No. 44.] 
39 
purpose of ascertaining whether they contain any thing more valuable 
than arsenic. 
A few miles S. E. of Carmel, there occur beds of magnetic iron 
similar to those found in the other parts of the county. One of these, 
the Townsend mine, is very extensive, has been much wrought, and 
formerly supplied the furnace at Danbury in Connecticut ; but this hav- 
ing ceased operations, and the mine being too far distant from Cold- 
Spring, it is not at present worked. 
To these notices, I might add those of the quarries of limestone in 
the vicinity of Patterson, with their associated minerals, some of which 
are of interest to mineralogists. At one locality we obtained a mineral 
called albite, a variety of feldspar not heretofore credited to New- York, 
and at another we found superb specimens of epidote, not excelled by 
any from this country. 
Putnam is one of the most, if not tJie most, mountainous county in 
the State. It is literally "Pelion upon Ossa." But many of the 
mountain slopes and vallies are in a good state of cultivation, especially 
in the western part ; and the agriculturalist, although he has to labor 
hard, receives a good return. There are few men of wealth here, but 
the inhabitants seem generally to be in possession of the necessities, if 
not the comforts of life. A sufficient evidence of this is the fact, that 
there are only 51 inmates of the county poor-house, which, I was in- 
formed was a smaller number in proportion to the population than are 
found in the neighboring county. 
After visiting, with an exception or two on the borders of Westchester, 
every locality of interest to my department in Putnam, we proceeded 
to Dutchess, where our time was principally occupied in examining the 
extensive and valuable beds of hematitic iron ore, in the towns of Fish- 
kill and Union- Vale, and which furnish the raw material for the furnaces 
in this district. At the latter mine, we found a rare mineral, which I 
noticed there 2-| years since, in considerable abundance. It is the 
Gibbsite, which is associated with the iron ore, and which has hereto- 
fore been found only at Richmond and Lenox, Mass. 
We have collected this season upwards of 100 suites of specimens 
for the State, contained in 10 boxes, which have been sent to the Hud- 
son river from the various points at which they were obtained. 
