The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-24

Uncle Cort's find does not carry the same
weight to-day as it might have in bygone
times.
There are actual evidences along the
Highlands, near the river, of the explora-
tions made from time to time for precious
minerals. There is a spot, known as the
Old Silver Mine, somewhere IN Anthony's
Nose Mountain which was visited as long
ago as 1912 by the State geologist, the late
W. W. Mathers, who spoke of it even then
as having been opened "in ancient times, "
and he reported the finding Of old tools,
with the handles rotted out, and of an
adit level 200 yards long.
He said that it had been reopened a few
years before his visit, the man who worked
it being told that the scales Of plumbago
| diffused through the rock were sulphuret OF
silver. The man is said to have spent all
his property and to nave died in a mad
house.
Probably the explorations for minerals
in these hills began not many years
after Hudson's entry in his log book to the
effect that he had now reached a very
rough, billy country whose rocks looked as
If they might contain minerals Of value.
Not many persons know that the German
Baron H~orsenclever came over to this
country with a party of miners some time
between 1870 and 1850 and made explora-
lions for orc not only throughout the noun
tains of the Hudson Highlands, but also in
the Adirondacks.
The mine and furnace at the Cedar ponds
mentioned above in connection with the
w~oodchoppers story of the lost silver mine
were started by him, as were other works.
No doubt many Of the old mine holes which
abound throughout the Highlands forests
were the work Of his party in the eighteenth
century; that, at least, is the opinion of
Emmons, who may be considered good
authority.
Down by Sing Sing prison are extensive
water filled shafts of a famous old hole long
known in early days as the gold, silver and
copper mine, and now practically forgotten.
Partly buried under the waters Of the Hud-
son and partly under the tracks of the rail-
road, few OF this generation have probably
ever heard Of it.
This mine was worked before the Revolu-
tion by a British officer who resided in New
York. The shaft is said to have been $50
feet deep and galleries to have been ex-
cavated in different directions, principally
north and south, along the line of strike.
Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt, the Revolu-
tionary patriot, has left a record of having
been in this mine when a boy. There is a
story to the effect hat some of the old
inhabitants have in their possession articles
Of copper and silver made from the ore Of
this mine.
One would wish to see them, as there ia
said to be no evidence of silver in the shaft
south Of the prison, which, it is said, may
still be explored. Copper is, however,
known to occur in small strings and pockets
at various places in W~estohester and Put
nam counties, a fact that may surprise
the average man.
On an old map Of Westchester county
one will find located, near the northern
boundary of Westchester, just back of
A%nthony's Nose, a spot marked Hudson
River copper mines" Here, if he will visit
the locality, he will find a remarkable series
OF excavations, long since abandoned.
They extend up a mountain side, and the
refuse from them has formed great banks
rock and earth comparable in size to the
culm heaps Of the Pennsylvania coal fields.
Two lateral shafts pierce the mountain side