History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 13

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840

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GYPSEOUS OR GREEN SHALES, CONTAINING THE BEDS OF GYPSUM .- Immediately upon, and united with the Red Shales, we find the plaster-bearing, Green Shales. The line of division is not well determined,-the red, green, and yellow colored, with some of a blue cast, intermingle for a few fect in thickness. The color of this upper measure of the salt group is variable through its whole thick- ness, being sometimes nearly white, then drab, but it has received its name from the prevailing green. A better name would be the Gypscons Shales, as the term Green Shales is sometimes applied to portions of the Clinton Group. In the Gypscous Shale large masses are found that Prof. Eaton called vermicular lime rock. This rock is essentially calcarious, strong- ly resembling porous or cellular lava. In color, it is a dark gray or blue rock, perforated everywhere with curvilinear holes, but very compact between the holes. These holes vary from microscopic to half an inch in diameter. They are generally very irregular, and communicate in most instances with. each other.

The resemblance of no small part of the rock to lava is perfect ; but the structure of the cells leaves no doubt as to their mineral origin. The cells show that parts of the rock were disposed to separate into thin layers which project into cells, evidently the result of the simultaneous forming of the rock, and of a soluble mineral, whose removal caused the cells in question. This view is confirmed by the discovery in this rock of those forms which are duc to common salt, showing that a soluble saline min- eral had existed in it, had acquired shape in the rock, and had subsequently been dissolved, leaving a cav- ity or cavities.". There are two masses of this vermicular rock-one low down, of about twenty feet in thickness, appearing on James street, Syracuse, and at various other places ; the upper mass is thin- ner ; but its thickness is not uniform. In ine lower mass, on James street, are some specimens of crys- talline character, being serpentines, the action of

* Vanuxum.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

crystallization having been local, producing selenite sometimes erroneously called mica.

Between the two layers of vermicular limestone are the hopper-formed masses. Perhaps these hop- per-formed rocks possess more interest for the geol- ogist than any other part of the group; because they are supposed to furnish proof of the origin of the salt water, of so much importance to the industry of this part of the State. These forms are pro- duced, it is asserted, by the crystallization of salt before the hardening of clay. The supposition being that while the whole mass was in the form of mud, having a large quantity of dissolved salt mixed with it, the salt, (in precisely the same manner observable in the process of the manufacture of solar salt,) was attracted particle to particle, and assumed the form of a hopper, the mud filling it up; then, by the action of water falling on the surface and percolating through the mass that had become full of cracks in the pro- cess of drying, the salt was dissolved and carried down upon the more compact strata below, and by the dip of the strata carried into rather than out of, the hill. No other common soluble mineral present- ing similar forms, and the fact that all our salt water is found below, and near these hopper-formed rocks, give great force to this theory, The absence of salt around these hopper-formed rocks is accounted for by their being so near the surface that the rains must long ago have carried it away. If an excava- tion were made further south, where the overlying rocks are thick enough to protect the salt-bearing rocks from the action of water, undissolved salt might be found.

Prof. Emmons gives the composition of the hop- per-formed masses as follows :

Water of absorption .56

Organic matter 5.00

Silex 34.56

Carbonate of lime 43.06

Alumina and protoxide of iron 13.36

Sulphate of lime 1.00

Magnesia 2.17

99.71

Besides the minerals described as being in, and belonging to this shale, we have yet to mention the beds of gypsum. This valuable mineral is found in various places in the upper parts of the Salt Group, throughout the whole county. It is extensively quarried in the towns of Manlius, DeWitt, On- ondaga, Camillus and Elbridge. The largest openings are in the town of DeWitt, north east from Jamesville. It is here found in masses more than thirty feet thick, of an excellent

quality, and is sold on the bank of the canal, some- times, at less than one dollar per ton. Some very valuable quarries are worked in the town of Camil- lus. The railroad cutting along the valley of Nine Mile Creek exposes large masses. The whole thick- ness of the gypseous shale is 295 feet.

