Lesley.] 40 [jan 2 and Feb. 6, 



bottom of the vale, and west and southwest along the hill-slopes and hill- 

 top, a unirersal surface deposit of wash-ore. In this area are numerous 

 old shafts, pits, and open- cuts, and some new shafts sunk this summer 

 and fall. The old works were always abandoned on striking water at 

 various depths down to 80 feet, and are now filled up, and no recoi'ds 

 preserved. Much ore was certainly mined from them. 



The new shafts show that from 8 to 15 feet of wash-ore in clay under- 

 lies the surface at the depth of a few feet, and that under the yellow and 

 white clays there lie separate deposits of ore-lumps, the geographical in- 

 tervals being baiTen. There seems to be no regularity of the ore layers. 



The old shaft at Station 48 is said to have passed through twelve feet 

 of surface wash, then (ore-bearing?) clays to a depth of 80 feet, into 

 lump-ore, which was mined for several feet, and left in the bottom when 

 water stopped the works. The new shaft, only ten yards southwest of 

 the old shaft, is down 80 feet, and found no ore in the clays. The ore 

 got seems rich and rounded, as if water-worn. 



It may be safe to give twelve feet of wash-ore to the whole area, under 

 which are hard ores, yielding sometimes richly and sometimes nothing. 



The surface ore extends 850 yards along the top of the hill. Most of 

 the pits were shallow, but one at Station 59 is said to have been 115 feet 

 deep through wash- and lump-ore, with ore left in the bottom. 



The general appearance of the deposit is the same as at the Dry Hollow 

 and Wrye Banks.* No regularly interstratified ore is noticeable. No 

 estimate of quantity can be relied on. Taking only the area of heavy 

 surface show, and calling it 850 X 300 yards, and the depth twelve feet, 

 we have 1,020,000 cubic yards of seemingly good wash stuff, which, at 3 

 cubic yards to the ton, gives 340,000 tons. 



To this must be added the very uncertain quantities here and there 

 scattered through the under clays. As these have been sometimes locally 

 considerable, it is possible that one or two or even three hundred thou- 

 sand may thus be obtained. As the principal part of the lump-ore is 

 evidently at the bottom of the clays, no knowledge of the quantity can 

 be got until systematic mining reveals the truth. 



Wash-ore ground here must be considei'ed as the main reliance for the 

 present. Washing here is easy ; abundance of water is struck at 50 or 60 

 feet, and there is plenty of room for settling dams. The railroad line, 

 adopted for a branch to the main railroad, rises one mile on a 92 feet 

 gradient, and descends one mile on a 46 feet gradient. 



The ore has a much more extensive range than that above described, 

 for Mr. Fisher has opened three small pits on ore just beyond the north- 

 eastern property line ; and the Beck Banks show that it passes south- 

 westward into the adjoining propei'ties in that direction also. 



An analysis of Lovetown ore, from the large pit at Station 49, fig. 20, 

 made at my instance by Mr. Persifor Frazer, Jr., Professor of Chemistry in 

 the University of Pennsylvania, shows a percentage of phosphorus low 



* Hereafter to be described. 



