REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST rl47 



1 mile northeast of Slateville, J. J. McDonough has opened a 

 new quarry for unfading green roofing slate. It is well located 

 on a steep hillside, and is one of the few quarries that are being 

 opened with a view to allowing the water to run out, instead of 

 pumping it out, the usual method. The quarry is small, as yet, 

 but has cut a bed of excellent slate and has already produced a 

 considerable quantity of fine roofing material. The cleavage dip 

 is 32° e 9° s and the strike is s 9° w. 



From Slateville, southward for 20 or 25 miles, nearly to Hoosick 

 are scattered abandoned quarries. In nearly all of them purple, 

 green and variegated slate are exposed, but much of it is of a 

 poor quality. A few miles north of Salem, and in that township, 

 are the Black creek valley quarries and those of the Excelsior 

 slate co. Johnson's History of Washington county states that in 

 1877 the Excelsior co. shipped $12,000 worth of slate abroad, 

 most of it going to England, Germany, South America and Aus- 

 tralia. Plate 36 is a view of one of those quarries partly filled 

 with water. 



Near the village of Salem, quarries have been operated by 

 John Dundon, L. M. Macefield, Mrs John Toohe, Charles Johnson 

 and J. M. Williams. 



Near the village of Shushan quarries have been operated by 

 Walter S. King and William Dobbin, and a small opening made 

 on the farm of William McGeough. 



In all these quarries the cleavage strikes south-southwest and 

 dips at from 30° to 40° east-southeast. 



The great number of quarries which are either idle at present 

 or are abandoned is due to several causes. The business stagna- 

 tion of the past few years closed many of them, and they have 

 not yet been able to start again; others have been located on beds 

 which have proved to be of poor quality or at too great a distance 

 from shipping points; and the recent extensive introduction of 

 iron and terra cotta roofing materials has greatly damaged the 

 slate industry, particularly in large cities. But the chief cause 

 of failure appears to be the lack of capital properly to push the 

 work, coupled with clumsy methods of quarrying and sharp com- 



