h 
150  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY,  1906,  PART    T. 
in  mind,  the  facts  in  hand  still  permit  a  fairly  close  estimate  of  th| 
ore  reserves  in  the  district,  and  it  is  expected  that  such  an  estimati 
will  be  given  in  the  forthcoming  detailed  report.     It  will  suffice  to 
state  here  that  this  estimate  will  show  probably  more  ore  to  be  avail 
able  than  has  heretofore  been  supposed  by  persons  not  familiar  with 
the  district. 
Outside  of  the  area  of  present  activity  considerable  prospecting 
has  been  done,  especially  on  the  outcrop  of  the  ore-bearing  beds.  1 
some  places  the  results  have  apparently  been  discouraging,  partly 
because  the  work  has  not  been  thoroughly  done,  and  partly  because 
the  outcrop  of  an  ore  bed  does  not  tell  the  whole  story.  Prospecting 
with  a  core  drill  is  expensive,  but  the  information  sought  in  the  case 
of  bedded  iron  ores  is  of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  considerably 
expenditure.  Certain  localities  may  be  pointed  out  as  apparently 
deserving  further  investigation — for  instance,  Red  Mountain  opposite 
McCalla  station  and  the  basin  beyond,  the  strip  of  the  same  ridge 
from  Pilot  Knob  northeastward  to  the  Jefferson  County  line,  and 
West   Red  Mountain  northeast  of  Mount  Pinson  station. 
PRODUCTION    AND    CONSUMPTION    OF    IRON     ORE. 
Since  1894  Alabama  has  held  third  place  among  the  iron-producing 
Stales.  In  1905  her  total  production  oi'  iron  ore  amounted  to  3,782,831 
long  tons,  composed  of  2,974,413  tons  of  red  hematite,  781,561  tonj 
of  brown  hematite,  and  26,857  tons  of  magnetite.0 
The  Birmingham  district  produced  in  1905  2,561,264  tons  of  red 
hematite,  or  86.7  per  cenl  of  the  total  tonnage.  The  series  of  mines 
known  as  the  \\^d  Mountain  group  are  classed  among  the  prominent 
iron-ore  mines  of  the  United  States.  Together,  this  group,  including 
the  Potter  slopes,  formerly  leased  by  the  same  corporation,  produced 
in  1905  1 ,282,189  long  tons,  or  a  little  over  .~>n  per  cent  of  the  total  for 
the  disl  ricl . 
Practically  all  the  ore  produced  in  the  district  is  smelted  in  the 
vicinity  of  Birmingham.  The  <>re  is  handled  by  29  coke  furnaces,  dis- 
tributed as  follows:  In  Birmingham  city  are  eight  furnaces,  four  of 
which  belong  to  the  Sloss-Sheffield  Steel  and  Iron  Company,  two  to 
the  Tennessee  Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company,  one  to  the  Atlanta, 
Birmingham  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  and  one  to  the  Williamson  Iron 
Company;  at  Ensley  there  are  six  stacks  and  at  Bessemer  five  stacks 
of  the  Tennessee  Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company;  at  Thomas! 
three  stacks  of  the  Republic  Iron  and  Steel  Company;  at  Woodward] 
three  stacks  of  the  Woodward  lion  Company,  and  at  Oxmoor,  two 
stacks  of  the  Tennessee  Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company.  On  the 
outskirts  of  the  district  are  the  furnace  of  the  Southern  Steel  Com! 
aBirkinbine,  John,  Production  "f   Iron  ores   in  L905:  Mineral    Resources  I  J.  S.  for  1905,  U.  S.  Geo! 
Survey,  1906,  p  r,c>. 
