24: Tron Mines, &c. in Vermont. 
ore. He conducted me to a number of piles of it, which 
he had recently assisted in digging. An acre or two of land 
is made into a complete riddle by pits, from which the ore 
has been thrown. ‘They are from six to twenty-five feet 
deep, and from eight to twelve in diameter. ‘Their walls 
are perpendicular. 
Several kinds of ore occur in this immense deposit ; such 
as the brown oxide, both amorphous and hematitic, the 
compact red oxide and yellow ochre. The last is vastly the 
most abundant. In one pit, the brown oxide made its ap- 
pearance within about six feet ; in another, within twenty 
feet, of the surface. It runs in veins in the yellow ochre, 
which are sometimes a number of feet in thickness. It is 
very porous, but the pores are principally filled with ochre. 
The oxide is easily frangible ; it soils the fingers, but does 
not feel greasy. Its colour is often of a bluish cast. When 
taken from the bed, it has no effect on the magnet. I ex- 
posed a smal] specimen to the action of the blowpipe, and 
its attraction for the magnet was speedily revived. 
The compact red oxide is not however of a deep red. 
Its fracture is dull. All the varieties of the ore have more 
of an earthy, than of a metallic appearance. This bed of 
ore appears to be exhaustless. 
In its vicinity is a forge, owned by Mr. Roger Fuller, in 
which are annually manufactured thirty-six tons of bar iron. 
The ore, on an average, yields thirty per cent. of pure iron. 
The iron, in this part of the country, is held in high estima- 
tion.  Itsells for one dollar in the hundred. more than the 
best Swedish iron. Its superiority arises from its being 
tougher, and more malleable than most other iron. It plates 
with facility, into shovels, which are pronounced to be equal 
to the best English shovels. Mr. Fuller has recently erect- 
ed an‘establishment for the manufacture of shovels, a few 
rods from his forge. 
In Brandon village, a large and commodious furnace hag 
lately been built, by Mr. John Conant, where this ore is 
manufactured into cast iron. ‘The works have been in op- 
eration a short time only, but should they perform as much 
labour, monthly, through the year, as they have done since 
their erection, the whole quantity of cast iron annually made 
will amount co upwards of one hundred tons. I have sel- 
dom sren castings, which were so perfect. Conant’s and 
