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Character

This is a shaly limestone with bands of shale. The limestone is fossiliferous and contains several bands of very lean ore, with many crinoid stems.

Shale with abundant fossils. Olive-gray shale with fossilsa few thin bands of limestone.

Light and dark shale, with few bands of limestone. At 171 feet there is a 4 inch band with black pebbles.

Shale with limestone bands, 3 to 4 inches thick. Some of the bands show faint traces of ore. Lean fossil ore.

Gray shale.

Fossil ore.

Whitish limestone with 1 inch of shale at base.

Fossil ore.

Light and dark shale with thin bands of limestone. Trace of ore at 328 feet.

Shales with bands of limestone. Both contain fossils.

Soft, very dark shale with a few bands of a lighter color.

Oolitic ore, with fragments of bryozoans.

This is a dark shale dividing the ore.

Coarse grained ore, associated with calcareous sandstone.

The upper 4 inches is a band of shale with 2 inches at middle of a conglomeratic nature. The basal 6 inches is a white sandstone. The remaining portion contains thin layers of mottled, dark, sandy shale. Some of the sandstone has a reddish tinge showing faint traces of ore.

This hole was intended to test the long stretch between Brewerton and Verona throughout which the Clinton format'on is mostly concealel. The results indicate some similarity of conditions in regard to ore deposition with the section at Brewerton and also with that at Clinton, but the oolitic bed is much

thinner and the fossil ore is broken by intercalations of limestone and shale. The latter rock reaches its extreme thickness here, the hole showing 227 feet without practical interruption from the base of the limestone which is taken as the uppermost Clinton to the first seam of ore.

Verona, Oneida co. The site of this drill hole is 100 yards west of Verona Station, on the Davis farm, just south of the highway where it is crossed by the creek. It is 21⁄2 miles soutliwest from the nearest outcrop of the Oneida conglomerate. The Cagwin opening for ore is 1 mile and the Klein opening 13 miles from this locality.

[blocks in formation]

The object of putting down a hole at this locality, which is only a mile or so distant from old mine workings on the Clinton, was to test for a possible oolitic bed below the fossil ore which alone has been known. The presence of a lower ore horizon would appear probable from comparison of the two sections at Clinton and at Brewerton, east and west respectively of the present locality. In both sections two beds are shown. the lower being oolitic. The fossil nature of the Verona ore indicates relationship with the upper or red flux bed found to the east. The oolitic bed, so far as it can be identified, thus disappears in the interval.

The character of the fossil ore is shown by the following analysis made by E. Touceda on a sample of the ore.

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ORE DISTRIBUTION AND RESOURCES

Over most of the area occupied by the Clinton, the hematite beds contribute an essential feature to the sedimentary succession. They are, indeed, next to the shales, the most persistent element in the formation as represented in the State, having a wider development than either the limestones or sandstones.

Their eastern and western limits are somewhat indefinite, due to the long intervals between exposures; it is a question. also, not of an abrupt termination, but of a gradual thinning to disappearance with the progressive diminution of the formation.

itself.

At Rochester, the extreme westerly point where the ore is known to be represented, there is a single bed of fossil hematite 14 inches thick. This is very likely a continuation of the bed which stretches across Wayne county and is mined at Ontario Center. 15 miles northeast of Rochester. At any rate the ore shows so moderate a decrease within the interval that its continuity for a considerable distance farther west seems probable. Beyond Rochester there are no good exposures until the Niagara gorge is reached where the ore fails entirely and the whole section of the Clinton is reduced to 40 feet or less.

On the eastern end the hematites can be traced as far as the Oneida-Herkimer county border without any noticeable changes of character. After passing that line their thickness falls off quite rapidly. At the outcrop west of Frankfort hill, in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer co., the oolitic bed measures only 10 inches, which is about one third the amount represented at Clinton, 9 miles west. The red flux bed on the other hand is still fairly well maintained as regards thickness, showing about 40 inches. Following the strike to the southeast across southern Herkimer county, the beds appear to give out within a short distance, for they can not be identified in the outcrops, or else they shade off into a ferruginous sandstone that is much different from the normal ore varieties. In the exposures along the hills south of the Mohawk river, between Frankfort and Herkimer, neither the oolitic nor the red flux bed can be seen, but there are 10 feet or more of deep red sandstone heavily charged with hematite. The latter functions as cement to the quartz grains, but does not encrust them. The iron content of the sandstone may be placed at about 10%. The entire Clinton disappears, so far as surface indications are concerned, near the eastern border of Herkimer county.

seams thus attain their fullest development in respect to thickness within the stretch from eastern Oneida to western Wayne county. Beyond these limits they have little economic importance for the present, at least, and their exploration is not of immediate concern.

The information gained from the test drilling, described elsewhere in this report, serves to show the distribution of the more valuable ore bodies with some precision. It has been found that the ore is mainly gathered into four areas which succeed each other along the outcrop, after longer or shorter intervals that are characterized by thin seams, much below the average, or by their almost complete disappearance. There is a possibility of one or two additional areas being present that have escaped notice by reason of the wide spacing of the holes, but they must be of minor extent compared with the others.

The area which centers about Clinton, Oneida co., has been the principal source of the ore in the past. There are two seams here, an upper of fossil character called the red flux bed and a lower oolitic bed that is sometimes split into two portions by a layer of barren rock. The fossil ore is too lean to be used

in the furnace. It attains the notable thickness of 6 feet. The oolitic bed extends through the towns of New Hartford, Kirkland and Westmoreland and is of mineable grade over most of the territory in which it is exposed. It ranges from 20 to 36 inches, with an iron average of 40% or a little more in places. A subordinate area, perhaps connected with this, is found in the town of Verona, where some ore was obtained for the early furnaces. The workings are 7 miles distant from the proximate outcrops in the town of Westmoreland. The bed measures from 12 to 20 inches and is of fossil nature. The oolitic bed is absent from this section.

The test hole at Lakeport, the only one put down in the stretch of 30 miles from Verona Station to the west end of Oneida lake, was unfavorable for the presence of any considerable volume of ore in this vicinity. At Brewerton, 15 miles. from Lakeport, a 16-inch bed of oolitic ore was found. This is a new discovery and is nowhere exposed at the surface. That it underlies a considerable area seems quite certain, and it doubtless attains a greater thickness than indicated by the test. Further exploration is needed to ascertain its full value.

After an interval in which the formation crosses the southwestern corner of Oswego county without the appearance of any considerable ore bodies, the third area is encountered in northern Cayuga county, beginning near Sterling Station. The excavations along the outcrop here show from 30 to 36 inches of fossil ore, while within 1 mile to the south the bed is reported to increase to 40 inches. The bed has been proved as far west as Wolcott where the drill encountered 21 inches while an overlying 12-inch seam comes in at this place. The drill hole put down at Red Creek midway between Wolcott and Sterling Station showed the main bed to be 30 inches thick. The two drill tests have demonstrated the extent of the ore to be much greater than hitherto known. All that has been done previously in the way of exploration consisted of shallow open cuts and drill holes on the eastern end, which afforded no satisfactory evidence of the character and volume of the ore to be found to the south and west. The average iron content of the main bed may be placed at about 35% to 38%.

The continuation of the ore bed immediately west from Wolcott has not been prospected. It may be assumed, however, that the main seam thins in this direction, or is broken up by

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