xt7r7s7hqw6c https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7r7s7hqw6c/data/mets.xml Moore, Philip North, b. 1849. 1877 books b96-12-34887795 English Stereotyped for the Survey by Major, Johnston & Barrett, Yeoman Press, : [Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Iron industry and trade Kentucky. Report upon the Airdrie furnace and property, Muhlenburg County, Kentucky / by P.N. Moore. text Report upon the Airdrie furnace and property, Muhlenburg County, Kentucky / by P.N. Moore. 1877 2002 true xt7r7s7hqw6c section xt7r7s7hqw6c
GEOLOG(ICAL
SURVEY
OF KENTUCKY.
N. S. SHALER, DIRECTOR.
REPORT
UPON THE
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY,
MUHLENBURG
COUNTY, KENTUCKY,
BY P. N. MOORE.
PART IV. VOL. II. SECOND SERIES.
VOL. II.-I I
i6, & ,62
This page in the original text is blank.
INTRODUCTORY LETTER.
Professor N. S. SHALER, Director Kentucky Geological Survey:
SIR: In accordance with your instructions, I made, during
the past summer, an examination of the Airdrie Furnace and
property, with a view to ascertain something of the resources
of the estate, the causes of the former non-success of the
furnace, and to suggest, if possible, the means whereby it can
be brought into successful operation. The time at my com-
mand did not suffice for a careful geological examination of
the whole property, and my attention was therefore given only
to that portion in the immediate neighborhood of the furnace.
It is to this that the furnace must look for its supply of fuel for
a long time to come, and, as on examination it proved suffi-
ciently rich in coal to place the matter of a sufficient supply
beyond reasonable doubt, little attention was given to any
other part of the property.
P. N. MOORE, Assistant.
LEXINGTON, Ky., December, 1874.
063
REPORT UPON THE AIRDRIE FURNACE AND
PROPERTY, MUHLENB3URG COUNTY, KY.
SITUATION.
Airdrie Furnace is situated near the village of Paradise,
Muhlenburg county, Kentucky, on the bank of Green river,
one hundred and thirty miles above its mouth, eighty-five
miles below the head of slack-water navigation at Bowlifig
Green. It is also four miles above Rockport, where the Lou-
isville, Paducah and Southwestern Railroad crosses Green
river, a stream which furnishes slack-water navigation for
two hundred and fifteen miles, at nearly all times of the year,
to boats drawing four feet of water; and during the greater
portion of the time is navigable for boats drawing six feet.
There are but two locks between Airdrie Furnace and the
Ohio river, and these are of a size uniform on Green river-
one hundred and forty-five feet long by thirty-six feet wide.
THE FURNACE.
The furnace was built in 1855-'56. It has an iron shell
stack, resting upon a masonry base, twenty-six and a half feet
square by twenty-one feet high. The outside diameter of the
shell is twenty-three feet.
The internal dimensions of the furnace are as follows:
height fifty feet, diameter of bosh seventeen feet, height to
bosh twenty-four feet (bosh cylindrical for six feet), diameter
of throat eleven feet. The hearth is four feet high (elliptica
in shape), seven feet four inches by (about) five feet.
"4
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
The furnace is entirely open-topped, having no facilities for
saving the gases, and requiring separate firing for both boil-
ers and hot-blast.
There are two hot-blast ovens of the old-fashioned pistol-
pipe pattern, with thirty-four pipes in each oven, ten curved
pipes on each side, with seven straight at each end. The
pipes are eight feet long, elliptical in cross section, nine by
eighteen inches, with diaphragm through the center of each.
There are four boilers, each forty inches in diameter by
twenty-eight feet in length, each boiler having two flues.
The engine is vertical, with direct connection between the
steam and blast cylinders, and also connected with a heavy
walking beam and fly-wheel, the walking beam working with
a counterpoise at one end.
The steam cylinder is twenty inches in diameter, and nine
feet stroke; the blast cylinder six feet ten inches in diameter,
stroke same as steam cylinder.
The engine-house is a splendid stone structure, built of a
fine free stone, which occurs at the furnace. Everything about
the furnace is constructed in the most thorough and durable
manner.
The top of the furnace is about the level of the No. ii
Coal, to be hereafter described, and the ore and coal from the
No. 12 seam were brought to the furnace mouth through a
tunnel cut in the No. r l Coal.
The engine is in good order and well preserved.
The furnace proper stands perfectly sound, and could, in a
very brief time, be put in condition to go into blast; but among
the buildings attached thereto the lapse of the many years
since they were in use has not been without its effect, so that
repairs to both buildings arid hot-blast apparatus will need to
be made before they can be used again.
