USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 28
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Shale-Shale occurs in different places in the State, in strata and beds in the clay slate, and in the alluvial districts. There are two kinds, it is said, the argillaceous and bituminous. Shale is massive ; it has a slaty texture in one direction, and an earthy in the other. It disintegrates on exposure to the air, and passes into clay. Its colours are grey, bluish, yellowish and blackish. " Argillaceous shale is found at the Killas of the Wallkill, near Montgomery, in the county of Orange. It abounds with shells of bivalve molluscas ; such as anomias, terebratulas, &c. in these the real shells exist, being neither wasted away so as to leave cavities and impression, nor converted by petrifaction to a stony condition."-Dr. Mitchell.
Argillaceous shale is also found in several of the counties, in the basin of the Hudson. The same kind of shale occurs in various parts of the Oneida and Seneca vale. The Erie canal runs through some of the patches.
Bituminous shale is of common occurrence south of the great limestone ledge, between Skaneateles lake and Lake Erie. In the counties of Livingston, Genesee and Erie, some of the patches are considerable in size. Its colour is blackish, and even black.
" Black bituminous shale usually accompanies coal, and is sometimes intermixed with it. When subjected to the flame of a candle, it blazes ; in the fire it crackles, yields a bituminous smell, and a black smoke; looses a considerable portion of its weight, and is converted into a whitish or redish flake." Sce Philip's Mineralogy, p. 70.
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The black bituminous shale, and the black bituminous slate, of the western country, have often been confounded.
Indurated clay has been met with in the Oneida and Seneca vale, and in some other districts more westwardly. It is bluish, reddish, greyish, &c and massive. In making the Erie canal, it occurred at several places : to wit, on the middle division, on sections, numbers 14-20-24-25-50-51-54-55, westwardly of Rome, in Oneida and Madison counties.
Fullers earth is by no means of unfrequent occurrence. Bole or ochre, of various colours, has been found in the coun- ties of Albany, Herkimer, &c. Potters' clay abounds in a great number of places. Epsom salts are not unusual.
CLASS. III.
Sandstone-The sandstone district commences in the south- easterly part of the town of Germanflats, in the county of Her- kimer, and extends nearly in a western direction, as far as the Province of Upper Canada. It is bounded on the south by the great limestone district, which we shall hereafter notice; on the west by the Niagara river ; on the north by Lake Ontario, east- wardly almost to the mouth of Big Salmon river, in the county of Oswego ; and on the north northeast by a part of the transi- tion formation already described. On the east, or rather south- east, the sandstone passes under the limestone, only appearing in the northern declivity of the Osquake hill, or in insulated patches of very small extent. The district, taken together, is about two hundred and ten miles in length, from east to west, and from one to twenty-eight miles in breadth. The same formation, after crossing the river Niagara, is continued west- wardly, as far or farther than the head of Lake Ontario ; but it is not within the scope of this work to go beyond the State .--- The sandstone of this district, on the south, passes under the limestone, composing the great limestone district. We shall give the width of some places. On the Niagara it is seven miles ; on Genesee river six ; at Little Sodus bay about twenty- four ; between the mouth of Oswego river and the Erie canal, VOL. I.
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in Camillus, which is pretty near the southern border, about twenty-seven ; between the southeasterly part of the county of Oswego and Canasaraga, in the county of Madison, it is eigh- teen or nineteen miles ; and at Oriskinney, in the county of Oneida, eiglit or nine miles. In Herkimer the width is incon- siderable.
The district contains the northerly parts of the counties of Niagara, Orleans and Munroe ; the greater part of Wayne ; the northerly part of Cayuga ; the southwesterly part of the county of Oswego ; the northerly part of Onondaga ; the north- erly part of Madison, or that part along the canal, and west of Oneida creek ; a portion of the southerly part of the county of Oneida, lying on the north side of the great limestone forma- tion ; and a narrow strip in the county of Herkimer, between the latter formation and the transition.
The sandstone of this district, it is supposed, rests universally on the grey wacke slate. The order of the rocks, in the coun- ties of Herkimer and Oneida, are as follows-First, grey wacke slate-second, grey sandstone-and third, red sandstone. The latter is the uppermost rock. Westwardly of the county of Oneida, the grey sandstone passes under the red and disap- pears. ₩
. The grey is seen in various places in the towns of German- flats and Frankfort, in the county of Herkimer ; and in the towns of Whitestown, Westmoreland, Vernon and Verona, in the county of Oneida. Professor Eaton remarks, that it is to be seen northwestwardly to Lake Ontario, between Little and Big Salmon rivers. See his Geological Survey of the rocks along the Erie canal, made by order of the Hon. Stephen Van Rensellaer, in 1823.
