by
Lardner Vanuxeum.
February 23, 1839

Montgomery, Herkimer, Oneida and Oswego, were the counties which formed the subject of the last report. It was in consequence of those counties presenting but few of the attractive valuable mineral products those which do not enter into the compositioon or form rock masses but are the associates of certain rock masses, that it was thought better to adopt a more general plan than the one contemplated at the commencement of the survey.

With few exceptions, all the mineral wealth of the Third District form portions of the great series of rock or geological masses, the right understanding of which requires that the position which each kind holds in the series, should be known. The same reasoning applies to those mineral substances which do not enter into the composition of the series, from making but a small part thereof, but have a determinate place therein; and the, same likewise may be, said of those products derived from certain materials of the series, and hold a position extraneous to them. Such are calcareous tufa, lake marl, bog-iron, and we may include the products of alluvium likewise.

This blending of the two methods in the annual reports, greatly facilitates the Geologist of each district in the collecting of materials for his final report, being aided not only by his own eyes, but the eyes of his co- associates. For these and other reasons, we shall continue the same plan in the present report.

It cannot be said that any of the counties have been finished or thoroughly examined, for it often happens from the materials which form rocks, having been furnished from different and often opposing geographical points, that a rock which is well developed or forms a thick

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mass in one county, may in its prolongation, so thin out as to attract little notice in another county, producing this result, that should the examination be commenced in the latter and not the one, it may be passed over with but slight attention, requiring, therefore, a re-examination before the whole series of the county can be compleated. Of the truth of this remark, Western New-York furnishes some remarkable examples.

The limestone of Niagra, Lockport and Rochester, estimated by Mr. Hall, at 150 feet thick, thins out in its progress vast, so as to be but two or three feet in thickness near the Sauquoit in Oneida county. The mass which lies below the limestone, the "calciferous slate," is about 80 feet thick in the western part of the Fourth District, and seems to disappear before reaching Madison, county, and reciprocally the "millstone grit," which is thirty and more feet in thickness in Herkimer and Oneida, gradually attenuates in going, westward, being from four to five feet at Rochester. The materials of which this rock is formed gravel and sand, prove that their source was eastwardly. In Herkimer and in the eastern part of Oneida, the pebbles are larger and the mass sand increasing going west, whilst the pebbles diminish in the same direction. Thus, in Cayuga the pebbles are rare, and I know not that they have been noticed in the "gray band" at Rochester, the continuation or equivalent of the "millstone grit."

The counties principally examined were Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga. The whole boundary between the Third and Fourth Districts was likewise examined conjointly with Mr. Hall. Besides, many, portions of the southern counties were visited preparatory to a more thorough exploration the coming season. In this report, we shall not treat each county separately, but connect the whole, in order to avoid repetition.

Proceeding up the. Mohawk' valley, a rapid rise takes, place to near Utica, from I which point commences the long level of the Erie canal; no great change comparatively of level takes place thence proceeding west, and in a NNW direction, throughout the Third District.

Though the general upper level is attained near Utica, yet we are not upon the top of the plane, until we are a little to the west of Rome: there the waters pass in opposite directions, some to reach the ocean by Lake Ontario, others by the Mohawk and Hudson.

Where the bottom of the valley ceases to rise, its sides begin to recede from each other, and to the south and left in proceeding west

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over the level we have the continuation of the great elevation of Herkimer and other counties to the east, its line of continuity much broken in its progress through the Third District, owing to numerous streams of water flowing from the south. To the west and north the, limits of the level lie not far from a line passing from the north of Rome through Salmon creek, in Oswego county.

The area included within the limits mentioned, presents no elevation excepting those formed by alluvia materials only, if we except the plaster hills which skirt the northern side of the great elevation, and a few other limited projections of the same great mass. The alluvial materials abound more within this area than in any other part of the Third District, consisting of clay, sand, gravel and larger stones, either filling up excavations, some at least 200 feet in depth, or rising into hills and ridges.

The area occupies a portion of Oneida, The northern parts of Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga, and the whole west and south portion of Oswego county.

Were the whole of this ancient level or area stripped of its alluvial materials we should find that the surface presented a lake bottom appearing as though *Ontario and Oneida once bad a higher level, their waters uniting and covering the whole surface. That this level or area has been the theatre of great erosive action is evident from many facts collected in the progress of the survey, facts all important to a right understanding of the salines of Onondaga; all which will subsequently be given.

In Herkimer the great southern elevation consists, as was mentioned in the second report of the green shales, the "millstone grit" the prottean group, the red shale, the water limes, the upper limestones and the "pyritiferous rocks." All the lower, or first named ones, appear merely as outcrops, forming as it were the south wall of the valley, their northern ends alone to be observed with such other parts as the

small valleys or ravines which have been excavated in them have exposed. From beneath these rocks the black shale appears, and forms the bottom of the valley.

The elevation in, its progress through Oneida, in consequence or the dip of its rocks to the southwest, the rise of the valley and the lower rocks rising and passing abruptly to the north from the influence of the great primary mass to the north and. east, causes the green shale to appear in the area and gradually take the place of the black shale. This

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in its turn cedes its place in like manner in part to the "millstone grit" and the protean group, causing these two latter masses to occupy the southern half of the area. Whilst the green shale is extending itself through Oneida, other rocks appear which have no existence in Herkimer. These rocks commence between Utica and Rome, and cover the northern side of the area. They appear from under the "millstone grit" and from above the green shale of Herkimer, and. of the same rock in the creek to the east of Utica, or in other words, from between the two rocks. These, rocks are the shales and green sandstone of Salmon, river, and the red sandstone of Oswego; they cover a considerable portion of the north part of Oneida, the greater of Oswego and the red sandstone forms the triangle in the northern part of Stirling, in Cayuga appearing immediately under the "grit."

The further progress of the elevation causes in Madison, another change; the red shale which rests upon the protean group, adds another member to the area. With the exception of the curve from Rome, the entire length of the Erie canal in that county is' excavated in the red shale. And the final progression of the elevation in the Third District, causes portions of the gypseous hills of Onondaga and Cayuga, they being the equivalents of the water limes east of Oneida creek, to form as it were portions, of the same plain. With the Third District, our observations should end; but a general idea of the whole elevation is required, in order that the report of the sailnes of Onondaga should be fully understood, and all doubts as to. the superposition of the rocks should be removed, which could not be, unless the whole. range should be given. Besides it may be said, that no part of the geology of New York, judging from what has been written, is more obscure than the part we are treating, and its importance requires all the light, that can be thrown upon it.

Near the Cayuga lake, the rocks are at their point of greatest depression, and from thence rise, going west. The effect of which is to cause all, those rocks which underlie or compose the area or depression to again reappear as an elevation

Thus the red sandstone of Oswego which covers the triangle in Stirling, Cayuga, which cannot be over 15 feet above Lake, Ontario, forms the lower falls of Rochester, rising nearly 100 feet above that level. The red sandstone i's followed by the gray, sandstone quarried near the line of the county, between Martville and Hannibalville, and of Hulme's quarry in Stirling, being the "millstone grit" of Oneida and the "gray

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band" of Rochester. the rocks succeeding to the grit, are the green shales, the iron ore beds, the calcareous "fire stones," &c. &c. of the protean group; the whole. terminated by its upper member, the concretionary rock of Oneida, which with its immediate associates appear in the low level near Oneida lake, passing thence through the towns of Cicero, Clay, Lysander, Ira, and Victory, in Onondaga and Cayuga, thence onwardly, and finally forming the upper falls of Rochester the rock of the great excavation of Lockport and the falls of Niagara.

From the information obtained from Mr. Hall, of the geology of the north side of Lake Ontario, we learn that the southern limit of the Birdseye and the Trenton limestone is near Newcastle, opposite to Rochester and the southern limit of the shales of Salmon river is at Credit river, about fifteen miles west of Toronto; both extending westward in the, same direction as in this State. From these facts we are enabled to solve points of the highest importance, and as obscure as were the connection, of the series of rocks which form the great south elevation of the Mohawk valley, with h those of the middle region and those of the mountain ridge or terrace I rrace of Niagara.

