REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 263 



per cent. The flake is medium to coarse, some of it unusually large 

 and thick for this type of occurrence. There is little mica in 

 evidence. 



The mill stands near the eastern end of the ridge where a favor- 

 able slope of the ground provides ample storage for the tailings. 

 The ore is broken in a preliminary crusher and reduced by stamps, 

 after which the separation of the graphite is effected by tables and 

 buddies according to the general plan employed in the Adirondack 

 mills. The mill product is now shipped without refining, but it is 

 the plan of the owners to provide facilities for turning out refined 

 flake graphite and to market the product in that form. 



GYPSUM 



Market conditions in the gypsum industry which had been rather 

 unfavorable to the producers during the preceding year or two 

 showed distinct improvement in 1916. There was a better demand 

 for calcined plasters, the principal products made from gypsum, and 

 also a slightly increased demand for crude gypsum in portland 

 cement manufacture. As a result the local mines extended their 

 operations wherever this was possible and attained a new level of 

 output, well above that of the most prosperous year of previous 

 record. 



The market for calcined plasters, in keeping with conditions in 

 nearly all the building trades, was upset by the war, and further- 

 more suffered for a time from an excess of productive capacity 

 which conduced to extreme rivahy for trade among the individual 

 producers. It would appear that this feature has been removed 

 from the situation, at least for the present. In fact last year the 

 local concerns were unable to keep pace with the market demands, 

 which were somewhat abnormal owing to the curtailment of imports 

 that ordinarily enter the New York and New England markets in 

 large quantities. Most of the imported gypsum comes into the coun- 

 try in crude form to be converted into plasters by calcining plants 

 situated along the seaboard. Nova Scotia is the principal source of 

 the material, and the falling off in supply has been owing to high 

 freights and not to any impairment of the productive resources of 

 that country. 



The production of gypsum and its products in New York State 

 for 191 5 and 1916 is shown in the accompanying table. The figures 

 given for wall plasters in the last item of the table cover only the 

 amounts that were made from local rock by plants operated in 

 connection with the mines. The actual output of such plasters is 



