History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 18

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From Christie's Quarry the limestone pursues a north-west direction, passing just to the south of Caledonia village ; it crosses the road a little west of that place, and pursues the same direction to the top of the terrace on the south side of Allen's

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

creek. In the west and north-west part of Cale- donia large numbers of fossils are found in it, the lowest portion of the rock is thick-bedded and com- pact, while above it contains a large proportion of hornstone, and in some places is composed almost entirely of that substance. Being in irregular shaped masses, and surrounded by limestone, which de- composes on exposure, it is scattered over the sur- face in rough and shapeless forms. These fragments are crossed in every direction by innumerable fis- sures, which are expanded by freezing water, and the whole falls into small fragments which, in many places, literally cover the surface for many acres. Where the road crosses this part of the rock, it has the appearance of being made in a bed of flints. From the jagged and irregular appearance of the hornstone rock, as its occurs in detached masses, it has received the familiar and expressive name of " chawed rock." This rock is the best material for road making which Western New York affords. Where it approaches the surface the soil is rather barren, producing only a growth of dwarf oaks ; but where there is a tolerable proportion of finer materials, it produces a fertile soil. A large pro- portion of the native growth along this terrace con- sists of oaks.

The Marcellus shales possess their usual essen- tial characters ; the middle portions being quite compact and highly bituminous, becoming more slaty above and below. The compact part of the shale usually contains large septaria; these some- times consist of large silico-calcareous masses, with- out seams of crystalline matter. This rock follows the same course as the limestone. Commencing on the east near the north line of the county, it passes south-west to the Genesee ; thence its course is north-west through Caledonia, passing into Gene- see county near the north line of this town.

On the Conesus outlet, near the lower saw-mill at Avon, this shale may be seen resting on the lime- stone. About thirty-five feet from the bottom of the shale there is a stratum of limestone one foot thick, sometimes concretionary, and containing Orthoceras, fragments of trilobites, &c. For sev- eral feet below this the rock is black, slaty and very fragile. A few feet of the shale above this limestone is black and slaty ; it abounds in fossils of Orthoceras, Orthis, Strophomena, Avicula, and a very small species of Orbicula. Above this the mass graduates into a grayish or bluish gray slaty shale, and contains few fossils. This shale is seen in the ravines and hillsides on the west-side of the Genesee, extending through the north-east corner

of York, and thence through the south-west part of Caledonia. In the south part of this town two ex- cavations, one on each side of a small shallow val- ley originally worn in this shale, were made for coal. The indications which induced the under- taking were the black and highly bituminous char- acter of the shale, thin seams of coaly matter and petroleum. North of the valley on the McLean farm, the same shale was penetrated in digging a well. Some portions of the rock are so highly charged with bitumen as to burn when thrown into a hot fire. Numerous excavations for coal have been made in these shales as well as in the upper Genesee slate, and in each alike fruitless.

The Hamilton group, consisting of several mem- bers, but the product of one period, is exposed in numerous localities in the county, and is every where highly fossiliferous. Its destruction has af- forded the highly fertile argillaceous soil which is everywhere so productive of wheat in this part of the State, and, perhaps, nowhere more so than in this county. It occupies a belt of country from five to eight miles wide covering nearly the whole of the towns of Avon and York, a part of Geneseo, Leicester and Caledonia. The deep valley of the Genesee, with numerous lateral ravines and water courses, renders this county one of the most de- sirable localities for examining its rocks.

On Jack's Run the Ludlowville and Moscow shales can both be seen, separated by the thin mass of crinoidal limestone. The Moscow shale is known by its fossils, the Calymene and Cryph- @us ; while the Atrypa concentrica and large num- bers of Cyathophylli and other corals characterize the Ludlowville shale. In some localities the Cyathophylli and smaller corallines occur in the Moscow shales, but are not characteristic of this mass. At York the Ludlowville shale is exposed on a small stream near the village; but the fossils are chiefly Cyathophyllites and Farosites, both in great perfection and beauty. Among the former there is a specimen in the State collection, consist- ing of twenty-six individuals of the species turbina- tum (?) all closely grouped together. In the same ra- vine several hundred feet lower, and in several other localities may be seen a hard calcareous shale, or shaly limestone, which, though of interest elsewhere, possesses here but little economic importance. At Moscow, the locality which gives name to the upper number of this group of fossiliferous shales, they are exposed in great perfection and contain an abundance of the characteristic fossil. These are the Colymene bufo, Cryphous calliteles, Atrypa

