FIFTH
GEOLOGICAL REPORT,
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TO TIIE
TWENTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF TENNESSEE,
MADE NOVEMBER, 1839.
BY G. TROOST, M. D.
Geologist to the State; Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology in the Nashville
University; and Member of the Geological Societies of Franceand Pennsylvania-, of the
American Philosophical Society, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia,
NASHVILLE,
J. GEO. HARRIS, PUBLIC PRINTER.
1840.
REPORT
TO THE, GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.
In obedience to the third section of the act passed by the last
General Assembly to continue me in the office of Geologist, Min-
jralogist and Assayer for the State of Tennessee, I have the hon-
Dr to report that since my last communication to the Legis¬
lature, I have traversed the State in various directions and
have analyzed a large number of minerals, mineral waters,
soils and other materials, which though not belonging prop¬
erly to the department of the Geologist, were deemed necessary
to be known as constituting sources of our national wealth, the
results of all which, I now beg leave to lay before your honora¬
ble body.
Before I proceed, however, with these details, it will perhaps
not be improper, to give a general view of the, geology of the
whole State; this has been as yet omitted in my former reports*
because I had not when they were drawn up ascertained the
precise limits of the different geological groups of rocks of which
the State of Tennessee is composed.
The country westwardly of the Appalachian mountains—a
ramification of which separates our State from North Carolina,
while several spurs of it cross the State, and are known by the
name of the Cumberland mountains (1)—is separated from the
(1) The Cumberland mountain is a subordinate range of the great Appalachian moun¬
tains running nearly parallel with the high ridge of that system, which separates the State
df Tennessee from North Carolina, and is composed in Tennessee of Walden's Ridge,
Clinch mountain, Stone mountain, Cumberland mountains, Crab Orchard mountain and
several minor ramifications, which partly terminate in this State, and partly in North Car¬
olina, ahd belong all to the same geognostic system.
4
crystalline primordial rocks by the highest part of this mountain
chain; the junction of these two formations is not exactly mark¬
ed by the State line. In Carter county the primordial rocks are
found ten or twelve miles west of the line; the whole of Roane
mountain is composed of granitic rocks. The primordial moun¬
tains then diminish, and about the head waters of Indian creek
are no more to be seen in that part of Tennessee. The State
line then runs over the grauwacke formation or group, till near
Wolf creek in Cocke county, where the primordial rocks again
enter Tennessee. The high ridge of the great Smoky mountain
is granitic till about the entrance of Tennessee river into Monroe
county, where the grauwacke group again makes its appearance,
continuing along the Unaka mountains to M'Minn county.
Here again the primordial rocks enter the State, and continue
on to Amoee river, where they are replaced again by the gB&u-
wacke group. Thus we see that our State line is not exactly the
dividing line between the crystalline, or primordial rocks as they
are generally called and those that contain organic remains.
These latter rocks extend to the western side of the Mississippi
river where the crystalline rocks again make their appearance in
Missouri State. Our researches have also extended in a south¬
ern direction from Nashville; on this route we have found as ap¬
pears from my former reports, these rocks to be covered by more
recent strata, similar to the cretaceous group or green sand of
the Europeans. These towards the South, in the State of Mis¬
sissippi, are covered with a still more recent formation, in which,
1 the fossils characterising the supercretaceous or tertiary forma¬
tion are found. Towards the east of the high ridge of the Appa¬
lachian chain, the primordial rocks generally prevail. This high
ridge which separates these formations and which contains in
its Mmits the highest mountains of the United States, is some¬
times composed of granite and gneiss as Roane mountain; some¬
times of a granite, which contains talc and chlorite or protogene;
sometimes of a talcose rock containing actynolite. It contains
also some veins of magnetic oxide of iron, as the Cranberry ore
in Carter county, which is associated with Pyroxene Sahlite, as
in some of the Swedish iron ore—or is not associated with any
other mineral, as in Cocke county.
If we draw a line from a certain point of this range, for in-
5
stance, from one of its elevated parts which is near the Warm
Springs, (where French Broad river has cut its way through the
mountains in a westerly direction) running along by Sevierville,
Knoxville, Kingston, Crab Orchard, Sparta and Nashville;—rfrom
this city along by Charlotte, Brown's Port, Lexington, Browns¬
ville, Covington and Randolph—and returning again to Nashville
draw a line thence in a north-west direction, along by Clarksville,
Eddyville Ky.—thence across the Ohio and Mississippi rivers as
far as St. Michael or Frederickstown in Missouri, where the St,,
Francis takes its origin, and where the crystalline rocks again
make their appearance,—we shall pass over successive formations
in the following order.
The country lying between the Great Smoky mountains and
the Cumberland mountains, or East Tennessee, is for the most part
composed of strata of grauwacke, sandstone and limestone, al¬
ternating with each other, and in which organic remains are rare¬
ly found (I); these strata are highly inclined, approaching in some
places towards the vertical, dipping more or less towards south¬
east and running nearly parallel with the Smoky mountain
ridge; they are covered in several places by horizontal strata of
limestone of a dark gray, approaching to a black color, and hav¬
ing a granular structure. It is in some places characterized by
Maclurites, Le Sueu", Conotubularia, nobis, Isolettus, Dekay, and
several species of Calamopora, GoldfJ
The grauwacke, (2) audits coeval strata mentioned above, are
(1) Such is tlie case at least with the lower strata, namely, those which are situated
nearest the primordial rocks, which, as mentiond above, are found on the higher parts of
the ridge which separates North Carolina from Tennessee. The superior strata of this
limestqne, which are found north-west of the Holston river are full of organic remains,
amongst which the Maclurites are the most numerous.
(2) Qratiwaclce. This sihgular name, adopted by the German and English Geologists,
originated amongst the German miners. Its etymology is unknown, and it has remained in
use with some other insignificant denominations, to obviate confusion in the already per¬
plexed nomenclature of rocks and formations. It included, in its most extensive acceptation,
all the conglomerates, sandstones, puddingstones and fragmentary rocks of the transition
formation that is, of rocks anterior to the formation of the red sandstone and coal meas¬
ures, (Humboldt ) It is the Psammite and Mimophyre (in pari) of Brongniart, and Trau-
mate Of D'Aubuisson. It is composed of angular or rounded grains, fragments and peb.
hies of unequal size, from very minute to the size of half a cubic foot and more, of quartz,
slate, siliceous slate, mica slate, porphyry, granite and limestone, firngly connected together
by a slaty cement more or less penetrated by silex. Several varieties of this rock compose
ihe greatest part of the mountainous part of East Tennessee—sometime forming a real sand
6
covered towards the Cumberland mountains by horizontal
strata of limestone, which has often an oolitic structure, and which
we will call oolitic limestone, to distinguish it from what the
English Geologists call oolite or oolitic formation, which is a se¬
ries of rocks'of which the oolite is one of the members, forming
a more recent group than the one to which our oolitic limestone
belongs, and which is characterized by its peculiar organic re¬
mains. (1) This oolitic limestone forms the basis of the Cum-
stone, sometimes the slaty part predominating, when it forms the slaty grauwacke, and pre¬
sents then several shades of color, reddish, gray and greenish. This granwacke is in some
places replaced by the clay slate, which furnishes some good roofing slate, as in Sevier coun¬
ty. The grauwacke alternates here and there with strata of silex or quartz rock, and lime
stone.
This grauwacke, in several countries, is rich in minerals; the rich silver and lead mines of
theHartz, those of Leadhills and of Wanlockhead, the'mines of Vorespotack in Transyl¬
vania, of Brittany in France, and of Guanaxuato and Zacatecas in Mexico are all in the
same rock.
In Europe, according to Goldfuss, the grauwacke, and the grauwacke limestone contain
numerous organic remains, this is not the case in East Tennessee. I never discovered any
in the grauwacke, nor in the limestone which alternates with it, and which is there always
highly inclined, approaching to the vertical; but in proportion as we deviate from the pri¬
mordial rqcks, the strata of grauwacke become less numerous, and those of the limestone
increase,become less inclined, and soon approach to the horizontal position; it is then that
the organic remains begin to make their appearance, and sometimes compose the whole of
the limestone rock, and form the beautiful marbles which are wrought in that part of Ten¬
nessee.
(1) The oolite or oolitic formation I have not found in the western parts of the United
States, though the oolitic limestone is found in several places. I found it forming a
stratum extending perhaps forty miles from west to east on ths western slope of
the Cumberland mountain of more than two hundred feet in thickness. I have traced it
from Monte Sano in North Alabama, which must be considered as the most southern ex.
tremity of the Cumberland mountains on this side the Tennessee river, I have also traced
it to Georgia, forming the basis of the Rackoon and Lookout mountains, continuations of
Walden's ridge, every where characterized by Pentremites, and a singular, and as yet, un¬
determined fossil. Running from Mount Sano in a north-east direction, it passes through
the whole State of Tennessee, and is invariably found beneath the coal strata. The pen¬
tremites, a fossil which is very rare in Europe, characterize this rock every where in this
country, but in particular places other fossils are found in it. I find it, for instance, west
of Monroe county, as far as Dbed's river, characterized by Stylina. This fossil charac¬
terizes that rock, also at Mount Fletcher in North Alabama. Near Eddyville, Ky. it is
characterized by Stylina, Syringopora, Bcllerophon hiulcus an.d Encrenites. In Missouri,
towards the south of Maramec river, the same rock is found, and is there also character¬
ized by several species of Stylina and Syringopora. These fossils, viz: Stylina, Syringo-
pora and Bellerophon, are always silicious, the Pentremites sometimes silicious, sometimes
calcareous, while the above mentioned undetermined Mount Sano fossil is calcareous. All
these fossils are by the European Geologists considered as characterizing the transition or
grauwacke group. The same oolitic limestone is found in some places near the Ohio river
as in Gallatin county, Illinois, but I do not know whether it there contains any organic re.
mains.
7
berland mountains and is abundant towards the west of them.
This oolitic limestone is also perceptible in the valeys where the
lower strata of that mountain chain come to light, as in the Se-
quatchee Valley, where I discovered the same inclined strata of
East Tennessee covered by the oolitic limestone. This limestone
lies under the strata of coal, shale and sandstone, the two latter
being characterised by the vegetable remains peculiar to the coal
formation, and composing nearly the whole of the upper part of
the Cumberland mountains.
At the Crab Orchard the oolitic limestone again comes to light
from under the sandstone of the coal formation, and continues
only a short distance westward. Between Sparta and the Crab
Orchard it is covered by a stratum of sandstone, the same as is
found on the eastern slope of the mountain where it covers thn
coal strata.
Near Sparta we descend from the oolitic limestone and come
to a kind of limestone which forms the low levels of the whole
of Middle Tennessee. This limestone, according to my observa¬
tions, made in the Sequatchee valley, lies immediately upon the
inclined strata of East Tennessee; and when this limestone is
wanting, they are covered by the oolitic limestone as already
mentioned. This series, which is composed of various strata,,
characterised by different organic remains, is usually of a gray
I observed in the oolitic limestone near Maramec river above mentioned, a remarkable
circumstance, and I doubt whether it has been noticed before. It is this; not only the or¬
ganic remains imbeded in it, are changed into silex, and the cavities in it filled with silicious
matter, forming handsome agates of various pleasing colors, arranged mostly like those in
the fortification agate, its calcedonic matter being more opaque than that in the agates of
Oberstein in the Palatinate; but the oolite itself is in some places entirely changed into silex
not forming an oolitic sandstone as is found in some places in Europe, but the globules are
changed-into-an opaque calcedonic silex, similar to the agate nodules above mentioned, ex¬
cept that it is always white, so that the silicious fluid which penetrated these strata, did not
only fill the cavities, and replace the organic remains, but has also replaced the calcareous
matter which formed the oolitic limestone. This siliceous oolite, of which I found large-
masses on the surface of the ground, is sometimes perforated by cylindrical cavities, running-
mostly parallel to one another; these cavities represent the impressions of the organic
structure of the Stylina, and show that the polypifer was yet in its original state when
the rock was silicified, because in case the animal substance had been decomposed'before the
silicification of the rock, the cavities would very probably have been filled up with silex, like
those which are now filled up with agate. I found amongst the disintegrations of these
strata some groups of pseudomorphous crystals, also siliceous; the form was that of a
rhomboidal prism terminated by diedral summits, similar to the -Vnil'aire- (Hauy) of the
sulphate of Barytes or Strontian.
8
color, appr6achmg here and there to black,-has a granular struc¬
ture, and contains Calamopora, Orthoceratitcs, Conotubularia,
Strophomenes, Productus, Isotellus, and other Trilobites, and such
fossils as are considered as characterising the upper transition, or
mountain limestone of the English geologists. This limestone
continues for more than two hundred miles towards the jvest,
and is covered here and there with strata of shale, or aluminous
slate, sometimes penetrated with bitumen (often mistaken for
coal) and in which 1 never found any organic remains, and with
a stratum of a peculiar sandstone, which has an earthy" aspect,
passing sometimes into hornstone or chert, and is characterised
by Gorgonia antiqua (Goldf.) and an undetermined Flustra.
About six miles west from Nashville it is covered with the above
mentioned shale, upon which follows a stratum of Encrinital lime¬
stone, and the already mentioned sandstone, forming the Harpeth
Ridge. (1) The same stratification composes all the high lands
west of Sparta, and continues nearly uninterrupted, except where
it is cut through by currents, from the Harpeth to beyond Ten¬
nessee river. It is in this sandstone, which as T have already
mentioned, passes sometimes into chert, or hornstone, that the
rich deposites of iron ore (hydroxide of iron) are found which
supplies the numerous furnaces of Dickson, Stewart, Hickman,
and Perry counties. Tennessee river has cut its way through
all these upper strata till it has reached in some parts the lime¬
stone strata of the vicinity of Nashville, while the edges of the
strata are visible on both sides of the river. (2) They are entire-
(1) This stratification is more fully described in another part of this Report.
t
(2) No place can be more interesting for the study of the stratification than where the
edges of these various strata are exposed to the decomposing influences of the air and wa¬
ter. Among the detritus of these strata, and its water worn fragments, I found a large
number of very interesting organic remains, most of them similar to those that occur in
Eifel, near the Rhine, in Europe, which place furnished a great part of the palaeontologi-
Cal stores from which Dr. Goldfuss composed his excellent work on petrifactions.
There is no doubt that these strata, which are particularly visible near the Tennessee riv¬
er, in Perry county, are posterior to the grauwacke group (as will be seen in the detailed ge¬
ological description of that part of the State.) they form the upper part of the stratifica¬
tion which composes Middle Tennessee, and are anterior not only to the coal measures, but
also to the silicious strata which form the Harpeth ridge and other high lands; they are
therefore intermediate between the grauwacke and the coal measures; they are separated by
a great number of strata from the grauwacke, nevertheless the fossils which are found in
them are very similar to those described by Dr. Goldfuss as occurring, at Eifel in the grau¬
wacke group. To make this more evident, we will enumerate only a few organic remains
9
ly tast at no great distance west of Tennessee river. Indeed
about ten miles west of it, in Perry county, a more recent forma¬
tion covers them, which is composed of rrterl (1) and ferruginous
sandstone, the fbrnier being characterised by Gryjphcsce, Ostreai
which are put down by De la Beche1 in his "Manual," as occurring in the grauwacke group,1
and which are found, in the interior of America, in the superior strata of a series which,
seem in other respects equivalent to the upper transition of the Continental Europeans, and
mountain limestone of the English geologists.
Cyathophillum ceratites, Bensberg, Eifel, Goldf. V
secundum, Eifel, Goldf. f On the glades in Perry county,
■ helianthoides, Eifel, Goldf. f Tennessee. ■
Astrea porosa, Eifel, Bensberg, Goldf. y
Catenipora escaroides, Lam. Eifel, Norway (Goldf.) Itatosta (Fischer) Perry county, Ten¬
nessee,—Eddyville; Kentucky, oolitic limestone.
— iabyrinthicki
balamopora favosa,—in the glades in Perry county, Teiinessee.
— gothlandica, Eifel, Goldf. "1
basaltiba, Eifel, Gothland, Golf. j
■- alvfeolaris, Eifel, Goldf. , J-On the glades in Perry Co.'
spongites, Eifel, BensbergJ Sweden, Goldf. [
Aulopora serpens, Eifel, Goldf. Christiana; Brong. J
These zoophytes, as I mentioned above, are only a few of those that I found in the Amer¬
ican strata; they are associated With Several genera of Radiata, amongst which the Aite-
rias occurs; Conchifera arid a few Mollusca also, among the latter I found a JVatica, and
a few genera of Trilobites. This zoological difference between the American superior tran¬
sition and that observed in Europe, is certainly remarkable. The grauwacke group, which
in Europe, as appears from the above list, is rich in fossils, is destitute, or at least poor in
organic remains in East Tennessee, while we find those characterising that formation in a
more recent series.
(1) This marl, which is also found inseveral places in the States of Alabama and Missis¬
sippi, and is generally known by the name of rotten limestone,' has an earthy appearance;
interspersed with minute particles of mica, and graind of green sand, sometimes so small as
to be perceptible only by the aid of the magnifying glass. It is soft, and when exposed to
the atmospheric influence disintegrates, crumbles to dust, and forms a more or less plastic
paste with water. Its contents are,
Carbonate of lime," - - - - - - - - - - ^ 51
Earthy matter, insoluble in acid, composed of green sand and particles of white
silvery mica, 34
Carbonaceous matter, - - 2
Alumina, water, and loss; .......... 13
100
The places where it crops out; and where it is not sufficiently mixed with soil, are remark¬
able for sterility, and are called glades; but when' properly mixed with soil it is very benefi¬
cial in agriculture. Of this fact the farmers in Pennsylvania are well convinced, and hun¬
dreds of loads are taken from New Jersey, where similar m'arl exists, to improve their farms;
"the same is the case with the farmers of Maryland, who send at great expense to the Eastern
Shore for that substance. We have inexhaustible quantities of it in theWestern District, but
are yet too rich to husband properly our ground. [For more information on Marl, see'my
3d Geological Report to the 21st General Assembly in October, 1835.}
2
10
and other organic remains which characterise some strata of the
cretaceous group (green sand,) and which are mostly identical
with those that are found in New Jersey in similar strata. This
series, covered with strata of clay, lignite, and a diluvial depos-
ite, continues to the Mississippi river, where, near Randolph, at
the elevation known by the name of the Chickasaw Bluff, a sim¬
ilar stratification is visible. Travelling southward, this creta¬
ceous formation continues perhaps till near Walnut Hill, where,
near Vicksburg, in Mississippi, a more recent formation makes
its appearance, abounding in Dentalia, Area, and other fossils
characterising the supercretaceous group. As I am but slightly
acquainted with that State, I shall not draw the line beyond the
limits of Tennessee in that direction.
