474 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



iui.shiuiu iS wcii' looking for stone for our new State Capitol. Until 

 recently Uie United ^^tates autliorities at Wasliington were vStating 

 that 110 granite had been found in this Commonwealth, and that con- 

 sequently we were obliged to purchase anything of that character 

 from owners of granite quarries in other states. This day will soon 

 be past, for we have hills and small .mountains containing as good 

 granite as has been found anywhere in this country. 



In some of the mountain langes of Pennsylvania there are im- 

 mense bodies of rock composed almost entirely of iron ore and silica. 

 By a little skillful manipulation an industry could be built up in 

 nearly half of our thinly settled counties in the preparation for mar- 

 ket of what is known as ferro-silicon. Where the iron contains 10 

 per cent, silicon the present market price is |80 per ton; 20 per cent, 

 silicon. |4() per ton, and 50 per cent, silicon, |10(3 per 2,000 pounds. 

 Many have expressed themselves as wondering Avhy these numerous 

 mountains of our State were made; but as the years pass by some- 

 thing is found, partly hidden away, toward solving the inquiry. 



Geology includes in its scope the natural waters of the earth. 

 How litfle we value them, and hov.- little we apply them to the uses of 

 man outside of the old-fashioned ways. Let me call attention to 

 another use of our streams, and in order to do this we will take the 

 facts as given in the Youth's Comjiauion, of Boston, as well as from 

 the Technical World Magazine: 



''One of the most interesting farms in America is to be found in 

 Oneida county, New York, close by the historic battlefield of Oris- 

 kany. It is the farm of Mr. E. B. Miner, and is attracting attention 

 because of the way in which much of the woik on it is being done by 

 Oriskany creek. One by one the old crank handles, familiar em- 

 blems of drudgery to every country boy, have been thrown away, 

 until today churn, separator and grindstone whir merrily without the 

 labor of a hand upon them. Little more than a year ago one of the 

 sons of David M. Miner, who then owned the farm, persuaded his fa- 

 ther to begin harnessing the little creek which plunged merrilv 

 down throui^h their farm to its junction with the Mohawk. 



"In October, 190.5, a dam was begun, having concrete wings and 

 foundation and leading to a concrete wheel pit. A head of four and 

 a half feet was obtained with a constant flow of 4,000 gallons a min- 

 ute. 



"A thirty-inch upright water-wheel n'as installed, which developed 

 seventeen and a half horse power, and to this was attached a twelve- 

 and-a-half-kilowatt generator. Fifteen hundred feet of bare alum 

 inum cable led the current to the house, where twenty-flve sixteen- 

 candle-power lamps were installed; and to the barn, where eight 

 more were placed. 



"Two months after the dam was begun the water was sent through 

 the wheel and the lights turned on. Since then the power ])lant 

 has run continuously night and day, with no attention except super- 

 vision and oiling two or three times a week. 



"Fuel in the Mohawk Valley in mid-winter is expensive both in 

 money and in the labor required for maintaining fires. Mr. Miner's 

 son installed a 4,000-watt heater, which heats two rooms— about 

 2,400 cubic feet — to a temperature of seventy-five degrees when it 

 is zero outside. That put the old coal stove out of business. 



