LEWIS COUNTY. 269 



At Lowville, the ore exists in the joints of the rock ; and the fact of its existence in the 

 body of the Hmestone at Martinsburgh, is a further proof of the truth of the view of the origin 

 of Tcins, set forth in the first report of the survey of the fourth district, namely, a connection 

 between the rock and the vein, one being the source of the materials, and the other the re- 

 cipient or place of reception or deposit. The facts at these deposits show clearly that the 

 whole of the materials were originally deposited together ; then followed that degree of soli- 

 dity necess£iry to produce cracks or fissures, caused by contraction either from cooling or 

 drying, or fracture from disturbance ; the contraction being the more probable cause, without 

 doubt, of the jointed structure of rocks, from their almost universality. After this action as 

 in septaria, a movement of the crystaUine particles to the fissures took place, in virtue of the 

 great surface of the joints presenting a mass of attraction to the moving particles, which is 

 necessary in crystaUization as is well known. The cause of the preference of the metallic 

 particles for the east and west joints, is yet obscure. It is connected in all probability with 

 the motion of the earth upon its axis ; and were the connection, which undoubtedly exists, 

 between electrical and centrifugal forces established, the cause would be known; for the 

 metallic particles, in that case, would be moved by that power which had for them the greatest 

 attraction. 



The Utica slate, as in all its other locahties, rests upon the Trenton hmestone, rising by a 

 gentle slope comparatively, and forming the base of the high grounds which extend along the 

 whole of the west side of the limestone range. It is from one to three miles broad, presenting 

 the same characters, mineral and fossil, as in the other counties. It appears in all the creeks, 

 showing generally high walls or banks, the result of the destroying action of concentrated 

 waters. It curves rapidly to the north beyond Copenhagen, near to which, up Deer river, it 

 appears. The slate, to the south of Martinsburgh, ranges for some miles parallel with the 

 stage road to Rome, keeping within a quarter of a mile to the west of the road as far as the 

 fork to Constableville, where it diverges more to the west from that road. Its range through 

 the county is in a northwest direction, hke those of the lower rocks. 



The Frankfort slate, and its thin layers of sandstone, follow the Utica slate, no line of 

 demarkation being evident. At the south end of the county, it is about four miles west of 

 Black river ; passes by Constableville, advancing or receding from the river, as the hill of 

 Utica slate, which commences upon the Trenton hmestone, rises or falls ; farther removed 

 from the river where low, nearer where high. The sandstone shale of Pulaski follows it, 

 being only distinguished by its fossils ; the two masses forming a belt of from seven to ten 

 miles wide, and broader at the extremities than in the centre. It is the mass upon which the 

 waters divide east and west. The population diminishes gomg west from the range, the soil 

 diminishing in fertihty as it recedes from the limestone border. This outhne of the elevated 

 part is level. 



The Grey sandstone covers the residue of the county, being the southwest portion. The 

 whole of it is yet but httle inhabited, being covered with forest, and presenting an inclined 

 surface to the west : all the inequahties of its surface are produced by the drainage of ite 

 present and former flow of waters. 



