782 [Assembly 



ate I in a distance of five to eight miles of the lake. A plank 

 road extends from Port Henry to the Old Sandford bed. 



The mine situated upon lots No. 23, 25 and 21, iron ore tract, 

 and principally -owned by Mr. Rousseau, of Troy, lies near the 

 old Sandford bed, and is probably a prolongation of that deposit. 

 It was opened in 184vo, and is distinctly manifested over an area 

 of two and a half acres. This mine occurs on the side of a hill, 

 nearly at the same elevation as the Sandford bed. " It would be 

 difficult," Mr. Butler writes, " to obtain an approximation to the 

 quantily of ore in this single deposit, without estimating the con- 

 tents of the entire hill." Extensive explorations fortify this 

 opinion. The first opening was made by sinking a shaft directly 

 into the ore to the depth of sixty-five or seventy feet, and from 

 thence blasting laterally. A tunnel was subsequently construct- 

 ed horizontally through the cap r<)ck from a lower point on the 

 hill side, until it reached the shaft. The design of this work, 

 was to render the ore accessible without incurring the expense of 

 removing the earth. It is believed, however, that the extreme 

 stratified character of the ore will render this imprac'icable, and 

 that the mine must be uncovered to make it fully available. This 

 mine, and several others in the district, are drained by a siphon.* 



The Butler Sf Spear bed lies about 1 \ mile from the lake. The 

 ore is a magnetic oxide, impressed with a hematite type. The 

 vein has been traced by a mtignet nearly one-half a mile. It 

 has been opened about ten rods in length, and about twenty feet 



in de{)th, presenting a breast of nine feet, widening as it descends. 

 This ore is very peculiar and of great value from its malleability- 

 and toughness. It is mixed with silex and carbonate of lime; 

 requires separating, but works freely and reduces lapidly in a 

 common forge fire. The bed was discovered in 1848. Its first 

 analysis was made at my reqijest by Proftssor Salisbury, and pre- 

 sents the following results. The tabic also exhibits an analysis 

 of a hematite ore from the same locality. 



• J. p. Butler, E«q. 



