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county indications of this deposite have been distinctly traced 

 throughout a line of seven miles, and the proprietors of the furnace 

 at New Canton have assured themselves of its continuity for two 

 miles. West of the principal vein is another at the distance of 

 100 yards: a vein of friable slate dipping east occupying the inter- 

 val. In the first or principal bed a continuous mass of ore has been 

 uncovered, whose length is about GO feet, and average breadth 15. 

 As yet no certain opinion exists as to the depth to which it r iches 

 below the surface. This ore is generally embedded in a brownish- 

 yellow ferruginous clay, and fragments lie scattered over the sur- 

 face in the neighbourhood of the bed. Through a long but narrow 

 belt in Louisa, Fluvanna and Buckingham, and in fact throughout 

 the whole length of the gold region, so called, these surface indica- 

 tions may be traced. The ore is a hematite, in irregular masses, 

 sometimes cellular and frequently mammillary. The cells often con- 

 tain acicular white crystals of great lustre. The colour of the ore 

 varies from a yellowish to a blackish-brown. Its hardness in differ- 

 ent localities also differs, and in the immense mass above described, 

 is such as to render blasting necessary. There is some difference 

 as to the proportion of oxide of iron contained in the ore from 

 the two veins near New Canton, and a mixture of both varieties of 

 ore has been advantageously used in the furnace now in successful 

 operation. As early as the revolutionary war iron was manufactured 

 from the Buckingham ore, but until recently this valuable resource 

 has been almost entirely neglected. The limestone on the western 

 edge of the county furnishes the flux employed in the smelting of 

 this ore, which, under the superintendence of Mr. Dean of New 

 Canton, is now conducted on a scale of such extent as to give a 

 weekly product of between 30 and 40 tons of pig metal, much of 

 which is of a superior quality. Ore of precisely the same descrip- 

 tion is found likewise in the gold region above Fredericksburg, and 

 as in the present instance, in the vicinity of the garnet slate. From 

 the curious association of this ore with the auriferous rocks, it might 

 be expected that in the operations of the furnace a portion of the 

 precious metal would occasionally appear, and accordingly it has 

 been discovered in fine specks in the cinder of the Buckingham 

 works. Magnetic iron ore of a very valuable quality occurs at 

 the base of Willis' mountain in Buckingham, and is found at seve- 

 ral other places in corresponding positions. 



