The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-06-03
Mastotlon bones were found i'll the lam

! mated sand. AT Prices. the pebbles
were not struck, and there is more
white clay in the Illuminated sand. Gyp-
sum occurs, but more sparingly. Mas
tOdOn bones were found here also. At
brakes, the gypsum is replaced by
limestone, also in masses, from which
good lime can be made. III a}l these
cases the upper stratum is bluff or aliu-
WON, AS shown by the Inastodon bones.
The pebble sand is drift, and the elays
with the masses of gypsum and lime
stone arc of the jackson tertiary group.
The crrtnccuus, though closely sutja-
cent, i; not reached in these shallow
wells, which range from fifteen to thir-
t. feet in depth.
l.. Lying i'll almost Il straight line with
Kings salt works and tho limestone in
st. Landry, is tho remarkable salt mine
ut Petit Ansc, another gift that wc owe
to the cretareouS period. There is here
Il mass Of the purcst rock salt, OF moro
than ono hundred and forty-four acres
area, and ofunkncwn depth, which is
successfully mined, and has proved al
ready Of great benefit to the State. If
formed by the evaporation of sea water,
this salt ought to be associated with u
great amount of gypsum, rs that sub
stance is also contained in solution
therein. The shafts sunk for mining
purposes have not yet pierced tlse de-
posit, SO as to settle the question
whether gypsum untlcr!ics it or not.
In the meanwhile, | have received
many crystals Of gypsum, found in the
alluvial deposits near by; and rs this
substance is not commonly found in
sucl, strata, the fact certainly corrobo-
| rates the idc, that Il large mass is not
far distant.
The salt is overlaid by the drift with
its characteristics siliciticli P,ll:rozoic fos-
sils, for many fine specimens of which
am indebted to the kindness of Major
r. Ii. Kerr; and the slopes of the drift
! arc in turn ovcrlaid by the Port Hud-
son group, OF the Bluff formation, ac-
| cOrding to the able report of DIR. T.. w.
| Hilgard, to whom 1 must again rofer,
! for this is another locality that ! have
! not yet had time to visit. The crcta-
ccous strata therefore appear to lie near
the surface, along a anorth-northWcstcrn
! line, whose continuation leads us to
| Hampstead county, Arkansas, where
the continuous outcrops of that age ap-
prOach Louisiana most closely. Further
west, thirteen miles from Lake Charles,
they are struck again at II lower level
in IN arttsian we'll, bored for petroleum..
] A1tcF passing through one nunNfCu anu
sixty feet of blue clays OF the marine
divisions of tho Bluff formation, one
hundred and scVenty-thrcc feet Of drift
ten feet of induratei clay, and forty
feet Of nodules of limestone, with shells
of the Jackson tertiary group, the hor
ing penetrated sixty feet OF crumbis
limestone, one hundred feet of pure sui
phur, one hundred and forty-"ight fec
OF GYPSUM with sulphur, and five hun
dred and feet ofgrey gypsum belonGin,
to the cretaccOuS series. The SiNty-tOO
I stratum OF limestone resembles that n
the kilns in st. Landry and Winn, bu
the sulphur and gypsum are of ;,lmos
unprecedented thickness. 1t is to ht
hoped that measures will be speedily
taken to utilize these splendid deposits
which promise to do much towards tn,
development the greatly undcrvaIuct
| parish of CalcaSicu. Salt commonly oc
ours in connection with gypsum and
sulphur in Europe. at OF near the juno
ton of the tertiary with crctlceOuS
strata, and there seems to be good rpa
son to hope for other discoveries ofih"Se
substances III the region between these
| wells and Petit a nse, as weli ;lI further
towards the Sabine. Tho petroleum
| proved to be too poor in quality and
| too small in quantity 70 pay for its col
! lection
|