engine at the head of the slope. A sixty-horses' power engine was completed some four weeks ago, which appears to do its work well, and which, we presume, is the first engine erected underground on the American continent. The expense in blasting away rock, to make room for an engine and its connections of such large proportions, was itself a heavy item; and taking the machinery, boilers, &c., below, and fitting them together, 250 below the surface, was no small undertaking. Since the completion of the engine, the slope has been sunk to the depth of seventy yards below the last working, and the vein at that depth presents a face of splendid coal seven feet thick. With a vein of such thickness, and of the known good quality of the Lewis vein, the operators will, we hope, be remunerated for the large amount of capital expended to make it available. The ventilation of this colliery is most complete, although much troubled with gas some time ago; yet when the air-ways were made larger, and a suitable furnace constructed, they had no further difficulty. The main airway is not less than six feet square in any one place, and the result is, they can have any quantity of air through the workings they wish for. Since the erection of the engine underground, the furnace has been dispensed with, the fires of the engine boilers answering the same purpose. The investments at this colliery amount to $46,000.

Some important experiments have been made to test the practicability of using coke as a fuel for locomotives, by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, which are regarded as quite favorable in their results:

These experiments have been made on the main stem of the road, both east and west of Cumberland, and on the Washington Branch, and have resulted so successfully as to render it certain that the Company will as soon as possible adopt coke on all their passenger trains.

The difficulty heretofore has been to find a quality of coal which could be converted into coke adapted to the purpose of generating steam. Added to this was the necessity of familiarizing the engineers with the proper mode of using the new kind of fuel.

It now appears that coke made from Cumberland coal answers every purpose that could be desired. Already has it been used to carry passenger trains over the heavy grades of the Alleghany mountains, at a speed of 17 miles an hour, and with a pressure of 95 pounds per square inch. And on the Washington branch its success has been still more striking. There, we understand, a speed has been attained of nearly 45 miles per hour, with a pressure of over 130 pounds to the square inch, thus rendering it necessary to permit a constant escape of steam. The engineers too are beginning to appreciate the superiority of coke over wood. They find that one tender load of coke will take a train from Baltimore to Cumberland, while it is necessary to load three times with wood in going the same distance. Thus their labor is diminished, while at the same time they find it easier to handle the coke than the wood.

The saving in the use of coke is a most important consideration. As far as the experiments have gone, they indicate that the saving will not be less than one-third, and, in the course of time, will probably amount to one-half. Thus

when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company shall abandon the use of wood entirely, as will probably be the case in a short time, the working of their road, so far as fuel is concerned, will be cheaper than that of any other in the country.

And here the question arises: if the saving in the use of coke in this region, where wood is comparatively abundant and cheap, is one-third, what will it be in the east where wood can only be had at high prices? The answer is plain. The adoption of coke as a fuel for locomotives in this region will be immediately followed by its introduction on all the eastern railroads. The managers of those roads will not only find it to their advantage as a cheaper fuel, but they will also find that where it is used there will be no sparks, smoke or cinders. A new business will in this way be opened to our Cumberland coal region, and one which will every year increase in magnitude and importance.

IOWA COAL.

A great abundance of bituminous coal is said to exist for several miles up and down the Iowa river on both branches of it. It is near the correction line running directly west from Dubuque, and there is a still greater quantity on the Boon river directly beyond, in a due west course. The country is mostly prairie, and very level. The mines are not yet worked sufficiently to yield surplus.

The coals are found in bluffs about one hundred feet high. The first stratum is sandstone, the second slate, and the third coal, about ten feet above the level of the river, but they have not been worked sufficiently to ascertain their depths.

NORTHERN OREGON.

It is supposed that a vein of coal extends throughout the entire territory north of the Columbia river. Discoveries have been made at divers places adjacent to navigation on the Sound; and a specimen forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy, from the Steilaquamish river, by a gentleman of this territory, and thoroughly analyzed by Mr. W. R. Johnson, a practical geologist, has been pronounced by that gentleman the purest American coal he had ever examined -nearly free from sulphur, and its burning attended with a brilliant and beautiful flame. We have but recently mentioned the fact of important discoveries having been made on the Skookum Chuck, Chickeeles rivers, and also on Vancouver's Island, and that a company deeply interested in the use of coal, and of almost unlimited means and facilities, were completing arrangements for the trial of a sufficient quantity to test its utility for purposes of steam, and if found practicable, to enter at once upon the use of the means which will ultimately supply a full demand for the wants of the Pacific coast. The Skookum Chuck coal fields, from which the trial will be made, are situated but a few miles from the head of Puget Sound; and as soon as the weather will permit to justify the necessary excavation advantageously, an adequate supply for a thorough test will at once be transmitted to San Francisco.

On the supposition that its adaptation for the manufacture of steam may be successfully and favorably demonstrated, and the supposed extent prove equal to present public anticipation, what an immense storehouse of wealth, what a vast field for labor and enterprise, will this one important article of commerce up in northern Oregon!

