In order to determine accurately the proportion of iron, a sample was taken from the whole thickness of the bed, which was found to contain thirty-one per cent, of iron.
A great advantage possessed by this ore, in common with the Glasgow black band, consists in the fact that coal is mined with it. The mixture of iron and coal is placed in long hills or ricks, which, upon being fired, are found to contain sufficient fuel for roasting, which is necessary for all the carbonates of the coal regions. Before roasting, three and one-third tons of ore would be required for one ton of metal; but the roasted ore, owing to the loss of carbonic acid and water, is found to contain more than forty-two per cent, of iron, so that two and three-eighths tons only are needed for a ton of metal. There are many other deposits of ore, besides those above mentioned, that will prove valuable if properly worked.
Immense beds of fire-brick clay accompany the coal formation, valuable for hearths, for furnaces of all sorts, fireplaces, stoves, etc. The demand for these bricks is greater than can be promptly supplied, owing to the limited capacity of the works engaged in their manufacture. The quantity of this kind of clay is sufficient in the coal-fields of Allegany to supply the demands of the country for many centuries to come.
One of the great natural resources of this county is its immense primitive forests of timber, consisting of white oak, red and black oak, black walnut, wild cherry, curly maple, red and white pine, yellow poplar, and locust. A feature worthy of note is the growth of locust timber, which springs up immediately on the destruction of the original forests. The growing scarcity of timber in this State, and indeed all along the seaboard, gives the timber resources of this county an intrinsic value that has been somewhat dwarfed by the coal and iron speculations in this region.
Accompanying the coal formation large quantities of bituminous limestone are found in parallel layers. On Martin's Mountain, between Evitt's and Polish Mountains, it is also found extensively imbedded. Indeed, the localities where limestone is found are so numerous in this county that a bare enumeration of them would occupy much space. There is more than will ever be used, whether for roads, buildings, ore-fluxes, or agricultural purposes. The limestones are all dolomites, containing from eight to forty per cent, of carbonate of magnesia. Recent developments have shown that the city of Cumberland occupies a position upon the great fossil or Clinton ore-belt, which is not only central, but really will give it the command of the iron trade in the near future.
Pittsburgh, the present iron-mart of this country, possesses cheap and ready fuel, but is compelled to range far and near for ores to feed her furnace-fires. An essay read before a meeting of the leading business men of that city (Pittsburgh) showed that a saving of millions of dollars per annum would result from the building of a line of railroad which should tap the ore-beds of West Virginia, some two hundred and fifty miles distant. These ores are found in vast profusion at a distance of about forty miles south of Cumberland, and at an elevation which will give an average grade of forty-five feet to the mile to the local railroad, whose construction is being rapidly arranged for at present date; this railroad will have its terminus in Cumberland.
It is a noticeable, and a very remarkable, fact that nearly all of the mineral wealth surrounding the city of Cumberland lies above its level, and in many instances can be handled by gravity alone from the mine to the furnace.
This fact will strike an interested mind at once as one well calculated to decide the location of new works, the more especially when, by referring to the map, it will be seen that the lines of natural drainage meet directly in the city, and it is upon or down such lines that heavy raw material can be handled to best advantage, and at least cost.
Among the available ores are those lying along the Pennsylvania Railroad, and which can be mined and handled at a very low rate.
The " Soft Fossil Vein" varies from one to two feet in thickness, and is separated only by a foot or more of sandstone from the " Hard Fossil," which ranges from six to twelve inches thick. The ore has the following composition:
Metallic iron 41.34
Silica 15.10
Water 6.92
Phosphorus 0.51
Like all the fossil of this region, it contains only a trace of sulphur, and nearly sufficient lime to flux the silica in the ore. These ores, if mixed properly, can be relied upon to yield forty per cent, in furnace, and will cost about three dollars and fifty cents per ton delivered in Cumberland. The '' Big Fossil Vein," also known as the " Levant," or " Black Ore," crops out near the city, and can be traced for twenty miles along the Potomac River and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, until it assumes the character of ferruginous sandstone. Specimens of this ore assay:
Iron 27.77
Phosphorus 0.33
Silica 54.20
The lower leads are not exposed, but will yield about thirty per cent, in the furnace; its remarkable thickness and the low cost at which the ore can be quarried and shipped renders it valuable, as it can be delivered in Cumberland at but little over one dollar and seventy-five cents per ton. It can be mixed to advantage with the limestone fossils first mentioned, and can be worked to advantage along with the rich hematites and magnetites of Virginia. The measures lying immediately south of Cumberland yield over forty-three per cent, of iron, and are unusually free from silica. They are so situated that they can be mined easily and economically. The only effort towards bringing them into the market has been made through the medium of a single charcoal furnace, the product of which has held an excellent reputation.
In summing up, it may be said that the city of Cumberland occupies a position relative to three great parallel zones of fossil, hematite, and magnetic ores, which renders it highly probable that an early day will witness its development into one of the leading iron-working localities of our country.
Fire-Clay. — In all industries requiring the use of a higher degree of heat, and especially in the manufacture of glass and iron, the quantity, quality, and cost of such fire-clay as may be necessary are very important items.
The national reputation of the firebrick manufactured in the vicinity of Cumberland obviates any necessity from going into the details of making it, yet it might be well to state that, under the improved methods now in use at the Union Mining and Manufacturing Company's works, located at Mount Savage, it is possible that cheapness in cost of production can now be added to that advantage of superiority in quality which causes the fire-brick made in this region to be sought for above all others.
The beds of pure fire-clay contained in the coal measures of this region comprise some eight veins, and in the aggregate measure about fifty-three feet in thickness.
It has been stated that a mixture of this fire-clay with the German clay now extensively used makes a pot for glass furnaces which is unequaled for strength and resistance to the action of the necessary intense heat.
Suitable clay for potting, tile, terracotta, and common brick can be had in inexhaustible quantities in different localities contiguous to the city, and sharing in its transportation facilities.
Limestone. — Cliffs of this rock, so necessary for the successful working of iron-ore silicates, tower far above the level of the river, canal, and the several railroads, whose lines cross each other in the very heart of the city, — in fact, the " Lower Helderberg" and " Water Line" formations are quarried and worked inside of the city limits; the latter material being the basis of one of the oldest and most thriving industries of the town. The Cumberland Hydraulic Cement Company has furnished for nearly forty years a hydraulic cement which yet stands highest in the records of civil engineering for energy