Red Sandstone of Oswego

The red sandstone of Oswego is the lowest rock of the three counties whose examination forms the subject of this report. The counties are, Madison) Onondaga and Cayuga. The red sandstone is only foil found in Cayuga in the town of Stirling, underlying the north half of the town. It is not to be seen in many places, owing to its alluvial covering. The locality where it is uncovered to the greatest extent, is on Little Sodus creek, at Stirling centre, where it is likewise quarried for building. From the centre it extends along the creek to McFarlane's mill, a mile south. At the centre, a brine spring rises by the side of the creek, through a fissure in the sandstone. There is another spring also near the mill. At both places, salt was made, and of similar quality both had a sharp taste; that of Stirling centre was highly coloured with iron, which I ch mineral the spring deposits. Care being taken to purify the salt at the mill as to, colour, it was white.

The red sandstone is the lowest rock, geologically, of Neww-York, which contain brine springs of sufficient purity to he manufactures into salt. ' 'From the eastern part of Oswego county, to, the Niagarn river, numerous brine springs Fire found in this red sandstone.* All the springs in the Third District, which are found in this rock, and there

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*See Report of Fourth District.

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The greatest exposition of plaster is along the Nine Mile creek from Camillus to a mile or two beyond the great embankment. The plaster beds were laid open by the grading of the railroad from, Syracuse to Auburn. Here the dark coloured mass which encloses the lowest range can be well observed. for some distance; also the hopper cavities which are above that mass; they are followed by gypsum, and lastly the porous or vermicular rock," forms the upper part rt of the whole. This latter is four feet thick.

Throughout the three counties where plaster exists, I have no reason to believe that it is more abundant in one part than in another part, the difference being merely apparent arising from the greater ease of extraction caused by denudation, which by removing the superincumbent portions, admitted also of less accumulation of rubbish upon the hill sides.

Some idea of the quantity of plaster which the region contains, may be formed by the report of the engineer of the Syracuse rail-road, Mr. Edwin F. Johnson, dated June, 1837. The whole of the plaster was obtained from the hill side going from Camillus to Auburn, and to that period "about 40,000 tons had been obtained, estimated to be worth, in the aggregate, $35,000." Mr. Johnson further remarks, "that the location of the rail-road is such, that the gypsum is exposed at various points in the excavations for the distance of five or six miles. In some places the bed of the rail-road is composed entirely of that material."

Very little plaster is quarried between Nine Mile creek and Owasco river, and no quarry opened in Elbridge or Brutus that I could hear of. In the town of Mentz, about one and a half miles below Troopsville on the Owasco, is a quarry belonging to Mr. N. Marble, of Port Byron. It belongs to the upper range, and this is the last excavation for gypsum before reaching the quarries at Cayuga bridge.

Gypsum is abundant at Cayuga bridge; but one quarry worked, that. of Mr. Willard. Mr. Titus has opened a bed a little north of the road, but has not proceeded further.

The beds at the bridge all seem to belong to the upper mass; they are wanting in the hoppers; in the "vermicular lar rock," the want of arching in the layers above the plaster, and they are accompanied by a class of cavities which I have only observed in those masses which hold the higher geological position in the third deposit.

South of Cayuga bridge, and about two, miles north of Union spring, and near the lake shore, are the five plaster quarries of Richardson,

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Partenheimer, Cresis, Howland and Yawger. There is another quarry to the east of all these, owned by Mr. Thompson. These quarries lie farther to the south than any known in the district extending with the lower deposit found at Montezuma, along a north, and south line of about thirteen miles. For quality they are superior to any in the deposit, the masses also are larger, yielding often from, 300 to 1,000 tons. They have all been denuded, for they are, surrounded and covered by the most modern, the third, or upper alluvial of Chittenango, presenting none of these terminal associates, if we except the mass in which it was originally deposited, whose layers occasionally cover portions of the plaster. The matrix of the gypsum is here blackish in colour, earthy, in its aspect, often variegated, sometimes contains lamillar gypsum, and more rarely a little pure sulphur. This mass has the appearance of an impure gypsum, and is considered by the quarrymen to be an incipient plaster, requiring time alone to make it perfect.

Some of these quarries are a few feet below the lake. They furnish about 10,000 tons yearly; delivered at the head of the lake from $1.50 to $2 per ton.

Richardson's quarry is the first quarry met with going south. It presents a face of about 100 or more feet in length and from 18 to 20 thick. It is in solid, though not continuous layers, apparently horizontal. The surface is uneven, as usual with all the plaster masses, compact, of a dark colur resembling a variegated marble. In the fissures of the upper part, and sometimes in its interior; particles of sulphur from the size of a pea to an inch are said to be found, also small globular masses of white granular gypsum, which is taken for sand. On the top of the plaster, in parts, there is the mass before mentioned, which is considered to be the commencement of a new crop. The whole is covered by 8 or 10 feet of modern alluvial. The bottom of the quarry is a dark slate, or slate with nodules of plaster, resembling those of the upper quarries near Chittenango, and on the road to Jamesville. This floor was bored to the depth of 24 feet, all which was said to be in plaster.

The largest mass of plaster is at Yawger's, presenting a continuous face for several hundred feet, and from 15 to 25 feet thick. Mr. Yawger stated that plaster had been used there since 1811, without diminution of its good quality; a bushel of plaster yielded in produce what was equal to the cost of a ton.

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In the examination of nearly every quarry in the three counties these were the facts observed. The lower range. of "plaster beds" are enclosed in a dark coloured, and to appearance, a somewhat altered mass, in which I was informed that Dr. Beck had found 20 per cent of magnesia in an analysis made from that of the Nine Mile creek. Resting upon this mass is the series which contain the hopper cavities, noticed by Mr. Conrad, , and Dr. Beck particularly. Also the porous or "vermicular rock," and the organic remains. These litter I could only find in one position and in two localities. The porous rock seeing to be

disposed in two different ways. In one forming a bed, holding a position more or less fixed, and apparently extending over a large portion of the gypseous region. In the other, the masses are limited in extent, without fixed positions, appearing to have been deposited at irregular intervals.

The cavities of these porous rocks have no analogy whatever with those derived from organic remains, nor are they referrable to any porous rocks other than those of volcanic origin, and I should suppose that, were they not composed of carbonate of lime chiefly, but of the usual siliceous and argillaceous materials, the igneous origin would have been given to them by their first describer.

The common opinion that the plaster is still growing, is get at naught by the fact, that it is as fully formed where alluvial soil covers its masses, as it is where layer on layer of its own deposit is heaped upon it. No difference can. be perceived in either. No increase, I should suppose, could have taken place since that period when it rose from the deep to which it had been depressed by the, masses which originally were deposited upon it, and which subsequently have been swept away,

The arching over the gypsum is readily explained from the facts which experience with "water limes" have given to us; and a fact noticed in a quarry of water lime, south of Chittenango, verifies that experience. That certain materials or mixtures will harden or sett, when others will be soft and yielding, may be considered fully established by the many experiments made with good and bad water limes, and by, substances taken for such, and likewise that there is a difference in the time of setting of the different kinds. This is admirably shown in a layer of water lime back of Chittenango. The layer was about eight inches in thickness. The note I made was this: "Some parts of a course or water lime show a local disturbance, by which if is evident that a derangement can go on which extends but. to a little distance from the action, and show that the parts disturbed were the first to ag-

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gregate." Within the layer of 8 inches, are two others more compact, of about an inch thick. These have been broken in many places) so that the parts no longer hold their original parallels, the enveloping part showing but few signs of disturbance.

In the material which covers the gypsum of the upper range, the arching is but perceptible) owing to its soft nature, whilst in the lower range the arching is common, and formed of harder, fine grained and a compact material. A considerable portion of all the arches 'resemble in fracture the material of which the porous rock is composed. These facts show that a hardening or consolidation of the matter of the arching took place before the gypsum wholly separated from the mass in which it must have been diffused, or, in other words, before it acquired the form in which we find it. On the contrary, where the arching does not exist, the particles which compose it, when pressed upon by the forming plaster, would have retired to tile place of the least resistance, as is instanced in the material which encloses the two thin layers in the eight inch bed of the water lime of Chittenango.

There are two localities in which the porous rock is found in greater thickness than elsewhere met with, and merit examination from the connection with the immediate salt region.

The one is on the road from Amboy and Bellisle to the turnpike, a few miles west of Syracuse, immediately back of the tavern, and in the rise to the top of the bill. The other is on the Footsheet road, ascending from Syracuse to Mr. Jeptha Colvins.

