THE IRON ORES. 425 
last few years a proper basis for mining on a large scale. It is here 
known as the Dunkel ore, the Creola ore, and the Swan township ore. 
It is underlain with its limestone or flint throagh a considerable part 
of its area. 
It has a maximum thickness of 24 inches, and it seldom falls below 
16 inches in the extensive workings of the seam that have here been 
carried forward. The seam, however, consists of two benches, approxi- 
mately equal in thickness, but of unequal quality, the upper portion 
furnishing the best ore, and the lower, which is quite silicious, being often 
rejected by the furnaces. The ore has a coarse and unpromising look, 
but the furnace men who use it pronounce it not only better than it 
looks, but a fair source of iron. 
It has been mined thus far almost exclusively by stripping or ‘“‘tail- 
ing.” The ore diggings about Creola are the largest and deepest con- 
tinuous benchings in the entire district. Immense quantities of the ore 
are of course left behind the benches, under the cover of the hills, and 
there is also a large quantity of outcrop ore still accessible, but at 
greater distance from the railroad than that already worked. The en- 
tire production is trioutary to the Hocking Valley furnaces. 
_ The remaining block ores of the series are entirely overshadowed 
in northern Vinton county by the Dunkel ore, but all three hozizons of 
the block ores appear here. 
On Abram Clark’s farm, secti n 9, Elk township, we find the fol- 
lowing section : 
Dunkel ore—Franklin or Big Red block. 
TGS Tavieallerk ee esate ean ee Cece ns Brae STR Ck Ge UIE oo, LD IES 13 feet. 
Dever block—Sandblock. 
JIS RET ESAT cea SROGS SAOOSO RO ESOC ANA SHOOT Rt ei a 27 feet. 
Blue limestone—Lower Mereer. 
The middle or sandblock ore, here known as the Dever block, has 
been mined to quite an extent on several farms near by, reaching the 
railroad at Swaim’s Station. 
From this point southward, the three block ores, as has been 
already shown, have a full development and hold their places with 
great regularity. 
In closing the description of the ores of this section, the following 
recapitulation may be serviceable. 
There are four important ores in this lower division, viz., the three 