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

affinis and two or three species of Delthyris. The principal locality is in the bed and banks of Beard's Creek, on the Jerediah Horsford place, where more than fifty species of fossils have been found. The rock at this place is a pure calcareous mudstone, of a blueish color on first exposure, but weathering to a whiteish ashen. Its decomposition is hastened by the diffusion of iron pyrites which sometimes replace the fossil bodies. The Mos- cow shale is exposed in a ravine and the bed of a small stream, near the residence of Hon. G. W. Patterson. These localities are in a deep valley of denudation, and much below the general eleva- tion of the surrounding country, the surface of which is occupied by the Genesee slate. It is also seen at the base of the fall on Fall Brook, south of Geneseo village, and near the Conesus outlet, along which the lower division of the group is ex- posed at several places.

The Genesee slate extends through the coun- try in an irregular course. From the outlet of Conesus Lake its direction is south-west till it comes to the level of the Genesee Valley in Grove- land and Mt. Morris. From the west side of this valley its course is north-west to the south part of the town of York, whence it continues westward to Allen's creek. It appears in the ravines both cast and west of Moscow; also in a hill crossed in going from Moscow toward the Genesee, and in the hillside ascending from the valley to Geneseo. The same shale is seen in Fall Brook, where the water leaps a hundred feet from the top of this rock. It underlies the village of Geneseo, and is seen in many places on the road east from that place, and in the ravines between it and Conesuis lake. In this neighborhood the black shale is succeeded by a thin stratum of impure limestone which has been burned for lime near Moscow. At the bridge crossing the Genesee near Mt. Morris, and for a mile in the perpendicular cliffs forming the gorge in that river, the Genesee slate is well exposed, possessing all its essential characteristics, being bituminous, containing thin seams of coal, great numbers of septaria, sometimes irregularly scattered, at other times in regularly courses. Its greatest development in Western New York is at the opening of the gorge at Mt. Morris.

The Portage group covers the remaining south half of the county. It presents an immense development of shale and flagstones, together with some thick-bedded sandstone towards its upper part. Like all the other mechanical depos- its of the system, as they appear in New York, it is

extremely variable in character. From its superior development along the banks of the Genesee in the town of Portage, in the locality of the middle fall, it has received the name of the town to dis- tinguish it from the higher rocks, which possess some differences in lithological characters, but a more striking dissimilarity in organic remains. The group rises sometimes in a gentle slope, and at other times abruptly from the softer shales below. The enduring sandstones of the upper part have enabled it to withstand denuding action to a con- siderable degree, and these often extend far north- ward to the elevated grounds between the deep north and south valleys, presenting a gentle north slope to the shales of the Hamilton group; while on the sides of the same hills the slope is abrupt, and the surface being but little covered with north- ern drift, the valleys on either side are bounded by steep hills. This character is well illustrated along the south part of the Genesee Valley towards Dansville.

The change in the external appearance of the coun- try indicates the commencement of these rocks, although they are not seen. The valleys just spoken of, in their course through the shales of the Hamilton group, present gently sloping sides, and the country rarely rises far above the level of the valley bottom or bed of the stream. On approaching the north margin of the Portage group, the observer finds a gradually increasing elevation of the hills on either side, and an abruptness in their slope; and in a short time he finds himself in a deep valley, bounded on either side by hills rising four hundred or five hundred feet, and in some instances even eight hundred feet above the bed of the stream. These elevations often extend several miles un- broken, except partially by the deep ravines which indent their sides. The higher sandstones of the group, and in many instances some of the inter- mediate ones, produce falls in the streams which pass over them, and some of the most beautiful cascades in the State are found among the rocks of this gronp. The highest perpendicular fall of water in the State is produced by the rocks of this group, and in none others do we meet with more grand and striking scenery. Conspicuous among these are the upper, middle and lower Portage falls.