At the first locality, towards the bottom of the hill, there are about twenty feet of these dark porous layers, and of configurations frequently -met with elsewhere, probably belonging wholly to common salt or else to sulphate of lime, not having yet determined. To these others succeed, and then those with vertical fissures) with a few small thin shelled bivalves, similar to those of Bull's quarry, also a few small fucoides. The terminal mass is the 11 vermicular rock," from four to five fret thick.

Tha locality near Syracuse is of greater interest, for besides the two porous masses of the bill to the west, there exist at no great distance below the upper porous rock; a series of highly crystalline aggregates, wholly -different from every product yet met with in the Third District, if we except the dykes noticed in the lost report, and a few thin ones yet to be mentioned, which are found near Ludlowville, above half a mile east of the village. The description of these crystalline rocks,

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should time admit, will be given as an appendix to the report. For the present we add the note which was made in passing up to the top of the hill. The first product met with is the gravel of the second alluvial. This is followed by the red earth, and which always forms the third or upper alluvial. Beyond these, in rising, is the drab coloured slaty rock, the first seen. The next resembles the usual envelope of the lower plaster. To this about 20 feet of layers, with small pores, succeeds, and then an interval from depth of soil for some distance takes place, and then again the rock masses which compose the upper part of

the hill. The first is a marly shale. Then mixtures with more carbonate of lime, some compact, some crystalline, confused, aggregated, and presenting cavities lined with crystals of flint, mineral, and containing also sulphate of strontian in the mass and in the cavities. With these and above these, are other aggregates like serpentine, marble, &c.

with purplish shale, or slate which are followed by a green rind blackish trap-like rock, as to appearance, but too soft for that rock. After this, that is, above it, is the mass which resembles the material which forms the arch of the lower beds of plaster, and this is covered by the upper porous or 99 vermicular rock."

Magnesian Deposit..

This deposit terminates the group. It appears to be a thick series of what is probably a magnesian limestone. Usual colour is of a brownish drab, and also dove, breaking with rather an earthy fracture. Its great characteristic, and which will suffice for the present report, is its fibrous cavities, caused by the crystallization of sulphate of magnesia, as we fully proved in the last report. These cavities are very numerous in the series, and in every locality where they are found show that they follow the gypseous masses. The most numerous are found at Hungerford's plaster quarry, and also by the rail-road just below Split rock quarry, near Syracuse. Likewise near the upper plaster quarries, on Cayuga lake, the mill at Troopsville, &c. &c.

The cavities in this series are more frequently found in a vertical position, like veins, than in an horizontal one, as is usually tile case. The cause seems to be, the existence of imperceptible cracks, by which water has bad access to the rock, and the salt has crystallized in accordance with the direction taken by this fluid. This opinion is confirmed by the facility which the rock breaks with more or less even surface in the vertical direction, and by toughness and unevenness in the horizontal one. The cavities strongly contrast with the rock, from thin lining of coaly matter.

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Salt Wells or Borings of Onondaga.

The borings and wells which have been made at -Syracuse, Salina, Liverpool, Geddes, Montezuma, &C. prove that the brine or salt waters exist in all these places in geological materials, which serve as, resevoirs; they were not the materials which contained or enveloped the saline particles or masses from whence the waters obtained the salts which they held in solution, and which give to them their briny character. These reservoirs are of two kinds. The one formed of the porous or loosely aggregated materials' which form the second deposit of the group, and the upper portions of the red shale. The other being excavations, once forming the deep bottoms of ancient ftlldys, now, more or less and irregularly filled with alluvial materials. These two classes of reservoirs in all probability, when not remote from each other, more or less communicate together. At present but one of the latter class is known, and now forms the bottom of Onondaga lake, but similar ones no doubt will be discovered, caused by the many large bodies of' water which at a former period flowed from the south; but which now are concealed by alluvial materials,

If the opinion just given be true, we ought to find two distinct classes of borings, one referrable to the rock layers which form the geology of the county, the other to no part of the saliferous group, nor of any rock mass of the Third District, but to its alluvial materials only. These borings also establish other important facts, to which we shall advert in their proper place. It is greatly to be regretted that no minutes of the borings were made and specimens saved, all the information collected being chiefly verbal, and obtained from Dr. Wright, the superintendent of the Salines.

At Liverpool, north of Salina, there are two borings, one immediately below the bank of red shale, upon which the town is built; the other some distance to the southwest, on the outside of the canal, and opposite to a depression which is in the direction of a supposed outlet to Oneida lake. This well is 81 feet deep, water good, if not as good as any on the salt reservation. Less water is drawn from this well than from the one at Salina. This well was bored through about 12 feet, principally of lake marl, below which was 14 feet of fine sand, followed by 43 feet of a very fine clay of a grayish colour under which, to the bottom of the boring or well, as it is termed, was gravel with some sand.* The first boring, the one below the bank of red shale, was 274 feet deep. Its whole course was in the red, shale mass. At 60 feet

* See Dr. Beck's Report.

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there was fresh water, and below that point there was no salt water worthy of attention.

At Salina, there are three wells or borings, all which are in the marsh, situated like the well at Liverpool, of 81 feet deep. The principal well is 72 feet deep. It passes through muck and lake marl, indurated clay and pebbles, thin coating of gravel, sand and gravel. Its source is in gravel. This is the well which furnishes the greater part of the water used at the salt works. Its supply is most copious.

A well, beyond or nearer, to the lake, gave 6 feet of muck, and from 5 to 6 feet of lake marl, which is the usual thickness of these two deposits; then marly clay, of about the consistence of soft butter, for 30 feet, black sand about 35 to 40 feet, clay and gravel 2 to 3 f et, coarse gravel,, sand, &c. at the bottom, depth being 90 feet. The, water of this well is strong, being 78 , per cent even. after being used for, two or three days. The well at Syracuse is an old boring. Its depth is 160 feet. It passes through the usual muck rind lake marl, then sand and gravel all I the way. The water is what is called good. There is a natural defect in this well, which makes it less serviceable than the other wells. By pumping, its water soon becomes weaker, showing a ready admission of the upper waters to the well or part from whence the water rises into the pump tree. The supply to this well is so copious that the well often overflows, yielding at the surface a water of from 20° to 23° in strength. This well is about midway between parallel lines of the Geddes and Salina wells, and it is said that salt water can be traced along its parallel upon the surface of the marsh for some distance, either by a white saline crust in dry weather, or by the samphire plant.

There are two wells at Geddes, and according to Dr. Beck, one is 124 feet deep, the other 176 feet. I could get no other information of the strata through which these borings are made, than that they consisted of alterations of green, blue and red shale. The "veins" of salt water, appearing in soft or porous layers.

From these borings it is evident, that two kinds of materials are met with. The one appertaining to the group of the Onondaga salines; the other to the alluvial. In the one we find no pebbles, stones and sand, whilst that of the other is composed of like materials.

The occurrence of brine in two distinct classes, of materials, so wholly discordant, geologically, from each other, show at once a common source from whence the saline materials were derived. That these materials

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were not derived from the alluvial is certain; that they were derived from the shales in which the borings were made, there is not one fact to prove.

The proof of saline waters, existing in alluvial materials, being established and to the depth of 160 feet, as in the Syracuse well, we have now to show that such depressions did exist in this ancient area; for though the fact of the existence of alluvial at such depth is proof sufficient to those well acquainted with the subject, yet we know it is not to those to whom geology is yet a novelty. This proof exists, for we believe that there is no fact, to which a key is not to be found.

Lake Sodom.

This lake was examined by Dr. Wright, Dr. Beck, and myself. It is small, singular in all respects, and merits 6 better name. It is about one and a half miles east, of Manlius centre, and a few rods south of the canal, the waters of which are about five feet above those of the lake.

The lake is excavated in the second deposit, and in the red shale. Its sides and bottom are covered with lake marl. The trees that have fallen into it are whitened by it. The shore on all sides shelving to a depth of 20 feet at the distance of a few yards. The water is remarka- transparent, and of the greenish tint common to such waters. In proceeding up the outlet from the canal, which is narrow, and about a half a mile in length, you enter the main body of water, and by removing a short distance either side, so as to loge eight of the outlet, the lake then assumes the form of a circular pool as regular as if scooped by the band of man. It has the appearance of having been caused by a whirlpool of great magnitude.

