THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I9IO 21 



Hudson river region. The Hudson river region from Albany 

 and Rensselaer counties south to New York city enjoys special ad- 

 vantages in the manufacture and marketing of building brick and 

 has long held a leading position in that branch of the industry. The 

 nine counties included in the region contribute about four-fifths of 

 the entire output of common brick in the State. A small share of 

 the product, mainly from the yards in Albany and Rensselaer 

 counties, is marketed locally ; the rest is all shipped to New York, 

 mostly by river during the eight or nine months of open navigation. 



The occurrence and character of the clays are very similar 

 throughout the region. They form banks or terraces, with occas- 

 ional layers of sand or gravel, and are normally blue in 

 color, weathering to yellow near the surface. They are worked by 

 open pit excavation. In one or two places the clay is obtained by 

 dredging from the river. They usually contain rather high per- 

 centages of fluxing constituents, chiefly calcium carbonate, and 

 sufficient iron to burn to a red color. The brick are molded by the 

 soft-mud process and burned in scove kilns. The run of the kilns 

 is classed as '' Hudson common hard." 



With a single grade of product, practically all shipped to one 

 market, it is natural that the industry should be subject to sudden 

 and extensive fluctuations. The normal productive capacity of the 

 region may be placed at about 1,200,000,000 a year, which is above 

 the average annual consumption. During the years 1905 and 1906, 

 a period of exceptional prosperity, the demand equaled or slightly 

 exceeded that figure and prices were on a very remunerative basis. 

 This brought about an expansion of operations so that in 1907 the 

 market became overstocked : as a result the production fell the 

 following year to about 800,000,000 and prices ruled very low. The 

 improved conditions during 1909 brought the production up to the 

 earlier level and restored prices to a fairly profitable basis, but the 

 activity was only temporary. The course of the market during the 

 past season was steadily downward, reaching in the later months a 

 stage below that of any recent year. 



The status of the industry in 1909 and 1910 is shown by the ac- 

 companying tables which give the production, value, average price, 

 and number of active plants separately for each county. The 

 total number of brick manufactured last year was 1,102,265,000, 

 valued at $5,000,662, reported by 114 plants. In the preceding year 

 the number was 1,218,784,000, valued at $6,443,190, with 117 active 

 plants. Though the decline of output thus amounted to less than 



