32 Mineral Resources of J\^ew York. [<^uly, 



qnently contains. It is, or may be used for lime, when free from 

 the latter, and when the purer limestones are at too great a dis- 

 tance. Thus, in numerous localities in the primary districts, this 

 rock becomes an important one for furnishing lime; indeed it is 

 believed that the whole primary district may be supplied with 

 lime li'om this source; or, it may be substituted for the purer sedi- 

 mentary limestones, when these can not be obtained. This rock 

 is, however, only worthy of notice in the primary districts, and it 

 is spoken of here to show that the important article lime may be 

 procured throughout the wnde primary district north of the Mo- 

 hawk valley. It will be foimd here an important mineral re- 

 source, both in building and in- agriculture, when these lands 

 come to be settled. Associated, very frequently, with the primary 

 limestone is a variety of verd antique, composed of carbonate of 

 lime and serpentine, mixed or aggregated in various proportions, 

 and in small and large masses of the latter. The usual form in 

 which this occurs is a gray limestone, which forms the ground or 

 base into which the serpentine is imbedded, or through w^hich it 

 is disseminated. It forms by no means an inferior marble, and 

 will one day be wrought, and will adorn the parlors of the farmers 

 and mechanics of the northern section of the state. It can not, 

 however, come in competition with the black marbles of Glen's 

 Falls or Isle La Motte; still, it must be regarded as one of the 

 minor resources, which, at some future time, will be brought out 

 by the enterprise of the generation now coming upon the stage of 

 life. 



The most important of the mineral resources of New York are 

 her mines of iron ore; and in this material she probably is more 

 richly supplied than any other state in the Union. It is a re- 

 markable fact that not only is every system of rocks within her 

 borders supplied with deposits of ore, but they are distributed in 

 every great section of the state. The primary system abounds in 

 the magnetic and specular ores; the taconic, in brown hematites; 

 the Silurian in oolitic and argillaceous; the diluvial and tertiary 

 with bog ore. These different species of iron ores are found first 

 in the northern counties; the magnetic in Orange, Warren, Sara- 