'The red sandstone, in the towns of Germanflats and Frank- fort, in Herkimer county, is southerly of the. grey ; in Paris, Kirkland, Vernon, &c. in the county of Oneida, the disposi- tion is the same. This is observable along the hills bordering the Sauquait, Oriskinney, &c. Setting out from the vicinity of Oneida creek, and travelling westwardly to the Niagara, the red sandstone pervades the country. At first it is slaty and
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fragile ; afterwards it is in thick layers and is hard. Every where the layers are horizontal, or as near that position as can be imagined.
The Oswego river, from the falls downwardly, has laid it bare to a great extent. The same may be said of Genesee river, below Rochester-Oak Orchard, Eighteen Mile creck, and some other streams, have also uncovered it to some depth. The rock on Oswego, Genesee, Oak Orchard, &c. is quarried for building stone.
The surface of the formation presents various plains, eleva- tions and depressions. From the confines of the county of Herkimer it descends westwardly to Seneca river, at the Monte- zuma marshes, where it is covered to the depth of eighty feet. From these marshes, it rises to the neighbourhood of Genesee river, where it again descends. Beyond this river it rises and falls several times, before it reaches the Niagara. From Onei- da lake and river, and from Seneca and Canandaigua rivers, and Mud creek, in going northerly it at first ascends and then descends ; in going southerly it ascends. 'The descent on the north ends at Lake Ontario. Between Wayne county and the river Niagara, its general descent is towards Lake Ontario. The descent towards the latter lake is made up of small offsets. In the Oneida and Seneca vale, and in the valley of Canandai- gua river, the rock is almost every where covered by alluvions, &c. which preclude its being seen, except on their borders. The only evidence we have of the rock at Salina and Monte- zuma, is from boring and digging for salt and salt water. The vale and valley seem to have been the basin of a very consider- able lake, which has been mostly effaced by the demolition of its barriers, and the filling up of its bottom. From Rome to Lyons may be considered a kind of troughi, rising on the sides and ends. Between the cast end of this trough and the west, the difference is not perhaps over fifteen feet. Oneida lake is about three hundred and sixty feet above tide water on the Hudson ; and the Seneca river, at the Montezuma marshes, about three hundred and seventy. The surface of the marshes is not five feet higher. The bottom of the trough then, is be-
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tween these extremes and the foot of the 'hills, southerly of the canal, and the spine northerly of Oneida lake and river, and Seneca river; and the ends between them and Rome and Lyons.
In this district some small tracts of secondary formation are to be excepted. In due time we shall notice them, or such as seem to require notice.
'The lands, comprehended in this district, are fertile, and may be classed among the best in the State. The aspect of the whole is somewhat diversified.
The following extracts, except as to some occasional remarks, are borrowed from a geological survey made of the country along the Erie canal, by Professor A. Eaton, in 1823, under the patronage of the Hon. Stephen Van Rensellaer. 'The sand -. stone rock (mill-stone grit, as he calls it) may be seen reposing on the transition grey wacke slate, at Steel's, Myer's alid Fer- guson creeks, in the county of Herkimer (on the south side of the Mohawk ;) at Starch Factory brook, near Utica, and in the northwestern corner of Westmoreland, in the county of Oneid2. It may also be seen six miles south of Rome, in the same county. West of this county, he supposes that it passes under, what he calls, the saliferous rock (red sandstone.)
The grey sandstone, (or mill-stone grit, as he calls it,) he thinks, where it appears in full thickness, is from forty to sixty feet, in several perpendicular ledges. We think that the stra- tum on the farm of Vr. S. Brewster, in Germanflats, and the same a little west, below Tisdale's mill, in Germanflats, is thick- er. Mr. Eaton adds, that it does not pass into, or alternate with the grey wacke slate, on which it is based. The last re- mark we can confirm, as we have examined several of the streams that flow over both rocks before they reach the Mohawk. The wacke passes immediately under the grey sandstone, with- out changing its direction, or mixing its layers.
