Granites, Syenites and Gneisses. 29 



Union Valley, Putnam County. — The quarry of Jackson & E. 

 Gaming. These quarries are four miles, by the road, from the town 

 of Croton Falls, and a half a mile south of Union Valley, in the town 

 of Carmel. They are small. The beds dip 75° to the north-west. 

 A prominent joint system runs east and west, dipping about 80° 

 north ; somewhat wavy in its course. The stone has a striped appear- 

 ance, due to black mica and white feldspar alternating in thin layers, 

 from one-eighth to half an inch thick. The main use of this stone is 

 for posts and foundations. Some of it has been used for monuments 

 and a little for buildings also. A good example of it can be seen 

 in the house of Mr. Todd, one mile south-west of Croton Falls. 

 The quarries are worked irregularly and for local market. The stone 

 is durable, as shown by the weathered ledges in the quarry, but it is 

 not capable of being polished, and when dressed and rubbed it has a 

 wavy and striped appearance, which is not altogether pleasing to the 

 eye. 



Ramapo, Rockland County. — A gneissic rock is quarried south 

 of Ramapo village on lands of Henry L. Pierson. The quarry is in 

 the steep face of a low ridge — and about fifty rods west of the line 

 of the N. Y. L. E. & W. R. R. The hill side has been worked to a 

 height of nearly one hundred feet above the valley level at the east. 

 The rock is a syenite gneiss or hornblendic granite and is so massive- 

 bedded that the stratification is not plain. A well-marked joint 

 system has a course of few degrees north of west and dips steeply 

 southward. A second system of joints runs vertically, south. The 

 stone is red flesh-colored. It splits true and is not difficult to dress 

 for heavy, squared masonry, for which it is specially suited on account 

 of its strength, durability and the large size of blocks which can be 

 obtained. The quarrying is scarcely more than the throwing off by 

 large blasts of great masses of the stone which are subsequently 

 broken up into desired sizes. A little of this stone has been used 

 for monumental work. The stone for the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt's 

 house, at Ringwood, N. J.; and for some of the Erie railroad bridges 

 is said to have come from this quarry. The place is easily worked, 

 as there is no water, and no hoisting as from a quarry in excavating, 

 and it is convenient to railway. 



Over the hill to the west, and near the New Jersey line a granite 

 quarry has been opened by John L. Rowland, and a little stone 

 taken out. Blocks of large size can here be obtained, but owing to 

 the hilly road and the distance it is not worked to any extent. 



