618 CENTRAL MINERAL REGION OF TEXAS. 



the percentage is very high, it will be important to separate it in the mining, 

 a matter of very little difficulty in any of the openings which I have ex- 

 amined. 



Analyses Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of Table III show the quality of ore which can 

 be mined in great quantity at very moderate cost in the Iron Mountain tract. 



The Wakefield Tract. — Quoting from the last Report (p. 351): 



In the course of the Iron Mountain belt prolonged southeastward there are other expos- 

 ures of the magnetite, but erosion has apparently not extended far enough in parts of the 

 line to uncover the ore, while in other places the detrital deposits have obscured the con- 

 tinuation, if it exists, as the writer believes. About three miles south of Llano City consid- 

 erable prospecting has been done in this and parallel belts. For want of a better name this 

 will be referred to as the Wakefield tract, although the work done by Mr. Wakefield in the 

 region is by no means limited to this area. Here the magnetites and associated rocks and 

 ores of the Fernandian type have been again brought to view in a position adapted to min- 

 ing, and the situation is very similar to what has been noted concerning the Iron Mountain 

 outcrop. The ore, especially 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. 



There has been no important change in developments within the past year 

 in this locality. The continuation of the band across intervening country 

 between Iron Mountain and the Riley Mountains has been confirmed by 

 abundant observations. The great thickness of the deposit, its convenient 

 exposure for working, and the high quality of the ore all alike give it a pres- 

 tige which has not been attained as yet by any other openings, except those 

 in the same band. This and its continuations, with the neighboring bands, 

 may be said to constitute the foundation of the iron industry which must ere 

 long be based upon the output of this region. 



The Click Ore Field. — The extensive sedimentary deposits of the Riley 

 Mountains have deeply buried the extension of the Iron Mountain band south- 

 eastward, but it becomes again apparent in the denuded area adjacent to Click 

 Postoffice. Some very good ore has been taken from the surface in this re- 

 gion, and there is hardly a doubt that important supplies of the kind exist at 

 reasonable depths, for the geological conditions are in all respects identical 

 with those which hold in other parts of the Iron Mountain band. The seg- 

 regated ores are also very abundant and rich in the Cambrian sandstones 

 where this ore band disappears beneath the Riley Mountains. 



THE OXFORD BAND. 



Under the head of the Western Belt I remarked in the last Report: 



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

 over a greater breadth in the northwest, the Fernandian Beds appear occasionally, and in 



