QUARTZYTES AND SANDSTONES. 49 



School buildings are of this stone ; also the Presbyterian church, the 

 Universalist church, the Protestant Episcopal church, the Town Hall, 

 and a number of store and dwelling-houses. Its durability has been 

 tested in some of the old houses in the place, which are fifty to sixty 

 years of age, and in which the stone is still sharp-edged, without a 

 sign of scale or disintegration. The stone in the sidewalks in the 

 town is from these quarries ; and it is admirable for flagging material, 

 inasmuch as it does not wear smooth and become slippery, and dries 

 quickly after being wet with rain. 



In order to facilitate the working of these quarries and increase 

 their output, a railway from Potsdam to the quarries is projected. 



Hammond, St. Lawrence County. — In the town of Hammond 

 there are three sandstone quarries, which are now in operation : W. 

 H. Stanley's, a half a mile south of Eossie station ; D. E. Parmeter's, 

 one and a half miles north of the same station ; and H. A. Foster's, 

 two and a half miles north of it. The Finnegan quarry, a half a 

 mile north of Parmeter's quarry, is idle. 



H. A. Foster's quarry is about 300 yards east of the Rome, Water- 

 town & Ogdensburg railroad and on the west of the Black creek, and 

 at the top of a bold ledge, 30 to 40 feet high, which bounds the Black 

 creek ravine on the west side. The quarry consists of this cleared 

 ledge for a length of 200 yards from north to south, running back in 

 extreme breadth about 50 feet. The greatest depth is only about 10 

 feet. A wide joint system runs parallel to the ledge front, i, e., north 

 and south. These joints or seams are quite open, from one to two 

 feet in places, and five to ten feet apart. Another system of joints, 

 vertical, runs in a north-westerly course, but the north and south sys- 

 tem dips steeply to the east, in places. The dip of the sandstone 

 strata is less than 5°, and in an easterly direction. The upper sur- 

 face rock of the quarry is glaciated and grooved. The beds are 

 generally thin. The stone is grayish-white and hard, but dresses 

 readily and breaks true, so that it is adapted for making paving blocks. 

 The main product of this quarry is for street work, either as heavy 

 flagging-stone or paving blocks. There are no derricks and no 

 machinery in use. Very little powder is needed to break up waste 

 rock. A side track runs from the quarry to the main railroad line. 

 The drainage is natural, and the waste is shovelled directly over the 

 ledge into the Black creek ravine. Hence the locality is worked to 



