2,22 GEOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 



the above formation, and is frequently intersected by small imperfect veins 

 of galena, associated with calcareous spar, copper pyrites and zinc', 



Some five years ago a company was organized in Batesville, to search 

 for lead in tbis rock, on Bayou Cury. Several pits or shallow shafts were 

 sunk under the direction of Judge T. C. Bricky, one of the company, and 

 a considerable amount of lead taken out; the means at the disposal of this 

 company were inadequate to make the necessary investigation for prov- 

 ing the ground. In consequence of the shafts having caved in, no oppor- 

 tunity was afforded to see the character of the veins. In the rubbish, 

 thrown out of the shaft, I saw a considerable amount of the sulphuret 

 and carbonate of zinc, and collected specimens for analysis; * these speci- 

 mens of sulphuret of lead are of the steel-gray variety, but disseminated 

 amongst spar and rock, rendering it difficult to obtain large specimens of 

 the clear ore. The geological formation is certainly perfectly analogous 

 to that in the lead region of Marion, Carroll, and Lawrence; which 

 circumstance renders it probable that the ore will be found under the same 

 circumstances as in the above mentioned counties. 



Agriculture. 



A considerable diversity of soil is to be found in Independence county, 

 corresponding to changes in the underlying geological formations. Though 

 the surface is considerably broken, still there are extensive areas of table- 

 land underlaid by the cherty subcarboniferous limestones. These soils 

 are rich, and being based on red clay, are retentive and durable; they are 

 similar in composition to the land in the barrens of Kentucky. There 

 are, also, extensive tracts of bottom land, bordering on the numerous 

 small streams which water this county, that are well adapted for culti- 

 vation. 



The principal growth of timber is white, black, red, and postoaks, 

 hickory, gum and elm; on the cherty limestone land, the most abundant 

 trees are blackjack, sassafras and persimmon. 



FULTON COUNTY. 



In the southeastern corner of this county, near Judge Billingsley's, the 

 substratum is a hard impure limestone, rough weathering, and full of cross 

 cracks; superimposed on this, are thirty or forty feet of thin-bedded sili- 

 ceous limestone, disposed in layers like pavement stones, on the surface of 

 which remarkable fucoidal impressions are apparent. Above this flaggy 



* For result of the analysis, see appendix to Chemical Report. 



