A gray sandstone, rather soft, overlies the limestone, and over this comes a coal-bearing rock in which are dykes of gray iron ore, some of them standing out of the ground 80 or 100 feet. The magnetic iron ore is associated with hornblende and quartzite. All rocks dip south. Mr. Burch says that this ore resembles the Kirke ore, but has some of the characteristics of hematite. Mr. Guye talks in the same way about his iron ore on Middle Fork.
At one point, not far from Cle-ellum River, a bed of gray iron ore crosses the magnetic ore at right angles. This gray ore is not well understood. It may be an altered copper lode. The main ore bed is more strongly magnetic near the intersection than it is elsewhere.
I may here remark that Mr. Burch reports considerable float of rich magnetite on the shores of Lake Chelan.
Dudley ore bed.I have no description of the Dudley iron ore bed, but it is said to be large, and of the best quality. Its location is also in the Cle-ellum valley, between Burch's bed and the lake, and within four or five miles of the lake. This information I get through a letter written from Cle-ellum to Mr. Whitworth. I have no personal knowledge of these Cle-ellum beds.
Undoubtedly large beds of steel ores.There can be no doubt as to the existence in the Cascade Mountains along this line of superior iron ore in large quantities, the most of which is suited to the manufacture of steel.
Of superior quality.There can be no doubt as to the superior quality of the Snoqualmie iron ores. Analysis shows that they rank with the best steel ores in their large percentage of metallic iron and small admixture of deleterious impurities. Of the following tables, the first gives all the reliable analyses I could obtain of the ores of the Snoqualmie region of the Cascade Mountains. Those reported from Mr. Kirke and Mr. Dewey are of high authority. Those from Mr. Jenner are given in Governor Squire's report for 1885, and are probably equally reliable.
ANALYSES OF SNOQUALMIE IRON ORES.
| Kind. | Locality. | Silica. | Metallic Iron. | Sulphur. | Phosphorus. | Authority. | ||
| Magnetite. | Mt. Logan |
{ | Summit. " " " " | 1.30 2.73 2.23 1.87 1.67 | 71.17 68.56 69.40 70.18 67.00 | .00½ .02 .00¾ | .04 .03½ .03½ .03 0.02 | Dewey (chemist). } Reported by Kirke. } |
| Average | 1.96 | 69.261/5 | .019/16 | .031/5 | ||||
| Bog Ironstone. Micaceous. Hematite. | Middle Fork (Guye). |
{ | 9.37 6.03 22.32 3.33 11.77 | 45.50 64.50 59.50 67.80 60.90 | Traces 0.05 0.05 0.03 0.02 | 0.08 —— Trace Trace Trace | Reported by Kirke. } | |
| Magnetite. | Denny Mt. |
{ | No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 | 2.72 1.30 2.73 4.02 2.23 1.87 | 69.39 71.17 68.56 67.17 69.40 70.18 | 0.042 0.005 0.019 0.041 0.008 0.013 | 0.035 0.039 0.035 0.031 0.035 0.031 | Reported by Chas. K. Jenner, from a Philadelphia chemist. |
| Average | 2.47⅚ | 69.31⅙ | 0.021⅓ | 0.034⅓ | ||||
By way of comparison, I next introduce a table of analyses, which begins with what Mr. Phineas Barnes, in his report on the steel industry of the United States (1885), gives as a typical steel ore from the best American mines. Proved by analysis to be unsurpassed, if equaled.The second analysis gives the average of fourteen analyses of the best Lake Superior steel ores. The third is a typical steel ore from the Iron Mountain of Missouri. The fourth is the average of all the analyses of the magnetic ores of the Snoqualmie Valley, which name I give to them to distinguish them from similar ores on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, of which I have no analyses: