458 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



Nearly ail the quarries exhibit this diversity of material, although 

 the order of arrangemeut is not always the same. The colors are light 

 buff and bluish gray, the butf stone occurring above the line of perfect 

 drainage and extending down as far as the 2 feet of bridge stone, form- 

 jug a total thickness of 27 feet. In most of the Amherst quarries the 

 relative amount of buff stone is greater. Difference in color and text- 

 ure has given rise to various local names which may be mentioned 

 here. The colors are denominated simply by "blue" and '' buff," The 

 regularly and evenly stratilied stone is called "Split rock;" that in 

 which the stratification is irregular and marked by fine transverse and 

 wavy lines is called " Spider web, " and the homogeneous stone show- 

 ing little or no stratification is called " Liver rock." 



As regards composition the stone contains usually about 95 per cent, 

 of silica with small amounts of lime, magnesia, iron, oxides, alumina, 

 and alkalies. Analysis has shown them to contain from 5.83 to 7.75 per 

 cent, of water when first taken from the quarry, and from 3.39 to 4.28 

 per cent, when dry. The quarries can be operated only about eight 

 months of the year owing to the injury caused by freezing when the 

 stone is full of its quarry w^ater. 



In the town of Berea nearly 40 acres of territory have been quarried 

 over to an average depth of 40 feet. The stratum is 65 to 75 feet in 

 thickness, the individual sheets varying from 2 inches to 10 feet. The 

 stone is as a rule a little darker than the Amherst bluestone. It is used 

 mostly for building i^urposes, though grindstones and whetstones are 

 also manufactured quite extensively. 



(xreat care must be taken here in selection of material, as the sulphide 

 of iron is often present in such amount as to shortly disfigure the sur- 

 faces and even discolor the stone in the courses below. 



The well known "Euclid bluestone" is obtained from the Bedford 

 shale formation in Newburgh and Euclid, in Cuyahoga County. The 

 stone differs from the Berea in being of finer and more compact texture, 

 and of a deep blue gray color. Like the Berea stone, however, it un- 

 fortunately contains considerable quantities of pyrite, and, as a genei\al 

 thing, is not a safe stone for other than bridge work and foundations or 

 flagging, for which last i)urpose it is eminently suited. Even when free 

 from pyrite it does not weather in uniform colors, and needs always to 

 be selected with great caution. 



In the vicinity of Marietta and Constitution, in Washington County, 

 a fine grained buff' and blue gray sandstone, belonging to the Upper 

 Coal measures series, is quite extensively quarried for grindstones and 

 building purposes. Different portions of the stratum furnish stone 

 of all varieties of texture for wet grinding, and the grindstones are 

 shipped to all manufacturing points in the United States. The princi- 

 pal market for the building-stone is in Marietta and various towns along 

 the Ohio River. 



At Piketown there is quarried a very pretty, fine grained brown- 



