USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Outline history of Utica and vicinity > Part 10
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Rainfall and Snow in U. S., p. 25. Rep't. N. Y. Weather Bureau, 1896, P. 484. Ibid., p. 439 Rainfall and Snow in U. S., P. 56. Rel. Humidity, p. 23, Table V1I1.
The probability of rain any day in the year is greater in this region than elsewhere in the United States, though the amount of rain in any one day is not usually great. Octo- ber is the most humid month. In the State of New York as a whole, precipitation is roughly proportioned to alti- tude. Yet while the mean annual precipitation of the State is 36. 5 inches, that of Utica, in spite of low elevation, appears to be 43.09 inches. To these frequent rains the beautiful verdure of the region is due.
Rep't N. Y. Weather Bureau, 1396, P. 490
Utica lies in a belt of land including Oneida and Lewis Counties and a part of Madison County, which has, in gen- eral, the greatest snowfall east of the Rocky Mountains. For the years 1889-1892, the average annual snowfall at Utica was 133.9 inches. The average is still greater a little north of Utica.
Rel. Humidity, P. 12. Report N. Y. Weather Bureau, 1896, P 488.
Prevailing winds are easterly and westerly. These are cool at night, and relatively moist. Thunderstorms often come up from the country south of the central lakes and near the borders of Pennsylvania. They move usually eastward over the valley, at an average rate of 30 miles an hour.
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GEOGRAPHY.
The area of the city of Utica is about 8} square miles. F. K. Baxter, It is divided politically into 15 wards, numbered in the C. E. Map in City Directory. Circular of Ch. of Com- merce, 1899.
order of their organization as the city has grown. There are (1899) 42 miles of paved streets.
The population of Utica was, in 1890, according to the United States census, 44,007 ; in 1892, by the New York Circular Ch. of
Commerce, State enumeration of that year, 46,608 ; and in 1899, it is 1899. estimated at 60, 340.
Being on the eastern boundary of the first "westward extension of New England," Utica has fewer people of Dutch and Palatine German, and more of English ancestry Fiske's Civil than have the towns immediately east and "Down the Gov't. in U. S., Valley." The idiom of the people is that of New Eng- pp. 81, 89, 145. land rather than that of the Mohawk valley or the Hud- son valley, and the pronunciation differs but little from that of New England.
After 1801, there was a considerable immigration of Welsh settlers, some of whom made their homes in Utica, and more of whom took lands in the county to the north, especially in Trenton, Steuben, and Remsen. There are also many Irish-American, and German-American citizens, the latter not descended from the German Palatines down the Mohawk, but from later immigrants.
Pioneers, p. 68.
XVI.
GEOLOGY,
" The vicinity of Utica is one of the best localities in the United States for a young student to begin the study of stratigraphic geology and palaeontology. To this fact I am largely indebted for such suc- cess as I have had in dealing with problems to the elucidation of which a knowledge of stratigraphy and paleontology is necessary."-C. D. Walcott, Director U. S. Geol. Survey.
T HE fact that Utica may claim able geologists among its noteworthy citizens is not a chance. New York, State Museum the mother State in geologic nomenclature, has exposed Bulletin, Vol.4, No. 19, P. 137. within its borders a more complete and extensive series of the formations below the Carboniferous and above the Cambrian than any other State in the Union. Of the fif- teen central counties embraced in the Third Geological Vanuxem,Sur vey Third District of the State, Oneida County has the greatest num- Geol. District, ber of different kinds of rock. It ranks with Eastern New P. 259. York in the completeness of its Lower Silurian rocks, and with Western New York in the completeness of its Upper Silurian rocks. The formations of the county begin with A. P.Brigham, in Trans. the Archaean and pass on well into the Devonian. Ex- O.H. S., 1887-9, clusive of the Quaternary, sixteen fairly distinct geo- p. 102. logical horizons have representation within the county. Of these sixteen, five, namely, the Trenton, the Utica, the Oriskany, the Clinton, and the Oneida, have their typical development here, and take-their names from our local
Ibid., p. 118.
geography. The region offers few intricate problems, the strata of organic and sedimentary deposits being for the most part unmodified save by ordinary geological forces. An hour's journey from Utica will place one upon almost any important rock of the county. A walk of three or four
139
GEOLOGY.
miles often covers as many geological epochs. For in- stance, if one start in the " Gulf " in East Utica, go up Third Street, through Sylvan Glen, and cross two fields at its head, he has walked upon Utica slate, Hudson River shales, Oneida conglomerate and several rocks of the Clinton group.
