1(176, 177, 17*! LIGNITIC OP CHOCTAW — WINSTON. 



ascertained the occurrence of lignite proper in that immediate neighborhood. 

 Beds of lignite occur, however, eastward ot Bankston, in several localities («H'265), 

 forming- generally the water^shedding stratum. While the lignite at Mr. 

 Bridges 1 is solid and shows woody structure, being evidently derived from 

 rees, that in Mr. Wood's neighborhood seems to be composed of indefi- 

 nitely shaped fragments of wood, roots and leaves, chiefly endogenous — the 

 deposit perhaps of a, bog or swam)), intermingled with clay, and crumbling to 

 pieces in drying. In both places, the lignite .stratum is overlaid by gray clayey 

 sand with bits of leaves, similar to that observed on Ocklimita Creek, (No. 1 of 

 Sec. 17, *[169). Silicified wood is very common in the Orange Sands of the 

 region. To the eastward, in Ocktibbeha county, the fiatwoods are said to present 

 precisely the same features as further N. 



17G. The mineral waters at Black's Wells. Chocktaw county, are derived from 

 divers dark colored clays and sands overlying a lignite suatum, which was 

 struck and passed through — 1 feet thick— in deepening a well which at first 

 yielded a strong sulphur "water ; the latter suddenly disappeared, during a 

 thunderstorm, leaving freestone water behind. In spite of repeated borings all 

 around the well, the sulphureous vein has not as yet been recovered. 



The whole of Winston county, as well as N. Neshoba, appears to be under- 

 kid by a stratum — or perhaps several — of lignite, of very variable thickness ; 

 from 2 to 12, on an average, 4 to 5 feet. In N. W. Winston, this stratum is 

 found in wells, overlaid by sand and leaf-bearing clays of irregular cleavage, 

 similar to that found on Eagland's branch (^173). — A good locality for obtaining 

 specimens of the fossil flora, is at Mr. Wm. E. Coleman's mill, near New Pros- 

 pect P. 0., on S. 35, T. 17, R. 10 E., where the bluff of the pond consists of 

 yellowish, somewhat sandy clay of irregular cleavage, in which the leaves occur 

 as impressions of a deep brown tint. Here the leaves of a Cycas '.. a Smilax c i 

 and other plants are abundant (Locality e. of General Section). 



177. On the heads of the Noxubee River, in N. E. Winston, lignite is also 

 abundant ; it is found in wells, crops out in the branches, and on hillsides — 

 which would seem to make prolable the existence of several successive strata 

 ©f this material. A few years ago, a bed of lignite which cropped out on both 

 slopes of a ridge, about 5 miles E. N. E. of New Prospect, took fire from the 

 burning of the woods, and kept burning for twelve months, during which time, 

 the "burning hill" was quite an attraction for the curious. 



At Louisville, shallow wells are obtained in the Orange Sand before reaching 

 the lignite strata ; the deeper wells, however, pass through gray and black clays 

 and beds of lignitic 2 to 10 feet thick ; lignitized trunks retaining their rounded 

 shape, have also been found in the region. Fine impressions of leaves are fre- 



?uently found in these wells ; in one dug at the residence of G. G. Snedecor, 

 feq., of Louisville, a stratum of grayish-red, fine-grained rock, 8 feet thick, 

 was found at 28 feet, most of the overlying material being gray clayey sand 

 of a laminated structure. The rock resembles closely the ferruginous shale 

 of Hurley's Schoolhouse (*Tl70) and contains beautiful impressions of exogen- 

 ous leaves. 



178. In S. E. Winston, S. W. Noxubee, and N. W. Kemper, high ridges of 

 Orange Sand conceal entirely the Lignitic formation, until we reach the slope 

 which descends into the Fiatwoods, where lignitic clays are met with half-way 

 up the hillside, with ferruginous nodules, etc., but no lignite. The character 

 of the Fiatwoods, however, is the same as ever. Similarly we see the lignitic 

 clays outcropping on the E. slope of the DeKalb ridge, and according to L. Harper, 

 a bed of lignite 3 to 4 feet thick crops out a few miles N. W. of DeKalb ; but ok 

 that ridge itself nothing but Orange Sand is to be seen for some distance S. of 

 Dekalb. On the waters of Patickfaw Creek, however, dark colored clays appear 

 on the hillsides, with ferruginous nodules. Near Blackwater P. O., a soft 

 yellow sandstone containing white shells, was said to have been struck at 40 

 feet, in a well ; the ledge was a few T feet in thickness, hdmo it "black mud' 



