The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-21

large coke furnaces Il different course
was required. What may be reasonably
looked for from these deposits can be
best illustrated by an active mine some
II miles from Roanoke and owned and
operated by the Grocer Iron Company.
1t lies well up on the mountain, some
400 feet above the water drainage of the
locality.
The ground was opened in 1882 and
1883 and has been worked continuously
ever since, and, until very recently, as
an open cut over large area. In some
places the ore ground runs to the sur
face; in others there is clay covering
from . to 20 feet. This piece Of ground
to the careful observer becomes COM
plete and exhaustive object lesson.
There is to-day, ahead of long and
wide open cut, Il face of at least 60 feet
Of wash ore ground, interspersed with
boulders of solid ore of VARYING sizes,
that will yield all through / ton Of
washed ore to tons of dirt handled
On the floor of this cut a shaft was sunk
for GO feet through solid wash ground.
y tunnel to strike this depth was driven
for 1,500 feet. The ore ground was
struck at 400 feet, and the tunnel was
driven for !, 100 feet through, leaving OFF
in ore ground that gives 75 per cent of
orc in the dirt handled. On the floor Il
well was sunk for 30 feet through the
same character of ground. The depth to
which the orc may run is unknown, but
over large area the ore has been
proved to be $50 feet deep, with no signs
whatever OF exhaustion.
Eminent biologists have for many
years claimed great depth to the Blue
Ridge ores, and these developments
seem to warrant the correctness of their
diagnosis 1t must not be inferred that
this condition of things exists every
where along the lead; on the contrary,
it is well known that there are many
points where the ore is cut or sqneezcd
out entirely, or is too limited in extent
to be prolitably worked. or the ore is too
sll1cious and lean for any present atten-
ton, and some of these conditions may
exist with very fair surface indications:
but from what is actually known, and
with the knowledge that the same de-
posits OF ore. on their north eastern con-
tinuation, sustained for many wears the
great iron industries of Lehigh and Berks
counties. Pa. and largely helped to make
that wealthy, and populous, and pros
perogs section. it is safe to infer that
for many years to come Virginia pos
sesses. from this sources alone. excel
lent and ample supplies to build up and
sustain an iron industry to which all she
has done. and is now doing, will be as
child's play. Many hundreds of an
alyses of these Potsdam ores have been
made, covering every section of the
ground between Maryland and Tennes-
see, but of which only Il summary OF
the extremes can be given:
Metallic. iron from 3S per cent. in
wash to 81 per cent. i'll picked lump.
Silica, from ID per cent. in wash to 3
per cent. in picked lump.
Manganese, from 0.1O per cent. To any
per cent.
Phosphorus, from o. 10 per cent. to 30
per cent.
Alumnia, from O.5 per cent to per
cent.
Lime, under 0.75 per cent.
Magnesia, under O.5O per cent.
Sulphur. as an almost invaria bic rule,
in the hundredths of per cent, or in
Two furnaces in the district. largely
using these ores, have very kindly
stated the results reached over long
time as to the average yield Of these
ores when prepared, showing from a to
46 per cent. of iron. In the main living
in such close proximity to the railroads.
the various deposits are readily reached
by short branches of one to six miles in
length.
No. IT.-Along the Cripple Creek En-
tension of the Norfolk and Western Rail-
road. running through Pulaski and
Wythe counties, and extending south
westerly we'll toward the North Carolina
line. is another large ore field deserving
particular notice. 1t is generally known
as the Cripple Creek region, and con-
t1inS a hppItn hn haS hnnn fn
in the past for it's particular excellence
in charcoal irons. 1t is unqucstionably
the highest grade of brown ore known in
Virginia.
1t lies on the lower silurian lime
stones. No. IL, in varying quantities,
according to the folds of the limestone,
but always OF excellent quality. 1t is
practically all worked in open cuts.
The ore generally lies III a loamy, fria-
bic clay, but at times horses of heavy,
unctuous clay locally called ''buckfat'O
lntrudc. In some cases the deposits of
orc ground are shallow, and at other
times deep. The richness of the ground
varies grcatly-at times yards of dirt
yielding yard of ore; at other times II
to |. The average Of the district is
stated as about to /. 1t is dug and
handled with extraordinary ease and
cheapness where the ground is properly
opened up and good washing facilities
afforded. 1t shows, by innumerable
analyses, and by continued furnace work
ings, yield of over As per cent of me-
tallic iron, at times running up to so
per cent. and 81 per cent, and for
brown hcmitite extraordinarily low
PHOSPHORUS and manganese. The fol-
lowing analyses by A. S. McCreath are
fairly cha r. n Of tha ono.
Per cent.
ScquioXide of iron ........ T6.2l4
SequioXidc of manganese. 800. O.O55
Oyidnc of nicl- al , nj onbo1+ N OtO