Remarks on the Geology of Western New York. 243 
northern outcrop and termination nearly parallel to that of the sand- 
stone beneath, forming the mountain ridge through which the canal 
is excavated at Lockport, the upper portion of the precipice at the 
falls of Niagara, and the bed of that river from those falls to Buffalo. 
How far it forms the bed of Lake Erie cannot be well ascertained. 
Lying on the saliferous sandstone conformably, it dips in the same 
direction. At Queenstown heights, the geodiferous portion of this 
rock attains an elevation of ninety feet” higher than the level of 
table rock at the falls, six miles above, where it passes under the 
cherty, or enabibeccain strata. This latter portion forms the rapids 
above the falls, by the water passing over the basseting edges of its 
strata. At Black Rock it rises twenty or thirty feet above the sur- 
face of the river, but declining towards the south, it disappears below 
the surface of Lake Erie, eight miles south of Buffalo; at which 
place, it passes under shale or graywacke slate, and is not again seen 
rising above the water’s surface. The eastern shore of Lake Erie 
is nearly or quite destitute of limestone till we get into the vicinity 
of Sandusky. The specimens from that place present a far different 
appearance from any that occur in this region, and I have no doubt, 
belong to a more recent formation. One specimen in my possession 
is decidedly oolitic. By following the Niagara River from Lewiston 
to the Falls, at the water’s edge the stratification can be examined 
to great advantage, and on a larger scale than at any other place. 
The general dip to the south is there very perceptible. 
In looking over Bakewell’s description of the mountain limestone 
of Europe, I have been greatly struck with the similitude of this 
formation in all except the nearly horizontal position of its strata, 
and its want of the beds of interposed trap. Had igneous action 
been active in this vicinity at the time, or subsequent to its deposi- 
tion, upheaving the strata, and injecting the melted lava between — 
their layers, the resemblance would have been complete. Cracks 
and seams would likewise have been formed, which, ere this, by 
galvanic, or some unknown agency, would doubtless have been con- 
verted into veins of the metallic ores, and other minerals usually 
accompanying the mountain limestone. The same remarks apply 
with equal propriety to the red sandstone below; of which Judge 
Gibson says, that “‘a Pennsylvanian is struck with its resemblance 
in all but its flatness and want of greenstone trap, to the old red 
sandstone of the Connewaga hills.” Now as volcanic action alone 
is sufficient to account for this difference in appearance, and as this 
