The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-06-21
BOSSIER PARISH.
One Of the most Promising Districts
OF the Iron Region Ct the two States"
"One of the Richest Agriculturallv +,
FROM THE REPORT OF PROF. LAWRENCE
JOHNSON, OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL,
SURVEY, ON THE IRON ORES OF
NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND
EASTERN TEXAS.

oH'Ihs YIN Ire lhON ORES OF
NORTHERN LOUISIANA AND
EASTERN TEXAS.
Within this parish high, red lands
form crescent-shaped tract between
Collinsburg and Rocky Mount, which
ends in bluffs at its northern edge
along Phelps lake, Posten bayou, and
the Red river. The sections exposed
in the Gilmer bluff on the Red river,
in bluff at the mouth of Johns bay
GU, and in Miller's bluff, at the mouth
of Poston bayou, enable us to trace
the stratigraphy of this district.
SECTION AT GILMER BLUFF, s. e. OF SECTION
80, t. y N, R. Hw.
Feet
= Firm sandy clays, with large nodules. 10
8. Clay with layers of pebbly nodules of
Hnonlte- NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. ~
4. DIRTY ANIMATED clay, with shady lay
ers OF terru2inous sandstone. 1880. 8
D. Firm dark Ignite sand to water.--. 6
81
DR.. Hopkins assigns this whole
series of bluffs to the Mansfield forma-
ton; but this may be open to ques-
ton, as marine fossils have been taken
from shallow wells only three miles
east of these localities and Claiborne
strata appear to overlie these clays
near Phelps lake. 1t is true that beds
of the Mansfield group occur in
Marion and Harrison counties, Texas,
and that they contain there, as else
where, nodular ores not unlike those
found in such abundance at Gilmer
bluff, but such ores are not numerous
in the Mansfield series, and much of
the carbonate and pot ore of Texas
belongs to the Ignite horizon, with
which the strata from Gilmer bluff
to Phelps lake may be correlated
These extend to a point two miles
south of Collinsburg, where the fol-
lowing section was observed:
u.
Feet.
|. Sands and loan of higher ground. 100
=. Clayey sands md sandy clays.---..- i
2. Nodules of limonite.
.. Clayey sand 2
s. Limonite in fine nodules. .-.-..--..
y. clay SAND. -.---------------
Z. Nodules of limonite. -.---..--...-.. 5-6-l
8. Reddish clay to depth unknown.
Eight miles south of Collinsburg a
limestone is to be seen in Carolina
bluff, on the Red river, which is
probably of fresh-water origin, and
is therefore assigned to the Mansfield
formation. This limestone contains
no fossils, but exhibits an interesting
marking by white veins, produced by
the crystallization of calcite in sun
cracks in the original impure deposit.
Such specimens sometimes closely re-
semble the markings on the carapace
of turtle. This limestone will be
of special interest in the possible
event of the establishment of iron
works in Bossier parish, for which
Collinsburg would be the natural
center.
The iron ore of the Gilmer bluff
and of similar sections along the
banks of the Red river, Poston bayou,
and Phelps lake is of the clay iron
stone variety, associated with siderite.
Ores of this class are more abundant
here than in any other locality OBJ
served, and the alteration of the gray
carbonate of iron to limonite may be
seen in nodules having firm core of
the unaltered carbonate surrounded
by brown shell. The position OF
the ore in the Gilmer bluff is indicat-
ed in the preceding section. At the
outlet of Johns lake, farther north,
the dark sands have disappeared
beneath the surface of the river, but
the ore nodules are well developed
Many of them would weigh half ton
each. At Miller's bluff, northeast OF
the last locality, in Section 10, Town
ship 80 North, Range IA West, is one
of the most typical localities. Many
of the nodules have a core of carbon
ate within the altered shell and when
freshly dug from the clay the gray
clay limestone may be entirely unal-
tered. An average sample of this ore,
taken from a hundred pounds of part
l. y altered nodules, and therefore
representative of the mixed carbon
ate and limonite, yielded the follow
ing analysis:
ANALYSIS OF IRON ORE FROM MILLER's BLUFF
Per cent
Sand and silica. ia
| Phosphorus. -.----.--.------ II
Sulphur. .----------------. ,o %
The strike of this formation il
shown by the relation of its beds tt
the level of Red river at differen
points to be about north, and it il