USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 24
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or five feet in breadth. The descent is about fifteen feet. and by steps. 'The steps consist of the limestone layers, adjusted in the forin of stairs. After descending the stairway, and advanc- ing a few paces, the visiter find, himself in a large cavity of unknown dimensions. As he advances he passes through av- enues and rooms, which seem to meet him on all sides. One of these leads down to the river, but as its termination is con- siderably below the surface of the water, there is no passing out on this side. The floor and roof are very uneven and irregu- lar, now concave, then convex. The former is plentifully strew- ed with fragments of rocks both large and small, which have fallen from time to time from the latter, and which now in innu- merable instances serve as rude pillars, or supports for the roof. "The distance from the floor to the roof, owing to the concavities and convexities in the rock, varies from three to twelve feet, and possibly more. The floor is covered with calcareous mat- ter of the colour of lime slackened. This matter is daily accu- mulating in consequence of the decomposition above and around. It is wet, and in places so miry, that it is absolutely necessary to use the utmost precaution in travelling over it to prevent getting mired. There is a constant dropping of water from above, which renders a visit quite unpleasant. The roof, walls, pillars and fragments are covered with calcareous depo- sitions which have hardened, and are daily hardening, in this dark recess, and which at present constitute integral parts. Some of these depositions are dependant from the roof and walle in the form of stalactites.
'There are several springs and rills of clear water in it.
Secondary limestone underlays the country all around to a considerable distance.
There are several other caves in Black river country, but we are not informed in regard to their numbers and dimensions. Caves are of common occurrence in all limestone countries.
Mitchell's cave, in the town of Root, in the county of Mont- gomery, is on the south side of the Mohawk river, about one ' hundred rods southerly of the lofty cliff opposite to Anthony's Nose. The country for a short distance around is level.
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The entrance is on this level by a small opening. You de- scend this about fifteen teet almost perpendicularly, when you arrive in a room about thirty feet long, twelve feet broad, and fourteen feet high. After passing through this room, you enter a narrow avenue which leads you into a second room about forty feet long, twenty feet broad, and thirty feet high. The avenue leading from the first room into this has a rapid descent. A door on the right of this room conducts into a third room which is sixty feet long, fifty feet wide, and from thirty to fifty feet high. This room is closed on all sides but its entrance, consequently you have to retrace your steps into the second. From this you descend a narrow winding passage which brings you into a fourth room. A passage leads you from this down into a fifth room. From this you are introduced by a hall into a sixth, &c.
This cave has been but partially explored. The roof, walls and floor are generally cover d with calcareous incrustations. From some of the vaults and walls beautiful stalactites are seen pendant.
The floor is very wet, owing to the constant dropping of wa- ter from above.
'There is a cave at Rhinebeck, in Dutchess county. The entrance between two large rocks on the declivity of a hill, is a short and small horizontal passage, ending in a perpendicular descent of four feet. A narrow passage leads from this to a room thirteen feet long and ten or twelve broad. 1
Calcareous stalactites depend from the roof while stalagmites rise from the floor. 1
These have, in some measure, met and form solid pillars, reaching from the roof to the floor. Some are upwards of eight inches in diameter.
For an account of the caverns at the Heldeberg, we refer the reader to the American Magazine for September 1815.
Stone Bridge creek, in its way to Schroon river, runs under a hill, the base of which is seventy yards broad. The stream enters in two parts, which after reuniting emerge on the opposite side of the hill. The subterranean passage may be traced nearly VOL. I. 35
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fifty yards, where it contracts, forbidding all farther ingress. The fury of the torrent, and the thundering noise within, strike the beholder with awe.
The entrance under the hill, is about thirty rods south of the Essex boundary .
Natural Canal.
