40 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



small corn mills in the southern states are practically the only sur- 

 vivals of the old type and constitute one of the important markets 

 for the New York millstones. 



The millstones are quarried from the Shawangunk conglomerate, 

 a light gray quartz-cemented rock that in places shows a marked 

 gritty structure. Most of the quarries have been opened along the 

 western edge of the Shawangunk mountain, near the valley of 

 Rondout creek, and between Kerhonkson and High Falls. Kyserike, 

 St Josen, Granite and Kerhonkson are the principal centers of the 

 industry, but the stones are also shipped partly from New Paltz 

 and Kingston. The quarries are worked intermittently, often as a 

 subordinate business to farming or other occupations. 



The work of quarrying requires only a small equipment, the stone 

 being pried or broken out by hand bars and wedges, sometimes with 

 the aid of powder. The spacing of the natural joint planes deter- 

 mines the size of the block. The latter is dressed by hand at the 

 quarry into a disc through the center of which a circular hole is 

 then drilled. The millstones vary in diameter from 15 inches to 54 

 inches or even larger. They are sold to grinders of cement, gypsum, 

 paint etc. as well as to cereal mills. The chasers are disks dressed 

 to run on edge in pans which are paved with blocks of the same 

 material. The latter are also prepared at the quarries in roughly 

 cubical shapes about a foot long. They are used in grinding hard 

 materials like quartz and feldspar, and are usually made in the 

 larger sizes from 54 to 72 inches in diameter, so as to give the 

 weight necessary for crushing such minerals. 



The value of the production of millstones, chasers and blocks 

 amounted last year to about $7000. The sales were smaller than in 

 any previous year for a long time. In 1909 the output was valued 

 at about $15,000. The selling prices for millstones usually varied 

 from $3 to $4 for a 16-inch stone up to $60 for a 72-inch stone. 

 Chasers in size from 54 to ^2 inches sold at prices ranging from 

 $30 to $70 each. 



MINERAL WATERS 



New York has held for a long time a leading position among the 

 states in the utilization of mineral waters. The different springs, 

 of which over two hundred have been listed as productive at one 

 time or another, yield a great variety of waters in respect to the 

 character and amount of their dissolved solids. There are some 

 that contain relatively large amounts of mineral ingredients and afe 

 specially valuable for medicinal purposes ; Saratoga Springs, Balls- 



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