History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 18

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Most of the galleries, says Prof. Mather, in 1843, have caved in, in consequence of the injudicious method of working the ore. The superincumbent materials are clay, loam, gravel and pebbles, im- perfectly aggregated like "hard pan ;" 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 mater- ials, they cave in, and render the extraction of ore expensive. The ore is of good quality, but more mixed with earthy matter than at many of the other mines. Limestone was seen in places a few rods west of the mines, and of the same general character as that seen at the various mines of this kind of iron ore. There are at present (1881) two mines in this locality, situated on the Clove Branch of the Newburgh, Duchess & Connecticut Rail- road, viz: Brown's and Tower's, the former em- ploying about forty men and the latter about thirty. Their combined product is about 150 tons of ore per day, that of the latter being transported to the furnaces in Poughkeepsie.

The Clove ore bed is an extensive deposit of brown hematite, situated in the south-west part of Union Vale, on the west side of the hill running parallel with the valley of the Clove. The gen- eral appearance of the hill in which it is situated does not differ much from that of the East Fish- kill 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 Co. sunk a shaft and constructed a level to intersect it. The ore is in general similar to that found at the bed in East Fishkill, but contains, perhaps, a larger

proportion of the ochery or fine ore, which is con- sidered more valuable than the other varieties. Associated with it are minute crystals of oxide of manganese, and that rare mineral, gibbsite. It is a very pure hydrated peroxide of iron, and is mostly fibrous hematite. It supplies the Beekman furnace two miles further south. A bed of white clay, or fuller's earth, rests upon the ore as at East Fishkill, and the ore bed is bounded on the east by lime- stone. The southernmost of the ore beds at this place does not make as good iron as the others, though the ore is richer and yields a greater proportion of iron. The ore is mostly the fibrous hematite.

Foss' ore bed is situated in the town of Dover about a mile and a half west-south-west of the furnace of the Dover Iron Company, in a valley between the spurs of the mountain which passes through this part of the country, and it is particu- larly interesting as showing the association of the hematite with the mica slate, which occurs here in strata of some thickness, and contains garnets of various sizes. In extent it appears to be in- ferior to those already noticed. The ore is in much larger masses, and is not only reduced to powder with more difficulty, but contains a larger proportion of foreign substances. Work has for some time been discontinued.

The Amenia and Salisbury ore beds are the most extensively wrought of any iron mines of this ore in the United States, and the iron from these beds is considered superior in softness and toughness to that of any other mine in the country. The ore in the Amenia beds yields fifty per centum of pig iron, and inproves in quality as it descends. The deposit is very extensive, and is covered with earth, gravel and broken rocks to a depth of five to twenty feet. In 1843, the beds, which, in one place, had been excavated to a depth of forty-five feet, yielded 5,000 tons of ore per annum ; and Prof. Mather estimated that at that rate of pro- duction they would not be exhausted in three hundred years. Talcose slate crops out a few rods east and white limestone a few rods west of the bed. Another mine, possibly a contin- uation of the same bed, is opened at Squab- ble Hole, about two miles . south-south-west of Ameniaville, The ore, which is abundant, was discovered while digging a well. The Chalk Pond ore bed, two and one-half miles north-east of Ameniaville, was extensively wrought many years ago, and abandoned in consequence of the water from the pond incommoding the mines"; but this difficulty has been obviated by drainage.

LEAD-COPPER-GOLD-SILVER.

The ore bed near the village of Amenia, (or Paine's Corners, as it has been called,) is best ex- posed to examination, and has yielded the greatest quantity of ore. In some places clayey matter is intermixed with the ore; in others it is red like the earthy red oxide of iron, yellow like iron ochre, white like pipe clay, and sometimes bluish. The blue clay is not plastic, but rather crumbly when wet ; it is more or less mixed with talcy and mica- ceous matter, and contains a multitude of minute but perfect cubic crystals of pyrites. This bed yields the greatest variety of the most beautiful and delicate specimens for the cabinet of any local- ity which came under the observation of Prof. Mather, who says it "is a treat to the mineral- ogist." Prof. Beck says : "a fragment of stalactite from this locality was found to have a specific gravity of 3.828 ; and to lose upon calcination 13.5 per centum of its weight. The composition of this specimen will probably be a fair average of that of the pure hematitic variety from the various localities in this county." His analysis of brown hematite from the Amenia ore bed gives the fol- lowing result :-

Peroxide of iron. 82.90

Silica and alumina. 3.60

Water .