This lake was sounded in many places. The outlet gave from 25 to 80 feet of depth; and the pool, where the circle commenced, beginning near the outlet, gave from thence to the centre, from 104 to 168 feet in depth. The bottom was of blackish coloured marl, the lead sinking a foot or more into it. The water, near the bottom, we found to be highly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen, but contained no saline matter that was perceptible to' the taste. . There is. another lake rather smaller which we did not visit which is connected with Sodom lake by a small outlet which is only visible when opposite to it. Sodom lake is 44 feet above the level of Onondaga lake. Its depth to the. marl, at its bottom 168 feet; leaves 124 feet. What the thickness of marl is, cannot be conjectured; but, this depth proves the existence of a deep depression

Sion below the, Surface of the area , and in the lower part, of thethe saliferous group of Onondaga. When we consider that sodom like is wholly uncconnected with any of the present or ancient water courses, we should expect a less erosive action than, where a connection, with such existed.

Onondaga lake is but the extension of the vally which lies south, and the Onondaga valley, like every valley north, is connected with a valley ley which lies south, and reciprocally every valley south has its northern valley, and whether you rise towards the point where the waters divide either from the south or the north, you find that the sides of the valley ley lose but little of their elevation, thereby proving the existence of a more ancient valley, and anterior to the cause which formed the double plane which they preterit. This view is given to show that great and mighty changes, but simply wrought, have taken place upon the eleva. tions of the Third District, which should lessen our surprise for changes of a like kind upon a depression; When a cause of erosion existed upon those heights; one of which outlets was by Onondaga lake.

Looking over the surface of Onondaga lake we find it encircled 'by. a white margin, which when examined, shows that it is formed of lake marl, the part exposed to the air being in a state of aggregation, which gives it the appearance of tufa, but in gravel-like fragment,,;. With the exception of the hills at Geddes, Salina and Liverpool, the margin of the lake lies very little below the general surface of the country. These hills show by their composition that they are the remains of the ancient sides of the valley, being formed of the masses which belong to the saliferous group.

The proof being ample, of the existence of a deep excavation where Onondaga lake i's seated) and the same excavation being filled, in part, with alluvial materials containing salt water, nothing more is required for a right understanding of this reservoir, than an impermeable cover^' Ing to prevent the union of the salt water of the alluvial with the fresh water of the lake. The salt water often rising in its reservoir and flow. ing over its limits to the lake. This covering is the lake mar]; it is co. extensive with the whole border of the lake, extending inwards until lost to the eye, but, met with in every sounding that was made, only sullied by vegetable or argillaceous matter in the deeper parts of the lake. In all the borings, for salt water this mar] is constantly traversed, unless the boring is in the original moss or rock. Its thickness is about six feet, anti highly adhesive or tenacious in its character. No material for insulation could be better, and seems to me to fully explain

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the separation of the saline waters which it covets, from the waters of the lake, to which it forms the bottom of the basin.

In order to ascertain the depth of the lake, the kind of water which exists tit the bottom of the lake, and the nature of the bottom, Dr. Beek and myself made an excursion thereon. We found that the greatest depth was opposite to Liverpool, about midway between the west shore and that place; it was 65 feet. The water obtained from that depth ,vas just as fresh or pure as at the surface. We found that the water gradually deepened from both sides of the lake, less gradually ally, however, on the western shore than the east shore. To about fifteen feet from either shore we found the marl was white, but beyond it was of an ash colour, and also blackish blue, the lead sinking into it for many inches. Where the waters from Nine Mile creek enter the lake, as we supposed, the water deepened from 10 feet on both sides to 25 and 28 feet in the inlet.

The boring which was commenced in the summer at Salina, by authority of the Lagislature, in the hope of obtaining rock salt, or a stronger brine than any yet discovered, is near its completion. It gives negative knowledge as to the object for which it was undertaken, but some valuable facts for the history of the salines of Onondaga. The facts are confirmatory of all that we have advanced. It was evident that rock salt could not be obtained where the boring was commenced, because it was tit least 100 feet below the porous rocks and the position of the hopper cavities, the only position where salt, from observation, could be expected to exist. With respect to salt water, it was too near the line of the shore of the ancient excavation, to calculate that any great depth of alluvial could be obtained, and without which no greater strength of brine could be expected, unless the red shale deposit was in connection with the deepest alluvial, which the deep boring at Liverpool negatives.

At my last visit to Salina, the boring bad attained 85 feet, 62 of which in small gravel with earth, large gravel with fragments of 2 or 3 inches diameter, more or less water worn, consisting of granite, hard gneiss, red find gray sandstone, black limestone and a piece or two of the porous rock. The last 8 feet was what is called hard-pan, being clay and stones cemented) under which at 62 feet, red shale yielding at

72 "small veins of salt water from a porous rock.

76 "bluish shale, forming a tenacious clay, in which the boring continued to

85 "when I left Salina. Since then I have received eleven, specimens

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of the borings from Judge Allen, the inspector of the salines, and also the following Account of the continuation of the boring. On the 13th Nov. the Judge writes, "We have drilled 435 feet. Temperature now 55°, (water) very little brackish."

"At About 260 feet from the surface we struck a red rock much of the colour and hardness of red chalk, and it has continued the same until now."

"At 88 to 98 feet below the surface the red shale bad a singular appearance. A German who called there, and professed to be a mineralogist told the workmen it contained mercury."

"At about 150 feet from the surface there is some substance which produces a curious effect ' ct on the drill poles. When first drawn up they look as though dipped in butter-milk; when exposed to the air they become encrusted with a red scale. About 60 feet of the rods are encrusted in this way."

The 28th December the Judge again writes : "We are now 631 feet, with little variation since I wrote you; in short, since about 270 feet the same red rock continues, with the exception now rind then of a foot or two of green shale."

The specimens received from Judge Allen, arranged in the order of the their distance from the surface, are aas follows:

G, from 88 to 98 feet. This is in colour a brown fawn, particles almost impalpable to the touch. It is not likely to contain mercury, for there is no ore of that metal which resembles it, and mercury is found in a less ancient position, being of the age of the coal formation.

A, about 100 feet from the surface; 7 feet thick of a blue ash colour, and slightly effervesces with an acid.

K, from 129 to 278 feet; three varieties, all slightly effervesce one earthy and of a gray pearl; another in fragments of a similar colour, but in layers; the third kind in fragments; but with a reddish colour.

D, 290 feet; layer 3 feet thick, in fragment,; of blue or green shale, compact and hard.

E, 297 feet; 30 feet thick, hard dark brown red shale, with some grains of quartz sand.

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F, 366 feet; soft red. shale, no fragments, all paste, and very adhesive; the last four, days cut 8 feet in 24 hours.

H, 364 feet; red shale, fine in its powder, very adhesive.

J, 370 feet; red shale, very adhesive, adhering to the drill in the shape of a plug.

M, 446 feet; red shale, same as above, to appearance. The progress of boring in this shale was 5 feet in 24 hours. These red shales appear to contain very little brine; in some, no perceptible effervescence.

In the same letter, there is an account of, the boring of another well, which is as follows: "We began a well in October, near the present well in Syracuse, being about the middle of the valley, and in the margin of, the creek.

"The, first 8 feet clay, and marl; then gravel cemented slightly together, to about 97 feet; from that depth to 115 feet, mostly. sand, mixed with the same kind of gravel, and from thence the gravel has been coarser, and but little sand to the present bottom, being 136 feet.

The gravel is blue limestone, red sandstone, white sandstone, some small pieces of blue shale, very few red, granite and hornblende rock.

"The, greater part of the gravel is blue and black limestone pebbles, of an inch or two in diameter, and larger pieces of gray limestone, from one pound to four and five.

The water is now 60°; we expect. to, go about 20 feet more, say 160 feet; and hope to get water at 64°.

This boring shows that it is in tile alluvial of the excavation, whilst the first or deep boring passes through the same alluvial, and extends towards the bottom of the red shale. Should the red shale be near its termination, then the rocks of the protean group will be reached before,the 600 feet of boring will be attained; a fact of no small importance to those who have no faith in geological principles, confidence ending where sight cannot reach.

One boring yet remains to be noticed, that of Major Byington. It was at the top of the hill which rises in Salina, find extends south, passing Syracuse to the east. The boring was near to the Sink Hole, described by Dr. Beck, and not far also from the road where the porous rock may be seen. The boring, with its well, which latter was first dug,

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were 370 feet deep. The first mass passed through was alluvial; this was 40 feet thick; then plaster rock 50 feet, after which, the boring passed through alternations of greenish, bluish, and red shale layers; the order not remembered by the Major. The borings by drying in the sun, gave an efforesence of salt, but the discontinuance of the' work proved that it afforded no encouragement to a further prosecution. The hill where the boring was made is 220 feet above the lake, consequently leaving 150 feet of excavation below the lake.

