THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I913 9I 



Bodies of practically pure serpentine of considerable extent are 

 found on Staten Island and in Westchester county near Rye; they 

 represent intrusions of basic igneous rocks whose minerals, chiefly 

 pyroxene and olivine, have subsequently changed to serpentine. 

 They are not important for quarry purposes, owing to the frequency 

 of fissures and joints and the rather somber color of the exposed 

 parts of the masses. 



The microcrystalline or subcrystalline limestones that are some- 

 times sold as marbles include members of the regularly bedded un- 

 metamorphosed Paleozoic limestones, which locally show qualities 

 of color and polish that make them desirable for decorative pur- 

 poses. They range from dense granular varieties to those having 

 a more or less well-developed crystalline texture and are often 

 fossiliferous. Inasmuch as they have never been subjected to 

 regional compression or been buried in the earth deep enough to 

 become heated, the crystalline texture, when present, may be 

 ascribed to the work of ground waters. These circulate through 

 the mass, taking the carbonates of lime and magnesia into solution, 

 and redeposit them in crystalline form. Originally, the limestones 

 were accumulations of lime-secreting fossils or granular precipi- 

 tates, for the most part of marine origin. Some of the localities 

 where these unmetamorphic marbles occur are on the west shore 

 of Lake Champlain, around Plattsburg and Chazy (Chazy lime- 

 stone), Glens Falls (Trenton limestone) and Becraft and Cats- 

 kill (Becraft limestone). 



Production. The production of marble in 1913 was carried on 

 in Clinton, St Lawrence, Warren, Dutchess and Westchester coun- 

 ties by a total of eight quarries. The quarries in the vicinity of 

 Gouverneur, St Lawrence county, contributed the larger quantity 

 of building and monumental stone; the operative companies in that 

 section include the St Lawrence Marble Quarries, Northern New 

 York Marble Co. and Gouverneur Marble Co. In southeastern 

 New York the Dover Marble Co. was active as heretofore in the 

 production of building and decorative marble. The output was 

 about the same as in the preceding year and had a value of $252,- 

 292. 



