310 ASHLEY — GEOLOGY OF ARKANSAS. [May 13, 



Salt, Soda. — Though indefinite reports of salt having been found 

 in the region were frequently heard, all those that could be traced 

 out proved to have come from wells or springs in the Cretaceous 

 border on the south. 



Soda is said to exist as an efflorescence in a cave on the Little Mis- 

 rouri in the northern part of 7 S., 25 or 26 W. 



Summary of Mineral Prospect. — As far as shown by exploration 

 and exploitation up to the present time, paying ore has been found 

 only in a small belt in northern Sevier county, and but one ore, 

 stibnite, has been found in that district in paying quantities ; though 

 silver and lead ores have been found in small quantities. In speak- 

 ing of stibnite as a paying ore, it is meant that it might be remu- 

 nerative under more favorable conditions of transportation, smelt- 

 ing, etc. In the present state of things no reliable judgment could 

 be given on the future of the antimony interest in this region. 

 Whether the ores exist in quantity, or whether the richest deposits 

 have already been exhausted, are questions that cannot be answered 

 without a more thorough examination of the detailed geology of the 

 antimony district than the State Survey could undertake. The 

 output in 1890 was 54,188 pounds, but in August, 1892, none of 

 the mines were being worked. 



Commercial Stone. 



Building Stone. — It is possible that the ferruginous varieties of 

 sandstones may prove of value as building stones : they dress easily 

 and acquire a firm surface afterward, but on account of their brown 

 color it is hardly probable that such stone, even though its wearing 

 qualities be good, will ever be very popular. 



There occasionally occurs locally a form of the sandstone, both 

 pleasing in appearance, and, judging from weathered fragments, of 

 good wearing quality. It is a slightly metamorphosed white or 

 light gray sandstone, and varies from a sandstone hardly altered to 

 an almost pure quartzite, the harder varieties, however, being too 

 hard to work easily and therefore of less value. A typical outcrop 

 occurs on Winfield creek, just below the junction of the east fork in 

 7 S., 21 W., section 10, northwest quarter. An outcrop on An- 

 toine mountain in 6 S., 23 W., section 19, and one reported by Mr. 

 Hopkins on Prairie creek in 7 S., 25 W., east of the centre of sec- 

 tion 10, might be mentioned, and numerous other small outcrops 

 were noted. 



