The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-05-08
From the y. S. r. r. & N. Registsr.
Broad Top Coal Region.


Broad Top Coal Region.
ENeINRERs OFFcE, SAxroN, BEDFORD Co.,
PA, Apra Is, 1868.
THos. 5. FERNoN, ESQ, Editor U. S. R. e. &
N. Regster.-Sir: / enclose you map recent
ly made of the Broad Top coal region. On
it you will observe the position Of the Hunt
ingdon & Broad Top Railroad, with its branches
reaching into the coal field. The Bedford Rail
road is a continuation of the Broad Top.
Twelve miles of the former are now nearly
completed giving rail line from Huntingdon
(on Pennsylvania Railroad) to Bloody Run, a
distance of 43 miles, The construction of the
Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad was
mainly intended to develope the Broad Top
coal region, and thus far public attention has
been directed exclusively to the the coal inter-
ests. The annual reports from the region, pub
lished in the Register, will show that its ship
ments have been rapidly increased, whilst new de-
velopments are being made, and the railroad
branches extended.
It seems a singular fact, however, that the
coal of this..district should have thus far mo-
nopolized all the attention--a district having
within its limits vast quantities of excellent l.
ron ores, lying along its main line of railroad,
uv-5 q os:eseyi .ppd producing when smeted the
iron."
The prostration of the iron business during
the past few years, may account in part for the
neglect of this interest, but with the present
protection and demand for iron, it appears to
me the time has come for the successful devel-
opment Of its iron ores, and the establishment
of iron works along the valley west of the coal
region.
Three qualities Of ore are presented to the
consideration of the iron manufacturer-the
proto carbonates of the coal measures the brown
peroxide of iron of the Umbral series, and the
hemmtite and fossiGferous iron ores of the Sur
gent series
Proto-Carbonite of Iron Of Coal Measures. Very
little has heretofore been done to develope these
ores; during the period of river navigations by
arks, before the construction of the railroad,
a few furnaces were in blast along the Raystown
Juniata, one of these, the Hopewcll furnace, OBJ
tanea portion of its ore from the Cheney ore
bank, up Sandy Run. Surface specimens Of
iron ore are found in many localities in the coal
field, but no systematic explorations have yet
been made to develope the position or magni-
tude of these deposits.
THE Peroride of Iron of the Un,bral Series has
been opened and workedat anumber of places;
it is found in the upper red shale, which accom-
panied by Terrace mountain, encircles the coal
field. II has been worked at Paradise furnace,
Trough creek, and at IIopewel furnace. In
1858. ]. p. Lesley, Esq, Geologist, remarked
of this ore: "The furnace at Hopewell has the
coal within mile of it, an immensely valuable
deposit of cold short iron ore outcropping be-
hind it, an ore which will be pursued hereafter
from gap to gap, the whole length of Terrace
mountain, and upon which q hundred furnaces
might run century"
Iron Ores of the Sargent Series.-These val
liable deposits of iron ore are found in the Sur
gent red shale, which forms the base and part
of the slope of Tussey mountain: it is also
found fanking Jacks and Black log mountains
The ores Of Woodcock valley, along the base of
Tussey mountain, have a general range of out
crops, nearly parallel to- and but short dis
tance from, the main line of Huntingdon and
Broad Top Railroad, whilst the Bedford Rail-
road intersects them at Bloody Run. Between
this formation and the railroad, the scalent lime
stone outcrops along the entire valley, forming
a sharp prong west of Bloody Run, and again
iron ore is found in two seams in the lower por-
tioh VI ttio ioimatioI, WhiCH tuc bcpdIutcu ny
an interval of slate and sparry limestone, from
two to eight feet thick. The lower seam or men,
Der is of the hard variety, and the upper, the
soft fossiliferous ore. These ores have been
opened at numerous localities along the outcrop
from below McConnelstown, in Huntingdon
| county, to Bloody Run, in Bedford county, pre-
senting an outcrop of over so miles long The
upper or soft oar is two feet thick, ond the low
er or hard ore averages Is inches thick, giving
an aggregate average thickness of ore over 3ft.
In the upper portion of this formation, and
connected with the lower layers of the scalent
limestone, are found chain of deposits or''pock-
cts" of hemetite iron ore; the principal open
ings> made in thsee deposits, have been at
"Fluck Bank" about one mile west of Stoners-
town-there the ore was found feet thick and
of an excellent quality. Mr.. Whitney, an ex-
perienced ore MINER informs me that he shaft
ed down this deposit 90 feet At the Bender
bank, 8 miles farther up the valley, the ore was