82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Bibliography 



Luther, D. D. Economic Geology of Onondaga county. N. Y. State Mus. 



49th An. Rep't. 1898. v. 2. 

 Merrill, F. J. H. Salt and Gypsum Industries of New York. N. Y. State 



Mus. Bui. II. 1893. 

 Parsons, A. L. Recent Developments in the Gypsum Industry of New York 



State. N. Y. State Geol. 20th An. Rep't, 1902. 

 Notes on the Gypsum Industry of New York. N. Y. State Geol. 23d 



An. Rep't. 1904. 



IRON ORE 



Iron ores constitute the most valuable of the metallic minerals 

 found in the State. At one time they were very actively exploited, 

 and New York contributed a large portion of the ore consumed in 

 this country. The decline in relative importance which began about 

 25 years ago has been primarily due to the great changes that have 

 taken place in the mining and metallurgical industries, of which 

 the most influential are the development of new districts better 

 situated for production and transportation, the gradual extinction 

 of the charcoal bloomery for making the finer grades of iron and 

 steel and the substitution of cheaper processes employing coke as 

 fuel. It is generally recognized, however, that the depression is 

 only temporary. With the rapidly growing consumption of iron 

 and steel additional ore supplies are needed, and it seems inevitable 

 that mining operations must be extended beyond their present 

 fields. 



During the past year or two there has been a noticeable improve- 

 ment in the mining industry of the State. This applies not only 

 to the larger output from established mines, but to the increased 

 interest shown in prospecting and development enterprises. 



Production 



The production of iron ore for the period 1890- 1905 inclusive is 

 given in the following table. The statistics covering the years pre- 

 vious to 1904 are taken from the annual volumes of the Mineral 

 Resources published by the United States Geological Survey. 



The condition of the mining industry during 1905 was very satis- 

 factory. The total shipments reported by the mines of the State 

 amounted to 827,049 long tons, valued at $2,192,689. Compared 

 with. the previous year there was a gain in shipments of 207,946 tons 

 or about 34 per cent. The output was the largest since 1892. 



Classified as to variety the production consisted of 739,736 tons 

 of magnetite, 79,313 tons of hematite and 8000 tons of limonite. 

 Of the magnetite 432,867 tons were marketed in the form of con- 



