828 [Assembly 



Two furnaces are expected to go into operation soon, and 

 will use anthracite coal. They are calculating to manufacture 

 lOjOOO tons of iron the present year. The demand%r ore is very 

 great. Our people could and would greatly augment their pre- 

 sent contracts, if by any possibility they could get the ore raised. 



The ore sold the last year, delivered at the lake, for §1.50 per 

 ton. The present year they sell out of the " Old Sandford bed," 

 chunk ore, from |2. 00 to $2.75. From the same, separated by 

 maciiinery, $4.00. From the " ??ew bed" they sell pure chunk 

 ore at §4.00 per ton, and from the same bed separated by ma- 

 chinery, at $5.00 per ton. This is about the price of the '' Fisher" 

 and " Barton ore ;" also, pure chunk ore from the '^ Cheever 

 bed " is sold at $3. This ore requires no separation by the ma- 

 chine."* 



The abrasions from the deposits of iron ore, known by this 

 circumstance, to exist in the bed of the lake, are thrown in great 

 quantities upon the beaches in several localities along the 

 shores of Champlain during the high water and storms of spring. 

 The^e masses are almost pure iron and for a considerable dis- 

 tance often accumulate to the depth of several inches. Hun- 

 dreds of barrels of this " iron sand " are annually collected and 

 exported to New- York, from whence it is diffused throughout the 

 country, as a most valuable material for stationer's sand. Many 

 individuals find constant employment in the collection and pre- 

 paration of this substance. 



PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT. 



Several projects of public improvement, now in agitation, are 

 directly and intimately associated witli the prosecution of an 

 interchange of these various commodities. The investigations 

 contemplated by my duties, in reference to the resources and 

 prospects of Essex county, would be imperfect and inadequate; 

 were I to omit a reference to those questions, which, although 

 of great public importance, must exert a momentous and specific 



* Rev. C. Ransom's letter. Since the above was prepared, further explorations of tho 

 "Little Pond ore bed " have more than confirmed the anticipations expressed in a preceding 

 page, of the magnitude and value of that immense deposit. A large amount of ore has been 

 exported and contracted from that bed, during the autixmn of 1853. 



