CRETACEOUS LIMESTONE. 81 
Well at Bigbee Valley post-office, sec. 16, T. 16, R. 19 E. 
Feet. 
Depth of well 450 
Thickness of Selma chalk 200 
Water flows 23 feet above surface. 
Well in sec. 21, T. 16, R. 19 E. 
Feet. 
Depth of well 444 
Thickness of sand 200 
Flows. 
Well at Cliftonville. 
Feet. 
Limestone 300 
Dark sand, dry 20 
White sand, water bearing 20 
Dark sand, dry 10 
White sand, water bearing 40 
Ferruginous sandstone 1 
Depth of well, 450 feet; 300 feet in limestone, 150 feet in sand. 
Source of water, greensand. 
Well on A. G. Cunningham's land, 1\ miles west of mouth of James Creek. 
Feet. 
Depth of well -,00 
Thickness of limestone 100 
Well is 75 feet above Tombigbee River. Water overflows. 
Well at Pickensville, Ala., on land of Will Rodgers. 
Feet. 
Thickness of limestone 100 
Depth of well 400 
Flows. 
All the wells mentioned above except the first one were drilled by J. B. Cunningham, of 
Cliftonville, Miss., and the records were obtained from him. The well drillers fail to make 
any distinction between the lower Selma and the upper Eutaw, so that their records can 
not be depended on for determining the thickness of the Selma. 
A sample of sandy limestone was obtained from the mouth of James Creek, on Tombigbee 
River. Along the Tombigbee at the mouth of this creek there is an exposure of a greensand 
clay containing a large amount of lime. Fifty feet above the river, 1| miles west of the 
mouth of James Creek, another sample of limestone was collected. This limestone is simi- 
lar in color and general aspect to that on the Tombigbee, except that it has less greensand. 
Farther west the limestone rarely shows at the surface. It is clayey in character and 
easily dissolved by the weathering agents, so that it breaks down into soil faster than it is 
carried away by erosion. 
At Cliftonville, which is 75 feet above Tombigbee River (barometric reading), there is a 
hard cap rock, 2 to 4 feet thick, found on top of the hills in the vicinity of the town. This is 
a hard " lime " rock, similar to that found at Prairie Rock. Below this hard cap rock comes 
what is called the "blue rock." A sample of it seen at a well dug years ago shows that it 
contains no sand. Where the blue rock comes to the surface it forms a belt of the richest 
I soil in the prairie region. The soil is very deep, black, and loose. More cotton and corn 
are raised to the acre here than in any other section of the State. 
West of this region the land becomes higher, and the Lafayette occupies the surface on 
the ridges. 
Six miles north of Macon, on the Macon and Columbus road, the limestone begins to 
show at the surface in small gullies. The rock is harder than the blue rock along the Tom- 
[bigbee, and therefore occurs more frequently. A sample collected from this locality was 
[analyzed in the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey, as follows: 
Bull. 283—06 6 
