ECKEL.] MISSISSIPPI. 21 7 
Columbus. It extends for 1 mile along the river as a perpendicular 
cliff that affords a fine section of the upper Eutaw and the base of the 
Selma. At the top of the bluff, the low hills on the west come down 
to the river. The same heavy, black prairie soils which come within 
3 miles of the river due west of Columbus, here come down to the 
edge of the bluff. 
The following is a section of the bluff obtained where the road comes 
down to the river: 
Section of bluff of Tombigbee River 3 miles west of Columbus, Miss. 
Lafayette at top. 
Selma: Feet. In. 
"Blue rock" of the Selma; a white to gray joint clay containing less 
sand at top than at bottom. In its unweathered condition the clay is 
pale blue, with green and black sand 10 8 
Eutaw : 
Green sand, highly calcareous, and containing numerous large oysters. . 9 5 
Indurated ledge of greensand, calcareous, and containing same fossils 
as No. 9 8 12 
Lighter colored sand, containing very few small fossils but no large 
ones 7 14 
Green sand, nonfossiliferous 6 6 
Slightly fossiliferous, gray micaceous sand 5 5 
Indurate ledge, slightly fossiliferous sand - 4 10 
Green sand, containing same large oysters as No. 9 3 4 
Indurate ledge 2 8 
Fossiliferous greensand to the water's edge 1 4 
The prairie soil of the Selma extends to the river north of Columbus, 
but is not found east of the river. From Columbus south to the south 
side of M. C. Gower's creek on the west side of the river the Tombigbee 
bottom ranges in width from 2 to 4 miles. South of this creek the 
bottom changes again to the east side, and the Selma extends to the 
river. 
At the mouth of James Creek the same joint clay that is seen above 
Columbus occurs on the east bank of the creek, about 10 feet above 
the water's edge. 
Eight miles east of Columbus, on the Columbus and Tuscaloosa 
road, the hills of the Tuscaloosa formation first appear. On the hill 
near the 8-mile post the highly stratified clay, interbedded with various 
colored sands, outcrops on the side of the road. 
At Stiens Station the creek is cutting into the Eutaw sands. 
Where the road crosses Yellow Creek the foundation of the bridge 
is built on the compact sand, which here is of a deep-gray color and 
very homogeneous in character. 
One mile south of Strongs, on the Illinois Central Railroad, on the 
Monroe and Clay line, the railroad has cut into the Selma clay to a 
depth of 15 feet. 