THE PROPERTY.
The Airdrie Furnace property consists of about 17,ooo acres
of land in Muhlenburg county, Kentucky. This land is not all
in one body, but lies in various sized lots, ranging from 500 to
i6S
S
REPORT UPON THE
5,ooo acres. The greater portion of the estate lies within a
short distance of the furnace; but one tract of about 5,000
acres-the old Buckner Furnace property-is about five miles
from Greenville, the county seat of Muhlenburg county, and
fifteen miles from Airdrie. Upon this tract, if all reports be
true, there are extensive beds of iron ore, as well as some of
the lower coals, one of which, said to be four feet thick, was
mined and coked for use at the old Buckner Furnace. The
situation is such, however, being five miles from the railroad
at Greenville, that for the present, at least, the minerals of
this tract cannot be rendered available.
We come then to the examination of the property adjacent
to the furnace. A geological section showing the number and
position of the coals here is given in the third volume of the
Kentucky Geological Reports, first series, page 24. This
section was obtained in sinking a shaft at the furnace, and
the measurements are therefore probably much more accu-
rate than those usually obtained by boring. In reproducing
the essential parts of the section, and describing the coals,
the numbers assigned to them in the first series Geological
Survey Reports will be used provisionally, for the reason that
they are best known by these numbers, and that, although
they have been discarded by the present Survey, the final
nomenclature has not yet been decided upon.
We have, then, at this place the following coals:
1. Coal No. I2, two feet thickness of clear coal, then two
feet of brashy coal. Resting upon this is a bed of slaty car-
bonate of iron, which sometimes contains a small amount of
carbonaceous matter, and is called a Black-band iron ore.
This ore ranges from four to fourteen inches in thickness,
with an average of perhaps five or six. Its chemical consti-
tution will be referred to hereafter.
II. Twenty-one feet below Coal No. 12, resting immediately
under a hard, blue limestone, is Coal No. i i, six feet thick, in
three members, each about two feet in thickness, with a part-
ing of one to two inches of pyritiferous shale between each
member. This coal is about sixty-five feet above Green river.
i66
6
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
III. Below the level of Green river, and eighty-four feet
under Coal No. I I, is Coal No. 9, five feet thick. This is
the same coal as that mined so extensively for the Louisville
market along the line of the Louisville, Paducah and South-
western Railroad. Little is known of its quality here, but it
is safe to suppose that it does not vary greatly from that along
the railroad.
IV. There are one or two thin coals below this, but it is not
until a depth of three hundred and forty-one feet below No.
9 is reached that another coal of workable thickness occurs.
This is called No. 5 by Dr. Owen, and is three feet six inches
thick. If the report of the miners who sunk the shaft, and of
others who were employed at the furnace, is to be believed,
this coal is of most excellent quality. A drift was run, and
considerable coal taken out and used under the boilers with
great success.
We see, therefore, that there are here, including the No. 12
Coal, which can be profitably worked with the overlying iron
ore, no less than four coals of workable thickness.
QUALITY OF THE COAL.
Of the quality of No. 5 and No. 9 Coal at this place, we of
course know nothing, for it was impossible to obtain samples
for analysis. Samples of the No. II coal were obtained from
the mine at Paradise, adjoining the Airdrie property. They
were taken with gteat care from a number of rooms in the
mine, in order to obtain as nearly an average as possible, rep-
resenting the coal as actually mined and shipped. It is a
brilliant black, firm coal, with comparatively little fibrous coal
or mineral charcoal. It cleaves readily into large rectangular
blocks in mining. There is considerable pyrites mingled with
it in an increasing ratio from the top to the bottom, the upper
member carrying the least. A sample was taken from each
member. The following analyses are by Dr. Peter and Mr.
Talbutt, chemists of the Survey:
7
REPORT UPON THE
ANALYSES OF NUMBER ELEVEN COAL, PARADISE MINE.
Upper. Middle. Bottom
Specific grasty.. 1.274 1.326 1-331
Moisture.. . 60 4.10 4.20
Volatile combustible matter. 38.70 35.90 36.io
Fixed carbon . . . 53 70 coke 57 70 56o cke60. 00 5lcoke 59.70
Ash.......... 4(.00 57 6.4o e. 9.20j
Total... .. .. .. soo.oo ioo.oo ioo.oo
Sulphur..... .. .. 3.158 4.394 4.573
It will be seen from the above that while an extremely good
coal in the matter of freedom from water and ash, yet there
is a very considerable per centage of sulphur present. It is,
however, an excellent household and steam coal, and is held
in high repute wherever it has been tried. Large quantities
are sent from the Paradise mines to Bowling Green, where it
is used for domestic purposes and by the railroad, and it is
there rated higher than any other coal from Green river.
