New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904 Part 30

Lead, generally a.s.sociated with zinc and sometimes copper, has been mined on a small scale from very early times in Ulster and Sullivan counties, and more recently in St. Lawrence county. Many other localities have yielded small quant.i.ties of these minerals.

A set of specimens was exhibited by the Ellenville Zinc Company, consisting of strikingly beautiful crystalline ma.s.ses of quartz galina, sphalerite and chalcopyrite and specimens of the rare mineral, brookite.

There was also shown in the same case concentrates from the Ellenville mine of lead, zinc and copper made both by jigging and by magnetic separation, and a collection of ores and a.s.sociated minerals and rocks from Rossie and Wurtzboro.

NON-METALLIC MINERALS

A large part of this exhibit consisted of construction materials, stone, slate, brick, tiling and cement. Most of the building stone was exhibited in the form of ten-inch cubes arranged on three pyramidal stands. Only a few of these were especially collected for this Exposition. Many more which were considered desirable could not be obtained in time on account of the inclement weather conditions of the preceding winter.

GRANITES

The granitic rocks included granite, gneisses, syenites and norite. This series only inadequately represented the New York granites. Among the most striking examples shown were the coa.r.s.e grained red granite from Grindstone island in the St. Lawrence river, the Mohican granite from Peekskill, Westchester county, which is being extensively used in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York city, and the dark green labradorite rock known as the Ausable granite from Keeseville, Ess.e.x county. There are many interesting granite deposits, especially in the Adirondack region, which have not been developed.

MARBLES

The marbles included some fine examples of decorative stone from South Dover, Dutchess county, the black marble from Glens Falls, monumental and building marbles from Gouverneur, St. Lawrence county, and white building marbles from southeastern New York.

LIMESTONES

Limestones of excellent quality are quarried in a great number of localities and were well represented, some of them showing as fine a polished surface as the true marbles.

SANDSTONES

The State is also rich in sandstones of good quality. The Potsdam sandstone forms an almost complete belt around the Adirondacks and is an excellent building stone. Its color is from white to pale red, and in many places it is an extremely hard quartzite. Specimens were shown from Potsdam, St. Lawrence county.

The white sandstones of Was.h.i.+ngton county have been extensively used for refractory purposes in the manufacture of steel, being almost free from iron. The Medina sandstones are quarried in the neighborhood of Medina, Albion and Lockport. While a pure white stone occurs at Lewiston, the Medina stone is generally of a pinkish red color. It is extensively used as a building stone, particularly in Buffalo and Rochester. It is valuable for paving, curbing and flagging. The Medina Sandstone Company exhibited a piece of wall work to show the various methods of finish, including a finely carved lintel. A number of cubes were exhibited from various quarries.

The sandstones of southern New York occurring in the rocks of Devonian age are generally fine grained and blue or greenish in color and are known as bluestones. Most of the quarries are in the counties of Greene, Ulster, Broome, Delaware and Sullivan. They are described in New York State Museum Bulletin 61 by Harold T. d.i.c.kinson. There is a great variety in color and physical properties of stone from these quarries.

It is used as building stone and for tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, and some of it is especially valuable for large platforms. A large proportion of the output is in the form of flagging and curbstone.

The Hudson River Bluestone Company exhibited a piece of wall built into the base of the pyramidal stand holding the sandstone cubes. This was designed to show the ease with which it can be worked and included some finely carved lettering. The main entrance to the exhibit was paved with flags and tiles of this material.

SLATE

With the sandstones were shown some ten-inch cubes of slate cut from the quarries of the H. H. Mathews Consolidated Slate Company, of Boston, which operates a number of quarries in Was.h.i.+ngton county. The slate belt covers an area of about 320 square miles, the larger part of which is in Was.h.i.+ngton county, N. Y., but which extends across the line into Rutland county, Vt. This is probably the richest slate region in the world. The beds are of great thickness, belonging to two distinct geologic formations. They are folded on one another in such a manner as to present the workable beds in long parallel ridges.

On account of its great strength and easy working qualities new uses are constantly being found for slate. One of the most striking features of the slate exhibit was a mantel built of rough slabs of dark red slate showing the cross fracture to have a fine satiny texture. This was a copy of a mantel designed by Lord & Hewlet, of New York, and built in a Poultney, Vt., residence. The main slate exhibit consisted of a stand supporting a slated roof, one side of which was covered with unfading green slates one inch thick, such as were laid on Senator Clark's New York residence. The other side was covered with rough thick slabs of unfading red. The sides of the stand were covered with the regular trade slates in four sections--red, green, purple and variegated. The uses of slate for construction purposes were shown by slabs and panels on the upper part of the stand.

