﻿On the Zinc Mines of Franklin, N. J. 255 



I have said that the beds of zinc ore are remarkably uniform in 

 their course. Of this the reader will get a better idea by a few 

 words in reference to the topography of this district. The Wall- 

 kill valley, which extends nearly north and south through Sussex 

 County, has its eastern limits bounded by a continued series of 

 elevations known as the Hamburg or Wallkill mountains, and 

 composed of granite or gneiss ; while, towards the southern limits 

 of this valley, we have a less elevated range of hills, commencing 

 near Sparta, and extending through Sterling to Franklin, and 

 composed principally of granular limestone. This range, which 

 also extends nearly north and south, is the great repository of the 

 mineral wealth of Sussex County. It abounds in all the beau- 

 tiful crystallized minerals for which the place has so long been 

 celebrated, and is prolific in ores of iron, as well as of zinc. In 

 the variety and richness of its productions, it is scarcely less noted 

 than Uton or Arendal in Europe. A fine river passes through 

 this valley, affording ample water-power for pounding, washing 

 and smelting the ores, while the neighboring hills are covered 

 with a luxuriant forest for supplying charcoal. The zinc ore 

 beds extend about four miles ; they are not found north of 

 Franklin, nor south of Sterling, though loose masses, or boulders, 

 are abundantly scattered over the surface of the ground, or im- 

 bedded in alluvium and gravel, at various places in a north or 

 northwest direction ; and these were obviously transported by the 

 same denuding current to which the various drift of this country 

 is now referred. The occurrence of these masses, in consider- 

 able abundance, has led many who are not conversant with such 

 phenomena, to suppose the existence near by of large deposits in 

 situ. But I am convinced, from the observations of Prof. Ro- 

 gers, as well as from my own examination, that all such hopes 

 will be disappointed ; for although the same limestone, without 

 any essential change in its character, extends for several miles to 

 the south of Sterling, and as far north as Orange County, in New 

 York, it is no where found to exhibit a trace of zinc, excepting 

 in the form of transported bowlders ; and even these are not 

 found north of Franklin. The fact that a small portion of zinc 

 (probably in the state of carbonate) is found in the hematite iron 

 ore, three miles south of Franklin, has no bearing in the case, 

 because the hematite ore at other places, as in New York and 

 Massachusetts, is known to contain this metal. We may there- 



