THE AUBURN AND ALLENTOWN RAILROAD-THE NEW JERSEY CENTRAL, &0. As every thing which refers to the proposed Auburn and Allentown Railroad is, at this juncture, interesting, we ask attention to the annexed notices of this important line, contained in the last Report of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. In the Report, which is dated June 1st, 1856, but which has just been published in New York, the paragraph we extract is found under the head of "connecting lines "in which category, we might remark, the Reading and Lehigh Road is not referred to. The Auburn Road is thus noticed:

"The link of road from Allentown westward, to connect with the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, and thus form an air line of unbroken gauge from New York to Pittsburg, still remains to be supplied. Important as this enterprise is to the country through which it will pass, a country rich in soil, in cultivation, in minerals, in every thing but avenues to a market; to the city of New York and the Western States, brought by this channel into more intimate connection; and to the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which it will supply with an entire new source of traffic; it cannot be much longer delayed. Little as the public are disposed to embark in new railroad enterprises till the results of previous investments are more certainly ascertained, the advantages of these links are so obvious to all concerned, and especially to the business classes of New York, that there can be but little hesitation in furnishing the comparatively small amount required for its construction."

The importance of the Auburn and Allentown Railroad to the trade of this section of Pennsylvania is not questioned. It is a fact readily admitted. The most interesting query has been, how are the grades of the Central Jersey Railroad, a road which forms so important a portion of our preferred coal route to the harbor of New York? The Report from which the above extract is made, relieves all doubts on that score. For the gratification of this community, which is warmly interested in this route, we make the following extract, which proves that on the score of grades, not to mention distances, this proposed continuous coal route to a favorable shipping point is the best to which the attention of the people of this region has yet been directed. The extract in regard to grades, &c., of the Central Jersey Railroad is as follows: "Many small variations in the grades of the older part of road below Somerville have been corrected, and the reduction of the heavy grade at Scotch Plains, from 45 to 21 feet per mile, has been finally effected. It is a matter of some credit to our efficient superintendent and engineer that this reduction, involving, as it did, the entire reconstruction of three miles of road, raising or lowering the track in some as much as 16 feet, and extending over a period of two years, has been completed without accident to trains or interruption to the business of the road; the regular passenger and freight trains having been run over it during the whole time. There is now no grade on the road over 21 feet to the mile against the trade."

In the Report we also find the following relative to the coal port at Elizabethport, N. J. It is interesting, affording as it does an idea of the improvements which have recently been made at that important shipping point:

"At Elizabethport the construction of track, wharves, and buildings has been continued, and a large amount of grading and filling at moderate cost. An additional and very valuable tract of land, including the water-front, and lying east of the company's land, has been secured; and immediately contiguous to this, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company have purchased a large tract, and established there their coal depot. All coal, lumber, &c., from the Lackawanna region are brought to Hampton in their cars, hauled over our road by our engines, and delivered on their grounds. All wharves, tracks, &c., required, are furnished by them. These arrangements, by relieving this company from a large outlay for cars and a terminus, enable us to do a very large business from the Lackawanna region, with a trifling

additional investment after the second track and the third rail on the two tracks are provided.

"It also facilitates very much the necessary separation of the broad gauge business from that of the Central road and the Lehigh Valley railroad and its connections, which is done on the narrow gauge."

Before closing our notice of the Report of the Central Jersey Railway, we feel compelled to make another extract in reference to the two New York coal lines lately opened from other regions. That they have seriously injured our coal trade this year, cannot be denied. That it will yet be more seriously damaged in the future, if we pause in the construction of the Auburn and Allentown road, is equally evident. We are now placed in a position which demands prompt action, for the building of that road is likely to be the only salvation for the business of Schuylkill County. The Report speaks of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad as follows:

"The Lehigh Valley Railroad was opened through from Easton to Mauch Chunk, 46 miles, in September last, thus giving a continuous line from the Lehigh coal fields to Elizabethport, 109 miles; to New York, 121 miles. The mines are about 17 miles above Mauch Chunk. As yet this road has done little business, having a very insufficient equipment, and laboring under some other disadvantages; but when these difficulties are removed it cannot avoid doing a large and profitable business, as it has all the advantages derived by the Reading road from a level or decending grade throughout its entire length; is likely to be without a rival in its location, and will have the benefit of many outlets for its coal and many feeders for its business. When its main line is extended from Perryville, 6 miles below Mauch Chunk, to Tamaqua, where it intersects the Catawissa road, a distance of 16 miles only, a large through business from the Sunbury and Erie road will be brought over to the Central railroad of New Jersey. This work is entirely within the ability of the Company to complete, as soon as their business is developed.

