172  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1906,  PART    I. 
encountered  in  a  single  section  across  the  range  near  Herds  Gap,  but 
their  interrelation  has  not  been  determined. 
In  the  Kahatchee  Hills — meaning  by  this  the  range  west  of  Fulton 
Gap  as  far  as  the  Childersburg-Fayetteville  road— practically  no  devel- 
opment work  has  been  done,  owing  rather  to  the  roughness  of  the  coun- 
try than  to  the  absence  of  ore  indications.  At  a  number  of  places 
gray  ore  float  is  abundant  and  several  outcrops  of  ore  of  fair  quality 
have  been  found.  On  the  surface  the  outcrops  are  generally  much 
weathered  and  many  of  them  appear  leaner  than  they  actually  are 
found  to  be  below  the  soil. 
In  the  cross  range  near  the  northern  end  of  the  Kahatchee  Hills 
there  is  an  interesting  occurrence  of  ore  which  possibly  throws  light 
on  the  origin  of  some  of  the  gray  ore.     About  1£  miles  N.  50°  W.  of 
the  highest   peak  of  the  Kahatchee  Hills  there  is  a  quartzite  striking 
X.  53°  E.     This  quartzite  contains  a  great  abundance  of  small  pyrite 
crystals,  and  near  the  surface,  where  alteration  has  affected  the  rock 
most,  the  iron  pyrite  has  decomposed  and  weathered  into  a  brown  o 
on  which  a  pit  was  opened.     Apparently  on  the  same-strike  and  no 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  to  the  southwest   there  is  a  bed  of  ve 
lean  gray  ore,  consisting  mainly  of  hematite.     This  occurrence  su 
gests  the  possibility  that  the  gray  ore  here  was  derived  by  metaino 
phism  from  brown  ore.  which  in  turn  was  apparently  derived  fro 
iron  pyrite  through  decomposition. 
In  the  Katala  Hills,  west  of  the  Kahatchee  Hills,  there  is  an  abun- 
dance of  iron  float  near  the  summit  of  the  ridge.  The  line  of  outcrop 
of  the  ore  can  he  traced  continuously  from  a  point  west  of  Fayettevill 
throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  ridge.  Along  the  eastern  limb 
of  these  mountains  the  ore  i^  sandy  and  therefore  not  of  very  good 
quality.  In  the  broken  western  limb  north  of  Have  Spring  Branch 
the  ore  is  of  much  better  quality.  This  ore,  however,  is  redder  than! 
the  other  gray  ores  of  the  district.  This  field  has  not  been  exploited 
but   promises  well. 
South  of  Fayettoville  there  are  few  exposures  of  good  ore.  The 
most  promising  place  is  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  spur  that  runs 
eastward  from  Sulphur  Spring  Mountain,  where,  in  an  old  pit  which 
has  now  caved  considerably,  a  lead  of  ore  6  feet  across  has  been 
exposed.  This  lead  is  said  to  have  shown  up  much  thicker  when  the 
pit  was  first  opened.  It  can  be  traced  southward  by  float  from  Sul- 
phur Spring  Mountain  to  Looney  Mill,  a  distance  of  2  miles.  'This 
float  is  for  the  most  part  highly  arenaceous  and  the  iron  content  of 
this  ore  is  undoubtedly  lower  than  that  of  the  ore  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  Katala  Hills. 
As  has  been  previously  noted,  the  iron-bearing  member  decreases 
in  A^alue  south  of  Looney  Mill,  becoming  more  and  more  arenaceous, 
until  it  is  only  a  slightly  ferruginous  quartzitic  sandstone.      In  this 
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