HYDROUS SULPHATE OF LIME, OR GYPSUM. SS ' 



lius, from which large quantities have been exported. But probably the most valuable deposits 

 that have yet been opened up, are those along the line of the Auburn and Syracuse railroad, 

 near the village of Camillus. We find here, among other varieties, noble specimens of trans- 

 parent selenite ; and what renders the locality pecuharly interesting, are the associated strata 

 of calcareous tufa, and of the singular hopper-form crystals of marly clay. From forty to fifty 

 thousand tons of gypsum were obtained simply from the excavations which were necessary for 

 the construction of this road ; and this may be considered as merely a specimen of what is 

 stiU hidden in the adjoining hills. 



Plaster beds occur also in the town of De Witt and elsewhere in this county ; and it may 

 be added as an interesting fact, that minute crystals of sulphate of lime are apparently in the 

 process of constant formation on the exposed surfaces of the marly clay or gypseous marl found 

 near Camillus. • 



Ontario County. Beds of gypsum are found, and extensively quarried, on the banks of 

 the outlet of the Canandaigua lake in the tovra of Phelps, between Vienna and the town line 

 of Manchester. West of this point, one or two masses are seen in the bank of the outlet ; and 

 with this exception, and a single bed opened near Victor, the town of Phelps furnishes nearly 

 all the gjrpsum from this county. There are about six thousand tons annually ground at the 

 mill at the outlet.* 



Orange County. There are occasionally found thin plates of selenite in the fissures in 

 magnetic iron ore, and in the seams of arsenical pyrites, near Edenville in this county. These 

 are merely interesting as mineralogical specimens. The same is also true of the occurrence 

 of minute crystals of sulphate of lime at the Sharon sulphur springs in Schoharie County. 

 These crystals, which are needle-form and very minute, are deposited in consequence of the 

 evaporation of the water, which holds sulphate of lime in solution. 



Seneca County. Near Seneca falls, there are beds of gypsum extensively wrought, and 

 large quantities of plaster are sent from thence into the counties of Chemung and Steuben. 

 From five to six thousand tons is supposed to be the annual produce of these quarries. 



Tompkins County. Beds of gypsum occur in this county, in the calciferous slate. I have 

 no information in regard to the amount obtained. 



Wayne County. At Lyons, the fibrous variety was several years since found, fifty feet 

 below the surface of the earth. Gypsum has been found both at Clyde and Palmyra, but at 

 some distance below the surface. 



About two mOes west of Newark are two hills on either side of the canal, from which 

 gypsum is quarried. It is mostly lamellar, transparent, and of that variety sometimes known 

 by the name isinglass plaster. It is often, however, of a reddish colour, and is mixed with, 

 or disseminated through, a calcareous or argillaceous marl.t 



* HhII. Niw-Yurk Geological Reporti, 1839. . t Dr. G. W. Boyd. New-York Geological Reports, 1838. 



Part I. 9 



