USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 20
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(Courtesy of the Rutland Chamber of Commerce) "GREEN MOUNTAIN BOY," RUTLAND, VERMONT
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
For our original knowledge of maple sugar we are indebted to the American Indians. The first white settlers used their methods, which have remained almost unchanged to the present day. The only advantages we possess today are due to improved utensils and greater cleanliness.
Although sugar can be made from soft maples, its manufacture in confined largely to the hard, rock, or sugar maple. The season varies with the weather, as well as latitude. There should be freez- ing nights and warm, thawing days, with best results when the mer- cury falls to fifteen degrees at night and rises to about fifty degrees during the day. In general the season lasts about four weeks, includ- ing from twelve to fourteen good sap days. If an attempt is made to prolong sugar-making, the product is apt to be bitter and of poor quality. Sap rises in trees at all times of the year except when the wood is chilled, and will flow during any warm, thawing day in winter, but winter tapping is liable to kill trees for the bark is apt to loosen. Individual trees vary greatly in the amount of sap they produce. When the weather is right, an average tree will produce from two to three gallons in twenty-four hours and about twenty-five gal- lons during a good season. There are records of prodigious quanti- ties of sap being produced by certain trees (sometimes a barrel in twenty-four hours), but frequently this was due to unwise tapping, resulting in killing the tree itself. Maples standing on high ground, uneven rocky land, side hills, or near cold springs are generally the best producers. As a rule four gallons of sap are required to make a pound of sugar, while thirty-five gallons are necessary to produce a gallon of syrup.
The old method of tapping was to "box" the tree, which consisted of cutting deep slanting gashes about eight inches long with an ax, and then fastening a rude spout at the lower end of the gash to con- vey the sap to the bucket. This method was liable to be injurious to the tree, however, and after a time boring with an auger was sub- stituted. Both wooden and metallic spouts have been used in these auger holes. When the former type was in vogue, the bucket was generally fastened to the tree by a large nail, but the nail soon became rusty and contaminated the sap. More than one or two spouts in a tree may prove permanently harmful to the maple. Tap- ping should be done on the southern side of the tree at the start of
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LUMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS
the season, and on the north if tapped later. The richest sap is near- est the bark. Care should be taken not to tap trees that are too young or that are decayed. Maples standing in valleys or on low flat lands next to streams yield plenty of sap, but it is of inferior quality.
Sap is collected in pails, barrels, or pipes for transportation to the fire where it is boiled down. The primitive method of making sugar was to use a large potash kettle, into which cinders constantly fell. Scum and impurities were skimmed off as fast as they appeared. Milk, whites of eggs, lard and fat pork were occasionally thrown in for various reasons, while the sap was poured on to snow to test granulation. Later, with the creation of improved evaporators, straining of sap, thermometers, and better heating facilities, sugar making became easier and more sanitary.
With these improvements, however, has come a change in the flavor of maple syrup and sugar. The "old-fashioned" type, made in the potash kettle had a richer taste, which was caused largely by sour sap, bark, leaves, cinders, melted snow, and burned sugar as well as by the addition of the milk, eggs, lard and pork referred to. On the other hand there is a tendency today to carry the refining process too far, with the result that sugar consists of whitish, hard, flinty cakes. Although sweet, it has very little of that delicious maple taste. A person brought up on the old-fashioned variety is naturally suspicious of the newer product and doubts that it originated entirely with the maple.
The sugar camp was often a social center. "In the early evening, when school was out and the chores all done, the boys and girls would come trooping in from some neighboring farm or village to visit with the sugar makers and have a merry time. Sitting by the fire they told stories and sang their old time songs. There were wrestling matches, and snowballing with the girls, while in some retired spots love making was carried on, and the old, old story was told again. When, with the increasing cold, the sap would no longer run, the buckets were emptied, and everything was made ready to sugar off. The hospitalities of the occasion were observed, and all were invited to eat as much as they pleased. Then, the fires died down, and the tired workmen, accompanied by their visitors, disappeared along the forest paths. The song and laugh and sound of merry voices grew fainter in the distance; the forest was dark and silent again. But
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
long after they were gone the smouldering embers, stirred by the night wind, would at times dispel the shadows with some fitful glow, like gleams of memory lighting up the past."*
*Fox. William F .: "Third Annual Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests."
