1884.] 1^* [Stevenson. 



Cove creek, and all of it is north from the Saltville fault, so that it rests 

 wholly on the Vespertine shales. Mr. Buchanan states that gypsum has 

 been digged in very considerable quantity at the road, where this stream 

 enters Cove creek. That gypsum rests on Knox beds. How extensive it 

 is has not been ascertained. 



No investigations have been made here with a view to the manufacture 

 of salt and no notes were taken respecting the depth at which salt was 

 first found. Mr. Buchanan's shaft is now full of water and no examina- 

 tions can be made. There is, however, no room for doubting the occur- 

 rence of salt there in the deeper portions. Mr. Buchanan says that the waste 

 material, clay and impure gypsum, was thrown into heaps, to which cat- 

 tle and sheep resorted, licking them with great avidity. The gypsum is 

 mostly saccharoidal, but there is a good deal of crystalline also. As the 

 latter clogs the mill in grinding it is much disliked and is thrown aside as 

 worthless. Much lies in the waste-piles on 3Ir. Buchanan's farm which 

 would be excellent for collections. 



Mr. Musselwhite states that no gypsum has been found east from this 

 cove on the road to Sharon Springs, and that no gypsum has ever been 

 obtained in the Rich valley which follows the northerly foot of Big Wal- 

 ker mountain. 



Resume. 



Such are the details obtained either by personal observation or by care- 

 ful inquiry of those who are familiar with matters no longer open to ex- 

 amination. The facts with reference to the occurrence of these gypsiferous 

 deposits may be summed up as follows : 



First. The gypsum deposits are not beds of Carboniferous or Cambro- 

 Silurian limestones changed into gypsum. 



Second. These deposits occupy deep basins, which have been eroded in 

 Lower Carboniferous shale or limestone, or in the hard, slightly calcareous 

 sandstones of the Knox group. In at least two localities, branches pro- 

 trude from the main body into drains or ravines, so that the horizontal plan 

 resembles somewhat the splash made by throwing soft mud against a wall. 



Third. The character of the deposit is wholly independent of the rocks 

 on which it rests. 



Fourth. The gypsum occurs in irregular masses, encased in red marly 

 clay, which penetrates the gypsum to a variable distance ; there is less of 

 this clay in the eastern basins than at Saltville. 



Fifth. At a variable depth, salt occurs with the gypsum, and this salt 

 contains very little of iodides or bromides. 



Sixth. Blue clay overlies the gypsum at all localities yet examined. 



Seventh. No fossils of any sort have been found thus far in the gypsum, 

 its encasing red clay, or in the overlying blue clay ; but, just west from 

 Saltville, a conglomerate, cemented by gypsum, occurs, in which remains 

 of Mastodon, have been found ; this overlies the blue clay, and encloses 

 many fragments of both blue and red clay. 



Eighth. These gypsiferous deposits occur in the vicinity of the Saltville 

 fault. 