The No. 12 Coal.-As it was in the expectation of using
this coal raw for fuel that the furnace was built, and as it was
actually so used during the short campaigns of the furnace, it
became a matter of considerable importance to obtain a per-
fectly average representative sample for analysis.
The attempt to obtain such a sample was only partially suc-
cessful. The old entries by which the coal was worked have
fallen in, so that it was impossible to get at the face of the
coal where a sample from a number of places could be taken.
A shaft was, therefore, sunk through the coal near one of
the entries, and an average sample taken. Another was taken
from a pile of several thousand bushels which lies at the mouth
of one of the old drifts, where it has been exposed to the
weather for seventeen years. Although these must both rep-
resent the coal with a certain degree of accuracy, yet at both
places it had been to a certain extent exposed to the weather,
and may have absorbed water and parted with some sulphur.
168
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
The fact that the coal is quite "e fat," however, containing much
bituminous matter, tended to preserve it from the action of the
weather. In the interior of the pile of coal at the entry many
pieces were found only very slightly affected by its protracted
e tposure.
It is a deep -black coal, showing little pyrites, and quite bitu-
minous, too much so apparently to be successfully used alone
raw in the blast furnace. Of the following three analyses the
first was made by Dr. Peter, and published in the fourth vol-
ume of Kentucky Geological Reports, first series, page 230.
Of the character of the sample and by whom taken I am
ignorant. The second and third are by Dr. Peter and Mr.
Talbutt, from average samples taken by myself. The second
is the weathered coal from the stock-pile; the third from bot-
tom of shaft near entry No. 4.
ANALYSES OF NUMBER TWELVE COAL, AIRDRIE FURNACE.
I. II. III.
Specific gravity..... . 1'593 1.332 1.278
Moisture.............. 7.o6 40 7 3.60
Volatile c-mbustible matter. 30.84 30.60 31.40
Fixed carbon _. 7 e 58 8coke.64 7.50 coke 65,00
Total... .. .. . . 100.00 100.00 100.00
Sulphur. 0.789 1-455 1.438
A remarkable resemblance will be noticed between analyses
two and three, showing that they have weathered very simi-
larly; but the coal of No. 2 has absorbed more water and lost
some of its volatile combustible matter. They show this to
be a coal of very good quality, with neither sulphur nor ash
sufficient to seriously injure it. It is so bituminous that it did
not work well raw in the furnace, and after three unsuccessful
trials it was decided to use it coked. A large amount of coke,
s(ex fral thousand bushels, was made; but the furnace was
never started again, and it now lies on the stock bank, some
169
9
REPORT UPON THE
of it good looking coke yet, after the rain and snows of seven-
teen years have fallen upon it. It is difficult to tell what the
quality of it was when first made, and a sample taken from
this pile does not fairly represent the coke that can be made
from the coal; but it was regarded as matter of sufficient inter-
est to be worth an analysis. I accordingly selected from the
least weathered of the coke a sample for analysis, which is
here given. The coke was made in open heaps, and there-
fore is not as firm and dense as it would be if coked in close
ovens:
Moisture expelled at 212 ...................... ........... ............. 7.50
Moisture expelled at red heat .. ...... . . . . . . . ....... 4.20
Fixed caron .82.90
Ash .. . .. . . .. .. . .. .. ... ... ... .. . 5.4o
Total... .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. tao.oo
Sulphur.... .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . o.642
The composition of the ash is as follows:
Silica and silicates............... . 4.32
Alumina, oxide of iron, and manganese ..4
Lime.. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . 33
Magnesia..... .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . . i
Phosphoric acid.. .8
Total. 539
As was to be expected, the coke has absorbed a very
considerable per centage of water; but the amounts of both
sulphur and ash are small.
THE IRON ORE.
Above the No. 12 Coal, already referred to, is a hard,
dense, slaty carbonate, often containing fern leaf impressions
between its cleavage planes. The amount of bituminous mat-
ter shown by analysis is small, and probably adheres to it from
the associate shale and coal. It contains occasional specks of
pyrites large enough to be easily seen by the unassisted eye.
Its appearance is decidedly against it, and it seems to be
much leaner than it really is.
