USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 30
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Patches of limestone occur at Verplank's Point, Tarrytown, &c. below the Highlands.
Fresh water limestone-This rock is found at Chittenango, in the county of Madison ; at Manlius and Camillus, in the county of Onondaga-at various places, in the counties of Cay- uga, Wayne, Ontario and Orleans. That at Chitteningo is in the vicinity of the village of the same name ; that at Manlius, is a mile south of Orville, on the North Seneca turnpike, and two miles southerly of the Erie canal-that at Camillus is west of Nine Mile creek, and south of the canal. The water limestone of the west, is a subordinate rock ; it is found in patches and small fields, on the central formation before described. It is in ho- rizontal layers-it is highly impregnated with quartzose matter, and contains fresh water shells. Its colours are yellowish, greyish, whitish, &c. It varies in hardness from that of com- pact limestone, to that of the softer marls. Fresh water lime- stone differs considerably in the proportion of its constituents. In some places it passes into a porous cellular sandy rock. It then contains very little carbonate of lime.
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In Camillus, and other places, in and adjoining the Oneida and Seneca vale, we have observed a variety of limestone which we have named argillaceous limestone. It is compact and per- forated with curvilinear holes. Its colours are blueish and greyish. It contains considerable argile, and, ou exposure, readily disintegrates-it makes a rich soil. We believe it is a subordinate rock. Professor Eaton proposes to name it ver- micular limestone.
The bed of Seneca river, below Jack's reef, is a soft whitish : limestone for two miles. A similar rock is found in the bottom of the same river, at Baldwin's mills, in Lysander.
A variety of argillaceous limestone occurs, in very small patches, or rather in beds, in the grey wacke slate districts. It is a subordinate rock. In the Mohawk country the beds are numerous. It is disposed in horizontal layers, which vary from two to eight inches in thickness. It is divided lengthwise and crosswise, by seams or fissures that have great smoothness and regularity. The layers have considerable length, without much breadth. It has a conchoidal fracture. On exposure to the weather, it cracks.
We examined a bed on the right bank of the West Canada creek, two miles above its mouth. Some of the lower layers alternate with very thin layers of slate. The bed of the stream is a blackish slate-here the argillaceous lime rock reposes on the slate. This rock contains few organic remains.
Gypsum.
This rock is found in beds and small fields, in the counties of Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Orleans and Niagara. All the known localities are, we believe, within, or bordering the great limestone forma- tion. Quarries have been opened eastwardly, as far as Oneida creek, and westwardly, as far as Grand or Ouse river, in the Province of Lower Canada. Between these two lines, the rock is sufficiently abundant.
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The gypsum, under consideration, is deemed a secondary rock. In some places it is amorphous and massive, being dis- posed in thick layers, while in others, it is lameller and tabular, transparent, and highly beautiful. Its usual colours are greyish and blackish. It is sometimes mixed with clayey matter, of a dark colour, not unlike hardened mud.
The gypsum of Onondaga was found, on analysis, in one hundred grains, to consist of twenty-one of water, thirty-two of lime, and forty-seven of sulphuric acid-See Med. Rep. vol. 13, p. 77.
Gypsum is massive, earthy, tabular, lameller and crystalized. The latter is usually denominated selenite ; it is of common oc- currence, and is generally transparent, with a glittering lustre, and is of various hues, such as white, grey, yellow, &c. 'The white is the most common. It often constitutes portions of the mass, being imbedded, and is seldom found in veins. From its dissemination, it appears to be of cotemporaneous formation with the rock in which it is imbedded.
" Gypsum, of the coxcomb kind, is found on the east side of Cayuga lake, on the beach, after high winds, it having been washed from the bank where it lay imbedded. It may be pro- cured at a distance from the shore by digging-it is transparent.
The rose colour of the coxcomb, in France, is ascribed to iron." See Thomas' Travels.
" Crystalized sulphur, of a fine transparent yellow, has been found at Thomsons' quarry, in Cayuga county. It is imbed- ded in the layers, and is so plentiful that it trickles down when fires are made near the plaster." See Thomas' Travels.
" Gypsum is found in the fetid limestone at the falls of Ni- agara, evidently produced by the decomposition of pyritous, calcareous and shistic rocks. Here the newly formed sulphur- ic acid combines with the lime, and discharges the carbonic acid and hydrogen. When picked up at the foot of the falls . in loose white lumps, it has been called petrified white foam." ___ Dr. Mitchell.
