218  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1904.         I  bull.  260. 
In  the  Blue  Ridge  region  several  companies  are  operating  near 
Front  Royal.  One  copper  company  is  prospecting  the  Sealoch  prop- 
erty east  of  High  Knob,  a  property  that  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  capital  for  the  last  thirty  years.  In  1899  various  capitalists,  rep- 
resented by  an  able  mining  engineer,  spent  some  time  and  consid- 
erable money  in  prospecting  this  property,  sinking  a  shaft  to  a  depth 
of  87  feet,  but  finding  no  copper  below  the  first  20  or  25  feet  from  the 
surface.  At  that  time  a  brief  visit  to  the  property  was  made  by  the 
writer,  and  the  opinion  was  expressed  that  no  true  veins  existed  and 
that  the  copper  ores  would  not  be  found  to  extend  to  great  depth. 
Since  that  time  another  shaft  has  been  sunk  on  a  different  part  of 
the  property  and  the  development  work  affords  no  reason  to  change 
the  opinion  previously  expressed.  At  the  present  time  a  new  com- 
pany is  driving  a  crosscut  tunnel,  hoping  to  cut  an  ore  body  at  thi 
depth  of  about  100  feet  beneath  the  outcrop  on  which  the  last  shaft  I 
was  sunk.  The  property  is  equipped  with  machinery,  and  a  steam 
drill  is  being  operated.  The  rock  is  a  tough  and  dense  diabase,  some- 
what sheared,  known  as  the  "  Catoctin  schist."  An  examination  (fu 
this  tunnel  showed  no  ore  and  no  sign  of  a  vein,  but  the  tunnel  haw 
evidently  not  yet  penetrated  to  the  rock  immediately  beneath  thd 
copper-bearing  outcrop.  This  work  is  likely  to  be  of  much  benefit 
as  it  will  settle  the  question  of  the  cupriferous  on  noncupriferoufi 
character  of  the  rocks  below  the  zone  of  surface  seepage. 
About  H  miles  southwest  of  this  locality,  at  the  extreme  head 
waters  of  Rappahannock  River,  the  Manassas  Gap  Company  ha 
sunk  a  (>0-foot  shaft  and  several  shallower  openings,  and  has  driven 
several  tunnels  in  the  mountainside,  one  197  feet  long.  Very  rich 
specimens  of  ore  have  been  obtained  from  the  surface  of  this  prop 
erty,  and,  in  fact,  like  the  Sealoch  property,  the  surface  showing 
have  been  very  good. 
On  the  ridge  due  south  of  Front  Royal  and  west  of  Hominy  Hoh 
low  another  company  is  now  at  work  and  some  ore  is  being  shippec 
Along  the  main  axis  of  the  Blue  Ridge  at  points  east  of  Overall  an 
Stanley,  stations  on  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad  near  Luraj 
outcropping  ores  have  incited  development  work,  which  is  now  bein 
pushed  by  several  stock  companies. 
So  far  as  known  the  general  conditions  of  all  these  properties  ai 
the  same.  The  ores  occur  in  a  dense  and  heavy  trap  rock,  whic 
is  an  altered  diabase,  but  as  it  has  in  part  a  schistose  structure  it  : 
given  the  name  of  Catoctin  schist.  According  to  Keith  this  roc 
consists  of  several  old  lava  flows,  superimposed,  and  is  approx 
mately  1,000  feet  thick.  It  rests  upon  old  andesite,  and  is,  in  tun 
cut  by  granite,  which  near  the  contact  is  so  sheared  and  altered  tin 
it  is  commonly  mistaken  for  a  shale.     A  grit  or  sandstone,  know 
