﻿20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The investigation has now been brought to completion and its results 

 made available in a bulletin recently issued. 



The commercial utilization of the local deposits began about a 

 century ago, but the present mining and manufacturing enterprises 

 which they support may be said to be a development of the last 

 decade. In this brief period the annual outturn of crude gypsum 

 has grown from 50,000 tons to nearly 400,000 tons and, whereas the 

 product was formerly marketed in unmanufactured condition, or at 

 most simply reduced to powder at the mines, it is now mainly con- 

 verted into calcined plasters that require refined mechanical treat- 

 ment and correspondingly extensive plants. With the expansion of 

 the trade many changes have taken place in the mining field, par- 

 ticularly the opening of very productive territory in the western 

 part of the State where the gypsum is better adapted for calcina- 

 tion and the adoption of improved methods of extraction. The 

 whole industry, thus, has taken on a new phase which has not here- 

 tofore received adequate attention. 



Review of mines and quarries. The statistical canvass of the 

 mines and quarries of the State conducted by this office, showed that 

 a general improvement in the industries w T as manifest during the 

 past year. The aggregate output of the mineral materials reached 

 a value of $34,914,034, a gain of more than $5,000,000 over the total 

 value reported for 1908. Though it fell somewhat short of the 

 record for the industries, it evidenced their strong position after a 

 period of very great depression, and their capacity for further 

 growth. About thirty-five different products were represented in the 

 total. The largest items, naturally, were clay and stone materials, 

 though iron ores, cement, salt, natural gas, petroleum, gypsum and 

 talc were produced in important quantities. It may be noted that 

 the products are valued for the purposes of the statistical report in 

 their crude form, so that the totals are not to be regarded as a full 

 measure of the contributions made by the mineral industries as a 

 whole. 



Field work. Though no extended field work has been in 

 progress within the past year, occasional trips were made, as oppor- 

 tunity offered, to observe new developments or discoveries in certain 

 districts, of which there was need for definite information. 



In southeastern New York some of the old iron mines of Colum- 

 bia and Dutchess counties were visited and it is hoped in the near 

 future to give the deposits of this section further study. The dis- 

 trict is of great historical interest, having supplied the first ores 

 used for iron manufacture in the State and long holding a promi- 



