SMITH COUNTY. 221 



A. SANDSTONES. 



Sandstones are universally distributed over the whole county. Though 

 these are of economic importance they are of limited extent. These sand- 

 stones have been formed in situ from beds of sand whose grains have been ce- 

 mented together by ferruginous solutions depositing iron while percolating 

 through them. The stone used for building purposes is generally soft when 

 first dug or blasted, and can be easily cut with a saw or an axe into any shape 

 desired. It varies in color from yellow to dark brown, although occasionally 

 a pure white siliceous sandstone is found, and at places what is known as in- 

 durated greensand has become so hardened as to form an excellent building 

 stone. Sandstones of this variety contain specks of glauconite, and often 

 casts of fossils are met with. When the stone is first dug it is very soft, but 

 hardens on exposure to the atmosphere It varies in thickness from several 

 inches to twenty feet, and is used locally for building chimneys. At one 

 place in a graveyard I saw several tombstones made of it which had stood 

 for thirty years, and they were still in a perfect state of preservation. 



Localities. — On "Rocky Mountain," on the J. H. Arendt survey, four 

 miles east of Tyler, the sandstone is about fifteen feet thick, and covers an 

 area of about six acres. It is yellow in color and quite soft when first dug, 

 and has a local use for building chimneys. 



On Todd Mountain, seven miles east of Lindale, a black sandstone ten feet 

 thick covers the divide for several miles in vast quantities. 



North of Garden Valley is seen a soft yellow sandstone containing specks 

 of glauconite, which is used locally for building chimneys. 



Other localities are six miles west of Tyler, east of Neches on the Bluffs 

 of Sabine, and on the divides between the creeks in the southern part of the 

 county. 



B. LIMESTONE. 



Limestone in Eastern Texas is quite rare, and Smith County is very for- 

 tunate in possessing two outcroppings of it, though they are limited in extent. 

 The limestones occurring within the Tertiary formations are generally asso- 

 ciated with salines, and such is the case in Smith County. Scott's quarry, 

 five miles east of Lindale, is situated on Saline Creek and is associated with 

 Steen Saline. The limestone of Scott's quarry is a bluish gray, highly silice- 

 ous limestone, of Tertiary age. It is very hard, receives a fine polish, and is 

 an excellent building stone. 



In the southwestern part of the county, on section forty-five of the Seven 

 Leagues, occurs another outcropping of a whitish yellow fossiliferous lime- 

 stone, which covers an area of two miles in length and one mile in width and 