On the Genesee, which affords the best develop- ment in this district, the group admits of these subdivisions : 1. Cashaqua shale; 2. Gardeau shale and flagstones ; 3. Portage sandstone.

The Cashaqua Shale differs sufficiently in litho- logical and fossil characters from those above to be

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

considered under a separate name, which was given it from its perfect development on Cashaqua creek. The mass at this place is a soft argillaceous rock of a green color, rapidly crumbling on expos- ure, and forming a tenaceous clay. From the in- fluence of atmospheric agency, it is very difficult to procure good specimens; and fossils not being abundant, they might be easily overlooked. It is, however, marked by certain species of shells which have not been seen in any other. rock, and these have been found to hold the same position over an extent of a hundred and fifty miles. On Casha- qua creek, and in some other places in the same neighborhood, it contained some flattened concre- tions of impure limestone, and sometimes of sand- stone, but of these it presents no continuous layers. It is deeply excavated, presenting high and abruptly sloping banks, which project into the valley on one side and recede on the other, as the stream widens along its course below. In looking down the stream, the slopes of these cliffs are free from veg- etation, while on the opposite side they are entirely covered, often with large trees. This effect is produced by the action of the meandering stream, which flows in its channel from one side of the gorge to the other, continually undermining the rock, which crumbles down from above, thus constantly presenting a fresh surface. From one hundred and ten feet on the Genesee, the rock diminishes to thirty-three feet on Eighteen Mile creek.

Along the Genesee, above the Cashaqua shale, the Gardeau shale and flagstones present a great development of green and black slaty and sandy shales, with thin layers of sandstone, which form beautiful and durable flagstones, and are quarried in many places between Stony Brook in Sparta and Dansville, where materials were obtained for locks, bridges, etc., on the Genesee Valley canal. The shale in the upper part of the ravine formed by Stony Brook has been ground and used as a plaster. The rocks in this part of the group form high, almost perpendicular banks on the Genesee, only indented by the incipient ravines caused by slides and the action of running water. From their great exposure on the Gardeau Reservation, that name was adopted to distinguish this part of the formation, in the lower part of which the shales consist of alternations of green slaty and sandy shales with black slaty shale, one or two thin courses of sandstone occurring in the space of four or five feet. As we ascend, the arenaceous matter increases in quantity, the layers are thicker and

more numerous, and the shale forms distinct alter- nations of black and green, often many times in succession, within the space of fifty feet. Towards the upper part the courses of sandstone become too thick for flagstones, and the shale is in thicker masses than below. These characters, however, which are sufficiently obvious in the gorge of the Genesee, are not constant for any great distance in either direction. Toward the east the arenacious strata augment in a great degree to the exclusion of the shales; while in a westerly direction the sandstones are constantly disappearing, and the proportion of shale con- stantly increasing. With the absence of sandy strata and the augmentation of shale, a few fossils which were rather sparingly seen along the Gene- see and in the east part of the district, become more numerous, and form a distinguishing feature of the rock.

The Portage sandstones are well exposed in the deep gorge below Portageville, where the perpen- dicular cliffs rise to the height of three hundred and fifty feet. The upper part consists of thick bedded sandstone, with little shale; while below, the sandy layers become thinner with more fre- quent alternations of shale. The thick-bedded character of the sandstones, and the presence of fucoids passing vertically through the strata, in- duced the separation from the rocks below, where the characteristic species of the same genus lie horizontally upon the surface of the strata. The lithological character of the sandstone, and the presence of the vertical fucoid, hold uniform over a considerable extent ; and the presence of the latter alone is often sufficient to decide the posi- tion of the rock, when it is but slightly exposed. The higher mass of sandstone of the Portage group is very persistent and forms a line of demarkation between the almost non-fossiliferous shales and sandstones below, and the highly fossiliferous sand- stones and shales above.