170
T0
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
The same difficulty was experienced in obtaining a fair
average sample of the ore as with the No. 12 Coal. A sample
was obtained from the same shaft, sunk to reach the coal near
the old No. 4 entry, but it was so near the surface that the ore
had been altered to a limonite. At this place, too, it seemed
to be less silicious than usual, and the average, of course, was
taken from only a limited amount of ore. Another sample
was taken from a pile of unroasted ore lying near the mouth
of the entry, where it has been exposed to the weather for
seventeen years.
Still another sample was taken from a large pile of roasted
ore, which had undergone a like period of exposure since
roasting. In all of these there is a possibility that the ore is
a little richer in iron and more free from sulphur than will be
found to be the case when it is reached at a place where it is
wholly unaltered; for the exposure to the air has a most bene-
ficial effect in peroxidizing the iron and removing the sulphur.
The analyses by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt are as fol-
lows:
1. 2.
Peroxide of iron..... .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. 63.048 859.810
Alumina... .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. .. . 5.290 2.972
Brown oxide of manganese....9.0........... . .. g9 .720
Carbonateof lime. ... ......... .................. .50
Lime.. .... . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . . 2.263
Magnesia.. ...... . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .9.930 4.270
Phosphoric acid...................... . .147 .223
Sulphur..... . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .044 .o65
Combined water..... .. . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. 12.430 .2o6
Silica and insoluble silicates........ .. . .. .. . . . 17-250 29.880
Total.. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . 99.909 100.409
Specific gravity......... 3.246 3.652
Metallic iron......... 44.133 41.867
Phosphorus.... .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .064 .097
No. 1. Ore from bottom of shaft near No. 4 entry.
No. 2. Roasted ore from the stock-pile, weathered seven-
teen years since roasting.
III
I I
REPORT UPON THE
The above ores are both altered from the carbonate; one
by the slow natural process of oxidation, the other by the
process of roasting.
The analyses of the carbonate ores:
I.1 2. _
(carbonate of iron.............. . 47.810 59.344
Peroxideof iron..... . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . 9.054 4.180
Alumina. .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . 5.205 2.290
Carte1nate of manganese.......... .. . .. . .. . . 797 2.017
Carbonate of lime......... . .. . .. .. . .. . . 3.740 3 390
Magnesia... .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . 7. 180 7.149
Phosphoric acid......... . . ...... . . . ... 179 .428
Sulphur.... . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .094 .246
Carbonaceous matter and water........ . .. . .. . . 8.788 4.071
Silica and insoluble silicates.17.010 i6.2So
Total... .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. 100.099 oo. 6o9
Potash... . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .286
Soda............ ..... ....... . 322
Specific gravity........... 3.376 2.959
Metallic iron............ 29.418 31-.598
Phosphorus... ..... .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .078 .t 86
No. I. Average sample from the stock pile, where the ore
had weathered seventeen years.
No. 2. Analysis by Dr. Peter, published in volume three,
page 337, of the first series Kentucky Geological Reports.
of - Black-band ore, roof of upper coal, Airdrie Furnace."
From the foregoing analyses the following conclusions are
drawn:
First. The No. II Coal, while a fine domestic and steam-
producing fuel, contains too much sulphur to be used in the
manufacture of iron, without a previous preparation by wash-
ing and coking.
That this could be successfully done there is little doubt.
The strength and density of the coke might not be equal to
the best, but it would be a fuel of fair quality; such as could,
it is believed, be used successfully in the manufacture of iron.
Second. The No. 12 Coal is an excellent fuel, on account of
its small per centages of sulphur and ash; but the former
experience of the furnace seems to prove conclusively what
172
12
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
the appearance of the coal indicates, that it is too fat to use
raw in the furnace, and should be coked. The amount of
sulphur is so small that the coal can be coked without previ-
ous preparation, to free it from sulphur, and it will probably
produce a superior coke; this, however, can only be dem-
onstrated by actual trial on a large scale.
Third. The ore contains enough iron and is sufficiently free
from injurious mixture to be safely used to a certain extent;
but it will probably prove necessary to use other ores with it.
It is not unlikely, as already stated, that the analyses rep-
resent the ore as somewhat better than it really is, and that it
will be found on trial, when used alone, to make a low grade
of iron. There is, furthermore, the fact that, while both the
coal and ore have to be mined together in order to be cheaply
obtained, the output of coal for a given area will be more than
twice as much as is required for the reduction of the ore from
the same area, assuming from the general testimony that the
coal will average two feet in thickness and the ore six inches.
