10 MINERAL RESOURCES OF ALABAMA. 



In pig iron production Alabam'a ranks fourth among the 

 states of the Union. This high rank, which will probably 

 soon be exceeded, is due in great measure to the close prox- 

 imity of the ore, the stone, and the coal needed for the produc- 

 tion of the iron. At many points in the Birmingham District 

 these three essentials are obtained within a radius of six miles 

 cf the furnaces. 



(i.) RED ORE, OR HEMATITE: While Hematite occurs 

 in Alabama in several geological formations, it is only in the 

 Upper Silurian that it is in sufficient quantity to be of great 

 commercial value. This, the Red Mountain, or Clinton ore, 

 is otherwise known as Dyestone ore, Fossiliferous ore, Oolitic 

 ore, etc. It is the most important iron ore in the state because 

 of its great quantity, the low cost with which it may be mined, 

 its . reliability, and its close proximity to the coal and stone 

 used in the manufacture of iron. The output of red ore for 

 1902 was 2,565,635 long tons, making about 72 per cent, of the 

 iron ore product of the state. 



The Red Mountain ridges occur normally on each side of 

 the anticlinal valleys which separate the Coal areas from each 

 other, and are distinguished as East Red Mountain and West 

 Red Mountain. In places the red ore ridges are lacking on one 

 side of the valleys, usually the western side, being cut out by 

 faults, while on the other hand the ridge may be duplicated on 

 one side by the same cause. This formation occurs also in the 

 much disturbed strata east of the Coosa Coal Field, in ridges 

 of sandstone and conglomerate which carry no red ore. 



In most of the valley occurrences, the moderate dips of the 

 strata are on the eastern side, and the steep dips and faults 

 are on the western side. Murphree's Valley makes an excep- 

 tion to this, the faults and vertical measures being on the 

 eastern side. It is usually the case also that the ore bed shows 

 the highest angle of dip at the outcrop, and that the dip rap- 

 idly decreases as the bed is penetrated. 



The iron occurs mainly in the central part of the formation, 

 in seams or beds, one to five in number, which vary in thick- 

 ness from a few inches to thirty feet. 



While the ore seams are very persistent along the outcrop, 

 which in Alabama must be as much as 50 miles, yet they vary 

 greatly from place to place, being either too thin or too lean 

 for profitable working in by far the greater part of this dis- 

 tance. 



