®0mrtl lllttmi;siitg piht;at;g THE GIFT OF .CUL .oJfrtR.^w^o-'- A. . .2, O 3i-.«?.^. iS-lbJU-. p HOME USE RULES. Books not needed for instruction or re- search are returnable within 4 weeks. Volumes of periodi- cals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special purposes they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the bene- fit of other persons. Books not needed during recess periods should be returned to the library, or arrange- ments made for their return during borrow- er's absence, if wanted. Books needed by more than one person are held on the reserve list. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Cornell University Library TN 24.A2S64 index to the mineral, resources of Alabam 3 1924 004 585 414 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004585414 GEOLOGICAL SUETEY OF ALABAMA EUGENE ALLEN SMITH, State Geologist. INDEX TO The Mineral Resources OF ALABAMA. BY EUGENE A. SMITH AND HENRY McCALLEY. With Map and Illustrations. Brown Printing Company, Montgomery, Ala., 1904. To His Excellency, Goz . William D. J elks : Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith an Index to the Mineral Resources of Alabama. As the name implies, this document is intended rather to di- rect, the attention of those interested to the various natural re- sources of the State which are considered capable of being profitably utilized, and to the sources from which more detailed information may be derived, than to be a complete or ade- quate presentation of the subject. Very respectfully, Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist. University of Alabama, April 30, 1904. GEOLOGICAL CORPS. Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist. Henry McCai^ley, Chief Assistant. RpBERT S. Hodges, Chemist. James A. Anderson, Assistant in Office and Museum. B. F. Lovelace, Assistant in Coastal Plain Work. George N. Brewer, Assistant in Coal Measures Work. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. Letter of Transmittal , 1 Geological Corps 3 List of the Published Reports of the Alabama Geological Survey 5 Table of the Geological Formations of Alabama ; 8 CHAPTER I. Materials Used in the Manufacture of Iron 9 The Ores 9 1. Red Ore, or Hematite 10 2. Brown Ore, or Hmonite 13 3. Gray Ore, or Magnetite 17 4. Black Band and Clay Iron Stone 18 Manganese Ores 18 Bauxite 19 The Coal 20 TKe Warrior Coal Field 22 The Plateau Region 22 The Warrior Basin 23 The Cahaba Field 24 The Coosa Field 26 The Stone 27 Limestones and Dolomite 27 Marbles , 29 Lithographic Stone , 32 CHAPTER II. Clays and Cement 33 Kaolins, Clays, and Shales : 3.". Koalins ,. >'3 Clays 34 China Clays 35 Fire Clays 36 Pottery, or Stoneware Clays 38 Clays and Shales suitable for Portland Cement Making. . 40 Shales and Clays, suitable for paving brick, etc 42 The Cement Resources of Alabama 42 Slag Cement 42 Portland Cement 42 1. Trenton Limestone 43 2. Bangor Limestone 45 3. Selma Chalk 47 4. St. Stephens Limestone 50 CHAPTER III. PAGE. Miscellaneous 53 Gold 53 Copper Ore and Pyrite 56 Graphite 58 Mica 59 Corundum, Asbestos, and Soapstone 60 Lead Ore 61 TABLE OP CONTENTS. Mineral Paints 62 Ochres 62 Barite 62 Tripoli, or Polishing Powder 63 Copperas, Alum, and Epsom Salts 63 Nitre 64 Phosphates 64 Silurian Formation 64 Cretaceous Formation 65 Tertiary Formation 66 Building Stones 66 Limestones 66 Sandstones 67 Granites and other Igneous Rocks 67 Paring and Curb Stones ^ 68 Slates 68 Sands 68 Road and Ballast Materials 69 Chert 69 Pebbles 70 Broken Stone 70 Millstones, Grindstones, and Whetstones 70 Asphaltum, Maltha, Petroleum, and Natural Gas 70 Mineral Waters 72 Soils 74 ILLUSTRATIONS. Geological Map of Alabama, Frontispiece. . . ,. Plate I — Outcrop of Red Mountain Ore Seam at IshkoOda, Jefferson County, to face page 11 Plate II — Greely Open Cut, Brown Ore Mine, Goethite, Tusca- loosa County, to face page . .' 17 Plate III — Section of Blue Creek Coal Seam, Tenn. C, I. & R. R. Company's Mine, Jefferson County, to face page. ...... 24 Plate IV^Dolomite Quarry at Dololte;, Jefferson.Cpunty, to face page 28 Plate V — Bluff of Selma Chalk, right bank of Tombigbee River at Demopolis, to face page ■ , . 47 Plate VI— St. Stephens Bluff, Tombigbee River, Washington County, to face page , • ■ ■ 50 ■s i' 1^ -K ^ « ■^' % C/l S •-] llJ r-^F -J 13 Ml s O '■• --■ 3 8 UJ if ■D c -o < UJ c 1- o UJ 1 D. _ c i; « n n S> 1;. — lilST OF PUBLISHED REPORTS OF THE ALABAMA GEOLOOICAL SURVEY. 1. Report of progress for 1874; On the Metamorphic Re- gion of Alabama. Eugene A. Smith 139 pages. Out of print. 2. Report of Progress for 1875. Paleozoic Formations of Coosa Valley, Eugene A. Smith. On Coal Mining in Ala- bama, T. H. Aldrich. 220 pages. Postage, 5 cents. 3. Report of Progress for 1867. Paleozoic Formations of Roup's Jones', and Cahaba Valleys ; Eugene A, Smith, with map ; Fresh Water and Land Shells, Lewis. 100 pages. Out of print. 4. Report of Progress for 1877-78 ; On the Tennessee \''al- ley, Brown's Valley, and Warrior Coal Basin ; 4 county maps ; Eugene A. Smith. 159 pages. Out of print. 5. Report of Progress for 1879-80. Resources of the War- rior Coal Field, between Tuscaloosa and Sipsey Pork. 2 maps. Eugene A. Smith. Tennessee Valley North of the River; Henry McCalley. 158 pages. Out of print. 6. Report for the years 1881-82. Agricultural Features of Alabama; maps and illustrations; Eugene A. Smith. 615 pages. Out of print. 7. Report on the Warrior Coal Field, 1886; Henry Mc- Calley. 571 pages. Out of print. 8. Bulletin No. i , Fossils of the Tertiary Formation ; T. H. Aldrich and O. Meyer, 1886; 9 plates. Out of print. 9. Fresh Water and Marine Crustacea of Alabama; 8 plates; 56 pages, 1888; C. L. Herrick. Out of print. 10. Report on the Cahaba Coal Field; Joseph Squire. Ap- pendix, Geology of Adjacent Valleys; Eugene A. Smith. Maps, 6 plates and many cuts ; colored sections ; 189 pages ; cloth, 1890. Postage, iic. 11. Coal Measures of the Plateau Region of the Warrior Field ; H. McCalley ; A. M. Gibson ; map and colored sections ; 238 pages, 1891. Postage, 5 cents. 3 6 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. 12. Bulletin No. 2; On the Phosphates and Marls of Ala- bama; Eugene A. Smith; 82 pages; 1892. Edition Exhausted. 13. Bulletin No. 3; On the Lower Gold Belt; Wm. B. Phillips; map and illustrations; 97 pages; 1892. Edition ex- hausted. 14. Bulletin No. 4; Geology of Northeast Alabama and adjacent parts of Georgia and Tennessee; C. W. Hayes; map and illustrations ; 85 pages ; 1892. Postage, 3 cents. 15. Report on Murphree's Valley; A. M. Gibson, one sec- tion, 132 pages; 1893. Postage, 3 cents. 16. Coal Measures of Blount Mountain; A. M. Gibson; map and sections; 80 pages; 1893. Edition exhausted. 17. Geological Map of Alabama with Explanatory Chart; 1893. Edition exhausted. 18. Geology of the Coastal Plain of Alabama; Eugene A. Smith, L. C. Johnson, D. W. Langdon, and others ; many sec- tions and 'other illustrations; 760 pages; 1894. Postage, 18 cents. 19. Report on the Coosa Coal Field; A. M. Gibson; with section; 143 pages; 1895. Postage, 4 cents. 20. Bulletin No. 5; On the Upper Gold Beh; W. M. Brewer; with notes on the most important RocM Varieties; E. A. Smith; G. W. Hawes, J. M. Clements, and A. H. Brooks; 202 pages; 1896. Postage, 5c. 21. Report on Iron Making in Alabama; Wm. B. Phil- lips; 164 pages; 1896. Edition exhausted. 22. The Valley Regions of Alabama; Henry McCalley. Part I. On the Tennessee Valley Region; 436 pp; 1896; p. IOC Part II. On the Coosa Valley Region; 862 pages; 1897; p. 20c. 23. Report on Iron Making in Alabama; Second Edition; Wm. B. Phillips. 380 pages. 1898. Edition exhausted. 24. Warrior Basin Report and Map; Henry McCalley; $1.00. Map in separate envelope. Numerous folding sections. 327 pages. 1900. Postage, 16 cents. PUBLISHED REPORTS. 7 25. Bulletin No. 6; Preliminary report on the Clays of abama, with Chemical analyses and Physical tests ot some the more important; Dr. Heinrich Ries. 220 pages. 1900. istage, 8 cents. 26. The Plant Life of Alabama; an account of the distri- tion, modes of association, and adaptions of the Flora of abama; together with a systematic Catalogue of the Plants owing in the State without cultivation, by Charles Mohr, iD. Cloth. Map and two portraits. 921 pages. 1901. Post- e, 33 cents. 27. Bulletin No. 7; Preliminary Report on a part of the ater Powers of Alabama, B. M. Hall. Maps and illustrations. 8 pages. 1903. Postage, 6 cents. 28. Bulletin No. 8; Preliminary Report on the Cement Re- urces of Alabama. Eugene A. Smith. Postage, — 29. Bulletin No. 9 ; Preliminary Report on the Artesian d Other Underground Waters of Alabama. Eugene A. nith. Postage, — 30. Index to the Mineral Resources of Alabama. E. A. iiith and Henry McCalley. Maps and illustrations; 79 ges. 1904. Postage, 3 cents. These publications are mailed, free of charge; (except No. , price $1.00,) to Libraries and individuals who may wish possess them; but applicants should, in each case, forward I amount of postage needed for mailing the Report desired, EUGENE A. SMITH, State Geologist, University, Ala. TABLE OF THE GEOLOGICAI FORMATIONS OF ALABAMA. Recent. Quaternary Tertiary. Soils First Bottom Deposits. f Second Bottom Deposits. \ Columbia or Ozark Sands. [ Lafayette. _,. f Grand Gulf, P'loc^^e-jpascagoula. Miocene. [ Eocene. I Beds I Oak Grove, etc. f St, Stephens, I Claiborne and Bulirstone. ) Lignitic 1^ Clayton or Midway. Cretaceous . f Ripley, 1 Selma Chalk, I Eutaw. I Tuscaloosa. Carboniferous. Upper - Lower -Coal Measures. f Bangor Limestone and I Oxmoor sandstone & shales j Contempor- \ aneous. Tuscumbia limestone (St.Louis) C Ft. Payne Lauderdale chert (Keokuk) . . . . ) chert. Devonian — Black shale. f Upper.— Red Mountain or Clinton. Silurian . \ ( Trenton or Pelham Limestone, [Lower. — | Knox Dolomite — in part. f Coosa or Flatwoods Shales. I Montevallo variegated shales and sandstones. Cambrian. ■^ Aldrich Limestone. [ W eisner Quartzite. I Talladega or Ocoee Slates — ^Metamorphic Pale- I ozoic strata; Coal Measures In part. \ Ashland Mica Schists; Metamorphic Sediments of undetermined age; probably Paleozoic. Mica Schists; older series; probably Pre-Cam- brlan. ligneous Rocks; granites, diorites, gneisses, etc. of several ages; Pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic. Metamorphic and Igneous Rocks. . . CHAPTER I. \IATERIAL8 USED TN IRON MAKING, AND ASSO- CIATED MINERALS. It is fitting that a document which treats of the Mineral Re- ionrces of Alabama, should begin with an account of those :oncerned in that Industry which has done so much to give to :his state its present commanding position in the industrial world, viz.. Iron Making. THE ORES. The iron ores of Alabama in the order of their economic im- >ortance are (i) The Red Ore or Hematite, (2) The Brown Dre or Limonite, (3) The Gray Ore or Magnetite, and (4) Black Band and Clay Iron Stone. Only the two first have )een mined on any large scale. These ores are used in the manufacture of pig iron for ioundries, mills and pipe works, and for making basic iron tor open hearth steel plants. As a rule, they are too high in )hosphoriis for making Bessemer steel. Practically all the ore mined in Alabama is smelted in the ;tate, the shipments out of the state being about equal to what s received from other states. Alabama stands third in iron ore production among the ;tates of the Union. The product for 1902 was 3,574,474 ong tons, which was a little over ten per cent, of the iron ore nined in the United States. This output had a value at the nines at $1.10 per ton, of $3,936,812. This valuation is less han that obtaining in any other state except Texas, the aver- ige in the United States being about $1.84 per long ton. There are 42 coke furnaces and 6 charcoal furnaces in ope- ation in the state. The charcoal furnaces are gradually go- ng out of blast, and will soon be a thing of the past. 10 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. In pig iron production Alabama ranks fourth among the states of the Union. This high rank, which will probably soon be exceeded, is