1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 37 



ground. Our object in introducing these remarks is to inculcate 

 the principle of economy in saving fuel in our manufacturing dis- 

 tricts, for unless a judicious course is pursued in this matter they 

 will be greatly crippled in their operations, at a time and period 

 when they will be the most valuable to individuals and of the 

 most importance to a community. Errors committed against our 

 forests are the errors of a life, and the repairs, if ever made, will 

 consume the life of a whole generation; but the great misfortune 

 is that it is rarely they are repaired but imperfectly, and often the 

 axe which has felled the pride of two centuries, has consigned a 

 handsome estate to barrenness. 



We deem it unnecessary to dwell longer upon this single re- 

 source of wealth in New York, the magnetic ores, for we are un- 

 able, at the present time, to estimate its value. We know that it 

 is distributed over an area of sixteen hundred square miles; that 

 new deposits of it are coming to light every year, in all that re- 

 gion which gives origin to the Hudson, or on those rivulets which 

 feed the Champlain; and that we are far more likely to under- 

 rate than over estimate its importance to the citizens of this 

 state. We see in it one of those sources from whence the great 

 public works are ultimately to draw a revenue which wull mate- 

 rially aid in sustaining them. Besides the magnetic ores, the 

 specular of Jefferson and St. Lawrence, which furnishes material 

 for two or three large establishments in those counties, and which 

 not only supply a large proportion of the maleable and cast iron 

 in different states, for their own population, but which furnishes 

 also a large amount for exportation, some of which finds its way 

 to Rochester, and the Genesee valley and Canada, and to Boston, 

 where it is highly esteemed. To this we must add the hematites 

 of Columbia and Dutchess counties, some of which are also adapt- 

 ed to the manufacture of an excellent tough iron. The ore of the 

 western counties is confined to one formation, viz. the Clinton 

 group. It occurs in one or two beds. This ore is only available 

 when and where it crops out, or is within twenty or twenty-five 

 feet of the surface. Its position may be seen in the gorge below 

 the lower falls at Rochester. It rises to the surface near the ferry, 