We are informed by one who has the means of obtaining the most reliable information on the subject, that the amount of coal at present consumed on the Pacific coast, cannot fall short of thirteen thousand tons per month, or a hundred and fifty-six thousand tons per annum. This amount would soon be augmented by the demand of an increase in the number of ocean steamers, by the demand which would soon be made manifest from various islands in the Pacific, from the Californias, Mexico, and the South American States; it would soon employ a very respectable fleet of sailing vessels, thousands of laborers in the mines and on shipboard, and millions of dollars for an active cash capital.

IRON AND ZINC.

IRON REGION OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

This valuable section has heretofore attracted but little attention. Its importance is, however, beginning to be estimated. Some particulars respecting it we have gathered from the Lake Superior Journal:

The heavy iron work required in the construction of the Saut ship canal, will, of course, be wrought from the Carp river iron, and its superior qualities for such purposes will be fully tested and fairly shown. The care with which this iron is worked, its unequalled tenacity, its purity from every injurious foreign substance, are qualities established already by scientific and by practical experiment. The strength of the best Essex Co., N. Y., iron is 58812 lbs. per square inch; English Cable bolt is 59105 lbs.; Russia, 76069 lbs.; Carp river iron 89582 lbs. per square inch; this is the result of careful scientific experiment, which has been fully sustained by practical application of the article to various kinds of manufacture requiring great strength of material. It has been drawn in card teeth wire, wrought into gun barrels, nails, bars, bolts, and the heaviest iron work of our lake steamers, and under every circumstance it has been found unequalled for this valuable quality.

The ore from which this iron is made is inexhaustible, and can be got at comparative small expense. The Jackson Iron Company, and other proprietors of the iron hills of Carp river, can well afford to furnish, to a limitless extent, this ore corded up at their iron quarries ready to be shipped at fifty cents a ton of seventy-five per cent. ore, and this they will undoubtedly do, on the completion of the ship canal, and the Iron Mountain railroad, now in progress. What more can iron founders, and all capitalists interested in the manufacture of iron, ask?

The Marquette works have employed the winter laying in a stock of ore, and will soon commence making blooms. The Jackson forge has made some iron, say 150 tons. They have experienced some difficulty both from the want and excess of water as a driving power. They expect to produce iron rapidly the coming summer. The cost of quarrying ore at the mountain, is 50 cents per ton. Cartage to the Lake at Marquette, $3.00. It is said the Marquette Company has contracted to deliver 1000 tons of blooms during the summer at Cleveland, at $68 per ton. The cost of cutting wood is 5 shillings, or 63 cents, per cord. The yield of iron in blooms varies from $1.75 to $2.25 of ore to one of blooms. Cost of charcoal, 6 cents. The consumption of coal per ton is stated variously from 200 to 300 bushels. The reason of this we can easily see, as both the quality of the ore and of the coal varies very much, and also the skill of the workmen. We are not able to give the price of labor in the forges, but suppose it to be not far from $12 per ton. With these elements of calculation-remembering that the ore is to be washed and stamped-every one can make an estimate on the cost of producing iron here, and will see that it leaves a very handsome profit at $68 per ton in bloom.

NORTH CAROLINA IRON.

North Carolina, like Pennsylvania, abounds in valuable mineral treasures. Respecting the iron ores of the State, Professor Emmons, the State Geologist, has published some valuable particulars:

Iron, which is one of the most important mineral productions, is at the same time one of the most abundant in this State. It is not only abundant, but it is also of the finest and best kinds for bar iron.

Let us look at this subject one moment. Upon Deep river, in connection with the coal formation, there are numerous beds of the mixed oxides and carbonate of iron. Adjacent to the coal formation, and within a few miles of it,

the primary rocks also abound in the richest iron ore. In the most favorable position then, there is every inducement which can be offered in the interior of the country, for the establishment of iron works. There is no manufacture, there is no branch of business which brings so much prosperity to a community as the manufacture of iron. It at once opens a home market for all kinds of farm products-grains, fruits and meat. A large population which are not producers of food in any of its forms, have to be fed and clothed. Leaving out of view, however, A MARKET, I wish to call the attention of the public to the fact, that North Carolina is one of the best fields for the manufacture of refined iron. Pennsylvania may be much better provided with the means of making common iron; but refined bar iron can be made cheaper here than in the State I have named; for the sole reason that while this State has the right kind of ore for the purpose, she can produce the only kind of fuel in sufficient abundance to meet the wants of the business. This is charcoal: and she has it, because her forests are unfailing, and will renew themselves in about one half the period required in Pennsylvania and New York. No other fuel but charcoal can be employed for the manufacture of the best bar iron. From the best bar iron, steel is made, as well as all kinds of wire, and the various utensils which require a tough iron. Here, then, is a field not yet occupied in this country, and if we consider for one moment the present wants of a community for the best kinds of iron, as steam boiler plates, and all the iron work of steamboats and railroad cars, we can scarcely calculate the demand which might spring up for it. In addition to all this, why should not North Carolina manufacture the rails for her iron roads which she is constructing? It is true, it is too late to meet the demand for iron for her Central Road, but there is still room and time to begin for that business, for the extensions of this road East and West. This State should have made every foot of rail for her roads, for it must be certain, and, indeed, can be proved, that even at the low price of railroad iron during a portion of the twelve months past, it could have been made here at a small profit. The climate is more favorable than at the North, the means of living cheap, and fuel and coal abundant. The great expense attending the manufacture of iron, arises in a great measure from the cost of coal. Coal in North Carolina must be cheaper, by one-fourth, than in New-York. The ores are abundant, and favorably located. Among the ores of iron, the steel ore is quite abundant. At Mr. D. W. Johnson's, in Randolph county, the steel ore exists in two quite important veins. In Germany this variety is manufactured at once into steel.

