MURPHREE'S VALLEY ; ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 5 



mining region; a busy field of productive enterprise*. Only 

 transportation is wanting to make its mineral treasurer 

 available now. 



We resume the description of the Murphree's Valley ores 5 

 at the point where the head waters of Village (Gurley's)^ 

 Creek break through the vertical wall of LaGrange Sand- 

 stone, in S. 26, T. 14 of R. 1 west. This appears to be at r 

 or near the south west end of this peculiar structure this- 

 minor fold. It terminates opposite the termination of the 

 Blount Mountain Coal Field. From this point south-west- 

 ward for several miles this valley is a single fold a simple 

 anticlinal with the great fault at its apex, and the strata 

 dipping from it, to the S. E. and N. W. The fault is now a 

 little closer to the S. E. edge, or side of the valley, than 

 heretofore, and its position is often obscured by the drift 

 and talus from the mountain. The Lower Silurian (Knox) 

 Chert on one side, and the Lower Siliceous (Sub-Carbonif- 

 erous) on the other give a close approximation to the divid- 

 ing fault line. No Clinton seen along the line till the N. E. 

 i of S. 34 of this Tp. is reached. About a half mile east of 

 Village Springs, on the top of a high sharp ridge, the upper 

 members of the Clinton again come to the surface. The 

 well known 2nd seam of fossiliferous, or Encrinital ore is here 

 standing above the surface. On top of the ridge it is almost 

 vertical, and gradually changing to a steep S. E. dip farther 

 to the south-west. There is here not only a steep S. E. dip, 

 but also a rapid declination of the ore bed to the south-west. 

 On the descent the First, or top seam of the Clinton, be- 

 comes also exposed. These two seams are close together, 

 though^ not united as they are at the Worthington Mines in 

 S's 22 and 28 on the opposite side of the valley. And with 

 the further difference that the 2nd bed here is much thicker, 

 and is first class ore, carrying 55 or 6 per cent of metallic 

 iron, while the first or top bed is probably a little interior. 

 But as no openings have been made here, a reliable opinion 

 of quantity or quality could not be entertained. 



East Red Mountain begins at the gap where the Village 

 Springs and Spralding's Cove road crosses the mountain, or 