If we now return again to Nashville, and draw a line from that
place towards the north, v/e will find a continuation of the strata
of Middle Tennessee for a great distance. From Nashville to
Clarksville we have the same stratification as in Davidson coun¬
ty, (see my 1st and 2d Reports.) No important alteration takes
place till at Eddyville, Kentucky—the limestone is oolitic and is
characterised by Stylina, Syringopora_ and Bellerophon hiulcus,
the last of a large size (between five and six inches.) I am not
well acquainted with the country from that place to the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, all that I have seen of it is covered with
deep alluvium. More eastwardly in Gallatin county, Illinois, the
oolitic limestone exists, and near Smithland, at the mouth of
Cumberland river, we have again strata similnr to those of Mid¬
dle Tennessee, which strata continue when we cross the Missis¬
sippi river above the Tyawappita bottom. An extensive range
of the oolitic limestone is found towards the north of that bot¬
tom, which, near Maramec river, in Jefferson county, abounds in
Stylina and Syringopora, similar to those of Eddyville. But
travelling from Commeystown, at the head of Tyawappita bot¬
tom, in a north west course through Cape Girardeau and Madi¬
son counties, we have again rocks similar to Middle Tennessee as
far as the high grounds in Madison county near the village of St,
Michael, or, as it is at present called, Frederickstown, where the
St. Francis river takes its origin. The rocks at that place, as well
as those of Washington county, in the same State, are generally
II
sienitic, (1) which at several places passes into the most beautiful
led porphyry, which formation begins near the lead mines known
by the name of Mine la Motle.
_ »
In order to make these geological views of the whole State of
Tennessee more intelligible, I have given a Map, on which all the
formations are marked by different colors, and a section of the
strata in the directions mentioned above.
From these preliminary remarks, it will be perceived that the
strata in the vicinity of Nashville, and those prevailing through
Middle Tennessee, belong to an old group of focks, which the
English geologists call carbonaceous limestone or mountain
limestone and old red sandstone, while the continental Europe-
ans consider it as the upper part of the transition. They do not
nevertheless, coincide exactly (judging from the imbedded or¬
ganic remains) with those observed in Europe; for, in the same
stratum in which some of the different genera of TrMobiles oc*
cur, I found the Asterias (A. antiqita, nobis) (2) which is found
(1) This sienite is generally composed of reddish felspar, small particles of greenish black
hornblende (amphibole,) and quartz. The felspar being most abundant, and in some parts
assuming a beautiful red color, (approaching to bright blood red,) forms a splendid ornamen¬
tal rock; it passes into a magnificent porphyry, equal, if not superior in beauty to the fine
Swedish porphyry. This sienite contains small veins of magnetic iron ore, and in its vi¬
cinity are found large deposites of this ore.—In Washington, the adjoining county, the fa¬
mous Iron Mountain is found. Extensive tracts of trappean rocks occur there at many pla¬
ces, which must be considered as subordinate to the sienite and porphyry. That this trap is
posterior to the formation of the sienite and porphyry can be seen at several places, and It
is displayed no where more interestingly than in the vicinity of Mine la Motte, in Madison
county. The sienite in that pbace is rent asunder, and the crevice, which is from two to
four feet wide, is filled up with basaltic matter. We can yet see how the rock was formerly
connected together—as, where we find on one side an indentation, We find on the other side
a corresponding projection, at other places the fragments which have been tprn from the
mass are found enclosed in the basaltic matter which fills the rent. This sienitic forma¬
tion is covered at that place with a stratum of grey siliceouss andstone. The time which
I could spend there was too short to enable me to examine properly this spot, so inter,
esting for the geological knowledge of this sienite, and its subordinate trap.
(2) I found this Asterias, resembling more or less those living at present on our coast, in
the limestone near Big Harpeth river in Davidson county, Tennessee. It is associated in
this limestone with Ceriopora Goldf. Calamopora Goldf. Spirifer and Terebratula. This
stratum is the lowest which is visible in that section of country, and is the same as those
in the vicinity of Nashville, where it contains Orthoceratites, and Jsolellus, and where it
rests on the strata which contain Conotubularia, nobis, and consequently belongs to the
upper transition series. My description of the A. antirjna was'published in the "Transac¬
tions of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania," vol. 2, page 232, 1335. This fact seems
not yet to be known in Europe; for the Rev. W. Buckland, iruhis valuable work on geolo¬
gy and mineralogy (one of the Bridgwater treatises) says, vol. 2, page 313, American edi-
12
aqcording to Defiance in the supercretacequs strata, and accor:
ding to Alberti in the Muschelkalk.
Another proof that thq rocks of Middle Tennessee, and in
fact of the central part of North America, differ from those ob¬
served on the old continent, is the peculiarity of the stratum of
sandstone which sometimes covers a stratum of limestone, often
entirely composed qf fragments of Encrenites, and where this
limestone is wanting, a slaty clay or aluminous slate, of which.
I have spoken in the report on Davidsoil county takes its place.
This sandstone has sometimes an earthy aspect, and resembles the,
tripoli of Europe; in fact some part o,f this sandstone is entirely
made up of species of Gorgonia, particularly the G. antiqua Goldf.
Retepora and Flustra• it contains also, but very rarely, Terebra-
tula. This sapdstone, which deviates very much from any I
have seen or of which I have read, was described in my first re¬
port.
Neither do these strata belong to the true grauwacke series;
part of our State exhibits grauwacke alternating with limestone,
containing most of the usual accidental intermixtures, and having
a stratification approaching to the vertical. This is the forma¬
tion which composes the country between the Smoky, Unaka
and Cumberland mountains. This grauwacke group, which is
here and there covered with horizontal strata, equivalent to those
of Middle Tennessee, (except that, besides the usual fossils found
there, they contain also, the Maclurites gigas, in some places the
rock being characterised by it, while it is of very rare occur¬
rence in the limestoiie of Middle Tennessee,) is lost under the
eastern slope of Walden's ridge, and may in some places in the
Sequatchee Valley, be seen covered with the strata of Middle
Tennessee.
tion,—"No fossil Stelleridans have yet been noticed in strata more ancient than the Mus¬
chelkalk." Now, not only have I found the Asterias antiquum limestone, which is sepo-
rated from the muschelkalk by
Millstone grit and shale,
Coal measures,
Exeter red conglomerate,
Zechstein,
Gypseous red sandstone,
bpt I have found several other Stelleridans, belonging to other genera, in limestone near
the Tennessee river, which is characterised by Trilobites, talceola sandalina, and other
{basils of the European grauwacke series.
13
In the present, as yet, infant-state of Tennessee, the greatest
part of it being yet covered with forest, no strata of any conse¬
quence having been penetrated to quarry the rocks lor building
stone, it is difficult to study properly its formations and their char¬
acteristic fossils. We have no important excavations in which
the stratifications can be observed, and petrifactions obtained.
Our ravines, slopes of mountains and banks of rivers are cover¬
ed with forest trees. The fossils, which we can now collect, are
those which have come to light by the disintegration of the rocks,
occasioned by long exposure to the action of water and air, by
which, when they are of a calcareous nature, they are often mu¬
tilated, and cannot be recognized. This nevertheless is not al¬
ways the case, for unlike the organic substances of other coun¬
tries, those which we find in our old strata, are often of a sili-
cious nature, and have therefore been able to withstand the de¬
composing effect of the above named agents, which would not
have been the case if they had been composed of carbonate of
lime.
This change of the chemical nature of these remains is cer
tainly unaccountable; the Polypifers, for instance, are, when in
their live state, of a calcareous nature; yet we find them now,
in the strata of our limestone, changed into silex; and the same
organic remains which I found imbedded in limestone in a sili¬
ceous state, I found in a more perfect state, not more than two
or three feet higher, imbedded in a stratum of indurated clay,
which sometimes, in Middle Tennessee, replaces the slaty clay,
in the state of carbonate of lime.
Though Nashville stands upon an apparently elevated spot,
which renders its situation exceedingly healthy and beautiful, its
strata of rocks are nevertheless lower than the other parts of
Middle Tennessee; for whenever any other strata make their
appearance, the Nashville strata are covered by them. This is
the reason why I commenced my excursions from this point, and
extended them in every direction.
The lower stratum of limestone, which is visible near Nash¬
ville, on the banks of the Cumberland river, and which wp have
not been able to examine minutely, as no excavations or quar¬
ries of any extent have been made in it, is mostly of a bluish
gray, approaching to a blackish gray color. Its fracture is fine
14
splintery, passing into uneven and flat conchoidal, here and there
intermixed with spathose glistening particles; or it is sometimes
of a fine grained crystalline texture, forming a medium between
granular and compact limestone. When rubbed together it has
a smell approaching to that of the bituminous limestone. It not
unfrequently contains nodules of silex, sometimes resembling
chert, sometimes hornstone, which are evidently formed by in¬
filtration into the cavities of decomposed organic remains, which
they sometimes entirely fill up. These cavities are often globu¬
lar or reniform, but sometimes there are little veins of three and
four and even ten yards in length, and perhaps of an equal depth,
and five or six inches thick. As I could only examine these su¬
perficially where they are cut through by the river, I cannot say,
whether they contain any accidental minerals, but they contain
some organic remains, ol which the most numerous are Conotu-
butaria Cuvierii, nobis, and C. Brongniartii, nobis. These or¬
ganic remains, of which I have communicated a description, ac¬
companied with drawings, to the Geological Society of France,
have not, I believe, been observed in Europe. They characterise
particularly these lower strata. I never found these two fossils
together in the same stratum; the C. Cuvierii seems more abun¬
dant than the other. They characterise a succession of strata of
at least fifty feet in height, and occupy the lowest part of those I
have observed in Davidson county, namely the bed of Cumber¬
land river.
The next stratum is of more interest to the mineralogist. It
contains veins of Sulphate of Barytes, of a crystalline structure,
as at Nashville, below the creek which runs between the Rollins
Mill and town. Above that creek we have a vein of Sulphate
of Strontian, which produced some fine crystallized specimens of
a fine blue color. It contains also, compact of Sulphate of Ba¬
rytes, as near Haysboro', where it serves as the matrix of the
lead ore, of which I have spoken in one of my former reports;
but it contains also cavities which are very numerous in some
places. These cavities are filled up with various minerals, some¬
times several of them are found in one; and by examining a section
of these filled up cavities, one can see in what succession these va¬
rious fluids have permeated the limestone. In some we see that
quartz entered first, and in that case, the sides of the cavity are
15
lined with crystals of quartz; then the carbonate of lime has en¬
tered, and we find a deposite of crystalline carbonate of lime cov¬
ering the quartz; the sulphate of lime has generally succeeded the
carbonate of lime, and we find several varieties of that mineral in
these cavities. (1) The Sulphates of Barytes and Strontian are
amongst the number of the minerals which have permeated that
stratum, and which have filled up these cavities, giving occasion¬
ally beautiful specimens for cabinets.
The - ext stratum is one which I must consider as the upper¬
most in the vicinity of Nashville, and which is found only here
and there, particularly at some of the highest spots; it is in some
parts almost entirely composed of an accumulation of bivalve
shells, being the Stropkomenes rugosa, (Raf.) intermixed with
Trilobites, Manon Piziza, Goldf., and some Encrinites, consis¬
ting of isolated flat rings from i to f of an inch in diameter. I
found in this stratum two species of EscJiarici, which I consider
as new, and which I have called E. ovatopora, and E. reticulata,
In other places this stratum is entirely composed of a conglome¬
ration of fragments of various marine substances, as if the de-
posites of the sea shore were agglutinated; but these fragments
have not been exposed to mutual erosion, as is the case with those
on the sea shore, and which I have discovered, as mentioned
above, in other strata of the vicinity of Tennessee. Even the
most delicate fragments such as Flustrce and Eschar ice, are per¬
fectly preserved, and their texture and pores very distinct.; I
found among these fragments, besides the polypifers already men¬
tioned, some univalves, which will be mostly enumerated in the
report. This stratum seems more susceptible of disintegration
than any of the lower strata; when fresh specimens are broken,
they exhibit apparently a homogeneous rock with a compact
structure, and no fossils are visible; itis only when exposed to the1
(1) Sulphate of Lime. tf some deeper excavations are made in our limestone, we may
discover some larger deposites of this mineral (generally called plaster of Paris when ira-<
pure, and used in agriculture.) I found some of the finest varieties of it in Davidson coun-
t tbe snowy gypsum, superior to any that I have seen, several varieties of compact and1
granular gypsum, of a beautiful white, and a very agreeable translucency;—in an e^eava-
tion by Mr. Litton near our town several large lumps of the variety generally known under
tbe name of alabaster were found. It is this substance which is used in. Italy [for making
the handsome mantle ornaments which we see in the parlors of Our elegantly furnished ftotK
ses.
16
disintegrating action of the atmosphere that they come to light,
and are finely separated from the rock, and so delicate are some
of these fossils, particularly the Sirophomenes, that they often
break when taken between the fingers, and are in a great degree
translucent.
This stratum is wanting wherever currents havfe worn the sur¬
face of the country; thus I found it forming the upper stratum
where the stone for the construction of the engine house for the
Nashville water works was quarried; it is here soon lost, and
the next following stratum is only visible as far as Brown's creek,
where it makes its appearance again on the east side of thai creek,"
forming the highest point between that creek and the low place
in which the tan-yard of the late Col. Love is situated, and has
here been cut through in constructing the Murfreesborough and
Nashville Tnrnpike. The current, which has formed the above
mentioned low place, has washed away this stratum, and we find
it again towards the east of the bridge, where it runs under the
ground. We find it handsomely displayed near the bridge be¬
tween three and four miles from Nashville where the old banks
of Mill creek, which now runs several rods towards the east, ate
visible, and where that current has denuded the present strata.
The above description of the strata which is found near Nash¬
ville, is applicable to nearly all the strata of limestone which are
found in Middle Tennessee,—they are characterised by the same
fossils, and the same mineralogical accidental substances are oc¬
casionally found every where.
West, or rather south-west from Nashville, the limestone is
covered with conformable strata of shale, or slate as it is gen¬
erally called. This stratum, which is found in nearly eve¬
ry county of Middle Tennessee, is what mineralogists call alumi¬
nous slate,1"it is mostly of a black color, often penetrated with
bitumen, even sometimes containing small veins of solid bitumen,
from which circumstance it was often mistaken for coal, and
large sums of money have been spent in search for this combus¬
tible in such situations. This stratum is sometimes replaced by
a bed of indurated clay of a brown color variegated with gray
and fed. The thickness of the stratuum of slaty clay, and the
i-eplacing indurated clay, varies from eight to nine, (as I have
seen it near the Harpeth river, and near Marrowbone and Syca-
IT
more creeks) to twenty or thirty feet, as it is found at some pla¬
ces in Maury county. I found, as I have said before, no organic
remains in the stratum of slaty clay. This is not the case with
the indurated clay,—it contains Encrin'ttes and Polypifers. Near
the Harpeth Bend, where this clay exists, I found seme organic
remains resembling more or less the Orbulites teniiculdta, Lam.',
and a beutiful specimen of the Calamopora spongifes, var., tuber-
osd—Goldf., about seven Inches in diamater—it was calcareous,
I found a similar fossil about ten feet lower, which was siliceous.
The stratum of slaty clay is covered by a stratum of lime¬
stone, which is, in some places, composed almost entirely by en*
crinites. Several species, or perhaps genera, bave Contributed to
the formation of that stratum. I have collected as many crowns
of these animals as will constitutes perhaps fifteen species, thd
description of which will be published, with engravings, in future;
they are intermixed with Spirifer tuspidoius, S. attenuatus, and
several species of Gorgona, Flustra, and T'urbiholia. In some
places these petrifactions are agglutinated by a chloritic sub¬
stance; in others they are imbedded in a very fetid granular
limestone, forming in that case a beautiful marble, when cut and
polished. The different spots and figures brought out by the
sections of the Encrinites and Other organic bodies forma pleas¬
ing variegation.. The petrifactions in this stratum are mostly
calcareous, often spathose, but they are in some places all silice¬
ous, of a calcedonic nature.
This encrinital stratum is covered sometimes with a stratum Of
sandstone, upon which follows again a similar stratum of encri¬
nital limestone. These encrinital strata are from ten to twelve
feet in thickness—in some places they are wanting.
The whole of the various strata which I have described, is cov¬
ered with a siliceous stratum of one hundred and fifty to two
hundred feet in thickness, which forms the highest levels of Mid¬
dle Tennessee, and of which I have already spoken. This staat-
um is of a very heterogeneous nature, and although principally
belonging to the siliceous sandstone, It nevertheless passes here
and there into argillaceous sandstone. Part of it is composed of
small, often very fine and uniform grains of quartz or sand, rare¬
ly containing any argillaceous or ferruginous cement—nor does it
Contain anv intermixed mineral. Its color is mostlv grey pari
' 3
18
sing into yellow or brownish orange. The texture, which as
has heen stated, is sometimes granular, often passes into the
earthy without losing its siliceons nature, having in that case
very much the appearance of tripoli, and may be used for the
same purposes for which tripoli, or rotten stone is used. It as¬
sumes often a slaty structure; it also passes into chert, or horn-
stone—in some places, as on both sides of the Cany Fork, the
whole of the stratum has assumed this state.
