70 



AX AMERICAN GEOLOGICAL RAILWAY GUIDE. (X.Y.) 



being a gorge cut by the Mohawk River through a spur of the Adirondack Mountain, which here 

 crosses the railroad. You are now on the bottom rocks of the geological series, for nothing older 

 has ever been found beneath them. The scenery has suddenly changed, and nothing is seen but 

 bare, weatherworn precipices of crystalline rocks, from which all the elements through all the ages, 

 have failed to produce a soil, yet a certain strange interest is attached to them. The oldest picture 

 in the world, the oldest statue or other work of art, would excite the greatest attention, yet what 

 are these in antiquity compared with these grand old Laurentian rocks, the oldest formation and the 

 oldest dry land on the face of the earth, dating far back of the first appearance of either animal 

 or vegetable life of any kind on our planet. The river channel through these rocks is an unequivo- 

 cal example of river erosion, as pot-holes are found at various heights. See also notes 6 and 56. 



18. Utica. The 4 b. Utica elate was named from this city. To study the Trenton, Black River 

 and Birdseye limestones at their original, historical localities, change cars at Utica and go up the 

 Utica and Black River Railroad to Trenton Falls. (See the within guide for that railroad). You 

 can then go on to Watertown on these limestones. Return by the Rome, Watertown &Ogdensburg 

 Railroad to Rome or Syracuse, examining the Loraine shales at Adams and Pulaski. 



19. From here to Syracuse there is no lock in the canal. This long level is 427 feet above tide. 



20. Oriskany. The formation of this name, is not exposed here, but at Oriskany Falls on the 

 D. L. & W. R. R. from which the name is derived, The best fossils of it are found east of 

 Union Springs in Cayuga County. Along the part of the road east of Oriskany, the Utica shale forms 

 the bottom of the valley. The south wall of the valley consists of the outcrops of the 4 c. Hudson 

 River, 5 a. Oneida Conglomerate, 5 b. Clinton, the 6. Waterlime and 9. Upper Helderberg. 



21. Rome. No more 2-4. Cambrian formations west of this in New York. From Rome to 

 Buffalo and from Lake Ontario south to the Pennsylvania line all the formations are 5-11. Silurian 

 and Devonian, and they are finely displayed in numerous gorges, ravines, canons and precipices, 

 very regularly disposed in belts of outcrop running east and west. The typical localities from 

 which most of the formations were named, are situated in this district. It is all historical geological 

 ground, and you can scarcely go amiss in looking for fossils. 



22. West of Little Falls the lower formations pass abruptly to the north and cross under Lake 

 Ontario into Canada. The 4 c. Hudson River first crosses the valley, and then the Oneida conglom- 

 erate. Other rock formations now appear between Rome and Oneida, which had no existence in the 

 basin east of Little Falls. These are the 5 a. Medina and Clinton, which overlie the Oneida, and 

 form all the south shore of Lake Ontario, and extend across Canada West. Also 5 c. Niagara and 

 the 6. Salina or Onondaga salt group, on which the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. runs from Oneida nearly 

 to Rochester. The non-existence of these extensive formations east of Little Falls (the 5 a. Medina, 

 5 b. Clinton, 5 c. Niagara and 6. Salina), which cover the best part of Western New York, must be 

 owing to the two parts of the State being separated in these early ages by the old Laurentiau ridge 

 at Little Falls into separate basins, in which the rock-forming conditions were different. 



23. Verona. The Clinton fossil iron ore crops out on the railroad, but not of a good quality. 



24. Oneida. The prominent ridge bounding the valley on the south of Utica. Oneida and 

 Syracuse, called Stockbridge Hill, Pompey Hill, Cazenovia Hill and Onondaga Hill, is the Helderberg 

 range, a continuous mountain 800 feet high, forming the back-bone of the State, and composed at its 

 base of the 6. Waterlime, of the Saliua group, all the members of the 7. Lower Helderberg being 

 wanting as well as the 8. Oriskany sandstone and other sandstones that separate the Lower and 

 Upper Helderberg, except a mere trace. On the Waterlime rests the Onondaga limestone, the most 

 valuable building stone, and above this the Corniferous. Over these three great limestone forma- 

 tions is always found the 10 a. Marcellus shales, the 10 b. Hamilton and 10 c. Genesee, forming the 

 fine fertile country extending south from this ridge. Still farther south is the 11 a. Portage with its 

 glens, gorges and precipices, and 11 b. Chemuug, extending to the Pennsylvania State line. The 

 Oneida conglomerate, which is 30 or more feet thick in Herkimer and Oneida, gradually attenuates in 

 going west, being a grey band, from 4 to 5 ft. thick at Rochester. It was named from Oneida county. 



25. Wampsville. Numerous fragments of Niagara limestone are seen mixed with the soil, show- 

 ing its existence underneath. The Niagara limestone and shales which, at Niagara, Lockport and 

 Rochester are 150 feet thick, thin out in going eastward, being only two or three ft. thick at Saquoit 

 Creek near Utica. 



26. Canastota. Stop off and take the branch railroad to Cazenovia, rising 750 feet in 15 miles. 

 Fine geological sections of 6. Salina with gypsum beds, 9. Upper Helderberg and 10 b. Hamilton. 

 Magnificent view across Oneida Lake and a beautiful village and lake at Cazenovia. 



27. Syracuse. Onondaga Lake, which is in sight and on the north side of the railroad at the 

 west end of Syracuse City, is Smiles long, 1 mile wide; its greatest depth is 60 feet, and its 

 surface is 363 feet above tide water. It is excavated in the red shale of the (6.) Salina formation. 

 The lake is what remains of an ancient much more extensive and deeper excavation, all of which 

 has been filled in with sand, gravel and rolled stones, except the part occupied by the lake. The 

 bottom and sides of the lake are covered with lake marl six feet thick. The ancient excavation 

 underneath answers an excellent purpose as a reservoir into which the salt waters are received and 

 retained, and the marl of the bottom of the lake serves an equally good purpose by separating the 

 fresh water of the lake from the salt water stored away in the basin or reservoir of sand and gravel 

 beneath. There could be no better material for the purpose. Into this basin the various borings 



