72 GULF TERTIARY OF TEXAS. 



uation of the same belt as has been described in that county. Going north 

 from Palestine, the county seat of Anderson County, the main iron-bearing 

 range is met at about three miles from the town, and extends in a great pla- 

 teau, often broken up into separate flat-topped hills, from here northerly 

 towards Beaver, Brushy Creek, Kickapoo, and the Henderson County line. 

 To the east this plateau breaks into small hills extending to the Neches River, 

 and to the west it gradually disappears in the same way in the water shed of 

 the Trinity River. This iron region forms the divide between the Neches 

 and Trinity, just as in Cherokee the Selman Range forms the divide between 

 the waters of the Angelina and the Neches. In this range, as in Cherokee, 

 springs give rise to many creeks, which flow down the steep slopes of the 

 plateau, come together in the lowlands, and finally discharge into the muddy 

 waters of the main rivers. The ore found here is continuous over large areas, 

 and maintains a very steady thickness of one to three feet. To the south of 

 Palestine the same ore is found, but here the bed is generally thinner and 

 less continuous and the ore bearing hills are more scattered, though the ore 

 is of very good quality. Many of the hills are capped with hard, yellow 

 altered greensand, but carry no ore. The iron range in the great high- 

 land region to the north of Palestine comprises most of the ore of the county, 

 and is of very great economic importance. What adds still more to its value 

 is its nearness to the pure white limestone in the Saline, six miles southwest 

 of Palestine. This is excellently adapted for a flux in smelting iron ore, and 

 in consideration of the rarity of such deposits in East Texas, is of the great- 

 est practical importance. 



Henderson, Van Zandt, Rusk, Nacogdoches, Panola and other Coun- 

 ties. — Iron ore also occurs in the southeastern part of Henderson County, 

 and in Van Zandt, Rusk, Nacogdoches, Panola, and elsewhere in this region, 

 but only a few spots in these counties have as yet been visited by the writer. 

 In Henderson County, on the Cotton Belt Railroad and one mile east of 

 Athens, are seen thin seams of a brown hematite ore, two to twelve inches 

 thick, and associated with sands and clays. This bed belongs to the class of 

 nodular ores, which will be described later on. In the southwest part of the 

 county ore is also found, but it has not yet been seen by the writer. In 

 Rusk County brown laminated ore is reported to exist in large quantities. 



ORIGIN OF THE BROWN LAMINATED ORES. 



These ores are always associated with the glauconite deposits. Though they 

 are sometimes separated from it by a thin bed of gray clay, they invariably 

 overlie it very closely, and where the glauconite disappears, so also the iron 

 ore disappears. On the other hand, however, the same glauconiferous stratum 



