costs about two dollars a ton delivered at the furnace. The Chimacum iron is soft, while the Texeda is hard, and by mixing the proper density is obtained. The charcoal used in smelting is made from the timber at hand, and the lime comes from San Juan and Orcas Islands at a dollar and a half a ton, the cheapness of all these materials adding greatly to the success of the manufacture. The pig-iron produced here is equal to the best in the United States.
' The Union Iron Works of San Francisco have their smelting works at Irondale, and it was here that the material was manufactured from which the United States cruiser "Charleston" was constructed. Thus Washington furnishes both coal and iron to the Golden State.
Magnetic iron-ore is found on San Juan island, but it contains so large a percentage of phosphorus as to be of little worth. There are also large beds of magnetic and red hematite ores of a high grade about twenty miles northeast of Vancouver, Clarke County.
In connection with iron, limestone may be named as of importance. The deposits which have been worked are found on San Juan Island and in other parts of the archipelago, where the supply is practically unlimited. It was first made in 1860 l> 3 ^ Augustus Hibbard and his partner N. C. Bailey, by whom he was killed in a quarrel eight years afterwards. The works were then closed until 1871, when Hibbard's heir appeared and claimed them, but died in 1873. In the mean time Bailey returned and took possession of his interest, but he also died, and James McCurdy, who held a mortgage on the property, came into possession. The capacity of the kilns previous to 1879 was twentysix thousand four hundred barrels per annum. In 1879 new works were opened in two places on the island by other parties. The lime-works on Orcas Island, opened in 1862, turned out forty barrels per diem. For many years these quarries supplied the Pacific Northwest with lime for building and other purposes. But it is now known that limestone and marble are to be found in the Skagit Yalley and in different parts of the Cascade Range in quantities sufficient not only for smelting the metals existing in these localities, but for commercial purposes. In 1878 the