Snowy gypsum and sulphate of lime have been found at Rochester, on Genesee river.
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Gypsumi, on being exposed to the weather, speedily decour- poses. Selenite or sulphate of lime, when subjected to a cer- · tain, degree of heat, looses its water of crystallization and is changed into fine powder.
Gypsum is extensively used as a manure, or fertilizer, in the interior and along the Hudson ; but on the coast and in the vi- cinity of the ocean, it is of little or no use; the saltness of the atmosphere destroying its fertilizing properties.
The gypsum of these beds and patches, contains animal and vegetable remains, but not abundantly.
The beds and patches are frequently surrounded with debris, marl, clay, &c. which are sometimes mixed with the gypseous rocks. Some of the gypsum beds and fields rest on or near the red sandstone rock, while others are on or near the limestone. It is often intermingled with the latter rock, at and near the places of contact. It not unfrequently reposes on a slaty rock con- taining calcareous matter, which occasionally forms roofs or coverings to the beds. The beds, however, are oftener covered with clays and other earths.
In the towns of Lenox and Sullivan, in the county of Madi- son, it forms rises and small hills, and is generally covered with soil. The beds are near the Erie canal. Several have been opened and extensively quarried. In Manlius, and other parts of the county of Onondaga, it is also seen in swells and small hills, now and then in ridges, which are sometimes on the very bank of the canal. On the east side of Cayuga lake, and its outlet, northerly to Montezuma, it appears in rises, ridges, &c. of very 1 moderate elevation. Some beds have been wrought, but the gypsum, in general, is inferior to that of Onondaga and Madi- son. Thomas, in his travels, says, " the layers, in several of the beds, are very unequal in quality ; and that in consequence of not separating them when quarried, the reputation of the Cayuga plaster has fallen into great disrepute." 'The beds on the east side of the lake are between Long Point and the bridge, and occupy an extent of seven or eight miles.
In Wayne county the beds known are mostly in the towns of Galen and Lyons. They form hills, &c. The Erie canal
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passes through these towns. The beds are north of the lime- stone formation. Gypsum has been found in the town of Juni- us, Seneca county, near Waterloo. In the county of Ontario, along the Canandaigua outlet or river, nine or ten miles north- west of Geneva, there are beds and patches which have been opened. They are north of the preceding limestone formation. Gypsum also occurs at East and West Bloom field, in the same county. Gypsum likewise occurs at Caledonia, in the county of Livingston. The beds are within the great limestone for- mation.
Gypsum is quarried in large quantities, and sent down the Erie canal to the Hudson, and up Cayuga and Seneca lakes, to their heads, where it is transported by land to the navigable waters of the Susquehannah ; from whence it is either distribut- ed over several of our southern counties, or carried down that river into Pennsylvania, and disposed off. 'The demand is an- nually increasing. In a few years it will be an article of great consumption.
In this State the gypsum beds occur in an extent of one hun- dred and seventy-five miles, from east to west. In the coun- ty of Cayuga, the width of the line is about twelve miles. We are not certain whether this is the greatest or not. Many of the beds are near each other, while others are several miles apart. Again, many beds remain to be discovered, it was not till lately that gypsum was found at Lockport, in the county of Niagara.
The gypsum beds, in general, are not very thick. The rock is sometimes bare, but then this is occasioned by streams. The cover is often not over ten feet. In some instances, wells have been dug below the base of the beds, their thickness being un- der thirty feet.
The salt springs are situated near the gypseous beds, and sometimes among them. The saline properties of the waters are derived from deposites of salt in some of the beds, and in other beds which adjoin, surround, or blend with them. Be- sides the salt, the waters contain sulphates of gypsumn and lime, carbonate of lime, marl, clay, &c. Salt is always found in beds
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or masses, and in the crystallized state. It is seldom pure. , . Several countries in Europe abound in rock-salt and salt springs ; as England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, &c. In England the most important springs and mines are si- tuated in tracts, whose geological structure bears strong analo- gies, to that of the tract containing our springs, gypsum beds, &c. In some places among the patches and beds of gypsum, we see depressions which have probably been occasioned by the dissolution of the salt, enclosed in the beds, and the falling in of the roofs. We have no reason to expect that fossil salt will ever be found where the springs are. The deposites of fossil salt which saturate the waters, are at some distance from the springs.
