appendix—geological survey. 
473 
One of the most interesting, and certainly the most important, feature of 
this belt, is where it intersects this north and south axis, or anticlinal. It af¬ 
fords strong indications of iron ore, and that, too, in extensive deposits. 
These indications commence a little to the west of Baraboo, continue through 
the western part of Sauk county, the upper portion of Richland, and into 
the eastern part of Vernon, and are as follows: In some places, the clay rest¬ 
ing on the rock is highly colored with the oxide of iron, and in many places 
contains good specimens of the ore. A miner from the lead district would 
call it a very good prospect for a range of mineral (as they call it there), in¬ 
asmuch as it resembles closely the deposits of clay found there over or in 
connection with the mineral deposits. In other places the sandstone is highly 
impregnated with iron, sometimes in the form of a red powder, at others in 
that of a lean, sandy ore. While in other places, in fact more or less over 
the whole district, specimens of good iron ore may be found on the surface, or 
washed out by the rains along the sides of the hills. There are a great many 
places where a man can gather up a ton of good ore in a day, and if he goes 
to work and digs out what is exposed in the soil and surface accumulations, 
he may get twice that amount. 
On one occasion, I visited one of those places near Reedstown, with Senator 
Wilson of Viroqua. We took spade and pick with us for the purpose of 
somewhat testing the outcropping of the ore. We dug three small pits, a few 
feet from each other, up the side of a hill, and found good specimens of the 
ore mixed with the soil and underlying clay and spreading every way from 
where we dug. In a little over two hours, the time we were working there, we 
dug out of these three pits not much short of a thousand pounds of very 
good ore. It is no more than right to say here, that Mr. Claywater, a very 
enterprising man who accompanied us, did his full share of the digging. I 
refer to this place as a sample of those innumerable places, or outcroppings 
of iron ore along this belt. I visited several similar places in Richland 
county, some of them not far from Richland Centre; the latter I visited in 
company with Mr. A. C. Eastland, Mr. Chandler and Dr. Burnham. A few 
days ago I received the following from Dr. Burnham: “ Since you were here, 
I have discovered a place where the ore crops out much lower on the bluff, 
and where it appears to be in place , which I think to be of importance.” 
The specimens of ore that I have sent to our cabinet, will confirm these state¬ 
ments. 
The region over which these indications are found is in all probability a 
new mineral district. It resembles very much, in its external character and 
surface indications, the lead district before mining commenced there; with 
this difference; the “ float ” iron ore in this district is vastly more abundant 
than the “float” lead ore was there. The large deposits of lead ore there, 
were not at first exposed to the gaze of the explorer, but were hid beneath a 
covering of rock or surface accumulations. Their “float,” however, was 
often scattered away down the valley or hill-sides, for hundreds of feet, and 
it was by carefully following the float, that the original deposit was found; 
and I have no doubt, before one-half of the amount of money and time 
