USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 25
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'The extreme length of the primitive district under considera- tion, from northeast to southwest, is not far from one hundred and fifteen miles, and its extreme breadth, in an opposite direc- tion, about eighty-five miles. It contains the counties of War- ren, Essex and Hamilton-the northerly parts of the counties of
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Washington, Saratoga and Montgomery-the northerly part of the county of Herkimer, the northeasterly corner of the county of Oneida, the easterly half of the county of Lewis, or that part on the right side of Black river-the southeasterly half of the county of St. Lawrence-the southerly half of the county of Franklin, and about two-thirds of the county of Clinton. The Hudson, the Schroon, the Sacondaga, the two Canada creeks, Black, Oswegatchie, Grass, Racket, St. Regis, Chazy, Sara- nack, Sable, and Boquet rivers, have their sources in this dis- trict. The Hudson and Racket seem to rise in the most elevat- ed parts of the district. On all sides there is a depression which is now easy, then rapid. Several chains of mountains traverse it. These chains are usually not very high, being based, as it were, on a very highly inclined plain, which rises nearly on all sides, and terminates in a kind of elongated centre, which overtops the whole. These chains, with their collaterals, the reader will remember, we have described under the appella- tion of the Sacondaga mountains.
Among the primitive rocks, granite seems to take precedence. This is the highest and lowest rock in place. It appears to underlay almost the whole district, and to hold all the other rocks of primeval formation in subordination. Gneiss, sienite, hornblende, trap, mica slate, clay slate, primitive limestone, &c. are recumbent on it, or one another. We shall go into some particulars in relation to these rocks, beginning with the granite.
Throughout the whole extent of the Palmertown and Kaya- derosseras ranges of mountains, granite displays itself. In the · former it rises to the tops of some of the highest peaks. It is also seen on its sides and at its base, in large bare masses. In the latter granite discovers itself very conspicuously at its base, on its declivities, and on its summit. The two ranges are from six to nine miles apart. Between the ranges, in the valley, granite appears in considerable ridges, supporting masses of siente, gneiss, &c. which run into each other, or into the granite ..
The Clinton and Chateaugua ranges, &c. with their inter- vening valleys and ridges, exhibit granite in a very striking manner. In these ranges, as well as in the preceding, it is the 1
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lowest and highest rock. All the others are seen upon it, either · overlaying it, passing into it, overlaying one another, or passing from oue into the other. Granite is seen in the former in the towns of Johnstown and Mayfield, in the county of Montgome- ry, and at various other places in the counties of Warren and Essex, lying more to the northeast. That found three miles westerly of the village of Jolinstown, De Witt Clinton, the late Governor of New-York, calls graphic granite. Professor Nut- tall, and others, concur with him in this opinion.
At Little Falls, in the county of Herkimer, granite is found although not abundantly ; the rock, at this place, being mostly gueiss. The latter, however, is generally incumbent on it. Granite, nevertheless, is abundant in the northern towns of this county and in the forest. The same rock appears between West Canada creek and Black river, and thence north north- .westerly, along the right bank of the same river to Wilna, in the county of Jefferson. It often emerges in patches and small Gelds, exhibiting little else than desolation.
Between Lakes Champlain and George, and between the latter and Schroon river, the country is rocky and sterile. The space between those lakes is the most repulsive of any we ever saw. Little else than rocks are to be seen. The same rock is found to prevail in the county of Hamilton. It shows itself along the Sacondaga, Hudson, and other rivers, and in the moun- tains and intermediate at short distances. Granite is also found in the counties of St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton, both in the mountains and in the valleys.
Much of this district is too meagre for tillage. Around the head of Black river, and in many other parts, the earth is covered with moss, beneath which there is commonly a thin layer of sand, and then the rock. In Herkimer, Montgomery, Hamilton, Warren and Essex we have seen fields which had been cleared that were literally strewed with blocks of granite and oneiss ; and in others bare masses which were fixed.
The granite of this district which has come under our obser- - vation, is generally of a very coarse structure. Its colours are various, such as greyish, reddish, greenish, blackish, &c. The
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strata are both oblique and vertical. "At the lower end of the defile, at Little Falls, on the north side of the river. and in many other places the strata are rent from top to bottom and resemble ruins. Here the strata are of the vertical kind. In the Palmer- town, and the other ranges, very good sections of the oblique may be seen. The strata of the latter kind pass into the verti- cal and vice versa. In some instances the stratification is ta- bular and in others columnar.
