Kentucky State line. There is an entire ab- 
 sence of those fossils which characterize the group in Missis- 
 sippi. The series comprise thick beds of fine and sharp mica- 
 ceous sands, varying in color from white to yellow, with thin 
 sheets or strata of white or bluish white pipe-clay. Over the 
 sands are thinly laminated blue micaceous clays, the laminte 
 separated by fine micaceous sand. 
 
 In the region between Blood river and the siliceous ridge 
 on the east, and from the Tennessee line north to the siliceous 
 hills that reach the river south of Brandon’s Mill, the pres- 
 ence of lower Cretaceous sand beds are everywhere noticed 
 in deep ravines, hill- sides and in wells, the debris in the low- 
 lands themselves partaking of the strongly micaceous sandy 
 character. This is especially true of the valley of Beechy 
 creek, south-east from Concord, and of McCulloch creek on 
 the west of Blood river. 
 
 A well on W. McChristian’s place, in a valley, five miles 
 south-east from Concord, shows the sand at three feet from 
 the surface, and its limit was not reached at sixty-five feet 
 Splendid water was obtained. In a deep ravine at the cross- 
 roads between Beechy creek and Tan Branch east of Concord, 
 there is an exposure of the sand bed showing a highly mica- 
 ceous and fine sand, varying in color from white to yellow, 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 20 
 
306 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGEICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 and wifh very sharp grains, a good polishing material for 
 some articles. 
 
 On the west of Blood river, and near the State line, at Mr. 
 Witherspoon’s, there were penetrated in a well the following 
 strata : Soil, loam and gravel and red sand, eighteen feet; wliite 
 pipe-clay and yellow sand, three feet; sharp micaceous white 
 clay, fifty-four feet. Still westward, near the head of McCul- 
 loch creek, or about three miles from the Paris and Murray 
 road, there is, in a ravine by the road-side, a bluish and yel- 
 lowish thinly laminated sandy clay twenty-five feet thick, 
 overlying a fine, white and highly micaceous sand, only four 
 feet of which is exposed. This is the last westward exposure 
 of the Cretaceous, and we immediately enter the flatwoods 
 region which is underlaid by the blackish joint-clays of the 
 lower Tertiary, which make their ajipearance just south-west 
 in Tennessee. 
 
 Northward, on the west side of Blood river, the dividing 
 ridge is high and broad, and it is only in the eastwardly 
 flowing streams that any Cretaceous exposures are seen. In 
 the bed of the river, at Brandon’s Mill, and still westward 
 along Wild Cat creek to a mile or more beyond Pottertown, 
 and still northward, on one of the branches of Sugar- tree' 
 creek, at F. H. Mahan’s place, the blue clays are mica- 
 ceous, and though more compact than the Cretaceous clays 
 found elsewhere, I have referred them to that formation. 
 The clay is pyritous. 
 
 In a well near the latter place the following strata were 
 passed through: Loam, ten feet; gravel, twenty feet; white 
 sand, twenty feet ; white pipe-clay, two feet ; bluish clay, eight 
 to ten feet ; then a thin sheet of ferruginous sandstone (which 
 frequently occurs elsewhere below the clay), one inch and 
 less, below which was the water-bearing bed of white mica- 
 ceous sand. 
 
 At Shiloh and Hico, near the Marshall county line, the 
 characteristic clays and sands are struck in wells forty or 
 forty-five feet from the surface. The joint-clay of the Ter- 
 tiary does not appear east of Clark’s river. 
 
 Tertiary Formation . — In this county, the lower or Lignitic 
 Eocene division alone is represented, and of this, the Porter’s. 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 307 
 
 Creek and Lagrange subdivisions of tlie Tennessee series pass 
 through in a northerly course. 
 
 The dark joint-clays or “soapstones” that are characteristic 
 of the Porter’s Creek, and immediately overlie the Cretaceous 
 beds, form a narrow belt from the Tennessee line (west of the 
 Paris and Murray road) northward through Murray and Wades- 
 boro into Marshall county, its western margin disappearing 
 beneath the interstratified pipe-clays and sands of the Lagrange 
 group. Clark’s river, from Murray, northward, may be re- 
 garded as the eastern limit of the formation, as the joint- 
 clay has not been observed east of that stream. 
 
 The joint-clay or so-called “soapstone” is a hard, compact 
 slightly micaceous clay, blackish when wet, and jointed in 
 structure, breaking with a conchoidal fracture ; its seams 
 usually ochreous, on drying by exposure it becomes grey 
 and crumbles into a shaly mass. It is more or less pyri- 
 tous, giving to the mass a fetid smell. 
 
 It is well exposed in the region of Murray, outcropping in 
 the banks and bed of Clark’s river near the Paris bridge, 
 and also in the bank of the small streams respectively two 
 and four miles north ; of these, the best exposure is had two 
 and one-half miles north-west of Murray, on the place of 
 0. T. Foster, where the clay lies in thick layers in a bluff 
 nearly twenty feet high, its ochreous jointed nature being 
 well marked. 
 
 In another bluff, on Bee creek, the following section is ex- 
 
 posed : 
 
 Loam and gravel 15 feet. 
 
 Whitish-grey clay 2 feet. 
 
 Dark joint-clay with red seams and an occasional micaceous sand stratum . 4 feet. 
 
 Black claj-, with a predominance of micaceous sand strata, and in places 
 very shaly, to water 10 feet. 
 
 The lowest stratum is probably Cretaceous, bearing a strong 
 resemblance to the beds of that formation. 
 
 Northward, near the Flint Spring post-office, the clay is 
 again exposed by the side of the road. At Wadesboro, in 
 the ravine in the rear of the stores, the gravel is underlaid by 
 a yellow ochreous Tertiary clay, which changes at one foot 
 into the black joint-clay. 
 
3J8 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 In the north-western part of the county the black clays are 
 found, in wells, below thick beds of white pipe-clays. The 
 belt reaches southward, and appears in the east bluff of 
 Clark’s river at Backusburg. The clay here is light-bluish, 
 changing to a blackish blue below the water’s edge, and con- 
 tains leaf inijiressions and fragments of lignite. In a well 
 in Backusburg it was penetrated eight feet without being 
 passed through. In these bluffs it is overlaid by the sands 
 and clays of the Lagrange group, as shown in the following 
 section ; 
 
 1. Loam 
 
 2. Gravel 
 
 3. Ferruginous sandstone 
 
 4. Gravel 
 
 5. Sandstone 
 
 6. Gravel 
 
 7. Yellow sand 
 
 I 8. Sandstone 
 
 f 9. Fine yellow micaceous sand in white and yellow laminae .... 
 
 1 10. Mottled colored plastic clay 
 
 I 11. More compact whitish clay 
 
 -j 12. Yellow sand 
 
 13. Laminated purple, yellow clay and white indurated sand with leaf 
 
 I impressions 
 
 [ 14. Light bluish clays changing to black below the water 
 
 15 to 20 ft. 
 2 feet. 
 
 1 foot. 
 18 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 
 2 feet. 
 4 feet. 
 
 1 foot. 
 18 feet. 
 
 18 inches. 
 14 inches. 
 
 2 feet. 
 
 20 feet 
 
 3 feet. 
 
 At Coldwater, a few miles southward, the black clay, sandy 
 in character, is said to have been struck at twenty feet in dig- 
 ging a well in a creek bottom, while still southward, near Har- 
 ris Grove, it was reached at one hundred and seventy-five 
 feet in a well on the uplands or about fifty feet below that of 
 the bottom. A log of lignite is said to have been cut in two 
 at that depth. 
 
 The Lagrange group of interstratified pipe-clays and white 
 and yellow sands overlie the blue clays in the western part' 
 of the county. 
 
 A section is shown in the bluff at Backusburg, as above 
 given, and its upper beds of white pipe-clay (Nos. 10 and 11), 
 are found northward . near Wyatt’s school-house, and south- 
 ward at Bell City, the latter, however, being somewhat darker. 
 
 The white pipe-clays found elsewhere in the county, per- 
 haps, belong to this bed, underlying, as they do, the gravel 
 deposits. 
 
 Quaternary Formation . — The stratified drift and superficial 
 brown loams cover almost the entire county, resting alike 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 809 
 
 upon tlie Tertiary, Cretaceous and the narrow Subcarbonifer- 
 ous belt lying between the latter and the Tennessee valley. 
 
 The stratified drift embraces a lower bed of coarse red 
 sand, holding lumps or small sheets of whitish pipe clay, 
 mostly rounded, and an upper bed of rounded chert and 
 hornstone gravel, with a few small quartz pebbles and Sub- 
 carboniferous fossils. 
 
 The sand is more or less stratified and often highly indu- 
 rated and cemented by ferric oxide into ledges or blocks of 
 ferruginous sandstone. A noted occurrence of the latter has 
 been given above in the bluff at Backusburg. The sandstone 
 is found in many localities, the beds at Concord beings several 
 feet in thickness. 
 
 On the west side of Blood river, in the valley of Panther 
 creek, the red sand is indurated and stratified in wavy or 
 irregular lajers, and holds much white, plastic pipe-clay in 
 rounded balls and sheets ; it is said to be twenty feet thick. 
 
 Still further north, or about two and one-half miles south- 
 east of Shiloh, on the place of F. H. Mahan, Esq., the same 
 beds are found on Sugar-tree creek. The red sand holding 
 the clay concretions are in irregular horizontal layers, and 
 overlie a bed of evenly deposited sands in strata dipping to 
 the north. 
 
 On the hill-side here they have been cemented into many 
 rounded concretions of all imaginable forms, large and small, 
 sometimes resembling, in some degree, the bodies of animals. 
 The concretions usually inclose sand. 
 
 The grarel beds are irregularly distributed on the uplands, 
 their greatest thickness being in the northern part of the 
 county, where it varies from twenty to thirty feet. At Lo- 
 cust Grove, south of Murray, a thickness of twenty-five feet 
 is said to have been passed through in wells, but this is local. 
 
 To the south and south-west the beds thin out to ten or 
 fifteen feet at Murray and Harris Grove, and to but two to 
 five feet at Bell City and Crossland, while two miles west of 
 the latter place gravel is not found, deep sand beds alone 
 appearing. The gravel also becomes finer as it thins out. 
 
 On the south-east, all the way to the State line, the aver- 
 age thickness of the bed is about ten feet. 
 
310 GEOLOGICAL AND AGIIICULTUKAL FEATURES 
 
 I 
 
 On the Subcarboniferoiis ridge tliat forms the western bor- 
 der of the valley of the Tennessee, the gravel is chiefly found 
 from the Tennessee State line northward for five or six miles ; 
 but thence nearly to Newburg, the deposit is usually very 
 thin, if, indeed, it occurs at all, the summit of this older for- 
 mation being almost above the horizon of gravel dejiosition. 
 
 An interesting feature that pertains to the gravel beds of 
 this part of the Purchase is the large region over which a 
 portion of the bed has been cemented into a hard conglomer- 
 ate, forming a regular and apparently continuous bed beneath 
 the superficial loam upon the unbroken uplands. This region 
 lies between Clark’s river on the west and the Subcarbonifer- 
 ous ridge on the east, and from the Tennessee line northward 
 to Marshall county, covering the territory underlaid by the 
 Cretaceous. 
 
 This conglomerate is similar to the more isolated masses of 
 Marshall and McCracken counties, and its rounded hornstone 
 gravel is so firmly cemented as to break regularly with the 
 rock. The thickness varies from three to as much as twenty 
 feet, the rock usually appearing in layers each two to four 
 feet thick. 
 
 In the broad table land forming the divide between the 
 waters of Clark’s and Blood rivers, the rock is said to be 
 struck in almost every well that is dug, and its outcropping 
 edges are found, very generally, on the hill-sides (unless cov- 
 ered by debris), where their continuity has been broken by 
 erosion of the surface of the country. Such exposures are 
 seen on the road east from New Providence, and also on the 
 western upland bluff of Blood river, on the road leading from 
 Murray to Concord, where it comes to the surface. East of 
 Clark’s river the rock is fifteen feet in thickness, though in 
 wells further east it seems to be but two feet. 
 
 Northward, on the road from Murray to Newburg, at F. 
 H. Mahan’s, Esq., there is an interesting locality, which is 
 locally termed “The Volcano,” because of its rough and 
 broken appearance, caused by the upturned masses of gravel 
 conglomerate in the creek bottom. It covers an area of 
 about three-eighths of a mile north and south, and one-half 
 mile east and west on Big Sugar- tree creek. 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 311 
 
 The region shows, admirably, the effects produced by water 
 currents in the undermining of rock strata and the breaking 
 in of the table-rock, and subsequent disintegration and wash- 
 ing away of the smaller masses of debris. Here the summits 
 of the hills are about one hundred feet above the creek, the 
 upper portion composed largely of gravel and a conglomer- 
 ate of gravel ten to fifteen feet thick. This originally rested 
 upon a bed of stratified highly micaceous fine sand, proba- 
 bly Cretaceous, seventy or eighty feet of which is now ex- 
 posed in the bluffs. 
 
 The creek, doubtless, removed these sands from beneath 
 the conglomerate, and the latter, from their own weight, 
 broke apart and fell into the deep chasm. These immense 
 rock masses now occupy, in some places nearly horizontal, 
 and in others almost vertical, positions, and dip or rather 
 slope toward the center of the valley. A large part of 
 them have been worn away, and those left occupy some- 
 what isolated positions. In the valley, and parallel with 
 the bluffs, are low ridges composed almost altogether of 
 loose gravel from the disintegration of the rock?k 
 
 There is a so-called cave known as Hogan’s Hoie, reaching 
 now fifteen or twenty feet under one of the large and nearly 
 horizontal rocks. It is said to have been, at the time of the 
 first settling of the county in 1828 or 1830, the hiding place 
 of a murderer, who was captured only by being smoked out 
 by the posse of men. ^ 
 
 In the northern part of the county the conglomerate is not 
 as prominent, though frequently observed jutting out in bluffs 
 beneath the gravel and loam. 
 
 On the east bluff of Clark’s river, several miles north of 
 Murray, there is an exposure of twenty-five feet of the hard 
 conglomerate in layers of two to four feet. 
 
 The Brown Loam, comprising the. upper part of the Qua- 
 ternary, covers nearly the entire surface of the county. Its 
 thickness varies from fifteen to twenty feet on the west and 
 north-west, to six or ten feet at Murray, southward and east- 
 ward, and less than that toward the Subcarboniferous ridge, 
 upon which it is very thin. Its characters are the same as in 
 other counties, viz. : an upper two feet of brownish-yellow 
 
312 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 and easily tillable loam, and an under-stratum of heavier 
 but lighter colored loam, permeated with seams of a grey, 
 silty earth. 
 
 In the Tennessee Valley the loams of the valley proper 
 are similar to the above, but are somewhat micaceous. 
 
