depth reached was 61 feet, at which point sandstone was reached. Toward the bottom of the shaft the limestone was found to be mineral-bearing and a considerable amount of iron pyrites, copper pyrites and galena was taken out. The lead ore was dristributed through the sulphides of iron and copper. There was no regular stratum in which these ores were evenly disseminated. They occurred in thin streaks with occasional concentrated masses. The ores were not analyzed so that the presence of nickel and cobalt was not detected.

Three miles west of Fredericktown the Fox mine was formerly operated (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Sec. 12). The shaft was 50 feet deep, with lead ore disseminated through a vertical thickness of twenty feet at the bottom, the lower third being quite rich. Other shafts have been reported as put down in this neighborhood. There is now no signs of mining. An analysis of the Fox mine product showed that copper, nickel and cobalt were present in small amounts. The country rock is described as a subcrystalline, bluish gray limestone with many cavities.

The Schulte drill-holes were put down three miles northwest of the town (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Sec. 1, NW. qr.). In some of them a considerable amount of galena was discovered. Hole No. 1 lies on the west side of the hill in a shallow ravine. The strata passed through are as follows:

Schulte Drill Hole No. 1.

FEET.

3. Clay

10

2. Limestone, gray, with one foot galena-bearing, five feet from lower edge, 1. Granite, solid, red

:0

1

In drill-hole No. 15 galena was found at forty-nine and at eighty-four feet from the surface. Sandstone was reached 109 feet down. Similar occurrences of lead ore were noticed in holes numbers 3, 8, 15, 17, 24, 25, 31, and in some others. Northeast of Fredericktown lead has been found at a number of points along Village creek.

The hard, subcrystalline, light to dark gray and buff limestone crops out in the hillsides and along many of the streams

in the northeastern quarter of the sheet, but no special efforts have been made to ascertain whether or not these heavy magnesian ledges are lead-bearing. A few pits have been put down to a depth of perhaps ten feet. In some cases the rock thrown out of these shallow pits contained small specks of galena, and such is the case in some of the heavy surface ledges, especially near Libertyville. Other localities are reported as exhibiting galena, and "float" mineral is very commonly reported as having been found.

IRON DEPOSITS.

Although practically no iron mining is now carried on within the boundaries of the sheet the deposits of ores are both valuable and numerous. The principal ores are hematite and limonite.

Hematite. The hematite is confined to those areas in which granite and porphyry is the country rock. It occurs in narrow veins or small horizontal beds. No deposits are worked in the district.

Five miles southwest of Fredericktown, on the flanks of Matthews mountain specular ore has been found, and also a couple of miles northeast of the Silver mines. Two miles northwest of Skrainka a narrow vein in red granite occurs on the old Miller place (Tp. 34 N, R. VI E, Sec. 29). Veins also occur in the vicinity of the Silver mines.

Limonite. As the chief ore of iron occurring in the area it is found in beds of greater or less thickness, usually mingled with chert fragments. Southwest of Fredericktown on Matthews mountain, the ore is quite abundant in places, both within the limits of the sheet and just beyond. It occurs in the form of large rounded bowlders and fragments and is covered by a thick layer of detrital material, principally angular porphyry fragments and limonite masses. A number of shallow pits have been excavated.

The principal point where the ores have been mined recently is on the Mine la Motte estate, where they are used as a flux in lead smelting. In 1890, between 300 and 400 tons were

taken out for this purpose. At the present time about 600 tons are used at the smelters, most of the ore coming from near Cornwall, just beyond the eastern limits of the sheet and other neighboring localities. Much of the limonite taken from the LaMotte tract is from a place directly east of the town near the top of a chert hill.

COPPER DEPOSITS.

While comparatively little copper is now taken out within the limits of the sheet important deposits occur. These were formerly worked to a greater or less extent. They are confined chiefly to the southern half of the sheet. The principal ores are chalcopyrite and malachite. They are usually associated with the sulphides of cobalt, nickel, iron and lead.

In the Mine la Motte tract considerable copper ore has been obtained. At the old Jack diggings a strip 70 feet wide was encountered which carried copper sulphide with a considerable amount of nickel. In cutting the entries along the lead-bearing horizon, it was found that while there was no sharp line of division between the lead and the copper ores, the change from one to the other was very abrupt. Within a very few feet the galena was entirely replaced by the copper ore.

