144 GILPIN IRON ORES IN PICTOU COUNTY. 



Fire Stone. Some of the metamoi-phosed Upper Silurian clay 

 slates near the East River, have been used to some extent as fur- 

 nace linings to boilers, cupolas, etc. and are found very satisfactory. 

 Their cleavage is at right angles to the bedding, and the stones can 

 be laid as evenly as brick work. These slates are of great thickness 

 and can be cheaply quarried. 



Fireclay. There are three geological horizons in Pictou county 



which yield this material : the Upper Coal Measures, the Middle or 



Productive Coal Measures, and the Lower Carboniferous. On the 



shores of Merigomish harbour, beds of fireclay are frequently found 



in the Upper Coal Measures. One of these beds, seven feet thick 



and overlaid by fifteen inches of coal, has been partially tested with 



success, and is free from pyrites and calcareous matter, and resists 



heat well. Several attempts on a rude scale have been made to 



manufacture fire brick from the Coal Measures clays ; but owing 



to a want of proper system, they have not been successful. The 



supply is unlimited and cheaply extracted, and in many cases the 



clay is very free from deleterious ingredients. The following is a 



partial analysis of a fireclay from the Pictou Coal Measures : 



Silica, 58.00 



Alumina, 32.00 



Iron oxide, 4.00 



Lime, 1.00 



There has as yet been no trial made of the Lower Carboniferous 

 fireclays ; two samples that have come under my notice, contain 

 considerable quantities of calcareous matter, others again appear to 

 be of good quality. Enough however has been done to show that 

 the Pictou fireclays are valuable ; the quantity of the material, and 

 the cheapness of fuel, make it matter of surprise that no attempts 

 have been made to manufacture an article that we are content to 

 import at a heavy cost. 



Gypsum. This mineral crops at several places through the 

 county, but owing to the distance from shipment, in the presence 

 of the large deposits in Cape Breton and on the Bay of Fundy, it is 

 not probable that it will prove of much value. A very fine class of 

 this mineral has been worked for local use, at Irish Mountain. 



