432 V. F. MARSTERS — ASBESTOS DEPOSITS OF BELVIDERE MOUNTAIN 



1903 the United States produced but 2.4 per cent of the value of the 

 imported product. This condition should stimulate the most strenuous 

 search for so valuable a product. 



Geology of the Canadian Area 



Concerning the lithology of the Canadian area, Mr Ells says : 



"All the mining locations are situated on areas of serpentine, which is associated 

 with green, gray, black, or reddish slates and quartzose sandstones and conglom- 

 erates. The serpentine is more particularly related to considerable masses of 

 diorite and whitish granitic rock, and is apparently due to the alteration of por- 

 tions of these masses. . . . These slates and associated rocks are supposed to 

 belong to the Cambrian system, though the serpentine is sometimes connected 

 with areas of older rocks, such as chloritic and talcose schists and considerable 

 masses of soapstone. In the serpentines which are found with the older rocks the 

 asbestos appears to be in very limited quantity, and no attempt has been made to 

 work any such deposit." 



North of the Saint Lawrence river, in Ottawa county, are a series of 

 serpentinous limestones, of probable Laurentian age, which contain a 

 small amount of fiber, but its grade is too low to be of any considerable 

 value as compared with the products from the Thetford region. Ser- 

 pentine areas are known, too, to exist in a line extending to the northeast 

 in the direction of the Gaspe peninsula, but little is yet known about 

 these occurrences as possible producers in the near future. 



Vermont Asbestos 



occurrence 



The discovery of asbestos in this region is to be accredited to Judge 

 M. E. Tucker, of Hardwick, Vermont. On November 9, 1899, he recog- 

 nized the possibility of its occurrence in sufficient quantities to warrant 

 careful prospecting. A considerable area lying along the township line 

 between Lowell and Eden, as well as a portion of the belt passing through 

 Lowell village to the north, was examined with considerable care. At 

 a later date portions of the Lowell area were investigated by Mr Silsbey, 

 of Lowell. During the two succeeding years the Belvidere area attracted 

 the attention of some of the more prominent miners of asbestos in the 

 United States and Canada. In 1900 Mr B. B. Blake likewise discovered 

 fiber in the ledges on the southeast slopes of Belvidere, in Eden town- 

 ship. These finds at once increased local interest, and later led to the 

 formation of a number of companies, but only one proceeded beyond 

 the prospecting stage. In 1901 the New England Asbestos Mining and 

 Milling Company erected an elaborate plant, equipped with the most 



