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 FROM 
 
 LIHLE EOCK, ARK,, TO FORT GIBSON, C. N„ 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH 
 
 RAILROAD COMPANY. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 DOUGLAS TAYLOR, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, SUN BUILDINGS, 
 
 Corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets. 
 
 1 86 7. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/reportofjwwashbuOOIitt 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In presenting this Eeport, the reader will bear in 
 mind that it was written in great haste, and that it 
 only pretends to give, in an imperfect manner, the re- 
 sults of a very hasty and superficial examination of the 
 belt of country occupied by the lands of the Little 
 Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company. It was 
 found impossible to do more than to go over the ground 
 and collect such specimens as might be picked up on the 
 surface or found in the hands of citizens, many of whom 
 promised to send forward more pei-fect specimens, but 
 not one of whom, so far as known, has paid any further 
 attention to the matter. Such universal apathy as per- 
 vades the people of the region of country here attempt- 
 ed to be brought into notice is extremely unfortunate, 
 and, it must be confessed, is not calculated to attract | 
 the sympathy of the wide-awake spirits of the present 
 day, nor to encourage those who are endeavoring to 
 foster and build up works of internal improvement in 
 their midst. But it is, nevertheless, hoped that the j 
 merits of the country will prove sufficient of themselves i 
 to attract that attention which they so justly deserve ; \ 
 and although the specimens obtained are but meagre in \ 
 number and variety, and do not at all do justice as | 
 representing the value of the mineral resources of the i 
 Valley of the Ai'kansas, yet it is hoped that they will | 
 suffice to direct the attention of the miner and capitalist : 
 to this almost unknown, yet most inviting field, far 
 supeiior, it is believed, to the more widely celebrated 
 but less populous and less accessible regions of Nevada, 
 Montana, Colorado, and other distant Territories. 
 
11 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The object of this Eeport is to bring prominently 
 before the public the merits and claims of this long 
 neglected, yet most attractive region; but, more espe- 
 cially, to turn in that direction the inquiries and the 
 footsteps of that large and valuable class of persons 
 who are seeking in this New World, and in the Far 
 West, Cheap Homes and Rewaed foe Theie Laboe. 
 To those who are seeking these desirable comforts and 
 rewards, Arkansas holds out inducements far superior 
 to any other State or Territory now open to immigra- 
 tion. She possesses, in an eminent degree, all the 
 elements of wealth and prosperity. Her broad and fer- 
 tile valleys embrace thousands of acres of lands yet un- 
 sold, while her numerous streams and forests and moun- 
 tains, and her productions of cotton, grain, and other 
 raw material, furnish the power and the means to enable 
 her one day to assmne a place in the front rank of manu- 
 facturing States. The temper and disposition of her 
 people, which was, in her early settlement, hostile to the 
 introduction of immigrants, has been for many years 
 clearly shown in her raj)id advance in population and 
 wealth, in the erection of colleges and other institutions 
 of learning, and, lately, in the efforts she has made to 
 induce immigration, to aid her railroads, and in the 
 remodeling and adoption of a new system of public 
 schools — the three great levers of modern progress. At 
 present there is a considerable tide of Northern emigra- 
 tion turned in that direction, and it is well known that 
 they, with the few Germans and Irish who have made 
 Arkansas their home, are among the leading citizens of 
 the State, as their habits of industry and economy are 
 sure to bring them wealth and position in a very few 
 years. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The Little Eogk and Foet Smith Raileoad Compaistt 
 liave undertaken to publish this Report solely with a 
 view to induce immigration, knowing that it must look ! 
 to the futui'e for any return to the necessary outlay. I 
 The Comjoany hope to complete their great enterprise | 
 in a few years, when they will have ready for sale to ' I 
 actual settlers One Million Acres of the most valuable | 
 agricultm^al and mineral lands in the Arkansas Valley. | 
 These lands were selected and reserved from entry many | 
 years ago, and lie Avithin twenty miles on either side of 
 the line of road. A map is here\vith published, which 
 will show the road as projected and located, on the north 
 side of the Ai'kansas River, fi'om Little Rock to the 
 western boundary of the State, where it will connect 
 with other roads projected and now in j)rocess of con- 
 struction. At Little Rock it ^vill connect with other 
 roads north, south, and east, and mil form in itself an 
 indispensable connecting link between the Southern 
 system, fi'om Norfolk and Charleston, and the Great 
 Pacific Road that must eventually be built upon the j 
 35th Parallel Route, which wall prove, in fact, to be the I 
 only practicable route across the continent at all seasons I \ 
 of the year. A large and prosperous community will, I j 
 within a very few years, occupy the fertile valleys of \ \ 
 the Arkansas and Canadian, which, to the very doors of 
 New Mexico, are beyond comparison, the richest and j 
 finest region of country on the continent. | 
 
 It is to this invitino^ field that the attention of those i 
 who desire new and cheap homes, where labor will meet | 
 its due reward, is now respectfully directed. [ 
 
 J. H. HANEY. 
 
 Secretary and Special Agent. 
 
 New York, November 1st, 1867. 
 
Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company, ) 
 Secretary's Office, Little Rock, Ark., j 
 
 June 26th, 1867. 
 
 Mr. J. W. Washbourn : 
 
 Dear Sir : — After consultation with Mr. Scott, who is one 
 of our directors, I have taken the responsibility of adopting, ! 
 to a limited extent, your recommendations ; and I now make \ 
 you the following proposition : I 
 
 * * * ■3{- -X- 4f •3f *i 
 
 Mr. Wm. p. Denckla, late of California, a miner of exten- | 
 sive experience, and possessing a thorough knowledge of the 
 value of mineralogical indications, will leave here in the course 
 of two or three days, and will visit you at Norristown, where, ; 
 if you conclude to accept this proposition, you will join him | 
 and make with hira a rapid reconnoissance of the country along 
 and adjacent to the line of the Road. Mr. Denckla, being 
 fully acquainted with the objects to be attained, will instruct 
 you as to the duties to be performed. 1 will say, generally, 
 that the extent of country to be examined will be on both 
 sides of the Arkansas River, from Little Rock to Webber's 
 Falls, in the Cherokee Nation ; and while your reconnoissance 
 will be general in its character, it will be desirable that you 
 should visit some of the lands of this Company, which are | 
 known, or reputed, to be rich in minerals. | 
 
 Upon the termination of your field work, I desire a full re- j 
 port of your operations, and a full and fair statement of your | 
 conclusions upon the mineralogical resources of the field ex- | 
 plored. 
 
 (Signed) J. H. Haney, 
 
 Secretary and Special Agent, 
 
 Little Rock, Ark., August 20th, 1867. 
 
 J. H. Haney, Esq., 
 
 Secretary Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Co. 
 Sir :— In accordance with your request, by letter to me, and 
 instructions thereupon, an extract from which letter I give i 
 
 i 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 5 
 
 above, I, in conjunction with Mr. Wm. P. Denckla, accepted 
 the proposition thus made me, and I have the honor to submit 
 the following as our report : 
 
 We have personally viewed the lands of the Arkansas Yalley, 
 from Little Rock to Fort Smith, on both sides of the river, for, 
 say, on the north side, from four, six, and twenty miles : on 
 the south side, to four to ten miles therefrom. Where we have 
 been unable, for want of time, to go further into the hill coun- 
 try from the valley, we have taken great pains to secure accu- 
 rate information from reliable parties knowing such regions, 
 and, in general, based upon specimens shown us. We have 
 been met by the citizens with courtesy all along the Valley; 
 they have given us valuable information, shown us to spots pos- 
 sessing mineralogical interest, and presented us with geologi- 
 cal specimens. 
 
 We have thus been able to collect a very interesting cabinet 
 of minerals, ores, coals, rocks, and fossils. These last are ex- 
 traordinarily scarce in Arkansas, save in the Northwestern i 
 counties. Our limited time prevented us from doing full justice 
 to this cabinet, for in these Arkansas hills and valleys as rich 
 treasures of ores, metals, fossils and earths exist as in any i 
 State in the Mississippi Yalley. 
 
 Our report will be plain and truthful. We trust it will be 
 so compiled as to be read not only by scientific men and by the 
 men of capital, but also by the emigrant; we desire that this ! 
 latter class should be able to read what we have here under- | 
 taken to report to you for them. We do not pretend to be | 
 scientific explorers, and can, therefore, present you with no ! 
 learned report. In as simple language as we can command, 
 and as plain, succinct, and direct as possible, we present to | 
 you, and through you to the world interested, what we saw, ' 
 I heard and gathered ; and upon this, our report, we trust you 
 will be able to induce competent geologists and mineralogists 
 and chemists to come and give this interesting Yalley, and its 
 hills, a systematic, patient, and thorough exploration. j 
 The great heat of the sun, and the dense undergrowth of j 
 
6 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 f 
 
 bush, briar and bramble, proved a serious drawback to our 
 research. At the fall of the leaf, and before it is too cold, is 
 the better time for such reconnoissance. 
 
 We commence from Point Remove Bayou, in Pope County. | 
 Although we visited the east half of this county on our return 
 from Fort Smith, yet, in order to embrace our description of [ 
 Pope County in one chapter, we introduce our report with ob- i i 
 I servations made in the after part of our reconnoissance; and jj 
 i our report will be, in some sort, in a diurnal form. ; ' 
 
 POPE COUNTY. 
 
 On Point Remove Hills, lead has been found, and iron j 
 darkens the rocks. Mr. Ephraim Lemley, near Glass village, | \ 
 on this stream, section 34, township 9, range 18, ploughed up ; 
 ■ sulphuret of lead in his wheat field, which lies a few hundred 
 yards from the Point Remove foot-hills. This lead has also 
 been gathered by others in these hills. The specimen we send 
 you is a part of that Mr. L. ploughed up. 
 
 From Point Remove to Illinois Bayou, Pope County, the 
 land and timber are superior. Large forests of red, black, 
 white, post, over-cup, chincapin and other oaks, interspersed 
 with tall pines, hickory, and other valuale trees, cover the 
 tract. Cypress brakes, some of which are on or near the 
 railroad lands, also, are growing here. These brakes extend 
 down the valley to and below Little Rock, and average from 
 two to five miles wide. The country is broken, yet large 
 tracts of level upland intervene. The water is good, and oc- | 
 casional springs break out. Water is easily reached by dig- \ i 
 ging from fifteen to forty-five feet. A great part of these up- , 
 lands, known throughout the southwest as " barrens," are rich^ i 
 in soil, and adapted to pasturing and planting use. Stock of | 
 all kinds thrive here, little food being required for them in ij 
 winter, which, here be it said, is the case throughout the en- | 
 tire valley. The undergrowth is almost tropical in its exu- \[ 
 berance. Fine, luscious wild grapes, muscadines, plums, and 
 all the berries, abound. Peaches, pears, and apples grow as 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 7 
 
 finely as in any region out of Washington County — the apple 
 region, par excellence, of this State. The native grasses are 
 very abundant and nutritious, whilst clover, timothy, herd and 
 other cultivated grasses, thrive well. 
 
 Coal is found in many parts of this tract. Near K. Potts', 
 S. 20, T. 7, R. 19, in the vicinity of Carrion Crow Mountain, 
 coal has been found, and plenteous indications exist. Coal of 
 good quality was, some years ago, dug and used from Brook's 
 coal bank, three miles southeast from Norristown. This coal is 
 from ten to twenty-eight inches thick, a specimen of which has 
 been promised you. Coal crops out in a wash, three-fourths of 
 a mile from Norristown, S. 18, T. 7, R. 20; the thickness of 
 this coal is, as yet, unknown. It burns well, and of it we 
 have secured a piece. Coal crops out on both sides of the 
 mountain just above Norristown, and upon its top, where 
 epsom salts is also found in quantity. Iron ore, oxyde, car- 
 bonate, and kidney, abound in this hill, and all along the 
 waters of the Illinois Bayou, especially near Norristown and 
 Old Dwight. 
 
 Good workable coal, formerly much used, and which is 
 probably semi-anthracite, crops out across the Illinois Bayou, 
 on the Goodrich tract of land, 8. 30, T. 8, R. 20, six miles from 
 the Arkansas. The seam is from eighteen to forty inches 
 thick, and is easily quarried in low water, no attempt having 
 yet been made to penetrate the bed under the soil. A shaft, 
 in this exposed bed of coal, has been sunk by Mr. James 
 Harkey, of Dover, Pope County, several feet, without passing 
 through the coal. Great quantities have been taken out and 
 used by smiths. Four men took out in two days over five | 
 hundred bushels. Yery little shale lies on the exposed coal. | 
 At the time of our visit through the region, the water was too \ 
 high to allow us to procure a specimen of this coal — but we | 
 have been promised a piece thereof, and we hope to be able to \ 
 send it to you in time. This coal, such of it as has been used, [ 
 has been exposed for untold ages to water, sun, and air, and | 
 is, therefore, inferior to the coal which rests undisturbed for as 
 many ages in the interior. Coal shales and coal itself manifest 
 
8 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 themselves frequently along this stream up to Dover, the county 
 
 seat, distant from the village of Norristown fourteen miles, as j ; 
 
 also in various other parts of this tract of land from Poin t [ \ 
 
 Remove to Illinois. | 
 
 The prevailing rocks are sand-stones of the millstone-grit ! ! 
 
 series, with their associate shales and conglomerates. About i 
 
 Old Dwight, on the Bayou, six miles from the Arkansas, near !| 
 
 the Goodrich coal-bank, quartz, crystals, sulphuret of lead, i 
 and hydrated kidney iron ore are found. A piece of lapis 
 
 lazuli, also — 'tis said — has here been picked up. Mr. Wash- i | 
 
 BOURN found near here, several years since, a beautiful speci- j I 
 
 men of lepidodendron, and it is to be seen, at this day, in the \ 
 
 vicinage. ! \ 
 
 A great pinery runs from the mouth of this Bayou up to the 1 1 
 
 hills, and, more or less, intersperses the woods between this ! 
 
 stream and Point Remove. There are several mills in this I, 
 
 tract. Tobey's mill at Norristown, the best in the country ; 1 1 
 
 Pleas' mill, at Old Dwight ; Gray's mill, in the pine land, be- | 
 
 tween Dover and Point Remove, S. 25, T. 9, R. 19, Cagle's j 
 
 mill, Illinois Bayou, S. 9, T. 8, R. 20, near which, along ij 
 
 the sand stone ledges, which bluff out above and below along | ; 
 
 the stream, lead ore has been found ; and Rye & Hollinger's \ \ 
 
 new mill, near Dover. All these mills are doing fair business, || 
 
 considering the sparse population of the tract, and go to show , 
 
 the far-looking emigrant how valuable they will become when j 
 
 your railroad shall open the doors to the market for these great j j 
 
 forests of pine and oak. \ | 
 
 The lowlands of the river in this tract, with those of the ! | 
 
 intersecting tributaries, are very fertile, the alluvium being j 
 full of saliferous deposits and the ferruginous silts of the river 
 for ages back. The same may be said of the entire Arkansas 
 Valley, which gives a cotton-producing country, on either side, 
 
 < for seven hundred miles from the mouth of the river. Its 1 1 
 
 capacity for produce is almost unlimited. Cotton yields from j| 
 
 three-fourths to one and a half bales per acre, corn from forty- ; i 
 
 five to seventy-five bushels per acre, wheat from fifteen to | 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 9 
 
 twenty-five bushels per acre, and other cereals and grasses in 
 the same ratio, with inferior cultivation. 
 
 Tobacco grows far better than in Maryland, while hemp 
 does as well as in Kentucky or Missouri, according to the few 
 tests made of it. Barley and rye yield as heavy as any lands 
 outside California. 
 
 The timber of these river and creek lowlands are alike 
 throughout the Valley. One enumeration here will answer for 
 the valley from Little Rock to Fort Smith. The trees of these 
 forests are huge, tall and numberless ; all the oaks, save live, 
 ash, Cottonwood, walnut, cherry, pecan, hickory, mulberry, 
 sassafras (two feet in diameter), coffee-nut (a large tree), bois 
 d'arc, locust, (three varieties), gum — b.)th black and sweet- 
 sycamore, maple, cypress, cedar, pine, dogwood, redwood, and 
 other valuable woods, abound in a maze magnificence, inter- 
 twined with grape — some of which are eighteen inches in 
 diameter — and other vines, fretted with reeds and tall grasses, 
 and tufted with a luxuriant and flowing undergrowth. 
 
 Very many living and cold springs break out along the 
 I banks and in the valleys of Point Remove, Galley Creek, Whig 
 Creek, Illinois Bayou, and their affluents. Some of these springs 
 along the banks of Illinois Bayou are as cold and pure as any 
 water in the world ; and the waters in the wells is sweet, cold 
 and unfailing, and anywhere obtained. A large and perpetual 
 mineral spring wells on the mountain above Norristown, and 
 has been a noted resort for invalids for years. 
 
 Where the soil of the uplands is inferior, the material 
 needed — which is lime — lies in the skirting Boston Mountain. 
 These lands generally rest on ferruginous clay or shale, and 
 are easily improved. This applies to all the uplands in the 
 upper valley, those on the south side being the more remote 
 from the limestone, but which can easily receive gypsum from 
 the vast fields of the Canadian River, to say nothing of that 
 found within its own limits. 
 