 I^orl Hudson Group . — This formation, represented by blue 
 clays and lighter micaceous loams, occupies the valley of the 
 Tennessee river, its initial point being at or near the ]ioint 
 where the State line strikes the river, and where the high 
 limestone cliffs almost reach to the water’s edge. This point, 
 too, may be regarded as the base of the long and narrow 
 Subcarboniferous peninsular that reaches northward to Cal- 
 vert City, a distance of thirty five miles. 
 
 As shown at Highland Landing, at the Marshall county line, 
 the beds embrace twenty-five feet of alternating deep blue or 
 blackish clays and yellowish sands, in layers varying from a 
 foot or more to only a few inches. A bright-blue mineral 
 earth, Vivianite (a phosphate of iron), speckles the lower 
 exposed blue clay bed. A brownish micaceous loam, seven 
 feet in thickness, caps the blue clay and sand formation. 
 
 At Newburg the same beds occur, but the Vivianite was 
 not observed. At Pine Bluff a section shows fifteen feet of 
 micaceous loam, a few feet of stiller, lighter clay, underlaid 
 by the interstratified blue clay and yellow sands. Southward, 
 or up the river, the formation is overlaid by a foot of gravel 
 and several feet of red clay, which is a feature characteristic 
 of the valley of the river a few miles southward in Tennessee. 
 The valley has a width of about a mile. 
 
 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 
 
 The chief natural resources of the county are its soils, tim- 
 bers, clays and iron ores. Besides these, there is but little else 
 worthy of mention. The first two will be treated of under the 
 head of agricultural features. 
 
 Clays. — There are, within the county, quite a variety of 
 clays, refractory and unrefractory, and in color from a creamy- 
 white to blue and black. With cheap and easy transportation 
 facilities, many of them would, probably, find a ready market 
 for the manufacture of various wares. 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 313 
 
 Tlie black joint-clays or “soapstones” so-called, occupy a 
 belt from the Tennessee State line, northward tlirough Mur- 
 ray and Wadesboro into Marsliall county, being exposed at 
 a number of points along the west side of Clark’s river. 
 They underlie the Flatvvoods of the southern j)art of the 
 county west of New Providence. 
 
 One of the most prominent of the exposures is in the north 
 bluff of Clark’s river at the Paris bridge, a mile south of 
 Murray. The clay here is, as elsewhere, in jointed layers 
 with a yellow ochreous clay i:>ermeating the seams. The 
 joints have a conchoidal character. The clay is massive, 
 blackish when wet or freshly exposed, and becomes of a grey 
 color on drying, when it is also highly tenacious. Very fine 
 mica scales give a more or less sparkling appearance to the 
 clay. 
 
 Other exposures of ten to twenty feet again occur in the 
 bluffs of creeks north of Murray, and in the ravines that bor- 
 der the road northward to Wadesboro. 
 
 The thickness of the bed has not been ascertained, and in 
 the deepest wells of the region the clay has not been passed 
 through. 
 
 At Wadesboro, the upper part of the bed, as seen in the 
 ravine just back of the stores, is highly ochreous in charac- 
 ter for six or more inches. 
 
 A chemical analysis of a sample from the Paris bridge 
 shows the presence of but a small amount of lime, nearly 
 one per cent, of potash, and three and a half of iron, after 
 nearly forty per cent, of sand had been removed. Tests 
 made at the Rookwood pottery show it to be refractory at a 
 high temperature, producing a pinkish unglazed biscuit. 
 
 It cannot be glazed except by the intermixture of a large 
 proportion of other more plastic clays, the glaze otherwise 
 having a tendency to shiver. The specks of mica produce 
 small black dots in the biscuit. The clay can, therefore, be 
 used only for such ware as require no glazing. 
 
 Another class of black clays, more plastic in character, 
 occurs east of the joint -clays just described, a prominent out- 
 crop being on the place of F. H. Mahan, Esq., six miles a 
 little north of east of Murray. It is also somewhat mica- 
 
314 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTUEAL FEATURES 
 
 ceous, sandy and refractory in character, burning to a creamy- 
 white biscuit. 
 
 An analysis shows that there are present in this clay nearly 
 twice as much clay as in the joint-clay, a trace of lime, and 
 about one per cent, each of iron and potash. It is highly re- 
 fractory, and would, probably, make good fire-brick, etc., and 
 differs from the celebrated German fire-clays only in a higher 
 potash percentage. 
 
 A similar black clay occurs in the southern part of the 
 county, immediately underlying a bed of white plastic clay, 
 on the place of Rufus Morris, just west of Blood river. It 
 contains small pyritous concretions. 
 
 White pipe-clays are abundant throughout the county, 
 chiefly, however, on the east and west of the black j’oint- 
 clay belt. 
 
 Beginning on the north-west, a highly plastic and white 
 variety occurs in a branch bottom at the junction of the road 
 from Mayfield with that extending south from Brewer’s mill 
 post-office to Backusbiirg in S.4, T.3, R.3E. 
 
 The thickness of the bed could not be ascertained, but must 
 be several feet. It is in places of a pinkish tint; the upper 
 eighteen inches is of a mottled white and yellowish color. 
 On burning it gives a white biscuit, and is quite refractory 
 in a high heat. The sample subjected to analysis was of the 
 purer portions, and contains a very large percentage of clay, 
 a trace only of iron, three-fourths per cent, of lime, and less 
 than half a per cent, of alkalies. 
 
 The same clay appears in the branch south of this place, 
 and also in the bluffs east of the river at Backusburg, where, 
 however, it is only eighteen inches thick. 
 
 Southward to the State line the country is high, being the 
 water-divide between the tributaries of the East and West 
 forks of Clark’s river, and, therefore, so little washed into 
 deep ravines as to afford but very few exposures of clays, and 
 none of these are of importance. 
 
 To the east of Murray, and of a line passing through it, 
 north and south, there are several beds of white clays, and 
 of these that of Russell’s pottery, six miles east, is of the 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 31 . 
 
 most importance, producing, as it does, a beautiful cream- 
 colored ware on glazing. There is, however, great difficult}" 
 ill getting it to take a glaze without “crazing” or being per- 
 meated with fine cracks. 
 
 The bed underlies six feet of brown loam, four and a half 
 feet of sandy clay, one foot of white clay, and one and a half 
 of a dark clay, and is three feet in thickness, underlaid by a 
 brownish sandy clay and yellow micaceous sand. An analysis 
 shows the clay to contain but little lime, and more than one 
 per cent, each of iron and alkalies. 
 
 Another locality of white pipe-clay is on the place of Mr. 
 Rufus Morris, near Blood river, east of New Providence. It 
 is exposed in a deep ravine, and above the bed of black clay 
 mentioned above. It has a surface covering of ten feet of 
 loam and gravel, and is interbedded with white sand in thick 
 nesses of from two to eighteen inches, and in its thickest por- 
 tion holds pockets of fine white sand. The clay is refractory 
 at a high heat, producing a white biscuit, which, on glazing, 
 becomes brownish-white in color. It is stained to some ex- 
 tent with yellow ochre. An analysis shows the presence of a 
 little lime, about two per cent, of alkalies, and a little more 
 tuan one and a half per cent, of iron. 
 
 Other clays are found in other parts of the county, but in 
 bods so thin as to be of no value. 
 
 Iron Ores. — In the south-eastern part of the county, in the 
 legion known as the Coalings, there is found embedded in 
 the gravel beds, nearly along the edge of the uplands facing 
 the Tennessee valley, masses of iron ore in size varying from 
 a pound or so to as much as fifty or seventy-five pounds. The 
 ore is rather concretionary in character, sometimes inclosing 
 clay or gravel and with bright specular inner surfaces. It is 
 irregularly distributed through the gravel deposit, and re- 
 quires the expenditure of much labor and time in its exposure 
 and removal to the furnace, an expense apparently not com- 
 mensurate with the amount of ore obtained. A furnace was 
 at one time in operation near one of the ore beds, its char- 
 coal or fuel being obtained from the surrounding timbers. 
 It, however, ceased operations many years ago. From an- 
 other bed, a mile or more north of the furnace, the ore has 
 been shipped to furnaces in Tennessee. 
 
316 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 Sands. — The beds of sand in the eastern part of the county^ 
 and especially those exposed in the hills bordering Beechy 
 creek, are sharp-grained, and more or less tinted with iron. 
 The ordinary glass could be made of it, but the sand is too 
 impure for the liner qualities. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL FEATURES. 
 
 The agricultural features of the county have the variety 
 usual to the Purchase country, and embrace the upland 
 timbered lands, barrens and flatwoods, and the lowland val- 
 ley of the Tennessee river and creek bottoms. The alluvial 
 bottoms and the cane hills of the western counties are here 
 absent. 
 
 As already remarked, the surface of the uplands is rolling 
 and in places more or less broken, though not so much so as 
 to interfere seriously with cultivation. 
 
 The so-called timbered uplands, or oak and hickory lands, 
 comprise the largest proportion of the county area. The soil 
 is a brown loam, some two feet in depth, overlying a brown- 
 ish clay loam, which is permeated with seams of a light grey 
 silt. Where well drained, the soil is loose and easily tilled, 
 producing good crops of corn, small grain and tobacco. Its 
 growth is usually several varieties of oaks, hickory and a 
 scrubby undergrowth. Where drainage is inadequate the soil 
 becomes compact, whiter in color, and impervious to water, 
 which stands on it in pools in rainy seasons. Such flat 
 places are most frequent upon the dividing ridges between 
 the streams. 
 
 This is especially so upon the divide between the East fork 
 and Blood river east of Murray, which reaches north from 
 New Providence to within a few miles of Shiloh post-office. 
 
 The timbered region is largely under cultivation, the soils 
 being well suited to the growth of corn, oats and tobacco. 
 The analysis of a sample of soil taken five miles east of Mur- 
 ray (as given in the general report), shows a deficiency in 
 phosphoric acid and lime, and a fair amount of potash. The 
 addition of lime or gypsum would, doubtless, render avail- 
 able much of the one and one-third per cent, of potash now 
 existing in an insoluble condition. The deficiency in phos- 
 
OF CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 317 
 
 plioric acid is characteristic of nearly all of the “timbered 
 uplands” of the Purchase counties. 
 
 In the south-eastern portion of the county there is a region 
 known as The Coalings, because of the cutting away of its 
 timber and its conversion into charcoal for use in the iron 
 furnaces, a number of years ago, since which time it has 
 grown uj) in a low growth. 
 
 The original timber was red, black, post and Spanish oaks 
 and hickory. The area covered by this region reaches for 
 about two and a half miles north from Shannon creek, and 
 about three miles from the river bluff westward toward Con- 
 cord. 
 
 The soil (whose analysis is given in the general report) dif- 
 fers from that of other uplands in being deficient in available 
 potash, though there is a fair amount in the subsoil at six to 
 twelve inches from the surface, and also more than one and a 
 lialf per cent, in an insoluble condition. Very little of this 
 region is under cultivation. 
 
 That portion of the timbered region known as the Flat- 
 woods, in the southern part of the county, reaching from the 
 Tennessee State line northward nearly to Murray, in an area 
 about three miles wide and six long, is the northern end of 
 that extensive and narrow belt that reaches southward through 
 the State of Tennessee, across the north-east corner of Missis- 
 sippi, and thence south-eastward into Alabama. Its surface 
 is quite level and ill-drained, covered with a compact and 
 whitish soil (apparently a leached brown loam), and has a 
 timber growth of chiefly post oaks. 
 
 In this state it is hardly in cultivation, its soil being not 
 only cold and ill-drained, but poor and deficient in all of the 
 available elements of plant food. Even the presence of half 
 a per cent, of lime seems not to have had any affect on the 
 proportion of insoluble potash. The subsoil also is but 
 very little better than the soil. 
 
 The remaining uplands of the county are comprised in the 
 region known as The Barrens, formerly an open prairie, but 
 now grown uj) in a low growth of red and black-jack oaks. 
 The region covers almost the entire portion of the county lying 
 west of the East fork, and is a part of that large central bar- 
 
318 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 rens country that covers nearly all of the adjoining county of 
 Graves. Along the immediate uplands bordering the streams 
 there is, usually, a strip of land timbered with other growth. 
 The southern limit of the barrens is the Purchase water-shed, 
 which lies in a general east and west course nearly along the 
 State line. 
 
 A large proportion of the region is quite level, especially 
 along that broad divide separating the tributaries of the East 
 and West forks of Clark’s river, and reaching from Murray 
 west to and beyond Harris Grove, and also north-westward 
 to and beyond Kirksey. The slight rolling nature of the 
 surface, however, gives to it a natural drainage, and much 
 of the land is under cultivation, largely in tobacco. 
 
 An analysis of a fair sample each of the soil and subsoil, 
 taken from four miles north-west of Murray, shows a great 
 deficiency of available potash in the soil, and a large per- 
 centage in an insoluble condition, with scarcely any lime. 
 The subsoil contains a fair amount of potash in an available 
 condition, and it is, probably, to this that the land owes its 
 reputation as being first-class for that potash-loving plant — 
 tobacco. Phosphoric acid is deficient in its percentage, in 
 both soil and subsoil. 
 
 The lands are said to yield as much as one thousand pounds 
 of tobacco per acre. 
 
 The Valley of the Tennessee, bordered on the west by the 
 high and, in places, quite precipitous upland bluffs, reaches 
 from the State line northward into Marshall county, with a 
 width varying from but a few hundred yards at the former 
 to as much as one and a half miles toward the latter point. 
 
 The general surface of the valley is uneven, because of nar- 
 row strips of low bottom land along the river front, and low 
 creeks, swamps or flats along the foot of the bluffs on the 
 west, thus leaving an elevated plain along the central portion. 
 
 At the State line limestone outcrops high up in the bluffs, 
 from whose foot to the river the laud is fiat, rather of a bot- 
 tom character, but all under cultivation. Going northward, 
 we find the limestone only at the foot of the bluffs, and the 
 general surface features as Just described begin. 
 
OK CALLOWAY COUNTY. 
 
 319 
 
 There are then three soil divisions witliin the valley, viz. ; 
 the river bottom, the flats and creek bottoms, and the valley 
 proper. 
 
 The former or rlter bottoms are narrow and of no special 
 importance, occurring only at different points, and scarcely 
 affording sufficient areas for cultivation, except on the south, 
 as already mentioned. The timber of the first or lower bot- 
 tom is hickory, white, water and red oaks, poplar, gum, linn, 
 box elder, some ash, sycamore and black walnut. 
 
 The soil, alluvial in character, is said to produce as much 
 as ten barrels of corn per acre. It is subject to overflow. 
 
 A kind of second bottom here has a timber growth of white 
 and red oaks, poplar, black locust and hickory. Its soil is 
 more clayey, and will produce about eight barrels of corn, one 
 thousand pounds of tobacco, or fifteen to twenty bushels of 
 wheat per acre. Both bottoms are excellent for clover and 
 grasses. 
 
