USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 57
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530
Primary Rocks.
lead to their occurrence, become subjects of necessary know- ledge, indispensible to our civilization, and eminently deserving of encouragement. Although for extent and variety of mineral products, our country will not compare with some others, yet the field of useful observation and practical research is far from be- ing barren, and there does not occur an acre but that yields ma- terials for profitable thought, and some trace worthy of notice.
Geologists divide rocks into two great classes, named from their relative ages, primary, and sedimentary or secondary; the first never presenting traces of organic remains but from their crys- taline character, and mode of occurrence, often exhibit evidences of having been subjected to the agency of heat, while the latter appear made up of materials derived from the former, broken up and deposited in water, and usually contain fossil remains of animals and plants, that lived at the period of their formation. As we ascend in the series, we find the characters of the rocky strata vary, as if their deposit had been produced under different agencies, which had changed repeatedly, and at each time the forms of organic life had disappeared, to give place to some other, which had in like manner passed away; and so constant is the type of these fossil remains for each class of rocks, that it affords an infallible guide, when present, to a knowledge of the place, and relation, of the rocks in which they occur. The science of Palæontology, has for its object, the classification and descrip- tion of these fossil remains, and few sections afford a more pro- fitable field for these researches than this county. Both primary and secondary rocks occur in Jefferson County; the former of which, with the dividing line between them, affords the only rational prospects of valuable metallic veins and deposits, as well as most of the crystaline minerals, which form so attractive objects to the mineralogist, and such dazzling ornaments to ca- binets. Of the latter, however, we are not without localities that vie with the most noted, and the primative region of the county will abundantly repay the labor bestowed upon mineral collection. The details of these will be hereafter given. The rock constituting the primary, is mainly composed of gneiss; a mixture of quartz, hornblende and feldspar, which are regarded as elementary or simple minerals, and make up by far the largest part of what is known of the earth's surface. In gneiss, these usually occur in irregular strata, often contorted, never horizontal, and seldom continuing of uniform thickness more than a few feet. It forms by far the largest part of the surface rock, throughout the great northern forest of New York, embracing nearly the whole of Hamilton, and a part of Lewis, Herkimer, Fulton, Saratoga, Warren, Essex, Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence counties, and in Jefferson, this rock constitutes the greater part
531
Potsdam Sandstone .- Cylindrical Structure.
of the islands in the St. Lawrence, between French Creek and Morristown, and appears in Clayton, Orleans, and Alexandria on the river bank; in the latter town extends back a mile or two from the shore. It forms a strip, extending up on both sides of Indian River to Theresa Village, and the shores and Islands of most of the lakes of that town and Antwerp, and much of the country within the node of Indian River, towards the village of Philadelphia, where it forms the surface rock and extends to Antwerp, the greater part of which it underlies. From this town it extends along Indian River to the village of Natural Bridge, and thence to Carthage, where it forms the islands among the rapids of the Long Falls, and thence follows up the river, keeping a little west of its channel, through Lewis into Oneida County. In this area there are occasional ledges of white or primary limestone, especially in Antwerp, with limited quantities of ser- pentine, and superficial patches of sandstone.
Lying next above the primitive, and forming a considerable amount of surface rock, in Alexandria, Theresa, Clayton, Orleans, and Antwerp, is the Potsdam sandstone, so named from the fine manner in which it is developed in that town. It is the oldest of sedimentary rocks, and contains ( but rarely ) the forms of organic bodies, that were created at the dawn of the vital principle. Two genera, one a plant, the other shell, have been found in this rock, but so rarely, that it may be almost said to be without fossils. Its principal constituent is silex, in the form of sand, firmly consolidated, and forming, where it can be cleaved into blocks of regular shape and uniform size, a most elegant and durable building material.
In the vicinity of Theresa, Redwood, &c., there occurs in numer- ous places in this rock, the cylindrical structure, common at many localities in St. Lawrence county,* and apparently pro- duced by eddies acting upon the sands at the bottom of shallow water. Ripple marks are of constant occurrence in the same localities, confirming the supposition that the material that now forms this rock was once a mass of incoherent sand. This form- ation is generally in thick masses, often disturbed by uphea- vals, almost invariably inclined from the horizontal, and seldom in this county so evenly stratified as to admit of that uniformity of fracture that gives value to it as a building material at Pots- dam, Malone, &c. It is, however, extensively used for this purpose, and forms a cheap and durable, but not an elegant wall. This rock has two applications in the useful arts, of great importance; the lining of blast furnaces, and the manufacture of glass, for the former of which it has been used extensively at all the furnaces in the northern counties, and for the latter, at
* History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, p. 678.
