GEOLOGICAL REPORT. 9 



Almost every acre of the alluvial bottoms throughout this 

 entire region, has a rich, durable soil, which is usually well 

 adapted to the culture of corn, wheat, tobacco, oats, and the 

 grasses ; some would yield good hemp. Where the silicious 

 marls of the Bluff are well developed, the upland soils are rich, 

 fertile and durable. This variety of soil prevails in all the best 

 upland on the line of the road, particularly in the eastern and 

 western extremities. In Oliver s prairie, Pool s prairie, and Sar- 

 coxie prairie, in Newton ; Grand and Kickapoo prairies, in Green ; 

 Pleasant prairie, in Webster ; Dimond prairie, in Jasper ; and 

 Ozark prairie, in Lawrence, the soil is excellent. It possesses 

 the same good qualities in some of the timbered portions of all 

 the counties above named ; but St. Louis county has much the 

 largest proportion, as indicated by the superior soils in the val 

 ley west of the city and in the Florisant. 



There is a soil somewhat inferior to the preceding, which 

 covers large areas in the region under consideration. It also 

 rests upon the marls of the Bluff where that formation is some 

 what clayey and where it has been injured by washing. This 

 variety is found on the ridges and undulating portions of the 

 country, where the white, post and black oaks, and summer 

 grapes abound, and white hickory, dwarf sumac, and hazle are 

 less prevalent. This same soil also occupies the prairies, which 

 are somewhat inferior to those mentioned above. 



The following analyses show the qualities of this variety of 

 soil : 



