THE ADIRONDACK GRAPHITE DEPOSITS 43 



The Dixon and Faxon Properties 



The property of the American Graphite Company and the adjoin- 

 ing property, owned by William H. Faxon, comprise a single district 

 and can for the most part be treated as a unit. 



Location. The Dixon-Faxon properties are located in the town- 

 ship of Hague, Warren county, about ^ l / 2 miles west of Lake George 

 on the southern border of the Paradox lake, and the northern edge 

 of the Bolton quadrangles. The headquarters of the Dixon Com- 

 pany has become known as Graphite. The Faxon property is to 

 the south and the southwest. 



At the present time the Dixon Company is the most important 

 producer of flake graphite in the Adirondacks, and possibly in the 

 United States. Continuous mining has been pursued for over thirty 

 years and it is largely due to this company that the production of 

 graphite has been maintained. 



The Faxon property has been extensively prospected by diamond 

 drilling and promises to be a large producer when developed. It 

 has been stated from time to time in the last ten years that Faxon 

 was just on the point of commencing operations, and there is now 

 every evidence that he will soon do so. 



Geology. In order to grasp the conditions of mining, the 

 character of the ore and the problems of supply, a knowledge of the 

 rocks and their succession is necessary. 



The ore is a quartz schist, somewhat feldspathic, containing about 

 5 to 7 per cent of graphite and small amounts of biotite and pyrite. 

 It varies from a few feet to 20 feet in thickness as it pinches and 

 swells, but the average would be about 15 feet. This stratum is so 

 characteristic, not only here but in most of the other mines in the 

 southern area, that it would be very desirable to give it a distinctive 

 name. It has been impossible up to the present time to secure an 

 ideal name. The term " Graphite schist " would, perhaps, conform 

 to geological tradition, taking the name from the village of Graphite. 

 As some confusion may result, in that all the bedded ores are 

 graphitic schists, the term " Dixon schist," while open to criticism 1 

 is here used for convenience and should not become an established 

 name in Adirondack geology. 



It is highly probable that the Dixon schist occurs as two long 

 lenses, which can be regarded as separate beds. It is the general 

 opinion that as one bed thickens the other diminishes in thickness. 



1 As it is preoccupied, Dixon formation, Silurian of Tennesee; see Pete, 

 William F., & Bassler, Ray S., U. S. Nat. Mus'Proc. 34:407-32. 



