492 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
enters it. Here I find on the east side of the river and beneath a heavy bed 
of sand, what may be called a micaceous-irony-clay, resulting no doubt from 
the decomposition of the mica slate. It contains a sufficient amount of iron 
to make a common paint, even in this clayed condition, and has been used 
for this purpose by Mr. S. A. Sherman, of that place. The clay is ot a light 
brown color, with a very fine texture, and but very little grit. When rubbed 
between the fingers, it has the greasy appearance and soft feeling of flax seed 
iron ore, (as this kind of ore is often called). I find that the color of this clay 
can be improved very much by exposure to he'at, and I think, that by washing 
and then heating it, a good ochre can be obtained. 
Before I close my report on this very interesting belt of country, extending 
from Black river, near the Falls, to the Wisconsin river near Grand Rapids, 
on which so many actual deposits as well as fine prospects of kaolin and iron 
ore are found, I will refer briefly to another deposit of iron ore, which, al¬ 
though not immediately connected with it, is nevertheless in some way re¬ 
lated to it. Since my examinations were made along this belt in the summer, 
my attention has been called to a place on Yellow river, a little to the west of 
Necedah, in Juneau county, where indications of bog-iron-ore, similar to 
what we find at Grand Rapids, had been noticed. My attention was first cal¬ 
led to this place by T. Weston Esq., of Necedah, and in company w T ith the 
Hon. J. T. Kingston, of that place, I examined the spot. 
It is on the west side of the Necedah Bluff, on a low, marshy place that ex¬ 
tends west and north for a number of miles. As we entered the margin 
of the marsh, we noticed the sandy surface stained with iron, and a little fur¬ 
ther on, in a cattle path, considerably small specimens of iron ore, like shot, 
similar to what I have described already on this river farther north. A lit¬ 
tle farther on in the marsh, in a ditch dug to drain it, we found, just below 
the sand in the bottom of the ditch, a bed of compact bog iron ore, very sim¬ 
ilar to what we find in the region of Grand Rapids in its mode of occur¬ 
rence, and I should think also in its quality. We dug down to this bed of 
ore in quite a number of places along this ditch, and found that it extended 
over a great many acres of surface. In places, the iron is mixed with sand, 
forming a very lean, sandy ore, but mostly formed into a bed of compact ore 
from one to three feet thick. Since my return, Mr. Kingston has written 
me, saying that he has traced the ore down the creek, % of a mile below 
where we examined it. The ore for about half that distance is of excellent 
quality, the other half not so rich. The marsh in which this ore is found, 
is connected with a very extensive, low, marshy region, formed by the 
branches of Yellow river, which, extending in a northwest direction, take 
their rise in the south side of this metalliferous belt above referred. 
It is a question of no small importance, whether the ore forming this ex¬ 
tensive bed has been derived from this belt in town 21, about 12 or 15 miles 
above it, or from some special cause in the immediate neighborhood of the 
ore. If from the former, then in those marshes which are spreading out sev¬ 
eral miles in width, and extending up to the base of this belt, we have a right 
to look for extensive beds of the same kind of ore spreading over a large por- 
