44 



THE STALEY'S CKEEK AXD 



heW Main Tract, on the steep hillside alDOiit three hundred yards southeast of the 

 forks of i^ick's Creek, and ahont a hundred yards southwest of the East Fork of that 

 Creek. The loose himps that had slid down the liill from the outcrop of the bed were 

 traced by small holes until the bed itself (it was thought) was opened by a small 

 digging high up the hill ; but the bed does not seem to have been explored thoroughly 

 as to thickness, and the hole is now fallen in. The ore is browm hematite of ver}^ fine 

 quality, and is so pure in parts jis to have the fibrous form, and other parts are 

 compact. 



This seems to be also the bed that is opened at the West Ore Bank on the south 

 side of Store House Mountain, about a quarter of a mile south of the southern line 

 of the Thomas Tract and three-quarters of a mile southwest of the point where the 

 South Fork of Holston River crosses that line. The solid bed seems not to have 

 been opened here, but only the loose lumps of the outcrop, and the small hole that 

 was dug is fallen in. The ore lumps still scattered about the hole are of beautiful 

 finely honeycombed brown hematite, apparently of the best quality. 



Besides all these openings, the bed shows itself by bits of ore on the ground in 

 the bridle-path across Pond Mountain, near the northern foot of the mountain ; and 

 also in the old^road across Brushy Mountain, some five hundred yards due south ol 

 the forks of Staley's Creek; and loose lumps of ore apparently from the outcrop of 

 this bed are to be seen on the hillside west of I^ick's Creek, some six hundred yards 

 southeast of the northwest corner of the Campbell Main Tract. . 



The outcrop of the bed, on the north side of the Bi'ushy Mountain Saddle, seems 

 to run from the east side of the Campbell Main Tract westerly eight miles and three 

 quarters ; then to return eastward along the south side of the Pond Mountain Saddle 

 seven miles and a quarter ; then to run westward again on the north side of the Pond 

 Mountain Saddle seven miles and a quarter; also on the south side of the next saddle 

 to the north it seems to run for two miles and a half, and as much more on the north 

 side; making in all twenty-six miles and a half for the length of the theoretical out- 

 crop. As the ore has not been found east or west of the Thomas Tract along the last 

 mentioned small saddle, it is qttite likely that the saddle so sinks eastward,^ and rises 

 so slowly towards the high ground westward that the ore does not come to the sur- 

 face outside of the tract, except for a short distance on the west. It should also be 

 mentioned that, although a former owner of the Crockett Tract made diligent search 

 for iron ore (without any system to be sure), none of any persistence or on any of 

 these outcrops was found ; so that these beds of ore may, in that portion of them, 

 have thinned out possibly to insignificance. 



The amount in tons for one foot of average thickness of the ore of the bed alcove 



