30 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



Suffern, Rockland County. — Granite for cemetery posts and 

 for monumental bases has been quarried for years past from the side 

 of the ledges a quarter of a mile west of Suftern station and at the 

 side of the Ramapo road. The stone is greenish-gray in color, but 

 weathers to a reddish-brown cast. It is hard to cut and dress, but 

 is durable. A very little of it is used by Wm. Copeland, at Suffern, 

 for cemetery work. 



Peekskill. — Hudson River Granite Company's quarry. This com- 

 pany is opening a granite quarry on a rocky ledge about two miles 

 north-west of Peekskill and east-north-east of Iona island. It is on the 

 land of the Van Cortlandt estate. The entire point, which is pierced 

 by a railroad tunnel, is almost bare of soil and earth ; and an im- 

 mense mass of solid rock is in sight. Its slightly weathered surface 

 indicates the durability of the stone, and the absence of bedding 

 planes will enable the quarrymen to get out large blocks. The stone 

 is gray — flesh-colored, medium fine-crystalline and consists of feld- 

 spar, quartz and hornblende. The parallelism in the arrangement of 

 the minerals shows the grain of the stone to dip steeply, east-south-east. 

 A track has been built from the quarry, down on the slope of the 

 hill to the river, where there is a dock. The chief product is to be 

 paving blocks. 



West Point. — West of the academy buildings and on the side of 

 the hill gneiss rock has been uncovered and quarried for the con- 

 struction of the Government buildings. The most southern quarry 

 is south-south-west of the Observatory, and a quarter of a mile from 

 it. The rock is a biotite gneiss. It dips 40° to 50° S. 75° E. The 

 opening is 100 feet long, 40 feet wide and about 18 feet deep. A second 

 opening is 150 yards north-west and is 150 feet by 75 and 15 feet deep. 

 The rock here is rather more massive-bedded and gray in color. The 

 beds dip 38° E. SE. North of Fort Putnam and west of the Acad- 

 emy there are three almost connected openings, and within 200 feet 

 of the road. The bedding of these quarries is not so plain as in 

 the more southern openings. The dip is 25 to 30° E. SE., 

 and the rock shows a pitch to the NE. at an angle of 25°. The 

 rock is fine-crystalline and hard ; and the ledges about these open- 

 ings are a proof of the durability of the stone. North of the last 

 described locality is an older quarry, and about 100 feet west of the 

 road and a half a mile north-west of the Academy. Its extent, from 

 east to west, is about forty yards, north to south thirty yards, and it 



