492 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICTo 
apparently cemented together with a yellowish brown clayey ochre. These nodules are often: 
hollow; and when this is the casCj^ the inner surface is highly polished, and has the appear¬ 
ance of having been fused. Sometimes also beautiful stalactites, of various sizes and forms,, 
are found in these balls ; and occasionally there is observed a thin lining of a black powdery 
matter, resembling plumbago, which, is believed to be oxide of manganese. The structure 
of the ore is fibrous, and its color brown. This bed is worked by levels or burrows carried 
in various directions through the hill in which it is situated. These excavations have already 
extended to the distance of ninety or an hundred feet from the entrance. The roof of these* 
burrows is from twelve to thirty feet above the floor, and is supported by pillars of ore, from, 
five to ten feet in thickness. The ore alternates with the clay and slate, and from what I 
subsequently observed, I infer that the bed rests upon mica slate, although I did not find that 
rock in the immediate vicinity,”* 
Most of tlie galleries have caved in, in consequence of the injudicious method of working; 
the ore. The superincumbent materials are clay, loam, gravel and pebbles, imperfectly 
agg.regated like “ hardpan so that when the soil becomes very wet, they have little tenacity ; 
and as the galleries are made large, and without any support to sustain the superincumbent 
materials, they cave in, and render the extraction of ore, at present, expensive; The ore is 
of good quality, but more mixed with earthy matter than at many of the other mines. 
Limestone was seen in place a few rods west of the mines, and of the same general cha¬ 
racters as that seen at the various mines of this kind of iron ore. 
“ Clove ore bed. This is an extensive deposit of brown hematite, situated' in the south 
western part of the town of Unionvale. The general appearance of the hill in which this- 
occurs does not differ much from that of the Fishkill ore bed, but it appears to be more 
extensive, at least it has been more extensively explored. In most instances it has been, 
worked to the day large excavations having, been made in various places, which communicate 
with some central point by means of roads or railways. The Dover Iron Company have^, 
however, sunk a well or shaft, and are constructing, a level to intersect it, a mode of working: 
which promises to be highly advantageous. The ore is in general similar to that found at the 
Fishkill bed, but perhaps there is a larger proportion of the ochrey or fine ore, as it is here 
called, which is considered more valuable than the other varieties,”* 
The Clove ore bed was visited by Mr. Merrick. Messrs. Quaig. and Rees have the con¬ 
tract for digging the ore at the Clove bed, where from five thousand to six thousand tons are 
dug annually. The ore is smelted in the Beekman, Dover and Bull’s-bridge furnaces. The 
ore is delivered at the mine at one dollar and sixty-nine cents per ton, of which ninety-four 
cents is paid to the mine proprietors, and seventy-five cents per ton to the miners. This ore 
is a very pure hydrated peroxide of iron, and is mostly fibrous hematite. This bed is bounded 
on the east by limestone. 
This ore bed is situated on the west side of a hill running parallel with the valley of the 
■Prof. L. C. Beck, First Annual Geological Report of New-York, p. 35, 3G.. 
