40 NEW .YORK STATE MUSEUM 



A large percentage of ferric oxide lends a reddish color which 

 resembles that of metallic paint. Red shale has been obtained from 

 the base of the Salina beds near Herkimer. The red slate from 

 Washington county is another material that has been rather exten- 

 sively ground for pigment. At Randolph, Cattaraugus county, beds 

 of green, brown and bluish shale occur in the Chemung formations 

 and have been utilized in the past. 



Deposits of ferruginous clay, or ocher, are found in many places 

 within the State, but they are not now worked. Sienna, a dark 

 brown variety of ocher, is found near Whitehall where it was 

 produced a few years ago. 



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 are specially 

 valuable for medicinal purposes; Saratoga Springs, Ballston 

 Springs, Richfield Springs, Sharon Springs and Lebanon Springs 

 are among the more noted localities for such waters. Numerous 

 other springs are more particularly adapted for table use, contain- 

 ing only sufficient mineral matter to give them a pleasant saline 

 taste. Both kinds of waters are generally carbonated and sold in 

 small bottles. 



Of late there has developed an important business in the sale of 

 spring waters which can hardly be classed as mineral in the common 

 acceptance of the word, but which are extensively consumed for 

 office and family use in the larger towns and cities. Their employ- 

 ment depends upon their freedom from harmful impurities, in 

 which feature they are generally superior to the local supplies. In 

 so far as such waters are an article of commerce they may well be 

 included in a canvass of the mineral water industry. They are 

 usually distributed in large bottles or carboys in noncarbonated 

 condition. 



Character of mineral waters. Among the spring waters that 

 contain mineral ingredients in appreciable quantity, those character- 

 ized by the presence of alkalis and alkaline earths are the most 

 abundant in the State. The dissolved bases may exist in associa- 

 tion with chlorin and carbon dioxid, as in the springs of Saratoga 



