386 new yoke: state museum 



Oswego county, and thence west to the Niagara river in a belt 

 bordering Lake Ontario. 



Prof. Hall describes it as follows : " The mass is usually a red 

 or slightly variegated sandstone, solid and coherent in the 

 eastern extremity of the district, becoming friable and marly in 

 the western extension, and admitting an intercalated mass of 

 gray quartzose sandstone, which contains marine shells ; while 

 in the red portions are rarely found other than marine vege" 

 tables or fucoids."* 



Quartz is the principal mineral constituent associated with 

 some kaolinized feldspar. The cementing material is mainly 

 oxide of iron, with less carbonate of lime. The stone is even- 

 bedded and the strata dip gently southward The prevailing 

 systems of vertical joints, generally at right angles to one 

 another, divide the beds into blocks, facilitating the labor of 

 quar^ing. 



Quarries have been opened at Fulton, Granby and Oswego, in 

 Oswego county ; at several points in Wayne county ; at Roches- 

 ter, on the Irondequoit Creek, and at Brockport, Monroe county ; 

 at Holley, Hulburton, Hindsburg, Albion, Medina and Shelby 

 .Basin, in Orleans county ; and at Lockport and Lewiston, in 

 Niagara county. The Medina sandstone district proper is re- 

 stricted to the group of quarries from Brockport west to 

 Lockport. 



The leading varieties of stone are known as the Medina red 

 stone, the white or gray Medina and the variegated (red and 

 white) or spotted. The quarries in this district are worked on 

 an extensive scale, and their equipment is adequate to a large 

 annual production. The aggregate output is larger and more 

 valuable in dimension stone for dressing than that of any other 

 quarry district in the State. Including the stone for street work, 

 the total value is greater than that obtained from the stone of 

 any other geological formation in the State. The stone has 

 gained a well-deserved reputation for its value as a beautiful 

 and durable building material ; and its more general employ- 

 ment, both in construction and in paving, is much to be desired. 

 The extent of the outcrops offers additional sites for quarrying 

 operations, and the greater use of this stone, and the increase of 

 the producing capacity of the district are here suggested. 



* Survey of the Fourth Geological District, James Hall, Albany, 1843, p. 31. 



