102 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



under exploration at the opening of the nineteenth century; a lease 

 for digging the ore is said to have been taken out in 1797. 



Production. The record of the iron mining industry has been 

 marked by wide fluctuations of activity and prosperity. It is not 

 possible to trace the course of operations over the long period of 

 years that has elapsed since the start of mining; only from i8go 

 have complete statistics of production been compiled that indicate 

 the sequence of changes. This period, however, encompasses the 

 most eventful part of the entire history, within which the iron trade 

 of the country has been practically revolutionized by the improve- 

 ments in metallurgical practice and by the development of important 

 additional ore supplies, like those of the Mesabi range. 



In the years from 1S60 to 1890 New York played a very con- 

 siderable role in the iron trade of the country. Forges and furnaces 

 were operated in many parts of the Adirondacks, in southeastern 

 New York and in the Clinton belt of the central and western sections, 

 deriving the supplies of ore from the nearby deposits. Of special 

 importance was the bloom iron, made in open forges with charcoal, 

 which had a wide market. Soon after 1890 the industry began to 

 decline from competition with the new fields in the middle west, 

 and for several years it experienced a profound depression which 

 brought mining almost to a standstill. About 1900 a recovery 

 from these conditions was to be noted; metallurgical enterprises 

 were reestablished, and mining was gradually resumed in the old 

 centers. The perfection of the processes of milling iron ores, particu- 

 larly of the method of magnetic separation as applied to magnetites, 

 gave a stimulus to this revival of the industry. In the last year 

 or two production has been larger than ever before. 



The future progress of the iron-mining industry will depend largely 

 upon the utilization of the low-grade ores — those containing as 

 low as 20 or 25 per cent iron in the crude state. There are immense 

 resources of such ores, the total quantity not being subject to close 

 estimate but is known to run up into the hundreds of millions of tons, 

 many times the amount that has so far been mined. Some of the 

 more important supplies are the magnetites of the Adirondacks and 

 southeastern Highlands, the magnetite-ilmenite mixtures of Essex 

 county, the limonite ores of Dutchess and Columbia counties, and 

 the Clinton hematites of central and western New York. 