 Rain falls seasonably in this region during the spring and 
 summer, and not too much in autumn and winter, and drouth 
 
; 10 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 never aiFects the land beyond the plough. The mast is as fine ' 
 I as anywhere in the world ; walnuts, hickory nuts (three or four ' 
 \ varieties), pecans, acorns (some of them very sweet and large), 
 V chincapins and hazel nuts — are common to the whole valley. ■ 
 
 Through this region, through these pine and other forests, i 
 soils, lowlands and uplands, minerals and coal, the Railroad | ! 
 lands run direct ; they penetrate the heart of the valley, and, 
 of course, participate in its riches. I 
 
 Cane (reeds), once entirely covered the lowlands, but it is 
 now eaten or dying out. But few and very small prairies oc- 
 cur in this tract, or, indeed, anywhere in the North Yalley, j 
 but the lands and grasses are good. On the Russelville ' 
 Prairie, near Norristown, the grasses are good and the soil fair. | 
 After a rain in summer, often will be seen in these prairies ' 
 saline incrustations upon the grass and herbs, while the numer- ' 
 ous "deer licks" in and about prove the existence of saline ^ 
 matter ; this is true of all those minor prairies, and even up j 
 into Washington and Benton Counties. I 
 
 We have devoted considerable space to the description of ' 
 this tract of country, between Point Remove and Illinois Bayou. [ 
 We have so done, because of the great similarity of the differ- 
 ent parts of the Valley visited. The characteristics of one 
 county are, generally, the exact counterparts of all the upper 
 river counties ; the rock is the same, the soils, the water, the 
 mineral — prevailing more at one point than another ; the | 
 woods, the grasses, vines, and undergrowth are analogous; I 
 where they differ we will record. In lands, woods, water, sur- 
 face, rock, and minerals, the region is almost one. We shall 
 therefore, as we go up and down the valley, often refer to this : 
 description, as answering to and for other localities. 
 
 On the evening of the 6th day of July, we reached Dover, 
 the county seat of Pope. It is built on depressed ridges of the 
 I Illinois Range, and is within one mile of the Bayou, in S. 27, 
 
 fT. 9, R. 20. Coal exists, and is disclosed, all around Dover. 
 Iron ore also is in the rock ; and very beautiful, clear and per- | 
 feet crystals of silex are fouud in the neighborhood, one of ' i 
 I which we got. , 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 11 
 
 From Dover we went to the top of the Dividing Ridge, 
 near the head of Indian Creek, which flows into the Big Piney 
 between the waters of the latter and the Illinois stream. We 
 drove first to David West's, who lives four miles from the 
 village, on S. 14, T. 9, R. 20, and the same day, July 7th, to 
 N. J. Hale's, on the North Fork of Illinois Bayou, near its 
 mouth. The uplands here are fine and fertile, and well wa- 
 tered; coal indications disclose everywhere ; fossil plants are 
 more than commonly numerous. A very fine white clay i8 
 exposed in a small rivulet near Mr. West's, which will make 
 excellent ware — it is adhesive. A specimen of this clay we got, 
 but unfortunately it was lost. At Buley's, two miles north 
 I from West's, on the Bayou, drift quartz and drift lead are found 
 , — specimens of each we send you. On Buck Mountain, Gard- 
 ner's Branch, T. 9, R. 19, six miles northeast from Dover, is 
 rich iron ore, in a bluff of highly ferruginous sandstone. 
 Coal is also here found — a ten-inch seam, said to be good. 
 East from Dover, four miles, coal of excellent quality has been 
 lately discovered, said to be on railroad land ; a specimen of 
 this coal has been sent to us. At Edward Mobley's, S. 11, 
 T. 9, R. 20, we found impressions in sandstone, and it is sup- 
 posed that limestone is underneath, A thick bed of coal shale 
 is here exposed. 
 
 Mr. Hale lives at the foot of the Illinois Hills, a part of 
 the Boston Mountain (Ozark) Range, in S. 29, T. 10, R. 19. 
 The lowlands along this portion of the Bayou and its affluents 
 are of the finest, and their capacity for production of all kinds 
 of grain, corn, cotton, tobacco, grapes, etc., is equal to any 
 land ; the timber is very fine. At Bullock's, two miles about 
 west from Hale's, is a saline well-spring, the brine of which 
 is quite strong, and was formerly worked by the Cherokees 
 when they owned the country, as well as since by white men — 
 said to yield a fair per centage of salt. There are saline traces 
 elsewhere in this region ; good brine, in all likelihood, could 
 be obtained by boring. On this North Fork of the Bayou, near 
 Sam. Morris', about six miles above Hale's, lead is said to be 
 
12 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 plentiful. Mr. Washburn has seen, and had in his possession, | 
 some of the ore from the North Fork. A specimen of lead from | 
 I the East Fork we send you. I 
 From Mr. Hale's we commenced to climb the Hills, July 8th. | 
 We spent two days among them. The description we below pre- | 
 sent to you of them, will answer for nearly all the Hills of the I 
 1 Valley above Conway and Pulaski counties. Mule Bute, a j 
 I spur of the Boston Mountain Range, is a dividing ridge be- ; 
 I tween the waters of Illinois Bayou and Piney. Where we i 
 I camped, its altitude is say, one thousand feet above the level of | 
 the Bayou. The rock, as usual, is of the millstone-grit form- j 
 ation, with its shales and conglomerates, the latter being | 
 more than commonly exposed. Evidence of iron is seen in \ 
 I almost every rock, and coal frequently sends out its traces. 
 I The soil on the slopes and height, which is table-land, is, for 
 ] \ the most part, tillable. The range is very fine, the mast supe- 
 | | rior, and springs break out at convenient distances, and is 
 i ' very fine for stock raising — especially sheep. The timber, both 
 pine and oak, is dense, and excelled by no region. 
 
 We descended to Levi Creek, a small afiluent of Big Piney, 
 I and struck about four miles from its mouth, say one hundred i 
 ! and twenty-five feet above the level of the Arkansas river at 
 i the mouth of Piney. At and around the mouth of this streamlet 
 : is " Bullfrogtown " — so named by the Cherokees- a thriving I 
 and very populous settlement of very fine land on Big Piney | 
 about sixteen miles northwest from Dover. Railroad lands I 
 run in the vicinity. At the point where we struck Levi Creek, I 
 S. 9, T. 10, R. 20, is a vast ledge of rock, between the sand- 
 stone, which has been pronounced granite, and for which we 
 visited the spot. We found no granite, but a hard, firm and 
 compact conglomerate, the pebbles whereof were uniformly 
 minute and all of quartz ; the rock is almost a quartz, so full 
 is it of pebbles. These pebbles are all sea-worn ; the rock 
 is of a dark bluish gray color — traces of iron, adhering to the 
 outside. It is doubtless an excellent buhr stone, which we 
 ' call it — accessible from Piney. Competent judges have seen 
 
 i 
 
 i' 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND PORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 13 
 
 and pronounced it an excellent rock for buhr or millstones. 
 The ledge is exposed, say, one hundred and fifty feet, lies in 
 place, and runs from northeast to southwest ; large blocks of 
 it lay, as if inviting the millers' pick — a specimen sent you. ! 
 This ledge was planked and overlaid by beds of shale two to ' 
 eight feet thick ; it is in the midst of superb pines and oaks. 
 At the head of the stream is a large and ever-flowing spring of 
 clear cold water. This spring and stream will supply mills. 
 
 On a depression of the ridge between the waters of Levi i 
 Creek and Mill Branch, a small tributary of Illinois Bayou, is ! 
 one of the finest forests of white oak, interspersed with pine 
 and other oaks, to be found in Arkansas. The grass and ' 
 herbage are luxuriant ; hillsides steep from bench to bench, i 
 Immense quantities of whortleberries we saw, and great profu- ! 
 sion of wild grapes ; game is abundant, as it is everywhere in j 
 the Hills. Our long description of this hill is, in truth, a j 
 picture of the Range. 
 
 On Indian Creek, which heads in the hill where we camped, 
 and which is a considerable stream flowing into Big Piney, ten ! 
 miles eastward from the ledge mentioned above, is a very hard, ! 
 but coarse conglomerate, and which has been used for mill- | 
 stones. A fine grindstone grit, exposed for half a mile, lies 
 on the head of Sloane Creek, a small stream entering Indian 
 Creek near the white oak forest. 
 
 These streams. Point Remove, Galley Creek, Whig Creek, I 
 near Norristown, Illinois Bayou, with its three forks and tribu- \ 
 taries, and both the Pineys and their affluents, all afford mill , 
 sites, and run through, or, in some neighborhoods, to, fine pine- } 
 ries, interspersed with oaks and other woods. The best and \ 
 greatest forest of pine, north of the Arkansas River, lies i 
 between the waters of Illinois Bayou and Piney, projecting, 
 with less dense pines, down to Point Remove on the east, and 
 up to Spadra on the west. This pine forest abuts for miles on 
 the Arkansas River, indeed, crosses it, and it extends back to | 
 the Boston Mountains. The Railroad lands run direct through 
 it. Many mills are in the region, and all sawing. Shinn's 
 
14 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 mill, S. 30, T. 8, R. 21 ; Bennett's mill, about S. 19, T. 8, |i 
 R. 21, with several old mills. Joe Wilson's mill, on Piney I 
 Creek, in a populous settlement, is in S. 15, T. 9, R. 21. Fine 
 lands in this neighborhood, both bottom and upland. Coal has 
 been found near here, and iron exhibits in the rock. Porter's 
 mill is in the heart of the pinery, two miles below the mouth of 
 Piney, on the river. Coal shales develop here. 
 
 The land between Illinois Bayou and Piney is more than 
 usually broken, and is not as good as those above recounted. 
 The rock abounds in huge masses and is fine for building pur- 
 poses. Springs break out all through this tract, and good, 
 sweet, lasting water, reached, in from twenty to forty feet. 
 
 JOHNSON COUNTY, NORTH THE ARKANSAS. 
 Between the waters of Piney, Spadra, and Horsehead, our 
 
 I observations now extend. We drove into Clarksville, on Spa- 
 dra Creek, the county seat, July the 13th. 
 
 i From Big and Little Piney Bayous to Spadra Creek, and 
 thence to the Horsehead creeks, the uplands are level or gently 
 
 , rolling, interspersed with fine farms, with ample room for hun- 
 dreds more. The land is similar to the uplands of Pope, and 
 
 I are very productive in cotton, corn, the cereals, grasses, tobacco 
 and fruits. In short, the lands,^ water, timber (excepting pine, 
 
 i which is less plenteous), wild grapes, vines and undergrowth, are 
 precisely analogous to those described in Pope. The lowlands 
 are very fertile, spreading, in numerous places in this tract, 
 into wide bottoms. 
 
 Along the road from Dover to Clarksville, and thence to 
 the western boundary of the county, we noticed deep banks of 
 coal shale, and that iron exists more or less in the sandstones. 
 We crossed numerous minor streams of living water with mill 
 sites. Spadra and Horsehead, and inter-running streams, will 
 supply mills in many eligible localities. Pine and white oak 
 are more plentiful in the eastern portion of this counry ; in the 
 western part, they are less frequent, or absent, and the predomi- 
 
 I nating oaks are black and post, with other woods usual in this 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 15 
 
 I 
 
 valley. No better range anywhere, and suitable for great 
 herds of cattle ; sheep will also thrive upon it the year round. 
 
 At KiCHARD Adams', two miles from Piney, on the stage I 
 road, S. 5, T. 8, R. 22, the uplands are broad and fertile, and I 
 coal shales manifest themselves in the banks of rivulets or on 
 worn slopes of ridges. 
 
 About Clarksville, S. 4, T. 9, R. 23, in the Spadra Valley, 
 are deep beds of shale, coal crops, and ferruginous rock. 
 Fine living springs break out in this valley, in and near 
 the town ; this last is a thriving and populous village, with 
 mills and plenty of unemployed manufacturing power — the 
 Spadra flowing by. 
 
 Spadra Bluff, resting on the Arkansas in long exposed 
 strata, is four miles from Clarksville, S. 17, T. 9, R. 25 : very 
 fine and thick bed of coal in this vicinity. The coal at the 
 mouth of Spadra Creek crops out from the river and runs in- 
 land a short distance ; the water will never interfere. The 
 specimens of this coal which we secured have been exposed to 
 the action of heat, air, and water for ages, and are not what 
 the coal is found to be, deeper down, at low water, where it is 
 superior. One half mile inland, this has been demonstrated by 
 artisans who have there dug and used the coal. The general 
 thickness of this coal, so far as disclosed and measured, is 
 three feet. Owen has mentioned it as one of the finest coals 
 in America. Coal crops out all along this Spadra Valley, to 
 and above Clarksville, and promises a greater thickness and 
 unlimited supply. The land along and on this coal bed is of 
 the finest, both of bottom and upland, and yields plenteously to 
 the cultivator. 
 
 On Spadra Creek, three miles from its mouth, in a ]ow clifi' 
 of sandstone, lead has been found ; it was used from this cliff 
 in the late war by soldiers for bullets ; its extent is as yet un- 
 known. Specimens are promised by those who thus used it. 
 
 On Cabin Creek, near Pittsburg, on the Arkansas, occurs a 
 very fine building sandstone, in huge blocks, smooth, of easy 
 quarry and dressing, which hardens in the air, and is a durable 
 
16 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 stone. It lies within one mile of the river and one half mile j 
 of the railroad land ; the supply is inexhaustible. From this \ 
 quarry was obtained the stone used in the new Week's Build- 
 ing in Little Rock. 
 
 On Horsehead, coal crops out from the mouth to its source, 
 in a multitude of places ; where the stage road from Clarks- 
 ville to Van Buren, crosses it, the shale is fifty feet thick. 
 The rock here is highly ferruginous, and carbonate of iron is 
 exposed in the bed of the stream. The seams of coal vary from 
 ten to forty iuches thick, and the coal is excellent, in vast 
 quantity, and easy of access, being but a few feet below the 
 surface, and oftener exposed in the bluff banks of the stream. 
 Many of the coal-banks have been tested ; Hunt's coal-bank 
 is pronounced very good by smiths, as also Fleming's. Hunt's 
 bank is on S. 15, T. 10, R. 24. Shale here is deep in the 
 proximity of the bank. Fleming's bank lies in S. 31, T. 11, 
 R. 24. The land on the stream very fine ; the uplands good. 
 Off from Horsehead lie Morris' coal banks, on S. 20, T. 10, R. 
 25 ; there are several pits sunk here, but the coal has not been 
 used for several j^ears, the war having almost closed all these 
 coal pits. The thickness of this coal is at present unknown ; 
 the shale is thin. Open glades of fine uplands, fine grass, with 
 numerous small streams penetrating, exist here. Excellent 
 grindstone grit, blue color, and of fine grain, we found near 
 these coal-pits of Morris. 
 
 At the source of Horsehead, amid the hills, lead has been 
 found ; whether it is abundant, is unknown to us. A small 
 piece of gold (drift) was, many years ago, picked out of a sand- 
 stone bluff on Horsehead. On the upper waters of Piney and 
 Indian creek and Spadra, in the hills, lead is reported as abund- 
 ant ; it has been procured there for the last thirty years. The 
 hills, like those of Pope county, are covered with pine, white, 
 and other oaks. Quartz and crystals have been found among 
 them, and coal on their very tops. 
 
 There is very little prairie in Johnson county, and where 
 they exist, they resemble those of Pope county ; but on them 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 17 
 
 the grass is good and the stock of the country find there good 
 summer pasturage. 
 
 Around Joyner's Gin, S. 17, T. 10, R. 22; J. H. Lassater 
 S. 1, T. 10, R. 24, and J. B. Wilson S. 28, T. 10, R. 24, 
 
 are fine bottom lands, fertile uplands with water, and woods 
 usual to the Valley. Cotton, corn, cereals, tobacco, grasses 
 and fruits yield in great profusion, according to cultivation. 
 About Thomas Whitaker's, S. 36, T. 9, R. 25, are very fine wide 
 bottom land, and timber. We have selected these points as 
 guides to the localities of the country, which are, as above 
 observed, similar. The railroad lands partake of these des- 
 criptions, being of like character ; and in learning the charac- | 
 ter of these designated points and farms, we learn what the j 
 railroad lands are, and how valuable to the road, and how in- 
 ducing to the emigrant. 
 
 FRANKLIN COUNTY, NORTH ARKANSAS. 
 
 On our course, (being along the stage road to Van Buren,) 
 to Ozark, into which shire town, it being the county seat, we 
 entered July 15th, we passed over some very rough and rocky 
 country. No pine, no white oak, the prevailing oak being post ' 
 and black ; water is less abundant on the route after leaving 
 horsehead and its afluents. Country is broken, yet there are j 
 large tracts of fair upland ; the lowlands on the small streams/ 
 good, but the bottoms are narrow. Very little prairie exists in, 
 this county on the north of the Arkansas. Shales and ferru-^' 
 ginous sandstones abound ; no other traces of coal exhibited 
 immediately along the road, but coal is found to the right and 
 left thereof in many localities. The river lowlands are 
 equally as fertile and productive as those of Pope and Johnson, 
 and as broad ; lowland timber dense. 
 
 Ozark, on the river, situate on a depressed ridge of a spur 
 of Boston Mountains, is in S. 36, T. 10, R. 27. Iron and lead 
 are both found in the mountain one mile southeast. In the 
 creek near the town, great masses of carbonate of iron lie, and 
 
18 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 also around the hill sides. Three-fourths of a mile above 
 Ozark is a coal bank ; the coal has been used and found work- 
 able. The seam is eighteen inches thick. Another coal bank, 
 Barclay's, lies near the town — coal pronounced by the smiths, 
 who used it, to be good. Its thickness is also eighteen inches. 
 Another coal bank lies four miles eastward of Ozark, which is 
 equally good, and about the same thickness. Strata of shale 
 visible in a great number of places. The bluffs near are of the 
 millstone grit, and are composed of ferruginous sandstone. 
 
 A piece of silver was shown us, which will be sent you, re- 
 ported to have been smelted from ore found in Mulberry Moun- 
 tain, ten miles northeast of Ozark ; specimens of the ore have 
 been promised us. Undoubtedly lead exists in these hills in 
 quantity, as, perhaps, zinc and copper. 
 
 Geo. D. Baker, of Washington County, somewhat skilled 
 in metals, showed to Mr. Washburn, some two or three years 
 before the war, what he believed to be tin ore, which he found 
 in these Mulberry Hills. A close exploration will determine 
 the existence of these metals there, if any there be. In these 
 hills is the only pinery in Franklin on this side the river, save 
 a small one some four miles above Ozark, which is ample for 
 local wants. Limestone exists in quantity in these hills, and 
 good lime has been burnt nine miles northeast of Ozark. No 
 trace of fossils have we observed or heard of. Quartz and 
 crystals have been found at the sources of the streams in these 
 hills, in pebbles, and beautiful variegated quartz pebbles found 
 in Mulberry stream. Some flint is found, but little, for it is 
 exceedingly scarce in the counties bordering the river. 
 
