244 GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 



mercc must be confined to the best of tlie ores, which are, of course, as easily raised as the 

 leaner and poorer ones. 



Veins of Magnetic Iron Ore in Elizabethtown, Keens and Westport. 



1 shall not attempt to describe all the veins which are known to exist in these towns, and 

 in most instances I shall be content to mention the places where they have been found. 



On lot No. 177, Ore-bed tract, is an extensive vein ; it is situated upon an eminence, six 

 miles west from Westport village. This is a new discovery, and opportunity for testing its 

 value has not occurred. Mixed in the proportion of one-third of the ore from the Hall vein in 

 Moriah, it makes a good iron. It has not been analyzed. It is black, and is not disposed 

 to absorb oxygen. The vein is in granite, is forty feet wide, and runs nearly north and south. 

 The ore is rather tough, but is rich, and free from substances which injure the quality of 

 the iron. 



On lots No. 140 and 141 in the same tract, are two veins in addition to those already men- 

 tioned. I have not, however, given them a particular examination. 



Another vein, of an inferior quality, was opened some years since in Westport, about two 

 miles north or towards Split-rock, not far from the lake. 



Again, on lot No. 23, Split-rock tract, iron ore occurs. The vein is two feet wide, and 

 runs northeast and southwest. The ore is rather compact and tough, and is associated with 

 hornblende, but it is of little importance. 



In Keene, there are also several veins of iron, but none that promise much. At Long 

 pond, on the side of the mountain which has been exposed by the slide already noticed, is a 

 vein, the ore from which was tried at the Elba iron-works, and proved worthless, in conse- 

 quence of being highly charged with pyrites. The associated rocks give to the mass an 

 interest which it does not possess in itself. Its direction is more westerly than usual ; it is 

 traversed by dykes and primitive limestone, and it is contained in hypersthene rock. 



- \ 

 Magnetic Ores of Adirondack. 



The masses, veins or beds, of which I propose giving some account in this place, are 

 situated in the town of Newcomb, near the head waters of the Hudson river, in the extreme 

 westerly part of the county. They are a few miles west of the centre of the great wilder- 

 ness of New-York, in which the group of mountains called the Adirondacks are situated. 

 They are in fact upon the highest table land of this portion of the State, or upon that platform 

 whereon all the larger lakes are spread. 



In giving the following report of these mines to the public, and in particular to the State 

 of New- York, it is my wish to present such views as shall be strictly within the bounds of 

 truth, and in language which shall be generally understood. In the annual reports, I have 

 often brought this subject before the citizens of the State, in the hope that it would be properly 

 appreciated. In the accounts which have been as it were only incidentally given, I confined 



