Local History: Chapter II - Part I: Ores, Minerals, and Geology: Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ BEAN'S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 8 (Cont.) CHAPTER II - PART I ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. By PROF OCAR C. S. CARTER, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL Gold. -The precious metals have been found throughout Montgomery County, but in such small quantities that their occurrence is more of scientific interest than of any practical value. Gold occurs disseminated throughout the azoic rocks, the oldest rocks with which we are acquainted. It is also found in the sands of rivers or in alluvial deposits which have been formed 9 by the weathering and disintegration of the oldest formations, Southern Montgomery County, from Philadelphia as far North as Conshohocken, is made up almost entirely of strata of the oldest rocks, but only traces of gold have been found, notwithstanding frequent reports of rich deposits being discovered. Dr. Charles A. Wetherill found traces of gold on the property of Mr. Yoder, in Franconia township, Montgomery Co. The gold was found in quartzrock and in iron pyrites. In the sand and gravel thrown out while digging a well he found brilliant scales of gold. From an analysis he found that every hundred pounds of gravel contained a quantity of gold worth twenty-six and one-half cents. A workman who had washed the sands of the Rhine in his native country for gold found in the gravel of the Delaware River at Bridesburg native gold in scales. The gold was extracted from the sands by mercury and purified. It was estimated that one man could wash from the Delaware sands from twenty-five to sixty cents worth of gold per day. From a paper on the "Natural Dissemination of Gold," by Messrs. Dubois and Eckfeldt, the following is taken: "There is a deposit of clay underneath the city of Philadelphia ten miles square, with an average depth of fifteen feet. The inquiry was started whether gold was diffused in this earthy bed. From the cellar of a new market-house in Market Street, near Eleventh Street, we dug out some clay at the depth of fourteen feet, where it could not have been an artificial deposit. The weight of one hundred and thirty grammes was dried and duly treated, and yielded one eighth of a milligram of gold, a very decided quantity on a fine assay balance. It was afterwards ascertained that the clay in its natural moisture loses about fifteen per cent by drying, so that as it lies in the ground the clay contains one part in one million two hundred and twenty-four thousand. This experiment was repeated upon clay taken from a brickyard in the suburbs of the city with nearly the same result. In order to calculate with some accuracy the value of this body of wealth we cutout blocks of the clay, and found that on an average a cubic foot as it lies in the ground weighs one hundred and twenty pounds, as near as may be, making the specific gravity 1.92. The assay gives seven-tenths of a grainsay three cents worth-of gold to the cubic foot. Assuming the data already given, we get four thousand one hundred and eighty millions of cubic feet of clay under our streets and houses, in Kaich securely lies one hundred and twenty-six million of dollars. And if, as is pretty certain, the corporate limits of the city would afford eight times this bulk of clay we have inure gold than has yet (1861) been brought, according to the Statistics from California and Aus- The, gravel which underlies this auriferous clay is always richer than the clay above it in gold, hence the gravel were assayed instead of the clay it would yield still more gold, but be of no practical value." Silver. -Silver generally occurs associated with lead ores. The rich Leadville deposits of Colorado are found in carbonate of lead and in most of the richest mining districts of the West the silver is contained in either sulphide of lead or carbonate of lead. In Montgomery County only traces of silver have been found, associated with a sulphide of lead which is known as argentiferous galenite. This lead ore holding silver was found at the Ecton mine, Shannonville, Montgomery Co., about four miles from Norristown. This mine has not been worked since the war. Several beautiful lead minerals, now quite rare, were found at this mine. Professor Genth has assayed nearly all the lead ores holding silver in Pennsylvania, According to his assays, the lead ores from the Pequen mines in Lancaster County contain more silver than any in the State. The Lancaster County ores will yield from two hundred and fifty to three hundred ounces of the metal silver per ton of ore. The Wheatley lead-mines of Chester County have these silver-bearing lead ores, which when assayed yield from ten to forty ounces of silver per ton. At the Wheatley mines silver has been found in its native state, -that is, as the pure metal. It has not been found native in Montgomery County. The Ecton mine, Montgomery County, yields silver in such exceedingly small quantities that it would not pay to extract the metal. When assayed the ores yield only from five to ton ounces of silver per ton. COPPER. -Copper occurs native and in a variety of ores. The only place in the United States where it has been found native in great quantities tides is in Northern Michigan, near Lake Superior. The Michigan mines are vertical veins, mostly in trap-rock which intersect the red sandstone. The Cliff mine in that locality has yielded great quantities of native copper. One large mass was quarried out forty feet long, six feet deep, and averaged six inches in thickness. This copper contains mixed with it about three-tenths percent of silver. Copper occurs in crystalline azonic rocks, such as gneiss, mica-schist, and in chloritic, formations. It is also found in the new red sandstone. In the oldest rock, such as the schists and gneisses, it does not occur in veins but in beds which are parallel to the strata in which it is found. It might be regarded as an accessory constituent in those rocks. You may find chalcopyrite and magnetic iron ore disseminated throughout the rock, but always conformable. Such deposits; are called lenticular deposits, and are found in Tennessee and North Carolina. These deposits are very deceptive; in one bed you may find a good deposit of copper ore, and in the next bed you may find only a few crystals. Surface indications in these deposits are not reliable; the best way is to sink a shaft and ran adits in the direction of the ore. Deposits like these are supposed to have formed at the same time the gneiss-rock which holds then formed. The two carbonates of copper known under the names of azurite and malachite are surface ores, and 10 are generally found near the top. These ores are probably altered from other ores of copper by the action of the carbonic acid in the air. Copper ores are often are generally found near the top. These ores are probably altered from other ores of by the action of the carbonic acid in the air. Copper are often found as true veins in quartz. Such are the extensive deposits found in Montgomery County, which occur in quartz veins which have been deposited in fissures in the shale by means Of infiltrating thermal waters. These ores occur in the new red sandstone and shale. MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEPOSITS OF COPPER. --In the vicinity of Shannonville, Montgomery Co., indications of copper ore were discovered many years ago. As early as the year 1800 it was known that copper ore occurred in this locality. It is not known with certainty who first discovered the ore, or who it was that sunk the first shaft or dug the ore from this neighborhood. On the property known as the Wetherill estate ore was first discovered by some teamsters; it was turned up with the mud by the wheels of the wagons. Stephen Girard became interested in these surface indications, and he had a shaft sunk with the hope of obtaining rich ore in abundance. His efforts proved fruitless. Some ore was taken out associated with lead ores, but copper was not found in paying quantities. Samuel Wetherell sunk shafts along the Perkiomen Creek near Wetherell's mill, but ore was not yet found in considerable quantities at Shannonville along the creek which empties into the Perkiomen. Several parties became interested at different times in these deposits. At last the ore was found in Such abundance and the indications were so promising, that the attention of practical miners was directed to this locality. About the year 1829, John and Robert Rowe, who were English miners from the Cornwall mines, became interested in these mines and sunk shafts. They obtained copper ore of a good quality. The mines changed hands several times during the next twenty years. The Ecton mine was managed by the Ecton Consolidated Mining Company, who sunk a shaft two hundred and forty, feet deep, and drove a few levels. The Perkiomen mine was managed by the Perkiomen Mining Association, who sunk a shaft over three hundred feet deep, and mined much more successfully and extensively than the Ecton Company. They erected Cornish pumping-engines of great value, and were provided with all the necessary running machinery. These two companies were finally bought out by a new company, known as the Perkiomen Consolidated Mining Company. They purchased the real estate, mines, machinery, and other property of the Perkiomen Mining Association for the sum of one hundred and nine thousand dollars; and they purchased the property of the Ecton Association for one