13.50

Oxide of manganese trace

Proportion of metallic iron. . · 57.50 pr. ct. Galena, or the sulphuret of lead, is extensively distributed in small quantities over a tract extend- ing through this county and the counties north of it on the east side of the Hudson. In nearly every locality it is situated in veins, traversing the strata near the junction of limestone with slate rocks, where they have been upturned and exposed to great derangements, and more or less affected by metamorphic agency. Many localities were exam- ined, but none gave much promise of profitable investment. Fine grained galena is found in Dover in a small vein, in dolomite, near the Preston Inn. It is situated in a quartz vein which traverses the limestone, and the ore is disseminated in small grains and bunches. Lead ore occurs in Amenia. In April, 1863, the Amenia Lead Co. was organ- ized with a capital of $500,000. The property of the company was situated about seven miles from Amenia, and consisted of about 100 acres held by the company in fee simple, and some 1,220 acres, about three-fourths of which was covered by long mining leases, with covenants for renewal and pur- chase at the company's option, and the remaining one-fourth by a perpetual mining lease. An an-

alysis of one ton of copper ore from this mine was made by Augustus T. Moith, in May, 1863, with the following result : Copper oxide, 1,350 to 1,400 lbs. ; sulphur, 280 lbs .; Water, 240 lbs. ; silver, 33₺ to 34 oz. ; lead, 20 lbs. ; earthy matter, 140 lbs. Galena is said to have been found at Rhinebeck ; and in Stanford lead ore is said to occur on the Asa Thorn and Asa Thompson places. Copper ore was observed in small quantity on the Gen- eral Brush farm in Amenia, about a hundred rods west of the "City" meeting-house. This locality was worked for copper ore in the early part of the present century. Copper ore, principally of the black sulphuret, occurs in the Judge Bockee lead mines in North East. Copper pyrites were observed in the siliceous slate, on the road from Lower Red Hook to Upper Red Hook landing, but in small quantity. It was on the Nathan Beckwith farm. On the Van Wyck farm in East Fishkill, about a mile south-east of Johnsonville, Mr. Merrick saw a thin vein of quartz in limestone, which contained galena and some copper pyrites. Blende is seen in veins one-fourth to one inch wide in the lime- stone at the Ward Bryan and Judge Bockee lead mines in North East .* It was seen in small quan- tities at most of the lead diggings in various parts of the county. In North East, on the Lee farm, about four miles north of Amenia, excavations were made many years since in search of silver. They are in the quartz veins, in the talcy slate rock, near its junction with the limestone. Pyrites occur in some abundance there ; but no other ore was seen. In the north-east part of La Grange are numerous excavations said to have been silver mines, from which, according to tradition, large quantities were obtained in olden times. Mr. Merrick found no traces of any metal, except a few particles of pyrites, "and the money made there," says Prof. Mather, "was probably 'out of pocket.'" Silver mines have been mentioned as occurring in par- ticular localities, "but investigation showed, in at least nine cases out of ten, that pyrites was the deceptive mineral." The county is not without auriferous deposits, as is shown by the following from the Poughkeepsie Weekly Eagle of May 6, 1876 :-

"The existence of gold in the hills around Rhine- beck has long been known. * * *

In 1868 or '69, Dr. Freleigh, then a physician of Rhinebeck,

* Numerous excavations for lead and copper were made in these local- ities, in colonial times, as early as 1740 by a company of Germans, who sent the ore to Bristol, England. The mines were re-opened during the Revolution, and a few tons of ore obtained. Geology of the First Geo- logical District of New York, 436 .- French's Gazetteer of the State of New York, 267.

