120 Report on Building Stone of New York. 



are from five to eighteen inches thick. The stone is dark-blue and 

 compact. It has been used for buildings ; and the following are struc- 

 tures in which it can be seen : Presbyterian churches at Malone r 

 Wad dington and Canton; Roman Catholic church at Hogansburg ; 

 and St. Lawrence county court house, and clerk's office, at Canton. 



Schoharie, Schoharie County. — East of the village of Scho- 

 harie, limestones of the Lower Helderberg and Water-lime groups 

 afford excellent building material, and some which is suitable for 

 monumental or decorative work. The quarries are small and are not 

 worked, except when stone is wanted for home use. The black, ten- 

 taculite limestone is notable for its compact texture and its capacity 

 to take a high polish.* It is not opened as a marble. Z. J. Brown, 

 of Schoharie Valley, has used some of it for cemetery work. 



A good example of the enduring quality of the blue limestones of 

 the Lower Helderberg group, as they occur in the Schoharie valley, is 

 the old Reformed Dutch church and stone fort (now State property), 

 one mile north of the village of Schoharie Valley. Although built in 

 in 1766, the walls are still firm and the stone are not faded nor weath- 

 ered even on the sharp edges and corners of the blocks. 



Howe's Cave, Schoharie County. — Two quarries have been 

 worked in former years for both building stone and for the hydraulic 

 limestone. The former overlies the latter in the face of the escarp- 

 ment, on the west side of the valley. The upper beds are known as 

 the "gray stone," and are 15 to 20 feet thick. This gray limestone 

 checks and does not polish, and is best suited for heavy masonry. 

 The tentaculite, or blue limestone under it, is equally hard and solid, 

 and dresses well under the hammer. It is a good building stone. 

 Some shaly beds are interstratified with the more solid and firm stone, 

 and hence there is some waste. The stone quarries are above the 

 cement-rock mines or quarries. They have been idle during the past 

 year 



Cobleskill, Schoharie County. — Wm. Reilly's quarry is a 

 half a mile north-west of Cobleskill, and in the Upper Helderberg* 

 limestone formation. It was opened about 25 years ago. The 

 quarry is 200 feet square. There are 30 feet of workable beds or 

 courses, overlain by stripping, seven to eight feet thick, and ranging 

 from five inches to two feet thick. The dip is only about 2° south- 



♦The beautiful bl ck of this Limestone, or black marble, in theJState Museum sug- 

 gests its use, and the desirability of further exploration to test the locality. 



