32

OUR  MINERAL  RESERVES.

able  to  procure  foreign  barytes  cheaper  than  they  could  buy  domestic
barytes.
The  following  facts  regarding  the  location  both  of  mines  in  operation ­
  and  of  undeveloped  deposits  are  given  by  the  United  States  Geological ­
  Survey  and  will  be  of  present  interest.
In  the  United  States  the  principal  sources  of  supply  are  the  Missouri ­
  and  Appalachian  districts.  In  1913  the  Missouri  district  furnished ­
  between  68  and  69  per  cent  of  the  total  production  of  the
United  States,  and  among  the  Appalachian  States  Georgia,  North
Carolina,  Tennessee,  South  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  named  in  the
order  of  production,  reported  an  output  of  crude  barytes.
So  far  as  known,  no  barytes  has  been  produced  from  Alabama
mines  since  1906.  There  are  some  deposits  which  probably  could  be
worked  in  Calhoun,  Etowah,  and  St.  Clair  counties,  in  the  northeastern ­
  part  of  the  State,  and  in  Bibb  County,  near  the  center.
Within  a  radius  of  about  15  miles  centered  about  Carters  vil  le,  Bartow ­
  county,  Ga.,  considerable  iron  ore,  ocher,  and  barite  are  mined
from  residual  clays  derived  from  Cambrian  and  Ordovician  rocks.
The  deposits  are  on  the  east  side  of  the  Appalachian  fold  and  form
a  northward  continuation  of  the  Alabama  field.
In  Kentucky  barite  deposits  are  known  in  the  central  (Blue
Grass)  and  western  parts  of  the  State.  Barite  has  been  mined  in
Boyle,  Fayette,  and  Garrard  counties  south  of  Lexington,  though
deposits  are  known  in  13  counties  centered  about  the  capital.
The  greater  part  of  the  barytes  produced  in  the  United  States  is
obtained  from  deposits  in  Washington,  St.  Francois,  Franklin,  and
Jefferson  counties,  of  east-central  Missouri,  and  from  Cole,  Morgan,
and  Miller  counties,  in  the  center  of  the  State.  Practically  all  the
barytes,  locally  known  as  “tiff,”  is  mined  from  shallow  shafts  and
open  cuts  in  the  residual  clay.
Two  districts  in  eastern  Tennessee  contain  important  deposits  of
barite.  The  French  Broad  district,  on  the  North  Carolina  line,
south  and  a  little  east  of  Knoxville,  includes  parts  of  Cocke  and
Sevier  counties.  Owing  to  lack  of  transportation  the  veins  in  this
region  have  not  been  extensively  worked.  In  the  Sweetwater  district, ­
  including  parts  of  Loudon,  McMinn,  and  Monroe  counties,
centering  about  Sweetwater,  there  has  been  extensive  development
and  a  considerable  production  of  barytes  in  the  past.
In  Virginia  barytes  occurs  in  three  unlike  areas—in  the  red  sandstone ­
  and  shale  series  of  the  Triassic;  in  the  old  crystalline  metamorphic
  rocks,  particularly  in  the  Piedmont  crystalline  limestone
area;  and  in  the  valley  region  of  faulted  and  folded  Cambrian  and
Ordovician  limestones.  The  deposits  in  the  Triassic  red  sandstones
of  Prince  William  County,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  State,  are
of  little  importance  at  present,  though  they  have  been  intermittently