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

satisfied himself that there was valuable treasure about eight miles east of the village. The land was owned by Daniel Murch, and an agreement was made by which Dr. Freleigh was to have the refusal of the farm for a year. Dr. Freleigh interested parties in New York, to whom he sold the farm for $100,000, paying Murch $25,000, when both re- tired from the business. After the disposal of the farm, the gold excitement died out, and nothing was done in mining. The first practical explorations of the gold fields were begun in the summer of 1875, by J. B. Lichtenstein, of New York, who purchased of N. W. H. Judson, of Rhinebeck, the farm adjoining that of Murch. A shaft was sunk into the hills about thirty feet, and a tunnel started in the direction of the most prom- ising leads. The machinery used was of the crudest kind, being a hand-working crusher, a small furnace, and a few imperfect tools. The most productive ore found yielded not more than $25 per ton, and the mine cannot be made to pay at less than $35 a ton."

The primary rocks, which are similar in mineral- ogical characters, in mineral contents, and in geo- logical associations, are confined in this county to the south-east portion and a few islands surrounded by other formations. They occupy Pawling, the east part of Beekman, and south-east and south part of East Fishkill, the east part of Dover, and a small part of Pine Plains and Stanford. They are numerous and everywhere abundant, and are seen cropping out from the surface of almost every hill and ravine. Many of them are applied to use- ful purposes. The principal are granite, sienite, gneiss, mica slate, augite rock, greenstone and hornblende rocks, quartz rock, talcose slate, lime- stone, serpentine and steatite, the latter five of which have been described as metamorphic rocks.

Granite occurs abundantly, and presents all varieties of texture, from a very coarse grained rock to one almost perfectly compact. It varies as much in color as in texture, being white, grey, red, yellowish and bluish grey, according to the color of the minerals forming it. The color of the feldspar usually determines that of the mass. It occurs in beds, veins, interstratified masses, and in knots, knobs and protruding masses, in which no connection with veins or beds has been traced. The more common mode of its occurrence is in beds 10 to 100 feet thick, interstratified with gneiss. Some of it is too coarse for use as a building material; some is too compact and hard, being, in fact, eurite ; others are well adapted for building. The materials are of the best quality, easily quarried in large blocks, suitable for columns and cornices, easily dressed, and enduring as time, as the naked crags themselves testify.

Hornblende, associated with hornblendic gneiss, was observed on Mt. Stissing, near Pine Plains, and on the mountains in Pawling. The horn- blendic rocks are constantly associated with the beds of magnetic oxides of iron.

Sienite is generally coarse grained, of a reddish color, spotted with black crystalline and irregular masses of hornblende. It passes into hornblendic slate and hornblendic gneiss on the one hand, and into hornblende rock on the other.

Gneiss varies greatly in external aspect and com- position ; and its color is dependent upon the rela- tive abundance of its constituents, which are variously colored in different localities. The feld- spar is white, reddish, or of a bluish grey ; the mica is black, brown, yellow, copper-colored and white ; the quartz is white, grey, or smoky. In some places mica abounds in the rock, and it ap- proaches to mica slate; but more commonly the feldspar is most abundant, and gives character to it.

Mica slate has a very limited distribution, and when it does occur it seems to be a modification of gneiss, the mica becoming predominant, while within a short distance the rock resumes its char- acter of gneiss.

Augite rock is sometimes mixed with feldspar, but is more commonly either by itself, or mixed with the various minerals that are usually associated with it. It is of all shades of color, from white, through grey and green of various shades to black ; and from compact through various grades of gran- ular to broad foliated masses, in the forms of fassaite, coccolite, common augite, sahlite, crystal- lized augite and diopside. This rock has not been applied to any useful purpose.

Greenstone, in some places, has the aspect of coinmon trap, like basalt, but more commonly the hornblende predominates and gives its character to it. It traverses and is intruded in sheets and irregular masses among the gneiss and other rocks in the same way as granite and sienite, and many of the masses classed with this rock may be classed with sienite, but for the fineness of the grain, being of about the same texture of a sandstone, com- posed of black hornblende with grains of white and grey feldspar.

Granular quartz rock was observed on the east side of the Dover Valley, in Dover, adjacent to the gneiss rocks; but this and the contiguous white dolomitic limestone belong to the metamor- phic rocks.

