492 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
as delivered at the furnace was, per ton of 2,240 lbs. on an average, for 
the limestone ores, $3.85; for the kidney ores, $3.50; and for the block 
ores, $3.25. During 1886 the same ores were valued at $2.75 to $3.00. | 
Beside these native ores some of the rich hematites of Lake Superior 
and Missouri are brought to the region. The former have been used at 
the Logan furnace, while the latter are employed constantly in large 
proportions at the Belfont furnace in Ironton, and will be also largely 
used by the other furnaces at that place. In addition to their 
employment in the blast-furnace, considerable quantities of the Missouri 
ores are consumed by the rolling-mills as “fix” or lining to the puddling 
furnaces. The price of these ores is, however, always high, which is 
in part compensated by their richness and superior quality. With the 
native ores they work in the furnace usually better than when smelted 
alone, and the native ores producing a red short iron, and the Missouri 
and Lake Superior ores a cold short iron, a proper mixture is said to 
produce a neutral iron, or one naving neither of these usually objection- 
able qualities. ‘In 1870 the Lake Superior ores cost about $11.00 per 
ton at Logan, and the Missouri $12.00 at Ironton; in 1880 the prices 
of Missouri ores were about the same. With good means of transporta- 
tion, Ironton should obtain the Lake ores at only a small advance, if 
any, above their cost at Pittsburgh, while for the Missouri ores it is 
more favorably situated. Quite a considerable quantity of the dyestone 
or fossil] ore from Eastern Tennessee his been brought to Ironton, but 
because of the phosphorus, which it always contains in notable propor- 
tions, it makes a cold short iron, and as a lining or “fix” for puddling 
furnaces it is useless for the same reason. For a common grade of 
iron, however, it may be successfully used as a mixture in the furnace. 
Analyses and more complete descriptions of these ores are given in an- 
other portion of this report, where iron ores are considered as a whole. 
Regarding the other ores, as those of West Virginia, Old Virginia, etc., 
which may be brought in connection with this region, we are at present 
but imperfectly informed. 
In preparing the ores for smelting, all the native ores are burnt in 
large piles before charging into the furnace. As fast as they are brought 
to the furnace the ores are stacked in large piles, which are built upon 
a bed or grate of timber, and interstratified with fine charcoal or the 
waste breeze, the combustion of which supplies the heat necessary for 
their calcination. These piles are often of very large size, containing 
