2 IS THE MINERAL RESOURCES OE CECIL COUJSTY 



Bascom. 1 The dikes which have been opened for feldspar cut the 

 serpentine, norites, and gabbro and occur along Octoraro Creek and in 

 the vicinity of Rock Springs On Octoraro Creek, between the paper- 

 mill at the fork in the road and the State line there are three such 

 dikes. The pegmatite is quarried on the west side of the creek, 

 about one and a half miles east from Rock Springs, on the Taylor 

 farm and is said to have yielded some 10,000 tons of " spar," which 

 was shipped to Trenton, ~New Jersey, and Liverpool, Ohio, for use 

 in the pottery works. At present these quarries are idle. 



The only active quarry now in operation is situated a short dis- 

 tance east of Rock Springs near the old Tweed and Riley quarries 

 which were abandoned three or four years ago. The present small 

 opening showed a fair body of clean " spar " which was uncovered in 

 1901. The small amount of feldspar quarried is hauled to Cono- 

 wingo and shipped to Trenton. 



There are numerous small abandoned openings in the region of 

 Goat Hill and near Sylrnar. These deposits are generally just north 

 of the State line in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Since the feld- 

 spar here is in smaller bodies and is less disintegrated than in the 

 Brandywine area they cannot be worked as cheaply and hence can- 

 not compete successfully with the latter deposits. 



Iron Ore. 



The presence of iron ore of greater or less richness was early recog- 

 nized in the area about the Chesapeake Bay, for it is recorded that 

 as early as 1608 Captain John Smith had sent two barrels of iron- 

 ore specimens back to England for examination. It is quite possible 

 that some of these specimens came from Cecil county, although this 

 fact cannot be proven. It was not, however, until nearly a hundred 

 years later that the iron-ore was worked in any degree. By 1701 

 when the Welsh tract, including Iron Hill and the area about Elkton, 

 was granted it had been recognized that there existed deposits of 

 some possible value as iron ore and somewhat later the Welsh opened 

 small shafts in what is now known to be a silicious iron ore, for ac- 



!pp. 101-103. 



