32 GEOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 



even in the lowest positions and excavations made in the northern part 

 of Poinsett county. 



My observations in this county have, as yet, only extended as far south 

 as the vicinity of the northern line of township 10; but from the best 

 information obtained from Judge Hall and others, best acquainted with 

 this county, it seems very doubtful whether any of the members of this 

 formation reach the surface even in the southern part of Poinsett. 



In crossing the Crowley ridge from Benjamin Harris' to Judge Hall's, 

 (a distance of three to three and a half miles,) gravel is found mostly in 

 the high situations underlaid by sand and clay. At the foot of the ridge, 

 near Judge Hall's, there is some soft sandstone, which is, no doubt, a local, 

 partial cementation of the quaternary sand already referred to. 



Samples of the cotton soil were collected for chemical analysis from 

 Judge Hall's farm; No. 1, being the virgin soil; No. 2, twenty-four years 

 in cultivation. The land lies just at the foot of the Crowley ridge, as it 

 insensibly slopes down to the flats of the St. Francis bottom. This soil 

 has a good deal of gravel mixed through it. 



In passing from Judge Hall's, up the eastern edge of the Crowley ridge, 

 the same succession of deposits prevails; the gravel occupying, as usual, 

 the higher ground and being for the most part quite coarse. 



From the west edge of the Crowley ridge, to the crossing of Cache 

 river by way of the Santa Fe post-office, is some eighteen miles. Of this 

 about 8 miles is slush land, not very miry, but covered more or less with 

 water with only dry land enough for a few farms in the vicinity of Santa 

 Fe post-office, and a small tract 6 miles from the crossing. 



The best land of the Cache bottom for cultivation, is the sweet-gum 

 land and red-elm, with an undergrowth of slippery-elm and dog-wood. 

 This soil is somewhat of the nature of the black-sand land heretofore 

 spoken of, with narrow strips of clay land running here and therethrough 

 it. This soil is best adapted for corn and cotton. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 



There is no hill land proper in this county; the whole of the county 

 being level land, with the farming lands bordering on White river being 

 elevated only some 6 to 8 feet above the Cache flate. 



A sample of the black sandy land was collected for analysis from land 

 adjoining Thomas Maclerath's farm, 3 or 4 miles east of Cache river. 

 This kind of soil forms about one-third or one-fourth of the Cache bottom. 

 The other two-thirds are post-oak and black spice land. This latter soil 

 is very rich when drained and reclaimed, but, in its natural state, is wet 

 and miry. It supports a growth of large timber, viz: gum, fine ash, pen- 



