2.20 GEOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 



increased to a thickness of ten or twelve feet, and has been quarried to 

 build, in part, the race at Ruddle's mill, on this creek. 



The organic remains 6ecn in this shale, comprise imperfect casts of the 

 genera, cardium, lingula, avicuta, and orthoceras, bi-furcatcd teeth of 

 fishes and stems of plants. 



The cherty subearbonilerous or cavernous limestone (d) which commen- 

 ces al Black river hills, in township 14, often encroaches upon and replaces 

 the greater portion of the overlying sandstone (/). This cherty limestone 

 has its southern limits one mile north of Batesville, caps the mountains in 

 the northern part of the county with its detached chert, and continues in 

 the direction of its strike, a little north of west to the Cherokee territory. 

 In the western part of the State, north of township 15, it is in great force, 

 and extends northward into Missouri, beyond the lead mines of Granby. 

 In tie' western part of Independence county this limestone forms a per- 

 pendicular cliff on White river, above the mouth of Laiferty creek, from 

 four hundred to five hundred feet in height, making a conspicuous land- 

 mark for navigators of this river, and bears the name of " Pinter's Bluff." 

 Between this point and Batesville it forms the substratum of extensive 

 table-lands, well adapted for agriculture. Characteristic samples of this 

 soil have been collected from the farm of Mr. R. A. Childress, section 36, 

 township 14 north, range 8 west, ten miles from Batesville. 



One and a half miles north of Batesville, on the property of Mr. Mull, 

 there is an oolitic member of this limestone, having a thickness of thirty 

 or forty feet, which takes a good polish and can be quarried in blocks of 

 any re [uired size for building purposes, and has the reputation of being a 

 durable stone. Mr. Mull is now engaged quarrying this rock, for the 

 manufacture of lime, for which use it is well adapted, on account of its 

 purity and whiteness. Lime made from the oolitic limestone, on the 

 Ohio river, below Louisville, always brings a higher price and meets with 

 a more ready sale than that which is made from the associated dark lime- 

 stones. 



The ores found in this member (d.) are oxides of iron and manganese, 

 galena and some little copper pyrites. The two former of these promise 

 to be abundant. This is the same geological formation in which the fine 

 deposits of iron ore occur on the Cumberland river, in Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, that supply the western furnaces located in its vicinity. 



North of Batesville, near Mr. Cason's, there is a strong axis of distur- 

 bance in the strata, bearing south-east and north-west. Small quantities 

 of copper pyrites are found disseminated amongst these titled strata, 

 chiefly in a close textured limestone rock, which has a slight greenish 

 color. Its occurrence, in proximity to this line of disturbance, may be re- 



