152 GEOLOGICAL KKPOKT. V212. 24:>, 244 



caves into the hillsides ; and ' have found acrustof white suit, y A inch thick, 

 formed by evaporation on a ledge of elay in the bed of Steen's Creek. Verj 

 nearly the same phenomena obtain on Campbell's Creek waters ; agood outcrop 

 occurs at Tucker's mill, S. 14, T. 3, R. 3 E. 



In one well near Cato (Cox's), a solid ledge of gj psum 10 to 12 inches thick, 

 imbedded in gray clay, was. passed through; mi have saline and gyp- 



seous water. 



242. It has been stated that most of the sandstones of this group, when 

 exposed to the weather, show a tendency to cleave at light angles to the plane 

 of stratification ; hence such blocks trequent y appear in the shape of shoit 

 angular prisms, often of great regularity. This peculiarity, which may be 

 observed in almost any outcrop from Grand Cull' eastward, has in several 

 instances led to the belief that these forms were the result of human agency, 

 and this has more especially been the case with a hard cherty ledge of sandstone 

 which crops out on the banks of a branch some distance E. of lato, at Mr. J. 

 Morrison's (about S. 13, T. .'!, R. 2 E.) This ledge underlies the entire hill at 

 the foot of which it crops out, as has been demonstrated in digging wells ; at 

 one point, however, its surface has been exposed to a considerable extent, 

 forming a " platform" or " pavement," known even beyond the limits of the 

 county of Rankin. At this point, the bed shows the usual regular prismatic 

 cleavage ; its upper surface is very level and smooth, its lower jagged and 

 nodular, precisely as would be the case had the indurating (siliceous) solution 

 attained its natural quiet level in a basin of sand. The fragments of rock fit 

 each other closely on the uneven and obviously cleaved surface, in a manner 

 which no amount of human labor could possibly effect, unless on polished 

 surfaces ; besides, a stroke of the hammer produces similar forms on a smaller 

 scale in any one of the supposed flagstones. It is quite likely that the spot 

 may at some time have been a resort for the aborigines ; since relics of human 

 art are said to have been found in its surroundings, and tracings on the surface 

 of the rock ; but tin ledge itself is clearly the work of nature. 



243. In E. Simpson, and S. Smith, the Orange Sand covers the surface so 

 thickly that it is only occasionally we find any of the materials of the Grand 

 Gulf Group. At Jaynesville, fetid black clays were struck in a well 30 feet 

 deep, dug by Mr. Magee in a bottom ; generally, the Orange Sand is not 

 passed through. The sandstone occurring near Raleigh, and the gypseous clays 

 found in a well, have already been mentioned (1T227) ; the strata found are a 

 mere repetition of those on Steen's Creek. On Leaf River, at Kees' bridge, S. 

 8, T. I, R. 8 E., we find a stratum of deep blue clay, covered with saline 

 efflorescences. In one well, near at hand, on S. 2, same T. & R., the clay was 

 bored into for 30 feet, some lignite being struck in it. White sandstone, also. 

 is said to be found in S. W. Smith county. 



I have not, as yet, examined the counties of Covington, Jones and Perry ; so 

 far as I have heard, Orange Sand alone prevails there ; it is likely, however, that 

 in the deeper channels, the materials of the Grand Gulf Group may be 

 exhibited. 



244 On the Chickasawhay and Pascagoula River, I have found these materials 

 outcropping in four localities. The most northerly is at Col. Sam. Powe's, 2 

 miles S. of Winchester, Wayne county ; a locality ofthe highest interest in the 

 study of this formation, on account of the well preserved lignitized trunks of 

 trees found there ; not only in situ in the bank, but absolutely on the spot on 

 which they grew, with their stumps standing and roots imbedded in the ancient 

 soil, on the surface of which we find the vestiges of numerous successive layers 

 Of leaves, separated by thin sheets of whitish sandy clay — the results of the 

 autumnal fall of leaves, and winter overflows. The whole of this remarkable 

 deposit is covered by about twenty feet of Orange Sand strata, as exhibited in 

 the following section : 