The mass of primary rocks in Pine Plains and Stanford is called Mt. Stissing. Its highest peak

ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS-MARL-PEAT.

is probably elevated nearly a thousand feet above the level of the lake on its east side. It is com- posed of gneiss and hornblendic gneiss with some granite, all of which are like the rocks of the High- lands. The strata range north fifteen to twenty degrees east, and dip from seventy to ninety de- grees to the westward. The mountain is entirely isolated, like an island, surrounded entirely by the quarternary and rocks of the Champlain division. The Potsdam sandstone rests on the primary at the south-west end of the mountain, and this is covered by the grey limestones and slates of the Champlain division. The slates on the west side of the mountain are broken and crumpled up in the greatest confusion.

Magnetic iron is the only ore of any great eco- nomical importance known to the Highlands, but there are some beds of limonite, some of pyrites and of arsenical iron. Lead, silver and tin ores are said to have been found, but Prof. Mather says he has seen no indications to justify the conclusion that they occur in any important quantities. Cop- per pyrites and carbonate of copper have been observed in small quantities.

Vast quantities of alluvion are being constantly deposited in the Hudson by the numerous streams emptying into it. Almost every creek has its del- ta. These alluvions are highly important both in an economical and scientific point of view. They are sensibly increasing in height and area, and will at some future time make valuable and productive lands. Some of them are now employed for hay and pasturage, and others are rapidly becoming adapted for such uses. Between Upper Red Hook landing and the mouth of the Saghkill an exten- sive alluvial deposit is forming, which may be con- sidered the united deltas of the Saghkill and Stony Creek. The bay in which this deposition is taking place, is filling up by the deposits of the streams flowing into it, the wash of the adjacent clay hills on the east and north, and by organic depositions, which form a large proportion of the bulk of ac- cumulating matter. The aquatic plants grow very thick and luxuriant, and by their annual decay form a large amount of carbonaceous matter, mixed with the wash of the adjacent country. Two islands cut off the river from most of the west boundary of the bay, and a marsh connects the largest with the main land, so that the water stag- nates. They are on a line with the rocky shore above Upper Red Hook landing, and are the out- cropping edges of the same strata. An island of alluvial ooze is forming about two and one-half

miles below Rhinebeck landing, and extensive flats under water are also in process of formation. Between Emott's and Thompson's landings clay hills bound the bay on the east, in which these de- positions are taking place. Three small creeks also empty into it, and by their deposits assist in the accumulation. At the mouth of Casper Creek a small delta is forming. At the mouth of Wap- pinger Creek, a small alluvial deposition com- mences, and extends with little interruption till it joins that of Fishkill Creek, and continues thence to the Highlands. There are many alluvial marshes and flats too small to notice, and they can be of comparatively little value, even prospective- ly, except for manure.

Shell marl abounds in the valley of the Hudson. It is a white pulverulent substance when dry, and when wet, is so soft that a pole may easily be thrust into it. It is composed of the shells and decayed fragments of the lymnæa, Physa heter- ostropha, Planorbis trivalvis, P. campanulatus, Cyclas similis, and other species. Uniones and anodontæ are sometimes found in it. The term marl, in its strict mineralogical sense, means an argillaceous carbonate of lime.

Peat has an extensive range in the county, and occurs in patches of two to three hundred acres, the most important deposits being in Pawling, Pine Plains, Stanford and Amenia. This alluvion is the result of vegetable decomposition. It varies in its aspect. The best quality is a soft, unctious, tremulous mud when wet, but when dry is so com- pact as to receive a slight polish. When heated, it burns with flame and bituminous odor. Ligne- ous, fibrous and compact peat are the principal varieties. The former two are of comparatively little value ; the latter makes a valuable fuel and is extensively used for that purpose in France and Ireland. In cold climates it is formed in moist ground and shallow ponds, wherever there is an ac- cumulation of vegetable matter. Decayed trees form a light, soft, spongy mass, called ligneous peat. From decomposed grasses and seeds a fibrous peat is formed, which is light and spongy several feet below the surface, but at a greater depth may be of good quality for fuel. Small aquatic plants and mosses, such as Sphagnum palustre, produce peat, which, at a moderate depth, is compact, without fibres, uniform in its texture, and of good quality. The Rev. Mr. Shafter, of New York, observed peat and marl in Rhinebeck, North East and Clinton in 1817. He gave a sec- tion of one of the marshes, which is as follows:

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

I, sod and vegetable mold; 2, a stratum of turf on peat, three to four feet ; 3, a stratum of peat and marl mingled, two feet ; 4, a stratum of pure marl, two to three feet. Below these there was an appearance of sand and blue clay .*

The county presents examples of the sinking of limestone rock into caverns below, in consequence of the gradual removal of the limestone that sup- ported the roofs of the caverns, by the solving and erosive action of subterranean springs and streams. Near Clinton Point in Poughkeepsie, the ground sank, the rock being no longer able to bear the weight of the superincumbent mass. A man that was plowing had passed over this ground but a moment before. Another occurred in Pine Plains, on the line of a subterranean stream. Trees were not disturbed in their growth on the sunken ground but a cow that was in it, died from want of water and food, from her inability to climb out of the sunken space.

