HYDROUS PEROXIDE OF IRON. 33 
IV. 
Peroxide of iron, . 82.90 
Silica and alumina,.3.60 
Water,. 13.50 
Oxide of manganese,. traces. 
This bed is said to furnish five thousand tons of ore per annum, the average yield of which 
is fifty per cent of pig iron. The amount of ore is supposed to be inexhaustible. 
There are several beds of the same ore, but of inferior importance, in the vicinity of that 
just noticed. Such as the Chalk Pond and the Indian Pond ore beds, the former of which 
is about two and a half miles northeast of Ameniaville, and the latter, on or near the Connecti¬ 
cut line between Salisbury and Sharon. There is also another bed at Squabble Hole, about 
two miles south-southwest of Ameniaville, which may.prove to be a continuation of the Amenia 
bed. At each of these localities, ore of good quality, and in considerable quantity, has been 
obtained. 
The iron region which has just been described, is undoubtedly a part of the great series of 
deposits which has, with little interruption, been traced in a nearly northern direction through 
the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. Thus the ore is known to occur at 
Kent and Salisbury in Connecticut, at Lenox and Richmond in Massachusetts, and at Ben¬ 
nington, Pittsford and Monkton in Vermont. At many of these localities it is accompanied 
by an ore of zinc, although in proportions too small to be detected by ordinary analysis ; and 
in Vermont, it is associated with the oxide of manganese. At the Ancram furnace in Columbia 
county, where the Salisbury ore is used, layers of oxide of zinc are formed in the chimney; 
and the same thing has been observed at some of the furnaces in Dutchess county, proving 
that this mineral also exists , in the ores there found. A specimen of this substance which I 
obtained at Ancram,* made up of several distinct layers of a yellowish colour, gave upon ana¬ 
lysis the following results in 100 parts, viz : 
Oxide of zinc,... 96.10 
Oxide of iron,... 2.90 
Carbon,..... 1.00 
Bog iron ore has been found in various parts of this county, but not of such a quality or in 
such quantity as to be of any value. 
Columbia County. Few important beds of iron ore are at present known to exist in this 
county. The following deserve to be noticed. 
Prescott''s Ore Bed. This is situated in the town of Hillsdale, one and a half mile north of 
the Columbia turnpike. The ore is hematite in detached nodules, alternating with ochre and 
fragments of decomposed slate rock. It has been used chiefly for the manufacture of yellow 
* This substance is known by the name of Cadmium or Cadmia. The oxide of zinc contained in these ores of iron is volatilized 
by the heat, and is again deposited in the chimney of the furnace. Several analyses will be found in Dumas, Chimie appliquee 
aux Arts, III. 197. 
Part I. 
5 