Of the coal, with a specific gravity of 1.33 and a thickness of
two feet, each acre of land will contain 3,300 tons of 2,240
pounds each.
Of the ore, with a specific gravity of 3.25, and six inches
thick, each acre will contain 2,015 tons. The ore will prob-
ably not yield in the furnace more than an average of twenty-
eight or twenty-nine per cent., thus requiring for the production
of one ton of iron three and a half tons of the raw ore. For
the reduction of this amount of ore only from two to three
gross tons of coal will be required, probably not exceeding an
average of two and a half tons.
The coal from one acre of land will, therefore, be sufficient
for the reduction of more than two and a fifth times as much
ore as is produced from the same area. The necessity, then,
of looking elsewhere for a partial ore supply is evident.
The situation of Airdrie Furnace is one remarkably favor-
able for the facilities with which ores from a number of regions
can be cheaply laid down at the furnace. It can command, at
very reasonable rates for freight, the following ores:
173
I13
14 REPORT UPON THE
(a) Coal measure ores from Green river valley.
(b) Limonites from the Cumberland river region.
(c) Specular ores from Missouri.
(a) Coal measure ores from the Green river valley. There
are, in a large number of places in the valley of Green river,
ores of workable thickness and apparently considerable area;
but they are as yet generally undeveloped, and frequently so
far from the river or other means of transportation that they
cannot be rendered available without the expenditure of con-
siderable sums to provide such means of transportation. To
this class belong the ores of the Buckner Furnace tract,already
referred to. These must some day be developed and used at
the furnace; but for the present they are inaccessible. They
comprise both slaty carbonates or Black-band, and fossiliferous
ores.
One locality was visited where is an exposure of eight or
ten inches of the Black-band ore, and a sample for analysis
selected. The ore from which it was taken had been ex-
posed to the weather for thirty years or more.
The following is the analysis by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt:
Carbonate of iron ............. ............ . . 42. 95
Peroxide of iron ............. . ............... . 29.60S
Alumina........ .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. ....... . 2.454
Carbonate of manganese.. I.S3
Carbonate of lime. 2 90
Carbonate of magnesia............... ....... 4. S28
Phosphoric acid... .... . . . , .085
Sulphuricacid..... .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . l.5 l. i
Carbonaceous matter and loss. 5.8
Silica and insoluble silicates. 9030
Total . ........ . ............100.000
Metallic iron. . . ... . . . . . . . 36.g96
Phosphorus.... .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . ... .. .. .036
Sulphr...... .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .638
In Edmonson county, on the north side of Green river,
between Bear Creek and Nolin river, is an extensive and val-
uable deposit of o6litic ore; but it is, where best developed,
some six miles from Green river, and it cannot be hauled to
the river cheaply enough to compete with ores from other
174
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
'5
places lower down. It is of excellent quality, and can be
mined quite cheaply, and, if accessible, would be one of the
most available ores. I append analysis, by Dr. Peter and
Mr. Talbutt, of ore from a bank at the head of Beaver Dam
Branch of Bear Creek.
Shaler:
Average sample by Prof. N. S.
Peroxide of iron....... .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . . 52.926
Alumina.. . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. 4.792
Brown oxide of imanganese... .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . .210
Carbonate of.. . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . . ISO
Magnesia.., 42S
Phosphoric acid .35S
Sulphur.... . . ..057
Combined water..... ................................ .. 10.400
Silica and insoluble silicates.... . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . 30.589
Total... . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 99934
Metallic iron..... ..... ..........37.048
Phosphorus... .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . . 15
In Butler county, near the mouth of Little Reedy Creek,
from one and a half
to two miles distant from Green river, on
the James E. Taylor farm, is a deposit of ore which shows at
the outcrop three feet thick. It was only seen at one place,
and little or nothing is known of its horizontal range. It has
never been worked. An average sample was taken by Mr. J.
R. Proctor, who first discovered it, and analyzed by Dr. Peter
and Mr. Talbutt, with the following result:
Peroxide of iron........ . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . 48.049
Alumina. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . 8.171
Brown oxide of manganese.... . .. . .. . . .. . I. . .. . .. .140
Carbonate of lime... .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . 540
Magnesia... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . 195
Phosphoric acid........................... 5
Sulphuric acid....... . .. . . . . .473
Combined water.... .. . .. . .9....... . .. . . .. . . . 9.750
Silica and insoluble silicates.3..9................... . _ 9_
Total... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . 99563
Metallic iron..... ........................ . 33.634
Phosphorus... .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .150
Sulphur.... . .. . .. . ... . . . .. . ... .. . .. . . . .189
175
REPORT UPON THE
It is a silicious, somewhat oolitic limonite, altered from the
carbonate; and as it occurs in shales, with a high hill above it,
it will probably be soon found as the blue carbonate.
