498 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
which are inexhaustible, and so widely distributed as to afford facilities of water power, fuel, 
etc. for a greater number of furnaces than could be accommodated around one unwieldy 
deposit. 
The origin of the beds of this ore is not known with certainty. The facts that seem com¬ 
mon to all, are, 
1. A peculiar kind of clay is associated. 
2. Limestone apparently dipping under the ore, is observed in the vicinity of all of the beds. 
3. All the beds are located in valleys, or on the sides of valleys. 
4. They are all near rocks that are considered to be more or less modified by metamorphic action. 
5. They are all on or near lines of great disturbance of the strata, 
2. Lead, Copper, Zinc, Silver ores, &c. 
Lead ore (galena) has been found in the impure limestone or calciferous sandstone in 
Whitecreek. It lies in small strings and bunches in the rock, and the indications on the sur¬ 
face are such as to justify the belief that it will be explored at some future time ; but whether 
it would be a profitable investment of capital, can only be known by experiment. I would 
not advise any one to embark in such an enterprise, unless he could lose all embarked without 
inconvenience. The expenses of exploration are certain, while the result is very uncertain. 
It is favorably located for drainage. It has the same geological position and relations as the 
mine four miles south of Lebanon springs, on the east side of the road to Green river, in 
Columbia county; the Livingston lead mine in Ancram in the same county; and the mines 
on Judge Bockee’s and other adjoining farms, four or five miles southeast of Pineplains in 
Dutchess county. The ore from the Whitecreek lead mine, like that from the other mines just 
mentioned, is said to contain silver. It is highly probable, but I have not assayed it. 
Galena, or the sulphuret of lead, is extensively distributed in small quantities over a tract 
extending through Washington, Rensselaer, Columbia and Dutchess counties. In nearly 
every locality where I have seen it, it is situated in veins, traversing the strata near the junc¬ 
tion of limestone with slate rocks, where they had been upturned and exposed to great derange¬ 
ments, and more or less affected by metamorphic agency. 
Although numerous localities have been examined, none were seen where it is deemed 
advisable to expend much money in prosecuting mining enterprises ; still, it is thought highly 
probable that valuable mines of this ore may be discovered. 
The lead mine which has been most extensively wrought, is the Ancram or Livingston 
mine, in Ancram, Columbia county. Dr. Beck described the mineralogical characters of this 
mine in the Report of 1837. The mine was filled with water when I saw it; of course I 
could not examine into its minute geological features as accurately as I wished. It is situated 
in a talco-argillaceous and calcareous slate, a little west of its junction with a limestone, 
which is a perfect type of Prof. Eaton’s sparry limerock. The adit, which has been partly 
excavated with a view to drainage, penetrates this rock for sixty feet or more. The vein. 
