Limonites of Dutchess and Columbia Counties. 57 



on the north. It includes the Palmer pit and the Weed mine, but 

 they and the Gridley mines are all on one continuous body of ore, 

 lying upon the white, fine-crystalline limestone, near the adjacent 

 black, micaceous schist. The limestone forms the west wall of the 

 Palmer pit, and the bottom of the mine near this western rock wall. 

 It is uncovered at the east side also, under the schist. Both the 

 limestone and the " slate rock " (schist) dip toward the east-south-east 

 at angles of 60° to 70°. The limestone was found nearly all the way 

 across on the bottom, near the Weed pit. The ore is largely 

 limonite. The carbonate, or " white horse " of the miners, occurs at 

 the bottom and in the south wall of the Palmer pit in strata, which 

 dip steeply eastward. The limonite appears to be deposited upon 

 and between the beds of the carbonate ore. Tho association of these 

 ores and rocks is s;eoloo-icallv interesting and suggestive of the origin 

 of the limonite through the oxidation and redeposition in part, of the 

 carbonate. The further extension of the limits of the pits, vertically 

 and laterally, will, no doubt discover the order of succession and 

 their relations to one another. The limonite occurs in a variety of 

 forms ; in great pockets, mixed with clays of various colors ; in com- 

 pacted masses,, which have to be broken down by blasting ; and in 

 " cups " and '• bombs," spheroidal and cup-shaped masses in the clays. 

 Notwithstanding the long and uninterrupted working, the breasts of 

 ore are apparently as promising as at any time in the history of the 

 mine. The working is in the open pits and the ore is taken in carts 

 to the washer on the west side of the mine. The total length of the 

 opening, from north to south, is 80 rods, and the Palmer pit is 115 

 feet deep. The extreme breadth of the ore has been as much as 300 

 feet, from foot to hanging-wall side. The ore is crushed by Blake 

 crushers, washed in a Bradford washer, and carted to the railroad, 

 three-quarters of a mile distant. The mine water is raised by a 10- 

 inch Cornish pump and is used in washing the ore. The mine 

 equipment includes two boilers and two engines in addition to pump 

 and washer. The ore carries from 44 to 51 per cent, of metallic 

 iron, is non-Bessemer, and is used mainly for car-wheel manufacture 

 by Barnum, Richardson & Company, in their furnaces at East Canaan 

 and at Sharon Valley, Connecticut. A smaller part is sold to the 

 Burden Iron Works, at Troy. The mine has yielded 200,000 tons of 

 ore in the last twenty years. 



MANHATTAN MINE, town of Amenia, Dutchess County. — 

 The Manhattan or Sharon mine is at Sharon Station, on the New 