.The granite of this district differs considerably in colour, con- stituents and character, but this is not peculiar : In all granitic countries differences are found to exist. The difference depends principally on the predominating ingredients ; the quartz, the felspar and the mica. The quartz is usually grey, seldom milk white. The felspar is white, greyish, yellowish white, reddish, yellowish, greenish, flesh red, &c. The mica is grey, yellow, and blackish. In some varieties the quartz appears to be wanting, and in others the mica. Although felspar may in general be said to be the prevailing ingredient, it does not appear to be so abundant as it is in the granite of New England, and some other countries. The felspar has often a shining lustre, which in cer- tain cases, is vitreous, and in others not. Sometimes it is with- out lustre. The latter may, it is said, be its original condition, or it may proceed from long exposure to the weather.
Graphic granite, as we have before remarked, occurs in the Clinton range, about three miles west of Johnstown, and various other places.
Imbedded Minerals-These are garnets, shorl, or tourmaline, sulphuret of molybdena, spodumen, iron ore, &c. some of the tourmalines are large and posses great beauty.
Opalescent felspar occurs in the county of Essex, in the gra- nite boulders, &c. for an extent of twenty-five or thirty miles. The boulders are large and small, and commence on the south near the outlet of Lake George. Some of the specimens are . very beautiful.
Lamellar felspar (Petuntze) occurs in many places. It is said to be felspar in its first stage of decomposition. It is found , in masses.
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Diallage and plumbago have been found at Lake George .- See Professor A. Eaton's Geological Nomenclature for North America.
Sienite-This rock is found in the county of Saratoga, be- tween the Palmertown and Kayaderosseras mountains, and in various other places, resting upon the granite. See Dr. Steel's Geological Survey, &c. of the county of Saratoga.
The same rock is found in many other parts of the district not only reposing upon the granite but in beds, &c. According to geologists, sienite is a granitic rock, containing hornblende but little or no mica. Sienite, like other primitive rocks, presents considerable diversities.
Gneiss-This rock, which ranks next after granite, is more abundant than any other in the district. It occurs plentifully at Little Falls, Salisbury, Norway, New Brunswick, Jersey- field, and various other places in the county of Herkimer. It is often found overlaying the granite, and alternating. with it. This is observable at Little Falls, where the victorious river has laid these rocks bare to a great extent.
The rocks at the Little and Big Noses, in the county of Montgomery, on the Mohawk, are gueiss. The Big Nose, or Anthony's Nose, as it is commonly called, is the termination of the Clinton range. The same rock is to be seen in Johnstown and Mayfield, in the latter county, and in the counties of War- ren and Essex, and between the latter range and the Chateau- gua, of which Fall Hill is the termination. We have observed it in Euphrata, Stratford, Hope, Wells, and Lake Pleasant. The three latter towns are in the county of Hamilton.
Gneiss constitutes no inconsiderable portions of the Kayader- osseras and Palmertown ranges of mountains. Here, as well as elsewhere, it overlays and alternates with the granite. See Dr. Steel's Geo. Survey, &c.
Much of this rock is found between Lakes Champlain and George, and between the latter and Schroon river, in the coun- ties of Washington, Essex and Warren. The same rock is seen in the counties of Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis and Oneida. It occupies part of the country on the right bank
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of Black river. At Remsen, Oneida county, it is seen in the vicinity of Black creek, a water of Black river.
The gneiss of this district exhibits several varieties, such as the slaty, abounding with micaceous matter-the common and the indistinct slaty. The first is the highest, and the last the lowest. The former is usually in thin horizontal layers, which are easily separated. The latter is in thick layers, disposed obliquely, and is scarcely distinguishable from granite. Some have even confounded it with granite. The common holds a rank between the former and the latter. The three varieties may be seen at the Noses, in the county of Montgomery, and at the Little Falls, in the county of Herkimer, to very good ad- vantage.
The constituents of gneiss, like those of granite, are quartz, felspar and mica, with this difference, that it contains more mica and less felspar. It is very difficult to determine where gneiss begins, and granite ends. The indistinct slaty is the link which joins them. Its structure, constituents and colours, near the place of contact, are very closely allied to granite. Werner, Jameson, and some others have enumerated several kinds of gneiss.
