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Show VERMONT THEE OITPOTJOOIS Deposits Worked for Nearly Hundred Years Still Producing. The talc and soapstone deposits of Vermont Ver-mont have been worked more or less continuously con-tinuously for ncany 100 years, but all of the early efforts seem to have been 1 directed di-rected toward the production of slabs for foot-warmers and other similar uses. Although Al-though soapstone of good quality occurs at several places, much of the material first utilized was really talc and was not massive enough to be out successfully. The grinding to talc in Vermont seems to have commenced in about 1902, and has shown continuous growth since that time. Statistics complied by the geological survey in mineral resources of the United States, show that the production of taic in Vermont has increased from S97S short tons, valued at $65,525 in 1905, to 93,960 short tons, valued at ?625,150 in 1917. . Until 1917 New York was the leading producer pro-ducer in both tonnage and value, with Vermont second, but in 1917 Vermont took the lead in tonnage produced, although not in value, with a production of over 47 per cent of the total tonnage produced in the United States and over 35 per cent of the world's production. This increase in production will probably be continued, though possibly at a decreased rate, for the reserves of talc in Vermont are large. Vermont talcs vary from a very soft, green, translucent, foliated variety to a moderate. y hard, compact massive variety va-riety ranging in color from white through .ight green and gray-green to a dark mottled mot-tled green. Practically no fibrous talc ia found in Vermont. Foliated talc occurs in small quantities, but is not of commercial commer-cial importance, because, although it is soft and very pure, it is very difficult to grind propeny by the machinery now in use, owing to the fact that it breaks up in thin plates or laminae, which slip upon each other in the grinding machinery. Thus the massive is the only variety of pure talc important in Vermont. The mining of talc, however, is peculiar in this , region in that a closely associated mineral, known locally as "grit." is usually mined with the talc and often forms the most important part of the output. out-put. "Grit," as the term is used in Vermont, Ver-mont, does not mean siliceous or other gritty impurity, but refers solely to the talcose muterral occurring with the pure talc. |