due in great measure to the close prox- imity of the ore, the stone, and the coal needed for the produc- tion of the iron. At many points in the Birmingham District these three essentials are obtained within a radius of six miles of the furnaces. (i.) Red Ore, or Hematite: — While Hematite occurs in Alabama in several geological formations, it is only in the Upper Silurian that it is in sufficient quantity to be of great commercial value. This, the Red Mountain, or Clinton ore, is otherwise known as Dyestone ore, Fossiliferous ore. Oolitic ore, etc. It is the most important iron ore in the state because of its great quantity, the low cost with which it may be mined, its reliability, and its close proximity to the coal and stone used in the manufacture of iron. The output of red ore for 1902 was 2,565,635 long tons, making about 72 per cent, of the iron ore product of the state. The Red Mountain ridges occur normally on each side of the anticlinal valleys which separate the Coal areas from each other, and are distinguished as East Red Mountain and West Red Mo'imtain. In places the red ore ridges are lacking on one side of the valleys, usually the western side, being cut out by faults, while on the other hand the ridge may be duplicated on one side by the same cause. This formation occurs also in the much disturbed strata east of the Coosa Coal Field, in ridges of sandstone and conglom'erate which carry no red ore. In most of the valley occurrences, the moderate dips of the strata are on the eastern side, and the steep dips and faults are on the western side. Murphree's Valley makes an excep- tion to this, the faults and vertical measures being on the eastern side. It is usually the case also that the ore bed shows the highest angle of dip at the outcrop, and that the dip rap- idlv decreases as the bed is penetrated. The iron occurs mainly in the central part of the formation, in seams or beds, one to five in number, which vary in thick- ness from a few inches to thirty feet. While the ore seams are very persistent along the outcrop, which in Alabama must be as much as 50 miles, yet they varv greatly from place to place, being either too thin or too lean for profitable working in by far the greater part of this dis- tance. p o 1-3 O ■3 -t-> c o OI P! o 3 O Si IRON ORES: RED ORE. H Much mining of red ore has been done near Gate City, Vil- lage Springs, Springville, Attalla, Gadsden, Round Moun- tain, Gaylesville, Ft. Payne, A^alley Head, etc., but the most im- portant development of the Clinton ore in the state and in the world, is along the 15 or 16 mile stretch of the East Red Mountain between Birmingham and Bessemer, and there is a practically continuous series of mines, and strippings for this entire distance. The ore here is in three different seams, but the upper fifteen feet of the Big Seam or Red Mauntain seam, have furnished almost the entire supply of ore to the 23 furn- aces of the district. Plate I shows the outcrop of this seam near Birmingham. Tn a large part of this stretch of Red Mountain, the ore has been gained by stripping down to where the cover becomes fifteen or twenty feet thick over the ore and too expensive to remove. Most of the ore, however, is obtained from well developed deep mines going down on the slope of the bed. These mines are equipped with all the latest and most improved devices for the cheap handling of the ore. The deepest of these mines at the present time has gone down on the dip of the bed a dis- tance of 1850 feet from the outcrop. The ore is brought by small mine cars from' the different entries to the main slope and there emptied into a skip holding from 12 to 14 tons. The skips are hauled to the surface by steam power, the ore is dum.ped automatically into the crushers and thence intO' the railroad cars. This arrangement very greatly increases the handling capacitv, and is intended to work to a depth of about a mile. When fully equipped the Red ore mines of the Ten- nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company alone will have a ca- pacity estimated at 10,000 tons a. day. The ore of the Big Seam improves in quality towards the southwest, the percentage of lime increasing while that of si- lica decreases. The percentage of alumina remains about con- stant, but on account of the coming in of slate partings, more care has to be exercised in the mining. The lower and major part of the Big Seam has not been worked except very sparingly at the outcrop, being too silic- eocis. with the silica increasing from top to bottom of the seam. 12 MINBRAI. RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. Experiments carried out b)' Dr. Wm. B. Phillips for the Tennessee Company, have fully demonstrated the practica- bility of reducing- the relative proportion of silica by magnetic concentration, so that the entire thickness of this great seam will one day be utilized, and the same may be said of the silic- eous ores of other parts of the state. The other seams of the Red Mountain Ore, viz., the Iron- dale Seam below the Big Seam, and the Ida seam above it, have been worked at places along the East Red Mountain from opposite Birmingham towards the northeast ; the ore is softer than that of the Big Seam,, carrying sometimes over 50 per cent, of m.etallic iron. The Ida seam, where worked, yields a compact ore five or six feet thick, with 30 to 35 per cent, of metallic iron. In most of the smaller mines the mine cars ar? hauled to the surface; the miners are paid by the car load (abcut two toi^s), the tracks being kept up by the company. Without any reference to the actual hardness of the ore, the leached red ore containing very little lime is called soft ore, and the unleached or limy ore, hard ore. The soft ore is usually hard enough to necessitate blasting and crushing. As a rule it extends down on the dip a dis- tance of 150 to 200 feet from the outcrop, though on the one hand it sometimes extends 300 feet, and on the other hand, in places the hard ore sets in at the outcrop ; the amount and depth of the soft ore apparently being more or less determined by the cover. The transition from the one variety to the other is usually abrupt, but the line of contact is irregular, the soft ore extending in points down into the hard ore. Moreove.. the soft ore often includes boulders and pockets of the hard ore, and occasionally "horses" of ferruginous sandstone. Bo h ores are quite contsant in composition away from the line of contact. The soft ore is limited in quantity but this does not signify much, is it is being less and less used in the furnaces. It is usually a mass of smooth, rounded, and flattened grains of quartz of the size of bird shot and smaller, coated with hema- tite and cemented together by the same material. Its average composition as shown by stock house analyses extended over many vears, is about as follows : Silica or insoluble matter 27 per cent; Metallic iron 46 per cent; Water 7 per cent; Phosphorus 0.30 per cent, to 0.40 per cent, and a little lime. IRON ORES: BROWN ORB. 13 The main dependence of the furnaces of the Birmingham district is the hard ore. In the mines it always sets in at the water level, holding its own as to thickness and composition, to the bottom of the deepest mine, 1850 feet, and as far as tested by borings, at least 3,500 to 4,000 feet to the southeast from the outcrop; there seems thus to be no reason for antic- ipating any adverse change in the ore within the depth to which mining operations are likely to be carried. When the hard ore carries about equal amounts of silica and lime it is self-fluxing, and under these conditions it has been used alone in the furnaces. Usually, however, it con- tains more lime than is necessary for self-fluxing, in which case, a little soft ore, or brown ore, or both are added. At the present time the soft ore makes seldom over ten per cent of the ore burden, though in some of the furnaces it makes half of the burden. From stock house samples the composition of the hard ore is shown to be about as follows : Silica, 13.4 per cent. ; Metallic iron, 37 per cent. ; Lime, 16.20 per cent.; Alumina, 3.18 per cent.; Phosphorus, .37 per cent.; Sulphur, .07 per cent.; Carbonic acid, 12.24 P^r cent.; Water, 0.50 per cent. Red Hematite occurs in Alabama also in the Trenton for- mation, where it is very similar in quality and appearance to the soft red ore of the Clinton. And in the Cambrian for- mation still lower in the geological column, it has been ob- served in stratified seams from 18 inches to 5 feet in thick- ness. The Cambrian ore is of the crystallized or specular variety, and may some day be utilized. The known occurrences of it are few in number and none of them has as yet been fully tested. I (2.) Brown Ore or Limonite. — This ore, the sec- ond in importance of the iron ores of Alabama as well as of the United States, furnished only 9.3 per cent of the total iron ore production of the United States in 1902. Of this, Alabama produced 28 per cent, 1,008,839 long tons, and the state leads in this industry. In the early days of iron making and up to the year 1876 this was the only ore used in the Catalan forges, bloomaries, and charcoal furnaces of the state. It was then demonstrated 14 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. that good iron could be made at low cost from the red ores, with coke for the fuel. In genei"al the limonites are considered the best of the ores of Alabama and they command the highest prices and com- mand a ready sale. The usual mode of occurrence is in irregular masses of con- cretionary origin in the residual clays resulting from the de- composition of limestones, and as a consequence the mining is uncertain and expensive. Limonite also occurs in regular- ly stratified seams or beds, and then it is the result of the -al- teration of pyrites or of carbonate ores. Practically all of the brown ore actually mined is that occurring in the residual clays above mentioned. Most of the ore before going to the fur- nace is washed and screened, and this manipulation, together with the cost of mining, makes it the most expensive of the iron. ores, and it is therefore: seldom used alone, but is usually mixed with the red ore in proportions deterrhined by the quality of the iron desired. It is used alone in the charcoal furnaces and also in the coke furnaces when a particularly tough pig iron is wanted. Usually the brown ore constitutes about 20 per cent of the ore burden. This addition of brown ere to the red, besides taking care of the excess of lime in the hard red ore, causes a smoother and more uniform flow in the furnace burden, lessening the danger from hanging or shelv- ing. In a few places a manganiferous limonite occurs, and small quantities of it have been used in the production of spiegel- eisen, and ferro-manganese. The limonite deposits are very numerous and are distrib- uted over a broad expanse of country and in many places are known to be very extensive. In some of the deposits the ore is in nearly solid mass, in others it is much scattered, and in consequence the amount of foreign material necessary to be moved for every ton of ore produced, varies very much, not only in the different ore banks but also in the different parts of the same bank. The mining is in irregular diggings and open cuts, and is mostly done by contract, costing about 75 cents on an average to mine, and bringing about $1.00 per ton at the furnace Among the varieties of brown ore are the compact, the honey comb, and the ochreous or earthy ores. The pocket ore is IRON ORBS: BROWN ORE. 15 nearly always associated with "horses" oif clay often pure white and plastic. It is also sometimes mixed with foreign matters such as loose chert, and fragments of sandstone and conglomerate. The deposits occur in nearly all the geological formations of the state, but in most of these the ore is either insufficient in quantity or not pure enough to be of much commercial value. The most important of the deposits, in point of extent and value, occur in the following formations, viz., the Knox Dolomite and the VVeisner Quartzite, the Lauderdale Chert of the Lower Carboniferous, and the Lafayette.