RE Ill 
THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I912 33 
GYPSUM 
There was a noticeable, if not marked, improvement in the 
gypsum industry last year, as compared with the conditions noted 
in the preceding issue of this report. The market for gypsum and 
its products in 1911 was considerably depressed, and instead of 
showing the usual gain as for previous years, production fell below 
the total reported for 1910. The main reason for the dulness was 
the lessened activity in the building trades and the consequent 
smaller demand for wall plasters, the principal product of the 
local industry. The companies also reported a falling off in ship- 
ments of crude rock, of which the main item is represented by 
the sales to the portland cement plants and is second in importance 
only to the consumption by the calcining mills. In both these de- 
partments some betterment was apparent during the past season, 
not only with respect to the demand, but also to some extent in 
the prices received for the products. The gain came mostly in the 
latter part of the year and was well maintained to the close. The 
outlook at the beginning of the current year seemed favorable for 
the continuance of an active market, at least for the first part of 
the season. 
The output of crude rock by the mines and quarries last year 
amounted to 506,274 short tons. This was the largest total on 
record; the next largest was in 1910 when it amounted to 465,591 
short tons. In 1911, the output was reported as 446,794 tons. The 
increase for the year, therefore, was 59,480 tons or about 13 per 
_ eine, 
The greater part of the output, as heretofore, was used at the 
mines for the manufacture of stucco and wall plaster. Most of 
the mining companies operate their own plants for milling and 
calcining the rock, their output entering the market only in finished 
form. A few, however, dispose of a part of their product in 
crushed or ground condition without further preparation, and one 
company ships all its rock in that form. The portland cement plants 
of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey take most of the raw 
gypsum, but some is shipped to plate glass manufacturers for 
bedding the glass sheets in polishing, and a small quantity is sold 
in ground form for agricultural uses. As it would be difficult to 
place a value on the rock that is manufactured directly by the pro- 
ducing companies, the plan has been adopted of reporting the total 
value in terms of the several products as they are marketed. Of 
the output last year, a total of 178,499 short tons was sold or held 
for sale as crude rock, as compared with 144,035 short tons thus 
