USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 3
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 3
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The Niagara limestone, next above this, outerops at several places in Cieero, and creates the water power at Bridgeport, where the piers and abutments of the bridge are of this stone. . The layers are thinner than in the western part of the State, and laek those which are highly fossiliferous. Whiting's quarry is two miles southwest of South Bay, and a good deal of stone has been taken from it, though little is quarried now. Some material has been taken from it for the electrie road. The entire thickness is five feet, and the lower courses are useless. Large boulders of the true Niagara were once abundant in the fields, and many remain. It is a good building stone, and has been used for
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
lime. Other quarries are Young's, Clay; Bigelow's, Baldwinsville, where it is thieker and a mile north of the village; and Dietrick's, near Lysander village, where it is still quarried.
The Onondaga Salt group follows, the red gypseous shales being usually below the green, but thin bands of green or red may appear in each. The red shale, in its harder layers, forms reefs in the Seneca river. In the green shales are the gypsum beds and the vermieular limestone. The Erie eanal forms very nearly the division of these two shales through the county. The average sur- face width of the red shales, mostly north of the eanal, is about seven miles. On the south side the green shales average about three. Geddes estimated the thickness of the red shales at three hundred and forty-one feet at the Erie Canal in Syracuse. The green shales vary in thickness, but will average about two hundred and ninety-five feet.
The trap dykes and serpentine rocks in Syracuse, explored and described by Mr. Philip F. Schneider, have awakened much interest, because they are in- trusive and also have characters closely resembling some features of the dia- mond fields of South Africa. These eurious forms have been examined in and near the eity.
Gypsum is quarried in several places, but has its best development in the eastern part of the county. The erystalized gypsum varies much in character. At the railroad cut, near Fayetteville, it oceurs in large masses, transparent or almost black. In Marcelhis the snowy fibrous kind abounds. At the Oswego Bitter it may be had coated with pure sulphur. Its crystals are conspicuous in many places.
The vermicular limestone appears in several places in the red shales. It is bluish when first broken. changing to gravish drab or dark gray on exposure. It is full of holes. varying much in size. A retaining wall in Renwick Avenue; Syracuse, shows large blocks and large pores, some of the latter being over a quarter of an inch in diameter, but they are usually smaller. At the sonth line of St. Mary's Cemetery, Syracuse, the extension of Van Buren street exposes this roek, and there are other exposures not far away. This seems the upper and thinner layer, while the lower and thicker, with smaller pores, oceurs near James street. It is found in other places. Between these lavers are the hopper- formed masses, suggestive of erystals of salt. In Syracuse they have been found five inches in diameter, and oeeur at Marcellus station and elsewhere.
The water line rests on the upper gypseous shales, with a thiekness of one hundred and twenty-seven feet, according to Geddes. It includes the tenta- culite limestone. Schneider says that a vertical seetion through the former, at Alvord's quarry, Manlius, would be seventy-six feet thick, and that the other is twenty-two feet thick in Hinsdale's quarry. near this. The part used for cement is at the top, with thinner courses between the blue lime below. The blue lime is also used for quick lime. and large quantities of both are employed. The group forms falls on Limestone ercek and elsewhere, and is exposed at Jamesville. Onondaga Valley, Split Roek, Nine Mile and Skaneateles ereeks. The average width of land on this outerop is about a quarter of a mile. There is a long list of quarries.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
The Oriskany sandstone succeeds this, and is very variable in thickness. It is a few inches thick at Manlius; a Split Rock only a trace is seen. Southwest of Onondaga Valley it reaches seven feet. Half a mile south of Jamesville it is less than three feet thick. East of the Glenside mills in Skaneateles it is twenty feet thick, and on the road between Skanaeteles and Elbridge it has a thickness of thirty feet. The stone is coarse, and only large fossils appear.
The Upper Helderberg limestones are in three divisions, the Onondaga gray, the Corniferous, and the Seneca blue limestones. The first is the finest lime- stone in the State for building purposes. Geddes says it is twenty-four feet thick at Split Roek. and the Onondaga Reservation quarries have a wide reputation. It is largely used in Syraeuse, as in the post-office, eity hall, old courthouse, and other prominent buildings. It takes a fine polish, and is nearly pure lime. The finest precipices formed by it are at the Green lakes near Jamesville. and at Split Rock, where it is eight hundred and ten feet above tide. But little of the surface is exposed. The Upper Helderberg ushers in the Devonian age, in which fishes first appeared.
