10 THE IRON ORES OF NICTAUX, AND 



The district extends from a point several miles west of the 

 Nictaux River to -the county line between Annapolis and Kings, 

 and probably some distance further. It varies in width up to 

 about five miles. In this section there are a number of beds of 

 iron ore having a general north-east and south-west course. 

 While exposures are frequent, there are undulations and fractures 

 in the measures which render any positive correlation of the 

 ore beds a matter of uncertainty, owing to the limited explora- 

 tory work yet effected. 



The most northerly range of iron-bearing strata is represented 

 by the bed worked at the Torbrook mine. This has been traced 

 about 2 miles eastwardly to the county line, and for some dis- 

 tance to the westward. Exposures of red hematite, near 

 Nictaux Falls, are believed to show its further passage in that 

 direction. 



South of this comes the deposit known as the " Shell Ore " 

 bed, which was worked for several years by long trenches 

 running on its outcrop. Its principal exposure is on the Banks 

 farms, where it is from five to eight feet thick. This ore is 

 highly fossiliferous, and has furnished many interesting fossils 

 to visiting geologists 



Still further south on the Canaan Mountain road, about 2 

 miles south-west of the Torbrook mine, are two beds of red 

 hematite 4 to 6 feet thick. These beds, assuming a westerly 

 course, apparently coincide with an exposure of red hematite ore 

 reported on the southern end of the Banks farm. The further 

 westward extension of these beds is unknown, they may in a 

 magnetised condition be represented in the Page and Stearns 

 beds on the west side of the Nictaux River. Here mining 

 operations have exposed eleven beds from 2 to 10 feet in width. 

 These beds, with others lying on the same horizon a little to the 

 south, one of which on the river bank is about 12 feet wide, 

 extend to the westward nearly 2 miles to the Willett property 

 in the rear lines, where two beds, each about 5 feet thick, have 

 been uncovered. 



South of this range, on the Torbrook, other beds of magnetite 

 and shell ore are exposed on the Armstrong and other farms 