 Blanchard's coal bank is on S. 27, T. 10, R. 26. It is, as far 
 as is known, eighteen inches thick, and the specimens show a 
 good working coal. Martin's coal, S. 19, T. 9, R. 26, js found 
 in a well, twenty to twenty-seven inches thick, very line coal, 
 and used by smiths recently — for it was only lately opened — in 
 preference to other coal in the region. It is within one-half 
 mile of the river. Coal develops in the hills, ten miles north- 
 east of Ozark, in the limestone croppings, and is thin, in seams. 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 19 
 
 Coal has been dug at the mouth of White Oak, on railroad 
 lands — the coal lies under water. 
 
 A saline spring of strong brine is found S. 35, T. 12, R. 28. ; 
 This brine was boiled many years ago and yielded a fair per 
 cent, of salt ; without doubt, good strong brine, and in quantity, 
 I could be obtained here by boring, and sufficient to attract the 
 salt manufacturer. At Allison Hills, on Mulberry creek, S. 22, 
 T. 12, R. 26, foot of the Mulberry mountains, is found white jj 
 " sulphur " water, thought by persons who have drank it to 
 be superior and medicinal. These springs were too far from 
 our line for present visiting, but they have been famous for 
 years in this region. 
 
 Edmund Jackson, S. 23, T. 10, R. 26, and John Honea, S. | 
 4, T. 9, R. 26, lie within a tract of fertile uplands, with 
 fine timber and good water. Coal shales are exposed in many 
 points, and iron displayed more or less in the sandstone, j 
 Meeks' S. 4, T. 8, R. 26, lies on the Arkansas, within a large, 
 wide tract of lowland, that is equal to any in the upper valley 
 in fertility, w^ater, and productiveness. This bottom is high 
 and dry, with usual fine forest, vines and undergrowth. BouR- 
 LAND's mill, S. 10, T. 10, R. 27, and Asa Williams, S. 18, T. 
 10, R. 27, are in the midst of rich and gently rolling uplands, 
 especially suitable for tobacco. White Oak, Mulberry — both 
 Big and Little — and Gar creek, and other minor streams, will , 
 furnish abundant water for mills. The wheat crops of this 
 region this year were good — average per acre, fifteen bushels, 
 with careless cultivation. | 
 
 Widow Saddler, S. 25, T. 12, R. 27, on Mulberry creek, 
 at the foot of the Hills, on the road leading from Clarksville | 
 to Fayetteville, Washington county, and Dreden Wilkins, S. 
 15, T. 11, R. 28, on Hurricane Creek, which falls into Mul- 
 berry, both live in a region where the bottom lands of these i 
 streams are wide and rich, and the hill slopes finely fitted for | 
 sheep-walks, orchards, tobacco, and grape; timber abundant | 
 and good ; water sweet and plenty ; health good, and very de- I 
 
20 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 sirable for settlement. Coal shales disclose here, but the coal 
 is, doubtless, thin — limestone abounding in the Hills. 
 
 On Little Mulberry, at Doctor Williams, S. 25, T. 10, R. 
 29, where the Little Rock and Van Buren road crosses the 
 stream, are very fine lands, rich, high, wide bottoms, fair up- 
 lands, good timber, and great numbers of living springs. Ox- 
 ydes and carbonate of iron plentiful : shale beds here from two 
 to ten feet — a coal bank lies near Williams' of fair quality, and 
 is twelve inches thick. On White Oak creek, coal crops out in 
 many places, and thick shales — the rock is also ferruginous, all 
 along this stream. 
 
 The country is broken, and, in parts, rocky. The usual 
 sandstone of the millstone-grit, with frequent shales ; and con- 
 glomerate scarce. Limestone much more plentiful than in any 
 other river county, perhaps. On Indian Creek, a small tribu- 
 tary of Big Mulberry, is found, and considerably exposed, a 
 hard conglomerate, suitable for millstones. Near Dubard 
 Bourland's, and in the northeast part of the county, some 
 twenty-five or thirty miles from the Arkansas River, a very 
 fine iron ore exists — a mountain of it — which, from accounts of 
 it, is equal to the ores of Missouri. It is probably a continua- 
 tion of the iron of Lawrence and Newton Counties, where it is 
 rich and abundant enough to supply the world. Specimens of 
 this ore will be sent you. 
 
 CRAWFORD COUNTY. 
 
 On the 17th of July we reached Van Buren from our camp 
 on Little Mulberry. 
 
 The prevailing rock is the same ; the timber on the uplands 
 is red, post, and black oak, interspersed with hickory. No 
 pine along our route. Very little pine is found in this county; 
 but in the adjoining Cherokee country, commencing nine miles 
 north of westward from Van Buren, is one of the greatest pine- 
 ries north of the Arkansas. It will hereafter be very valuable 
 to your Road. The uplands in the eastern section of this 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 21 
 
 county, generally, are level and fertile, rich in grasses, vines, 
 grape and undergrowth. Springs are common in parts, and 
 water obtained with readiness by digging. These lands are 
 underlaid by ferruginous shales and clays, and where unpro- 
 ductive, can be made so by material existing there or in the 
 hills. One of the finest tracts of bottom land begins in the 
 city of Van Buren, and runs down the river past the mouth of 
 Flat Rock, past the mouth of Frog Bayou, to the mouth of 
 Mulberry. The greater part is high, dry, richly timbered, with 
 luxuriant growth of vine, shrub, and grass ; well watered, and 
 as productive as any land on the Arkansas. 
 
 Shales are everywhere exposed, even in the city in several' 
 places. Coal or coal indices are found all over the county, 
 but the coal is, as a rule, not as thick as it is in Franklin. On 
 Frog Bayou, a considerable tributary of the Arkansas, at Phil- 
 lips' bank, S. 18, T. 9, R. 30, coal has been dug for thirty- 
 five years ; said by smiths who have worked it to be the best 
 coal in the region ; it is three feet thick and easy to quarry j 
 it extends quite a distance along this Bayou, and is a part of 
 the Arkansas coal-field. This stream has long been famed 
 for its fine, wide, high and rich lands. A few small prairies I 
 skirt it, with excellent grasses and herbs. ; 
 
 On Flat Rock, a small stream eastward from Yan Buren two 
 miles, shale is everywhere exposed and coal has been found. 
 The uplands along this stream are fine for fruits, grape and 
 berries. This shale runs into Yan Buren; and in the well 
 sunk for the steam mill in Yan Buren, coal was struck, as also 
 a very hard, blue, almost impenetrable, rock. Along tliis stream 
 small fragments of crystal— as also, on a low ridge on the land 
 of E. ScoTT, S. 9, T. 9, R. 31, and along the hill side, near the 
 Yan Buren steam mill — are gathered. Limestone occurs at the 
 base of the bluff of ferruginous sandstone, above Yan Buren ; 
 this bluff of sandstone abuts on the river, and yields a fine 
 building stone ; and on its height, which is a broad table land, 
 are some finest building sites to be found in this picturesque 
 valley— it is tempting to the wealthy immigrant. This bluff 
 
22 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 fronts also on Lee's Creek, at its confluence with the Arkansas, 
 and runs along that stream into the adjoining hills ; the mouth 
 of this stream is in S. 18, T. 9, R. 30 ; opposite the bluff, across 
 the creek, is a high hill in which lead was found many years 
 ago — it was probably drift. Fine springs gush out along the 
 valley of this stream and its many affluents; iron oxydes. and 
 carbonate are common everywhere, and the carbonate is often 
 exceedingly heavy ; indeed the absence of iron is the exception 
 in this valley. The water in this region is very good ; the 
 springs about and near Van Buren are accounted the best in 
 the country. The water is cold and sweet. These streams will 
 all supply mills : and the county grows excellent wheat. The 
 corn, cotton, cereals, grasses, especially blue — which takes hold 
 of the soil and spreads rapidly and close (as it does, indeed in 
 other parts of the valley) — clover and fruits are all grown here 
 in great perfection and quantity to the acre, the estimates of 
 yield, above made, answering for the lands of this county. 
 Fruits, especially, have been so thoroughly tested and culti- 
 vated by Dr. R. Thurston, near Van Buren, that it is now 
 demonstrated that the Arkansas will produce fruit equal to 
 any other valley in the world. 
 
 The Valley of Lee's Creek contains excellent land, both bot- 
 tom and high land ; these last are, for the most part, broken, 
 rough and rocky. The Valley of Lee's Creek, with its tribu- 
 taries, is probably wider than that of any other tributary run- 
 ning into the Arkansas, on the north, within the State, but 
 great hills and high bluffs of the millstone-grit sandstones 
 everywhere intersect it ; and yet there are great bodies of fer- 
 tile bottom and upland, and thousands of homes awaiting the 
 immigrant and the advent of your road. As elsewhere and re- 
 peatedly remarked, the Railroad lands pierce this valley from 
 Little Rock to Fort Smith, and a general and swift description 
 \ of the country is a general and swift description of them. 
 
 At Dripping Springs and vicinage, S. 22, T. 10, R. 32, the 
 ( ;, shale is very thick, and has an oily and glistening touch and 
 look. Limestone is found here in masses protruding from the 
 
 I 
 
23 
 
 earth ; a wide tract of fertile land surrounds it. It is nine 
 miles northward from Van Buren. 
 
 At Mrs. Fort's, S. 17, T. 1, R. 32, on Lee's Creek, coal is 
 visible in its bed ; the thickness of this coal is untested, and so 
 is its quality. Ponderous blocks, water- worn, of carbonate 
 iron are abundant ; there is some pine here on the hills, which 
 are lofty. ' u 
 
 At Natural Dam, S. 9, T. 17, R. 32, which is on and crosses \ 
 the Mountain Fork of Lee's Creek, the cliff or " dam" is about 
 thirteen feet high, of a dark, water-resisting, ferruginous sand- 
 stone, and is an effectual and eternal barrier to the volume of 
 the stream. It is a most eligible natural mill-site, and an old 
 mill has been here run for many years. Rich and wide bot- 
 tom lands lie around it and its neighborhood ; springs are fre- 
 quent and the timber fine ; coal shales are disclosed in many 
 places ; it is distant from Van Buren eighteen miles northward. . J/' 
 
 On Lee's Creek, still northward from Van Buren, is a fine 
 coal bed, of the thickness of twenty-eight to thirty-two inches. 
 Coal has been tried by smiths, and by them termed fine. It 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 Lee's Creek, S. 12, T. 11, 
 R. 32, is a coal bed which has been worked ; its thickness we 
 do not know. The bottom and uplands here are fertile. 
 Grapes abound on the high hillsides, as they do elsewhere in 
 Crawford. The water is abundant and good ; shales occur 
 from this to Joseph Bryant's, on Lee's Creek, at the foot of 
 Boston Mountains, S. 20, T. 12, R. 31, with occasional out- 
 crop of limestone. Great bluffs of sandstone rise up and are 
 full of iron, and yield a good building rock. The timber is 
 excellent, white oak being among the prevalent oaks, and pine 
 being absent. A short distance from Bryant's, from the Bos- 
 ton Mountain, runs the Blackburn's Fork of Lee's Creek, rich 
 in coal banks. This is a good, workable coal, exposed for 
 thirty inches ; has been used by smiths for years, and into which 
 
24 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AMD FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 have been sunk fourteen pits. This coal, like the great body 
 of the coal so far used in this valley, is semi-bituminous. Coal 
 has also for years been quarried and transported from pits on 
 Cove Creek, a tributary of Lee's Creek, in the northwest cor- 
 ner of Crawford ; it has been hauled by smiths forty miles. 
 This coal is very good, its thickness is about twenty-seven 
 inches. In the hills of this upper Lee's Creek region have 
 been found, in the sandstone, the only fossils known to the 
 region, with the exception of fossils found on a limestone in the 
 Cherokee country, on Webber's Creek, the extreme western af- 
 fluent of Lee's Creek. Boston Mountain is famous for its very 
 rich benches, hill slopes and table land, the soil being enriched 
 by the limestone and the ferruginous earths therein ; it is cov- 
 ered with bottom growth of timber, such as ash, walnut, paw- 
 paw, oak, rich undergrowth, vines and shrubs. It is pecu- 
 liarly adapted for g^age? tobacco, and pastures, the numerous 
 springs affording plenty of water. In early times cane (reeds) 
 grew on their tops ; it produces extraordinarily of all the 
 grains, corn and grasses. Pine is absent. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Shannon's mill, S. 19, T. 10, R. 30, 
 on Cedar Creek, which empties into Frog Bayou, quartz frag- 
 ments have been discovered, and lead also. The water is suf- 
 cient for the supply of mills, and the lowlands rich. Coal 
 shales also display in this tract of the county. 
 
 There is a saline spring in S. 32, T. 11, R. 32, 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 Cherokee country. In sections 32 and 
 34 are " Heard's and Pennywit's sulphur springs," from 
 which run health-giving waters, and which are famous in their 
 locality. The precipitates are white, and were they improved 
 by digging, cleansing them out, and walled, they would proba- 
 bly equal springs in Virginia and Kentucky, and become a 
 
LITTLE ROOK AAD FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 25 
 
 resort for springs' visitors. There are other " sulphur " and 
 chalybeate springs in this county. 
 
 On Frog Bayou, near Frazer's Gin, the land is fine — as 
 Frog Bayou land always is — and the advantages for a mill are 
 uncommonly good for the region. This gin is on S. 19, T. 10, 
 R. 30. 
 
 We give here three points to guide on the maps, to be refer- 
 red to, in connection with this report. These three points, as 
 to Crawford County, are in the bottom lands of the river, 
 below Van Buren, which is near the termination of the rail- 
 road and contiguous to the grading already made for the road, 
 and are C. G. Scott, S. 6, 31, T. 8, 9, R. 31; N. B. 
 Burrow, S. 31, T. 8, R. 30, and Geo. Austin, S. 2, T. 9, R. 
 31. In this tract are som.e of the finest plantations in the Up- 
 per Valley. The land is exceedingly fertile, the timber most 
 excellent, the range unequalled, and the water wholesome — 
 generally obtained for house use by digging, or in cisterns, 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. 
 
 SEBASTIAN COUNTY. 
 
 July 18th we halted in Fort Smith. This County is in the 
 heart of the coal-field of Arkansas, and we shall therefore de- 
 vote space in our report to these coals, for they are of the 
 greatest value, not only to the County, but to the entire State, 
 and particularly to the Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail- 
 road. 
 
 In the Race-track Prairie, between the cities of Van Buren 
 and Fort Smith, along which the road runs, and in the opposite 
 edge of which Elias Rector lives, on S. 11, T. 8, R. 32, the 
 coal crops out in every rivulet, wash from slopes, and old time- 
 worn roads. This coal is, so far as developed, thin ; whether 
 the seams underneath may be thicker, remains for future in- 
 vestigation to determine. These thin seams disclose, even into 
 
26 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 the city, and from it in every direction, either coal itself or 
 its overlying shales. From Fort Smith out to the " May i 
 Place," four miles south of east from Fort Smith, and |l 
 which is on the verge of Mozzard Prairie, we noticed || 
 coal shales along the road ; and they are displayed every- !| 
 where in this tract. Mazzard Prairie is entirely under- i 
 laid by coal, which may be reached at almost every point } 
 by digging ; the same may be said of the flanking up- j 
 lands on either hand, as is demonstrated by the cutting stream- I 
 lets which meander both through woodland and prairie. At a ji 
 well in the midst of this prairie, on a tributary streamlet of j| 
 Mazzard Creek, where we camped, the shale exposed in the well I i 
 rested immediately on coal. At John Carnall's, one mile | 
 thence, S. 1, T. 7, R. 32, whose land bordeis the Railroad I 
 lands, near the Knob of Mazzard Prairie, the same bed of coal 
 lies underneath and has been reached. In and around Jenny i 
 Lind, a very small hamlet of Sebastian, are numerous coal | 
 banks, and which have been worked for years ; Green's, Long's, 
 1 Sutton's, Little's, and Jenny Lind. These banks are contigu- 
 I ous, and lie on S. 32, T. 7, R. 31 ; several pits have been sunk, 
 ' all joining the same section, and all similar in appearance, |j 
 I quality and quantity of coal. This coal, so far as it has been i | 
 
 I disclosed, which is but a few inches, comparatively, is semi- I 
 
 I I bituminous, burns well, and leaves a light brown, red, or white- \ 
 I gray ash. In the first pit, and part of the section, the coal is | 
 i six feet thick, in the second pit, same quarter, it is five, both |i 
 I with a seam of three inches very superior coal just underneath. 
 I The other pits are of the same character and nearly of the 
 I same thickness; all the coal here, and, indeed, through the 
 I whole field, lies in two divisions, separated by a thin parting 
 ! of clay, which is of great advantage to the miner. These Jenny 
 
 Lind coal beds lie some six feet below the surface, which, 
 with a few inches of soil, is composed of ferruginous clay, filled 
 with sea-worn pebbles, and dip slightly to the west of north, 
 as the whole field does, to a great degree. They are easily 
 I quarried ; and good roads to the river, which is distant six miles ; 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 27 
 
 the drainage is good, no water interfering. The coal is pro- i 
 nounced by smiths, artisans, and engineers to be fine and suitable | 
 for workshops, machines, engines, boat and power fuel. Great 
 quantities have already been taken out, but only from and 
 near the surface ; the deeper the miner goes, the richer and 
 thicker the coal. This is the case with all the coal pits in the 
 whole coal-field. From Carnall's coal — Knox mine — thou- 
 sands of bushels have been taken for use of smiths, artisans, 
 boats, fuel and exportation, some of which found its way to 
 ll New Orleans, and was adjudged there to be excellent coal. 
 ! I This coal is preferred by many smiths to any otlier, and by all j 
 is extolled. The Bostick mine lies in S. 13, T. 7, R. 31, and '} 
 \ is pronounced to be a very superior coal by all who have seen 
 ' ; or used it. It is a hard, compact, firm coal, often with varie- 
 ! gated hues, called " peacock coal," and is excellent for all the 
 uses of manufacture and commerce. By many artisans it is 
 said to be the best coal in the County. It lies within five 
 miles of the river, on the border of very rich bottom lands of 
 the Vachegras, a tributary of the Arkansas — the Railroad 
 lands also border, and small prairies skirt the field. This 
 Bostick mine has been pierced by two or three shafts and tun- 
 j nels, some thirty feet being the deepest ; the coal was found 
 better and thicker and harder. There is no difficulty in tun- 
 neling or in sinking shafts, for the drainage is natural and the 
 roofing easily held ; between the two tunnels and alongside the 
 i bank runs a small rivulet, which carries off all surplus water, 
 ! The average thickness is four feet, parted with clay seam. The 
 I coal is very quickly quarried — one lump was taken out of this 
 ! mine which weighed three hundred pounds ; this coal sells 
 readily, delivered in Fort Smith, for forty cents per bushel. 
 On the west side, a ridge thirty feet in height, the coal seam is ex- 
 posed four feet, the shale is loose, from four to seven feet thick, 
 with superimposed clay and sea-worn pebbles of sandstone, and 
 large masses of sandstone a-top. Very fine grindstone grit we 
 found lying around the mine, and we found also hyd rated kidney 
 I iron ore and carbonate of iron very heavy. Oxyde of iron discol- 
 
 
 
28 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 ors the shale ; we found, in the shale of this mine, impressions 
 of calamite. Ferns have here been opened by others, but we 
 failed to obtain any — no other fossils are found in this mine. 
 But near, in S. 12, T. 7, R. 31, we got a specimen of sigillaria, 
 six or more feet long, well defined, while lying by was a sec- 
 tion of this fossil, eighteen inches in diameter and about twen- 
 ty-six inches long. Impressions of fossils are found in the 
 sandstone at the mouth of Poteau, which flows into the Arkan- 
 sas at Fort Smith, and in other localities, all carboniferous and 
 index of coal. This Bostick mine is six miles east from Jenny 
 Lind ; coal betrays itself all along the Vachegras to the Hills. 
 Good roads can be made to the river anywhere from these 
 opened or unopened coal banks. 
 
