The Tilly Foster Mine was an iron mine two miles west of the village of Brewster

Brewster, New York

Brewster is a village within the town of Southeast in Putnam County, New York, United States. Its population was 2,162 at the 2000 census. The village is the most densely populated portion of the town...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, along Route 6.

The Tilly Foster Mine was named after Tillingham Foster, who bought the land that the mine was on from George Beale. After Foster's death in 1842, the property passed through several hands before it came into the possession of Harvey Iron and Steel Company. The mine opened in 1853 and employed large numbers of Irish and Italian immigrants. The jobs available at the mine played a large part in bringing immigrants to the town of Southeast

Southeast, New York

Southeast is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 17,316 at the 2000 census. The town is in the southeast part of the county. Interstate 84, Interstate 684, US Route 202, and US Route 6 pass through the town.- History :...

. Workers were known by numbers rather than names, because the names of immigrants were considered too difficult to pronounce.

The mine reached its peak of production in the 1870s. It was 600 feet (180 meters) deep. There were 300 miners employed and they were producing 7,000 tons (14,000,000 pounds) of ore per month. The main minerals were magnetite

Magnetite

Magnetite is a ferrimagnetic mineral with chemical formula Fe3O4, one of several iron oxides and a member of the spinel group. The chemical IUPAC name is iron oxide and the common chemical name is ferrous-ferric oxide. The formula for magnetite may also be written as FeO·Fe2O3, which is one part...

 and chondrodite

Chondrodite

Chondrodite is a nesosilicate mineral with formula 522. Although it is a fairly rare mineral, it is the most frequently encountered member of the humite group of minerals. It is formed in hydrothermal deposits from locally metamorphosed dolomite. It is also found associated with skarn and...

. The iron ore was loaded up on a train to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Large quantities of Bessemer

Bessemer process

The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...

 ore. were shipped to Scranton

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and used to make steel rails for the Lackawanna Steel Company

Lackawanna Steel Company

The Lackawanna Steel Company was an American steel manufacturing company that existed as an independent company from 1840 to 1922, and as a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel company from 1922 to 1983. Founded by the Scranton family, it was once the second-largest steel company in the world ....

.

From 1887 to 1889 the mine was made into an open pit, at the time the largest man-made pit. In 1895 there was a major collapse that killed 13 miners . After the collapse it was flooded by a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 nearby. It was used by soldiers in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

to test their diving equipment. A collection of minerals and artifacts from the mine is at the Southeast Museum in Brewster, New York.