I have not seen any petrifactions in the granular or sandstone
part of the stratum, but they abound in those seams or veins
which have an earthly appearance, or which have assumed the
pature of chert, and which also occur in streaks or veins, or
sometimes constitute the whole stratum. The lowest part of the
stratum, where it is near the encrinital limestone often contains
members of Encriniteq, and other fossils of that stratum, and
are invariably of a oalcureous nature. This shows that the for¬
mation of those siliceous stratt is more or less contempoame-
ous with the encrinital strata.
But a few feet above the junction of these strata, no encrinites,
nor any organic remains are perceptible; nor are there any fos¬
sils for the distance of many feet, but as soon as the rock becomes
more compact, particularly when it begins to assume the appear¬
ance of chert, the organic remains begin to abound. A few
jEncrinites again become visible, also some Trilobites, but the fos¬
sil which particularly characterises the stratum is the Gorgonia
antiqua, Goldf., accumulations of which, deposited in a direc¬
tion parallel to the stratum, form, for some inches, sometimes
even more than a foot in thickness, the whole rock. When this
Gorgonia is found in the softer kind of rock, it forms one of the
most delicate organic remains, the rock being of a brownish or¬
ange yellow color, while the delicate capillary tubes, with their
transverse junctions, are white, so that when freshly broken in
the direction of these polypifers, it exhibits a fine white reticula¬
ted structure upon a dark ground; but as these delicate tubes,
which are not thicker than a sewing-thread, are not firmly fixed
upon the stone, they are destroyed by the least friction. This
is not the case with the Gorgonia found in that part of the sand¬
stone which has the nature of chert, which in some places also
abounds in Gorgonia of different kinds, among which G. antiqua,
19
Goldf., and the G. infundibuliformis, Goldf., prevail, and they
are mostly siliceous, hard and firmly attached to, and some¬
times even incorporated with the rock, which is often entirely
composed of similar polypifers; and when it happens that a block
of it is broken ,in the direction of these fan-shaped structures, it
forms beautiful specimens, the "stone having generally a brown¬
ish yellow color, while the fossil remains white.
I do not recollect ever to have seen any of these fossils in Eu¬
ropean sandstones, nor have I seen it mentioned in any of
the authors on geology. In Davidson county we find them in
many places where tfie sandstone prevails; they are associated
with Trilobites, and members of Encrinites and Flustras—I
found also among them a few crowns of Encrinites. This stra¬
tum also contains an organic substance which is composed of a
flat stem—perhaps an Alga(?)
This stratification continues nearly uninterrupted, except,
where it is cut through by currents, to beyond Tennessee river.
It is in this siliceous stratum that the rich deposites of iron ore
(hydroxide of iron) are found which supply ore to the furnaces
in Dickson, Stewart, Hickman and Perry counties. The Ten¬
nessee, and most of the other rivers in these counties, have cut
through these upper strata, and their beds are limestone, some of
them similar to that in the vicinity of Nashville.
The upper strata of the limestone in the vicinity of the Ten¬
nessee river differ from those mentioned above,—for as far as I
have been able to trace them, they cover the limestone strata of
Davidson county, and differ also in a mineralogical point of view,
being more of a marly nature, containing only 87-100 of carb-
of lime. They are more susceptible of decomposition, and have
ah argillaceous smell when moistened; but they contain the or¬
ganic remains which are considered by the geologist as charac¬
terising the lowest of the transition strata, as Trilobites, Calceola
sandalina, Catenipora, Orthoceratites, Calamopora and many
others.
This limestone which comes to light at several places near the
Tennessee river, on both sides, and which are remarkable for the
sterility of their soil, are there called glades, and are towards the
west, or south west, covered with strata of marl, in which numer¬
ous Gryphcece, Ostrece, etc. are found,—(my third Report Contains
20
a description cf this marl and its effects upon vegetation.) This
marl is covered with sandstone which contains lignite, petrified
wood, pyrites, and retinasphaltum, upon which follows a ferru¬
ginous sandstone, in several places rich in iron, and the whole is
covered towards the Mississippi with an alluvium.
In order to make the general view of the geology of the State
more intelligible, I have joined a geological map, on which all
the different formations are marked with different colors. The
primordial series, of which we have a small range along the State
line between Tennessee and North Carolina, is colored blue.—
The grauwacke series, composed of grauwacke, slaty grauwacke,
sandstone and limestone, which extend from the primordial se¬
ries, to where they are lost under the Cumbeiland mountains, is
colored yellow. The upper, transition, or mountain limestone is
colored red. and is composed of various strata of limestone co¬
vered on the high lands by a siliceous stratum which contains the
iron ore of Middle Tennessee, and which commences at the west¬
ern base of the Cumberland mountains, being visible also in Se-
quatchee valley, forming the whole of what is called Middle Ten¬
nessee, and extending in some places to four and five miles west
of Tennessee river, while that river forms its limit in Hardin
county- The coal formation, which forms the mountainous part
known by the name of Cumberland mountains, is colored brown;
while the cretaceous strata, composed of marl, green sand and
clay, and which compose the level country in West Tennessee*
and extend to the Mississippi river, are colored gi^een.
I have also given a section of all the different groups which I
have observed in Tennessee. I have followed, in this section,
the line mentioned in this Report, except that I have taken two
points on the line between this State and North Carolina, viz.
frpm Roane mountain, in Carter county, which is primordial, and
from Smoky mountain, on French Broad river, in Cocke county,
which is transition. The colors on this section coincide with
those on the geological map,—only two colors have been added,
viz. on the carboniferous or mountain limestone, where in the
section the aluminous slate and the siliceous stratum are marked
by colors, which could not have been done on the map.
Having given in the preceding pages a general geological out¬
line of the whole State of Tennessee, I will proceed with a de-
21
tailed account of counties which I have more particularly exam¬
ined. In my first and second reports, having already described
Davidson, Williamson, Maury, and part of Rutherford counties,
I will now continue with
COCKE COUNTY.
As the mountainous part of East Tennessee offers a very in¬
teresting field for the geologist, I spent most of my time, in my
last excursion, in Cocke county, where the French Broad river,
having taken its origin in the southern extremity of Buncombe
i mnty, North Carolina, enters this State, traversing the whole
of that part of the Appalachian chain which separates the two
States, and offering a very interesting display of the different
strata which compose that system.
As I have already observed in the general geological view of
our State, the primordial rocks terminate about eight miles east
of the Warm Springs in Buncombe county, North Carolina,—'
they are there composed of gneiss, intermixed with granite, and
are covered by nearly vertical strata of siliceous grauwacke till
near the Warm Springs, where we have a stratum of granular
limestone, upon which follows again the grauwacke, which forms
the highest part of the chain here, and also at the Painted Rock,
where the line passes which separates our State from North Car¬
olina. The Smoky mountain here, is, according to the meas¬
urement of M. Nicollet, 5000 feet above the level of the ocean,
and forms a kind of table land. The ridges towards the west,
which run somewhat parallel to the principal one, diminish grad¬
ually in height as they recede from the principal ridge, till they
dwindle away to a gently rolling country.—Descending along
the French Broad river, thb rocks continue in the same manner,
except that the slaty grauwacke strata become more and more
frequent, till about ten or twelve miles above Newport, we have
a stratum of several rods in thickness of quartsite, having at
some places the appearance of hornstone, or chert, sometimes!
of common quartz. There soon follows (about five miles above
Newport) another stratum of limestone, the strata of which rock
become now pretty frequent, and prevail generally towards the
northwest of the county. * .
In my examination of the French Broad, I made several ex¬
cursions to the right and left of that river, and found that the
22
above mentioned disposition of strata is pretty general through
the whole county. The strata are interspersed with numerous
veins of iron, manganese, and some zinc ores, of which I will
speak hareafter- Valuable mineral springs, mostly chalybeate,
flow at several places out of the ground.
The limit of this grauwacke series is not always the same in
regard to its distance from the State line,—as observed above,
the primordial rocks extend no farther westward, on the French
Broad river, than about sixteen miles east of the Painted Rock;
whereas near the head of Big creek the primordial rocks enter
for two or three miles into the State of Tennessee. Travelling
from the French Broad, between Mrs. Allen's and Holland's, in
a southern direction, I remained on the grauwacke for. about ten
miles south of the French Broad; at that point a cabin has
been built, which is inhabited by a family, and other cabins are
erecting. Near these habitations is the junction of the primor¬
dial with the transition series. The primordial, occupying the
southern, or most elevated level of the chain,—are generally a
granite, which is composed of quartz, reddish felspar, a few small
spangles of black mica, and chlorite talc, and which belongs to
the protogine of the French geologists.
I ascended also the Big Pigeon river, which takes its origin
south of'Waynesville, Haywood county, North Carolina, and
traverses the same ridge of Smoky or Iron Mountain, fifteen or
twenty miles south-east of the place where the French Broad
crosses it. There is much similarity between these two rivers,
owing to the likeness of the rocks over which they run. I there
also ascended it to near the State line, and found the transition
terminated with the Stone mountains, about three or four miles
from the line, and the same granite with chlorite made its ap¬
pearance.
I observed above that the grauwacke rocks of this county
were traversed in several directions by veins of iron and other
ores. I have examined these iron ores with great care, and as¬
certained their positions as correctly as possible; but as none of
these veins have as yet been penetrated, I could only investigate
them superficially, and therefore can offer only conjectures as to
their position, which, nevertheless, are founded on appearances
that have seldom misled me.
23
The first locality of iron ore that I examined was near Long
creek, on the property of Mr. E. Birdseye. Oft his premises are
found several deposites, which are remote the one from the oth¬
er, but not so far but that the ore- from them may with conve¬
nience be employed at one furnace. These ores are not of the
same quality. The quantity of iron which each contains will
be mentioned in another part of this report. I will here only
'state there seems to be no doubt but that there is a great abun¬
dance of ore. It is situated in a gently rolling country, which
is mostly all under cultivation, possessing an excellent soil, which
' is not always the case in mining.countries. Indeed there is found
here every thing requisite for the establishment of iron works,
plenty of ore,' abundance ol timber of the best kind for' coal,
ample quarries of good limestone, and I believe Long creek will
afford a copious supply of water to drive any machinery needed
for such an establishment; at least it afforded a sufficient quantity
when I was there in September of this year, a year remarkable
for the long continued drought, which has drained vmost of our
streams; but even of this creek should fail, these deposites are
only about two miles from the F rench Broad, which never gives out.
One only of the above mentioned deposites has been penetrated,
and has furnished the ore to Legion Furnace, belonging to a com¬
pany, which, as it was composed of a legion ,of partners, is long
since blown up; the iron made there of this ore I was informed
was of excellent quality. On these premises are two chalybeate
springs which are much resorted to by valetudinarians.
Crossing the French Broad above Long creek I visited several
deposites of iron ore along Grass Fork creek, and which seem to
be a continuation of that, which is on the right side of the river.
Judging from the abundance of fragments of ore on the surface,
and the large masses which seem to enter deep into the ground,
the ore is also abundant there. Four extensive, deposites exist
on this creek.
Another deposite of iron ore is near the place of Mr. Holland',
near Stone's creek. It is very abundant, and its quality will be
made known in another part of this report. Not far from this
deposite is a vein of excellent black cxide of'manganese, (1)
which also seems to be abundant.
d) For those who are not acquainted with mineral productions, I beg leave to state that,-
24
The next deposile of iron ore that I examined was near the
Dry Fork of Wolf creek. It is about two or two and a half
miles from the French Broad,—the ore seems to be in great
abundance, it may be traced for several miles partly on this and
partly on the other side of the State line. It differs much in its
external appearance from the ores which are found in the other
parts of .the county. (See its proper description and constituents
in,the part .of this report where the iron ores are described.)
Travelling along the banks of the Big Pigeon river, I found
several pjeqeS'of good iron ore; and there is 110 doubt but that
son!ie, other deposites, such as those mentioned .above, exist in
this country; but the mountainous part being as yet difficult to
be penetrated in every direction, the proper sites and extent of
these deposites cannot be acertai.ned with certainty. But though
this country at first seems to offer many insurmountable obsta¬
cles tp the traveller, the difficulty in penetrating it in every db
rection may nevertheless be easily surmounted when conducted
by experienced pilots. In this way I penetyaved it, even on
horseback, and reached at several places the summit of the great
Spioky mountain or the dividing ridge between Xorth Carolina
and Tennessee; and at trifling expense roads may be made, by
Which this wholp .mountainous region, not only in Cocke and Se¬
vier co.unties, but in all the counties here bordering on the State
line, would bp traversed in every direction by wagons,—and, no
doubt this will soon be the case. ' When I first visited these moun¬
tains, I expected to find rugged rocks covered here and there
with some sandy soil,,terminating in peaks and crags divided by
impassible gorges and ravines. Instead of this, I was not a lit¬
tle surprised to find most of the declivities covered with an ex¬
cellent soil, and adorned with a more luxuriant growth of trees
than I have seen in any part of the United States.
A considerable portion of the country affords fine grass and.
arable lands, taking the growth of timber as the criterion for
Manganese is a metal that in its metallic state is of no use; but that it is employed for
several purposes in the state of ore, as it is produced by nature, viz: as black oxide of man¬
ganese, a substance which is of a black color, sometimes dull, and having sometimes a
metallic lustre. It is merely, pulverized to make it fit for sale. It is used extensively for
the preparation of chlorine, employed in the modern mode of bleaching linen and cotton
goods, by chemists for the preparation of oxygprr gov, and other purposes—and also by the
glass manufacturers. ,
25
judging oi the soil, the traveller would immediately form a fa¬
vorable opinion. Over the whole country, whether valleys or
mountain declivities, the growth is not only abundant but very-
large; the trees generally tall. North-west of Bulles's mountain
range the growth—(white oak (quercus alba,) black oak (quercus
tinctoria,) Spanish oak (quercus falcata,) rockchesnut oak (quer¬
cus prinus mofiticola)—) is very abundant. We also find Chest¬
nut (castanea vesca,) wild cherry (cerasus virginiana,) black Wal¬
nut (juglans nigra) mountain black birch (betula lenta) (there Cal¬
led mountain black birch,) yellow pine {pinus mitis,) white pine
(pinus strobus.) On most of the small streams, in addition to
the above, white beech (fagus sylvestris,) buckeye (pavia lutea,)
-several species of magnolia, poplar (liriodendron tulipifera,) su¬
gar maple (acer saccharinura)—are* all magnificent.
South-east of that range the land is more fertile, the sugar ma¬
ple and other trees that commonly grow in river bottoms, and
shrubs of great variety cover the ground. No country affords a
more favorable growth for the tanning business, than this coun¬
try, the hemlock spruce (abies canadensis) is common, and of a
prodigious size, particularly on the creeks. The black oak is
another valuable tree, from which as yet, to my knowledge, no
advantage has been derived in this State. Its bark is very rich
in the tanning .principle, the only inconvenience which attends it
is that it imparts a yellow color to the leather which is erroneous¬
ly believed to augment Its value.
From the cellular integument of this oak is obtained the quer¬
citron, of which great use is made in dying wool, silk, and paper
hangings. According to several authors who have written on
this subject, and among others,* Dr. Bancroft, to whom we are in--
debted for this discovery, one part of quercitron yields as much
coloring matter as eight or ten parts of woad. From a German
price current of Hamburg, June 21st 1839, the quercitron is rated
at 12£ and 13 banco=$4 ,00 the hundred, and is I believe chiefly
exported from Philadelphia to Europe.
The* wild cherry is another valuable tree in these mountains,
and g*x>ws to a prodigious size. I have measured trees which
were from twelve to fourteen feet in circumference, and perhap^
ninety or one hundred feet high, with a trunk of a uniform di¬
ameter, from twenty-five to thirty feet in height.
4
26
Most of the rnpuntain slopes afford excellent range for stock,
and the.summits, which are mostly a kind of table land, are cov¬
ered with the richest soil.*—I have examined in several places the
high ridge in Cocke county from about two or three miles from
the, French Broad to near Big Pigeon river; this ridge is called,
a!nd very properly too, Rich mountain. I found a man and his fam¬
ily established near the summit, who had some land under culti¬
vation, He had raised excellent potatoes of a very large size;
his cabbages were very large and solid; his corn was rather small
this may perhaps be owing to his late planting, or, as his little
farm was pretty elevated, perhaps the climate is not warm
enough for the raising of corn. There is no doubt that small
grain, as wheat, oats, rye, and buck wheat will be better adapted
to the climate. The soil seems to be naturally fit for grass and
pasture—the native or wild grass covers the ground in several
places, and is intermixed with rich weed, as pea-vine and white
glover.
No country can be better calculated for the raising of sheep—
they can find an abundance of excellent food during the winter
jn the temperate valleys, where they are sheltered against the
pold winds, while they can enjoy a more congenial temperature
jduring the summer on the more elevated table lands; and some
pf the inhabitants, already aware of. this, are increasing their
flocks, and improving it by the Saxqn breed, which gives a fine
kindfof wool, and which perhaps would not thrive well during
pur hot summers in the low parts of Tennessee.
Some blue grass seed was sown here and there on the highest
table land of Rich mountain, and when I visited that mountain
during the month of September of this year, it grew well and
seemed to subdue the other weeds, and no doubt would grow bet¬
ter if the sun was not prevented by the dense foliage of the trees
from warming it with its rays.
But these are not all the advantages which the mountainous
part of East Tennessee offers.—Nature has stamped it as a coun¬
try for manufactures, as well as for the raising of stock, and
pofhing is therefore wanted but to furnish it with good roads,
and it will soon be covered with industrious laborers. Cocke
county and in fact most of the mountainous counties, abound in
water power, The French Broad, which is from thirty to thirty-
4i
five rods wide, has a rapid current, and Was found by the levels 6f
tlie engineers who lstid out the Rail Roa<| route from Charleston
to Cincinnati^ to fall at the rate of from ten to twelve feet in the
mile,—solid rock strata crossing at intervals the stream may be
converted into natural mill-dams-—any power can be had upon
thi£ river at several points from Newport to the State line.
