CLINTON IRON ORE DEPOSIT. 



331 



owning the land. The deposit may he traced a mile and a quarter to 

 the northward from the furnace, where it is lost undec the hills that 

 rise in that direction. It has been found in a thin deposit, two milns 

 farther on to the west of north, in the town of Williamstown. It has 

 also been found a mile to the east of the furnace. Though it is diffi- 

 cult to give even an approximate estimate of the amount of ore here 

 deposited, it is at least safe to say that it is to be reckoned by millions 

 of tons, and, though not absolutely inexhaustible, is at least adequate 

 to all anticipated wants for a long period to come. 



Both open and underground mining have been made use of, but 

 the former method has been found the most economical. 



The position of the ore, outcropping along the face of a terrace, at a 

 convenient elevation, rendering drainage, " stripping," loading into 

 cars, or the furnace, convenient, the soft character of the ore, its hor- 

 izontal bedding of medium thickness, the ease with which it may be 

 bored and blasted, its situation in a rich agricultural and heavily tini- 

 bered region, and its railway connections, combine to render this lo- 

 cality unsurpassed in the advantages it presents for mining, reducing 

 and shipping the ore. 



The following table of analyses shows the chemical nature^ of the 



ore: 



In his report. Dr. Jackson says, that the lime and magnesia are 

 combined with the silica and not with carbonic acid, so that the above 



