36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



For the last four or five years the domestic supply of the mineral 

 has been supplemented by imports amounting to a few hundred 

 tons annually of Spanish garnet. This garnet is said to be of 

 placer origin and is obtained by washing the sands of certain 

 streams in the province of Almeria. According to the American 

 counsel at Madrid (Daily Consular and Trade Reports, March 13, 

 1914) there were three producers of such garnet in 191 1, and their 

 output amounted to 600 tons. As nearly all the output comes to 

 the United States, it is evident that the application of garnet for 

 abrasive uses is not generally recognized in the European countries 

 and, so far as known, no other garnet-mining industry has been 

 established. The Spanish garnet is too fine in size to be a rival of 

 the American product. The present value of the product is stated 

 to be $7.75 a ton at the mines and the expense of shipment to the 

 seaboard $6.65 a ton, so that it can be laid down in this country 

 at $20 a ton. 



The output of garnet in 1913 was of the usual proportions. The 

 Adirondack mines contributed the greater part as heretofore, their 

 production having been 4665 short tons with a value of $145,445. 

 There were three active mines, including those of the' North River 

 Garnet Co., H. H. Barton & Sons Co., and the Warren County 

 Garnet Mills, all situated in the vicinity of North Creek, Warren 

 county. 



Reports from the collector of customs at Boston, New York and 

 New Orleans show that a total of 547 short tons of abrasive garnet 

 with a value of $8078 was imported in 1913. The imports for 1912 

 were 548 tons valued at $9271. The exports from Almeria are 

 stated by the consular agent to have been 1239 tons, which seems 

 to indicate that the garnet is now, finding a market elsewhere than 

 in the United States. 



GYPSUM 



There was a further advance in the gypsum production last year, 

 thus continuing the record of almost uninterrupted growth which 

 has marked the recent course of the industry. The main develop- 

 ments of late have been in the western section of the gypsum district 

 where the output is used largely by local plants for the manufacture 

 of plaster of paris and various products of which that is the basis. 

 The use of gypsum plasters has grown tremendously in the last 

 decade or so and seems likely to continue to expand in the future 

 with the increasing application of improved methods of building 

 construction. 



