OF ARKANSAS. 



99 



MADISON COUNTY. 



The continuance of the south-west dip, brings in still higher members of 

 the subcarboniferous group on the Main fork of King's river. 



Five miles below the forks of King's river, there are alternations of 

 limestones and sandstones, with some shaly partings, all belonging to the 

 upper division of the subcarboniferous group. Fifty feet above the high- 

 est bed of limestone observed at this locality, there are some thirty feet of 

 shale shown in a section in a ravine. The lower part of this shale is black 

 and bituminous, and exhibits, in splitting, curious, conchoidal impressions, 

 in which, however, no organic structure is discerned; the upper part is 

 light-grey and encloses flattened concretions of clay ironstone. This 

 shale is overlaid by sandstones belonging to the millstone grit series. 



Ascending the valley of King's river towards the forks, masses of con- 

 glomerate sandstone are encountered, which have fallen from the cliffs 

 above. From the forks of King's river, a high bluff is seen to the east, 

 with vertical cliffs of conglomerate and millstone grit, overhanging the 

 shales, under which are the sandstones, Archimedes, and encrinital lime- 

 stones of the- upper subcarboniferous group. 



The soil of the valley of King's river is black and rich, from the wash- 

 ings it receives from the limestones and bituminous shales of the adjacent 

 slopes; but the same cause has operated to produce a miry road, liable to 

 be washed into deep holes, which makes the traveling disagreeable. 



Both the ascent of the valley, and the southerly dip, contribute to bring 

 the Archimedes limestone and millstone grits gradually lower in the hills 

 as you proceed up King's river. 



In the ridge, which divides the waters of King's river from those of 

 War Eagle and Richland creek, on or near Samuel Rags' farm, and about 

 a quarter of a mile to the end of the Clarksville road, a small branch 

 makes a perpendicular fall over twelve feet of overhanging conglomerate 

 sandstone; beneath this are about eighteen inches of shale, including six 

 inches of coal. I traveled fifteen miles from my camp on King's river, to 

 see this coal, in the hopes that it might prove to be a workable bed, but 

 was disappointed in finding it so thin; because a good bed of coal would 

 be of infinite service to this country, remote from a navigable stream, if 

 for no other purpose than that of blacksmith's use.* At considerable 

 labor a few hundred pounds of this coal were obtained, by taking advan- 



*So necessary do blacksmiths find coal in their business, that they often go great distances and 

 haul a small supply to their shops, although it may be of inferior quality. 



