134 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



belt of ore to the north of Benson Mines that has never been 

 explored or developed. The belt lies to the east of the first and 

 higher up in the gneiss. It begins on the south, according to mag- 

 netic readings, nearly opposite the north end of the pits and on line 

 with the railroad. It extends in a northerly course toward Newton 

 Falls in which direction it has been traced for nearly 2 miles. There 

 is little evidence to be obtained from outcrops, the drift being 

 heavy, so that the size and character of the deposit are practically 

 unknown. The magnetic attractions are reported to be fully as 

 strong and continuous as those recorded over the belt that has 

 been mined. The cross-section, herewith, is intended to show the 

 relation of the deposits [fig. 22]. 



Description of workings. In the open pit, which represents 

 the result of the former productive operations, the deposit has 

 been quarried from the south or hanging side back into the ridge 

 for a horizontal distance of 150 feet. The working face, at first 

 but a few feet above the floor, increases across the dip and is now 

 50 feet high on the average. The bounds of the deposit have not 

 been reached either on the hanging or foot-wall side. An addi- 

 tional width of fully 50 feet can be gained on the foot-wall, where 

 the ore has been uncovered by stripping of the soil and glacial 

 materials and it is not improbable that the workings may be carried 

 still farther west before reaching the limit of pay ore. The width 

 of the ore, it may be noted, is determined only by arbitrary stand- 

 ards of what can be mined and treated at a profit. There is every 

 gradation between the country rock and the ore, so far as relates 

 to the proportion of magnetite present. Along its course the 

 deposit has been worked for a distance of nearly 1200 feet, the 

 length of the pit from east to west. At the west end there is a face 

 from 15 to 40 feet high in which the ore appears to be of average 

 grade. Its continuation in this direction is assured for several 

 hundred feet by the outcrops and the test pits excavated through 

 the light overburden of glacial material. At a point 1000 feet west 

 of the workings, a ledge is exposed for 100 feet which is reported 

 to average about 40 per cent iron. On the east end the deposit 

 runs out into the valley and has not been uncovered. 



The exploration of the deposit in depth, below the level of the 

 open pit, has been limited to a few borings that were made several 

 years ago. Four of these borings are on record, of which the deepest 

 is 180 feet vertically from the outcrop. It encountered ore all the 

 way with a range of from 32 to 44 per cent iron, as shown by assay 

 of 10 samples taken at succeeding intervals. The holes are said to 



