HIGH-GRADE SILICA MATERIALS . 21 



for the samples obtained (see table I- for analysis), stated that the 

 sands at the east end of Oneida lake have been practically worked 

 out; there may be possibly 1000 tons left in the area bounded by 

 the east shore of the lake, the New York, Ontario and Western 

 Railroad, Sylvan Beach and the highway to the south. On the 

 north side of the lake, according to Mr Williams, there is a deposit 

 extending from Cleveland to Constantia. This is several feet thick 

 in places, and of about the same quality as the sand at the east end 

 of the lake; there may be 100,000 tons or more available. 



The sand was used in the manufacture of glass fruit jars, bottles, 



and occasionally lamp chimneys ; the samples obtained by the writer 



from the east end of the lake contain 98.56 per cent SiO 2 , 0.68 per 



cent A1 2 O 3 and 0.41 per cent Fe 2 O 3 (table i) ; it is not of optical 



'quality. 



Lithologic character. The Oneida glass sand is composed of 

 angular to subangular grains ranging from o.io mm to 0.50 mm in 

 diameter; the minerals other than quartz are feldspar, both fresh 

 and kaolinized, tourmaline, colored and colorless garnet, zircon, 

 hornblende, rutile, magnetite, ilmenite, leucoxene, and rarely both 

 corundum and monazite, and occasionally brookite. 



The quartz grains are in many cases coated with iron oxide and 

 contain minute included specks of iron oxide as well, so that it would 

 probably be impossible to lower the iron content by additional 

 washing. 



While it is probable that small patches of greater purity may be 

 encountered, the deposit as a whole will conform in quality and 

 mineralogy to that here described. 



Operating facilities and transportation. All the glass sand taken 

 from the vicinity of Oneida lake was, so far as could be learned, 

 extracted and washed by hand ; the operation involved stripping the 

 soil covering, never very thick, and conveying the crude sand in 

 wagons to either the canal or lake, where it was washed several 

 times in some sort of trough or cradle. 



The irregular distribution of this material, the thinness of the 

 deposits, its rather poor quality and -the relatively small quantity 

 available prohibit the erection of a plant capable of handling the 

 sand more efficiently and at less cost than the slow and laborious 

 methods used in the past. 



There are no difficulties in the way of transportation, the region 

 being particularly well served. The main line of the New York 

 Central and Hudson River Railroad lies 6 or 7 miles south of the 



