1857.] ANSTED MINERAL VEINS. 243 



talcose and chloritic bands and steatite, and micaceous slate. In the 

 hard schist with magnesian rocks are occasional bands of hard grit- 

 stone, and here also occur the mineral veins, the outcrop of which is 

 parallel to the stratification, and which not unfrequently project above 

 the general level of the country, owing either to the hardness of the 

 veinstone being greater than that of the enclosing rocks, or to the 

 latter decomposing more readily than the former. 



The diagram, fig. 1, p. 244, is an eye-sketch of the surface, showing 

 the relative position of the lodes and the various rocks. The veins are 

 nearly vertical ; but the one best known {a a) appears to dip slightly 

 to the W. or W.N.W., as indicated in the transverse section, fig. 2. 



This vein, which is of some importance, and which may here be 

 called the Springfield lode, crops out as a projecting ridge several 

 feet wide, composed of hard ferruginous quartz, with very numerous 

 disseminated crystals of magnetic iron-ore. At Mr. Tyson's mine 

 (see plan, fig. 1), a string of this ore was found, varying in thickness 

 from 10 inches to as much as 10 feet, going down towards the south 

 in a kind of irregular pipe, always on the course of the lode, as shown 

 in the diagram, fig. 3. A shaft being put down about 10 fathoms, 

 considerable supplies of iron-ore of excellent quality were raised, 

 consisting of protoxide and peroxide of iron in crystals. On con- 

 tinuing the shaft downwards a change took place ; the course of ore 

 and the condition of the veinstone presented an altered character, 

 and the fine pure and crystalline oxide of iron became spotted and 

 mixed with iron-pyrites, while horses of dead ground split the vein 

 and altered its character. On the upper side of these horses also, 

 considerable deposits of copper-pyrites were found, and I saw about 

 80 tons of such ore on the dressing-floor of Mr. Tyson's mine, esti- 

 mated to yield 14 to 18 per cent. The depth of the shaft at the 

 date of my visit was 50 fathoms, and no troublesome quantity of 

 water had been met with. In the bottoms the lode was described 

 as consisting of a good course of copper-pyrites on the foot-wall, 

 associated with magnetic iron-ore, some silicate and carbonate of 

 copper, and some mundic ; the copper-pyrites being readily separable 

 by hand-picking. The lode had not become settled, and the ore still 

 occurred chiefly on the fork of the horses of dead ground, and in a 

 comparatively narrow belt going down south on the vein. 



The same band of quartzose rock in schist that contains the course 

 or pipe of ore worked in the Springfield mine is again seen at the 

 surface, and has been sunk upon in an adjoining property to the north. 

 Two other similar bands parallel to it and at a distance of only a few 

 fathoms are characterized by the same peculiar kind of gossan, and 

 others have been observed between this tract of country and the 

 mountains of the Blue Ridge. In all these cases the outcropping 

 veins are harder and less decomposed than the intervening country, 

 while parallel quartz-ledges alternating with bands of talcose schist 

 are common. 



At Carrol Mine, about two miles north of the Springfield Mine 

 above described, mining operations have been carried on to some ex- 

 tent on what is probably a continuation of the same lode. Shafts 



