16 
OUR MINERAL RESERVES. 
strong demand for manganese ore. For instance, during the last JO 
years the annual domestic production of manganese ore has ranged 
between 1,500 and 7,000 long tons, while the imports ranged between 
108,000 and 345,000 long tons. In 1913 the domestic production of 
4,048 tons, the largest since 1908, was insignificant compared with 
the imports of 345,090 tons, and constituted only a little over 1 per 
cent of the available supply. Another illustration of the great dis 
parity between the domestic production of manganese ore and the 
imports may be noted in the fact that the total production of the 
United States so far as recorded, going back to 1838, is 414,738 long 
tons—an amount not greatly in excess of the importations during 
the single year 1913. The imports of manganese ore recorded since 
1868 have reached the grand total of 3,859,616 long tons, and the 
records are incomplete for the first 20 years of this period. 
The foreign situation as viewed by D. F. Ilewett early in 1914, in 
the chapter of Mineral Resources for 1913 on manganese and manga - 
ni ferons ore, is as follows: 
Imports of manganese ore increased approximately 15 per cent from 1912 
to 1913, and this increase came alniost wholly from Russia. Unless industrial 
or political disturbances interfere, there is no doubt that a supply of ores will 
be available from the deposits of Russia, India, and Brazil for some years to 
come. 
As the disturbances that have arisen will undoubtedly interfere 
to a greater or less extent with the shipment of foreign manganese 
ores, it is cheering to know that the United States possesses within 
easy reach of manufacturing centers abundant reserves of such ores. 
The following notes on the domestic sources of manganese may be 
of interest in the present connection : 
For commercial purposes materials containing manganese are sep 
arated into four classes—(1) manganese ores, (2) manganiferons 
iron ores, (3) manganiferous silver ores, and (4) manganiferous zinc 
residuum. Though manganese forms a part of about a hundred 
minerals and is a relatively widespread element, practically all the 
manganese of commerce is derived from material containing one or 
more of the minerals polianite, pyrolusite, psilomelane, wad, man- 
ganite, brarinite, and franklinite. 
Commercial manganese ores are those which contain at least 35 
per cent of manganese and otherwise conform to the specifications 
of the trade in which they are used. Deposits of manganese ore 
occur in many parts of the United States, but are most abundant in 
the Applachian and Piedmont regions, in the southern Mississippi 
Valley, and on the Pacific coast. Small deposits occur in the New 
England, Rocky Mountain, and Great Basin regions. The principal 
producing districts up to the present time have been the James 
River-Staunton River and Blue Ridge regions of Virginia, the Cave 
Springs and Cartersville districts in Georgia, the Batesville district