244 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



uncertain industry. The color is the result of an unusually large 

 proportion of ferric oxide or hematite which forms the matrix for 

 the more coarsely granular quartz, mica, carbonates and other 

 components. It is nearly free of metallic sulphides and as nearly 

 permanent under atmospheric conditions as any known slate. It 

 has been employed to some extent for floor tiling and mill stock. 



The unfading green is also valued for roofing and shows only a 

 slight change on exposure to the weather. It has a pale greenish 

 gray color, which is lent by a chloritic mineral. In contrast with it 

 is the sea-green slate which changes after two or three years' exposure 

 to brown or brownish yellow hues, through the oxidation of con- 

 tained ferrous carbonate. Purple slate has a dark purplish brown 

 color and carries considerable hematite, though less .than the red. 

 Variegated slate has a pattern of purple and green in irregular 

 mixture. It is largely employed for mill stock and marblei^ing. 

 Black slate is present in a few quarries in Washington county; its 

 color seems to be produced by carbonaceous matter. 



Quarry localities. The most active quarry section of recent years 

 includes a strip just west of the state line and extending some 15 

 miles north and south, with Granville near the center. On the 

 north end are the Hampton quarries of purple, green and red slates, 

 including some large openings. The Jamesville quarries, about 

 2 miles farther south, produce purple, green and variegated slates. 

 Next comes Raceville, with quarries of red and green slates, the 

 principal openings being to the north and west of the hamlet. Middle 

 Granville, 2^ miles south by west of Raceville, has been an important 

 source of purple, green and variegated slate for roofing and mill 

 stock. Granville lies in the red slate, of which there are quarries 

 just north of the town. The same belt extends south from Gran- 

 ville along the state line and through West Pawlet. Slateville, 

 2 1 miles southwest of the latter town, marks about the southern 

 limits of the red slate. Another quarry section lies to the west of 

 the northern part of the first and includes the Hatch Hill quarries 

 in the town of Whitehall and several openings farther south in the 

 town of Granville. It produces red and green slates. 



Quarries, most of which no longer operative, are scattered through 

 the eastern townships of Washington county as far south as the 

 Hoosick river. The villages of Hebron, Salem and Shushan have 

 been centers of considerable productive activity in years past. In 

 the southern section the slate belongs mainly to the purple, green 

 and variegated varieties found in the Cambrian strata. 



Slate is also found within the western Taconic region, at Hoosick, 

 Rensselaer county. Quarries of black slate were once worked quite 



