The Van Buren press., 1878-07-16

/ Is most eligible natural mill site, and an old
mill has been run for many years. Rich and
wide bottom lands lie around ii and It's
neighborhood; springs are frequent and the
timber ilne; coal shales are disclosed in many
places; it Is distant from Van Buren, eight
cen miles northward.
On Lees Greek, still northward from Van
Buren,. is fine coal bed. of the thickness Of
twenty-eight to thfrty-two inches Coal has
been tried by smiths, and by them termed fine
II is easily quarried and in quantity. IT is
known as the Wooten bank. This coal, like
all the coal In this field, improves in quality
and thickness as it is penetrated.
Near Robert Sutherland's on Lees Greek, S.
II, +. II, X. -. is Il coal bed, which has been
worked; its thickness we do not know. The
bottom and uplands here are fertile. Grapes
abound on the hillsides as they do elsewhere
in Crawford The water is abundant and
good shales occur from this to Joseph Bry-
ants on Lees Greek, at the foot OF Boston
Mountain, S. 20, I, II, X. 81, with occasional
outcrop of limestone. Great bluffs of sand
stone rise mp. and are full of iron, and yield
good building rock. The timber is excel
lent, white oak being among the prevalent
oaks and pine being absent. short distance
from Bryant's. from the Boston Mountain,
runs the Blackburn's Fork of Lees Creek. rich
in coal banks. This is good, workable coal,
eX posed for thirty inches; has been used by
smiths for years, and info which have been
sunk fourteen pits. This coal, like the great
body of the coal so far used in this valley, is
sem-btuminous. Coal has also, for years,
been quarried and transported from pits on
Cove Creek, n tributary Of Lees Creek, in the
northwest corner OF Crawford; it has been
hauled by smiths forty miles, This coal is
very good, its thickness Is about twenty-seyen
inches Boston Mountain is famous for its
very rich benches, hillslopes and table land,
the soil being enriched BY the limestone and
h,r Il, he tbnpatp. IA iO
with bottom growth OF timber, such as ash,
walnut pawpaw, oak rich underground, vine
and shrub. tits peculiarly adapted for grape,
and pastures, the numerous springs
affording plenty of water. In early times
cane (reeds) grew on their tops; it produces
of all the grains, corn and
grasses.
In the neghborhood of Shannon's Mill, s.
49, +. 10, II 30. on Cedar Creek which emptics
into Frog D.yoa. quartz fragments have been
discovered, and lead also. The water is sufii-
cient for the supply of mills, and the low
lands rich. Coal shales also display in this
tract of the country. There is saline spring
in 5. 32, I. II, X. 81, from which the brine
many years ago, was worked. and the yield
of salt good, Boring, without doubt, would
bring stronger brine and make its boiling
profitable to the salt manufacturer, even in
this close proximity to the eXhaustless saline
waters, springs and deposits of the east Chero-
kee country. In sections 30 and "a are Heard
and Pennywitt sulphur Springs, from which
run health giving waters, and which are IA
nous in their locality. The precipitates are
white, and were they improved by digging,
them out and walled they would
probably equal springs in Virginia and Ken
lucky, and become resort orspring visitors.
There are other sulphur and chaly beate
springs in this county. On Frog Bayou or
Clear Creek, near Frazer's gin, the land is
very fine, as Frog Bayou land all is.
The land is exceedingly fertile, the timber
most excellent. the range unequaled and the
water wholesome generally obtained for
house use by digging, or in cistcrns. and
abundance of stock water everywhere There
is no better tract inviting the immigrant,
none better for the occupation to be made by
the laborers on your road"