16 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



in it is used in foundations and common wall work. Granites, lime- 

 stones and other sandstones are taking the place of the stone from 

 its quarries ; and some of these quarries are abandoned. 



Medina Sandstone. 



Siliceous rocks, principally sandstones, predominate in this forma- 

 tion. The}' crop out in the flanks of the Shawangunk mountain in 

 Orange and Ulster counties. In the western part of the State the 

 Medina sandstone borders Lake Ontario from the Niagara river to 

 Oswego, and thence continues in an eastward course through Oswego 

 and Oneida counties nearly to Rome. In the Shawangunk range the 

 red or brown-red sandstones occur with some gray-white sandstones 

 and some shales. And excepting two or three very small quarries 

 it is not a source of building stone. The stone is generally hard and 

 is not easily dressed. In the western part of the State the sandstone 

 is associated whith shales and shaly sandstone. The mass is made up 

 of quartzose sand in fine grains, cemented more or less strongly by 

 siliceous and ferruginous matter. The prevailing color is a brown or 

 brown-red, but gray-white and variegated red and white also are com- 

 mon shades. In texture the mass is usually fine-grained. The strata 

 lie dipping at a small angle southward, and the stone is remarkably 

 even bedded. At nearly all localities two systems of joints, at right 

 angles to one another, divide the rock into blocks, which help the 

 quarryman in his work. Quarries in this formation have been opened 

 and worked at Fulton, Granby and Oswego in Oswego county ; at 

 several points in Wayne county ; at Rochester and on Irondequoit 

 creek and Brockport in Monroe county ; at Holly, Hulberton, Albion 

 and Medina in Orleans county ; and at Lock port and Lewiston in 

 Niagara county. The quarries at Hulberton, Albion and Medina 

 are among the largest in the State. And the stone therein quarried 

 has acquired a well-deserved reputation for rich color, its strength 

 and its durability as a building material. And the name of the 

 formatioD (from the town of Medina), has come to be used for all the 

 product of the many quarries in it. 



Clinton Group. 

 The rocks of this group are mainly shales. Impure limestone and 

 some sandstone also occur. They form the outcrop in a narrow belt of 

 country from Herkimer county west to the Niagara river and border- 

 ing on the south the Medina sandstone. Sandstone has been obtained 



