Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1839-04-18
IRON MOUNTAIN Mn MISSOURI.

IRON MoUNTAIN IN MISSOURI.
Among the resources Of the U. States
which the present aye is destined to call
forth iuto ,igoreus and successful deve-
lupmeuI is Que, the magnitude and impor-
tanee Of which is not generally known
aud appreciated, except by those whose
studies and pursuits have led :hem TO re-
searches on lie important sources Of ma
rionaI wealth-Iron anr Coal. The fol-
lnwing accoun, Of the Iron Mountain of
Missouri. is from The pen Of Professor
Shepard.
Having visited The Iron Mountain OF
Missouri, in October last, am happy to
add my testimony TO that Of numbers Of
observers by whom have been preceded.
respecting these remarkable deposites of
ore. am the more strongly disposed TO
the task, both from the surprise with
Which | was struck on finding such vast
accommodations of mineral wealth lying
wholly unpreductive in The heart Of a coun-
try the richest by nature in The world and
FROM The regret / feel that anyunnecessary
impetliments should delay an enterprise,
whuse execution can scarcely fail of af-
fordins an atfiuen, reimbursement TO all
concerned, and al the same lime of great
ly promoting The prosperity Of the West.
The rock whichbears the enormous iron
beds Of which am to speaker rather the
Iron Mountain, are in certain sense va
rieties of the formation under consideration.
The Pilol Knob may be denominatsd n
ferrusinous porphyry; or an aggregate Of
feldspar and specular iron, the latter oc-
curing Of fine (sleclsraincd) granular
structure, aud containing imbetiaea cry
stalls and rounded grains efteldspar while
The Iron Mountain is homogeneous de-
posit of pure. massive specular iron, con-
tanning only, in few exceedingly rare
cases. single crystals of feldSpar. We
have, thea in this extraordinary region, in
The first place, hills many hundred feet
high, composed entirely Of compact,
cherty red feldspar, variesated with veins
of black. by oxide Of iroa; in The second
place, the Pilot Knuh, a mountain made
up iu large proportion of specular iron,t the
feldspar often scarcely exceeding the ore
with which it is mixed; and lastly, the
Iron Mountain in which the whole mass
is so nearly pure ore, that the observer is
forced 10 search with the closest scrutiny
to detect in it even few solitary chrystals
Of feldspar!
DESTROYS OF ofbcing able to say something
concerning the extent of the mod1tain as
the result of my own measurements, |
took pains to pace its surface in several
directions; aud do not hesitate 10 state,
that its circuit is at least two miles. lis
elevation has in my opinion, been correct
ly given as three hundred and Fifty feet. ]
neell not add, iha, the experience Of min
ing operations in other regions in connec-
tion with rocks of The class here found,
fully jusIifies US in the belief, that the
bottom ofthc present mountain mass lies
too deep ever to be reached by human ex.
ploration.
All intelligent merallursists must be a
ware that the s2ecular iron ore is species
of the highest value for the production OF
iron. Molis, (the late professor Of miner
aoay at Freyburg and now royal professor
orrhe same science at Vienna) who is the
first authority on subjects of this nature.
remarks in his Natural History of the
Mineral Kingdom, tina, specular iron is an
ore Of the highest importance, and yields
a considerable proportion of the iron pro
duced in the different quarters ofthe Globe.
1t is obvions thai The advantages possess.
ed by the ore of this region are very great,
arising out of the abseace of all foreign
materials, which elsewhere render 'fe
smeltiug of ron ores often extremely tedi-
Gus and difficult-demandiu for them the
process of roasting, to disSi-
pate volatile Ingredients, and the subse-
quent addition Of large doses of fux, TO ef-
feet the withdrawal of other impurities
Here is an ore in inexhaustable quantity.
requiring for ages no blasting, and but
trihing labor to prepare il for the furnace;
while il is so pure from foreign substances,
that its reduction must he easy, and ITS
Weld not less ahan seventy per cent!
No ene who visits the locality can for
a moment doubt, situated as il is dn re-
sion Of singular advantages Tor charcoal
and mining supplies. and at no great re.
move from the most remarkable channel
of inland water communication known,
that /, must at very early day become
an iron producing aud manufacturing re-
gion, second TO no other on the face OF the
Globe. CHARLES UrnaM SHEPARD.