362 



FARMERS- REGISTER. 



[No, 6 



I descended by the next returning corve. The 

 solidity of the ore lias rendered it unnecessary to 

 case the sides of the shaft with logs, as is usual in 

 the coal-shafts — and therefore the ore is exposed 

 entirely to view. Twelve leet above the bottom 

 a temporary platform was placed, which prevent- 

 ed access below, at that time. This platform was 

 probably placed at that height to permit the drift 

 then making (for trial) to go through either the 

 middle, or tiie best of the ore; thouyh the quality 

 seemed to be very uniform in appearance, from the 

 platform to within a ihw feet of the surfice of the 

 ore. The only exception to the continuation of 

 the ore, was in the interposition of a horizontal 

 layer of white and very pure clay, which is about 

 two feet thick on one side of the shaft, and not 

 more than an inch on the opposite side. The 

 drift had not been extended above eight feet hori- 

 zontally from the side of the shafl, and had had 

 no gearing erected, except a single propping post, 

 placed in the centre, and commencement of the 

 drill. I felt much less secure under this rool^ short 

 as the drift was, than amongst the yielding and 

 crushing gearing of the coal mine; for though the 

 ore is very hard, it is separated into numerous 

 small lumps by fissures^-and I should suppose that 

 the blasting by gunpowder would be apt to loosen, 

 and hereafter bringdown, masses from above. 



Being no judge of iron ore, and never having 

 before seen any extracted for use, I pretend not to 

 offer an opinion of its quality, or degree of purity. 

 The quantity however must be very great; and if 

 the strength of the ore, and the quality of the 

 iron are good, this mine will prove of great value to 

 the commonwealth, as well as to the proprietors. I 

 heard that the whole tract of laud (some hundreds 

 of acres,) might have been bought for S'5000 just 

 before the news of this discovery "got wind;' ' but the 

 price asked immediately rose to .'^50,000, and some 

 think that it will be worth even ten times that sum. 



The ore has been traced in another old coal 

 shaft about half a mile distant, there reduced to 

 nine feet thick. The circumstance of this ore lying 

 over the coal necessary for smelting it, and the close 

 neighborhood of navigable water, and water-pow- 

 er, all add greatly to its value. The new railway 

 now in progress of construction from the principal 

 coal mines to the river (five miles in length,) 

 passes within fifty yards of the shaft of the iron 

 mine, whence the distance to navigation will be 

 only a mile by the railway — which is another 

 ground of estimated value. With such abundant 

 supplies of iron ore, and fuel to smelt it and to 

 ibrge the metal— with water-power for any possible 

 extent of machinery, furnished by the river — and 

 with such excellent facilities for reaching market — 

 it is difficult even to guess at the limit or value, 

 and of future improvement, to be realized in this 

 region of Virginia. 



But though all were blind for so long a time to 

 the existence of this ore, that very circumstance 

 will now keep all wide awake. Of this qui vive 

 spirit we had some amusing evidences as soon as 

 we reached the shaft. Some of the men connected 

 with the railway construction came up to us, and 

 one (who I was afterwards told was the compa- 

 ny's engineer,) hastened to exhibit a very dark 

 green clay, which had been just found in excava- 

 ting for the railwaj', and which he pronounced to 

 be fuller's earth, which he could sell in New York 

 for nine cents the pound: Though not acquaint- 



ed with mineralogy, as he said he was, or with 

 the woollen manufiicture, 1 made free to doubt 

 both these positions — and utterly to deny his next 

 assertion that " fuller's earth was not earth at all, 

 but a substance formed of decomposed vegetable 

 matter." But this was the least important of hie 

 morning's discoveries. He had found, and again 

 covered over, copper, ore, of which he showed spe- 

 cimens — and he stated that he was well acquaint- 

 ed with copper ore, having visited the copper 

 mines in Cornwall and Anglesea, in England. — 

 This may well have been, as he was born just 

 across the Irish channel fi'om Cornwall. Howe- 

 ver, ignorant as I was on these subjects, I could 

 still less confide in his copper ore than in the fuller's 

 earth — though he rated the discovery of the for- 

 mer as probably worth ^50,000, and intimated that 

 the proprietors of the land, must either let liim go 

 halves with them, or find the copper ore for them- 

 selves. We afterwards walked to the work on the 

 railway, and soon saw many specimens of his cop- 

 per ore. They seemed to be indeed of iron ore and 

 were of great variety and beauty in form and color. 

 The ''fuller's earth" is found in detached lumps, 

 imbedded in the common red clay sub-soil. It ia 

 cut with a knile easily and very smoothly, almost 

 like Castile soap, presenting a dark gveen mottled 

 surface, of beautiful and singular api)earance, 

 which is something like that of some greenish 

 marbles, in color and polish. When tried between 

 the teeth, it seems entirely destitute of any sili- 

 cious ingredienti 



In the course of our ride, we, called at a sulphur 

 spring, which I had never heard of before, though 

 it is the property of an incorporated joint stock 

 company, which was one of the 140 chartered last 

 year by the legislature, for various purposes, but 

 most of I hem lor the sole purpose cf selling out their 

 stock. But though the "Crystal Sulphur Spring," 

 is but a small matter, and is not likely to make the 

 fortunes of the stockholders, (that is, since the hard- 

 money-pressure has brought us all to our senses, 

 and every man has discovered that he is not half as 

 rich as he thought himself six months ago,) yet I 

 was agreeably surprised to find the water so 

 strongly impregnated. The smell and taste of sul- 

 phur seemed to me not much inferior to that of the 

 White Sulphur Spring of Virginia, and certainly 

 is much stronger than the water of some others, 

 dignified by the names of "sulphur springs" and 

 resorted to by numbers, for their medicinal quali- 

 ties. I perceived no impregnation in this but 

 that of sulphur; nor is there any visible extrica- 

 tion and escape of sulphuretted or any other gas. 

 In quantity of' water, the source is very feeble. 

 The medicinal efi'ects of the water are stated, by 

 persons worthy of all confidence, to be considera- 

 ble — and indeed, as I found it very palatable, and 

 drank copiously of it while at the spring, I had 

 some experience of its power. The spring is in 

 Powhatan, within a mile or two of the ferry. The 

 proprietors have already commenced making some 

 improvements, and the locality, especially on ac- 

 count of the almost surrounding oak forest, is such 

 as to allow a beautiful place to be made. 

 No. III. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PART OF THE 

 GOOCHLAND LANDS. 



The lands bordering on the northern side of 

 James River, from Tuckahoe creek to Beaver- 