This highly interesting work is in the county of St. Lawrence, cleven or twelve miles south southeasterly from the village of Ogdensburgh, on the St. Lawrence river. It is between five and six miles in length, and from thirty-five to seventy yards in breadth, extending in a west southwest direction, fromn a point on the River Grass, to a point on the River Oswegatchie, and connecting thein together. The descent is from the former to the latter river, and is estimated at four feet. In rises and Goods the Grass discharges so much of its waters into the Os- vegatchie, that loaded batteaux pass up and down. In droughts, and in a decreased state of the waters of the Grass, it is impassa- ble in consequence of obstructions, occasioned by the falling in of us banks, and other matters. The country is very level on all sur. By this liuk an island of forty miles in length and from one to eleven or twelve in breadth, is formed ; containing 150.000 or 160.000 acres of land. Its form is triangular ; the St. Lawrence is on one side, the Grass and canal on another, and the Oswegatchie on a third.
Petrifactions.
At the Osquake. in the town of Stark. in the county of Her- kimer are numerous petrifactions and incrustations or tufas. They are at above and below the mills of the Messrs. Richard and Daniel Van Horne, and near the sources of the Osquake. They are very widely disseminated over the valley, or rather d. V. of the O-quake, and some ravines that open into it. The mills are about nine miles south of the Mohawk river.
The Usquake creek is formed by the union of three springs,
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which issue out of the ground, in a meadow at the foot of a hill, about three-quarters of a mile above the mills. The vol- ume of water is sufficient for a mill in the driest season.
The dell commences just below the springs, and extends downwardly two or three miles. and then spreads into a valley. The lower part of the dell, and thence up to the first mil', is paved with grey wacke slate of a blackish colour, as may be seen in the bed of the stream, and the upper part, or that above the lower mill, with sandstone of a greyish hue.
Above the grey sandstone, and in the sides of the dell, we see :. some red sandstone and oxide of iron, and still higher calca- reous sandstone and limestone. The dell then may be said to be on the skirt of the great limestone formation, extending from Coeymans, in the county of Albany, westwardly into Upper Canada.
The petrifactions and incrustations are in the bottoms and on the declivities of the dell and ravines in separate masses.
The most perfect petrifactions which we saw are in the ravine of a small stream that descends into the Osquake. They are on the right as you ascend the ravine, and ten or twelve rods north of the road leading up the Osquake, nearly half a mile above the mills. They consist of a mass from twenty to twen- ty-five feet in length, and from two to five or six feet in breadth, with a thickness of two, three, or more feet. , The mass extends lengthwise up the declivity, bounding that side of the ravine, and is composed partly of petrifactions and partly of incrusta- tions. The lower part exposes to view the trunk of a hemlock tree, about two feet in diameter, while the other parts exhibit several fragments of the trunks of the same kind of tree. The trunk is very perfect. The transition from wood to tufa has been effected with so much precision that the forms of the con- centric layers, coatings or rings, vesicles, gum and knots are preserved. In short, we might add the whole ligneous struc- ture. The exterior of the trunk, fragments and incrustation is a dark grey. The interior of the trunk, when first exposed, has very much the appearance of hemlock soaked in water, but The action of the air soon changes it, giving it a greyish hue.
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Petrifaction has ceased at this spot-the waters which for- merly issued out of the declivity above the mass, having from some cause failed or been diverted.
Several other incrustations are to be seen in the same ravine, but they envelop few petrifactions.
The waters gusting out of the declivities along this ravine, are io highly impregnated with calcareous and other matters, that they iucrust bits of wood and limbs which get into the stream.
The limy depositions and petrifactions are however the most numerous, and of the largest dimensions in the dell of the Os- quake, because the hills are the highest, and the springs most abundant. Some of the depositions extend several rods along the sides of the hills, while others stretch nearly across the bot- tom of the dell. There is a fine example of the latter about half a mile above the mills. Here a tufaceous rock, of an enor- mous size, stretches from the foot of the hill on the north side of the dell to the creek on the south side, being a distance of sixty or seventy yards. Its breadth is from eight to sixteen yards, and its height from one to three yards. It is so deeply imbeded that its entire thicknes cannot be ascertained. . The road pas- ses through it near the foot of the hill, a passage having been cut. On the sides of the passage we see pieces of wood and other things, which chance brought there, while the mass was forming, petrified, and now composing integral parts.