One hundred grains in six ounces of rain water, yield, of the debris of the shale, 6.53, of which 1.03 is vegetable matter, and 5.50 saline. Prof. Emmons gives an analysis of the water of Mr. Geddes' well at Fairmount, which receives its water through a seam in the vermicular lime rock, as follows :

One quart evaporated slowly to dryness, the last part of the process being performed in a platinum capsule, gave Solid matter 8.72

Organic matter 1.44

Saline 7.25

"The water of the Hydrant Company, which supplies Syracuse, contains forty grains of saline matter to the gallon. It consists of thechlorides of sodium and calcium, sulphates of lime and alumina, with some organic matter."* The springs that are discharged from these rocks deposit tufa. Only a few fossils are found in the upper part of the Gypseous Shales. Prof. Hall assigns the rocks composing the salt group to a mud volcano that was "charged with saline matter and corroding acids which would alone destroy all organism." Vanuxum says that the salt group as a whole presents the same order of saline deposits, includ- ing iron, observed in the salt vats where solar evaporation is carried on. The first deposit in the vats is ferruginous, being red oxide of iron, and staining of a red color whatever it falls upon ; the next deposit which takes place is the gypsum ; the third is the common salt, the magnesian and cal- cium chlorides remaining in solution. The group shows first a thick mass, colored red with iron, be- ing its Red Shale ; above which are the gypseous masses ; towards the upper part of which are the salt cavities ; the sulphate of magnesia exists above the whole of these deposits, its existence there be- ing manifested by the needle-form cavities.

WATER LIME is the name given to the next group of rocks. It rests on the Gypseous Shales, and is in all 127 feet thick. The lower measures are irregu- lar in their formation, having uneven beds, with layers of varying thickness. This part of the rock is used mostly for farm fences, to which purpose it is well adapted, resisting the action of frost, and being so thin as to require little skill in laying, mak- ing it the most durable fence known. That

* Emmons.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

part used for makine cet. det is on the top, and con- sists of two layers from three to four feet thick. " Color drab, dull in its fracture, and composed of minute grains with usually but few hnes of division. The upper of these courses burns more easily than the lower. When burned, it is ground fine and mixed with sand - one part of lime to from two to six parts of sand, according to its quality and the speed with which it is desirable the cement should set. Owing to its property of preserving its form and hardening under water, it is used with stone or brick in the construction of cisterns, and without any other sul stance but sand, for pipes for conduct- ing water from springs. Such is its strength that a cylinder of pure cement and sand, six inches in diam- eter, of one inch calibre, buried three feet in the ground, after some years became closed at the lower end, and the pipe sustained the pressure of a column of water forty feet in height. The best practical tests for persons unskilled in judging of the quality of this lime for cement, are : The stone when burned must not slake on the application of water : when ground, the cement must set quickly on being wet ; keep its form under water, and harden till it becomes as hard as a well burnt brick. It is sometimes in- jured by being burned too much, and very often it is not ground fine enough. Mr. Delafield says of water lime : "If it contains twenty per cent of clay. it will slake, but will also cement. If it contains an amount of clay equal to thirty per cent it will not slake well, nor heat, but forms an excellent cement." Sanzin, in his work on Civil Engineering (p) 20) says : " Being master of the proportions of hydraulic lime, we can give any degree of energy required Common lime will bear even twenty per cent of argile ; medium lime - that is, that which is a mean between com- mon and meagre lime - will take trom five to fifteen per cent of argile. When we augment the quantity to forty parts of clay to one hundred of lime, the lime does not slake, the mixture is pulverant, and when moistened, it becomes solid, immediately, when immersed into water." The Onondaga Water-lime is simply an impure lime, having clay enough in it to make it resist the action of water. Large quan- tities of hydraulic cement are manufactured from our rocks and sent in barrels wherever required.

There are some courses of this group known by the local name of blue lime, which being too pure in lime for cement, are burnt for quick lime, and are also used for building purposes. Six varieties of fossils tound in it, are represented in the State Re- ports.

Localities. - About three-fourths of a mile south- west of the village of Manlius, this rock forms the

" falls" in Limestone Creek. "The lower layers contain a large proportion of ordinary lime, free from all accretions of a silicious nature, and there- fore make a first quality of lime." The most exten- sive exposure of water-lime is about a mile south of the village of Manlius, at Brown's saw mill. But- ternut Creek, below Jamesville, near Dunlop's mill, exposes it in large quantities. It is also found in Onondaga Valley and Split Rock quarry, where it appears in the face of the precipice all along for miles. The only additional localities necessary to mention are the crossing of Nine Mile Creek and Skaneateles Creek, over the rocks. The width of surface underlaid by water lime varies constantly ; small outliers, in some places, extend over the gyp- seous group, but in many places the outcrop is pre- cipitous. On the whole, perhaps, the average width of land on the outcrop is not more than a quarter of a mile.

