THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I909 37 



The ports of entry are New York and Boston. The value of 

 the g-arnet averaged $19.29 a short ton. In 1908 the imports 

 amounted in value to $2095 and in 1907 to $6432. 



GRAPHITE 



The production of crj^stalline graphite in the Adirondack 

 reg^ion made a good gain last year, but the increase was due 

 to a more active campaign on the part of the principal enter- 

 prise and not to any contribution by new mines. There were 

 no important changes in the mining situation. The increase of 

 output, which amounted to about 20 per cent as compared with 

 the total returned for 1908, did not suffice, however, to bring 

 up the production to the record of earlier years. Market con- 

 ditions were favorable in spite of the general business de- 

 pression ; the best grades of flake graphite from the Adiron- 

 dacks have always commanded prices above the average and 

 these have shown recently a marked upward tendency. 



The American Mine of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Co. occu- 

 pied, as heretofore, the leading place in the industry. For 

 many years it has been the largest and most successful enter- 

 prise of the kind in the country. Its position has been attained 

 through experienced management and the perfection of its 

 methods for the separation and refining of the graphite. It has 

 had also the advantage of an unusually rich deposit for its 

 type, combined with certain features which make the graphite 

 more easily recoverable than is often the case. The quartzite 

 that constitutes the matrix is practically free from other scaly 

 minerals and the graphite flakes are of large size. 



Adjoining the American mine on the southwest, the property 

 of W. H. Faxon of Chester, N. Y. has been explored recently 

 with promising results. The same series of quartzites, lime- 

 stones and gneisses are in evidence, though the graphite le- 

 posits appear to occupy a higher position than those of the 

 American mine. That they are not a direct continuation of the 

 latter is apparent from a field examination and is further indi- 

 cated by slight differences in their character. . There are two 

 beds of graphitic quartzite separated by garnetiferous gneiss. The 

 upper or main bed measures from 6 to 14 feet thick; and the 

 lower one about 4 or 5 feet. They are cut off at the southwest 

 end by a diabase dike, near which they arc also slightly thrown 

 by a transverse fault. The beds have been exposed along the 