In shaft No. 2, on the lowest level, there occurs in a shallow depression immediately beneath the lead-bearing stratum a considerable body of copper ore along with some nickel and cobalt. The other mines on the estate also contain some copper ore. At the LaMotte mines, however, little attention. has been given to the mining of copper pyrites, though some shipments have been made of both the ore and copper matte, the value of two lots being over $600. As the ore is found closely associated with those of lead, nickel and cobalt, it undergoes severe treatment. The matte formed of the latter two and the copper has been an important product from the works for over 20 years.

The extreme southwestern portion of the Mine la Motte tract (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Sec. 1, NW. qr.) contains the Old Copper mines. Mining was first prosecuted for copper, though

unprofitably. Tunnels were driven into the northern slope of the hill. More recently, shafts have been put down and mining for lead successfully carried on.

In the neighborhood of Fredericktown copper has been mined at several points. Northeast of the town about two miles, near Village creek, some ore has been taken out near the location of the old Gasney lead mine.

Southeast of Fredericktown are several localities where important deposits occur. The Buckeye copper mine (Tp. 33 N., R. VII E., Sec. 16, NW. of SW. qr.) is the principal opening, and was worked for some time. This shaft was sunk about forty years ago. The rock passed through is a light gray subcrystalline magnesian limestone through the whole thickness of which are disseminated in greater or less amounts ores of cobalt, nickel, copper, lead and iron. The workable deposits were forty and eighty-five feet deep, and at these depths levels were established and drifts worked. At the lower level the drift was extended sixty feet to the southeast and an equal distance to the northwest of the shaft. The various ores occurred intermixed, filling cavities and narrow crevices within the hard limestone, often giving to the ledge a becciated appearance. The pyrites, especially that of iron, is finely crystallized. The copper ore usually occurs in narrow veins. Around the shaft great heaps of practically lean rock are piled up, and today the surface material upon these dumps is altered and on the limestone fragments there is a coating of the green carbonate of copper. This covering is sometimes as much as one-eighth of an inch thick, showing that the limestone contained much copper pyrites. The lead ore is said to have contained a considerable percentage of silver. Two years ago a drill-hole was put down at a level nearly corresponding to that of the mouth of the shaft. The depth reached was 125 feet and the ores of copper, nickel, cobalt, lead and iron were encountered at frequent though irregular intervals. An effort was also made to clean out the shaft, but this proved a failure. In recent years the mine has been abandoned entirely. Judging from the surface materials and the reports current concerning the deposit,

it would seem that there is an abundance of ore. The rarer metals were shipped to Europe.

Between Fredericktown and Cornwall copper has been taken out from surface pits excavated in the detrital material overlying the magnesian limestone. Both the common ores were present. Several thousand pounds were taken out at one time. Five miles south west of first named town, at the foot of Matthews mountain, a number of pits have been put down for ore; and on the opposite side of the mountain, just outside the sheet, ore has also been taken out at several points. Copper has also been obtained two miles northwest of the Silver mines on the St. Francois river.

MANGANESE.

Although wad, or the black oxide of manganese, is of rather common occurrence in southeast Missouri associated with the deposits of specular iron, and in residuary cherts and clays resting upon the sedimentary beds, few systematic attempts have been made to mine it within the limits of the area under consideration. The nearest locality where it has been taken out in commercial quantities is several miles west of the sheet. This locality is on Culbertson mountain, five miles south of Ironton, in Iron county. At this point a large amount of ore has been mined and shipped, but for a number of years little work has been done. Within the Mine la Motte sheet a great many deposits have been discovered, but thus far few attempts have been made to develop them extensively. The main deposits of the ore are two to three miles northwest of the Fredericktown (Tp. 33 N., R. VI E., Secs. 1, 2, 11 and 12). Some places show that the ore bed extends continuously over several acres. In the southwest quarter of section 11 a number of pits were excavated along the eastern slope of the hills, east and south of the two county roads in which wad was met with. Several of the pits, though only a few feet deep, contained ore which continued to the bottom. It appears abundantly scattered through a very silicious residuary clay and rests on an impure, rather coarse-grained sandstone. The quality is