308 



TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



quartz veins of the Rappahannock and United States 

 gold mining companies, follow in succession : forty veins 

 of quartz, including those of the Union gold mining 

 company, were counted in passing over the eight miles 

 alluded to. 



These were the most prominent, and observed as they 

 crossed the main roads ; but it is probable that a more 

 close examination would disclose others passed by us un- 

 observed. 



This brings us to Hartwood hill, the apparent eastern 

 boundary of the region of talcose slates and auriferous 

 quartz. The following are the principal stratified rocks 

 that occur in descending this hill in an easterly direction: 

 chlorite schist, a blue gritty schistose rock, porphy- 

 ritic and hornblende slates, in which there are small 

 quartz veins, hornblende rocks, and a variety of shales; 

 a black bituminous shale which has been bored into up- 

 wards of 100 feet, under the supposition that it was coal 

 shale; quartz vein; thin seam of syenite; a bed 70 feet 

 thick of decomposed feidspathic rock. 



Sienitic and granitic rocks then continue to Cedar hill, 

 where, at seven miles west of Fredericksburg, they disap- 

 pear under the white horizontal conglomerates, which 

 extend from thence past Fredericksburg towards the 

 Potomac. 



GOLD BELT. 



The talcose slates which form the majority of the rocks 

 within the gold region, are of easy disintegration under 

 the influence of the usual atmospheric agents; hence the 

 rounded form of the hills and the undulating character 

 of the country. A small portion of the land overlying 

 the shales may be considered as fit for agricultural pro- 

 cesses, much of it having been under cultivation for to- 

 bacco, &c. until it is worn out. Ravines and valleys 

 are deepening. Those hollows that are circumscribed 



