THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I9Q12 7 
stone, marble, sandstone and trap, which were valued in the agegre- 
gate at $5,718,994. The total for 1911 was $5,560,355. Divided 
according to uses the output for 1912 consisted of building stone 
valued at $692,534, monumental stone $103,641, curbstone and flag- 
stone $621,327, crushed stone $2,754,839, and miscellaneous $1,546,- 
653. More than one-half the value was returned by the limestone 
quarries which furnish the greater part of the crushed stone used 
for concrete and macadam. The marble and trap quarries were 
less active than usual, but there was a gain in both granite and 
sandstone. 
In the cement trade, conditions showed a great improvement 
compared with their trend in recent years, which had been steadily 
reactionary. The demand for both portland and natural cement 
was brisk and prices advanced steadily with the progress of the 
season. The combined product of the two kinds amounted to 
4,783,535 barrels, against 3,691,373 barrels in 1911. ‘The gain was 
mostly recorded by the portland cement plants which contributed 
4,495,842 barrels to the total, as compared with 3,416,400 barrels 
in the preceding year. Natural cement constituted an aggregate 
of 287,693 barrels, against 274,973 in 1911. Owing to the fact that 
the output of the mills was delivered largely under contracts, the 
value of the production averaged less than in 1911, though current 
prices were considerably higher. 
Salt is a commodity that has been produced in the State for up- 
wards of a century. It is obtained both by mining underground 
and by sinking wells into the salt, the brine from these being 
evaporated by solar or artificial heat, or used directly for chemical 
manufacture. The quantity of salt raised from the mines and wells 
in 1912 amounted to 10,502,214 barrels, and had a value at the 
place of production of $2,597,260, both totals exceeding those for 
any previous year. Livingston county, with the only active salt 
mines in the State, was the leading producer. 
The mining of gypsum, the raw material from which plaster of 
paris and hard wall plasters are made, has become an important 
industry of late years, having had a very steady growth in the 
last decade. The material is mainly produced by underground 
operations, though in some localities it is quarried. The output 
for I912 amounted to 506,274 short tons and in its marketable forms 
had a value of $1,186,845. 
The combined value of petroleum and natural gas, the only 
representatives of the class of mineral fuels obtained in the State, 
