50 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The most notable feature in the industry recently has been the 

 violent break in the market prices of crude oil from the Appalachian 

 field. The quotations for Pennsylvania crude, which are taken as the 

 basis for rating the New York output, fell off from $1.78 a barrel, 

 the average price paid in the early months of 1909, to $1.43 a barrel 

 at the close of that year. A further decline took place during the 

 past season which brought the quotations down to $1.40 a barrel at 

 the opening and finally to $1.30 a barrel, the ruling price for the last 

 few months. 



In response to the market decline there was a notable decrease of 

 activity in new drilling. The records for the past year showed that 

 a total of 283 wells were completed in New York as compared with 

 457 wells in 1909. The increment of production from the new wells 

 amounted to 368 barrels a day, while in 1909 it was 715 barrels. Of 

 the number drilled 61 were dry holes as compared with 32 in the 

 preceding year. 



PYRITE 



The production of pyrite, confined to St Lawrence county, showed 

 a large increase last year and reached the highest total that has been 

 recorded for the State. Most of the ore came from the mines at 

 Stellaville, near Hermon, owned by the St Lawrence Pyrite Co. 

 which for several years previous had supplied the entire output. 

 During the last season the Cole mine; near Gouverneur, which had 

 been closed since 1907, resumed operations and contributed to the 

 product. I 



The pyrite deposits of this section are associated with belts of 

 gneisses, schists and crystalline limestones — the same series of rocks 

 that inclose the hematite ores which have been mined at various 

 places in St Lawrence and Jefferson counties. The principal belt 

 of these metamorphosed strata extends from near Antwerp, Jeffer- 

 son county, across Gouverneur, De Kalb and Clinton townships, St 

 Lawrence county, a distance of some 40 miles. Pyrite zones are 

 found at intervals along the belt, following the general northeast- 

 southwest strike and extending for variable distances. The pyrite 

 is generally intermixed with quartz, hornblende and feldspar and 

 other minerals of the wall rocks so as to form a lean ore. In places, 

 however, bands and lenticular bodies of fairly rich pyrite occur and 

 it is these which constitute the workable deposits. 



Up to the present time mines have been opened only at three 

 localities; near High Falls on the northeastern end of the belt, at 

 Stellaville in the town of De Kalb and near Gouverneur. The 



