No. 50.] 
463 
Bog Iron Ore. 
Beds of this variety of iron ore are found in many little swamps and 
lowlands in different parts of the county. Across the river from Olean, 
masses containing several cubic feet have been excavated. The per- 
centage is, generally, so low that the working of it can never be profi- 
table until iron shall have increased greatly in value. 
Manganese, 
The black oxide is found in small granules in different parts of the 
Conewango and Little valleys. More was seen upon the land of Mr. 
Bush, in Randolph, than in any other place. It is accumulated in no- 
dules, in some places, from the size of a shot, up to that of a walnut. 
In other places, it is seen adhering to fragments of sandstone, scattered 
throughout the soil. It has not yet been found in quantities sufficient 
to be of value. 
Mr. Earll, of Napoli, has, within the last few years, found two pie- 
ces of metallic matter, which, he says, were upon analyses, by a Ger- 
man chemist of Buffalo, found to contain seventy-five parts of tin, and 
twenty-five of bismuth. They were found in a path leading to a 
spring, about a mile and a half north of Bushnell's tavern. One of 
them was quite rectangular ; the other had the appearance of having 
been melted and dropped into the soil in its molten state. Much inte- 
rest, for a time, was felt in these indications, as they were supposed to 
be, of a rich store, at no great distance from the locality where the 
two pieces were discovered. It has been remarked by Prof. Vanux- 
em, that they were probably dropped there by Indians, who obtained 
them from the French, when the latter nation had possession of the 
Canadas. 
Near Lodi, nodules of iron pyrites are found in considerable quanti- 
ties, in the upper portions of the gravel alluvium, underlying the loam of 
the valley. From these, a Mr. Smith claims to have wrought certain 
metallic bars, which are believed by many of the inhabitants in the vici- 
nity, to be of silver. A small piece of one of them, together with a par- 
cel of the ore, was furnished to the State by Nicholas Devereux, Esq. 
This piece has the general appearances of pretty pure malleable iron. 
Instances of this species of self-deception are of frequent occurrence, 
and show very forcibly the necessity of extending, as far as may be, 
the aids of science. A slight acquaintance, even, with the origin of the 