With an observation or, two, we shall terminate all that we wish to say in this report of the brine reservoirs of Onondaga. From all the borings which have been made in the rock, if we except those of Geddes, it does not appear that they afforded any workable or profitable quantity of brine, and I am disposed from that circumstance to believe that such would be the case with the wells it Geddes, were they insulated from the alluvial.

Finally; theory, or in other words, conclusions from facts, prove that the deeper the wells are sunk into the alluvial, all other circumstances being the same, the stronger, the water. As the deepest alluvial must be where the excavation was deepest, this point or place. must be first determined when stronger brine shall be needed.

The whole of our observations show that we are not to seek for salt or the source of the brine where we now find its waters, but to seek it where it had existence, and where it has been recognized, by all who have seen the, hopper cavities and know their origin. They may be, considered to be too few for so great a source as we have presented to us at Onondaga, but it does not follow because we see comparatively so few, that there are not localities where they were and are more numerous. Were it otherwise, we should vainly look for rock salt, since no trace of its existence in the district his met the eye of any one. Moreover, we must not lose sight of the porous or "vermicular rock," which is far more abundant than the hopper cavities. I do not for a moment. suppose that the pores were formed by the salt, for we are without proof of the kind. I adopt the received opinion that they are caused by gaseous or vaporous matter, but I can readily conceive that on the removal of the elastic force that gives rise to the pores, the salt, in obedience to a common law of crystal lization, would take to the cavities from offering no resistance. Besides, we must not overlook the fact, that though the cavities of all kind in any one locality be not great, the deposit which extends south, east and west, is to a great ex-

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tent subject to the drainage or a reservoir, known by the well at Syracuse to be over 160 feet deep, mid extending north and south to distances not known.

In this report, I do not assert that rock suit has no existence within the district, for no proof is known that, it does not, or proof that it does. It is very certain that the surface of the hill between Salina and Syracuse exhibits proofs innumerable of the removal of a soluble minerals the species remains yet to be determined. I did not examine tile cavity which Dr. Beek describes, having left it for another period.

There are but three abundant minerals which are soluble in water, carbonate of lime, gypsum and common salt. Each of them produce sink holes, in consequence of' this property. It is not at all impossible, that salt in abundance may have been deposited near tile sink holes, for such is the position of the hopper cavities and the porous rock, all which long since have been removed from the permeable nature of the gypseous hills. This is the hill which crosses the Fort-street road, where dubious rocks, were observed, and which I have no doubt owe their nature to a high grade of thermal, if not an igneous temperature.

The fact of the difficulty of obtaining water in the gypseous hills, unless by sinking to the level of the water courses, show that there is little probability of finding salt above the level of the waters, from having long since been dissolved; but below the water levels no such objection can exist, if we except such portions as the drainage to the ancient excavations may have removed. The place, then, to bore for salt is below the level of the waters, in that portion of the third deposit which contains the hopper cavities and porous rocks, which from the dip of the whole group, must be sought south, and not north of Syracuse.

Montezuma Brine Springs.

In the present report, we shall say but little of this saline, so many of our pages having been given to Onondaga, from the desire to contribute our mite towards making known its true history.

From the report of Dr. Beck, it would appear that the three wells or borings were rill in the alluvial; the first about 100 feet in depth, the second 80, the third 121 feet. This latter, the new well to which the section given by Mr. Conrad, in his report of this district, belongs. By the section, it appears to have been sunk in 77 feet of alluvial and 44 of the lower gypseous or second deposit of the group, salt water having

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been found in connection with the whole of the strata. It was in the last five feet of the alluvial that a mass of granite of 500 pounds weight was discovered.

North of Montezuma, in the Cayuga marsh of Superior, now Howland's island, a boring was made in 1827 and '28, by Mr. Howland, for the purpose of finding brine, as salt had been manufactured in considerable quantity on the opposite side of the river, on lot 54, in Wayne county. The boring was about 20 rods from the upland, in the marsh or swamp. I am indebted to Mr. Howland for the detail,

First 5 feet muck; 6 feet marl, shells, white, pure; 4 feet clay, soft, blue, pure; 10 feet quicksand; 4 feet loose gravel, 11 feet sandstone, gray; 4 feet plaster, gray, mixed with white, some transparent; 20 feet dark stone, interspersed with white flint, sharp grit, 7 feet sort rock, interspersed with isinglass; 28 feet dark coloured stone, softer than the mass of 20 feet, but sharp grit; 25 feet blue very soft rock, interspersed with white chalky substance, like salt or magnesia in appearance; 36 feet soft sandstone, red, or red rock interspersed with one-forth white chalky substance; total depth was 167 feet.

There is no mention made of finding any salt water, but before reaching the 167 feet fresh water rose in the tube to the height of 3 feet above the level of the swamp.

The borings at Montezuma prove that for 80 feet, the brine is in the alluvial, which fact favors the existence of original alluvial excavations now appearing as swamps, marshes, and probably may even exist beneath the gravel hills of that section of the country.

The only person that I am aware of who has given. an opinion of the saliferous group of Onondaga, which accords with the one I adopted, is Prof. Rafinesque. In his Atlantic Journal, vol. 1 p. 73, he places it amongst the salses, using the term which Spallanzani had applied "to the mud volcanoes of Italy which commonly threw out salt water at the same time." It is impossible, consistently with order, not to view the group as a whole; for though its parts are different, yet they are not separable without destroying a certain harmony or unity, which results from the union of its parts. Regarding it with the eye of a chemist, we find that its prominent characters have been derived from the law of substances separating in the inverse order of their solubility. That which is least soluble is the first to deposit; that which is most soluble, the last.

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In the first or lowest deposit, tile red shale, we have the red oxide of iron, the least soluble material which characterizes the group. In the second and third deposit, we have the gypsum, which is next in order as to difficulty of solution; between the two upper ranges of this substance, we find the common salt or its hopper cavities where obviously it should be; and lastly the sulphate of magnesia, the most soluble of the four products, appears only in the terminal deposit.

Those who wish to see a practical illustration of the order in which the characteristics of the group separate from each other, will find it on visiting the salt pans where evaporation is carried on by solar heat. There be will find that the first deposit is the red oxide of iron, the second the gypsum, the third the common salt in its form of hoppers, or reversed pyramids, composed of little cubes., and on enquiry he will learn that the magnesia salt remains in solution.

We would also recommend a visit to Mr. Green's salt pans at Salina, where the boiling of brine is carried on in close vessels. There will be seen many products as to form, which are occasionally met with in the New- York rocks, and to which I have ascribed a thermal origin, such as oolite varying from the finest to the largest as in pisolite; also concretions of other kinds, fragments formed of thin layers that have been broken tip and cemented together like to those we find in portions of the lower layers of the "calciferous sandrock," and also in the concretionary limestone which forms the base of the saliferous group.

Water Lime.

The water lime group of Manlius, is the next series as, to age; it rests upon the saliferous group, and in all cases where a regular denudation has taken place, it is only to be found south of the gypseous range, being the overlying mass. The group is exceedingly well characterized by its fossils, of which some are extremely numerous, and are found from the Hudson to Cayuga lake. With but one exception, the whole of the water lime which is burnt for cement in Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga, is from this group; and the greater part of the limestone which is converted into lime along the same range, is obtained from it.

With this group, all the drab or light yellowish coloured limestones so common, and which gives character to the group below it cease, and with it is the beginning of the usual kinds of blue, gray and black limestone which exist so abundantly above and whose range is so extensive east and west.

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The upper layers of the group are from 3 to 4 feet thick, sometimes subdivided into what are called courses. There are but two layers of water lime separated by bluish black limestone, which is generally disposed to separate into courses, whilst the layer of limestone which is above the upper water lime is broken up by lines of fracture, in all directions. This is the layer which is most commonly burnt for lime. In general, the upper layer of water lime requires less heat from being of a less dense nature than the lower layer.

From the eastern end of Madison county, extending east through the Third District, there is a series of limestone layers which are not found beyond that boundary to the west. These layers are characterized by the Pentamerous knightii, Euomphalus profundus, Delthyris pachyoptera, D. macrapleura, Apiocrinites, &c. &c. and have not been seen west of the falls of Oneida creek.

