The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-23
BIG IRON Mine
NEAR RALEIGH
Mine at Wilson'S Mills Has
Vast Capacity.
THE ORE is EXCELLENT
ALMOST THE WHOLE AMOUNT
EASILY AVAILABLE.
THE COST OF MINING VERY Small
Prof. S. E. Asbery Made Exhaustive Analysis
of the Ore and Finds it Averages
About SO Per Cent of
Metallic Iron.

At Il distance OF only twcnty-three miles
southeast of Raleigh marketable iron
ore exists in, such vast qulnt.ti : :;nd
in such easily obtainable position ,h.t
| the latent wealth of the land 5 Arrest
in~calculable. There have nccn runlurs
| and whisperingS for Il long ~ Of
| the iron to be found i'll the neiga)orhood.
| but little has hitherto been known with
any degree of certainty as 20 thu Iuaa-
| tity and quality of the ore. .ov. how.
| ever. exhaustive explorations AMI c"2in-
ical analyses have established beyond
any doubt that the ore exists III We'll
nigh limitiess quantities and of excel
lent commercial value The devclopllen-
of such vast resources may create q
new era in the iron industry Of this Sc
ton, and result i'll Il very DlarkcG IN
crease in its wealth.
Tradition at Wilson's Mills has it that
away back in the eighteenth century
| one K~illingsworth used to dig iron ore
out of the ground. At any rate he had
q forge in about the same locality where
the ore is being mined now. The mine
is one and five-eighth miles from the
town Of Wilson's Mills, on land owned
by Mr.. John \. Wilson, Il large land
holder Of independent means and Il man
of excellent business Judgment. Mr..
Wilson has always known that there
was Il certain a1nOun of iron ore on his
land, but it was generally thought that
its quality was not sufficiently good to
make it of great value on the markets.
However, Il short time ago, 1T the re-
quest of Prof. $. T.. Asbury, one Of the
chemists in the Chemical Division of the
Agricultural Department, Mr.. Wilson
sent some specimens of the ore to him
for analysis. Prof. ASbury was under
the impression that the percentage of
metallic iron would not exceed 40, which
would be hardly rich enough for com
mercial use. To his surprise the tests
showed from 80 to - per cent. 1t may
be said that the ore already mined av-
erages about 30 per cent, although whole
car loads averaging as high as 50 per
cent have been shipped. Thus, as far
as percentage Of metallic iron is-con-
cerned, there is no further question as
to the desirable quality Of the ore. Prac-
tically no sulphur was found, and no
| titanium. There is about ID per cent
Of silica, and $40 to $40 of one per cent
of manganese. The only ingredient that
might b called deleterious is phosphorus.
averaging about y of one per cent, and
this exactly suits the basic system of
bessemer steel manufacturing, and is
not in sufficient quantity to materially
hinder the pig iron method.
Samples of the ore analysed by the
Empire Steel Company, of Greensboro.
proved very satisfactory in every respect
and already about 1900 tons have been
shipped to that company for blasting.
And not only the experts of the Green's
borO company, but every other expert,
| and there have been many who has made
an examination i'll the interest Of his
company, admits that Providence has
done more for this section than any he
has ever seen.
The deposits have been found on the
top and along the slope of a hill, whose
rise is about 90 feet. At first a hori-
zontal stratum II feet in depth was as
certalned, extending over the top sur
face of the hill. Then, in laying off Il
drain from this down the slope, after
passing through eighteen inches Of 9th
er material. more ore was encountered
beneath the first stratum. a fourteen
foot drill was let down through this, and
tailed TO reach bottom, SO that the depth
OF this second layer is largely a matter
of conjecture. Lower down. near th.,
bottom Of the slope, shale formation was
discovered, and just below this, right
at the bottom. still more ore. Accord
ingly the total horizontal strata would
seem to he about 26 feet in depth. or
course, very little is known of the ex-
tent OF the under stratum, as it has
only been tested by the drill in a few
places. The extent of the first twelve
foot layer IS known by actual drill tests
to be 22O acres. AT all other points
except just at the mine, after removing
an over-burden averaging three feet, the
/ drill invariably failed to pass through.
All wells sunk i'll that place have to
pass through fourteen feet Of this ore
structure before reaching water. ana
how much lower it extends below the
water is not known. Accordingly from
tllese different indications. it is a most
conservative estimate to place the depth
OF the stratum at twelve feet. 1t has
certainly remarkable that Il spot has
never been found where the drill failed
10 be lost i'll the ore formation. 1t
would be a remarkable coincidence if
every one Of these tests had fallen into
a pocket, and certainly would show
wonderful divination on the part of
the prospector. The truth about it is.
that If It IS a pocket it is Il mighty big
one or a very close consecutive lot OF
little ones.
\ little figuring right here gives some
interesting results. According to the
tests twelve feet is the minimum deptn
OF the stratum. There are 1850 square
1eet to the acre. Accordingly the num-
Der OF cubic feet of ore to each acre is
o., 40. in round number there ar.
ten cublc rect OF ore to the ton. so thar
each acre has a possible output Of 81
80 tons. This seems fabulous, but il *
q most conservative estimate ACCORDING
to the facts.
A most important point in figuring on
the output is the extreme Sinplicity Of
the mining problem that presents itself