hundred and eleven thousand dollars. This new company carried on mining operations very extensively. It was a stock company. George Cadwalader, of Philadelphia; was president, and Samuel Wilcox, secretary. The directors, were George Cadwalader, Charles Macalester, David Longenecker, of Lancaster, and Samuel F. Tracy and Horatio Allen, of New York. This company was organized in 1852, and they issued fifty thousand shares of stock; the par value of each share was six dollars. At the Perkiomen shaft there was some valuable machinery, -a fifty-inch cylinder Cornish pumping-engine of one hundred horse-power; at the Ecton shaft, a one hundred horse-power high-pressure pumping-engine, twenty and a half inch Cylinder. Besides these pumping-engines there was a whim-engine at both of the mines. Powerful crushers were on the mine, and other machinery at the surface, such as tram-roads and wagons, capstans and shears, whims and whim-chains, pulley-stands, etc. The value of the machinery at the surface was thirty thousand two hundred and twelve dollars. The value of the underground machinery-plungers and drawing lifts, main-rods, bobs, ladders, bucket-rods, etc. -was about nine thousand eight hundred and forty-two dollars. The Perkiomen mine was situated on low ground near the creek, while the Ecton mine was situated on high ground about eighteen hundred feet distant. The method of mining was to sink shafts, and then to drive levels in the direction of the ore. When a bed of ore was reached it would be taken out, and this would leave an open chamber of rock known as a stope, which is shown on the map. Levels were generally driven out from the main shaft at distances of ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty fathoms from the surface of the mine so that there would be no danger of caving in. This would leave a distance of sixty feet between each level. After the main shaft of the Perkiomen mine had been sunk two hundred and forty feet, and the main shaft of the Ecton mine had reached a depth of three hundred and thirty feet, it was determined to connect these two shafts by a level or tunnel which would be eighteen hundred feet in length. This level was afterwards completed and the mines were connected under ground. The extent of these levels and shafts and the position of the stopes are shown on the map. The various depths of the levels from the surface and the depths of the shafts are marked in fathoms. In the Perkiomen mine, at the ten-fathom level the lode varies from one to fifteen feet in width, and is composed of gossan, quartz, malachite, and heavy spar; at the twenty-fathom level the lode varies from two to fifteen feet in width, and is composed of gossan, quartz, malachite, and heavy spar; at the twenty [sic, should be thirty] fathom level the lode varies from two to fifteen feet in width, and is composed of gossan, quartz, malachite, chalcopyrite, and heavy spar; at the forty-fathom level the lode varies from four to twelve feet in width, and is composed of quartz, chalcopyrite, and heavy spar; at the fifty-fathom level the lode varies from four to nine feet in width, and is composed of quartz, gossan, heavy spar, malachite, and chalcopyrite. But 11 few lodes or mineral veins were found it the Ecton mine. The miners were Englishmen who had been brought over from the Cornwall mines in England. In 1852 about two hundred men were employed at the mines. The miners were not under a regular salary by the week or month, but a number of them would club together and agree to extend a level or a stope so many feet for a certain sum. This method of working sometimes proved profitable to the men, but occasionally they would be losers by the contract. The men went to work in the mines with candles in their hats, which is a rather primitive mode of illumination. One great difficulty they had to contend with was the water which accumulated in the shafts and interfered with their mining. The pumping-engines at both shafts were kept at work draining the mines. The farmers in the vicinity, so, were sorely tried, as their wells were drained dry, and no water could be procured unless it was pumped from the mine. Charles M. Wheatley, who was manager in 1851, says "that all persons acquainted with mining operation that have examined the workings at Perkiomen have expressed astonishment at the regularity, size, strength, and productiveness of the veins, and the high percentage of the copper ore obtained from them. The Perkiomen is the first regular copper lode opened in this country, and bears a true resemblance to the Cornish system." Professor H. A. Rogers, former State Geologist, in speaking of the mines, "I hesitate not to declare that I entertain a very firm belief that your region is destined to become an important mining district, and that the ores of lead and copper will return remunerative profits upon the exercise of skill and prudence. The remarkable regularity and parallelism of the lodes is an excellent indication of their consistency. Another fact is the exceedingly well-defined character of those mineral lodes, which do not spread and lose themselves or their ores in the adjoining strata, but insulate themselves from the rocks of the country by plainly-marked parallel walls, between which all the metallic ores of region and associated gangue-stones are found. The veins are true and regular metalliferous lodes. A very important feature is the gradation in passing downwards from the outcrops of these veins. First we only the vein-stones, the metal; being weathered out or dissolved; then at a few fathoms below surface we find mingled with these vein-stones metallic ores of lead, copper, and zinc which are readily vaporized by heat; and deeper still the same vein-stones contain the sulphurets and other permanent ores of copper." There were no smelting furnaces at the mines and none, of the copper ores were smelting in the neighborhood but were sent to New York and Baltimore for reduction. The ore sent to Uppstead's Lariding, at Green Tree, and then to Philadelphia by canalboats, and from New York. The following table, taken from the annual report of the directors, shows the amount, percentage, and value of the ores mined: ORE SOLD BY PERKIOMEN CONSOLIDATED MINES FROM AUGUST, 11851 TO APRIL, 1852. _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | DATE. | TO WHOM SOLD. | TONS | %age | RATE PER | VALUE | | | COPPER | TON. | __________|_____________________|________|________|___________|__________ 1851. | | | | | Aug. 5 | Samuel F. Tracy | 55.19 | 16.19 | $49.10 | $2,767.86 | " " | 25.11 | 25.79 | 85.10 | 2,190.39 Sept. 24 | Baltimore Copper | | | | | Smelting Company | 75.11 | 21 | 67.20 | 5,063.11 | Baltimore Copper | | | | | Smelting Company | 18.14 | 7 | 17.50 | 325.08 Oct. 28 | Samuel F. Tracy | 75.19 | 21.17 | 64.25 | 4,870.24 | " " | 18.14 | 9.15 | 23.25 | 425.11 Dec. 16 | Baltimore Copper | | | | | Smelting Company | 59.19 | 20.30 | 68.68 | 4,103.35 | Baltimore Copper | | | | | Smelting Company | 40.24 | 8.25 | 22.94 | 917.92 1852. | | | | | April 17 | Samuel F. Tracy | 97.33 | 23.70 | 54.00 | 5,158.21 | " " | 58.14 | 10.10 | 30.00 | 1,754.02 _________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | TONS....................| 524.08 |........|...........|$30,573.80 _________________________________________________________________________ [ED. NOTE: Numbers do not add up as text is hard to read.] During the year 1853 one hundred and forty-three tons were raised and sold for nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine dollars and thirty-nine cents. The principal copper ores and minerals which have been mined at this locality are chalcopyrite, covellite, cuprite, mellaconite, chrysocolla, libethenite, melaconite and azurite. The most abundant ores were chalcopyrite and malachite; of these two ores of copper the sulphide was the more abundant. These ores of copper were mixed with an ore of zinc known as zincblend, or sulphide of zinc, which made, the metallurgy of the ores more difficult and expensive. The ores were crushed and freed from zincblende by mechanical means as much as possible before shipment. The mines were worked until the year 1858, when they were closed, -not enough ore was taken out to meet the running expenses. The shafts had been sunk much deeper, that of the Perkiomen mine being over four hundred and eighty feet in depth, while that of the Ecton was over six hundred feet deep. The mines from the time they were opened until they were closed never paid the amount of money invested, in them. Many interested in the mines were heavy losers. It is said that George Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, who was president of the company in 1851, invested one hundred thousand dollars, and many others invested large sums in the enterprise. It seems to be the general opinion that the mines were, managed extravagantly and without prudence and that there were too many needless officers drawing high salaries. In 1865 a quantity of refuse ore was worked at a profit by C. M. Wheatley, of Phoenixville, and Capt. Cocking, of Cornwall, England. The property is now owned by Richard Ricard of New York, who purchased it for forty thousand dollars. The shafts are now full of water, and the machinery and buildings are in a state of decay. 