390 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX C. 



EXPLORATION OF THE HYDRAULIC LIMESTONE DISTRICT OF 



TISHOMINGO COUNTY, BY PROF. W. D. MOORE. 



University of Mississippi, July 20, 1860. 



Dr. E. W. Hiloard — My Dear Sir : — According to promise, I left Oxford on 

 the 11th inst., for Tishomingo County, in order to verify or disprove your conjec- 

 ture, "that the Hydraulic Limestone would be found between Eastportand the 

 Tennessee line ", in other localities than those recorded in your field notes. I 

 reached Red Sulphur Springs — the " point d'appui " on the 12th, and though 

 very much wearied, spent the remainder of the day, in making myself familiar 

 with the aspect of the Limestone as it appears there, the form of the hills made 

 by it, its characteristic vegetation, and its relations to the Orange Sand. I found 

 the rock, on the road between " Red Sulphur " and the " Big Chalybeate " about 

 a mile from the former, and at the latter in a solid ledge twenty or thirty feet 

 thick, which runs along the little branch formed by the spring, for nearly half 

 a mile. About three hundred yards from the Red Sulphur, due east, a little 

 stream is crossed by the road ; along this stream, to the Tennessee river (nearly 

 two miles), the rock appears in a continuous ledge, till at Winn's Ferry, it rises 

 in a cliff to the height of seventy feet ; at this point, not more than a quarter 

 of a mile from the Tennessee River, specimens were taken from the base, 

 middle and top of the cliff. This examination settled in my mind the general 

 structure of the hills, along the course to be examined, and as all subsequent 

 investigations only served to confirm this conclusion I may as well state it at 

 once, viz : the road from Red Sulphur to Eastport runs along a ridge, the base 

 of which is the Hydraulic Limestone, overlying which is the angular chert, 

 itself covered by the ferruginous conglomerate ; on this ridge so constructed 

 the loose sand and pebbles of the Orange Sand have been piled, borne against it 

 at some points with such violence as to have denuded the ridge of everything 

 except the Hydraulic Limestone, leaving your " bald hills " covered with their 

 peculiar vegetation, and at others with such velocity and force as to have passed 

 over the face of the cliff, forming immense deposits which hide the limestone 

 entirely ; the streams, great or small, cutting through this ridge — as Yellow 

 Creek, Indian Creek, the little branch running down to Winn's landing, the one 

 flowing through Mrs. Brigg's place, and that through Mr. Moore's — emptying 

 into the Tennessee — all expose in their beds and banks the Hj^draulicLime- 

 stone. There is no exception to this. 



On Friday morning, in company with Mr. Skipwith of N. Orleans, who has 

 a summer residence near " Red Sulphur," and to whose intelligent kindness I 

 am greatly indebted, I started to Eastport, his object being, to point out to me a 

 fine example of a "bald hill" about two miles south-east of the Red Sulphur 

 Springs, with the characteristic Red Haw, Stonewert and Prickly Pear ; it is 

 simply the bluff of Yellow Creek, and on both sides of the stream, to its mouth, 

 there is a continued ledge of the rock as already observed by you. Crossing 

 Yellow Creek and passing Billing's Mill about two miles, I found a road run- 

 ning down to the river (Tennessee) and followed it, descending and passing over 

 the Orange Sand and loose pebbles — the ferruginous conglomerate — the shat- 

 tered angular chert — to Billing's Hollow, in which I found a pretty little stream, 

 running over the limestone for nearly two miles, to the river. I traveled along 

 the river bottom, clambering over the debris of the cliff and through all sorts of 

 obstructions for nearly two miles further and found the limestone again, in 

 great force, in the bed of a little stream, flowing through Mrs. Briggs' plantation. 

 At this point, further progress along the river seeming impossible, I ascended 

 the ridge once more and went on to Eastport, finding the limestone only once in 

 a " bald hill," on Mr. Moore's place. 



Somewhat discouraged, I determined to go up the river, if compelled to walk, 

 believing that I had correctly made out the structure of the ridge, and that I 