 James Crockett, S. 7, T. 7, R. 31, and Joseph Howard, 
 S. 21, T. 7, R. 31, live on this coal field. Shales cropping 
 out at their doors, and fossils found around them of sigillaria 
 and lepidodendron ; this land and the land around them, and 
 the BosTiCK mine, are very productive. We saw at Crockett's 
 the finest tobacco growing we saw on the whole route. Corn 
 everywhere was magnificent. Wheat and other grains grow 
 well, and the grasses also ; the wild grasses are very luxuriant ; 
 the prairie and the wild grape matted the undergrowth, which 
 is rich and dense, and springs gushed out along the hillsides 
 and banks of Vachegras. The lands are rich even up to the 
 very pits of the Bostick mine. The same may be said ot^nearly 
 all these coal lands, while the timber is good — the pine and 
 white oak being absent ; hickory and walnut are large. 
 
 On Big Creek, near Andersox Brook, S. 18, T. 7, R. 29, 
 there are two or three coal banks, which have been worked, and 
 the coal discloses along the bank of the stream for miles ; the 
 seam is about four feet thick, and very easy to reach. The land 
 along this creek is similar to that of Vachegras, and prairies 
 skirt it. The pits are about six miles from the Arkansas River, 
 and the road thither can be made excellent ; indeed, the timber 
 is so abundant that plank joads may^be made, or wood-track 
 horse-railroads can be, from every pit in the region to the 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 29 
 
 Arkansas, or to the Fort Smith and Little Rock Railroad, with 
 very little expense. 
 
 At the Iron Bridge, which spanned the Poteau some ycnrs 
 since — built by the United States on the " 35th Parallel Road," 
 (Whipple's Pacific Survey) — the shale is very deep, and coal 
 lies underneath. A. very excellent coal crops out in the banks 
 and bed of this stream in very many places, and in the Choc- 
 taw country — bordering — is supereminently good. CaRxall's 
 coal, on S. 23, T. 5, R. 31, on Hodge's Prairie, is known to be 
 some four feet thick, and said to be much thicker. This coal j 
 is unusaally good ; and it is a good road to the river. On 
 James' Fork of Poteau, near, and above, and below Moore's 
 Mill, S. 19, T. 5, R. 31, the coal is from four to five feet thick, 
 and is of fine quality. Mr. F. N. Moore dug coal there seve- 
 ral years ago. It crops out along the banks of the stream for 
 miles ; is easily quarried ; yields great quantity to the hand 
 per day ; lies near the surface, under a thin layer of soil, shale 
 and sea- worn pebbles ; and the coal increases in quantity and 
 value as it is opened. It dips slightly west of north. Very 
 fine, beautiful, and well-preserved ferns are here disclosed 
 from the shale, in multitudes. A seam of coal — 'tis said — bluffs 
 out in Poteau Mountain, some fifty or more feet above the level 
 of the plain. It is said to be very thick. This coal has never 
 been used, and is the only instance where a thick seam is known 
 to crop out at such an altitude. Undoubtedly it does exist in j 
 these hills, for on the tops of some of them coal has been dis- ; j 
 covered ; 'and it is evident that coal penetrates all the hills of 
 Sebastian, as well as some other counties, to a considerable 
 width. j I 
 
 Around Greenwood, the county seat, shales are abundant ' j 
 and thick, and coal evidences common. Coal develops along '■ \ 
 Big Creek as far down as its mouth, near J. B. Luce's, S. 2] , . 
 T. 8, R. 30 ; the shales in the vicinage are thick and abound- ' 
 ing, and small pieces of coal, drifted, have been seen scattered i 
 over the prairies, jutting in to the lowlands near. 
 
 Through all this great coal region, the Railroad lands lie ; 
 
30 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. | 
 
 i further openings will bring to light larger and deeper banks of | 
 ' coal, and of qualities, we believe, equal to any coal in America. 
 We have procured specimens of these coals, which, we trust, 
 you will safely receive in time. i j 
 
 ' The prevailing rock, in this county, is the millstone grit, h 
 with shales, and not infrequent conglomerate ; excellent build- 1 1 
 ing stone and grindstone grit abound, iron oxydes and car- |i 
 bonate ; and some of them would yield a paying per cent, to the I ! 
 smelter. Iron is not so rich as in other counties, but, as almost j i 
 ' everywhere in Arkansas, it is seen in almost all the rock. Lead | ; 
 has been seen on Washburn's Creek, a small stream running into j 
 the Poteau in the western part of the county. In the neigh- j 
 boring county, Scott, T. 3, R. 30, about thirty-five miles south | 
 of Fort Smith, near the fork of the main Poteau, belonging to 
 . John King, lead is found — a specimen sent you. Other speci- 
 mens, from the same region, we unfortunately lost. , 
 Gypsum has been found on Mazzard and Race-track Prairies. ; 
 , On S. 36, T. 8, R. 31, near Fort Smith, it is thought to exist i 
 ' in quantity — so much so, that lands have been entered in conse- I 
 
 quence. It is also supposed to exist on Railroad lands. If 
 j found in abundance, it will be very valuable to this valley as : 
 I a fertilizer. | 
 I Small fragments of quartz and small crystals have been ga- 
 j thered on Mazzard Prairie and other parts of the county, 
 i In this county, so far as is yet known, there are no saline 
 ! springs, but numerous " sulphur" springs — considered healthful 
 I — are found, to some of which the people of the region have re- 
 I sorted for years ; one of them. Barling's, is on S. 35, T. 8, R. 
 35, seven miles from Fort Smith. 
 
 The land in this county, on the river, is equal to any in wide 
 fertile tracts ; the river only touches it on the north ; the low- 
 i lands of the streams are similar to those of others above des- 
 I cribed. There are great tracts of level and gently broken 
 upland, a large part of which are rich and productive; and the 
 I poor soil can easily be enriched from material existing in the 
 region. The produce of this land is analogous to that of the 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 31 
 
 counties already reported. The undergrowth is dense ; grape 
 vines everywhere twist their tendrils arouna the limbs of trees, 
 or run along the hill slopes, and the range is as luxuriant as 
 anywhere in the valley below ; and the diameter of some of 
 these lowland grape-vines in this valley would astonish a 
 
 1 stranger to the clime, some of them being twenty inches in di- 
 
 I ameter. 
 
 j Numerous streams wind through this county, affording great 
 supply for mills ; springs also water the uplands ; water is found 
 at fourteen to forty feet, and is wholesome and unfailing. 
 
 The timber of this county is alike to that of others recounted, 
 excepting that in the eastern part ; pine and white oak are 
 absent. In tlie southwest part of this county, about the Sugar 
 Loaf, Cortez, and neighboring hills, a pinery commences, which 
 extends south and southwest to the Red River, and the trees 
 1 in magnitude are excelled by no country east of California and 
 \ Oregon. In this section of the country are many mills : John 
 j Smith's, near and at the foot of Cortez Hill ; Smedley's, a 
 I mile distant ; a mill at Sugar Loaf, and three old mills in the 
 I region. They all lie on the thirty-fifth parallel. 
 
 FRANKLIN COUNTY. 
 (South of River.) 
 
 Through Charleston, Franklin County, July 22d, we 
 drove in the evening, camping six miles beyond, at Mr. Cotton's, 
 and passing through Grand Prairie. In this part of Franklin | 
 is a great deal of prairie , generally fertile, and in and on the j 
 boundary of which are many fine farms ; the whole region is 
 underlaid by, and betrays, coal. This village of Charleston is 
 in S. 11, T. 7, R. 29 ; coal shales lie all around, and the sand- 
 stone is, in instances, fossiliferous. | 
 
 Dr. W. L. Killiam has a coal bed on S. 12, T. 7, R. 29 ; 
 and coal crops out repeatedly in the vicinity. Grand Prairie, 
 which lies between Charleston and the Arkansas, is an exten- | 
 
32 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 sive prairie of good land and water, and bordered with fine 
 timber ; it has many most picturesque scenes; it is underlaid by- 
 coal ; several pits have been sunk in it, and the coal has been 
 used for years. We are unable to get the number of those 
 pits, but can approximate. The coal is praised by smiths, is 
 from 18 to 30 inches thick, and, as usual, grows thicker as it is 
 deeper. The drainage is good, as the coal generally crops out 
 along small streams — coal but a short distance below the sur- 
 face — dips north slightly. 
 
 Reeve's coal bank, said to be the best and longest used, is 
 two miles due west from Charleston. Aldrich's, Carroll's, 
 and Arbuckle's coal banks are four miles northeast from 
 Charleston. Along a branch in Grand Prairie, the coal crops 
 out its entire length ; coal three miles southeast from Aldrich's 
 bank, four miles east of Cotton's, who lives in Sec. 2, T. 7, R. 
 * 28. This coal continues to Carpenter's bank, within ten miles 
 of Roseville, Arkansas River ; these coals in Grand Prairie and 
 j in the neighborhood of Charleston are about eight to twelve 
 I miles from the Arkansas River. Carpenter's bank, west from 
 Roseville, is about one mile northeast from Cotton's, and is 
 about three feet thick ; has been used by smiths, and with them 
 is a favorite coal. Another coal bank is within one mile west 
 of north from Cotton's. Coal good, about two and a half 
 ! feet thick, crops out along a creek ; easily obtained, as are 
 all these coals. Heavy iron-bearing rocks, southeast one mile 
 of Cotton's. The railroad lands run through this coal-field. As 
 in Sebastian, the lands are generally rich uplands- growth 
 and produce similar to country described above in Sebastian. 
 
 On Six-mile Creek, two and a half miles near southeast 
 from Cotton's, at Ephraim Brawley's, is a coal bank much 
 worked, and above, on same creek, on sixteenth section, is Mar- 
 tin's coal bank, also used. The coal crops out all along the 
 creek bank ; the seam is about four feet thick, and the coal is 
 easy to reach ; lumps weighing 200 and 250 pounds have 
 repeatedly been taken out ; it is a great favorite with smiths, 
 and is hauled into Fort Smith, distant from the river about 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 33 
 
 twelve miles, and a good road. As elsewhere, the coal grows 
 better and thicker the deeper it is penetrated ; a small speci- 
 men of this coal we found drifted before we learned of the 
 existence of the pit ; this drift coal had, for ages, been exposed 
 to the air and water, but we found it to be a hard, compact, 
 durable coal, rich in combustive properties. Near Myers' 
 mill, situate on Shaver Creek, which flows into Six-mile Creek, 
 and about west from Cotton's six miles, are coal signs. Lead 
 has been picked up there, and fragments of quartz. A pinery 
 is near on the adjacent hills. The wild grasses, undergrowth, 
 grape, shrub and timber, all through this portion of Franklin 
 County, are the same as in Sebastian, though the white oak 
 again appears on Short Mountain Creek, on the hills at its 
 source, and the pines appear there also again. At the source 
 of Short Mountain Creek, in the Short Mountain range, near the 
 Franklin and Johnson County line, about eight miles westward 
 from Wm. Fort's, who lives in S. 8, T. 8, R. 26, is " Rich 
 Mountain," so called, on account of the great richness of the 
 soil on its slopes, and the cherry, walnut, ash, vines, and other 
 lowland growth prevailing there in exuberance. Springs gush 
 out from this mountain, and although, 'tis said, no limestone is 
 there exposed, doubtless it exists underneath and creates this 
 unusual hill-fertility. The Railroad lands run along this vicin- 
 ity. Mr. Fort, in sinking two wells, one twenty-one, and the 
 other twenty-two feet, found coal in both at the bottom ; the 
 thickness is unknown, and the coal has never been tested. At 
 the head of Short Mountain Creek pine occurs, and a mill is 
 there ; it is reported that lead has there been seen ; water- 
 power on this stream is good. After passing this stream and 
 its lowlands, and a strip of level upland, we struck Hague- 
 wood Prairie, which skirts the river bottom from the base of 
 the two Short Mountain buttes southward. This prairie is 
 beautiful, broken, rolling, fertile, covered with luxuriant 
 grasses and prairie growth, with springs occasionally gushing 
 out, and is underlaid throughout by coal ; shales are thick, but 
 the coal is easily reached. In the west corner of this prairie, 
 3 
 
34 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 towards the river, below Mrs. Gaines', who lives at the lower 
 j termination of McLean's Bottom — numbers not procured — is 
 I the Harper or Robinson coal bank, which has been worked for 
 ! years, and the coal judged superior. It is from 33 to 40 
 I inches thick a short distance below the surface — two feet of 
 soil and clay, and two feet of loose shale — and pronounced as 
 fine as any coal in the whol6 field (vide Owen). Other pits 
 have been sunk in this prairie, and the coal found similar. 
 Specimens will be sent you. In this portion of Franklin County 
 we found specimens of fossil plants. 
 
 JOHNSON COUNTY, SOUTH ARKANSAS. 
 
 At Haguewood Prairie we entered Johnson County, on the 
 south side of the Arkansas, July 23d. From this prairie to 
 Shoal Creek, along the road, we saw numerous beds of shale 
 exposed, with coal underneath, and found the same fossil plants, 
 Timber, range, and land the same as before ; ferruginous sand- 
 stone the predominating rock ; water plentiful, and reached in 
 wells by digging from fifteen to thirty feet. Shoal Creek 
 affords good water-power ; the land is fertile, and again the 
 ; pine prevails. Lead has been found on its head waters, in the 
 i I hills. At Byrd's, on Shoal Creek, S. 4, T. 9, R. 23, quartz 
 ' I and crystals are found. One piece of argentiferous galena has 
 
 I been there picked up and tested, found to yield silver. Speci- 
 ' I mens of this have been promised us, and we hope to be able to 
 ■ I send them to you. 
 
 I I On Shoal Creek is Cumming's coal bank, S. 32, T. 8, R. 23. 
 1 1 The coal is four feet thick, about four feet under the surface, 
 
 improves as it is opened deeper, dips to the northeast, and has 
 I been used for ten years. The coal is called very good. A 
 I small seam, four inches thick, called Famer's bank, crops out 
 ! near Cumming's ; this coal, though very thin, is said to be very 
 excellent. Coal shales are very common, the shale being hard 
 and ferruginous at the crossing of fie Dardanelle and Fort 
 Smith road, on Shoal Creek, at Mr. R. Sadler, S. 6, T. 7, R, 
 
 - . — — 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 35 
 
 23. Near Cravens' mill, Shoal Creek S. 4, T. 7, R. 23, in a 
 
 small prairie, coal has been formerly dug. Fossil plants 
 are also found here. Iron darkens every rock, and great masses I 
 of sandstone. The water power here is ample to supply a far | 
 better mill than the one now running. A good corn, grass, ! 
 grain, cotton and tobacco country — fine timber and fine build- 
 ing sandstone. At the mouth of Shoal Creek, which runs into 
 the Arkansas River, and belongs to the Spadra coal field, and | 
 possesses its characteristics, it is only heretofore obtained at j 
 low water, from the bed of the Arkansas, by blasting through \ 
 a hard shale two feet, and taken out with long crowbars ; the ! 
 coal seam, where it has been taken out, is fifteen inches thick, | 
 and of a most excellent quality. It is as good as the Spadra coal 
 of which Dr. Owen gives an analysis in his survey, (^vide Owen). 
 Into this bed, Mr. Cox is sinking a shaft near the river, from i 
 which he hopes to obtain the coal at any and all seasons of the 
 year : but the frequent high waters of the river have hindered 
 his labor and forced him to curb. It is probable, if he would 
 sink his shaft in the adjacent hill — a spur of the Shoal Creek 
 range — he would be untroubled from this cause. The coal is 
 BO excellent, and being on the river, that it is worth trial and 
 expense to reach it. We have been promised a specimen from 
 this shaft, which will be sent you. 
 
