266 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



the boundary between Crawford and Washington Counties, and 

 in the west by the dividing ridge between the Gasconade and 

 Osage waters. I hardly need to remark that these divisions are 

 more or less arbitrary, and have been adopted merely for the sake 

 of convenience, and for the greater precision they give to our 

 geological and metallurgical descriptions. These divisions were 

 made, however, with due reference to the existing means of inter- 

 communication, so as to group together as far as possible such 

 districts as have at the present time about the same commercial 

 outlets for their products. 



Means of Communication. — The central portion of this im- 

 portant iron region is opened to commerce by the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Railroad, which runs from N.E. to S.W. through the 

 northern parts of Crawford, Phelps, and Pulaski Counties ; and 

 by the St. Louis, Salem, and Little Rock Railroad, which 

 branches off from the Atlantic and Pacific at Cuba City and 

 passes through the rich ore districts of Crawford County, termin- 

 ating at present at Salem in Dent County. 



As the Gasconade River is navigable to a limited extent only,^ 

 the iron districts in Gasconade and Eastern Osage Counties are 

 as yet of difficult access. Their nearest line of communication is 

 now the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which runs from east to west 

 along the southern bank of the Missouri River, or else the Mis- 

 souri River itself. 



Callaway County is intersected from north to south by the rail- 

 road from Mexico to Jefferson City. 



Resources and their Development. — The largest part of the 

 southern half of the Central iron region in Crawford, Dent, 

 Shannon, and Phelps Counties, is next to the Iron Mountain dis- 

 trict the richest in the State, containing very numerous and valu- 

 able deposits, some of which rival in size those of Pilot Knob. 

 The ore is here almost everywhere specular, mixed with soft red 

 hematite. This kind of ore reaches westward to the Upper Gas- 

 conade into Pulaski and Maries, and even across the dividing 

 ridge into the Osage region in Miller County. All these districts 

 have, besides the ore, an enormous supply of hard timber well 

 adapted for charring, and are irrigated by the Meramec and Gas- 

 conade Rivers and their tributaries. Four successful iron works 

 are already established in the most favored parts of this region, 

 three at various places along the Meramec River — namely, the 



