MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 99 



along the outcrop so as to give a varying succession from place to 

 place. Although they occur near the upper limits of the Salina, 

 having the Bertie waterlime as marker of the highest possible 

 horizon, they may and do occupy different positions within the 

 shale. Owing to the fact that the gypsum is rather soluble in ground 

 waters and is also easily eroded, the outcrop is likely to be con- 

 cealed; drilling is the most practical method of testing undeveloped 

 ground. 



Mining operations. The production of gypsum in recent years 

 has been carried on in the following counties from east to west — 

 Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Monroe, Genesee and Erie. Of these 

 the first three produce rock suitable for grinding, but hardly adapted 

 for calcined plasters when used alone. The cement mills of New 

 York have employed the material from this section and som.e of 

 the output in years past has been sold to calcining plants for incor- 

 poration with higher grade plaster made from rock obtained else- 

 where. The output at present is small, and is mainly from the 

 deposits around Jamesville and Fayetteville. At ' Union Springs 

 extensive operations were carried on for a time, but the property 

 is now closed. Owing to the thickness of the beds in this section 

 open-cut quarry work is the usual method of extracting the gypsum. 



In the town of Wheatland, Monroe county, the Empire Gypsum 

 Co. and the Lycoming Calcining Co. operate extensive mines, as 

 well as plants for the conversion of the output into stucco and 

 other products. The workings are all underground, reached by 

 drift openings from the outcrop of the gypsum beds along the 

 depression of Allen creek, and are similar to the room-and-pillar 

 method of coal mining. The rock is Hght gray or brown in color 

 and contains numerous veinlets of fibrous gypsum, pure white. It 

 averages s to 6 feet thick. The upper of the two seams only is 

 worked. From the mines the broken gypsum is taken to the mills 

 by tram and there in part calcined and in part crushed or ground 

 for shipment to cement mills and for agricultural uses. The Ebsary 

 Gypsum_ Co. also is active in this district having a mine near 

 Wheatland Center and a mill for making stucco on the property, 

 which adjoins the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad. 



The section of the gypsum belt between Oakfield, Genesee county, 

 and Akron, Erie county, a distance of 12 miles, has been the center 

 of the principal developments in the last few years. The district 

 is traversed east and west by the West Shore branch of the New 

 York Central lines, affording convenient shipping facilities, while 

 the beds are close to the surface and afford light-colored rock of 

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