320 THE IRON ORE DISTRICT OP EAST TEXAS. 



PAYETTE BEDS. 



The Fayette beds, which consist of thinly stratified clays of light colors 

 (watery green, light blue, cream color, and nearly white, rarely chocolate), and 

 frequently showing thin coatings of sulphur where they are exposed in cuts 

 or washes, cover about two-fifths, the southern portion, of the county. The 

 line of contact between these beds and the underlying Timber Belt strata 

 crosses the International and Great Northern Railway at or near the station 

 of Paso. 



The difference in the character of the two divisions of the Tertiary is so 

 strongly marked as to be recognizable at a glance. In addition to the differ- 

 ence in color and in general appearance, the presence of silicified wood in 

 quantities is a marked feature of these Fayette beds. These beds, so far as 

 they have been examined, present no difference worthy of note from the de- 

 scription given of them by Dr. Penrose in the First Annual Report of this 

 survey, page 47, et seq. 



TIMBER BELT BEDS. 



The materials comprising the different strata of this division, although they 

 are covered in many places to a less or greater depth by deposits of a later 

 date, extend over the greater part of the county. They are: 

 Gray and brown laminated plastic clays. Dark brown, greenish gray, and 

 lead black plastic clays with white limestone concretions. These concretions 

 are soft and jelly like when freshly exposed but crack on drying, and in some 

 cases the cracks are filled with calcspar. This bed also contains some 

 silicified wood. 

 Greensand marls. These beds of greensands, which are glauconite mixed 

 with green clay, often altered to brown by oxidation of the iron, contain 

 many masses filled with fossil shells. In some instances the original cal- 

 careous matter of the shell is still preserved, although in a somewhat decom- 

 posed condition, while at others there is nothing remaining but casts of the 

 shells. 



White plastic clays. 



This succession of strata corresponds very closely with the section observed 

 and described at and near Elkhart, in Anderson County, beginning with No. 

 1 of that section. 



THE IRON ORES. 



The ores of Houston County, so far as they have been examined, belong 

 to the class of "Conglomerate Ores" described by Dr. Penrose in the First 

 Annual Report of this Survey. The few specimens which were secured in 

 the very hasty trip I made into the county are rather siliceous, and range 