 In this portion of the valley the ridge that forms the central 
 feature is said by Mr. Ed. Brown to be especially adapted to 
 the production of a very fine grade of the bright tobacco. 
 This land, beginning about one mile from the State line, 
 reaches a distance of four miles, and is all under cultivation. 
 Its soil is a. dark loam, underlaid by a red or yellow clay sub- 
 soil at about six inches, and has a timber growth of red and 
 white oaks, poplar and some gum, chestnut and black locust. 
 
 Northward, toward the Marshall county line, the ridge is 
 very generally under cultivation. The soil is a light-brown 
 micaceous loam, originally having a growth of red and post 
 oaks, hickory and sassafras. 
 
 Analyses made of the above two characters of central val- 
 ley lands shows quite a difference in the respective percentage 
 composition ; that of the valley generally having but a trace 
 of lime, a low percentage of phosphoric acid and of potash, 
 that of the southern and richer portion having much more 
 lime, a low percentage of phosphoric acid, and a fair amount 
 of potash except in the subsoil, which is very rich in the lat- 
 ter element. There is also more iron in the subsoil. 
 
 The flats that border the creeks lying on the west side of 
 the valley have a surface soil very rich in decayed vegetation, 
 
320 
 
 GEOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL FEATURES 
 
 but at a few inches are underlaid by a stiff and yellowish- 
 white crawtishy subsoil, impervious to water and cold in char- 
 acter, The growth of Shannon creek is white and red oaks, 
 poplar, gurn, hazel, hickory, and some walnut. An analysis 
 of the soil shows a little lime, a good percentage of phos- 
 phoric acid, while that of the potash in the soil is fair, and 
 in the subsoil quite large. These flats are but little under 
 cultivation. 
 
 The hottom lands of Clark's river lie chiefly on the west 
 side of that stream, varying in width from but half a mile or 
 less south of Murray, to as much as a mile on the north. 
 
 They are subject to overflow, and, therefore, are under cul- 
 ture to but a small extent, except near the borders of the 
 upland, whose washings have given the bottom a slightly 
 higher elevation. 
 
 The soil is for the most part stiff and crawflshy in nature, 
 its surface more or less permeated with decayed vegetation. 
 The timber growth comprises white and Spanish oaks, poplar, 
 hickory, sweet and black gums, walnut, dogwood, sassafras 
 and papaw. 
 
 An analysis of a specimen taken near Murray shows a fair 
 amount of available potash, and a deflciency in lime and phos- 
 phoric acid. 
 
 The absence of drainage also makes these lands unfit for 
 any other crop than corn or grasses. 
 
 The bottom lands of Blood river and other streams are usu- 
 ally narrow, and their soils cold or crawflshy, and but little 
 under tillage. 
 
A.iF’iPiEnsrzDix III 
 
 TO GENERAL REPORT. 
 
 THE PADUCAH WELL, BOKED TO A DEPTH OF 1,250 FEET, SHOWS 
 AN IMMENSE FAULTING OF PALEOZOIC ROCKS. 
 
 Just as the last pages of the Calloway County Report were 
 being put in type, I received samples of material, taken at 
 various depths, from the well recently bored in Paducah for 
 gas. These have been closely examined, and the results are 
 herewith briefly presented. The samples were taken by J. 
 C. Farley, Esq., and forwarded to me by W. L. Brad- 
 shaw, Esq., of Paducah. 
 
 The well penetrated to a depth of 1,250 feet, and was 
 abandoned because of the difficulties attending the work, 
 such as the occurrence of caverns, cracks causing deflec- 
 tions of the auger, and especially the volumes of water 
 entering the pipe. Streams of water were passed througli 
 down to a depth of 600 feet, or to the bed of calcareous 
 shale; but beyond that the water came in volumes through 
 the cracks and seams of the limestone ; and altogether, the 
 manager or contractor asserts that he had to contend with 
 greater difficulties than in any of the many wells that he 
 had previously bored in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
 
 The boring of this well is extremely fortuitous, though not 
 realizing the hopes of the projectors. It has revealed the 
 depth of the Paleozoic rocks below the Quaternary surface 
 of this portiou of the gulf embayment, and the nature and 
 thicknesses of the several formations that filled this basin ; 
 but, above all, bored in such close proximity to the Paleo- 
 zoic shore line, or “shelf,” as it is called in the report, it 
 has indicated clearly, and almost beyond doubt, that this 
 portion, at least, of the embayment is the result of the im- 
 
 QEOL. SUE. — 21. 
 
322 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 mense faulting of the Paleozoic rocks, that portion south 
 of the Ohio river sinking to a depth of more than 1,300 feet. 
 That this occurred during the Chester or upper Subcarbon- 
 il'erous jieriod is indicated by the presence of its.-beds at the 
 depth of 264 feet below Paducah. The blue limestones that 
 underlie these at 735 feet from the surface are unmistakably 
 of the Mountain Limestone (Tenn. series), as shown by a 
 characteristic pentremites Godonii brought up by the auger 
 from the upper portion of the limestone. 
 
 The accompanying illustration is intended to represent the 
 rock strata passed through, and also the faulting of the strata, 
 with an ideal section of the formations on either side. The 
 Illinois section is taken from Dana’s Geology, the State Re- 
 port not being, at my command. 
 
 The following section gives the character of the material 
 brought up by the auger: 
 
 Character of Material. 
 
 1. Micaceous brownish surface loam 
 
 2. Kouiuled chert and quartz gravel 
 
 3. Fine micaceous sand and clay, interlaminated . 
 
 4. Debris of white and dark chert, hyaline sand, 
 
 pyrites, and smoky quartz crystals. The 
 lower 18 feet is cemented by a bright red 
 iron ochre, and holds numerous crinoids, 
 bryozoa, and plates and spines of the Echin- 
 oid Archfzocidaris 
 
 5. White, porous, and slightly calcareous rock; 
 
 also containing many crinoids, bryozoa, and 
 ecbinoids 
 
 6. Dark impure limestone, with some crinoids 
 
 and bryozoa, fragments of cemented calca- 
 reous material, and a small flat mass of 
 quartz crystals ; the rock is cavernous .... 
 
 7. Limestone and siliceous rock, dark and light 
 
 colored ; some calc spar, crinoids ; cyathophy- 
 loid corals and pyrites in lower portion ; rock 
 is cavernous 
 
 8. Dark calcareous shale, blue marl and sand, 
 
 with small crinoids, spines and plates of 
 Archneocidaris and cyathophyloid corals . . 
 
 9. White calcareous shale, with calc spar, pyrites, 
 
 and a few crinoids 
 
 10. Blue Limestone, with crinoids; a pentremite 
 
 brought up from upper portion 
 
 11. Blue Limestone, with crinoids. The bed, with 
 
 ^the lower portion of that above, is permeated 
 with cracks, filled with sand, etc., to bottom 
 of boring 
 
 Feet. 
 
 40 
 
 
 20 
 
 GO 
 
 204 
 
 2G4 
 
 71 
 
 335 
 
 90 
 
 425 
 
 45 
 
 470 
 
 48 
 
 518 
 
 32 
 
 550 
 
 185 
 
 735 
 
 400 
 
 1,135 
 
 115 
 
 1 ,250 
 
 Geologic For- 
 mation. 
 
 I Quaternary. 
 [•Cretaceous. 
 
 1 c 
 
 ►a 
 
 w 
 
 p) 
 
 w 
 
 O 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 p- 
 
 55 
 
 W 
 
 O 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 w 
 
 55 
 
 O 
 
 C3 
 
 GO 
 
 h 
 
N 
 
 S 
 
 /LL/NO/S 
 
324 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The city of Paducah is situated on the' banks of the river, 
 in the Ohio valley — an almost level plain, whose surface 
 material, to a depth of 40 feet, is a brown micaceous loam, 
 of supposed Port Hudson age. It overlies about 20 feet of 
 Quaternary gravel, which, in turn, is underlaid by the Creta- 
 ceous sands and thinly laminated black clays, having a thick- 
 ness of 204 feet, as shown by the boring. 
 
 The hills or uplands bordering this plain on the south are 
 made up of from 30 to AO feet of brown loam and 20 feet of 
 gravel, while at their foot Tertiary black clays are exposed 
 for as much as 30 feet. 
 
 On the Illinois side, the Port Hudson clays are wanting, 
 the hills beyond the bottom land rising to the same eleva- 
 tion as on the south of Paducah, and, so far as can be ascer- 
 tained, are composed of the same material, the Tertiary clays 
 appearing in the beds of the streams. The latter formation 
 is, however, thinly represented, for below it, in many places, 
 are exposed, in the streams, the limestones of the Subcar- 
 boniferous, forming the so-called “Paleozoic shelf” that ex- 
 tends south to within a few miles of Paducah. 
 
 It is the edge of this shelf that seems to mark the line of 
 the fault, and is as follows; From the Big Chain of the 
 Tennessee river, a mile below Haddock’s ferry in north Mar- 
 shall county, it reaches north-westward, a few miles north of 
 Paducah, to the Grand Chain of the Ohio, or extreme north- 
 ern part of Ballard county, where its limestones, intercalated 
 with flint, are well exposed at low-water mark for some dis- 
 tance along the Illinois side of river; thence westward, it 
 passes about 8 miles north of Cairo into Missouri. The width 
 of the shelf, north of Paducah, is from 6 to 10 miles. South 
 from this shelf, which may also be termed the Cretaceous 
 shore-line, no limestone outcrops appear, nor had the rock 
 been reached in the deepest borings in the Purchase counties 
 previous to this at Paducah. 
 
 Going still northward in Illinois, we rise from the limit of 
 the Tertiary and Quaternary beds of the basin ‘to the summit 
 of the Upper Subcarboniferous formation, at an elevation of 
 probably 200 feet above. Paducah. 
 
 It would seem, then, that since the faulting and sinking of 
 
TO (;KNEUAL UK pout. 
 
 325 
 
 the rocks, the basin has filled up to a depth of 204 feet with 
 Cretaceous beds (the oldest of the geologic series of the basin 
 both here and in States south), to the upper edge of the so- 
 called Paleozoic shelf, and that the Tertiary and Quaternary 
 beds were deposited over this formation and ui)on the shelf 
 to the Paleozoic hills on the west, north and east, leaving 
 still a high bordering rim of the latter. 
 
 The deposit in the region of Paducah is shown by the bor- 
 ing to have an entire thickness of about 365 feet, from the 
 bottom of the basin to the summit of the neighboring uplands. 
 
 The only rock masses referable to formations older than 
 the Cretaceous are those quartzites occurring almost in a 
 direct course from Palestine Church, 8 miles northwest of 
 Paducah, south-eastward via Byers’ place, 5 miles south of 
 Paducah, to Murray, in Calloway county. 
 
 The character of this rock, and the general course of the 
 line of its outcrop, led to the conclusion that it belonged to 
 the Onandaga beds of Illinois, and it is so treated of in the 
 report ; but from the revelations made by the boring, it is 
 more than probable that these quartzites are in reality the 
 remnants of Chester sandstones, though highly quartzose in 
 character. 
 
 The mass of loose material, 71 feet in depth, lying immedi- 
 ately below the Cretaceous (in the boring), and forming the 
 bottom of the embayment basin previous to the deposition of 
 sand, etc., was, doubtless, originally a part of the more solid 
 underlying rock, as the character and fossils of both are simi- 
 lar ; this portion, probably, being broken up by the violence 
 of the waves along this shore-line, while at the same time it 
 received accessions from the washings of the bordering high- 
 lands. 
 
 The fossils brought up by the auger from the series of strata 
 as far down as the blue Pentremital limestone, embrace crinoid 
 stems, bryozoa, cyathophylloid corals, the plates and spines 
 of ArchcBocidaris Norwood^ and of many undetermined ellipti- 
 cal crinoid stems. These beds are, in the aggregate, 471 feet 
 thick, and their position above the Pentremital limestones, as 
 well as the nature of their fossils, clearly indicates for them 
 an Upper Chester age; marl beds characteristic of the forma- 
 tion were also present. 
 
326 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 r 
 
 Below these strata, the auger penetrated 515 feet of blue 
 limestone, in the ui)per part of which was obtained the Pen- 
 tremites Godonii of the Mountain Limestone division already 
 alluded to. The upper 290 feet is said to be “cavernous,” 
 while the remaining lower portion is “permeated with cracks 
 which are filled with sand, etc., causing much trouble by de- 
 flecting the auger.” 
 
 In Tennessee, near the Kentucky line, the Mountain Lime- 
 stone has a thickness of about 400 feet, and assuming this 
 as correct for this locality, it would appear that the lower 115 
 feet of the boring was in the St. Louis limestone. This latter 
 division is not made to appear in the above ideal sketch. 
 
 Depth of the Faulting . — Taking the Mountain Limestone as 
 a basis in determining the depth to which the rock strata on 
 the south side of the fault have sunk from their original posi- 
 tion, we have the following data : The limestone stratum in 
 original position, at the level of Paducah on the Illinois side, 
 is about 35 feet above the upper part of the Keokuk, as ex- 
 posed at the Grand Chain of the Ohio ; and the latter is 700 
 feet above the surface of the Mountain Limestone in the bor- 
 ing. From the Keokuk beds up through the overlying St. 
 Louis and Mountain Limestone divisions there are about 650 
 feet, making in all 1,350 feet as the depth of the faulting. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Adams’ Cut, lignitic bed near 236 
 
 Agricultural features of Ballard county 243 
 
 Calloway county 316 
 
 Fulton county 210 
 
 Graves county 297 
 
 Hickman county 227 
 
 McCracken county 260 
 
 Marshall county 280 
 
 the Purchase 139, 173 
 
 Agricultural regions enumerated . 140 
 
 Alabama, cretaceous belt of 32 
 
 Alexander, Mrs., iron ores on place of 124, 197 
 
 well showing lignitic clay - 135 
 
 Alluvial formation, general description 82 
 
 lands, description and analyses 141, 145 
 
 of the Mississippi 212, 229 231, 243 
 
 of the Ohio 141, 143 
 
 of the Tennessee 143 
 
 timber growth of 142 
 
 region of the Mississippi 82 
 
 Altitudes of lowlands and uplands 9. 10 
 
 Analyses, comparative of Kentucky and German clays 112 
 
 of alluvial river soils 145 
 
 Barrens soils 165 
 
 black clays of Calloway county .110 
 
 bottom soils of East and West forks of (lark’s river 148 
 
 chalybeate water 138, 214 
 
 clay from counties of the Purchase 100, 107 
 
 Panther creek 107 
 
 Pittman’s bank 107 
 
 Eussell’s pottery 107 
 
 clay slip. 91 
 
 crawfishy lands of river bottoms and valleys 148, 151 
 
 fire-clays 102 
 
 Flatwoods soils 162 
 
 German clays 112 
 
 glauconitic clay 129 
 
 •iron ores 124 
 
328 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Analyses of Kaolinite . . . . r HO 
 
 lignite 122, 293 
 
 Loess or grey silt 
 
 oak and hickory upland soils 168 
 
 ochreous clay II7 
 
 red oak Barrens land 165 
 
 refractory clays 97 
 
 river bottom lands I45 
 
 sands 130 
 
 sandstones of Hickman Bluffs 40 
 
 siliceous or polishing earths 133 
 
 unrefractory clays 116 
 
 upland soils of Ballard county 171 
 
 Calloway county 171 
 
 Fulton county 170 
 
 ^ McCracken county 170 
 
 valley lands of Clark’s, Ohio and Tennessee rivers 155 
 
 water of Bluff, Kilgore, Mahon and McGee springs 138 
 
 well in Paducah 135 
 
 white fire-clays .107 
 
 Antiquities, chapter on I73 
 
 of Ballard county 180 
 
 Calloway county 195 
 
 Fulton county 173 
 
 Graves county . 195 
 
 Hickman county 178- 
 
 Marshall county 192 
 
 McCracken county 191 
 
 Archseocidaris Norwood! in Paducah well 322 
 
 Armstrong, clay from place of 115, 116, 118, 257, 278 
 
 Area covered by drift 67 
 
 of Ballard county 230 
 
 Bayou de Chien basin 15 
 
 Calloway county 301 
 
 Clark’s river basin 14 
 
 Fulton county 201 
 
 Graves county 285 
 
 Hickman county 217 
 
 •Marshall county 265 
 
 McCracken county 247 
 
 Mayfield creek basin 14 
 
 Mississippi drainage basin 14 
 
 Ohio drainage basin 14 
 
 Obion creek basin 15 
 
 Ohio river valley 245 
 
 Tennessee river basin 13- 
 
 the Cane Hills region 157 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ■629 
 
 Area of the flatwooils of Calloway county 160 
 
 Marshall county 282 
 
 Areas of drainage. ... 1.3 
 
 Arkansas, Port Hudson bods of 73 
 
 Arlington, sandstone near 238 
 
 Arnett’s place, tloscript ion and analyses of clays from 104, 107 
 
 Articles manufactured from clays 85 
 
 B. 
 