12 Copper ore has been found and mined in Upper Salford township. This vein of copper ore is found on Abraham Kober's farm, situated on the Ridge road, about four and a half miles west of Tylersport, and in the vicinity of Sumneytown. The ore was first discovered on the surface in a small outcrop, and these surface indications led to further development. Excavations were immediately begun, and at a depth of fifteen feet a vein eight inches in thickness was discovered. The farm was afterwards leased by Mr. Samuel Milligan, of Phoenixville, who set a force of men digging deeper, and finally a rich vein of ore was reached, which at the beginning was only an inch in thickness, but which increased in width until a thickness of three feet was reached, when the rock was cleared away for several feet. About four tons of copper ore were taken out. The ore is found association with quartz, which is characteristic of some copper deposits. It occurs in the new red sandstone belt. The ore appears to be chalcopyrite, or copper pyrites, which is a sulphide of copper and iron, Cu2S +Fe2S3 containing when pure 34.6 copper, 30.5 iron, and sulphur 34.9; color, brass-yellow, often iridescent. The other ore is borite, which varies in color from brown to copper-red, but is mostly tarnished to purplish color. This ore is purer than chalcopyrite, but is also a sulphide of copper and iron, 3Cu2S + Fe2S3. It contains when pure copper 55.58, iron 16.37, and sulphur 28.05. This is a valuable copper ore. Mr. William F. Dannehower informs me that native copper was also taken from this mine. The mine was finally abandoned, as the process of mining was expensive, and ore in paying quantities was not found after a depth of thirty feet was reached. Mining operations were first begun in Upper Salford in 1878, and the mine was abandoned in 1880. The ore taken from this mine was of a very good quality, but it does not exist in paying quantities. The next locality in the county where copper was found is about one and a half miles below Norristown, along the line of the new Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad. This very small deposit was found in the limestone belt, and was thrown out by a dynamite blast. It is unusual to find copper in limestone deposits. From an examination of the specimens I found them to bechalcopyrite, with very thin coatings of malachite. There is, however, no regular vein in this locality, but the mineral is disseminated through a vein of quartz which runs through bastard marble in the limestone. So far it has been found only in very small quantities. TIN. -Tin is generally found in rocksof the oldest formations, and very often in the same rocks and gravels in which gold is found. The Cornwall mines in England are the richest and most valuable in the world. But little tin has been found as yet in the United States. It is interesting to observe that this exceedingly rare metal is found in Its native state of purity into gravel of Franconia township, Montgomery Co. It occurs in the same gravel in which scales of native gold were found. The largest pieces of tin were found adhering to the gravel and forming a rounded massmade of a white malleable metal, which was analyzed at found to be pure tin. By panning more spangles of native tin were obtained. Tin was first noticed the county by Dr. C. M. Wetherill. These slight traces are the only instances on record of the occurrence of tin in Pennsylvania. IRON ORES. -The principal ores of iron are magnetic oxide, known as magnetite; red hematite, also called specular ore; brown hematite, known under the name of limonite; spathic iron ore, known as siderite; titanic iron ore, which contains titanium and chromic iron ore which contains chromium. Among the ores of iron might be included iron pyrites compound of iron and sulphur, which is quite worthless for the manufacture of iron on account of the sulphur it contains. MAGNETIC IRON ORE, Fe2O4. -The purest and most important ore of iron is magnetite. Pure manetite is a combination of ferric and ferrous oxide and is represented by the formula Fe2O4. It contains when pure 72.4 percent of iron and 27.6 percent of oxygen. It is seldom found free from impurities some of which influence its value as a source of iron The minerals generally found with magnetite are feldspar, hornblende, quartz, sahlite, and apatite This ore is strongly magnetic, attracting soft iron and the magnetic needle, and many masses of this ore are true native magnets, and from this interesting fact the ore derives its name. It occurs in crystals the usual form being the octahedron; it also occur in dodecahedral crystals. The hardness is 5.5 an, the specific gravity about 5. The color is iron-black and the lustre metallic. The magnetic ores are found in the oldest rocks if the Huronian and Laurentian formations. The ore occurs in beds, which are often parallel, and they generally coincide with the inclination and direction of the crystalline strata between which they lie. They are generally found in beds of gneiss, schist or other granitic rocks that have been metamorphosed by heat. These ores are supposed to have reached their positions between layers of granitic rocks while they were in a melted state, their intrusion being due to a force which ruptured the earth's crust in the direction of the strata and pressed the liquid ore and other fused mineral matters into the open fissures. The way these ores are mined when the dip is nor steep is to leave numerous solid pillars of ore standing to prop up the rock and act as a support, and then remove by blasting the ore which intervenes. Another supposition in regard to these ores is that they were once hematite ores, and have taken Up an extra supply of oxygen and been altered by heat into magnetite. Beds of magnetic ore are searched for 13 by means of the magnetic compass Whenever the compass is in the vicinity of a bed of a magnetite the needle exhibits a strong disturbance. This together with a geological clue and the dip of and direction of the adjoining gneiss, are necessary data for finding the outcrop of the ore. This ore is largely developed through Canada westward to Lake Huron. Extensive beds occur in New York, and a locality at Lake Champlain furnishes many puddling-furnaces in this State with large blocks of crystallized magnetite. It is found in some of the New England States, and in the mountainous districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The world-renowned Swedish ore, which is so pure, is massive magnetite. No very important deposits of magnetic ore are found in Montgomery County. Fine octahedral crystals are found at the soapstone-quarries near Lafayette, and on the opposite side of the river, near the abandoned soapstone quarry, I have noticed quite perfect crystals of the same form. In many of the creeks and brooks of the county, and in the Schuylkill River sometimes, is found a black sand which is composed mainly of fine particles of magnetite. Crystals are found at Chestnut Hill. Although no large beds are found in the county, yet at Boyertown which is but a few miles from the county line, several mines of magnetic ore are worked. These mines have been worked for many years, both by shaft and slope; some of the veins are over twenty feet in thickness. The ore contains a high percentage of sulphur, and is roasted before using; many blast-furnaces in the county use the Boyertown ore. There are mines of magnetic ore at Lebanon, Reading, and on an island in the river near Reading. These mines contain important and valuable deposits of magnetite. Magnetic ore is indispensable in puddling opera- tions to burn the carbon out of the pig-iron. The large blocks of crystallized magnetite are arranged by the puddler, who term the proem "building the furnace." The Lake Champlain ore is used by many puddling-furnaces in this county. It is more difficult to melt than the hematities but is purer and richer in iron. The following analyses were made by Dr. Koenig, of the University of Pennsylvania, and show the composition of Lake Champlain magnetic ore: NEW BED MINE Magnetic oxide of iron 98.20 contains 71.11 per cent. of iron Phosphate of lime .104 contains .0208 phosphorus. Titanium oxide .46 Silica, chlorite, etc 1.04 99.804 total OLD BED MINE, 1700 FEET BELOW NEW BED MINE. Magnetic oxide of iron 97.00 contains 70.24 per cent. of iron. Phosphate of lime .383 contains .076 phosphorus. Titanium oxide .250 Silica, hiurite, etc 2.45 100.083 total The following analyses are of Boyertown magnetic ore, furnished by the Pottstown Iron Company, phosphorus and sulfur not estimated: (1) (2) Iron....................................... 46.36 40.159 Silica..................................... 11.90 9.09 Alumina.................................... 5.22 15.173 Lime....................................... 8.37 7.529 Magnesia................................... 