These layers are followed to the east by a series of argillaceous layers full of that singular marine plant, the fucoides canda galli.

The omission or absence of these two series to the west , causes the next series of layers to repose immediately upon the water lime group.

This is the white sandstone noticed on the hill at the falls of Oriskany, and for the present, may be called the Oriskany sandstone. This sandstone is well known to extend over many of the States, occupying, like all geological masses, a fixed position in the whole series but is exceedingly variable as to thickness. According to the report of the State geologist of Pennsylvania it is there 700 feet thick. At Oriskany falls, about 20 feet on the road , from Elbridge to Skaneateles, it is over 30 feet. At the quarries near Auburn, it is from a. few inches to about 2 1/2 feet; and at Split-Rock, near Syracuse, it shows itself in some parts by a mere sprinkling of sand, observable on the bottom of the layer which covers it, and in other parts by a thickness of about six inches.

This sandstone is the rock of which the lock at Jordan, not Lyons, was constructed. It was quarried on the road from Skaneateles, which goes by the east side of the outlet towards, Weedsport. The lower part of the sandstone abounds in fossil shells remarkable for their great size. Most of them, if not all, are found in the gray sparry crinoidal limestone, which rests immediately upon the sandstnne, and so far as I have had time to attend to their examinations, seem to be confined to the two rocks..

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About three-fourths of a mile to the northeast of Perryville, on the farm of Mr. Van Eps, from 100 to 200 tons of iron ore was quarried, but found too poor, or too hard to work. It consist of mixtures in very variable, proportions of red oxide of iron, sand, coarse and fine, with other silicious matter. Some of the ore is oolitic, some almost compact and jaspery.

This iron and its sand is found immediately, below two of the layers of limestone which forms the great terrace which extends through the three counties, and belongs in all probability to the period of those series which are wanting to the west. This is the last appearance of the red oxide of iron in the district, unless it should be discovered in the red sandstone and red shale of Otsego, which occur high in the upper series, approaching to those which are near to the age of the coal.

Gray sparry crinoidal limestone. This rock in Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga, rests upon the Oriskany sandstone, or in its absence, upon the water lime group. It is the limestone so extensively wrought near Syracuse, at Split-Rock and the quarries to the west, which adjoin to it, and of those to the cast near the village of South Onondaga. It is the limestone which is worked at the prison at Auburn, back of the village of Chittenango also; and other localities of the three counties. This limestone extends throughout the Third District, with but few interruptions. It is readily known by its gray colour, its crystalline fracture, its numerous organic remains, so different as a group from those of the rock above, anti those below; for though it contains many of the fossils which belong to the sandstone, it contains a considerable number which are its own.

The bottom layer of the limestone contains rolled stones at its lower part, more flat than globular. Some of the stones are like the hard sandstone found with the iron ore near Perryville; others compact, hard, of a dark chocolate colour, and containing some small cavities which from the lamillar structure, appear to be filled with anhydrous gypsum.

The gray limestone is the rock of which the mason work of the enlarged Erie canal is to be constructed; and for toughness and durability as regards the action of atmospheric agents, it has not its equal in the district. Its only defect that I am aware of, is one not of grain, but of division on the large stale, caused by its association with a greenish, shaly matter, which was not equally deposited as to quantity, nor

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equally distributed, but deposited upon parallel surfaces, or what is more likely, separated so to form such surfaces, dividing the whole mass into layers without courses, and layers with courses of different thickness in different quarries, and in different parts of the same quarry. A selection, therefore, becomes necessary, for a block cut from a layer with courses, requires to be handled with care to prevent a separation of its parts, and if exposed to water and frost, the like result must sooner or later take place. It is obvious that such stones cannot be used to advantage where a durable structure is to be made, unless placed below the point where air and congelation have access; and none but single or unit masses ought to be used above that point, and of the greatest dimensions; weight being of far more importance in our climate towards making permanent works, than the best cement yet discovered.

This limestone is but a thin mass of from 8 to 12 feet in thickness.

Above the gray limestone there is a series of shelly rotten layers of impure limestone, probably caused by an increase of the shaly matter of the gray limestone, changing all the characters, chemical, mineral and fossil which belong to that rock. The total thickness of the layers in from 9 to 12 feet.

These layers in their turn are followed by another small series, consisting of limestone, usually black, compact and rather brittle, generally terminated by one or two layers, containing nodules of hint, the flint arranged in parallels. In some quarries there are no less than ten layers or ranges of flint. With a change in composition, there is a change in the fossils likewise, which is common to all the New-York rocks, and to rocks elsewhere; a change of material denoting a change of circumstances, which whilst they favor the increase of certain classes and species of organic beings, may be injurious to others. The layers below the flint, which I understand is the true "cornitiferous rock," of Prof, Eaton, and are extensively worked at the different quarries to the north of Auburn, where the whole series may be seen from the upper part of the water lime group, to the layers which contain the flint. The whole disposed in two or more terraces which extend east and curve west and south towards Springport. The thickness of the last series from 15 to 20 feet.

Seneca Limestone. This rests upon the layers of "corn ifife rous," as may be seen at the falls of Oneida creek. This is the last connected series of the great limestone range; all the limestones which are found above the Seneca limestone, with the exception of the Tully limestone,

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occur in short, interrupted layers that are local, being subordinates of the slaty shale rocks which commence from the lip, Seneca limestone. This limestone I did not see at Auburn; the alluvial and village covering the space between the cornitiferous and the black slaty shale or "pyriteferous slate."

The Seneca limestone I first met with in Seneca county; it is there separate from all other masses of limestone, and could be confounded with no other; hence its name.

This limestone contains but few species of fossil shells, one of which I have only seen in this rock. Another, the Strophomena lineata, I do not remember to have met with in any rocks below, and is highly characteristic of this limestone; for though it is found in the shales, which are several hundred feet above it, yet it rarely occurs in any of the limestones; and in some localities of the Seneca, the individuals are so numerous as to present almost as much shell as stone.

We have now, in this report, and in the one of last year, noticed in brief, the whole of the groups and roe rock masses, great and small, which occur geologically between the gneiss of Little-Falls and the upper layers of the great east and west limestone range of of New-York, and in the order in which they follow or rest upon each other-the order of their age. The thickness of the whole, taking the measure of each rock and group where its thickness is greatest, exceeds 2,000 feet. All the different groups, containing organic remains, are readily identified by them, causing no difficulty to those acquainted with the fossils in assigning each group, rock or specimen containing them, to the place which it holds in the series.

Of the rocks to be noticed there remains from 12 to 1500 feet before completing the whole of the series of the Third District. All which are anterior in origin to the coal. We had intended to have given the different groups into which this great mass is divided, from observations made with Mr. Hall, along the line of Cayuga lake to Pennsylvania: but the length to which this report extends, leaves but a few pages for the products which belong to the northers section of the counties, and therefore must be left for the subsequent one.

The Seneca limestone, in many of its localities, is of so dark a colour from carbonaceous matter as to be almost black, which is the case with the mass below it, but riot in so great a degree So great is the quantity of carbonaceous or coaly matter which colours the slaty shale or the "pyritiferous slate" which rests upon the Seneca limestone, that it

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often exhibits itself as coal, giving rise to wi expectation of discovering beds of workable or profitable coal, where such perceptible accumulations tions exist. A number of localities where excavations for coal had been made in this rock to the east of Oneida creek, were given in the last report, and a number of like excavations are to be seen in the same rock, to the west of that creek.

In many places carbonate of lime has been deposited with the material of the slaty shale, but not in sufficient quantity, excepting in one instance, to form a layer or two which extends for some miles. It generally nerally forms those kind of interrupted beds which may be termed concretions through they are of considerable length as to thickness. It also appears as septaria, but without divisions, or septa; and again, as perfect septaria, as at Auburn, in the outlet of Owasco lake.

Above the falls, an Oneida creek, just below the saw mill, two excavations were made for coal; one by a company, the other by Elias Mason; small pieces were obtained, but nothing which could give the least encouragement, to those acquainted with the rock.

