REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 165 



about 8. This softness is in some measure compensated by the 

 more ready cleavage of the hercynite, which causes it always to 

 present fresh, sharp cutting edges. It is claimed by manufac- 

 turers of emery products that this Westchester material is ex- 

 tremely seryiceable when made into wheels^ with a vitreous 

 bond, excelling the emery from other localities in this particular 

 form of wheel. 



The deposits of emery occur irregularly and vary very con- 

 siderably in size. Some openings have yielded over 100 tons 

 without showing signs of exhaustion, while others yield a scant 

 20 tons or less. The mines are located on the ouitcrops of the ore, 

 which are often discovered by the turning up of fragments while 

 plowing in the fields. They are all open cuts, varying in width 

 and depth with the size of the ore body. The ore is blasted out 

 by light charges of explosives and is broken up and roughly 

 cobbed to remove the greater part of the impurities before 

 shipping to the mill. 



In the early history of these mines the ore was smelted in the 

 blast furnaces of the neighborhood for the iron it contained. 



There it proved so refractory that this method of treatment 

 was soon abandoned. Dr J. P. Kimball in 1874 wrote a paper 

 advocating the use of this ore as a lining for puddling furnaces 

 and as a source of multibasic slags.^ It was never used in this 

 connection to any great extent. In this paper Dr Kimball 

 published four analyses of the Peelvskill ore, which were made 

 for him by C. F. Chandler and F. A. Cairns. These, together 

 with analyses of the ore hj T. M. Drown and T. Egleston and 

 three analyses of the associated rocks published by J. F. Kemp 

 in his HandbooJc of tJw Rocks, are reprinted in the accompanying 

 table. 



^Min. Ind. 1901. 10:17. 



* American Chemist 1874. 4:321. 



