Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-07-22

Albert and Jesse Savage, OF Charleston.
About four years ago, having heard
vaguely and indirectly a number Oh
years before, that iron ore existed there
that might be worth looking after, they
went to the valley and began a system
attic course of prospecting. Ihey
scrambled along the mountain sides,
hammer in hand, chipping off speci-
mems here and there, and were
surprised to find that I'M
mense outcropping lodges COW
cred with moss and lichen, which
had doubtless been regarded as mere
ordinary rocks by the hunters or the
huckleberry picker, who alone had ever
seen them before, were In reality iron
ore of remarkable purity and wonder
full extent. Prosecuting their researches,
they were able to trace the edge OF the
ore bed almost entirely around on both
sides of the valley and in the ridges
that have been forced up between the
main ranges Of the mountains. They
visited New York, Chicago, Cincinnati
and other places, carrying the news OF
their discovery and endeavoring to en-
list capitalists in the enterprise OF It's
development, but the story OF bed OF
iron ore forty miles long, three miles
broad, and fifteen or twenty feet thick,
sounded too much like fairy tale, and
no person could be induced to expend
money to ascertain whether 1t was
true or not. At length a COM
pany was formed, composed almost
exclusively of West Virginians, (hana-
wha and Greenbrier people and Senator
Camden) and expert biologists and min
ing engineers were sent to the valley TO
examine and report. d. w. Langdon,
Jr., geologist of the Chesapeake q Ohio
Railway Company, visited the valley in
October, 1889. In February, 1891, Prof.
E. A. Lehman, of Philadelphia, exam
ined the various openings that have
been made, and made report to Senator
Camden at whose instance he had been
employees; and in the summer OF 1890,
and again In February, 1891, Prof. Ed
ward Orion, State Geologist, Of Ohio,
made a thorough and painstaking In
yestination, and after each visit made q
full report and exhibited an analysis OF
specimens from various portions OF the
field.
1 am not writing geological
report, and hence, for the purpose
of this letter, may omit technical
terms and the classification OF strata,
only remarking that superimposed upon
the ore Is the Hamilton shale; immedi-
ately below the ore is the lower Helder-
berg limestone; next below that the
Clinton red shale, and next the Medina
conglomerate.
Up to the present time some twenty
three openings have been made at vari-
Gus points in the valley and upon the
sides of the mountains. These openings
have consisted mainly In stripping the
earth from some twenty-five or thirty
square feet Of the seam and putting in
blast. The ore thus loosened Is gath
cred out and piled below the excavation.
At what is known as the lower Bennett
opening, an excavation ten feet long
and four feet high, has produced more
than one hundred tons Of ore. In his
second report, dated February 2S, 1891,
Prof. Orion says:
''The principal results of the re-
examination of the field on my part are
to be found in multiplied and therefore
stronger proofs Of the continuity OF the
ore seam than the first examination OF
the field afforded The new discoveries
are, however, in all instances in har-
mony with the facts previously re-
ported. The exposures of ore have
been nearly doubled by the work OF
last year, but these exposures are all
situated as they should be to take their
place in persistent stratum. There Is
no reason to doubt that additional ex-
plorations of the same sort would be re-
warded in the same way, and II more
systematic and more thorough search
should be undertaken, correspond
ly larger results would be sure to
be obtained. As the field stands
revealed to-day by the work thus far
done in it, it shows itself to all as an
'Oriskany Valley Of exceptionally
favorable structure for multiplied ex-
posure Of the ore horizon, and in which
the ore seam proper shows its highest
grade Of development in both quantity
and quality"
Prof. Lehman says "The number of
out-crops (ore) is indefinitely great,
probably hundred more deposits might
be opened. Those already opened are
mostly little more than attempts. Much
OF the ground must yet be considered
unexplored. After the most casual ex-
animation, no geologist could doubt for
moment that large quantities Of rich
ore lie hidden beneath the surface. The
regularity Of the surface indications OF
these ores is remarkable. In numerous
cases they are so persistent as to sug-
gest the possibilities of a continuous
trench out of which ore might be dug.
This must not be understood to imply
that there are no serious blanks on the
property; they,of course, exist although,
in many instances, the continuity OF the
vein is broken only where sharp defles