CHAPTER XIV
Mineral Products
There is a considerable variation in the minerals produced by our eleven counties. This is particularly true when we compare the Ver- mont district with our New York area. Although the Green Moun- tain State has produced some iron ore, this is inconsequential when compared with the great amounts coming from the New York coun- ties of Essex and Clinton; on the other hand, although a small amount of marble has been found in the Empire State, it is as nothing com- pared with the huge deposits of western Vermont; in fact, the only major mineral that is divided at all evenly between the two States is slate, yet that is confined to the southern part of the territory cov- ered by this research. Regardless, however, of this great variation in type of mineral produced, all of the eleven counties have con- tributed their share. Some, indeed, have contributed much more than their share of mineral wealth. In general, the mineral industry has been of tremendous importance in the growth and development of this entire region.
First and foremost of the minerals produced on the New York side of the Champlain Valley has been that of iron. The first forge in this area was erected by Philip Skene at Whitehall prior to the Revo- lution. He used ore from a bed included in his own land grant. Other forges soon followed and by 1792 there were four of them in Addison County alone. The most important of the Vermont beds were those at Monkton, Bennington and Brandon, particularly the last-named. Here bog iron was discovered in 1810, a forge was built, and a furnace was set up in 1820. Bar iron of superior quality was made for several years. Here also John Conant began the manufacture of the first stoves made in Vermont. Ore from the Monkton beds was used by Macdonough in the construction of his
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
fleet which won the memorable battle at Plattsburgh Bay in the War of 1812. The four Addison County forges mentioned were primarily supplied with ore from the New York shore, around Crown Point, and the same was doubtless true of most Vermont forges. In any case bar iron was one of that State's main exports to Canada in the post- Revolutionary era.
Great iron mines are to be found in the vicinity of Port Henry, Essex County, and the most famous of these historically is the Cheever mine located to the north of that town. It was first worked in the latter part of the eighteenth century. As early as 1835-40, however, more extensive deposits were discovered at Mineville, six miles northwest of Port Henry. Beds were worked in 1824 at the Essex County settle- ment of Hammondville, in Crown Point. In Clinton County ore was produced at Arnold Hill as early as 1806 and at Palmer Hill by 1825. The extensive Lyon Mountain mines near Dannemora were not worked until 1871. In addition to these deposits, smaller beds were worked elsewhere.
At one time forges seemed to exist almost everywhere in Essex and Clinton counties. Sometimes they preceded the lumbering era in certain communities, but more often they came after the other indus- try had started. Between 1820 and 1833 there were probably between eighty and one hundred forges on the Saranac and Ausable rivers, and we know that there were at least five blast furnaces in Clinton County alone. The first furnace at Port Henry was built in the 1820S.
Completion of the Champlain Canal, connecting Lake Champlain with the Hudson in 1823, provided an impetus to the iron industry, although the effect was not sensational and did not show clearly in trans- portation figures until after 1840. In 1841 only 132 tons of ore were shipped through the canal. By 1864, however, this had grown to 140,029 tons. At that time the canal was taxed to its full capacity, and Port Henry was forced to ship part of its product to Boston by way of Burlington because of the lack of facilities to the south. When iron moved south, coal moved north. Only 226 tons of coal were transported over the canal in 1841, but by 1864 this had increased to 103,000 tons. One firm alone, in 1864, shipped over 25,000 tons of coal to Port Henry for manufacturing iron. In that year Essex County produced 20,993 tons of pig iron and 3,603 tons of malleable iron, while Clinton County produced 7,442 tons of malleable iron.
