776 [Assembly 



commerce, the Adirondac Iron district, it is judged, is capable of 

 being made, and will probably attain a position amoEg the most 

 extended and wealthiest Iron manufactories of the earth. This 

 strong declaration is predicated upon the facts, that these ores, so 

 singularly and distinctly varied in their properties, that they are 

 adapted to the manufacture of every Iron fabric; that they are 

 inexhaustible and of the easiest access ; that the stately forests 

 which mantle the mountains, encircling these works, are near- 

 ly as boundless as the ores, and that every material, almost es- 

 sential to the manufacture, are embraced within the district'. 

 Clay prevails contiguous to the works, of a quality, it is believed, 

 adapted to the manufacture of the required brick. Lime is abun- 

 dant, and, although partially affected by native impurities, may 

 be converted to the desired purposes. The hydraulic power will 

 ever remain, and be always adequate to every demand. The re- 

 sources of this region, will ultimately compel the construction 

 of several avenues to it, which are already projected. One 

 which will connect it, by an interior water communication, with 

 the coal fields and furnaces of the west, will be described in a 

 subsequent section of this report. Another scheme, proposes to 

 unite it, by the course of the Racquette river, with the St. Law- 

 rence, and a third, will form an intercourse with the Hudson, 

 along the valley of the Schroon. When the thousand forge fires, 

 that the wealth of this ore will one day lighten, shall illuminate 

 the Adirondacs, these projects will be consummated. 



■ The upper works and the village of Adirondac, are situated 

 upon the river, midway between Lakes Henderson and Sandford, 

 in a narrow ravine, embosomed amid the lofty pinnacles that sur- 

 round it. This neat little village realizes to the mind our ideali- 

 ty of a Swiss hamlet, its lake, its river, its mountains " crowned 

 with their coronal of snow.'' Lake Henderson, in exceeding 

 loveliness, slumbers in quiet and beauty at the foot of the giant 

 " Santonine," and is almost enveloped in a mountain screen. 

 These works, by the existing circuitous road, are about fifty 

 miles removed from Lake Champlain. 



A ponderous and costly dam erected by the Adirondac Compa- 

 By, at the lower works, a distance of ten miles, throws back the 

 volume of water to the \tiy base of a new dam recently erected 



