SCHMIDT — IRON MANUFACTURE IN MISSOURI. 265 



markets are of easy access. Some mining was done at a few 

 banks in Madison, Bollinger, and Butler Counties, and the ore 

 was shipped in part to Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, Irondale, and 

 South St. Louis, to be mixed with specular ores and thus smelted ; 

 another part was shipped to the Mississippi and thence boated 

 up the Ohio River into other States. But, on the whole, this 

 district is as yet but little developed. 



4. The Franklin County ore district is situated on the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Railroad line, and may be divided into two subdis- 

 tricts, one of which is found south of the station of Moselle, the 

 other south-east of the station of Sullivan. Both are well tim- 

 bered. In the Moselle subdistrict limonite ores have been found 

 exclusively. About ten years ago a charcoal furnace was built 

 half a mile south of Moselle station. This furnace is known as 

 the Moselle Iron Works, and is yet in successful blast for the 

 greater part of every year, although for the last few years most 

 of the ores smelted were brought from various deposits of specu- 

 lar ore in the Central Ore Region, and mixed with the Moselle 

 limonites, as the latter do not occur in very large quantity. 

 The Sullivan subdistrict contains some specular ores besides the 

 limonites, and thus forms the transition from the Moselle limon- 

 ite district into the specular ore region of Central Missouri. A 

 few of the ore-banks only are situated in Franklin County, most 

 of them being across the southern county line in the N.W. corner 

 of Washington and in the N.E. corner of Crawford Counties. 

 At the time when I visited that district in 1872, the mining opera- 

 tions had not proceeded far enough to disclose a well secured 

 supply of ore for a blast-furnace ; but I am informed that new 

 discoveries of value have been made there since. A charcoal 

 blast-furnace was also erected in the N.W. corner of Washington 

 County. This furnace, called the Hamilton Iron Works, went 

 first into blast in October, 1873. 



II. CENTRAL ORE REGION. 



Extent. — The Central Iron Ore Region of Missouri includes 

 the following counties : Crawford, Dent, Shannon (northern half), 

 Phelps, Pulaski, Gasconade, and the eastern parts of Maries and 

 Osage ; to which may also be added Callaway County on the 

 north side of the Missouri River. The main portion of this re- 

 gion is limited in the east b}- a line which nearly coincides with 



