PROMINENT LOCALITIES OF THE BROWN HEMATITES.
We shall not be able to name but a very few of the many prominent localities where this ore exists in large bodies.
In Alabama, the Carboniferous or mountain limestone approach so near the Silurian rocks and the valley limestones, and their ores are so similar, that we shall make no dis tinction.
The ores found at Red Hill, on the southern edge of the Alleghany coal-field, and in the western portion of the State, belong to the Carboniferous limestones. It is rich, and exists in great quantities. That at Selby county, at Columbiana, and elsewhere, is in the Silurian. These ores are extremely rich, and yield about 60 per cent. of metal in the furnace.
At the MOUNT POLK FURNACE, in Benton county, we examined several large masses of this ore that may literally be called mountains, and which contain, probably, as much ore as the famous iron mountains of Missouri. Several varieties exist there:— a compact, lustrous, and crystalline ore, used in the bloomeries for the production of wrought iron direct; a loose, gravelly ore, made up of solid, angular fragments, and hollow balls, or "geodes" of every size and form ; a hard, porous, or fibrous ore, which, though extremely rich, melted easily and made excellent iron, and a yellow oxide, or ochreous ore.
In this vicinity there are several valuable "ore-banks," or deposits of brown hema tite, and also a fossiliferous, red oxide, which exists in strata, and produces an excellent fibrous iron from the blast-furnace.
The Coosa coal-field lies about ten miles from these deposits. The coke produced from the coal of the upper portion of this field is extremely pure, and productive of good, soft iron from the cupola or the furnace.
At the BLUE MOUNTAIN Iron Works, and in the vicinity of Talladega and Gadsden, are also some extensive and valuable ore banks of both brown and red oxides.
At the Round Mountain Iron Works we find the fossiliferous red oxide (a lenticular ore) used exclusively.
This ore always exists as a bed, but always as the upper formation, and resting on the sandstones of the Devonian series, if we mistake not, though resembling very nearly the ores of Montour, in Pennsylvania, though richer and softer. But, as all these ores
lie on the face of the hills, or have but little stratified covering, they are naturally highly oxidized and soft.
The strata dip in the Round Mountain to the northwest at an angle of about 45°. The upper face of the mountain is covered some ten or twelve feet deep with the ore, but towards its base it runs under the cover of the slates, sandstones, and limestones, which basin at no great depth ; the opposite outcrop has not been discovered. Near this point, a short distance above, and about thirty miles below Rome, are the CORN WALL FURNACES of the Messrs. Noble, operating on this fossiliferous red oxide and char coal,—as, in fact, all the furnaces of Alabama are worked.* The ore in this locality is very extensive, and productive of excellent iron. This range of red oxide may be traced for a hundred miles on the west bank of the Coosa, with but little interruption, except where denuded. We presume it to be coextensive with the Eastern Appalachian chain; but nowhere is it so largely developed, or so productive, as in Alabama. In the vicinity of Rome, Georgia, and the mountain ranges to the east of the Lookout, from the Coosa to the Tennessee, are numerous and extensive deposits of both brown and red oxides.
At the ETOWAH IRON WORKS, between Kingston and Atlanta, extensive ore banks are developed in the " eastern range" on the edge of the valley. These ores are brown hematites exclusively, and partake of the character of this range generally. From this point to Jonesboro, in East Tennessee, these ores exist at intervals in every hill-side and ridge projecting from the western foot of the Blue Ridge, and in the eastern edge of the valley. At some places they are developed in masses, and all points more or less avail able ore exists.