1(1801 



LIGNITIC OF LAUDERDALE — NESHOBA. 



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(Sec. 22.) 

 SECTION AT SPEAR'S CUT, LAUDERDALE COUNTY. 



In a well bored at Marion Station, 2 miles W. of Marion, on the M. and 0. R. 

 R., strata similar to these were penetrated for 425 feet, when a ledge of hard 

 sandstone 18 inches thick was struck, then 1 foot of bluish sand, then 1 inch of 

 hard rock, then bluish clayey sand with comminuted shells — a sandy marl — 

 and thereafter at 450 feet a bed of shells — chiefly oysters, judging by the 

 fragments — in loose siliceous sand, about 5 feet thick ; then blue clayey sand to 

 475 feet, when a very micaceous sand was bored up, to 480 feet. The material 

 before me is insufficient to determine whether or not these shells are tertiary ; 

 but it is likely that they should be so, since the cretaceous formation (which 

 might havo been reached here) in this latitude, and far above, shows no trace of 

 similar materials. 



180. Of the geology of Neshoba county, I possess but few data — derived, ia 

 part, from a hasty trip in autumn 1855, the field notes of which, with others, 

 have disappeared. The Orange Sand formation is said to be very largely 

 developed N. of Pearl River, forming some of the highest ridges in the State. I 

 have reliable information, however, of the existence of lignite beds and "black 

 dirt" in the N. part of this county ; while in the S. portion, we find a yellow or 

 white, soft sandstone, sometimes showing transitions into *laystone, in which 

 fossils of the Claiborne stage appear (Hl90 2 ). Its resemblance to the fossilife 

 rous rocks both of S. Lauderdale, and Tippah, is very striking. 