The facilities about Utica for the collection of organic remains are great, as at Trenton Falls for the Trenton, at Holland Patent for the Utica, at Rome for the Hudson River, at New Hartford and Kirkland for the Clinton, and H. S., 1887-9, at Waterville and Oriskany Falls for the Lower and Upper P. 118. Helderberg. Directions for collecting and preparing speci- mens will be found in the respective parts of a bulletin issued by the Smithsonian Institution. (In the Public Library, Bulletin U. S. National Museum, No. 39 ; Part B., 1891, Plants ; Part K., 1895, Fossils ; Part I., 1895, Rocks ; Part H., 1895, Minerals.)
In prehistoric times, several tens of millions of years ago according to the lowest probable calculation, the nu- Dana's Re- cleus of the North American continent lay in the ocean in Book, pp. 444, vised Text- the form of a great V, the point being north of the present 445. region of the Great Lakes, the longer arm extending up into Alaska, and the shorter arm into Labrador. South- Ibid., p. 237. east of the point lay a small island, which was the nucleus of the State of New York, the present region of the Adi- rondacks. The rocks of this region are crystalline, in- Bulletin, Vol.4, State Museum cluding gneiss, granite, diorite, and norite. These rocks No. 19, pp. 138, were originally sedimentary, probably deposited from the 139. broken-up material of the cooled world-crust; but they were afterwards subjected to metamorphism. Though a simple life may have existed at the time when they were Dana's Re- vised Text- deposited, they probably contain no fossils. Thrust up book, p. 241. through them are solid masses of Plutonic rocks, perhaps plastic when forced to the surface.
A. P. Brigham in Trans O.
140
OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
State Museum
Rock of this period appears also at Little Falls, where the red and gray Laurentian granite has been forced, Bulletin, Vol.4, dome-like, through the Trenton limestone and Utica and Hudson River shales which once lay above it.
No. 19, P. 138.
A. P. Brigham n Trans. O. H. S., 1887.9, P. 103.
Archaean rocks cover the north-eastern portion of Oneida county, the Black River forming in general the boundary line.
Dana's Re- vised Text- book, p. 447.
To the south of the Adirondack island was the Appal- achian region ; its highest part a long, slight ridge rising above the surface of the sea ; its lower portions somewhat submerged, a sea-border receiving sediment from the land. Between island and ridge was a clear, if not very deep, sea, in which marine life abounded. In this sea lay the greater part of New York State, receiving the stratified deposits that mark the beginning of Palaeozoic time.
Oneida County is situated at the southwestern base of the Adirondacks, and therefore all the stratified fossil- bearing rocks run across it in southeast and northwest bands, gradually assuming a more nearly east and west direction. The strata slope gently southward.
About the slowly-sinking shores of the Adirondack island, in the shallow, sandy water, the Cambrian rocks, including the Potsdam sandstone, were deposited. Nothing in modern geologic research is more interesting than the study of the Cambrian rocks, by C. D. Walcott, W. B. Dwight, and S. W. Ford, who have shown that Bulletin, Vol.4, many limestones of the State, as well as sandstones, be- State Museum long to this period. It is believed, however, that this formation is wanting in Oneida County, where the waters were becoming deep enough to favor the formation of the Trenton beds.
The opening of the Lower Silurian age is marked in this region by the deposition of an impure, sandy or gritty limestone, the calciferous sand-rock. This appears, in
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. S., 1887-9, P. 103.
No. 19, P. 145.
WWWNASO HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO.
SHERMAN FALL, TRENTON FALLS.
Photograph of N. H. I.arton
141
GEOLOGY.
Oneida County, only in the bed of the West Canada creek, on the boundary line of Herkimer County. It overlies the A. P. Brigham up-thrust Archaean rock at Little Falls, and in its inter- in Trans. O.H. stices are found there and at Middleville the quartz crystals S., 1887-9, p.103. called "Little Falls diamonds." It is known by its brownish color, and the rough, knotty appearance due to the weathering off of particles of lime, leaving the sandy portions.
The purer limestones of the Trenton group were next deposited. These were formed by organic life, just as limestone is being formed in coral seas to-day. (See Dana's "Corals and Coral Islands.") The average depth of the sea-bottom must have been at least 100 feet, and it P. 259. is probable that the climate of the region was warm. The thickness of the deposit favors the belief that the reefs
Dana's Revis-
ed Text-book,
Dana's Corals were sinking at about the same slow rate as that at which and Coral they were built up, perhaps five feet in a thousand years. 258, 350, 360. Islands, pp.