Dr. Mitchell supposes that the beds of rock-salt, which sup- ply the salt springs of Onondaga, &c. are the derelictions of the salt ocean, which originally covered the whole of North America, or of the salt lakes that continued to cover extensive tracts after the primitive ocean had retired.
Beds of gypsum, it is probable, are forming at this time in Lake Ontario, which at some distant period, will be uncovered by the reduction of its waters. Most of the calcareous and ar- gillaceous matters which the Niagara has transported from the ravine, between the falls and Lewistown, have been deposited in that lake where they have been precipitated.
Marls.
There are three principal kinds of marl, besides several va- rieties, to wit :- the calcareous, argillaceous and bituminous. The calcareous is very often of a pale greyish colour. The argillaceous is bluish, greyish, &c. The first contains shells, trunks of trees, &c. Marl is now forming in and around Onondaga lake, and many other places in the western coun- try ; and also in several of the counties along the Hudson. Some of the most extensive fields of marl, known in the State, are in the Oneida and Seneca vale. The Montezuma marshes, and some of the cedar swamps, might be instanced. Between
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Madison and Wayne counties, much of the canal is carried through marl. The calcareous and argillaceous marls have generally an earthy texture.
The bituminous is slaty and massive. It is found mostly in the western country. Its colours are blackish, brownish and greyish.
Hitherto marls have been but little used among us in im- proving lands. Most of our people do not know them, and are entirely ignorant of their utility. In Europe they are ex- tensively used as manures. The amelioration of the soil, in certain districts in England and France, is mostly owing to the use of this fertilizer.
Peat-Peat occurs in different parts of the State, but there is not much of it suitable for fuel. The Montezuma marshes, Sacondaga Fly, and some of the Cedar swamps, in the Oneida and Seneca vale, and other parts, have coverings of peat. The peat of the Cedar swamps and the Montezuma marshes, rests on marl. Its thickness varies ; in some places it exceeds four feet. The peat of the Montezuma marshes may be denominated both lake and marsh peat. The forest, in general, overspreads the Cedar swamps. The mountain is found in the mountainous districts. The marine and transported are found mostly on Long Island. Some of the mountain, marine and transported, may be used as a substitute for wood and coal. The peat of the Oneida and Seneca vale, is a vegetable earth, imperfect in its decomposition. Its usual colours are brownish and black- ish. It is soft, spongy and permeable, being loaded with water. These swamps, when cleared, drained and cultivated, are com- monly productive. Clearing, draining and cultivation, induces a considerable reduction in the peaty covering. In droughts, the peat, in some places, if fired, will burn. The combustion is slow. In black ash swamps, where peat frequently occurs, ac- cidental fires have been known to burn for weeks in droughts, and to consume the surface down to the soil underlaying it; prostrating at the same time all the forest trees. .
The commissioners of the Erie canal, in one of their reports, inform ns that the superficial stratum of the Montezuma marshes
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is found to be to the depth of four feet and a-half, blackish and light vegetable earth, underlayed to below the bottom of the canal, with shell marl, occasionally interrupted with sand and vegetable matter. The canal runs eleven miles through these marshes. In the spring they are flooded. A rise of five feet in Seneca river, at the village of Montezuma, suffices to inunduate them. The rise occasionally is seven feet. At low water the surface of the stream is three feet lower than that of the marshes. The stream is highest in April, and lowest in September.
" Jet-Pitch coal occurs on Long Island and Staten Island. It consists mostly of carbonized or vitriolated wood." See Dr. Mitchell's Notes appended to Phillips' Geology.
Iron. -
This highly useful mineral is found abundantly in the primi- tive transition and secondary districts. Hitherto, it has not , been very extensively wrought, owing partly to the newness of the country, and partly to the preference given to foreign iron. Were government to encourage its manufacture by premiums, and additional duties on the imported, in a few years enough might be made, not only to supply domestic consumption, but for exportation. The New Tariff, should it be continued, will give stimulous to the exertions of those engaged in the fabri- cation of this most useful of all the metals. In this article we shall do little more than name the localities already known.