Above the Onondaga are the Corniferous and Seneca limestones, distin- guished by a fossił. Corals of various kinds entered largely into the compo- sition of all the rocks of this group. The Corniferous limestone has its name from the nodules of chert or hornstone occurring in parallel layers. These lessen its value for lime or building. The upper or Seneea limestone is quarried at Marcellus and elsewhere. with fairly good results. It is much inferior to the Onondaga and is not exported like that. Of the latter State Geologist Merrill said: "The well known Split Rock and Reservation quarries in Onondaga county have produced an immense quantity of excellent and beautiful stone, which has found a market in all parts of the State." There are outerops of the Seneca and Corniferous all through the county, often forming plateaus, but the general exposure is not half a mile wide. Geddes gives the formation at Split Roek as forty feet thick and eight hundred and forty-nine feet above tide. Schneider says the Seneca, at a quarry a little southeast of Mareellus, shows a ledge on the south side which is ten feet thick. At Jamesville, below the falls, are interesting faults and over thrusts.
A black rock, resting on the Helderberg group, has been ealled the Marcellus shales, and is so suggestive of eoal that many excavations have been made for this. In the lower part of this is a dark-colored bituminous mass, called the Goniatite limestone. from the eurious chambered shells which it contains. This layer is about two feet out from the base. and its best exposure is about two miles west of Manlius, where a fine fold may be seen. It is about three feet thick but is not a durable stone. This fossil appears for the first time in this rock. There are also oval eoneretions in the Marcellus shales, similar to those found in the Hamilton group, in which these shales are often ineluded.
- The Hamilton group is of high interest for its fossils, which are varied and abundant. It includes the larger part of the southern towns. The thickness of this and the last is estimated to be six hundred and ninety-one feet by Geddes, who says the top of the group opposite Glenhaven, is one thousand one hundred and eleven feet above tide. Some make the thiekness less. Be-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
sides shells and corals there are a few sea-weeds, and at least one land plant. Leaves of a sea-weed may be found south of Ten Mile point on Skaneateles lake. Shells are often found retaining their lustrous nacre, and darker ones may be pieked out entire from the loose shales. Many forms of corals are found, but especially the cyathophylloid forms, or cup corals. They appear in incredible quantities just south of Staghorn point, Skaneateles lake, where not less than a dozen species of this form are found, beside several other families. These cup eorals occur in the ledges on George Patten's farm in Spafford, along the roadside three miles north of Otisco Center, and in the ravines near Vesper. There are other places where they crop out in the middle of the road.
The group is divided into deep valleys, running north and south, with con- necting valleys or depressions in a few places, suggesting puzzling questions for geologists. The sides of these valleys are everywhere cut by streams or ravines, whose course is mostly east and west. Sometimes a harder rock appears, giving variety to the deeper ravines. Pratt's falls and those near Delphi, Tinker's falls, the Pitch-off in Marcellus, numerous ravines and the shores of Skaneateles lake are among the favorable places for studying this interesting group.
The Tully limestone succeeds the group just considered, and is from four- teen to twenty feet thiek, according to Geddes. Mr. Schneider says it has "its greatest development in Onondaga County, where it is thirty or more feet in thickness." Mr. E. B. Knapp, of Skaneateles, who has studied this rock thoroughly. makes it over thirty-one feet, and part of his account follows :
"Among the notable places where it may be easily studied are those on Mr. Ousley's farm, and on the bluff about a mile south from Vesper in Tully; at Tinker's falls, near Apulia in Fabius; at Split Rock, about one mile south from Borodino, in Spafford, and in any of the many deep ravines on the east side of . the Skaneateles lake south from Henry Weston's farm. The most northern outerop of the Tully is at Split Rock, near Borodino. Here the Tully is a mass of broken erinoid columns intermixed with many species of fossils which characterize the Hamilton group. Its altitude at this place is one thousand three hundred and forty-nine feet above the sea and four hundred and seventy feet above the Skaneateles lake, and the dip of the roek is southward, about thirty-eight feet to the mile. At Ripley's ravine, one and one-half miles north- west from Spafford Corners. is a nearly vertical exposure of this limestone, con- sisting of ten layers. having an aggregate thickness of thirty-one feet and two inches. It is an excellent building stone and on long exposure to the air weathers to a light blue color. The 'Nunnery' schoolhouse near Borodino was built of this."