ORISKANY SANDSTONE .- This rock, which lies next above the water lime, is of variable thickness in this county, owing to the uneven surface upon which it was deposited. At Manlius it is but a few inches in thickness, while to the southwest of the village of Onondaga Valley it is seven feet, and at Split Rock there is only a trace to be seen. Again it thickens, and on the road from Elbridge to Skanc- ateles it is about thirty feet thick. This sandstone, with some exceptions, consists of medium sized quartz sand, such as is derived from the primary rocks. The fossils are interesting, and may be found represented in the State Reports. Some of this stone from the Skaneateles quarries was used in constructing locks when the Erie Canal was first made, and was found to wear very well. It is used in the vicinity of the quarry for various structures.

CHAPTER XV.

GEOLOGY CONTINUED - ONONDAGA LIMESTONE- CORNIFEROUS LIMESTONE- SENECA LIMESTONE MARCELLUS SHALES - HAMILTON GROUP- TULLY LIMESTONE-GENESEE SLATE-ITHACA GROUP.

O NONDAGA LIMESTONE .- The next in the ascending order is the Onondaga lime- stone, reaching in a well defined wall across the county, and easily traced from the Helderberg near Albany to Lake Eric. This rock may be easily recognized by its many fossils, its gray color, crys- talline structure and toughness. " It abounds in smooth encrinal stems vencinites lavis) which is found only in this rock in the State ; some of these

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

stems are about an inch in diameter, and usually they are over half an inch. In almost all cases they are replaced by lamellar carbonate of lime."*

At Split Rock, where it is extensively quarried, it is twenty-four feet thick. Its power to resist the action of air, water and frost ; its strength and ability to sustain great weight without crushing ; the ease with which it may be worked ; its evenness of texture and soundness, giving it capability of be- ing worked into elaborate mouldings, (the Court House in Syracuse presenting a sample of this quality ;) render it the most valuable stone for building of any known in this country. The Roch- ester Aqueduct and other principal structures on the enlarged Erie and Oswego Canals in this vicinity, have been made from this stone. It is used as a marble, bearing a high polish, and presenting a beautiful appearance when so polished as to bring out the fossils perfectly. It is generally nearly pure lime, and when burned, will, in the process of slaking, so increase in bulk that two parts become five.

Its analysis by Lewis C. Beck, gives Carbonate of lime 99.30

Oxide of iron .20

Insoluble matter, (sillica and alumina.) .40

99.90

The slaked lime is of purest white. This rock forms terraces in some places, in others it presents perpendicular walls for its whole thickness. The two most marked precipices are, the one at Split Rock, and the other northwest of Jamesville, near one of the Green Lakes. The top of the precipice at Split Rock is 810 feet above tide. Very little of the surface is exposed, the overlying rock in most places covering, and extending to, and forming part of, the perpendicular precipice before referred to. The local name is gray lime. The directions of the vertical joints of this rock are N. 33 to 35 degrees E., and S. 55 to 57 degrees E., dividing the benches into convenient size for working. The surface shows slight scratches, running north and south. " The lower ledges of the limestone frequently con- tain black pebbles whose water-worn character admits of no doubt. When fractured they show identity with the sandstone nodules or accretions found in the Oriskany sandstone."*

CORNIFEROUS LIMESTONE .- Next above, and ly- ing on the Onondaga, are the Corniferous and Seneca Limestones, which are divided in the State Reports merely because the upper measures have a fossil ( Strophomena Lincata) not found below. The line of division between the Helderberg series and the next above is determined by these fossils.

