352 CENTRAL MINERAL REGION OF TEXAS. 



associated rocks and ores of the Fernandan type have been again brought to 

 view in a position adapted to mining, and the situation is very similar to 

 what has been noted concerning the Iron Mountain outcrop. The ore, espe- 

 cially from shaft No. 1, is almost identical with the Iron Mountain product, 

 and there is little to be said of one locality in this preliminary Report which 

 will not apply with equal force to the other, excepting that the topography of 

 the two areas is not the same in detail. 



D. THE WESTERN BELT. 



West of the Riley Mountains, between that range and the Enchanted Rock, 

 and perhaps over a greater breadth in the northwest, the Fernandan Beds 

 appear occasionally, and in wide exposures in some areas. The outcrops of 

 the magnetite are less understood in this belt, because the country is fenced in 

 and not easy to investigate. It is also a tract which has many complications, 

 and one which had to be neglected in part last season for lack of time to 

 work it properly. Still the belt was crossed by us with section lines in four 

 places, and several special reconnoissances were made in other parts; so that 

 a generally correct idea has been obtained of the economic situation. The 

 indications are good for the discovery of important masses of iron ore in the 

 district, but at present I am unable to clearly define the position of the mag- 

 netite except by analogy with the outcrops of the other belts. Much of this 

 tract is covered by thick deposits of the later sediments (Cambrian, etc.), and 

 granitic irruptions and other complications have made a rather puzzling struc- 

 ture. But there are two or three parallel lines trending northwest across the 

 area in which the hematites are well developed, from which I judge that the 

 magnetites are not very far to seek in certain outcrops. 



E. GILLESPIE COUNTY MAGNETITES. 



The writer has done practically no work as yet in Gillespie County beyond 

 a rapid reconnoissance, which he is not willing to consider more than an in- 

 troduction to a knowledge of the geology of that area. But he knows that 

 magnetite of excellent quality occurs there in some quantity, in positions which 

 indicate extensions of the mineral belts of Llano County southeastward. In 

 Table II, No. 6, the analysis is given of a fine granular lodestone, having very 

 much the appearance of the Iron Mountain hematite streaks. This is the 

 best iron ore yet discovered in the region. It was collected by Mr. G. Jermy, 

 Assistant Geologist. 



Table No. II gives results of analyses of magnetites in this district with all 

 necessary details. A perusal of this list (in which only typical ores occurring 

 in quantity are given) will make apparent the richness and purity of this class 

 of iron ore. These are first class bessemer ores, and they must eventually 



