MARBLE. 



71 



the variety usually called precious. The calcareous spar is white or greyish white, and forms 

 a handsome ground for the translucent serpentine.* 



Warren County. Perhaps the most important deposit of marble in this county, although 

 there are several, is that of Glen's Falls. Dr. Emmons has given a detailed account of this 

 in his Report of 1839. The marble is black, and for brilliancy of polish and beauty of colour 

 it is almost unrivalled. The whole stratum is ten and a half feet thick ; this, however, is often 

 traversed by veins of organic remains, which somewhat injure the quality of the marble. The 

 quarrying and sawing of this marble is now extensively carried on. 



Elsewhere in this county are beds of compact limestone similar to the above, but they are 

 not worked to any extent. Ledges of dove-coloured marble are found at the head of Lake 

 George ; while of the verd antique variety, there are valuable localities in Warrensburgh, 

 Athol and Johnsburgh. 



Near Granville in Washington County, clouded marble has long been known to exist. 



Westchester County. Important beds of marble are known to occur in various parts of 

 this county. Those of Sing-Sing are, on several accounts, deserving of particular notice. The 

 following remarks will \\e found to be generally applicable to all the marbles of the county. 



The Sing-Sing marble is granular, and sometimes so friable that it can be crushed between 

 the fingers. This tendency to disintegration is very manifest in those parts of the strata which 

 lie near the surface, and which often have the appearance of beds of sand. This marble, 

 moreover, frequently contains masses of tremoUte, quartz, and grains or crystals of iron py- 

 rites ; the two former rendering it sometimes difficult to be worked ; and the latter, by its 

 decomposition, causing reddish stains, which detract from the beauty of the material. It is, 

 however, found to improve with the extent of the excavations, becoming more compact in its 

 texture, and more free from these foreign minerals. 



The ease with which this marble can be worked, its good colour, and, perhaps more than 

 all, the facility with which it can be transported, will undoubtedly secure for it extensive use 

 as a building material. The State being largely interested in these quarries, it is manifestly 

 for its interest that the working of them should be conducted in the most judicious, as well as 

 economical manner. By which I mean, that any reasonable outlay should be incurred, if by 

 this a finer and more durable kind of marble can be rendered accessible.t 



♦Emmons. Neno-York Geotogical Reports y 1838. 



t The following remarks occur in a paper recently publishfid, "Ort tht Building Materiala of the United States of North America. 

 By David Stevenson, Esq. Civil Engineer, Edinburgh." 



'* The marbles of the United States, according to the account of many intelligent Americans with whom I have conversed on 

 the subject, are not suited for sculpture or very fine ornamental works, or even indeed for the capitals of columns which require 

 superior work ; and the marble used for the capitals of all the fine buildings throughout the country is imported from Carara in 

 Italy, whence a very large quantity is annually exported to America. For similar purposes, black marble is also imported into 

 the States from Ireland. If, however, I might form a judgment from the quality of some specimens which I procured, I should 

 think, that were the American quarries effijciently worked, there could be very little necessity for applying either to Italy or Ireland 

 for so great an annual supply. Those buildings which are constructed of the whitest description of American marble carefully 



