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[Assembly 
known. This " mine" was opened before the French war of 1755, and 
re-opened in 1827 or 1828. Indications of copper are said to have been 
very distinct, when last opened, by gentlemen in whom I can place 
confidence. Scarce any traces of copper are visible among the rubbish 
of the mine at the present time. The son of the owner informed me 
that the Germans who came there last to open the mine, some years 
since, tried the water of a spring from the hill side, and found it to con- 
tain copper. He gave their mode of trial as follows. " Water from 
the spring was boiled down to a small quantity in an iron kettle ; a sil- 
ver sixpenny piece was then introduced, and taken out coated with cop- 
per." Any one acquainted with the relative chemical affinities, knows 
this to be impossible, as the copper, if any, would be precipitated by 
the iron of the kettle. Copper would precipitate silver from solution, 
but silver would not precipitate copper under such circumstances. 
Some deception must have been practised, if the above statement of the 
process be correct. 
Another mine, a " silver mine" as it was called, was showed me on 
the bank of Dry brook, about three miles above Arkville, which is at 
the junction of the Bushkill and Dry brook, with the east branch of the 
Delaware. A handsome adit has been excavated at the juncture of the 
gray grit with the red shale, leaving the former rock as a solid substan- 
tial rock roof. At the end of the adit, which penetrates horizontally 
some 30 or 40 feet, a shaft has been sunk, and it is said that rooms of 
some size have been excavated in the rock below, but the shaft was 
full of water, so that nothing more could be examined than the adit. 
The mineral which is supposed to have caused this excavation, was 
common pyrites, which abounds at the junction of the grit and shale. 
It decomposes readily, causing the shale to crumble away by its de- 
composing action and the crystallizing power of the resulting salts. 
Copperas (sulphate of iron,) was observed in some abundance efflore- 
scing from the surface of the rock, and could be scraped off in handsful. 
The excavation was made many years ago by some Germans, and sil- 
ver is reputed to have been obtained, but I saw no traces of any other 
ore than the common iron pyrites, (bisulphuret of iron.) Col. Noah 
Dimmick of Arkville, had the kindness to pilot me to the locality. 
Mr. James Foote and Mr. Wood of Delhi, brought me specimens of 
the black sulphuret, and of the blue and green carbonates of copper, in 
the gritty shale containing vegetable impressions. If the stratum from 
which they obtained their specimens is of the thickness of two feet, and 
