Graphite of Ticonderoga. 



Art. XXL Notice of the Graphite of Ticonderoga. By 

 George W. Clinton. 



Though graphite, plumbago, or common blacklead, is very gen- 

 erally diffused, yet it seldom exists of the requisite purity for em- 

 ployment in the arts, in sufficient quantity to compensate the en- 

 terprising for the expense incurred in preparing it for market. A 

 single locality in England, has long supplied the greatest part of 

 Europe and of our own country, and it is now an object of some 

 importance, to ascertain whether a sufficiency of this article can 

 be afforded by our own mountains, to obviate the necessity of re- 

 sorting for it to foreign climes. Reports of its existence in some 

 of the southern states, have reached us. Schoolcraft, in his " View 

 of the lead mines of Missouri/ 7 says, that there is much plumbago 

 in that state ; and in New-Hampshire it has been discovered in 

 large quantities. I have it upon good authority, that it has been 

 found in abundance and of good quality, in St. Lawrence county, 

 in this state, but, from a want of enterprize or of capital, or more 

 probably of a general knowledge of its existence and its value, it 

 remains unnoticed. In Essex county, however, it is a source of 

 profit to a few of our citizens, and such is the position of this local- 

 ity, that from it we must expect our principal supplies, in case that 

 war or some other cause, should prevent the admission of the fo- 

 reign article. As nothing respecting it has, to my knowledge, 

 been given to the public, save a short notice in the sixth volume of 

 Silliman's Journal, by Professor Hall, I hope that the following 

 facts, collected during a short visit in 1S25, may be interesting. 



It is found more or less plentifully disseminated in minute folia- 

 ted masses, in all the gneiss in the vicinity : but the principal de- 

 posit is on Cobble-Hill, about 2 J miles northwest of the village 

 of Alexandria, in clefts, in a primitive rock, called graphite granite 

 by Professor Hall, and gneiss by Cleaveland. Several of these 

 fissures or veins, have been discovered, all of them running north 

 and south, except the smallest and least productive, which lies east 

 and west. The largest was discovered by a man, who passing 

 over the mountain with an axe in his hand, by an accidental stroke 

 laid bare the glittering treasure. It is visible on the surface for 



rcntly unimpaired in size. It varie^from four inches to two feet 

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