Arkansas true Democrat., 1861-10-03

irregular in it's fracture and bedding, and often fragmentary.
 Below the forks of Jennings creek, the rocks are mostly rugged lodges of magnetism and other varieties of limestone, with some altera tions of mari and marly hmestones. with ire quent imbedled segregatlons Of chalcedonic chert.
 The principal Sewell diggings are miles be- low the Notion digglngs, township l9 north, range Is west, of the fifth principal meridian.
 Several pits and prospect-holes have been dug here in search of ore near the tops ot the ridges, and two or three tons of ore obtained In some of the excavations crevices have been reached in running n the magnetism limestone, north 30 deg. west and lead ore is found at tached to the wall rock, and running in veins ot about an inch thick.
 Mir. Sewel undertook to smelt about tons of this ore in rude log furnace, but the greatest part oXydized and ran to sag and was lost amongst the cinders and ashes.
 Small quantities of Zinc ore have also been found here, associated with the lead ore at the Sewell diggings.
 Some sandstones are intercalated with the magnetism limestones of this part of Jennings creek valley.
 The tops of ridges are mostly strewed over with masses of porous chert. In some of the ridges the red marble rock is in place.
 The surface indications of lead ore are ire quent. Mr. McCracken, whose farm djoins the Sewell diggings, found lump of lead ore, one foot below the surface, indigging the foundation for his chimney, and pieces weighing several pounds on the hll-sides opposite his house, on the northern side of Jennings creek. In the tops of some of the rid ges, the marble rock oc CUTS in the vicinity of Mir. mcCracken's, which annearS to bav vn ally a reddish cast
 sEARCY COUNTY.
 A few hundred yards, on the northwest side of Mill creek, an abrupt dislocation has fractur ed the strata and thrust up the beds ofhmestone; which may be traced, ascending the hillside, on the north side of the road, with abrupt mural faces, resembling dyke of basalt.
 Some lead ore has been obtained in the ere vices of the observation-disclosures limestone along this axis of disturbance, and some shallow ex- cavations have been made; but these did not yield ore sufficient to encourage further search.
 The occurrence of this ore adjacent to the axis of disturbance, above mentioned IS how ever favorable indication for the discovery of a regular lode, and more thorough and deeper explorations might lead to better discoveries.
 INDEPENDENCE COUNTY.
 Some five years ago a company was organiz-  on Bayou Cury Several pits or shallow shafts were sunk under the direction of Judge T. c. Bricky, one of the company, and considerable amount of lead taken out; the means at the dis posal ofthis company were inadequate to make the necessary investigation for proving the ground. In consequence of the shafts having caved in, no opportunity was afforded to see the character of the vein. In the rubbish, thrown out of the shaft, 1 saw a considerable amount of the sul phuret and carbonate of zinc, and col ected specimens for analysis; these specimens of phuret of lead are of the steelgray variety, but disseminated amongst spar and rock, rem dering it difficult to obtain large specimens of the clear ore. The geological formation is cer tainly perfectly analogous to that in the lead re zion of Marion, Carroll and Lawrence: which cir cumstances renders 1t impossible that the ore will be found under the same circumstances as in above mentioned counties.
 LAWRENCE COUNTY.
 E. w. Hougton explored for lead ore on Sten- nett's creek, in this county, and obtained con siderable lead ore, but abandoned the diggings, probably, because there was no lead furnace to smelt the ore.
 The principal working for lead, in these rocks, in Lawrence county, has been made on the pro perty of Mr. E. ". Houghton, six miles from Powhatan, on section 10, township l7 north, range 2 vest where as many as twenty pits have been sunk, from which between one and three thousand pounds of galena have been taken out. No profitable lode was reached, therefore the diggings were discontinued. Sur face lead ore C float mineral has been occa- sionally picked up, over district about one fourth of mile in breadth and extending sev eral miles in a north west direction; but no con tinuous vein has so far been discovered.
 In the openings which have been made in this county, the cap rock is first reached; after pene trating 1t, at a depth of thirty or forty feet, members (a) and co of the preceding section are reached: in these, small crevices occur, in which the lead ore Is found, accompanied with clay, charged with oxide of iron ("gossan.')- )- These crevces have a bearing north east and south west but do not extend continuously any great distance. The abandoned shafts, at this locality, had become mostly filled with rubbish, so that had no opportunity Of seeing the posi- ton of these at the bottom. When more time can be devoted to the examination of this coun try a more satisfactory conclusion may be ar rived at in regard to this lead region, than could be gained in the time allowed for simple re- connoissance of the country. All that can be at present stated, from the best information Is that the ore was rather more abundant at the
 
 as if it might concentrate into true vein. For want of sufficient capital to sink deeper, these mines have never been thoroughly proved. POLK COUNTY. Mr. N Eldridge reports having found piece of lead ore on his premises aoout the size of an egg. This locality lies very nearly on the line of the vein of argentiferous gaena, which will be spoken of in the section under Sevier county. MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Hardin and others struck some lead ore, on Gap creek, in crevices in dark blue limestone, veined with white; after passing through sheet of lead ore of about four inches they came upon a cap rock oflimestone, which they went through: but finding no ore beneath this they abandoned the dggings. Some 400 lbs of lead were ob- tained at this opening.
 SEVER COUNTY.
 Both in the physical features, and geological formation, the northern part of this county is similar to the southern part of Polk and the ap- pearance of the rocks is very much the same as that in Bull Mountain, and on Kellogg creek, in | Pulaski.
 | The Beah mine is situated in the northern | part of the county, on section Fl or 22, twon- | ship north, range 32 west, four miles east ot | the western boundary of Arkansas. In a direction very nearly east and west, where the slate in Assured condition shows signs ot disruption, metallic ores can be traced imbed- ded in crevices of the same character, in almost every respect, with those found at the Kellogg mine, in Pulaski: namely, argentiterous galena, sulphurets and carbonates of copper, carbo' l c-.-. ,1II I,A,,