A boring of 100 feet for coal was made in the same rock, by Mr.Sage, near the road which goes from Chittenango to Cazenovia: And two excavations were made for the same object near Manlius square; one on the farm of Mr. Nettleton, near the turnpike, about a mile west of the village; the other a little further west, on Mr. Marsh's farm. The excavation made by Mr. Nettleton, is by the side of a brook, and in the black slate which is much contorted, owing to crystalline limestone which is mixed with it. Both are very black front coaly

matter, of which minute veins are to be seen. At the place where coal was sought for, there is a fault, the first I met with going west. The waters of the brook flow over layers of limestone, which belong to groups below the slate worked for coal; the two rocks now appearing as parallel masses, and not as they were originally formed. A similar

fault likewise occurs at Marcellus, where the slate is deeply coloured with coaly matter, and contains minute plants and fragments of the same. The cause of the fault is very obvious, at Marcellus; for the existence of sinkholes and the abundance of water from springs in the,

Nine Mile creek below, show subterranean passages or excavations by which portions or blocks of upper masses have been let down to a lower level. The same effect exists in the quarries south of Springport on Cayuga lake, where several extensive masses of two distinct eras may be seen, now nearly on the same level, having, no doubt. had their

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foundations removed by springs or waters passing under them, similar to those of the village.

Tully Limestone.

After rising and entering upon the slaty shale and sandstone which cover the whole of Western New-York, to the south and east and West of the great range of limestone of which the Seneca a is the upper part, 'we find but one extensive regular deposit of limestone, which from the town of Fabius, extends west beyond Seneca lake. The geographical distribution of this limestone gives to it a somewhat anomalous character, for it forms two ranges, owing to an enormous curvature or swell which this rock and its associates present, causing it, after it has dipped below the surface of Cayuga lake near the line of Tompkins county, to again appear and to rise nearly to the height of 100 feet above the lake, and finally disappear near Bloom's lime kiln, about five miles north of Ithaca. This is the, Tully limestone, a mass from 12 to 16 feet thick, of a bluish and brownish colour, not remarkable for purity; making, as is said, a good, but not a white lime. It is met with at Tully Corners, at Borodino, on both sides of Skaneateles lake, on the road from Owasco to Kellogsville, at Martville, and the falls of Dry creek, below Moravia, and in the ravines along Cayuga lake, from four to five miles south of Aurora to Bloom;s lime kiln.

Large angular masses of this limestone have been carried as far as eight miles south of Ithaca, or twelve miles from their original location. There is a mass at that distance on the farm of Mr. Hollister, which from its size was considered to be in its original place. It is quarried and burnt for lime. Other masses, but not so large, but sufficient for filling three kilns have been found five miles south of Ithaca, on the farm of Mr. Ludlow, and in other parts to the south, east and west of the same village.

The Tully limestone is the last mass of limestone that has been discovered south; all the carbonate of lime which occurs above it, is much intermixed with shale or sandstone, and with carbonates of iron and manganese; these two Minerals seem to increase as the age of the rock diminishes. It is their presence that destroy, in all probability, the whiteness of the lime made from the Tully limestone, as minute veins of carbonate of iron are often seen in the stone.

Tufa and Lake Marl.

These two products are the same in composition, differing merely as to cohesion. One being formed under circumstances which admitted of

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cohesion or aggregation of its particles, the other being deposited in water like a precipitate, that fluid preventing adhesion.

Calcareous tufa abounds throughout the whole of the gypseous hills, the earthy limestones which they contain highly favoring tile solvent powers of the water which percolates the hills. So also the great calareous range contributes its portion, and the ancient aluvions likewise, some of which are highly calcareous, and have been carried south for a. great distance, and affording a copious supply of the same mineral. The great abundance of calcareous waters in a zone or belt of about twenty or thirty miles wide, in the Third District, must exert no small influance upon vegetation, tending to give a kind of perpetuity to wheat, which, when such waters do not exist, that grain soon ceases to repay its cultivator, unless art makes up the deficiency.

An immense deposit of tufa covers the side of the hill and the road going from Tully Corners, to Syracuse, on the west side of the Onondaga valley. It must be of great thickness, for neither the road which is cut into it, nor two ravines which are excavated in the tufa, reach the bottom. Lower down the same valley, at about fourteen miles south

of Syracuse, there is another deposit, but of limited extent in comparison with the former one. It projects from the hill to the right on the land of Joseph Ackels.

There is a great deposit of tufa by the side of the rail-road which goes to Split-Rock quarry. It covers the side of the gypseous hill like a shield, the layers curving with the irregularity of the surface upon which it was deposited, and often discoloured or black by vegetable matter.

Chittenango has been celebrated for its petrified wood, or rotten wood replaced by calcareous tufa, which latter is very abundant, and covers the lower part of the hill-side just below the rail-road commenced by the late J. B. Yates. Very little of the petrified tree now remains, what is now to be seen resembles the thin irregular layers which are not uncommon to tufa. Other masses, without any defined structure, strew the side of the hill, a constant increase taking place, from the water which oozes out of the hill.

The space to the south side of Canastota, near to the village, comprising the low ground between the hills to the south and the rise to the canal, seems to be, covered entirely by lake marl and tufa.

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The depression in which occur the mineral springs of' Messina, three miles east by north of Salina, is underlaid by tufa. It is well here to mention, that. since Dr. Beck visited the springs a more copious one has been discovered, yielding, according to its proprietor, ten times more water than the former one.

Tufa is extremely abundant between Camillus and Canton, and between Canton and Elbridge.

One mile south of Peru, at the foot of the hill in the road, it. occurs in great abundance It is the gravelly kind.

On Limestone creek, about three-forths of a mile north of the Fabius and De Ruyter road, is a fine deposit of tufa, in the state of earth, and in porous masses, the horsebone limestone. The earthy part is made into bricks and burnt for lime. No lime can be whiter or purer than this is, and from what I could acquire, the lime is highly valued. The owner of the lime kiln informed me, that one bushel of brick-lime requires four bushels sand; one bushel of lime from the porous mass requires three bushels sand, whilst one bushel stone lime only requires two of sand. The deposite on Limestone creek extends up the hill for about 100 feet, and extends several hundred feet horizontally; thickness not known.

These are some of the prominent localities of tufa, whose value can not be appreciated in a region where limestone is so abundant, and where the natural soil amply enriches the cultivator, without the aid of art.

Lake marl.

If the quantity of tufa be great, that of lake marl is prodigiously so, being found in nearly all the swamps, marshes, ponds and lakes which exist along the course of Seneca river and the Erie canal, extending from Cayuga marshes to Oneida creek. We mentioned that the whole of the bottom of Lake Onondaga was covered with marl, which extends along the head and foot of the lake to distances not ascertained, with a thickness of six feet.

The Cowassalon swamp presents the greatest accumulation of marl in the three counties. This swamp contains. about 10,000 acres, 8,600 of which tire land, and 1,400 are covered with water. Less water exists in this swamp than formerly, being connected directly with Oneida lake by a ditch of 14 feet deep, which was made at the expense of the state.

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It is said that when the waters first flowed off by the opening of the ditch, it carried with them the muck which covered the marl, leaving a snow white surface of marl, co-extensive with the whole area which was drained. Imperfect attempts have been made with poles to ascertain the thickness of the marl, but without effect, no bottom could be reached. The ponds or marshes west of the swamp, called the Green. ponds, have also bottoms of marl; so likewise has the Vlie or natural meadow to the south of the swamp.

The great swamp of Onondaga is the prolongation of the Cowassalon, and like it, is of marl also. Innumerable are the minor localities met with in going along the Erie canal towards the west boundary of the District.

Lake marl is likewise found in many places upon the great elevation, In the lake-like depression north of Peterboro', after crossing over a low stony ridge on the road to Perryville, the road traverses a level swampy bottom, the ditches for drainage being dug in lake marl. The lakes to the southwest of Tully corners are all marl lakes; so likewise are the ponds above Hamilton village, which serve as feeders to the Chenango canal, and likewise other small ponds in the south part of Onondaga and Madison counties.

Tufaceous Iron.

On the land, of Robert Riddle, one mile west from Chittenango, I was informed that there was a deposit of iron, portions of which had been carried over Oneida lake, but the owner of the ore received no encouragement from the owner of the furnace. I found it to be a calcareous tufa, stained with hydrate of iron, and noticed that the spring whose water deposited the tufa, gave no signs of iron, but that the ore came from the sluggish water of the boggy soil above the tufa. In some of the masses of ferruginous tuffa there was a coating of oxide of manganese.