 A large fine pinery extends from the mouth of Shoal Creek 
 to Dardanelle Rock, Yell County, some eighteen miles, from 
 I five to eight miles wide, and lies immediately along the river 
 I all the way. The country is broken and hilly and rough, but 
 ! there are some tracts of uplands tillable, and numerous springs | 
 break out; coal indications and iron presence, as usual; 
 the pine is very fine ; nearly all this pine region is occu- 
 pied or traversed by Railroad lands. Several steam mills 
 are within it, busily sawing the trees into lumber. We give 
 their locations: Bennett's mill, S. 7, T. 7, R. 21; fine tim- 
 ber, springs and a living stream of water near the mill ; in 
 the midst of Railroad lands ; S3ttlements all along this region 
 on Railroad lands, in and about T. 7, R. 23 ; the finest of 
 
36 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 pines, white and other oaks; sulphureted waters run from the 
 hollows of the hill in this tract. Wilson and Rogers' mill, 
 new, on the river, three miles south of Bennett's. John 
 Wright's mill, (Garrison's old mill), new, in Yell County, ! 
 near the Yell and Johnson County line, on the rivei*, four miles ! 
 southeast from Bennett's. Linn's mill, Yell County, inland, | 
 one mile from widow Johnson's, S. 11, T. 7, R. 23, five miles | 
 from Bennett's mill, (grist) ; in Yell County, four miles I 
 southeast from Linn's mill. This mill is on entered land, but I 
 in proximity to the Railroad lands. Through this pine region, 
 up to the Yell County line, near Graves', we discovered coal 
 shales in the hills and iron in the rock. j 
 
 YELL COUNTY. | 
 
 Along the road from Shoal Creek to Dardanelle, we noticed ! 
 
 numerous croppings of coal shales, and that the rocks were of ! 
 
 the usual millstone-grit series. On Crane Ci'cek, there is a | 
 
 superior building sandstone in vast quantity and great broad [ 
 
 smooth slabs The upland is very broken, and not suitable, | 
 
 for the most part, for tillage, but covered with fine timber and > 
 
 grass. Numerous small streams, some of them living, wind | 
 through this tract ; the lowlands of the creek are fertile ; on 
 some of them we noticed very fine cotton growing. 
 
 Magazine Mountain, near Dardanelle, T. 6, R. 21, is 1,410 \ 
 
 feet above the level of the Arkansas river at its base. This is ; 
 
 a table mountain, as, indeed, is almost the whole Magazine i 
 Range; the land a-top is quite rich and fretted with whortle- 
 berry bushes and luscious bearing grape-vines. Fertile benches 
 
 of land occur along the slopes of this range, and flowing springs ' 
 start out from its sides and gorges. Mineral springs, of health- 
 
 restoring properties, are frequent, and the pleasant resort in 1 1 
 
 summer for the invalid, some of them being high above the '| 
 
 level of the valley. One of them, a white sulphur, was for , 
 
 many years a fashionable resort, and the water pronounced , 
 
 equal to any in Virginia or Kentucky. It is called Dardanelle | 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 37 
 
 Springs, and is about nine miles souiihwest -from the town of 
 Dardanelle. Fine and commodious (frame) buildings once here 
 were thronged, but were all destroyed during the war. The 
 springs flow out the hill-side, and the scenery is uncommonly 
 lovely. It will regain its ancient fame, and once more become 
 the resort of the invalid and pleasure-seeker. Oxydes of iron 
 and lead are here both found. On Magazine Range are gath- 
 ered quartz, and lead and iron ores are known ; the rock is 
 millstone-grit, and bluffs out in enormous masses. On Maga- 
 zine Mountain, very fine, rich lead ore is found in quartz and 
 calcareous spar, a specimen of which we send you. From this 
 mountain, for several miles in a southwesterly direction, run 
 a series of low, depressed ridges, full of sea-worn pebbles, 
 amongst which are sometimes seen quartz, flint and calcareous 
 spar. There is no doubt in our minds, that this range of hills 
 will, when explored, be found to possess a mineralogical interest 
 and value second to no range in the State. Our time was too 
 short for us to give it even a flying examination, but we have 
 ourselves, heretofore, often been in this range, and can safely 
 speak of its character. The uplands, along the valleys of this 
 range, are remarkably good, and the timber superb. All the 
 productions usual to the valley grow here in great quantity 
 and perfection ; indeed, the County of Yell is famous for her 
 fine uplands, to say nothing of her very rich lowlands. There 
 are small prairies in Yell similar to those in Pope. Between 
 Magazine Mountain and the river runs a considerable tract of 
 Railroad lands, and this is a thickly settled region. 
 
 The town of Dardanelle lies on S. 31-2, T. 7, R. 20. The 
 Dardanelle Rock is something more than a mile above. 
 This rock abuts immediately on the river, looking east, dips 
 about 65 deg. to the north, and has evident traces of the an- 
 cient heat. The rock is ferruginous sandstone of the millstone 
 grit; it has been thrown upwards by heat, while Magazine 
 Mountain, its near neighbor, rests in place ; small crystals, ad- 
 hering to the face of the sandstone, are often seen ; nodules of 
 iron dot the entire outward surface of the rock. The rock is 
 
38 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 the abrupt termination of a long ridge which runs with the 
 Arkansas for miles ; and its continuation, on the opposite side 
 the river, in Pope County, runs for miles in the direction of 
 Carrion Crow Mountain. At the base of the rock, on the 
 south side, a spring of water trickles, and the finest of musca- 
 dines are found ; on the north side the ridge numerous small 
 springs burst out — carbonate of iron in the mountain side. 
 
 Below Dardanelle, commencing in the town, lies as fine a 
 tract of low land as there is in the Upper Valley, and, what is 
 unusual, is matched by one equally as rich on the opposite side 
 in Pope County. A great quantity of cotton was here raised 
 before the war, and considerable is raised here to-day ; it 
 yields as much per acre as any land above Little Rock. 
 
 There are many streams, in this county, of living water, and 
 j on them are many mills ; but of these we can only mention a 
 ! few ; along them all the timber is fine, and all the luxuriant 
 undergrowth, vines and shrubs, peculiar to the Valley, flourish. 
 Petit Jean is the first considerable stream, and it is, indeed, 
 one of the greatest tributaries of the Arkansas, within the lim- 
 its of the State. It runs south of eastward from the Hills on 
 ! the border of the State, and its mouth is in S. 17, T. 6, R. 18 ; 
 near the mouth are said to be indications of petroleum. An 
 almost unbroken pinery stretches along this stream to the hills. 
 This stream affords numbers of very eligible lumber and grist 
 ; mill sites. The bottom lands are inferior to those of other like 
 large streams, but where they are rich they are as fertile as 
 any. Coal is found on it in different localities, and the Petit 
 Jean may be said to flow on the southern confine of the great 
 coal field. Lead and tin are both found in its rock along its 
 valley, while iron, as usual, prevails everywhere ; some very 
 clear crystals have been found in this stream. The Petit Jean 
 Mountain, abutting on the river, lies in Sections 14, 15, 22 and 
 23, T. 6, R. 18. On Dutch Creek, which is an afiSuent of Petit 
 Jean, and the mouth whereof is near to Danville, county-seat, 
 S. 26, T. 5, R. 23, the lowlands are fertile, supporting 
 already a goodly number of population. The valley of this 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 39 
 
 stream lies between the lofty hills of the Petit Jean and 
 Fourche le Fave Ranges. On this creek, lead has been found 
 in considerable quantities, and doubtless is rich therein. 
 
 Fourche le Fave is an ever-living, clear, bold stream, only 
 inferior in length to the Petit Jean, superior in all else. Its 
 valley is the loveliest, fairest, richest of any tributary of the 
 Arkansas within the State on the south side of the river. It is 
 locked in by hills, but its lowlands are broad and high, and as 
 productive as any valley in the region. Great, broad, long 
 reaches of fertile uplands flank the stream along its length 
 between the hills, and it is exceedingly well watered in both 
 upland and bottoms by springs. Fine farms lie along this val- 
 ley and in the contiguous uplands. There are mills on this 
 stream, and ample water-power. Wheat grows finely, and 
 timber good — pine on the upper waters. About J. H. Max- 
 well's, on tills stream, above Bluffton, S. 25, T. 8, R. 25, is a 
 good pinery. Near the Rocky crossing of Fourche, at Ben- 
 nett's, (numbers not obtained), on the road leading from Darda- 
 nelle to Mount Ida, Montgomery County, lead ore has been 
 often found. A specimen we send you. On South Fourche, in 
 the near neighborhood of Bluffton and Burnett's, lead was 
 found years ago, and is still picked up there. 
 
 Chikiliah and Reveille Creeks, in the western and northwes- 
 tern parts of the county, are noted for their fine lands, timber 
 and water, and for the minerals in their hills. Chikiliah Moun- 
 tain is in T. 6, R. 22 ; and the Reveille Hills are in T. 6, Sec- 
 tions 26, 27, 3 i and 35 — spurs of the Magazine Range. 
 
 Coal is found in many places in this county ; shales disclose 
 all over the county, north from Fourche le Fave ; coal banks 
 have been opened and used by smiths for several years ; speci- 
 mens of these coals we have procured, and hope to get them to 
 you in season. A. Dane's coal bank is in the bank of a small 
 stream, and is nine miles southwest of Dardanelle. It is a good 
 workable coal, and a favorite with the smiths ; it is eighteen 
 inches thick, and from five to eight feet below surface. It is 
 easily quarried, and the drainage good. One hundred pound 
 
I — ■ 
 
 40 LITTLE EOCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 lumps have been taken therefrom. At Goss' bank, three miles 
 north of west from Dardanelle, good coal has been obtained 
 and used — the thickness as yet unknown. There are several i 
 other coal banks in the region, that are marked and used by | 
 ; smiths ; their thickness unknown, and the coal is of the same 
 i i good quality as the Dane's, though that is preferred. We were 
 ! ! unable to procure the numbers of any of these banks ; some of 
 them are on railroad lands. The coal sells, delivered in Dar- ■ 
 danelle, at thirty-five cents per bushel. Yell County is a part I 
 of the southern boundary of the Great Coal field. ! 
 Through these valleys, along these streams, amid these settle- ; 
 : ments, run the railroad lands. 
 
 CONWAY COUNTY. i 
 
 From Point Remove Bayou to the eastern boundary of this 
 county, the uplands are broken and rough) with rock ; yet til- 
 lable land occurs in tracts. Water is not so plenty, yet easy ' 
 of reach in wells from fourteen to twenty feet ; the range in i , 
 portions is inferior, but the timber good, white oak and pine !| 
 being absent, or present, only in narrow belts. Iron discolors | 
 the rocks ; near Lewisburg the carbonate of iron is heavy, and , 
 kidney iron ore is seen there and in other parts. The low- \ 
 lands of the east bank of Point Remove, and of the river down, 
 are fine and wide, and similar to those described above. 
 
 Four miles from Lewisburgh, which town is on the Arkan- j 
 I sas, the character of the millstone grit begins to change, pre- 
 I senting evidence of violent, yet equal disturbance. 1 
 I Cypress brakes are common, beginning, indeed, before we j 
 ' crossed Point Remove ; they continue down to Little Rock, and 
 I thence down, especially along the Bayou Meto, to the mouth of ! j 
 I the Arkansas. || 
 ! In this county we saw the last evidences of coal and its shales, I ' 
 I though, in one or two places, we found pits which had been 
 sunk for coal, and where very thin seams of coal had been 
 
I— j 
 
 I LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 41 I 
 
 I 
 
 I opened. Conway is the southern boundary of the coal-field on 
 I the northern side of the Arkansas. 
 
 j At Plummer's, on Gap Creek, S. 18, T. 6, R.15, a little 
 coal has been found near. The land here is good, and the 
 range average. Oxydes and carbonates of iron are rich, and 
 good iron ore, probably limonite, is found some miles off ; but 
 the iron is plentiful everywhere in this county, and future in- I 
 vestigation will probably discover it sufficient in quantity and 
 eligibility of situation to attract the attention of the " iron 
 master." Quartz, quartz crystals and flame-colored quartz, 
 I are found on Gap Creek, as also is lead; fossils also (coral?) 
 are found in the bed. Specimens of all these we were pre- 
 sented with by Mr. Plummer, but by misfortune were lost. A 
 long, low bluff of ferruginous sandstone stretches in front o{ 
 Plumper's house, which dips slightly south. 
 
 The uplands between Gap Creek and Cadron, and eastward, 
 are level or little broken ; are productive, or capable of being 
 made so ; they spread out in wide tracts, and skirt the river 
 lowlands. Timber is principally of black and post oaks and 
 hickory ; no pine, very little being in the county, and the 
 white oak confined to the streams. 
 
 " Sulphur" springs break out in the region ; a saline spring 
 exists in the neighborhood of Glass Village, (which is in Pope 
 j County, near the Conway line,) on the waters of Point Remove. ! 
 Salt was there manufactured in small quantities during the | 
 war. Stronger brine runs, without doubt, beneath. | 
 At the crossing of Cadron, on the stage road to Memphis, is ! 
 ! a steam-mill ; the hills at this crossing are ferruginous in soils, 
 j and the rock and the shale which is there exposed in the | 
 I washes of the old road. The bluff of sandstone and shale, im- \ 
 ! mediately on the west side of the bottom land of this stream, | 
 j were upheaved, where they dip west nearly vertical. The 1 
 j lowlands of the creek here and to the river are reddish and of j 
 a waxy consistency, rich and productive, but difficult to till in | 
 wet seasons. Bodies of this red, waxy land, occasionally oc- | 
 cur in the valley, far up and down below this, and we venture ' 
 
42 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 the opinion that a decomposed species of red porphyry gives 
 this red color to the soil. On the road, some three miles east 
 of Cadron, we remarked that the sandstone was very much 
 contorted and fractured, the fissures crossing in innumerable 
 directions, and the stone dipping, in a few yards distance, west 
 of south, northeast, south and southeast. Wc were approach- 
 ing the region where the millstone grit has been changed or 
 penetrated by quartz, slate, granite, porphyritic basalt ; where 
 the sandstone was altered into quartzite, or became quartzose, 
 and where we met novaculite. Changes were never more 
 manifest ; and Conway presents an interesting field for the 
 study of the geologist. It is a non-fossiliferous region. 
 
 Mr. S. Sevier lives in S. 10, T. 4, R. 14. A very thin coal 
 seam is near here ; near, also, is a pinery seven miles long and 
 five wide, through which run living streams. The pine is 
 i interspered with some white oak, and the trees are large. The 
 range is very good. 
 
 The uplands about Springfield, the county seat, are level, or 
 not greatly broken, with some prairie, and are fertile. Water 
 everywhere reached at low depths from the surface. 
 
 Through this described region of contorted rock, pines, lands 
 and streams, pass the Railroad lands. 
 
 PULASKI COUNTY. 
 (North op the Arkansas.) 
 
 The first quartz which we crossed, August 1st, was just 
 above the mouth of Palarm Bayou, which flows into the Ar- 
 kansas, in S. 12, T. 3, R. 14, W. This ridge was partially 
 covered with gravel of fragments of quartz, sea-worn pebbles 
 of various ages, with here and there a massive fragment of 
 quartz. The hill is undoubtedly pierced by a ledge of quartz,, 
 unexposed, which runs, as does the ridge, in an east and west 
 direction. At the mouth of Palarm is the Palarm Mountain, 
 which bluffs out almost on the river bank. This bluff is altered 
 
LITTLE ROOK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 43 
 
 sandstone of the millstone grit, and its dip is nearly vertical ; 
 in it is exposed a metamorphosed, hard, blue quartzite sand- 
 stone, which has been interjected through the bluff. On this 
 hill lie pebbles of sea-worn sandstone, and large and small 
 fragments of quartz, cherty quartz, with now and then a pebble 
 of silicious rock ; and of the ridges below and beyond, west- 
 ward, wherever the sea- worn pebbles are shown, the same may 
 be said. Through this hill also runs a ledge of quartz, east 
 and west, unexposed ; quartz crystals are here found, and, 'tis 
 said, gold has also been here picked up ; the quartz is doubt- 
 i less metalliferous; iron ore of good quality abounds in the rock. 
 
 Here we first saw a great manifest evidence of the disturbance j 
 ' of the millstone grit, in the fused sandstone and igneous rock 
 I forced through the grit by the action of ancient heat. Above, 
 on the river, we had witnessed the uplifted Dardanelle and 
 j other like rock, the contortions of the same stone in Conway ; 
 ' but here we beheld the quartz and the metamorphosed sand- 
 stones for the first time. 
 
 The lowlands along this region are similar to those above 
 described, the only difierence we could discover being a slight ! 
 change in some of the minor plants, betokening a warmer lati- : 
 j tude. The slopes and the rolling upland are good, the range : 
 ' fine, and the timber, also. \ 
 From the mouth of Palarm, some four or five miles down the ; 
 river, and six or seven miles back from it, is a pinery ; the ' 
 trees are tall and large. Four miles below the Palarm is a | 
 steam saw-mill. This pinery, though small, is on the Arkansas, \ 
 and on or near Railroad lands. Good water runs here ; in \ 
 a well at Col. Danley's, mouth of Palarm, the water is exceed- 
 ingly cold, and is sweet and wholesome. Wells range from j 
 fifteen to thirty-five feet in depth, and are everlasting. 
 
 Along our road, through great rough masses of sandstone, 
 from Palarm, we noticed fragments of unworn quartz in the 
 I gravel, and sometimes found the sandstones incrusted with it, 
 ! or with crystal of quartz, up to Mrs. Gilliam's, in the neigh- 
 borhood of the Kellogg mines. 
 