- Some exten- sive beds of ore of inferior quality generally, occur also on the Tuscaloosa formation of the Cretaceous, and in the upper part of the I^wer Carboniferous and in the Metamorphic rocks. The Lafayette. — This ore is widely distributed, but does not occur in many places in sufficient quantity and of such quality as to justify working. It is the principal ore of the northern part of the state in the counties of Colbert, Franklin, Marion and Lamar. Loose boulders scattered over the surface supplied the first furnace in Alabama, which was built in 1818 on Cedar Creek in Franklin county. A Catalan forge must also have been at the same place for lumps of malleable, as well as of cast iron, are to be found around the old furnace ruins. The furnaces of Sheffield and Florence use this ore with- out admixture with other ore. Many of the deposits are on high ground and are comparatively shallow, as shown by the diggings extending down to the underlying bedded rocks. Other deposits in lower situations are 50 and 60 feet and more in depth. The ore is mostly a dark colored compact ore, but in in some of the deposits it is of concretionary nature with red and yellow ochres filling the cavities. It occurs in a red sandy loam usually along with rounded pebbles of quartz and often with ferruginous sandstone and conglomerate. This ore, while occurring in the surface red loams of the Lafayette, probably has its source in the Lower Carboniferous limestones and pos- sibly also in part in the stratified seams at the base of the Coal Measures. In the banks the ore often makes 25 to 30 per cent of the entire mass. It is of good quality as is shown by the fallowing average analysis of washed ore furnished to the Sloss-Shef- IQ MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. field furnaces from the numerous banks about Russellville : Metallic iron 53.67 per cent; Alumina 5.58 per cent; Silica 8.52 per cent. ; Phosphorus, 0.33 per cent. It is said to work well in the furnace and to yield an unusually good quality of pig iron, that seldom runs higher than 0.60 per cent of phosphorus and 0.50 per cent of silicon. The Lauderdale Chert: — The ore of this formation is in stratified seams and pockets. The former are probably the weathered outcrops of carbonate and the pocket ore also, in part at least, froiTi .the weathering and breaking down of the strati- fied seams. The stratified ore in one or two seams may in some localities be traced' for miles where it is too thin or too cherty to be of commercial value. At intervals along these outcrops there are some extensive deposits of boulder, nodular and gravelly ore of good quality, though as a rule inferior to the limonites of some of the other formations. It has never been extensively worked in Alabama. Some of the limonites of this formation are highly manganiferous. The Knox Dolomite : — The brown ore of the Knox Dolo- mite is the most abundant, has been extensively mined and, in general, is the best of the iron ores of the state. Some of the deposits, have been worked to depth of 100 feet with ore still at the bottom'. The most important deposits and mines are in Cherokee, Calhoun, Talladega, Shelby, Bibb, Tuscaloosa and Blount counties. The ore is found in irregular pockets in the red clay resulting from the decomposition of the limestone of the formation, and while mostly of good quality, high in iron and low in silica and phosphorus, it is sometimes rough and cherty and sometimes a black waxy ore, high in phosphorus. The cherty ore is usually in large boulders, sometimes occurring in rows as if outcrops of stratified ledges. The view in Plate II of an open cut at Greeley in Tusca- loosa county, illustrates well the mode of occurrence and method of mining the brown ore. The average composition of the dried ore, as shown by many analyses is, Metallic iron 5 1 .00 per cent ; Silica 9 per cent ; Alumina 3.75 per cent; Lime 0.75 per cent; Phosphorus 0.40 per cent, and Sulphur o.io per cent. Plate II— Greely Open Cut Brown Ore! Mine, Goethite, Tuscaloosa County. IRON ORES: MAGNETITE. 17 The charcoal furnaces of the state are wholly supplied with this ore. The Weisncr Quartcntc : — The deposits of this formation are numerous and extensive, and are either the outcrops of one or more stratified seams, or a pocket ore derived in part at least from the weathering and breaking down of the stratified seams. The stratified ore outcrops near the crests of the mountains, (Weisner), while the pocket deposits are mostly near the base of the mountains or along fault lines. The former deposits are very variable, attaining sometimes considerable size, being as much as several hundred yards in length and forty to fifty feet thick. The pocket ore comprises some of the most exten- sive brown ore deposits in the state. The ore itself is some- what variable, being in part a black waxy ore .high in phos- phorus, in part a mixture of verj' good ore with a highly silice- ous or sandy ore. For this reason the mining is sometimes tedious and expen- sive because of the necessity of separating the good from the bad. These siliceous or sandy, ores are in very large quanti- ties and will no doubt some day be utilized after being concen- trated by magnetic' process. (3.) The Gray Ore or Magnetite: — This ore occurs in the upper part of the Weisner Quartzite formation in Talla- degt county. It is in several stratified seams, one to four, varying in thickness from two to eight feet. While these seams of ore are generally highly siliceous and hardly more than dark gray sandstone with sparingly dissem- inated grains of magnetite, yet in places the ore carries as much as 80 per cent of magnetite and only 17 to 18 per cent of silica. The ore is sometimes massive in structure sometimes lami- noted and almost fibrous, breaking up on weathering into fragments that resemble chips of wood. The magnetite is also sometimes in thin scales or plates making a kind of specular ore high in titanium. The Talladega magnetite has been somewhat extensively in- vestigated and considerable amounts have been raised and furnace tests made, and it is probable that this desirable ore will soon be added to the list of our commercially important resources. 18 MINERAL RESOURCES OF A1lA.BAMA. Considerable magnetite has been observed at a number of points in the region of our metmorphic rocks, but as yet not in sufficient quantity to be commercially used. (4.) Black Band and Clay Iron StonB: — The black band is a highly carbonaceous variety of the carbonate ore, oc- curring at a number of points in the Coal Measures. It has been mined or quarried at only a few places and then only to a very limited extent. Some experiments have been made with it in the ^furnaces both in the raw and calcined state. The Clay iron stone occurs in regular seams and in rounded and flattened concretions in the strata of the Coal Measures, and also in the lower Cretaceous and in the Tertiary forma- tions, in none of which, however, has it yet been demonstrated to be of any commercial importance. As result of the weath- ing and disintegration of this ore are found occasionally some very good deposits of limonite or brown ore. In connection with iron ores two closely associated minerals may appropriately be described, viz., manganese ores and bauxite. Manganese Ores. Pyrolusite and Psilomelane occur in a number of localities in Cleburne, Calhoun, Blount and Cherokee counties in quan- tity sufficient to make them of probable commercial value. Several of these deposits in the Weisner formation in Cle- burne county have been worked and have furnished probably the greater part of the pure manganese ore that has been mined in the state. Manganiferous limonite has been mined to some extent near Anniston and converted into Spiegel eisen and ferro-manga- nese'm the Anniston funiaces. In its mode of occurrence manganese ore is very similar to brown iron ore, with which it is closely associated, miost of the brown ore banks containing more or less of it, and it often happens that the same deposit is partly limonite and partly manganese ore. The Blount county deposits of this kind are near the base of the Fort Payne chert of the Lower Carbon- iferous, those of Cherokee, Tuscaloosa and other counties are in the Knox Dolomite. BAUXITE. 19 Bauxite. This ore, a hydrate of alumina, is much used as a source of the metal aluminum and of some of its compounds, mainly alum. In this state it occurs, mainly in the Knox Dolomite and in the Weisner Quartzite formations, in irregular deposits along a narrow belt extending from the Georgia line south- westward as far as Anniston. All the deposits thus far known are in the counties of Cherokee, Cleburne, Calhoun and De- Kalb, but they are too irregular in their occurrence and have been too little investigated to admit of any close approxima- tion to the quantity of the ore. The ore is commonly concretionary or pisolitic though some- times compact, homogenous and fine grained, and the best quality is of gray to white colors. Much of it has iron oxide replacing part of the alumina with the result of giving a red- dish and mottled appearance to the ore. Associated with the true bauxite are mixtures of clay and bauxite in varying proportions, and in places irregular streaks or bands of pure halloysite occur in the midst of the bauxite. The bauxitic clays above mentioned are exceedingly refractory and have been suggested as suitable material for the manu- facture of fire brick. The mode of ccurrence of the bauxite is very similar to that of liraonite, in irregular and ill defined pockets, and in some of the limonite banks about Rock Run in Cherokee county, the iron ore appears to grade into the bauxite, and both ores have been obtained from the same digging. Other associations with the bauxite are white china clay and lignite, both of which occur in a bauxite-limonite bank near Rock Run. Manganese ores have alsO' been observed in connection with the bauxite. The bauxite is obtained from open cuts and pits -which are in places 60 to 70 feet deep. It is easily mined, being rather soft below the surface. After sorting and concentrating by screen and hand, it is spread out under shelter and dried bv artificial heat before sending to the market, rotary driers being most commonly used. Only the very highest grade of the ore is sold, the lower grades being thrown aside for the present, but the time will probably come when it will all be used in the manufacture of fire brick, as well as of aluminum compounds 20 MINERAL RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. of various kinds. In the year 1903 only about 6,262 long tons of bauxite were mined in Alabama, as the works were mostly in that part of the deposit lying within the Georgia line. The principal markets are New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Syracuse, Lockport, etc., where are located the alum- inum and alum manufactories ; and some of the best quality was exported to> Germany. Fuller details concerning the iron and manganese ores and bauxite may be found in the Reports on' Murphree's Val- ley, and on the Valley Regions, Parts I and II, and in the re- port of Iron Making. THE COAL. The termination towards the southwest of the great Appala- chian Coal Field, embraces an area in Alabama of about 8,800 square miles. This area is in three distinct fields separated from each other by narrow anticlinal valleys in which the limestones, iron ores, etc., of older formations than the Coal Measures make the surface. From the main streams which drain them, these fields have been named the Warrior, the Cahaba and the Coosa. In all three fields the strata have a general dip or pitch to- wards the southwest, and each is a trough with its axis near the southeastern border; thus the greatest thickness of the measures will be in each field, near the eastern border and at or towards the southwestern end. The maximum thickness of these measures will not fall short of 4,000 feet. The coal seams vary in thickness from a few inches up to 16 feet, but the thick seams are always more or less shaly. About .