48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



longed to Messrs Bannister, Collins and Clifford. The plaster 

 sold at 50 cents "a ton at the bed and for $3.50 a ton, ground. The 

 three lots furnished in all almost 3000 tons annually. 



The next locality mentioned in the early reports is that of Oak- 

 field, or as HalP says " Gypsum is also found )in the western part 

 of Elba, near the junction of the Pine Hill road with the Batavia- 

 Lockport turnpike." ''Since western Elba is now Oakfield town- 

 shi|p, the locality mentioned must be in the vicinity of Oakfie'ld. 

 The masses were small and were 8 feet below the surface. They 

 were never extensively quarried. 



No further mention of gypsum localities in the county is found 

 in literature until the records relating to the discovery of the large 

 deposits at Oakfield and later at Indian Falls and Akron on the 

 Erie county border. 



The pioneer in the Oakfield district was Mr Olmstead who for 

 some years previous to 1892 carried on a business in land plaster. 

 In 1892 he installed a kettle, the first one in the State and began 

 the manufacture of calcined plaster. For comparison with the 

 present development of the Oakfield' beds we quote the following 

 from Merrill- in regard to the industry in 1893. Speaking of the 

 two active shafts of Mr Olmstead, he says : 



The most easterly pit is worked by four men. The shaft is 8 

 by 12 and 31 feet deep. A former owner ran a tunnel to the 

 north which is now closed up. There are two tunnels at present, 

 one 75 feet long, the other 55 or 60 feet long. These are separated 

 80 or 85 feet at the ends. The 55-foot tunnel is at present being 

 worked. The deposit is only about 4 feet thick, not so much as 

 this in many places. The only timbering is a few short stuUs. The 

 rock is very much the whitest plaster 'seen in New York, and when 

 ground is like flour. The material is loaded in flat cars running on 

 a track made by laying stringers and nailing cross pieces and cov- 

 ering with hoop iron. This lessens the labor of handling and 

 increases the output. At the bottom of the pit the material is 

 loaded into an iron bucket fastened to an iron chain which is oper- 

 ated by a horse whim and derrick at the surface. . . The 

 capacity of Mr Olmstead's pits is about 15 tons per day. 



From this period on, the industry ihas shown raipid growth. Tlie 

 Olmstead property was purchased by the English Plaster Co., and 

 a mill was erected and equipped with a Blake crusher, nipper and 

 five kettles and five buhrstone mills. The Genesee Pilaster Co. in 

 1 901 erected a mill with three calcining kettles, and to this mill 



J Geol. N. Y. pt 4. 1843. p. 464. 

 » N. Y. State Mus. Bui. u, p. 77. 