Concreted carbonate of lime was seen in small quantity at and near the "Spook Hole,"f a cave near Clinton Point. Tufa is mentioned by Cleave- land near Rhinebeck.

Clay balls and calcareous concretions are com- monly found in the tertiary or quarternary clay beds, which are of alluvial formation. One divis- ion of them seems to be formed by segregation, like septaria and the various nodular masses em- bedded in limestone, slate and other rocks. They present a great variety of forms, rarely spherical, except when grouped in botryoidal masses ; but generally flattened ovoidal digitated, and more similar in form to the various shapes of cakes made for children. They are formed of clay, but con- tain carbonate of lime sufficient to indurate them, and sometimes to slack when burned. The other division is formed by organic causes. They are almost all the shapes of a tubular, flattened ovoidal or annulated form, and almost universally have a hole through them, some not larger than a fine needle, others of the size of the finger or of the arm. They are formed in and between the layers of clay, but never, it is believed, below the depth to which the roots of plants penetrate. They seem to be formed by the roots of plants absorbing the water, and perhaps the carbonic acid of the water in the earth, and rejecting the carbonate of lime that is held in solution by one or both. This, by its de-

position, remains around the root or fibre, and in- durates the clay. The localities in the valleys of the Hudson and its tributaries are so numerous that it is unnecessary to specify more than a few. Between Lower Red Hook and Rhinebeck land- ings, Prof. Mather saw an oak tree that had been uprooted by the wind, with hundreds of these an- nular, tubular, and discoidal concretions dangling from its smaller roots and fibrous rootlets. They are not uncommon about Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Fishkill, and throughout the clay formations of the Hudson and its main tributaries.

Sulphate of lime occurs only as an alluvion, in- considerable in quantity, and resulting from the decomposition of pyrites in contact with materials containing calcareous matter, or as a deposit from mineral springs. Sulphate of alumina occurs as an efflorescence, and in tubercular masses. One locality observed is on the mountain, about two and a half miles south-west of Ameniaville, in decomposing pyrites and dark colored mica slate, that was once supposed to contain coal; another is about three miles south of the same village, in a similar rock. Another locality is in the town of North East. Prof. Merrick observed a locality of " alum slate," like that of Amenia, near the top of the hill east of Hurd's Corners, in Pawling. Muriate of lime occurs in almost all the spring waters of the Hud- son valley, and particularly in those that issue from the clay beds of the tertiary of that valley. It is the principal cause of the "hardness of the water," or its quality of decomposing soap.

Springs are caused by the water percolating downwards from the surface of the earth, until it meets some stratum that is not sufficiently pervious to permit it to pass through. The water accumu- lates on this until it rises to such a level as to find an outlet. Carbonic acid is one of the most com- mon substances in mineral waters. It is a well established chemical fact that carbonates are solu- ble in an excess of carbonic acid. As spring waters containing carbonic acid flow along the fissures of limestone, the carbonic acid is continually exerting its solvent action upon the rock, and transporting the dissolved carbonate of lime to distant parts. This offers a ready and satisfactory explanation of the numerous extensive caverns in limestone dis- tricts, to which they are almost exclusively con- fined.

Chalybeate springs contain carbonate of iron held in solution by carbonic acid, and the adjoin- ing valleys and marshes into which such springs flow, always contain bog iron ore, or soil stained with

* American Journal of Science, I., 139.

t The Spook Hole is a small cave in limestone about half a mile south-east of Clinton Point and 50 to 70 rods from the Hudson. It is said to have so much carbonic acid gas in it as to make it dangerous to enter without precaution. When visited by Prof. Mather lights burned well.

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868