Two beautiful fossils distinguish this limestone from all other rocks. Geddes says its most northerly exposure is in the northeast part of Otisco, underlying most of that town, and that it is sometimes burned for lime. Its line is easily traced on both sides of Otisco and Skaneateles lakes. Mr. Schneider described a fine exposure of this rock at the Solvay quarry, one and one-half miles south- east of Vesper, where it is fine-grained and thirty feet thiek. The bottom layer not then quarried, (1897) was three feet thick. He added : "It is undoubtedly
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
due to the occurrence of this heavy layer so near the bottom of the mass and just above the soft Hamilton shales. that projecting ledges and caves are present in nearly all of the glens where this rock erops out. The Buck-tail falls, Otisco, and Tinker's falls. Fabius, are notable examples."
Above this is the Genesee slate, forming the hills and part of the soils of the southern parts of Pompey, Fabius, Tully, Otisco and Spafford. It is black and słaty, with but few fossils.
Above this again, and capping the highest hills, Mr. Knapp places the Port- age slate of the Chemung group, which he describes as a dark-colored, fine- grained slate. Mr. Geddes ealls it the Ithaea group, and says the rocks are a hard coarse and dark shale. Northern boulders are found in the fields, and the glacial drift in the cross valleys is full of these.
Marl is found both north and south of the Helderberg range, that on the south being of small extent, but valuable when burned for lime. The Tully lakes still deposit marl, their tributaries flowing over limestone pebbles. But little of it seems organic matter. Onondaga and Cross lakes have deep beds of it, largely organic. In the latter a large island has appeared within fifty years, almost entirely composed of shells. Cicero swamp is underlaid with lake marl. In many places it is corrosive and soon destroys small shells. Along the valley from Syracuse to Jordan it is much used in making cement. It has attracted less attention east of the city.
Calcareous tufa is found in many places south of the Helderberg range, but is more abundant north of this, within the Salt group. often preserving the forms of leaves, mosses, twigs, and even trunks of trees. Some masses of beech leaves are especially fine. Such masses are usually found where springs emerge on the sides of hills or valleys, and are most frequent in Camillus, De Witt and Manlius, but appear in the valleys of Onondaga, Skaneateles and Nine Mile creeks. John Bartram described one of these places at Onondaga, when he was there in 1743. On July 30 he said; "This morning after breakfast I went to the cast hill, and found a fine spring on the west side, surrounded with Arbor Vitae, some a foot diameter. This water is of such a petrifying nature, that as it runs among the fallen leaves it inerusts them and petrifies in great stones as big as one can well lift; there was a great piece of ground covered with them, which had turned the water-course several times; I have seen three of these springs in my travels; two before this."
Ferruginous tufa, containing both iron and lime, forms a large deposit at a place not far northeast of Syracuse; also on Nine Mile ereek below Marcellus. on Oneida river and in Fabius on Linestone creek. In some places deposits of calcareous matter cement gravel into a hard rock or conglomerate, as at Half- way, and on Seneca river, four miles west of Baldwinsville. In Hopper's gleu, Onondaga Valley, are great masses of conglomerate of this kind.
Peat or muek abounds in swamps and low lands, and vast quantities are contained in Cicero swamp. Efforts have been made to use it as fuel, but with- out success. It can be done but does not pay. Mr. Geddes said : " As a manure muek is fast coming into use, and soon will be much prized." The increased use is not so great as he had expected, but these low lands are already in re-
.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
quest for celery and some other vegetables, and some waste lands of the present may yet become our richest garden spots. A few are now the haunts of botanists, who find floral rarities in them and dread coming improvements.
TOPOGRAPITY
Five beautiful valleys traverse Onondaga, from north to south, terminating beyond the center in the lower lands, in modern days acording such an easy route for the railroads and canal. While most of the water flows northward in these, each valley has a southern outlet and is the source of a stream tributary to the Susquehanna. Generally this source is not far from the county line, but in Pompey, it is eight miles within it.
Beginning on the east the hills on the west line of Madison county slope down to the east branch of Limestone creek in. the towns of Fabius, Pompey and Manlius, affording many charming views of the valley through which it flows. At an early day Chittenango creek and Cazenovia lake, one thousand one hundred and ninety feet high, were included in the territory of the Onon- dagas, who had forts but a mile from this lake in 1600 and later. A little southeast of Delphi are two charming waterfalls, one succeeding the other on the stream. They are hoth high and picturesque, and seein never to want water, so great a laek in many places.
