6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



INTRODUCTION 



The mineral industries of New York have continued to experience 

 during the past year the conditions of general prosperity and ad- 

 vancement noticed in the previous report for 1905. A summary of 

 the returns received from producers distributed among the different 

 branches which are represented in the State shows a valuation for the 

 year's output of $37,11.8,430. The total takes into account over 

 30 mineral materials that are commercially exploited. It is to be 

 noted, however, that the valuation is placed upon the materials in 

 their crude or first marketable forms, and no attempt has been made 

 to obtain information relative to the many and varied industries 

 which derive their support from further elaboration of the ma- 

 terials. 



The corresponding total reported in 1905 was $35,470,987. In 

 1904 the value amounted to $28,812,595. The gain for the past year 

 was $1,647,443 or about 5 per cent, while during the two previous 

 years for which statistics have been collected the increase has been 

 $8,305,835 or nearly 30 per cent. 



The progress of the iron-mining industry has been one of the 

 notable features of the year's record. The output amounted to 

 905,367 long tons, the largest reported since 1891, and an increase 

 of 78,318 tons over that for 1905. There were 11 mines in the 

 State under exploitation, the number including three which began 

 production during the year. Exploratory developments have been 

 carried on by several additional companies as a preliminary to active 

 mining. The Fair Haven Iron Co. will begin shipments in the 

 spring from its mine situated at Sterling Station, Cayuga co. The 

 Benson mines in St Lawrence county, the Cheever mine in Essex 

 county and the Salisbury mine in Herkimer county have been under 

 development. The opening of the Lake Sanford titaniferous mag- 

 netite deposits, which have recently been transferred to new owner- 

 ship, is perhaps the most important prospective feature to be re- 

 corded in the mining of iron ore. 



The manufacture of clay products contributed an aggregate value 

 of $13,955,300 in 1906 as compared with $14,280,016 in the preced- 

 ing year. The decrease was clue principally to the lower prices ob- 

 tained for structural materials. The output of clay building ma- 

 terials (brick, tile, fireproofing and terra cotta) was valued at 

 $11,063,433. The number of brick made was 1,600,059,000, of 

 which 1,230,692,000 was reported by the plants along the Hudson 

 river. Pottery is a growing branch of the clay-working industry; 