 Back-lands of the Mississippi bottom 142 
 
 Backusburg, bluff of 103, 308 
 
 clays near 103, 314 
 
 elevation of 302 
 
 mounds near 195 
 
 Back-water from Mississippi river overflow 9, 10 
 
 Ballard county, agricultural features of ■. .243 
 
 alluvial lands of 243 
 
 analyses of soils and claj'S 100, 107, 171 
 
 antiquities of 180 
 
 Barrens lands 246 
 
 bluff lands of 159 
 
 bottom lands of - 142 
 
 Oane Hills 246 
 
 clay, comparison with German clay .... 112 
 
 clay from 105, 106, 107, 241 
 
 crops of 247 
 
 description of 230 
 
 economic materials of • 240 
 
 elevations of 232 
 
 fossil leaves from 198 
 
 geological features of 232 
 
 lands of Mayfield creek 148 
 
 lignite of 121 
 
 oak and hickory soils of 168 
 
 ochreous clays of 117 
 
 sands and sand ridges of 131, 244 
 
 ujdand barrens of 163, 165 
 
 alley lands of 155 
 
 wells and water of 55, 1.36, 137 
 
 Baltimore, gravel conglomerate of 62, 290, 292 
 
 Bandana, analysis of lands from 155. 
 
 Bai’ber’s Landing, sandstone of 27 
 
 Avells of 277 
 
 Barlow, analysis of soil from 168 
 
 elevation of 232 
 
 Barnum, Dr., analysis of water by 135 
 
 Barrens region of Ballard county . • 246. 
 
330 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Barrens region of Calloway county 
 
 of Graves county 
 
 of Marshall county 
 
 of the Purchase, description of 163, 
 
 soil and timber 246, 
 
 Bayou de Cliien and Obion, former union of 
 
 bottom lands of 10, 147, 213, 
 
 drainage basin of 
 
 Indian mounds of 
 
 Bee creek, bluff of 
 
 Bell City, description and analyses of clays from 57, 104, 107, 
 
 Benton, gypsum and clays near 128, 
 
 section of well 
 
 Big Chain of Tennessee river 
 
 Big Cut, south of Wingo 
 
 Birmingham, bluffs opposite : 
 
 bluisli clays of 76, 276, 
 
 timber growth of 
 
 Black clay at Caledonia 
 
 or soapstone, description of 110, 
 
 clays near Milburn 
 
 fire-clays of Calloway county 
 
 Black jack oak Barrens 
 
 Blandville, analyses of upland soils from 
 
 description and analyses of clays from 105, 107, 
 
 gravel bed of 
 
 lignite near 48, 105, 121, 235 
 
 Blood river bottom lands 
 
 Blue clays in wells near Sassafras ridge 
 
 of Cretaceous 
 
 Port Hudson group 73, 
 
 Blue micaceous clay from Highland - 115, 
 
 Paducah 115, 
 
 Blnflf at Backusburg 
 
 Caledonia 
 
 Columbus 46, 
 
 Fort Hindman 
 
 Hickman, section of 38, 98, 
 
 Reelfoot lake 
 
 Wickliffe, section of 
 
 Blufi lignite, division of the Tertiary 37, 
 
 of the Mississippi and Ohio, ancient mounds of 
 
 or Cane Hills region 157, 160, 209, 225, 228, 229, 
 
 Bluff spring, analysis of 
 
 Bluffs of Bee creek, showing strata 
 
 Clark’s river 
 
 Loess formation 
 
 317 
 
 298 
 
 282 
 
 167 
 
 261 
 
 15 
 
 230 
 
 15 
 
 176 
 
 307 
 
 296 
 
 277 
 
 272 
 
 268 
 
 292 
 
 20 
 
 280 
 
 144 
 
 253 
 
 249 
 
 48 
 
 108 
 
 165 
 
 168 
 
 241 
 
 238 
 
 241 
 
 320 
 
 137 
 
 250 
 
 255 
 
 116 
 
 116 
 
 308 
 
 46 
 
 100 
 
 303 
 
 205 
 
 39 
 
 48 
 
 41 
 
 173 
 
 246 
 
 307 
 
 307 
 
 263 
 
 77 
 
INDEX. 
 
 831 
 
 Blufls of the Mississijipi, erosion of 
 
 Boaz, clay and fossil loaves from 114, lltt, 198, 
 
 section of railroad cut near 
 
 Bo^ ore gravel 246, 
 
 Border region of the Purchase . 
 
 Bored well of Paducah 
 
 Bottom lands of Bayou de Cliien 
 Blood river . . 
 Clanton creek . 
 
 Clark’s river 147, 300, 
 
 Mayfield creek 147, 244, 
 
 Pryor’s creek 
 
 Shannon creek 
 
 the Mississippi 142, 212, 229, 
 
 Ohio 141, 143, 
 
 Tennessee 143 , 
 
 tVest Fork of Mayfield creek 
 
 Boydsville, gravel beds of 
 
 Bradshaw, Albert, soil and well of 155, 
 
 W. F., assistance received from 
 
 Brandon’s mill, decomposed chert of 
 
 siliceous earth of 
 
 Brewer’s old mill, clays near 
 
 Brick, common, front building, pressed and fire, manufacture of 86, 
 
 Briensburg, clay near 
 
 elevation of 
 
 wells of 
 
 Brown coal, analysis of 
 
 region of 119, 
 
 Brown loam, description of 57, 
 
 formation, general description 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 Calloway county 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 Graves county 
 
 Hickman county 224, 
 
 McCracken county 
 
 Marshall county 
 
 permeated by silt seams 
 
 upper and lower beds 
 
 Brown, W. E., lands of 145, 
 
 limestone on place of 31 , 
 
 Bryant, C. W., relic from 
 
 Bryant, Mr., sandstone on place of 
 
 Buckshot soils 
 
 Building material made of clay 
 
 Burradel, F. N., clay on place of 57, 106, 107, 275, 
 
 Burns, Mrs. R., sandstone with footprints on place of 
 
 Byers, Mr., sand- rocks on place of 24, 248, 
 
 12 
 
 294 
 
 67 
 
 282 
 
 18 
 
 320 
 
 147 
 
 320 
 
 244 
 
 320 
 
 300 
 
 301 
 
 150 
 
 244 
 
 243 
 
 319 
 
 245 
 
 289 
 
 253 
 
 321 
 
 132 
 
 27 
 
 277 
 
 , 87 
 
 275 
 
 265 
 
 135 
 
 122 
 
 240 
 
 , 80 
 
 17 
 
 240 
 
 311 
 
 210 
 
 275 
 
 228 
 
 255 
 
 275 
 
 81 
 
 81 
 
 319 
 
 303 
 
 176 
 
 249 
 
 142 
 
 85 
 
 278 
 
 187 
 
 325 
 
332 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 C. 
 
 Calciferous formation 
 
 Caledonia bluffs 
 
 Caledonia, greensand in bluffs of 
 
 Calloway county, agricultural features of 
 
 analyses of clay from 
 
 analyses of silicious earths of . . . 
 
 analysis of soil from 
 
 antiquities of 
 
 Barrens of 
 
 black clays of 
 
 clays of 
 
 clays, comparison with German clay 
 
 Coalings of 
 
 description of 
 
 economic features 
 
 flatwoods region of 
 
 geology of 
 
 iron ores of 
 
 ochreous clay of 
 
 polishing material of 
 
 river valley lands 
 
 sands of 
 
 timbered lands of 
 
 wells of 
 
 Calvert City, wells and limestone of 
 
 Campbell, T. D., clay from farm of 
 
 Cane creek, description and analysis of clay from. . . 
 
 Cane Hills of Ballard county 
 
 of P’ulton county 
 
 of Hickman county 
 
 of the Mississippi bluffs 
 
 timber growth of 
 
 Carboniferous formation 
 
 Carlisle county 
 
 Carter’s mill, elevation of 
 
 Cayce station, wells of 
 
 C. C. ware, description of 
 
 Cement gravel, uses of 
 
 Chains of the Tennessee river 
 
 Chalk Banks, clays of 
 
 description of 
 
 Indian mounds on 
 
 fossil fruit from 
 
 Chalybeate springs, occurrence of 
 
 Chalybeate water in well at Paducah 
 
 Character of the Purchase clays 
 
 18 
 
 45, 233 
 
 129, 2.53 
 
 310 
 
 102, 107 
 
 133 
 
 . 145, 148, 151, 101, 109 
 
 195 
 
 165 
 
 108 , no 
 
 312 
 
 112 
 
 160 
 
 301 
 
 312 
 
 160, 161 
 
 302 
 
 123, 314 
 
 118 
 
 132 
 
 151 
 
 129, 316 
 
 169 
 
 134 
 
 135, 268 
 
 105, 107 
 
 105, 1C7 
 
 216 
 
 210 
 
 223, 228 
 
 156, 157, 160 
 
 1.58, 246 
 
 31 
 
 5 
 
 286 
 
 208 
 
 94 
 
 66 
 
 268 
 
 100, 219, 225 
 
 53, 54 
 
 178 
 
 198 
 
 137, 214 
 
 135 
 
 96 
 
INDEX. 
 
 33:^ 
 
 Chert debris on Tennessee river hills 
 
 Chert, decomposed siliceous 
 
 Chester beds of Paducah bored well 
 
 Chester sandstone 
 
 Chestnut creek, mounds near mouth of 
 
 Chickasaw Rliifl’, sandstone and concretions from . . 
 
 China-ware, description of 
 
 rcqnirements for 
 
 Cincinnati rocks of Illinois 
 
 Cisterns in use 
 
 Claiborne division of Tertiary 
 
 Clanton creek 
 
 Clark’s river, bottom lands of 
 
 drainage basin 
 
 drainage basin of East and West Forks 
 
 mounds on bluffs of 
 
 Tertiary strata of 
 
 valley, altitude of 
 
 description of 
 
 land, analysis of 
 
 Port Hudson beds of 
 
 Clays, analyses of 
 
 articles manufactured from 
 
 bluff of Missouri 
 
 comparative analyses of 
 
 derived from 
 
 descriptions, classes and uses of 
 
 from Armstrong’s place 
 
 Arnett’s, on Panther creek 
 
 Backusburg 
 
 Bell City 
 
 Benton 
 
 Birmingham ' 
 
 Burradell’s place 
 
 Cypress creek P. O 
 
 Dr. Eoof’s place 
 
 five miles south of Blandville 
 
 Fort Jefferson 
 
 Geo. Ryan’s place 
 
 Highland 
 
 i Howard’s pottery 
 
 Hough’s (W. J.) place 
 
 Mahan’s 
 
 Moore’s mill 
 
 Mrs. Annie Grief’s 
 
 Mrs. Houser’s place 
 
 Munier’s place 
 
 30:i 
 
 . ... 27, 29, 30, 132 
 
 322 
 
 20, 27 
 
 192 
 
 40, 21G 
 
 94 
 
 89 
 
 18 
 
 135, 13G 
 
 37 
 
 14, 244 
 
 147, 300, 320 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 192 
 
 287 
 
 9 
 
 G4, 153, 247, 284, 300 
 
 . 155 
 
 7G 
 
 101 
 
 85 
 
 39 
 
 112 
 
 84 
 
 . ... 84, 85, 9G, 97 
 
 257, 278 
 
 104, 107 
 
 103 
 
 104, 107, 29G 
 
 277 
 
 76 
 
 . . 108, 107, 275, 278 
 
 278 
 
 258 
 
 105, 107 
 
 104, 107 
 
 106, 107 
 
 115, 116, 279 
 
 104, 107 
 
 258 
 
 109, 314 
 
 105, 107 
 
 258 
 
 296 
 
 106, 107, 257 
 
334 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Clays from near Blandville ■ 105, 
 
 near Laketon 105, 
 
 Paducah 115, 116, 
 
 Pittman’s bank, near Lynnville 104, 107, 
 
 Pugh’s place . . 106, 107, 275, 
 
 Rufus Morris’ place 102, 107, 108, 110, 314, 
 
 Russell’s pottery 103, 107, 
 
 Scale 275, 
 
 Sharp 
 
 three miles east of Blandville 106, 
 
 Wickliffe 104, 
 
 Wyatt’s school-house 103, 107, 112, 
 
 German glass pot 110, 
 
 glauconitic occurrence of 
 
 method of manufacture of ware of 
 
 near Lewisburg 
 
 near Lovelaceville 
 
 near Pryorsburg 
 
 ochreous yellow 43, 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 Calloway county 102, 107, 
 
 Chalk Banks 100, 
 
 Clark’s river bluffs 
 
 Columbus bluffs 100, 
 
 Fulton county 39, 98, 100, 
 
 Graves county 104, 107, 114, 116, 
 
 Hickman bluffs 98, 100, 
 
 Hickman county 100, 
 
 Marshall county 114, 116, 
 
 McCracken county 114, 116, 
 
 Panther creek 
 
 the Cretaceous 32, 108, 270, 
 
 Hickman group 39, 98, 100, 
 
 Lagrange 52, 254, 289, 
 
 Lignitic 41, 126, 
 
 Port Hudson 108, 
 
 Tertiary , 272, 251, 
 
 Quaternary 273, 
 
 * on Cane creek 105, 
 
 potteries established 
 
 refractory, description of 97, 100, 
 
 remarks of Dr. Langenbeck regarding 97, 103, 
 
 slip for glazing, composition of 
 
 unrefractory, description of . 
 
