Remarks on the Geology of Western JVew York. 243 



northern outcrop and termination nearly parallel to that of the sand- 

 stone beneath, forming the mountain ridge through which the canal 

 is excavated at Lockport, the upper portion of the precipice at the 

 falls of Niagara, and the bed of that river from those falls to Buffalo. 

 How far it forms the bed of Lake Erie cannot be well ascertained. 

 Lying on the saliferous sandstone conformably, it dips in the same 

 direction. At Queenstown heights, the geodiferous portion of this 

 rock attains an elevation of ninety feet higher than the level of 

 table rock at the falls, six miles above, where it passes under the 

 cherty, or cornitiferous strata. This latter portion forms the rapids 

 above the falls, by the water passing over the basseting edges of its 

 strata. At Black Rock it rises twenty or thirty feet above the sur- 

 face of the river, but declining towards the south, it disappears below 

 the surface of Lake Erie, eight miles south of Buffalo ; at which 

 place, it passes under shale or graywacke slate, and is not again seen 

 rising above the water's surface. The eastern shore of Lake Erie 

 is nearly or quite destitute of limestone till we get into the vicinity 

 of Sandusky. The specimens from that place present a far different 

 appearance from any that occur in this region, and I have no doubt, 

 belong to a more recent formation. One specimen in my possession 

 is decidedly oolitic. By following the Niagara River from Lewiston 

 to the Falls, at the water's edge the stratification can be examined 

 to great advantage, and on a larger scale than at any other place. 

 The general dip to the south is there very perceptible. 



In looking over Bakewell's description of the mountain limestone 

 of Europe, I have been greatly struck with the similitude of this 

 formation in all except the nearly horizontal position of its strata, 

 and its want of the beds of interposed trap. Had igneous action 

 been active in this vicinity at the time, or subsequent to its deposi- 

 tion, upheaving the strata, and injecting the melted lava between 

 their layers, the resemblance would have been complete. Cracks 

 and seams would likewise have been formed, which, ere this, by 

 galvanic, or some unknown agency, would doubtless have been con- 

 verted into veins of the metallic ores, and other minerals usually 

 accompanying the mountain limestone. The same remarks apply 

 with equal propriety to the red sandstone below ; of which Judge 

 Gibson says, that " a Pennsylvanian is struck with its resemblance 

 in all but its flatness and want of greenstone trap, to the old red 

 sandstone of the Connewaga hills." Now as volcanic action alone 

 is sufficient to account for this difference in appearance, and as this 