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"The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad and the Warren Railroad, together forming the line from Hampton Summit to Scranton, in the Lackawanna coal basin, the youngest in charter and latest in commencement among the coal roads, was opened throughout its entire length on the 27th May just passed, and is now in successful operation. Already the passenger, freight, and coal business of this road begin to develop, and it is believed by its friends that its success will be immediate. Every effort has been made and is making, by the Central, to give them every facility consistent with proper economy, and it is hoped that the relations of the companies will be as friendly as their business connections will be intimate. This is the more likely, as the large stockholders in each are generally interested in the other also. If onefourth of the anticipations of managers of this company are fulfilled, the addition of this business alone to that of the Central New Jersey road cannot fail to make it highly remunerative. This Report has been delayed beyond the regular time to announce this opening."-Pottsville Jour.

IRON AND ZINC.

IRON SEAMS OF MONTOUR RIDGE, PENN.

A correspondent who has recently visited Montour County, Pennsylvania, sends us the following interesting particulars of that valuable iron region:

The veins of iron ore in Montour Ridge are uniform in their strike and dip, but throughout the region, though the formations are regular, they undulate in the same manner as the coal veins of Shamokin, or Schuylkill County, and may be easily traced by the form of the hills in which they are found. Rolls or contortions are occasionally found, and as in the mines of Tamaqua and many other places often when least expected; but though the miner is sometimes at a loss to find his clue, or when found, to discover the best means of following it, the quantity or quality of the ore is not materially affected. As a general rule, the quantity of ore will not be increased or decreased on an average, by an inconsistency in the veins which may be at variance with their general size in any certain locality. (The same may be said of the veins of coal, though we are aware that the fact will not be generally admitted.) Up to the present time three veins have been discovered and worked in the Ridge near Danville, the upper one being, what is generally known as fossiliferous, the outcrops of which are soft and easily mined, whilst the lower portions, or that which is found deep beneath the surface, is imbedded in limestone, in which the impressions of fossil remains are plainly discernible. This is very hard, and not so easily mined. The upper vein will average about from eighteen to twenty inches in thickness, and is supposed to be the same vein as that which is worked at Bloomsburg. In fact I should say there can be but little doubt on that subject, since the stratification in which the vein is found is the same, and its nature and the appearance of the ore are synonymous, therefore it would be consistent to argue that the same quantity of ore exists at Bloomsburg as there does at Danville, for there can be no reason that I am acquainted with, to doubt the existence of the underlying veins there more than here. Yet I would like to hear what those who are more acquainted with the formation, may know of the matter, before I should be willing to state positively my opinions. Geologists are often mistaken in their theories, which are so boldly given as facts, of what the mysterious chambers of the earth may contain.

Mr. Roberts made a report of the Irondale Company of Bloomsburg, which I have not seen, neither have I any thing on the subject on hand. Yet I can state that one of our most eminent geologists (not Roberts) made some strange blunders in his examinations near Bloomsburg, which resulted in material loss to some, whilst it has been, or may be the means of enriching others.

The second or middle vein, which is worked in the Montour Ridge, is known as the "black ore." This vein is situated about one hundred yards across the measures, or strata, below the upper or fossiliferous ore, and is on an average about twenty-four inches in thickness. This ore is very rich, and breaks in square fractures, and is the most productive and reliable vein in the region. On this vein, if I am not mistaken, the Montour Iron Company have sunk a shaft to some depth, and a slope-the latter, however, is not yet in order for operation. These works are rather extensive, and as systematical in their construction as our most improved collieries in the coal region.

The lower, or third vein of ore, which was discovered by the Messrs. Groves in 1854, is generally known as the bottom bed, but there are indications of other veins existing still below it. This vein is very hard and peculiar in its appearance, the ore being highly carbonized. It is not as thick as either of the overlying ones, but perhaps equally as rich if not more so. It ranges from ten to twelve inches in thickness. The three veins will average VOL. VII.-6

