14S  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1906,  PART    I 
The  Tennessee  Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company  operates  14  slopes 
and  1  open  cut,  collectively  known  to  the  iron  trade  as  the  Rvd  Moun- 
tain group;  the  Republic  Iron  and  Steel  Company  operates  5  slopes; 
the  Sloss-Sheffield  Steel  and  Iron  Company,  2  slopes  and  1  combine! 
tion  working;  the  Woodward  Iron  Company,  2  slopes;  the  Alabama 
Consolidated  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  1  slope;  the  Birmingham  Ore 
and  Mining  Company,  1  slope  and  3  combination  workings.  All  these 
companies,  except  the  last  named,  own  their  ore  mines  and  blast  fur|J 
naces.  The  Birmingham  Ore  and  Mining  Company  leases  its  several 
properties  and  sells  ore  to  the  iron-making  concerns. 
Besides  the  mines  on  Rod  Mountain,  just  enumerated,  there  are  on 
West  Red  Mountain,  at  the  extreme  ends  of  the  district,  2  mines  that! 
produce  red  ore.  One  is  at  Compton,  operated  by  the  Birmingham 
Ore  and  Mining  Company,  and  the  other  is  near  Dudley,  operated 
by  W.  P.  Pinckard  &  Co. 
BEARINO  OF  DEVELOPMENT  ON  ORE  SUPPLY. 
In  July,  1906,  the  deepest  slope  in  \\ih]  Mountain  was  reported  to 
be  2,100  feet  long.  This  slope  is  about  half  a  mile  north  of  Reeder 
Gap.  Four  other  slopes  have  been  driven  1,800  feet  each,  and  there 
were  six  slopes  between  !)()()  and  1,500  feet  long.  All  the  slopes  900 
feet  or  more  in  length  are  in  the  strip  of  mountain  below  Birmingham. 
The  newer  mines  at  the  extremities  of  the  district  have  slopes  ranging 
between  200  and  500  feel  in  length.  The  2,1  00-foot  slope  goes  down 
on  beds  whose  average  dip  is  28°,  so  that  its  present  depth  is  about 
650  feet  below  the  level  of  t  he  valley  at  a  point  directly  above  the  bot- 
tom of  1  he  slope.  Projected  at  the  same  angle  to  a  point  directly 
below  Little  Shades  Creek  the  slope  would  have  a  length  of  about  5,000 
feet  and  a  depth  below  the  creek  of  1,120  feet.  It  is  not  known 
whether  the  ore  extends  with  an  unchanged  dip  and  thickness  to  this 
depth.  Drill  records  obtained  farther  south  in  Shades  Valley  indicate 
that  the  ore  beds  with  their  associated  strata  flatten  out  and  locally 
rise  toward  the  surface.  The  surface  rocks  in  the  valley  indicate 
irregularities  in  the  structure,  including  faulting,  which  would  natu- 
rally be  shared  by  the  beds  below. 
No  deterioration  in  either  quality  or  thickness  of  the  hard  ore  in  the 
direction  of  dip  has  yet  been  disclosed  by  the  deeper  slopes — an 
encouraging  fact  in  so  far  as  it  can  be  used  as  a  measure  of  the  ore 
ahead  of  shorter  slopes.  At  one  of  the  larger  mines,  centrally  located, 
systematic  analyses  have  been  made  of  the  ore  at  intervals  of  a  few 
feet  from  the  outcrop  to  the  bottom  of  the  slope  and  throughout  the 
extent  of  each  entry  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  slope.  The  composi- 
tion of  the  ore  has  been  found  to  vary  appreciably  from  place  to  place 
and  the  degree  of  variation  is  likely  to  be  as  great  within  a  few  yards 
as  it  is  between  remote  parts  of  the  mine,  but  the  average  run  of  the 