Of the four stages of the Trenton, two are found in the county, the Black River limestone sparingly, and the Trenton limestone in great abundance. The former ap- pears along the Black River in the town of Boonville. The latter enters Oneida County from Lewis County, 260. where it is about three miles wide, and extends to the West Canada Creek. At Trenton village it is about seven
Vanuxem, p.
miles wide. It is well seen at Trenton Falls, at Holland Patent, at the bottom of Lansing's Kill, and along the Mohawk River in Western. At Trenton Falls the two and Coral varieties of the limestone are marked, the upper hard,
Dana's Corals
Islands, p. 352.
A. P. Brigham grey, crystalline, massive, thick-bedded, a good building in Trans. O. stone, of which the State Hospital Buildings at Utica are H. S., 1887-9, p. 105. constructed ; also, for example, the foundation of the Park Church. The lower variety is nearly black, thin-bedded, soft, and composed almost wholly of organic forms. Fossils abound, especially of sponges, corals, crinoids,
142
OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O.) H. S., 1887-9, p. 104.
crustaceans, and various classes of mollusks, which last are characteristic. The vicinity of the Falls has afforded a rich field for research.
Half a mile east of the gorge at Trenton Falls a thin bed of limestone outcrops in a ravine. This bed Mr. Wal- cott found especially rich in trilobites, and from it he made thin rock sections for study, with transmitted light, of the appendages of Calymene Senaria, Ceraurus Pleurex- anthemus, and to a limited extent, of Asaphus Platyceph- alus. He thus proved that trilobites had legs before any specimens with evident legs were discovered. This work was done in 1876 and 1877. Since then, the char- acteristic trilobite of the Utica slate, Triarthrus Becki, has been found with legs in the slate near Rome.
Walcott's The Trilobite, P. 212.
Dana's Re- vised Text- Book, p. 258.
Dana's Re- vised Text- book, p. 254.
Many of the corals of the Trenton are cup-shaped, and full of radiating plates. Hemispherical and branching corals are also found. Brachiopod shells are characteristic. Cephalopods are especially common and those of the Or- thoceras family were the largest living creatures in the
Ibid., pp. 255, 256, 257.
seas. Some Orthoceras shells are from 12 to 15 feet long.
State Museum Bulletin, Vol.4, feet. No. 19, P. 149.
The entire thickness of the Trenton formation is 300 It has a double system of vertical joints.
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, P. 104.
The Utica slate marks the passage from clear oceanic waters to shallow coast waters turbid with silt, and a cor- responding change of living forms. It covers a much larger surface west and south of the Trenton in all its range. It passes northwest through the county, in a band from six to eight miles wide extending from Utica and Deerfield to Ava.
Related For- mations, p. 1.
Its thickness at the typical locality in the vicinity of Utica is 600 feet. It is seen in the "Gulf " in East Utica, in Walcott's UticaSlate and the canal, in the flats for some distance along Reel's and Ballou's Creeks, and in the ravines in Deerfield. These and Holland Patent are the best localities for fossils. The
I43
GEOLOGY.
slate shows no change of character throughout, whether Vanuxem, p. mineral or fossil. It is nearly black in color, fine grained, A. P. Brigham 261. and breaks up rapidly under exposure. It was classed by n Trans. O. Dana as marking the Utica epoch of the Trenton period, p. 104. H. S., 1887-9, but is placed at the State Museum with the Hudson River State Museum group. Mr. Walcott argues that both lithological charac- No. 19, P, 146. ter and organic remains entitle it to represent a separate epoch, in which he includes also some lead-bearing lime- stones and some sandstones, as well as shales, of Central and Southern States. " Of one hundred species . occurring" in the Utica slate, "fifty-four are peculiar to it.
In the town of Deerfield, N. Y., the Trenton and Utica formations are as intimately connected, lithologi- Utica Slate, cally, as the Utica formation is with the succeeding Hudson River formation."
In the fauna of the Utica slate, graptolites predominate. The plume-like impressions of these cover the upturned surface of the slate. In the living state there were cells A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. along the notched margins, one for each notch, from which H. S., 1887-9, the little animals protruded themselves. They belonged P. 104. Dana's Re- to the hydroids. The carbonaceous matter and dark color vised Text- of the slate are probably due to these fossils. The trilo- A. P. Brigham book, p. 255. bite Triarthrus Becki is also characteristic, but is rare in in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9. localities where graptolites abound. Heads of this trilobite p. 104. in great numbers may be found in the gulf east of Third U. Slate, p. 12. Street. They are marked with transverse furrows. Il.) This trilobite is never found in the Trenton limestone be- 10. Utica Slate, p. low the upper shaly beds that mark the transition to the Utica slate.
