MADISON COUNTY. 275 



sandstone, but variable, which is hard, yellowish, greenish and blackish, with a few of its 

 usual fossils. Under the Oriskany sandstone there is a dark fetid limestone, which appears 

 to belong to the Pentamerus limestone. It contains fossils, but those obtained were in frag- 

 ments, and their kind not satisfactorily ascertained. It is quite a thin mass, not much over 

 a foot thick. Under it are layers of the Water-lime group, which extend to the bottom of 

 the falls. The falls are said to be one hundred and thirty feet in height. At about a third of 

 the height from the top, there is a shelf wliich projects from the base, below which is a 

 thick layer with oblique divisions ; under which is a much thicker one, composed of thin 

 straight courses, followed by another of like size with irregular divisions ; this latter extends 

 to the bottom of the falls. In this lower part the Orthis phcata is quite numerous. 



The creek above the falls flows from the south, through a small handsome valley ; its 

 lower sides are formed of the Marcellus shales, whilst the top of the hills on both sides con- 

 sist of the Hamilton group. 



The Onondaga limestone is quarried for door frames, and other hewn work, on the east 

 side of the creek below the falls. On the west side much more is exposed, the road passing 

 over its surface at the top of the hill, and extending down the creek to near Chittenango. 

 Between the creek and the limestone quarry to the south of the village, this rock and the 

 Water-lime group show a chff, which is partly concealed by forest trees. At the quarry are 

 the two layers of water-lime, which are burnt for cement. The top of the Water-lime group 

 is covered with the Onondaga limestone ; at the bottom of which, in a few points, are some 

 grains of sand, and a few black nodules which belong to the Oriskany sandstone, with nothing 

 else intervening. As the clifl" here can be well examined, it is evident that all the rocks 

 which at the east are intermediate to the sandstone and the Water-lime group, have come to 

 their end. 



The best exposition of the Marcellus shales, being the mass which rests upon the Umestone 

 ridge, is at the falls on Oneida creek, extending from Foster's grist-mill to the saw-mill, 

 where are also two excavations for coal. The shale is seen in numerous other places along 

 its line, which in a few points approaches near the edge of the limestone ridge. At Sage's, 

 south of Chittenango village, the mass is well seen, but not much of its interior, facing the 

 hill upon which the Hamilton group rests, and which extends south : at this place also a 

 boring was made for coal. More of the interior of the mass may be seen on the farm of 

 Peter Robertson, showing the imperfect layers of the lower part, some of which approach to 

 septaria. 



Where the shales rest upon the hmestone, between the quarry back of Chittenango and the 

 road to Eagle, there is a spring of water about twenty feet over, and of considerable depth ; 

 the water enters and disappears by unknown cavities, and it appears to be a sink-hole. 



The Hamilton group covers about one half of the county, and, as usual with all those over- 

 lying rocks on the south side of the Limestone range, it forms the surface mass of the whole 

 of Brookfield, excepting a small projection of the Ithaca group at the southwest end ; of all 

 Hamilton, Madison, the east half of Lebanon, three-fourths of Eaton, the south part of New- 