44 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 Mrs. Gilliam lives on S. 24, T. 3, N., R. 13, W., on a ridge 
 running east and west ; the ridge being more than usually of a 
 table land. Fragments of quartz became more frequent, and, 
 as in the preceding ridges, this ridge was pierced by a ledge of 
 quartz, which was exposed on the west part of the farm. The 
 " vein rock " is a pinkish altered sandstone, with gray color 
 inside the pink tints when broken, and analogous to that we 
 afterwards saw at the Kellogg mines, and, indeed, on nearly all 
 the ridges, both sides of the river, where quartz was disclosed. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th of August, we drove to the Kel- 
 logg mines, celebrated in the State of Arkansas for their mineral 
 wealth. They are on Kellogg Creek, an affluent of Bayou Meto, , 
 which empties into the Arkansas River, near Arkansas Post, I 
 and is the longest tributary of the Arkansas on the north side 
 thereof, within the limits of the State. Flat-boats have been 
 taken out from near the mines, and the water is sufficiently 
 deep, if the stream were cleared, to permit steamboats of small 
 tonnage to run. 
 
 The tract, between Mrs. Gilliam's and these mines, is an 
 almost unbroken upland, penetrated by numerous streamlets, 
 and the land is fair ; the grass, vines, shrubs, undergrowth, 
 i and timber are excellent ; white oak and pine being absent ; 
 the country is, or can be easily, well-watered. The lowlands 
 along the streamlets, and the Kellogg and other creeks, are 
 rich. Up to the very shafts and pits sunk at these mines, the 
 lands are productive. The water in the wells here, at these 
 mines, is unwholesome, being greatly impregnated with minera 
 ! solutions ; cisterns can be easily and cheaply constructed, and 
 rain enough falls, in the cold season especially, to fill them anj 
 desirable number of times. We saw no better region for pas- 
 toral and stock-raising purposes. Sheep-farms could be opened 
 and stocked here with profit ; and wild grasses, vines and nu- 
 1 tritious herbs are abundant. 
 
 I On Kellogg Creek, six miles from Mrs. Gilliam's, and tw( 
 miles westward from the mines, at the crossing of the BateS' 
 ville road, at the foot of a ridge, and in the bed of the stre 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 45 
 
 we first saw the exposure of slate. It is greatly contorted, 
 dipping, where disclosed, west of south, southwest, and east 
 of south. Above the slate was clay, with sea-worn peb- 
 
 ! bles and fragments of unworn quartz ; the altered sandstone 
 was the prevailing exposed rock, and much of it was colored ! 
 and charged with iron ; clear crystals of quartz we gathered ! 
 here. On all these ridges, we saw quantities of sea-worn 
 
 j pebbles of different ages, and in the beds of the streams water- 
 worn gravel and cobble-stones. 
 
 Up to these mines, we found the direction of the ridges, in 
 which quartz is exposed or lies underneath, as indeed in other 
 ridges in this locality, to be from the east to the west, inter- 
 locked by shorter ridges, frequently running north and south, 
 or from northeast to southwest. These ridges, so far as we 
 have been able to determine, in this region of Arkansas to the 
 Indian country, run in parallels, east and west ; but the gen- 
 eral direction of the metallic veins, in the whole State, is from 
 northeast to southwest. 
 
 THE KELLOGG MINES. 
 
 These mines are situate on S. 29 and 30, T. 3, N., R. 11, W., 
 aight miles a little east of north from Little Eock, amid a range 
 Df ridges, in which the quartz is partially exposed, or sufficiently 
 ] 30 to trace the underlying ledges. The overlying sandstone 
 ' much altered, of the pinkish, gray hue, very hard and brittle : 
 {the wall rock is a hard, blue quartzose sandstone, or a sand- | 
 jtone containing so much silicious matter, that it is really an 
 nferior novaculite ; also, great thickness of a changed shale ; | 
 i black shale, hardened into slate, has been pierced here in j 
 ligging shafts. An out-lier of novaculite is seen exposed in | 
 ;his range, the only instance, so far as we know, where it dis- ! 
 closes on the north side of the Arkansas ; this novaculite has a | 
 jood grit, but is splintery ; it is very much discolored by oxydes | 
 ind other metallic influences, much of it having a blue cast. \ 
 'his range of parallel quartz ridges, continues up to the river, | 
 
46 
 
 opposite Little Rock ; and we are satisfied, from good evidence 
 presented on the surface, that each and every ridge is pene- 
 trated by a ledge of quartz, where it is not deposed by unex- 
 posed granite or basaltic rock, as in the case on the opposite 
 side of the river, and that each ledge is more or less metal- 
 bearing, some of them more so than has so far been found to 
 be the experience of the Kellogg Mines. 
 
 Some thirty shafts have been sunk in the ridge, or rather at 
 the base and on the slope thereof, at the Kellogg Mines. From 
 fifteen to twenty of these have yielded metal in greater or less 
 quantities. Years ago, ore was shipped from these mines to 
 Liverpool, the silver whereof paid all expenses of freight, etc., 
 and left the lead a clear gain. And this was, comparatively, 
 surface ore, for the pits were not deep ; one lump of the ar- 
 gentiferous ore, weighing sixteen hundred pounds, was un- 
 earthed at the low depth of five feet below the surface, at the 
 base of the ridge, in proximity to the shafts sunk, and not far 
 from Kellogg Creek. On the top of this ridge, no shafts have, 
 I as yet, been sunk where the quartz ledge indicates itself, either 
 I in out-cropping exposures of quartz, or in the invariably over- 
 lying altered sandstone. It is our opinion, deferentially ex- 
 pressed, that if shafts were sunk on top of the ridge, or tun- 
 nels run against or within the quartz ledge proper which 
 j pierces this ridge, the yield of ore would be greater and 
 continuous. Here, it is proven, that the quartz is metalliferous 
 — richly so — and by piercing its centre, instead of sinking pits 
 on its flank, as heretofore has been done — the ledge itself pene- 
 trated — we believe that the ores are richer in quality and in 
 continuous quantity. These shafts are from fifteen to one hun- 
 dred feet deep ; metal has generally been struck in these shafts 
 and pits at from eight to twenty feet ; argentiferous galena 
 predominating above all the ores here disclosed. The per cent- 
 ao-e of silver is variable, and an actual average we are not able 
 to give you. The ratio is generally from sixty to twenty-two 
 hundred dollars per ton of two thousand pounds of ore. The 
 shafts and pits which have been sunk lie, the greater number, 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 47 
 
 on the south side of the ledge ; they are quite dry, surface 
 water only collecting in them when they are left unworked. 
 The miner, therefore, need apprehend nothing from an in-flow 
 of water during his operations. The rock in the shafts, exclu- 
 ding the quartz, which is generally level, except when it con- 
 forms itself to the dip of the out-lying rock, has a dip of from 
 20 to 45 degrees. In the rock, and about shafts and pits sunk, | 
 we noticed the customary presence of iron ; from one of the 
 shafts, zinc ore has been taken and tested, which yielded richly. 
 This zinc is an associate ore, and found in all the shafts where 
 the argentiferous galena has been dug. A specimen of the zinc 
 ore we send you, very kindly furnished us, as well as other 
 specimens, by C. L. Chamberlain, Esq., Superintendent of the 
 [Cellogg Mines, and to whom we are indebted for other cour- 
 tesies. We send you also specimens of the argentiferous quartz 
 'akcn from the shafts here ; the deepest shaft here was sunk at 
 :he base of the ridge, where the earth and rock were penetrat- 
 ed for at least one hundred feet through a black shale, hard- i 
 med into slate, with few sulphurets and no metal. It was pro- 
 )erly abandoned. The argentiferous galena vein is about 
 -welve feet wide between the " wall rocks and the specimens 
 lent you are fair average samples of the ores, no care being 
 aken to select ; and a random collector could at any time 
 iasily obtain the same from the mines. 
 
 From Kellogg Creek to Little Rock, we passed over seve- 
 •al fine living streams of water — Woodruff and Five-mile | 
 ]reeks. The timber is good, and the grass excellent. The 
 iplands are tillable, and the lowlands wide, rich and fertile. 
 Ul the products of the Valley are here raised in abundance. 
 Tine springs break out in this locality, one of which, a Chaly- 
 »eate, in close proximity to the city, on the north side of the 
 l iver, is bold, full and famed ; it rushes from a ridge at an alti- 
 tude sufficient to allow the stream to be carried into the city ; 
 i ts waters are said to be health-giving. The bottom lands^ 
 )i>pposite and below the city, are high, dry, fertile and highly 
 iiultivated, capable of any amount of production of all the 
 j';rains, corn, cotton, tobacco, grasses, and fruits. 
 
 - — — 
 
48 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 PULASKI COUNTY. 
 (South of the Arkansas.) 
 
 On the Morning of August 9th, in company with Mr. James 
 A. Martin, of this city, a gentleman of large experience in 
 minerals and mineral indices of Arkansas, as well as in the 
 topography of the State, we left Little Rock to visit the 
 
 I western part of Pulaski, the northeast of Saline County, and 
 
 I a corner of Perry. 
 
 I We followed the road leading to the North Fork of Saline 
 I River, which is an afiluent of Ouachita, which flows into Red 
 i River, near its mouth in Louisiana. The road, though a natu- 
 ral way, was admirable, and equalled, if it did not excel, many 
 roads which are works of art. This region is a most interest- 
 I ing geological and mineralogical field, and to do it anything 
 ' like justice would require the work and study of months. It 
 ! is full of forests of pine, tall, straight and great in girth, of 
 white and other oaks, among which is a species called " Cow 
 Oak," which bears a large, long and nutritious acorn, the 
 wood of which is fine for ship or boat building, being preferred 
 to any there is in the country. The undergrowth is dense, and 
 the grape and muscadine grow in profusion — the grasses are 
 good, but not equal to that of the uplands of this County, on 
 the north side of the Arkansas. The lowlands of the Saline 
 I and its tributaries, are good and rich, yielding bountifully of 
 all the products usual to this latitude. 
 
 This tract between Little Rock and North Fork of Saline, 
 which is distant from Little Rock westward, at the point where 
 we first crossed it, thirty miles, is a succession of low parallel 
 ridges, growing higher as we approach Saline Creek. The 
 direction is, as usual, from east to west, with occasional, inter- 
 locking shorter ridges running north and south, or northeast 
 and southwest. The ledges of rock, whether of slate, quartz, 
 j novaculite, or altered sandstone, all run east and west ; the 
 I slate, for the most part, being very much contorted and tilted. 
 The prevailing rock along this road is slate, then altered sand- 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 49 
 
 stone, quartz and novaculite ; the slate, quartz and novaculite 
 have all been forced through the millstone grit, while the sand- 
 stones are metamorphosed by the ancient heat. Iron ore 
 abounds everywhere, either as ore or as oxydes and carbonates, 
 in the rock ; of this ore, as good is found in Pulaski as in any 
 part of Arkansas, which is saying a great deal. Dykes of it 
 protrude in more than one locality in the County. Specimens 
 of this ore we send you — the best our time allowed us to procure. 
 As Dr. Owen says in his " Geological Survey" of this State, 
 in regard to other localities, that the iron ores of this County, 
 especially the limonite, are " well worthy the attention of the 
 iron master." The ores are here, the wood, the water, the 
 navigable river, the city, and above, on the Arkansas, is the 
 coal field 
 
 The City of Little Rock is founded on a cluster of depressed 
 ridges of the quartz and slate range, underneath and through 
 which lie ledges of slate, quartz, changed sandstone, and lime- 
 stone, amid which are infused iron ores. On top are found the 
 sea-worn, water-worn, and unworn pebbles of all these rocks, 
 with now and then pebbles of silicious rock, and small, smooth 
 balls of hard, indurated and cherty clay. Within the city, on 
 the bank of the river, ledges of quartz, slate, and strata of a 
 recent limestone, crop out ; a slate, eleven miles southwest of 
 the city is found, which has a metallic ring, and is good roofing 
 slate. In the slate, cropping into the bank of the river, in the 
 midst of the city, bright sulphurets are seen, which take the 
 exact form of the lamina of the Kellogg ores. Around the 
 city numerous living springs burst from the slopes and hollows 
 of the ridges ; and so many of them in some places are close 
 together, that if they were dug out and united, they would 
 form very large pools and be made to serve profit and pleas- 
 ure, such as manufacturing mills, parks and fish ponds, besides 
 furnishing water for fountains or use all over the city. These 
 quartz ledges we believe to be metalliferous. The limestone, 
 which crops out in the bank of the Arkansas, is found in some 
 of the wells of the city, and lies in ledges in the west ridges, 
 
 4 
 
50 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 two or less miles from the river — is a recent limestone and 
 fossiiiferous — it belongs to the tertiary period ; some of it 
 has been burnt, and found to yield good strong lime. Speci- 
 mens of this we send you. A great pine forest once existed in 
 the neighborhood, and even on the city cite, but the trees have 
 been consumed by the wants of the city though there yet 
 stand tall pines, here and there, examples of what the ancient 
 forest was, and what the thousands and thousands of young 
 pines, now growing near, will become. 
 
 Beyond the line of the city consumption, wide forests of 
 tall, straight, splendid pines yet grow, even up to the ridges of 
 the North Fork of Saline, where they decrease in numbers ; 
 though pine, more or less, grows on every ridge and hill, from 
 Pulaski and Perry Counties to the Red River. White and 
 other oaks are in great profusion intermingled, as also other 
 woods of the clime, and in their usual proportion. 
 
 On some of these ridges in this tract, the unworn fragments 
 of quartz were so thickly strewn, that the hill-tops and slopes 
 seemed to be covered with small fragments of snow, just as the 
 sun was melting the field, and, in warm spots, disclosing the 
 dark earth. The white color, however, predominated over the I 
 black. These ridges betray a history of great ancient dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 Westward from Little Rock, a short distance on our road, ! 
 beyond the fortifications," on the west corner slope of a ridge, | 
 in a wash of an old road, a ledge of quartz, very much oxy- 
 dized and friable, a ledge of contorted slate, and great masses 
 of amygdaloid iron ore, fused in the old clay, occur. The sur- 
 face of the slate was decomposed, and over it lay a thin adhe- 
 sive clay, which had taken a blue tint therefrom, and in which 
 are disclosed sea-worn quartz and other pebbles of cherty 
 quartz, sandstone, and, occasionally, flint. 
 
 From this we passed over quartz and slate ridges, and by 
 quartz and slate croppings, to Ellis' well. Sandstone in 
 these ridges was absent or undisclosed, slate predominated, 
 and the quartz ledges were forced between the slate. Ellis' 
 
LITTLE ROOK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 51 
 
 well is dug on S. 21, T. 1, W., R. 13, W., at the foot of a ridge 
 on the southern side, and is eighteen feet deep. The diggers first j 
 entered soil — thin clay with sea-worn pebbles — for, say, four i 
 feet, when they struck a slate with intercalated veins of quartz. 
 Here we found the rock, quartz, and slate, with some adhering 
 altered sandstone, the quartz principally charged with copper, 
 and the rock very heavy with this metal, the ore in the rock 
 being of a pinky, purplish, copper color, and the taste of that 
 ] metal being easily detected. Copper exists in quantity with- 
 \ out doubt, and richer, in the ridge, for in it, from the well, at 
 ! the foot of which it is dug, the same ledge of quartz lies. Bet- 
 ter ore will probably be found on sinking deeper and nearer 
 to the east and west ledges of quartz, but such ore as is already 
 thrown out a Lake Superior iuiner would work. Specimens 
 are sent to you. 
 
 The well is distant, westward from Little Rock, six miles. 
 The water of the well, though abundant, is unwholesome, 
 j being strongly impregnated with mineral. 
 
 On our route to North Fork Saline, in different localities, 
 out-cropping along the ridges, often forming the " wall rock" 
 to the metal-bearing quartz, of different grades — blue, milk- 
 white, striated, friable, and oxydized quartz, as it is seen in all j 
 these ridges, instead of the usual slate or altered sandstones — I 
 we found ledges of novaculite. This, in this tract, so far as it j 
 is exposed, is a brittle novaculite quartz rock, and too splintery i 
 ^ j for commerce ; but in some of these novaculite ledges, espe- 
 cially those on or near Brodie Creek, some seven miles 
 southwest from Little Rock, as well as in other ledges in the 
 vicinity, as they are wrought out from the interior, they be- 
 come firmer, whiter, of a closer and more compact grit, 
 more capable of polish, and, deeper down than yet explored, 
 may be found to equal any from the Hot Springs quarries, and ' 
 therefore, as they are nearer to the river, will be more valua- i 
 ble to the market. Should these Brodie Creek and contiguous 
 ledges of novaculite be explored and unearthed, the opinion 
 we here venture will be verified, as we fully believe. 
 
52 LITTLE BOCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 Beyond Ellis's well, on our road, and before reaching the 
 Saline County line, we noticed a blue feldspathic rock, which 
 has the same trend as the quartz and slate ledges ; also, carbon- 
 ate of iron and iron pyrites, in a hard, slatish rock. Iron ore, 
 in differing presence, and in or adhering to the rock, we en- 
 countered all along the route, and, as everywhere in the 
 valley, it betrays itself — more perhaps in Pulaski and Saline 
 than in any other river or near-lying county. 
 
 We crossed the Saline County line August 10th, at and near 
 Hutchinson's tan-yard, S. 24, T. 1, W., R. 15, W. We 
 found, immediately at the yard, a decomposed slate in a stiff, 
 adhesive, whitish clay, imbedded in which were small pieces of 
 quartz, slate, and a great discoloration of the oxyde of iron. 
 We also saw, and gathered there, fused iron ore, which the 
 quartz had penetrated, or to which the quartz, in streaks and 
 contorted, network-like, narrow seams, adhered, or in which 
 the quartz was intercalated. Near this tan-yard, within a ' 
 mile, we procured a close, impervious, mottled, pink-white 
 clay, termed by artisans "soap-stone," which has been used for ! 
 the casing of stoves and for chimney backs, on account of its | 
 capability to resist fire. It is abundant, and is probably equal 
 to any soap-stone or "fire clay" found in Massachusetts, and so 
 much used in commerce ; it is also, doubtless, valuable for the 
 manufacture of ware. In other parts of the County of Pulaski, 
 which we were, at this time, unable to visit, are found great 
 beds of fine porcelain clay, which is known to be valuable to 
 the manufacturers, and from which the finest of ware can be 
 made. There discloses, near this tan-yard, on a small rivulet, 
 a dark blue, gritty, micaceous sandstone ; and abundance of py- ' 
 rites of iron is seen. One mile northwest is a porphyritic 
 basalt, very hard, very dark, in which augite is plenteously dis- 
 seminated. It is there, as in other localities near, disclosed in 
 ponderous masses. Lamina of black mica, or augite (?), 
 also appears diffused in the clay. Bright yellow mica abounds 
 in a soft, loose sandstone found near. A ledge of the blue, 
 metal-tinted quartz here interlocks with the ridges running 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 53 
 
 east and west. Sulphurets are common in this quartz, we 
 were told ; but a specimen, at this time, we were unable to 
 procure. As usual, iron ore is observed in the contiguous 
 ridges. 
 
