HYDROUS PEROXIDE OF IRON. 33 



Peroxide of iron, 82 . 90 



Silica and alumina, 3. 60 



Water, 13.50 



Oxide of manganese, traces. 



This bed is said to furnish five thousand tons of ore per annum, the average yield of which 

 is fifty per cent of pig iron. The amount of ore is supposed to he inexhaustible. 



There are several beds of the same ore, but of inferior importance, in the vicinity of that 

 just noticed. Such as the Chalk Pond and the Indian Pond ore beds, the former of which 

 is about two and a half miles northeast of Ameniaville, and the latter, on or near the Coimccti- 

 cut line between Salisbury and Sharon. There is also another bed at Squabble Hole, about 

 two miles south-southwest of Ameniaville, which may prove to be a continuation of the Amenia 

 bed. At each of these localities, ore of good quality, and in considerable quantity, has been 

 obtained. 



The iron region which has just been described, is undoubtedly a part of the great series of 

 deposits which has, with little interruption, been traced in a nearly northern direction tlirough 

 the States of Coimecticut, Massachusetts and Vennont. Thus the ore is known to occur at 

 Kent and Salisbury in Connecticut, at Lenox and Richmond in Massachusetts, and at Ben- 

 nington, Pittsford and Monkton in Vermont. At many of these locahties it is accompanied 

 by an ore of zinc, although in proportions too small to be detected by ordinary analysis ; and 

 in Vermont, it is associated with the oxide of manganese. At the Alteram furnace in Columbia 

 county, where the Salisbury ore is used, layers of oxide of zinc are formed in the chimney ; 

 and the same thing has been observed at some of the furnaces in Dutchess county, proving 

 that tliis mineral also exists in the ores there found. A specimen of this substance which I 

 obtained at Ancram,* made up of several distinct layers of a yellowish colour, gave upon ana- 

 lysis the following results in 100 parts, viz : 



Oxide of zinc, 96.10 



Oxide of iron, 2.90 



Carbon, 1.00 



Bog iron ore has been found in various parts of this county, but not of such a quality or in 

 such quantity as to be of any value. 



Columbia County. Few important beds of iron ore are at present knovra to exist in this 

 county. The following deserve to be noticed. 



Prescotfs Ore Bed. This is situated in the to\vn of HiUsdale, one and a half mile north of 

 the Columbia turnpike. The ore is hematite in detached nodules, alternating with ochre and 

 fragments of decomposed slate rock. It has been used chiefly for the manufacture of yellow 



♦ This substance is known liy tlie name of Ctutmium or Cadmm. The oxide of zinc contained in these ores of iron is volatilized 

 by the heat, and is again deposited in the chimney of the furnace. Several analyses will be found in Dumas, Chimk applujuee 

 aux Arts, III. 197. 



Part I. • 6 



