FIRST, THE EASTERN.
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8. It% extent, Coves, etc. — llhis iron region includes the countiesof Johnson, Carter, Sullivan, Washington, Greene, Cocke, Sevier,Blount, Monroe, Polk, and the eastern part of McMinn, or, in otherwords, those counties in which the Unaka group, with its outliers andincluded valleys and coves, is found. (See §§ 18 and 19.) It is inthese valleys and coves that most of the ore-deposits occur. Thepicturesque valleys of Johnson, the valley of Stony Creek in Carter,Bompass and Greasy Coves in WafiJiington, those in Greene, the coves IROK. 88 back of Chilhowee in Sevier and Blount, tboae back of the outli^ra, inMonroe, and St»r'B Mountain farther south, are examples. In theseand in similar ooves and valleys, including those which skirt the out-liers on the west, iron-ore is found, and is to be looked for : no doubtDBmerous fine banks remain to be discovered, notinthstanding thegreat nnmber known. Many of these valleys and coves are from tento twenty miles Hong, and from one to five milee wide. Those in John-Bon and Carter, especially, are remarkable for their extent, and theirnumerous iron-banks. 49. Although it is anticipating to refer to the formations of theState, as adopted in chapters fifth and sixth, yet we think it advisableto notice here the typical geological character of these iron-bearingvalleys and coves. It is the same for nearly all of them. The bottoms of these troughs or valleys are occupied by soft red-dish and variegated shales and slates, and heavy magnesian limestone,— Formation IV.,* — all very much leached and cut into knobs andlong ridges by the action of water for many long ages ; while hardsandstones — Formation III. — rise up and form their moimtain sides.It is upon the first of these, the shales and limestone, the latterespecially, that the banks of ore rest, forming, in many cases, withloose earth, etc., bold knobs and ridges. The section below will serveto illustrate the geological structure of these coves or troughs. •* OOEAgr COVKI, IN WASBBrOTOH. A, BempMS Cove. B, Greuj Cotc. D, Koh Mountain, eeparftting tha caves.B, Summit of the main moantaia on tlie lioe. The Dnmbers refer to the farmaUona. *. See Chaptar TI. tar infonution in regard to aU the fimnatiinia mcntioBkL
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