Canaseraga creek and its branches in the vicinity of Dansville, offer good exposures of the rocks of this group. The small streams flowing into the Genesee Valley between Dansville and Mt. Morris, on both sides, afford good opportunities for inves- tigation. Cashaqua creek is the best of these. The Genesee in its passage from Portage to Mt. Morris, exposes the whole series of rocks in five mural escarpments which rise from fifty to three hun- dred and fifty feet high. The examination of this gorge throughout its whole length will give a most perfect and connected view of all the subdivisions

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.

of this group, the thickness of which on the Gene- see cannot be less than one thousand feet.

Carbonaceous matter is disseminated through the black shales, and sometimes appears in seams of half an inch thick. Some fragments of large vege- table forms appear, and thin laminæ of coal usu- ally accompany these. From the frequency of these small seams of coal, which are usually of no greater extent than the specimen procured, excavations and borings have been undertaken in search of larger beds. It is unnecessary to say, says Mr. Hall, that these always fail, as do all similar un- dertakings in rocks of this period. Traces of coal have been found in Conesus ; and as late as 1876, the community was considerably agitated by the discovery of a vein in the wall of a deep gully, known as the Purchase gully, near the center of the town, about thirty rods south of the foundation of the old Purchase grist-mill. "The vein is an inch in width and seems to widen and thicken as it extends into the rock. It is about ten feet above the water, which winds at the foot of rocks fifty feet in height at this place. Coal is seen in other places, but nowhere in sufficient quantities to pay for mining." Formerly it was found in the north-west part of the town on the Adam and Cyrus Trescott farms; also on Turkey Hill, in digging wells, slight veins were seen. More recently, in September, 1880, coal was discovered by workmen engaged in digging a well on the Mountain Dew premises, at the head of Liberty street in the vil- lage of Dansville. " In the search for water, much rock was encountered, necessitating drilling and blasting ; and at the depth of twenty-four feet below the surface of the earth a vein of superior soft coal was struck, of about four inches in thickness in either way, while coal slate was plentiful."*

The country underlaid by the rocks of this group is well watered by never-failing springs. Except where the black slaty shale is thick, there is no dif- ficulty in procuring water. In such instances the vertical joints appear to be more open, and to allow the percolation of water through the mass. There is here no remedy but to bore through the black to the green shales, which are less divided by joints, and usually impervious to water.

In some parts of the country occupied by this group we first notice a deficiency in the calcareous matter in the soil. This change is indicated by a different growth of timber, and a corresponding change in the cultivated products of the soil. Wheat does not always produce a sure crop after the field

has been cultivated for some years. When first cleared the land produces good crops of all the grains. In this statement, however, must not be included the valleys and low northern slopes, which are deeply covered with northern drift and alluvium, containing a large proportion of calcareous matter. This on examination proves to be composed of the ruins of the limestone and calcareous shales before described, with a small admixture of sand. This kind of soil is but sparingly spread over the higher grounds, and in many of the highest places is not known at all. In consequence of its absence, the character and productions of the soil of the valleys and of the hills are quite different. The soil derived from the lower part of the group is a stiff clay, the soil being in too small proportions to produce much perceptible effect. As we ascend, the arenaceous matter increases, and the broken fragments of the sandy strata become intermixed with the finer ma- terials, giving it the character of a clayey gravel. The fragments, however, show little effect of attri- tion, and from being flat and irregular, the soil is known locally as "flat gravel," to distinguish it from that of the valleys, where the fragments are rounded into the form of pebbles.

In the valleys and on the low northern slopes of this group, the soil produces wheat with the same facility and equal certainty as the formations north of it. As we ascend to the south, the wheat crops are less abundant and less certain, and this gives place to the coarser grains and to pasturage. For the latter object the soil is superior to that on the north of it, and the evidence is fully substantiated by the increasing number of cattle and the produce of the dairies.

