74 GEOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 
sulphates, in the unconcentrated water; also a spring of ordinary water, in 
which bi-carbonates of the alkaline earths are the principal constituents. 
The main springs are, therefore, saline sulphuretted waters, possessing 
alterative, laxative, diaphoretic, and diuretic effects, well adapted for the 
cure of eruptive complaints, as well as of chronic diseases of the digestive 
organs. The properties possessed by the chalybeate, are those of a tonic, 
suited to cases of a constitutional or temporary debility, in which prepara- 
tions containing iron are indicated. 
As Little Red river was too high for us to take the river road towards 
Clinton, we were prevented from examining any sections of the rocks that 
might present themselves along the route, and had again to ascend to the 
table-land, in which the waters of the Cadron take their rise. 
The aneroid barometer indicated an elevation of 320 feet above the 
widow Goff’s farm. ee 
For two or three miles we again travelled through a fine pine region, 
with a sandy soil, derived from the underlying sandstones of the millstone 
grit series, but emerged soon, in township 9 north, range 12 west, on good 
tracts of farming lands, watered by the heads of the North Fork of the 
Cadron. 
On section 13, township 9 north, range 12 west, samples of soils for future 
chemical analysis were taken from this table-land on the farm of George 
More. 
This soil is especially adapted for the growth of oats, and will yield on 
an average, 20 to 25 bushels of corn, 15 bushels of wheat, and 800 pounds 
of cotton. It stands drought remarkably well, being based on a retentive 
ferruginous clayey subsoil. 
In digging wells in this part of Van Buren county, a hard reddish blue 
shale is penetrated under the subsoil, which overlies the beds of millstone 
grit. To the disintegration of these shaly rocks is no doubt to be attributed 
the superior fertility of these upland soils, compared with the sandy soils 
of the pine lands, which repose immediately on the underlying sand- 
stones. 
These table-lands are bounded on the south by a ridge, composed of 
sandstone and shales, rising some 70 to 100 feet above the waters of the 
Cadron. Two or three miles to the northeast of George More’s farm, 
dark shaly rocks are exposed. About the same distance to the north-west, 
a sandstone region commences, overlaid by gravel supporting a growth of 
stunted oak and hickory. This kind of country extends for about six miles 
to the descent to the main Cadron, and the Greasy valley, which lies 
about 230 feet below the table-land. White, grey, banded and mottled, 
schistose sandstone, are exposed in ledges. The ascent on the opposite 
