Mineral Resources of Bland County in Southwestern Virginia (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Mineral Resources of Bland County in Southwestern Virginia The range of mineral occurrence in Southwestern Virginia and especially in the mountain county of Bland is wide and varied, comprising within its scope Building Stones (granite, syenite, gneiss, sandstone and limestone), Non-metallic Minerals (pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, fluorite, silica, ocher, manganese, feldspar, asbestos, talc and soapstone, fullers earth, barite and gypsum), Cement Materials. Clays, Copper, Zinc and Lead (sphalerite, calamine and galenite), Iron Ores (oriskany, hematite, magnetite and limonite) and Coal (bituminous, semi-bituminous, Pocahontas, Montgomery-Pulaski and Bland-Wythe fields) of the highest steam and coking grade. Iron ore occurs in deposits of remarkable richness, the beds of ore being from 20 to 100 feet in thickness and many miles long. The western foothills of the Blue Ridge are lined with brown hematite ore, solid masses of it appearing along the Alleghenies. The yield of brown hematite from this region comprises an important prccentage of the total output of this variety in the County, and also constitutes the bulk of iron ore production in the State. The lead and zinc deposits of Wythe County, adjoining Bland County, have been worked for more than 125 years, and furnished lead to both the Continental and Confederate Armies. Copper deposits are extensive in Southwestern Virginia and numerous noted deposits have long been the seat of an important industry. The sandstones of the Mountains, the limestones and slates of the Valleys, and the granites and cement materials which are widely distributed afford an abundant supply of building materials. From the fertilizing marls and green-sands of Tidewater westward to the vast coal and metalliferous deposits near the Kentucky and West Virginia lines, is spread a great variety of mineral wealth, which affords such basis as to make the mining industry an important factor in the industrial activity of the State. The mining of coal in Virginia began in 1775, near Richmond. From the beginning of this industry until 1789, the entire output went to supply the local demand. From this time until the building of the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1882, the annual shipments from Virginia have increased up to about 145, 000 tons, and then followed the development of the great coal deposits of Southwestern Virginia, notably the Pocahontas region, and the State soon came into prominence as a great coal producer, the most important deposits being in the great Appalachian region. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.