10 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Excavations for building and improvements. From the casual - 

 manner in which these workings i^enetrate rock formations with 

 respect to productive mineral zones they are hardly calculated 

 to furnish the wealth of mineral specimens met with in mining 

 and quarrying ox^erations. It is, however, true that many rich 

 finds such as, for example, the dumortierite of New York island 

 have resulted from excavations for foundations of buildings, 

 sewer diggings and other municipal improvement works. The 

 accessibility of these excavations to the centers of population 

 often results in a more careful study of the excavated material 

 and in the finding of obscure mineral occurrences which might 

 otherwise escape notice. Rocks exposed in railroad cuts and 

 tunnels may also be said to constitute an important subclass 

 under this head and possess the added advantage of being perma- 

 nently available for collecting purposes. 



Prospects. The use of rudimentary mining tools and methods 

 is of considerable value in the acquiring of mineral specimens 

 particularly in regions where mining and quarrying operations 

 are not generally pursued. In most cases a knowledge of the 

 prevailing dip and strike of the country rocks and of the location 

 of the zones of contact between their strata will enable the col- 

 lector to reach with the aid of a pick and shovel points where 

 the component and accessory minerals occur in well crystallized 

 aggregates. In some cases a blast exploded in a properly drilled 

 hole will amply repay for the expense and trouble incurred, but 

 of course such procedure should be attended with the greatest 

 caution. 



EXPLANATION OF LIST 



In the following tabulated list of localities the first and fifth 

 columns contain the numbers which have been assigned to each 

 locality in order to furnish a ready and convenient means of ref- 

 erence. The second column gives with as much detail as is 

 available the geographic position of the localities grouped under 

 counties and towns. As far as possible definite geographic 

 locations have been substituted for old names of farms, etc.; it 

 has been the author's experience that it is at present extremely 

 difficult to locate the original mineral locality by the old farm 

 name. The third column gives a list of the mineral species 



