50 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



as the bed generally carries, but considerably better than m 

 section 16. 



In the N. W. of the S. W. of Sect. 20, same Tp., another 

 opening had been made on the third bed, now almost at the 

 top of the mountain. The soft ore bench had been replaced 

 with hard limy ore, the same as the lower bench. The bed 

 showed a face of four feet, with a parting of yellow shale 

 and irony clay 17 inches thick in the middle solid ore 31 

 inches. Ore dark steel gray, limy and crystalline. From 

 analysis of similar ores, it is judged to run from 15 to 25 per 

 cent, of metallic iron. This ore could not be profitably 

 smelted alone, but mixed with soft ore, for which it would 

 furnish the necessary flux, would be economical to the extent 

 of the cost of the flux at least. 



About 200 yards west of the last opening, and beyond the 

 top of the mountain on the same tract of land, an opening 

 was made on the second bed. This showed a face of 30 

 inches of solid, good, fossiliferous ore. This is an unusual 

 thickness for this bed ; it rarely exceeds two feet, and is 

 generally less. This bed usually carries the best ore, gen- 

 erally assaying about 50 per cent, of metallic iron, and hold- 

 ing less than one-third of one per cent, of phosphorus. At 

 this place the average of the bed was judged to carry 48 per 

 cent, of iron. The practiced eye can judge very closely of 

 the amount of metallic iron a specimen contains, but the 

 phosphorous cannot be seen. It is always present in iron 

 and its ores, but the amount of it can only be determined by 

 chemical analysis. 



At this place the Trenton limestone is pushed up very 

 high in its upward curve, and the upper part of the Clinton 

 is denuded' back, and therefore crops out on the N. W. slope 

 of the mountain. A short distance to the S. W. these mem- 

 bers assume their normal position, and the whole thickness 

 of the Clinton, at least to the first iron bed, is exposed on 

 the S. E. side. 



In the S. W. of the S. W. of Sect. 20, same Tp., some par- 

 tial openings had been made on beds 1, 2 and 3. Each of 