Its situation is such that it can be very cheaply placed in
boats, on the slack-water of Green river, about seven miles
above the lock at Woodbury. Should it be found, on closer
examination, to retain its thickness, and extend over a consid-
erable area, it can be mined very cheaply.
A reasonable estimate of its cost at the furnace, provided
the above conditions hold, would be:
Per ton.
Mining and royalty....................................... . 175
Hauling to river and loading on barges......... .. . .. .. . . 75
Freight on Green river.................. . . 1 25
Unloading at furnace.......... . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . 25
Making the total cost......... .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . 4 oo
Two of these items, the freight on Green river and the
hauling to the river, might be considerably reduced. It is
probable that three dollars or three dollars and fifty cents
would be a minimum cost at the furnace.
In Muhlenburg county, on Mud river, on land belonging to
Jeremiah M. Hope, is a deposit of ore which, over a limited
area, shows the unusual thickness of twelve to fifteen feet.
The ore is exceedingly fossiliferous, partly a limonite and
partly an unaltered carbonate. The upper portion of the ore
is somewhat lean and silicious; the middle and lower portions
of the bed are of fine quality.
The following analyses by Dr. Peter and Mr. Talbutt show
the character of the ore:
176
AIRDRIE FURNACE AND PROPERTY.
17
1. 2. 3-
Peroxide of iron........... . . .. . . 46.866 60.492 18-374
Carbonate of iron . . ... .. ...... 26.643
Alumina.5... .. . .. .. . . . . . .. , 5930 7.075 6.548
Brown oxide of manganese............ . .103 .360 a trace.
(arb.nate of lime............... . . 2.535 1.980 13.430
Magnesia... ..... . .. ,..... .. . . 1x073 1. 550 5.698
Phosphoric acid..... . .. .. .. . .179 .o83 .211
Sulphur... . .. . 0.... .. . .. .. . . .059 .074 .074
combined water.......... . .. . .. . . 9. 550 12. 530 6. 792
silica and insoluble silicates ............ . 33.530 15.560 22.230
Total... .. . .. . .. . 9...... . . 9.825 99.674 .
kfetatlic iron.3........ .. .. . .. . . . 32.8o6 42.344 27.136
Phosphorus.n...... . .. .. . .. . .. . . 0`77 .032 .092
i. Sample, not carefully averaged, of limonite from the
upper portion of the deposit.
2. Average sample of the lirnonite of the lower and middle
portions of the deposit.
3. Average sample of the blue carbonate ore of the lower
part of the deposit.
This ore seems to be in a regularly stratified deposit, but
it only retains its unusual thickness over an area of perhaps
1,200 square yards. It is found at another locality, one third
of a mile distant, on the opposite side of the ridge, two and a
half feet thick.
The distance of the principal deposit from the head of
slack-water, on Mud river, is four miles. Over this distance
the ore would have to be wagoned, at a probable cost of one
dollar and fifty cents per ton. The distance from the head of
navigation, on Mud river, to Airdrie, by water, is about twenty
miles, and in that twenty miles one lock to be passed. The
cost of freight would be about seventy-five cents per ton.
The ore can be mined quite cheaply, as very little stripping
will be required for some time. One dollar and twenty-five
cents will probably be sufficient to cover the cost of mining
and royalty. The cost of this ore would therefore be:
VIL 11-12
REPORT UPON THE
Per ton.
Mining and royalty........................ .. 25
Hauling to river. 50
Freight to Airdrie .75
Unloading at furnace .25
Total. 3 75
By the purchase of the deposit and the use of their own
barges by the owners of the furnace, this cost might be
reduced to three dollars, or even less.
In Muhlenburg county, near Greenville, on the farm of
Mr. Dabney Martin, some three miles from the Louisville,
Paducah and Southwestern Railroad, is a bed of quite pure
limonite ore. It is only eight inches thick, but is so situated
that it could be mined over a large area, as the stripping
above it would not be deep. It is of excellent quality. The
analysis is as follows:
Peroxide of iron....... .. .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . 69.546
Alumina............................... . 3.914
Brown oxide of manganese....... .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .2p0
Carbonate of lime........ .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .480
Magnesia.. .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. .921
Phosphoric acid.... .. . ..