No. 200.J 265 
Few objects so local present so many points of attraction as the small 
mine which exists at the junction of the rocks. Whilst the calciferous, 
with the birdseye, preserve their common position, the shale rises in the 
space of a few rods, by a graceful unbroken curve, from an apparent ho- 
rizontal to an almost vertical position. Between the two rocks, which 
at the height of 20 feet are not many inches apart, but which widen 
greatly in descending, there exists on the side of the calciferous a wedge 
shaped mass, more analogous at first sight to the wacke of the Germans, 
or volcanic tuffa of others, than to any other known aggregate. On 
examination, there are two varieties, one of an ash gray and granular in 
its parts, the other a dark dingy green, with green lamellar talc, resem- 
bling mica, sparingly disseminated. This latter variety has all the cha- 
racters of an impure serpentine, some specimens of which, from having 
small veins of carbonate of lime passing through them, have the ap- 
pearance of an incipient verd antique. The gray variety exhibits spots 
of green carbonate of copper. 
It is between the wedge shaped mass and the black shale that the 
small vein is found of lamellar carbonate of lime with galena, the object 
of the German miners, as mentioned in my predecessor's report. So far 
as I was enabled to examine the vein, from the workings that had been 
made, and from facts elsewhere collected of the same rock near the 
Mohawk, I have no hesitation in asserting, that all further prosecution 
of this mine, though of great interest and probable advantage to science, 
will be of little profit to the miner. 
I was informed that lead ore had been discovered on that part of 
Royal Hill in the town of Ephratah, not far from Garoga post-office. I 
examined the locality, and was satisfied that what lead had been disco- 
vered must have been in loose pieces, the rock containing none. The 
hill is composed of gneiss, with here and there, at the place in question, 
black lead, or plumbago, in small particles, disseminated like mica, 
throughout the rock. This was the only mineral excepting garnet found 
in the rock. 
Royal Hill is one of those high, long, narrow, north and south ranges, 
which rise abruptly to the east from an alluvial valley; its immediate 
connection with the more modern rocks equally obscured on the south- 
ern and western sides by hills of sand, though the black shale on its 
south and eastern part is not remote from it. The northern part of the 
hill projects into and forms a part of the unsettled region of Montgome- 
ry. This and similar other hills, may prove to be important elements 
[Assem. No. 200.J 30 
