The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-02-06
Mainc's Valuable Mineral deposits.

To the Editor of the Press:
| In the January 25th issue of the
PRESS was two column article on
CAN About Cold" and in the PRESS of
January 18th last was another article en-
titled 1.-THE Kaffir Mines' Other Port
calling the attention of the public to the
gold producing states of our own and
other countries. Let us now look into the
mineral wealth of our own state. Maine
has proven to the world her granite,
slate feldspaI, limestone and quartz. OF
granite, Maine possesses inexhaustlble
quarries which are capable Of supplying
the whole world with building stone of
the greatest durability and beauty. OF
slate, Maine contains extensive AID
valuable quarries and offers an unlimited
supply of this material which is in every
respect equal to the slate imported from
Wales. or to any that has as yet been dis
covered. The Brownville slate is I'M
doubleday the very best in the world. OF
| limestone no other state can vie with
Maine in the abundance of this mineral.
| OF quartz, which is utilized in making
| glass ware and crockery, this mineral
is found probably in every county of this
state. Feldspar, suitable for the manu-
facture of fine porcelain and China ware
has been quarried for more than twenty
years in Maine at Topsham. New quar-
ries have recently been opened at All
| burn, Maine, and is of the purest quality.
Our state legislature authorized the first
geological survey of Maine in 1887, which
survey was made by Prof. Charles T.
jackson, member of the Geological
society Of France; member of the I'm
perial Neurological society Of st. Peters
burg; of the Boston aociety of Natural
History, ETC., a gentleman possessed OF
the highest scientific attachments of his
day. He says we have numerous veins
of quartz, charged with deoomposine
sulphurit of iron, and the quartz re.
sembles precisely the specimens I have
seen from the gold mines of Virginia and
the Carolinas. His cabinet of minerals
collected during the survey, and now OF
| CAAA blUloA IA oAlO OpduO k1OQS6 du IA u
gusta, shows hundreds Of fine specimens
| of ores, which should convince the most
skeptical citizen of our state that Maine
does contain very valuable deposits Of
metal bearing rocks. Prof W. f.
Stewart of Virginia City, Nevada, whose
authority on mining matters no one will
care to dispute, coming to our state some
fifteen years ago in the capacity of an ex
pert, Expresses great surprise at the ex
tent and value of the Maine mineral de
pcsits," and after the examination o.
mineral bearing rocks in the southeastern
part of the state near Mount Desert, re-
ported them to belong to the 'hydrou.
magnetism series, and these, as shown by
Dana LeConte, Hopkins, and many
other reliable writers, are the best golt
producing rocks in the g lobe.'' Prof. G
FL. Hitchcock. geologist to the State O.
Maine in 1861 and 1862 states: "a larg,
part Of the rocks OF Maine are metamor
PHO. The following are those which hav,
been metamorphosed from sedimentary
strata; quartz rock, clay slate, mics
ScnlSU, UdICOSo sCHlbts sU6aUlG6, SerDenUlQe
hornbletnde. gnessi and saccharoid azoi
limestone. Valuable mines Of metals ant
quarries of useful and ornamental ston
are looked up in the solid rocks, whiol
will remain in obscurity until developed
by accident or by systematic explora
tion." LII the same amount of gold, O
gold bearing sand and gold bearing ore
which has been found in our Swift rive
4 region, also at Stewards Island in Han
cock county at Strickland Kerry. Robin
ston, and other places in Maine, had beef
found in the gold producing southern AM
western states, it is safe TO saw that hun
dreds of prospectors would flock to tn,
localities and many thousands Of dollar
would seek Investment in the develop
ment Of the property. The above quote,
eminent scientists and biologists bav
each and all indicated that VALUABLE
mineral discoveries would be made il
Maine, and it cannot be doubted for al
instant but that our state has beneath
its surface great mineral wealth.
HERBERT S. DYER.