32 Report on the projected Survey of the State of Maryland. 



mineral riches will be brought into operation. Far removed from 

 any convenient outlet, the mineral for fuel cannot come into compe- 

 tition with the coal from the more accessible districts ; and the em- 

 ployment of it for the purpose of coking, applied to the smelting of 

 iron, will not be required so long as our native forests supply in such 

 abundance the means of obtaining the charcoal, by use of which, 

 metal of a better quality is obtained. It is nevertheless advisable to 

 determine, at once, the extent and nature of this second coal forma- 

 tion, the greatest portion of which lies within our own limits ; and 

 the more so, on account of several of its accessories, whose impor- 

 tance has not been perhaps hitherto fully appreciated. 



One of these is the iron ore, with which it abounds. The occur- 

 rence of iron ore, associated with coal, has been considered the most 

 prolific source of commercial prosperity possessed by Great Britain. 

 Her political economists have long been accustomed to ascribe the 

 extent of her manufactures to the abundance and cheapness of both 

 these substances ; by which are furnished, not only fuel for working 

 the steam engines which put into operation their machinery, but the 

 material, also, for the construction of this machinery. The time 

 will come when a similar ascription shall apply to the United States, 

 and when the western county of Maryland shall be looked upon as 

 the Wales of North America. 



On the Yohogany, the iron ore exists of the best quality and in 

 the greatest abundance. It is of the variety described by mineralo- 

 gists under the specific head of argillaceous oxide of iron. The fol- 

 lowing extracts taken from notes made on the spot, will give an idea 

 of the circumstances under which it is found to eccur. 



" 1st. Iron ore bank, on the western shore of the Yohogany. — 

 Argillaceous iron ore lying under sandstone ; above which, at an 

 elevation of about thirty feet, there is a bed of coal three feet thick, 

 overlaid by a stratum of slate ten feet thick ; and above this again, a 

 deposite of clay, with nodules of iron ore. The coal in the upper 

 part of this bed is much mixed with shale, and this with iron py- 

 rites. 



" 2d. JVodular argillaceous iron ore, at the mouth of Bear creek ; 

 occurring in a bed the depth of which has not been ascertained, and 

 lying under a mixed deposite of debris of clay slate and sandstone ; 

 the whole covered by a heavy superstratum of ferruginous sand, and 

 a deep vegetable soil. 