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MINERAL PRODUCTS
In 1868, the town of Moriah, which contains both Port Henry and Mineville, produced 230,000 tons of ore. In 1880, New York State was third in rank in the production of iron ore, with 15.4 per cent. In 1888, although it produced almost the same quantity, New York was fourth, with 10.5 per cent, and trailed Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of the 1,266,000 tons from the Empire State in 1888, the Adirondacks contributed 812,000 tons, or nearly two-thirds. Four hun- dred and eighteen thousand tons of this came from the vicinity of Port Henry. In 1917 New York produced 1,356,011 tons, having a total value of $7,381,333, in spite of the fact that in 1919 the State contributed but 1.4 per cent of the national total. In 1936, 801,236 tons of New York ore were sold to furnaces, while the pig iron totaled 2,216,751 tons. The recent depression was keenly felt in the Adiron- dacks so far as the iron industry was concerned, but at present the future looks brighter. The only big producers today are in the vicin- ity of Lyon Mountain or in the Port Henry-Mineville area. For a time the Lyon Mountain mines were closed down, but now are open again. At Port Henry, the industry has been strengthened by an agreement with the Republic Steel Company. The "Minerals Year- book of 1938" placed New York State fourth among all the states in order of value of its iron ore.
Each of the iron producing communities had its own interesting story. Because more ore has come from the town of Moriah than elsewhere, let us first sketch the development that occurred there. At that place we find what are, by far, the largest ore mines in New York State. According to Port Henry historians (Warner and Hall), Moriah possesses the largest developed magnetic ore bodies in the world, with the exception of one or two deposits in Sweden. It has been estimated that thirteen million tons have been shipped from these mines to nearly every ironmaking center in the United States and Canada. This would make a solid freight train stretching from Port Henry to Denver, Colorado.
The Cheever mine, already referred to, was operated by the Cheever Ore Bed Company, and for years the ore was carted by teams to the furnaces at Port Henry. Although discovered at an early date, this mine was not worked systematically until 1853, yet by 1889 it had produced 800,000 tons alone. At Mineville there were two con- cerns of considerable importance; the Port Henry Iron Ore Company
C & G-40
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
and the Witherbee, Sherman & Company. In 1907 alone these two firms hoisted about 750,000 tons from the mines. Before the coming of the locomotive, ore was hauled from Mineville to Port Henry over a plank road. From this community some was shipped, while the remain- der was made into iron. By 1865, there were eight furnaces, twenty forges, three rolling mills and two foundries at Port Henry. In 1922, Witherbee, Sherman & Company built a furnace there that could handle a daily output of five hundred tons. This constituted the largest industry in the village. In 1937, Witherbee, Sherman & Com- pany remained the largest producer of ore in New York State. In the latter part of that year it made an agreement with the Republic Steel Company, whereby that concern was to undertake the manage- ment and operation of the Moriah mines until May 1, 1938. After that date it was to operate the mines on its own account under a lease.
Among the other iron centers of Essex County, none exceeded those at Crown Point. Most of the mines were located at Ham- mondville, in the western part of the township. These were most active from 1873 to 1890, but ceased to operate in 1893. A total of two million tons of ore was produced here altogether. Some was used at the furnace at Crown Point, but some was also shipped to Scranton and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and to Troy, New York. Here and there throughout Essex County are the deserted remnants of other old iron mines including those at Ticonderoga, Schroon, Elizabethtown (3), Keene, Westport (Splitrock Mine), Chesterfield, Minerva, and Newcomb. At Newcomb the ore was discovered in 1826, the mines were really opened in 1832-33, and a charcoal furnace was built, which remained in operation for several years. The mines have been idle since 1858.
Foremost among all the Clinton County deposits are those at Lyon Mountain in the township of Dannemora. Although these were discovered in 1823, the first real development did not take place until 1873, when the Chateaugay Iron Company took charge. The obstacles interposed by nature were tremendous. Although the ore was on top of the ground and could be loaded into wagons by hand, it had to be hauled over thirteen miles of plank roads to the company's forge at Belmont. Later a steam launch and a barge of one hundred and fifty tons capacity were used to carry ore through the Chateaugay lakes to eliminate the long haul overland. Finally the Chateaugay
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MINERAL PRODUCTS
Railroad was built to Plattsburgh and in 1879 the first regular train of ore was brought from the mines to that city. From then on Platts- burgh was to enjoy much the same relation to the Lyon Mountain mines as Port Henry had to the Mineville deposits. In 1881 a new concern, the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company, was incorporated to take over the Chateaugay Ore Company, the Chateaugay Iron Company, the Chateaugay Railroad Company, and a furnace at Plattsburgh. Finally, in 1903, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company took over the operation of these properties, and has maintained that posi- tion ever since, although it now is called the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company. In the 1930s the depression reared its ugly head, to the distress of the miners, and in December, 1937, opera- tions were suspended. In October, 1938, however, work was resumed and 400 men were reemployed at once. 1917 statistics indicated that at that time 4,000,000 tons had been mined here. The deposits are very extensive and of unusually high grade. A large blast furnace is located at Standish.
