OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 117 
again hiding itself in the deep shadows of the vine-clad trees. Above the mill the rock forms a 
natural dam across the stream, so perfect as to present the appearance of a work of art. This isa 
circumstance of common occurrence on many of the rivers and creeks in the part of the State 
where they flow over the outcrop of the gneiss. : 
At Van Patton’s Shoals, near the north-west corner of the District, the river falls 55 feet in about 
100 yards. So very even is the edge of the rock at this place that a single plank, bolted to it, forms 
a sufficient dam for the mills on each side. A little below the falls the alternating strata are of dif- 
ferent degrees of hardness, and as the softer are disintegrated and washed away, the others are left 
projecting from the bank in huge tablets. Towards the top of the shoals the rock loses its stratified 
structure, and passes into granite. 
It is impossible to examine the localities on this beautiful stream, without being struck with the 
great facilities it affords, at small expense, for manufacturing establishments. 
From this place to Laurensville a ridge extends, which, with the exception of a few altemnating 
strips of hornblende slate, has gneiss for its underlying rock. In all that part of Laurens drained 
by Reaburn’s Creek, Reedy River and the Saluda, it is finely exposed at numerous localities. 
Hornblende slate also occupies an important place among the rocks of the District. The soils 
derived from it are every where prized, and known as mulatto soils, from their peculiar color. At 
Swansey’s Ferry it is seen overlying the gneiss, which comes to the surface a short distance above. 
A wide band, composed of this rock, extends from Boyd’s mills to a point within five miles of the 
village. I also traced it at intervals between Reaburn’s Creek and Sandy-ford, on the Enoree. A 
portion of the strata contains sulphuret of iron, in abundance, which gives rise to some excellent 
chalybeate and sulphur springs. One of these occurs within a mile of Reaburn’s Creek, and is 
known as Cheek’s Spring ; and not far from the road, between Sandy-ford, on Enoree, and the vil- 
lage, another is found, which is strongly sulphuretted water. There are doubtless others, which 
I did not see, but these are highly worthy of the attention of the Medical Faculty of the District. 
Some fine beds of soapstone are known to exist in this range of hornblende slates. Other locali- 
ties of the latter rock occur on Durban’s Creek and in other parts of the District; but the localities 
I have enumerated will suffice as examples. 
But by far the most interesting rock in the District is the limestone of the Saluda and Reaburn’s 
Creek. About one half mile below Ware’s mill, on the Saluda, and at the head of navigation, this 
rock is seen cropping out between beds of gneiss, which may be seen above and below it, on a little 
stream which enters the river at this place. 
I was informed that Dr. Waits is the discoverer of this locality. The strike of the rock is N. 
30° East, and the thickest part of it is fifteen to twenty feet: only a portion of the stratum, how- 
ever, is seen for a distance of eighty yards, and it was difficult to arrive at the precise thickness. 
The rock is white, crystalline, and some of it is sufficiently fine to make a good marble. ‘Two miles 
distant from this place it is laid bare again by the denudation of the surface, on the banks of a 
little stream, in heavy ledges; but no excavations having been made it was impossible to ascertain 
its thickness. A short distance beyond this on ’Squire Waits’s plantation, it is found again in 
several places. Wherever it has been uncovered it exhibits unequivocal evidences of the wasting 
action of water, to which it was once subjected. It passes into the underlying gneiss at some of 
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