" The first (according to those geologists) contains mica in small quantity-the scales of mica, although separated from each other, are arranged in parallel ranges, and the rock breaks in a direction conformable with it. It is the parallelism of the ranges of mica, which distinguishes this kind of gneiss from granite, because its slaty structure is very indistinct, and the quantity of felspar is very nearly the same as in granite. The quartz and mica, each form separate layers ; those of the fel- spar are thicker, and such varieties, when broken apart, have a ribbon-like aspect. Sometimes the quartz, in place of being dis- posed in layers or plates in the felspar, is in small parallel rods or bars, and when the rock is cut perpendicular to their direc- tion, it appears not unlike petrefied wood."
" The second is named common gneiss, and consists of small layers of lenticular plates, composed of grains of felspar and quartz, placed over each other, and separated by layers formed VOL. I. 37
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of scales of mica. It is sometimes glandular, or contains balls of quartz, or of compounds of quartz, and felspar, or of mica. 'This variety has been confounded with conglomerate."
" The third is very slaty and very micaceous. The scales of mica, from their smallness, appear indistinct, and form con- tinuous plates. The felspar and quartz are in very small grains, and are sometimes so enveloped in the mica that it is difficult to distinguish them. ' It is also sometimes glandular, and in some instances almost an aggregation of balls of mica."
The gneiss which passes into granite, according to the same geologists, belongs to the third Kind above named, and that which passes into mica slate to the first. Such seems to be the principal kinds and the distinctions made by these authors. Those of the first and second are satisfactory, but that of the third is left in doubt. The distinction is vague-nothing short of the most intimate acquaintance with granite and gueiss can lead to the designation.
Some geologists, in order to prevent confusion, have classed the indistinct with granite. Among these we might cnumerate Mr. Clinton, the late Governor of this State, Professor Nut- tall, and several Europeans. 'Oftentimes where the indistinct is incumbent on the granite, the strata pursue all the inequalities of that rock-the stratification is saddle shaped, mantle shaped, or; it has some other shape. ' The strata sometimes pass with- out change of direction from one mass of granite to another. In others, at the meeting, they alternate several times, showing beyond all doubt, that both are of cotemporaneous formation.
Imbedded Minerals-This rock contains garnets, shorl, or tourmalines, sulphuret of iron, crysoberril, quartz, &c. Some of the tourmalines are large, and very beautiful. Iron ore occurs in large quantities in various places, in beds and veins. It is sometimes very much blended with the rock. Itis seldom found pure. Iron pyrites also occur. Beds and masses of mica, limestone, trap, porphyry, &c. are found in it. The mica, in some places, alternates several times with the gueiss.
Tourmaline is sometimes found massive in it.
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Mica Slate-This rock is still less abundant than gneiss. It occurs in the county of Saratoga, and in various other parts of the district. The common, undulated, talcky and fine slaty, are found. The first is straight and thick slaty-the second is waved-the third is straight slaty-the fourth is fine slaty, and passes into clay slate.
" Mica slate, Dr. John H. Steel, in his Geological Survey of the county of Saratoga, observes, extends along the southern termination of the Palmertown range, and is to all appearance, the last of the primitive class in this direction. It forms a mo- derate dip to the south, looking up to the granite, and reposing on the gneiss. It is only discoverable for the distance of about a mile, when it is either obscured by the alluvions, or passes beneath the transition rocks. The strata are much curved."
Fragments of mica are often met with southwardly as far as the Mohawk. We have often seen them in the counties of Her- kimer, Montgomery and Saratoga, in the transition and secon- dary tracts. Some of the fragments weigh tons.
Imbedded Minerals-These are garnets, shorl, emerald, fo- liated graphite, oxide of iron, &c. &c.
Tale-" This rock occurs about six miles north northeast of Saratoga Springs, at the foot of the Palmertown range. Here it passes into steatite." See Dr. J. 11. Steel's Gito. Survey, &c.
