APPENDIX—GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
435 
ready for market. From a letter just received from the par¬ 
ties I find they are now arranging to run their factory by water 
power, which will enable them to manufacture six or seven 
tons per day. 
A letter received from parties further east on this belt in¬ 
forms me that arrangements are being made to manufacture 
these ochres there also. I have no doubt but that an im¬ 
portant branch of industry will spring up in connection with 
this, that will employ a great many men and be a source of 
profit to the state and to all concerned. 
This is the first installment of the practical results of fol¬ 
lowing out this system of grouping along this north and south 
axis—one that will I trust soon be followed by others. There 
are evidences of another parallel belt still farther north, in 
town nine. Good specimens of lead are found on it at Orion, 
in Richland county, and I have no doubt when the details of 
this belt are worked out important deposits of some kind will 
be found. 
Sandstone. —The character of the rocks in which the mines 
of the lead district are found, and to which they have been con¬ 
fined is familiar to the miners, and needs no further descrip¬ 
tion in this report But the character of the strata that under¬ 
lie the mines, and their adaptation to mineral veins is what is 
especially called for in the present stage of our mining opera¬ 
tions. To this I would call particular attention. 
Immediately underlying the strata in which the mines are 
being worked is a layer or bed of sandstone, varying from 80 
to 100 feet in thickness, separating the limestone of the lead 
district from the lower magnesian limestone. This formation 
is known as the St Peter’s sandstone. 
Few classes of rock require more care in determining their 
character than sand-rock. Sand, the world over, has the same 
general appearance, and to identify it as sand requires but lit¬ 
tle scientific or practical knowledge. But while there may be 
a very striking sameness in appearance, there is often an essen¬ 
tial difference in origin and chemical composition. Some- 