Wolf creek, Lorig creek, the two branches of Big creek and
Stone's creek are abundantly large for furnace's and light ma¬
chinery—the great fall of these streams gives them1 unusual
strength for their size.
Big Pigeon river is smaller than the French Broad, but as a
stream for Water power affords the same facilities—the' fall is
about the same.—Shoals and seats are found from its mouth to:
where it crosses the State line. Cosby's creek is a bold stream,
it drives a forge and bloomery erected by Messrs. Urps and Road¬
man, and is well adapted to mills, etc.
With such an immense power every branch of manufactures
dan be established in these counties;' and nature has at the samp
time placed the raw materials to work upon at the disposal of
him who will apply them to useful purposes—not to mention the
manufacture of glass (1) and other branches—I allude here to
(1) As yet we have no manufactory of glass in the far west, and no country offers bet¬
ter materials for its establishment than some pf the East Tennessee counties,— I will here give
the'materials which are used in making the different kinds of glass, from which it will appear
that the county here described, has all the necessary requisites to carry' on this branch of in.
Industry.
Bottle Glass. This is the coarsest kind of glass; in Europe made of various hinds of
rock, as basalt, or laVa—all the rocks in Cocke county, the limestone and slate excepted, wilj
answer ihis purpose, also the common sand, with some clay and common salt.—In England
it is made of coarse sand and the waste earth of kelp,, from which the spap-boilera have
washed out the alkali. Kelp is an impure kind of soda whiah is made from plants which
grow on the sea shore; it contains from three to eight per cent of pure carb. of soda.
Window Glass. This is generally mads from fine sand, with about twice its measure of
best kelp. Spanish barilla is used by the best manufacturers in Europe. «
Flint Glass. This is so called because it was formerly made of calcined flint, but at
present a fine quartzose sand is employed by the English as the basis; this sand is well wash¬
ed, calcined and sifted, (Cocke county possesses at severa 1 places which I have examined on
the French Broad, good sand for this purpose, and perhaps sufficient for such establishment
This nevertheless I am not prepared to affirm, but there are immense strata of quartz roek,
■wrhich is pretty pure, and may serve the purpose—One of the strata is about five miles from
Newport,) The flux used for this kind of'glass is composed partly of red lead or litharge
and pearlash. , .
It is unnecessary to mention that we have sufficient materials to make potash or pearlash
over the whole of Tennessee', and particularly on the mountainous parts Of East Tennes¬
see, some of wbice will ilways remain as forest.-
28
the inexhaustible depositesof iron ore. Iron must become one
of the principal sources of the wealth of Middle and East Ten¬
nessee. Missouri may boast of its iron mountain, (which in east
Tennessee would be called a knob or hillock) but the quantity of
excellent iron ore in our State far exceeds that of the iron moun¬
tain. Judging from the ore visible on the surface in both States,
Tennessee is far more favored with it; and no where could a
foundery for a national arsenal be more judiciously situated than
in our State, the centre of the Union, and therefore not liable to
be attacked by an enemy, and yet by means of its large rivers,
and soon perhaps of rail roads, cannon or other arms may be
transported in a short time to any point in the Union*
Not only is. the country now under consideration, rich in iron,
and those advantages just enumerated, but all the counties near
the State line are in this respect pretty much the same. I have
only selected this county as affording the best apportunity for
examining the rocks and stratification,by the sections that have
been made through the mountains by the French Broad and Big
Pigeon rivers.
meteoric metallic mass—Found in Cocke County.
Besides the extensive deposites of iron ore which are found in1
Cocke county, and of which analyzis will be given in this report—
iron of another description was found in this county. During
my excursions through East Tennessee I had seen small frag¬
ments of native iron, and had heard of large masses of it which
were believed to be silver. It being considered a precious metal,
all that was known about it, and the places where it was found,
were kept a profound secret. Some of the less prejudiced in¬
habitants at last became acquainted with the nature of the metaf
and its real value was made known; and it is to the politeness of
Col. Micajah C. Rodgers of Sevierville, that I am indebted for a
considerable quantity of it, and to the Hon. Judge Jacob Peck of
Jefferson county vvho presented me with some small fragments..
I am thus enabled to lay a description of this singular substance
before the scientific public.
Having ascertained as appears from the analysis which will be
mentioned in the following pages, that this iron contains Nickel,,
the mass must be considered of meteoric origin, but it differs from
most of the masses of meteoric iron hitherto described. The
29
original weight of it is said to have been about two thousand
pounds. The parts that I have seen, and that which is in my
possession, are a singular heterogeneous mixture, composed of
metallic iron, carburet of iron, or graphite, sulphuret of iron, hy¬
droxide of iron, brown and yellow, the brown being very hard,
the yellow very soft, (like gypsum;) in some, pieces all these in¬
gredients form a kind of heterogeneous mixture.
The most interesting part nevertheless, and Which occupies
about ninety-five hundredths of the whole mass is the nickeliferous
iron. It is partly of a crystalline structure and partly composed)
of irregular grains of various sizes and forms, sometimes mere-f
ly agglutinated, sometimes separated by a thin flexible pellicle of
a highly polished metal, viz: highly carbonised iron. The crys¬
talline part is composed of laminae, which vary in thickness for¬
ming sometimes equilateral triangles, which, are separated,
the one from the other, by very thin laminae or pellicles of
a brilliant steel polish as, mentioned above, and being remarka¬
bly flexible, I expected to find these triangular laminae placed in
such position as to form octahedrons, or showing a cleavage par¬
allel to the sides of that solid; but this is not the case the cleavage
gives a regular tetraedron. I have one of these forms which
measures about one inch from the base to the apex. This me¬
tallic iron is besides dispersed in irregularly shaped little masses
through a solid compact brown hydrated oxide of iron, through
which it is also dispersed in invisible grains, which can only be
detected by the magnet which attracts them when the substdnce
has been reduced to powder.
This iron is malleable;—I have in my possession a horse-shoe
nail which was made of it without having undergone a previ:
ous preparation, and it is harder and whiter than common
wrought iron. Its hardness is perhaps owing to a small quantity
of carbon, or perhaps to nickel—but the color of the iron in its
natural state, before it has been subjected to any operation, dif¬
fers much in different parts. In some it is black and has no me¬
tallic lustre at all; in others it has a brilliant lustre, and is then
always much whiter than steel or common iron. This iron is but
little susceptible of being tarnished when exposed to the action
of the atmosphere—the black part may be rendered white by a
file. It is covered also here arid there witha kind of black varnish^
30
The substance which cbnstitutes the next greatest part of the
mass is the graphite. It is not easily distinguished from the com¬
mon graphite or plumbago^ except that it is a little harder than
the common granular and fcompact varieties. It is rather black¬
er than the latter, and makes a blacker and better defined line up¬
on paper. When rubbed by a hard body, it assumes a bright me¬
tallic lustre. It is not a pure graphite, but rather a mixture of
metallic iron and graphite. This iron can be removed partly by
a magnet, when it is reduced to powder, but a considerable pro¬
portion remains mixed with the graphite, which when acted up¬
on by hydrochloric acid is dissolved under a brisk production of
hydrogen gas.
The sulphuret of iron or pyrites occupies the small proportion'
of the mass.—This pyrites is not attracted by the magnet, nor
does it seem to act upon the magnetic needle. It is easily cut
with a knife, and consequently is softer than common pyrites. I
have not been able to obtain sparks from it with steel. Anoth¬
er property which distinguishes it from common pyrites is its
easy solubility in diluted hydrochloric acid, with a brisk expul¬
sion of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, leaving a mixed powder of
black and white in the fluid. It has a more or less sublamellar
structure, in which no regularity could be perceived,- and a co¬
lor of bronze-yellow and copper-red, often tarnished.
This hydroxide of iron which forms part of this mass is a het¬
erogeneous mixture of the varieties of the ore generally known
Under the names of brOwn iron ore and yellow ochre, and re¬
sembles this terresteral mineral. Its color is generally brownish
black passing into liver brown. The external surface of the
mass is covered here and there with the yellow earthy variety.
How far this latter penetrates into the mass or what thickness it
had originally I am not able to say, as the mass was too much
abused before part of it came into my possession.
Its fracture resembles that of the common compact brown
iron ore.
The brown variety is very hard, no file can make the least im¬
pression on it, the best file is immediately dulled, and leaves the
steel on the surface of the mass. Nevertheless, the whole is not
of a uniform hardness, some part,1 particularly the liver brown, isr
scratched by th© file.
31
Some small cavities in it are liijed with small lamellar crystal*,
resembling those of white pyrites.
This hydroxide, judging from my specimens, is not abundant in
the jnterior of the mass, where it serves as a matrix for the me¬
tallic iron, but the exterior of the mass is entirely- composed of
it, which is at some places about one inch in thickness, while at
others it is no more than one quarter of an inch, showing here
and there small points of metallic iron piercing through it..
Constituents of the different parts..
One hundred grains of the metallic iron were dissolved in di¬
luted hydrochloric acid, leaving a residue of half a grain of a
black powder similar to that obtained of the graphite. This so¬
lution being treated with nitric acid to convert the protoxide in¬
to peroxide, was precipitated by pure ammonia; the precipitate
being washed and ignited gave 124 grains of peroxide=87 grains
of pure iron. The ammoniacal solution gave 12 grains of me?
tallic nickel, with a trace of cobalt; loss half a grain—
METALLIC IRON.
Iron, - - - - 87,0
Nickel, - - - - ■■ t 12,0
Carbon, - - - 0,5
Loss, - - - - - 0,5
100,0 ,
Of the graphite, pulverised .and freed by a magnet of inter¬
mixed iron, fifty grains were acted upon, with diluted hydrochlo¬
ric acid; an effervescence took place with disengagement of hy¬
drogen gas,. pwingto the metallic iron which was so, intimately
mixed with the graphite, that it was pot attracted by .the magnet'.
After the effervesccepce ceased it was heated in -order to dissolve,
pvery thing that twas soluble. The insoluble part being washed
and dried, was pure carbon, it weighed forty-six and ,a half
grains,
The hydrochloric • solution being treated ,with nitric acid to.
convert the protroxide into peroxide, and precipitated by ammo¬
nia, gave peroxide equal to three grains of metallic iron. The.
filtered solution was treated with pure, potassa, a hardly percep-.
tible flocnlent precipitate was obtained, so that this iron was free -
pf nickel.
3'i
grapAite.
Carbon, - - - - - 48,5
Iron, - - - - 3,0
Loss, - j ' '^»5'
50,0
A small fragment of the pyrites was dissolved in diluted hy¬
drochloric acid under a brisk effervescence and disengagement of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas—part of it was insoluble; this, after
being washed and dried, was exposed to heat, by which: sulphur
was sublimed, and a black powder remained. The quantity used
for the analyzes was too small to determine the precise propor¬
tions—but it is composed of:
SULPnUEET of iron.
Sulphuret of Iron.
Carbon.
hydroxide of iron.
The hydroxide of iron lost about seventeen per cent, by
being heated, and had then all the characters of similar resi¬
due of terrestral brown iron stone or haemetite.
Such are the characters and appearances of this mass. No¬
thing is known, in the country, of its fall; it was accidentally
discovered near Cosby's creek, in the south-western part of
Cocke county, and as mentioned above, considered as silver ore;
in fact there is yet a fragment of it in the hands of an inhabit¬
ant who asks fifteen hundred dollars for it, which sum would be
sotne hundred dollars too much if it were pure silver.
This is not the only instance of meteoric iron occurring in
Tennessee;—a small mass was found in Dickson county, and an¬
other a few miles from Caney Fork,—the latter had an oval
shape,, its long diameter being from ten to twelve inches, and a
smooth glassy surface. It is said that several masses have been
found about twenty miles east of the Warm Springs in North
Carolina; I went to the spot during my last excursion, but could
learn nothing with certainty of them, nor see any of the metal.
iron ores.
Though the preceding metallic mass i3 of the highest interest
to the philosopher who investigates the operations of nature, it
is nptso in regard to the political economist, who points out the
33
^purees of National wealth; I should therefore have given a
mineralogical and chemical account of the ores which, as ap¬
pears from the preceding pages, are so abundant in Cocke coun¬
ty. But whether it is to be attributed to the neglect of those
who promised to,Send me specimens, which I was not able to
carry with me on horse-back, or whether it is owing 1o a want
of opportunity to forward them—I have been disappointed in
my expectation and the description of these ores which was
promised in the preceding pages, will have to be communicated
in a future report.
Some of our -iron masters and proprietors of furnaces have
been more punctual, and I embrace this opportunity to tender
my sincere thanks to them for the valuable information which
they have communicated to me. respecting their works, and for
the specimens which they have sent me for examination.
With the exception of the Cranberry ore in Carter county
and a vein in Cockc county, both belonging to the magnetic ox¬
ide of iron, and the red iron ore, a vein of which 1 have traced
with some interruption for about sixty miles on the eastern base
of the Cumberland.mountains, the iron ore in the other counties
of Tennessee all belong to the Hydroxide of iron, and if
their product differs in quantity or in quality it is. only attribu-
utable to some heterogeneous substance which is combined or
mixed with the iron in the ore, or to the ignorance of those who
work it- ■ ■ ■ _
I had it in contemplation for sometime to give a complete' de¬
scription and analysis of the various ores which are found in the
State of Tennessee* particularly of those which are used'in our
iron works, because, though these ores belong to the well known
Hydroxides of iron, all the different varieties of that mineral are
not well known to those who have the direction of these useful
establishments, When I first visited our iron works I, was sur¬
prised to see sOme of the best varieties of ore rejected as useless.
The. brown Hematite, the purest and richest of all, was by some
rejected under the name of Black Jack. Now the ore to which
the English miners give the name of Black Jack, is not. an iron
ore, but a compound of zinc and sulphur. The' iron masters
were astonished when I pronounced it the best ore they had.
1 have also promised in former reports to furnish a complete
• 5-
34
statistical account of these works, in preparing which I expected
the cooperations of the proprietors of these works, but only a
few have contributed to this undertaking. The facts neverthe¬
less, which have come to my knowledge, I will now communi¬
cate, and I again invite those who have not yet done it/t<3 send me
such information as they consider fit for the eye of the public,
that it may be seen what benefit they are to the State, and to
What extent legislative patronage should be bestowed upon
works, which furnish or may furnish one" of the most essential
sources of support "to the State.
I will corrimence with the ore of the Dover iron works. They
are situated on the left side of Cumberland river, a few miles
above Dover in Stewart county, and are composed of two high
furnaces and a rolling mill, and are owned by Messrs. Woods,
Stacker & Co.
The ore banks of this establishment are of great extent and
are all situated in the immediate vicinity of the furnaces. One
Only of them furnishes at present the ore which is used. I is the
bank, called Bear Spring bank; it forpns a solid deposite of ore
and is quarried above ground, as is the case with all the iron
banks in Tennessee. I have made analyses of the ores from the
other banks belonging to that establishment; they are not used
now, for what reason I do not know, for they are as rich in met¬
al as those, of Bear Spring bank. The average result of several
analyses made of different parcels of the ore is:
Protoxide of iron, - 70 00=61f per cent, of pure iron.
Water, - - 12 00
Manganese, - - 2 50
Silex, ... 4 50
Alumine, - - - 1 00
Loss, - i - • 1 00
The ore of these banks is a mixture of some of the varieties of
the Hydroxide of iron, namely of the compact brown iron stone,
forming the greatest proportion, which is here and there intersper¬
sed with cavities and porous places, containing some'of the earthly
varieties as the yellow acd brown iron ocher; the interior of the
cavities being often lined with brown Hematite which also runs
sometimes through the massive ore.
The ore of Bear Spring bank which is now exclusively used in
35
the Dover works, is more homogeneous. When I visited these
works, this bank was not sufficiently penetrated to enable me to
form an opinion respecting the nature of the ore in general, but
judging from the specimens which the proprietors sent me, it is
principally composed of compact brown iron stone jn stalactitj-
cal concretions, containing numerous cavities which are mostly
lffied with a black crust—in one instance a crystal of sulphate of
lime of about two inches in length, in an almost isolated statp
was found in it.
A small vein of earthy black oxide of manganese intermixed
with yellow ocher traverses this bank in several directions.
I have made two analyses of the compact variety—the one
an ore of rather a pale brown or liver color—it gave:
Protoxide of iron, - - 80=62 per cent, pure iron,
Water, .... 15
Manganese, - 1
Silex, - 3
Loss, ... - 1
100 ,
The second being performed with a blackish, somewhat glossy
ore, gave: ' .
Protoxide of iron, - 76,50=59! per cent, pure iron.
Water, - - - 12,00
Manganese,- - - 5,00
Silex, -
Alumine, - - - 1>^
Loss, ... - 1,00 ,
100,00
The earthy variety is a mixture of yellow and brown ocher with
pa-cels of pulverulent black oxide ofmanganese and silex, one anal¬
ysis gave.me fifty-four per hundred of protoxide or forty-two
per hundred of puie iron. ^
From a statement communicated to me by the proprietors of
the above mentioned works^ it appears that they manufacture
annually about 5575 tons of iron, viz:
2000 tons of bar iron,
3000 tons of pig metal and hc/fiow ware eastings,
36
5000 kegs of nails,
550 tons of blooms.
To produce this quantity they purchase annually about 1600
tons of blooms, the remainder being furnished by their two fur¬
naces.
The establishment owns 235 slaves, and hire nearly the same
number giving direct employment at the mill and two furnaces
to about 450 hands, and feeds and supports about 100 women
and children.
If we add to these 450 effective hands the number of hands
which are employed indirectly by the establishment, the number
will be about one thousand, viz:
In making the above mentioned 1600 tons of blooms
from the ore, 360
In digging and transporting stone coal, 80
In raising corn, flour, pork, etc. 100
540
Add the haqds, immediately employed in the establishment, 450
Total, 990
They employed 200 head of mules and horses and thirty-five
yoke of oxen.
