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ship the bed which has been mined is over ten feet in thickness, and yields 
about 20 per cent. of pure material. 
The last, or fissure graphite, is not so common, and, though of much greater 
purity and brightness, cannot, in general, be worked to such profit. 
The series of rocks in which graphite and its companion minerals occur in 
this district has been described by Vennor, in a letter to Dana, as follows: 
“The order, then, thus given to the economic minerals just mentioned is, in 
ascending order, as follows: first, hematite iron ore; secondly, magnetite and 
apatite (unimportant) ; thirdly, magnetite and hematite (important); fourthly, 
plumbago (very extensive); fifthly, phosphate of lime, with iron ore (an exten- 
sively worked belt); and then, sixthly, eozoon Canadensis in abundance, with 
serpentine, chrysotile, and veins of baryta and galena. You will thus observe 
that iron ore runs through the series, though most important in one horizon ; 
that plumbago, with a great deal of pyrites, is toward the upper portion, while 
the great body of apatite-bearing rocks is at the very summit.” 
It is said that plumbago was mined to a small extent in the vicinity of 
Grenville as long ago as thirty years, and that the farmers around Buckingham 
were accustomed to use the purer specimens, which they picked up, for polishing 
their stoves with. No mining worth speaking of, however, was done until a 
New York company opened a mine in the Township of Lochaber, where they 
purchased a number of plumbago deposits and erected factories, at an expendi- 
ture of about $50,000. After working for four years they were compelled to cease, 
The Montreal Company commenced operations about the same time. They 
invested abouts $150,000, and made some large shipments to England and New 
York. They manufactured immense quantities of “Dome” stove polish, but 
about eight years ago they closed work, and soon afterwards their buildings were 
all burnt down. Difficulty of transportation was one main cause of the failure of 
these companies, and this, although somewhat remedied of late, is still a great 
source of expense and trouble. 
The principal mines recently in operation were those of the Dominion of 
Canada Company, discovered about ten or twelve years ugo by Messrs. Pennock 
and Devine. This company (which claimed to have started with a capital of 
£100,000, subscribed largely by English capitalists) owned about two thousand 
acres of land, containing very rich deposits. Among these are about fifteen lodes: 
or rich veins, one of which (in lot No. 21 in the 7th con. ) is stated by Vennor to 
vary in thickness from one to two feet; it runs ina W.S.W. direction, and 
contains very pure graphite. 
The deposits of disseminated mineral were, however, found to be more 
easily and profitably operated. The quarry worked was about one-eighth of a 
mile in length and about seventy feet in depth, and yielded from ten to sixty per 
cent. of plumbago. The machinery in use was capable of turning out about 
fitteen tons per week. 
The graphite, when received at the mill, was broken into lumps weighing 
about three pounds and then crushed. It was afterwards separated into different 
grades by passing through large tubs about fifteen feet in diameter, known as 
“ muddlers,” in which the heavier particles are deposited in the centre and the 
lighter ones toward the outside edge. After being dried in an oven, it was 
ground and separated, as in a grist mill; the coarse grades being packed in bar- 
rels for crucibles, and the finer in {in boxes for pencils, electrotyping, etc. 
About five years ago the foundation of the factory was laid by Hon. R. W. 
Scott, and the little settlement which has since grown up around it rejoices in 
the appropriate, if somewhat high-flown, name of Graphite City. It contains, 
beside the factory, a post-office, blacksmith shop, saw mill and boarding-houses. 
The Buckingham Mining Company owns about one thousand acres of land, 
and had commenced active operations three or four years ago, but did not erect. 
factories, and is now doing little or nothing. 
