CLUE TO ORES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 46, 3 December 1938, Page 10

CLUE TO ORES.

PLANTS AID DISCOVERY. Prospectors for iron ore in Brazil and Venezuela are guided to such deposits by the presence above ground of a certain type of rare and beautiful Orchid blooms. Also in Venezuela iron is invariably indicated by the presence of a little tree called the “copey” says “Steel Facts.” ! Cuba, is another region where distinctive vegetation definitely indicates a soil condition associated with deposits of iron ore. On that island ore deposits support p heavy growth of pine, and because of. that fact Columbus is said to have discovered iron on his first voyage to the New World. A broken mast on one of his ships necessitated putting in to the north shore of the island, and beneath tbe pine tree cut down for the mast, ore was found. In the south-eastern part of the United States iron ore deposits are commonly overgrown with cedar in much thicker growths than in non-or> regions. In the East Texas “brown ore” field, outcrops of the ore-bearing green sand support relatively heavy growths of hardwood, almost the only hard wood in the locality.

In prehistoric times a huge ice sheet swept away accumulations of distinctly iron-bearing soil in the Lake Superior and New York State sections, lienee the prospector cannot be guided in those regions by a knowledge of botany.