Consumed annually,-
300,000 pounds pork,
7,000 barrels corn,
,300 barrels flour,
100;000 bushels stone coal,
44,000 cords wood,
The annual expenditure of money is $240,000
The sales of wrought iron, nails, castings and pig metal of
that establishment lor five years, commencing 2d October, 1S34,
and ending 2d October 1839, is $1,950,000.
Though Mr. E. Embree has made no communication for the
contemplated statistical account of the iron works of this State,
the information communicated by him is in other respects of the
highest importance, as giving tfye results of the experiments of a
37
man who is perfectly master of the iron business, and show that
stone coal is not absolutely necessary to carry on the rolling of
iron, as is generally belived, so that in the several counties in
East Tennessee, which are too remote from our coal fields, and
which possess in great abundance excellent iron ore, the iron
business in all its "ramifications can be conducted to any extent,
rendering thereby available the great extent Of 'mountain land,
which is only calculated for the growth of timber.
Mr. E's. works are situated on Bumpers creek, near NolychUc-
ky riverain Washington couuty.—He stated to me that he had
been engaged in making iron for nearly thirty years in a coun¬
try where no stone coal can be got, and that he has found the
following results from the use of wood.
"To keep a smelting furnace in constant operation making about
twenty tons of metal per week, requires from 7,000 to 10,000
acres of common mountain land, such as is found uncultivated
along the Unaka and Smoky mountains, this amount of land
will reproduce the wood so as to keep up a constant supply.
Ohesnutwill yield a good cutting in about fifteen years.
Oak is of a slower growth, it will require twenty-five years to
produce as large a quantity as is generally found at the first cutting.
Black oak or chestnut oak will make about twenty per hun¬
dred more iron than chestnut.
Pine is of slower growth than chestnut and will make a little
more iron to the cord.
Spruce ,and white pine are not good for coal but ahswer for
heating blooms.
I have met with no timber except linn (lime?) and buckeye, but
what will answer to make iron; but the wood that makes the
heaviest coal will make the most iron, to the volume of it.
I believe that chesnut oak, found in the mountains, is a little
superior to any other wood, because it makes the heaviest coal.
It is also superior to any other wood in heating blooms for rolling
though any kind of wood in the mountains will answer for
heating blooms except the two kinds before mentioned.
I use wood for heating blooms for rolling, and find it answers
very well .--It requires from two and a half to four cords to heat
a ton of blooms sufficiently to roll it into sound bar iron.
38
A little pine or poplar wood, well dried, and mixed with good
black or chestnut oak, makes the best heat,
The time mentioned above to produce the wood, is, sufficient
for the growth of a crop equal in quantity to the first,*' the ground
may be cut over in a shorter time, but there would be a loss in
the quality as well as in the quantity.
In Kentucky, where the land is well timbered, five thousand
acres are considered sufficient to reproduce wood to make 1000
tons of pig iron annually."
The above mentioned facts, the results of thirty years experi¬
ence,'of a close and intelligent observer as Mr. Embree, have in¬
duced me to lay before the inhabitants of our forest and iron re¬
gions a more extensive view of the nature of wood as fuel for
the use of iron works. .
In order to give an idea of the quantity of heat produced by
the various kinds of our wood, I have made some extracts of a
memoir of Mr. Bull, of Philadelphia, entitled "Experiments to
determine the comparative value of the principal varieties of fuel
used in the United States, etc."—read before the American Phi¬
losophical Society of Philadelphia, in April, 1S26. This is by
far the -most extended, systematic and successful effort yet made
in this interesting field of experimental inquiry, and may be of
great utility for our iron establishments, which are all, except,
the few on the eastern-slope of the Cumberland mountains, at a
great distance from our coal fields.
The general principle on which Mr. Bull's experiments were
conducted for determining the comparative heat evolved in the
combustion of. a given weight of each would sustain the ah* of
the room at a temperature of 10° above the surrounding medi¬
um. To obviate the influence which the ordinary atmospheric
changes of temperature and the winds would produce on the re¬
sults, by furnishing a surrounding "refrigerating medium of in¬
constant power," the room in which the experiments were per¬
formed was surrounded by double walls, and the intermediate
space sustained by artificial heat during the experiments, at a uni¬
form temperature, and somewhat higher than the greatest natu¬
ral temperature of the external atmosphere. The actual tern-
39
perature of the inner and the outer rooms, during the experi¬
ments, was determined by common mercurial thermometers sus¬
pended in each, and the difference of temperature by Leslie's
differential thermometer, the horizontal part of which traversed
the inner wall or partition, leaving a bulb and upi'ight stem on
each side. The combustion was effected in a small upright py-
lindrical stove, furnished with forty-two feet of sheet iron pipe
or two inches diameter, having in it several convolutions before
it left the room. So completely was the heat generated in the
process of combustion dissipated by the pipe, and .emitted into
the room, that a thermometer, the bulb of which was inserted in
the pipe just before it entered the chimney, indicated the same
temperature as the one 'which hung in the room. As the con¬
ducting power of the air, in relation to caloric, is influenced by
its hygrometric state, care was taken to preserve it in a uniform
condition in this respect. All the varieties of fuel operated on
were dried previous to combustion at a temperoture of 250°
ahrenheit. Their solid contents were determined in the usual
method for irregular bodies, by the volume of water, which a
given volume by the usual admeasurement displaces, and the
specific gravities by the hydrostatic balance. In the latter case,
porous substances, which expand by the absorption of water, as
the wood, were previously covered with a varnish having exact¬
ly the same specific gravity as water; in short, no precaution
seems to have been omitted by this laborious and able experi¬
menter, to guard against every source of error, both in the con-1
struction of his apparatus and in the general conduct'of his in¬
quiries. The annexed table exhibits 'the results of his experi¬
ments.
It also appears from the investigations of Mr. Bull that one
pound of charcoal of hickory, maple, oak and pine will keep 10°
of heat for 15 hours, whereas Lehigh coal kept this heat only 13
hours and 10 minutes, and bituminous coal 9 hours and 20 min¬
utes.
Common Names of Woods,
White Ash,
Apple Tree,
White Beech,
Black Birch,
White Birch,
Butter-nut,
Red Cedar,
American Chestnut,
Wild Cherry,
Dog Wood,
White Elm,
Sour Gum,
Sweet Gum,
Shell-bark Hickory,
Pig-nut Hickory,
Red-heart Hickory,
Witch-hazel,
American Holly,
American Hornbeam,
Mountain Laurel,
Hard Maple,
Soft Maple,
Large Magnolia,
Chestnut White Oak,
White Oak,
Shell-bark White Oak,
Barren Shrub Oak,
Pin Oak,
Shrub Black Oak,
Red Oak,
Barren Oak,
Rock Chestnut Oak,
Yellow Oak,
Spanish Oak,
Persimon,
Yellow Pine, (soft,)
Jersey Pine,
Pitch Pine,
White Pine,
Yellow Poplar,
Lombardy Poplar,-
Sassafras,
Wild Service,
Sycamore,
Black Walnut.
Swamp Whortle-berry-j
Botanical Names.
Traxinus Americana,
Pyrus malus,
Fagus sylvestris,
Betula lenta,
Betula populifolia,
Juglans cathartica,
Juniperus Virginiana,
Castanea vesca,
Cerasus Virginiana,
Cornus florida,
TJlmus Americana,
Nyssa sylvatica,
Liquidambar styraciflua,
Juglans squamoso,
Juglans porcina,
Juglans laciniata?
Hamamelis virginica,
Ilex opaca,
Carpinus Americana,
Kalmia latifolia,
Acer saccharinum,
Acer rubrum,
Magnolia grandiflora,
Quercus prinus palustris,
Quercus alba,
Quercus obtusiloba?
Quercus cafesbeei,
Quercus, palustris,
Quercus banisteri,
Quercus rubra,
Quercus ferruginea,
Quercus prinus monticola,
Quercus prinus acuminata,
Quercus falcata,
Diospyros Virginiana,
Pinus mitis,
Pinus inops,
Pinus rigida,
Pinus strobus,
Lyriodendron tulipifera,
Populus dilatata,
Laurus sassafras,
Aronia arborea,
Acer pseudo-platanus,
Juglans nigra,
Vaccinium corymbosum,
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41
I have not been able to make a complete analyzis of the ore
of Mr. Embree's establishment—one specimen which I took with
me when visiting his works gave me about fifty per cent, of iron,
some zinc and lead—this ore was composed of small fragments
and grains, mostly composed of hydroxyde of iron, but too much
injured to give a mineralogical description of it.
The description and analyzis of this and other iron ores of
East Tennessee, which is rich in iron must be postponed for the
present; till I shall have received the specimens which I know are
now 011 their way to Nashville, and the result of my labors will
be communicated in my next report.
I have examined a vein of iron ore which runs along the base
of the eastern declivity of Cumberland mountains, where I have
traced it with some interruptions for about fifty or sixty miles.—
It furnishes the ore for the works of Mr. Gordon and Kimbrough.
This ore belongs to the red oxides of iron and is known under the
name of scaly red iron ore. According to my analyzis of a pure
specimen, it contains:
Peroxide of iron, - - 93,00
Carbonate of lime, - - 3,50
Alumma and Silex, - - 2,00
Loss, - - - - - 50
100,00
The iron ore of Blooming Grove creek, Montgomery county
is considered as the most valuable ore in Tennessee, because the
iron it produces is very good and the ore is easily worked, it is
nevertheless not as rich in iron as some of our other best Tennes¬
see ores, it is composed of
Peroxide of iron, » - 72,00
Water, ... - 16,00
Alumina and Silex, - - 8,50
Loss, - • - - 3,50
100,00
This ore occurs generally in Stalactical concretions and is
known amongst the workmen under the name of Pipe ore. It is
42
of an orange brown color, not hard and formed of a combinna-
tion of cylindrical Stalactites closely connected together.
The same furnace possesses another bank,—its ore is more
complicated. It contains some pitchy iron ore—the propri¬
etors have neglected to send me the specimens which I had re¬
quested, and judging from the small fragment which I took with
me it seems to contain some Sulphur and Phosphorus, and must
therefore yield an iron of bad qualities.
The vein of Pipe ore runs from Blooming grove creek in a
southern direction, and may be traced on the left side of Cum¬
berland river, where it is visible at some places, to the furnace
called Sailors rest, where a good ore is worked, somewhat oi the
same kind as the Pipe ore of Blooming grove furnace.
Towards the west of Blooming grove furnace are extensive
deposites of iron ore, but no works are as yet erecttd there.
The furnace of the late Col. Love in Perry county possesses
extensive ore banks. The ore of the bank called "March Bank"
is a mixture of brown Haematite and compact brown iron-stone
—this is a pure ore and yield as much iron as any of the ores of
Middle Tennessee. The ore of the "Perry Bank" is compact
brown iron-stone and liver ore, as it is technically called, more
or less intermixed with earthy matter, nevertheless it is good ore
and smelts somewhat quicker than the former. The ore of the
"Cow Hollow" bank is compact brown iron-stone.
The ores of Mr. Vunlier's iron works, situated in Dickson coun¬
ty is also a mixture of brown iron stone, Haematite, and pulve¬
rulent varieties of the same ore and gave me on an average about
sixty per cent of iron.
Mr. M. C. Napier works the Aetna furnace, situated 3£ miles
from Duck river, in Hickman county, possess extensive ore
banks—the ore is composed of brown ironstone, brown Haema¬
tite and the earthy varieties and yield equally well as the ores al¬
ready mentioned.
Mr. Napier has had the kindness to contribute his part to my
contemplated statistical account already mentioned.
His furnace is conducted by water power, which is pretty con-
43
*tant. The works hare not been long in operation, but judging
of what has been done, Mr. Napier calculated that they will pro¬
duce 1200 tons of pig metal and castings per year, for which
he uses 2400 tons of ore, and 6500 cords of wood at about 40
cts. per cord, and employs
1 Master Collier,
10 Assistant colliers,
2 Wood haulers,
6 Men in the banks,
8 " in the upper part of the furnace,
9 " in the lower do.
4 " team drivers,
3 carts with oxen,
4 teams with mules.
SILVER ORE.
I had the good fortune during my last excursion to make a dis¬
covery which may eventually be of great importance. Stopping
for the night at the house of Capt. Eastland, on Clifty creek, on
the Cumberland mountains, he handed me some small fragments
of ore. As it was night, and candle-light not being fit to disT
criminate minerals, I told him that I should examine it when I
arrived at home; they were accordingly wrapped up in paper
and marked with his name. Next morning I left that place, and
passing through Sparta, I descended to the Calf-killer creek to
water my horse; my attention was there attracted by something
uncommon amongst the gravel; I dismounted and took up the
substance which had drawn my attention. Not being willing to
remain longer amongst the dangerous miasmata which were ri¬
sing at that time from this creek, and which had infected the
whole town, I did not think it prudent to examine this place fur¬
ther. When at home, I examined both these ores, and found
that the fragment of Capt. Eastland, as well as that found by me
on the Calf-killer, was sulphuret of silver, that of Capt. Eastland
containing also sulphuret of lead; that found on the Calf-killeg
44
was pure sulphuret of silver covering and penetrating crystalised
fluate of lime. n.
The sulphuret of silver is one of the richest silver ores; when
pure it contains:
SrLVER, 87
SULPHUR, ------- 13
100
I am at a loss to make any conjectures as to the locality of this
ore. The banks of the Calf-killer, which creek takes its origin
in the Cumberland mountains, only a few miles (perhaps twenty)
to the north of Sparta, are mostly compiosed of oolitic limestone,
of which mention is made in this report, and this limestone is co¬
vered here and there by the sandstone of the coal formation, and
no vein of silver or fluate of lime can be expected to be found in
it. It is the same with the oolitic limestone, which is the high¬
est stratum of our mountain limestone series, in which I never
found any metallic vein or other mineral substance; it must there¬
fore belong to some older rocks. The only stratum, for as much
as I know, in which fluate of lime is found, is in Smith county.
Now the perpendicular height of the Calf-killer is much elevated
above the place where the fluate of lime is found, which is not
far from the Cumberland river, about 400 feet below Sparta. I
do not know from whence Capt. E. obtained his specimen—as he
told me it was about 15 miles from his residence.-
MINERAL WATERS.
I have analyzed several mineral waters, which generally be¬
long to what is called Sulphur waters, that is, waters impregna¬
ted with sulphureted hydrogen gas, and a few chalybeate waters.
Most of these analyses have been published in our periodical pa¬
pers. One which I have analyzed lately has not yet appeared
before the public; it is a water from the Cumberland mountains
—the spring belongs to Mr. Hollinan—it contains:
20 fluid ounces—Carbonic acid, 3 cubic inches,
Oxide of Iron, 1,S5 grains,
Sulphuric acid,
Sulph. of lime, ) »
■ magnesia. )
appendix.
ORGANIC REMAINS
DISCOVERED IN THE STATE OF TENNESSEE,
BY G. TROOST,
ALL OF WHICH ARE IN HIS CABINET.
MOLUSCA.
1. Ostrea vesecularis, Brongt. var. testa rostrata libra.
From the calcareous marl near Purdy, M'Nairy county.
Ostrea vesecularis is described under various names, and is re¬
ferred to two genera. It was first made known as O. vesecularis
by Brongniart and Cuvier (Ossem. Foss. v. tab. 3 fig. A. D.) and
was adopted under that name by Lamark (vi. p. 219.) Sowerby
describes it as gryphceadilatata (tab. 149,) and G. globosa (tab.
392.) Yon Schlotenheim, under the name of gryphites irunca-
tus. Morton under gryphcea mutabilis. As Brongniart has
the priority, I adopt his name.
One of my specimens has on its inferior valve a Pholas perhaps
P. petricola; others are covered with reticulated zoophites.
In some specimens the original structure of the shell has dis¬
appeared, and it has now a fibrous structure, the fibres running
rectangularly with the surface of the shell. A similar structure
is observed in the inocerama and in the trichite which are found
in Europe in the oolite.
2. Ostrea vesicularis, Brongt. var, testa truncata adhcerens ei
auriculata. These specimens show more or less the truncation
of the beak, and the greater or smaller extension of the lateral
margin.
Same locality as the preceding,
3. Ostreafalcata? Morton.
46
It differs perhaps specifically from the O.falcata, and seems to
he intermediate between O.falcata, and O. pectinata.
Same locality.
4. Ostrea sandalina, Goldf.
This ostrea corresponds with the description and figures in
Goldfuss's work (PI. lxxix. fig. 9,) but the species described by
him occurs inthe oolite formation, whereas ours occurs in the
cretaceous marl and green sand in M'Nairy county.
5. Ostrea acutirostris, Nilson.
Green sand, same locality.
6. Ostrea flabeUala, Lamk.
Same locality.
7. Ostrea lateralis, Nilson.
Same locality.
8. Ostrea larva, Lamk.
Same locality.
9. Gryphcea convexa, Say.
Cretaceous marl and green sand—same locality.
10. Exogyra costata, Say.
Same locality.
This genus, according to Goldfuss, was introduced by Sower-
by; I believe this is a mistake. Say first described the E. costata
in Silliman's journal. The species since introduced by Sowerby
into this genus, were first described by him as chama.
11. Exogyra (not determined.)
Same locality.
12. Eleven species of Cardium, (not determined.)
These cardia all belong to the mountain limestone of Middle
Tennessee; some of them occur also near Louisville Ky., one re¬
sembles more or less the cardium aliforme Sowerby, another the
0. elongatum of the same author, another the C.gracile, Munster.
13. Terebratula Wilsonii, Sowerby.
This fossil characterises an argillaceous limestone which is
abundant on the western side of Tennessee, river in Perry coun¬
ty, West Tennessee, which I consider as transition. It is asso¬
ciated with Calceola sandalina, Pentremites Reinwardii, nobis,
several Crinoidea, Terebratula aspera and Trilobites.
14. Terebratula aspera., Schloth.
f^ame locality—characterises the same stratum.
47
15. Terebratula prisca, Schloth. '
Rare in the mountain limestone in Tennessee; abundant near
the falls of the Ohio at Louisville.
