826 . NEW YOEK STATE MUSEUM 



Washington county^ 



Tlie limestone areas of tMs county, thougli not extensive, 

 include some of the purest limestones found in the state. One 

 narrow belt extends from Middlefalls to ISTorth Argyle, a second 

 begins at Adamsville and extends northward past the eastern 

 edge of Fort Ann and Whitehall to the Yermont boundary. A 

 third area lies on the boundary between 'New York and Yermont 

 and along the Rutland branch of the Delaware and Hudson rail- 

 road. The rock has been extensively quarried at Smiths Basin 

 and west of Fair Haven. 



At Smiths Basin the Keenan lime company has several quar- 

 ries in the ridge to the east of the railroad. The. rock is mostly 

 dark gray to bluish black, fine grained and moderately hard. Its 

 massive character has been somewhat destroyed in places by the 

 shearing and folding to which the rock has been subjected, and 

 the upper beds are shaly and silicious, still the lower ones are 

 very pure. The company has four limekilns of continuous type. 

 Much of the rock has also been shipped to Troy both for use as 

 a flux in blast furnaces and also for lime in Bessemer converters. 



•The following analyses will serve well to show the composition 

 of the stone. 



Silica , 1.38 



Ferric oxid and alumina .58 



Hme 55.26 



Magnesia ,. . . .i. .,. • • .72 



Phosphorus ,. .: .004 



An analysis of the lime madt^ by Prof. J. H. Appleton gave: 



Moisture and carbon dioxid . . ,. . ... •■ 2.08 



Insoluble 1.06 



Ferric oxid and alumina ., .58 



Lime •• 95.5 



Magnesia • •• i tr. 



99.22 



1 Kemp, J. F. & Newland, D. H. Preliminary report on the geology of Wash- 

 ington, Warren and parts of Essex and Hamilton counties, (see 51st an. rep't 

 N, Y. state mus. 2: 499) 



Mather, W. W. Geol. 1st dist. N. Y. 1843. 



