HONEYMAN — ON THE L01nT)0NDERRY IRON MINES. 113 



A suite of specimens, forwarded for the Paris Exhibition 

 •consist of: — 



Pig iron, 

 Charcoal iron, 

 Puddled steel, 

 Cast steel, 

 Which satisfactorily illustrate the variety and completeness of 

 production of the Acadian iron works. I have no doubt that they 

 will confirm in Paris the character that has been gained in the 

 Exhibitions of London 1851-1862, and Dublin, 1865. 



The brown hematite is now the only ore available for the 

 production of iron, the specular ore, already referred to, having 

 been apparently exhausted. The supply of ore, however, has 

 not been affected by the failure of the specular ore, as another 

 great bed of hematite has been discovered of dimensions nearly 

 equal to the bed already referred to. These two beds are now 

 distinguished respectively as the north and south. The strike of 

 the beds is east and west, their dip is 80° south. At Martin 

 brook, they appear about thirty feet apart. The maximum 

 thickness of each of the beds is twenty feet, and the average of 

 the north is five feet and of the south four. Very often the 

 beds are interrupted and disappear. The unequal thickuesg of 

 the deposit and interruptions are marked by the inequality of 

 excavation at Martin brook. Their length has been ascertained 

 as at least twelve miles. 



In the vicinity of Martin brook, where the hematite has been 

 chiefly extracted, the course of the beds was found to be west by 

 south. The cause of this deviation was a subject of conjecture. 

 A level was driven obliquely to the strike for drainage in the 

 meantime, and ultimately for the extraction of the ore. When 

 this level reached the hematite beds at about one hundred feet 

 below the surface, it was found that a great slip had occurred, 

 that the beds had been cut off, that during the process a stratum 

 of clay had been formed between the upper and lower part, the 

 inclination of this stratum being about 20° south-west. This- 

 interesting revelation explains the mystery of the deviatior 

 already referred to, and at the same time shews that the deposits 

 extend downward to the extent indicated by the level. As thr 

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