IRON ORES: BROWN ORE. 15 



nearly always associated with "horses" oif clay often pure 

 white and plastic. It is also sometimes mixed with foreign 

 matters such as loose chert, and fragments of sandstone and 

 conglomerate. 



The deposits occur in nearly all the geological formations 

 of the state, but in most of these the ore is either insufficient 

 in quantity or not pure enough to be of much commercial 

 value. The most important of the deposits, in point of extent 

 and value, occur in the following formations, viz., the Knox 

 Dolomite and the Weisner Quartzite, the Lauderdale Chert 

 of the Lower Carboniferous, and the Lafayette. Some exten- 

 sive beds of ore of inferior quality generally, occur also on the 

 Tuscaloosa formation of the Cretaceous, and in the upper part 

 of the Lower Carboniferous and in the Metamorphic rocks. 



The Lafayette. This ore is widely distributed, but does not 

 occur in many places in sufficient quantity and of such quality 

 as to justify working. It is the principal ore of the northern 

 part of the state in the counties 'of Colbert, Franklin, Marion 

 and Lamar. 



Loose boulders scattered over the surface supplied the first 

 furnace in Alabama, which was built in 1818 on Cedar Creek 

 in Franklin county. A Catalan forge must also have been at 

 the same place for lumps of malleable, as well as of cast iron, 

 are to be found around the old furnace ruins. 



The furnaces of Sheffield and Florence use this ore with- 

 out admixture with other ore. Many of the deposits are on 

 high ground and are comparatively shallow, as shown by the 

 diggings extending down to the underlying bedded rocks. 

 Other deposits in lower situations are 50 and 60 feet and more 

 in depth. The ore is mostly a dark colored compact ore, but in 

 in some of the deposits it is of concretionary nature with red 

 and yellow ochres filling the cavities. It occurs in a red sandy 

 loam usually along with rounded pebbles of quartz and often 

 with ferruginous sandstone and conglomerate. This ore, while 

 occurring in the surface red loams of the Lafayette, probably 

 has its source in the Lower Carboniferous limestones and pos- 

 sibly also in part in the stratified seams at the base of the Coal 

 Measures. 



In the banks the ore often makes 25 to 30 per cent of the 

 entire mass. It is of good quality as is shown bv the following 

 average analysis of washed ore furnished to the Sloss-Shef- 



