Calciferous of the Mohawk Valley 120 



Historical Sketch 



Tlie rocks of the Calciferous stage were first described by 

 Amos Eatou'i^ ( 1824) as "an aggregate of qiiartsose sand and fine 

 grains of carbonate of lime." The locality mentioned by Eaton 

 as the most perfecft , as well as the most accessible to those who 

 travel the canal, is Flint Hill, in Florida township (the 

 township in which our se(5tion is situated). 



Conradt (1837) states: The first rock which appears above 

 the Gneiss in our [3rd] distri(5t is called the "calciferous sand- 

 rock * -'^ -'^ the general inclination of which is 4 or 5 de- 

 grees to SW. , which causes the rock to be lost to observation to 

 the south of the Mohawk. Dislocations or faults and curves 

 in the stratification are common." 



In a summar}^ of the geologic stages of the the third district, 

 Vanuxem;|; (1838) makes the following statement: "Fossils, 

 other than Fucoids of the largest species, are exceedingly rare 

 [in the Calciferous]. I found two or three specimens; they 

 were casts of small univalves * '^ * likewise two frag- 

 ments belonging to crustaceae; all these specimens were found 

 in an upper layer of the rock." 



His final report] ] (1842) of the Calciferous contains a very 

 detailed description of the lithological charadlers of the rock. 

 The stage is divided into "three distiudl masses as to charadler 

 and position. The first is siliceous and compa(5l, and may be a 

 continuation of the Potsdam Sandstone, either in part or almost 

 wholly. The second is a variable mixture of fine yellow siliceous 

 sand and carbonate of lime, which when fradlured presents a fine 

 sparkling grain. This is the mass whence the name Calciferous 

 sand rock was derived. The third is a mixture of the calcareous 

 material, which is usually yellowish, very sparkling when fresh 

 broken, and of compacft limestone, which resembles the birdseye 

 in mineral characfter, containing also some argillaceous or slat}^ 

 matter. The whole mass has been designated, in the annual re- 



*A Geological and Agricultural Survey of the district adjoining the 

 Erie canal, 1824. 



list Ann. Rept. Geol. Sur. of the 3rd Dist. N. Y., 1837, p. 162. 

 J2nd " " " " " " " " " " 1838, p. 283. 



||Geol. of 3rd Dist. N. Y. , 1S42, Lardner Vanuxem, p. 30. 