16. Terebratula. More than fifty species, which I have hot
been able to determine for want of the proper books,' no doubt
but several of them will be found new—they all belong to the
mountain limestone of Middle Tennessee and of the eastern
part of the Western District of Tennessee. I found one of thesb
terebratula in the siliceous stratum, having the appearance of
Tripoli mentioned in the report, (see page 17.) This stratum
which is almost void of organic remains contains in a single spot
several fossils, amongst which is this terebratula, a Pinna, Gorgo-
nia antiqua and others. This stratum is below the coal measures;
17. Stropho?nenes rugosa, Raf.
Mountain limestone Middle Tennessee (very abundant.)
18. Strophomenes, Six species not yet determined.
I have several of the Strophomenes rugosa and other species,
the valves of which are separated. I find the teeth similar to
'those of the terebratula, the beak being perforated for a byssusi
also ihe hinge similar in both.
19. Pinna; (not determined.)
Siliceous stratum in Middle Tennessee.
The specimens of roci in which these Pinna are imbedded con¬
tain also pens and hexagonal pieces of echini, also a fossil which
resembles somewhat a Hiponice, andGorgoniainfundibuliformis.
The Pinna is no where found in such low series of rocks, ac¬
cording to Goldfuss'they begin to make their appearance in Keu-
per, Lias and Oolite where they are rare, they become more
abundant in chalk and a few are found in the tertiary formation.
I have no doubt," as I have already mentioned,- that this siliceous
stratum lies below the coal measures.
20. Calecola sandalina.
Mountain limestone, Perry county:
The two valves are very seldom found connected together.
They are mostly the lower valves—I found two which had botfr
valves well preserved.
I am not certain whether this Calceola is the same as that de¬
scribed by the European Paleontologists—certainly the figures'
48
in the Diet, des Sc. Nat. and in Diet. d'Hist. Nat. do not resem¬
ble our fossil.
21. Producta depressa.
Mountain limestone, and in a siliceous stratum in Perry county,
This siliceous stratum which is sometimes a perfect sandstone
and alternates with the encrinital limestone is characterised by
Asaphus megalopthalmus nobis and other Trilobites; it contains
also Calceola Sandalina, Pcntremites, Reinwardii nobis, Terebra-
tula Wilsonii, and T. aspera.
22. Producta. Perhaps twenty different species not deter¬
mined.
From the mountain limestone and siliceous stratum in Middle
Tennesseeand the eastern part of the Western District.
23. Spirifer cuspidatus, Sowerby.
Encrinital stratum near the Harpeth river, Davidson county.
24 & 25. Pteidnea, two species undetermined.
Limestone in Perry county.
These two species have all the generic characters of the Pter-
inea of Goldfuss, (Golf. vol. ii. p. 133,) they are found on the
western side of the Tennessee fiver in the places, there called
glades, which are barren elevations, composed of an argillaceous
limestone very susceptible of disintegration. They are associa¬
ted with Calceola sandalina, Pentremites Reinwardii, Calimene
Blumenbachii, several crinoidea and Zoophites. I always con¬
sidered these strata as belonging to the superior part of the moun¬
tain limestone series; they are there covered by strata of the
cretaceous group, which are characterised by Exogyra and sev¬
eral Ostrea similar to those of New Jersey. Now the genus
Pterinea, according to Goldfuss is only found in grauwacke and
transition limestone. "Die arten diezer gattung fmden sich
meistens nur als abdriuckeand steinkerne inder grauwacke, sel-
tener mit der erhaltenen schale im uebersrangskalk." This cir-
O O
cumstance would place the strata in Perry county lower than I
am inclined to place them, I doubt also, whether the mineralogi-
cal character of this limestone entitles it to that geological situ¬
ation.
26. Conolubularia Cuiverii, nobis.
Mountain limestone near Nashville.
The species of this new genus whose internal annulated tubes,
49
are generally called by the people petrified tails of rattlesnakes
and of which more complete specimens, showing the edges of the
curvated septa, have been described by Judge Haywood as re¬
mains of fish,* belong to the multilocular shells, approaching the
the orthoceratite. My description of it has been published in
the Memoirs de la Societe Geologique de France.
27. Conotubularia Goldfussii, nobis. -
Same locality.
2S. Conotubularia Brongniartii, nobis.
Same locality.
29.. Belemnitcs?
I have several multilocular shells which do not belong to the
Orthocerate, but they approach much to belemnites as described
at present, (see DeBlainville, Memoire surles Belemnites, and
Buckland's Bridgewater treatise on Belemnosepia.) I have seve¬
ral other straight multilocular shells which will form perhaps some
new genera.
30. Orthoceratites Defrancii, nobis.
My description of this fossil is published in the memoirs of the
geological society of France. At the time when I wrote the
description, I was not well acquainted with this fossil, having
only very imperfect specimens, nor was I well acquainted with
its geological relations. Since that time I have frequently visi¬
ted that locality, and have found specimens which still contain
part of the original shell, which has confirmed me in the idea
that it was not the Orthoceratite annulatus, (Sowerby,) as I sug¬
gested in that memoir, I therefore adopt the name of the distim
guished Palaeontologist Defrance, as proposed in my memoir^ in
case it should prove new. The specimen now before, me shows
very handsomely the syphon and the convexity of the septa, it
is seven and a half inches in length and its largest diameter about
two and a half, part of its shell is , yet preserved, it is striated
longitudinally, showing at the same time the edges of the lami¬
na of which the shell is composed, which produce transversal
striae.
* Judge Haywood says that it is on^the authority of our much lamented friend Dr. R0ane
that he attributes it to fish, where as Dr. Roane when he first showed .him the fossil,toWfe'
him'that it resembled somewhat the bone of a fish, but that it could not belong to any of
the fish tribes, (communicated to me by Dr. R.)
50
It occurs in the uppdr strata of the mountain limestone which
prevail in Perry county, and which are visible near] the Tennes¬
see river. Thirlimestone has an earthy aspect, an argillaceous
smell and is composed according to my analyzis, of
Carbonate of lime 87
Earthy matter and water, 13
100
and is characterised by Calceola sandalina, Terebratula Wilsonii,:
T. asper, Pentremites Reinwardii, Calimena Blumenbachii, seve¬
ral Crinoidea,Pterinea and other fossils, and this limestone is cov¬
ered towards the west by feruginous Sandstone, Marl and Green-
sand; and towards the east by the siliceous strata which contains
the iron ore in Middle Tennessee.
31. Orthoceratite, (perhaps new.)
Mountain limestone near 'Nashville.
My specimen wants both its extremities—it is slightly conical,
transversely somewhat eliptical. It is the largest of the kind that
I have seen in Tennessee, though only a fragment, it is twenty
inches long and five inches in diameter—the concavity of the
septa is very considerable, so as to form a segment of a circle of
three inches diameter, they are about three fifths of an inch,
apart. I have not been able to ascertain the position of the
syphon.
32. Orthoceratite, (several different kinds not determined.)
All from the mountain limestone of Middle Tennessee.
33. Conilites capricornulus, nobis.
Mountain limestone Davidson county.
This fossil coincides with the description of the genus conilites
as it is given by DeBlainville, (Manuel, p. 370) but it forms a new
species:
Shell conical, curvated like a horn and formed by a series of
simple septa—a margo-dorsal syphon, placed immediately against
the shell. The syphon is more or less extended between the
septa. These septa are slightly concave. The transversal sec¬
tion is circular.
34. Conilites, (several species not determined.)
Mountain limestone Davidson county.
35. Polycronites Haanii, nobis.
51
Mountain limestone Harpeth ridge; also near Columbus, Ohio.
This is certainly the most magnificent multilocular shell known.
I have long been acquainted with it and have described it in a
mutilated state, it being only an internal cast. It is not an easy
matter to give an intelligible description without a drawing of a
fossil so singularly constructed; suffice it therefore to say:
Shell sub-cylindrical, more or less conical, bent slightly spi¬
rally upon itsefj composed of truncated cones or bell shaped pie¬
ces with an extended, ample festooned border, inserted the one
into the other, having a common axis through the whole shell.
It is internally divided into a series of chambers, separated by
single septa, which are externally concave and dorsally pierced
by a simple syphon.
The shell is very thin and it is probable that the animal partly
enveloped it, because it would otherwise be difficult to conceive
how these extenuated edges would have withstood the rolling of
the waves; besides, as far as I have been able to determine from
the imperfect specimens under my examination, there seems no
fit habitation for the animal in the shell, it being entirely filled up
by septa. It is very rare to find a specimen so well preserved as
the one which has served for the figures, which will be published
in the memoirs of the Geological Society of France. The one
in my possession is, I believe the only one that exists in any
collection, and it was by means of acids that I have partly de¬
tached it from the limestone in which it was imbedded, the shell
jjeing siliceous. It is 13 inches long and its diameter at its thin¬
nest extremity is two inches that of the other two and a quar¬
ter inches.
As I observed above the P. Haanii occurs in the mountain
limestone in Davidson county. I am indebted also to the polite¬
ness of Mr. Buchanan of Cincinnati for a specimen which was
labelled ammonites imbricata in Lias near Columbus Ohio. I am
not acquainted with the geology of the vicinity of Columbus,
but judging from some specimens of rock and organic remains
which I have seen from that place I doubt very much whether
the Lias exists there. It is wrong to place the Polycronites,
amongst the Ammonites.
36. Spirula Mortonii, nobis.
Mountain limestone Perry county.
52
Perhaps this fossil will form anew genus, but I am not inclined
to increase the number of genera if unnecessary. Our fossil is
a multilobular shell, and has several characters in common with
the established genus Spirula. I have described it under the name
of S. Mortonii in a memoir to the Geological Society of France.
I discovered it first in an earthy limestone on the western bank
of the Tennessee river, Perry county, where it occurs with Tri-
lobites, Calceola, and several other bivalve shells characterising
the transition series. I have since received some specimens from
the vicinity of Columbus Ohio.
: 37. 'Hamites Verneuilii, nobis.
Green sand M'Nairy counties.
Shell elongated, sub-cylindrical, transversely elliptical or circu¬
lar according to the place where the section is made, it being el¬
liptic near the extremities and almost circular about the middle
at the curvature where it has its greatest diameter; having two
branches of unequal length; it is surrounded with ribs, which are
sometimes transversal on the short branch, sometimes oblique on
the long branch; they are simple around the two extremities and
bi-and even tri-forked around the middle or curvated part. These
ribs, particularly on the most elevated part of the curvature, are
furnisned with tubercles, which are placed irregularly in the chan¬
nels or upon the intermediate elevations or ribs; the greatest tu¬
bercles are on the most elevated part of the curvature, and di¬
minish gradually towards the extremities of the branches where
they disappear altogether.
■ I have described and figured it in a memoir for the Geological
Society of France. This Hamites, which like all those that have
been described, is an interior cast, was still covered, when I found
it with its external shell which was very thin, and so much de¬
composed that when dry, it fell off altogether, and is now only
covered with its interior enamel which must have possessed the
most brilliant opalescent colors, which are still visible on its sur¬
face, particularly when it is moistened. The edges of the septa
are not visible, so that I cannot say whether they are simple or
lobed and dentated, nor have I been able to determine the posi¬
tion of the syphon.
The II. Verneuilii occurs of different sizes. I have a frag¬
ment of one in my collection which is about one fourth thicker
53
than the specimen here described, and Dr. David Dale Owen,
has one from the same place which is twice as large.
38. Hamites Lcaii, nobis.
Green sand same locality.
Shell elongated transversely irregularly elliptic, having at one
of its extremities a slope, while the other extremity terminates , in
a projecting point. It is furnished with transversal ribs—these
ribs do not run entirely round the whole shell, but disappear on
the interior side where there is an excavation which is filled up
by the other branch, which diminishes gradually till it terminates
in a point. The curvature is very abrupt and short.
As my specimen is only an internal cast, the edges of the sep¬
ta are not visible. In fact I have not been able to ascertain wheth¬
er or not it had septa, and consequently I could not determine
the position of the syphon.
39. Baculites.
Same locality.
I am not sure whether it is described—It does not resemble
those described by Dr. Morton.
40. Conularia Sowerbii, Defr.
Mountain limestone near Nashville, and its siliceous stratum
on Harpeth ridge.
I doubt, judging from the specimens now before me, whether
this equivocal genus, (about which naturalists yet disagree
whether it belongs to the Polythalamites or not,) is a shell at all.1
I possess besides some fragments, an entire individual, which resem¬
bles perfectly the figure given in the Diet. des.Sc. Nat. pi. xxxiv.
fig. 2, it being more or less compressed. Its surface nevertheless
is not exactly similar to that represented in" the above men¬
tioned plate. The transversal striae which are represented on
this figure are very visible upon all the fragments, but the inter¬
stices between these striae exhibit an organization of very deli¬
cate fibres, by which these striae, (which are also a kind of,
coarser fibres,) seem to be connected and offer when magnified,
such- a surface as is probably not possessed by any shell. I'
have described and figured this fossil in a memoir to the Geolo¬
gical Society of France, and have given there an exact magnified
representation of this surface. I have yet to observe that all the
specimens, whether calcareous -or siliceous, that have come under,
54
my observation are compressed, sometimes very much. I pos¬
sess a fragment of which each quarter is twenty-five milimetres,
and the whole thickness of the specimen is no more than nine
milimetres. Is it not singular that a shell which is furnished
with transversal septa, which assist so eminently, some delicate
varieties of Nautilites, to support the external pressure, should
all be compressed? My doubts ex pressed above whether it real¬
ly belongs to the molusca are founded upon the two above men¬
tioned facts, namely its surface and it being very uncertain wheth¬
er it possesses septa in its interior.
41. BJlerophoh Nashvillensis, nobis.
Mountain limestone in Davidson county.
This shell is smooth, its mouth entire and surrounded with a
thick rounded margin formed by the accumulation of the lamina
which compose this shell. I found it first in a singular stratum
of limestone which occurs at several places in Davidson county,
which is at some places entirely made up of fragments of these
shells, of Orthoceratites, Venus, and several others. These frag¬
ments are all water worn, and would induce the belief that they
had been rolling for a great while on a sea-beach. I never found
an entire shell in this stratum. This stratum replaces irregular¬
ly here and there the common mountain limestone in this coun¬
ty, but there is no doubt that it was of a contemporaneous for¬
mation with the mountain limestone, because it is covered at sev¬
eral places by the latter.
42. Bellerophon, (perhaps seven not determined species.)
Mountain limestone Middle Tennessee.
Most of these Betterophons are siliceous, some of them of large
size (about three inches.) Some occur in the superior strata of
this mountain limestone group, and are then associated with Sty-
lines, Pentremites, Syringopora and other Zoophites. Some¬
times they are found in the lower strata, where they are associa¬
ted with Orthoceratites, Conotubularia, Isotellus, etc.
43. Solarium Leaii, nobis.
Mountain limestone, Rock Island, in Caney fork, Tennessee.
44. Solarium, (two not determined species.)
These two Solaria differ from each other and the preceding
species. The one was found accompanied with Orthoceratites in
mountain limestone ia Smith county, opposite Carthage. Tha
55
other in a siliceous stratum belonging to the same group, near
Lagrange Iron Works, in Stuart county.
45. Euomphalus, (not determined.)
From the siliceous part of the encrinital limestone in Davidson
county.
46. Euomphalus1 (not determined.)
This species differs generally from the preceding; it forms per¬
haps an intermediate genus between Solarium and Euomphalus.
47. Maclurilesmagna,Lesueur,Euomphalus Mdclurii",Brongt.
Mountain limestone and grauwacko limestone.
The superior strata of the grauwacke series between Kinigs-
port and Rogetsville,Hawkins county, East Tennessee, and par¬
ticularly the stratum of blackish grey limestone at Kingsport,
contain large numbers of this shell. They are also found, though
rarely, in the mountain limestone in Middle Tennessee.
48. Maclurites striata, nobis.
Grauwacke limestone, same locality.
Lesueur seems to have been acquainted, only with the prece¬
ding species, which has a.smooth shell. The species here men¬
tioned has its shell striated.
49. Trochus (undetermined species.)
Mountain limestone near Nashville.'
50. Turbo bicarinatus, nobis;
Mountain limestone, Middle Tennessee. ...
This shell eminently characterizes some of the strata of Mid¬
dle Tennessee—the rock is sometimes covered with it, and being
mostly siliceous, it is easily separated by acids from the limestone,'
It is associated with Orthoceratites and Bellerophon.
51. Turbo, (perhaps six undetermined species.)
Mountain limestone, Middle Tennessee.
52. Natica, (undetermined.)
Mountain limestone, Perry county.
It is surprising to find this genus in our mountain limestone,^
In Europe, according to DeFrance, eight species have been found
in a fossil state, one being identical with a living species,' and is
found in strata posterior to chalk. It is of rare occurrence here^"
I found only two specimens, one remarkably well preserved. It
resembled in figure somewhat the Natica mamella; its spite is not
so much elevated as in N. mamella.
56
53. Natica, (undetermined.)
Green sand, M'Nairy county.
54. Melania?
Mountain limestone, Middle Tennessee.
I found these shells in Smith county. They have the generic
characters of the Melania, and are associated with Conulite, Or-
thoceratite, Bellerophon, and others.
55. Trochus, (several undetermined species.)
Mountain limestone, Middle Tennessee.
56. Velutine?
Mountain limestone, Peny county.
This shell resembles the figure of Y. cnpuloide in DeBlainville's
Manual (pi. 42, fig. 4.) But it has not yet been found in a fossil
state.
57. Hipponyx?
Mountain limestone and encrinital limestone in several places
of Middle Tennessee.
This fossil resembles in its external appearauce the Hipponyx
of Defrance, it being conoid and curvated backward, and its ap¬
erture being surrounded by an irregular border. No mark of a
hinge is visible. As the specimens in my cabinet are all filled
with materials of the rock in which they were imbedded, I am
not able to determine whether the peculiar impression character¬
izing this genus exists in the interior of the shell. I am also un¬
certain whether it was fixed to any support as is the case with
the Hipponyx.
