590 THE UPPER SILURIAN. 



" The value of this locality with respect to ore may be judged of 

 by comparing it with establishments in the United States. In Berk- 

 shire County, Massachusetts, at some establishments which have been 

 successfully conducted, the price of the ore is between five and six 

 dollars to the ton of iron. In Orange County, New York, ore yielding 

 between 40 and 50 per cent, costs between four and five dollars to the 

 ton of iron. At one locality in New York the ore costs ten dollars to the 

 ton of iron. At some establishments on Lake Champlain, ore costing 

 one dollar per ton at the mine, is carried twelve miles to the furnace. 

 The ore at the Baltimore furnaces costs over seven dollars to the ton of 

 iron. This is about the average cost of the ore at the furnaces in 

 Pennsylvania. Estimating the cost of the ore even at four dollars to 

 the ton of iron, there will be advantage over the average American 

 localities. 



" The cost of ores at some of the Swedish and Russian furnaces is 

 still greater. In certain parts of the Ural Mountains the minerals are 

 carried by land to the forests a distance of from 40 to 80 miles. Some 

 of the forges of Sweden are supplied with minerals from Presburg and 

 Dannemora, which are transported by land-carriage, the lakes, and 

 the sea, to distances exceeding 370 miles. 



" There is no trace of sulphur, arsenic, or any foreign matter which 

 can deteriorate the quality of the iron, or of titanium or chrome, which- 

 would render the ores refractory. The red ochrey ore, the most] 

 abundant variety, being sufficiently porous to present large surfaces] 

 to the reducing gases in the blast furnace, and yet sufficiently compact 

 not to choke the furnace, but to allow the free passage of the blast, ' 

 can be used with peculiar advantage. The daily make of iron fromj 

 these ores will be large, and the consumption of combustible com- 

 paratively small. 



"I have no doubt that iron of the first quality for purity and strength,] 

 and which will demand the highest prices in the market, can be made , 

 from these ores. If Mr Mushet's opinion, based upon his own ex- 

 periments, that these ores will furnish steel-iron equal to the best ; 

 Swedish marks, should prove correct, these oi*es possess a rare value ; 

 for, of the many charcoal iron establishments in the United States, 

 I know but one which furnishes iron suitable for making the first j 

 quality of steel." 



In addition to the use of the ores of iron in these deposits as sources ' 

 of the metal, mineral paints and artificial slate of excellent quality are 

 manufactured from the iron ochres of the Folly Mountain, and are 

 extensively used for protecting wooden buildings, etc. 



Since the publication of the first edition of this work, extensive ! 