Iron occurs at Chesterfield, Moriah, Wilmington, Elba, &c. in the county of Essex ; at Peru, &c. in the county of Clinton ; at Canton, Rossie, &c. in the county of St. Lawrence ; at Hope, &c. in the county of Hamilton ; at Wilna, in the county of Jefferson ; at Westmoreland, &c. in the county of Oneida ; at Burlington, &c. in the county of Otsego; at Munro, &c. in the county of Rockland ; at Pawling, &c. in the county of Dutchess ; at Phillip'stown, &c. in the county of Putnam; also, in the counties of Orange, Ulster, Lewis, Montgomery, Warren, Washington, Tioga, &c. &c. The ore intended to
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be designated, is in beds and veins, and is usually very rich. The beds and veins in the counties of Essex and Clinton, which have been opened, are very productive, yielding from forty to eighty per cent.
The iron ore which occurs near the Erie canal, in the counties of Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Wayne, &c. is argillaceous oxide of iron, or clay iron stone. It is in great profusion, and often very rich. Several beds have been opened and are now extensively worked. These beds, in general, may be pronounced inexhaustible. The ore is adapt- ed to castings, such as kettles, stoves, cannon, &c. rather than for bar iron. In the counties of Herkimer, Oneida and Madi- son, pots, kettles and stoves are made to an extent far beyond the demand in those counties.
Bog ore occurs in the plains of Saratoga, Albany, Schenec- tady, Oneida, &c. The same kind of ore also occur's in the counties of Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Warren, Hamilton, Montgomery, &c., and pretty gener- ally speaking, wherever there are plains of sand : but a bare enu- meration of the places would be irksome to the reader in a work of this kind. The rock or mountain ore is, however, in greater abundance, and is more widely distributed, especially in the tracts called primitive. It is also the best ; it is not only adapt- ed to castings, but also to bar iron. The beds and veins are often in mountains and hills. The bog ore is found in swamps, marshes and bogs, and consist of three kinds, meadow, swamp and marsh. These occur in every county in the State, but not in the same abundance. The primitive and transition districts, or such counties as are situated wholly, or in part in them, have most. Bog iron ore is of various hues, such as black, brown, &c. and is generally of a softish earthy texture.
Dr. Mitchell is of opinion, that the bog iron ore, found at New-York, in the alluvions, was brought down partly from the interior, by water, when the barriers which confined the inland seas gave way, and partly by the chalybeate springs, and ooz- ing of water trickling over the soil and deposited.
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Formation of bog iron ore-This mineral, according to na- turalists, is formed generally of iron ore which had previously existed in rocks. The water, say they, which runs over rocks containing iron ore, takes up portions, which combining with it, are afterwards deposited in swamps, marshes, ponds and lakes where they appear in the form of hydrate of iron. Iron ore, as well as iron, when exposed to the weather, oxydates or rusts, and the oxydation or rust which is carried away by the water, is deposited anew. It is said that in Sweden, where the primitive rocks are highly charged with iron ore, that the bog ore is found in great abundance in the bottoms of shoal ponds and lakes, and so rich as to yield sixty per cent of hydrate of iron. The ore, in consequence of the copious deposites and rapid renewals, is in some instances, dredged out every ten, and in others, every twenty or thirty years. Bog iron ore, in many places in this State, renews every ten or twenty years ; in others, it is said never to be renewed. In the latter instances, it is presumable that the ore was ori- ginally brought from a distance by an agent, which no longer exists.
Bog iron ore, we are assured by Mr. Joel Northrup, of Ta- berg, in the county of Oneida, renews in the plain northwest of the village of Rome, in the same county, in nine or ten years. The ore is found in these plains, in the swampy, marshy and boggy places, from the size of a grain of wheat or less, to that of a man's head .. The plain is five or six miles in length, and three or four in breadth.
. Magnetic iron ore occurs in the Highlands, or Matteawan mountains, near the Military Academy at West Point, in the primitive rocks .- Dr. Mitchell. The same kind of ore occurs in the northern primitive tract.
Red Iron ore-Iron Glance-According to Dr. Mitchell, pieces of this ore are frequently picked up along the coast of New-York. They are soft enough to be employed by the mil- lers to mark their barrels of flour. He supposes that they must have been washed from the interior, where iron ore abounds to the coast, where we find them, by the volume and force of the
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the water that broke the barriers and covered the alluvion of the ocean, with another and more recent alluvion, from behind the mountains. 1
, Brown Iron ore-A compact variety of this ore, denominated brown irematites, containing encrivites and shells, apparently oceanic, has been found in Oneida county. See Dr. Mitchell's Notes to Phillips' Geology.
