OEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



19S 



buildings^ exist abundantly in most of the ore banks of 

 this range. Amongst this detritus no limestone frag- 

 ments occurj from which circumstance we infer that the 

 hydrates of iron were not derived from the destruction 

 of any calcareous formations. Iron ores are very irregu- 

 larly and unequally distributed in these alluvial clay beds, 

 and occur under a variety of forms and gradations ; from 

 an ordinary sandstone traversed by ferruginous veins, to 

 a pure hydrate of a stalactitical structure, as pipe ore, 

 or as a radiated and mammillated hsematite. The ore is 

 sometimes worked in open pits, and often in shafts of 

 from fifteen to twenty-five feet depth. 



In the Nittany valley, to the north of Bellefonte, are 

 numerous workings of these ores. Amongst the best and 

 most extensively worked of these ^<^ ore banks,'' as they 

 are provincially termed, is that of Gatesburg. This open 

 pit is about one hundred feet deep, and has yielded many 

 thousand tons of pipe ore, being, it is said, the most pro- 

 ductive in the state, with the exception of one near Har- 

 risburg. The disseminated ore is almost as abundant on 

 the surface as at the greatest depth to which the pit has 

 been excavated. The situation of this and some other 

 pits is upon a slightly elevated alluvial ridge, within the 

 principal longitudinal valley. This ore is remarkable 

 for being more easily melted than any other variety^, 

 yielding a high per centage of iron. The quality of the 

 metal is in high reputation, being excellent malleable 

 iron, adapted not so much for castings, as for bars, rods 

 and smith's work. Numerous establishments for its 

 manufacture exist in this vicinity. 



I had commenced this paper with the intention of 

 limiting myself to the notice of the coal of Broad Top 

 mountain, and had aiBixed that title at the head of this 

 article ; but I have been somewhat discursive, and it is 

 time to put a stop to my wanderings. 



