304 



THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OF EAST TEXAS. 



Still's, and Jones' creeks, while on the Trinity side are Wild Cat, Catfish, 

 Springer, Lata, Keechi, Tour or Saline, Camp, Parker's, and Box creeks. 



From this it will be seen that the county is well watered, and the usual 

 accompaniment of iron ores of this region, abundant springs, are also numer- 

 ous; consequently there is no scarcity of water anywhere in the county. 

 Well water is secured in almost any portion of the county at depths varying 

 from twelve to forty feet. 



In 1888 there was less than fifteen per cent of the total area of the county 

 under cultivation, the leading products being cotton, corn, oats, peas, sweet 

 potatoes, fruit, etc. 



There are some prairie lands in the northern and western parts of the 

 county, aggregating in all perhaps one-fifth of its total area. The remainder 

 of the county is well timbered with short leaf pine, oak, hickory, etc., the 

 pine greatly predominating in the eastern part of the county. 



These prairies doubtless represent the southern extensions of the Basal 

 Clays of the Tertiary and the Ponderosa Marls of the Cretaceous, both of 

 which occur in that region. 



STRATIGRAPHY. 



The rock formations of Anderson County comprise representatives of at 

 least three systems: The Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary. The details 

 of the entire stratigraphy of each system have not yet been worked out, but 

 the following broader characters have been determined : 



System. (Period.) 



Division. 



Beds. 



QUATERNARY. 



TERTIARY. 



UPPER CRETACEOUS. 



Timber Belt Beds. 



j Saline Limestone. 

 ( Ponderosa Marls. 



j The sands and sandstones capping 



) the iron ore hills. 



( The iron ores. 



-] The greensands and accompanying 



( beds of clays and sands. 



CRETACEOUS. 



The representatives of this system in Anderson County are confined to the 

 Ponderosa clays and the overlying or included masses of limestone designated 

 as the ''glauconitic" beds. In some places it would appear that the lime- 

 stone occurs as masses in the clays themselves, while at others their extent 

 seems to prove them the remnants of an overlying deposit of limestone. 

 One of the latter is the deposit which surrounds the Saline, six miles west of 

 Palestine. This limestone, as first stated by Dr. Penrose, is found in a ring 

 of hills reaching sixty feet or more above the level of the Saline, not contin- 

 uously, but outcropping in many places on the north, west, and east sides. 



