798 [AsSEMBI^T 



embrac<?d in the invaluable report of Mr. Johnson, and tba able 

 essay on the subject contained in the Transactions of 1851. 



The pnblic owe the discovery of the mine in Crown Point to the 

 discriminating observation and sagacious enterprise of C.F. Ham- 

 mond, Esq. His attention was originally attracted to the locality 

 by an appearance of iron ore, and the presence upon and near ike 

 surface of large numbers of quartz crystals. These indication*, 

 and the peculiar and unusual formation and texture of the rocks, 

 suggested a minute examination of the place, which revealed a 

 substance, the name and character of which Mr. Hammond WM 

 ignorant. In the year 1838, he directed the attention of a Nata- 

 ralist to it, who decided upon a casual inspection that it was a 

 new and rare mineral, and designated its name, but pronounced 

 it of no value except for cabinet specimens.* The zeal of Mr. 

 Hammond was unabated, and in a subsequent examination urged 

 by him and made in 1850, the mineral was ascertained to be a 

 great desideratum in agriculture— a, natural phosphate of lime. 

 In the autumn of the same year ground was broken at the mine, 

 and excavation commenced. The opening is directly upon a 

 public highway, and one and a half mile from the shore of Lake 

 Champlain. A shaft eight to ten feet wide has been sunk 115 

 feet. Lateral galleriefe have been projected north and west from 

 the bottom of the shaft. The copper ore already noticed, wafi 

 discovered in one gallery, and the phosphate was raised from 

 the other. About 170 tons of the first quality of the phospltate 

 has been exported to New- York during the last season, and a 

 large accumulation of an inferior quality now remains at th« 

 mouth of the shaft. 



A variety of ore had been excavated for many years at the 

 " Old Sandford bed," in Moriah, and esteemed of little value on 

 account of the incorporation of an ingredient known to the miners 

 as "red sand." This element greatly depreciated its purity. A 

 huge mass of the ore containing the " red sand ^l had gradually 

 accumulated near the ore bed. The eye of science incidentally 

 fell upon it, and soon detected in this rejected material, the pre- 

 sence of a pure phospbate of lime. The ore is thickly studded 