532
Potsdam and Calciferous Sandstones.
Redwood. The quarry that has been most used for lining stone, occurs on the farm of Hiram B. Keene in Antwerp, where the rock occurs highly inclined, but capable of being divided into blocks of uniform texture, and any desirable size. The edges of the stone, when laid in the furnace, are exposed to the fire, and become slightly fused, forming a glazing to the surface. It is seldom that a material is found so finely adapted to this pur- pose. For the manufacture of glass the stone is calcined in kilns and crushed and sifted, when it affords a sand of much whiteness, and eminently suitable for the purpose.
This rock is generally overlaid by a fertile soil, but this is more due to the accidental deposition of drift than the disinte- gration of the rock itself, for such is its permanence that it can scarcely be found to have yielded to the destructive agencies that have covered many other rocks with soil. The polished and scratched surfaces given by diluvial attrition are almost uni- formly preserved, and wherever this formation appears at the surface, it presents a hardness and sharpness of outline strongly indicative of its capacity to resist decay. On this account it should be selected when possible, for the piers of bridges, the foundation of houses, and other structure where permanence and solidity are required. A very peculiar feature is presented by the margin of this rock, which, by the practiced eye, may be detected at a distance, and which strongly distinguishes it from all others. The outline is generally an abrupt escarpment, sometimes extending with much regularity for miles, occasion- ally broken by broad ragged ravines, or existing as outstanding insular masses, and always presenting, along the foot of the preci- pice, huge masses of rock that have fallen from above. The most remarkable terrace of this kind begins on the north shore of Black Lake, in Morristown, and extends through Hammond into Alexandria, much of the distance near the line of the Military Road, and other instances are common throughout the region underlaid by this rock.
Next, in the ascending series, is a rock which, in this part of the state, constitutes a thin but level formation, and from its being a sandy limestone, has been named calciferous sandstone. It is generally an open, porous texture, much discolored by iron, and, occasionally, like some strata of the sandstone beneath it, filled with small masses of incoherent sand, that easily falls out, leav- ing irregular. cells. It is this rock that contains the beautiful quartz crystals, for which Middleville and the vicinity of Rockton, in Herkimer County have become celebrated. It appears as the sur- face rock between Antwerp and Carthage; between the Checkered House, in Wilna, and the Natural Bridge; between Antwerp and Sterlingville; and, in Theresa, Alexandria, Orleans, and Clayton.
1
t f a
p g fr re
CO fo cal of ha
des con
*
1
ta
533
Calciferous Sandstone.
It is valueless as a building material, from its coarse, rotten text- ure, and want of regular fracture. In many places it is filled with the forms of marine plants, which, though obscure, are con- clusive, and appear to have been like some still existing, with thick, succulent, hollow stems. Shells are less common, and are but imperfectly preserved, constituting seven genera, and about a dozen species. In the annexed cut, fig. 1 is the 3 2 Ophelitea levata, 2, 0. 1 complanata, and 3 a cri- noidal plate, found with the others .* Of the pro- bable condition of the earth's surface when this rock was forming, Professor Hall has made the following re- marks:+
" During the progress of this formation, and towards its close, a considerable number of forms of animal life appear to have been called into existence. We have passed from that condition of the earth unfavorable to animal development, and we per- ceive the gradual change, which, in the next period, presents us with swarms of animated existences. If we can, in imagina- tion, allow ourselves to go back to the preceding epoch-to fancy the earth enveloped in one waste of ocean, save, perhaps, a few rocky peaks; when the natural agitation of the waters by the winds was increased by volcanic or igneous outburstings; while the rocky points were abraded, and thence fine sand and pebbles spread over the bed of the ocean, we behold life, strug- gling into existence in this stormy period, only manifested in the fragile yet enduring form of the little Lingula, while an appa- rently rootless, leafless plant, is the representative of the vege- table kingdom.
