174 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



matters with which it is mixed. Examples of this mode of 

 occurrence are to be seen near Millerville, in Clay county, and 

 about Blue Hill and Gregory Hill, in Tallapoosa. 



In the mica schists and other fully crystalline rocks of this 

 region the graphite is present in the form of thin flakes, or 

 lamellae, and is comparatively easy to separate from the enclos- 

 ing rock. This variety of graphite has been worked at several 

 points' in Clay, Coosa, and Chilton counties. 



Sorne of the graphitic schists hold as much as 20 per cent, of 

 graphite, but the average content is less. The belt of graphitic 

 rocks extend from Chilton county northeastward into Georgia. 



In Tallapoosa county a mile below Tallassee there is a third 

 mode of occurrence, or perhaps a modification of the second 

 above described. Here a belt of garnetiferous' schist crosses 

 the river in an outcrop of about 100 yards width. In this schist 

 the graphite is found in lenses or flakes which sometimes attain 

 a diameter of two inches. As the rock disintegrates the graph- 

 ite lenses weather out and are scattered loose ovqr the surface. 

 The same belt or a similar one is to be seen where it crosses 

 Wolf creek in the northern portion of Macon county. 



II. The Valley Region. — This region, or rather the Coosa 

 Valley, .which is its chief division, occupies a strip some forty 

 miles' wide, running northeast and southwest between .the Gold 

 region on the one side and the Coal measures on the other. 

 Beyond the Coosa Valley to the northwest, interpolated be- 

 tween the dififerent coal fields, are the outlying valleys, Qahaba, 

 Jones', Wills'. Murphree's and Blountsville. or Big Spring 

 \'alley, with the great Tennessee Valley lying to the north and 

 west of the Warrior Coal Field. This Valley region is the 

 southwestern prolongation of the \"alley of East Tennessee and 

 the Valley of Virginia, and it is based generally upon calca- 

 reous or limestone rocks, though great mountain forming 

 masses of sandstone and shale occur in it. 



Associated with the limestones of these valleys are the brown 

 iron ores and ochres, the kaolins and the beauxites, while in 

 manv of the ridges bordering, especially Wills'. Murphree's 

 and Jones' Valleys, are the great beds (jf red hematite or fos- 

 siliferous iron ore. upon which, in large measure, the prom- 

 inence of Alabama as a producer of iron depends. Important 

 in the manufacture of iron are also the beds of limestone and 

 dolomite which are used as fluxes ; these likewise are products 

 of the vallevs. 



