56 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



The slaty rock is waste. The quarry is worked at irregular times. 



About 20 rods north of the above mentioned quarry there is 

 another opening in the side of the blulf, and higher above the canal. 

 And in it the dip of the beds is as much as 7°, and southward. 



Across the river, and on the Saratoga county side, sandstone has 

 been quarried at Rexford Flats by C. W. Rexford. 



Schenectady. — The quarry of Shears & Dunsbach is one mile 

 easterly from the railroad station, but within the city limits. It is 

 100 yards south of the railroad and the Erie canal. Its extent from 

 north-east to south-west is at least .200 yards, and 100 yards from 

 north to south. The drainage is natural and northward to the canal. 

 The stone is covered by a true glacial drift, which has in it large 

 imbedded masses of stone and boulders of all sizes. This boulder 

 earth is so hard and firm in places as to require blasting to break it 

 down. The glacial forces appear to have removed all the rotten or 

 disintegrated stone and slaty beds, and to have covered and protected 

 the solid rock mass. Hence the top stone is good for quarrying. 

 Unlike the Aquduct quarries, there is no slaty rock at the top or 

 interbedded with the sandstone. The drift earth is from four to ten 

 feet thick. The quarry beds are from one to three feet thick, and 

 the total thickness is from 10 to 15 feet. The dip is less than 5°, 

 and in a south-west direction. The main system of joints runs south 

 50° west. A second system has its course south 15° west. A third 

 system runs at right angles to the first one, but is not well marked. 

 They are vertical or dip steeply to the north-west. The stone is of 

 a bluish shade of color and is fine-grained. As the joints are at con. 

 venient intervals for working and the stone is readily broken in planes 

 at right angles to beds and joints, blocks of rectangular shape and of 

 good size are obtained without the use of much powder. And the 

 natural faces save dressing for much wall work. No machinery is in 

 use. The stone is carted to railroad or canal, 100 yards away, or is 

 taken to the building sites in the city directly, by teams. It is used 

 in Troy, Cohoes, Waterford and Albany, as well as largely at home, 

 and is known in the market as " Schenectady blue stone." A large 

 amount goes into foundations. It can be seen as rock-ashlar in the 

 East Avenue Presbyterian church in the city and in the Memorial 

 Hall of Union College. The quarry was opened about 15 } r ears ago, 

 but little was done in it until nine years ago. The' extent of stone 

 and its solid character make the quarry valuable, and a source for 

 supply to the adjacent country. 