The slate has within the county two saline springs of commercial importance, the Boonville Mineral Spring and the Oneita Spring at Utica.
(See also Plate
Two sets of vertical joints may be seen in the creek east Vanuxem, p. of Utica, one N. 30° E. and the other N. 55° E. 59.
Bulletin, Vol.4,
PP. 4, 11, 12, 14.
144
OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9,
P. 105.
Ibid., p. 115.
Next above the Utica slate, come the shale and sand- stone of the Hudson River group. The Frankfort shale at the base has thin layers of sandstone. This group enters the county on the eastern border of New Hartford. Only the lower mass, (the Frankfort shale), is here present. It is a light brownish, sandy shale, with few fossils. It ap -. pears at Sylvan Glen, east of Third Street, is the mass at Forest Hill Cemetery, and shows a thickness of 40 feet in Halleck's Ravine. It passes north of Rome, into Lewis County. Isolated patches on the Deerfield hills and the higher parts of Steuben show that it once covered a wider area. The upper division, (consisting of the Lorraine and Pulaski shales), begins near Rome and extends north- ward into Lewis County. Sandstone begins to appear south of Rome, and increases until, as in quarries in Westmoreland, it wholly replaces the shale. It is light grey in color, and a good building stone. Hudson River rocks extend from New Hartford to Annsville. A saline spring, Halleck's spring in Westmoreland village, is found in this formation, and there is a sulphur spring in Halleck's Ravine. The springs at Saratoga and Ballston originate in rock of the same stage and general character.
State Museum
It had always been supposed that cephalopods and sea- weeds were the highest forms of life existing in the Lower Silurian. But recently Mr. Walcott has announced the Bulletin, Vol.4, presence of fishes ; a land-plant, an acrogen, has been No 19, p. 150. discovered in Great Britain ; and insects have been report- ed from Europe.
To the Hudson River rocks, succeed those of the Me- dina epoch, with the Oneida conglomerate at the base. This is a pudding-stone of quartz pebbles cemented to- gether more or less firmly. Sometimes the upper layers become a coarse blue or grey sandstone, the former com- pact and durable in its best layers. The weathered blocks
GEOLOGY. 145
from this formation have usually a rusty color, due to the presence of iron pyrites.
The conglomerate is the stone commonly used for foun- A. P. Brigham dations in the city of Utica. It is quarried on the Frank- in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, fort and Græfenberg hills, and at the head of Sylvan Glen. P 106. In the first-mentioned place, layers of soft, dark shale are seen. The common fossils are fucoids only. In the vi- Dana's Man- cinity of Utica, the mass is from 15 to 40 feet in thickness, ual, p. 218. though elsewhere in the county it is 120 feet thick. It extends from New Hartford to Florence.
These rocks mark the beginning of Upper Silurian time, when New England and eastern New York were elevated, A. P. Brigham and the Green Mountains were made. We do not find H. S., 1887-9, in Trans. O. Upper Silurian rocks in eastern New York. But Oneida P. 106. County was still in part submerged. The coarse sediments State Museum found in the lower layers of the conglomerate furnish a Bulletin, Vol.4, record of upheaval and agitated waters. The source of No. 19, P. 152. the fragments and the method of deposition form one of the obscure problems of geology.
The upper rocks of the Medina epoch show in the north- A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. western portion of Oneida County only a small beginning H. S., 1887-9,
p. 106.
State Museum of the development which becomes marked in western Bulletin, Vol.4 No. 19, P. 152.
New York.
The rocks of the Clinton group rest on this sandstone from east to west throughout the county. They consist A. P. Brigham of bluish-green shales, red, blue and grayish calcareous H. S., 1887-9.
in Trans. O. sandstones, and two thin beds of red oölitic iron ore. This p. 107. ore looks like an aggregate of small shot, and has many fossils of small size. It is extensively mined in the vicin- State Museum ity of Clinton, where it has been studied by Prof. A. H. Bulletin, Vol.4, Chester. formerly of Hamilton College. (See his address be- No. 19, P. 153. A. P. Brigham fore the Utica Mercantile and Mfg. Assn., 1881). The Clinton in Trans. O. rocks are variable in character, and among the most valu- p. 117. H. S., 1887-9, able we have. Verona Springs rise through the shale.
10
146
OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
Rogers's Glen at Willowvale shows it to great advantage. In general, the presence of the iron-bearing beds is indi- cated by the reddening of the roads as one drives southwest from Utica. The formation may be examined in Kirkland, A. P. Brigham Clinton and Westmoreland, and near Verona. There are in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, numerous quarries, and the building-stones of the group A. P. Brigham may be seen in the Stone Church at Clinton, and in Grace in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, and Calvary Churches, the Church of the Reconciliation, and the Memorial Presbyterian Church at Utica. The red-brown sandstone of which the Tabernacle Baptist Church was built comes from rocks of this group near Frankfort. The fossils found are numerous marine plants, brachiopods, corals, and tracks of crustaceans.
