bly after the bed passes beneath water level) has tended to furnish a much larger quantity of soft fossil ore than is usually the case where the beds dip at steeper angles. The Ore sandstone in this ridge is about 15′ thick and very massive and beneath it there is 20′ to 25′ of siliceous shale, separating it from the Danville ore bed group. West of Strode’s run, the north dip of the Sand Vein was almost entirely worked by stripping as it was found very thin there.
On the property of S. Oliver the Hope Furnace Co. mined the ore only 6 or 7 inches thick and west of this property several thousand tons were mined in the same manner for the Lewistown furnaces.
On the north flank of Blue Ridge the Ore sandstone is
visible at many points, and the overylying Sand Vein shows
a plentiful outcrop of altered fossil ore, but no very great effort has been made to prospect this portion of the field, partly owing to failure in the past and largely on account of its inaccessibility.
Along the stream issuing from Minehart’s gap and really in Granville township, the Ore sandstone dips 30° north and is 15′ thick. On the east side of the gap the upper Danville bed was exploited at one time found about 12 inches thick, but lean and calcareous.
The Sand Vein ore has never been opened and rumor reports it both thin and lean. West of Minehart’s gap there are a great number of notches in the Blue Ridge crest, and the dip of the rocks seem to increase towards McVeytown with the effect of carrying the ore measures still higher up the mountain flank, rendering it very difficult to prospect them advantageously. Besides this fact there are no ravines east of the road leading into Black Log valley which have cut down the Ore sandstone terrace so as to expose the ore-beds.
The balance of Bratton township is composed entirely of the Clinton and Salina rocks. The red beds of the lower Salina group outcrop just below the McVeytown bridge on the river bank, dipping to the northwest 70°.
