264 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



richness and hardness is specially adapted for export. The Iron 

 Mountain district contains also considerable areas of either good 

 'or fair timber-land, which has been sufficient so far to supply 

 with charcoal four blast-furnaces now existing in this district. 

 One of these furnaces is located at Irondale, two at Iron Moun- 

 tain, and one at Pilot Knob. The supply of charcoal fuel seems, 

 however, to become more difficult from year to year, and is cer- 

 tainly insufficient to allow any larger development of the iron 

 manufacture in the district. This difficulty could only be over- 

 come by a direct communication by railroad with the Mississippi 

 River, and thereby with extensive well-timbered districts, as well 

 as with the coal fields of Western Illinois. A particular advan- 

 tage might thereby be gained by the Pilot Knob Company. This 

 company owns deposits of iron ore specially adapted to the ma- 

 nufacture of Bessemer pig, as I have already shown in some pre- 

 vious publications, and owns also deposits of manganesic iron 

 ore adapted to the manufacture of spiegeleisen, required in the 

 Bessemer process. Thus the lack of fuel seems to be the princi- 

 pal impediment to the erection in that vicinity of a Bessemer 

 establishment, which would undoubtedly be one of the most suc- 

 cessful and lucrative. 



3. The South-eastern Limonite district contains numerous 

 limonite deposits scattered over Madison, Bollinger, Iron, Wayne, 

 Stoddard, and Butler Counties. The ores are mostly well adapted, 

 after being calcined, to produce a good foundry iron. The whole 

 district is pretty richly timbered, and contains several large 

 streams, running from north to south, such as Whitewater, Cas- 

 tor, St. Francois, and Black Rivers, besides numerous smaller 

 branches. It is also intersected by three railroad lines ; — two 

 branches of the Iron Mountain Railroad connect it with the city 

 of St. Louis on the north, and with the States of Arkansas, Ten- 

 nessee, and Kentucky, on the south ; while the Cairo, Arkansas, 

 and Texas Railroad forms the directest route from the western 

 portion of the district to the Mississippi. As over one hundred 

 deposits of iron ore have been pointed out in this district — partly 

 in the Geol. Reports for 1S72, by myself, and partly in the Geol. 

 Reports for 1S74, by Mr. P. N. Moore — it can hardly be doubted 

 that this district will be able to feed several blast-furnaces for a 

 considerable number of years. The fuel is abundant and the 



