New-York tribune., 1903-04-20
CONNECTICUT MINERALS.
Resources of State in This Respect
Not Great.

As 2 result of Investigations which have Tor some
time been in progress. the Geological survey nds
accumulated some most interesting data reld'i'0
TO the mineral resources OF the Nutmeg STATE
The existence Of valuable road material winch IS
cbrontcIed by the government surveyors. Is par
ticularIy interesting and may prove OF espeoia
value in view of the constantly increasing popu-
Iarity of the good roads movement
officials OF the Survey say that the mineral re-
sources of Connecticut small as compared
with the great mining States OF the West 1he
greatest value attaches to the deposits OF IRON ore
TO the areas Of marble and to the veins OF peg
MATTE or coarse granite. which are wlde!y dls-
tr,b,,ted in the region. Mention should perhaps
o1so he made of the valuable road metal which is
availab BILE In the region about Southbury and Wood
bury.
The deposits OF iron ore chiefly hmonite.
This ore is found in pockets along the surface OF
contact of the Stockbridge limestone with the
overlying schist. The principal exploited iocaHueS
are In Salisbury and Kent. Although tnese de-
posits are large, they are yet OF consloeraole
value particularly because of their comparatively
largo content of manganese They are srnelteu III
charcoal furnaces, and furnish a grade or cast
iron esnectslly adapted to withstand shock. For
this reason the car wheels manufactured from
this material at Lime Rock. Conn. have become
Justly famous. With the manganese Is usually
associated some zinc. which in later years has
been recovered Manganese from this ore has also
been largely utilized to advantage for mixing with
the richer Bessemer Of the Lake Superior
region.
The marble OF the district. which is developed
chiefly in It's northwestern part. and especially
about Canaan is largely burned for quicklme
the two chief producing districts being Canaan
and Boardman's Bridge, near New-Milford- The
rock IS very well adapted for building marble
as is shown by its for the construction or tne
State House at Hartford. That it can be quarried
with profit IS shown by the prosperous new quar-
rIes recently established few miles north OF the
boundary or Connecticut. in Massachusetts. Both
the white and the blue limestone are found close
to the railways OF the district The proximity 70
New-York and other large coast cities shouId
make this profitable investment .s for capital cal hos,
Dikes OF pegmatite intersect the area IN most
intricate fashion, and have been utilized es-
focaIIv as siiicate paint The smaller dikes and
veins OF pegrnatite consist largely OF quartz or
sfa snG ioaSed T' On cars at small profit The larger
dikes and contain also coarse feldspar when
Of the dikes contain beryl. which the New NIL
ford mine is frequently Of golden color ana mas mas
golden variety seldom occupies the entire crystal
but Is found d as p9TpRs aps OF 1c g SeaIy equal to
that OF emerald. It seems likely that other large
teriaI since berYi OF the same general character
istics Is not infrequently observed in them
ssI1se1 Ihe nereS OF IN England is likely in the near
future 10 bring into prominence the area OF Irap
bury and Southbury. This trap cannot at present
be easily shipped away oy rd , 1ecaGse b aa1 1e Of
the tracks For local use: however. II shoCid 9e
found valuable for improving the somewhat sandy
AT Long Hill in TrumbulI is located the so
sIsts for the tungsten minerals ttat occur there.
Recently large amount OF capital mas been ex-
pended trSse IN OXIDE for the steel industry The
tungsten minerals are nbsr mineTais at the con-
tV nIa,e az basic hornblendic igneous rock
with hmestone, Ht,,rd too lean for working and II
cannot he said that this mine in SO Tar as II naS
been exploited. gives promise OF prohtaoe develop