The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-08-03
SOUTHERN IRON ORES.
The Peculiar Ease ana Cheapness
With Which They Are Mined,


Prof. Shaler writes in the Arena;
1.-THE iron ores of the South are not
only extremely abundant, but occur
in several widely separated fields. The
Shenandoah district of Virginia and
the neiShboring valley of Roanoke,
Western North Carolina, Eastern
kentucky and Tennessee, Northwest
ern Georgia and Northern Alabama,
all districts belonging to the system
of the Appalachians, abound in work
able deposits of this mineral. Texas,
Arkansas, Missouri, also contain val
liable iron ores, but they lie remote
from deposits of good coal.
The peculiar advantage OF the APP
palachian district is found in the fact
that the ores lie in the neighborhood
of excellent coal beds, which, III GER
tain cases, can be used ms ii comes
from the mines, or may be made to
serve the needs of the smelter after j.
is converted into coke. The average
distance of the iron ores from the coal
needed to reduce il to the metallic
state does not probably exceed one
hundred miles. The ores OF the Lake
Superior district have to be trans
ported from seven to ten times tins
distance to find all appropriate iuel.
1t is true that the average richness oil
the Lake Superior ores in metallic
iron is probably nearly one-third
greater than those found in the
Southern States, and the former
yield Bessemer iron. which. save in
rare instances, cannot be produced
from the Southern deposits. On the
other hand, the Southern ores are
generally won with considerable ease.
Enough ore to make II ton of iron
can ut many points be mined and put
in the furnace at u cost of between
one and two dollars, while to bring
the same amount of raw material
from the earth about Lake Superior
to the smelling point costs, AT the
present time, from nine TO twelve
dollars Moreover, there is Il method
of making steel known rs the Basic
process, which for general purposes is
as good as the Bessener system This
method is well proven, and with the
expiration of certain patents. which
in n few years will cease 10 be valid.
will doubtless come into general use
in the Southern States.
THE peculiar ease with which the
Southern ores are mined is in good
part due to their geological condi-
tions. They are generally i'll the form
of true beds, which once were lime
stones, and have been converted by
percolatlng waters containing iron III
a dissolved form into iron ores. BE
ing beds of this origin. the deposits
are more continuous than those OF
other nature, such as those about
Lake Superior where the ore occurs
in much more irregular deposits
Moreover, the Southern country was
not occupied by the glaciers OF the
last ice period; thus the soft oNidized
ores were not worn away. as has gen
orally been the case in the glaciated
fields, nor have the outcrops been hid
den by the deep accommodations OF
| drift materials which are so common
in Northern districts. In part, also,
their advantageous conditions are due
TO the fact that the Southern climate
permits work to be carried on in open
pits throughout the year, while such
uncovered opening would not be work
| able for more than seven months OF
the year in Northern climates.