ESSEX COUNTY. 351 



addition to tlie advantages whicli tliis vein presents for working, I may state that of its fissile 

 character, or its natural separation into layers ; hence masses are frequently readily detached 

 by the aid of the bar alone, especially near the surface. 



It is obvious that the true method of working this vein, is to commence on a line with the 

 pure ore, or as far down the western slope as possible, and work towards tiie east, and to the 

 right and left; by this mode of proceeding, all the water which would accumulate above, 

 from rains, etc. will be carried to a lower level than the line of the workings. The whole 

 business of mining, then, at this place, will consist in blasting and breaking the ore, all of 

 whicli may be conducted without engines of any description. Hence, as it regards expense, 

 there probably never was a vein so favorably situated, and where so little capital will be 

 required to obtain the ore, and transport it to the place wlicre it is to be reduced. 



One of the most remarkable facts which I have observed in relation to the Sanford mine, 

 is the entire freedom of this immense vein from pyrites, and also from any substance which 

 is known to exert an injurious eflcct on iron. This circumstance is probably in part to be 

 attributed to another fact, viz. that the hypersthene rock is one which is far from being 

 metallilerous : scarcely any of the sulphurets or oxides appear in it, except the well known 

 substance, the oxide of iron ; whereas, gneiss, the adjacent rock, abounds in sulphurets of 

 iron and many of the earthy minerals, and, as a consequence, many of the veins of iron arc 

 more or less charged with sulphuret of iron. The ore of the Sanford vein is one of the 

 purest which is at present known, if we e.xcept the Arnold ore in Peru, but which is not a 

 hundredth part so extensive. 



As might be expected, the iron made from this ore has proved to be of the first quality ; 

 and it is not only of the first quality, but is said to viake fast. Whether it is of the same 

 quality as that which has been made from the coarse black ore, to be described hereafter, has 

 not been determined. It is sufiicient at the present time to say, that so far as trials have been 

 made with it, it is equal to the best of the iron made at the forges in the northern section of 

 the State. Experiment only can determine how good it is possible to make the product from 

 this ore, and whether it has the properties whicli render it suitable for steel. 



The only foreign minerals present in the Sanford vein, are hypersthene, labradorite, horn- 

 blende, and common feldspar. In this vein, too, we meet with bottle-green feldspar under 

 its usual crystalline form, but I am not as yet satisfied whether it is prismatic or labrador 

 feldspar. These, though they exert no injurious effect on the iron, yet interfere in its reduc- 

 tion ; when they are present, therefore, to some extent, it becomes necessary to wash the ore, 

 and this is the more necessary on account of the low point at which these two minerals fuse. 



Northern and Soutlicrn Prolongation of the Sanford Vein. 



At the distance of about one mile and a half from the Sanford vein, there is an outcrop of 

 ore, possessing the same characters as that just described. If this was the only vein in the 

 country, it would be considered as very remarkable on account of its extent : it is thirty-two 

 rods in length, and about fifteen in width. The mineralogical characters arc precisely those 



