lx REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST. 



tinuous bed or series of beds, it is nevertheless a fact that even if the 

 bed seems to be absent at any point in its proper strike, there still 

 remains an indication of it in a line of ferruginous soil or other land- 

 mark. The beds in which these ores are found occur over an area 

 some twenty by thirty miles square, and from the description of the 

 position and character of the Iron Mountain series of rocks, they can 

 be easily located. There are several belts in which they occur : the 

 Babyhead, Llano, Iron Mountain, Western, and Gillespie. In the first 

 two little or no prospecting has been done, but the third has been 

 opened in two localities by diamond drill holes and by a shaft and 

 cross-cut. Of the quality of these ores nothing can be said more than 

 has already been stated many times. They are of extreme richness 

 and purity, and in sufficient quantity to be of great commercial value. 

 That they must become of great value to the section in which they 

 occur, and to the State as well, is a certainty. 



In addition to the various ores, these formations contain many other 

 substances of great economic value, of which only a few will be men- 

 tioned here. Foremost of all, perhaps, we have the great deposits of 

 granite, which vary from those which are easily decomposed, and there- 

 fore only suitable for road material, to those of greater hardness and 

 beauty, well fitted for the most elegant architectural and ornamental 

 uses. The soapstone will also be of considerable value, as it exists in 

 quantities and of excellent quality. Some of the slate may prove use- 

 ful for roofing material. The graphite, although too impure for finer 

 uses, may be found sufficiently pure for commoner purposes. 



PALEOZOIC GKROUP. 



CAMBRIAN SYSTEM. 

 With the beginning of the next system, which is the lowest one of 

 the Paleozoic Grroup, new conditions existed, and the remains of cer- 

 tain forms of life appear in the rocks. This system, the Cambrian, 

 was deposited in this area in a basin of limited extent, whose western 

 border was probably somewhere to the west of Llano. Here, under 

 the varying conditions of shallow water and earth oscillations, there 

 were laid down three series of strata — the Hickory, Riley, and Ka- 

 temcy. 