 Claystone, bed and leaves of 
 
 of Ballard county .... 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 107 
 
 107 
 
 257 
 
 295 
 
 278 
 
 315 
 
 314 
 
 279 
 
 277 
 
 107 
 
 107 
 
 308 
 
 112 
 
 129 
 
 86 
 
 258 
 
 258 
 
 295 
 
 116 
 
 241 
 
 312 
 
 225 
 
 44 
 
 225 
 
 214 
 
 294 
 
 214 
 
 225 
 
 277 
 
 256 
 
 295 
 
 305 
 
 214 
 
 .308 
 
 108 
 
 255 
 
 307 
 
 275 
 
 107 
 
 96 
 
 108 
 
 104 
 
 91 
 
 112 
 
 50 
 
 215 
 
 215 
 
INDEX. 
 
 335 
 
 Claystone of Ilickmnn bhifTs . . . 
 
 Tortiiiry 
 
 Clear creek limestone, of Illinois . . 
 Clear lake ridge, analysis of soil of . 
 Hear Spring P. ()., gravel beds of • . 
 
 Clinton, sandstone near 
 
 wells of 
 
 Clover, Ja]>an, occurrence of ... . 
 Cbal, brown or lignite, analyses of . . 
 
 region of . . . 
 Coalings, analysis of upland soil of . 
 
 iron ores of 
 
 character of 
 
 Coldwatcr, clays near 
 
 Columbus Rlufis 
 
 clays, fossil leaves of . . 
 clays of ......... 
 
 injury to by the river . . 
 Lagrange clays of ... . 
 Loe.ss or silt in bluffs of 
 Port Hudson beds of . . 
 
 sands of 
 
 section of bluff at . . . 
 Combs, Nick, spring on j)lace of . . 
 Composition (see Analysis). 
 
 Concord, ferruginous sandstone of . 
 
 Conglomerate of gravel 
 
 Cotton, cultivation of 
 
 Counties, descriptions of 
 
 County of Ballard, description of . . 
 
 Calloway, description of • 
 Carlisle, reference to . . . 
 Fulton, description of . . 
 Graves, description of . . 
 Hickman, description of • 
 Marshall, description of . 
 McCracken, description of 
 Counties of the Purchase, history of 
 Cox, Mr., iron ores on place of . . . 
 
 Crawiishy bottom lands 
 
 lands of the Barrens . . . 
 
 Flatvvoods . . 
 
 Cretaceous formation 
 
 clays of ' . . . 
 sands of . . . 
 thickness of 
 wells of ... 
 
 98 
 
 38 
 
 21 
 
 .... 144 , 145 
 
 290 
 
 238 
 
 221 
 
 140 
 
 .122 
 
 119 
 
 169 
 
 123 , 314 
 
 317 
 
 308 
 
 46 , 227 
 
 100 
 
 100 , 102 , 112 , 225 
 
 82 
 
 53 
 
 . . 73 
 
 54 , 131 
 46 , 218 
 . . 137 
 
 309 
 
 57 , 61 , 273 , 292 , 310 
 . 140 , 212 , 229 , 300 
 
 199 
 
 230 
 
 301 
 
 5 
 
 201 
 
 , 285 
 
 217 
 
 265 
 
 247 
 
 125 , 280 
 
 . . 77 , 146 
 
 164 
 
 160 
 
 32 , 250 , 270 , 287 , 305 , 324 
 
 32 , 33 , 108 
 
 33 , 129 
 
 325 
 
 134 
 
336 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cromwell, Q. A., lignite on place ot . . 
 
 Crops ot the Purchase 
 
 Crowley’s ridge 
 
 Cuba, elevation of 
 
 wells of 
 
 Cypress creek, drainage basin of . . . . 
 
 lands and timber of . . . 
 post-office, clay near . . . 
 section and limestone . . 
 Cypress knees in Port Hudson formation 
 Crystals of quartz 
 
 288 
 
 212, 229, 247, 281, 299, 316 
 
 12 
 
 286 
 
 136 
 
 13 
 
 285 
 
 278 
 
 35, 303 
 
 73, 225 
 
 60 
 
 D. 
 
 Decoration of pottery 
 
 Deposition of the gravel 
 
 Description of Ballard county 
 
 Calloway county 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 Graves county 
 
 « 
 
 Hickman county 
 
 McCracken county .... 
 
 Marshall county 
 
 the lands of the Purchase . 
 Devonian formation, description of ... . 
 Drainage, basin of Bayou de Chien . . . 
 
 Clark’s river 
 
 Cypress creek 
 
 Mayfield creek .... 
 Mississippi river . . . 
 
 Obion creek 
 
 Ohio river 
 
 Tennessee river .... 
 Drainage, streams and basins, areas, etc . . 
 Drain pipes, method of manufacture . . . 
 
 Drift, character and area of 
 
 Dublin, elevation of 
 
 gravel beds of 
 
 E. 
 
 Earthenware, methods of manufacture of . 
 
 requirements for 
 
 Earth, siliceous 
 
 Earthworks, near Hickman 
 
 Wickliffe 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 Calloway county . . i . . 
 Fulton county 
 
 . ... 95 
 .... 67 
 .... 230 
 . . . . .301 
 .... 201 
 .... 285 
 . ... 217 
 . ... 247 
 .... 265 
 . ... 139 
 . ... 22 
 . ... 15 
 . . 13, 266 
 . ... 13 
 . ... 14 
 . ... 14 
 . ... 15 
 . ... 14 
 . ... 13 
 . ... 13 
 . ... 96 
 63, 65, 67 
 . ... 286 
 . . . . 29C 
 
 91 
 
 89 
 
 . 27, 29, 30, 56, 269 
 
 174 
 
 184 
 
 180 
 
 195 
 
 174 
 
INDKX. 
 
 337 
 
 Earthworks of Graves county 195 
 
 Hickman county 179 
 
 McCracken county 191 
 
 Marshall county . 192 
 
 on Chalk bluffs 179 
 
 * Punckney Bend road 181 
 
 Sandy creek 180 
 
 East Fork of Clark’s river and lands of 14, 148, 154 
 
 Economic features of Ballard county 240 
 
 Calloway county 312 
 
 Fulton county 213 
 
 Graves county 293 
 
 Hickman county 225 
 
 McCracken county 256 
 
 Marshall county 277 
 
 Economic Geology, chapter on 84 
 
 Eden’s Hill, section of strata 252 
 
 Elevations in Ballard county 232 
 
 Calloway county 301 
 
 Fulton county 203 
 
 Graves county 286 
 
 McCracken county 248 
 
 Marshall county 265 
 
 Elevation of the country 8 
 
 of the surface at beginning of drift 65 
 
 plateaus of 11 
 
 Embayment basin 18, 31 
 
 Encaustic tile, methods of manufacture of 95 
 
 Eocene division of Tertiary 37 
 
 Eutaw division of Cretaceous 32 
 
 P. 
 
 Facilities for transportation 16 
 
 Farley, J. C., samples of bored well 321 
 
 Farmington, elevation of 286 
 
 Faults in rocks at mouth of Cumberland 19 
 
 head of embayment region 321 
 
 Feliciana, gravel beds of 289 
 
 Ferruginous sandstone of Hickman county 222 
 
 Fire-brick material, and method of manufacture of 87 
 
 Fire-clays, analyses and description of 101, 107 
 
 of Ballard county 102, 107, 242 
 
 Callo\Yay county 102, 107 
 
 Columbus and Chalk Banks 101 
 
 Graves county 102 , 107 
 
 Hickman county 101 
 
 McCracken county 102, 107 
 
 GEOL. SUR. — 22. 
 
338 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 Fire-clays of Marshall county 102, 107 
 
 Flats, oak and hickory, soils of I54 
 
 of the Ohio and Clark’s rivers 63, 245 
 
 Flatwoods of Calloway county 317 
 
 Marshall county 266, 282 
 
 the uplands, description 160, 163, 266", 317 
 
 underlaid by black clay . . 253 
 
 Flint of subcarboniferous formation 267 
 
 Flint Spring P. 0., clays near 307 
 
 Flournoy, W. J., iron ores and quartzite on place of ... 23, 124, 249, 253, 259 
 
 Footprints in sandstone near Wickliffe 187 
 
 Fort Hindman 31, 303 
 
 Fort Jefferson, bluffs of 48, 233. 
 
 description and analyses of clays from 104, 107 
 
 lignite of 
 
 ocherous clay near 117 
 
 Fossil leaves, determinations made by 6 
 
 enumeration of beds of 52 
 
 in clay at Boaz 56, 114, 294 
 
 ■ claystone, Ballard county 50 
 
 Columbus clays 100 
 
 Fulton county 209 
 
 of Tertiary, determination of 49 
 
 the Lagrange clays 52 
 
 Fossils of Paducah bored well 325 
 
 Tertiary 44, 45, 251, 252 
 
 Foster, 0. T., clay on place of ^ 307 
 
 Front building brick, method of manufacture 86. 
 
 Front-land of the Mississippi bottom 141 
 
 Fulton, clay near 216 
 
 county, agricultural features of 210 
 
 alluvial and bottom lands of 142, 145 
 
 analyses of sandstones 40 
 
 antiquities of • • 173 
 
 cane hills or bluff lands of 158 
 
 clays of 98, 100 
 
 description of 201 , 216 
 
 economic features of 213 
 
 geological features of 204 
 
 oak and hickory lands of 168 
 
 wells of 136 
 
 G. 
 
 Galena in Indian mounds 183, 187 
 
 occurrence of 127 
 
 Gas retorts, methods of manufacture of 88 
 
 Geological features of Ballard county 232 
 
INDEX. 
 
 
 GeoloRical features of Calloway county 302 
 
 Fulton county 204 
 
 Graves county 287 
 
 Hickman county 218 
 
 McCracken county 248 
 
 Marshall county 266 
 
 the Purchase region 17 
 
 formations, alluvium or recent 17, 82 
 
 , brown loam 17, 57, 80, 273, 289, 311 
 
 j Calciferous 18 
 
 J Chester 19, 217, 322 
 
 Clear creek 18 
 
 Cretaceous 18 32, 74, 250, 270, 287, 305, 324 
 
 Carboniferous 31 
 
 Devonian 18, 22 
 
 Hickman 18 
 
 Keokuk ’326 
 
 Lagrange 17, 51, 52, 100, 253, 288, 308 
 
 Lignitic 17, 41, 126, 272, 287 
 
 Loess . 17, 57, 77 
 
 Lower Silurian 18, 29 
 
 Lower Subcarbon iferous 18 
 
 Miocene 52 
 
 Mountain limestone 322 
 
 Onandaga 19, 22, 60, 61, 248 
 
 Paleozoic 18 
 
 Porter’s creek 18, 41, 272, 287, 307 
 
 Port Hudson . . 17, 39, 57, 59, 73, 255, 276, 312, 324 
 
 Potsdam 18 
 
 Quaternary 17, 57, 273, 289, 308, 324 
 
 Kipley 18, 305 
 
 Siliceous 18, 267 
 
 St. Louis 19, 322 
 
 Stratified drift 17, 57, 63, 309 
 
 Subcarboniferous 18, 26, 267, 303, 321 
 
 Tertiary 17, 36, 252, 272, 287, 306, 324 
 
 Trenton 18 
 
 W averly 29 
 
 Geological Survey of United States, assistance from 198 
 
 Geology, border region of the embayment 18 
 
 economic, chapter on (also see Counties) 84 
 
 Paleozoic shelf 20 
 
 Georgia, Cretaceous belt of 32 
 
 German glass-pot clays 102, 110, 112 
 
 Gholson, analysis of soil from place of 168 
 
 Gilbertsville, limestone near 149 
 
 Glazing pottery, theory of 93 
 
340 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 _ Grand Chain, limestones of 232, 325 
 
 magnetite of 125 
 
 of the Ohio 36 
 
 Tennessee river 19, 28 
 
 Gravel beds, divisions of 58 
 
 of Ballard county 238 
 
 Calloway county 309 
 
 Fulton county 208 
 
 Graves county 289 
 
 Hickman county 222 
 
 McCracken county 254 
 
 Marshall county 273 
 
 Tennessee river 58 
 
 thicknesses of 254 
 
 Gravel, cement, uses of 66 
 
 conglomerate 57, 61, 310 
 
 deposits, description of 273, 290 
 
 in Mississippi bottom 67 
 
 of ore region 60 
 
 recent deposit near Paducah 83, 256, 276 
 
 relative elevations in Ballard county 239 
 
 use of 227, 243, 259 
 
 varying depths of 67 
 
 Graves county, agricultural features 297 
 
 antiquities of 195 
 
 clays of, description and analyses of 104, 107, 294 
 
 description of 285 
 
 elevations in 286 
 
 fossil leaves from 198 
 
 geologic features 287 
 
 iron ores of - 125, 297 
 
 lignite of 121 
 
 polishing material of 131, 295 
 
 silicious earths of 133 
 
 unrefractory clays from 114, 116 
 
 upland Barrens of 163 
 
 wells of 136 
 
 Graves, Dr. Wm., earthworks on place of 182 
 
 Gray, H. S., clay from place of 114, 116, 279 
 
 Greensand or glauconite, occurrence and analysis of 46, 129, 233 
 
 Grey silt of Ballard county 239 
 
 Fulton county 209 
 
 Hickman county 223 
 
 or bluff region description 157, 160 
 
 loess formation — see Geology. 
 
 Grief, Mrs. Anne, clay on place of 258 
 
 Guill Hill, clay from 114, 116 
 
INDEX. 
 
 341 
 
 Gypsum in clay 113 , 258 
 
 in lignite 120 
 
 occurrence of 128, 259 
 
 use of on land 212 
 
 H. 
 
