BROWN COUNTY. 65 



found in it, and, although we occasionally do find specimens of native copper, 

 gold, and the ores of lead, iron, etc., in it, it is quite impossible, from the con- 

 ditions under which the Drift has been accumulated, that it should contain 

 any valuable deposits of these or any other metals or metallic ores. Small quan- 

 tities of native gold are reported to have been found in the gravel and drifted 

 clays of this and the adjoining counties, and possibly this may be true, but it 

 is far more probable, that the substance mistaken for gold, was yellow mica or 

 iron pyrites, derived from the Coal Measures which form the bed rock over a 

 large portion of the county. These substances are often mistaken for gold by 

 those who have no acquaintance with mineralogy, and most of the announce- 

 ments made through the public press in regard to gold discoveries, have no 

 other basis than the chance discovery, by some ignorant person, of one of the 

 substances above named, coupled with their firmly expressed opinion that it is 

 pure gold. 



Although gold is frequently found in the gravel beds of the streams in the 

 auriferous regions, it is always in close proximity to the gold-bearing rocks, 

 from which the precious metal has been derived, for the specific gravity of 

 gold is so great, that it is rarely transported for any considerable distance from 

 the outcrop of the metamorphic rocks in which it occurs. The search for gold 

 in the Drift deposits of this State could scarcejy result otherwise than in dis- 

 appointment and pecuniary loss to those who may engage in it, and the geolo- 

 gist, who, for a temporary notoriety, should encourage such an enterprise, would 

 sooner or later receive his just reward in the contempt of all honest men. 



Carboniferous System. 



Coal Measures. This term is usually applied to a group of. strata, consisting 

 of sandstones, shales, slates and thin beds of limestone, with the coal seams 

 and fire clays, with which they are associated. Only the lower portion of this 

 group is found in this county, including the three lower coal seams, and the 

 strata associated with them. The highest beds of this group are found in the vi- 

 cinity of Mount Sterling, where a hundred feet or more of strata may be found 

 outcropping on the small creeks which run northward into Crooked creek. A 

 section of these beds, down to the horizon of No. 2 coal, shows the following 

 order : 



FT. IN. 



Nodular gray limestone, partially exposed 6 to 10 



Shale 20 " 30 



Black shale t 4 



Purple shale ; 6 



Coal, No. 3 ? ! 3 



Shale and fire clay 15 20 



Rough gray limestone, passing into a ferruginous conglomerate 4 6 



9 



