102 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



Neither does it show in the W. ^ of S. 4, though it is prob- 

 able that it exists here beneath the surface. But in the E. 

 | of Sect. 4 and the S. E. i of Sect. 33, T. 12, R 2 E., it 

 again becomes very prominent. It appears to come out from 

 beneath the Lower Siliceous Chert, and is lapped up against 

 the base of the ridge of Lower Limonite. Thickness still 

 about fifty feet. Its scattered fragments cover the low 

 ground as far down as the denudation has gone. Its quality 

 here wiy average better than in Sect. 5. It seems every 

 way equal to the Lower Limonite, though generally of a 

 lighter color, and showing less fibrous ore. Ascending the 

 ore ridge at this point, one passes first over the thick out- 

 crop of this ore for 50 feet vertical; next Lower Siliceous 

 crumbled Chert 50 feet ; then Clinton 50 feet ; then Lower 

 Limonite ore standing out of, and on the surface, about 50 

 feet more to the top. Heretofore it has been the opinion 

 that the ore at the top and bottom of the ridge were the 

 same. That the ore at the base had rolled, or tumbled from 

 the top. Yet inspection of the surface would have shown 

 that there are no masses, or chunks of ore, on the surface of 

 the Clinton, or the Lower Siliceous ; which would necessarily 

 have been otherwise, if the ore at the base had come from 

 the top. The inclination of the surface is such that masses 

 of ore descending would have come to rest, on one part, as 

 well as on another. Hence it might have been seen, even 

 by those who did not understand the geological structure, 

 that two different ore deposits exists here. But the deposit 

 at the base of the ridge having been hitherto regarded as 

 talus, has received no attention. Prospectors and specimen 

 hunters have passed it by unheeded, or unaware of its exis- 

 tence. And yet it is one of the great iron ore deposits of 

 the valley. It is true it extends N. W. only to the fault line. 

 And that the N. E. and S. W. extensions of it may both be 

 engulfed in the fault. Yet a mass of ore like this, 50 feet 

 thick, and easily accessible, will not be overlooked in the 

 future, as it has been in the past. 



It is a remarkable freak of nature, which has here brought 

 almost together, the only fad of lower limonite yet dis- 