1.18 Trace. BROWN HEMATITE, 2Fe203,3H2O. -This widespread ore of iron occurs massive, and often occurs in botryoidal, stalactitic, fibrous, and radiating masses. The color varies from dark-brown to ochre-yellow; very often specimens have a black, lustrous appearance on the surface and are perfectly smooth, and sometimes they show a silky lustre; this is noticeable in the fibrous varieties, which are often called fibrous hematite. The massive varieties have an earthy or clay lustre. This ore contains when pure 85.6 per cent. of Fe2O3, (oxide of iron) and 14.4 per cent of water; this would be equivalent to about 59.92 per cent. of metallic iron. Whenever brown hematite is heated in a glass tube it will give off water which will form in drops on the side of the tube. This fact distinguishes it from magnetic iron ore and red hematite neither of which contain any water. Another peculiarity of this ore is it always contains phosphoric acid and manganese, besides the clay and sand which generally accompany it. It is much softer than the other iron ores; its hardness is 5 to 5.5, specific gravity 3.6 to 4. The stalactitic and botryoidal forms which it frequently assumes are characteristic, and serve to distinguish it from other ores of iron It melts more readily in a blast-furnace than either of the preceding ores. Brown hematite is also known under the name of limonite. Brown ochre and yellow ochre are varieties of this ore; they are clay and, ochreous. Bog-iron ore occurs in swamps, bog and in low grounds It a porous, earthy ore, of a brownish- black color. It is supposed that this ore was deposited from water which was charged with iron in solution, and when exposed to oxidation by air and the reducing action of decomposing organic matter, it was thrown down in layers and formed bog-iron ore. When brown hematite occurs stalactite it forms what is commonly known as pipe-ore; the ore looks like a collection of little pipes, which sometimes are hollow; sometimes it forms hollow spherical masses, commonly known as pot or bombshell ore. These hollow bombs often contain water or masses of soft clay. The interior often presents a varnish-like appearance which is quite lustrous; this is due to a fine coating of oxide of manganese which covers the ore. This ore generally occurs in pieces which have to be separated from the clay and quartz by washing. Brown hematite is a common ore in Montgomery County, and many thousand tons of this ore have been taken out. The ore occurs in the limestone belt from Edge Hill westward to the Chester County line. It is found in extensive deposits of clay. It is said the first ore ever dug in this valley east of the Schuylkill was near Spring Mill, on the farm of J. Kirkner; this was in the year 1828. From Hitner's mine, near Marble Hall, immense 14 quantities of ore have been taken. In the year 1853 about twelve thousand tons were taken from this mine. It is estimated that from the time iron ore was first mined in the county up to the year 1858, over sixty thousand tons of brown hematite ore were taken from the ore-pits which are situated in the limestone belt on the east side of the Schuylkill. The iron-ore belt begins in the neighborhood of Edge Hill and Oreland. In this vicinity there are quite a number of iron-ore pits, which furnish large quantities of ore; many of the pits have been exhausted, but new ones are constantly started. The ore from this locality is a highly silicious brown hematite; the silica varies from 10 to 30 per cent., and the average percentage of silica in these ores is about 24 per cent., which is high. These ores contain phosphorus; the percentage of this injurious impurity varies in different ores, but the average Edge Hill ore contains from .18 to .3 percent. phosphorus. The percentage of metallic iron in the ores of Edge Hill and vicinity varies from 35 to 50 percent The following analysis will give an idea of the composition of the Edge Hill ores. This brown hematite is known as the Harvey ore, taken from Oreland: Silica 27.16 Iron 43.91 Alumina .40 Phosphorus .25 Lime and magnesia Traces. The extensive blast-furnace at Edge Hill uses this ore; they enrich on magnetic ore from Spain., which contains only .025 percent. of phosphorus, and they also use a foreign hematite of great purity. This Edge Hill ore contains So much silica that a limestone must be used to flux the ore, which is as free as possible from silica. The next important deposits of hematite are in the vicinity of Marble Hall, and are owned by Daniel 0. Hitner. The pits in this neighborhood have been worked for a great many years, and have furnished thousands of tons of ore. The mines at the present time are furnishing an excellent quality of ore, which is screened before using at Mr. Fulton's blast-furnace, in Conshohocken. This ore does not seem to contain as much phosphorus as the ore from the extreme eastern part of the iron-ore belt. It is highly silicious like the Edge Hill ores, and contains a high percentage of iron. The following analysis is of ore from Hitner's pit, above Marble Hall: Silica 20.00 Iron 45.00 Phosphorus. .10 Lime and magnesia Traces. The next neighborhood in the limestone valley where brown hematite, is dug is at Tracey's iron-ore pit. This locality is about one mile east of Conshocken. The are was first dug there in 1860, and from that time until the present a great deal of ore has been taken out. There is one large open pit where the ore was formerly dug, which shows the rude way in which the ore was mined in former times. Shaft are now sunk vertically, and when a deposit of ore is found the opening is made in the direction in which the ore extends. The shaft is five feet square generally, and sometimes extends down in a vertical direction for one hundred feet, and then levels are driven in the direction of the ore. The ore, clay, etc., are drawn from the bottom of the shaft in a buckets, which are attached to a windlass. There are two or three shafts at this deposit, one of which is ninety feet deep. They strike water at a depth of about one hundred feet. This deposit yields about two thousand five hundred tons of ore per year. Hallman's mine adjoins Tracey's and has not been worked quite as extensively. It also is worked by shafts, one of which is over eighty-seven feet deep. They strike water sooner at this mine. As high as sixteen hundred tons of ore per year have been taken from this mine. Neither of these two deposits are being worked extensively at present. The ores are brown hematites of good quality, which are screened before using. Red hematite is found here also, but not in such large quantities. In an adjoining field a new bed of ore has been opened, and is worked by Mr. Hitner The next deposit of iron ore is between Potts' Landing and Harmanville. On Mr. Freedley's property, near Pottstown Landing, a new mine was opened in August, 1883. The ore is found a few feet from the surface in the clay; about two hundred and fifty tons of ore have been dug from this deposit during August and September. The ore is brown hematite, and is shipped to the Pottstown blast-furnaces. It is mixed with clay to a considerable extent, and has to be screened before using. An iron-ore mine was opened on the property of William Wills, situated near Ridge Road Station, on the Plymouth Railroad. Ore was dug here in 1872, and the mines were bought by the Phoenix Iron Company, who went to considerable expense in erecting machinery and engines. It seems that the project was not a paying one, and finally the machinery and engines were abandoned. In 1880 the mines were again worked. This ends the principal localities where ore is dug east of the Schuylkill River. West of the Schuylkill River, in Upper Merion townships are extensive deposits of brown hematite, which were worked years ago. Between Henderson Station and Gulf Mills there are many abandoned ore-pits, which show the direction of the iron-ore belt. A short distance from Henderson's marble-quarries ore was mined quite extensively. Engines, washers, and screens were used, as the ore was mixed with a large amount of clay. It was screened and washed before it was sent to the blast furnaces. Many of these pits are neglected, and some are exhausted. The amount of hematite ore dug in Upper Merion township at the present time is very small when compared with what was dug in former years. Throughout the Montgomery County line valley we find extensive deposits of clay, and it is in 15 these deposits of clay that tile brown hematite ore occurs. In fact, nearly all the beds which have been worked thus far occur in this clay. The deposits in the neighborhood of Marble Hall, Potts' Landing, and Gulf Mills are found in clay. Another noticeable fact is that both the clays and iron ores are generally found in the vicinity of the quartzose mica-schists or the slates. These rocks contain quartz, mica, and oxide of iron. They are especially rich in oxide of iron (hematite), often containing as high as nine per cent. It is supposed that the iron-ore deposits and clay-beds; have resulted from the decomposition of these micaschists and mica-slates. This is extremely probable, because these hydro-mica schists and slate contain not only oxide of iron, but also hydro-mica, which contains the very elements clay is composed of, namely, silica, alumina, and potassium These schists and slates are generally of a grayish tint, and of a some- silky lustre; sometimes they are colored red by ferric oxide. They have an unctuous, soapy feel; oil exposure to weather they soon decompose, and are converted into soft, urictlious clay. All of these slates contain free silica or sand, hence when these mica-slates decompose they yield clay, brown hematite, or oxide of iron, and free silica, or sand. Another fact which goes far to prove that this is the true origin of the ores and clays, is that near many of the clay deposits we find a pure white sand, composed of very fine grains, although sometimes tile sand has a faint brown or red tint. This sand bears no resemblance whatever to the new red sandstone, as it is often perfectly white, and is made up of exceedingly fine particles of silica, containing no admixture of feldspar. This is exactly the same kind of sand or free silica which these mica-slates contain, and it is extremely probable that these deposits of fine white sand found near the clay have resulted in the rotting and decomposing of the slates. This fine sand cannot be melted, and it is mined and shipped to the ironworks, where it is used when a substance that will stand a high heat without melting is required; its priripipal use is to line puddling-furnaces and heating-furnaces. I noticed a deposit of the sand back of Potts' marble-quarries; it is near the mica-slates and is shipped to tile furnaces at Consholocken. A deposit is also found at Lynch's claybeds on the Ridge road. I have been informed that, on Mr. Freedley's property, near Potts' Landing, in the vicinity of the mica- slates a bed of this sand was worked. It will be noticed that these deposits are in the vicinity of mica-slates. RED HEMATITE Fe2O3 -This important ore of iron is named from its red color. When pure it is ferric oxide, Fe2O3, and contains seventy percent of iron and thirty percent of oxygen. