REPORT. 
GREENE COUNTY. 
As you had examined, personally, the country adjacent to the Chalk 
bluff, before we separated on our respective routes, it will be unnecessary 
for me to make any report on that locality. 
The northern part of Greene county, included within my instructions, 
belongs to the quaternary and alluvial period. The quaternary deposits 
observed, consist of sands, gravel and potter’s clay; these occupy the 
highlands, extending from the Chalk bluff, on the St. Francis river, through 
the greater part of range seven. They are spread over an area of eight 
or ten miles in width; and their vertical thickness is from one hundred to 
one hundred and fifty feet. 
The alluvium forms the bottom lands of the St. Francis, Cache, and 
Black rivers. 
A locality in section 36?, township 21 north, range 7 east, one anda 
half miles from Mr. James W. Payne’s, has been rendered notorious on 
account of a phenomenon, which induced Mr. Payne and others, to believe 
that gold or other precious metals might be found there. The account 
given is as follows: When Mr. Payne was out hunting about two years 
ago, he heard a slight noise at his feet, and on looking down saw the earth 
open to the width of three or four inches; being reminded of the memo- 
rable New Madrid earthquake, which sunk a large district of land in this 
county, this frightful phenomenon, of course, alarmed him, and he left, 
supposing the hill was about to be engulfed. After a few days, finding 
that no serious catastrophe had taken place, he returned to view the con- 
dition of things. On examining the ground, he became possessed of the 
idea that the opening of the earth was a revelation, to notify him of the 
