52 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



blue, fine-grained sandstone. Occasionally small, slaty pebbles are 

 seen in it. By taking advantage of the joints a single blast forces 

 off great blocks, whose thickness is that of the bed, and which are 

 then split up by the use of plug and feather wedges. At the top of 

 the quarry there is a bed or tier 4 feet 9 inches thick, which is thus 

 worked up into blocks one foot on a side and 4 feet 9 inches long. 

 Near the bottom of the quarry there is an eleven-foot bed. The stone 

 is hauled by teams under the West Shore track to the dock on the river 

 or is loaded directly on the cars at the side of the track. It is shipped 

 to New York city mainly, and for heavy work. The smaller stone 

 are sold for dock filling. 



Khinebeck, Dutchess County. — The N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. 

 Company works a quarry a half mile south of Rhinebeck station, and 

 in a bluff on the east side of the track. The bluff here has a height of 

 100 feet, approximately. The strata dip to the north-east at an 

 angle of 35°, but there is a variation at the top, going southward, as 

 well as to the north. Owing to this formation the best stone occupies 

 the middle part of the face of the quarry as now opened. There are 

 no well-marked joints traversing this rock. Some of the stone is 

 black and shaly, and falls to pieces on exposure to the weather. The 

 best, and that which is quarried for construction, occurs in beds from 

 one to two and a half feet thick. It is of a grayish shade in color, 

 and is a rather coarse-grained sandstone. On account of its hardness 

 it is not readily dressed, and its principal use is by the company for 

 the construction of bridges, culverts and roadway walls. 



New Baltimore, Greene County. — Four quarries are opened in 

 the sandstone of the Hudson River slate formation at and near New 

 Baltimore, on the Hudson, in Greene county. Beginning at the 

 north, Smith & McCabe's quarry is in the river bluff at the north end 

 of the village. The beds thus exposed for a length of about 100 

 yards along the river dip steeply eastward. The stone is dark-gray 

 to slate-colored and fine-grained. This quarry is worked at irregular 

 intervals of time, according as there is a demand for stone. 



South of the village there arc openings for a mile down the river, 

 and all are somewhat alike in their exposure, kind of stone and in 

 shipping dock accommodations. The stone may be described as a 

 blue, slate-colored, fine-grained sandstone. The beds of sandstone 

 are associated with interbedded, thin layers of shale, and are wea- 