Farther down the valley are the beautiful Edwards' falls, south of Manlius, at the terminus of the Suburban electric road. Farther east is the noted Deep Spring of early days, once beautiful but beautiful no more. Just before coming to the canal on the east of the valley the pretty Green lakes are reached, of which more will be said hereafter. Then three fine streams unite and Chitte- nango creek becomes the eastern boundary before Oneida lake is reached.
A long and high ridge divides the two branches of Limestone creek, but these come together at Manlius village, and form two branches of one valley. Between these is Indian hill, the principal scene of the French missions here. Between these branches too, were other Onondaga towns of earlier date. In the south part of this valley is Carpenter's pond, whose waters flow southward. and southwest of Watervale are Pratt's falls, one hundred and thirty-seven feet high, falling from the table land into a picturesque ravine. Some small ponds lie south of Fayetteville. West of these, but in the same drainage, are White and Green lakes, easily reached from Jamesville. Green lake has strik- ing features of many kinds, and Brickyard falls deserve a visit.
Pompey hill, with its grand views and early traditions, separates this valley from that of Butternut ereek, but a eross valley through Fabius connects them. Fabius hill, two thousand one hundred and fifteen feet high and the highest point in the county, except the hill next east, is on the south side of this pass, but the view from it is less expounded than some others. on account of the high hills clustering all around. Between two of these is Labrador pond, and one or two others lie farther north. The waters of this pond, which is on the county line, flow sonth, while the headwaters of Butternut creek are but a few rods from its inlet. There are grand views from the hillsides all along this
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
valley, and the reservoir near Jamesville forms a beautiful lake. On the east side of this old Onondaga was burned in 1696. Picturesque falls and views with remarkable geological features, ocenr all through Jamesville and in its vieinity, while the stately Penitentiary adds a new feature and industry to the place. On the east lie two small lakes already mentioned; on the west is an- other, even more picturesque and having Indian legends.
From the southern part of this valley there is an easy transit to the Tully lakes in the valley next west. There are several of these ponds, all but one dis- charging into the Susquehanna. Here begins the Onondaga creek, flowing north from the Tully flats. It soon enters the hills, passing Cardiff, the grave of the stone giant. Bear mountain rises abruptly on the west side of the valley there, affording fine views from its top. Farther north, on the same side, comes in the west branch of the creek through the strikingly picturesque valley of South Onondaga. The moraines and terraces in both these valleys are re- markable features, unequaled'in all this region. The great hill on the reserva- tion affords several grand views, and east of the quarries is another bold hill which is seen from every point of view. It commands a magnificent prospeet. There is a picturesque waterfall east of the council house. Passing Onondaga hill, "beautiful for situation." Onondaga lake and the salt springs are reached. the former flowing into the Seneca river. Contiguous to this broad valley are many stone quarries, the most notable of all being those of Spit Rock, through which an electrie road passes.
From the southern part of the valley an easy pass conducts one into that of Otisco lake and Nine Mile creek. In this also the waters flow both ways, and there are the usual waterfalls in the many ravines. From the head of Otisco lake the noted and picturesque Bnektail road ascends the bold western hill. The precipitous "Pitch-off" is in a ravine in the western slope, and the rapid creek is everywhere picturesque, especially between Marcellus and Camillus where is has a swift descent. In the lower lands it reaches the west side of Onondaga lake.
There is no pass within the county limits by which one ean cross from the southern part of this valley to that of Skaneateles lake. Ripley hill rears its great ridge between, nearly two thousand feet above the sea, and from its summit one of our grandest views may be had, taking in several counties, with the nearer lake and forest scenery. The ravines are full of waterfalls, when there is water, the finest on the east side of the lake being near Spafford Land- ing. Two on the west side near Newhope Landing, are worth visiting at any time. The shores of Skaneateles lake are not only picturesque but they afford geologists fine opportunities for study. The Horn rocks attract many, so fine is the exposure there. After leaving the lake the outlet affords fine water power and picturesque seenes. the Hollow road, between Elbridge and Jordan, being especially beautiful. There the stream flows through the gypseous shales. Crossing the broad plain it reaches the Seneca river above Cross lake. Car- penter's brook, another bright stream, flows into the river below the lake. In early days most of the water in Skaneateles creek disappeared in dry seasons, on reaching the limestone beds. but since the old crevices were filled little has been lost.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
The drainage of most of the county is into the Seneca and Oneida rivers, both beautiful streams, which unite and form the Oswego. The only water power used on the Seneca is at Baldwinsville, though there are rapids west of this. The two dams on the Oneida are used for navigation. At Phoenix there is a fine water power, extensively used, all the water of the two rivers passing through this village. For the barge canal the water will be raised.
