456 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
copper ore, on the shore near Sparta, is apparently a continuation of the bed of feldspathic, 
quartzose, laminated rock, containing copper, like that in the shaft of the mine ; but if it be 
the same, there is probably a fault that has heaved the rock laterally about fifty or sixty 
yards. Augite, asbestus, and other minerals are much mixed with the limestone near the 
granite by the brick-yard, and near the “ Copper mine,”* and also in “ Murray mountain,” one 
hundred to two hundred yards southeast of the brick-yard. The augite is both white and 
green, the felspar is in several places petuntze, and is passing rapidly into kaolin. Carbo¬ 
nate of copper is seen oozing from the crevices in the rock. 
The strata of limestone north of the prison are nearly vertical, and is distinctly stratified 
as gneiss. Crystallized pyrites, magnetic pyrites, and sometimes copper pyrites are found 
in particular layers of the rock. Some singular aggregates of limestone with augite, quartz, 
felspar, mica, pyrites, etc., may be seen by tracing the limestone ledges along the shore, 
where they are beautifully exposed to observation between Sparta and Singsing landings, both 
above and below the State Prison. 
The old silver mine, as it is called, is on the shore of the Hudson a little above the prison, and 
ni the State farm. There are no indications on the surface that would indicate any valuable 
ire in any valuable quantity. The rock is an impure limestone, containing augite and some 
nagnetic sulphuret of iron. Some of this sulphuret of iron, when carefully tested by cupella- 
.ion, gave no trace of silver. Similar layers of rock containing the augite and magnetic pyrites, 
extend through the ledges parallel to the strata both in strike and dip, for forty or fifty rods 
along the shore. It was carefully examined for native silver (which is said to have been found 
at the mine), and for the various ores of silver, but without observing a trace of any silver 
ore, or of any other ore that would be likely to contain it, except the pyrites. This mine 
was worked before the Revolution, by a British officer who resided in New-York. The shaft 
is said to have been one hundred and fifty feet deep, and galleries to have been excavated in 
different directions, principally in a north and south direction, or along the line of strike. 
Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt remembers when the mine was wrought, and when a boy, was in 
it. The mouth of the shaft is on the shore of the Hudson, a little above high-water mark. 
The mine was drained some years ago by a company, but the work was not resumed. It is 
to be presumed that they found no indications to justify the expense of prosecuting the work. 
A quarry is opened in a hed of limestone on the hill northeast of Sparta. It is coarsely 
crystalline, and very beautiful. Small pieces of serpentine, and traces of iron and copper 
pyrites, were observed very sparsely disseminated through the mass. It seems a more dura¬ 
ble limestone, and less prone to disintegration than that at most of the quarries. This range 
* The copper ore at Sparta was discovered by Mr. Cartwright, a company was organized, and a'charter obtained for a 
capital of one hundred thousand dollars. The company sold out their interest to individuals in New-York. A shaft was 
sunk forty or fifty feet, and an adit level excavated from high water mark on the shore, in a direction N. 20° E. along 
the line of bearing. In some few places the lode of copper pyrites is said to have been six inches thick; but only a few 
tons of ore were obtained^ not enough, as a shrewd old miner who had worked there justly remarked, to pay for the 
candles. 
