COMBUSTIBLE MINERALS, NOT GASEOUS. J 89 



Greene County. According to Prof. Eaton, this mineral is found on the Kauterskill, four 

 miles west of Catskill, precisely at the meeting of the cherty limerock with what he has 

 termed the second greywacke slate* 



Herkimer County. Anthracite has been found in small veins, traversing the sandstone, 

 in the town of Salisbury. It also occurs at Little-Falls, Middleville and elsewhere, but 

 only in sufficient quantity for cabinet specimens. Masses of several inches in diameter, the 

 largest indeed that have hitherto been found in the State, have been brought from Salisbury. 

 The beautiful quartz crystals for which this county is so celebrated, are often associated with 

 black and shining anthracite, which sometimes adheres to, and penetrates them. The geodes 

 of these crystals are sometimes also lined with a black powder, which is found to be nearly 

 pure carbon. It does not burn with flame, but is gradually consumed under the blowpipe, 

 and leaves a slight earthy residuum. The same black powder is also frequently diffused 

 throughout the entire body of the crystal. 



Montgomery County. At Canajoharie and Cherry- Valley, anthracite occurs in thin seams, 

 with associations similar to those which have been noticed under the preceding county. It 

 is also found disseminated in small masses through hornstone, near Spraker's, in the town of 

 Palatine. A considerable sum has been expended in working this locality. The mineral is 

 found in the calciferous sandstone. 



Orange County. In the greywacke, it is not unusual to find masses of this mineral from 

 the size of a pin's head to that of a pea, so as to give the rock a handsome appearance. Dr. 

 Horton states that this is strikingly the case at Walden, on the northwest bank of the Walkill. 



Rensselaer County. As in the adjoining counties, thin seams of anthracite are some- 

 times found between the layers of slate. 



Schoharie County. Small masses of anthracite have been obtained in Middleburgh, where 

 it is associated with calcareous spar. 



Sullivan County. About a mile and a half west of Red bridge, there is a bed of black 

 carbonaceous shale from four and a half to five feet thick, which has thin seams of anthracite 

 interlaminated, from the thickness of paper to that of thick pasteboard. Mr. Mather states 

 that the shale contains vegetable impressions, similar to those found at Carbondale in Penn- 

 sylvania. Thin seams of anthracite have also been found in the counties of Ulster, Greene 

 and Schoharie, and occasionally with associated fossil plants. He adds, that although the 

 strata in which these seams of anthracite occur are all perhaps below the coal-bearing rocks 

 of Pennsylvania, and it is not thought probable that coal will be found in useful quantity in 

 them, " still some parts of the upper portions bear so much resemblance to the anthracite coal 

 rocks of Pennsylvania, both in mineralogical character and fossil remains, that it is thought 

 possible that coal beds of workable thickness may be discovered."! 



It cannot be doubted that other localities of anthracite, similar to the above, exist in various 

 parts of the State, but we have as yet little encouragement to pursue explorations for this 

 important mineral. 



• American Journal of Science, XIX. 154. f Mather. New-York Geological Reporte, 1840. 