-25 of these seams have a thickness of 18 inches upwards and have been worked. Previous to 1874 it has been estimated that the total coal production of Alabama did not exceed 480,000 tons, the earli- est mining operations having been carried on in the "forties," in the Trout Creek and Broken Arrow regions of the Coosa field, and in the Montevallo district of the Cahaba field. Since 1874 the production has increased rapidly and in 1903 it was, according to the report of the State Mine Inspector, 11,700,- 753 tons, valued at about $15,000,000, Alabama ranking fifth among the coal producing states of the Union. COAL. 21 Between two hundred and fifty and three hundred mines on about twenty-five different seams have furnished this coal. These mines vary in annual production from 2,000 to 418,000 tons; more than half of them are drifts with natural drainage; about one third are slopes, and only seven are shafts, the deep- est oi which is 230 feet. The larger mines are provided with the most modern equipments for mining and raising the coal. The pillar and stall system is the mining method most in use, but the long wall system has been adopted in some cases. In the year 1903 coal mining gave employment to 12,876 miners and 5,230 day men, using about 100 mining machines in 13 mines. The mines are comparatively free from fire damp which has been detected in about one fourth of them. The Alabama coals are all bituminous coals, and of quality, as shown by chemical analyses and the practical tests of use, to. compare favorably with the coal of other states. By the use of improved shaking screens the coal as mined is separated into lump, nut and slack. The two first go to the general mar- ket for steam and domestic purposes, while the slack after washing is used mostly for making coke for the iron furnaces, though some of it is used for blacksmithing. Within the last few years a good deal of rim of mines from several different mines has been shipped to Dembpolis and there used in the rotary kilns of the portland cement plant, for which purpose it has been found to be well adapted. The principal markets for the coal are within the state, but much of it goes to South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mis- sippi, Louisiana and Texas; to the steamships at Mobile, Pen- sacola, New Orleans and Savannah ; and to the export trade, chiefly to Mexico. The home supply is used mainly for manufacture of coke for the iron furnaces, while the commercial shipments are mostly of steam coal which is suplied to almost every railroad in the So-uth. The growth of the Coke industry in Alabama has been even more rapid than that of the coal mining. It was not until 1876 that it was known that the Alabama Coal would make coke suitable for iron smelting, and the state ranks now second in the Union as a coke producing state. The coke production in 1903, as given in the Alabama State Mine Inspector's Report, was 2,568,185 tons. The 22 MINERAL RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. greater part of this coke was used in the iron furnaces of the state, though a portion of it was shipped to other states and to- Mexico, for smelting and foundry purposes. The present product does not begin to supply the demand and many new ovens are in course of construction. The coke in 1903 was made in about 8,638 ovens, all of the bee hive pattern except about 24.0 Semet-Solvay ovens at Ensley, with a daily capacity of about 1,250 tons. The 80 Semet-Solvay ovens at the Central Furnace near Tuscaloosa were not yet in operation in 1903. Most of the coke is made from slack coal but the entire out- put of some of the mines, after crushing, washing and drain- ing, is converted into- coke. With one or two exceptions, the heat and gases from the bee hive ovens are allowed to go to waste; but the Semet-Solvay ovens, of course, utilize these products. At a valuation of $2.45 a ton the coke product of Alabama during 1903 was worth nearly $6,000,000. The Wareioe Coal Field. This field which lies tO' the north and west of the other two- above named, has nearly ten times the area of the two com- bined, estimated at 7,800 square miles. In the usual classifi- cation the Warrior Field comprises all of the coal measures of Alabama, drained by the Warrior and Tennessee Rivers, together with those of Lookout Mountain drained bv the Coosa river. The relatively greater importance of the Warrior Field is due also to the vast amount of coal that can be economically mined within its limits, the coal seams outcropping over great areas and with very moderate angle of dip. For convenience of description the Warrior Field has been divided into the Plateau Region and the Warrior Basin. The Plafeani Region includes the northeastern part of the Field, approximately from the line of the L. & N. railroad to the Georgia and Tennessee borders, together with the spurs of the great Cumberland table land on the western and northern side of the Tennessee river. The name comes from the cir- cumstance that the uplands or mountains are portions of the original elevated table land or plateau into which the vallevs COAL: WARRIOR FIELD. 23 Tiave been cut to the depth of 600 to 800 feet. The altitude of these uplands varies from 1200 to 1800 feet above tide water in the northeastern part, to 700 or 900 feet in the vicinity of the L. & N. railroad. The Coal Measures which take part in the formation of these uplands are the strata between the Black Creek Coal Seam and the base of the Coal Measures, ■embracing about 1800 feet thickness. This full thickness of the plateau measures, including 15 or more seams of coal, oc- curs along the southern limits of the Plateau region where it merges into the Basin, while near the noTthern edge adjoining Georgia and Tennessee, there are only about 200 feet of coal strata including one or two coal seams. It will thus be seen that the strata dip towards the southwest at a more rapid rate than does the surface of the country, and the coal measures thicken proportionally in the same direction. The coal seams in the Plateau region are very variable in thickness occurring in bulges and squeezes. Where the strata are thick enough to ■carry them only about four of the coal seams appear tO' be al- ways present, only about six of them ever to be of workable thickness, and only two of them of workable thickness in most of their outcrops. In general these plateau coal seams are thickest and most reliable in the northeastern part of this re- gion near the Georgia and Tennessee lines. The coal is usu- ally goO'd, hard, and solid, though sometimes carrying consid- erable pyrites. Mines have been opened on these seams at a number of places, but the want of uniformity in thickness has prevented any extended operations. In 1903 the production from this region was only about 17,500 tons. These lower :seams have furnished all the coal mined in Tennessee and ■Georgia. The Warrior Basin includes the larger, southeastern part of the field extending in general from the line of the L. & N. Rail- road • k)v^ Plate IV— Dolomite Qua ' --or i. ,^-^'; %.- «^ ;i '/ rry at Dolcito, Jefferson County. MARBLES. 29 Tiigh up on the side of the mountain and at times even up to the summit. The rocl< in its best quality is a compact bhie limestone, often highly fossiliferous. Weathered surfaces are frequently marked with furrows called "karren felder" which resemble the furrows which one makes by drawing the out- spread fingers over a soft surface of plastic clay. These marks are caused by the dissolving action of the little rills of rain water running down the exposed surface. The best part O'f the rock is comprised within the uppermost 200 feet of the formation, the purest ledges carrying from 95 to 98 per cent, of carbonate of lime. With these ledges, how- ever, are interstratilied others of less desirable composition. Some of the quarries on the sides of the mountains show clear faces of the stone 100 feet in height, andi hundreds of tons can be thrown down by a single blast. These quarries have all the conveniences of situation above the crushers and railroad tracks, and are admirably located for large production at small cost. One extensive quarry is that of the Sloss-Shef- field company near Gate City. For lime burning this rock has probably been more exten- sively used than any other in the state, supplying kilns at Pel- ham, Siluria, Hardyville, Genadarque, Longview;, etc., in Shelby county for the manufacture of the long celebrated "Shelby Lime." In this connection we may speak of other forms of limestone capable of industrial application, viz., marbles and lithographic stones. Marbles. The marbles of Alabama are of two kinds, crystalline or true marble, and non-crystalline. The crystalline or statuary marbles occur mainly in a nar- row valley along the western border of the Metamorphic rocks, extending from the northwestern part of Coosa county through Talladega into Calhoun. The outcrops have a width of about a quarter of a mile and a length of 60 miles at least. The best as yet known are jn Talladega county, and the principal quarries from which the stone has been obtained are in the vicinity of Sylacauga, and near Taylor's Mill, on Talla- dega Creek. At a number of places within these limits, before 30 MINERAL RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. the civil war, marble was quarried and worked into monuments chiefly. Since the war very little has been done in this line. The quarries were not sunk to any considerable depth (25 feet) and it is doubtful if any of them has gone below the reach of weathering. In some places the marbles are defective from streaks of talc and a kind of slaty cleavage, but many fine blocks have been obtained and worked up. A stone from Gantt's Quarry was presented by the Masons of Alabama to- the Washington Monument Society in 185 1 to be incorporated in the monument. The quality of the marble was such that it was belieyed by many to have come from Italy. During the present year the Italian sculptor Moretti, who has designed and modeled the Alabama iron colossus, "Vulcan," has obtained some beautiful granular marble from Talladega, which he has wrought into a number of pieces of statuary which will be on exhibition at the St. Louis Exposition. There is now in Birmingham from Talladega a block of "white marble, 30 feet in length and 3 feet wide and 2 feet thick. In composition most of this marble is quite pure lime carbon- ;ate (97 per cent.) and it has been used as furnace flux in one of the iron furnaces. Along the eastei'n foot of the Talladega mountain range also there are two places where a crystalline dolomite has been ob- served, viz., in Chilton county on the banks of the Coosa river and in Coosa county immediately opposite and up the banks of Paint Creek. The other locality is near Elder postoftice, in Clay county. Nothing has been done at either of these localities in the way of developing the stone. Still further southeast in Lee county near Opelika there is a quarry in white crystalline granular dolomite which has been worked for a great many years for making lime. This is the Chewacla lime works and quarry. This same deposit has been traced for a number of miles both northeast and southwest of the Chewacla quarry, and the stone has been obtained and used in lim.e-burning at Echols Mill, at Springvilla, etc., but at this time only the Chewacla works are in' operation. This stone, while of beautiful white color ajid granular texture, has in some of the ledges, small streaks of talc also of white color, which would seriously interfere with its use for ornamental purposes. It is probable that some of the ledges are free from this defect. MARBLES. 