about four feet of ore or over. The strata bearing these three veins is about two hundred yards in thickness-that is from the upper to the lower vein; the middle one being about equidistant from each. Their dip here, as at Bloomsburg, is north and south, from the saddle; no basin having as yet been discovered, though it has been asserted that the north dip of the south basin has been discovered on the south side of the Susquehanna at Danville, and specimens of rich magnetic ore shown as samples-one of which I have; but the more experienced are inclined to doubt it, and geologists flatly contradict it, because if it does exist, in the magnetic state, it would puzzle them to reconcile it to their theories. With much truth and some philosophy, the school-boy cries, "What goes up must come down." But with coal and iron veins the case is reversed, for when they go down they are sure to come up. With such a theory, which is more of a fact than a theory-the iron seams of this region would present two distinct basins; one to the south, and the other to the north of Montour Ridge. The distance from crop to crop of the basins must be from one to two miles, and on the saddles, though the upper vein crops out, and in some places the south and the north crop of it is from a half to a mile distant, the underlying veins do not appear to daylight, but overlap the saddle and continue the course without coming to daylight, except in the ravine or gorges of the mountain, where they are plainly dis

cernible.

The strike of the veins are nearly uniform here with that of the coal seams to the south, and the same as that of the same veins in Columbia County, which is within a few points of east and west, extending from Briar Creek, above Bloomsburg on the east, to Hollidaysburg on the west, as it is supposed. A vast field of ore is here presented, equal in proportion to the anthracite coalfields of the State, and admirably situated in regard to the facilities for mining -with every convenience in prospect, for obtaining the requisite material for manufacturing, and for transportation to ever ready markets.

Limestone of the purest quality is found as close to the furnaces as it could be desired, and in quantities commensurate with the vast amount of ore to which it is so important an auxiliary, and which lies so conveniently near.

The quantity of coal now made use of in the manufacturing of iron in this region, cannot be much less than 200,000 tons yearly, besides the large amount which is used for other purposes, and it would be no groundless assertion to state that 1860 would demand 1,000,000 tons of coal from the Shamokin and Wyoming regions, to be delivered on the river from Shickshinny to Sunbury, on the North Branch, and from Sunbury to Williamsport on the West Branch. Danville, 1856. S. H. D.

In addition to the preceding, we append the following analyses of the ores of the same county :

The anthracite furnaces of Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Union Counties, use the fossil ore of Montour Ridge, and obtain their coal from the Wilkesbarre region. The ore of Montour Ridge presents several interesting characters, and produces several grades of cold short iron. The suface ore, and from those strata which have been affected by the percolation of water, are porous, work more easily in the furnace than the compact varieties, and afford an iron with less silica. The compact silicious and calcareous varieties are comparatively refractory, and when used alone, generally produce a silicious cold short iron. This is particularly the case with furnaces having low stacks, and that drive a too heavy blast. In general, the anthracite iron of this region is particularly adapted to neutralize the peculiar and most general properties of other anthracite pig, red shortness which is imparted by sulphur, where the presence of phosphorus does not counteract its influence."

The following are analyses of the fossil ores of Montour Co., Pa., as given by Mr. Boye, for Prof. Henry D. Rogers' Geological Report, 1841:

By the above we may see that no mention is made of the important and generally present elements-phosphorus and sulphur. As the analyses of single specimens can rarely give an adequate knowledge of the composition of the bulk of the ore, it is prudent to examine those constituents, the presence of which is obvious from other considerations. Fossil remains of shells or other bony structures, we can safely presume to contain phosphate of lime; and crystals of pyrites afford indubitable evidence of the presence of sulphur. The qualities of the iron produced also, afford, to a great extent, evidences of the presence of certain elements, either in the ore, flux, or fuel; and without much trouble, as a general fact, the material containing the elements may be designated. This subject opens too wide a field of remarks for a full examination in this connection. To show more clearly what we consider as a proper statement of the composition of the ores of Montour Ridge, we give the following table, estimated from the analyses of Mr. Boye, and from the wellknown composition of minerals disseminated through the ores, and from the properties of the iron and the comparative yield in smelting:

Average proportions of iron 35 per cent. in hard, and 44 per cent. in soft.

EXPERIMENTS WITH CAST METALS.

A work has recently appeared under the authority of the Secretary of War, which contains some valuable reports of officers belonging to the U. S. Ordnance Department, in relation to experiments made with cast metals:

The experiments were extended over a series of years, and were made to test the strength and other properties of metals employed in the manufacture of cannon. The work is a scientific one of great "alue, especially the information it contains relating to the nature and treatment of cast-iron, a material of deep interest to so many millions of people in our own and other countries.

The experiments were mostly conducted under the charge of Major W.