140 RECORDS 



In speaking of the new asbestos region in northern Vermont/ 

 Professor Kemp said that asbestos had recently opened up on 

 a commercial scale in the towns of Eden, Lamoille county, 

 and Lowell, Orleans county, Vt. The towns are adjacent, 

 though in different counties. The asbestos lies from 15 to 25 

 miles north of Hyde Park, a station on the St. Johnsbury and 

 Lake Champlain R. R. As is quite invariably the case, it oc- 

 curs in serpentine, either in veins, or in matted aggregates along 

 slickensided blocks. The serpentine where the best fibre is 

 found lies on the south shoulder of Belvedere mountain, and 

 forms an east and west belt. It is bounded on the north and 

 west by hornblende schist, which forms the summit of the 

 mountain. The contact on the west is a visibly faulted one, 

 and that on the north is probably also of the same sort, because 

 the hornblende-schist rises in a steep escarpment. 



The serpentine seems to have been derived from enstatite, 

 since unaltered nuclei of this mineral are found in it. The vein 

 of asbestos ranges from a fibre of microscopic length up to ^^^ of 

 an inch as thus far exposed. It is fine and silky and of excel- 

 lent grade. It would, however, be classed as second grade ac- 

 cording to the Canadian practice, which makes a first grade of 

 fibre above 3^ of an inch (about 2^/2 in. being the maximum), 

 and a second grade of Ss in. to 3/j^ in. All below this and all 

 fibre not vein-fibre goes to the mill and is mechanically sepa- 

 rated, as the third grade. In the Vermont localities the slip 

 fibre is exposed on the property of the New England Co., and 

 of its neighbor the American Co. The vein fibre is limited, so 

 far as yet opened up, to the property of Mr. M. E. Tucker and 

 associates. 



It is difficult with the data in hand, which were gathered 

 under the direction of Dr. C. W. Hayes, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, to trace the geological history of the serpentine, but it 

 must have been originally either an igneous pyroxenite, or a 

 richly magnesian siliceous limestone. There are such slight 

 traces of calcium-bearing minerals, however, that the former 

 supposition has the greater weight. The hornblende schist con- 



' Communicated by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 