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system and the crystals are often thin and tabular. It also occurs massive, granular, foliated micaceous, and sometimes botryoidal and stalatitic. It is of about the same hardness as magnetite 5.5 to 6.5 , and its specific gravity is from 4.5 to 5.3. There are several varieties of red hematite. Specular iron is a variety of red hematite which has a highly brilliant lustre, showing the spiegel or mirror; color, dark steel-gray or iron-black; composition, Fe2O3; lustre, metallic. Notwithstanding the steel-gray color of this ore, when it is reduced to a powder the color of it is red. When specular iron has a foliated structure it is called micacecus iron. The finest specimens of crystallized specular ore come from the island of Elba. Red ochre and red chalk containing clay are varieties of red hematite. The fossil ores are the, most interesting of red hematites. There are extensive deposits of fossil ore in Tioga, Bradford, Blair, Huntingdon, Juniata, and other counties in Pennsylvania. This ore is red, and is made of masses of little shells or bivalves, which are plainly visible, and the middle bed of this ore contains remains of fishes, which are visible in the ore. This bed is known as the fish-bed and the ore is ground and used for paint. These shells are supposed to have lived in a mud which contains an abundance of iron in some form, and when they died the organic matter decomposed and set up a galvanic action, which precipitated the iron on the shells. The organic matter may have reduced and precipitated the iron from solution. This ore occurs in layers, and is mined like a coal-bed. The deposits are generally thin, varying from a few inches to three feet or more in thickness, and run in a zigzag style for over one hundred mines. These ores contain sulphur and rather a high percentage of phosphorus. Red hematitc, occurs both in the crystalline and stratified rocks and is all ages. The most extensive beds, however, occur in the oldest rocks, while the clay varieties occur in stratified rocks. It is found in the new red and also the old red sandstone, and is found also in the limestone belt near Conshohocken. In Montgomery County red hematite has been found in several localities in tile iron-ore belt. At Edge Hill, where the iron-ore belt begins in Montgomery County, a variety containing titanium oxide has been found. It has also been found at the Perkiomen copper-mine, near Shannonville, Montgomery Co.; the variety found here is micaceous. On the road from Jarrettown to Camp Hill, in Upper Dublin township, I found several large blocks of an impure micaceous hematite mixed with an iron-black stratified rock. The ore has never been found here in large quantities, but these surface indication warrant further investigation. At Tracey's mine, near Conshohocken, which is described under brown hematite I noticed considerable red hematite interspersed with brown hematite, which had been thrown out. Mr. Hallman whose mine adjoins this one, informed me that quite a considerable, quantity had been taken from his mine. The samples secured were massive and compact, and of a bright red color it over. The red sandstone which covers the northern and central 16 portions of Montgomery County owes its color to the presence of red hematite. The red soils which are prevalent in many localities in the county contain a small amount of red hematite, which gives them their color, although in many cases, where the soil is derived from red shale, the percentage of hematite is considerable. The red shales of the county contain quite a high percentage of red hematite. Along the Stony Creek Railroad from Norristown to Lansdale are found beds of red shale, alternating with sandstone. At Belfry and Acorn Stations particularly the district is very shaly. I secured a sample of shale on this road near Norristown, and found on analysis that it yielded ten percent. of red hematite. In case of any scarcity of ore perhaps these shales could be utilized. Red ochre has been found in the iron-ore pits which are south of Henderson's marble-quarry, in Upper Merion township, and red hematite associated with brown hematite is also noticed there. Impurities. -The impurities in iron ores are those substances which tend to deteriorate or render unfit for use the iron made from the ore. The impurities often found in iron ores are phosphorus, sulphur, titanium, oxide, copper, and zinc, all of which are injurious constituents. Phosphorus is the worst impurity we have to deal with and the most difficult to eliminate. A high percentage of phosphorus in iron produces cold-shortness, and makes both iron and steel exceedingly brittle. A pencil of cold-short iron containing one percent of phosphorus is so brittle that it will readily snap in pieces when dropped on a piece of metal. In the manufacture of steel, ores free from phosphorus must be used, as .030 of one per cent. phosphorus is the maximum, amount allowed in a good steel. It is on this account that such large quantities of ore are shipped to this country from Spain, Africa, and Sweden, -these foreign ores containing but little phosphorus. Sulphur produces red shortuess in iron when heated to a red heat, and the iron has a tendency to crumble when passed through the rollers. Much of the sulphur in ores can be gotten rid of by roasting, and much is eliminated in the blast-furnace by the use of a basic slag like lime. Titanium oxide generally goes into the slag; five or six percent of this impurity makes a very tough blue slag. It is apparently of no value to iron ores, notwithstanding the fact that for a while there was great excitement about titanium steel made from ores containing titanium oxide. The titanium oxide does not alloy with the iron but goes into the slag, as the oxide is not reduced to titanium very readily. There seems to be a difference of opinion about copper as an impurity. The Bessemer Steel-Works at Bethlehem prefer a magnetic ore from Lebanon which contains a considerable percentage of copper; but the Midvale Steel-Works at Nicetown prefer foreign ores free from copper. It is known that arsenic, antimony, and tin make iron cold-short and brittle; they act like phosphorus and are very injurious impurities. Sometimes iron ores contain vanadium and tungstens. These elements go into the slag and color it they not injurious, but make slags of a high fusing-point. Clay and sand are not regarded as impurities, as they go into the slag. The following analyses of Montgomery County ores, kindly furnished by the Pottstown Iron Company, and the analysis of African ore made by myself, are given for comparison: ORE ANALYSES CHART APPEARS HERE GRAPHITE. -Graphite, or plumbago, is one of the numerous forms of carbon. It is sometimes called black-lead, but this name is apt to mislead, as no enters into its composition. It is sometimes found crystallized in flat hexagonal tables, but usually occurs in black scales or flakes. Sometimes it occurs fine powder, which in the earth looks very mud black mud. It is very soft, and the scales readily cut with a knife. It has a soft, soap, very much like soapstone; color, iron-black to steel-gray; lustre, metallic. Fire has very effect on it, as it is infusible. It is rarely found and when found thus consists entirely of pure carbon. When mined it generally occurs mixed with mica-schist, quartz, clay, oxide of and other earthy impurities. These impurities be separated from graphite by washing. As graphite is very light and the earthy impurities heavy, graphite floats away in the water, leaving impurities behind. No mention is made is the most recent geological survey of Montgomery County of the occurrence of this valuable mineral in the county. I have found several localities in the county there are indications of this mineral; I have found two extensive deposits of it. In an abandoned iron -ore pit near Henderson's Station, near the Chester Valley Railroad, there occurs a deposit of graphite. In that locality the graphite is found as an impalable powder, which in rainy weather comes oozing out from the sides of the pit, resembling very much a deposit of black mud. One side of the pit for a distance of seventy-five feet is stained black by the graphite. Wishing to know whether the deposit extended beyond the pit or whether it was simply a pocket, I determined to dig about twenty feet, distance from the pit where there was no exposure. On clearing away the soil to a depth of about two feet graphite was exposed, thus showing that the deposit 17 extended for some distance, and was very near the surface. I made an analysis of a surface sample which was mostly made up of earthy impurities; it is probable if a sample were secured at a much greater depth that it would contain more graphite. The analysis