246 Remarks on the Geology of Western JVew YorJc. 



It is also from this slate or shale that carburetted hydrogen gas is 

 evolved, at the numerous places denominated " burning springs." 

 But a single instance has come to my knowledge of this gas issuing 

 from any of the inferior strata. At Gasport, six miles east of Lc5ck- 

 port, and of course below the limestone strata, gas is said to rise 

 from the bed of the canal ; from which circumstance the place 

 doubtless takes its name. I have not examined the place in par- 

 ticular reference to this subject ; but from the descent of the canal 

 at Lockport, and the relative thickness of the limestone formation 

 at that place, I have no doubt it issues from the shale immediately 

 beneath, which at the falls is partially bituminous. I am aware that 

 Prof. Eaton has cited the burning springs in the vicinity of Canan- 

 daigua as issuing from " beneath the saliferous rock." Now from a 

 long residence in that village I am quite sure that the saliferous rock 

 no where comes in view near that place. The village itself is un- 

 derlaid by limestone, which, I have good reason to believe, passes 

 under the superincumbent shale, about half a mile southwest of the 

 principal street. The nearest place where the gas issues is in the 

 town of Bristol, about eight miles in the same direction. The shale 

 is there in sight, and constitutes nearly the whole range of hills which 

 extend from there, southerly, to the high grounds in Allegany county. 

 Thin seams of coal have been found at no great distance from the 

 spot where the gas issues. Large quantities of gas are also dis- 

 charged ten miles south of Canandaigua, near Rushville. There it 

 was conveyed by logs into one of the farm houses, and was used, 

 not only for the purpose of procuring light, but for culinary purposes, 

 and likewise to warm the apartments ; no other fuel being used 

 when I visited the place during severe winter weather. It was also 

 used to boil down the sap of the sugar maple in the manufacture of 

 sugar ; but some accidents occurring, it was discontinued. I haye 

 traced the same formation from this place, likewise, to the high 

 grounds in Steuben county, where one of the head branches of the 

 Susquehanna takes its rise. At Fredonia, where gas is collected in 

 sufficient quantity to light the whole village, it issues directly from 

 bituminous shale ; at which place the sahferous rock must be seve- 

 ral hundred feet below the surface. The same gas at Niagara Falls 

 on the Canandaigua shore, comes from this shale, or from the upper 

 layers of the cherty limestone ; the seams of which are there filled 

 with a black, bituminous matter, which can be removed in scales 

 from the thickness of a knife blade to one fourth of an inch. 



