"

Ten

Two miles south of Crossville, near the Pikeville road, is a good chalybeate spring, and ten miles south-east is another which is said to be "equal to Gibson's." Coal crops out on the side of a ravine threequarters of a mile south-east of Crossville, but has never been worked, and its thickness is unknown. Six miles south of the county seat are two very fine banks near together-Davis', thirteen feet thick, and Andrew's, said to be eighteen. We give these figures as reported, but cannot vouch for their accuracy. We saw specimens of the coal which is black and lustrous, and appears to be free from sulphur. miles north of Crossville there is a place where Clear Creek runs, for about one hundred yards, over a continuous bed of block or cubic coal. Mr. W. W. Powell, postmaster at Crossville, has some specimens which are as symmetrical as if cut by a lapidary. On the north-west slope of Black Mountain, which is a part of the Crab Orchard range, coal in large quantities is known to exist, but has never been worked. Haley's Bank, in the same range near Crab Orchard Gap, has furnished coal for blacksmiths' forges for a number of years. It is pronounced by those who have used it to be of very superior quality. These were the only points that were reported, but they will serve to indicate the mineral wealth of this region. The entire county, except the head of Sequatchie Valley and Grassy Cove, belongs to the great Cumberland Coal Field, and no doubt enough of this valuable mineral might be obtained from this county alone to supply the State of Tennessee for an unlimited number of years. Clay ironstones abound in the strata of the coal-measures, and many good specimens of ore may be found at various points on the Table Land, but their extent and value are not known. In the head of the valley the bed of red hematite, or "dyestone," which appears to underlie all the eastern part of the table land, crops out on both sides, but it has never been worked. Its quality is the same as that at Rockwood and Oakdale, in Roane county. Other minerals doubtless exist, but their extent or value is unknown.

DAVIDSON COUNTY.

COUNTY SEAT-NASHVILLE.

This large, excellent and populous county was organized under the State of North Carolina in 1783. It comprises about 550 square miles, or 352,000 acres, and is bounded on the north by Robertson and Sumner, on the east by Sumner, Wilson and Rutherford, on the south by

Williamson, and on the west by Cheatham. The Cumberland River, with eight convolutions, passes through the county from east to west, dividing it into two parts nearly equal. The surface configuration of the county is, for the most part, gently rolling, swelling in places to considerable heights, and forming lines of rounded flat hills, or mamillary protuberances, and occasionally long ridges from which shoot out subordinate ones more or less at right angles. There are three of these main ridges: 1st. The Paradise Ridge, in the north-western part of the county, at the heads of White's, Mansker's and Marrowbone creeks. This ridge forms the edge of the Highland Rim. 2d. The Harpeth Ridge, which is the water shed between the Cumberland and Harpeth rivers. 3d. The ridge dividing the Harpeth from Little Harpeth. In addition to these, or rather subordinate to them, are many inferior ridges between the streams, which also have spurs putting out from them to such an extent as to give to the surface a very rough and broken appearance. Especially is this the case in the north-western part of the county.

To enter more minutely into the surface features of the county, we shall assume Nashville as the starting point, and confine ourselves, for the present, to the south side of the river. South and south-west of the city is a series of rounded hills, sweeping in almost a semi-circle about the city. These hills are symmetrical in form and rise very gently to the height of 150 or 200 feet. Between them and the city the soil, mulatto in color, and considerably mixed with rocky fragments, rests upon a bed of limestone that comes very near the surface. This soil was once quite fertile, but much of it is now comparatively worthless, except in level places. With a radius of nine miles, if the segment of a circle were described from the Cumberland River opposite Bell's Bend to Mill Creek, it would enclose a body of as fertile land, with the exception of that mentioned, as can be found in the State. With a slightly rolling surface just sufficient for drainage, it grows in large quantities all the crops cultivated in the Central Basin. This area is drained by Richland Creek, Little Harpeth, Brown's Creek, and Mill Creek. It embraces the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th districts, and parts of the 10th 12th, and 14th. This section embraces the best bluegrass lands in the county. The native growth is poplar, walnut, maple, and several varieties of the oak. Beyond this segment, on the west, is a dividing ridge, heretofore spoken of as Harpeth Ridge, running east and west. South of Harpeth River, and including most of the 14th

district, the land is, for the most part, high, rolling and thin, though there are some excellent bottoms on the river.