gave the following result : Carbon, 7.50 percent., the residue consisted of mica oxide of iron, silica, and clay. Graphite in this form can be readily washed. Workmen from the neighboring quarries have used this material as a mineral paint in their houses, not knowing the nature of it. Another deposit occurs in a field near Henderson Station, at about the junction of the small strip of Potsdam sandstone marked on the map and the limestone. This deposit is not visible, as it is covered with from four to six feet of soil; it seems to cover almost the entire field. On digging in different parts of the field, graphite would always be found at a depth of a few feet. This deposit seems to be of the nature of a bed, and is mixed with sand, oxide of iron, and mica; it occurs as fine powder, and has a very soapy feel. The surface posit of this bed is not pure. It is not known to what depth the bed extends; it does not seem to extend beyond this field. At Henderson's marble-quarry, out two and a half miles from Bridgeport, there is beautiful vein of highly crystalline black marble, susceptible of a high polish. This vein is on the South side of the quarry, and is said to be very pure, analyzing ninety-eight percent. of carbonate of lime. Is very interesting to observe that this marble is colored black by graphite. I found, on dissolving the marble in hydrochloric acid, that very small specks graphite were left as a residue. All the black marble in this vicinity owes its color to graphite. I have found traces of graphite between Bridgeport and King of Prussia, in the small belt of Potsdam sandmarked on the geological map. On James Coulton's farm, near Chestnut Hill, in an iron-ore pit graphite occurs. Several tons of it were thrown out. It is an impure variety, occurring in small and mixed with earthly impurities. The purest graphite is used in the manufacture of pencils, commonly called lead-pencils. When it is in the form of a very fine powder, free from grit, with oil, and makes a most excellent lubricator. Being very soft, its hardiness only 2, there is no friction worth mentioning with the machinery. Hessian crucibles were formerly used in melting steel, but would soon melt away; now graphite crucibles are made from clay and graphite. They will stand several heats or fusions, and very high temperatures without melting. Graphite is also used in the manufacture of stove-polish and shoe-blacking. Rich deposits of this mineral are valuable. COAL. -In the triassic formation, commonly known as the new red sandstone, small veins of coal from inches in thickness have been found in several localities Montgomery County. No large workable veins have been discovered only these exceedingly small deposits are found in the new red sandstone, although in Virginia, near Richmond, and in the Deep River Region in North Carolina, in the same formation of new red sandstone that we find in Montgomery County, there are thick beds of good mineral coal. The triassic coals are exceedingly interesting from a geological standpoint, because they occur in more recent formations than the coals of the carboniferous period, and are of an earlier age. In Norristown, on Elm Street, near the Stony Creel, Railroad, a vein of coal was found about one inch thick in the new red sandstone; the vein extended only a few feel, and was not very wide. It was found during the grading of the street, about twelve feet below the surface. I secured samples of this coal for Professor Genth of the University of Pennsylvania, and found in the sandstone the stem of a fossil plant. This coal was of a deep black color, with a somewhat pitchy appearance, was very brittle, with conchoidal fracture, and seemed to burn very well. At Gwynedd, in Montgomery County, in the same formation, is found a bed of carbonaceous shale colored black by traces of coal which it contains, and it is also said to contain vegetable remains. Col. Bean mentions a vein of coal found in Lower Providence township, Montgomery Co., about one-half of a mile West of the Trooper. This vein, like the others, was found in the new red sandstone; it was from two to three inches in thickness and from eighteen to twenty inches in length. During the summer of 1883 hands working upon the new tunnel near Phoenixville discovered a two-inch vein of coal in the sandstone. These triassic coals yield volatile matters, which burn with a non-luminous flame, but they have not the slightest tendency to form a coherent coke. They contain sometimes as high as seventy-four per cent. of fixed carbon, eighteen per cent. of volatile matter, and about two per cent. of ash. LIGNITE. -Lignite, or brown coal, as it is sometimes called, has not been perfectly formed; the lamellar or woody structure can be seen distinctly. In composition it is more like wood than true coal. It yields a powdery coke in the form of the original lumps. It is brittle, burns easily, and often contains from thirty to forty per cent. of water. It is of recent geological origin, and was evidently not formed like true coal. Dr. Leidy mentions it as being found on Plymouth Creek near Norristown. FOSSILS AND ORGANIC REMAINS. -Fossils are found in stratified rocks such as sandstone limestones, and slates. These rocks were evidently in a soft state at one time, like the sand, mud, and gravel which form many of our riverbeds, and they were also covered with water. Corals, crinoids, shells, and other organisms lived in these seas, and when they died their remains became imbedded in the soft mud and sand which formed the bottom of these seas and oceans. In the course of time, under the 18 influence of pressure and other forces, the mud and sand were converted into stratified rocks and it is in these rocks, which have at one time been ancient ocean-beds, that we find fossils. The highest mountains have been at one time the ocean's bottom, for even their peaks contain fossils. On the Himalayas at the height of nearly three miles organic remains are found. In Montgomery County there are very extensive deposits of igneous rocks, such as granites, gneisses, mica-schists, and syenites, and in rocks of this nature fossils are not found, because they are igneous rocks; and their structure shows that they have at one time been subjected to an intense beat, and it may be they were in a molten state, so that any traces of organic life that might have existed would be destroyed The red shale and sandstone formations are the only strata in which organic remains are found in this county. This rock covers the upper and middle portions of the county, and although but few fossils have been found, yet these remains are very interesting and instructive. The reptilian relics found in Montgomery County are the teeth and bones of large lizard-like animals which lived in the ancient seas. These remains have been found at the Phoenixville tunnel, Montgomery County. Specimens of coporlite have also been found imbedded in the same rock. The vertebral bones of these large lizard-like reptiles are slightly concave, or hollowed out, at their articulating surfaces. Mr. Lea has named this reptile the Clepsiaurus Pennsylvanicus. Remains of fishes have been found in this tunnel which belong to the order known as ganoids. These are fishes which have a cartilaginous skeleton, and are covered with enameled scales or with bony plates. The Sturgeons and gar-pikes are living representatives of this order. Batrachian remains such as bones and teeth, are found in this locality. But few fossil plants have been found in the new red sandstone in this county. Specimens of coniferous wood, either petrified or having the nature of coal, and still retaining the woody structure, have been found. This is termed lignite, and is mentioned by Dr. Leidy as being found on Plymouth Creek near Norristown. When the small coal vein was found at Norristown, on Elm Street, near the Stony Creek Railroad, I secured a piece of sandstone from the bottom of the vein, which bore the imprint of a fossil plant. Near Gwynedd is found a bed of carbonaceous shale which is said to contain vegetable remains. The oldest fossil yet discovered in Pennsylvania is the Scolithus linearis. This fossil is found in the Potsdam sandstone at Edge Hill, and in the vicinity of Willow Grove and Rubicam Station. "It consists of a straight, cylindrical, stem-like impression in the sandstone, usually smooth, but sometimes grooved transversely to its axis. Its diameter varies from one-eighth to a half an inch, and its length from a few inches to two or three feet. Its position in the rock is perpendicular to the bedding, and from this fact many think that the impression was produced by the boring of a marine worm. The end of the fossil terminates in a head, which is always found at the upper surface of the sandstone enclosing it. The impression looks like a large pin. These fossils are very abundant in the Potsdam sandstone in Montgomery County." BONE CAVE OF PORT KENNNEDY. -The following account of the cave is taken from the "American Journal of Science and Arts," vol i 1871, p. 235: DIAGRAM OF BONE CAVE OF PORT KENNNEDY, APPEARS HERE. "Before the discovery of remains in the Port Kennedy Cave nearly the whole of the walls had been removed in quarrying. A tooth of a mastodon having been found by one of the workmen, Dr. Quick, of Phoenixville, showed it to Mr. Charles Wheatley, and these two gentlemen immediately visited the cave and commenced the search for remains. They found one end of the cave still remaining, and having the form in transverse section shown by the figure. The