MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 23 



NATURAL LIMITATIONS OF MINING IN NEW YORK 



STATE 



The general characteristics of the mineral endowment of the 

 State have been briefly sketched in the preceding discussion. The 

 important elements of the resources have been pretty well established 

 in the century and more that exploitation has been under way and 

 their distribution defined with more or less certainty by the geological 

 field work that has been in progress for over 80 years. It seems 

 a reasonable deduction that future mining developments will be 

 based largely upon the possessions whose description forms the 

 basis of the present report. 



The writer does not intend to imply that there are no resources 

 of ores and minerals still awaiting discovery nor that new uses may 

 not be found that will create demands for materials which have 

 little value at present. There is every reason to forecast the growth 

 of the mineral industry in both ways on the basis of what has taken 

 place within the last few years. The recent establishment of a 

 prosperous zinc mining industry in a district where mining of other 

 minerals had been going on for a long time is an illustration of the 

 possibilities for new developments to be found in the State. But 

 the main advances in the future are to be looked for in the intensive 

 exploitation of the mineral supplies already known to exist and in 

 line with past operations. It may be confidently expected that 

 opportunity for new enterprises will be provided by further improve- 

 ments in the methods of production and preparation of minerals, 

 through the extension of transportation facilities into some of the 

 remoter districts now scarcely open to development, and by the 

 normal increase of market demands, which will bring additional 

 deposits within the field of practical operation. 



There are some important branches of mining for which no sub- 

 stantial basis ma}^ be found within the State. One of the most essen- 

 tial commodities in modern industry — coal — is not represented 

 in the list of products and is not likely ever to be mined here, 

 although the northern limits of the Appalachian coal field approach 

 so closely to the southern bounds of the State that some reason 

 may have existed in earlier years for the search after deposits. 

 A shifting of the boundary line by a few minutes of latitude would 

 bring a part of the Pennsylvania coal fields within the State limits. 

 However, the stratigraphic position of the measures and the futility 

 of looking for coal anywhere in New York were demonstrated by 



