IRON ORES 73 



ently large quantity of red hematite of excellent coniposilion 

 has also lately been discovered by drilling and shafting in the 

 vicinity of North Freedom, Sauk county. 



Missouri attained prominence as an iron producing state 

 several decades ago through the Iron Mountain and Pilot 

 Knob deposits, which gave promise of being large producers, 

 but as development proceeded these ore beds were practically 

 exhausted, although it is possible there may be undiscovered 

 extensions of them. In central, eastern, and southern Mis- 

 souri red hematite and brown hematite ores are obtained in 

 quantities, and these ores also extend into Arkansas, although 

 there has been no development in that state. 



The exploitations for iron ore in Texas have been chiefly 

 in the northeastern section, where brown hematites have been 

 won from near the surface, and the fact that these lie in nearly 

 horizontal layers, covered but slightly with a ferruginous 

 sandstone and sand, suggests that they are bog ores forming 

 the bottom of an extinct lake. They extend over a large ter- 

 ritory^, except w^here the plateaus are cut by water courses. 

 In central Texas an important deposit of red hematite ore, 

 claimed to be of excellent quality, has been opened up, but 

 in the absence of demand for this mineral, exploitation has 

 not been prosecuted. 



The section of the country which may oe considered as 

 the Rocky Mountain region has a number of important 

 deposits of iron ores and all the general classes of ores are 

 found. In what might be called the distinctively mountainous 

 section, on the western slopes, magnetites are obtained, and 

 some deposits of apparent magnitude are known to exist, but 

 owing to the high elevation of the deposits and the amount 

 of snow encountered, they have not been exploited. It is 

 possible that the increasing demand for iron ores may encour- 

 age development. 



The iron ore deposits at Sunrise, Laramie count}^, Wyo., 

 are quite extensive; until late years, however, but httle ore 

 had been produced from them. The ore is a red hematite 

 occurring in carboniferous limestone; covers, as it is claimed, 

 a superficial area of about 20 square miles; contains from 60 