P. 115.
P. 107.
The Niagara group is not important in this county, but State Museum it appears in a thin band of shale and limestone. The Bulletin, Vol.4, best development is in the town of Vernon, along Sconon- A. P Brighamdoa Creek. The blue shale in the southern part of Kirk- No. 19, p. 154. land belongs to this period and contains the concretions peculiar to it. These are often two feet in diameter, and the coats crack off like the layers of an onion. The concretions are of limestone, and largely compose a layer a foot or more thick in the shale.
in Trans O. H. S., 1887-89, P. 107.
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, P. 107.
A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, p. 108.
In many of the ravines of Paris, and over an irregular area in New Hartford, Kirkland and Marshall, in the Oris- kany Valley, on College Hill, Clinton, and in the towns of Westmoreland and Vernon, may be seen the red shale of the Salina group, with its occasional green layers and hemi- spherical green spots. It is quarried for the walks of the A. P. Brigham Hamilton College campus in the ravines at either side. It in Trans. O. H. S., 1887-9, pp. 108, 109, 116, 118. contains no fossils. It appears on hill-tops and passes down hill sides, southward. The upper members of the group, which are so rich in gypsum and salt in Onondaga County, are but little developed in Oneida County.
The Lower Helderberg rocks indicate a change to deep
147
GEOLOGY.
seas with advancing forms of life. The waterlime group is well shown in Kirkland, Marshall and Augusta. It is used in this county as a source of quicklime. In this for- mation, near Waterville, Mr. A. O. Osborn discovered in 1882 a fossil scorpion which has been named in his honor. It is possibly the earliest air-breather yet found in America. An interesting crustacean, Eurypterus Remipes, marks this group.
The upper members of the Lower Helderberg appear at Oriskany Falls. They are hard blue limestones with great State Museum Bulletin, Vol.4, abundance of Upper Silurian brachiopods, corals, and No. 19, P, 158. crinoids. Life at this period was still largely marine. A few land plants, similar to the equiseta, occur.
The Oriskany sandstone marks the close of the Upper Silurian, and the beginning of the Devonian age. It is found in Augusta and Marshall, especially in the vicinity Ibid., p. 159. of Oriskany Falls, where it is 20 feet thick, coarse in tex- ture, and of light yellowish color, turning brown by expo- sure. Large brachiopod shells are found in this rock.
The Cauda Galli and the Schoharie grits do not appear west of Herkimer County. But the Corniferous rocks are well developed. The Onondaga below is thin and light in A. P. Brigham in Trans. O. color. The Corniferous above has extensive layers of horn- H. S., 1887-9, stone or chert, the nodules of which may be seen in every p. 109. field and stone wall in the southern part of the county. Organic forms are profuse, including corals, crinoids, shells, and a peculiar species of trilobite.
Rocks of the Hamilton period are the latest found in Ibid., p. IIo. this county. The Marcellus shales at the base are dark in color, and similar to the Utica slate, or the shales of the coal formation. They cover diagonally half the town of Sangerfield, along the valley of Chenango Creek. In Bulletin, Vol.4, State Museum Bridgewater, coal has been found in this shale; and true No. 19, P. 162.
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
cannel coal, in small quantity, has been found at Water- ville. These deposits have no commercial importance.
The Hamilton shales, lighter in color, rest upon the Museum, p. 163 Marcellus shales. They have soft sediments, limestone bands, and abundant remains of life. These shales cover the highest land in the southern part of the county, and extend north to Paris, where they cap Tassel Hill.
All the rocks in the southern part of the county have been more or less scored away by the streams running north and south from the limestone watershed.
State Museum Bulletin, Vol.4, No. 19, p. 158.
The characteristic fishes of the Devonian are not report- ed within the county.
Ibid., p. 192.
To the Hamilton group belongs the North River blue- stone, which is used largely for sidewalks in Utica. It is a durable variety of sandstone which, because of its even texture, can be sawed into any required shape. It has been received from Seneca Falls, but now comes more often from quarries in Ulster County. Years ago, Trenton limestone was used for sidewalks in Utica, as on Whites- boro Street and lower Genesee Street ; but it disintegrated so rapidly as to be very uneven on the surface.
A. P. Brig- ham's Phys. Geog. in Sec- ondary Schools, School Re- view, Oct., 1897, P. 531.
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