IRON ORE8 OF NEW YORK 



539 



of the Genesee river Prof. Hall reports that it was not seen * 

 There are two beds, generally about 20 feet apart, according 

 to Vanuxem's report on the Clinton group, thin, averaging little 

 more than a foot, and distinguished by more abundant oolitic 

 particles in the lower bed and by the larger grains and concretions 

 in the upper bed.f Very little mining has been done, excepting 

 in the towns of Clinton, Oneida county, and Ontario, in Wayne 

 county. The average thickness of the beds in these mines is 30 

 inches, and one bed only is worked. They lie almost horizontal, 

 dipping slightly to the south ; and in the extraction of the ore a 

 part of the overlying shales has to be removed and the roof 

 supported by timbering. 



The ore consists of lenticular- shaped grains, closely aggregated 

 in a firm solid mass, which has to be broken up by blasting and 

 heavy sledging. It is more friable and soft on the outcrop. It 

 is brownish red in color and soils like a paint. The percentage of 

 metallic iron varies less than in the magnetic iron ores and in the 

 brown hematites. The average is 41 to 48 per cent. The 

 phosphorus is above the Bessemer limit. It is well adapted for 

 making foundry iron and is used for that class of iron mainly. 

 Local furnaces take nearly all the output of the mines. The first 

 lease for digging Clinton ore was given in 17974 The last United 

 States census reported the total production to be 85,442 gross 

 tons of ore. In 1888 it amounted to 75,000 tons. 



V. The Limonites of Dutchess and Columbia Counties. 



The ore deposits and mines, as here grouped, are in two 

 principal ranges and limestone valleys. First, Fishkill-Clove belt, 

 stretching northeast, from the Highlands of the Hudson, across 

 the towns of Fishkill, East Fishkill, Beekman and Unionvale ; 

 second, the north-south valley, traversed by the New York and 

 Harlem railway, from the Highlands across Dutchess county, and 

 to Hillsdale in Columbia county. The limonite, or brown hematite 

 ore, is found in small pockets of irregular shape, and also in large 

 deposits, which are associated with ochreous clays, and in some 



* See Prof. Hall's report on "Survey of the Fourth Geological District," Albany, 1843, p 61. 

 t Vanuxem's report on " Survey of the Third Geological District," Albany, 18*2, p. 83. 

 X Birkinbenk; "The iron lores east of the Mississippi River," in Mineral Resources of the 

 United States for the calendar year 1886, p. 50. 



