THE IRON ORES OF EAST TEXAS. 71 



1. Gray sand to 2 feet 



2. Brown laminated ore 2 to 3 feet. 



3. Indurated greensand 30 feet. 



4. Detritus. 



This region forms the divide between the waters of the Neches River on 

 the west and Mud Creek, the headwaters of the Angelina River, on the east. 

 It reaches its highest elevation at Mount Selman, where it is seven hundred 

 feet above the sea. From here north to the limit of the iron ore there is but 

 little change in height, but from there to Tyler it drops off to 531 feet. To 

 the south of Mount Selman the plateau maintains almost the same elevation 

 to within a mile northeast of Jacksonville, when it rapidly slopes off to 525 

 feet at that town. From the summit of the ridge the land slopes off on the 

 east very abruptly for a hundred feet, and sometimes shows two or three suc- 

 cessive benches (see pages 84, 85); thence the grade is more gradual down to 

 the settlement of Little Arkansas and to Mud Creek bottom. To the west 

 the grade slopes off in gently undulating hills, with a rich growth of pine, 

 oak, and hickory, and watered by numerous creeks and springs. 



The town of Lone Star, in Cherokee County, is situated about ten miles 

 south of the Smith County line, and near the line between Cherokee and Rusk 

 counties. To the east of the town is seen a series of ore- capped hills, one 

 of them two miles long by a quarter of a mile wide. The ore is one to two 

 feet thick and is often discontinuous under the heavy covering of gray sand. 



Smith County. — The continuation of the same iron ore belt as is seen in 

 Cherokee County is also found in the southwestern part of Smith County. 

 It caps ridges varying from one-quarter to three miles long, and is also found 

 on isolated flat-topped hills. It is of the brown laminated variety, and occurs 

 in the same associations as in Cherokee County. Eight miles southeast of 

 Tyler, on the land of Col. W. S. Herndon, of Tyler, the ore was seen in large 

 quantities. It is laminated, dark or light brown, with a bright black gloss 

 on the laminae. Sometimes it is of a buff color and crumbly. On the slopes 

 of the hills are seen the characteristic ore-capped benches, which here are two 

 in number. Between here and Tyler are several other small outcrops, in 

 the "William T. Wright and James Kelly surveys. In the northern part of 

 the county are also considerable areas of iron ore. These have not been 

 visited by the writer, but have been partially traced out by Mr. G-. E. Ladd. 

 They extend in broken areas from three miles west of the Missouri, Kansas 

 and Texas Railroad, in a westerly direction to the Van Zandt County line, 

 and at a distance of two to six miles south of the Sabine River. 



Anderson County. — The iron ore of Anderson County is identical in 

 every respect to that of Cherokee, not only in its general character, but in its 

 mode of occurrence and its origin, In fact, it is simply the westerly contin- 