 Abundant water is here at this yard, which, saved in a pro- 
 per manner, would supply a tan-yard ten times as large, and 
 the bark is sufficient for a dozen such streams. The same may 
 be said of this whole region from the city to the North Fork 
 Saline, and thence across the Big and Little Maumelles and 
 back. A majority of these springs and streams possess so 
 much of the corrosive influenc3S from iron, that the water has 
 to be charged by neutrals ; but there are other springs and 
 streams in the district mentioned where the water is wholly 
 free from these influences, and there tan-yards may be estab- 
 lished with the greatest profit. 
 
 Near the first crossing of the Saline, on this road and beyond, 
 westward and northwestward, on the ridges, the quartz is ex- 
 posed in great bluffs, making striking white cliffs in the land- 
 scape. 
 
 At this first crossing of the Saline, in S. 24, T. 1, N., R. 16, 
 W., the pebbles in the ford are water-worn sandstones, with 
 fragments of quartz and slate, pebbles of calcareous rock and 
 hydrated oxyde of iron ; stiff water-resisting balls of clay, 
 with minute pebbles, disseminated. At the base of a tall ridge, 
 immediately fronting the North Fork Saline, a short distance 
 below the ford, and by which ridge winds a streamlet, we found 
 a very old, hard, blue limestone in laminated sheets of from 
 one half inch to two inches in thickness, the greatest 
 thickness so far known being eight inches. It is non- 
 fossiliferous, and therefore it is impossible for us to de- 
 termine to what formation it belongs ; it is, though, a very 
 old limestone, for it existed before the upheaval of the 
 slate and quartz in this region, the limestone being incrusted 
 with and by quartz in veins from two inches jvide to a hairs- 
 breath ; one piece we observed particularly, a section of which 
 we send you, where these hair-like veins of quartz ran diagon- 
 
54 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 ally from each angle of the slab, making small rhomb squares 
 and fretting the rock like lace-work. These limestone slabs 
 can be here obtained in any quantity, and will make splendid 
 mantles, tops for tables and sideboards, letter-weights and 
 other such like ornamental uses to which marble is put. It 
 is more beautiful than marble, the hard, blue, fine-grained 
 limestone taking a fine polish, and the permeating veins of 
 quartz always being polished ; it is a very uncommon limestone, 
 found very seldom anywhere ; it has been burnt, and yields a 
 very strong lime. In this ridge, a ledge of slate traverses and 
 is exposed ; quartz also discloses, and, as usual in these ridges, 
 they run east and west. On the top of this ridge lives Mr. 
 Shinault, in S. 25, T. 1, N., R. 16, W. In his well he passed 
 through thin soil and clay and sea-worn pebbles, say, four feet, 
 and then struck the contorted slate. The well is about sixteen 
 feet deep. All the wells in this region, that we visited, reach 
 the slate, some pass quartz, and they are from fourteen to 
 twenty feet deep, at which depths water is plentiful. In this 
 vicinity is also seen cropping out the porphyritic basalt. On 
 this hill we noticed a hard, argilaceous sandstone, intercalated 
 with quartz in great masses, and water-worn, lying on the sur- 
 face. On all these ridges where this limestone occurs the 
 growth is dense and heavy, the air was darkened by the shade, 
 and these slopes are very rich. The lowlands along the North 
 Fork Saline and its tributaries are here rich and productive, 
 and we passed some beautiful farms. 
 
 A ledge of slate, very contorted, is exposed for half a mile 
 along Cane Creek, which flows into North Fork Saline, T. 1, 
 N., R. 16, W., S. 32. This ledge of slate is pierced by ledges 
 of quartz and traversed by interlocking veins of quartz in many 
 parts of it. In an abutting ridge, a large ledge of quartz, 
 with blue crystaline hues, exposes itself, from which we obtained 
 specimens, full of bright sulphurets with metal form ; and the 
 rock is so full of them, that it glistens from the angle of every 
 fracture. If this rock be not metalliferous, and more so than 
 usual, the " testimony of the rocks" will have greatly deceived 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 55 
 
 I not only us, but more experienced and learned men. Near this 
 I ledge of quartz at the base of the ridge — same east and west 
 ! trend — is a narrow ledge of cherty quartz with lamina of cal- I 
 careous spar. In a ravine near Shinault's, S. 36, T. 1, N., 
 R. 16, W., is a wilderness of fragments of quartz, slate, and 
 limestone, of the age above mentioned, with the same intercal- 
 ations of quartz. In this I'avine was formerly a lime-kiln ; 
 ledges of slate and quartz are repeatedly exposed, the ledges 
 of quartz being interjected between the slate and, in instances, 
 conforming to its dip. A ledge of this slate in the ravine, ex- 
 posed at the west base of the east ridge, dipping south and 
 ' nearly vertical, cleaves easily, breaking into broad lamina of 
 I two or three feet square, which rings clear, of a smooth surface, 
 purple color, and will, no doubt, make a good roofing slate. 
 On a ridge, near Shinault's, the quartz resembles the argen- 
 tiferous quartz taken from the Kellogg Mines, the formation of 
 the metal showing very manifest in pieces broken by us from 
 masses along the road side. In T. 1, N., R. 17 and 18, W., and 
 in the vicinity, ponderous masses, of a gray and a dark por- 
 phyritic basalt, show, while crystals, " soapstone," and a cherty 
 quartz clay, are found. About McAlister's, S. 36, T. 1, N.. 
 : R. 16, W., are ledges of quartz exposed, slate and limestone, 
 with the usual sea-worn pebbles. On a ridge, near McAlis- 
 ter's, is a fine ledge of quartz, much oxydized and friable, 
 with also the blue crystaline hue, which we believe to be more 
 than commonly metalliferous. Black sand is here seen after 
 the fall of a rain ; also in great quantity on a ridge near 
 Brown's, Henderson Creek. On the first named ridge, is also 
 a decomposed talcose slate, much weather-worn, and near a red 
 • soft stone used for marking pencils ; and, ground or burnt, it 
 ! makes a very good house paint ; it is in considerable quantity, 
 [ — specimens are sent to you. In Henderson Creek, near, are 
 I great quantities of quartz fragments, pebbles, similar to those 
 I of the North Fork Saline, and crystals. The water is plentiful, 
 affording power for mills, and clear springs break out along its j 
 banks. The timber, all through this region, is fine. i 
 
56 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 At Brasil's Mill, North Fork Saline, S. 5, T. 1, N., R. 16, 
 W., are tall ridge cones, crowned with pine. On the slopes of 
 the cones are bluffs of altered sandstone appearing, and the 
 sandstone again becomes more prevalent and the oftener ex- 
 posed. Quartz, slate — both bearing traces of iron — sandstone, 
 a hard blue limestone, similar to that above described, which 
 has been blasted and found to grow thicker and harder the 
 deeper it is penetrated, flint, and oxydes of iron — we saw all 
 around this vicinity. In Brasil's well, the same kind of quartz, 
 with the copper ore, was dug out, as that of Ellis' well. 
 Southeast, one fourth of a mile from Brasil's house, is a ledge 
 of quartz, three to five feet wide, with abundance of bright red 
 tiff. At Barnes', near the mill, the quartz fragments terminate 
 almost abruptly, and are only seen as scattering, which we found 
 to be the case a considerable distance along our road through 
 Maumelle valleys and down the Rocky Creek to Little Bock. 
 Tlie pebbles are now almost entirely of sandstone ; and worn 
 and unworn masses of sandstone are everywhere strewn ; quartz 
 is, however, seen all along this region, and ledges of it un- 
 doubtedly traverse the ridges undisclosed. The country, from 
 Brasil's mill to the dividing ridge, between North Fork Saline 
 and Big Maumelle, is rough and rocky ; the timber is, however, 
 excellent, and the range good. 
 
 After passing this ridge, we strike waters running into Big 
 Maumelle, which flows into the Arkansas. We here traveled 
 through a corner of Perry County a short distance, and again 
 entered Pulaski County. 
 
 On the north side of this Maumelle ridge, down a hill stream 
 in a narrow valley, is a remarkable, violent sundering of the 
 altered sandstone of the millstone-grit series. The over-lying 
 sandstone, when broken, presents the same hard, glistening sur- 
 face, with the pinkish gray color of that found at the Kellogg 
 Mines ; deeper down, as we could get exposed access, was the 
 same hard, blue, metamorphosed sandstone. The ridge was 
 here, ages ago, divided, and there now is present a narrow 
 gorge, with just room between the rocks for a small stream of 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 57 
 
 water and the road. Great fragments of the stone lie around, 
 and in the bluff on the east side is a small cavern, called the 
 " Rock House," midway in the bluff. On the east side of this 
 cavity, thin seams of quartz traverse the saudstone in diverse 
 directions ; quartz fragments also lie around here. This gorge 
 presents a picturesque view, and is evidence of the ancient dis- 
 turbance. Iron presents itself here, as usual, in this rock* 
 The bluffs of this rock, where parted, are about one hundred i 
 and thirty feet above the level of the stream. In this region, 
 and along the Big Maumelle, the sandstone is the prevailing 
 rock, though evidences of slate ledges frequently show ; and 
 everywhere are seen the scattered fragments of quartz here and 
 there lying on the surface. The valley of Big Maumelle 
 is an inferior valley of land, and the uplands are corres- 
 ponding. The timber is fine, consisting of pine, the oaks, and 
 and other trees ; the undergrowth and grasses are less luxuriant 
 and good than other regions described. There is abundant 
 water power for mills. Cypress we saw along the narrow 
 marshy flats of the upper Big Maumelle ; and along the valley | 
 of this stream, to its confluence with the Arkansas, are con- ' 
 siderable brakes of this valuable wood. Without doubt, the \ 
 railroad lands intersect some of these brakes, for these lands ' 
 run through this whole region visited by us. 
 
 At Rainey's, S. 27, T. 3, N., R. 16, W., the po^phyritic basalt 
 is again disclosed in the same like large masses, as also at Mrs. 
 Brasil's, two miles west. This ledge of basalt runs in the 
 same east and west direction with the ledges of quartz and 
 slate. At Lamb's mine, S. 25, T. 3, N., R. 16, W., on the ab- 
 rupt termination of a ridge at the Big Maumelle, looking west, 
 this basalt is more exposed than elsewhere, where we saw it j 
 in width some six or seven feet, and exposed depth of at least 
 forty feet. The rock is vertical in dip, forced through the 
 strata of slate, which is also tilted on edge, and is greatly 
 charged with black mica, augite (?), and is very dark and 
 hard. At the base of this ridge, near the level of the water, 
 a tunnel has been blown into this rock, for some ten or twenty 
 
58 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 feet, in search of metal. In this tunnel the outlying hard slate 
 in the center and south side is traversed with narrow, ribbon- 
 like veins of quartz. A-top this ridge, on the south side of 
 the ledge of basalt, miners are now sinking another shaft, 
 which has not yet been sunk low enough to determine what 
 lies beneath. So far, the rock adjacent to the basalt only dis- 
 played to us the presence of iron, but we have since seen rock 
 from this mine which bears copper similar to that in Ellis' and 
 Brasil's wells. No other metal has as yet been found. On 
 the height of the ridge, along its length, we observed large 
 fragments of quartz crystals, and in the near neighborhood hy- 
 drated kidney iron ore and carbonate of iron very heavy. 
 From this, down the Big Maumelle and across to Little Mau- 
 melle, sandstone prevails, and the region and series of ridges 
 are similar to those of the Kellogg Mines. The land grows 
 somewhat better, and water is plentiful. 
 
 August 14th, we left Mrs. Robinson's, who lives in S. 25, 
 T. 3, N., R. 15, W., for Little Maumelle. This stream flows 
 into the Arkansas below the Big Maumelle. It is a bold, ever- 
 living, pebbly-bottom, beautiful stream, and numerous fine 
 springs break into it ; and the land is rich and the timber un- 
 surpassed. 
 
 On the north slope of a tall ridge, near Mrs. Robinson's, in 
 a deep wash of tan old road, the quartz ledges, amid the slates 
 were disclosed ; one ledge of quartz is very wide, say fifteen 
 feet, is greatly oxydized, friable, and splintering with a light 
 blow, exhibiting sulphurets in the fractures. The sandstone 
 predominated in this and all the neighboring ridges. The 
 pebbles of the first crossing of Little Maumelle, near the 
 church, S. — , T. 2, N., R. 14, W., were of water-worn sand- 
 stones, flints, fragments of quartz, slate, and a black novaculite. 
 Here is an excellent, bold spring, and, in full view, a tall cone, 
 on which, it is said, lead has been found. We had no time to 
 explore this peak, but it is worthy of a thorough survey, and is, 
 doubtless, penetrated with quartz and slate ledges, if not nova- 
 culite. Near this crossing of the Little Maumelle is a great 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND PORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 59 
 
 exposure of the slate on the surface of the earth which is great- 
 ly contorted and twisted. It must extend to a vast depth 
 beneath ; crossing it are two exposed ledges of quartz, in 
 which glittering sulphurets appear in the fractured fragments. 
 The usual altered sandstone, tinted often with iron, occurs. 
 We here again come into a region where the quartz gravel is 
 more common ; but we soon passed over it. About three miles 
 from this ford of the Little Maumelle is a high ridge, in S. 17, 
 T. 2, N., R. 14, W., on the steep slope of which is a wide bluff 
 of out-cropping quartz, with the outlying ledges of slate and 
 changed sandstone, as also a ledge of dark novaculite. This 
 quartz has the crystaline blue tint and presents often, when 
 broken, the sulphurets and forms of lead and silver, with also 
 strong appearances of copper, alike to that found in the Ellis 
 and Brasil wells. We found here numerous disclosed quartz 
 crystals. At Thomas Fletcher's, near by, S. 32, T. 2, N., R. 
 14, W., is another ledge of quartz and a wide ledge of slate ; 
 this latter crops out in Mr. Fletcher's yard, and forms a 
 natural walk from his house to the gate. In a hard, blue meta- 
 morphosed sandstone, at the surface, lead tiff is seen. From 
 Fletcher's to the first crossing of Rocky Creek, a stream i 
 emptying into Fourche, which flows into the Arkansas, the ! 
 ridges which we passed disclosed sandstone as the prevailing j 
 rock, but fragments of quartz and out-crops of slate were com- 
 mon. These ridges and their intervening vales, the land, 
 water, and forest, correspond to those described, with the ex- 
 ception of the infrequent exposure of quartz. 
 
 On the waters of Rocky Creek, near Tan Yard, S. — T. 1, N., 
 R. 14, W., an iron ore of good quality is apparent; the water 
 power of the creek is good, along it, frequently, the sandstone 
 bluffs out in low cliffs, and quartz fragments appear. The 
 sandstone along this creek and in the region around, closely 
 resembles that of the Kellogg mines, and is, indeed, the same. 
 A black shale, similar to that thrown out at these mines, crops 
 out between the first and second crossing of this creek. The 
 pebbles between this creek and Little Maumelle are almost en- 
 
60 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 tirely of sandstone, with the exceptions above mentioned. The 
 lowlands along the creek are fair and the upland inferior, but 
 upon both is the usual good timber. Cypress along the creek, 
 in low marshy flats, is common. The undergrowth, vines and 
 shrubs are similar to those of other parts of the country already 
 described. 
 
 August 15th we left Mrs. Massingil's for Little Rock. Mrs. 
 M. lives on S. 5, T. 1, N., R. 13, W. The sandstone prevails 
 around this place, and only occasional fragments of quartz and 
 disclosures of slate. The ridges all preserve the same uniform 
 direction and are, beyond doubt, penetrated with quartz ledges. 
 I On the ridges along Three Mile Creek, which is that distance 
 i from Little Rock and Fort Smith road, quartz ledges of con- 
 siderable width crop out, a great ledge of it being in S. 36, T. 2, 
 I N., R. 13, W. On the southern slope of this ridge is another 
 i ledge of quartz, which is c olored with iron, half decomposed, 
 friable, full of sulphurets, and in which yellow mica occasionally 
 glistens ; quartz gravel here is again more plentiful, and be- 
 comes thickly strewn towards Little Rock ; iron nodules we 
 here found enclosed in the quartz ; also quartz crystals are here 
 gathered, and black sand is seen after fails of rain. 
 
 Through all this interesting region, which we have attempted 
 i to describe with as much minuteness as possible, run the Railroad 
 lands. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servants, 
 
 J. W. WASHBOURN, 
 WM. P. DENCKLA. 
 
SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT 
 
 FROM 
 TO 
 
 Sir : — For reasons, which will be personally explained to 
 you by Mr. Denckla, we were unable to travel up the Arkan- i 
 sas to Webber's Falls and Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, ac- j 
 cording to your desire. | 
 
 Both of us, however, are, and for years have been, familiar 
 with this country, and I give you a brief report of it, and 
 something of the country beyond. It is a region by far the I 
 most attractive of the Arkansas Valley. 
 
