1846.] Mineral Resources of JVew York. 27 



SOME OF THE MINERAL RESOUrxCES OF NEW YORK. 



The development of the resources of a state or nation is a duty 

 \vhich can not be performed too early or too thoroughly; for as 

 soon as a nation begins to legislate or perform the functions re- 

 quired by a civilized people, some knowledge of the natural re- 

 sources of the country become indispensable. The foundation of 

 commerce, the elements of trade and the materials for exchange 

 must be sought out and extracted from their store-houses, before 

 wealth can flow into a nation's coffers, or capital accumulate in 

 the hands of individuals. Industry is excited and encouraged by 

 every discovery of the raw material; first, in raising it from its 

 beds; second, in forming and fashioning it for use; and third, in 

 distributing it by trade to those parts where it is required for the 

 purposes of life. The channels through which industry travels 

 diverge in all directions from the original source from whence the 

 raw material is extracted or drawn, and hence, a whole community 

 may be employed in industrial pursuits, whenever a supply of un- 

 wrought material is brought to light. 



From these remarks it is evideht, that the pursuits of life are 

 controlled by circumstances and not by an independent and abso- 

 lute choice of individuals. The residence of a civilized people 

 being fixed, the pursuits of industry must be subordinated to those 

 natural reservoirs of wealth which are stored up in the mountains, 

 the sea or bowels of the earth. It may be that they are fixed 

 upon a plain, whose deep alluvial soil invites to husbandry and 

 tillage; if so, the plow is the instrument by w-hich industry 

 gathers and strows her wealth. It may be that hills and moun- 

 tains are chosen as places of residence; then flocks and herds of- 

 fer themselves as suitable channels by which to secure compe- 

 tence and independence; or, it may be mines of ores crop out 

 from beneath and become the productive fields of employment. It 

 is here, too, that the powers of nature are concentrated to move 



