66 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Geology of the Emeky 



Emery has been mined in this district for the last twenty-two years; 

 and at a previous period, an attempt had been made to use it as an iron 

 ore, but being so high in alumina, when used by itself, it of course hope- 

 lessly clogged the furnace which was erected, and the undertaking was 

 abandoned. Since 1889, however, many thousand tons have been taken 

 out for use as an abrasive, although the so-called Peekskill emery is the 

 poorest variety on the market. 



Isaac McCoy was the first to mine emery, and on his land, on the central 

 and southern part of the hill east northeast of Pleasantside, is the most 

 pretentious mine in the district. He worked in a small way himself for a 

 while and then leased the property to the Tanite Emery Company of 

 Stroudsburg, Pa., who kept twelve or fifteen men busy at intervals for 

 about eighteen years. The Blue Corundum Mining Company of Boston, 

 Mass., has also done work on his property. The Keystone Emery Com- 

 pany of Frankfort, Pa., started work a little later on the Oscar Dalton 

 property (on the northeast slope of the hill above mentioned) and on the 

 land of John H. Buckbee, which is located on a hill a mile southeast of 

 the last. The work here was later taken over by H. M. Quinn of Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. The Tanite Company also leased the land of David Chase, 

 just southwest of Mr. Buckbee's property. The work done on the deposits 

 which are found on Dickerson and Salt Hills is mostly of a private nature, 

 although the Lombard mine was once quite productive; and the same 

 applies to the small pits which are located in the biotite norite area north- 

 west of Crugers. 



The work on the emery deposits has been so scattered and irregular 

 that no estimate of the total amount mined can be made. Work is at 

 present going on in the Dalton pits, in a new cut at the McCoy mine 

 (Plate V, fig. 1) and in the southeastern area. A thousand tons or more 

 are lying in the pile at the Dalton property and an equal amount in the 

 emery yard at the Chase mine. The ore is hauled by teams to Peekskill 

 and is thence shipped chiefly to Easton, Pa., as the market demands. 



Most of the mining is of a very primitive nature, being chiefly open 

 cutting and stripping; after a small amount of work has been done, the 

 emery usually pinches out. It occurs chiefly in veins and pockets but at 

 the Buckbee mine in fairly well-developed lenses. Here more extensive 

 mining was carried on ; tunnels were driven in several places, and a small 

 shaft was sunk, but the timbering has given way, and the whole work has 

 caved in. At the McCoy mine, the largest pit is about 75 feet long by 40 

 feet wide and is 80 feet deep. The work here was stopped partly on ac- 



