THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY IQII 97 



quantities of this variety, which were sorted out and milled sepa- 

 rately. The principal attention is directed toward the character of 

 the material with regard to gritty impurities. It is aimed to leave 

 the gritty talc in the walls and pillars and to send only the milling 

 grade to the surface. The best of the mine output is ground for 

 paper stock, as any appreciable amount of grit affects the sale of 

 the talc in the paper trade. 



Mining of talc. The mines are situated along the outcrop of the 

 beds which are included in the section from Sylvia lake in the town 

 of Fowler to near the village of Edwards. Most of the mines have 

 been opened in the northeastern part near Talcville, where there are 

 between lo and 15 different workings, many of them now aban- 

 doned. The chief producers in this section of late years have been 

 the mine of the United States Talc Co., now a part of the Inter- 

 national Pulp Co., and No. 2^ and No. 3 mines of the latter com- 

 pany. The Uniform Fibrous Talc Co. has a mine just west of Talc- 

 ville. The Potter mine of the Ontario Talc Co. is in the central part 

 of the district on the west branch of the Oswegatchie river below 

 Fullerville. On the southwest end of the belt near Sylvia lake are 

 the mines formerly worked by the Union Talc Co., including the 

 Balmat, Arnold, and Wight mines, and the new mine recently 

 opened by the International Pulp Co. 



Many of the mines are worked on a leasing system, the operators 

 paying a certain royalty to the owner for each ton of talc extracted. 

 The average royalty is about $.75, which is to be considered as very 

 high for such material. 



Mining is carried on entirely by undergound methods. The gen- 

 eral practice in the district does not differ materially from that 

 employed in working ore deposits that are similarly situated, though 

 of course the soft and slippery nature of the material necessitates 

 that the pillars left for roof support should be of large size. The 

 workings are reached through inclines carried down on the footwall. 

 In case the bed is not over 15 feet or so thick, a single drift is run 

 from either side of the incline at intervals of from 50 to 75 feet. 

 The drift is carried nearly the full width of the bed and connected 

 with the level above at short intervals by raises, after which the talc 

 is removed between the levels, leaving pillars 25 feet or more s(iuare 

 to support the roof. With a bed of greater thickness two drifts may 

 be run on the same level, leaving a wall of talc between to assist in 

 supporting the roof. 



Drilling is mostly by machines of the percussion type and the rock 



