52 SLATE DEPOSITS AND INDUSTRY OF UNITED STATES. 
are all located just outside the boundaries of this Ordovician area, as will be seen 
from an examination of PI. VIII, which gives the outlines of the district. Within 
this district deposits of rooting slate occur at numerous localities, but outside of its 
limits no slate can reasonably be expected to occur in Arkansas. Prospecting should 
be confined, therefore, to the area shaded in PL VIII. 
This should not be construed as meaning that all this area is underlain by deposits 
of roofing slate, for such is by no means the case. On the contrary, workable roof- 
ing slate deposits make up only a small portion of the shaded area, the remainder 
being occupied by sandstones and shales. 
Description of deposits. — Within the district noted roofing slates have been worked 
in a small way at several points near Hot Springs, Garland County, for a number of 
years. None of the workings, however, has been extensive enough to give a definite 
idea of the commercial possibilities of the deposits. 
During the last few years a new slate area has been exploited in western Arkansas, 
the principal deposits here being in the counties of Polk and Montgomery. Here 
black, gray, red, and greenish slates occur in abundance, and a number of companies 
have been organized to work various properties. In the spring of 1905 I spent a few 
days in this area, visiting most of the deposits which had been opened. This area 
is shown in PI. IX, where a number of quarry locations are indicated. The only 
quarries in operation at that time were those of the Southwestern Slate Company, at 
Slatington, about 20 miles southwest of Mount Ida, Montgomery County. Both red 
and black slates occur on the property of this company. 
In a report made recently Bucklev gives the following general section: 
Feet. 
Quartzite and sandstone 200 
Red slate .300 
Quartzite and sandstone 500 
Black slate 400 
The black slate quarry of this company is located on Crooked Creek, in section 34, 
T. 3 S., R. 27 W. The slate here strikes N. 70° E. and dips 25° N. It is a fine- 
grained, deep black slate, and seems excellent for either roofing or mill slate. A few 
beds of rock (sandstone) are included in the section, but altogether a thickness of 
about 400 feet of black slate is exposed in the quarry along Crooked Creek. 
Nearer to the company's office, at Slatington, red slates are quarried in section 33, 
T. 3 S., R. 27 W. The slate here strikes N. 30° W. and dips 20° NE. The mill con- 
tains one saw, taking an 8 by 5 foot slab; one planer, taking an 8 by 4 foot slab, and 
one 12- foot rubbing bed. 
In 1904 the Kansas City Slate Quarrying Company opened a quarry in the north- 
west quarter of section 12, T. 3 S., R. 28 W. The cleavage here strikes N. 80° W. 
and dips 45° N., and the bedding is apparently parallel to the cleavage. The slate 
is badly jointed near the surface. Most of that exposed is green, with occasional red J 
streaks and much pyrite. The slate on the dump has disintegrated very badly on 
weathering-, and is really hardly more than a clay shale. 
The Gulf Slate Company has an opening about 20 feet square and 30 feet deep on 
the southwest quarter of section 9, T. 3 S., R. 28 W. The cleavage here strikes 
N. 65° E. and dips 35° N. The slate exposed in this shallow pit is mostly red. It is 
better than that last noted, but is rather soft. 
A red slate of good grade is exposed in S. 17, T. 3 S., R. 28 W., with cleavage strik- 
ing N. 10° E. and dipping 40° W. 
Black slate of good quality is shown just north of Little Missouri Creek, in S. 3, 
T. 4 S., R. 28 W. The cleavage strikes N. 60° E. and dips 10 N. 
On Danville's property in S. 28, T. 3 S., R. 28 W T ., a gray slate is exposed. This 
is a hard, durable slate, but is badly jointed near the surface. The bedding strikes 
N. 30° W. and dips 30° SW. 
