50 GEOLOGICAL REPORT. [183. 84, 85 



stone, which above is calcareous, lower down, siliceous, and destitute of fossils 



83. On S. 22, same T. and E., at Mr. Turner's mill, there occur in the bed of. 

 Big Crippled Deer Creek, outcrops of whitish chert containing abundance of 

 fossils, among which Fenestella, Gorgonia, Cyathqphyllum {Zaphrentis ?), Pro- 

 ductus, Terebratulos and stems of Pcntremites are conspicuous ; it contains also 

 small druses of iron pyrites, altogether tetrahedral in form, which does not vi- 

 triolesce, but is undergoing transformation into brown iron ore (H"72) and 

 contains between 2 and 3-10,000 of silver. A short distance northward, on S. 

 15, we find the hornstone, which crops out in gullies, gradually changing into 

 siliceous sandstone destitute of fossils, and resembling that of Bay Spring. 



Close by, at a level somewhat higher, we find outcrops of a limestone ledge, 

 and above this still, on the hillsides, we see angular fragments of hornstone — 

 from which, although none of the latter was seen decidedly in situ, it would 

 appear that the limestone is here both over- and underlaid by hornstone. 



84. No limestone seems to crop out on, or E. of the main channel of Bear 

 Creek, where its course lies through TT. 5, 6 and 7, BR. 10 and 11 E., in S. 

 E. Tishomingo county ; but outcrops of siliceous sandstone, of various degrees 

 of hardness, and destitute of recognizable fossils, are of common occurrence. 



In traveling through the hilly and rocky region intervening in Alabama, between 

 Eock Creek and Cedar Creek, E. of Big Bear, in TT. 4 and 5, E. 12 E., I have 

 seen the limestone and sandstone alternating repeatedly, in such a manner as to 

 indicate a northward dip. At one point, a stratum of limestone only 15 feet in 

 thickness, is over- and underlaid by non-fossiliferous, siliceous sandstone. At 

 Mann's mill, near the mouth of Cedar Creek, the S. bluff of the creek consists 

 of laminated siliceous sandstone, so hard as to strike fire readily ; the layers 

 being from }.< to l},i inches thick. A short distance above, there are several 

 small caves, about 3 yards wide by 1)4 high, running down obliquely into the 

 sandstone ; about 15 feet below the surface they terminate in pools of clear cold 

 water, which is said to rise and fall with that of the creek — although to the 

 observer they appear to be rather above the level of the latter. 



85. Further above still, near Walnut Peak P. 0. (Mr. Suddard's) there is on 

 the left side of the creek a large slough, known as the "Cypress Pond," which, 

 running around in horseshoe shape, incloses between itself and the main channel 

 of the creek, the greater part of S. 17, T. 5, E. 11 E. On the tract thus inclosed 

 the Orange Sand alone prevails ; but on the landward bluff, which is from 30 to 

 40 feet high, there are outcrops both of limestone and sandstone. At the N. 

 extremity of the semi-circle, the sandstone (which here is soft, yellowish, and 

 effervesces with acids) appears at the foot of the bluff, while higher up we have 

 a solid, black or gray crystalline limestone of considerable purity, which occupies 

 the upper portion of the bluff for some distance southward of the point men- 

 tioned. The sandstone, however, gradually rises and takes the place of the 

 limestone, until at the S. end of the bluff, as well as at Mr. Suddard's house, 

 nothing but the soft, laminated, effervescent sandstone, destitute of fossils, is 

 to be seen. 



86. Several branches empty into the "Pond," and among these, one, at the 

 N. end, has excavated for itself a deep, almost square, and for some distance 