 Hack lines IG 
 
 Haildock’s ferry, figures on rock at 194 
 
 Hard Money, clay in wells of 252 
 
 gravel, beds of 290 
 
 iron ores near 125, 297 
 
 wells of 288 
 
 Harkless Brothers, ocherous clay on place of 117, 241 
 
 Harris Grove, clay in well of 308 
 
 Harvey, clay in well near 275 
 
 Hazelwood, barrens soil near 165, 246 
 
 Heilprin, Prof., fossils determined by 45 
 
 Hematite, occurrence of 259, 270, 297 
 
 Hickman, antiquities near 173 
 
 bluffs, clays of 98, 100, 214 
 
 bluffs, section of 38, 205 
 
 county, agricultural features of 227 
 
 antiquities of 178 
 
 bottom lands of 142 
 
 clays, description and analyses of 101, 102, 225 
 
 clays, comparison with German clay 112 
 
 description of 217, 230 
 
 economic features 225 
 
 fossil fruit from 198 
 
 geological features of 218 
 
 sands of 131 , 227 
 
 uplands of 229 
 
 wells 136 
 
 division of Tertiary 18, 37, 205 
 
 injury to by the river 82 
 
 Loess or silt in bluffs of 78 
 
 Hico, cretaceous clay and sand of 306 
 
 wells of 135 
 
 Highland, cherty hills of 303 
 
 clays from 115, 116, 279 
 
 section of bluff" 75, 276 
 
 vivianite in clays of 75, 115, 127, 312 
 
 High-water points 286 
 
 Hinkleville, barrens sand of 246 
 
 elevation of 232 
 
 gravel bed of . 238 
 
 Hinson, W. F., mounds on place of 192 
 
342 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 History of the 'purchase of “ Jackson’s Purchase ” 7 
 
 Hogancamp, ochreous clay on place of 118 
 
 Hough, W. J., gypseous clay from place of 113, 116, 128 , 258 , 259 
 
 Houser, Mrs., clay on place of 296 
 
 Howard’s pottery, description and analysis of clays from . . .57, 104, 107, 296 
 Humphrey’s creek 14 
 
 I. 
 
 Indian mounds and fortifications, chapter on 173 
 
 Indurated sandy clay 42, 46 
 
 Iron furnace • 123 
 
 of later gravel 124 
 
 ore of ore region gravel 60, 123 
 
 associated with quartzite 123, 124 
 
 magnetic 125 
 
 description and analyses of 122, 124 
 
 of Calloway county 314 
 
 Graves county 125, 297 
 
 McCracken county 124, 259 
 
 Marshall county 125, 280 
 
 the Coalings 123 
 
 Iron phosphate or vivianite 127 
 
 Ironstone clay, occurrence of 125 
 
 ware, description and requirements for 89, 94 
 
 J. 
 
 Jackson division of Tertiary 37 
 
 Gen. Andrew, appointed Indian Commissioner 7 
 
 Japan clover, occurrence of 140 
 
 Jonathan creek, lands on . 283 
 
 mounds on 192 
 
 Jones, W. J., clay and clay iron-stone from place of 113, 116, 125, 259 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaler P. O., elevation of 286 
 
 Kaolinite, composition of 110 
 
 Keokuk formation of Grand Chain 326 
 
 Kerr, W. J., description of old fortification by 179 
 
 Kilgore spring, analysis of water of 138 
 
 L. 
 
 Lagrange formation 
 
 clays of . . . ■. 
 fossil leaves of . 
 material of . . . 
 of Ballard county 
 
 17, 37, 47, 53, 100, 253, 288, .'’OP 
 
 100, 216, 226 
 
 .52, 56, 198 
 
 . 53 
 
 236 
 
INDEX. 
 
 343 
 
 Lagrange formation of Callo\7ay county 308 
 
 Fulton county 207 
 
 Graves county . .. 288 
 
 Hickman county . ^ 219 
 
 McCracken county ............... 2-53 
 
 section showing cross lamination 54 
 
 wells of 136 
 
 Liikes of the river bottoms 143 
 
 Laketon, clays near . . . 105, 107, 236 
 
 Indian earthworks and mounds near .180 
 
 sands of' 131 
 
 yellow ochre of ... 241 
 
 Lands, description of the Purchase region 139 
 
 of Ballard county . 144, 148, 154, 159, 163, 169, 243 
 
 Blood river bottom 320 
 
 Calloway county , 144, 148, 160, 164, 169, 316 
 
 Clark’s river valley and bottom ............. 148, 284, 320 
 
 Fulton county . . 144, 153, 157, 169, 210 
 
 Graves county 164, 297 
 
 Hickman county 147, 159, 227 
 
 Jonathan creek 283 
 
 McCracken county 164, 164, 169, 260 
 
 Marshall county 148, 164, 160, 280 
 
 Mayfield creek . 147, 214 
 
 oak and hickory uplands 167 
 
 Shannon creek 320 
 
 the Bayou de Chien 148 
 
 Barrens region 163 
 
 Cane Hills region 157, 246 , 
 
 Flatwoods 160, 317 
 
 Mississippi bottom 141 
 
 Ohio bottom and valley 143, 152, 243, 245 
 
 Obion bottom 148 
 
 Tennessee river valley and bottoms 143, 150, 319 
 
 Langenbeck, Dr. Karl, remarks of ..... 97, 103, 109 
 
 Laredo, lignite of .... 119 
 
 Lawton’s bluff 149 
 
 Lead ore, occurrence of 127 
 
 Leaves fossil, enumeration of localities . . , . ... 43 . 52 
 
 from clay at Boaz 114 
 
 Wickliffe and Boaz, description of 198 
 
 identification of 49 
 
 in Columbus clays 100 
 
 of Ballard county 235 
 
 Graves county 198 , 288 , 294 
 
 Tennessee 196 
 
 the Lagrange clays 52 
 
344 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Leaves, fossil, sketch of 
 
 
 
 
 . 197- 
 
 Lespedoza striata, occurrence of 
 
 
 
 
 . 140 
 
 Lesquereux, Prof., leaves described by 
 
 
 
 
 . 196 
 
 Letter of transmittal . . . . 
 
 
 
 
 , 5 
 
 Lewisburg, clay near 
 
 
 
 
 , 258. 
 
 Lignite, analyses of 
 
 
 
 
 . 122 
 
 at Blandville .... o .... 
 
 
 
 . 48, 
 
 121 
 
 Wickliffe 
 
 
 
 • 47, 
 
 120' 
 
 beds 
 
 
 
 
 , 42 
 
 in Ballard county 
 
 ... 47, 
 
 120, 
 
 233, 
 
 240 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 
 
 
 . 209 
 
 Graves county 
 
 43, 121, 
 
 105, 
 
 288, 
 
 293 
 
 of Columbus Bluffs, Hickman county 
 
 
 
 
 219 
 
 Kentucky differs from that of other States . . 
 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 Panther creek 
 
 
 43, 
 
 105, 
 
 121 
 
 region of 
 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 uses of 
 
 
 
 
 241 
 
 Lignitic clays 
 
 . . 108, 
 
 126, 
 
 234, 
 
 242 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 
 
 234, 
 
 242 
 
 division of Tertiary 
 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 formation, general description of 
 
 
 
 .17, 
 
 126 
 
 fossil leaves from 
 
 
 
 
 198 
 
 wells of 
 
 
 
 
 136. 
 
 material of . . 
 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 
 
 
 233 
 
 Calloway county 
 
 
 
 
 306 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 
 . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 207 
 
 Graves county . 
 
 
 105, 
 
 288, 
 
 293 
 
 Hickman county 
 
 
 
 
 219 
 
 Marshall county . 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 
 
 272 
 
 McCracken county . . ..... 
 
 
 
 
 251 
 
 thickness and section of ....... 
 
 > 0 C » 0 
 
 « . . 
 
 . 4L 
 
 , 42 
 
 peat bed . . 
 
 
 
 
 234 
 
 uses of . 
 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 Lilley, Charles, reference to .............. 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 
 . . . 
 
 276 
 
 Lime sinks ..................... . 
 
 
 
 . . . 
 
 269 
 
 Limestone, subcarboniferous .............. 
 
 . 28, 31, 
 
 14D, 
 
 267, 
 
 303 
 
 Limonite ores, analysis of ............... . 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 124 
 
 Little Chain of the Ohio ................ 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 27 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 
 
 
 268 
 
 Little Cypress P. 0., section near 
 
 
 
 
 271 
 
 Mayfield creek, clay from 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 
 106, 
 
 107 
 
 Livingston county, gravel hills 
 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 geology .............. 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 . . . 
 
 19 
 
 Loam, brown, description of 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 80 
 
 Locust Grove, gravel beds of . . . 
 
 . . . . . 
 
 . . 
 
 
 309 
 
 L'kss formntion, characteristics and description of . . . . 
 
 
 
 , 57, 
 
 77 
 
INDEX. 
 
 845 
 
 Loess formation of Ballard county 239 
 
 Fulton county 209 
 
 Hickman county 223 
 
 Loess or grey silt, analysis of 79 
 
 shells 6, 223 
 
 Louirinna, Port Hudson beds of 73 
 
 Lovelaceville, elevation of 232 
 
 clays near 237 , 258 
 
 gravel bed of 238 
 
 Lower and upper loam beds 81 
 
 Silurian 18 
 
 Lowes’ P. O., clays near 296 
 
 Lowlands, elevation of 9 
 
 of IMcCracken county 262 
 
 Lumsford, Lewis, mounds on place of 176 
 
 Lyell’s Mill, Tertiary strata near 287 
 
 Lynnville, description and analysis of clays near 104 , 107 , 295 
 
 elevation of 286 
 
 gravel beds of 289 
 
 wells 136 
 
 M. 
 
 McChristian, deep well on place of . . . , 33 , 
 
 McClure, iron ore on place of 125, 
 
 McCracken county, agricultural features of 
 
 analyses of clays and soils from 100, 107, 
 
 antiquities of 
 
 bottom lands of 
 
 chalybeate water of . 
 
 clay from 106, 
 
 description of 
 
 economic features . 
 
 geological features .... 
 
 iron ores of 124, 
 
 ochreous clay of 
 
 river valley lands of 
 
 timbered soils from 
 
 unrefractory clays of 
 
 upland Barrens of 163, 
 
 vivianite of 
 
 wells of • • 252, 
 
 MeCutchen, mounds on place of 
 
 McGee spring, analysis of water of . 
 
 McLeod’s bluflf, mounds of 
 
 silt of 
 
 Magnetite, occurrence of 
 
 Mahan, F. H., clay from place of 109, 306, 
 
 305 
 
 297 
 
 260 
 
 170 
 
 191 
 
 143 
 
 135 
 
 107 
 
 247 
 
 256 
 
 253 
 
 259- 
 
 118 
 
 152 
 
 169 
 
 113 
 
 165 
 
 127 
 
 253 
 
 191 
 
 138 
 
 178 
 
 223 
 
 125 
 
 313. 
 
346 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Mahan, F. H., sand concretions and gravel conglomerate on place of . . 309, 
 
 “ volcano ” on place of 62, 309, 
 
 Mahon spring, analysis of water of . 
 
 Mail routes ' o , 
 
 Majolica ware, description of „ . 
 
 Manufacture of common brick , 
 
 drain pipe . . . . 
 
 earthenware 
 
 encaustic tile , 
 
 fire-brick . , 
 
 front building brick 
 
 gas retorts . . . 
 
 ornamental terra-cotta 
 
 porcelain 
 
 pottery r . . . 
 
 stone-ware 
 
 terra-cotta lumber 
 
 tile 
 
 white-ware 
 
 Marshall county, agricultural features : 
 
 antiquities of 
 
 bottom lands of 
 
 clay from 106, 107, 
 
 description of 
 
 economic features of 
 
 flatwoods soils of 
 
 geologic features 
 
 iron ores of 
 
 polishing material of ’ 
 
 river valley lands . 
 
 sands of 
 
 upland Barrens of 
 
 valley soil of 
 
 vivianite of 
 
 wells of 134, 136, 
 
 Massac county. 111., Cretaceous clay in 
 
 creek 
 
 P. O., sand-rocks near 
 
 wells of 
 
 Material, polishing or siliceous earth 27, 29, 132, 
 
 Maxon’s mill, black clay in well of 
 
 Mayfield creek, blufifs of 14, 15, 
 
 bottom lands 147, 
 
 breaks, soil and timber 244, 
 
 clay in bluffs of 
 
 drainage basin 14, 
 
 earthworks south of 
 
 310 
 
 310 
 
 138 
 
 16 
 
 91 
 
 86 
 
 96 
 
 91 
 
 96 
 
 87 
 
 86 
 
 88 
 
 95 
 
 93 
 
 89 
 
 90 
 
 87 
 
 96 
 
 93 
 
 280 
 
 192 
 
 148 
 
 116 
 
 265 
 
 277 
 
 161 
 
 266 
 
 125 
 
 132 
 
 151 
 
 129 
 
 163 
 
 155 
 
 127 
 
 276 
 
 36 
 
 14 
 
 23 
 
 253 
 
 133 
 
 253 
 
 254 
 
 300 
 
 261 
 
 258 
 
 286 
 
 183 
 
INDEX. 
 
 347 
 
 Mayfield creek, elevation of bottom lands 
 \Vest Fork, timber growth 
 
 width of 
 
 elevation of 
 
 gravel beds 
 
 wells of 136, 
 
 Memphis, Tenn., Loess, shells of 
 
 Micaceous clay loam bed 
 
 clays of cretaceous 
 
 sandstones 44 , 
 
 Milburn, clays of . . . 48, 
 
 elevation of 
 
 Milk sickness, test of water for 
 
 Millstone Hill of Marshall county 
 
 Minerals of Fulton county 
 
 Miocene formation 
 
 Mississippi, cretaceous belt of 
 
 river, alluvial formation 
 
 lands 
 
 bluff 41, 203, 
 
 ancient mounds of 
 
 land 
 
 bluffs, silt of 
 
 bottom, back and front lands, timber growth . 141, 142, 243, 
 
 land, analysis of 
 
 drainage basin 
 
 former current at Hickman 
 
 Mitchell, clay from place of 113, 116, 
 
 Moore’s Mill, description and analysis of clay from 105, 
 
 Morris, Rufus, clays on place of 57, 102, 107, 108, 110, 314, 
 
 Morrow slough 16, 
 
 Mounds near Backusburg 
 
 mouth of Chestnut creek 
 
 Punkney Bend road 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 Callow’ay county 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 Hickman county 
 
 Graves county 
 
 McCracken county 
 
 Marshall county 
 
 on Bayou de Chien 
 
 Chalk banks 
 
 Jonathan creek 
 
 Obion creek 
 
 Panther creek 
 
 ■opposite to Mound City 
 
 10 
 
 245 
 
 231 
 
 286 
 
 290 
 
 289 
 
 78 
 
 76 
 
 33 
 
 45 
 
 237 
 
 232 
 
 137 
 
 274 
 
 213 
 
 52 
 
 32 
 
 82 
 
 229 
 
 231 
 
 173 
 
 228 
 
 223 
 
 244 
 
 145 
 
 14 
 
 201 
 
 258 
 
 107 
 
 315 
 
 202 
 
 195 
 
 192 
 
 181 
 
 180 
 
 195 
 
 176 
 
 178 
 
 195 
 
 191 
 
 192 
 
 176 
 
 178 
 
 192 
 
 178 
 
 195 
 
 187 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mountain limestone of Paducah bored well 322' 
 
 Munier, John, clay from place of 106, 107, 257 
 
 Murray, elevation of 302 
 
 sand-rocks or quartzite near 25, 304 
 
 “Soapstone,” black clay from 109, 110, 307, 313 
 
 soil from 316 
 
 N. 
 
