162 GEOLOGICAL REPORT. [1266, 267 



ing, heavier beds of the same might be struck, since they arc very 

 common further east. Thus, at Moses Bridges' place, S. 3:?, T. 18, 

 R. 10 E, a stratum of fine compact ligniie crops out in the bed of 

 a branch, the thickness exhibited being about 4 feet. The material 

 is thickly laminated, does not crumble in drying ; its fractuic, on 

 which some woody structure is still perceptible, is of a fine, glossy 

 black, and will barely make a streak on paper. It inflames less 

 easily than the coals of Lafayette county, burns with a bright 

 flame, and leaves only J.U8 per cent, of light, greenish-yellow ash. 

 This lignite will serve well most purposes of stone coal ; even 

 coking. 



At Mr. Henry Wood's, on S. 2, T. 17, II. 10 E, there is an out- 

 crop of a stratum of inferior lignite, about -\ feet thick, composed, 

 it appears, chiefly of small aquatic plants ; it therefore crumbles in 

 drving, and seems also to contain a large amount of ash. 



At Black's Wells. S. 23, T. 17, R. 10 E., Choctaw county, a 

 stratum of lignite of better quality than that at Wood's, and 4 

 feet in thickness, was struck in a well at about 45 feet. 



266. N. Wiuston abounds in lignite. It is found in a stratum 4 

 feet in thickness, in wells near New Prospect P. O., and E. of the 

 same on the headwaters of Noxubee, where it crops out abund- 

 antly in gullies, and is struck in wells N. of Webster. I have had 

 no opportunity of observing these beds personally, but Irom the 

 description given, the lignite appears to be o! excellent quality. 

 Between Sun Creek and Trim Cane Creek, in Mr. Dillon's neigh- 

 borhood ; on Mr. R. L. Johnson's plantation, on the Houston and 

 Starkville road, and in S. E. Ocktibbeha, W. of the Flat'.voods, 

 generally, lignite beds seem to exist. Near Louisville, Winston 

 county, lignite has been struck in numerous wells, at depths between 

 20 and 40 feet ; it also crops out at a spring in the neighborhood. 

 The thickness of the stratum varies from 2 :o 10 feet. In some 

 portions of thf 3 bed the woody structure is pretty well preserved, 

 in others, almo.it entirely obliterated. 



In the eastern counties of the lignite formation, the latter is 

 popularly termed "black dirt." while the accompanying clays aro 

 usually denominated "blue dirt." If this designation is to be 

 relied on, lignite must be abundant in S. W. Winston and N. 

 Neshoba, which regions I have not personally examined. Prof. 

 Wailes, however, mentions a lignite bid on S. 30, T. 11, R. 12 E., 

 Neshoba county. 



267. In Kemper county, a lignite bed at least 4 feet thick is 

 mentioned by L. Harper as occurring a few miles N. W. of DeKalb. 



Whether the " black mud " found in wells at Dalevillc, Lauder- 

 dale county, is lignite or black clay, I have been unable to deter- 

 mine. True lignite, however, is found at Marion, in wells, and the 

 section at Spear's Cut (117*.)) renders it obvious that a number of 

 successive strata of lignite exist in the formation of that region. 



Those exhibited in the cut are too thin to be woiked profitably. Since, how- 



