been smelted for a hundred years in the middle and western counties, both in forges and furnaces; but only in quantities sufficient for neighborhood consumption. Much of this iron, though so rudely prepared, is equal to the best Swede, being of course, like that, reduced with charcoal. The most abundant kind of ore is Magnetite, and most of the iron hitherto manufactured in the State has been made of it; but Red Hematite is scarcely less abundant, and Limonite is very common. Two kinds of ^carbonaceous ore occur in association with the coal, viz: the Scotch Black Band and Ball ore, (calcareous siderite). Many of the’ beds of the two former ores, Magnetite and Red Hematite, are entirely free from both Sulphur and Phosphorus ;*some of them contain Maganese, others Titanic Acid, andlT'still others both of these minerals, together with a small percentage of Chromium. Such deposits in such quantities and of such purity, remain undeveloped only because occurring in a region heretofore little accessible, and wholly devoted to agriculture. But their high value for the manufacture of the best kinds of cutlery steel, and for the Bessemer rail is bringing them prominently into notice and demand.
Coal. The coal of this State is of Triassic age, mostly bituminous ; is a good gas coal and also well adapted to iron smelting when coked. There are two coal beds, both in the middle region, one on Deep River, mostly in Chatham county, the other on Dan River, (upper waters of the Roanoke,) in Rockingham and Stokes counties. The thickness of the workable seams ranges from 3 to feet. The outcrops are respectively estimated at about 30 and 40 miles, and the probable breadth at about 3 miles in one case and 1 to 2 in the other. Both of these coal beds are in immediate proximity to some of the most extensive and valuable iron ore deposits in the State and on navigable streams.
Peat exists in very large quantities, (several hundred square miles in area and many feet thick,) in the counties