. Steatite-This rock appears on Indian river, in the county of St. Lawrence, along the foot of the Palmertown range, in the town of Moreau, Saratoga county, and in various other places, in and adjoining the district. It is of different colours, such as white, yellow, grey, black, &c. It is massive, and has a soapy and unctious feel. Iuk- stands, and other articles are fabricated from it. . According to Dr. J. H. Steel, granular limestone covers some part of the steatite rock in Moreau. The steatite of the town of' Canton, in the county of St. Law- rence, is very beautiful.
Granular Limestone-This rock has been found in the coun- ty of Saratoga, on and adjoining the steatite ; and also in some other parts of the district.
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That found in the county of Saratoga, Dr. Steel informs us in his Geological Survey, is of a coarse granular texture ; and that in its colours, and some other properties, it resembles the Shaftsbury and Bennington marbles. It is easily worked, and when pure, takes a fine polish. The quality of the rock will improve when quarries are sufficiently opened.
Imbedded Minerals-Sulphuret of iron, sulphuret of molyb- dena, plumbago, coccolite, &c. have been found in that of Saratoga. See Dr. Steel's Geo. Survey.
Trap-This rock occurs at the Little Falls, on the Mohawk, and some other places. We are not acquainted with any other locality save that at the Little Falls. It occupies a fissure in the granite, and is a few rods below the lower lock. It crosses the canal, and is about eighteen inches in breadth. On the south side of the canal, the rocks rise perpendicularly ten or twelve fect. 'The vein is scen to this extent. It is not slaty. Its colour is greenish. Some have called it green-stone. Trap, whin and green-stone are synonimous terms. The granite at this place, is overlaid with gneiss. The trap was laid bare by blasting and removing large portions of the rock, in order to make a course for the canal.
Hornblende.
This rock holds a conspicuous station among the primitive rocks of this district. It occurs in the counties of Herkimer, Montgomery, Saratoga, &c. In Herkimer county it is seen at the Little Falls, Salisbury, &c. incumbent on the granite. That at the latter place is mostly covered with alluvions, and is about seven miles north of the Mohawk river. In Montgom- ery it has been noticed in Clip Hill, in the town of Johns- town. Professor A. Eaton, in his Geological Nomenclature, Extinguishes that of Clip Hill as belonging to the sienitic va- swiv. In the town of Edinburgh, Saratoga county, Dr. Steel in his Geological Survey, &c. remarks, that it is found on the southeast side of the mountain, near the Fish-house on Sacon- daga river, inclining against the granite. The stratum at this
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place, has considerable extent. The slaty prophyritic, sienitic, &c. are seen in the same stratum.
Hornblende is also found in the more northern counties, such as Hamilton, Warren, Essex, &c. exhibiting most or all of its varieties.
Boulders of hornblende are strewed over the country south- erly of the district, as far as the hills on the south side of the Mohawk. Occasionally they are large. In Broadalbin, in the county of Montgomery, we have seen some blocks of the latter description. They are all out of situ, having been trans- ported from their original positions by torrents of water.
The hornblende of this district, is of various colours. Some is nearly black.
The hornblende in the vicinity of Lake George, contains au- gite. See Professor A. Eaton's Geological Nomenclature for North America, published in 1828.
The second primitive district.
. This district is situated mostly in the southeasterly part of the State. It comprehends the counties of New-York, Westches- ter and Putnam, the greater part of Dutchess, and portions of Columbia, Rensellaer and Washington, extending along the confines of New England ; the southeasterly corner of the county of Ulster, nearly one half of the county of Orange, most of the county of Rockland, Manhattan and Staten I-lands, and the northerly parts of King's, Queen's and Suffolk, on Long Island. This district, on the east, is joined to the primitive tracts of New England. The latter is mostly a primi- tive country. The State of New-York, it is imagined, is nearly equally divided between the three great formations, such as the primitive transition, and secondary. As yet it is not known which is the most considerable in extent, but this is not of much consequence. We shall commence with the granite, as we have done in the northern district, on account of its being the most abundant rock in place, and because it holds the empire ; all the other rocks being subordinate to it. In place it is the
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lowest and highest among the primitive rochs. And as in the north, all the other rocks lie on it, or the one on the other, the granite forming the floor of the country. The skeletons of the mountains and hills, generally speaking, consist of it. We shall enter into some few details.