CEMENT

The cement exhibit was made by the Helderberg Cement Company, of Howes Cave. One side of the exhibit stand was devoted to Portland and the other to natural cements. Barrels and bags of finished cement formed the base of the structure on which were gla.s.s jars containing the rock in its stages of manufacture, with a series of photographs of the works and of buildings of cement. On account of the rapidly extending applications of cement a large section outside of the building was set aside for exhibits of the uses of cement, and the exhibit was designed mainly to show the manufacture, the materials used and the method of their treatment.

GYPSUM

Gypsum was shown by a fine series of specimens contributed by the United States Gypsum Company from their mines in western New York. This material, like cement, is rapidly being adapted for a variety of purposes, especially in the finish and ornamentation of buildings, and the exhibit, encased in one of the square plate gla.s.s museum cases with its cut and polished cubes of raw gypsum, selenite crystals, jars of stucco colors and examples of plaster casts, made a very attractive exhibit. In another case there was exhibited gypsum in various forms from other sources.

SALT

The salt exhibit was made up from a very complete set of specimens in sample jars taken from the Museum collections, and a large number of packages from the manufacturers. The salt of New York is obtained from the salina formation in the western part of the State. The industry is of great importance. The deposits are described in State Museum Bulletin 11 by Dr. F. J. H. Merrill. One of the most interesting varieties shown was the solar salt, which has been made on the Onondaga Salt Reservation, Syracuse, since 1788. Blocks of rock salt were shown from the Retsof and Livonia shafts.

Most of the salt produced, however, is from wells bored down through the rock salt beds, and is pumped up in the form of brine and evaporated by artificial heat.

SOLVAY PROCESS COMPANY

The Solvay Process Company, of Syracuse, made a splendid display of soda ash. The plant of this company uses an immense amount of salt which is obtained from the Tully districts and carried by pipes to Solvay. The raw materials used were shown in the lower sections of two cases especially constructed for the exhibit, which also held a set of barrels and other packages in which the soda is s.h.i.+pped. In the upper sections were shown a series of large gla.s.s jars with the various products. These were supplied with a series of labels completely describing the process of manufacture and the chemical changes which take place. Above the case there was a set of photographs of the works, ill.u.s.trating the social life of the work-people employed and the growth of the establishment.

USEFUL MINERALS

The exhibit of the useful minerals of the State was princ.i.p.ally prepared by H. P. Whitlock of the Museum staff. One case contained a set of the abrasive materials, the most important of these being garnet, which is found in great quant.i.ties in the Adirondacks. Crude garnet from several mines, the ground and cleaned garnet, and grades of garnet paper were shown. A small millstone to represent the celebrated Esopus grit, emery ore from Peekskill, and quartz and sand from many localities were also exhibited in this case. Another case was filled with feldspar, mica and quartz, which usually occur a.s.sociated with each other in the form of pegmet.i.te dikes in the crystalline rocks of the Adirondacks and the Highlands of the Hudson. These materials are not as yet very extensively mined but an increasing demand for them is bringing to light many promising localities.

GRAPHITE

Another valuable mineral which occurs in the State in great quant.i.ties is graphite. Specimens of both the crude ore and manufactured graphite were exhibited. The deposits of this material in the form of graphitic limestone cover miles of territory, but more satisfactory processes for its concentration are needed to make it available for use, especially in the higher grades.

MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS

The Museum exhibited a set of its publications on geologic subjects, a set of published maps and maps specially prepared for this exhibit to show the distribution of useful minerals, and a number of enlarged photographs.

PALEONTOLOGY

The exhibit of the Department of Paleontology consisted of a set of its publications on the paleontology of the State of New York--35 volumes--covering the period 1847-1904, and a set of wing frames with many of the original drawings and plates used in their ill.u.s.tration.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The most striking feature of the exhibit was an immense slab of Potsdam sandstone from Bidwell's Crossing, Clinton county, which was part of the premoidial or cambrian beach laid down about the sh.o.r.es of the Adirondack continental nucleus. The slab shows the trails of animals crossing in all directions, especially those known as clemactechnites, said by Dr. J. M. Clarke to have been made by a a simple primitive type of mollusk. The slab, weighing over fifteen tons, was moved in six sections and put together for exhibition.

Restorations in plaster of paris of the fossil crustaceous eurypterus and hughmilleria were also exhibited.

CLAYS

The exhibition of clays and clay products was made by the State School of Ceramics, at Alfred, N. Y., under the direction of Professor Charles F. Binns, and included some large vases, the work of students.

The State of New York has long held an important place in the brick trade on account of its unlimited quant.i.ties of clay along the Hudson river, which have not only supplied much of the brick used for building in New York city, but bricks have been s.h.i.+pped from this source long distances by water. The finer varieties of clay have not been worked to any extent except on Long Island, but other conditions have resulted in the establishment of potteries at Brooklyn, Syracuse and other points, using almost exclusively clays imported into the State. The beds of feldspar and flint now being exploited in the Adirondacks will materially help to put this cla.s.s of potteries on a firmer basis.