84 ^ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



recently. But at the time of the writer's visit work was not in 

 progress and no very satisfactory observations could be made.^ 

 The working is in the nature of a pit with a maximum depth 

 of some 80 feet, the sides are perpendicular, there was some 20 

 feet of water at the bottom, and adjacent surface exposures are 

 of the most meager description, so that information must be 

 sought from either the inaccessible sides of the pit, or else from 

 the dumps. V 



The main pit is from 25 to 30 yards long, from 3 to 4 yards 

 wide, and bears nearly east and west. The dip is to the south 

 and very steep, some 75° to 80°. The pay streak was evidently 

 lens-shaped, pinching out at the two ends of the pit, and nothing 

 could be learned regarding its exact size, or the purity of the ore. 

 To the west no rock shows in outcrop, but to the east, after a 

 10 yard gap with no exposures but in which the ore had evidently 

 pinched out, is another opening showing a much narrower ore 

 body, beginning with a width of 6 inches and widening to 3 feet. 

 Apparently mining here was never profitable, as the opening is 

 very shallow. At the extreme east end the ore again pinches out 

 and beyond occurs only in small, interrupted masses. 



Practically the only rock outcrops are those of the vertical 

 walls of the pit. Little pure ore was found on the dumps, but 

 much lean ore was there, consisting largely of what must have 

 been the immediate wall rock, a very basic hornblende gneiss. 

 This is found to pass into a gneissoid syenite, all intermediate gra- 

 dations being found. The syenite shows a local phase character- 

 ized by abundant mica (biotite) which is unlike any other rock 

 of the district. The ordinary syenite passes into a very quartzose 

 syenite, which is full of quartz and pegmatite veins. 



A short distance north of the main pit is a low rock knoll, 

 exposing a well banded, rusty gneiss, full of quartz veins, from 

 which no fresh material could be obtained, and whose precise 

 nature is uncertain, though it much resembles the acid phase of 

 the syenite mentioned above. Near the narrow opening a basic, 



1 Since then, some farther exploitation has been done but no opportunity 

 to revisit has occurred 



