68 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. 



Rockford and other places in Coosa, and rough stone has been 

 used in the construction of the culverts and bridge foundations, 

 etc. of the Central of Georgia Railroad in most of the counties 

 of the metamorphic region traversed by it. 



Paving and Curb Stones. The flaggy sandstones of the Coal 

 Measures and of the Red Mountain formation are very well 

 adapted to these uses, and they can be gotten out in almost any 

 desirable size. In some places these slabs are so uniform and 

 numerous that they have received the name "plank rocks." The 

 flags from the Red Mountain may be seen in the sidewalks and 

 curbs of Birmingham. 



Pacing blocks are made from the hard flags of the siliceous 

 limestones of the Tennessee Valley and shipped to Memphis. 



Slates. 



While in many localities in Shelby, Talladega, Calhoun, 

 Cleburne, Clay, Coosa, and Chilton counties, there are great 

 beds of slate which from their surface outcrops appear to be 

 sufficiently promising, yet so far as we have information, they 

 have been put to actual use only during the Civil War and for 

 covering the Confederate arsenal building in Selma. 



The slates mentioned belong to several geological formations, 

 viz., The Talladega or Ocoee; the Weisner; and the Monte- 

 vallo Shales of the Cambrian, and the upper Trenton of the 

 Silurian. 



Of these the best are perhaps the slates of the Weisner, oc- 

 curring in the southwestern part of Talladega county; those 

 of the Montevallo group in Chilton county; on Buxahatchee 

 and Clear Creeks; and those of the Trenton in the "Dark 

 Corner" northeast of Anniston in Calhoun. 



Quarries have been started in several localities, but have 

 been carried to no greater depth than 20 to 25 feet, not below 

 the reach of weathering, so that adequate tests have not yet 

 been made. 



Sands. 



Building sands are obtained from loose beds overlying the 

 formations from which they have been derived; from the 

 drifted sands along water courses; from the stratified sands 

 of some of the newer formations, and from the harder sand- 



