70 ECONOMICAL MINERALOGY. 



In Otsego County, a good marble has long been known in the vicinity of Cherry- Valley ; 

 and in Orange County there are several localities of marble, but none of them are at present 

 wrought. 



Putnam County. Probably no county in the State contains a more abundant supply of 

 marble than this. In the northern part of the town of Kent there are beds of coloured marble, 

 while in Phillipstown and Patterson the white variety abounds. In the vicinity of the village 

 of Patterson there are extensive beds which have been much wrought for several years, both 

 for building purposes and for burning into lime. The marble, which is here granular and 

 dolomitic, is white or bluish white, and closely resembles that from Sing-Sing in Westchester 

 county. Like that also the strata are often traversed by tremolite, asbestus and pyroxene. 



In the vicinity of the County Poor-House are extensive beds of dark serpentine, which 

 takes a good polish, and no doubt will hereafter be much used as an ornamental marble. It 

 is compact, and may be obtained in blocks of large size, free from checks and flaws. But 

 for the fact that these beds are situated at too great a distance from water transport, they 

 would long ago have been extensively wrought. 



Rockland County. About two and a half miles west of Grassy Point, there is a beautiful 

 variegated marble, which is susceptible of a fine polish, but it does not appear to be abundant. 

 Associated with this are sometimes found epidote, crystallized hornblende and feldspar. A 

 quarry of dove-coloured marble occurs on the banks of the Minischecongo creek, of which the 

 following is the composition, viz : 



Carbonate of lime, 93.50 



Insoluble matter (silica, &c.) 3.75 



Moisture and loss, 2.75 



So that it is sufficiently pure to be burned into lime. 



There is a quarry of verd antique marble on the immediate bank of the Hudson, about a 

 mile and a half below Caldwell's Landing. It is said that blocks of any reasonable size can 

 be quarried here, free from cracks and flaws.* 



St. Lawrence County. From the abundance of white limestone in this county, it cannot 

 be doubted that it contains many and valuable localities of marble ; but there have been as 

 yet few inducements for explorations of this kind. Between the villages of Oxbow and Gou- 

 verneur, there is a bed from wliich blocks of good wliite marble have been obtained. There 

 is another locality near Potsdam, which furnishes a good and easily ^vrought marble ; while 

 of verd antique, extensive beds are found in Gouverneur, Fowler and Edwards. Another 

 locality of the same kind occurs in Pitcairn. The colours are green and white, arranged in 

 the usual forms of clouded marble. The serpentine has a bright green colour, and belongs to 



* Millher. Xew- yo7-k Geological Rr-ports^ 1839. 



