104 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 
nearly allied to C. arenaceus. A few miles distant other beds occur, which, near a dyke, are 
converted into anthracite, which again become bituminous a few yards distant. I found at this 
locality, in the shale, several striated teeth of a sauroid fish. 
This formation, as it oceurs in South Carolina, is of little importance. It is composed of red and 
grey sandstone, which passes into red clay. The sandstone, in some places, is so coarse as to 
approach conglomerate. It makes a good building material, and it has been used for grindstones. 
Good opportunites are presented here of observing the effects of trap dykes. Portions of the sand- 
stone are so altered as to resemble over-burned brick, and occasionally porphyry, with crystals of 
feldspar, embedded in a black ground, which may be traced for miles on the surface. It overlies 
the clay slates, and rests upon them unconformably. I found veins of calespar intersecting the 
rock, and I believe, so far as this small patch of the District has been cultivated, the soil derived 
from the sandstone is considered good.., 
CHAPTER V. 
GEOLOGY OF THE UPPER DISTRICTS. 
Edgefield.—Newberry. —Lexing ton.— Fair field. — Kershaw. —Chester field.— Abbeville.— Laurens. 
Union.— Chester. — Lancaster. — York.—Spartanburg.— Greenville—Anderson and Pickens. 
Granite.—Although granite proper is seen in but few places in Edgefield, yet the granitic ridge, 
described in the preceding pages as extending from the Savannah to the Saluda, has produced an 
important effect on the face of the District. It forms the water-shed between the head streams of 
Edisto, and the tributaries of the Saluda and Savannah, on the North. For the most part the 
granite is only seen where the lower 'Tertiary beds are removed, as on Horse Creek, and again on 
Cloud’s Creek. The granite of this latter locality is coarse and crystalline, with black mica. It 
appears on the surface, and is, in every case, much weathered. 
In the S. E. corner of the District it appears again on the Saluda. On the road to Martin Town, 
from the village, it may be seen in large blocks on the road side, or decomposed and washed into 
ravines. 
Trap Rocks.—These rocks are pretty well developed in the District. A bed of Eurite may be 
seen in the village, a little north of the Court House, and may be traced, by the white sand, across 
the street. Descending the hill, on the road to Newberry, a series of hornblende slate, coarse feld- 
spathic granite, and porphyritic dykes oceur, which are continued to the right and left, for some 
distance. About eight miles from the Court House a narrow dyke intersects the Clay slates, and 
on the eastern side of the District, about five miles from Coleman’s Cross-roads, a trap dyke fifty 
feet wide crosses the public road towards the East West. About twelve miles north of the village, 
a dyke passes through the clay slate converting it into clay porphyry, with reddish spots. Portions 
