THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I906 7 



its share in the total last year amounted to $1,795,008 represented 

 mostly by the finer wares, porcelain and semiporcelain. There were 

 265 clay-working plants in operation distributed among 48 counties. 



There was little change in the valuation of the products reported 

 by the quarries, the total for 1906 amounting to $6,504,165 against 

 $6,107,147 in the preceding year. The sum was divided according 

 to the various uses into: building stone $1,408,583; monumental 

 stone $103,219; curbing and flagging $999,678; crushed stone 

 $2,435,493; other uses $1,557,192. The output of slate and of lime- 

 stone used in making Portland and natural cements is not included 

 in the totals. 



The plants manufacturing hydraulic cement reported a production 

 of 4,114,939 barrels, consisting of 2,423,374 barrels of Portland 

 cement and 1,691,565 barrels of natural rock cement. There was a 

 large falling off in the natural rock cement, owing to conditions that 

 have developed generally in the cement trade, and for the first time 

 the total was exceeded by that of Portland cement. The combined 

 value of the production was $3,950,699. In 1905 the output 

 amounted to 4,375,520 barrels valued at $3,673,553. 



In the salt industry the production has been maintained at an 

 unusually high rate. The total of rock and brine salt reported was 

 9.013,993 barrels, which is the largest on record. The output for 

 the preceding year amounted to 8,575,649 barrels. There was a 

 slight decrease in the market value — $2,131,650, as compared with 

 $2,303,067 in 1905. A large portion of the brine salt made in New 

 York is used for the manufacture of soda products. 



The mines and quarries of gypsum made an output of 262,581 

 short tons, valued at $685,053. There was a large gain over the 

 previous year when the production amounted to 191,860 tons, valued 

 at $551,193. The increase came mostly from the companies manu- 

 facturing wall plaster and plaster of paris. 



The combined value of the petroleum and natural gas produced 

 in the State was $2,487,674, against $2,173,931 in 1905. The quan- 

 tity of petroleum reported was 1,043,088 barrels valued at $1,721,- 

 095, or a little more than in the preceding year. The natural gas 

 industry continues to show progress, due to the active developments 

 in Erie and Chautauqua counties. The quantity of gas reported last 

 year was 3.007,086.000 cubic feet, against 2,639,130,000 cubic feet, 

 the total for 1905. 



Among the smaller industries which have a firm foothold in New 

 York State are the mining of garnet, graphite and talc. The garnet 