The saliferous rock, (red sandstone.) he says, may be traced from near Little Falls, in the county of Herkimer, to the west end of Lake Ontario, about two hundred and fifty miles. We have seen this rock at Mr. Van Horne's mills, in the town of
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Stark, still more to the cast, but the latter place is out of the district. Mr. Eaton observes, where it crops out on Steel's creek, and some other places, it will average about eighty feet. It is much thicker in the west. Mr. Byington, of Salina, in the county of Onondaga, bored through it on the marsh, at the head of Onondaga lake, and found it about one hundred and thirty feet thick. After passing through it, he came to a con- glomerate rock. He found salt water above the sandstone, and in it, but none below. The water was not abundant. About one hundred and seventy feet may be seen on Genesee river, in the vicinity of the Great Fall at Carthage, in the county of Munroc. Two declivities, and some slopes must be coupled in order to obtain one hundred and seventy feet. At Oak Or- chard creek, in the county of Orleans, Mr. Bennet penetrated the same rock, one hundred and forty feet, for the purpose of obtaining salt water. This is about seven miles south of Lake Ontario-but he did not pass through it. On the Niagara river, about as much may be seen in the ravine below the falls, and on the borders of the steep, at Lewistown. Along Oswego river, seventy or eighty feet may be seen between the falls and Lake Ontario, in some places.
The descent from the Osquake hill, in the county of Herki- mer, to the Montezuma marshes, is between six and seven hun- dred feet-and the ascent, from thence to the summit, east of Genesee river, about one hundred and thirty.
This stratum is disposed in some parts in thick layers, and in others in thin. In several of the counties it answers for build- ing-stone. The cement, it appears, is argillaceous.
Animal remains have been found in the sandstone rock of this formation. In Germanflats, there are prodigious numbers of small bivalve shells.
Red sandstone occur's in the Kaatskill mountains, and some of their branches. It is found in the counties of Greene, Scho- harie and Delaware, in fields upon the grey wacke slate In some instances, it constitutes considerable portions of the moun- tain ranges, and has great thickness. In Delaware, it is seen in some of the valleys. The grey sandstone is also found in
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some of the mountains, on the grey wacke slate. In the town of Blenheim, in the county of Schoharie, the latter is extensively quarried for grind-stones. .
'The red sandstone, of the Kaatskill mountains, it is said, is a transition rock.
Grey Feeke, or Greyband-This rock appears in Herkimer and Oneida counties, in some places overlaying the red sand- stone. It is also seen in the banks of Genesee river, directly , below. the Great Fall at Carthage. It likewise occurs in the banks of Oak Orchard creek, a little above its mouth. At these places, it rests upon, and is covered by the red sandstone. In some places it is hard, and in others not. Professor Eaton says, it is four feet thick in Genesee river, and fifteen feet in most places where it projects. Its usual colour is greenish- grey.
Ferriferous rock-This rock, in some places, reposes on the grey feeke, and in others not. It occurs in sundry places be- tween Germanflats and Niagara river. According to Mr. Eat- on, it is ten feet thick at Verona, in the county of Oneida, and somewhat thicker in some other places. It is both hard and soft. Its colours are bluish, greenish, &c.
The latter rock often supports and covers a stratum of argil- laceous oxide of iron, varying from one to two feet in thickness. The ore, in the county of Herkimer, is too meagre to work, but that found in the county of Oneida, and westwardly, is ge- nerally rich, yielding from fifteen to thirty per cent. The best is soft and unctuous, and may be rubbed to pieces between the fingers. In some places the ferriferous rock underlays the whole, while in others, the stratum of oxide of iron alternates with the sand rock. In digging the ore, portions of the sub and super rocks are occasionally taken up with the former, both being united by a cement. Marine and fresh water petrifac- tions have been found in the stratum of iron oxide, and in the sandstone rock.
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Limestone Formations.
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Limestone is very abundant, and occupies some large and small tracts in the State. We intend to speak of the several formations, so far as our information extends. In general, the limestone is incumbent upon clay slate, grey wacke slate, cal- careous sandstone, sandstone or secondary slate. We shall begin with the central formation, because it has greater ex- tent than either of the others. We have called it central, be- cause it extends from east to west, nearly through the midland parts of the State.
