The Van Buren press., 1859-07-13

ding eighteen inch coal. passed through in |
tho steam mill well below the town OF Van !
Buren. one hundred and ten feet.
These shsles lie no doubt &. the base Of
the milestone grit, as we found in the over
lying sandstone, one hundred aai fifty OF
two hundred feet above these shales. the |
came curious impressions OF plants (?)l
which occur In the milestone grit of Van
Buren county. near Theodore Goodlow's.
showing the great extent and remarkable
persistency OF this formation. as it extends
through the northern counties OF Arkansas.
The sandstones and shales seen in Sec
ton in the Ozark mountains, north Of Van
Buren,, have much the Theological character
OF the " Barren Coal Msssu,cs' of the
eastern coal 6sl = ssf .--.'A> y <s,. I .sss. 4.
schistose earthly sands;onea predominate !:
but it Is not improbable thss they may be
all .referibie to the milestone grit. which
seems to have an enormous expansion, and
to occupy grcab4 areas in the northwest
counties Of Arkansas.
Four or five miles northwest of Van Du.
ren. in some OF the deep cuts. whore rcd and
ferrugiuous shsies are exposed. more Or less
iron ore was observed, but mostly of C.i
iceous character.
The shsles, st the base of the hills bor-
dering ON the Arkansas river, noted in the
preceding sections. seem 10 underlie great
extent of country. not enly in this county
but for q great distance down the valley Of
the Arkansas river in = sot, u asst direction
AS limestone is very scarce article in
this county, it may be well to take note
that there is dark-gre fsruginous, cal
careous bed that crops out, not only near
the sulphur spring, n ths bed oil the Sui
paur branch o. Webbsr's cresk, but On Ba-
ker's hill, two miles from the springs. and
on hillside. seven miles northwest of Van
Buren, and ono mile from the Dripping
spring. This roek will doubtless burn to
lime, aud yield an article which, though
dark will probably make gooi mortar for
building purposes.
1t is very probable that this fsrruginous.
fossiliferous limestone may be found about
! 0ne-third OF the distance up the high hill
back OF Van Buren, ; for. being encrnsted
with rusty, external coating, it is difficult
to distinguish it, In its native bed, from the
associate sandstones. This limestone va
ries from three to eiyh. inches in thickness.
The Pennywit sulphur water was tested
At the fountain head. Its principal constit-
uents are
Bi-carborate Of lime. Bi-carbonatc OF
magnesia. Chloride Of sodium. OF COM
mon salt. Chloride of magnesium. Trace
of sulphate of soda, (glauber salts Trace
of sulphate of magnesia, (epson salts. }
a. trace OF free sulpnuretted hydrogen
The taste OF this water, and the small,
| white. fbrous sediment. formed in the gum
| log through which it rises. favor the view
that there is some sulphur in this Fater.
combined either with some organic princi.
! pie. Or other substance. II will be obsery-
ell that this water contains notsble quan-
tity of common salt; this fact, taken in
connection with the formation through
which it wells up, and the cellular nature OF
the ssn1stones In the vicinity OF the springs
renders it probable that, if the Sulphur
branch of the Webber fork of Lees creek
flows in syuclinal trough. Gas it very likely
does. from ,ae dip of the strata being ro-
verseI towards the valley of the Arksnsas
river,) good profitable brine nigh. be
reached by putting down systematic bor-
ing in the neiyhborhood of these springs" +"
We shall give further extracts. next
week. - ED.