1890-91.J IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION IN ONTARIO. 299 



NOTES ON THE POSSIBILITIES OF IRON AND STEEL 

 PRODUCTION IN ONTARIO. 



By Wm. Hamilton Merritt, F.G.S. 



Member Iron and Steel Institute, England ; Associate Royal School of Mines ; late 

 Commissioner Royal Cornmission on the Mineral Resources of Ontario. (2r=c. 



This paper is a condensation of three papers, read at different times 

 before the Geological and Mining Section of the Institute, none of 

 which have appeared in the " Transactions." The first paper was on the 

 " Laurentian Iron Ores of New Jersey," and the second paper was on the 

 " Iron Ores of Lake Superior." 



These two papers were written on the fields developed in the United 

 States because geologically they continue into the Province of Ontario, 

 where they exhibit identical features to those found in the United States. 



As will be pointed out later on, the assured abundance of Iron ore, 

 and the magnitude of the mining operations, in the United States, on the 

 same belts as we have in Ontario, have a particularly important and 

 gratifying bearing on the possibilities of permanent Iron and Steel pro- 

 duction in our Province, so far as the supply of ore is concerned. 



In my third paper, "A i&w Notes on the Production of Iron and 

 Steel in Ontario," I gave a short comparison between the production 

 of Iron and Steel in Canada and in the United States, and touched on 

 the possibilities of inaugurating an extensive production of Iron and 

 Steel in the Province of Ontario. 



THE NEW JERSEY IRON ORE DEPOSITS. 



The examination of a geological map of the United States and 

 Canada, such as one compiled by Mr. C. H. Hitchcock for the American 

 Institute of Mining Engineers, shows very clearly the passage of the 

 Laurentian iron carrying rocks from the State of New Jersey through the 

 northern part of New York State across the St. Lawrence, where the 

 Thousand Islands occur, into the north-eastern portion of Ontario. 



I have had opportunities of studying these Iron deposits in New 

 Jersey and in Ontario at a number of places. There is a complete 

 geological similarity in the rocks, both consisting chiefly of Gneiss^ 

 (FelspathicandHornblendic or Syenite-Gneiss), Granite, Syenite, Chrystal- 

 line Limestone and Magnetite. 