One ore deposit whose charm is primarily historical is that at Arnold Hill, in Ausable Township. Here was mined a rich non- Bessemer ore which was shipped to furnaces in New York, Pennsyl- vania and Ohio. Prior to the production of ore at Lyon Mountain, these beds fed forges over a wide area in Clinton County. It remained in operation until 1906, although not without interruptions. Another deposit of a historical character was that at Palmer Hill in the town- ship of Black Brook. It was in operation between 1825 and 1890. These mines are about one mile and a half north of Ausable Forks. The ore was made into billets at Black Brook, Ausable Forks and Jay, which were then shipped to makers of crucible steel. Nearly all of it went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The two deposits at Arnold Hill and Palmer Hill produced a total of 2,000,000 tons of ore altogether. In addition to the mines mentioned in the towns of Dannemora, Black Brook and Ausable, there were others of lesser importance in these same towns, and also one in Saranac.
Iron ore was once mined in Warren County, in Warrensburg and other townships, but it never was of much importance. The chief Washington County beds were in Fort Ann Township. The total pro- duction here is said to have been about 350,000 tons.
The common variety of iron ore found throughout the Adiron- dacks is Magnetite. It is one of the oxides of iron. Although it is
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
found in good crystals, either regular octahedra or dodecahedra forms, it is more likely to consist of irregular grains. It is black, with a metallic luster, is about as hard as steel, and is strongly attracted by the magnet. It may be found as scattering grains in the anorthosite, syenite-granite, gabbro and diabase as well as in some of the Gren- ville gneisses. For a scientific though interestingly-written description of the Adirondack Magnetites we are indebted to Newland :
"The ores show great variation in their mineral and chemical com- position. They range from impure lean varieties consisting of mag- netite intermixed with the constituents of the wall rocks such as quartz, feldspar, pyroxene, hornblende, etc., to those made up of practically pure magnetite. The richest average from 60 to 70 per cent iron. They have been obtained principally from the Mineville district, where some large bodies have averaged 60 to 65 per cent iron and have afforded considerable quantities assaying above 65 per cent and even approaching closely the theoretical limit for magnetite, which is 72.4 per cent. The Hammondville, Arnold hill and many other mines have yielded ores from 50 to 60 per cent iron. The magnetites that carry less than about 50 per cent iron are generally considered too refractory for direct smelting; their utilization depends upon concentration, to which they are as a rule adaptable. There are large bodies of such ores in the Lyon Mountain, Arnold hill and St. Lawrence County districts. The lowest grade of milling ore that is worked carries about 35 per cent iron.
"According to the percentage of phosphorus present, the mag- netites may be subdivided into low-phosphorus, Bessemer and non- Bessemer grades. There is no well defined connection between the distribution of phosphorus and the nature of the ore occurrence. In some districts as instanced by Mineville, both Bessemer and high- phosphorus ores have been produced from contiguous deposits, though generally the ores from any one district show a fair degree of uni- formity in respect to the phosphorus. The leaner magnetites are apt to be lower in phosphorus than those having a high percentage of iron. The bulk of the low-phosphorus ores has been produced at Lyon Mountain; the present concentrates from this locality carry less than .01 per cent of the element, with 65 per cent iron. The non-Bessemer ores range up to about 2 per cent phosphorus, corresponding to 10 per
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MINERAL PRODUCTS
cent of apatite, which is the containing mineral. The Old Bed group of mines at Mineville has furnished most of this grade of ore."*
The form of the ore beds varies greatly and undoubtedly was conditioned by the structures of the inclosing rocks. The ores were apparently deposited before the great regional geological disturb- ances took place, or at least before the present structural arrangement was fixed. Originally they were probably tabular masses, but since then they have passed through all manner of squeezing and folding. The deposits at Lyon Mountain and Arnold Hill tend to consist of tabular and elongated lenticular bodies. In the latter mines, the beds are predominantly parallel. At Palmer Hill dikes and faults are peculiar characteristics. As a rule the Essex County deposits are more irregular in shape and "often exhibit a puzzling complexity of pinches, swells and sharply compressed folds not observable in other sections."