Look forward from this period to a gradual change-a more congenial element to the inhabitants of the ocean comes, in the form of calcareous matter, and new organisms are gradually called into existence. Still the heated waters bear their burden of silex in solution, and now they permeate every portion of this habitation of the new-born vitality, destroying the living, en- veloping the dead in a silecious paste, and preventing that development of numbers which awaits only a more congenial condition."
Next above this rock is the Chazy Limestone, that occurs highly developed, and abounding in organic remains, but, accord- ing to Professor Emmons, does not appear in the Black River
* Vanuxen's Geological Report, p. 36; Hall's Palæontology, i, 11.
f Palæontology of New York, i, 5.
34
534
Birdseye Limestone.
valley. The next rock there, is the Birds-Eye Limestone, which includes the close-grained, hard, and thick-bedded strata, in which the layers of water lime stone occur in Le Ray, Pamelia, Orleans, Brownville and Clayton. The properties which give it value as a hydraulic cement, are uncertain, as upon analysis it is found to contain variable proportions of silica, alumina and magnesia. In manufacturing, it is calcined, crushed and ground in a mill. Its color is usually bluish and light gray, weathering to an ashen gray; its fracture is more or less flinty, with many crystaline points, and its fossils few and seldom obtained, except on the weathered surface. Its characteristic fossil, in the man- ner in which its vertical stems divide and interlace with each other, presents features totally distinct from any known analogy, either in marine plants, or the zoophytes. These stems are filled with crystaline matter, and often make up a great part of its mass. It has received from Professor Hall the generic name of Phytopsis,* of which there are two species, P. tubulosum and P. cellulosum, both of which occur abundantly in this county.
Phytopsis tubulosum.
The latter presents diverging masses like roots, and is not so generally crystaline. When polished, this rock present an ap- pearance which has given it the name, and in quarrying it readi- ly breaks into regular masses. Its brittleness, when struck with a smart blow, prevents it being useful as a marble. Some layers make a good lime, and on the weathered surface there often is seen a toothed appearance, like the sutures of a skull, which is attribute dto fibrous crystals of sulphate of strontia, that have been dissolved out.
This forms the surface rock over a considerable extent of Cape Vincent, Lyme, Brownville, Pamelia, Le Ray, and Wilna. The part that overlies the yellowish or water lime strata, abounds
* Palæntology of New York, i, 38.
535
Black River Limestone.
in nodules of flint, that everywhere stand in relief upon the weathered surface. These are thought to be the fossil remains of sponges, or other forms of animal life, analagous. These masses of flint often contain shells, corals, crinoidea, and obscure traces of other organic bodies, that flourished in the seas in which this rock was deposited. Perhaps the most striking of
Orthoceras multicameratum.
these fossils is the above, which is very common. Specimens are found of shells of a class analagous, of the enormous length of ten feet, and breadth of twelve inches .* Besides the obscure fossil whose doubtful nature we have above noticed,; six genera, and about a dozen species have been described.
The Black River limestone, in the classification of Professor Hall, and the Isle La Motte marble in that of Professor Emmons are interposed between the rock last named and the Trenton limestone. It is a well-defined mass of greyish-blue limestone, in this county not exceeding ten feet in thickness, but in its fossils clearly distinct from the strata above and below it. Five genera and six species of corals, and five genera and ten spe- cies of cephalopoda, are described in the State Palæontology, as occurring in this rock. The following figures represent a small coral, of the natural size and magnified:
1
2
Stictopora labyrinthica.
1. Natural size upon a weathered surface.
2. Vertical section, showing the ascending and anastomosing branches.
* Report of Professor Emmons on the Geology of the 2d District, p. 382. t See Phytopsis cellulosum, p. 534.
536
Black River Limestone.
8
4
5
3. Enlarged branch of No. 1.
4. Surface apparently unworn, with oblique ridges between the rows of cells.
5. Surface of a branch somewhat worn.
The delicacy of markings upon the sur- faces of some of these corals, when seen magnified, is beautiful; and their differences afford the ground of classification of fami- lies and the generic and specific distinc- tions.