In the Cashaqua shale there are several species of shells which have not been seen in any other rock, and at the same time there are no fossils found with them which are known in other rocks beyond the group. The more common forms are the Avicula speciosa, Ungulina suborbiscularis, Bellerophon expansus, Orthoceras aviculum, Cly- menia (! ) complanata, Goniatites sinuosis, Pinnopsis acutirostra, and Pinnopsis ornatus, all of which are found on Cashaqua Creek, and the first also on the Genesee. The following fossils occur in the more central or higher part of the group, but, with the exception of the last, are unknown in the Cashaqua shale : Delthyris lævis, Cardium (? ) vetustum, Or- this termistrata, Lucina (! ) retusa, Nucula lincolata, Astarte subtextilis, Bellerophon striatus (?), Goni- utites bicostatus, Goniatites sinuosis. The Cyatho- crinus ornatissimus, among the most beautiful

* The Dansville Advertiser, September 23, 1880.

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

crinoideans in the system, occurs in this group, but only in a limited stratum, upon the shore of Lake Erie, in the town of Portland. The sculptured column and tentaculated arms and fingers place it among the most ornamental forms of this family of fossils.

Sulphuretted hydrogen springs are numerous, and occur in almost every rock in the district, but those which are copious in water and highly charged with gas, are confined to a few situations. The most important ones are those issuing from the rocks of the upper part of the Onondaga salt group; these being almost the only ones resorted to for the medical properties of their waters. They con- tain, besides the gas, carbonate and sulphate of lime, which are deposited upon the stones and twigs over which the waters flow. At some there is a considerable formation of calcareous tufa, often covered with a yellow coating, which apparently consists of sulphur, and sulphate of lime. The water is usually perfectly limpid, though sometimes it has a whitish or chalky appearance when first flowing from the spring. Such are the springs which occur at Avon .*

There are several unimportant brine springs in the higher rocks of the district. The most remark- able of these is at York, which, for some time after its discovery, yielded a large supply of water, but which has since diminished. It gives evidence of a large proportion of iodine on the application of the usual tests. It issues from the shale of the Hamilton group. A sulphur spring, evolving sul- phuretted hydrogen gas, issues from the upper part of the Onondaga salt group at Caledonia village ; another near Moscow, issuing from the Hamilton group, evolves the same gas.

The superficial or alluvial deposits are extensive in the valley of the Genesee, and originated mainly at a time when that valley of ancient excavation formed the basin of an immense lake, extending from Dansville on the south to its northern extrem- ity, with original outlet at Irondequoit, and into which the detritus was poured through the valleys south of Dansville and that of Cashaqua creek, forming the deep beds of alluvian observed about Dansville and below the mouth of the Cashaqua, and spreading over the entire valley a fine sandy loam. An examination of this deep deposit on the Genesee flats shows conclusively that it was made in a lake such as described, with a current passing through it from south to north. The deposit was evidently carried forward in that direction, as indi-

cated by the lines of lamination. The coarser materials, at the points mentioned, near the em- bouchures of the streams into this lake, are in con- siderable proportion of southern origin. As an illustration of this may be noticed the accumulation of gravel and sand resting on regularly stratified clay, at Squakie Hill, near Mt. Morris. The exca- vation of the Genesee Valley canal exposed a deep section at this place, showing the lower deposit of fine clay horizontally stratified, and succeeded by a stratum of coarse pebbles and gravel, and above this loose sand and gravel, the ruins of rocks on the south. This shows the inundation of these materials after the deposition of clay and loam forming the Genesee flats.

In the vicinity of Portageville we find an immense deposit of coarse sand and gravel, piled upon an older deposit of sand and clay. The lower deposit is regularly stratified, and consists in part of materials of northern origin. This appears to have been partially excavated, and another deposit spread over it of materials from the south, consist- ing of flat masses of sandstone and scarcely worn pebbles, with loam and gravel. It is entirely dis- tinct from the formation below, and proceeded from a long subsequent operation. The excava- tion of the Genesee Valley canal has given an opportunity of examining these deposits in a very satisfactory manner.

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History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 744

Author: Smith, James Hadden. [from old catalog]; Cale, Hume H., [from old catalog] joint author; Mason, D., and company, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 744