There has been considerable variation in mining methods, as would normally be expected because of the widely contrasting circum- stances existing among the deposits. At Lyon Mountain one shaft is 1,685 feet long. It is divided into four compartments, all enclosed in steel and concrete. One of these is for men and supplies, one for pipes and ladderways, and two are for the removal of ore. Drilling is done by high-powered, compressed-air machines of various types and sizes, depending on the character of work to be performed. High explosives are used in all cases for blasting. Very little trouble has been experienced from caving, in our Adirondack mines. The wall rocks are nearly impervious to water and the workings, in general, are relatively dry.
After the crude ore is fed into magnetic separators and concen- trated, it is sent to a sintering plant where it is put through a heat treatment before it goes into the blast furnace. The furnace is an interesting object. That at Standish is a steel stack, about eighty feet in height, lined with brick. It consists of three distinct parts, includ- ing the hearth at the bottom, then the bosh, while the upper two- thirds is known as the shaft. "The raw materials are put into the furnace in alternate layers of coke and a mixture of iron ore, lime- stone, and sometimes, manganese-bearing material. These layers, called charges, are four to six feet thick and continue until the furnace is
*New York State Museum Bulletin 119.
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LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND LAKE GEORGE VALLEYS
filled to within a few feet of the top, this level being maintained at all times while the furnace is in operation." A blast of air, preheated to 1,400 degrees, is then forced into the furnace. The oxygen from this air unites with the carbon from the coke to form carbon monoxide, and passing up through the shaft it reduces the ore to a metallic state. The limestone changes to lime, while the iron and slag materials begin to melt and trickle in streams down through the coke bed into the hearth. The molten iron being heavier sinks to the bottom, while the lighter slag remains on top. This waste is then drawn off and transported to the dump. At intervals of from four to six hours the iron itself is drawn off, generally comprising from thirty-five to sixty tons. It flows into a seventy-ton ladle which is lined with brick. From this it goes into a pig-casting machine, which is a continuous line of cast iron moulds traveling up an inclined track. Here it is sprayed with steam and hot water and cools enough to solidify by the time it reaches the end. Each pig weighs about sixty-five pounds.
From the mines of the Adirondacks ore goes eventually to many places. It has been made into steel, which can be found in great structures stretching from the Brooklyn and Washington bridges on our eastern coast to the Golden Gate and San Francisco bridges in the Far West. It is used for all conceivable purposes. The ores of small phosphorus content are especially valuable in the manufacture of products like the ammonia compressors of large refrigerating machines, where it is necessary to have castings that can withstand pressure without leakage and resist the action of heat and acids.
Out of the bowels of the earth, as well as from the soil and for- ests overhead, did the pioneers of the Adirondack area obtain the ingredients of economic development. The part that the iron industry has played in northern New York has been tremendous indeed. Fur- thermore, unlike the lumber industry, it is far from being a thing of the past. The huge ore deposits are of very high quality and the future seems secure. In our estimate of the iron industry we are ready to subscribe to the ardent words of the "Plattsburgh Press :"
"When the history of Northern New York is finally written and the story of the pioneers and their struggles have been given to the world, nothing of the past will hold a higher place than the iron industry. The men who struggled for the development of the rich ore deposits fought and won battles worthy of taking their place
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MINERAL PRODUCTS
alongside of those of Macdonough and Macomb at Plattsburgh. Those old military heroes fought for the preservation of the liberty won during the Revolution. The men who fought the battle for iron led a struggle against elements which only the hardiest and the brav- est could contend with. Their battles were battles of peace and prosperity against overwhelming odds."
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