THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I9II 



6l 



beds extending far above the present water level. Later water 

 action may have effected a beneficial re-sorting of the materials as 

 instanced by the beach sands of Long Island and some of the lakes 

 in the interior of the State. 



A measure of the importance of the sand and gravel industry 

 may be had from the accompanying table which, however, lacks 

 something in the way of completeness and accuracy. The figures 

 relating to the molding sand production are believed to be a close 

 approximation to the actual totals, but those for building sand and 

 gravel may vary considerably from the true quantities, perhaps 

 understating them by as much as 25 per cent. The building sand 

 operations are so widely scattered and in many sections carried on 

 in such haphazard or fugitive manner that it is extremely difficult 

 to cover them all in a statistical canvass. 



a Includes glass sand, filter sand, engine and polishing sand. 

 b Statistics not collected. 

 c Partly estimated. 



Molding sand. The use of sand for the casting of metals calls 

 for a large supply of special grades which have a rather restricted 

 distribution, compared with building sands, and consequently 

 greater value. 



In New York there are two main areas in which good molding 

 sands occur: (1) on the lands bordering the Hudson river from 

 Orange county to Saratoga county; (2) in Erie county. The sand 

 is found in shallow beds immediately beneath the sod and often 

 covers extensive tracts. In the Hudson river region, which is by 

 far the most important, beds 8 inches thick may be worked if con- 

 venient to transportation. From this they range up to 7 or 8 feet 

 thick, though usually the finer grades occur in relatively thin de- 

 posits. The sand is graded roughly according to size, which varies 



