Lake Champlain Iron Region. [Volume: 8, Issue: 4, 1889, pp. 218-227]

No. 4.] CHARCOAL IRON WORKERS. 227
While neither analysis meets the requirements of present practice, they are inserted as of interest to our readers.
Watson says of the mines near Moriah, here referred to as the
Mineville deposit, that the first openings were male in 1824, and
gives the following analyses:
OLD ANALYSES OF MINEVILLE ORES.
Old Sanford Bed. Old Bed 21. New Bed.
Metallic iron,.. 72.09...... 71.19
Protoxide of iron,....... 25.29......
Peroxide of iron,....... 71.65......
Silica and insoluble siliceous matter,..0.34 2.22 1.12
Phosphorus,.. 0.01...... trace
Phosphate of lime,....... 0.39......
Oxygen and moisture,. 27.56...... 27.69
Alumina,........ 0.40......
Oxide of titanium,...... trace......
Magnesia,......... 0.05......
100.00 100.00 100.00
Metallic iron,... 72.09 69.82 71.19
He gives the product of the several ore-beds in the town in
1868, as follows:
Tons.
Cheever bed,.... 68,000
Mines of Port Henry Iron Ore Company,. 59,000
Mines of Witherbees, Sherman & Co,.... 59,500
Mines of Lake Champlain Mining Company,.. 2,500
Mines of M. T Smith,...... 14,500
Mines of Fisher bed,........ 6,500
Total,..... 210,000
There are several mine openings near Port Henry which are
not now worked.
The machinery equipments at the mines tributary to Port
Henry are elaborate, the system being to use a central powerhouse from which wire ropes are carried to the various shafts and
openings by sheaves supported on iron columns. The Port Henry
Iron Ore Company are now erecting a new hoisting plant at the
No. 21 pit, and Witherbees, Sherman & Co. are constructing a
telpherage system to handle some of the New Bed ores. The
mines are unusually dry, the roof is generally good, and mining
can therefore be carried on to advantage.
In a future issue we will describe other mines in the Lake
Champlain and Adirondack region.