112 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the Pleistocene ice sheet carried along in its sweep from the north 

 and in its later retreat left scattered over the country as moraines. 

 The morainal accumulations within reach of the waters that 

 drained into Lake Albany were worked over and the finer parts 

 carried off to be deposited in the well-sorted beds which are seen 

 today. Later abrasion by wind has not materially changed the 

 character of the quartz grains. 



Although several different grades or sizes of sand are obtained, 

 it is the finer sizes which constitute the more typical material com- 

 monly associated with the name Albany sand. The grading by the 

 shippers, as will be explained later, is not based on uniformity of 

 practice and does not always lead to closely similar results; but in 

 general the sands are graded from no. 0, the finest, to no. 4, which 

 is the coarsest that is commonly shipped. Mechanical tests of no. 

 sand from different banks show that in the average from 95 to 98 

 per cent of the whole, inclusive of clay, will pass the 100 mesh 

 screen, or in other words is finer than .147 mm (.0058 inches). 

 An average sample from a stock pile of this grade, to give an 

 example, showed 96.64 per cent as passing the 100 mesh, while all 

 but .71 per cent passed the 80 mesh sieve. There are few molding 

 sands elsewhere comparable in fineness and uniformity of grain, 

 so far as evidenced by published data. 



The Methods of Extracting the Sand 



The methods employed in the production of the molding sand for 

 the market are simple and in view of the large quantity that is 

 shipped from the district, they may appear at first as somewhat 

 crude. The conditions, however, are such that mechanical methods 

 can not well be adapted to the purpose. These conditions pertain 

 particularly to the variable thickness of the layer as it is traced 

 from place to place, ranging from a few inches to 2 or 3 feet, and 

 to the rather abrupt changes of texture which occur and which 

 require that constant attention be given lest the grades become 

 mixed. 



The entire operation of removing the sod and excavating the 

 sand is carried out with hand shovels. The usual practice is to 

 work the ground in sections, according to the number of grades 

 that may be present in the land. The first work is to take off the 

 sod, carefully cutting down to the lower limit of the soil, from a 

 strip a few rods long and about 3 feet wide. The sod and soil 

 after the first strip is worked are placed on the excavated ground, 

 which practice is followed throughout so that at the end the land 



