EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF ASBESTOS AND ITS USES 431 



in the manufacture not only of asbestos cloth, but asbestos paper as well. 

 Having to some extent succeeded in this, they were unsuccessful in their 

 endeavors to secure a contract with the Italian government for the sup- 

 ply of paper for the use of bank notes and other securities, any prospects 

 they might have had in other directions being effectually destroyed by 

 the outbreak of the Franco-German war of 1870. 



Development of Canadian Industry (Thetford) 



In this country and Canada chrysotile was not known to exist in any 

 quantity until the seventies. It was discovered in Canada long before 

 this date, for in 1862 specimens of Canadian chrysotile were exhibited 

 at the International Exhibition in London, England. It was then regard- 

 ed as a mineralogical freak rather than a product of great economic impor- 

 tance. In a report of the Canadian Survey for 1847-1848 reference is 

 made to its occurrence in serpentine rock in the region of Bolton. But, 

 while the extension of the belt of serpentine rocks in which this mineral 

 is known to occur had been traced, with some care from the Vermont 

 boundary in the township of Potton to and beyond the Chaudiere river, 

 the deposits of asbestos observed were comparatively limited. In the 

 United States veins generall}' of short and harsh fiber were found at 

 several points, and a considerable quantity of a tremolitic variety was 

 mined, which, while ill adapted for the purpose to which asbestos is now 

 generally applied, was used for the manufacture of fireproof paints, 

 cements, etcetera. The chief source of supply for fibrous asbestos was the 

 mines of Italy, where deposits of irregular extent occur, the mineral often 

 possessing a long and silky fiber, which well adapted it to spinning, and 

 from this source the material for fireproof curtains and similar manu- 

 factures were obtained. In 1877-1878 asbestos was discovered in the 

 serpentine hills of Thetford and Coleraine. The size of the veins, often 

 several inches thick, led to the expectation that deposits of value might 

 exist there, though their true importance was not ascertained for several 

 years. The credit of the discovery in this locality is claimed by Mr 

 Robert Ward, though by others it is stated that the first find was made 

 by a Frenchman named Fecteau. Following closely upon the discovery 

 several parties secured areas both at Thetford and Black Lake, in Cole- 

 raine township, on the line of the Quebec Central railway, which for 

 some miles runs . . . between high ridges of serpentine, in which, 

 the timber having been burned off, the veins were observed at the surface 

 by the weathering and felting of the mineral on the surface of the bare 

 rock. From this time (1878) on the industry developed with the demand 

 for the product. Early in the nineties the region became the leading 

 producer of the world, and holds that position at the present time. In 



