252 
[Assembly 
pounds. One of these masses is believed to have been sent to the of- 
fice of the company in New-York. 
This mine is said to have been originally discovered by a hunter, 
and the first opening was made some 40 or 50 feet from the present 
shaft of the mine. It was worked from the outcrop of the vein to a 
depth of about thirty feet, and some tons of lead ore, (it is supposed 
thirty tons,) were taken out of the mine. This opening was abandoned 
in consequence of the thinning of the metalliferous part of the vein, 
and the diflriculty of raising the ore through an irregular and sloping 
shaft. A vertical shaft was in process of excavation at the time of my 
visit in 1837, and it had reached the vein at that time. Lateral galle- 
ries have since been driven on the course of the vein. An adit level 
was driven perpendicular to the strike of the vein through the inter- 
vening strata of grit rock, 52 feet* below the mouth of the shaft, so 
as to intersect the vein at the distance of about 200 feet from the main 
shaft. Galleries have been excavated laterally on the course of the 
vein from the extremity of the adit ; and the southern one of these has 
been connected with the shaft. This adit and the contiguous galleries 
serve as a drainage level for the upper portions of the mine. Another 
adit level has been driven into the mountain so as to intersect the vein 
at a perpendicular depth of 75 feet below the other, and the main shaft 
is continuous from this intersection, sloping up the course of the vein 
to where this inclined shaft unites with the vertical one, at the upper 
tier of galleries. Lateral galleries have been excavated on the course 
of the vein from the sides of the inclined part of the main shaft, and it 
was in these that the miners were employed at the time of my visit. 
The ore is slidden down the inclined shaft to the lower adit level, 
whence it is removed to the ore heaps opposite this level. It is there 
picked and washed, and then sent to the smelting-house on the bank of 
the canal, which, by the winding course of the road is about one, or 
one and one-fourth miles. 
The adit levels of this mine are spacious, and have been well exe- 
cuted, and as the rocks are indestructible, tlie preparations for working 
the mine may be considered as permanent improvements to last for ages, 
if it should be sufficient!}^ productive to continue working it. 
* Vide Prof. Beck's 3(1 Annual Rep. on Mineralogical Department of the Geol. Sur- 
vey, p. 49. 