Corniferous is the name given to this limestone by Prof. Eaton in his survey of the Erie Canal, from its containing flint or horn stone in nodules arranged in parallel layers. The lime furnished by this rock is not pure, especially the lower layers ; the upper, or what is called Seneca limestone, is extensively quarried at Marcellus, showing vertical joints and giving nearly square corners. The courses at the top of the quarry are about seven inches thick and lie immediately below the Black Shales ; lower down they are thicker. The Corni- ferous limestone may be traced by its outcrop all the way through the county, the top of the rock sometimes barely covered with earth, presenting plateaus which slope to the south and west in the direction of the dip. Near Manlius village, west of Jamesville, and north of Onondaga Hill, these plains are widest. The general width of this exposure of Corniferous and Seneca Limestone is less than half a mile. At Split Rock it is 849 feet above tide, and is forty feet thick. With it terminates the Helderberg division.

MARCELLUS SHALES is the name given to the black rock that rests on the Helderberg range. " It is characterized by its color and by exhaling a bituminous odor when rubbed. It is a slate, thin- bedded and easily broken, and disintegrates rapidly under the action of water and frost. The silico- argillaceous matter predominates over the calcari- ous. There is sufficient lime to effervesce with mineral acids. The lower part of the rock is more highly charged with lime than the upper."* It contains small particles of coal, and many excava- tions have been made in it in the hope of finding this valuable mineral in sufficient quantities to make the mining profitable. These excavations are no longer made, and the general spread of geologi- cal knowledge has taught the public' that there is no hope of finding coal in this rock in remunera- tive quantities. Its peculiar fossil is the Marcellus Goniatite, which, with some others, is represented in the State Reports. It also abounds in oval bodies called Septaria, which are impure limestone, the materials of which were deposited along with the shaly matter ; but, in consequence of the play of affinities, the calcarious part separated from the great mass of shaly matter, and the molecules com- bined to form the bodies under consideration. Dur- ing the process of drying, the argillo-calcarious matter shrinks and cracks, forming thereby septa, which are subsequently filled by infiltration, either with calcite or the sulphate of barytes or stron- tian."+ At Manlius, a black limestone, from five to

* Emmons.

+ Emmons.

* Vanuxum.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY NEW YORK.

ten feet thick, is found in the midst of the shales. It is weathered out into extremely rough masses, so that the persons who worked it usually called it "chanteel rock." Its composition does not ditter ma- teria ly from that of the Sefforts, and will increase in value and importance when it is known that these masses make the true Roman Cement.º

There is a fault in the rock about a mile west of Manlius village. It is quite local. At Marcellus numerous sink holes exist in the underlying stones, into which portions of the upper masses have fallen This shale is said to be thicker in Onondaga County than anywhere else, forming throughout the base of the next group, between which and the one now under consideration no well defined line of division has yet been observed. The Marcellus Shales, in addition to lime, contain carbonate of magnesia.

The line between the rocks denominated in the State Reports MMarcellus and Hamilton Shales, is not easily determined except by an examination of the fossils. . As we ascend the slope the rocks become more sandy, lose their color and slaty character, until we find ourselves up on those which are in the main silicious, containing very little calcarious or maynesiin matter.

IsMit.los Group .- " This group abounds in fos- sils, such as shells, corals, trilobites, fucoids, and a few plants resembling those of marine origin. In organic remains it is the most prolific of all the New York rocks. ( The characteristic ones are repre- sented in the State Reports.) It extends from near the Hudson to Lake Erie, and consists of shale, slate and sandstone, with endless mixtures of these ma- terials They form three distinct mineral masses as to kinds, but not as to superposition or arrangement, though generally the sandy portion is in the middle of the group.". This rock, with the Marcellus Shales, covers a large part of the county south of the Helderberg range, appearing in the towns of Manlius, Pompey, Onondaga, Marcellus, Skane- ateles, Spafford, LaFayette, Otisco and Tully. The thickness of the Marcellus and Hamilton Shales, by computing the dip, is Got feet. The top of the group, at a point east of and near Skaneateles Lake, is 1,111 feet above tide. The two points from which this calculation is made, - one of them being near the north east corner of lot 83 of the town of On- ondaga, the other on the east side of Skaneateles Lake, -are distant from each other sixteen and a half miles in a direct line. The whole surface em- braced in this distance is cut into deep valleys run- ning nearly north and south, and at the crossing of every stream that flows down the slopes, the rocks

are exposed in steep precipices. In many places they are denuded of their own debris, and as a result vegetation is comparatively stinted

