“OF ARKANSAS. B95 
“Bean cave.” It is about thirty feet wide at the entrance, and runs back 
zome one hundred feet or more, when it becomes much wider. Its height 
will average about eight feet. The walls or sides of this cave are com- 
posed of a laminated, tough, ferruginous clay, the lamine having a varied 
color, from pale yellow to dark red. The upper and lower portions of this 
laminated clay, forming the walls of the cave, are partially dry, whilst 
the center, for about two feet, is quite damp. Though this clay, as it is 
dug from the bed, contains a considerable quantity of nitre, and most in 
the upper and lower part, yet it is only after it has been broken down and 
left on the bottom of the cave for some time, that it acquires sufficient 
nitre to be worked with profit. After it has been broken down in the 
cave, it rapidly loses its moisture, and crumbles into a fine powder. A 
considerable quantity of this dry earth, equal perhaps to one-third of the 
dimensions of the cave, is found on the sloping sides and floor. 
These nitre earths yield from 3 to 6 per cent. of salt-petre, as will be 
seen by consulting the Reports of Dr. D. D. Owen and Dr. Elderhorst; 
the red, dry, crumbled earth on the floor being the richest in these nitre 
salts. 
After lixiviation with water, this earth can also be used as a coarse 
paint, being nearly free from grit; it contains so much oxide of iron as to 
give it the color of Spanish brown, the depth of which is increased by 
ignition. 
I was informed by Mr. Flipping that a drift had been made into the 
laminated clay of this cave in search of lead, and that some little was 
found, but not sufficient to encourage further investigation. 
About one hundred yards from Bean’s cave, in the same bluff, and 
occupying the same level, is another cave, one hundred and sixty feet wide. 
at the mouth, and nearly as many feet in depth. The thickness of the. 
a 
deposit of laminated nitre earth, though not as great as in Bean’s cave, is _ 
nevertheless, from four to seven feet, and there is good reason to believe. 
that the earth will be found continuous from one cave to the other. 
There are several other nitre caves, of less extent, and filled, with this 
same description of earth, reported to exist in this bluff, which I had not 
time to visit. 
Messrs. Smith & Co., of Elgin, Jackson county, Arkansas, have recently 
purchased land on White river, including these caves, and made arrange- 
ments for the manufacture of salt-petre from the nitre earth which they 
contain. I was informed by one of the partners, when at Elgin, last 
spring, that the yield of nitre was fully equal to their expectations, and 
they were quite sanguine that it would prove a profitable investment. 
He stated also that they used the lye for evaporation in the kettles, with- 
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