This formation commences in the town of Coeyman's, in the county of Albany, a few miles west of Hudson's river, and runs westwardly to the Niagara, which river it crosses into the Pro- vince of Upper Canada, and pursues its way in that Province to Grand or Ouse river, or farther. In its way to the Niagara, it passes through the counties of Albany, Schoharie, Otsego, On- ondaga, Cayuga. Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Munroe, Orleans, Genesee, Erie and Niagara. It has an extent of about two hundred and forty-five miles in this State, and an average breadth, including its outgoings or cropings out, of about ten miles, which would give a superfices of two thousand four hun- dred and fifty square miles. On the east, it is limited by the clay slate district ; on the north by the grey wacke slate and sandstone districts, &c. ; and on the south by the secondary slate district, and the district of grey wacke slate, on that side. The patches and beds of gypsum are either along, or on its northern borders, or in certain lines stretching across the formation.
The formation, taken together, has considerable elevation and thickness. In the county of Albany, its summit is from five hundred to seven hundred feet above the level of the tide water on the Hudson ; in the counties of Otsego and Herkimer, from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred; in the counties of Oneida, Madison and Onondaga, from eleven hundred and fifty to eight hundred and fifty, the elevation declining as we go westwardly ; at Cayuga lake, three hundred and seventy ; at and along Genesee river, from five hundred to five hundred
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and thirty ; and at the Niagara river and Lake Erie, from five hundred and fifty to six hundred feet. From the fore- going data, which do not vary much from the truth, it will be perceived that the formation from Coeyman's, in the county of Albany, to the sources of the Susquehannah, in the counties of Otsego and Herkimer, continues in the main to rise ; that from thence to the confines of the county of Cayu- ga, it preserves a pretty uniform elevation, though falling some ; that from thence to Cayuga lake it descends very con- siderably ; that from thence to the Genesee river it ascends very gradually ; and that from thence to the Niagara, it re- tains nearly a uniform height, although on the whole rising.
The surface of the formation displays great diversities in its aspect. In some places it is romantic, in some picturesque, and in others beautiful. The formation has less breadth in the east than it has in the middle and west. Between the counties · of Herkimer and Otsego, it is from four to five miles broad; in the counties of Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and part `of Wayne, it is from nine to ten ; at Genesee river fifteen or sixteen ; at Niagara and Lake Erie about twenty-five. After it has reached the county of Ontario, it spreads, and continues to spread, till it has gone beyond the boundary of the State. From - Springfield, in the county of Otsego, eastwardly to Sharon, in the county of Schoharie, it is quite narrow. At Cherry Valley, between Springfield and Sharon, it is only about three miles in breadth. Limestone is found at the village, two miles north, and about a mile south, underlaying the valley. In the county of Schoharie it widens. Dr. Frisbie, of the county of Onondaga, in a letter to Dr. Hosack, of the city of New-York, published in the American Medical and Philo- sophical Register for 1814, says, " that limestone extends from the eastern to the western extremity of the military lands, and that it is from ten to twelve miles wide." The military lands are between the counties of Madison and Ontario. We would, in this place, remark, that we have travelled from Schoharie creek, over the formation, westwardly to Upper Canada, and have crossed it in various places, at different times.
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The limestone of this formation is disposed in layers, which usually range with the horizon. Between Coeyman's, in the county of Albany, and Cayuga lake, the layers are in general thicker than they are between the latter lake and Niagara river. Those between the latter limits are often thin and slaty. The limestone, east of Cayuga lake, is excellent for building and other purposes. Many of the locks on the Erie canal are con- structed of it. The limestone, comprising this formation, pre- sents many varieties ; perhaps every one belonging to secon- dary rocks, passing under this general denomination. Much of the limestone west of Cayuga lake, is that kind called swine- stone, or stinkstone. When burnt or struck with a hammer, it gives out a fetid odour. It abounds with chert or hornestone. The latter, however, is not peculiar to this part of the forma- tion, only it is more abundant in some places, particularly be- tween Genesee and Niagara rivers, than it is eastwardly of Cayuga lake. We have seen much hornestone in the counties of Onondaga, Herkimer, Otsego and Schoharie. Every
where it is imbedded and subordinate to the rocks composing the formation. Its colours are blackish, brownish, yellowish, &c.
