Jayville was a hamlet located in the southwest part of St. Lawrence County, New York, in the United States. The hamlet started as a mining community in 1850 on what eventually became the Carthage and Adirondack Railroad.The railroad commissioning can be found at Its existence was short lived as its non-favorable mineral composition and difficult ore availability was abandoned in favor of neighboring Benson Mines, located down the railroad to the east.Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Volume 25 After mining stopped in the community, other industries such as saw mills kept the population busy. Ultimately, these business were short lived. A further attempt to reopen the mines in 1914 failed and an eventual fire ended the existence of the hamlet of Jayville.New York State Museum bulletin, Issues 194-197 Today remnants of the hamlet can be found off the now abandoned railroad station located on New York State owned landMap of Jayville Location southeast of Harrisville on Jayville Road.
History 1850-1880: According to old reports, the Jayville property was opened for iron ore in 1854 by Z.H. Benton. Little ore was removed at that time. In 1886, upon completion of the Carthage and Adirondack Railroad to Jayville, the property was leased from Beton by the Bryon D. Benson interest. Operation by the Bensons, under the name of the Magnetic Iron Ore Co, continued to 1888, in which year the property was abandoned in favor of the deposit at Little River (now Benson Mines)Geological Survey professional paper, Volumes 376-377 , pg. 135
1880s: One of the most significant events if Jayville history was in 1884 when New York State commissioned the building of the Carthage and Adirondack railroad to run from Carthage to Jayville. This railroad was completed in 1887. Later in 1889 the railroad was continued to Benson Mines.By New York (State) Board of Railroad Commissioners, New York (State). State Engineer and Surveyor , pg. 148
Mining thrived in the 1880s. Prior to 1889, the Megnetic Iron Ore Company had expended a large amount of money in building a railroad to the mines at Jayville, NY, developing them and securing the property at little river, before it was finally discovered that ore of good quality, in its natural state, could not be taken from the mines in paying quantities. It was therefore decided by the company that the only thing to be done, to save the investment in these properties, was to establish a large concentrating plant at Little River – now Benson Mines – and to extend the railroad to that point.Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, Volume 25 , pg. 547
1890s: During the 1890s sawmills were opened in the hamlet of Jayville. Sawmills ultimately replaced the mining activity in Jayville. In 1892, costly litigation over mineral rights and railroad tariffs that traveled through private land owned by Proctor (Proctor vs Benson) ultimately stopped mining in the hamlet.Pennsylvania state reports, Volume 149 , pg. 254 Throughout the 1890s and through the early 1900s, Jayville remained in existence surviving on Railroad traffic and saw mill industries.
1900s: In 1914, the mines were attempted to be reopened; however this attempt was short lived and activity in the hamlet slowly wound down to its eventual demise in history.Engineering and mining journal, Volume 97, Issues 1-13 , pg. 450 Mr. Howard Hughes bought the mines property and sunk a lot of money pumping the water out of the old pits. He operated at a loss for about 3 years and then closed them. The mother lode of ore hiding under Twin Ponds was the goal, but water kept seeping in and filled them as fast as they could be pumped out.
1940s: In 1941 the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp made geologic, dip-needle and Hotchkiss superdip surveys of the area on a scale of 1:600 and drilled eight inclined holes whole total length was 2,366 feet. Most of the diamond-drill holes were 200 to 250 feet deep, but several were 350 to 450 deep. As a result of this exploration, the company concluded that the property was of little interest as a potential producer of lump ore.Geological Survey professional paper, Volumes 376-377 , pg. 135
Railroad Railroad Companies Black River and St. Lawrence Railway:The company was reorganized as the Carthage and Adirondack Railway in the spring of 1883 after a mine owner in Jayville acquired the Black River and St. Lawrence Railway. He planned to extend the rails from Little River in St. Lawrence County to Jayville. Construction of the extension was completed in 1889. The Carthage and Adirondack Railroad: In 1883, the Carthage & Adirondack Railroad was chartered to finish a line begun in 1869 as the Black River and St. Lawrence Railway, originally laid with maple wood rails as far as Natural Bridge. Relaid with iron rails by the C&A, it connected with the U&BR and the CW&SH at Carthage. The line was opened to a remote mining community known as Jayville by 1887; pushed on to Little River (Benson Mines) by 1889; and extended to Newton Falls (its current terminus) in 1896.New life in the North Country , 1997 The New York Central Railroad: This rail company led the railroad in 1893 and in 1896 was responsible for extending the railroad from Benson Mines to Newton Falls.