'These calcareous depositions are found in most places where the waters now issue out of the sides of the hills, and in others, where they used to issue out, but have stopped. The ground around these springs is usually wet and miry, owing to the issues bring small and numerous, and also owing to matters left by the waters. Incrustation and petrifaction are therefore still going on as in former times, but on a less scale, owing to a diminution in the waters, and impediments occasioned by clear- ing the ground.
The incrustations and petrifactions on the northeast side of the O,quake, at the distance of four miles, nearly north from the taills of the Messrs. Van Horne's, are very interesting- they are near the base of the same limestone formation,
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Petrifactions are found along the Chitteningo, in Sullivan, Madison county.
Those most interesting are on the east side of the creek, and south of the Seneca turnpike. They are at the foot of the hill, near the highway, and consist of the truuks of trees. 'The woody structure, in some instances, is remarkably perfect, al- most resembling the original. Water issues out of the hill sides, in a great many places, in the vicinity of these petrifac- tions: Incrustatious (rocks of tufa) occur on the slopes of the hills and in the valley.
Those found in the latter have in general rolled down.
'Tbe carbonate of lime, at the Osquake, seems to be the main ingredient in these petrifactious and tufas. Some aluminous matter, however, appears to be blended with the carbonate -- this is what we might expect from the clays and loams covering the hills and their declivities. The waters issuing from the three great springs which form the creek, contain the most car- bonate, because they emerge immediately from beneath the limestone, while the smaller ones run through, or make their way down declivities covered mostly with clay and loam.
In the deep winding dell, through which Otisco outlet, or Nine Mile creek runs, incrustations and petrifactions are not of unfrequent occurrence. They occur mostly between the vil- lage of Marcellus and the Erie canal. This creek crosses the same limestone formation. The specimens which we have seen . petrified, were less perfect than those found at the Osquake and Chitteningo, but were sufficiently determinate to announce the kind of wood.
The following extract was taken from letters published by Mr. Clinton, late Governor of this State, under the signature of Ili- bernicus.
" On the bank of Otisco outlet, in the town of Marcellus, in the county of Onondaga, there is a petrified tree, in part cover- ed by limestone, which has either been formed by precipitation since the transmutation, or else it has slipped down from above. The limestone hereabouts reposes on slate."
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At the Osquake, Chitteningo, and in Camillus, there are sever- al varieties of petrified wood, reeds, &c. The wood sometimes appears to have been in a sound state at the era of petrifaction, winle in others it appears to have been in a decayed state before the process or transmutation commenced. In the latter, it is tender as well as hard and brittle, and contains fragments of wood. The same phenomena we think may occur, in some in- stances, where the wood was sound at the time petrifaction be- gau. These would depend on various causes, such as satura- tion, exposure, and volume of water, together with the increase or decrease of the latter. Water is the agent and solvent, and it may bring the materiais in too great or too small quantities. In either case the petrifaction would be incomplete-part would be petrified, part would be incrusted, and part enveloped. The latter would be sound, rotten or otherwise, according to circum- Mances. Again, every part of wood is not subject to the same rapidity of decay. The trunk, or branch of a tree, which gets into the course of a stream is apt to decay in some places before it does in others ; these are first penetrated by the stony matter, while the other parts are only incrusted. Here then is an ex- ample of petrifaction ensuing in parts, while the rest is only in- crusted or covered with a stony substance. The careful exa- miner may find examples of this kind along these streams, and more especially along the Osquake.
In all limestone countries, petrified wood is found. The condition in which it is, is very variable. Sometimes it appears to have been sound when the metamorphosis began, and some- times decayed, at others petrifaction and bituminization have gone on together. i
Observations on Petrifaction
Water is the chief agent which nature employs in petrifaction, Trunks of trees, with their limbs, plants and land, and marine animals have been found petrified in every country on our globe. These, whenever they bear a strong resemblance to their ori- ginals or prototypes, are always regarded as objects of extreme curiosity.
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Petrifactions differ exceedingly in colour, constituents, and other circumstances. These differences, depend in a measure, on the matters which the waters hold in suspension and solution. All- waters have the property of petrifaction, when they are charged with certain earthy substances, in some determinate manner. But how petrifaction is performed we cannot say with precision. In this order of things, all that we can do is to summon conjecture. We cannot arrive at certainties. The archieves of nature are closed to our limited capacities -- we have not the keys to unlock them-conjecture may be right and it may be wrong.
