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VANUXEM’S REPORT. 
(From “ Mills’ Statistics of South Carolina.”) 
Of the minerals collected, there are thirty species, and of the rocks ten species. The most important are two 
species of iron ore ; also marble or limestone, pyrites, gold, and oil stones. The two species of iron ore, are the 
magnetic, or gray ore, and the hydrate, or brown ore. The only furnace in the upper country now in operation, 
which uses the brown ore, is the one belonging to Col. Nesbitt, in Spartanburg District. Two furnaces make 
use of the gray ore; they are in the Districts of York and Spartanburg. It is also carried from York to North _ 
Carolina, where it is reduced to iron. 
The gray ore makes the best iron, either for bar iron or castings. This ore is found in abundance in York 
and Spartanburg; in both these Districts it is connected with the same rocks and minerals, and pursues the 
same direction. The brown ore, though inferior to the gray in the quality of the metal produced, yet is more 
generally distributed, and more abundant than the other kind. 
Tn the upper country there are two ranges of limestone having the same direction to each other, and paral- 
lel to the great mass of rocks which covers the State, so far as the examination has extended. The general di- 
rection of all these rocks is nearly North Kast and South West. The western range of limestone is in the up- 
per part of Pendleton, whilst the eastern one is met with in Spartanburg and York. They produce excellent 
lime when burnt. In Spartanburg the limestone furnishes very beautiful granular marble, consisting of the 
white, blue, and brown varieties ; this latter is new in the arts. 
The mineral called pyrites is very abundant in Spartanburg and York. It will be of great value to the 
State, whenever the United States is deprived of her foreign commerce, as it is a raw material in the making of 
copperas and allum. 
To this mineral also, in such an event, must we look for our supply of sulphur, essential to the manufacture 
of gunpowder. A variety of pyrites containing gold, is found in Spartanburg, at three different points. This 
same mineral is worked for gold in two or three places in Europe. Gold has been found in Abbeville and in 
Spartanburg Districts. A lump of gold was picked up last spring on the plantation of Mr. John E. Norris, in 
the Calhoun settlement. It weighed thirty-two penny weights. A part of it is in the collection of the College. 
No doubt exists as to the fact of the discovery, and the spot where found. 
That portion of Spartanburg District which contains gold, is on middle Tiger River, near the Greenville 
line. ‘The gold owes its appearance to the decomposition of the pyrites before mentioned. When this gold is 
considered in connexion with the products which pyrites is capable of yielding, it will, at no distant period, be 
of importance to the section of country where found, and probably to the State generally. 
In Abbeville District, oil stones are met with in abundance; they are considered by the workmen as being 
equal, if not superior, to those from Turkey, which rarely sell for less than seventy-five cents a pound. 
So far as information has been obtained of the upper country, there is no likelihood of gypsum being discoy- 
ered in any part of it. If found in the State, it will be met with in the region of country which lies between 
Columbia and the sea-board. Besides gypsum, we may also expect to find, in that part of the State, the same 
kind of marl which has so greatly contributed to enhance the value of the poor lands of New Jersey, by the 
fertility which it imparts to the soil. 
