1847.] Geology of Lewis County. 269 



throughout the prunitive region is broken and hilly, the rock fre- 

 quently appearing above the soil, and sometimes rising to the 

 height of iifty or a hundred feet. 



These upheavals are generally small in extent, and almost des- 

 titute of soil or vegetation. Their summits are rounded, with 

 every appearance of having been exposed to violent currents of 

 water or other denuding causes; and their northern and southern 

 sides are usually precipitous, while the ascent is more gradual on 

 their eastern and western extremities. The northern sides of these 

 elevations are usually more smoothly worn, and often furrowed 

 irregularly; but this fact is not so observable in this as in Jeffer- 

 son county. 



No continuous line of elevation is observed in this region; and 

 the summit of the highest primitive rock is believed to be less 

 than one hundred and fifty feet above the general surface. 



Throughout the whole range of the primitive region in the 

 county, there occurs little to interest the mineralogist, except on 

 its northern border. The minerals which compose the gneiss, ex- 

 hibit very little variety, and no crystaline forms of any kind have 

 been observed but in the neighborhood of the primitive limestone 

 of Diana. A brownish colored hornstone is seen investing the 

 surface of the gneiss in Martinsburgh, at the point where the 

 Roaring brook is crossed by the East road. It seems to have been 

 deposited subsequent to the period when the strata assumed their 

 present inclination, as their abraded edges are incrusted by the 

 mineral, and it is entirely superficial. With the exception of a 

 few grains of garnet, and a few scales of mica occasionally ob- 

 served, the foregoing is a complete catalogue of the mineral con- 

 tents of the gneiss rock of Lewis county, except where it is in 

 the vicinity of the white limestone, which breaks out frequently 

 among the ledges of gneiss along the entire northern border of 

 the primitive region. 



The texture of this lim.estone is usually so coarsely chrystaline, 

 as to destroy its value for architectural purposes, and the only 

 uses to which it is applied are for burning into lime, and as a 

 flux for iron ores. 



Its color is usually a pure white; in some localities it is per- 

 vaded by a delicate tinge of blue, which however fades upon ex- 

 posure to the light, while in others it is colored red, of different 

 shades, by iron ore. 



The lime made from this stone is of a very superior quality 

 and strength, and the stone itself being ground without burning, 

 and added to the mortar intended for the " hard finisli," is said to 

 give the work a beautiful lustre. 



No signs of stratification are to be found in this rock, as ob- 

 served in this county, it being entirely homogeneous in texture, 



