70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



have been greatly increased and the results no doubt much dimin- 

 ished in value. 



Mining and quarry review. The usual statistical canvass of the 

 mineral industries was carried out, as a basis for the publication 

 of a summary of the year's activities. The total production re- 

 turned by the industries for 1912 had a value of $36,552,789. This 

 indicated a period of general business expansion, since it was larger 

 by nearly 17 per cent than the amount reported for the preceding 

 year. In fact, the value of the output failed by only a small amount 

 of reaching a new record, although the market conditions were by 

 no means so favorable as they had been in some of the previous 

 years. 



In some branches of the mineral industry, New York State oc- 

 cupies a very prominent place and it participates in a large number 

 of others which altogether contribute very considerably to the aggre- 

 gate. There were thirty-five materials listed in the general table of 

 products. The clay-making and quarry industries accounted for 

 the largest items, the former with a total of $11,947,497 and the 

 latter with an aggregate value of $5,718,984. These branches show 

 great stability, but no marked tendency toward expansion from 

 year to year. On the other hand, the cement industry, which in a 

 sense competed with both the stone and clay-working industries, 

 has made rapid strides of late years, after a period of vicissitude 

 that nearly exterminated the once prosperous natural cement busi- 

 ness of the State. With the decline of the latter, the portland 

 cement branch was built up and has more than counterbalanced 

 the loss of the former, with a gain in output over last year of 

 nearly one-third. Similarly, the gypsum industry within a short 

 time has developed from small proportions to a very important 

 business that appears capable of further grx)wth. The local mines 

 supply a large share of the gypsum required by the Pennsylvania 

 and New York portland cement plants which insure a steady 

 market for the surplus rock. Most of the output, however, is used 

 by the producers themselves for the manufacture of wall plasters 

 and stucco. Another industry in which local enterprise is prom- 

 inently concerned is the production of salt, both by underground 

 mining and by evaporation of brines pumped from wells. Two of 

 the largest salt mines in the country are located in Genesee county 

 and there are more than twenty-five evaporating works distributed 

 among six counties. The annual output is now above 10,000,000 

 barrels and is gaining steadily. The iron deposits of the State 

 have attracted much attention recently and there is prospect of a 



