448 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Lerwittently, and it is to be regretted that no more capital has been 

 unlisted, as the outlook for a profitable industry near White Bock 

 is very good. 



The barite deposits of Blair, Clearfield, Franklin, Fulton and Hunt- 

 ingdon counties now and then produce a few tons of rock, and the 

 work teases for a time. As high a grade of barite as is found any 

 where in America occurs near Mont Alto, Franklin county. 



The demand for bromine from the salt of our salt wells has in- 

 creased, and a grade that three years ago brought 20 cents a pound 

 now brings 45 cents. For some reason the industry is encouraged 

 more in Michigan than in our own Commonwealth, and consequently 

 it is lagging here. It could be produced profitably in 38 of our coun- 

 ties, but Allegheny county seems to be the chief point of manu- 

 facture or extraction from the crude salt. 



During the past year some fine pieces of beryl have been found 

 in a quartz rock locality of northern Chester county. From beryl 

 is extracted beryllium or glucinium, the oxide of which now brings 

 about $4,000 a pound in European markets. There will be an in- 

 dustry in this field in Pennsylvania this year. 



We have much clay in Pennsylvania yielding large percentages 

 of alumina, and nearly free from titanic acid, especially in Clear- 

 field, Clinton and Lycoming counties. Some of this clay will prob- 

 ably be shipped to Niagara Falls during the present year to be used 

 in the manufacture of aluminum. 



Large bodies of corundum were mined in northeastern Perks 

 county, and western Lehigh county, during 1905. Mineral of this 

 character has also been taken from one or two deposits in Chester 

 county. The Lehigh article is of very good quality, as the sample 

 shown here to-day testifies. This mineral is used for corundum 

 wheels, corundum paper, and for other abrasive purposes. In India 

 the finest sapphires and rubies come from corundum beds. Within 

 the past five years very beautiful sapphires have been mined in 

 Montana, and equally beautiful rubies in McDowell and Madison 

 counties, North Carolina; but none thus far in Pennsylvania, ex 

 cept a few perfectly white sapphires in Delaware county, near Ches- 

 ter. 



A new industry has been successfully launched by the dredging 

 of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill river beds for coal, carried down 

 from the culm banks of the principal mines of the anthracite. To 

 such an extent has this work been carried on that during last year 

 more than 80,000 tons were taken from the two rivers. The method 

 of pumping up the coal and sand, and the separation of the former 

 from the latter, is quite ingenious and interesting; and the pro- 

 duct is very profitably marketed. Plans are now maturing for the 

 briquetting of this fine coal, when the industry will become more 

 firmly established. In Harrisburg and vicinity more than 10,000 tons 

 of the so-called river coal are consumed annually. 



Probably the most notable advance in coal mining in this State 

 is taking place in Somerset county. The coal from some of the 

 mines of that county is almost equal to anthracite, a sample from 

 the Boswell mine yielding as follows: Moisture, 0.92 per cent; vola- 

 tile matter, 15.26 per cent.; fixed carbon, 79.50 per cent.; ash, 4.32 per 

 cent.; and sulphur, 0.68 per cent. Three years ago Boswell was with- 

 out a single inhabitant. A census taken at this time would show a 



