^54 COAL. 



and collected by the agency of water. I ha\e 

 seen on the bank of the Owasco and Otisco lakes, 

 black shale, which is found rounded and abraded 

 by the waves. 



At Little Fall Creek, a mile south of the village 

 of Geneseo, there is a vertical section of 115 feet 

 through rocks. The super stratum is slate, repo- 

 sing on limestone, which is again supported by 

 schist. Here are evident symptoms of coal, and 

 here it may be certainly obtained. 



The black mould on the Genesee river is deri- 

 ved in all probability from the trituration, or de- 

 composition of slate, impregnated by bitumen, al- 

 though some give it a vegetable origin. 



At Allen's Creek, in Le Roy, there is a vertical 

 section. The upper stratum is clay slate, which 

 the water has \^orn away to t'le lime stone, and 

 which reposes on bituminous slate that smells ex- 

 actly like Seneca Oil. The same slate ib found 

 at Batavia in detached pieces, brought by the 

 Tonawanta Creek from a distance. The country 

 -west of the Genesee river is composed of three 

 terraces, like the Steppes of Tartary, which in- 

 dine gently to the north. At the feet of these ter- 

 races, search ought to be made. 



I think, my dear sir, that [ have indicated a 

 suficlent num.ber of places, v» here 



.= •'• Sable coal hh massv couch e-steads.'' 



