TPIIRD REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I906 1/ 



is much more limited than had been supposed. The formations in 

 the vicinity have been traced with considerable care and the results 

 will be embodied in the forthcoming report. 



A small group of mines, including the Long Pond, Skiff and 

 Schofield openings, on Skiff mountain south of Hammondville, 

 were also visited. 



Near Crown Point and extending south toward Ticonderoga 

 there are several deposits that have been worked at one time or 

 another, but are now inoperative. Some of the principal ones are 

 the Breed, Kent, Butler and Vineyard. The country rock is a basic 

 variety of gneiss, usually banded and showing indubitable evidence 

 of sedimentary derivation. The ores are generally rich, though 

 there is more or less pyrite present as is frequently the case with 

 ores occurring in rocks of this character. 



The Mt Defiance mine, just south of Fort Ticonderoga affords 

 an interesting, if not unique, type of deposit among the iron mines 

 of this section. The ore is a massive hematite filling a vertical fis- 

 sure in gneiss. The walls on either side are crushed evidently by 

 the movement which has produced the opening. Mixed with the 

 ore there is a considerable amount of quartz and calcite. The 

 occurrence is clearly to be ascribed to the circulation of under- 

 ground waters. The reopening of the mine has been under con- 

 sideration recently and an adit was started near the base of the 

 mountain to afford access to the old workings, but has since been 

 abandoned. 



The Fort Ann, Potter and Mt Hope deposits in Washington 

 county and the ore bodies in the vicinity of Dannemora, Clinton 

 CO., were included in the field work of the season. 



On the western side of the Adirondacks, in St Lawrence count}-, 

 are the Benson mines which are remarkable for their large size. 

 Though at present closed down, they have been under energetic 

 exploitation at different times during the last 20 years, and there 

 is a possibility of restarting operations on a still larger scale. The 

 deposits outcrop along the side of a ridge, offering unusual facili- 

 ties for economical exploitation by open cast methods. The ore is 

 magnetite distributed through a gangue of feldspar and quartz 

 with an average tenor of about 35 per cent iron. By crushing and 

 separation as was practised formerly a concentrate carrying above 

 60 per cent can be made. 



Several other magnetite deposits occur in this region, notably at 

 Jayville, Fuie and Clifton, and have been examined. They are 



