THE IRON ORES. 393 
Three famous hills contain the known supply of Auburn township, 
viz., the Beller hill, the Shaw hill, and the Lahmer hill. All these are 
shown in the accompanying map of “ Blackband Deposits,” section C. 
The Beller hill contains an aggregate of perhaps 160 acres of black- | 
band territory. Not less than six separate mining properties are 
established on it. They are named as follows: Beitzel’s, Reif’s, and 
Gribel’s, on the north side ; Catcott’s, Beller’s, and Rock Island, on the 
south. Of these the Beitzel and the Beller workings are nearly ex- 
hausted. All the rest hold large bodies of ore. 
Both blackband and mountain ore occur here in their characteristic 
forms. They play fast and loose with the seam, and it is hard to 
estimate the proportions of each. ‘The aggregate often reaches 8 feet, 
and sometimes 10 feet. The ore is not worked below 2 feet, as a rule. 
The ore is mined by system, in drifts, at the present time. About 2 feet 
of coal is expected with the ore. As much of it as is necessary for 
calcining the ore is brought out of the mine. A tram road runs from 
the hill to Blackband Station, on the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad. 
The ore from this region has been taken thus far by the Dover and 
Massillon furnaces. 
The Shaw hill is nearly exhausted, and needs no further mention. 
In section 19, there is an area on which blackband ore is believed 
by some persons to occur, but it has not yet been proved to be present 
here. 
The distance from the Middle Kittanning coal (No. 6) to the black- 
band in this region is 120 feet, as shown by a single measurement on 
the Catcott hill. 
There are more ore hills in Jefferson township than in any other 
township of the blackband field. The dividing ridge between Stone 
Creek and Oldtown Creek, in particular, originally held the largest 
connected body of ore that we know at this horizon. Erosion has 
separated it into 8 distinct tracts at the present day. The Upper Free- 
port coal appears in all of these sections in fair condition. Its qnality 
is better than in the townships already reported. It seldom exceeds 
3 feet in thickness, however, and often falls to 2 feet. The ore alter- 
nates between blackband and mountain ore, and considerable nodular 
or kidney ore is found in the overlying shales. 
Much of the more promising territory has already been exhausted, 
but there are still large bodies of ore. 
Adam Baker, in lot 30, holds an undeveloped tract in which the 