Taking the section now east of Mill Creek, and South of the Cumberland, we find the best soils for cotton, wheat and clover in the county. The color of the soil, except in alluvial bottoms, is mulatto, and the timber consists of poplar and white oak, with a very small sprinkling of maple and walnut. This section is drained by Mill Creek and Stone's River, with the exception of the 4th district, which is drained by Stoner's Creek, mainly, and Stone's River, and a considerble portion of it known as Jones' Bend is drained by the Cumberland. The Hermitage is in the 4th district.

Turning our attention to the lands on the north side of the Cumberland, and beginning on the western side of the county, we meet with the Marrowbone Hills, high, poor, gravelly siliceous spurs, jutting out from the Highlands with minor spurs as numerous as the branches of a tree, and between these, numerous streams with a hundred branches ramify the whole country. A bold ridge runs north and south for a few miles, and culminates in Paradise Hill, from which the waters flow in every direction. Almost the whole country embraced between White's Creek and the Cheatham county line is rugged and poor, with the exception of the river and creek bottoms and some of the uplands near the Cumberland. The lowlands on the upper part of White's Creek are very narrow. Nearer the mouth, the bottoms become wider, and the uplands more fertile. The soils on this creek are well adapted to the cereals, and grow blue-grass luxuriantly. East of White's Creek, and embraced between that and the Cumberland River on the east and south, and comprising the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st, and part of the 22nd districts, the country is considerably diversified, though not so broken as the last section just described. In the portion of the county under consideration there are some good, warm, valley lands, with occasional ridges or spurs too steep for cultivation. The soil is a mulatto, with a good many surface rocks, and with the exception of a portion of Neeley's Bend, is well suited to the growth of wheat, corn, potatoes, and clover. The soil in a portion of Neeley's Bend is dark and well adapted to the grasses. This section is well drained by White's Creek and its tributaries on the west, and by Mansker's Creek on the east, and Dry Creek through the center. The northern part of this section abuts against the Highlands, and many finger-like projections shoot out from these into the lowlands, between which nestle many

beautiful coves, whose southern exposures shorten the number of the frost days, and woos spring to their embrace some weeks earlier than the bleak level plateau overlooking them from the north. The soil and situation here are suitable for the growth of early vegetables. The only serious objection to this area is the nearness of the underlying rocks to the surface, rendering it unable to resist drought. The corn crops are often materially injured with a few days of dry, hot weather.in summer. In seasons of great humidity, however, the crops are unusually large, and many of the fields in this portion of the county will, with suitable seasons, yield from fifty to sixty bushels of corn per

acre.

Geological Features. The greater part of this county presents an outcrop of the Nashville or Cincinnati formation. The rocks are mostly an impure blue limestone, generally containing many shells, and easily disintegrating into a loose, mellow, arenaceous soil, easy to till and wash. The impurities consist of clay and fine sand. A detailed section of the rocks as they occur in Nashville, and which may be taken as a type of the whole county, was made out by Dr. Safford. This section, given below, commences beneath the wire bridge and ascends to the top of Capitol Hill. The section is numbered from the bottom up, but the highest is described first:

(6) College Hill Limestone. When freshly quarried, a dark blue, highly fossiliferous, coarsely crystalline and roughly stratified limestone, with more or less of its lamine shaly. The mass weathers, generally, into rough, flaggy limestones, and shaly matter interstratified, often liberating multitudes of fossils-especially small corals. Some of the layers of this limestone are wholly made up of corals and shells. Stenopora, Constellaria_antheloidea, Tetrad um fibratum, Columnaria stellata, Stromatopora pustulosa, Strophomena alternata, Orthis lynx, O. occidentalis, and others, are abundantly represented by individuals. Bellerophon Troosti, species of Cyrtodonta, Ambonychia radiata occur. This division is well seen on College Hill, and in the upper part of the bluff at the Reservoir. There is, also, a fine presentation of it on Capitol Hill, around the Capitol. Its lowest layers are at the top of the bluff at the Wire Bridge. These rocks pertain to the highest stratum in the vicinity of Nashville. The division, as here presented, may be taken with the upper division, ((2) Middle Member), of the Columbia Section, as typical of the Nashville Formation in general. This division, at Capitol Hill, measures 120 feet.