58. Rostellaria macrodactila, nobis.
Green sand, nearPurdy, M'Nairy county.
, I call this species macrodactila from its long finger-like projec¬
tions; it is one of the finest shells that I have found in the green
sand; it is partly imbedded in this rock, spreading its slender ex¬
tensions for about 11 inches over it.
59. Delphinula?
Green sand, same locality.
It has some resemblance with D. lapidosa, Morton.
60. Turritella inbricataria.
preen sand, same locality.
61. Dental ium, (undetermined.)
Green sand, same locality.
57
trilobites.
C2. Calimene Blumenbachii, Brongt.
Mountain limestone in Perry county.
^ It occurs in an argillaceous limestone susceptible of decompo¬
sition, accompanied with Calceola,Pentremitesand otherRadiata;
also with some other species of Trilobites.
63. Asaphus megalopthahnus, nobis.
Siliceous stratum subordinate to the mountain limestone, same
locality.
This Asaphus is very remarkable for its large projecting eyes
on which the tubercles, such as are seen on the eyes of some in¬
sects and crustaceous animals, are yet visible.
64. Isotellus gigas, Dekay.
Mountain limestone, Middle Tennessee.
, While writing this report, the Rev. Mr. Howell of this place
presented me with a fine specimen of this, species which I had
not yet discovered in our State—he found it near Fayetteville—
it is not entire, its head is wanting, the abdomen is 2 3-10 inches,
and the tail 2 9-10 inches in lennth.
o
This specimen, as much as I have of it, is in a good state of
preservation and imbedded in a compact limestone of a gray co¬
lor and slaty structure.
65. Isotellus planus.
Mountain limestone in Davidson county.
66. Trilobites, (several belonging to different genera.)
Mountain limestone, particularly Perry county.
67. Crustacea, (not determined.)
I have in my cabinet parts of several undetermined Crustacea
which differ generically from any of that class of animals hitherto
'described. They all occur in the mountain limestone of Perry
county. Amongst my undetermined Trilobites, I have one from
the, vicinity of Nashville approaching the Asaphus micrarus,
Green, one found in Perry county approaches the Asaphus Haus-
manii, Brongt. another the A. Debuchii, Brongt.
zoopiiites.
68. Pentremites oralis, Gold.
It occurs in a stratum which separates the coal measures from
the mountain limestone, particularly at the base of the Cumber-
8
58
land mountains, where the limestone has an oolitic structure, aa
east of Sparta, Crab Orchard and other places.
69. Pentremites jlorialis, Say.
Same locality and geological position.
Whether this species is distinct from the preceding, I am not
able to determine.
70. Pentremites globosa, Say.
$ame locality.
71. Pentremites pyriformis, Say.
Mountain limestone, near Sparta and Sequatchee valley.'
72. Pentremites Reinwardtii, nobis.
Mountain limestone, Perry county, accompanied with Calceo-
la, Calimena, Terebratula Wilsonii, and others. (1)
73. Eugeniacrinites mespiliformis, Goldf.
Mountain limestone, Perry county.
74. Astereas antiqua, nobis.
Mountain limestone; near Harpeth river, Davidson county.
I have described this fossil in the Transactions of the Geological
Society of Pennsylvania, as is mentioned already in this report.—
See note' page 4.
I have already published two memoirs on Eehinodermata in
the Transactions of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania, in
which several of these remains are described, and I am now pre¬
paring a large work on the remains of these animals of a former
world. Certainly no country is as rich in these remains as the
State of Tennessee. I have already several drawings represent¬
ing fifty-five species, and all those in my cabinet are not yet fig¬
ured. The State of Tennessee alone will perhaps double the
number of those that have been described.
75. Tragos sphceroides, Goldf.
The form of this fossil is hemispherical; it has on its upper sur¬
face excavations which are marked with irregularly scattered
pores and small star-shaped furrows. These excavations, as
Goldfuss has observed in a section of it, are oral apertures of
tubes which enter the body.
The above description partly translated from Dr. Goldfuss,
(1) I have written an elaborate memoir on the genus Pentremites awl its geological posi¬
tion in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky. (See Transactions of the Geological Society
of Pennsylvania.)
59
(Tiee "Abbildungen und beschreibunge der Petrefacta," etc.) ig
exactly applicable to our fossil, but the internal structure of ours
seems to differ from that of those described by that naturalist.
If we examine a vertical section we see that they are composed
of a collection of small capillary tubes, radiating irregularly
from the centre ot the stem towards the external surface, anas-
tomising at several places. The lower surface is sometimes
smooth and sometimes shows edges as if they were formed of
concentric layers, which nevertheless are not perceptible in its
interior; from its centre projects a thick short stem. We see
from this description that it differs more or less from the T.
sphceroides.
It is doubtful according to DeBlainville whether the T. sphce¬
roides is really a Tragos, because, he says, (vol, 60, page 506,)
"elles ontde veritables etoiles;" these stars are not in our speci¬
mens, but as mentioned above, they are covered with small star-
shaped furrows.
In a specimen of which the diameter is 2f inches, the stem has
one inch in diameter, and is about half an inch in length. It was
fixed on a Syringopora, of which some fragments are attached
to the stem of one of those in my cabinet. They are siliceous,
and were discovered by me in Perry county, about one mile from
the Tennessee river, associated with Trilobites, Encrinites, Ca-
lamopora, Achilleum fungiforme, and other fossils. In this resr
pect they differ from those described by Goldfuss, which were
found in Jura limestone in Wurtemburg.
76. Achilleum fungiforme, Goldf.
The form of this poly pifer is turbinate, sometimes more or less
spherical, furnished with a stem, which nevertheless is percepti¬
ble in only a few of my specimens. Its lo^er surface has a close
tissue with elongated inequalities, the uppermost, on the contra¬
ry, shows a loose irregular texture with excavated inequalities,
and furrows running from the centre which is concave. When
broken, its internal structure is in some directions porous, while
in other directions it is more or less striated; the striae radiate
from what may be called a centre, though it does not occupy the
centre of the mass, but is situated more towards its lower'sur-
face. These organic remains occur mostly as isolated individu¬
als, but. I have in my cabinet on^ which is formed by the combi-
60
nation of several of them, (seven or eight,) each individual hav¬
ing its concave centre from which radiate in an irregular manner
the furrows mentioned above.
, It is siliceous, and associated with Tragos sphasroides and the
fossils mentioned in the description of it.
Occurs in Perry county, in the same geological situation as T,
sphseroides. One of my specimens is imbedded in chert, which
seems to contain fragments of Encrinites, Ceriopora, and many'
other fossils. The A. fungiforme described by Goldfuss was
found in the arenaceous chalk near Meastricht.
' 77. Achilleum, cheirotonum, Goldf.
It is often difficult if not impossible to distinguish the internal
structure, and even the external appearance when the body has
changed entirely into stone; this is particularly the case with the
fossil now under examination. Its external form resembles that
given by Goldfuss to the A. cheirotonum; its surface is rough,
more or less cariated, and when much magnified exhibits an ir¬
regular fibrous structure, but the regular arrangement of square
holes as represented by G. is no where perceptible on our speci¬
men. Internally when polished or dipped in water (which has
the same effect) they are irregularly fibrous.
They are siliceous, always of the color of a light iron rust, and
associated with Cvathophillum gracile. Occur near Browns-
port, Perry county, in granular limestone.
. 7S. Cnemidium rimulosum, Goldf.
The description given by Goldfuss of this fossil is "Dish-shaped,
more or less excavated. The furrows which radiate from the
centre are finely striated and anastomose with one another; they
are visible as well on the upper excavation as on the lower con¬
vex surface. The upper surface likewise presents small scat¬
tered cavities towards which the furrows radiate in a converging
manner."
As to their external form, the organic remains which I have
found in Perry county, and which I consider the same as those
described by Goldfuss under the name of C. rimulosum, resemble
the above mentioned fossil, except that the excavated dish is not
always circular, it is sometimes oval, sometimes angular; the fur¬
rows also mentioned by G. are not easily perceptible on our fos¬
sil, sometimes also the lower surface terminates in a point, being
61
funnel-shaped, the funnel being more or less compressed.. AH
this may be owing to its fossilification, ours having changed en¬
tirely into silex. The whole is furnished with pores, which no
doubt are the oral apertures of capillary tubes. One which I
broke shows a homogeneous hornstone without any organic
structure, except on the edges, where alone round pores are vis¬
ible.
Occurs in the same situation with the preceding Achilleum,
and is associated with the same fossils.
79. Turbinolia mitrata, Schloth.
From a stratum of a granular spathose limestone which lies
below the shale near Harpeth river in Davidson county. See
my description, Transactions of the Geological Society of Penn¬
sylvania, vol. 1, part 2, page 245.
80. Turbinolia cuneata, Goldf.
Same locality. Described by me in the same memoir as the
preceding.
81. Cyathophyllum ceratites, Goldf.
Occurs not unfrequently in the limestone of Davidson county,
but still more frequently in the glades near Tennessee river, Per¬
ry county.
Described by me in the same memoir as the preceding.
82. Cyathophyllum plicatum, Goldf.
The form is inverted conical, bent at its base, it is single and
free. It has a bell-shaped excavated terminal cell obliquely open¬
ing, and uniform thick lamelloe, which do not regularly run to¬
gether in the centre but are plaited and distorted.
It is changed into silex and is found associated with Encri-
nites near White's Cheek Springs, and amongst the disintegra¬
tions of the Encrinitel strata near Harpeth river, Davidson coun¬
ty; also in the black granular limestone above the Encrinital
stratum in White county, and more abundant in the ,vicinity o
Louisville, Kentucky—they are generally covered with beauti¬
ful orbicular calcedonic concretions.
83. Cyathophillum helianthoides, Goldf.
This fossil is single and turbinate. The terminal cell in the
young individuals, which begin to prolify from the centre, is
elongated and becomes inverted conical. The numerous young
sprouts then gain space, and shoot out sideways from the broad.
62
disk and bend themselves during their growth. They grow in¬
to one another and form a coral mass. The borders of the sin¬
gle terminal cells are, on the surface, mutually circumscribed in
their extent and surrounded with an elevated five or six-sided
border. The extended terminal cell has thick and regular lam-
ellse which run together in pairs in the excavated centre, here
they are twisted and irregularly entangled with other lamellae.
The border is bent downwards and rises again at the circumfer¬
ence.
They occur single and also elongated, as mentioned above, in
Perry county near the Tennessee river, associated with the fos¬
sils already mentioned of that locality; they are siliceous.
84. Cyathophillum excentricum, Goldf.
It is inverted conical almost turbinate, obliquely prolifying,
furnished at the base with roots. The centre of the terminal
cell is situated towards the sides, and the border of the preceding
one projects widely beyond the opposite border of the following
one. The terminal cell is dish-shaped excavated, and has uni¬
form regular rays.
The roots are in some of my specimens handsomely formed,
some still attached to the body upon which they lived. I have
one, the roots of which nearly surround the stem of an Encrinite.
They are siliceous and occur in Perry county associated with
the fossils of that locality.
85. Cyathophillum, vermiculare, Golf.
It is subcylindrical, elongated, bent with geniculated interrup¬
tions and rings, which are formed by the projecting borders of
the prolifying cells. The terminal cell is bellshaped excavated
and has but a few separate uniform lamellae.
This petrifaction o ^ curs sometimes of a large size. I have
one in my cabinet which is not complete, its base being broken
off; and yet thus mutilated, it is eleven inches long.
They are siliceous. I found a few in the mountain limestone
in Davidson county, but they are more abundant near the falls
of the Ohio river.
76. Cyathophillum secundum, Goldf.
It is inverted conical with an oblique prolifying terminal cell
of which the borders run out, or are grown together. The ter-
83
minal cell is bell-shaped excavated and the lamellae are grown to¬
gether, forming flat vesicles,
They are found in the mountain limestone of Perry county
and are siliceous.
87. Cyathophillum gracile, nobis. '
The fossil under consideration, appears at the flrst inspection
to belong to the genus Lithodendron, Goldf. occurring often in
elongated and interwoven vermicular tubes, terminating in a
cup-shaped stellated cell; but a closer examination shows that its
prolifying differs from that of the Lithodendron and is similar
to that of the Cyathophillum.
They form long vermicular tubes surrounded by wrinkles and
bending in every direction. They must have been very long
when alive. I have some fragments which are three inches long,
mostly of an uniform thickness which is about one quarter of an
inch. The diameter of these tubes is not uniform but is frequent¬
ly altered by protuberant transversal wrinkled rings, they are
delicately longitudinally striated, which stria are formed by the
edges of the stillating lamellae, and terminate in an inverted coni¬
cal cell, the border of which occupies about one third of its di¬
ameter, then runs straight down and terminates in a flat bottom—
the sides of this cell being delicately channeled by the projecting
edges of the laminae.
They must have been very abundant in some places. I have
a specimen on which they are so crowded that a space of three
inches square contains twelve individuals; they are, when so nu¬
merous^ nearly parallel to one another.
They prolify from the sides of the interior of the conical cell;
generally two sprouts make their appearance, but I have seen
three and four and I have one specimen in my possession in which
the rudiments of five young individuals are seen.
They are siliceous, some of the nature of chert, others are cal-
cedonic. They are associated with several species of Achilleum,
Astrea, Aulopora, Encrinites, Catenipora, Eschara, Flustra,
Cocinopora, Gorgonia and others. They occur in Perry coun¬
ty in a coarse crystalline limestone below the aluminous slate—-
this limestone though it is composed of crystalline grains has nev¬
ertheless a strong argillaceous smell. They occur also in a sili-
64
ceous stratum which resembles tripoli; as that which covers Har-
peth ridge.
88. Madrcpora repens, nobis.
This coral approaches the genus Madrapora of Lamarck,
but the characters of that genus as laid down by Goldfuss
are not exactly applicable to our fossil.
It is subcylindrical, almost regularly covered with partly pro¬
jecting pores, which are arranged in longitudinal rows, judging
from the part that is visible, there are twelve such rows. The
border of the apertures does not lie level with the surface of the
body, but opens longitudinally, that is, if examined when the spe¬
cimen is put horizontally, nearly in the same line with the eye
p. one direction, the pores will almost disappear, if turned now
horizontally in an opposite direction, the pores appear circular,
.and when examined vertically, the pores are only partly (per¬
haps two thirds) visible.
They form extended reticulated ramifications; the meshes are
regular, and form parasitic expansions upon other marine bodies.
The polyp cells originate near the centre, projecting rectangu¬
larly, and appear on the surface.
It is siliceous. I have one specimen of four by two and a
half inches; it is spread over a siliceous aggregate of fragments
of fossils. I have another which serves as a support of Astrea
tessellata, nobis. Small fragments occur abundantly with the
Cyathophellim gracile at Brown's Tort, Perry county.
89. Linipora rotunda, nobis.
This Polypifer must form a new genus. Its external shape is
either perfectly globular, oval or approaching more or less to the
lenticular form. Its internal surface is smooth or irregularly
rough, owing to its fossilification. When magnified we perceive
round pores regularly scattered over its whole surface which are
the oral appertures of small tubes. No vestiges of a stem are
perceptible, which show that it was not fixed in its live state.
Internally, when broken through its centre, it is composed of
capillary tubes, which are hardly perceptible by the naked eye.
These tubes radiate from the centre and anastomose here and
there, in proportion as they reach the circumference. They are
not in actual contact with each other, but are connected by trans¬
versely projecting fibres, which give it a radiating appearance,
65
the radii being composed of tubes alternating with rows of points
or pores. When not broken through the centre,it exhibits only
a porous surface like small worm holes not visible to the naked eye.
. This polypifer is wholly converted into silex, which has closed
the appertures of the tubes, but left open the intermediate spaces
between the connecting fibres. The centre of some of them,
and in fact the whole interior of others is .wholly converted into
solid hornstone, the organic structure being obliterated.
I found it near Brown's port, Perry county, associated with
the organic remains described, as occurring at that place.. They
are mostly isolated, sometimes imbedded in chert, which forms
frequently large masses in the strata of the limestone which lie
below the aluminous slate.
90. Astrea porosa, Goldf.
They form a dish- shaped mass; the upper surface being con¬
vex, the lower more or less flat with concentric wrinkles. Their
whole surface, as well the superior as the inferior is covered with
round pores in which the stars are sunk in, in an irregular ar¬
rangement.. Its internal structure is not visible. . ..
It is calcareous and occurs in Perry county with the preceding.
91. Astr&a tessellata, nobis.
This fossil resembles in its external appearance the A..porosa,
Goldf. It is often tubercular, hemispherical and in the shape of a
mushroom with a short stem, but it is distinguished frfim. the A.
porosa by the pores, by which the surface of the. latter is cover¬
ed. The A. tessellata is composed of deep circular stars with
an even bottom. The sides of these stars are formed of moder¬
ately thick lamellae, they do not extend from one star towards
another, but show on the surface a kind of mosaic of square pieces
surrounding the star and are in contact with some of the. lamellae
of the next one, having the intervals between four stars, ,which
stand at equal distances the one from the other, filled up with sim¬
ilar square pieces. These laemllae project sometimes into the star,
forming furrowed sides; sometimes the sides of them are smooth.
Some are composed of concentric layers of which the edges are
visible near the stem, while in others, these layers are not per¬
ceptible. They .differ very much in size; I have in my cabinet
specimens of two and a half inches and also some that are hardly
half an inch in diameter,
9
68
They are siliceous sometimes of common quartz. They occur
on the banks of the Cumberland river, but more abundantly
amongst the disintegrations of the glades near the Tennessee
yiver, in Perry county, associated with Calceola, Encrinites, Tri-
lobites and othe1* fossils.
92. Astrea alveo'ata, Goldf.
It forms rounded masses, marked by deep round stars with an
Oven bottom. The Star lamellae do not go over from one star
to another, but are limited by hexagonal lines.
It is siliceous. I have found it only in brooks and rivulets in
Davidson county.
