Eisenerz

Eisenerz, a mining town of Austria, in the north of Styria, 20 miles NW. of Bruck. It stands in a narrow mountain-valley at the north foot of the Erzberg (5000 feet), a mountain so rich in iron ore that the miners, instead of cutting mines into it and following the metal in veins, quarry the rock from the outside; the ore is then broken small, and conveyed to the smelting-house without further preparation. In 1884 the output of ore was more than 270,000 tons, yielding 40 per cent. of metal. Aragonite (Eisenblüte, or flos ferri), resembling branching coral in form, and of the most beautiful and purest white, is found in grottoes in the interior of the mountain. Pop. 1950.