346 



KENTUCKY. 



3. Climate. This State has a temperate and salubrious climate, differing little from that of 

 Tennessee. The air, however, 's somewhat moister. The winter begins late in December, 

 and never lasts longer than 3 months. 



4. Soil. Kentucky is one of the most fertile of the Western States. There are many 

 tracts called " barrens," from being bare of trees, yet they have a good soil. The central 

 parts of the State are the most productive. 



5. Geology. Minerals. The mineral resources of Kentucky include iron ore, coal, salt, 

 and lime. The geological character of the rock formations, the horizontal or slightly inclined 

 position of the strata, which have been much furrowed by the agency of currents of water, and 

 the nature of the included minerals, show that this State forms a section of the great Trans- 

 Alleghany region of newer secondary deposhes, whose extent has never been ascertained. 

 Bituminous coal is widely diffused, and valuable seams are often exposed on the river-clifis and 

 other places, where the strata have been cut through. Some iron is made in different quarters, 

 but ihe amount is inconsiderable. Salt springs are found in almost all parts of the State, and 

 several hundred thousand bushels of salt are made at different works ; but as this article is fur- 

 nished at a cheaper rate from the Kanawha salines, it is not manufactured in large quantities. 

 Saltpetre-earth, or nitrate of lime, is found in many of the caves which abound in this region, 

 and during the war it was extensively used for making saltpetre. The salt springs received 

 the name of licks from the early settlers, on account of their being the favorite resort of the 

 wild animals, which were fond of licking the saline efflorescences so abundant around them ; 

 the same name is also applied to the sulphuretted fountains, which are very numerous. The 

 Big Bone Lick, in Boone county, the Upper and Lower Blue Licks on the Licking River, 

 Mud Lick, or the Olympian Springs, near Owingsville, Harrodsburg Springs and Greeneville 

 Springs, Flat Lick and Mann's Lick near Louisville, White Lick in Union county. Elk Lick 

 in Hart, &,c., are among these numerous springs, of the chemical composition of which we 

 know little. The hunters, who first visited this region, found them the favorite resort of the 

 bison, elk, deer, &c., and, from the gigantic bones which have been discovered at Big Bone 

 Lick, and have given that spot its name, it appears, that, at an earlier period, they were fre- 

 quented by huge animals of extinct races. This lick occupies the bottom of a boggy valley, 

 kept wet by a number of salt springs, which rise over a surface of several acres. Burning 

 springs also occur in the eastern mountainous district ; these are, as is well known, currents of 



carburetted hydrogen gas, issuing from 

 the earth, which, on the application of 

 fire, will sometimes burn for a great length 

 of time. Oil or petroleum springs are 

 found near Burkesville, in Allen county, 

 and other places, and the oil is collected 

 by the people, who attribute to it great 

 and various medicinal virtues. It is well 

 known further east under the name of 

 Seneca Oil. 



6. Jfatural Curiosities. Like Tennes 

 see, this State has a great number of cav- 

 erns. Many of them are of a prodigious 

 depth. The Mammoth Cave., near Green 

 River, has been explored to the distance 

 of about 3 miles.* Most of these caverns 

 are in the southwestern part of the State, 

 and are situated in a broken and hilly, but 

 not mountainous country. 



In this State are also many singular 

 cavities, or depressions, in the surface of 

 the ground, called " sink holes." They 



* " Its entrance is in the steep declivit^i of a hill. The with a door of convenient dimensions, for the purpose of 



dimensions of the mouth are about 40 feet in height, by 50 protecting the lights of visiters. There is at this place a 



in breadth, decreasing gradually for the first half mile, till current of air passing inwardly fo.'- 6 months, and out- 



the cavern is no more than 10 feet in height and as many wardly for the remainder of the year. SulEciently strong 



in breadth; at which place a partition has been erected, is it, that, were it noi for the door that has b?en made, it 



