OF ARKANSAS. 21 



There is a stream called the St. Francis bayou, which runs from Mrs. 

 Stott's farm, nearly parallel with the Crowley ridge, which is not laid 

 down on the maps of Arkansas. This stream empties into the St. Francis 

 river in the northern part of St. Francis county. The traces of earth- 

 cracks and sandblows are numerous, almost every where in the St. Francis 

 bottom, especially near the Morell prairie; some of the earth-cracks are 

 eight to ten feet wide and six to eight deep. Lignite has frequently been 

 thrown out of these rents in the earth, showing that there must be a con- 

 siderable area of that mineral not far from the surface, running through 

 the St. Francis country. 



There is a peculiar soil of extraordinary fertility, occupying part of the 

 St. Francis bottom, particularly in townships 8, 9, 10 and 11, ranges 5 and 

 6 east, known as the " black wax land," which was formerly overilowed 

 by the back water of the Mississippi, but is now partly in cultivation. 

 This soil will produce from 50 to 75 bushels of corn to the acre. The soil 

 of the Morell prairie is sandy, but is also good corn land, yielding 40 to 

 50 bushels of corn to the acre, while the adjacent uplands of the Crowley 

 ridge produce from 30 to 40 bushels. 



From the Narrows of the Crowley ridge to Bolivar and Harrisburg, the 

 new county seat, the quaternary gravel is quite conspicuous on the higher 

 grounds, and of a very coarse character; some pieces would weigh several 

 pounds. On Spencer creek, some little sandstone is seen underlying the 

 gravel and resting on sandy clay. 



At Hurricane creek, near Harrisburg, the Crowley ridge is about three 

 miles wide. There are considerable cotton plantations in this part of 

 Greene county, especially at B. Harris' and Judge Hall's, just at the edge 

 of the L'Anguille and St. Francis bottoms. 



Some specimens of amber are said to have been found on Hurricane 

 creek. As this is sometimes an accompaniment of lignite, which occurs 

 on the waters of this creek, it is not improbable that such a mineral 

 may have been found, but probably only in small, isolated, disseminated 

 lumps. 



The material passed through, in sinking wells in the L'Anguille bottom, 

 is usually 20 feet of yellow clay, underlaid by 30 to 40 feet of light-colored 

 sand, a moderately soft water being generally obtained at 60 feet. 



Immediately at the foot of the ridge, water is often obtained at 12 feet, 

 the water gradually getting deeper for one mile into the bottom, where it 

 is, generally, the deepest seated. 



So far as I have yet been able to learn, no rotten limestone, green sand, 

 or shell beds, referable to the cretaceous formation, have ever been reached, 



