SMITH COUNTY. 207 



Balger surveys and the western half of the John B. Wright and S. Hopkins, 

 and nearly all of the Thos. Hays, Wm. McAdams, and all of the Geo. B. 

 Chanceller and F. M. Draper headrights. 



The last locality is that of the Gandy Mountain, between Bullard and 

 Troupe. 



Gandy Mountain is a narrow ridge about one-half to one mile wide, begin- 

 ning on the E. Gandy and Wm. Bickerstaff surveys and running northwest 

 through the Jordan, John Wagoner, John Chaube, John Vaughn surveys, 

 passing through the corners of Wm. Luce and Manuel Gutierez leagues, and 

 terminating in the Wm. Chancellor headright. The total area of the iron 

 ore beds of Smith County is eighty-one square miles, divided as follows: 



Square Miles. 



1. The Garden Yalley bed 30 



2. Lindale or Steen Saline bed 20 



3. Price's 3 



4. Winona and Starville beds 18 



5. G. B. Chancellor bed, eight miles southeast of Tyler 4 



6. G-andy Mountain bed .... 6 



Total 81 



These figures are only intended to represent approximately the area of the 

 iron ore deposits, for the ore beds are cut by innumerable ravines and creeks, 

 and are by no means continuous over the whole area described. 



OCCURRENCE OF THE ORES. 



The iron ore may be seen cropping out in horizontal stratification around 

 the edges and brinks of these hills, and has a thickness varying from six 

 inches to three feet, and is in every instance overlaid by a thin stratum of 

 angular quartz sandstone, and in some cases with from one to twenty feet of 

 soil, while the ore is underlaid by from ten to thirty of altered greensand, 

 which in turn overlies a series of red sandy clays. In some places the green- 

 sand is wanting. Where this is the case the iron ore is replaced either by a 

 soft yellow sandstone, which hardens on exposure to the atmosphere, or by a 

 dark colored hard ferruginous sandstone. 



BENCHES. 



Wherever good ore is seen in Smith County the hills which carry it show 

 the typical bench structure. Mr. Penrose has described in a general way the 

 benches in Smith, Anderson, and Cherokee counties.* He says: 



"As has been stated by the writer, in a previous report, these benches can 

 be formed in three different ways: 



* First Annual Report Geological Survey of Texas, 1889, p. 8. 



