The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-11-06
A Geol a Trip.

The geology class Of the Friends
Normal Institute had been planning
for some time for q tour through the
g barrens," in order that they might
be enabled to obtain some of the
specimens of different ores and min
erals from old Lancaster aud Ches-
ter's rock ribbed mountains
Accordingly Saturday, Oct. 18th.
was the day selected for the tour.
and a more perfect day could not be
imagined, being just cold enough to
invigorate the young geologist, and
bright enough to view Nature in all
her sublimity.
The class. consisting of eleven,
accompanied by friends and teach
ers, headed by the Doctor, who was
to act as our guide, left the school
building at $50 O'Clock. After q
brisk drive of twenty minutes we
reached that old historic point
Mason 6 Dixon's line. After a
short drive along the line we came to
q Eve mile line stone, which we
carefully examined. This pillar is
oolite lime stone and came from
England. ALI these line stones lean
toward the south. and although they
have been exposed to the weather
for more than century, yet the
imprints of the coat of arms of Penn
and Baltimore are still plainly
visible.
The next place visited was Browns
feldspar quarries. Although the best
spar was covered by water in the pit,
nevertheless the class succeeded in
getting some very fne specimens.
Muscarite and majestic were also
found around these quarries.
The next point Of interest was
Dunlap's serpentine quarry. This
quarry not only afforded fine speci-
mems of serpentine and asbestos but
also illustrated to as the meaning of
stratifcation, faults and bikes.
Leaving the serpentine quarry we
drove to Blacks iron mines, or
rather iron wells as no mine has yet
been opened. We examined the
wells that have been recently bored
and also examined the stones and
rocks lying loose about the field.
Nearly all the stones contained
hemitite iron ore.
From here we drove down to the
flint mill, which is situated on the
banks of the old historic Octoraro.
There we ate dinner, which had been
prepared by the ladies of the class
After dinner we thoroughly ex-
amined the flint mill, and saw how
the flint is burned, crushed and
ground. The power required to
grind this flint must be enormous.
and the process of grinding is very
SOW.
From the flint mill We went to
Woods chrome mine. This mine or
pit is about Eve hundred feet deep.
The chrome seemed to be of good
quality and contained some iron.
Leaving the chrome mines we
drove into the very heart OF the bar
rens, and of the foot of Coats hill
we found magnetic or magnetic iron
ore. This magnetic was found in
the sand along the creek, from which
it was separated by the magnet.
Along the sides of Goat Hill, mag
nestle. tale and soap stone were
found The magIesite occurred in
immense beds all over the hill, and
the tale was generally in composition
with it. After getting fine specimens
of these minerals, we began to wend
our way homeward We arrived at
Rising Sun at 5 80 o'clock p. M,
much tired out yet feeling that in
after years we could look back upon
the geological tour of the class of 80.
as one that was both instructive and
entertaining.
MEMBER OF THE CLASS.