75 



OF THE LIMESTONE AND MARBLE EAST OP THE 80UTH-WEST AND GREEN 



MOUNTAINS. 



This belt of rock, represented on the profile as it occurs on the 

 Mechunk creek and in several other places, may be traced with but 

 little interruption through several counties lying in the range there 

 indicated. In proceeding south it appears to become broader, and 

 to be mbdivided into several ledges, presenting various aspects in 

 different localities. Wherever examined it has been observed to 

 have an eastern dip, in some places steep, in others gentle. In 

 Albemarle county and at Warminster, its structure approaches to 

 slaty, and its general colour is bluish-gray, frequently veined with 

 white crystallized calcareous spar. On the Mechunk, it lies on slate 

 often of a talcose nature, and its position is such as to render the 

 labour of quarrying comparatively small. At Warminster it is also 

 associated with a talcose schist and a white silicious rock of fine 

 grain and considerable hardness, which has been often mistaken 

 for marble. Along the banks of the James river, from this point 

 to the neighbourhood of Lynchburg, cliffs of the limestone from 

 time to time are seen, sometimes presenting enormous masses of 

 the rock, immediately on the water's edge. The breadth of the belt 

 exposed in this direction is obviously much greater than farther 

 north, and the character of the rock in some localities is such as 

 to render it of the highest value. Near the mouth of Tye river and 

 on the Rockfish, a true marble is found of beautiful whiteness, and 

 of a texture which renders it susceptible of a fine polish, as well as of 

 being readily wrought by the chisel. A few miles from Lynchburg, 

 in Campbell county, a good marble is likewise found, and limestone 

 is abundant in the same neighbourhood. A white and very ponde- 

 rous rock occurs in contact with the calcareous stratum. This is 

 sulphate of baryta, which from its texture and colour has by some 

 been supposed to be marble. Farther south these beds of limestone 

 of various qualities are known to occur, but have as yet been little 

 examined. The probability is that they are continued throughout 

 the state in the same general line, perhaps spreading out in approach- 

 ing the borders of North Carolina. In Bedford county, at a point 

 considerably west of the general direction of this belt,, marble is 

 said to exist, but no specimen has been procured in the reconnois- 

 sance. Minute investigation of the region indicated by the localities 

 above mentioned, and extending entirely across the state, would in 



