2 GEOLOGICAL REPORT. [1"3 



without actual surface levelings. The dips of the cretaceous strata 

 has been best proven, and its amount approximately ascertained, by 

 the artesian bores which have been numerously made in the region 

 they underlie. In Lowndes and Noxubee counties, according 

 to data collected by Dr. William Spillman, the dip is from 

 25 to 30 feet per mile, towards the S. W. Further N. the direc- 

 tion of the dip changes to the westward, and near the Tennessee 

 line is nearly due W. ; while in middle Alabama, according to 

 Tuomey, the dip is nearly due S. In other words, the strata 

 incline away from the great upheavals of the Alleghany range, the 

 cretaceous belt skirting what may be considered the last spurs 

 radiating from the mountains. [See Paragraph 78.] The strata 

 of the Tertiary also possess a slight dip, as is shown by the rise of the 

 water obtained in boring wells, in the southern portion of the 

 State ; and by the gradual sinking below the waters edge, as we 

 advance southward, of the strata exhibited in the banks of the 

 streams which, like Chickasawhay and Pearl Rivers, follow in 

 general a southward course. The dip of the tertiary therefore 

 coincides, in the main, with that of the cretaceous formation. 



3. In view of these facts, we should expect to find the highest 

 elevations in the north-eastern portion of the State. With respect 

 to the average level of the country, this undoubtedly holds true, as 

 is shown by the course of the larger rivers ; but the rule is very 

 much modified, as regards the highest relative elevations, above 

 the general level of the drainage. For after we recede 70 to 90 

 miles from the sea-coast, the average level ascends but slowly, and 

 we find relative elevations at least, equal to those in the N. E. 

 portion of the State ; and thence northward, no inference as to 

 the hilliness, or the relative elevations of a region, can be drawn 

 apriori from its position, either in longitude or latitude. In the 

 latter direction, there is perhaps a little more regularity than 

 exists in the former ; the highest relative, as well as absolute,.. 

 elevations being, on the whole, E. of a line drawn N. and S.. 

 through the center of the State. A notable exception to this rule, 

 however, occurs in the extreme S. W., where the Mississippi river 

 is skirted by ridges, some of which are elevated probably more 

 than 400 feet above its level. Some of the highest ridges in the 

 State are said to exist on the heads of Pearl River, in Newton, 

 Neshoba, and E. Attala — a region with which I am not personally 