Black Iron ore-Dr. Mitchell imagines that the beautiful fibrous iron ore, worked at Ancram, in the county of Dutchess, whose crystals radiate from the centre to the circumference, is a variety of this species. He. observes that lumps occur in the in- land alluvions of Staten Island.
Clay Iron stone-Argillaceous stone-Argillaceous Iron ore --- This mineral occurs in many places along the sea coast, and shores of New-York, in the form of globular and roundish mas- ses, which, on being broken, are found to contain' a kernel of softer matter, usually ochreous, resembling the yelk of an egg within the shell .- Dr. Mitchell's Notes to Phillips' Geology.
Granular iron ore is of common occurrence in the High- lands, or Matteawan mountains. The masses are about the size of peas, and the spaces are generally filled by quartz. The constitution of the ore is very compact .- Dr. Mitchell.
The argillaceous iron ore, found in the county of Oneida, may be called clay iron stone. It is brownish, or reddish brown, and when rich saponaceous to the touch. Its structure is slaty, or inclining thereto. This ore has been used as a sub- stitute for Spanish brown.
Manganese-Black oxide of manganese, in combination with iron, has been found at Ancram, in the county of Dutchess. See Medical Rep. vol. 11. p. 442, 3. According to geologists manganese is very rarely found in the metallic state. A mixed ore, consisting of the oxide of manganese, oxide of iron, and carbonate of iron occurs in various parts of Rensellaer, Colum- bia and Schoharie counties.
Molybdena-Sulphuret of molybdena occurs frequently ia VOL. I. 45
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the primitive rocks of New-York. It is foliated, shining and flexible, and imparts a stain like black lead. See Notes of Dr. Mitchell to Phillips' Geology.
Titanium-This metal has been found in Manhattan Island, in the primitive limestone, near King's bridge ; also at Ticon- deroga, in the county of Essex ; around Lake George, in the counties of Washington and Warren ; at Peekskill, in the coun- · ty of Putnam ; on Staten Island. &c.
Copper-Native copper has been found in Staten Island ; at the Narrows, between that Island and Long Island; in the al- Juvions between the city of New-York and the ocean .- Dr. : Mitchell's Notes, &c.
. - Copper has also been found in veins and beds in the counties of Essex and Dutchess, but not in large quantities.
Sulphuret of Copper-Glance copper is found in the red sandstone formation, in the county of Rockland, accompanied with the oxide and carbonate of copper. See Notes of Dr. Mitchell to Phillips' Geology.
Silver-Native silver occurs at Sing Sing, in the county of Westchester, in this State, but not in considerable quantity .- Dr. Mitchell. See Med. Rep. v. 6, p. 319. It would be haz- ardous to express an opinion, in relation to the paucity or abun- dance of this metal in the State, as the mineral kingdom is as yet very little explored. The rich mines of Saxony, Transylvania, &c. in Europe, were not known to the ancients. Silver mines of great richness, may, for aught we know, be entombed in the earth. Discoveries are often the result of accident. The discovery of the mines at Potosi, in South America, was owing to such a cir- cumstance. ... 11
Galena-Sulphuret of lead has been found in the counties of Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Rensellaer, Washington, Mont- gomery, Herkimer, Essex and Clinton, in slate, limestone, and other rocks. The beds and veins do not yield this mineral in large quantities-it would be unsafe to give an opinion in relation to the abundance, as none of the mines have been opened and worked to any extent.
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Zinc, Blend-Sulphinret of zinc has occurred in the lead mines at Rochester, in the county of Uister. It has been found, as Dr. James Hadley, Professor of Chemistry, in the Medical College at Fairfield, in the county of Herkimer, has assured me, at Salisbury, in the same county. 'Zinc has likewise been found in the county of Dutchess.
Tin-This metal has been found in small quantities in the county of Dutchess.
Antimony-This metal is known to exist in the county of Ulster.
Arsenic-Arsenic, in the form called white pyrites, is occa- sionally found adhering to quartz, in some of the primitive rocks. Some specimens from Warwick, in the county of Orange, are in roundish lumps or balls, of different magnitudes, from that of a man's fist, to that of a moderate sized melon- externally the lumps or masses are rough and tarnished, but with- in, they exhibit a tin coloured lustre. . They are very heavy and readily emit garlick, flavoured vapours, of a white colour, by exposure to a moderate degree of heat. See Notes to Phillips' Geol. by Dr. Mitchell. The same naturalist denominates the above, mispickle, or arsenical pyrites.
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