ORES OF THE CHAMPLAIN, TACONIC AND METAMORPHIC ROCKS. 
491 
Limonites and Hematite of Dutchess and Columbia counties. 
The iron ore of Columbia and Dutchess counties is very abundant, and makes iron of the 
best quality. The mines are numerous, and in general they are easily virorked and free from 
water. The ore consists principally of limonite, which varies in its state of aggregation from 
a yellow pulverulent mass to a compact brown iron-stone. It is mammillary, botryoidal, 
spongiform, and with stalactitical forms, some of which have hemispherical and others aci- 
cular terminations ; others are like bunches, of pendant moss. The solid stalactitical forms 
are fibrous, with diverging radii from the centre. The specimens are beautiful, and highly 
ornamental as curiosities and as minerals. The mines yield an aggregate of about twenty 
thousand tons of ore per annum, which is worth at the bed one dollar and a half to two dol¬ 
lars and a half per ton. There are ten furnaces, it is said, within twelve miles of Amenia, 
which make, in the aggregate, about ten thousand tons of iron per annum. They afford 
employmept to about one thousand men as ore-diggers, coal-men, teamsters, smelters, lime¬ 
stone diggers, etc.. Some of these furnaces are in Connecticut, near the line, and it is about 
as well for New-York as if they were within her own limits. All the iron is carried to the 
Hudson riyer, and then shipped to various parts. There are two furnaces in Columbia and 
Dutchess counties not included in the above number, viz. Ancram and Hopewell furnaces. 
It is estimated that the aggregate annual value of the pig iron made at these twelve furnaces 
is four hundred thousand dollars to five‘hundred thousand dollars per annum. Manufactories 
of malleable iron in various forms are attached to some of these furnaces, as the Columbia 
furnace in Kent, the Ancram furnace, and some others. The malleable iron from these 
furnaces is highly valued for its toughness and softness, and is extensively employed in making 
anchors, musket and pistol barrels, wire, etc. The geological situation of the ore beds is 
very constant. Most of the beds that I have examined are at the junction, of mica or talcose 
slate with the grey and white limestones. The limestone generally crops out on the west 
side of the ore beds, and the mica or talc slate on the east, and both dip at an angle from 
twenty to sixty degrees to the east-southeast.* 
The ora bed-at Fishkill was, described by Dr. Beck, in the Geological report of 1837: 
“ Fishkill ore bed. This is the ore bed belonging to the Fishkill Iron Company. It is 
situated about three miles northeast of the village of Hopewell. The hill in which it occurs 
presents no peculiarity that I could discover, except that its surface is made up of coarse 
gravel, and has a rounded form in various places, The-ore is covered by a stiff whitish clay, 
and is intermixed with the same substance, called fuller's earth by the miners. Quartz is 
also one of the accompanying minerals, and a sort of slate is often found in the centre of the 
masses of ore, which causes some inconvenience to the smelter. The whole bed is made up 
of nodules of ore of various sizes and forms, but usually rounded, which are covered, and 
■* The association of these rocks is not only an interesting geological fact, but it shows an adaptation of means to ends. The 
limestone is convenient for use as a flux, and the talc and mica slate for firestone to line the furnaces. 
62 * 
