Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-06-23

exist in vast quantities. Professor Lang
don, who made q careful examination OF
the region, says Potts creek and its
tributaries, many of which are fed by
mountain springs, afford a constant source
whence to supply water for washing ores,
and are unusually convenient for such pur-
poses" The same authority says, and
the remark applies 10 the Craig-Creek
region also, that the ores are par
ticuarly adapted for cheap mining. They
occur in practically inexhaustible quanti-
ties above water level, and may be de-
veloped by means of tunnels along the
slope of the rocks with the minimum
amount of dead work. There is, however,
in the majority of cases such an amount
of surface-ore as to permit of " open work "
tor number of years. The Warm-Sprlngs
Valley railroad from Covington up the
Warm-Springs Valley will be in running
order by the 18th of July, and will be e1-
tended up Potts creek. This extension
will not only afford an outlet for the Potts
creek ores proper, but will add another
| line of development TO the nine miles OF
branch track penetrating the Rich-Patch
region. The Warm-Springs road will also
be extepded to meet the Davis and the
Camden roads, the capitalists of which
the latter are largely interested in the
opening up of the Potts-creek measures.
BUCKINGHAM AND BUFFALO RIDGE.
The Buckingham Field and the Buffalo
Ridge section bring us back to the lower
James-River Valley. These areas are along
the James-River division and present most
valuable exposures of limonite, magnetic,
and specuar ores. The lImenite ores of
the Buckingham field extend in several
heavy parallel beds from the neighborhood
of New Canton towards the county court
house, aud have been worked to good ad-
vantage. They show an average of
over 49 per cent. of metallic iron
of phosphorus. The magnetic and spe-
cular ores have also been developed far
enough to show that they exist in large
quantities. The Buffalo Ridge district
extends from q short distance east OF
Howardsville, now known as Logan City,
in Albermarle county, TO within some tive
miles of Lynchburg, and is magnificent
repository of iron-ores and limestone. For
convenience sake Campbell divides this
district into sections as follows: The Wal
minister section, between Howardsyllle
and New Market the Greenway section,
between Tye river and Christian creek;
the Stapleton section, between Christian
creek and Stovall creek, and the Mt.
Athos section, extending from the last
named boundary TO the great bend IN the
river below Lynchburg. In all of these
sections there are openings from which
practical furnace tests have been made
grades of ore. Campbell. who verified
Rogers as to the district. made a more ia
vorable report on these ores, especially the
! magnetic and specular ores, and recent de-
velopment OF the territory has more than
| justified all he claims. This reach is one
of the great deposits of steel ores OF the
| South.
Twenty-Five miles west of Lynchburg We
again encounter the Primordial or Blue
| Ridge belt as at Buena Vista and Glasgow,
and at Purgatory Mountain the upper
Cambrian group (Rogers III.) carrying
valuable limonites. Co-extensive with the
ores of the James River Valley are fuxing
limestones, and at Balcony Falls. Indian
Rock, Eagle Rock, and numerous other
points on the line of the road are heavy
deposits of cement rock and building
limestones.
When these facts are considered in con-
nection with the Inexhaustible coal mea-
sures of the Chesapeake and Ohio, which
will be treated Of further on in this arti-
Gle. it will be seen that the possibilities for
iron industries along the road, both ON the
main stem and the James-River division,
are incaleulable.
OTHER REsoURcEs-
But iron, though the principal founda-
tion of all industrial development, ls by
no means the only resource of the Chesa-
| peake and Ohio. The road passes through
various belts Of other minerals and mag
nifcent reaches of timber.
The Buckingham slates are among the
finest in this country, and the slate indus
| try at aud around Avonia. that county, is a
most extensive one In Buckingham and
contiguous areas there are heavy aur1ferous
leads and building stones abound all
through its territory. At Midway. on the
! James-Riyer division, Is splendid quality
Of sandstone. and the sandstones OF the
Anderson Quarry on the Trunk division
in West Virginia are known throughout
| the country for their durability. These
quarries are. however, but suggestions OF
other deposits known to exist on the road
and which invite the capitalist.
In addition to the celebrated manganese
mines near Waynesboro' (the Crimoral,
| which furnish four ffths Of the annual
consumption Of the United States, this