31 The non-crystalline marbles occur in most of the Hmestone formations of the state. Under this term we would include those compact limestones which take a good polish and which have an agreeable color and which can therefore be used for ornamental purposes. Rock of this kind has been utilized from the Cambrian formation, from the Trenton, from the Lower Carboniferous, and from two horizons in the Tertiary, viz., at the base in the Midway or Clayton division, and higher up in the St. Stephens limestone. The Trenton and Cambrian limestones are often beautifully variegated in similar manner to the Tennessee marble. Hand- some blocks of this quality have been cut and polished from near Calera, from Pratt's Ferry on the Cahaba River, and from Jones Valley between Bucksville and Bessemer. No regular quarrying and working has been done except at Pratt's Ferry, but much beautiful stone has been obtained at that point. The Lower Carboniferous limestones are generally of a gray- ish color, sometimes oolitic, sometimes packed with fossils which make very pleasing variety in the color and shade in pol- ishing. The Tertiary limestones, especially the St. Stephens, while usually of open porous texture, hold ledges of hard, almost crystalline rock capable of talking good polish. The colors vary from nearly white through shades of yellowish into red, and it would make a handsome decorative marble for inside work especially. This rock occurs along the banks both of the Tombigbee and the Alabama rivers, at Oven Bluff and St. Ste- phens, and some intermediate points on the former, and from Gainestown up to and above Marshall's Landing on the latter. It will probably soon be used in cement making and further acquaintance with its varieties, due to extensive work- ing, will no doubt direct attention to those ledges of the forma- tion which will make good marbles. The dolomites of the Knox horizon are also in part of suit- able quality for ornamental work. The geological map of the state will show the distribution of these rocks, which is very extensive. The spots where they have been actually cut and polished are few. 32 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. Lithographic Stone. A bedded limestone of the Lower Carboniferous formation in Jackson county has been quarried on a very small scale, pol- ished and engraved, and prints made therefrom, which are very satisfactory. One of these engraved stones is in the museum of the University. Some of the dolomites of the Knox formation in the central parts of the state have also been pronounced to be fit for this purpose, but they have not been subjected to the practical test of actual use. In the Report on the Valley Regions, Parts I and II, will be found other and fuller details concerning the calcareous rocks just described. CHAPTER II. CLAYS AND CEMENT. The industries which in the near future bid fair to riv.jl in importance that of Iron Making, are those connected with the utilization of our vast resources of clay and of cement materials, and these come appropriately next to be described. KAOLINS, CLAYS AND SHALES. Many accumulations of clay -like materials, are the insoluble residues left from the decomposition of other minerals and rocks, and when such clays have not been removed far from their parent rocks they are known as residual clays. Some of the purest of clays, i. e., kaolins, are of this kind, resulting from the decomposition of feldspars, and on the other hand residual clays left after decomposition of limestones and of many cry- stalline rocks, are among the most impure of the clav kind. Any of these residual clays, from the pure kaolins to the heterogenous mixtures left from limestones, etc., may, by the action of running water, be taken up and redeposited in secon- dary positions, becoming thus sedimentary clays. In this re- moval from one place to another, much of the contaminating material may be separated from the clayey matters, and in this way the secondary deposits may occasionally be freer from for- eign admixtures than the original residual mass. But, a- i rule, the opposite is the case, and the more a mass of clay has been subjected to transportation and redeposition, the more likely it is to take up and incorporate impurities of all sorts. KAOLINS. If we use this term to designate only the residual material from the decomposition of feldspars, the kaolins are in Ala- 34 MINERAL RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. bama restricted to the area of the crystalline or metamorphic rocks, embracing parts or all of Cleburne, Clay, Randolph, Lee, Macon, Tallapoosa, Elmore, Coosa, and Chilton counties. The kaolins are usually associated with veins of coarse grained granites or pegmatites intersecting the other rocks of this re- gion, the kaolin being derived from the feldspars of these gran- itts. The northwestern part of Randolph and adjacent parts of Cleburne and Clay counties may be considered the central area of kaolin occurrence, though it is not wanting in the other parts of the region mentioned. Up to the present time none of these deposits has been uti- lized in a commercial way, but from some of the Randolph county kaolin specimen sets of fine china ware were made and exhibited at the Art Institute Fair in Philadelphia, December, looo, where they were awarded a premium. Table 1 — Composition of Kaolins. Locality. o m C3 a S < 6 ■a 'S O c u -H M n i 5 H o l-H 1 Washed Kaolin, IVa m. N. E. of Milner, Ran- dolph County 47.75 38.00 .20 * * * 14.85 100.80 2 Washed Kaolin, 1% m. S. E. of Micaville, Cleburne County .... 45.20 38.00 * .22 * * 15.90 99.32 3 Kaolin, J. B. Ross, Mil- ler Place, Micaville, Cleburne County .... 46.88 39.97 .08 .30 * .64 13.87 101.74 4 Kaolin from S. Va S. 28, Tp. 18, R. 11 E. Sena- tor Mclndoe, Ran- dolph County 42.41 38.33 70 17.42 *Trace. CLAYS. 'Lhese include materials varying in composition from that of thv vein kaolins above mentioned to the most impure aggrega- tionr having a clay basis. CHINA CLAYS. 36 China Clays. — The clays used in the manufacture of porce- lain and fine white earthenware, which, from absence of iron burn white or nearly white at moderate temperatures, are called china clays. Their composition varies between somewhat wide limits, some having very nearly the composition of vein kaolins, while most of them contain a much higher percentage of silica. The china clays are associated with the older formations of the state in Calhoun, Talladega, Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, and perhaps other counties, and with the Tuscaloosa formation of the lower Cretaceous in Marion, Colbert, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, and Bibb. The composition of the various qualities of china clays as yet examined in the state are shown in the appended table of analy- ses. Table II — Showing Composition of China Clays. Locality. C3 o m a a < 6 ■a O .- u 6 a .2 be ID < d o '3 3 o 1. China Clay, Eureka Mine, DeKalb Co.. 47.00 38.75 .95 .70 * * 12.94 100.38 2. J. J. Mitchell's Chalk Bluff, Mar- ion county 47.20 37.76 * * * * 14.24 99.20 3. Near Kymulga, Tjalladega county... 50.45 35.20 .80 .60 .62 ....| 12.40 100.07 4. F. Y. Anderson's, DeKalb county .... 53.50 34.451 .21 .30 » 1 -21 13.20 101.87 5. Rock Run, iCherokee jcounty... 60.50 26.55 .30 .90 .65 2.70 7.20 99.50 6. Pegram, Colbert county ....164.90 25'. 25 * * * i 8.90 99.05 7. Briggs Frederick's, Chalk Bluff. Mar- ion county 165.49 1 24.84 * 1 1.26 * [ * 7.80 99.37 8. J. R. Hughes', 1 1 Gadsden, Etowah 1 67. 95 1 20. 15 county 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.00 1.001 * |1.87i 1 1 1 1 8.00 99.97 ♦Trace. 36 MINERAL, RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. Fire Clays. — These are clays which do not fuse when sub- jected to a high temperature, at least 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. Semi-refractory clays which cannot withstand a temperature of more than 2300 to 2400 degrees are sometimes called fire clays, and are in fact used along with other more refractory clays in the manufacture of certain classes of fire brick. The fire clays of non-plastic character are known as flint clays, and have nearly the composition of kaolinite. The only Alabama mater- ial which might be classed as a flint clay occurs very abundantly in the lower Claiborne or Buhrstone formation of the Tertiary. It is, however, a highly siliceous material carrying as much as 85 per cent, of silica, and containing a great number of the sili- ceous tests or shells of radiolaria. The plastic fire clays are rather widely distributed, occurring in the Cambrian and Silurian formations, in the Lower Carbon- iferous, and most probably in the Coal Measures, though none has as yet been investigated from that horizon. The Lower Cretaceous or Tuscaloosa formation, which stretches as a belt around the southern and western edge of the older formations, is perhaps the most important in respect of its clays of all sorts. The following table will show the composition of refractory clays from a number of localities, together with their melting points. The bauxites of Cherokee county have been tested as to their refractory qualities and from these tests it appears that they may be advantageously used in connection with refractory fire clays in the making of fire brick. Several analyses and fire tests, of bauxites have been included in the table. Manufactories of fire brick are located at Bessemer, Ashby, Brickyard, Fort Payne, etc. FIRE CLAYS. 37 4-J- ■qB^o O o o o o o O o o OO 'uoHBOifunA ITS o O in U3 O lO o c CO o CO CO CO CC CO CO (^ CO O Q o ~o~ o o o o o o o CO o CO O o o o c o o o cq "I'BiJo noisn^j TtH m '■i^ LO o o o u: o o c o :(nai(Ipui t-H CO CO CO iH CO CO Csl CO CO CO CO tH -f— 4_ o <= o O o CO u: o o OO ~o O (M o CD cc CO CO o M- CO t- cc CO ■nopmSi '* c tNI t> 1- - o c 00 o c > O o c -^ un LO ir: CO ~~0 lO ^ S-* (£> t£ ^ c u:i CO lO d m o rt p) o 2 •^ ■ 't^ 03 ■+»! • ^ -t-J % CS ■ cd I ^ "S TTI ; T T Q CJ O 1 ^ o 1 1-^ • 7 5 i : i t- 2 £ C 6 O > i t "^ 3 C 3 3 ° ■ £ n : c i 1 c o o o e t t-t c 3 e: a t" f: H ^ ) C c OJ ;-< o o 1 c 1: 1 1 a 7 c 2 ■« 5 § 5 c I c C a + 'l c 3 C :> ^ 1 3 c 1 1 1 I ^ . c ) !- > & 1 5 C "a 5 ^ a > +- ■* P c ) C •^ c J c T c; XT c a ■* a C > c C of w o o 'cS m ps ^ o c c c c > c Eh >^ 3 o o ^^ ' a of * .£ ^ c 2 m P 3 ^ J ^ C JZ ^p 3 c ^ P ^ fl ^ T r^ s pi u 3 > CD 3 o c t: c 3 C 1 'I ■< a J i 1 "l > - pi d a c Q 5 'c 5 S 2 ^ P ' £ ! (■ ^ ^ <« c. J 0) c 3 .P H O c : - ' ct 3 C ) a S !:i ^ [i . J t- 3 f= H > - ^ ^ P- s 7 2 S O ^ H (^^ 1- w c^ i CO ■«; |i ir i « 5 t- - a 3 CT i tH 1- H tH 38 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. Pottery or Stoneware Clays. — Stoneware clays are interme- diate in their nature between fire clays and pipe clays, that is too impure for the one purpose and too good for the other. In the manufacture of stone ware it is essential that the clay should burn to a dense impervious body at not too high a temperature, and the color after burning should be uniform and good, if the ware is to be unglazed or is to be coated with a transparent glaze. Clays suitable for stone ware occur in the older forma- tions, Cambrian, Silurian, Lower Carboniferous, and in the Lower Cretaceous or Tuscaloosa. This remark applies rather to the clays which have been investigated by the Geological Survey, and it should be understood that stoneware clays occur in other formations and in other parts of the state than those from which the subjoined examples have been taken. In the table showing the composition we have given such notes as to color and character assumed in the burning, as will assist one in arriving at a correct estimate of the properties of the clays. POTTERY CLAYS. 39 sa •uopinSi ■sajiBJtiv •■EjsanS'BM o rO e aran apixo oiaae^ ■Bnininiv "BDIIIS si . OS ■•fe " » ■* •§ fc ^2:2 O o 03 CO S >> a 2 cS m d b 13 3 si oJ o O O oo .2t>' 3 m 2 •^ tri t-* I < o o . f^ nj ra .^ " '2 t^ ■is-s^s CP fa > fe 3 ■« -S ■= -S 0) o ^; o o O O O O C US lO CQ CO ^ (M C<1 N 5^5 2|-5S ■ I^J T3 J3 >- i 3 3 .-S 3 S ?^^ « o ^* m o •r: lo OJ O o 03 SHE dS 3 gof> 13 03° O ^ fe o "= o " (N ^ ««itJ >. 3 .ti ■^ O M .2-3 >i . o ■ .a S J=o 2o „. O o "» « o -- ** 3 N o .