appendix—Geological Survey. 
4 75 
of this deposit since it was first discovered, according to figures furnished me 
by the very gentlemanly proprietor, John F. Smith, Esq., twenty-seven 
thousand tons. The extent of this deposit we have no means of knowing at 
present. The prospects, however, for continuance are as good, if not better, 
to-day, than at any other period since it has been opened. 
This deposit of ore in a new country, undeveloped and comparatively un¬ 
explored, commends itself to every thinking man as one of great importance, 
especially so since there are indications of similar deposits scattered over such 
a large tract of country; and the fact that we are to look to this deposit as a 
type of the deposits of this region, is sufficient reason why we should 
scrutinize every feature of its phenomena. 
In this deposit, we have the fact of an extensive deposit of ore, not by infer¬ 
ence, but presented as an object of vision, a tangible object, one that the most 
ignorant can understand. But to fornl any idea of its nature, and extent, it is 
absolutely necessary to get some idea of the physical conditions with which 
it stood connected in its origin. And without turning aside to deal with the 
abstract laws* and principles that underlie this deposit as its cause, I would 
ask the privilege of departing slightly from a strictly practical view, in order 
to notice in detail the features it presents. 
I have stated that this deposit was discovered in a protuberance, or a swell¬ 
ing out in the side of a large sandstone bluff, the prolongation of which is in 
a north and south direction. The direction of the ore bed appears to be east 
and west, and in its eastern extension just entering the west side of the bluff. 
The bluff above the deposit rises gently, is covered with soil, and vegetation, 
and is on the top fifty feet, more or less, above the present surface of the 
deposit. The top of the bluff spreads out into a plateau, with pieces of 
magnesian lime stone protruding through the soil in places. 
I have stated, also, that this deposit is overlaid with a stratum of clay and 
earth, and mingled fragments of ore, which is an indisputable evidence that 
the upper portion of the deposit has been removed by denudation and mixed 
with this surface accumulation, and consequently the original surface of the 
deposit must have been several feet higher than the present, and some dis¬ 
tance farther back into the bluff. Whether the overlaying stratum will con¬ 
tinue to cover this deposit much farther back into the bluff, or whether the 
bed of ore will be capped with rock before it reaches the top of the bluff, or 
whether, like some of the extensive deposits of ore in the lead district, it will 
pitch at an acute angle into the bluff, remains yet to be proved. 
From what we can see of this deposit, we may infer safely that it is not a 
vein, in the sense in which we use that word in connection with ore deposits 
generally; nor can it be called a bed of ore running between two dissimilar 
beds of rock, as is sometimes the case. But it seems to occupy an extensive 
cavity in the strata, or rather what would look like the breaking up and par¬ 
tial removal of prior formed rocks, and the ore subsequently deposited in 
their place. For, in the midst of this extensive deposit of ore, we find large 
detached pieces of sand rock of the same character of the rocks on the sides, 
and in fact, below the deposit, along the sides of the bluff, are found large 
