THE  IRON  ORES  OF  BATH  COUNTY,  KY.« 
By  E.  M.  Kindle. 
Introduction. — Bath  County  is  located  in  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  State  just  out- 
side t  he  blue-grass  region.  The  topography  of  the  southeastern  portion  is  of  the  bold,  hilly 
type  characteristic  of  the  Kentucky  mountain  districts.  Rugged,  steep-sided  hills  and 
ridges  left  by  the  dissection  of  the  Lower  Carboniferous  sandstones  are  the  dominant 
features  of  this  section.  These  command  a  broad  sweep  of  hilly  but  somewhat  less  elevated 
country  which  comprises  the  northwestern  two-thirds  of  the  county.  The  deeply  incised 
and  widely  meandering  channel  of  Licking  lliver  receives  the  drainage  of  the  county  and 
forms  its  northeastern  boundary.  Within  the  limits  of  this  county  occur  all  the  main 
divisions  of  the  geologic  column  which  are  developed  in  the  State  of  Kentucky.  The 
oldest  rocks  are  the  Ordovician,  which  outcrop  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  county. 
These  are  carried  downward  by  a  moderate  southeasterly  dip,  resulting  in  a  scries  of  deeply 
scalloped  belts  of  successively  younger  beds  which  cross  the  county  in  a  northeasterly^ 
southwesterly  direction.  The  Coal  Measures,  which  arc  the  youngest  rocks  in  the  area,  cap 
some  of  the  hills  near  the  southeastern  boundary. 
Geologic  relations  and  character  of  the  ores. — Iron  ores  occur  at  three  distinct  geologic 
horizons  in  Bath  County.  The  Lower  Carboniferous  beds  contain  the  highest  or  youngest 
of  these  ores.  These  Carboniferous  ores  lie  in  very  thin  beds,  sometimes  seven  or  eight  in 
number,  occurring  usually  as  scattered  kidney-shaped  masses  of  iron  carbonate  in  the  shales. 
They  have  generally  a  thickness  of  only  a  few  inches,  but  occasionally  reach  1  or  2  feet. 
These  ores  are  carbonates  of  low  grade. 
The  expense  of  mining  ores  of  t  his  character,  which,  unlike  the  other  ores  of  this  county, 
can  not  be  stripped,  together  with  their  rather  high  sulphur  and  phosphorus  content,  will 
probably  make  profitable  mining  of  them  impossible  for  some  time  to  come. 
The  ores  which  were  mined  for  many  years  at  the  Preston  ore  banks  lie  in  a  Devonian 
horizon, &  holding  a  position  between  the  Black  shale  and  the  Silurian  beds.  Iron  ore  is 
reported  to  occur  locally  at  this  horizon  in  small  amounts  to  the  southwest  of  Bath  County 
in  Montgomery,  Boyle,  Lincoln,  and  Casey  counties.  In  Ohio,  about  50  miles  northeast  of 
Bath  County,  the  writer  has  observed  iron  ore  which  was  formerly  mined  occurring  at  the 
same  horizon  southeast  of  Peebles.  The  belt  of  occasional  ore  deposits  to  which  the  Preston 
ore  banks  belong  has  therefore  an  extent  of  about  150  miles  along  the  southeast  flank  of 
the  Cincinnati  geanticline.  The  Preston  ore  is  an  exceptional  development  of  the  thin 
lenticular  and  usually  worthless  ore  masses  occurring  occasionally  at  this  horizon.  This 
ore  was  reported  by  Mr.  Linney  c  to  have  a  thickness  of  from  7  to  15  feet.  It  is  a  limonite 
and  carries  from  52  to  80  per  cent  of  oxide  of  iron,  according  to  Doctor  Peters's  analysis.'/ 
The  third  and  lowest  ore  horizon  occurs  in  the  Clinton  shales.  This  ore  bed  seldom 
exceeds  4  feet  and  is  frequently  less  than  2  feet  in  thickness.  Several  thousand  acres  to 
the  east  and  southeast  of  Owingsville  are  probably  underlain  by  the  ore  bed.     Considerable 
a  The  author  is  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  ('.  Phalen  for  the  use  of  notes  on  the  mines  of  the  Rose  Run 
Company. 
b  Report  on  Bath  and  Fleming  counties.  Kentucky  Geol.  Survey,  1886,  p.  25. 
c  Report  on  the  Geology  of  Bath  and  Fleming  counties,  Kentucky  <!<  ol.  Survey,  188G,  p.  28. 
d  Rept.  Kentucky  Geol.  Survey,  old  series,  vol.  4,  p.  G2. 
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