£3 .. ° >> -S 03 S •S ® O u 03 o o o en ^H 3 . m 3 >..g O oJ ■= o a.2S O O — s 03 fa :""5 -3 ■s ^ iS o) r, -3 ^ sa . ca d • o n :U EC • ^ n ■ oJ 0) : a 'o 'kJ CM •^ : ■ ca :o ^ tl CJ Sfeg ■5^ I 3 ; 3 ^l^l^l 03 03 a 03r^H, 3 03 03 •« h j^ !h M ca 'S l> ►-» 03 rs 2P « 3 3 O S 03 s .i; o 2 ti S 03 a 03 4J -3 ° .3 -K S 40 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. Of the above analyses, Numbers i and 2 are from Paleozoic formations; Numbers 3 to 11, inclusive, are from the Lower Cretaceous, (Tuscaloosa), and 12 is from the Tertiary, and they have been selected from a great number to illustrate the wide distribution of clays of economic value. Clays and Shales for Portland Cement Making. — Under the head of Cement Resources, we have given a number of analyses of clays adapted to use in cement making, and add here several others. These clays, like the preceding, are widely distributed, as may be seen from the localities given, and they are from a great variety of geological formations. Analyses of a few shales from the Coal Measures are also ap- pended as being very likely to come into use in this connection, not only because of the fitness of the chemical composition, but also on account of their proximity to the Trenton and lyower Carboniferous limestones and to the mines of coal. While the composition of the limestone which is to be used in the cement manufacture, varies in the different formations, and will in a measure determine the character of the clay which will be suitable to mix with it, yet there are certain limits within which the composition of the clay must fall in order to adapt it to the rotary kiln in the burning of the cement. Ordinarily a clay will give good results which contains as nearly as possible 60 per cent, of silica and about one-third as much, or less, of alumina and iron oxides, the smaller the proportion of iron the better. The clay should not contain more than 2 per cent, of magnesia and as little sulphur as may be. (D. Fall.) CLAYS FOR CEMENT. 41 TaMe V. — Composition of Shales and Clays suitable for Portland Cement making. Locality. o (3 a a =1 < ■a O a 3 (8 02 02 < d o '■4-> a 1. Carboniferous Shale, Coaldale, Jefferson Co. 57.22 24.72 7.14 0.49 1.88 0.40 7.09 2. Carboniferous Stiale, gray, Birmingham, Jefferson County 57.80 25.00 4.00 2.10 .80 1.80 7.50 3. Carboniferous Shale, yellow, same locality as No 2 61.55 20.25 7.23 * .99 2.25 6.19 4. Hull's Station, A. G. S. R. R., Tuscaloosa Co., Cretaceous 61.25 25.60 2.10 .25 .82 1.35 8.10 5. M. & 0. R. R., 10 m. West of Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County. Cretaceous 58.13 24.68 3.85 .15 .32 1.78 11.78 6. Blount County, P. S. White, Paleozlc 61.50 26.20 2.10 .50 .43 • .70 7.29 7. Chalk Bluff, Elmore Co., Cretaceous 60.38 20.21 6.16 .09 .72 1.80 10.21 8. Cribb's place, Bedford, Lamar Co., Cretaceous 60.90 18.98 7.68 * * * 13.36 9. Sand Mountain Cut, M. & 0. R. R., Bibb Co., Cretaceous 58.50 24.95 4.65 .50 .30 .20 10. Same locality as 9 . . . 59.33 25.28 3.37 .80 .10 .65 9.50 11. Blue Cut, M. & 0. R. R., 10 m. W. of Tus- caloosa. Cretaceous . . . 62.70 22.80 1.95 .90 .10 .70 10.00 12. Reform, M. & 0. R.R. Pickens Co., Cretace- ous 62.55 24.62 2.40 .30 .20 .42 10.00 13. Bluff at steamboat | landing. Lower Peach | Tree, Wilcox Co. Ter- 1 tiary [62.10 15.14 3.20 4.90 1.60 2.75 9.65 *Trace. 42 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. Shales and Clays, suitable fo7- Paving Brick, Pressed Brick, etc. — The Carboniferous shales at Coaldale, and at the Graves Mines near Birmingham, analyses of which have been given in the .preceding table, have for a number of years been used in the manufacture of vitrified brick for paving, and have come extensively into the market. In the various clay deposits men- tioned above there are clays in abundance, which have been used in making all the finer grades of building bricks. It seems superfluous to speak of these in more detail, since they and the other kinds of clays are somewhat fully described in Bulletin No. 6, of the Alabama Geological Survey, prepared by Dr. H. Ries, of Cornell University. THE CEMENT RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. SLAG CEMENT. No details are here given concerning the slag cement mater- ials, since they are manufactured products. Attention is di- rected, however, to the circumstance that our furnaces are daily turning out vast quantities of slag suitable for making cement, and that plants for this purpose are already in active and suc- cessful operation. PORTLAND CEMENT. Alabama contains large supplies of limestone, chalk, clay and shale well adapted for Portland Cement manufacture, and wide- ly distributed throughout the state. Coal and labor are abund- ant and cheap, transportation facilities are excellent, and many of the best limestone and chalk localities are situated on navi- gable rivers, giving ready access and cheap water transporta- tion to Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Ciharleston, and other ports of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. This advantage of lo- cation will be immensely increased when work is begun on the Isthmian canal, for cement plants located in Alabama will be more than a thousand miles nearer to the Isthmus than their nearest possible competitors. The limestones and shales of the northern part of the state lie so close to each other and above all, so close to the great coal mines which must supply the fuel, that the establishment of CEMENT RESOURCES: TRENTON LIMESTONE. 43 Portland cement plants near the coal mines would give to this industry in Alabama the same advantages which the proximity of the iron ore, the coal, and the stone has given to the iron in- dustry, and which has placed our state beyond competition. As a Portland cement mixture, ready for burning, consists approximately of 75 per cent, lime carbonate and 25 per cent, of clayey matter, the material furnishing the lime carbonate is necessarily of more economic importance than that from which the silica and alumina are derived. In consequence, a Portland cement plant is usually located in the immediate vicinity of a suitable limestone, while the clay or shale required to complete the mixture may be brought some distance. In the present statement, therefore, the Alabama localities where cement in- dustries may be developed will be discussed under four head- ings, according to the limestone available in each locality. Disregarding limestone formations whose chemical composi- tion renders them unsuitable for use in the manufacture of Portland cement, as well as those whose outcrops are small or badly located widi regard to transportation routes, the lime- stones of four formations may be considered as particularly well adapted for use in cement manufacture. These are : (i) Trenton limestone (Silurian) of Northern Alabama. (2) Bangor limestone, (Lower Carboniferous), of Northern Alabama. (3) Selma chalk (Cretaceous), of Middle Alabama. (4) St. Stephens limestone, (Tertiary), of Southern Ala- bama. I. Trenton Limestone. Area! Distribution. — The Trenton limestone occurs in all the northeast and southwest trending valleys of Northern Ala- bama, outcropping usually in a narrow belt near the base of the Red Mountain ore ridges, though sometimes occurring high up on the flanks of these mountains, and in some localities underlying considerable areas of lowlands in the valleys, as at Pelham, Siluria, Longview, Calera, Shelby, Rock Springs, etc. Chemical Composition. — As this rock is extensively quarried for lime burning and for furnace flux, many analyses are avail- 44 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. able from which it may be seen that it is a rather pure Hme- stone, carrying normally from i to 5 per cent, of silica, and from .5 to I per cent, of iron and alumina oxides, and from 90 to 93 per cent, of caibonate of lime, with carbonate of mag- nesia varying from .75 to 3 per cent. It is hence a pure lime- stone, requiring an addition of one-fourth to one-third of its weight of clay or shale to make a suitable cement mixture. Table I. — Average Composition of Trenton Limestones. Locality. Insoluble silica. Iron and alumina. +-! CS . 97.00 P * 1. Rock Springs Quarry, Btowab Co 1.00 .30 * 2. Gate City Quarry, Jefferson Co. Average of five analyses 3.78 1.90 91.69 3. Longvlew Quarries, Shelby County. Average of three analyses .44 .16 98.63 .92 4. Shelby Quarry, Shelby County. Average of three analyses 1.81 .77 96.03 1.67 5. Vance Quarry, Tuscaloosa County. Average of car load lots 4.68 1.22 88.85 3.52 6. Calcis Quarry, Shelby County. Average of six analyses .51 .42 96.72 1.84 *Trace. Physical Character. — It is a compact blue limestone of nor- mal hardness, and would therefore require more power to crush and pulverize it than the softer rocks of the Selma Challc and St. Stephens limestone, but it is practicalh? free from combined water, and its use would entail no loss of. heat in volatilizing moisture. Accessibility to Clay or Shale. — In all localities of the oc- currence of Trenton limestone, the shales of the Coal Measures are in close proximity, and, so far as these have been analyzed, of suitable composition for mixing with the limestone in ce- ment making. The shales from the Graves Mines below no- ticed, are near the Gate City quarries, and those of the Cedar Grove mines in Tuscaloosa county are close to the limestone quarries at Vance. In both localities the shales are at coal mines in active operation. CEMENT RESOURCES: BANGOR LIMESTONE. 45 Table II — Composition of SUales and Clays near Trenton Limestones. Locality. a! S 5 . h o5 3 .2 Id 6 cc 3 m at "3 5 1. Graves Coal Mine, Jefferson 57. SO 25.00 4.00 2.10 .80 1 sn 2. Graves Coal Mine. Yellow shales 61.55 58.50 20.25 7.23 * .98 2.25 3. Cedar Cove Coal Mines, Tus- caloosa Co. Shale above coal seam 16.17 11.33 1.22 1.17 .77 4. Woodstock, Bibb Co. Cre- taceous clay 65.82 24.58 1.25 ♦Trace. 2. Bangor Limestone. Area! Distribution. — The Bangor limestone of the Lower Carboniferous, is extensively developed in Northern Alabama, being- well exposed along most of the railroads radiating from Birmingham. It is in fact so widely distributed that a detailed geological map would be required to give any adequate idea of the location of its various outcrops. Chemical Composition. — In the vicinity of Birmingham ,at Blount Springs, at Bangor, at and near Trussville, this lime- stone has been extensively used as a flux in the furnaces. In consequence, numerous analyses are available, and very close estimates can be made both of its normal composition and of probable deviations from the normal. These analyses show that the Bangor limestone will usually carry 92 to 98 per cent, lime carbonate ; i to 5 per cent, of silica ; and i to 2 per cent, alumina and iron. Normally it does net contain over i J/2 per cent, mag- nesium carbonate, though one exceptional analysis shows a lit- tle over 8 per cent, of that constituent. It may, therefore, be considered as a very pure limestone, and available for use in Portland cement making : requiring the ad- dition of one-fourth to one-third of its weight of clay or shale. 