ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. 
253 
Several miles further, in a northwesterly course, — 7 miles southwest of 
Newton, there is a series of ore deposits, known as the Forney Ore 
Bank, whose mineralogical character and geological relations are entirety 
different from those of the ore-beds of Lincoln county. They occur in 
the syenytic belt which will be noted on the map, as lying in a narrow' 
zone of 3 to 5 miles, parallel to the slate belt, across these counties, from 
the great bend of the Cataw'ba River nearly to S. C. The ore is a re- 
markabl , pure magnetite, heavy, black, metallic and non granular, for the 
most part. It occurs in irregular masses, — -vockets, which seem to be 
scattered very disorderly through the massive syenytic rock. So that the 
proper way to seek for it is by the miner’s compass. The iron manufac- 
tured from it in the forges of the neighborhood, particularly at Williams’, 
was in much request before and during the war, being very malleable, 
tough and strong. All the blooms which could be procured at the naval 
works in Charlotte during the war were used for the manufacture of 
shafts for ironclads and bolts for the cannon of the coast forts. At a point 
0 or 7 miles northeasterly from this, is the Barringer Ore Bank, which is 
some two miles southeast from Newton. This ore is of the same charac- 
ter and geological relationships as the last. Some of the ore is mere granu- 
lar and it is occasionally disseminated in grains in a light colored, granitic 
gangue. Several thousand tons of ore were mined here during the war. 
The openings which extend in a double line about 100 yards, did not 
penetrate more than 15 to 20 feet ; so that no proper development of the 
deposit has been made. The vein is apparently nearly vertical, but it 
w T as not sufficiently exposed at any point, on account of the filling up of 
the pits, to give an opportunity for measurements of size or dip. But the 
ore is of the best quality ; and the distance from railroad is only about 2 
miles. There is also another deposit in Lincoln county which does not 
belong to the series of beds above described. It lies about two miles 
east of Lincolnton on the plank road, and is traceable some hundreds of 
yards through the forests by the surface fragments, wdiich are widely 
scattered. The ore is limonite. No exposures of the deposit have ever 
been made, but the quantity must be considerable. Magnetic ore, no 
doubt belonging to the regular ranges of ore-beds, is found at other points 
in this county, notably on Major Graham’s place, 4 or 5 miles north of 
the railroad, but no mining lias been done here. 
The low r er part of the great iron range under consideration is mostly 
found in the southern half of Gaston, as the upper was mainly limited to 
the northern part of Lincoln. The ore-beds which have been opened 
and wrought are all found south of the South Fork of Catawba, and of 
its principal tributary, Long Creek, in the neighborhood of King’s Muun- 
31 