According to the accounts given to us by Dr. S. L. Mitchell, ia his Geological Survey of this part of the State, granite occu- pies most of the southern parts of the State from the north side of the Highlands, or Matteawan mountains, including all on the east and part on the west side of the Hudson to its mouth. Manhattan Island, Staten Island and the northerly half of Long Island, he includes in the same district.
'The granitic rocks, this judicious observer remarks, display themselves from the confines of Connecticut, along the Sound, which separates Long Island from the main, to Harlem river. They are also found on the east side of the Hudson, from its mouth to near the Matteawan mountains, and thence on both side, of that river, northerly, to the transition formation which begins a little north of those mountains.
Granite pervades and appears to underlay the counties of Westchester and Putnam, the southern, southeastern and east- ern parts of the county of Dutchess, and the eastern part of Columbia. The Highlands, or Matteawan mountains, which cross the Hudson diagonally at and below West Point, are mostly composed of the same rock. So is the Taghconnick mountain, which ranges southerly, and which is partly in New- York, and partly in New England. This mountain, near the northwesterly corner of the State of Connecticut, separates into two branches. One of these proceeds southerly, and ends near King's Bridge, on Harlem river, which lies between Manhattan Island, and the county of Westchester. This branch traverses for casteru parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties. "The dreams that rise on its eastern declivity, take such direc- both as to reach Long Island Sound, while those that rise on it> western, pass into the Hudson. The other branch winds and withwesterly to the Hudson, constituting part of the Highlands.
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Granite underlays the southeasterly corner of the county ot Ulster, the easterly and southeasterly parts of Orange, and the northerly part of the county of Rockland. The same rock un- derlays Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Long Island. In the two first, it is seen along their shores, and in the hills, &c. in bare masses. The hills on Long Island, called the Spine, stretching from Riverhead, westwardly, to the Narrows, a dis- tance of sixty miles, consist of granite. This rock di-plays . itself' along the coast of the Sound, Hell-gate, or Hurl-gate, and East river, at short intervals. At Hell-gate, which con. nects the Sound and East river, it rises in unbroken masst. which are generally abrupt, and forms the shores of the strait. The small islands in East river are also granite. The sands and loams of Governor's Island are spread over this rock, other- wise the island would have been washed away long ago.
The Matteawan and Taghconnick mountains, Dr. Mitchell remarks, are stratified. The strata have directions conforma- ble with the ranges of those mountains, which are mostly from northeast to southwest. The strata are commonly vertical : sometimes, however, they have a declination towards the horiz- on. In addition, we would observe, that the strata on Manhat- tan, Staten and Long Islands, so far as they have come under our notice, seem to have nearly the same positions which thesr have in the northern district. We have seen the vertical, ob- lique, &c. The strata of rocks are viewed to the best advan- tage in mountain ranges.
The granite of this district, is chiefly composed of quarts, felspar and mica, which are the constituents of this rock. The mica here, as well as elsewhere, is occasionally wanting. Ther quartz is milk white, greyish, reddish, &c. It is also transpa- rent. The felspar is white, red, flesh coloured, &c. The shades of these colours are diversified. The mica is grey, green, yellow, brown, blackish, &c.
The strata of the Matteawan and Taghconnick mountains are interrupted by numerous cracks and fissures. Some are long ;- tudinal and latitudinal, while others are in the direction of the. streaks and veins, or wind through the rocks in serpentine
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courses. The width of the cracks and fissures, Dr. Mitchell says, is from a line to three feet, and even a rod or upwards. They are chiefly filled with quartz, felspar and glimmer ; some- times separated and sometimes blended together, while at other times the quartz, felspar and glimmer, are cemented together in large coarse masses, and rolled. Such appears to be the general structure and disposition of the granitic rocks along the borders of Long Island Sound, East River and the Hud- son, creeks, hills and mountain sides and tops, and generally wherever they emerge from beneath the soil.
Accidental mixed parts-These are glimmer, shorl, &c. The glimmer is sometimes brown, or of a darkish hue, and at other times colourless. The shorl is black, green, &c. : it is both rough and crystallized-it is an imbedded mineral .- The shorls or tourmalines are often very large, and highly beau- tiful. The garnets are of a reddish colour, and friable texture. They fill up cavities in some places in the rocks. " Mag- nesian minerals are of frequent occurrence on Manhattan and Staten Islands. On the former island, apatite has been found in small masses."-Dr. Mitchell.
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