The same kind of tufa, stained with oxide of iron, is found on the land of William Wheeler, about two and a half miles northeast of Salina. For a few hundred yards on a slope to a swamp north, there is a deposit of tufa, the upper part of which is in some places deeply stained with oxide of iron. As the deposition of the tufa is constantly going on, the soil,, which is composed of muck chiefly, rises. It is from the soil that the iron is derived, as mentioned in the first report of the Fourth District. That the iron is furnished from the soil, is evident from the fact, that the lower part of the tufa is not stained with

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iron, and that a spring which formerly deposited iron, when its waters were in connection with those which flowed from the soil, now deposits none, its waters being separated from those derived from the soil. It is rare to find tufa, or lake marl, not covered with black vegetable matter, or muck, and there are many similar deposits of this kind of ore in the Third District, north of the gypseous bills.

This ore is not in sufficient quantity to be an object of utility, especially as all the red oxide of the district, the only abundant ore, is too calcareous for a like mixture; but were the argillaceous ores abundant, the tufaceous ore then would be of value, furnishing not only a flux but metal also.

Another locality of the tufaceous ore is on Nine Mile creek, between Marcellus and the great embankment of the Syracuse and Auburn rail-road

Clays abound in the Third District, usually in low situations, being the deposit of tranquil waters, whilst sand, gravel and other products of alluvions are thrown into hills and ridges.

The clays are either of a lead or of a yellow colour well suited for bricks and the coarser kinds of pottery, though there are some, if not too calcareous, which may answer for finer kinds. Either there is but little iron in the clays of the Third District, or the quantity of carbonaceous matter destroys the red colour of the iron, the bricks in general being of a light, and not of a full red colour. Clays are exceedingly abundant in the low grounds north of the Erie canal, and in the southern parts of Cayuga, Onondaga and Madison.

Alluvions

Besides the clay deposits of the low grounds, &c. there are three other depositions of alluvion as to age and composition. They are but seen in the hills, and to more advantage in the village of Chittenango than elsewhere. The lowest mass is a light coloured sand, in parts indurated, and in layers, with a slight inclination to the north, as though the sand had been thrown up from that direction. The upper surface has been furrowed before the deposition of the next mass, which consists of rolled stones, black sand &c. The stones are gray and red sandstone, limestone and pebbles of primary rock, none of them present the flat disk-like form common to the stories of the shores of Lake Erie and Ontario, and from that fact it would seem that the waters which caused their form, were different from those of a lake beach, or

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that the duration of action was not so great. In one place the layers of this second deposit have been arranged under peculiar circumstances. The sand which forms its base has been worn so as to present an angular elevation, upon which or against, the pebbles and sand of the second mass, to a certain height, are arranged in layers parallel to the two sides, but above that height, though the pebbles of the upper part continue to be parallel to one of the sides, it is an angle with the other side. A fact of some importance in practical geology, where rocks of the same composition are not parallel to each other.

The upper surface of the second mass was likewise furrowed, or made uneven before the deposition of the upper or third alluvion. This contains the red earth from the destruction of the red shale with rolled stones, great and small, and often to be observed from ten to twenty miles south of where we now find it in situ.

Minerals.

Besides those which have been mentioned in the body of this report, there are few others to be found, and those only in small quantities. -- of lime, in the gray sparry limestone, at the quarry of the NewYork company at Auburn.

The same mineral was likewise found in the water lime series just below the above limestone, on the road from Cayuga bridge to Auburn. Sulphuret of lead from near Hamilton village.

Sulphate of strontian, in the septaria of the black shaly slate above the Seneca limestone, and in a similar slate above the Tully limestone, from many localities.

Petroleum.- This Mr. Hall and myself saw in the septaria above, the Tully limestone, near Ogden's ferry on Cayuga lake. It was accompanied, likewise, by a liquid substance of the colour of phosphate of iron, or Prussian blue, and by another substance like spermaceti before the oil is fully pressed out of it. It was composed of fine scales, had a yellowish white colour, was in small irregular masses, with the appearance of having been melted. Both of these two last substances are new.

Serpentine of Syracuse.

The green and trap like rocks observed near the top of the hill to the east of Syracuse, have been examined so far as time would admit. They are all serpentines, more or less impure, and of various shades, of bottle green, black, gray, &c. They all produce sulphate of magnesia

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by oil of vitriol. These serpentines are at least new varieties for our country. Some have a peculiar appearance, like bronze, owing to small gold-like particles, with a lamillar structure, resembling bronzite or dial]age metalloide. Also, other particles highly translucent, like precious serpentine, with frequently small nuclei resembling devitrifications or porcelanites, coloured white, yellow, blood red, varigated &c. The grain of this kind is like common serpentine. In other kinds, the mass seems to be made of small globuliform concretions, varying in sizbei centres of aggregation; some are of dark vitrious and serpentine, others of the compact kind, the enveloping part of a light colour. The first impression of this rock is like some of the New-Jersey trap-rocks, where amphibole is in imperfect crystals, or like a pyroxenic lava, with its imperfect crystals imbedded in the more compact material.

These two principal varieties produce endless mixtures upon the small scale, to say nothing of those derived from difference of' shad, of colour the presence of veins and. mixtures with the associated shales.

These serpentines seem to resemble the ophiolites of Tuscany and Florence, and should the views of Brocchi be correct, they may not only be similar in origin but in age. The objections which Mr. Brongniart makes to the very modern characters which their associates present, are all in perfect accordance with those of the New-York rocks, and no one acquainted with the facts which the survey has made known, at all doubts that those rocks belong to the period, or age, intermediate to the crystalline or primary rocks, and the coal of Pennsylvania; in other words, to the transition class.

Of the specimens collected during the survey of 1838, there are sixteen boxes in the rooms of the Third and Fourth Districts, at the State House.

I had intended to have given a list of the fossils which have been found in each rock and group, but circumstances render it proper to defer the same to the next report.

Since concluding my report I have again had the pleasure of hearing from Judge Allen, giving, the progress made in. boring since the 28th December. At that period the depth was 631 feet, and in red shale. Since then the boring has attained to the depth of 550 feet, being an advance of 19 feet. Within the depth of 536 feet it was thought that about one foot of light coloured sandstone, very hard, had been drilled, and followed at 536 feet by what was called blue limestone. The Judge writes, "It probably Is that. It is very hard; we bore only about 18

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inches in 24 hours. The rods are indigo blue when drawn up; after standing some time they turn brown, or colour of iron rust."

"We are now 550, and in the same blue or black limestone. When we struck limestone, water from the bottom of the well was, say 50° and is about the same now, not more; the water, which runs, away quickly from the surface, at the mouth of the well, is 20°. My own opinion is, there is no salt water in the shaft, except what descends from the gravel beds above, and through the fissures and seams in the rocks, and they are frequent, and, occur in the present lime strata."

This information makes it certain that the red shale mass has been penetrated first meeting with a thin sandstone bed, and then finally the, dark blue shales and the black limestone of the protean group. In every locality east, where the connecting rocks can be seen, the limestone is followed and preceded by blue shale. This fact is evident in the ravine back of Dr. Noyes' house, near the college in Clinton, also on the road from Clinton to Waterville at Hart's mill, and on the creek by Rogers' machine factory, which empties into the Sauquoit. The "iron rust" of the borings in the limestone can be seen in many of its localities. At the quarry back of what is called Turkey-street on the Skanandea also in the road to the northwest of Skanandea village, and in most of the quarries of Onondaga and Cayuga, where the concretionary rock exists, for in altering by exposure to the air, it seems to contain iron and manganese, which is the cause of its brown rust.

Between the blue shale above the limestone, there is a bed of green shale; this may have run out at Salina, or have been replaced by the sandstone met with, or not not noticed; as Judge Allen observed in his letter, that at the depth of near 600 feet there is great difficulty in determining changes, unless well marked difference of character existed, and for obvious reasons.

LARDNER VANUXEM, State Geologist.

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NOTES:

From: Lydia Hecht
To: "Hecht, William S."
Subject: Cresis
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 13:16:35 -0500
I'm wondering if in the Geology article (p.258) that mentions CRESIS it could refer to CRISE. They owned land there at one time, had problems with title and moved south of Union Springs to the lovely house where the Morses used to live... it has a beautiful doorway, white on the lake side of the road.

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WSH Note. There is a Crises creek and Crises Hill south of Great Gully.

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