2
La
1
Stictopora ramosa, natural size and enlarged .;
Columnaria alveolata, a fossil coral.
Another coral is of frequent oc- currence in the Black River lime- stone, which is here represented in the margin. It is sometimes seen of the size of half a bushel, and in the Mohawk valley much larger. It is commonly mistaken by the un- observing, for petrified honey comb, which in some respects it resembles.
It is this formation that contains the caverns of Watertown, Pamelia and Brownville, concerning which many fabulous ac- counts have been told. We have endeavored to obtain authen- tic information on this subject by a personal examination.
In Pamelia, opposite the village of Watertown, and in the im- mediate vicinity of the cascade, is a cavern that has attained quite a notoriety, and will amply repay the curious visitor who may undertake to explore it. It was discovered in the spring of 1822, and for a short time was exhibited for pay. The opening is in a natural depression, and by a sloping passage leads to a chamber about twenty feet below the surface, from which ave- nues lead in various directions, frequently communicating with each other, and forming a labyrinth of much intricacy. When
Hall's Palæontology of New York, i, 50. t Ib. p. 51.
537
Caverns in the Black River Limestone.
first observed it was beautifully adorned with curtains and dra- pery of lime, deposited from the ceaseless dripping of water charged with that mineral. In some of the remote chambers and avenues, these deposits, of dazzling whiteness, still exist in great profusion, but the wanton depredations of visitors has done much towards destroying those that occurred in the more fre- quented part of the cavern. In numerous instances, huge tables of rock have fallen from the roof, allowing a passage both above and below them. The texture of the deposits varies from the consistence of mortar to a compactness sufficient to give a ring- ing sound when struck with a hammer; but by far the greater part is of that soft friable quality of snowy whiteness, which is usually denominated agaric mineral. The pendent masses are usually flat with their sides waved, and edges serrated, and the surface below them is often beautifully formed into basins and cells, usually filled with limpid water. Occasionally the masses from above, meeting those from below, form pillars of great size. Slight dams of tufa are of frequent occurrence, forming shallow pools of water, and lime-sediment. Altogether, from its conven- ience of access, safety and beauty, this place is well worthy of attention. Conflicting accounts existing in relation to the ex- tent of this cavern, the author, in company with a friend, explored it with a view of ascertaining this point, and was only able to penetrate about seventy fathoms from the chamber at the foot of the outlet. The temperature of the water in June was 43º, and, in winter it never freezes. It probably varies but little with external changes.
On the north bank of Black River, opposite Factory Village, in Watertown, are several caves of limited extent, which offer no calcareous incrustations of interest. The principal of these opens at its two ends upon the river bank. They are chiefly interesting from the evidence they furnish of having been formed by water running along the natural seams in the rocks.
On the south bank of the river, in Watertown Village, and under the termination of Jackson street, is the entrance of a cave, which was first explored in the summer of 1838, and is said to have been traced nearly 500 feet. It affords calcareous concretions, of a peculiar variety, externally resembling pisolite, and formed by the agglutination of spheroidal granules of car- bonate of lime. It is known as the ice cave, from the occurrence of ice in the summer months, which almost obstructs its passa- ges. Towards autumn, the rocks above become warmed, and the ice melts, nor does the freezing process become established till near spring. From the slow transmission of heat, the seasons thus become reversed in this cavern. A current of cold air is- sues from over this mass of subterranean ice, which, when the
538
Characteristics of the Inferior Limestones.
air is warm and damp, becomes a dense fog. When the tem- perature in the shade was 92°, that at the mouth of this cave has been noticed to be 32°.
In the town of Watertown, near the bank of the river, and about a mile from the village of Brownville, there occurs in a wood a sunken place, around and in the vicinity of which are numerous avenues, leading under ground, and communicating with each other by innumerable passages. Almost every natural seam in the rock, has been widened into a space large enough to admit of the passage of a man, and sometimes opening into wide and lofty halls, of which several are found radiating from a central point. The form of these subterranean vaults is that of the gothic arch, springing from the floor and forming an acute angle above. The extreme distance that this cave can be traced, is less than thirty rods. It affords no calcareous deposits of interest, and its only peculiarity consists in the numerous projecting masses of flint on the walls, which have resisted the decomposing action to which the rock has yielded. The floor of the cave is generally covered with mud or water.
