262 GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 



by the more perfect methods of modern times, there can be no doubt of complete success in 

 producing iron of the best quahly : not tiiat our northern metal is not already in high repute, 

 but it may be placed in a scale still higher by other and better modes of manufacture. 



The above remarks were made, on the supposition that the manufacture would be confined 

 to bar iron. Now, bars, plates and pieces of iron, of an almost unlimited variety of forms 

 and sizes, are required for different purposes, in order to suit the convenience and save the 

 labor of the mechanic, in rough-hammering and giving a general shape to his articles ; and 

 therefore public utility would be consulted, and the industry of the producer of iron rewarded 

 in the increased value of his productions, by furnishing the metal in a state already half manu- 

 factured to the mechanic's hand, that is, by giving to it the general form required in particular 

 articles. 



I have not considered, in these remarks, the high probability the quality of the iron fur- 

 nishes for its conversion into good steel. This is, hovs^ever, a matter which experiment alone 

 can set at rest ; the question cannot be answered by conjecture ; the material must be made ; 

 still, the qualities of the iron appear to be adapted to form steel ; and as it is only of the best 

 kinds of iron that blister and cast steel are formed, we have reasonable expectations that this 

 iron is adapted to this purpose. In many instances, in the manufacture of the Adirondack 

 iron, bars have been made which would temper or harden, and which, when made into ham- 

 mers and chisels, etc., were remarkable for their goodness, and the ability with which they 

 stood the severest usage. How far facts of this kind furnish us the means of deciding the 

 question, I will not pretend to determine for others ; but since the material is sometimes 

 formed, it requires no stretch of confidence or assurance to believe that, when aided by skill 

 and science, an equally good article may be formed as that which has been sometimes pro- 

 duced by accident. 



But another point of view may yet be brought up, which will show the value of the Adi- 

 rondack ores in a still stronger light. I refer to the method which has been discovered, of 

 reducing the rich ores by means of a small amount of charcoal. The process has two prin- 

 cipal steps : First, the deoxidizing of the ore, which is performed by intimately mixing the 

 pulverized ore with fine charcoal, excluding during the process the access of atmospheric 

 air, so as to prevent the reabsorption of oxygen after it has been once expelled. This process 

 requires exposure to a cherry-red heat for several hours. The combustion of the charcoal 

 goes on as long as the oxide supplies the coal with oxygen ; and when that ceases, the com- 

 bustion of the coal stops. Now it is well known that but a small amount, either in weight or 

 bulk of coal, can be used in this method. 



The next step, after deoxidation, is to weld the particles together. These are therefore 

 placed in some convenient form in the furnace, and heated to a white heat, or to that point 

 required for welding the particles together. Now in this last process, the great advantage 

 consists in being able to employ branches of trees, and the smaller kinds of wood ; even 

 brush will answer, or any wood suiKcicntly dry, as hemlock, spruce, cedar, etc. Here is a 

 saving in two ways : first, in the employment of the boughs, or those parts which arc useless 

 for making coal, and are generally burnt on the ground for the sole purpose of getting rid of 