First. All waters hold more or less calcareous, aluminous, silicious, or other terrestrious matters in suspension or solution : suspension supposes a separation of the terrene or other mat- ters, solution supposes a combination.
Second, These the waters deposite sooner or later in their 1 transits, to rivers, lakes, and oceans, leaving them along their beds and borders.
Third, Trunks of trees, limbs, plants, &c. which get in their courses, in certain instances, and under a combination of cer- tain circumstances, undergo this astonishing metamorphosis.
Fourth, It would seem that the waters holding the terrene materials of petrifaction attack the external parts first, and then the internal. They penetrate every part. The whole mass becomes wet and then spongy. A decay and decomposition ensue. As these progress, the waters enter with more freedom, and pass through as they do through a spongy substance, re- moving imperceptibly, the parts in the highest state of decay, leaving in their place the terrene matters which they hold in suspension. This process they keep up until they have de- stroyed and dissipated all the woody parts, supplying at the same time those parts with earthy matters, which assume the colour and shape of the original. In some instances the waters dissolve the wood.
Constant running water, constant submersion, or constant s'aturation are indispensible to the petrifaction of wood.
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Such are our conjectures, but they do not appear satisfactory to us. We know the agent to be water-we know this to be the solvent. But a difficulty occurs which we cannot explain to our own satisfaction, it is this :- how is the transportation of the one, and the substitution of the other effected, and this in such a manner that the ligneous layers, the ligneous colour, the ligneous form, and every thing is preserved without the pre- servation of the wood itself? The size, the colour, the texture, the form, and most minute organization, are perfectly preserved, and yet the whole ligneous or vegetable substance is entirely annihilated.
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CHAPTER XI.
GEOLOGY.
Four of the five grand classes of rocks, as established by mo- dern geologists, and designated by the names primitive, transition, secondary and alluvial, are found in the State of New-York. In this chapter we shall endeavour to give an out- line of each and nothing more. This is all the reader can expect in a work of this kind. Again, the geology of the State is too little known to attempt any thing beyond an outline. In doing this we shall commence with the primitive rocks.
CLASS I. . Primitive.
Granite
Clay Slate.
Sienite
Steatite.
Gneiss
Limestone.
Hornblende
Trap.
Mica Slate
Serpentine.
The primitive class of rocks occupies portions of the north- ern and southeastern parts of the State, and is divided into two large districts by the transition clay slate, grey wacke, &c. which lie between them.
First, the northern district. This district is bounded on the north and northwest, by a portion of the transition district on the west, or rather southwest by the second great limestone dis- trict, which we consider to be of secondary formation ; on the south and southeast by another portion of the transition dis- trict, and on the east by Lake Champlain. We shall endeav- our to portray its outlines, in order to convey more correct VOL. I. 36
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ideas to the reader. The line begins at or near the head of Cumberland bay, on the west side of Lake Champlain, in the county of Clinton, and runs northwesterly within three or four miles of latitude forty-five, which is the boundary of the State ou the north, where it turns, making a sweep, and runs south- westerly through the counties of Franklin and St. Lawrence, to Wilna, in the county of Jefferson. Here it makes another turn and runs up Black river, whose range, in this part of its course, is south southeasterly to near the mouth of Black creek, in the northeasterly part of the county of Oneida, where it crosses over to the West Canada creek, not far from its forks, which are five miles above the head of Trenton Falls. Its general direction then to the termination of the Palmertown range of the Saconda- ga mountains, is easterly, inclining some to the southeast, but very irregular. The line passes through the counties of Herki- mer and Montgomery, and through nearly two-thirds of Sara- toga county. From the end of the Palmertown range to the head of South bay, on Lake Champlain, the line is about north- cast. The latter lake, as we have before observed, constitutes the residue. Within these boundaries there are some small patches which belong to the transition and secondary classes of rocks. The lines of separation are not as yet well settled. On the south, the primitive rocks composing the mountain ranges, advance into the transition and secondary districts, while the rocks of those districts occupy the intervening spaces. The Clinton range, which ends at Anthony's Nose, on the left bank of the Mohawk, in the county. of Montgomery, and the Chat- caugua range, which ends at the Little Falls, or rather to the south of those falls, in the county of Herkimer, may be given as two conspicuous examples. The latter range, however, dips La fore it reaches the falls, and passes under the newer rocks. Several of the other ranges advance within a few miles of the Mohawk before they disappear. It is by no means uncommon to see them dip several times before they pass entirely out of sieht. In travelling across the country between Trenton Falls and Saratoga Springs, we alternately cross rocks in situ, be- longing to the three classes. On diverging from this line, we
