76 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
deposited under similar circumstances, the calcareous’ matter gradually accumulating, until it con- 
stituted the entire mass of the deposit to 4 considerable depth, and then disappearing in a similar 
manner, being replaced by the quartz, mica, and feldspar of the gneiss. 
Lime-Rock oF THE Mica Suate. 
The most noted as well as the most extensive bed of lime-rock in the State occurs at the Lime- 
stone Springs, in Spartanburg District. This bed is found near the junction of the mica slates and 
gneiss, and is exposed, like every bed in the State, on the banks of a stream. It is laid bare for two 
or three hundred yards on the outcrop, and to nearly half that distance across the stratum, in the 
bed of the creek. At each extremity it passes into a hill, by which it is hid, and it is only seen 
where the superineumbent rocks have been washed away—even then it appears but little elevated 
above the surface, excepting at one extremity, where it seems to rise on the hill side. The rock is 
blue, rather compact, and stratified; but at the western end of the exposure it is white and clouded, 
forming a handsome marble. ''his” portion of the bed is smooth on the surface and grooved in 
lines corresponding with the dip, giving the rock the appearance of the “ slickensides,” so often 
seen among the slates. At another locality I observed the same appearance in the quartz rock, as 
if exhibiting a tendency to a coarse crystallization. And as a bed of this rock overlies the lime- 
stone, I suppose it impressed this peculiar structure, while cooling upon the more yielding lime-rock. 
A few miles distant, but in the direction of the strike of this rock, two localities occur—one on the 
land of Mr. Watkins, and the other on Dr. Otterson’s plantation, adjoining it. At each of these locali- 
ties the rock has been quarried, but, as usual, only on the outcrop, and not sufficiently to develop its 
extent. At one of these localities the rock is blue, and at the other white and crystalline, and passing 
into hornblende rock towards the top of the bed. At Watkins’s the rock passes under a bank of loose 
materials of considerable thickness, but at Dr. Otterson’s it is exposed on the surface, up and down 
stream, for a space of a hundred yards or more. 
Between the Limestone Springs and Broad River another locality may be seen, where the rock is 
quarried for the use of the iron-works. It is entirely below the surface, and has been explored 
below water level. It seems, however, to rise in the hill toward the West, and should be pursued 
in that direction—keeping, at the same time, the present level open. 'The rock at this place is blue 
and intersected by veins of calcite. 
Lime-rock is found on Cherokee Creek, but so impure, from mixture with the rocks in which it 
is found, that it is almost useless for all economical purposes. 
On the opposite side of the river, in York District, this bed may be traced. Where I examined it, 
on Black-rock Creek, it was much mixed with talcose slates, and consequently of little value. 
There must, however, be another locality at this place, where rock has been quarried for burning 
lime. 
Between the river and King’s Mountain numerous excellent localities are known, and some of 
them are explored to furnish lime for architectural and other purposes. ‘They occur on or very 
near an anticlinal axis, and dip between vertical and 30° towards the N. W. 
Throughout this entire region the limestone is confined to comparatively low situations, a level 
to which they have been reduced by the denudation under which the whole country suffered. The 
