28 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



when exposed to the weather. The stone is carted by teams to the 

 dock at Hastings, whence it is shipped for foundations and building 

 generally. 



Yonkers. — Valentine quarry. This old quarry consists of two 

 small open cuts on ledges, which crop out in front of the Valentine 

 house, on the top of the hill, two miles south-east of Yonkers and on 

 the Mount Vernon road. The openings are only a few rods long, 

 and not over 12 feet in depth, aud about 20 yards wide. The 

 strata stand on edge and their strike is north 55° east. The stone of 

 this quarry is a grayish-black, striped mass. The quarry has not 

 been worked of late years. 



Tarrytown. — The old Beekman quarry is on lands of A. C. Kings- 

 land, one and a quarter miles north of Tarrytown. and at the east 

 side of the railroad track. It w r as worked largely in- former years ; 

 latterly, the quarrying of some stone for building walls is all that is 

 done. The quarry has a length of about 800 feet ; a breadth of 80 

 to 160 feet, and, at the back, is 50 feet deep. The strata dip 55° 

 to 80° south, 65° east. There is much variation in the rock. Some 

 of it, at the north end, is schistose and thin-bedded. The stone, 

 which is quarried, is a massive-bedded, granitoid gneiss, gray to flesh- 

 colored ; and hard and compact, although easily dressed. Blocks of 

 large size can be obtained. Being above the tide level and conve- 

 niently located on railroad and river, this quarry has advantages for 

 working. 



Kensico, Westchester County. — On the east side of the Bronx 

 River reservoir at Kensico, north-east of the dam, and a quarter of a 

 mile from the station, gneiss has been quarried extensively for the 

 construction of the reservoir dam and for local use. The opening at 

 the side of the reservoir has a face 50 feet hi^h and a total length of 

 600 feet from north to south. The beds dip 30° to 40° north, 60° 

 west. The stone is a granitoid gneiss, in thick beds, of gray color. 

 Back of it and lying upon it are thin beds of schistose rock, which is 

 valueless as building stone. There are two main systems of joints; 

 one runs north 45° west, and the other north 65° west. A third system 

 of joints dips about 40° east-south-east, and runs nearly in the course 

 of the strike of the beds, i. e., north 30° east. These seams or joints 

 break the mass into blocks of large size. The disadvantage at this 

 quarry seems to be that the thick bedded gneiss is confined to a nar- 

 row belt in the more micaceous and schistose rock. 