(5.) Cyrtodonta Bed. Immediately below the College Hill Limestone, is a remarkable bed of coarsely crystalline, ashen gray, or light yellowish gray limestone, in great part made up of valves of species of Cyrtodonta, individuals of Bellerophon Lindsleyi, and B. Troosti. Of the Cyrtodonta, C. Saffordi is especially abundant. This bed is best developed in the bluff at the Wire bridge. It is here ten or eleven feet thick, and forms one solid layer. The shells are silicified, and pretty generally have their edges

rounded and worn, as if they had been rolled in currents of water, or by waves. The bed is seen again at the engine house of the water-works, where it is six feet thick. In tracing it beyond the engine house, it very soon runs out, and is replaced by a compact, dove-colored limestone, like No. 3, below. Descending the hill on the west side of the Capitol, it is also seen, but it is, for the most part, replaced by the compact limestone spoken of. It is well exposed at other low points about the city, and has been traced, in some directions, a mile or two beyond the city limits. This rock has been used for building purposes to some extent, and for making corner posts. Maximum thickness eleven feet.

(4). Bed of Limestone of the common type; much like the college hill limestone, coarsely crystalline, fossiliferous, &c. It occurs below No. 5, on the west side of the Capitol. In the bluff at the wire bridge, it is twentythree feet thick. In the bluff above the engine house of the water-works, it measures twenty-eight feet.

(3). Dove Limestones. This is a group of three layers, for the most part. The upper layer is a light dove-colored, compact limestone, four feet thick, breaking with conchoidal fracture, containing strings (mostly vertical) of crystalline matter, which show points on a horizontal surface. (Birdseye.) The middle layer is, mainly, the common dark blue crystalline limestone, (two feet). The lowest layer, (four feet), is mostly like the upper, but more or less mixed with blue layers. Such is the group as seen at the foot of Gay Street, in a quarry on the river bank. This group presents itself at many points in and around the city. It is conveniently studied at the quarry mentioned, at the foot of Gay Street. At the end of the bluff beyond the water-works, it may also be seen, and it is here ten or eleven feet thick. The group may also be seen in the region of the penitentiary, and of the old State quarry, overlying the rock of that quarry. It appears at many points in Davidson county, outside of Nashville. The layers are generally of desirable thickness, and are quarried at numerous points in and about the city, for building and other purposes. The group contains a number of species. Detached siphuncles of Orthoceras Bigsbyi, and of an allied species, are numerous at some points, especially in the middle layer. Tetradium, Bellerophon, Murchisonia, Pleurotomaria, and other genera are represented. It is in this group that Leperditia Morgani is found. Thickness, eleven feet.

(2.) Capitol Limestone. This bed supplied the rock to build the Capitol, and was formerly well exposed in the old State quarry, west and in sight of the building. It is limestone, but has the appearance of a laminated sandstone. When cut and ground smooth, a block of it, presen.ed edgewise, shows well the laminar character. Such a surface is bluish gray, plentifully banded with darker lines. The capitol is a splendid presentation of this rock as a building material. The rock often contains rolled fragments of the beaded siphuncles of species of Orthoceras. Some specimens of these are seen in the faces of the blocks in the walls of the Capitol. It exhibits, also, examples of cross stratification, another evidence of the current-action to which it was originally subjected. The mass contains some little siliceous matter, mostly in grains, and in small fragments of silicified shells, so that they do not interfere, materially, with the working of the rock. It is easily quarried, and can be obtained in blocks of any desirable size. In its natural exposures it exfoliates in lamine by long weathering. The bed, pretty