 Newberg, elevation and cherty hills near 302, 303 
 
 New Concord, wells of 135 
 
 New Madrid Bend, bottom lands of 203, 212 
 
 New Providence, conglomerate near 310 
 
 quartzite sand-rock 305 
 
 soils of 316 
 
 Nick Combs spring 214 
 
 Nick P. 0., black clay near 273 
 
 O. 
 
 Oak and hickory uplands, description of .... 
 
 of Ballard county . . 
 Calloway county . 
 Fulton county . . . 
 Graves county . . 
 Hickman county 
 iMarshall county ■ . 
 McCracken county 
 
 Oakton, wells of 
 
 Obion creek and Bayou de Chien, former union of 
 
 basin of 
 
 bottoms, lands of 
 
 Indian mounds on 
 
 Ochreous clay, analysis of 
 
 at Wadesboro 
 
 description of 
 
 in Ballard county 
 
 Calloway county 
 
 McCracken county 
 
 near Fort Jefferson 
 
 Laketon 
 
 Ohio river basin 
 
 bluffs, ancient mounds of 
 
 bottom soil, description and analysis of 
 
 current 
 
 valley, altitude of 
 
 lands, description of 
 
 micaceous clay loam of ... . 
 wells of 
 
 167 
 
 169, 247 
 
 169, 316 
 
 169, 211 
 
 261 
 
 228. 
 
 ■ .... 281 
 
 169, 261 
 
 221 
 
 15 
 
 15, 286 
 
 10, 213, 230 
 
 178 
 
 117 
 
 118, 272 
 
 43, 116 
 
 241 
 
 118 
 
 118 
 
 117 
 
 117 
 
 14 
 
 173, 187 
 
 141, 145, 243 
 
 36 
 
 9 
 
 63, 152, 155, 263, 324 
 
 76 
 
 136 
 
INDEX. 
 
 349 
 
 Onondnpn quartzite 
 
 ]>robal)ly a Clinton quartzite . . . 
 
 Opal in rocks at Hickman 
 
 Ore region gravel, description of 
 
 Oriskany beds 
 
 Ornamental terra-cotta, methods of manufacture > o o 
 
 22, 45, 123, 124, 129, 248 
 
 325 
 
 38, 205 
 
 • 58, 00 
 
 19 
 
 . 95 
 
 P. 
 
 Paducah, blue clay from 
 
 bored well of 
 
 Cretaceous strata in 
 
 elevation of 
 
 gravel ridge near 
 
 iron ores near 
 
 Port Hudson beds of _ 
 
 sand-rocks near 
 
 use of gravel on streets 
 
 vivianite of 
 
 veil of 
 
 Paleozoic formation, fault in . . 
 
 (see also Subcarbon iferous) . . 
 
 shelf, description of 
 
 Palestine Church, sand-rocks near 
 
 Palma, elevation of 
 
 wells near 
 
 Panther creek, description and analyses of clays from 
 
 lignite of 
 
 mounds on 
 
 Pascal, Dr. G. W., analyses of soils of place of . . . . 
 Peat, fossil or lignitic ^ , 
 
 Pentremites Godonii in Paducah bored well ...... 
 
 Pepper’s mill, section of well of 
 
 Peter, Dr. Robert, remarks of 
 
 Petrified wood 
 
 Phosphate of iron or vivianite occurrence ....... 
 
 Pilot Oak, elevation of 
 
 Pittman, J. W., description and analyses of clays from . 
 
 Pittman’s pottery 
 
 Plateaus of elevation 
 
 Polishing material, description and analysis of .... 
 
 of Calloway county 
 
 Graves county 
 
 Marshall county ..... ... 
 
 Porcelain, methods of manufacture of 
 
 ' requirements for 
 
 Porter’s creek division of Tertiary, general description . 
 
 formation of Calloway county 
 
 115, lie, 255, 250, 257 
 .321 
 
 • - » 250 
 
 • 9, 248 
 
 83 
 
 259 
 
 76, 255 
 
 23, 250 
 
 259 
 
 • • • 74, 115, 127, 259 
 
 135, 136 
 
 321 
 
 18, 267 
 
 20, 321, 325 
 
 23, 250, 325 
 
 • • " 265 
 
 • 135, 271 
 
 104, 107 
 
 288, 293 
 
 • 195 
 
 " ' - 168 
 
 “ » • • . 50, 119, 288 
 
 322, 325 
 
 ■ " • . 253 
 
 215, 226 
 66 
 
 127 
 
 286 
 
 • . 57, 104, 107, 295 
 
 295 
 
 11 
 
 • • 27, 29, 131, 133 
 132 
 
 • • • . 56, 131, 295 
 
 132, 280 
 
 93 
 
 89 
 
 18, 37, 41 
 
 307 
 
INDEX. 
 
 3:0 
 
 Potter’s creek formation of Graves county 287 , 288 
 
 McCracken county 251 
 
 Marshall county 272 
 
 Port Hudson formation, clays of 39, 108 
 
 description of . . . . . . . 17, 21, 39, 45, 57, 73, 324 
 
 extent of 74 
 
 micaceous clay loam bed 76 
 
 of Calloway county 312 
 
 Clark’s river valley 76 
 
 Fulton county 209 
 
 Hickman county 224 
 
 McCracken county 255 
 
 Marshall county 0 ... • 276 
 
 Mayfield creek . » . o . . 77 
 
 Ohio valley . . . . • . . . . 76 
 
 Tennessee valley 76 
 
 soils of 142 
 
 Possum Trot ridge ... . 
 
 Post oak fiats of the Ohio valley . » . . . . . . . . o . . . 
 
 Potsdam formation . 
 
 Potteries, location of 
 
 Eussell’s, Howard’s and Pitman’s . 
 
 Pottery, decoration of ..... o ... 
 
 enumeration and description of kinds, and methods of manufacture, 85, 89 
 Indian relics 173, 178 
 
 267 
 
 155 
 
 18 
 
 96 
 
 57 
 
 95 
 
 56, 131, 
 
 theory of glazing 
 
 Pottsville, elevation of ........... 
 
 Prairies, original region of 
 
 Pryorsburg, bluff showing silicious earth or polishing material . 
 
 gravel beds of 
 
 Pryor’s creek, bottom lands 
 
 Punkney Bend, earthworks and mounds of 
 
 Pugh, J. T., clay on place of 57, 106, 107, 275, 278 
 
 Purchase region, history and population of t 
 
 Pyrites, occurrence of 
 
 Pyrites in lignite 
 
 93 
 
 286 
 
 298 
 
 295 
 
 290 
 
 301 
 
 181 
 
 121 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quaternary black clay 
 
 conglomerate 
 
 formation, divisions of ... . 
 
 - general features of . 
 of Ballard county . 
 Calloway county 
 Fulton county . 
 Graves county . 
 Hickman county 
 
 108 
 
 34 
 
 57 
 
 17 
 
 C'^r> 
 
 cos 
 
 208 
 
 289 
 
 221 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Quaternary formation of McCracken county 
 
 Marshall county 
 
 sand of 
 
 sand-rock, footprints in 
 
 Quartz crystals, smoky 60, 
 
 Quartzose sandstone .... 18, 19, 22, 45, 60, 
 
 not Devonian 
 
 Quartz relic 
 
 R. 
 
 Railroad routes through the region 
 
 Ray, J. R., mounds on place of 
 
 Recent formations 
 
 Red Oak Barrens, analysis of 
 
 Reelfoot Lake bluffs 39, 
 
 channel in 
 
 Reeves, H., analysis of Barrens land of 
 
 Refractory clays, chapter on 
 
 description and analysis of 102, 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 Hickman bluffs 
 
 material made of clays 
 
 requirements for 
 
 Regions, agricultural, enumeration and description of 
 
 Relic made from quartz 
 
 Ripley division of Cretaceous 32, 
 
 River bottom or alluvial lands, description 82, 141, 
 
 bottoms, sand ridges of 83, 
 
 valley lands 
 
 Eockingbam ware 
 
 Roof, Dr., clay on place of 
 
 Rookwood pottery tests 5, 103, 241, 278, 296, 
 
 Rotten limestone, division of Cretaceous 
 
 Russell’s clay, comparison with German clay 
 
 description and analysis of 57, 103, 107, 
 
 remarks concerning 
 
 Ryan, Geo., clay from place of 106 , 
 
 S. 
 
 Safford, Dr. J. M., fossil leaves collected by 
 
 Prof., quoted 
 
 Samuel, clays from farm of 105, 
 
 Sand, analyses of 
 
 and sandstone of tHe stratified drift 71, 273, 
 
 beds of Cretaceous 32, 33, 131, 
 
 character of in Purchase 129, 
 
 front-land of the Mississippi 
 
 254 
 
 273 
 
 129 
 
 187 
 
 322 
 
 304 
 
 325 
 
 179 
 
 16 
 
 195 
 
 82 
 
 165 
 
 207 
 
 202 
 
 165 
 
 97 
 
 106 
 
 242 
 
 98 
 
 85 
 
 87 
 
 140 
 
 179 
 
 305 
 
 149 
 
 146 
 
 263 
 
 94 
 
 258 
 
 313 
 
 ;32 
 
 112 
 
 314 
 
 97 
 
 107 
 
 196 
 
 123 
 
 lor 
 
 130 
 
 300 
 
 305 
 
 296 
 
 141 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sand hill near Benton 34, 130 , 270 
 
 in Calloway county 
 
 South Graves county 292 
 
 ridges in river bottoms 83, 146, 231, 232, 244 
 
 Sands of Columbus, Hickman county 227 
 
 Laketon, Ballard county 131 
 
 the Quaternary and Tertiary 131 
 
 Sandstone, Chester, of Barber’s Landing 27 
 
 ferruginous 34, 66, 222 
 
 footprints in 187 
 
 micaceous fossiliferous 44, 45, 252, 287 
 
 of Ballard county 238 
 
 Calloway county 309 
 
 Hickman bluff, analyses of 40 
 
 quartzite 60 
 
 Sandy creek, Indian mounds near 180 
 
 Sassafras ridge, description of 83, 202 
 
 Indian mounds on 177 
 
 soil and timber of . 146 
 
 wells near 137, 209 
 
 Scale, clays from 114, 116, 275, 279 
 
 elevation of 265 
 
 Section of Barber’s Landing well 277 
 
 beds at Cypress creek 35, 271 
 
 bluff at Caledonia, 111 46 
 
 Columbus 46, 218 
 
 Hickman 38 , 205 
 
 Highland 75, 276 
 
 Pryorsburg 56, 295 
 
 near Wickliffe 48, 233 
 
 gravel bed near Mayfield 290 
 
 Lignitic group 42 
 
 Paducah strata 76 
 
 well 250 
 
 bored well 322 
 
 Port Hudson at Columbus 73, 224 
 
 Wickliffe 74 
 
 Quaternary material at Columbus 222 
 
 railroad cut near Boaz 67 
 
 showing clays, etc 55 
 
 sand bill near Benton 270 
 
 Spring creek bluffs 252 
 
 showing cross lamination of Lagrange sands 54 
 
 of Tennessee river gravel 59 
 
 Sedalia, elevation of 286 
 
 gravel beds of 289 
 
 Selenite crystals 120, 128, 234 
 
INDEX. 
 
 '.m 
 
 Shannon creek bottom lands 
 
 Sliarp, clays near 
 
 elevation of 
 
 mounds near 
 
 Shelby, Gov., appointed Indian Commissioner 
 
 Shelf of Snbearboniferous 
 
 Shells of Loess bluffs 
 
 Shiloh, clay, sand and soil of 
 
 Shore line 
 
 Siliceous clay beds of Columbus 
 
 earth at Prj’orsburg 
 
 or polishing material .... 
 
 Silt bluffs, description of 
 
 shells of 
 
 formation of Ballard county 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 Hickman county 
 
 land of Mississippi bluffs 
 
 uses of 
 
 Silver ore of Clark’s river 
 
 Sink south of Benton 
 
 Skeleton remains of Indians 
 
 Sketch of earthworks at Hickman 
 
 Wickliffe 
 
 150, 151, 320 
 
 277 
 
 205 
 
 102 
 
 207 
 
 77, 78, 223 
 
 300, 310 
 
 18, 20, 31 
 
 101 
 
 50, 295 
 
 27, 29, 30, 131, 133, 209, 280 
 
 . 77, 78 
 
 . . . 239 
 . . . 209 
 
 223 
 
 228 
 
 . . . 216 
 127, 128 
 
 . . . 275 
 
 174 
 
 175 
 185 
 
 on Punkney Bend road 182 
 
 Sandy creek 181 
 
 figures on rock in Tennessee river 194 
 
 footprints on sandstone 189 
 
 fossil leaves from Tennessee 197 
 
 mounds on Bayou de Chien 177 
 
 Jonathan creek 193 
 
 Slip-clay for glazing, analysis of 91 
 
 Smith, Mr., sand-rocks on place of 24 
 
 “Soapstone” clav" of Lignitic group . .25, 42, 108, 110, 251, 272, 287, 307, 313 
 
 Soils of Blood river bottoms 320 
 
 Clark’s river valley and bottom 284, 320 
 
 river valley lands i 263 
 
 the Barrens 164, 262, 299, 318 
 
 bottom lands 263, 284 
 
 Cane hills 158, 210 
 
 Coalings 317 
 
 flatwoods 161, 317 
 
 Mississippi bottom 142,^229 
 
 oak and hickory uplands 167, 261, '281 
 
 Port Hudson formation 142 
 
 Tennessee valley and bottom 149, 283, 319 
 
 Somerville, Tenn., fossil leaves from 196 
 
 GEOL. SUE. — 23. 
 
354 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Springs of the Purchase region 
 
 St. Louis limestones 19 , 
 
 Stone, Mrs. Lou., polishing material on place of 29, 132, 
 
 Stone-ware, methods of manufacture of 
 
 requirements for 
 
 Stratified drift, differences in elevation 
 
 material of 17, 57, 63, 65, 
 
 of Ballard county 
 Calloway county . 
 Fulton county . . 
 Graves county . . 
 Hickman county . 
 McCracken county 
 Marshall county . 
 Stringtown, black clay near .... 
 Stubblefield, gravel beds of .... 
 
 wells of 
 
 Subcarboniferous chert decomposed . 
 
 formation 26, 32, 232, 267, 289, 
 
 fault of 
 
 rocks, no drift above 
 
 shelf 31, 
 
 wells of 
 
 Supply of water of the Purchase region 
 
 Surface features of Ballard county 230, 
 
 Calloway county 301 , 
 
 Fulton county 201 , 
 
 Graves county 285 , 
 
 Hickman county 217, 
 
 Marshall county 265 , 
 
 McCracken county 248, 
 
 of country, character and elevations of 8, 9, 10, 11, 
 
 Symsonia, gravel beds of 
 
 Tertiary strata near 
 
 T. 
 
