OF ARKANSAS. 



225 



" Bean cave." It is about thirty feet wide at the entrance, and runs back 

 some one hundred feet or more, when it becomes much wider. Its height 

 will average about eight feet. The walls or sides of this cave are com- 

 posed of a laminated, tough, ferruginous clay, the lamina) having a varied 

 color, from pale yellow to dark red. The upper and lower portions of this 

 laminated clay, forming the walls of the cave, are partially dry, whilst 

 the center, for about two feet, is quite damp. Though this clay, as it is 

 dug from the bed, contains a considerable quantity of nitre, and most in 

 the upper and lower part, yet it is only after it has been broken down and 

 left on the bottom of the ca\e for some time, that it acquires sufficient 

 nitre to be worked with profit. After it has been broken down in the 

 cave, it rapidly loses its moisture, and crumbles into a fine powder. A 

 considerable quantity of this dry earth, equal perhaps to one-third of the 

 dimensions of the cave, is found on the sloping sides and floor. 



These nitre earths yield from 3 to 6 per cent, of salt-petre, as will be 

 seen by consulting the Reports of Dr. D. D. Owen and Dr. Elderhorst; 

 the red, dry, crumbled earth on the floor being the richest in these nitre 

 salts. 



After lixiviation with water, this earth can also be used as a coarse 

 paint, being nearly free from grit; it contains so much oxide of iron as to 

 give it the color of Spanish brown, the depth of which is increased by 

 ignition. 



I was informed by Mr. Flipping that a drift had been made into the 

 laminated clay of this cave in search of lead, and that some little was 

 found, but not sufficient to encourage further investigation. 



About one hundred yards from Bean's cave, in the same bluff, and 

 occupying the same level, is another cave, one hundred and sixty feet wide 

 at the mouth, and nearly as many feet in depth. The thickness of the 

 deposit of laminated nitre earth, though not as great as in Bean's cave, is 

 nevertheless, from four to seven feet, and there is good reason to believe 

 that the earth will be found continuous from one cave to the other. 



There are several other nitre caves, of less extent, and filled with this 

 «ame description of earth, reported to exist in this bluff, which I had not 

 time to visit. 



Messrs. Smith & Co., of Elgin, Jackson county, Arkansas, have recently 

 purchased land on White river, including these caves, and made arrange- 

 ments for the manufacture of salt-petre from the nitre earth which they 

 contain. I was informed by one of the partners, when at Elgin, last 

 spring, that the yield of nitre was fully equal to their expectations, and 

 they were quite sanguine that it would prove a profitable investment. 

 He stated also that they used the lye for evaporation in the kettles, with- 



15 