My object in the foregoing remarks is to call the attention of capitalists to the manufacture of iron in all its branches, which I wish the public to consider in relation to the improvements in roads now in progress of construction.

But the iron manufacture is only one branch of industry which is destined to spring up and flourish. Copper is another metal which is now found to be abundant, and its mining and manufacture opens another road to wealth and encouragement in improvements in roads. It is, however, impossible that the three great pursuits of human life, AGRICULTURE, MINING, and MANUFACTURES, should prosper without also increasing, to a very great extent, the travel both for business and pleasure, and hence those who propose investing capital in rail and plank roads, cannot be disappointed, provided they are constructed through those sections which contain mineral wealth combined with a rich productive soil; and it is a remarkable fact in North Carolina, that fertile soils cover her mines of coal, copper, iron, and gold; whereas, in other rich mining districts the soil is usually unproductive.

ON THE APPLICATION OF THE BLAST TO SMELTING FURNACES.

It is a serious question as to whether the increase of quantity in the yield of blast furnaces, resulting from the introduction of hot blast, has not been more than compensated for by the deterioration of the quality. This has not yet been answered to the satisfaction of large consumers of iron. If a certain ratio between the quantity and quality of iron, produced from a determined

mass of ore, really exists, and if, in proportion as the yield is reduced, the quality is increased, the point at once assumes a plain commercial aspect. In that case, the manufacturer's object would be, to work his furnace so that the yield and quality should be such as should take best in the market; and he would naturally be disposed to go to the utmost verge in obtaining quantity, so that the quality be still good enough to preserve his position as a seller. I am, however, of opinion that there is not necessarily any connection between quality and quantity; and my present object is to point out the causes of deterioration, and to suggest an application of blast, by which both quantity and quality may be obtained.

It will readily be understood, that, in the cold-blast furnaces, the part immediately opposite the tuyeres is not the seat of the most intense heat; for the admitted air must absorb a portion of the furnace heat, and thus lower the temperature in that neighborhood. This weakens the oxidizing power of the atmosphere, through which the liquid metal falls to the hearth, where it is protected by a covering of cinder; and while acquiring the heat necessary for its action upon the furnace contents, it becomes somewhat diffused, and acts with purifying effect upon the materials in the upper part.

Its

Not so with the hot blast. The heat of the entering air must increase the rapidity of its action upon the combustible materials in the furnace. intense effect, which may account for the superior yield, is confined to one part, for the oxygen thus supplied is speedily consumed, and the heat is insufficiently diffused throughout the furnace. The impurities contained in the coke and ore are not driven off; hence portions of the foreign matters are incorporated with the iron made on the hot-blast principle.

By heating the air, also, its oxidizing power is increased, and hence the metal is somewhat oxygenized in passing into the hearth, and its quality is therefore injured.

The general inferiority of hot, in comparison with cold-blast iron, then, seems to be, the concentration of the smelting process in one part of the furnace. and the intense oxidizing power of the atmosphere through which the liquid metal passes on its way to the hearth. The remedy which I propose is, the admission of a graduated blast at different altitudes-three separate points, for example, instead of directing the air all to one place, as at present.

The prospective results of my plan are, the oxygen would be more generally diffused through the furnace, the temperature of the upper part of which would be increased; the excess of oxygen which could be supplied in this way would unite with the impurities-as sulphur, for instance, contained in the coke and ore, and carry them off in the gaseous form. From the superior temperature of the upper part of the furnace, the flux and ore would become more thoroughly mixed in descending through the furnace; the ore would be gradually fluxed, so that the blast need not be so intense below the point of the greatest heat, and thus its oxidizing influence would be, in a great measure, avoided. Finally, it is probable that a fan blast might be substituted for the existing cumbrous blowing machinery.*

ALBANY IRON WORKS.

It is a part of the plan of the Mining Magazine to embrace in its pages not only the information relating to mines and mining operations, and the processes for the manufacture of metals, but also descriptions of establishments at which the work is done, that the advantages which any particular one shall possess may become known to all. For this reason we are gratified with the opportunity to insert the following account of the Albany Iron Works, owned by Erastus Corning and J. F. Winslow, furnished by a correspondent to the New-York Tribune.

*The Practical Mechanics' Journal.