No. 161.] 
In addition to the localities of magnetic ore just enumerated, we 
have in the same county the Rutger and Cady ore beds; and from 
the information which I have received, I am induced to believe 
that rich deposites of this mineral are to be found on the head wa- 
ters of the Saranac river. These however, I have not yet had an 
opportunity of visiting, nor do I possess any precise information 
concerning them. 
Several gentlemen in various parts of this county manifested 
great interest in the objects of the survey, an daided much in the 
prosecution of that part of the work assigned to me. Among these 
I should particularly mention Judge Fisk, Messrs. Stetson, Tom- 
linson, Simmons, and Barton, and Dr. Thomas of Keeseville; and 
Messrs. H. Cady and Swetland of Plattsburgh. 
The magnetic iron ore, the geographical range of which I am 
now endeavoring to trace, is found in Franklin county, but per- 
haps not so abundantly as in those counties through which we have 
just passed. Some beds occur in the vicinity of Duane, about fif- 
teen or twenty miles south of the main road through the county. 
One of these, discovered a {e\w years since, excited much interest in 
consequence of its furnishing a kind of steel during its reduction in 
the forge. Whether this w^as owing to some peculiarity in the ore 
or in the process employed, it is not easy to determine. Many of 
the German ores yield natural steel, but they usually belong to the 
species called spathic iron. 
In passing through the w^estern part of St. Lawrence county, I 
frequently noticed the magnetic oxide of iron in the gneiss rock, 
sometimes accompanied with hornblende as at Crag Harbour and, 
sometimes without that associate. About seven miles south of 
Potsdam a bed of this mineral occurs, which supplies a forge at that 
village. And here, as on Lake Champlain, it appears to be accom- 
panied by white marble, fine quarries of which are already opened, 
and are contributing in no small degree to the prosperity of the 
district in which they are situated. 
Again, I have specimens of an excellent magnetic iron from the 
town of De Kalb in this county; but it will hereafter be shown that 
by far the largest proportion of the iron ores now known in St. 
Lawrence belongs to the species generally described by mineralo- 
gists under the name of specular iron. 
