The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-07-22
THE BLACK HILLS.
A Geological Description of the Country
The Mining Prospect.

Prof. w. p. Jenney, the Geologist of
the Black Hills expedition, has made an
official report, from which the following
is an extract:
West of the 104th merid an and south Of
the 44th parallel of latitude the oldest rock
exposed is the great carbonifrOus lime
stone. almost horizontal in its bedding,
succeeded by sandstones and shales of tri-
assic and jurassic age, which, containing
no valuable minerals, completely seals for
ever the elder strata from view. East of
the 104tn meri, ian, in Dakota, is great
development of metamorphic slare, quartz
ite and granite, containing numerous veins
and masses of quartz, and it is here that
the mineral wealth of the Hills is to be
sought for and found, if it exists. This
park country is characterized by ridges of
granite, gneiss and quartZite, traverAing
il from north to south, and alternating
with beds Of softer states. which have been
removed by denudation and produced
broad, level swales of grass land between
the pine-cOvered hills and ridges of the
harder rocks. Numerous veins and segre-
gated masses of white translucent quartz
appear traversing the strata in the direc-
ton of the ''strike;" often the quartz is of
a beautiful rose-color, and almost invaria-
bly, shows traces of mineral matter. In
the talcose states veins of limonite IRON
ore, more or less intermixed with slate
and quartz, are occasionally found; but If
they contain gold have been un"ble, up
to the present time, to detect it with the
means at my disposal. About fiji
teen miners have located claims on
the creek here, built dams and small
sluices, but they had no gold to show as
the result of their labors, and the reports
they give of the richness of the gravel
bars" are greatly exaggerated. They re-
port from to q cents 10 the pan; but Sc
lected one of their best prospecting shafts
and washed out nine buckets of the average
gravel equal to eighteen pans) with a
rocker, and obtained % cents worth OF
gold. or about six grains Troy. This
would be at the rate of 1t cents to the
pan, or about S1.70 per cubic yard; but
the average of the whole fat will be much
less than this, although in some places a
few panfuls of earth can be scraped off the
bed rock that will yield higher results.
The gold is in small flattened grains, with
very little fine dust accompanying it, and
shows by its appearance that it has been
carried far BY the action of water, but has
most probably been derived from quartz
NtlIle Ill JllC 6ldOCS dDt6b bilC lltdI >
of the stream. And my Prospecting
seems to show general diffusion of small
quantities of gold over a large area, while
the action of the streams has locally con-
centrated it in limited channels and
/" bars
There is no coal of carboniferous age,
but saw along the Cheyenne beds OF
cretaceOus lignites, which, on further ex-
animation, may prove valuable. There
are also beds of clay-iron ore of good
quality in the jurassic states along the
western base of the hills. Prof. Hayden
has estimated that nearly one-third the
whole area is covered with a heavy growth
of pine timber, and | should Judge his
estimate to have been carefully made. Ii
is the DiRuS ponderoSo, known generally as
Norway pine and yellow pine. The trees
are straight, free from limbs for One-half
their height, and will furnish logs averag-
ing from twelve to twenty inches in DIAM
eter, and fifty or more feet in length.
have seen some trees along the creek bot
toms that were 100 feet i'm height, and two
or three feet through at the ground. The
wood is soft, straight, but rather coarse
grained {; easily split, but has not so great
a transverse strength as our Eastern pine.
There is little elm and oak along the
banks of the eastern streams, and in the
elevated northern portions the pine is
partly replaced by tall. slender black
spruce, used by the Indians for lodge
poles. The flora of the Hills is interme-
date i'm its character between that of the
Mississippi Valley and the Rocky Noun
iains, and plants peculiar to each region
are here to be found growing side by side.
The soil is rich and deep, an in the bot
toms along the small streams is black and
peaty, often several feet in depth. produc-
ing a heavy growth of bottom grass, suit
able for hay. Along the hillsides, through
the forests, and even on the mountain
tops, where the rocks are covered by soil,
good growth of excellent grass is every
where TO be found, and the shelter afford
ed by the woods and deep valleys makes
this country admirably adapted for stot X
raising purposes. Wafer of excellent
quality is abundant; fine springs are 10
be found ali through the hills, and since |
have been in this region we have expe-
r:enced frequent showers of rain.