QUARTZYTES AND SANDSTONES. 87 



These Elmira quarries are in the Chemung group, geologically 

 viewed. 



Corning, Steuben County. — There are three quarries at Corn- 

 ing, in the valley south of the town, and on the hillside about 250 

 feet above the bottom of the valley. That of B. M. Payne is on 

 the west side of the valley ; and has been opened for a length of 300 

 yards or more from north to south-west. Its face is 20 to 40 feet 

 high. At the top the earth and shaly beds have an aggregate thick- 

 ness of 10 to 20 feet, although there is some good stone in these 

 courses. Below, there are 15 feet of beds of sandstone, interstratified 

 with shaly beds. They range from 1 foot to 2 feet in thickness. 

 Two systems of vertical joints, at right angles to one another, are 

 noticed. The stone is grayish-green in color and fine-grained. The 

 quarry was opened in 1855, and has produced a very large amount of 

 stone. It has not been worked during the past season. 



John Kelley's quarry is south of and across the road from Payne's 

 quarry. Its working face is 400 feet in length, fronting south-east. 

 The stripping consists of earth and shaly rock, together 10 feet. 

 Then come beds of various thickness, from 4 inches to 2^ feet. Some 

 of the shaly rock is interbedded with the sandstone, more or less all 

 the way down to the bottom of the quarry. At the bottom there is 

 a layer 1 foot thick, of soft, blue stone, and underneath it hard, iron- 

 stained rock. The total thickness of workable beds is 30 feet. There 

 is a slight dip in a south-westerly direction. One main system of 

 joints runs north 80° east ; a second system runs south 30° east. 

 They are vertical and usually, are open or mud-filled, and at spaces 

 of 15 to 20 feet apart. As the quarry is on the hillside there is no 

 pumping or raising of water. Two horse-power derricks are in use, 

 and the stone are carted to Corning depot, three-quarters of a mile 

 or to the D. L. & W. Eailroad line, two miles distant. The Fall 

 Brook Coal Co.'s railroad also is reached at about one mile from the 

 quarry. In the winter season the stripping is carried forward, so that 

 the work continues throughout the year. A large amount of stone 

 from these quarries has been used on the Fall Brook Coal Co.'s Rail- 

 road line for bridge work. It is sold for common wall work and 

 foundation walls in Corning, at $1.50 per cubic yard, delivered. 



H. C. Heerman's quarry is south-east of the Payne and Kelly 

 quarries and on the opposite side of the valley, and about 50 feet 

 above the bottom of the ravine. The opening is large and the strip- 

 ping is thick, as at the quarries above mentioned. The workable 