93. Stromatopora concentrica. Goldf.
The remains belonging to this genus are frequently found in
the strata of the mountain limestone through the whole of Mid¬
dle Tennessee.
They are composed of concentric layers and mostly form
hemispherical masses from a few inches to three feet in diameter.
Their layers lie cupshaped, the one in the other, so that the inner
and uppermost become both smaller and flatter. The extern ail
ones are frequently irregularly undulating, the smaller common¬
ly dishshaped. They all form a level surface with their edges,
which, is concentrically furrowed. According to Goldfuss, a
fibrous structure, the fibres crossing each other, is visible in these
Compact layers when magnified; this structure is not perceptible
in our fossil, which is probably ascribable to its siliceous nature.
They are siliceous, mostly of common quartz, sometimes cal-
cedonic and often covered with a siliceous flowery concretion.
94. Stromatopora verrucosa, nobis.
These remains are very rarely perfect hemispherical bodies,
they have neverthe ess a hemispherical tendency, but are gene¬
rally truncated, and sometimes present no more than a section of
its base. I have one of these sections which has a diameter of
six and a half inches and a height of two and a fourth inchesj
They also form conical bodies the summitbeing truncated. Their
concentric layers are not plain as in the preceding species, but
are covered with numerous warty elevations, not very regularly
scattered over the surface. These elevations are visible on the
Interior or opposite side of the layers, forming there small exca-
67
vations. The external surface is besides granular not unlike
shagreen.
They occur in the same localities as the preceding, they are
sometimes siliceous and sometimes calcareous, and associated
with Isotelas planus, calamopora etc., Goldf.
95. Cosinoporainfundibuliformis, Go'df.
The generic characters of Cosinpora are to form'a cupshaped
polypstem composed of straight close fascicular fibres, perfora¬
ted with regular obliquely running funnel shaped holes. They are
distinguished from the tubiferous sponges which they in external
form most resemble, by their straight and closely placed fibres,
and by the regular division of funnel shaped penetrating holes.
The fossil which I consider as C. infundibuliformis is part of an
irregular funnel shaped expansion. The external surface though
apparently smooth has very fine delicate wrinkles hardly percep¬
tible by the naked eye. When magnified we perceive on the sur¬
face quadrilateral, oblique ranging, appertures of tubes placed
close to one another. That these tubes run transversely through
the whole mass is visible on the fractured places.
Whether these remains occur often, I am not able to say; they
are so intimately connected with the granular limestone, that it
is mere accident that the rock breaks in such manner that the
surface of them becomes visible. I have often seen transversal
sections in the rock, which perhaps belong to similar bodies; the
specimen in my cabinet, which is only part of one is five and a
half inches broad and four inches high.
It is calcareous, and occurs in a stratum of granular dark gray,
mountain limestone near the University of Nashville.
96. Auhpora Serpens, var, minor, Goldf.
According to the description of Goldfuss it is composed of in¬
verted conical straight tubes, prolifying on the upper side below
their upwards bent circular and elongated oral appertures.
Small tubes sprout out from the running tube; or two of them
make their appearance which run from one another in the form
of a fork, but they join again by other sprouts forming a delicate
reticulated structure, or they continue single.
Our A. Serpens resembles pretty much the figure l,c. of Gold-
fuss, but it seldom forms such large extensions as -represented on
that plate, and coincide in that respect more with figure 1, c.
68
Jhe little projecting tubes on our specimens are more or less
bent and somewhat widened near the apertures. They form
sometimes single sprouts, running parasitically along the stem of
the Cyathophillum gracile or are clustered and form covering
extensions upon other remains of the same remote time.
' It is siliceous and associated with Cyathophillum gracile, Ach-
illeum and other—occurs at Brown's port, Perry county, in
mountain limestone.
' 97. Catenipora escharoides, Lamk.
The specimen in my cabinet forms a mass which is about three
and a half by two inches. It is imbedded in a granular lime¬
stone from near Harpeth river. How deep the lamellae penetrate
the rock I cannot say.
1 It is calcareous.
98. Catenipora labyrinthica, Goldf.
This Catenipora is distinguished from the preceding by the
larger size of its tubes, by its oral apertures which are oval,
yrhereas in the C. escharoides they are lanceolate and its lamellae
do not anastomose so frequently.
The specimen in my cabinet is siliceous and imbedded in
mountain limestone from near Nashville. I found it also atEd-
dyville, Kentucky, and Perry county, Tennessee.
Whether the characters mentioned here, and which coincide
with those given by Goldfuss of that species, are sufficient to form
q distinct species, is questionable. I found amongst the disintegra¬
tions of the glades, in Perry county, several specimens, some
imbedded in chert, others in a friable sandstone and in other sili¬
ceous rock. Amongst these are several varieties intermediate
in the size and shape of their oral apertures and in the size and
form of their meshes. Sometimes those composed of smal links
from large meshes and on the same specimen are also small mesh¬
es. The reverse sometimes takes place in those with large oral
apertures.
99. Catenipora meandrina, nobis.
The.tubes and apertures are in size and form like those of C.
labyrinthica, but they do not contortuously anastomose as in the
ldtter, ancj meandering in an irregular manner in every direction,
they form-no meshes. They seem to have formed large masses.
I h^vea mass of compact limestone from the vicinity of Nash-
69
ville of the size of five b> four inches, which is water worn, and
the Catenipora, being less soluble, and having thereby come to
light, shows these lamellae running in every direction over the
whole surface of the stone, sometimes appearing as chain-form
apertures, sometimes showing their sides.
It is only when worn down in that manner, that they are per¬
ceptible, but are invisible in the fractures of the rock.
I discovered them, not only near Nashville but I found the
same, though not in such large masses, in a more granular lime¬
stone, associated with Cyathophillum gracile and its associates
near Brownsport, Perry county.
100. Syringopora ramulosa, Goldf.
These remains were at first discovered by Lesueur and myself
in the year 1S25, in Missouri State near Maramec river. Le¬
sueur proposed at that time the name of Obstringellina for that
genus. I do not know whether he ever published a description!
of it. I have found it since near Eddyville, Kentucky, and some
handsome specimens in Davidson county, Tennessee.
They are formed of tubes more or less bent, of the thickness
of a raven's quill and connected together by lateral tubes irreg¬
ularly placed upon theni.
They differ more or less from the species described by Gold-
fuss under the above name, particularly in this, that in no in¬
stance so far as I have observed, do the connecting tubes shoot
vertically upwards and thus increase the number of tubes, nor
do the tubes increase in number in proportion as they approach
the circumference and thereby build globular masses as is men¬
tioned by G. In fact, our fossil seems to form irregular masses.
They occur in the siliceous part of some of the mountain
limestone strata near Nashville. At Eddyville they are imbedded
in a red ochry siliceous substance, the result of the disintegra¬
tions of the rocks, and are associated with Stylines. In Mis¬
souri State they are imbedded in chert, and also associated with
Stylines.
101. Calambpora Gothlandica, Goldf.
This fossil characterises some of the mountain limestone strata
in Davidson county. It is frequently found and of all sizes. I
have one in my cabinet which is about twelve inches long in the
direction of the tubes, and thirteen inches in a transverse direc-
70
tion. It forms part of a g'obular mass, and is composed of tubes
which are internally as well as externally prismatic of unequal
sides (6 or 5 sometimes 4 sides.) The tubes are of unequal thick¬
ness. Their connecting pores have disappeared during its fos-
silification. I cannot say whether, with respect to these connec¬
ting pores, it belongs to C. Gothlandica or not. Its other char¬
acters coincide with those given by Goldfuss to that species.
It is siliceous and found in the vicinity of Nashville in several
places, in Kentucky and Missouri States.
102. Calamopora favosa, Goldf.
It is composed of tubes, which internally as well as externally
are prismatic generally hexagonal and having theirsepta vaulted
or arched. The tubes are small, their being fourteen of them in
the compass of half an inch. Its connecting apertures are not
visible. It forms flat extensions, which are formed of several
layers the one upon the other.
It is mostly siliceous. I have one which is siliceous above and
calcareous below; in this specimen the connecting pores are
visible and form two rows.
Var. lamellotuberosa dissepimentis in centra ezcavatis, Goldf.
This variety resembles in the form of its tubes the C. favosa,
but it is always tuberculous and composed of concentric thin
layers of which the edges are visible on the slope near its base,
and perhaps therefore the name of favosa is not proper for this
variety—It also differs in the formation of the transverse septa,
which instead of being arched, have on tie contrary in its cen¬
tre an excavated point. Its connecting pores are not visible.
In some the excavation in the centre of the transverse separa¬
tions is also obliterated.
It is siliceous, and occurs in mountain limestone in Perry
county. I have one on which are two casts of Trilobites.
103. Calamopora CumberlanMca, nobis.
The general characters of the calamopora laid down by Gold-
fuss, are very well applicable to our fossil, but it belongs to none
of the species described by that author.
They are composed of capillary prismatic tubes, nearly im¬
perceptible to the naked eye. When magnified we perceive that
they are furnished with transverse septa, but the tubes are so
small that even when magnified, no connecting lateral pores aro
71
perceptible. They run parallel to one another without diver¬
ging. They seem to have been formed by successive layers of
such tubes, lying the one upon the other, forming by this means
undulating incrustations one and a half and two inches thick.
The superior surface when magnified, shows the angular aper¬
tures of these tubes.
They are siliceous and have even perfectly formed crystals of
quartz in some crevices.
I discovered this fossil near the Craborchard on the Cumber¬
land mountains, a few feet, (perhaps fifty) below the stratum of
sandstone, which belongs to the coal formation and which covers
the whole of the mountain. The stratum of limestone in which
this fossil occurs, and which is almost wholly oolitic, commences
three miles east of Sparta in White county, where it covers lime¬
stone simi'ar to that in the vicinity of Nashville, and contains be¬
sides the described calamopora, numerous members of Encrinites
and some fine Pentremitespyriformis in the State of calcareous
spar.
194. Calamopor x brsaltica, Goldf.
It forms tubercular or dish-shaped misses. The tubes are in¬
ternally as well as externally prismatic, more or less diverging.
The transverse septa are level in my specimen, in some no con¬
necting pores are visible, (as in those of Perry county,) in others
they are plainly perceptible. The first are compose I of large
and small tubes, while the latter are of equal size, and resemble
perfectly the figures given by Goldfuss, particularly fig. 4 a. and c.
Dr. Goldfuss mentions as its localities Gothland and Eifel in
Europe and Lake Erie in America. I found it in a siliceous state
in Perry county, Tennessee and in the vicinity of Louisville,
Kentucky. I have not minutely investigated the geological fea¬
tures of the environs of Louisville, but from the fossils which I
have collected there myself and from those that I have received
from that place, there seems to be a similarity with the geology of
Perry county, and both seem analogous 1o that of Lake Erie.
The?e three localities then must be of the same geological age as
Gothland and Eifel, which belong, according to the opinion of the
European geologist to the grauwacke series.—Now the strata
from which I collected these remains, are situated above the.
aluminous slate, and therefore above those of the vicinity of
72
Nashville. This aluminous slate cannot therefore be the shale
which is found amongst the coal measures, as some geologists
pretend, because it is often bituminous and contains sometimes
small seams of bituminous coal, which is very homogeneous and
has a large conchoidal fracture.
105. Calamopora Alveolaris, Goldf.
This fossil much resembles some of those that I have enume¬
rated amongst the C. favosa, but it differs from them in having
its transverse septa not arched, and its connecting pores are
placed in the edges of the prismatic tubes. The points men¬
tioned by Goldfuss as being in the angles of the septa are not
visible in our specimen.
It is siliceous and occurs in Perry county.
106. Calamopora hemispherical, nobis.
The fossil to which I have applied the name of hemispkerica
occurs, so far as I have been able to observe, only in hemispheric
cal masses: It is formed of tubes of such size that nine of them,
placed the one next to the other, will occupy half an inch; they
radiate from the centre towards the circumference. In the in¬
terior of the mass they are internally and externally prismatic,
but the upper surface is generally so much incrusted, that their
oral apertures have no regular shape. Some of these tubes (on
water worn masses) project here and there, and are then inter¬
nally as well as externally cylindrical, and not connected togeth¬
er; they may be mistaken for Syringopora. The transverse
septa are flat, and the connecting pores placed in the middle of
the sides.
They are siliceous, and occur in mountain limestone rarely in
Perry county, but are of more frequent occurrence on the falls of
the Ohio in Kentucky,
107. Calamopora Spongites, Goldf.
Var. a, tuberosa informis hemispherica,placentaefcrmis.
This variety, which I discovered in a stratum of indurated
clay, which sometimes replaces the aluminous slate, has a disk-
shaped form; it is composed of very small tubes, the oral aper¬
tures of which, when seen with the naked eye, seem to be round
pores, but when magnified they appear angular, mostly hexagon¬
al. No connecting pores are visible. The lower face is irregu-
73
lai'j composed of concentric wrinkles laying next or partly above
one another.
It is calcareous..
I observed above that it was found in a, stratum of indurated
dlay which, sometimes replaces the aluminous slate. This clay
contains merely a trace of carbonate-of lime amongst its con¬
stituents, and the fossil is calcareous.. It found, similar fossils at
the same place but about eight or ten feet lower, in a. stratum of
compact limestone; this was entirely changed into silex and co¬
vered with those flowery siliceous concretions so common in our
siliceous fossils. It occurs near the tunnel on the Harpeth river
Davidson county.
I discovered the same in Perry county. The shape of these
is more regular, they seem to have formed extensive flat, thin
masses, (one by twelve inches,) they are sometimes not more
than half an inch in thickness; the tubes are not fitted as in the
specimens in the former locality, and are more, irregular, some¬
times compressed, sometimes circular. They are siliceous.
I found some in the latter place which had their tubes prismat¬
ic, hexagonal, and larger than the C. spongites generally is,
108. Calamopora maxima, nobis.
It occurs in hemispherical masses composed of prismatic tubes
with irregular sides, diverging/from the centre towards the cir¬
cumference. The connecting pores are invisible) the transverse
septa level. This species has the-largest tubes I have met with,
four of them occupy the space of 1 1-0 inches.
It is siliceous and occurs in, the vicinity of Nashville in moun¬
tain limestone.'
109. Columnaria sulcata, Goldf.'
The fossil which I consider as C. suleatais composed of paral¬
lel tubes, which are almost straight, placed close to one another.
Judging from the siliceous core which is yet in some of the tubes;
it' seeems that in its live state it had star lamella; this being the
case, they ought to have been visible on the sides of the tubes;
this is not the case# they have disappeared, and it now forms
only prismatic tubes. Occurs near Nashville.
110. Columnaria diver gens, nobis.
The characters of the genus Columnaria laid down by Goldfuss
are: prismatic, parallel tubes which lie close to one another. The
10
74
inside of these tubes is furnished with star lamellae, having no
transverse septa nor connecting tubes.
Our species resembles more or less the C. sulcata, but it differs
from it in having its star lamellae joined in the centre. The
tubes diverge and in proportion as they extend new ones spring
forth from their sides. It forms sheaf-shaped masses.
It is calcareous and occurs in the mountain limestone near
Nashville.
111. Sarcinula costata, Goldf.
It is formed of straight, more or less radiating tubes, which are
longitudinally striated and are connected together by transverse
lamellae.
It is of rare occurrence in the mountain limestone in Perry
county associated with Astrea porosa.
112. Scyphia Neesii, Goldf.
The remains now under examination resemble more or less
the S. Neesii, but they differ from it in some particulars. They
form thin covers or expansions from one-tenth to one-sixth of
an inch in thickness, perforated with irregularly rounded holes,
which are placed in such manner as to give to the surface a re¬
ticulated appearance. When magnified we perceive that the
separations between these holes are perforated with small pores,
which give it the appearance of aHetepora.
Calcareous, from the mountain limestone in Perry county.
113. Scyphid Stettata, nobis.
This fossil resembles in its external appearance the S. Neesii,
but when magnified we perceive instead of pores,* as in the pre¬
ceding species, small furrows which radiate in an irregular man¬
ner from the apertures, and give it hereby a stellated appearance.
Over the surface run some delicate ramifications of Aulopora
serpens.
Siliceous from the mountain limestone in Perry county.
114. Manon Peziza, Goldf.
Disk-shaped expansions which are Irregularly rounded, con¬
cave below and convex above; the upper surface is covered with
round pores only visible when magnified.
It occurs in a stratum of mountain limestone entirely com¬
posed of bivalve shells mostly belonging to spirifer# and of some
75
crinLrinSS'WhiChmUSt h"e be,0nged ,0 - species of En-
Near Nashville. \
115. Escharia ovatopora, nobis. \
It is composed of flabelliform flat extension* - In its live stat*
perhaps more extensions than Ctrcc proceed from the same ha* '
their rudiments being still visible near It is covered w'th
oval pores, which run in a more or les obl\ue direction hom
root. It is at the same time covered ws,h warty ele\nf °
which are regularly scattered over its surfao. On the opb^
side the same oval apertures are visible, but \e warty elevat^ °
here form depressions. \ ns
The Escharia does not seem to have beenou,d in any V,
strata, nor is this to be wondered at when we into consid*
ration the delicate construction of these" b Kfies^^ ^
broken by any pressure. Defrance mentions ag
oldest strata in which they are found, and accord^0 j
are also found in strata posterior to the chalk. \ SpQC-es r
different from any I have found described. ,s
It occurs in a stratum of granular mountain lime^ ^
two and a half miles from Nashville, associated with ,
Encrinites, Orthoceratite, Producti and others. \ s or
116. Escharia reticulata, nobis. \
In its generic characters it resembles the preceding s\
ing"a thin flabelliform expansion composed of small ni
but instead of the warty elevations or tubercules of tlx®*
ding, it has perforating holes which give it a reticular appr"
These holes which are irregularly round, approaching ff
run in a more or less oblique direction from 'he root, ant
regularly placed than the tubercules on the preceding sp
Its size is like the preceding about two inches square and lor(
beautiful object. It is found with the preceding. They
both calcareous.
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