132 Ferruginous Deposits. 



rest of the bed forbids such an opinion, and it is probably the result 

 of the slow percolation of water, charged with the iron in solution 

 and deposited in the same manner as the calcareous stalactites, in 

 numerous caverns and grottoes in various parts of the earth. These 

 three are the main deposits of ore, and they are known to extend in 

 some directions to the distance of thirty or forty miles in continuous 

 beds. Farther up the Ohio, on Symras' creek and Raccoon creek, 

 considerable deposits of argillaceous kidney ores, are found, im- 

 bedded in a red or brown marl ■; but not in quantities sufficient to 

 warrant the erection of furnaces. In the vicinity of these beds the 

 soil on the hills is of a red color. 



Section qnd description of the Rock Strata in the Ferrugiiious 



Deposits. 



On the heads of Tyger's creek in Kentucky, rising in the same 

 region with the Little Sandy, there is a deposit of ore fifteen feet in 

 thickness, of a loose friable texture, having the appearance of a blue?' 

 ish, decomposing limestone. It affords a very soft iron of a good 

 quality for castings of stoves, and ware for domestic uses. In a dis- 

 trict of country embracing about twenty five miles square, taking 

 the Ohio river below the Sandy for the center, there are at present 

 in operation about thirty furnaces, making on an average, one thou- 

 sand tons of pigs per year, or thirty thousand tons for this district. 

 This amount can be annually enlarged to any quantity the country 

 may require. 



The following section and descriptions of strata, will give a con- 

 nected view of the formations in this region. It is taken at '^the 

 Junior Furnace," twelve miles below the " Hanging rock," and 

 Jwo miles from thp Ohio river. — Xjocality noted on the map. 



