THE MINING AND QUAKRY INDUSTRY 



159 



taken out and are now stored at the mine. At a fair estimate, 

 with allowance for loss in milling, this should yield at least 1000 

 tons of concentrates. Experiments in concentration have been 

 made with the Wetherill magnetic separator and have given very 

 good results. The blende carries 5% or more of iron. It would 

 seem likely that a marketable pyrite product may also be secured. 



The mining rights of this property are owned jointly by T. M. 

 Williams of Gouverneirr and the firm of Pilling & Crane of Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. The development work has been under the charge of 

 Mr Williams. The same parties have secured a lease of the Balmat 

 mine near Sylvia lake about halfway between Edwards and 

 Gouverneur. 



The Balmat (also called Belmont) mine was opened in the first 

 part of the last century. It has been described by Emmons 1 as 

 follows : 



In the town of Fowler, a remarkable vein of the sulfurets of zinc, 

 lead and iron, in about equal proportions, occurs on the farm of 

 Mr i'.elmont. The direction of the vein is n. n.e. and s. s.w. and 

 the width about 8 inches, but not well defined. These sulfurets 

 traverse a bed of serpentine 40 to 50 feet wide. The occurrence 

 of zinc intermixed with lead, is not favorable to the reduction of 

 the latter. 



There are two shafts on the ore body situated about 1000 feet 

 apart, but the workings are no longer accessible. From what 

 could be seen at the surface, the ore appears to occur as a narrow 

 band or vein in crystalline limestone, attaining a width of I to 3 

 feet. There is much more galena present than in the ore at Edwards 

 and usually more pyrite. No mining has been done on the deposit 

 in recent years. 



Lead ores carrying subordinate quantities of zinc are found at 

 Rossie and other places in St Lawrence county. The Rossie 

 deposits have been described by Beck and Emmons, and more 

 recently by C. II. Smyth jr, who has given an interesting account 

 of their associations and probable origin. They are veins, occupy- 

 ing fissures in gneiss, composed of calcite and galena with little 

 pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite. Two varieties of gneiss are 

 distinguished by Dr Smyth, a pink variety of intrusive character 

 and an older gray gneiss which is probably ingenous though its 

 relationships can not be definitely stated. The veins follow approxi- 

 mately parallel directions, cutting across the foliation of the gneiss 

 at a high angle. 



1 Geology of New York: Report on Second District. Assembly Doc. 1838, no. 200, p. 213, 



