72 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The sand is marketed under some five or six grades depending 

 upon the fineness. The finest size generally is that called No. o and 

 the others include i, 2, 3 and 4, which is the coarsest. Some shippers 

 supply also intermediate grades or half sizes. There is no absolute 

 standard by which the material is graded and considerable variation 

 exists between the grades furnished by different shippers. 



The production of molding sand in 191 3 amounted to 504,348 

 short tons valued at $449,224. The entire output, with the excep- 

 tion of a small quantity from Chautauqua and Cayuga counties, 

 came from the Hudson river district. The returns indicated an 

 increase of about 10 per cent in the production as compared with 

 the preceding year when the total amounted to 469,138 short tons 

 with a value of $422,148. 



Core and fire sand. Core sand is a nearly pure quartz sand used 

 in the cores of molds. It must possess refractory qualities and be 

 permeable to gases. Fire sand is a refractory sand of about the 

 same characters, employed in lining the hearths of furnaces. These 

 sands are produced in Erie, Oneida and Queens counties. The out- 

 put for 1913 was reported as 53,757 short tons valued at $38,571. 



Glass sand. The requirements for sand used in glass manufac- 

 ture are that it shall be practically pure quartz. Iron minerals are 

 particularly objectionable and not more than a trace of iron is allow- 

 able. Glass sands are found in New York State in some of the 

 beaches of the interior lakes, particularly Oneida lake, and on the 

 shores of Long Island sound. The natural sands are washed to 

 purify them of clay, mica, magnetite and other ingredients. At one 

 time large quantities were produced around Oneida lake which forty 

 or fifty years ago was an important center of window glass manu- 

 facture. At present the output is only a few thousand tons and it 

 is all shipped to points outside the State. 



Building sand. The largest quantities of sand are consumed in 

 building and construction work for the making of concrete and mor- 

 tar. Sands adapted to such purposes have a widespread occurrence, 

 and their excavation and shipment to market is purely a local busi- 

 ness, except in a few places which supply the larger cities. 



The beach sands of Long Island afford excellent building sands 

 which are shipped to New York City and its environs. In the inte- 

 rior of the State, glacial sands, which may be more or less re-sorted 

 by river action, are mainly employed. Thus Albany derives its sup- 

 ply from a delta deposit within the city limits. Rochester has sev- 

 eral sources of supply of which the principal one is the Pinnacle 



