ORES OF THE CHAMPLAIN, TACONIC AND METAMORPHIC ROCKS. 501 
places. In the next pit north, next the wall (stone fence), a vein an inch thick of galena and 
vitreous copper ore was seen. 
Many small veins were seen in the limestone north of this opening, in the bed of the brook, 
and which contained particles and masses of several ounces, and even pounds weight of pure 
galena. 
The excavations on Judge Bockee’s land, which extend south from those above mentioned, 
and continue at short intervals for half a mile, show numerous small veins of galena, all of 
which contain black sulphuret of copper, with some yellow copper ore (pyritous copper) and 
‘ green and blue carbonates of copper. All the openings are in the limestone, (which is of a 
bluish grey, nearly compact,) and a few rods east of its junction with the slate on the west. 
The great number of small veins in this vicinity renders it highly probable that larger ones 
occur, of which these are mere strings. The best veins seen were in the most southerly 
openings. Veins permeate the whole rock in an east and west direction, and contain quartz, 
galena, blende and vitreous copper ore, with some pyritous copper and carbonate of copper. 
The geological relations, as far as observed, are represented on Plate 23, fig. 5 ; H represents 
the slate, and L the limestone. 
The lead veins, called also silver mines of Canaan, have attracted some attention. They 
are located near ’Whiting’s pond, perhaps one or two miles south, and not far from the “ Yel¬ 
low meeting-house.” One of them lies on the east side of the road on the hill, in limestone; 
and the other appears to be in quartz veins, which traverse the strata. It could not be examined 
without some difficulty, as the shaft was filled with brush. Fragments of quartz and ore were 
scattered at the mouth of the mine. The ore is a mixture of fine-grained galena and yellow 
blende. Fragments of several inches in diameter were obtained, showing that the vein was 
several inches wide in some parts. The ore is said to be rich in silver, and to have been 
worked half a century ago by some Germans as a silver mine. The rock is the grey and 
whitish sandy limestone of the New-Lebanon and Canaan valley. One said the shaft was 
ninety feet deep; another that it was thirty, and had a gallery thirty feet long at its bottom. 
Numerous small veins of galena are reported to occur in the vicinity ; and Mr. Calvin 
Prescott, of Hillsdale, informed me that he had seen galena in many places in the limestone 
ledges on the farm of Capt. Burr, on the east side of the road near the same place, near the 
Hudson and Albany railroad, and a few rods south of the silver mine, so called, on the land 
of Calvin Pease. Black and yellow copper ores (sulphuret of copper and pyritous copper) 
occur in small quantities, associated with the galena. 
Near the localities mentioned above, is a reputed silver mine. It has been opened 
within a year or two. It is leased by Elder Ford and Mr. Holmes. Elder Ford showed me 
three hundred or four hundred pounds of the ore. It is disseminated through quartz, and un¬ 
less it be very rich in silver, would not pay the expense of picking, stamping, washing and 
smelting. I examined the mine, and found small quartz veins traversing the limestone in an 
east and west direction. A single particle only of the galena was observed, which would not 
weigh more than forty grains. There are no indications, to my mind, that would justify a 