Tur TULLY LIMISIONE rests on the Hamilton Group and marks the line of division between it and the Genesee Slates. This rock varies from fourteen to twenty feet in thickness It is an impure, fine- grained limestone. " dark or blackish blue, breaking into irregular fragments, owing to the particles of carbonate of lime separating from a mixed mass of innumerable points. It makes a good but not white lime.". It is the most southern mass of limestone in the State There are two fossils wholly peculiar to it the Cubridal Atispa, and the Tully Orthis- which are represented in the State Reports This rock is seen on the west side of the Delphi Valley and at Tinker's Falls, near the county line, " where the water flows over the rock about fifty feet, which projects ten or fifteen feet beyond the shale beneath it. The usual fossils are present." It also appears at various points in the town of Tully, from which it takes its name. On the west side of the valley of Onondaga Creek and in the vicinity of Vesper, it has been burned for lime. It underlies nearly the whole of the town of Otisco. The valley of Otisco Lake cuts it, the outerop being seen on both sides of the lake. About a mile south of Borodino, in the town of Spafford, it presents a boll wall from which stone for lime and building has been taken. The line of the outerop is easily traced along the east side of Skaneateles Lake, from this point till the county line is passed. This rock probably underlies and makes the floor of Cortland Valley for a great distance south. The most northerly point at which it appears is in the northeast corner of the town of Otisco ; but from the elevation of the town of l'ompey, it must underlie a considerable portion of that town, although it is so covered with soil that it cannot be seen. The Tully limestone terminates all those deposits in which calcarious matter forms an essential part.

THE GENESEE SLATE resting on the Tully lime- stone, underlies and forms the hills and most of the soils in the south part of the towns of Pompey, Fabius, Tully, Otisco and Spafford. Vanuxum says of the rock, that it is an argillaccous fissile mass, which, with great propriety, might be termed in English local geological phraseology, a mud rock. The few fossils it contains are represented in the State Reports. It may readily be known by its black color, slaty formation and position,-being between the Tully limestone and the sandstone flags of the base of the Ithaca group.

· Vanutum.

· Vanuxum.

HISTORY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

THE ITHACA GROUP is the last formation that requires a description in giving the geology of Onondaga county. But a small portion of the soil is formed from it, as it merely appears on the tops of the highest hills. Vanuxum describes it as "a mass of hard, coarse shale and sandstone, dark in color, often brown after exposure, owing probably to manganese." A characteristic fossil is found near, but south of the county line, at Scott's Corners, the Interstriate Strophomena, which is represented in the State Reports. Above these rocks, but beyond the limits of this county, rise the Chemung, Catskill, Old Red Sandstone, Con- glomerate and Coal Measures, all representing a northern outcrop, and having a dip that goes to show that the whole belongs to one upheaval from the sea, in which these rocks that furnish the material for our soils were formed during those vast periods of time which the Supreme Being has employed in storing up these resources for supply- ing the comforts that now surround man's happy dwelling places.

MARL AND TUFA .- " Marl is a carbonate of lime which has separated from its solvent in water, the latter preventing its particles from cohering and allowing them to subside in the state of calcari- ous mud. . It is in many cases constantly depositing from water holding lime in solution."* On the north side of the Helderberg range there are exten- sive beds of marly tufa that are due to the dissolv- ing of the calcarious rocks of that group. On the south side marl is found in various places, due to water percolating through limestone gravel that has been transported from the Helderberg group. The southern deposits are inconsiderable when com- pared with the great northern beds which extend, nearly unbroken, from east to west across the coun- ty. The principal localities of marl, due to drift de- posits, are in the towns of Fabius and Tully. In both these towns marl has been fashioned into the form of brick, dried and burned into lime, making a very superior article for finishing walls, and selling at about twice the price of lime burned from the common limestone. The lakes of Tully are con- stantly depositing marl. The waters that supply these lakes run through pebbles of limestone and are thus charged with calcarious matter, which in- crusts every twig or obstruction that it meets. Cicero Swamp is a bed of lake marl. Onondaga and Cross Lakes have many feet of it all over their beds. The railroad, as it approaches the tunnel east of Syracuse, exposes, by the excavation, a section of great interest, " showing in the ditch, clay, and

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History of Onondaga County, New York, Part 13

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 840

Author: Clayton, W.W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 840