REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 141 



Canandaigua outlet and is well exposed ; so the quarrying opera- 

 tions are easy. 



Victor. A quarry and mill for the manufacture of land plaster 

 are owned at this point by Mr Theodore Conover. 



Port Gibson. At Port Gibson are the quaTry anid mill of 

 Mr Ezra Grinnell. The rock is well exposed in the bed of the 

 stream at this place, and, the water having been diverted for mill 

 purposes, the bed of the stream is left dry, so that it is easy to 

 quarry the gypsum. For several years the work at this place 

 has been intermittent, and at present: only a local trade is sup- 

 plied with land plaster. 



Union Springs. The first mining of gypsum at Union Springs 

 was probably commenced while the Erie canal was being built. 

 As early as 1822, Robinson, in his catalogue of localities of Ameri- 

 can minerals, states that several thousand tons of gypsum were 

 shipped annually from this point to Pennsylvania. 



At present the only quarry of importance at this location is 

 that of the Cayuga Land Plaster Co. The plant is about a mile 

 or a mile and one half north of Union Springs, on the line of the 

 Lehigh Valley Railroad, near the junction of the Cayuga bTanch 

 and the Auburn branch. The quarry is about an eighth of a mile 

 from the mill, and the material is hauled in carts to large drying 

 sheds adjoining the mill. The stripping at this quarry varies 

 from 2 or 3 to 20 or 25 feet of earth, there being very little rock 

 oveTlying the gypsum, though in one or two places a few feet of 

 waterlime have been observed. The dirt is stripped and carried 

 to the dump, though a few years ago the stripping was much 

 simplified by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Co., which ran a switch 

 to the quarry and took this overburden of earth for filling along 

 its line. 



Power drills have not been introduced at this quarry, but the 

 old jumper drill still holds its own. The explosive used is black 

 powder. The mill equipment of this company consists of one 

 Blake crusher, one cracker or nipper, and five burstone mills. 



