FUEL FOR SMELTING. 89 



ore brought from other parts of this country or from abroad. The only 

 iron ore of promise in this field is that which occurs at the eminence known 

 as Iron Hill, which lies in the town of Cumberland, about 2£ miles east from 

 Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The deposit is a rather ilmenitic magnetite, 1 

 containing- about 35 or 40 per cent of metallic iron, but it is remarkably free 

 from phosphorus, in this regard closely resembling the best Swedish ore, 

 which it also resembles in its petrographical characters. The mass of the 

 ore, apparently in its nature a dike, runs along the general surface of the 

 country in which it lies, to the height of nearly 100 feet. It has a width 

 of about 600 feet and is of about twice that length. It is probably con- 

 tinued downward to an indefinite depth, and may extend for a considerable 

 distance beneath the cover of drift to the north and south, in which axis 

 the mass seems to trend. The mass of ore may therefore be reckoned as 

 large; it probably could afford, if desired, a total of 10,000,000 tons or more 

 without particularly deep workings The limestones of Lincoln, Rhode 

 Island, between Iron Hill and the western margin of the Carboniferous rocks, 

 afford an excellent flux. As they appear in the form of white crystalline 

 marble, it is probable that they also are nonphosphatic. Thus, if the coal 

 of the Narragansett Basin proves to be as useful as a smelting fuel as it 

 promises to be, the shores of the bay may prove to be well equipped for 

 the manufacture of pig iron. 



About twenty-five years ago the coal from the Portsmouth mines was to 

 a certain extent used in smelting copper ore which was mainly brought from 

 South America. It was stated when this process was in operation that the 

 fuel was satisfactory. If this was the case, there is yet another reason for 

 supposing that the coal of this basin has a value when used in the reduc- 

 tion of metals. As a whole the evidence thus points to the conclusion that 

 those who undertake to bring these coals into the market will do well to 

 look carefully into the question of their adaptation to this use. If this 

 element of value could be verified, the basis for the development of the 

 deposits might be found without reference to the other ends to which their 

 product might be applied. 



In closing these remarks concerning the economic values of mines in the 

 Narragansett Basin, it may be said that, as far as the coal beds are concerned, 



1 See A microscopical study of the iron ore or peridotite of Iron Mine Hill, Cumberland, R. I., 

 by M. A. Wadsworth: Proc. Boston Soc.Nat. Hist., Vol. XXI, 1883, pp. 194-197. 