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can follow them northerly and southerly. On the one hand the primitive become more prevalent at every advance, till they su- persede the transition and secondary, and on the other band the latter increase till they overspread the former. The primi- tive ranges on and near the line have elevated and depressed summits, which are sometimes above and sometimes below the more recent rocks. Fall Hill is covered for some miles before it reaches the Mohawk, whose waters have cut it down to its base, and laid the rocks bare. The rocks, however, composing its nucleus, immediately after quitting the defile, pass again out of view. The eastern declivity of this hill is mostly covered with grey wacke slate, of a blackish colour, while the western is . not only covered but partly composed of calcareous sandstone, capped with limestone. On the north side of the river, a little back from the defile through which the river flows, the cover- ing of the hill is limestone. Wacke covers that part of the hill's summit which is southerly of the river. The line of Fall Hill is easily traced from the foot of the Osquake Hill, in the town of Germanflats, in the county of Herkimer. north- erly to the forest, extending to the neighbourhood of the St. Lawrence. Its elevation is from 712 to' 1100 feet above the ocean: On the southeast, between the river and the forest, the country slopes away from its base towards East Canada creek, while on the northwest it falls towards West Canada creek. The primitive rocks do not rise unbroken much, if any, short of ten miles from the river.
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The Clinton range, called in Montgomery county Mayfield mountain, and Clip hill, does not reach the river without passing under the more recent rocks. Anthony's Nose, which is at the very termination, is partly primitive and partly transition. The former appears at the road for a few rods on either side of the point; the latter, which is sandstone, appears above and on the east side, for about three miles. On the east side the sand- stone extends a mile or more, exhibiting a perpendicular front of nearly or quite two hundred feet. On the west side, the same rock has a precipitous front for upwards of a mile. Con- siderable ruins lie at the foot of the rock. The sandstone con-
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tains some calcareous matter. The same rock forms the high bluff on the south side of the river. The stream flows over primitive rocks, which appear in the banks, &c. of the canal, at the Little Nose.
The primitive rocks of the Clinton range are often bare be- tween Anthony's Nose and Black river road, which passes through the village of Johnstown. The latter road, and some others, which cross the range are on the naked rock. The east- erly side is occasionally abrupt. The range, however, has only one declivity till after it has passed Black river road, in the direction of the forest. The Kayaderosseras and Palmertown ranges keep above the other rocks, without dipping, till 'they finally pass under them.
The primitive rocks on the north side of the Mohawk, and perhaps those on the south side of the same river, come very near the surface. On the former side, we know this to be the fact. In West Canada creek, nine miles from its mouth, they emerge in bare masses, not only in the bottom of the stream, but along its sides for a very short distance. The same rocks are to be seen in Timmerman's creek, in Manheim, two or three miles north of the river. East Canada creek flows over them a few miles above its mouth. In several other places the streams have uncovered them. As they approach the river they de- scend, and as they recede they rise. The configuration of the ranges, and even that of the country, indicates these facts. The transition and secondary rocks have been thinly superim- posed. They follow all the inequalities of the surface of the fundamental rocks, and in certain cases exhibit surfaces not dissimilar to them. The same remarks, we are of opinion, may be applied to some other tracts bordering this primitive region. Primitive rocks form the core of the Highlands of Black river, sad some of the spurs that shoot out from them.
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