BULL. 30] 



MINES AND QUARRIES 



865 



tained from exposures in the bluffs, by the 

 Hopi Indians, and there is historical tes- 

 timony that it was thus procured for 

 pottery-burning in former times. Iron 

 oxides were extensively mined by some 

 tribes, as is illustrated in an iron mine re- 

 cently opened in Franklin co. , Mo. , where 

 deep, sinuous galleries had been exca- 

 vated in the ore body for the purpose of 

 obtaining the red and yellow oxides for 

 paint (Holmes). 



Section of paint Mine in a bed of iron Ore, m<ssouri. 



OF EXCAVATIONS ABOUT 20 FT. (holMEs) 



The quarrying of stone f(jr the manu- 

 facture of implements, utensils, and orna- 

 ments was one of the great industries of 

 the native tribes. Ancient excavations, 

 surrounded by the debris of implement- 

 making, are of common occurrence in the 

 United States. Flint (q. v. ) and other 

 varieties of stone sufficiently brittle to 

 be shaped by the fracture ])rocesses were 

 especially sought, but soapstone, mica, 

 and turquoise were also quarried. The 

 flinty rocks include chert (usually called 

 flint), novaculite, quartz, cjuartzite, jas- 

 per, argiliite, rhyolite, and obsidian 

 (q. v.). The best known flint quarries 

 are those on Flint Ridge, l^icking co., 

 Ohio; at Mill Creek, Union co., 111., and 

 in the vicinity of Hot Springs, Ark. 

 Many others have been located, and 

 doubtless still others remain undiscov- 

 ered in the forests and mountains. 



At Fhnt Ridge extensive beds of richly 

 colored flint of excellent quality occur, 

 forming the summit of the fiattish ridge. 

 The ancient pittings cover hundreds of 

 acres, and in numerous cases are still 

 open to a depth of from 10 to 20 ft. 

 About the pits are ridges and heaps of 

 •debris and many shop sites where the 

 implement forms were roughed out, and 

 masses of fractured flint and fiakage, as 

 well as cf)untless hammerstones used in 

 the shaping operations (see Stone-work-) . 

 The flint body was first uncovered, prob- 

 ably with the aid of stone, antler, and 

 wooden tools, and then broken up with 

 heavy stone hammers, aided by the ap- 

 plication of heat. Similar quarries occur 

 in Coshocton co., as well as in other parts 



Bull. 30—05 55 



of Ohio, and in West Virginia, Indiana, 

 Kentucky, and Tennessee. The quarries 

 in Arkansas are perhaps even more ex- 

 tensive than those in Ohio, the stone in 

 the best known examples being a fine- 

 grained variety of chert known as novacu- 

 lite (q. V. ), which occurs in beds of great 

 thickness and undetermined extent. The 

 phenomena of the quarries correspond 

 closely with those of Flint Ridge 

 ( Holmes). Similar quarries of chert are 

 found at many points in Missouri and 

 Indian Territory (Holmes). The great 

 grouj) of quarries found in the vicinity 

 iif Mill Creek, 111., presents superfi- 

 cial indications corresponding closely 

 with those of the Ohio and Arkansas 

 (juarries, but the stona obtained was a 

 gray flint, which occurs in the form of 

 nodular and lenticular masses, mostly of 

 irregular outline. These concretions 

 were well suited to the manufacture of 

 tlie large flaked implements — spades, 

 lioes, knives, and spearheads — found dis- 

 tributed over a vast area in the middle 

 Mississippi valley. The original pittings, 

 excavated in the compact deposits of 

 calcareous clay and sand in which the 

 nodules are embedded, often reached a 

 depth of 25 ft or more. A rude stone 

 pick was used in excavating, and stone 

 as well as antler hammers were employed 

 in the flaking work ( Phillips). See Flint. 

 Quarries of quartzite (q. v.) occur in 

 Wyoming (Dorsey); of argiliite (q. v.) 

 in Bucks co.. Pa. (Mercer); of jasper 

 (q. V. ) in the same county ( Mercer) ; and 

 of rhyolite (q. v. )in Adamsco. (Holmes). 

 Diffenng in type from the preceding are 

 the extensive quarries on Piney branch 

 of Rock cr., in the suburbs of Washing- 

 ton, D. C. Here quartzite bowlders were 

 quarried from the Cretaceous bluffs for 

 the manufacture of flaked implements 

 (Holmes). See Quartzite. 



RV, D. C. 



(hocmes.) 



Steatite (q. v.), called also soapstone, 

 was quarried at many points along the 

 Atlantic slope of the Appalachian high- 

 land from Georgia to New York, also in 



