NEW MINERAL DISCOVERIES IN NOVA SCOTIA.—GILPIN. 87 
and near the mouth of the Barasois River, emptying into the 
Little Bras d’Or. At the latter place the silurian slates are 
literally soaked in iron oxide, and at several points they present 
deposits which may on further investigation prove of economic 
value. 
To the south-west of the railway bridge at Barasois, on a line 
running towards Eskasonie on East Bay, are several large out- 
crops of magnetite. As yet little work has been done to test the 
value of these deposits. Should these deposits prove to be free 
from titanic acid, they should, judging from the following 
analysis, be available for the operations of the miner :— 
Oxideot Maneanese and Alumina ..........-- 60 
MIM Ce Me ee Oana has ric co nee hat thal Sal ods ate aed 
Mesa es ots A Bele ss ete Pe ae ot ae ale Bue ee 10 
UMMM serene SRG A sis whe oniorse ciate atta Gua as 05 
[PINGS NOL AKG JeCG ey ec ee REE He Do ents mere crepe O04 
SU Geis ets Step a aes cent hay aies Se cree Fe She slots trea a ate 2a 
Bifano yey hina. ct oid a Syeusuelers penes Martie «tet teete ene On 
MSG ON esr eS Ale we Patera aele aie eos elec Be Bloor. 
The question of the amount, quality, and cheapness of iron 
ore is one of the great problems of the day. The United States 
are exceptionally fortunate in having in its North-Western 
States what may be termed the greatest deposits of Bessemer 
ore yet discovered. The size of these deposits, their purity, 
their accessibility, and the lavish expenditure for their cheap 
mining and transportation have combined to build up at Chicago, 
Pittsburg, and other points, the greatest individual steel works 
of the world. Without the iron ores of Michigan, the United 
States would to-day occupy a position much less menacing to 
the commercial destinies of England and the Continent. It is 
true that the competition England has had hitherto to meet in 
the iron industry has come chiefly from the pig iron of 
Tennessee, but this can be largely met by the English furnace 
masters building larger furnaces and securing lower local rail- 
way freights. Although these precious deposits, more valuable 
than gold and silver mines, were heralded as everlasting already 
their exhaustion is a question of not many years, as new dis- 
