The Phosphates of America. 31 



currence and the continuity in depth of Canadian apatites. In- 

 dustrially they have secured to the company some very consider- 

 able reserves of phosphate, which are now in sight and ready for 

 extraction. 



The entire property consists of 200 acres, and it is traversed 

 throughout its length by the pyroxene belt or band, which con- 

 tains, besides the apatite, a large number of the characteristic 

 minerals and has an average width of some 250 feet. The pyrox- 

 ene is occasionally intermixed at the surface with bowlders of 

 granite or gneiss. The trend of the belt or vein is in the usual 

 northeasterly and southwesterly direction, and at intervals of 

 from 50 to 75 feet it is intersected from east to west by faults, or 

 chutes, which dip to the south at an angle of from 45 to 60, and 

 as these all contain an abundance of apatite they have been chosen 

 as the fitting points for sinking shafts and pits. 



Taking the southern boundary as a point of departure, the belt 

 of phosphate-bearing matter has been prospected and proved by 

 openings practised at intervals of from 25 to 50 feet. 



Proceeding along the vein towards the north for about 500 feet, 

 we reach the first important opening sunk upon it and known as 



The Office Pit, a species of quarry 150 feet in length by 40 in 

 width and about 35 feet deep. Here we find the usual masses of 

 characteristic conglomerates, mica, feldspar and apatite alternating 

 in predominance or heterogeneously mixed up together. In the 

 west-end corner of the quarry a small pit, some 6 feet square, has 

 been sunk upon a vein of apatite and has shown the same features 

 to continue in depth. From a careful measurement and comparison 

 of the entire matter in place, the proportion of pure apatite in this 

 portion of the lode is estimated at eight per cent, of the total ma- 

 terial to be removed. In other words, for every 100 tons of rock 

 removed 8 tons of apatite can be secured. 



The next in line, at a distance of 100 feet, is the 



Alice Pit No. 1, an opening 25 x 15 and 10 feet deep. Here, 

 in exactly the same formation as the preceding, there is a very fine 

 vein of pure apatite, about 12 feet wide, running down from the 

 surface with the usual dip to the south. 



Following the belt for another 60 feet we come to 



Alice Pit No. 2, which has been opened up for a depth of 10 

 feet on a fault in the vein 30 feet long by 15 feet wide. Several 

 small veins, or stringers, of apatite imbedded in the usual con- 

 glomerate have merged into one, which has gradually widened 

 out until at the bottom it has attained about 5 feet. This is an 



