THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I909 73 



Mathews Slate Co., Jamesville, ^ mile from railroad switch ; 

 green roofing slate. 



New York Purple Slate Co., near Hampton; purple roofing 

 slate. 



The finished slate is all shipped by rail on the Delaware & 

 Hudson Railroad. Some of the quarries are connected by switch 

 with the main track, but in most instances the slate is hauled 

 from y 2 to 3 miles to the loading point. One quarry on the Vermont 

 side of the line, transports the finished slate to Raceville by 

 means of an aerial wire rope tramway, the buckets carrying 

 the roofing slate to the shipping point and carrying coal back 

 to the quarries. 



The plants for the dressing of mill stock are all located in 

 Vermont, the plant of the Mathews Slate Co. being situated 

 almost on the line, near Jamesville. It is equipped with saws, 

 planers, rubbing table and drills. The finished stock is hauled 

 a short distance to the Jamesville switch for shipment. 



Slate quarrying is a financially precarious undertaking. Often 

 large amounts of money have been expended in the region with 

 no return whatever, and this is evidenced by the abandoned 

 prospects scattered over all the hills. The surface soil and 

 glacial drift must first be removed and then the slate quarried 

 out to some depth before any idea can be had concerning the 

 character of the vein, all of which is costly. Even though a 

 good seam or vein is found, it may, after a short quarrying 

 season, become worked out and useless and the quarry must be 

 abandoned. The best veins can be worked down along the dip 

 only for a short distance on account of the overburden and the 

 quarry- must in time be extended along the strike, as is often 

 done in the larger operations, or a new pit opened up. All of 

 these factors, in addition to the large amounts of waste rock 

 necessarily quarried and disposed of, combine to lower the 

 profits or even bankrupt the operator. For this reason the 

 opening of a quarry should be undertaken only under the super- 

 vision of a man of long experience and only by one with a large 

 amount of capital for preliminary work. 



Though quarrying operations are carried on the year round, 

 working days are limited. Severe winter weather causes the 

 quarries to close, while in wet weather at any time of the year 

 it is impossible to have many men at work in the quarries. The 

 treacherous slipping of the steeply inclined strata is the cause 



