QUARTZYTES AND SANDSTONES. 83 



McGraw-Fisk mansion and Fall Creek. The stone in Cascadilla Hall 

 is the best from these local quarries. 



The Ithaca stone is fine-grained and has a greenish-gray tinge. 

 Natural face blocks are apt to show stains and look rusty or dirty 

 yellow. When selected with care and dressed as rock-face ashlar it 

 makes a substantial looking building. Nearly all of the foundation 

 and basement- wall stone in the place are from these home quarries. 

 When in rough-pointed or crandalled blocks in course work it looks 

 well. 



The geological horizon of these quarries is Portage. 



Watkins Glen, Schuyler County. — A sandstone in the Portage 

 group is here opened and worked by the Northern Central Railroad 

 Company, for its construction on its lines both north and south. The 

 stone is reported to be fine-grained and evenly-bedded. 



Penn Yan, Yates County. — Sandstone for foundation walls is 

 quarried near Head street, by Geo. R. Corn well ; and at Thayer Bros, 

 quarry, on the east side of the lake, three miles from Penn Yan. 



Portage, Livingston County. — The quarry of Peter Pitkin is 

 located two miles south of Portageville and three miles from Portage 

 station on the N. Y., L. E. and W. R. R. It was first opened many 

 years ago, but reopened by Mr. Pitkin in 1883. It is on the west 

 side of the valley of the Genesee river, and a few rods only west of 

 the track of the B., N. Y. & P. R. R. The principal excavation is 

 rectangular in shape, 109 feet long and 43 feet wide, being deter- 

 mined by the wonderful regularity of the vertical seams. The north- 

 east, south-west and south-east sides are simply joint faces, and the 

 breadth of 43 feet measures the space between two of these vertical 

 seams or joints. A second system of joints runs north -north-east and 

 south-south-west, and dips 80° west- north-west. The stripping or 

 covering of earth is nine feet thick on the east side and 25 feet thick 

 on the west side. A part of this stripping is of the nature of quick- 

 sand, and slides are very apt to occur, especially in the spring of the 

 year, carrying earth, sand and stone into the quarry. The beds are 

 horizontal so far as can be observed in the quarry. Generally they 

 are separated by thin layers of mud or earth. A vertical section 

 shows the following order in the strata : 



1. Sandstone _ 6 feet 4 inches. 



2. Sandstone 4 feet 6 inches. 



3. Sandstone _ 2 feet inches. 



