6 
ECONOMICAL MINERALOGY. 
The Stirling iron ore yields about fifty per cent of iron in the blast furnace. The amount 
annually raised has been from 500 to 2000 tons. The mean of this gives 137,000 tons as 
the total amount obtained from this mine. It has been largely used for casting cannon, and for 
making bar iron. 
This mine was discovered in 1750, and named after Lord Stirling, who was then the pro¬ 
prietor of the soil. It was sold, and a blast furnace was put into operation by Messrs. Ward 
and Colton, in 1751. At the outlet of Stirling pond are still to be seen the ruins of the furnace 
at which the manufacture of iron was carried on with great activity previously to the revolu¬ 
tionary war. It was at this furnace that the iron was smelted which was used in the construction 
of the chain laid across the Hudson river at West-Point.* 
The Belcher Mine, discovered in 1792, is about one and a half miles southwest of the 
Stirling mine, and at the southern termination of the mountain in which that is found. The 
ore has been worked about 115 feet in width, without finding a rock wall on either side. It 
yields about forty-eight per cent of cold short iron, and is well adapted to the making of bar 
iron by the blooming process. This mine is supposed to be a prolongation of the Stirling 
mine. . ' 
Red or Spruce Swamp Mine, in the same town with the preceding, is nearly three miles 
south of Long Mine. Its ore is magnetic, and largely mixed with iron pyrites, so much so 
indeed that it has been but little used. For the same reason also it decomposes rapidly when 
exposed to the air. The surface of the mine is thus covered with a powder of an iron black 
colour. 
Crossway Mine, upon the Townsend estate, is 400 or 500 yards southwest of the Mountain 
Mine, to be presently noticed. This bed is described as being fourteen feet thick, and having 
been wrought sixty-five feet in depth, and one hundred and fifty yards in length. The ore 
and walls very nearly vertical; associated with hornblende, epidote, mica and feldspar. About 
28,000 tons of ore are said to have been obtained from this mine. The resulting iron is 
moderately red short.] 
Paterson Mine. This is situated about three quarters of a mile southwest from Long Mine, 
to be hereafter described. The general direction of the bed is the same as in the latter, and 
the minerals which are found in it are also similar. The ore is massive, and breaks into 
columnar fragments. It is not only attracted by the magnet, but possesses magnetic polarity, 
approaching to the variety called native loadstone. It does not differ in chemical composition 
from that of the Long Mine, except perhaps in containing a larger proportion of silica. About 
10,000 tons of this ore have been used, but the mine has not been recently worked. It yielded 
about fifty-six per cent of good red short iron. 
* The principal facts above stated in regard to the Stirling Mine, were communicated by Peter Townsend, Esq. one of the 
oldest, most intelligent and enterprizing iron masters in our country. Much valuable information was also obtained from the same 
gentleman concerning the other iron mines of this county. The statements of Mr. Townsend are embodied in Dr. Horton’s Re¬ 
port on the Geology and Mineralogy of Orange county ( New-York Geol. Rep. 1839), which I shall have frequent occasion to 
quote. 
f Dr. Horton’s Report on the Geology and Mineralogy of Orange county. New-York Geological Reports, 1839. 
