The, Phosphates of America. 



Companies now working- Apatite mines in Canada. Continued. 



It is affirmed by some excellent authorities that pyroxene rock 

 is never found distinctly bedded, though occasionally a series of 

 parallel lines can be traced through it, which, while possibly the 

 remains of stratification, are probably often joint planes. Some- 

 times, when the pyroxenite has been weathered, apparent signs of 

 bedding are brought out, which are often parallel to the bedding 

 of the country-rock. Thus at Bob's Lake mine, in Frontenac 

 County, a rich green pyroxenite occurs which exhibits this struc- 

 ture. For 10 feet down from the surface this apparent bedding 

 can be distinguished. It gradually grows fainter, until it disap- 

 pears in the massive pyroxenite below. A similar phenomenon has 

 been observed at the Emerald mine, Buckingham Township, 

 Ottawa County, Quebec, and at several other places. 



The pyroxene occurs in several different forms. Sometimes it 

 is massive, of a light or dark green color, and opaque or translu- 

 cent ; at other times it is granular and easily crumbled. Occasion- 

 ally it occurs in a distinctly crystalline form, the crystals being in 

 color of different shades of a dull green, generally opaque or 

 translucent, but sometimes, though rarely, almost transparent. 

 The massive variety is the most common and composes the greater 

 part of the pyroxenites found in the phosphate districts. 



The associated feldspar is generally a crystalline orthoclase, 

 varying in color from white to pink and lilac, but occasionally it 

 occurs as a whitish-brown finely crystalline rock. The trap is of 

 the dark, almost black, variety. The apatite itself occurs, as we have 

 already explained, in a very capricious manner and in a very great 

 variety of forms. 



The first Canadian phosphate-mining was done in the township 

 of North Burgess, in Lanark County, and about the year 1863 

 extensive investments were made in lands in that township, near 

 the Rideau Canal, as high as $300 per acre having in some cases 