46 MINERAL, RESOURCES OP ALABAMA. Table III. — Gomposition of Lower Carboniferous (Bangor) Lime- stone. Locality. m rt a o 1 O CM O 1-2 u a 3 73 1. Fossick's Quarry, Rockwood, Ala. Average sample .50 1.45 96.58 2.58 2. Blount Springs Quarry. Average five analyses. J. R. Harris .95 1.01 96.25 1.27 .03 3. Vann's Quarry, near Trusville. Aver- age of six analyses. J. R. Harris .81 .63 07.05 1.00 .02 4. Worthington Quarry, near Trussville. Av'ge. of 2 analyses by C. A. Meissner 2.64 2.31 87.51 4.20 5. Compton Quarry, Murphree's Valley. Stock house sample. Dr. W. B. Phillips 2.80 .70 94.59 Physical Character. — The Bangor limestone is a limestone of normal hardness, and cannot therefore be quarried so readily and so cheaply as the Cretaceous andi Eocene limestones to be discussed later. Limestones resembling the Bangor in hard- ness are successfully utilized in Portland cement manufacture in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and other states ; so that this character alone need not be considered as rendering it unavailable. Its hardness is, moreover, largely counterbalanced by the fact that as quarried it will be practically free from water, and will, therefore, require the expenditure of little coal for complete drying. Accessibility to Clay or Shale. — Thick deposits of shale of Coal Measures occur near the outcrops of the Bangor lime- stone in the vicinity of Birmingham. In some parts of the val- ley to the northeast of Birmingham excellent beds of clav at the base of the Lower Carboniferous formation, are quite ex- tensively developed. Both the overlving shales and the under- lying clays have been worked to some extent in this region, the product being used in brick and pottery manufacture. Exami- nation of a series of analyses of these shales and clays as well a.": of some clays belonging to the Cretaceous formation and oc- curring in close proximity to some of the limestone quarries in the Tennessee Valley, shows that all of these deposits could fur- CEMENT RESOURCES: SELMA CHALK. 47 nish material suitable for admixture with the limestone, the underlying clays being apparently slightly better in composition than those of the shales of the Coal Measures above the lime- stone. The Cretaceous clays appear to be entirely suitable. Table lY. — Composition of Clays and Shales near Lower Carbonifer- ous Limestone. Locality. o fe o 6 a 2 a> 6 1. Ft. Payne, DeKalb Co. Lower Car- boniferous clay 66.25 22.90 1.60 2. Colbert Co., Pegram. Cretaceous clay 66.45 18.53 2.40 1.50 * 1.25 * 3. Colbert Co., Pegram. Cretaceous clay 64.90 25.25 « ♦Trace. The shales and clay in Table II above are also available for the Bangor limestone. 3. The Selma Chalk {Cretaceous) , of Middle Alabama. Areal Distribution. — The Selma Chalk or "Rotten Lime- stone" outcrops as an east and west trending belt, Eutaw, Selma and Montgomery, being near its northern, and Livingston, Linden, Union Springs, near its southern border. In its widest portion, towards the western part of the state, this belt is about 25 miles from north to south, but it thins to the eastward, dis- appearing entirely some 1=; miles west of Columbus, Ga. The belt is intersected by the Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and Tombigbee rivers, and a characteristic bluff of this rock is shewn in Plate V, a -view of the left bank of the Tombigbee River at Demo- I)olis. Chemical Composition. — The Selma Chalk is about 1,000 feet in thickness, and is in general terms a very argillaceous, chalky limestone, varying considerablv in the proportion of clayey matters in its different parts. In the upper and lower thirds of the formation, the proportion of clay is high and car- bonate of lime ivill not usually exceed 60 or 65 per cent. The rock of the middle third of the formation, which is the part best suited for cement making, will average about 70 to 85 48 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. per cent, of carbonate of lime, and 30 to 35 per cent, of silica, alumina and iron. Its magnesia content is low, well within the requirements for a Portland cement material. The limestone in some localities shows a considerable amount of iron pyrites, however, which will cause the resulting cement to carry a relatively high percentage of sulphates. The highly argillaceous character of the Selma Chalk has the advantage that but little additional clay will be required to make a perfect Portland cement mixture. In the table below, in addition to the analyses of rock con- taining from 75 per cent, upwards of carbonate of lime, others have been added of rock carr} ing less than 75 per cent, of this ingreaient, and which by proper mixture with the higher grades of rock might make a cement mixture without the addition of any clay. Table V. — Composition of Selma Chalk. Locality. Ol J-, r> d a B ■5 =^ i.s c a p s -t^ CO ® a 0) o a I cQ s 1. Roberts' place, near G-ainesville, Sum- ter County 19.10 3.70 75.57 1.24 .69 2. Jones' Bluff, Tombigbee River, at Epes, Sumter County 9.44 1.76 86.28 1.02 3. Bluffport, on Tombigbee River, Sum- ter County 11.68 1.82 85.10 1.25 4. McDowell's Bluff, Tomljlgbee River, Sumter County 6.06 1.62 90.40 1.15 5. Material used in Alabama Portland Cement works near Demopolis, lyiarengo County 12.50 2.76 80.71 1.05 1.62 6. Van Dorn Station, east of Demopolis, Marengo County 14.36 2.80 80.47 1.30 7. Uniontown, Perry Co., Pitt's place. . 16.18 3.08 75.35 1.35 8. One mile S. of Uniontown, Perry Co. 12.14 2.60 83.6511.53 9. R. R. cut, Milhous Station, So. R'y. Dallas County 10. Bluff at Gainesville, Sumter Co . . .TT 115. lis: 30' 2.44 80.10 .98 42110.79 65.2111.57 11. Hatch's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River, above Demopolis. Hale County. . 12. Selma, Dallas County. Boat landing, Alabama River ■. | 41.1 8 I 4.16 | 44 . 78 2.68 16.16|11.22 65.08 2.42 30 40 13. 0. M. Cawthon, County near Selma, Dallas! I .|28.40| 3.68|64.10|2 . 58 14. Cahaba, Dallas Co., Alabama River. .|31.04| 2.94|64.37| .79 08 CEMENT RESOURCES: SELMA CHALK. 49 Physical Character. — The Selma Chalk is soft, and may there- fore be easily and cheaply quarried and pulverized. In this re- t^pect it is probably the most satisfactory cement material in the United States. Enough should be quarried in dry weather, hDvever, to carry the plant entirely through rainy seasons, for the chalk takes up water easily, and the expense of removing thii absorbed water would be considerable. Accessibility to Clay. — Clay beds are adajcent to, and in some cases immediately overlying, the Selma chalk. These clays, which are probably residual in origin, are in general very suitable for use, in connection with the limestone, in making up the cement mixture. It seems probable that in no case will a plant, located on the Selma chalk, have to go more than a few hundred yards to obtain the necessary supplv of clay. Table VI. — Composition of Clays near Selma Chalk. o CS.g l-H C3 s O o CO a the fire. Natural gas is quite common in many parts of the state, oc- curring as a rule along with salt water, sometimes with small quantities of petroleum accompanying, oftener without it. Probably the most promising oi the borings for petroleum are those put down in the Tennessee A^alley region. The Goyer well No. I in the Moulton Valley, is said to have had at one time a capacity of 20,000 cubic feet of gas and 25 barrels of oil a day ; the oil was of dark green color with a not unpleasant odor. This well was bored to a depth of 2,120 feet. For some reason the oil flow was lost, and never recovered in paying quantity. Many other deep wells have been bored in difi^erent parts of the state, as well as in the Tennessee Val- ley region, but without success, so far as petroleum in commer- cial quantity is concerned. Many of these borings have been made in the Southern part of the state, especially in Clarke, Washington, and Mobile coun- ties, where there are so many salt wells and salt seeps. Salt water and natural gas in considerable quantity have been ob- tained from many of these wells, but as yet no petroleum in commercial quantity. At Cullom Springs in Choctaw county near Bladon, a deep well bored about 1886 was probably the first among the recent borings to show considerable amount of natural gas, but many of the old borings in the salt region 72 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. made during and before the Civil War, yielded along with the brine, large quantities of this gas. In places the gas and salt water rise to the surface in natural seeps. Perhaps the most abundant supply of natural gas along with salt water comes from the wells laitely sunk near the Bascomb race track in Mobile. Recent measurements of the flow of gas of these two wells, have shown it to be 35,000 cubic feet daily for each. As the water gushes from a four inch pipe to the height of six or seven feet it is such a foam of water and gas that it may be ignited and will frequently bum for several min- utes till splashed out by chance fall of the water. The salt wells of Clarke and Washington counties were of great value to the state during the war as source of that indis- pensable and at the time scarce substance, common salt. Mineral Waters. It would be impossible to enumerate all the mineral wells and springs of the state, even those which have a more than local reputation. They are to be found in all parts of the state and show great variety in quality. The following springs and wells either ship water to all parts of the state and outside of the state, or are places of resort with accommodations for visi- tors : Bailey Springs in Lauderdale County ; Chocco Springs, Talladega county ; Chandler's and Chambers' Springs also in Talladega; Piedmont Springs in Calhoun; Mentone Springs in DeKalb ; all these have waters that are chalybeate or alkaline carbonate. Woolley or Millhouse Spring in Limestone; John- son well in Madison; White Sulphur Springs in DeKalb; Blount Springs in Bloiant; St. Clair Springs in St. Clair; Shelby and Talladega Springs in the counties of the same names are all strong sulphur waters. CuUom and Bladon Springs in Choctaw county, were well known places of resort in former years, still much visited on account of their fine sulphur and vichy and other waters. The sulphur well at Jackson, Clarke county, gives a mild saline sulphur water which is not exceeded in palatability by any, unless it be that of a sulphur spring at the Lower Salt works near Oven Bluff. Many of the artesian borings in the central and lower parts of the state give waters which are much used and which are MINERAL WATERS. 73 sent to all the markets of the state. Livingston in Sumter county is perhaps the best known of these. In the Flatwoods belt on the border of the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations, in Sumter county there are several shallow wells which yield strong epsom salts waters that have a wide reputation and are now extensively bottled and shipped. Of the same nature is the water from the Gary Spring near Centerville, in Bibb county, with a composition very nearly identical with that of the cele- brated Tate Springs The Ingram Lithia springs, Cook's Springs and others, have also wide reputation. The Geological Survey of Alabama is now engaged upon a systematic investigation of the natural waters of the state and many chemical analyses are now available, though not yet pub- lished. Note on Stone Quarries. In addition to the quarries supplying cut stone for building purposes, mention may be made of quarries supplying rough stone only, viz. : The Killebrew Quarries, two and a half miles east of Berry, Fayette county, on the Southern Railway, supply rough stone for the improvement of the Mississippi River ; about 20,000 to 30,000 tons per annum. This quarry is equipped with crush- ers, and furnish broken stone suitable for ballast. Messrs. Christie and Lo^ve, Ledule, Fayette county, also on the Southern Railway, are quarrying the same rock as the Kil- lebrew, viz., sandstone of the Coal Measures, to be used on the jetties of the S. W. Pass, La. This quarry, opened in 1903, has shipped 50,000 tons of stone up to May 15, 1904. 