width at the top is about twenty feet; below it gradually expands to thirty feet, and then there is a rapid contraction downward until, at a depth of about forty feet, it is ten feet wide. The whole of the space above this level is filled with the debris of the adjoining mesozoic red shale, with occasional angular fragments of auroral limestone, without any trace of organic remains. Where the cave narrows to ten feet the floor is composed entirely of a black clay eighteen inches thick, filled with leaves, stems, and seed-vessels of post-tertiary plants. Scattered all through this mass of vegetable remains, and also in a red tough clay underneath for six to eight inches in depth, are found the fossils. The vertebrate remains are as follows (taken from the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for April 7, 1871, where Professor Cope describes the remains so far identified): 19 Mammalia. -Megalonyx loxodon, Cope; M. Wheatleyi, C; M. dissimis, Leidy; M sphenodon, C; M. tortulus C.; Mylodon(?) Harlani Owen; Sciurus calycinus, C.; Jaclus(?) Hudsonius, Zimm.; Hesperomys, Waterhouse; Arvicola, speothen, C.; A. tetradelta C; A. didelta, C.; A involta, C.; A sigmiodes, C.; A hiatidens, C.; Erthizon clocimum C.; Lepus sylvatus, Bachm.; Praotherium palatinum, C.; Scalops; Verpertilio(?); Mastadon Americanus Cuv.; Tapirus Americanus, Auct.; T. Haysii, Liedy; Equus; Bos; Uranus pristinus, Leidy; Canis(?); Felis. "Aves. -Meleagris Scolopax. "Reptilia. -Crotalus(?); Coluber(?); Tropidonotus(?); Cistudo(?) ; Emys(?); "Batrachia. -Rana (?). Dr. Horn has examined the insects, and gives a preliminary list of the coleoptera, as follows (orthoptera were also found): "Carabidoe. -Cychrus Wheatleyi; C. minor; Cymindis aurora; Chloenius punctatissimus; Pterostichus lÏvigatus; Pt. longipennis; Dicoelus alutaceus. "ScarabÏidÏ. -Aphodius scutellari; A. micans; PhanÏus antiquus; Copris punctulatus. "HisteridÏ. -Saprimis(?) ebeninus. "The remains of mylodon, ursus, and tapirus have been mostly obtained from the tough red clay directly under the plant-bed, but the remains of rodents, snakes tortoises, birds, plants, and insects are mostly confined to the plant-bed." MINERALS. -Minerals and fossils seldom occur together, because many minerals are the result of fusion which would burn out any traces of organic remains, but occasionally remains of plants are preserved in rocks which contain minerals; for example, mica-schist sometimes contains a mineral called macle and the fossils orthis and spiriferes, but in this case the mica-schist is not an ancient igneous rock, but is of sedimentary origin, and has been formed of rocks of recent origin which contain fossils. Many minerals in nature have crystallized out of water which held them in solution at a high temperature. Of recent years science has so imitated nature that many mineral are made artificially by fusion, and by the action of water at a high temperature. Marble has been made from limestone experimentally. A Frenchman, operating with the aid of water at a temperature of from one hundred and thirty to three hundred degrees centigrade, succeeded in producing in a crystallized state the principal minerals found in metallic veins, among others quartz, spathic iron, carbonates of manganese and zinc, heavy spar, sulphide of antimony mispickel, and red silver. He also produced some of the, copper minerals found at Shannonville in the same way. Fact-like these show how nature has formed these metallic veins. In France, during the last century, nearly all the mineral species have been reproduced artificially by various methods. When fusion was resorted to the apparatus was simple, consisting of a furnace, heated by a blow-pipe, supplied with illuminating gas, and driven by a blast. The substances to be fused were put in platinum crucibles encased in fire-clay. Not only were minerals formed, but also alvas and trap-rocks. All attempts to make rocks containing quartz, feldspar, and mica, or hornblende (such as granite and syenite), by fusion, proved unsuccessful. Montgomery County contains a variety of minerals. But few specimen, are found in the new red sandstone, except in the localities where metallic veins of copper are found. Here we not only find copper minerals but ores of zinc and lead. The copper-mines near Shannonville have yielded many mineral species, such as copper, mispickel, iron pyrites, coverlets, cuprite, melaconite, hematite, quartz, clirysocolla, breunnerite, libethenite, malachite, copper pyrites, azurite, wulfenite, satellite, zincblende, calamine, pyromorphite, anglesite, cerussite. These species were found when the mines were in operation, and even at the present time many of them can be secured. At the copper-mine in Upper Salford township native copper and several copper minerals are found. At Henderson's marble-quarry, near Bridgeport, graphite and crystals of dolomite which are finely striated are found, and occasionally small pieces of malachite. At Conshohocken, quartz, flint, chalcedony, chloritoid and cacoxenite are found; at Bullock's quarry, fibrolite, calcite, and occasionally a small seam of iron pyrites are found. At O'Brien's quarry beautiful crystals of calcite, sometimes nearly transparent, are found. At the iron-ore mines near Conshohocken the hematitc is sometimes coated with a manganese mineral called pyrolusite. Edge Hill furnishes specimens of hematite braunite pyrolusite, turgite and gÏthite. The soapstone-quarries at Lafayette have yielded many minerals species. The following copper minerals have been found there, bornite and chalcopyrite. Iron minerals found there are magnetite, pyrrbotite, and titanium iron ore. The silicates found there are asbestos, hornblende, garnet, zoisite, albite, talc, serpentine, staurolite, jefferisite, enstatite. The sulphates found there are epsomite and calcanthite. Phosphate of zinc (apatite) and carbonate of lime and magnesia (dolomite) are found. On the other side of the river, at the abandoned soapstone-quarry, talc, asbestos, and very fine octahedral crystals of magnetite are found. At Hitner's marble-quarry calcite, strontianite, dolomite, heavy spar, and iron pyrites are found. QUARTZ. -Quartz is known under the names of silica, silex, and silicic acid, flint, etc. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, mostly in the form of hexagonal prisms, terminated with hexagonal pyramids. It is one of the hardest of minerals. The point of a knife-blade or edge of a file making no impression on it. The highest heat of a furnace will Dot melt it; the common acids have no action on it. It readily scratches glass. Its hardness is 7. Quartz occurs of various colors, -white, brown, yellow, blue gray, green, black, violet, and often colorless. These colors are generally due to some mineral oxide 20 which the quartz has taken up. The lustre is vitreous, the fracture is conchoidal and uneven. The composition of quartz when pure is silicic acid=SiO2. The mineral quartz occurs in many varieties. Rock crystal, smoky quartz, milky quartz, aventurine quartz, ferruginous quartz, and amethyst are the crystallized varieties. Chalcedony, carnelian, prase, agate, flint, hornstone, jasper, and opal are the varieties of quartz which do not exhibit a crystalline structure. The colorless variety known as rock crystal is found in many localities. I have noticed very fine crystals on Eastburn's Hill, Bridgeport. They have been found in abundance here, but the best specimens have been secured. Very large crystals, having a pyramid on each end, have been found at King of Prussia, and from this place to the Schuylkill River very fine crystals are found. I have noticed a peculiar variety of quartz crystals in Shainline's marble-quarry, near Bridgeport. The crystals are three-quarters of an inch long, and taper from the base to the apex of the crystal. Quartz crystals are found in the limestone-quarries near by. Aventurine quartz has been found in Conshohocken. Ferruginous quartz, colored brown, red, or yellow by oxide of iron, I have noticed in the vicinity of Bridgeport. Chalcedony has often been found as a coating on other rocks near Conshohocken and Bridgeport. The arrowheads found in many localities are generally composed of jasper. There is a valuable deposit of sand near Valley Forge, which is used as a lining or covering for the bottom of the heating-furnaces in the pipemill, Reading, Pa. Most linings would not stand the heat of these furnaces, but this sand is infusible. I was requested to examine it, and found on analysis that it is composed of fine grains of very pure quartz, free from iron, and not a trace of feldspar or any material that would flux with it was found. Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in nature, and the most common constituent of rocks. The granites and gneisses, which are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, often contain as high as forty per cent of quartz. The mica-schists, garnetiferous schists, syenites, and granitic rocks, which comprise the southern end of Montgomery County, from Philadelphia to the limestone belt, are made up to a great extent of quartz. Mica-schist contains from forty to seventy per cent. of quartz, and sometimes a still higher percentage of quartz is found in certain varieties; the other constituent is mica. The large belt of new red sandstone which is found north of the Montgomery County line stone belt, extending from the Delaware River as far westward as Valley Forge, is made up almost entirely of quartz colored red by oxide of iron. While existing in rocks abundantly as quartz, it also makes, on an average, a third of many other minerals; that is, it is chemically combined with other substances making various common minerals. These minerals are known as silicates. Of recent years quartz has a new use in the arts: when found pure and white and free from impurities it is mined and made into sand-paper, and is used as a polisher of metals softer than steel. It has been mined at Bridgeport and Valley Forge for this purpose. The purest rock, crystals are made into lenses. Amethysts of fine quality are used in jewelry. BUILDING STONES OF THE COUNTY. -The best and most desirable building stones are those which are compact and yet can be readily cut into any desired shape. The stone must not be soluble in water, or must not be acted on or altered by the impurities which are found in the atmosphere. Building stones which meet the above requirements are exceedingly lasting. The most durable building stones now employed are granite, gneiss, basalt, porphyry, serpentine and compact sandstones. All of these rocks are highly silicious, and but little acted on by the weather. The hardness of the first four of these rocks is so great that it is difficult to dress them but even this obstacle does not prevent their general use. Besides the silicious building stones we have the calcareous stones, which are carbonate of lime principally. The different colored varieties of marble and limestone come under this class; they are much softer than the silicious stones. Of late years granite is much used, especially for public buildings. The Masonic Temple and the new post-office building at Philadelphia are built of a variety of granite. The granites have been employed for too short a time as a building stone to measure approximately its rate of weathering. The feldspar in granite begins to weather first, while the quartz and mica are not so readily attacked. It has been found that a polished surface of granite will weather more rapidly than a rough one, but the decay of a polished granite surface is not apparent after exposure for twenty years or more; there is no doubt but that the polish will finally disappear and the surface roughen when the-weather begins to act on the crystals of feldspar. The polished columns and surfaces of granite, syenite, etc., in the new Public Buildings at Philadelphia will furnish points of observation for the future study of the weathering qualities of these stones. We have extensive beds of syenite and granitic rocks in Montgomery County, which have been little used as yet for building stones. They are very hard and compact and are not the fine-grade building stone. The new red sandstone, which covers the greater portion of Montgomery County, is much used as a building stone, and nearly all the stone houses in the upper portion of the county are built of this rock. The finest silicious sandstones are more durable than granite. The best varieties are those which are nearly a pure, fine, silicious sand, as free as possible from iron or lime. Sandstones are composed of grains of sand, which are bound together by a cement. This cement, or matrix, may be clay, lime, oxide of iron, feldspar, or even gelatinous silica. The grains of sand in sandstone are not affected by weathering, but it 21 is the weathering of the cement which binds the grains that causes sandstones to crumble. If the cement be at all soluble in water then the weathering commences. When a sandstone is composed of thin layers or planes of stratification, then it is very apt to split up along these planes under the action of the weather. This fact is well known to builders, who are always careful to lay the stone on its bed. The Potsdam sandstone, which is found in Moreland, Upper Dublin, Springfield, White Marsh, and Plymouth townships, is a fine-grained white or gray sandstone, with scales of a light-colored mica. It occurs in narrow belts, and is composed of thin layers as mentioned above. This fact unfits it for a good building stone, and it is used but very little. It is the new red sandstone which is in such general use as a building stone in this county, particularly in the country. Quarries of this stone are worked in nearly every township in the northern and central portions of the county. In some localities the stone is white, and makes a beautiful building stone. This white stone is extensively quarried on Main Street, near the eastern limits or Norristown. The red and the white sandstones are found in these quarries; the lower strata are white and the upper red, with an occasional layer of red shale, The white contains a pink feldspar and scales of a pearly mica, and is free from iron. This stone makes a very handsome building stone, and is much used. Although it contains the constituents of granite, it is not granite, but sandstone with a matrix of feldspar. Stone of the same nature is found in Bridgeport. In the northern part of Upper Dublin township there is a sandstone containing a feldspar, which weathers rapidly and soon disintegrates. One of the best stones for bridge-building and foundations and heavy masonry of all kinds is extensively quarried at Conshohocken, on both sides of the river. The West Conshochocken quarries were worked sixteen years ago, and now they daily average over one hundred tons of rock for shipment. The rock is blasted out in huge pieces, which are cut by steam drills, and afterwards dressed. The shipment of stone from this quarry on Sept. 6, 1883, was one hundred and seventy-seven tons. Boyd, Stintson & O'Brien's quarry, in East Conshohocken, yields the same kind of stone, and is a continuation of the strata. This rock is a tough quartzose mica-schist, composed of quartz and mica mostly, and extends from the county line, in the lower portion of Upper Merion township, across the Schuylkill in a narrow belt and extends into White Marsh township. The handsome Dew railroad bridge across the Wissahickon was built of this Conshohocken stone. The blasting at these quarries is done by dynamite. The most important building stone Montgomery County furnishes is marble. The many valuable marble-quarries in the county are described under limestone in the geology. Hitner's, Potts', Henderson's and Derr's marble-quarries are the principal ones in the county, and they furnish not only the county with marble but also Philadelphia. Nearly all the marble used in Philadelphia, with the exception of the imported, is brought from these quarries. It is used principally in building. The handsome county court-house at Norristown is built of Montgomery County marble, and many handsome private residences are built of like marble. Notwithstanding the general use of marble as a building stone, it is more acted on by the weather than any stone in general use in large cities. When marble is used for building purposes it has at first, a fine polished surface; exposure of two years in a large city suffices to remove this polish, and to give the surface a rough granular character. The grains which have been bruised in polishing are first attacked, and soon drop out of the stone. If the marble be not cared for it soon becomes covered with a dirty crust, beneath which the stone seems to be a mass of loose, crumbling calcite granules. When this crust is broken the decay is rapid. The crust varies from the thickness of writing paper to a millimeter and is of a dirty gray or brownish-black color. When examined under the microscope it is found to consist of particles of coal and soot, grains of quartz sand, fragments of red brick or tile, and organic fibres, which are held together by an amorphous cement of sulphate of lime. This decay and disintegration of marble in large cities is due to several causes. The most active destroyer is rain-water containing carbonic acid gas, which dissolves marble. Rain-water always contains carbonic acid and in large cities, where combustion produces an extra amount of this gas, rain-water will have an extra amount in solution. When rain falls on marble it begins to dissolve very slowly, and the grains of marble lose their cohesion. Marble exposed to rain always weathers more rapidly than marble that is sheltered. Another very active destroying agent is the sulphuric acid that is always present in the air of cities where much coal is burned. All coal contains sulphur, mostly in the form of iron pyrites, and when it is burnt it is converted finally on oxidation into sulphuric acid. This acid is extremely corrosive. Sulphuric acid is present in the air in a considerable quantity in large cities, where thousands of chimneys and furnaces send forth their smoke. It acts on marble by dissolving it and forming sulphate of lime, which is the cement which binds the dirty outer crust together. Marble in the country, free from this destroyer, lasts much longer. The marble columns of the Philadelphia Mint had become so corroded and rotten that they were recently replaced by granite columns. The marble columns of the Custom-House show plainly the action of the weather. It is very evident that white marble in large cities is utterly unsuited for out-of-door use, and its employment for works of art which are meant to stand in the open air ought to be strenuously restated. 22 The tombstones in our graveyards are constructed of white saccharoid Italian marble. They are generally destroyed in less than a century, and very often the inscription becomes illegible inside of forty years. A walk through the cemeteries will show many examples. Granite and syenite are much used of late years. End Chapter II - Part I.