I $2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



titv of ore had been taken from the locality and transported to 

 Canton for reduction. 



Systematic mining was not started until the extension of the 

 railroad into the region in 1889. A mill was then erected on the 

 property for the purpose of concentrating the ore into a commercial 

 material, and was run until 1893 when, owing to a depression in 

 the iron trade, the operations became unprofitable. Mining was 

 again resumed in 1900, but only for a short period. 



The total production subsequent to 1889 has been estimated at 

 370,000 tons crude ore, or 150,000 tons mill concentrates of above 

 60 per cent iron. The mines were developed and worked by the 

 Magnetic Iron Ore Co., who have recently been succeeded by the 

 Benson Mines Co. Mining operations were resumed in the fall of 

 1907. 



Geology and occurrence of ore. In their general nature the 

 deposits are much like those at Lyon Mountain. They consist of 

 bands of gneiss charged with magnetite which is mainly dissemi- 

 nated more or less evenly through the rock mass. The bands are 

 directed by the prevailing foliation so as to conform to it in strike 

 and also probably in dip. A series of these parallel and coalescing 

 bands constitutes the ore belt in which the mines have been 

 opened. 



The country gneiss has the appearance of a metamorphosed 

 sediment and the waiter feels little hesitation in placing it in the 

 Grenville formation, though the absence of any limestone restricts 

 the evidence bearing upon its origin to lithologic considerations. 

 Observed in the field it exhibits no constancy of character from 

 place to place. It is variously a hornblende, biotite or pyroxene 

 gneiss and again may be destitute of dark minerals except mag- 

 netite. The different types occur as interpositions rapidly chang- 

 ing from one to another across the dip. The foliation, which is not 

 particularly well developed, seems to follow consistently the 

 division planes between them. Pyritic impregnations lend a rusty 

 stain to the surface in places. In the composition of the gneiss, 

 feldspar, quartz and the ferromagnesian minerals above men- 

 tioned partake most largely. The feldspar is orthoclase with sub- 

 ordinate oligoclase and microcline. Scapolite, sillimanite, zircon, 

 apatite and garnet are among the less common constituents. 



The principal ore belt lies near the base of a ridge which rises 

 north of the railroad. The ridge has a northeasterly trend with a 

 gradiial slope in the lower part where it falls away toward the 

 river. At the locality of the open pits by the mill, the surface 



