23 GEOLOGICAL RECONNOISSANCE 
‘the above formation, and is frequently intersected by small imperfect veins 
of galena, associated with calcareous spar, copper pyrites and zinc, 
Some five years ago a company was organized in Batesville, to search 
for lead in this rock, on Bayow Cury. Several pits or shallow shafts were 
sunk under the direction of Judge T. C. Bricky, one of the company, and 
a considerable amount of lead taken out; the means at the disposal of this 
company were inadequate to make the necessary investigation for prov- 
ing the ground. In consequence of the shafts having caved in, no oppor- 
tunity was afforded to see the character of the veins. In the rubbish, 
thrown out of the shaft, 1 saw a considerable amount of the sulphuret 
and carbonate of zinc, and collected specimens for analysis; * these speci- 
mens of sulphuret of lead are of the steel-gray-variety, but disseminated 
amongst spar and rock, rendering it difficult to obtain large specimens of 
the clear ore. The geological formation is certainly perfectly analogous 
to that in the lead region of Marion, Carroll, and Lawrence; which 
circumstance renders it probable that the ore will be found under the same 
circumstances as in the above mentioned counties. 
Agriculture. 
A considerable diversity of soil is to be found in Independence county, 
corresponding to changes in the underlying geological formations. Though 
the surface is considerably broken, still there are extensive areas of table- 
land underlaid by the cherty subcarboniferous limestones. These soils 
are rich, and being based on red clay, are retentive and durable; they are 
similar in composition to the land in the barrens of Kentucky. There 
are, also, extensive tracts of bottom land, bordering on the numerous 
small streams which water this county, that are well adapted for culti- 
vation. 
The principal growth of timber is white, black, red, and postoaks, 
hickory, gum and elm; on the cherty limestone land, the most abundant 
trees are blackjack, sassafras and persimmon. 
FULTON COUNTY. 
In the southeastern. corner of this county, near Judge Billingsley’s, the 
substratum is a hard impure limestone, rough weathering, and full of cross 
cracks; superimposed on this, are thirty or forty feet of thin-bedded sili- 
ceous limestone, disposed in layers like pavement stones, on the surface of 
which remarkable fucoidal impressions are apparent. Above this flaggy 
* For result of the analysis, see appendix to Chemical Report. 
