National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-02-09

priced in the manufacture of iron; avery
large quantity of brown hematites, and
others. This iron district commences at OF
little to the east of Charlottesville, in thu
county Of Albemarle, and terminates, "sofal
as I know" says Prof. Ansted, little wes'
Of Staunton, in Augusta county; but we may
remark that abundance of iron is found al
along the line of this route as far west a.
Covington, in the county of Allegheny. Il
is found in rich deposits at the present
terminus of the canal at Buchanan, in
Botetourt county. and from Buchanan to
the foot of the Allegheny mountains, fol
lowing the valley of the James and Jack.
son rivers. 1t was stated before the same
committee, by Gen. ]. D. Imboden, thai
the best of these ores would average proba.
bly, Sc per cent. of metallic iron. The
mining of these iron ores. Professor Ansted
testifes, "can be done at q cost below the
price Of mining similar ores In any part oil
the world which I have ever visited. /"
And the cost of manufacturing the best
qualities of iron in this region, he adds,
"would not be much moro than one-hali
the cost of manufacturing iron abroad"
The great Allegheny coal fields are
reached at the celebrnted gorge of the New
river. called ..'AIarshall's Pillar or the
Hawks Nest" about nine miles above
the mouth of Ganley river. We are
told that there are at least twenty distinctly
workable seams in the middle Of the dis
trict-all of them workable above the water
line. .'They lie horizontally, and are Ca
pablo Of being worked at a cheaper nate
than any Goals which exist on large scale
in any part of Europe" The quality of this
coal is declared to be ''unquestionable I"
The coal is of three kinds: The bitumi-
nous COAL which is remarkably free from
any trouble; some ash; hard splint coal,
very valuable for household purposes; and
for the manufacture of iron; and the camel
coal, which is especially valuable in the
manufacture of gas, on account of its very
high Illuminating power-and is pro-
nounced by Mr.. Anstcd as ''quite equal If
not superior to the Wigan coal. which had
always been regarded as the most useful
and available of the camel Goals of Eng
land
Prof Ansted estimates that the average
quantity of coal which would he obtained
from every acre of these coal lands would
be about $1,000 tons, and "that the guam
tity of available coal in the district is SO
very large that practically, for q thousand
years to come, it may be regarded as unlim-
tied" This coal can be gotten out with
unusual facility in consequence Of the fact
that the main valley of the Kanawha is
deep cut in the great deposit of the carbon
ferrous beds, and this great cut is intersected
at intervals by cross cuts, which sfterward,
almost invariably, become parallel with the
main line of the valley. In this way the
coal is cut out into blocks of convenient
size, generally accessible from two or three
sides.
Prof Ansted describes the series of coal
beds which occur at the Hawks Nest, the
eastern limit of this district. There are
fourteen seams of coal, which he enumerates
as follows: 1. There is OF 10 feet below q
particular bend Of silica, known throughout
this region as the flint ledge, q work
able seam of camel coal of some 30 inches
in thickness; Q. At 80 feet below the flint
ledge" there is a bed of splint and camel
coal feet thick; 8. At 40 feet there is a
crop of (probably) bituminous coal; 1. At
100 feet there is another "crop;" 8. At 220
feet there is o scam Of splint camel and III.
luminous coal, feet thick; 6. At $50 feet
there is bend of coal, (believed to he
splint3 Z. At $50 feet is q CANNED seam,
thickness unknown0 8. At 500 feet there
is another scam; 0. At $50 feet is bed
of bituminous coal. 2 feet thick; 10. At
675 feet there is four-foot seam; II. At
$50 feet there is another seam, equality un-
10. At 100 feet there Il another
seam; Is. At $40 feet II q good seam of
splint and bituminous coal; IA. At 1,010
feet below the flint ledge is another seam.
These beds Just enumerated belong to
what the geologists call ''the middle series"
Of these coal deposits. At other points
there are three seams Of bituminous coal be-
low these, and there are three or four seams
above the flint ledge, - which are not de-
welcomed in this localitv =
We have referred to the evidence given
Inv General Imi,oden. Tbi. gent,emsn
mentions that 1t d now demonstrated by
iron men that ton of iron can be made on
the line Of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
road. In consequences Of thu proximitv of
the irvn and the coal, At. cost Of s1s mar
ton, while at Allentown and sofheY points
in Pennsylvanis and IN New York Il costs
from $3S.5O to go for the labor and the
materials to produce ton Of pig metal
The coal beds, we arc told, lie horizon.
tally-that Il, parallel 70 the base Of the
mountains. Therefore, while q seam may
be one or two hundred 5set below the sum
NIT Of the mountain. Il WIN cup, ont On.
Zach side Of the mountain ss the surface,
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