Lesley.] t)b [Jan. 2 and Feb. 6, 



in the Banks opened along the more northerly and geologically lower 

 outcrops of the "Barrens" in this valley. It has been the uniform ex- 

 perience at the Pennsylvania, Hostler, and other Pipe ore banks that 

 shafts and borings have always passed through lump-ore, after having 

 been sunk or drilled below water level. But as pumping apparatus on a 

 sufficient scale has never been applied to such deep shafts and borings, they 

 have in no case passed through the dejoosit of lump ore, the thickness of 

 which i- therefore still a matter of conjecture. 



I give the history of these operations as an evidence of the insufficient 

 extent to which the development of this iron-ore district has been car- 

 ried; to show that only its surface has been scratched, but its deposits 

 not mined. Regular, systematic, efficient operations are yet to be begun. 

 They await the completion of the railroad and that demand for large 

 quantities of ore from distant furnaces which is already become so urgent. 

 The underground drainage all through the Valley is immense, and the 

 largest bodies of ore, and especially of pipe-ore, can only be won witk 

 heavy pumping and systematic stoping. 



The Hostler open-cut Bank must be sunk in air to the lower ores, and 

 through them to the bottom floor of all ; then with powerful pumps to 

 keep the water down, the clay stripping above can be washed, and the 

 heavy face of ore below can be stoped and the top stuff thrown back into 



■ the abandoned ground as the ore-face advances. As Mr. Bocking justly 

 I'emarks, "35 feet of ore will well pay for stripping 65 to 75 feet" of 



• clays above it. He adds, and I agree with him heartily : " The time for 

 shallow digging and ground-hogging is pretty well past in these ban-ens, 

 and the exploration of the richer banks may require in future prepara- 

 tions that will take some capital, and may need in some cases two or 

 more years before yielding a return." 



The Hostler Bank excavations measure about 120 X 50 X 10 ^ 60,000 

 cubic yards. The ore lies like that to be described in Pennsylvania Fur- 

 nace Banks, as a mass of clay and v/ash-ore separated by ribs of un- 

 decomposed limestone. The walls are about 30 feet high, but the high 

 northwest dip of the measures prevents this figure from being used as a 

 datum of calculation. It only shows in a general way the depth below 

 •the sod to which the weathering action had gone, as exposed by the minei's. 

 IThe late sunk shafts passed alternate soft beds of ore and hard ribs of 

 ■limestone, all on a steep dip ; 38° to the N. 35° W. In a shaft at the 

 ' northwest end of the open cut one shaft went down through 75 feet of 

 wash-oi'fc ground before striking the solid limestone rocks and water. 



It is impossible from such data to estimate the future yield at this 

 locality, but the amount of ore to be won must be very great. Nor is it 

 confined to the neighborhood of the old works. The ore-belt runs on 

 southwestward for at least five miles. 