 Tennessee, analysis of silt from 
 
 cretaceous belt of 
 
 fossil leaves of 
 
 river 
 
 basin drainage 
 
 bluff at Highland 
 
 bottom soils . • 145, 148, 284, 318, 
 
 figures on rock in 
 
 gravel 
 
 valley, altitude of . 
 
 • clays of 
 
 322 
 
 269 
 
 90 
 
 89 
 
 65 
 
 , 71 
 
 238 
 
 309 
 
 208 
 
 289 
 
 221 
 
 254 
 
 273 
 
 272 
 
 290 
 
 136 
 
 132 
 
 303 
 
 321 
 
 71 
 
 322 
 
 134 
 
 135 
 
 243 
 
 316 
 
 210 
 
 297 
 
 227 
 
 281 
 
 260 
 
 , 65 
 
 290 
 
 287 
 
 79 
 
 32 
 
 52 
 
 63 
 
 13 
 
 276 
 
 319 
 
 194 
 
 58 
 
 9 
 
 312 
 
INDEX. 
 
 855 
 
 Tcnnossoe river vnlloy, description of 50, 81, 149, 2G5, 2S.‘l 
 
 micaceous clay loam of ... . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 76 
 
 ells of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Terra-cotta, ornamental, mctliods of manufacture ■ . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 95 
 
 Terrapin creek, clays of 
 
 
 
 
 
 296 
 
 Tertiary clays 
 
 
 226, 
 
 252, 
 
 277 
 
 fire-clays 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 108 
 
 formation 
 
 
 
 7, 36 
 
 , 37, 
 
 324 
 
 fossils of 
 
 
 
 
 , 45, 
 
 252 
 
 of Ballard county 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 232 
 
 Calloway county 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 306 
 
 Fulton county 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 205 
 
 Graves county 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 287 
 
 Hickman county 
 
 
 
 
 
 219 
 
 McCracken county 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 251 
 
 Marshall county 
 
 
 
 
 
 272 
 
 sand of 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 131 
 
 wells of 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 136 
 
 fossil leaves 
 
 
 
 , 62, 
 
 198 
 
 fossils determined by 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 lignite, greensand at base of 
 
 
 
 
 
 129 
 
 lignitic clays, pyrites in 
 
 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 Tests made by the Rook wood pottery 5, 
 
 103, 
 
 , 241, 
 
 278, 
 
 296, 
 
 313 
 
 Texas, lignite of 
 
 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 Theory of glazing pottery 
 
 
 
 
 
 93 
 
 Tile, common, methods of manufacture 
 
 
 
 
 
 96 
 
 encaustic, methods of manufacture 
 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 Timber growth of Big Cypress creek 
 
 
 
 
 
 285 
 
 bottom lands 
 
 
 
 > 213, 
 
 263, 
 
 284 
 
 Cane hills 
 
 
 158, 
 
 211, 
 
 228, 
 
 246 
 
 Clanton creek 
 
 
 
 
 
 244 
 
 Clark’s river valley and bottom . . . 
 
 .147, 
 
 , 153, 
 
 284, 
 
 300, 
 
 320 
 
 Mayfield creek bottom 
 
 
 
 . 147, 
 
 244, 
 
 300 
 
 uplands 
 
 
 
 
 247, 
 
 261 
 
 Mississippi bottom 
 
 
 142, 
 
 202, 
 
 229, 
 
 244 
 
 Oak and Hickory uplands . . . 167, 
 
 211, 
 
 229, 
 
 247, 261, : 
 
 281, 
 
 
 
 
 
 300, 
 
 316 
 
 Obion and Bayou de Chien .... 
 
 
 
 
 147, 
 
 230 
 
 Ohio valley 
 
 
 
 
 245, 
 
 263 
 
 Pryor’s creek 
 
 
 
 
 
 301 
 
 Shannon creek 
 
 
 
 
 150, 
 
 320 
 
 Tennessee river valley and bottom . 
 
 . 140, 
 
 , 143, 
 
 283, 
 
 318, 
 
 319 
 
 the Coalings 
 
 
 
 
 
 317 
 
 Upland Barrens 164, 
 
 246, 
 
 . 262, 
 
 282, 
 
 299, 
 
 317 
 
 flatwoods 
 
 
 
 
 282, 
 
 317 
 
 West Fork of Clark’s river 
 
 
 
 
 
 285 
 
 Mayfield creek .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 245 
 
INDKX. 
 
 3f)6 
 
 Tobacco yield of the Barrens 164, 246 299 
 
 Oak and Hickory uplands 168 
 
 Tennessee valley 140, 319 
 
 I'pland flatvvoods 161 
 
 Tonibighee sand, division of the Cretaceous 32 
 
 Tracks in sandstone 187 
 
 Transmittal, letter of o 
 
 Transportation facilities 16 
 
 'J’naiton formation 18 
 
 Trilohite in gravel 60, 239 
 
 Tyler, Captain Henry, analysis of soils on place of 159 
 
 U. 
 
 Unrefraetory clays, description of 
 
 Upland Barrens, description of 
 
 flatwoorls, description of ' 
 
 Oak and Hickory region (see also counties) 
 
 Uplands, description of 
 
 elevations of 
 
 Upper brown loam bed 
 
 Upper Silurian 
 
 Uses of clays 
 
 V. 
 
 Valley lands of Clark’s river 153, 284, 300 
 
 the Ohio, description of 63, 152, 245 
 
 rivers 149, 151 
 
 Tennessee 149, 265, 283, 318 
 
 Vicksburg division of Tertiary 37 
 
 Vi'danite, occurrence of .... 74 , 75, 113, 115, 127 , 258 , 259 , 276 , 279 , 312 
 “ Volcano,” in Murray county 62, 310 
 
 . . . 112 
 163, 167 
 160, 163 
 167, 173 
 . 157-173 
 . . . 10 
 . . . 81 
 . . . 18 
 . . . 85 
 
 W. 
 
 Wade.sboro, ochreous cla}^ of 118, 272, 307, 313 
 
 Warburg — see Newburg. 
 
 Washing of lands 229 
 
 Water, analyses of 135, 138 
 
 chalybeate, of Ballard county 137 
 
 Fulton county 214 
 
 McCracken county 135 
 
 supply of the Purchase region 134 
 
 Waverly formation ' . 29 
 
 Wgll bored in Paducah 321 
 
 Wells of Ballard county 55, 136 
 
 Calloway county 134 
 
 Fulton county 136, 208 
 
 Graves county 136, 289 
 
i 
 
 INDEX. 8.57 
 
 AVells of Hickman county l.'UI, 221 
 
 3IcCrackon county 24‘J, 252, 255, 321 
 
 Marshall county 271, 270 
 
 Oliio river valley 130 
 
 Paducah 135, 130, 321 
 
 Tennessee river valley 130 
 
 the Cretaceous formation 134 
 
 eastern part of the Purchase 134 
 
 Lagrange formation 136 
 
 Lignitic Tertiary • 130 
 
 Subcarboniferous belt 134 
 
 "West Fork of Clark’s river 14, 286 
 
 lands of . . 148 
 
 Mayfield creek bottom land 148 
 
 AVest Plains, elevation of 286 
 
 gravel beds of 290 
 
 AVetherby, Prof., identification of shells by 78 
 
 AA’hite plastic fire-clays, description of 102 
 
 AA’hite-ware, varieties, manufacture and decoration of 93, 94, 95 
 
 AA’hitt, Obadiah, clay on place of 295 
 
 lignite on place of 121 , 288 
 
 AATcklifie, beds of clay-stone near 50 
 
 bluff" near 48, 233 
 
 bottom lands of 141 
 
 clay, comparison with German clay 112 
 
 description of fossil leaves from 198 
 
 elevation of 232 
 
 footprints in sandstone 187 
 
 gravel bed of 238 
 
 lignite bed near 120, 240 
 
 loess or silt of 79 
 
 mounds near 184 
 
 Port Hudson beds of 74 
 
 white and yellow clays of 104, 105, 107, 241 
 
 \A’igwams once at Hickman 173 
 
 Udlson, T. J., ochreous clay on place of 118, 241 
 
 VATngo, clays near 294 
 
 gravel beds of : 289, 290 
 
 AATnter’s place, siliceous earth from 133 
 
 AA'itherspoon, well on place of 33, 306 
 
 AA^ood, silicified 66 
 
 AA^oodville, gravel bed of 238 
 
 AA'yatt’s school-house, clays of 103, 107, 112, 308 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zinc ore • - - 127 
 
V 
 
 
 
r 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 fi* .'/* 
 
 i.i'i.T': > ' 
 
 ■s| •• • 
 
 \ 
 
 .V 
 
 vA;^ 
 
 V*^ 
 
 1- 
 
 
 
 

 
 » 
 
 ?V' 
 
 I * 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 K 
 
 
 '•i 
 
 • <? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;1 
 
 .A 
 
 H 
 
 
 k> 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \- 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ( *1 
 
 
^ . ( 
 ‘ ^ , J 
 
 . 'f' , 
 
 .. \:v i 
 
 s.-, 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 « 
 
ni rMN-.vrinN'.i -..Kiur 
 
 METROPOLtS 
 
 Bf-t-r.RAOt. 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 ^RROOklyN 
 
 OSCARo 
 
 WOQOVIU|.E'o»i^^ 
 
 'OOU<o 
 
 'm'akOn'6 MII.L 
 
 a AR(.ovsi 
 
 ^LBERTSVILLE 
 
 'cypress 
 
 SLATER 
 
 Cau^o 
 
 
 icku FVE p?|- 
 
 ^LkcEVlLLEj 
 
 SHARP 
 
 :OLLf£RVl|.LE 
 
 LEWIS! URO^ 
 
 ' STRlf 
 
 I 4NINSHAM! 
 
 RUOO; 
 
 ^LoyyE's 
 
 HAIhLEr 
 
 POTTSVltuE 
 
 RAO! C 
 
 iROCAUtiG 
 
 jy^jKlifBYTO^N: 
 
 MELR05EO 
 
 CkorjtS 
 
 JROVEil 
 
 ■ YEST 
 
 MARVEY] 
 
 ANYTIME 
 
 .OLIVE 
 
 YVIN PAKsI 
 
 I ARtlNGI 
 
 MILSURN 
 
 0ELM( 
 
 
 AURORA 
 
 -^IGHLANO 
 
 ^CK^SBJJ^S 
 
 ^{LSEyT 
 
 UBHlLOH 
 
 ^SYORSBul^G 
 
 8ALTIM( 
 
 :OALI< 
 
 lOSCOW 
 
 WEbLEYl 
 
 NEW MADRID 
 
 iRRlSiOROyr 
 
 CUB k 
 
 PIL0T 0^ I 
 
 NEW PROVIDE! 
 
 OUKEOOME 
 
 
 BOYoeviLLE 
 
 CROS3LANO 
 
 REELTOOT lake 
 
 Julius Bim A I aXtlh 
 
 :j/iS 
 
 
 ^ ' Af 
 
CAUf DONIA 
 
 M£TROPOLl: 
 
 AM( RICA 
 
 . 8 P 0 0 K L"* N 
 
 WOODVIUcV/ 
 
 CITY. 
 
 hA 2 CL<i ( 
 
 
 MlCliJ 
 
 QAA^OW 
 
 fujoNAl 
 
 ILEV'l-LE 
 
 
 3V^Lf»CEV(ULEi 
 
 SHARP 
 
 COUICRVILLE 
 
 CpCClK 
 
 BLA»^ll.Lj 
 
 lEwiss Oner 
 
 ^anSas 
 
 Ruoo; 
 
 I lOAZ 
 
 >eAI tOWE I 
 
 LtVXL 
 
 (ETON 
 
 i«4aYTdwN' 
 
 PLAir^e 
 
 ANYYIME 
 
 *WIN OAKS 
 
 fAmcy 
 
 FAFJM|- 
 
 MlueuRNl 
 
 BELMI 
 
 
 Wao*(SJ! 
 
 WOLF ISLAND 
 
 ,^AC><q8BUR0 
 
 KIRKSC1 
 
 f RVOASeupG 
 
 Cas*(»ij 
 
 BALTlMdl 
 
 OA» TOM 
 
 .OALIA, 
 
 il!ija8E-EFtE(.0 
 
 IRA^OOr^. 
 
 Moscow 
 
 WCSLEV 
 
 MADRID 
 
 HARRieomwe 
 
 CUBA 
 
 ^LE»i^OEfl\ 
 
 LY» NVILLE^ 
 
 FULTON 
 
 OUKEOOME 
 
 CROSSLANO 
 
 BUENA VISTA 
 
 80T08VILLF 
 
 (tELFOOT I A(<f 
 
 iiloo 
 
 ■ idii.n 1! n;i! mma tok 
 
 -U.iih i i. rru \i \i \p or nii; 
 
 JAfiKSDj'J PLI;ii;>JAaf 
 
 , ( AIMO 
 
 f.NVK.NIlON Ol' SH;NS 
 
 /<*,/// /lV..n/.N 
 
RCLGRAOt 
 
 enoox*.* 
 
 OSCARi 
 
 .WOOOVIILCV 
 
 MOUNO c 
 
 
 
 RARLOW 
 
 6ILBenTSv'V.Lfc 
 
 ^ ^FLdB€w 
 :OUl.(£RVlLLt 
 
 tovai 
 
 • HRRP 
 
 [chrmV % 
 
 Cli «NINGHAM 
 
 KANSAS 
 
 RUDO 
 
 LOWE'S 
 
 >Ba 4 iowqll 
 
 VIOLA 
 
 LAKETQN 
 
 POTTSVILLE 
 
 KIRBYTOWN 
 
 ’CCEAfl' { 
 
 i^paiNGi 
 
 HlCKQflVi 
 
 GROVE 
 
 ANYTIME 
 
 OLIV 
 
 FANCY 
 
 ARi.iNQfD^'^ 
 
 MIL&URN 
 
 
 etLMI 
 
 ijv^ir.HLANU 
 
 SPRING 
 
 tew lURQ 
 
 R-VORSBupG 
 
 ^ARMlN&tON 
 
 Clinton 
 
 OAI- TON 
 
 seoALiAt; 
 
 i|A(4 0dN'3ylMl.l. 
 
 MOSCOW 
 
 WESLEY 
 
 HARRIS'Grt^f 
 
 L£Xil^P( 
 
 LYt NVILLE , 
 
 rtCKivrAN 
 
 CAYCE 
 
 PILOT 
 
 NEW PRO) 
 
 bUKEOOME 
 
 VISTA 
 
 v',oi.oi'.iCA(< .sr,., 
 
 ' OK ''•/ 
 
POCKET CONTAINS MAPS 
 
 lowing Geology and Elevation 
 “ Agricultural Features. . . 
 
 '• Deposition of Gravel Beds