The formation, taken together, may be pronounced secon- . dary. This formation is composed principally of rocks be- longing to first secondary limestone-second secondary lime- stone-third secondary limestone-and fifth secondary lime- . stone. We shall notice some of the characters. The colour of the first is, in general, blue ; sometimes grey. Its fracture is splintery, or granular foliated : its lustre varies from glistening to dull; and it is translucent or opaque on the edges. The stink, or swinestone, we include, in part, under the same desig- nation. The stratification is perfectly distinct. Caves, cavi- ties and tunnels are not uncommon. Brooks and springs have their courses in some of the cavities or interstices, and flow in subterraneous ducts. The counties of Albany, Schoharie, Ot- sego, Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Sene- ca, &c. afford abundant examples. In these counties large springs, from whence streams flow of sufficient capacity for VOL. I. 42
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mills, are to be seen, while streams of similar size are to be . seen sinking beneath the rocks.
It frequently contains chert or hornestone, very much resem- bling gun flint. Petrifactions are not of unusual occurrence in it. Tufa, magnesian limestone, sandstone, slate clay and bituminous shale are now and then found in it. The latter may be deemed subordinate rocks.
Tufa occurs at the Osquake, in the county of Herkimer; at Chitteningo, in the county of Madison ; at Nine Mile creek, in the county of Onondaga, and many other places : magne- sian limestone, at Cherry Valley and Springfield, in Otsego county ; at Germanflats and Warren, in the county of Herki- mer ; and slate clay, and bituminous shale, in the county of Livingston, &c.
The colour of the second is, in general, grey. It abounds with shelly remains, and is called by some shell limestone. It ' is generally glistening and glimmering, and small granular. Some of it is flexible. It rests upon the preceding, but does not form a continuous stratum, being found in small patches and fields. It in certain places rises into hills, one hundred feet high or upwards. It is common west of Cayuga lake, al- though now and then found east. The same kind of rock is of very common occurrence in the second district, as to extent, and even in others. The second district extends from the Mo- hawk to the river St. Lawrence.
The third secondary is found mostly west of Cayuga lake, although the second and first secondary are not without being found. It usually lies either on the sandstone or slate. At the Niagara, this rock rests on fragile slate, which we have al- ready noticed. Superimposed on this rock, is found, on some oc- casions, an imperfect kind of sandstone, marl, bituminous shale, shale, indurated clay, &c. The bastard limestone is of frequent occurrence throughout the formation. It is a coarse calcareous stone, of granular structure, containing the residual of shells. It is very abundant in some parts of the first and second lime- stone districts. It resists fire for a long time. In those dis-
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tricts where it abounds, the inhabitants have availed themselves of it for chimney backs, jambs, hearths, &c.
The fifth secondary limestone comprehends fresh water lime- stone. an impure sandstone, or such as is mixed with the car- bonate of lime, or with argillaceous earths, &c. The rocks belonging to this description are local, insulated and subordin- ate to the others. On the southerly side of the Oneida and Seneca vale, and bordering it, and perhaps more westerly than this, we have noticed the following rocks, beds, &c .- First, fresh water limestone, or silicious limestone, suitable for ce- ment-second, argillaceous limestone-third, sandstone, of a very coarse grain, and not very regular in its structure, being a more recent sandstone-fourth, gypsum-fifth, marl, &c., in- terspersed with beds of clay, loam, sand, gravel, &c. We have mentioned these, not that they always occur one above another, or that one has a higher relative position than another. but because they are of ordinary occurrence ; the one now and the other then, being at times, seen to hold superior positions. The silicious limestone contains much sand, so much so, that it is often used after being quarried, burnt, ground, and made into mortar for cement, without any foreign mixture or preparation. Cement, made of this rock, was universally used in construct- ing the locks on the Erie canal. This rock is stratified, and the strata'are hard and soft.
We shall, in the next place, mention some of the localities belonging to the first great formation. In the county of Alba- ny, the Helderberg, for many miles, presents almost a perfect mural wall which rises from three to four hundred feet above the plain.
Along Schoharie creek, in the county of Schoharie, the lime- stone appears in ledges, cliff's and walls. In the vicinity of the court-house, on the west side of the stream, there is one of these walls, of the extent of a mile or more, which rises nearly two hundred feet. The same rock emerges in many places in the towns of Cobuskill, Carlisle and Sharon, in the same county. In travelling westwardly, on the state road, from Carlisle meet- ing-house, to the Otsego border, a distance of twelve miles, the
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