48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Trenton. This rock is much softer than the syenite although it 

 withstands a reasonable amount of wear. The middle and lower 

 Trenton limestones afford road material of medium quality. 



Sand and gravel 



Sand and gravel of good quality occur in practically unlimited 

 quantities, especially over the moraine and sand flat belt. The 

 railroad company has removed large quantities from a number of 

 places along their lines. Much sand is being shipped by canal from 

 northwest of Forestport to Syracuse and other interior points to be 

 used for building purposes. 



Clay 



The clay underlying the sand flat between West Canada and Black 

 creeks is of excellent quality and almost unlimited in quantity. 

 It is very fine grained, free from grit or gravel and would be well 

 suited for the manufacturing of brick, tile etc. The clay beds 

 farther northwest are of similar quality. 



Iron ore 



In the Precambric area some prospecting for iron ore has been 

 done in at least two localities. One of these is situated about J mile 

 south of Ash ridge and on the divide between Hare brook and Big- 

 brook while a second place is about J mile north of Enos. The 

 prospects are small pits made largely by blasting. The ore is 

 magnetite which occurs in a coarse grained rock, and associated 

 with feldspar, ranging from oligoclase to labradorite, and a con- 

 siderable percentage of quartz. The ore-bearing rock is usually 

 associated with a dark gray banded rock in which the dark bands 

 are very biotitic. The best specimens found by the writer did not 

 contain more than 20% of magnetite. Many years ago some ore 

 was shipped out but the quality was found to be too poor. There 

 is nothing to indicate that further prospecting at the places men- 

 tioned would bring to light any good ore. Magnetite is a very 

 common constituent of the syenite rocks and at times it appears 

 to be particularly rich in what the writer regards as segregation 

 masses. Small patches of magnetite have been often observed 

 especially in the more syenitic rocks of those mapped as Syenite- 

 Grenville. It should be noted that the Salisbury iron mine a number 

 of miles to the southeast as well as the prospects here described 

 all occur within the Syenite-Grenville areas. Possibly the close 

 association of the syenite and Grenville in some way made the 

 conditions for segregation more favorable. 



