120 OLOGICAL REPORT. [1181, 182 



Of Leake county 1 know nothing as yet, save that in its N. W. corner, near 

 Thomastovvn (as in a large portion, at least, of Attala county), fetid gray clays, 

 yielding saline and purgative waters, often impregnated with sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, are found in wells at no great depth (30 to 50 feet). The same is true 

 of the adjoining portions of Madison county, where, although outcrops are very 

 scarce, I have had the opportunity of examining the material freshly dug from 

 wells— as at Mr. It. A. McMillans, S. 33, T. 13, R. 5 E, where at 28 feet, 

 beneath the Orange Sand, fetid laminated clays of various dark tints, with vesti- 

 ges of leaves, ami small crystals of gypsum — interstratilied, more or less, with 

 dark-colored sands, were struck, and water obtained in a stratum of black 

 sand at 17 feet. The material is absolutely identical with that observed at 

 Vaiden, in the deep cut (Ifl83), and the same is found only a few feet beneath 

 the surface, in many points in N T . Holmes, e. g., at Rockport. 



181. Further E., we find in several cuts on the N. 0., J. and G. N. R. II. (<>. g, 

 on S. 29, T. 12, R, 5 E.), dark colored, fetid clays, charged with iron pyrites, 

 and containing numerous small layers and veins of glossy lignite. Where these 

 clays are exposed to the atmosphere, they speedily become covered with a white 

 efflorescence, which sometimes also appears in fields, on the surface soil, — a 

 mixture chiefly of copperas, alum, and gypsum. — The same strata are struck in 

 wells, and give rise, probably, to the mineral waters of the "Artesian Springs." 

 No regular beds of true lignite, so far as known, have been struck in this region, 

 but such beds are found in Yazoo (according to L. Harper), W. Holmes, Carroll, 

 Yallabusha and Panola, and probably also in DeSoto county. Of the Lignitic 

 formation, as it exists in the country bordering on the Mississippi bottom, I 

 cannot speak from personal observation. According to information obtained from 

 intelligent inhabitants, and observations o, noted in various places in L. Harper's 

 Report, the character of the lignitic strata of that region coincides closely with 

 that observed further E., and it would seem that through the counties of Marshall, 

 Lafayette, Yallabusha, Carroll and Madison, an immediate connection of the 

 Lignitic of the interior with that of the Mississippi bluff, can be traced. In a 

 single locality (S. 27, T. 9, R. 4 W., Yazoo county), an outcrop mentioned by 

 L. Harper (Report, p. 168) offers a phenomenon not observed elsewhere, viz : a 

 stratum of lignite underlaid by pebbles; on the strength of which, he considers 

 the whole of the Northern Lignitic as being geologically connected with the 

 Orange Sand — to which, for the rest, it shows no more special relation than to 

 any of the other formations of the State. He does not describe the character of 

 the pebbles, nor does it appear that special care was taken to ascertain beyond a 

 doubt, the important fact that the pebbles were in their original place, and that a 

 case like that figured by him on p. 50 (copied from my field notes) was out of 

 question. Siliceous pebbles, however, occur in the fossiliferous sandstones of 

 S. Neshoba ; so that, even if the facts as alleged by L Harper should be 

 substantially correct, they would prove nothing against the probable supposition 

 of the equivalence of the lignite stratum of the Mississippi bluff to those of E. 

 Mississippi. They may, nevertheless prove to be an independent formation. — 

 Oak and hickory leaves, and acorns associated with fragments of lignite, are 

 said to have been found in wells in W. Panola, Carroll and W. Holmes ; the 

 same has been the case in N. Marshall and in DeSoto, in several localities. 

 Generally, however, the Orange Sand, represented largely by the pebble beds, 

 appears to be the prevalent formation even to great depths, in this region. 



182. The character of the formation in E. Yallabusha has already been men- 

 tioned ( Hi 74) as being similar to that of N. Calhoun. In the central portion 

 (N. and S.) of the county, lignite does not seem to occur ; gray or white clays, 

 laminated, and more or less sandy and micaceous — often resembling, at first 

 sight, the Rotten Limestone, and not unfrequently claimed as such by the inhab- 

 itants — and gray sand, form the usual material of the outcrops, which are by no 

 means abundant. W. of Water Valley, in Mr. Madison Carr's neighborhood, 

 white laminated clay appears on hillsides falling off towards Otuckalofa Creek ; 



