258 PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE COASTAL PLAIN PROVINCE. 



of $18, $21, and $27 per ton.<* After grinding and washing the product, 

 much of it was sold as yellow ocher, but it is said that greater profits were 

 derived from the sale of red ocher which was obtained by burning the 

 natural product (yellow ocher). Although the deposit does not seem to 

 have been exhausted, the mine has not been in operation since about 1890. 



IRON ORE. 



Mining of iron ore in Virginia in 1609 by the Jamestown colonists 

 was the first iron ore mined in the United States, of which there is any 

 known record. The successful extraction of the metal from this ore led 

 to the erection of the first iron works in the United States, which were 

 located on Falling Creek in Chesterfield County, about seven miles south 

 of Eichmond, between the years 1619 and 1632. The works were destroyed 

 in the Indian massacre of 1622 before they had been operated. 



Much iron carbonate ore is present in the Potomac formations of 

 Maryland and many iron furnaces were operated during Colonial days, 

 but the Potomac in Virginia contains much less iron ore, and it is not 

 positively known tliat any mines were ever worked in these formations in 

 the State. There is a rumor that iron ore was formerly dug near 

 Mt. Vernon. 



Although nodules of iron carbonate and iron oxides pure enough to be 

 economically valuable ai'e found, it seems improbable that the Potomac 

 formations of Virginia contain sufficiently large deposits to have much 

 commercial value. 



BUILDING STONES. 



The building stones of the Coastal Plain are of little importance both 

 on account of their limited occurrence and their inferior quality. In a 

 region in which practically all the rocks are unconsolidated any indurated 

 beds are pretty certain to be utilized locally for the foundations of build- 

 ings and for other purposes in which hard compact stones are not demanded. 

 Indurated strata occur in almost every formation in the Coastal Plain 

 of the State, and material from these beds has been employed widely for 

 such local purposes. 



The indurated sands (sandstone) of the Patuxent formation furnish 

 the best building stone of the region and quarries have been opened up in 



fMin. Res. of the United States, 1885. 



