GILPIN IRON ORES IN PICTOU COUNTY. 145 



The outcrop is extensive ; the best beds are two in number, and 

 twelve feet each in thickness. 



Moulding Sand. This adjunct to iron smelting is very abund- 

 ant on the East River and its tributaries. The best known deposit 

 is near the mouth of McLellan's Brook, and has supplied the local 

 foundries for many years. 



Manganese. The presence of the oxides of this metal were 

 detected by me when examining the property of the Albion Mines 

 Company, already referred to. No attempts have yet been made 

 to see if the quantity be of economic importance. The age of the 

 strata, Lower Carboniferous limestone shale, in which it occurs on 

 the East River, is the same as that in which it is found on the 

 shore of the Basin of Minas. It is stated by some to have a bene- 

 ficial effect on certain ores during the process of smelting, and in 

 this connection its presence among the iron ores is of importance. 



Large and characteristic samples of all the minerals noticed 

 above have been collected for the Philadelphia Exhibition ; and it 

 is to be hoped that when they are exhibited together, a favourable 

 opinion will be formed of the district. 



I have now briefly given you a list of the ores of the only dis- 

 trict in Pictou County that has had its metalliferous wealth tested 

 to any extent. 



It may appear strange that in these notes reference is so fre- 

 quently made to the Pictou Coal and Iron Company, and that the 

 greater number of the specimens of iron ores come from their pro- 

 perties. The reason is that they are the only people who have 

 practically looked into and prospected the ore district, and certainly 

 their investigations have disclosed deposits better suited for the 

 metallurgist's art, than any yet discovered in the Province ; and as 

 their operations will materially aid all the interests of the County, 

 it is to be hoped that their own advantage will be commensurate 

 with the importance of the undertaking. 



Specimens of iron ore have been brought to me from every part 

 of the County, and the evidence of such wide spread deposits of 

 iron ore exhibiting every variety and condition of formation that 

 characterize the more valuable combinations of iron, sanctions the 



