14 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



fourth of an inch. Samples were shipped by the owner of the 

 property to asbestos manufacturers who reported favorably upon 

 its quality. Although a part of the rock, no doubt, as of workable 

 grade, not a very large quantity of that kind has as yet been exposed, 

 in the workings. 



A small prospect showing serpentine asbestos of fairly long fiber 

 was seen by the writer some years ago on the north side of Brant 

 lake, in the town of Horicon, Warren county. It is not known by 

 whom the property was explored, but apparently the results did not 

 warrant a continuance of the work. 



Serpentinous limestones are also found in the Highlands region 

 in Putnam and Orange counties ; from the locality in Philipstown 

 east of Cold Spring many samples of chrysolite have been gathered 

 for museums. Mather in the New York Geological Reports for 

 1839 mentions an occurrence at Cotton rock in the same town on 

 the bank of the Hudson, 3^ miles below West Point. 



On Staten Island and near the village of Rye, Westchester 

 county, are bosses of serpentine which furnish the closest parallels 

 to the Canadian and Vermont occurrences. The Staten Island boss 

 has a surface of about 15 square miles and constitutes the central 

 elevated part of the island. The rock is apparently an igneous 

 derivative, as unaltered remnants of olivine and pyroxene have been 

 discovered in it. Both amphibole and serpentine asbestos occur 

 within the area, the former variety being restricted to the border 

 where the serpentine is in contact with schistose rocks belonging 

 to the Manhattan formation. Examples of amphibole asbestos have 

 been collected from Pavilion hill near Tompkinsville and at Fort 

 George; one specimen found by the writer near the latter place 

 possessed fibers nearly a foot long. Chrysotile is less common, but 

 a few years ago was still to be found on Pavilion hill. 



CEMENT 



The cement manufacturers had a rather poor season in 1914. 

 The year opened auspiciously, with the demand large enough to 

 keep the mills operating at full capacity and prices on the same 

 basis as in the preceding year, which was regarded as reasonable 

 from the standpoint of both consumer and manufacturer. These 

 conditions, however, did not hold out, as the demand began 

 to slacken before many months had elapsed and showed a declining 

 tendency throughout the latter half of the year. In the last four 

 months the market broke badly under the load of accumulated 