74 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. SOILS. It would be obviously out of place in a document like the present to attempt to give an account of the many soil varie- ties of the state and their adaptation to various crops. This subject has been treated somewhat in detail in our Agricul- tural Report, 1881-2. But inasmuch as the soils constitute the most recent of our geological formations, they must be included among our mineral resources, and certainly no one of these mineral re- sources can be compared with them in importance and inter- est to every citizen of the state. A general discussion of the soils, from the point of view of their geological relations seems, therefore, to be called for here. Since the soils have been derived from the disintegration and decay of the older rocks, a geological map might, to a cer- tain extent, serve also as a soil map, but these products of deicomposition now rarely rest upon the parent rock, but have been remoived more or less remotely from their place of ori- gin, and after various admixtures have been redeposited upon foreign terranes with which they have no connection ; again, many of the parent rocks of now existing soils have them- selves in their turn been soils derived from still older rocks, have been deposited as sediments, compacted, elevated and again disintegrated and decomposed into soils. These are some of the difficulties which we meet with when we attempt to trace a soil back to its origin. Another difficulty comes from the fact that soils from vari- ous sources have O'ften very similar composition, for all soils are essentially the insoluble residues left from the weathering of older rocks, and these insoluble residues, from whatever parent rock derived, are mixtures in varying proportions of sand and clay, with small amounts of the soluble salts derived from these rocks and not yet completely leached out of the re- sulting soils. It follows, therefore, that soils from whatever source derived, will differ from each other mainly in the rela- tive propoTtions of the sandy or siliceous and the clayey con- stituents. SOILS. 75 It should be borne in mind, further, that in consequence of the highly absorptive and retentive qualities of clay, . the rela- tive proportions of lime and of the elements of plant food in the soils, such as potash, phosphates and the like, will in great measure depend upon the amount of the clayey constituent, so that the classification of soils into sandy and clayey carries with it far more than this primary distinction. As a broad generalization, it may be said that residual soils, i. e., those which have not been far removed from the parent rock, exhibit the widest variations, while the transported or drifted soils are more uniform in composition. And further- more, the greater the distance the transported soils have been carried from their place of origin, and the oftener they have been taken up and redeposited, the more complete is the sepa- ration of the clayey constituents from the sand, and the more complete is the leaching out of the soluble salts upon which in great measure the fertility is dependent. All this is illus- trated in the changes to be observed in the soils as one goes from inland towards the coast. For convenience in the discussion of its soils, the state may be divided into two parts, approximately coextensivie with the Mineral District and the Agricultural District, respectively. In the first, the soils are in the main, residual, i. e., they have been derived from the rocks upon which they now rest, and show, therefore, more or less close relationship to them. In the second, the Coastal Plain or Agricultural District, the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations have been overspread v/ith a mantle of sandy loam and pebbles, transported from elsewhere, and the soils are in great measure made from these materials, modified, however, locally by admixtures with the disintegration and decomposition products of the underlying older rocks. The Mineral District. As before stated, the soils of the Mineral District are most- ly residual in their nature, and while the parent rocks are sandstones, shales, and limestones, each of these is varied by admixtures with the others, and to such a degree as to give rise to a great variety in the resulting soils. The three prin- cipal varieties are here given, but it will be understood that 76 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. they grade into each other in such a way that the actual num- ber is far greater. T. Sandy Loams, in part slightly calcareous. — These are derived from the sandstones and siliceous shales of the Coal Measures, the Weisner Quartzite, and the Talladega Slates; from the cherty or more siliceous parts of the Knox Dolomite, and of the Lower Carboniferous Limestones ; ajid from some of the Montevallo Shales. Naturally these soils are less fer- tile than the others, but on the other hand, they lie well, are easily cultivated and responsive to fertilizers. Perhaps lo,- Goo square miles of the Mineral region have soils of this kind. 2. Calcareous Sandy Loams. — In these the proportion of clay and by consequence, of lime, is greater than in the pre- ceding class ; the soils are inherently more fertile, and quite as easy of cultivation and as responsive, and hence form the most desirable ■ farming lands of this section. They cover about 4,000 square miles of territo-ry and are the residiual soils from the slightly siliceotis limes,tones of the Tuscumbia d 'vi- sion of the Lower Carboniferous, the Fort Payne Chert, the lower beds of the Knox Dolomite, and the more calcareous of the M.ontevallo Shales, and the rocks of the Red Mountain group. The fine red lands of the Tennessee Valley, those of parts of the great Coosa Valley, and belts in the other anti- clinal valleys .are of this character. 3. Highly caleaireous clayey soils. — These occupy some 2,500 square miles of area, and are derived from the purer limestones of the Lower Carboniferous, and of the Trenton, and from the calcareous shales of the Flatwoods. The parent rocks appear along steep hillsides or else in flat, badly drained valleys, and the soils are in consequence generally too rocky or too wet for cultivation; and while essentially fertile, they are of comparative little value as farming lands. The Coastal Plain. The upland soils of the Coastal Plain, as has been intimat- ed, are, in the main based on the materials of a single forma- tion, the Lafayette, which as a mantle of sandy loam and peb- bles has been spread over the entire district with an average thickness of 25 feet. When unmodified by admixtures with SOILS. 77 the underlying country rock these Lafayette soils are at their best highly siliceous loams, usually of deep red color from iron oxide. They are well drained, well situated and among the most desirable of our farming, lands, because of these qualities and of the ease of working and capability of im- provement. At the other extreme they are very sandy and comparatively infertile in the natural state, yet some of the most valuable truck farms of Southern Alabama have soils of this class While the Coastal Plain formations. Cretaceous and Ter- tiary, consist prevalently of sands and clays in many alterna- tions, yet there are two great limestone formations intercalated, viz., the Selma Chalk and the St. Stephens Limestone, the for- mer of Cretaceous, the latter of Tertiary age. The Selma Chalk is about i,ooo feet in thickness, is a rather soft chalky rock carrying from lo per cent, to 50 per cent, clayey matters, the middle third of the formation hold- ing from 10 per cent, to 25 per cent, of clay, while the upper and lower thirds contain larger amounts. The St. Stephens Limestone, in its lower part, is also an argillaceous clayey limestone much like the Selma Chalk, but the upper part is a purer rock containing only on an average about 10 per cent, of insoluble matters. Now in those parts of the Coastal Plain where the under- lying country rocks are sands and clays, the resulting soils from these do not differ essentially from the surface loams of the Laifayette itself, and needs therefore no special mention. But in those belts on the other hand, where the limestones of the Selma Chalk and of the St. Stephens underlie and con- stitute the country rocks, the soils show marked departure from the prevailing type of Coastal Plain sandy loams. From these areas the Lafayette sands have often been in great part swept away by erosion, and the soils are in a measure resi- dual, being the insoluble clayey residues from the decay and disintegration of the limestones. Like all clayey soils derived from limestones, they are of exceptional fertility, and make the very best farming lands of the state. Such are the soils of the great Black Belt or Canebrake Belt of Central Alabama, and those of the Lime nills, and Hill prairies of the southern part of the state. Rem- nants of the Lafayette mantle occur at intervals through all 13 78 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. these regions, and admixtures of the red loams of this mantle with the native marly soils, give rise to many varieties, such as the Red Post Oak soils, the Piney Woods Prairie soils, etc. Another departure from the prevailing Coastal Plain sandy Ipams is caused by the great clay formation of the Lower Ter- tiary, which gives origin to the Post Oak Flatiooods of Sum- ter and Marengo counties. East of the Alabama River in Wilcox and Butler counties, these clays hold much lime and form regular "prairie" soils, characteristically developed along Prairie Creek in Wilcox. Besides the above, there are small areas of marly soils in the Tertiar)-, due to the shell beds, which occur at intervals in the lower or lignitic division of this formation. Of this kind are the celebrated Flat Creek lands of Wilcox, marled by the outcrop of the Woods Bluff greensand shell bed, which is also responsible for fertile lands on Beaver Creek, the same county, on west side of the river, and on Bashi Creek in Clarke county. The Nanafalia shell bed or marl also is responsible for many tracts of fertile limy soils in MarengO' and Wilcox. In the lower counties of the state the materials of the La- fayette are in general more sandy than is the case further north, and we find in this section alsO' another surface mantle, viz,, the Grand Gulf, underlying the Lafayette, and like it consisting mainly of sands with some beds of laminated clay in- tercalated. By reason of this double mantle the thickness of the sandy surface beds is much increased, so that the Miocene lime- stones, which are known to underlie this section, seldom if ever come to- the outcrop and influence the soils except along the immediate banks of the Chattahoochee and possibly of some of the smaller streams. In all this region which is gently rolling or nearly flat, shallow ponds, pine barren swamps, and open savannahs are characteristic of the land- scape, due, so far as we can make out, to the uneven surface of the Grand Gulf cla)s which underlie the Lafayette sands at shallow depths These beautifully situated, high, level lands are characteristic of parts of Baldwin and Mobile counties, and are destined to become valuable fanning lands when lum- bering and turpentining shall cease to give chief occupation to SOILS. 79 the population, and this, from present prospects, will soon happen since the pine has been cut off or destroyed by fire over very much of the territory. Bottom Soils. Along all tlie larger streams of the Coastal Plain region we find developed normally three well defined terraces. The first terrace or bottom is subject to overffcKw and its soils are the sands and other materials periodically de- posited by the streain, and are the most recent perhaps of the formations. A few feet above the high water mark and con- sequently not subject to overflow except in the depressions caused by erosion, are the second bottoms, with very charac- teristic soils, yellowish silty loams increasing in sandiness from above downwards, 'the second bottoms are on an av- erage perhaps a mile in width, and are always choice farming lands. Upon this terrace are many of the great plantations of ante bellum days. About loo feet above the second bottom we find a third ter- race averaging some three miles in width, the soils of which are of the usual Lafayette type, red sandy loam underlaid by pebbles. On this terrace are situated most of the river towns such as Tuscaloosa, Selma, Cahaba, Claiborne, St. Stephens, Jackson, Columbia, etc. The soils on this terrace are not es- sentiaJly different from the Lafayette soils elsewhere, unless possibly they are a trifle more sandy. Above this third ter- race at varying elevations are the broad level uplands mak- ing the interstream country of the Coastal Plain, and it is upon these uplands that we find the most characteristic and widely distributed of the soils of this region based upon the red sandy loam of the Lafayette.