 On the north side of the Arkansas River, immediately com- 
 mencing about the mouth of Lee's Creek, the rich bottom 
 lands of the Arkansas extend, without interruption, to the i 
 mouth of the Illinois River, at W ebber's Falls, with very little ; 
 diminution of width, the bottom being of the best on the river. I 
 
 Opposite Fort Smith, in the Cherokee Country, the lowland is I 
 very wide, level, high, and dry, and the trees are astonishingly i 
 large. A pinery, which begins on Lee's Creek, nine miles j 
 westward from Van Buren, runs far into the Cherokee Coul- i 
 try ; and through this pinery, which has its great oaks and j 
 other trees, are valleys of fine land and stretches of upland, j 
 with the best of grass. It is unusually well watered. The } 
 lowlands of Skin Bayou, Salison, and Viann and intermediate | 
 streams — all flowing into the Arkansas — are wide and rich, and i 
 their inlying uplands unsurpassed. Bold springs gush out 
 along these streams, whose sources are in the flint, limestone, 
 and chert. 
 
62 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 At the mouth of Skin Bayou, sixteen miles from Fort Smith, 
 is a superior soap-stone, and coal and coal shales are frequent 
 along its banks. Great prairies also skirt its lower length, 
 and extend to the Arkansas, and, in sections, hundreds of 
 miles westward. 
 
 On the Salison, coal has been used for years, and was dug 
 there forty years ago. This stream is midway between Forts 
 i Smith and Gibson. Lead has also there been found, and years 
 ago used by the Indians. Iron ores are common, as they are 
 everywhere in the Indian Territory. I hare picked up crystals 
 of the clearest water on some of the streams running into the 
 Salison, and fragments of quartz are also seen. On its upper 
 waters, limestone abounds, great springs run, marble has been 
 quarried, and great caves full of stalagmites and stalactites of 
 the most grotesque forms exist. From some of these caverns 
 run great and ever-flowing springs. The lands are rich, the 
 timber unequaled, the pineries extensive, and the prairies rich 
 and very well watered. 
 
 On Viann, between Salison and Illinois River, iron abounds, 
 and copper is found. Great bluffs of the millstone-grit sand- 
 stones rise up, as they also do all over this country, and coal 
 of good quality is found; limestone in bluffs, also, varies the 
 landscape with its blue and gray tints, and the lands are very 
 fertile. The springs are numerous, and the grasses and vines 
 are more than ordinarily luxuriant ; on the slopes of the hills 
 grow the walnut and the locust, showing the richness of the 
 soil. 
 
 - 1 The Illinois River, the first great tributary of the Arkansas 
 River on the north, from its mouth, is a wide, clear, rapid, 
 pebbly, ever-running stream. It is impossible in this brief Re- 
 port to recount the riches, resources, and loveliness of this 
 
 ' river, reaching from the fair and celebrated Counties of 
 Washington and Benton, of Arkansas, and through the Chero- 
 kee Country, flowing in a territory the most lovely, picturesque, 
 
 i and fertile on the continent. Millstone-grit sandstones, mar- 
 
 \ ble, flint, crystals, quartz, sea-worn pebbles, iron, lead, and 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 63 
 
 copper are here ; oil springs — naphtha — that have been the 
 resort of invalids for years, and are medicinal and curative ; 
 great salines ; rich lands, and the finest springs in the world ; 
 beautiful prairies and productive uplands ; great pineries, with 
 large forests of all the woods peculiar to the zone, are some of 
 the riches of this lovely stream. Lead and copper have there 
 often been found. Some of the latter has been assayed, but 
 I do not now remember the per centage — only that it was rich. 1 1 
 It is on the confines, also, of a Great Salt Basin, that extends ' 
 westward the entire length of the Cherokee territory, which i 
 is the 103^ west longitude. The saline springs afi'ord very 
 strong brine, and some of them were worked before the Chero- 
 kees purchased this land, in 1828. There are salines enough ! 
 on this and the neighboring Grand River to supply the Missis- 
 sippi Yalley with salt. Very excellent coal exists along the | 
 banks of this river : and near by, on Spaviueau, which runs 
 into Grand River, tributary of the Arkansas, is the red granite \ 
 in great bluffs, which is the most beautiful and hardest of stone. I 
 
 This Grand River, with its valley, is perhaps the finest in the | 
 whole Southwest ; salt springs and deep banks of coal abound, i 
 and it deserves a full and careful exploration. Its wealth is too 
 great to be here slightly passed over, and hence I leave it to 
 some future report or explorer. Fort Gibson is situated on this 
 stream, two miles from its confluence with the Arkansas, and 
 one mile below the Verdigris, another noble river, running into 
 the Arkansas. A glance at a good map of this Indian Coun- 
 try is a good reporter of its wealth and value. 
 
 From Fort Smith, on the south side of the Arkansas, in the 
 Choctaw Country, begins the Poteau Bottom, long celebrated 
 for its fertility, width, and length. Up to the mouth of the 
 Canadian, the greatest tributary of the Arkansas, and almost ; 
 equal to it, entering the Arkansas just below Webber's Falls, ! 
 runs the fertile lowland of the river, with all its distinguishing 
 growth and character. Here grows the " Pride of China," 
 wild, with its thirty feet of snowy cone in flower. Great, wide, 
 far-west reaching prairies skirt the river, and tall cliffs of sand- 
 
64 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 stone also add beauty to its landscape ; its lowlands are as 
 fertile as any in the world, nearly always red in color — the 
 stream being perpetually so. On the Canadian are vast beds 
 of gypsum and shining selenite, of which I have seen the thick- 
 ness of eight feet — enough to fertilize millions of acres, and 
 supply all the wants of commerce. Coal, lead, sulphur, copper, 
 and other metals, are found — the sulphur being often in the 
 most beautiful crystals. Sandstone and limestone are the 
 general rocks. Great brakes of tall cedars shade the bottoms 
 for miles along the river, and the wild grape and plum are 
 like those found by Caleb. Numberless springs, in localities, 
 break out and run along their beds of sand. More sand is 
 probably found here than on any other stream in the United 
 States; even on the bald prairie buttes, contiguous to the river, 
 it lies from two to fifteen feet deep. 
 
 The North and Deep Forks of the Canadian are clear water 
 streams, often running over smooth rock bottoms, the lowlands 
 of which are exceedingly rich. Unlike those of the Canadian, 
 they are black, and so are their skirting prairies, which are 
 also very rich. It is one of the best countries for stock in 
 America, the grass being tall, sweet, and lasting. Countless 
 millions of bison, elk, and deer have fed upon it for ages, 
 and to-day the grass is as fine as it was forty years ago, before 
 any sheep, horses, or neat cattle fed upon it. It is well water- 
 ed, or can be made so with but little expense. 
 
 Between Canadian and Poteau run several streams — I men- 
 tion only two. On Gaines' Creek, naphtha is so common, that it 
 permeates the soil, lies partially solidified on the ground, and 
 floats on the water. Emigrants to California, and soldiers 
 during the war, camping here, have erected chimnies around 
 the orifice in the bank, and setting fire to the native grass, it 
 burnt with a bright, constant flame, giving light for yards and 
 yards around. On the Sanbois the timber, especially red oak 
 — a valuable variety used for roofing — is extraordinarily luxu- 
 riant, tall, large, and straight, in its lower — in its upper 
 section the prairies are very rich in grass, herbs, and vines. 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 65 
 
 In this stream have been found quantities of the muscle pearl, 
 some of them being large and beautiful. Great banks of rich 
 coal crop out in this region, between these streams, and ' 
 stretch across Canadian and its Forks, and to the waters of the i 
 Arkansas. Shales are deep and widespread. The region 
 along Gaines' Creek is undoubtedly rich in petroleum. Salt is 
 also found, every prairie being full of " buffalo" or " deer 
 licks," and parts of the ground often covered with saline in- 
 crustations. 
 
 In this connection, I would remark that, the Atlantic and 
 Pacific Railroad Company, organized under a recent act of 
 Congress, have in view the construction of their road, as pro- 
 vided in their Charter, from Fort Smith, simultaneously with a 
 branch from Springfield, Mo., to connect with the main trunk 
 line the Valley of the Canadian, and from such point west 
 along the 35th Parallel to the Colorado River, and thence to 
 San Diego and San Francisco. Its completion should be look- 
 ed forward to with pleasure, and all the influence you can give 
 to it rendered without reluctance. Its construction will de- 
 velop the garden of the Continent, and the Arkansas Valley 
 will be its readiest channel of outlet. 
 
 There are other long rivers in this territory, rich and varied 
 in their resources, but I shall conclude this brief report with 
 the single observation, that all the rivers which flow into the 
 Arkansas, from Missouri and Arkansas in the east, to the 
 Rocky Mountains in the west, flow through this territory and 
 in it debouch. How worthy it is, then, of exploration — both by } 
 the mineralogist and the geologist — any one can see who reads 
 this short and meagre Report. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. W. WASHBOURN. 
 J. H. Haney, Esq., Secretary Little Rock and Fort Smith 
 Railroad Co, 
 5 
 
REPORT 
 
 OP 
 
 J^MES J^. MARTIN, 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 MINERAL REGION NORTH OF LITTLE ROCK. 
 
 The Granite of Pulaski County is situated in Sections 22, 
 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35 and 36, T. 1, N., R. 12, W., 
 and Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, T. 1, S., R. 12, W., 
 being situated in a considerable ridge in a crescent shape, the 
 I points being to the south, and the centre being north and near- 
 j est to Little Rock and the Arkansas River, being distant from 
 j Little Rock two miles, over a good road. The Granite on the 
 north side of the ridge is greatly broken to pieces,'^and of irreg- 
 ular shape and size, from the smallest particles to masses as 
 large as ordinary houses, while at some localities on the south 
 side it lies in sheets or layers over acres, with only here and 
 there a crack crossing it. These sheets are found to be from, 
 say, four inches thick to any thickness desired. 
 
 This Granite is of a beautiful steel gray generally, and 
 varies in quality from the finest to very coarse, thus affording I 
 the workman the opportunity of choosing any style or quality 
 of stone he may wish for his purpose. 
 
 George Brodie, from Boston, Mass., is the most finished 
 millwright in Arkansas, and stands high as a scientific man 
 generally. He has fully tested this granite in comparison with 
 the French Burr for millstones, and decides that the Granites 
 of Pulaski County are far superior to such French Burr stones. 
 The Granite is entirely free from holes or pores, as we find in 
 the Burr stone, and can be quarried in any desired size, thus 
 avoiding patching and banding, as the Burr stone requires. 
 
68 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 Water and timber are very abundant on and around this 
 Granite ridge, the soil being rich, and, where free from rock, 
 producing finely. 
 
 . Several veins of quartz pass through this Granite ridge, 
 from east to west, bearing very strong mineral indications, 
 and at the Southwestern part of the Hill considerable dig- 
 ging has been done, a great while — perhaps hundreds of years — • 
 ago ; and on the summit of the ridge is a very old furnace, that 
 has been much used. It is not known at this date who did the 
 digging or built the furnace, but it is supposed to have been 
 done by the Spaniards when they passed through this country 
 on their way to Mexico. 
 
 Some excellent iron ore appears on this ridge, on Section 
 27, but it has never been examined or tested, and no conclusion 
 can be arrived at as to its extent. 
 
 This region deserves the attention and thorough exploration 
 of some one capable of understanding and appreciating its 
 worth, and that capital should develop the valuable qualities 
 of the Granite, and to induce our people to make use of a stone 
 that is so valuable and convenient to be had and used. 
 
 The iron ore was taken from two leads, or rather dikes, situ- 
 ated on Sections 18 and 19, Township 1, South, Range 13, West. 
 The dike of " specular" iron ore appears above ground for 
 three-fourths of a mile, and bears about S. 87^ W., and N. 87° E., 
 and has had two or three shafts started on it. One was sunk to 
 the depth of ten feet, and the iron only increased in quantity 
 and quality. It is not known how wide this dike is, nor to 
 what depth it may extend. 
 
 The other dike of the kind, known as " pot ore" has 
 about the same bearing, distance of show, and has been devel- 
 oped about as much. It is supposed these dikes are inexhaust- 
 ible, and foundrymen that have examined the ores agree in 
 pronouncing them of the very best quality. 
 
 Inexhaustible forests of oak, pine, hickory, and other kinds 
 of good timber, are on and around these dikes. 
 
 Quantities of a very strong shell limestone crop out of the 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 69 
 
 creek bank on said Section 18, and also on Section 7, of same 
 Township and Range. 
 
 About three or four miles south of these dikes, considerable 
 beds of lignite coal have been found, but they have not been 
 tested, and it is not known of what value they may be. 
 
 These dikes of iron ore, lime, coal, etc., are immediately on 
 and near the line of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad survey, 
 and are surrounded by a large body of most excellent uplands 
 and very rich creek bottom lands, and will ere long be an ex- i 
 cellent farming region. Many excellent springs are in this 
 region, affording free, limestone, chalybeate and other kinds of 
 water ; even salt water of the strongest kind runs boldly out 
 through the gray granite rocks about four miles S. W. of these : | 
 dikes, near Mr. A. Elrod's place. ! | 
 
 j On Sections 4 and 5, T. 1, S., R. 12, W,, is found a bed or j 
 dike, not certain which, but believed to be a dike of " kaolin," 
 or porcelain clay, of a very fine quality, and seems to be in great 
 quantities, with plenty of fine timber, good springs and land 
 near by. This bed of kaolin is at the southern extremity of 
 the granite ridge, south of Little Rock ; and on this ridge is 
 another bed or dike of kaolin, on Sections 26 and 27, T. 1, N., 
 R. 12, W., that appears to be very extensive. There is no 
 doubt but this clay could be used to great profit, and only needs 
 capital to take hold of it. One bed is within four, and the other 
 eight, miles of Little Rock. 
 
 On Sections 2 and 11, T. 1, S., R. 12, W., is a very heavy 
 deposite of iron ore ("pot ore") of the best quality, believed 
 to be very extensive, as the show above ground extends over 
 the greater portion of two or three sections of land ; but no 
 examination has ever been made. The specimens of iron ore 
 and kaolin, sent, are not the best to be had, by any means, but 
 could not be visited by Messrs Denckla, Washburn, and ' 
 Martin, and they had to take some refused specimens that 1 
 had procured some time previous, the better specimens having 
 been disposed of before. 
 
 I have visited these places frequently, and know their position, 
 
70 
 
 LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 situation, &c., well, and know that much more could be said 
 in giving a faithful description of these valuable localities than 
 I have here attempted to say. 
 
 JAMES A. MARTIN, 
 
 Surveyor, 
 
 Little Rock, Arkansas, Sept, IQth, 1867. 
 
 ANOTHER ARKANSAS RAILROAD. 
 This is the age of great railroad enterprises, and we are glad to record the fact 
 that the State of Arkansas, so long neglected, and so long oblivious to the 
 spirit of progress which distinguishes her more northern sisters, is arousing from 
 I her Rip Van Winkle sleep, and seems about entering upon a new career of pros- 
 i perity. 
 
 i The only road now in operation in Arkansas is from Memphis to Little Kock. In 
 the Valley of the Arkansas alone, it is estimated, there is now a population of 
 considerably upwards of 100,000 souls, engaged almost exclusively in agricultural 
 and pastoral pursuits. To penetrate and develop this vast and in\nting region, 
 and bring it mthin the bounds of modern life and civilization, a road has been 
 j projected from Little Kock to Fort Smith, a distance of 152 miles. The route 
 I was surveyed some years ago, and some work done upon the road, which was in- 
 terrupted by the late rebellion. The company, however, have recently re-organ- 
 ized under a late act of Congress, and now wish to proceed with the work of con- 
 struction. ITiey have an endowment of ten sections of land to the mile from the 
 general government. They also have a considerable grant of lands from the j 
 State of Arkansas, and they will also receive, as the grading progresses, $10,000 
 per mile in eight per cent, bonds of the State. The lands owned by this company | 
 have been recently examined, and are kno^^^l to be rich in minerals, and also to 
 embrace some of the finest agricultural and timber lands in the Arkansas Valle}'. I 
 The Indian country, unmediately west, is reached by this road. This country is oc- | 
 cupied by several of the largest and most highly civilized tribes in the United States, | 
 viz : the CherokeeS, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws and Seminoles. The wonder- j 
 f ul fertility of the soil, the almost Arcadian loveliness of its numerous valleys, 
 its vast prairies and inunense forests, and its mild, salubrious and genial climate, 
 to say nothing of its almost fabulous mineral wealth, which is everywhere plainly 
 to be seen, mark this wonderful region as the future seat and centre of popula- 
 tion, industry and wealth on this continent. This is no over-dra-v\Ti picture, but 
 will be readily recognized and confirmed by any one who has ever visited this fair- 
 est portion of our immense territory. 
 
 Mr. J. H. HANEY, the Chief Engineer of the Company, is now in this city, 
 with full authority to contract for the construction of the entire road. He will 
 give all needful information to capitalists and railroad men who may desire to in- 
 vestigate the affairs of the company. The late hasty mineralogical examination 
 of the company's lands has disclosed very astonishing results, and Mr. Haney will 
 exhibit specimens of ores, &c., to those who feel interested.— [J.wmca7i Railroad \ 
 Journal, of New York. \ 
 
LITTLE ROCK AND FORT SMITH RAILROAD CO. 
 
 71 
 
 MINES AND MINERALS OF ARKANSAS. 
 
 We have had the pleasure of seemg a very handsome collection of argentiferous 
 galena, and a variety of iron, slate, coal, honestone, etc., all of which specimens 
 are now on exhibition at Room 5, comer of William and Pine streets, in this city, 
 and were transmitted by the promoters of the " Little Rock and Fort Smith Rail- 
 road Company." Mr. William P. Denckla, formerly of California, has been over 
 that State making a hasty reconnoissance all along the proposed railroad route, 
 and pronounces that part of Arkansas equally as prolific for mineral and metallic 
 wealth as the States bordering on the Pacific coast. The galena ores, and coal 
 especially, are evidently great deposits, and could at once be made to peld treas- 
 ures to any earnest and enterprising company or association. Eminent analytical 
 chemists and assayers say that from 60 to 70 per cent, silver is contained in the i 
 galena ores. The coal, which exists in many layers, is of a bituminous character, 
 and will prove of incalculable benefit to the railroad enterprise now being brought 
 before capitalists in this city. — [American Mining Index, I^. Y. 
 
I 
 
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