MURPHREE'S VALLEY; ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 61 



this rock both dissolve freely, and wherever it comes to the 

 surface the face of the mountain and the bottom lands below 

 are of a deep red color. Any one can tell from this, as far 

 as it can be seen, where this iron lime rock is exposed in the 

 mountain. It is continuous from here to Village Creek. 



Careful search was made for iron ore beds in this section 

 but none were found. In Section 14 a thin bed of ore was 

 observed about 1 foot thick. It was believed to represent 

 bed No. 1. 



In the next Section (15) the bulk of the iron lime rock is 

 greatly increased. It forms the bold, steep, bluffy face of 

 the mountain. Where it is the most massive, it was too 

 steep to be measured. Its thickness was estimated to be 

 over 100 feet. At its base it was conformably bedded on 

 the Trenton Limestone, and its naked top frequently makes 

 the summit of the mountain ; thus seeming to have absorbed 

 the whole of the Clinton. If any Clinton strata lie above it 

 at such places, they will only be found far down the western 

 side of the mountain. None of the upper beds were seen in 

 this section, and the material of the 4th bed is probably 

 scattered through this immense iron bearing rock. Indeed 

 it would seem that all the material of the CJinton formation 

 had here been compounded together. The irregular distri- 

 bution of these materials, especially noticeable in the iron 

 streaks, gave it the appearance of having been deposited in 

 agitated swirling waters. This hypothesis is not positively 

 asserted, but the want of conformity in the arrangement of 

 its streaks, the inharmonious arrangement of materials, and 

 the semi-concentric rings everywhere seen in its structure, 

 strongly suggest this opinion. At least this description will 

 convey a tolerably clear idea of its structure in this section, 

 and the one above. 



In Section 22, same Tp., the volume of the iron lime rock 

 has sensibly diminished. It no longer reaches up to the top 

 of the mountain. From fifty to one hundred feet of Clinton 

 strata are occasionally found above it. In one of these points 

 or knobs capping this rock was found an excellent out-crop 

 of the ore of bed No. 1. It was a matter of much surprise to 



