98 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



courses or streams. These bayous and the smaller creeks running into them 

 have in nearly every instance cut deep ravines through the more elevated sur- 

 face of the country lying toward the west and northwest. Approaching the 

 lake region these streams have nearly reached the limit of their eroding power, 

 and by wandering backward and forward in very tortuous courses have suc- 

 ceeded in eroding the higher level of the plain to a considerable distance back 

 from the course of the current, and have thus formed for themselves bottom 

 lands, or flood plains of varying extent. 



The main drainage system of the county is tributary to the Red River, and 

 is spread throughout the county by Jim's Bayou in the northeastern portion 

 of the county, Kitchen Creek, Black Cypress, and Sechi's Creek running 

 through the central portion, Big Cypress with its tributaries, Johnson and 

 Alley's creeks, along the south side of the central division, and Little Cypress 

 entering the county from the south. Th>- three Cypress bayous unite a few 

 miles east of Jefferson to form the Caddo Lake system of bayous and lakes 

 which extend from this point to the Red River, near Shreveport, in Caddo 

 Parish, Louisiana. Throughout the county there are numerous smaller 

 streams forming tributaries to one or the other of these bayous. Owing to 

 the ease with which the materials forming the soils and subsoils of the county 

 can be eroded, each of these streams has left a more or less distinctive mark 

 upon the topographical features of the county. 



In referring to the soils of Marion County, Dr. Loughridge in the Tenth 

 Census of the United States (1880), Vol. 5, p. 727, says the " lands of the 

 county comprise the dark sandy loams of the lowlands and the gray sandy 

 soils of the uplands, interspersed with large bodies of red land, derived from 

 iron ore and red sandstone. The subsoils of most of the soils consist of red 

 or yellow clays more or less sandy, and at depths of from six to ten inches 

 from the surface. They are easily tilled and produce good crops of corn, 

 oats, cotton, sugar cane, potatoes, fruits, and vegetables." 



The stratigraphy of the country has not yet been sufficiently studied by the 

 Survey to accurately determine the areal extent or the thickness of any of the 

 deposits. Sections shown by the different cuttings along the line of the Texas 

 and Pacific Railroad running in a south by west direction across the county 

 show a general uniform appearance of the underlying stratified red and white 

 sands so extensively developed in Cass and Harrison counties. These sands 

 appear within a few feet of the surface in the northern part of the county, 

 and apparently retain their same relation to the overlying beds wherever 

 seen. 



A section of a small cutting near the county line of Cass and Marion coun- 

 ties shows the following: 



