90 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



50 per cent on the average, so that it would be classed as of rich 

 grade. The principal impurity is pyrite which seems to be con- 

 centrated in narrow bands and is not generally admixed with the 

 magnetite. A quantity of the more sulfurous ore has been left on 

 the surface near the openings. 



ARNOLD HILLVAND PALMER HILL MINE GROUP 



On the southern border of Clinton county is an old mining dis- 

 trict which includes the Arnold hill, Palmer hill and several out- 

 lying deposits. The district is easily accessible from Lake Cham- 

 plain by the Au sable valley, and was one of the first in the 

 Adirondacks to be entered by the early explorers in search of iron 

 ores. It has furnished in the aggregate about 2,000,000 tons of 

 furnace and concentrating ores, most of which has been used for 

 local iron manufacture. 



The mines are all found on the north side of the Ausable river 

 within an area some 6 miles long east and west and reaching about 

 half of that distance back from the river. Palmer hill is a knob 

 that rises directly from the valley in the western part of the area, 

 2 miles north of Ausable Forks. The mines lie well up the slope 

 and are based on an ore body that outcrops along the southern face. 

 Northward the contours merge into a broad ridge of which Jackson 

 hill, a slight prominence, has a few. openings known as the Jackson 

 hill mines. Still farther north, 3 miles from Palmer hill, are the 

 Rutgers and the Dills & Lavake pits that have afforded some ore. 

 Arnold hill occupies a central position in the area and is set off 

 from the adjacent elevations by the trench of the Little Ausable, 

 deep and gorgelike when it passes through the ridge to the north. 

 The deposits are mainly near the summit, but they lie also along 

 the southern face. On the eastern end is Cook hill with the Cook, 

 Mace, Winter and Battie deposits. The Burt pit mentioned by 

 Emmons has not been located; apparently it was never worked to 

 any extent. At the foot of Palmer hill, across the Clintonville 

 road, is an old opening which is now caved, and another called 

 the Chalifou occurs south of Arnold hill, near the Little Ausable; 

 both are little more than prospects. The mines are indicated on 

 the accompanying map [pi. 7] which is reproduced from the Ausable 

 sheet of the United States Geological Survey, with a scale of 1 mile 

 to the inch. The mines are: 1, Palmer hill group; 2, Jackson hill 

 group; 3, Chalifou; 4, Finch; 5, Indian; 6, Arnold; 7 Nelson Bush; 

 8, Winter; 9, Mace; 10, Cook mine. 