Railroad station
Location A railroad station existed at Jayville. The Jayville stop on the railroad was labeled as 4E.Guidebook, Volume 76, Part 2004 Its exact location was plotted by the USGS in 1913. That location is: 44°9′15″N 75°11′20″W.Bulletin - United States Geological Survey, Issue 643
Workers As was customary for the times a telegrapher was stationed at Jayville. The position of telegrapher was a union job, organized in New York State under the Order of Railroad Telegraphers. In 1913 it was noted that Brother Seamen was the telegrapher for the hamlet.Trans-communicator, Volume 20 , pg. 666
Train schedule As published by the Rand-McNally in 1902, there were three trains that ran through Jayville. (437,487,451) The train schedule was published by the New York Central & Hudson Railroad and posted under the Carthage and Adirondack Branch.Rand-McNally Official Railway Guide and Hand Book , pg 173
Mining Early mining and furnaces The earliest mentions of Ore being removed from Jayville date all the way back to 1833. At that time a blast furnace was built by the Fuller brothers at Fullervulle, southwest of Edwards. It operated on ores from Little York mine, bog ores from Edwards, and magnetic ores from Jaayville and Clifton. This furnace was closed in 1882.Regional Geology of the St. Lawrence County Magnetite District Northwest Adirondacks, New York
The next know uses of Jayville Magnetite was in 1855. The Alpine Host-blast Charcoal furnace was built in 1846. This furnace was owned by Z.H. Benton of Oxbow. Its location was southwest of Antwerp on the outlet of Boney Lake. 1,218 tonnes of iron out of red hematite ore from Kearney or Indian Lake mine, mixed with black magnetite from the Jayville bed was used at the furnace.The iron manufacturer's guide to the furnaces, forges and rolling mills , Pg. 144
Also around this time speculation of an abundance of magnetic iron ore was starting to build at Jayville. At the time in the 1850s over 100 tons were taken from the Jayville Mines.A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York , pg. 431
One of the most significant figures in increasing mine activity at Jayville was Z.H. Benton. It was said that the Carthage & Adirondack Railway owes its existence to Colonel Benton as he was unceasing in their efforts to establish a link to the Jayville mines.The growth of a century: as illustrated in the history of Jefferson county , pg 454
Mineral composition The ore quality that was taken from Jayville was said to be of the utmost quality. Some very rich specimens of magnetic ore from the Jayville mine were shown in the Main Building at the May 5th, 1877 Iron Ores of the United States Philadelphia Exhibition.Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 23, Pg. 299
Four specimens represent the Jayville Mine; taken June 22, 1881:Bulletin ..., Issue 42 , Pg. 142 Magnetite, pyroxene (40857) Magnetite, pyrite (40872) Magnetite (40855) Magnetite, (40860)
The mine has yielded several tens of thousands of tons of magnetite ore; associated with the magnetite ore are supergene hematite, vonsenite, Fluorite in dar mica skarn, pyroxeneamphibole skarn and quartz-bearing amphibole skarn. Parts of the amphibole skarn and the iron ore are rish in Fluorite; this type of skarn is as much as a few feet thick and ranges from 20 to 60 percent fluorite. If the iron deposit is mined again, Fluorite and vonsenite should be considered as coproducts.Geological Survey professional paper, Volume 933 , Pg 78
New mining techniques Because of the magnetic properties of the ore in Jayville, new technologies were used, most notably the Magnetic Separation of Iron Ore. In 1895 the Ball-Norton electro-magnetic separator was used in a number of plants built and experiments made for magnetic separation, notably those at Benson Mines in St. Lawrence county, New York; at the Jayville mine and at the Mineville in Essex county.Transactions of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers, Volume 10
Mine layout In Jayville, the ore occurrences presents a phase quite dissimilar from that of Benson Mines and more like the magnetite deposits on the east side of the Adirondacks. There are innumerable shoots, lenses and irregular bunches in which the magnetite is found showing sharp boundaries in contact with the wall rock. The latter is for the most part a hornblende-biotite gneiss of sedimentary appearance. The horizon of the ore lie close to the contact of the gneiss with a red pegmatitic hornblende granite. Outcrops of the granite occur to the north and east within short distances where they break through and cut off the gneiss area in such a way that their intrusive character is plainly evidenced. In some of the openings the granite can be seen in immediate contact with the ore. The openings are on the northeastern and northwestern slopes of a low ridge of gneiss that rises just west of the railroad. The pits nearest the station are Hart no 1 and no2 of which the first is said to be 300 feet deep following a shoot 20 feet wide and 10 feet thick. Hart no2 is much shallower. At the northeastern end of the ridge where it curves to the west are the pits called New York no 1 and no 2, both of inconsiderable depth. Benson no1 farther to the west is reported by Smock to have depth of 250 feet on the incline; of its two levels the upper is about 25 feet long and the lower driven at a point 60 feet from the bottom of the slope runs off in a southerly direction for 160 feet and then north 60 feet. The pit supplied most of the shipping ore. Between Benson no 1 and no 2 an adit has been excavated into the hill on a lead which in the interior develops into a lens some 60 or 70 feet long and 20 feet wide. The Fuller and Essler pits are located at the extreme west, the former being opened on a pod of ore 50 feet wide, dipping 45 degrees west.
The distribution of the ore in disconnected bodies which pitch and strike in all directions has probably resulted from the intrusion of granite. The bodies occupy approximately the same horizon and have the aspect of an originally continuous band which has been disrupted and faulted. The intrusion has exercised also a metamorphic influence upon the deposits shown by the abundance of garnet and hornblende that often replace the magnetite almost completely. Well-developed titanite crystals of unusual size are found in the contact zone. The analysis taken below from Putnams report, gives the composition of the Jayville ore. It was made from a sample of 500 tons mined in 1880 and shipped to the furnace at Alpine.Bulletin, Issues 423-424 , Pg 137