THE LAKES OF ONONDAGA
The highest of our local lakes are those of Tully, of which there are several. Crooked lake is eight hundred feet above the Erie canal in Syracuse, or one thousand one hundred and ninety-three feet above the sea, and Onondaga creek has its headwaters there. Big lake is but a few rods away and is four feet lower, its waters flowing into the Tioughnioga, and thence into the Sus- quehanna. From this faet Zeisberger called it the Susquehanna lake when he was there in 1766. In 1745 Spangenberg spoke of it as Oserigooch. On the east side are grounds of the Chautauqua Assembly, intended for recreation and mental and religious culture. This is near the north end. On the west shore opposite is Tully Park, a cluster of pleasant summer homes. The lake has two long and prominent points and one small island, and reviews the the waters of Green lake, lying farther north and over half a mile long.
Crooked lake, lying west of Oseriogooch or Big lake, is quite irregular in form as its name indicates, and has two islands. It is less than a mile long. Some small ponds lie farther north in the drainage of this, and other lakes of the group are in Cortland county. They are classed as glacial lakes, being shallow depressions in the drift. The shores are mostly low, with occasional bold banks but in some places the hills add beauty to the scene. Sometimes the marly bottoms give a bright green hue to the water. Throughout the group are rare bog plants of luxuriant development, and the Onondagas have legends regard- ing the shores.
Two ponds, of no great beauty, might once be seen near Apulia, one being well named Stump pond. The other was Little lake, now dried up but having botanic attractions. These ponds discharge their waters into Butternut creek. About two miles south of the station is Labrador pond, between two high and steep hills, the outlet flowing southward. Part of the pond is south of the county line, and is one thousand one hundred and ninety-four feet high. Some clay it will be a picturesque spot, but now lies in thick and marshy woods, · which shut off the surrounding hills from sight. The spot is very attractive to botanists as the home of rare bog plants, and on the eliffs near the top of the eastern hill the beautiful cliff brake, Woodsia Ilvensis, grows with a luxuriance seldom seen. Bartram and Weiser seem to have traversed this pass in 1743. On the east line of Fabius the De Ruyter reservoir forms a beautiful lake about two miles long. at the headwaters of Limestone creek. Carpenter's pond in Pompey, half a mile long. is much like the Tully lakes, and is about one thous- and two hundred and seventy feet high. Its source is due east of Pompey Hill, and it is tributary to the Susquehanna. A few rods from it the waters flow northward.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
A little pond two miles north of Manlius has been called Hermit lake. It was merely a mill pond which has been drained. Round lake lies a mile north of this, and was formerly ealled Lake Sodom, the water near the bottom being charged with sulphurated hydrogen. It is almost circular in form, whence its present name, and about one hundred rods in diameter. The encompassing hills are from fifty to one hundred feet high, but a road makes it easily ac- cessible. The surface is forty-four feet above Onondaga lake, but the topo- graphical map makes it four hundred and eighteen feet. Soundings made there May 30, 1906, by the Onondaga Academy of Science, gave a depth of one hundred and eighty-two feet, but a short distance might vary this. Prepara- tory to this examination Mr. A. W. Bessee, of Fayetteville, wrote to the writer May 28, 1906: "Perhaps twenty-five years ago the Round lake was sounded scientifically by four Fayetteville men, and they found it one hundred and ninety-five feet deep in many places, and the other lake the same. It may be less now. as a vast amount of dirt washes in from the hillsides. Mr. Orson Smith, who owned land on the north side of the lake, (an old man now dead) told me that when his father came there he sounded the lake and found it three hundred and ninety feet deep. There were places where the ground seemed to have settled several feet, as if there were quicksand underneath. I think one place shows now several feet deep. I once let down a line one hundred feet in the lower lake, with a weight and small glass bottle attached, the cork being in quite loosely. When it was down I gave it a sudden pull and a slight jerk or two, and soon the bubbles came up. When they stopped I pulled up and found the bottle filled with strong sulphur water. I tried the same in Round lake but failed there. There is some sulphur in the Round lake, but I think not so much as in the other."
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