On the west bank of Perch river, near the village of Limerick, is a cavern which, after passing twenty-four yards, opens into an external passage, from whence, descending to a level about thirty feet below the surface, it proceeds sixty-three yards fur- ther through a passage in some places quite lofty and flat roofed, to a low horizontal chamber, beyond which, by creeping, one can proceed to a distance of one hundred and fifty-four yards from the entrance to the extremity. It differs from all the oth- ers above described, in having no lateral passage, nor does it afford calcareous deposits. There probably exists other cav- erns in the county, but analogy would lead us to the belief that they are of limited extent. So far as observed, they agree in affording evidence of having been worn by running water in early times, and in occurring in the same stratum. The Ormo- ceras, Endoceras, and other fossils characteristic of the rock are seen exposed in relief on the walls of the caves in many in- stances.
It is to be observed of the strata that intervene between the water lime and the Trenton limestone, that from their soluble nature the natural seams have generally been widened into open chasins, and that from this cause streams of water often find their way under ground in dry seasons. Although generally horizon- tal, the strata are occasionally disturbed by upheavals, as is seen at several places along the line of the railroad between Chan- mont and Cape Vincent. These disturbances are generally limited to a few rods, and often to a few yards. These rocks often afford an excellent building material, and are quarried ex-
A IS
S
ra al W
are an
539
Trenton Limestone.
tensively at Chaumont for locks and other public works. The black marble of Glen's Falls is derived from strata correspond- ing with the upper portion of these.
The next rock above those above described, is named the Tren- ton limestone, which mostly constitutes the rock underlying the soil in Champion, Rutland, Watertown, Houndsfield, Henderson, Ellisburgh, Adams, and a part of Rodman and Brownville. In extent, thickness, number of fossil remains and economical im- portance, it far surpasses the others. It underlies extensive dis- tricts in the western states, where it is recognized by its charac- teristic fossils; and as a material for building and the manufac- ture of line, it has few superiors. Its color is usually gray, and its fracture more or less crystaline, occurring usually in strata nearly or quite horizontal, and often separated by thin layers of
8
9a
10 c
10
96
8, 9a, 96, 10c, 13e, Pleurotomaria 16, Murchisonia gracilis
of Trenton limestone. do
shale. Many of its fossils are common with the slates above. At the time when the first volume of the State Palæontology was issued, there had been described 188 species peculiar to this rock; 20, common with this and the Hudson River group (Lor- raine Shales); 2 with it and the Utica slate, 6 with it and the above two, 3 with it and the Black River limestones, and one with all the birdseye to the Hudson River shales inclusive.
Fossil plants of the lower orders are somewhat common, but are limited to a few species. Of corals, the number is greater, and of these none are more common than that represented by figure 1, of the annexed cut:
540
Trenton Limestone.
2
1
3a
36
1. Cheteles lycoperdon.
2. Leptæna deltoidea.
3. Isotelas gigas.
3a. Stictapora acuta.
3b. The same magnified.
Fig. 3a represents a leaf-like, branching coral, very common. The whole number of species of zoophytes found in this rock, is about 20. Of that singular 3 class of animals called trilobi- tes, of which there are at present but few living analogies, the Tren- ton limestone furnishes several species, of which fig. 3, on this page, is one.
This class of fossil remains is obscure and rare in the rocks beneath, but here becomes well developed and affords our most reliable criterion by which to identify the Trenton limestone in distant localities. This animal possessed the power of coiling up into a ball, and of flattening itself out, as shown in the fol- lowing cuts, in which 3a, 3b, are coiled specimens, and 9c a side view of one that is flat. Detached portions are of frequent occurrence; the head, tail, and parts of the body being often found separately.
541
Trenton Limestone.
The following are figures of the Calymene senaria.
Ja
3b
3a
90
9৳
9d
Of shells, this rock affords a very great variety, but our space will only admit of a few, the following being selected from the engravings prepared for the Natural History of the State. From the numbers being en- graved on some of the blocks, they can not be arranged in numerical order on a page of the size of this. These have been fully described and classified by the gentlemen engaged in the geological survey of the state, and by Prof. Hall, to whose department they particularly belonged.
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