400 NEW YOKK BTATE MUSEUM 



the older quarries now idle. Formerly the light-colored gray 

 stone was in demand, and was quarried for building; now 

 nearly all of the gray variety is split into paving 

 blocks, and the fashion for building calls for the red and 

 the variegated stones. At the extreme northeast the Noble & 

 Lyle quarry produces a reddish-brown stone which is more like 

 the Hulberton stone, and is rather softer than that of the quarries 

 to the west and southwest. It is used for building almost exclu 

 sively. In this quarry, and in some of the others, a red, shaly 

 rock, known here as " red horse," is found under the quarry beds 

 which is waste. The dip is south at a small angle ; a regular 

 system of vertical joints runs an east west course, with a north- 

 south system, less well defined. The total thickness of quarry 

 beds is in places as much as thirty feet, and the range is from two 

 inches to six feet. The larger part of the aggregate production 

 of these quarries is put into street material. The chief markets 

 are Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Columbus, To- 

 ledo, Detroit, Milwaukee and as far west as Omaha and Kansas 

 City. 



Lockport. — Quarries in the Medina sandstone formation were 

 opened near the town, to the north, as early as 1824, and much 

 of the stone was used in buildings, which are good examples of 

 its durability. The quarries are on the right bank of the Eigh- 

 teen Mile creek, and are connected with the New York Central 

 railroad by a branch road one mile in length. Stone for flagg- 

 ing, paving blocks, and for building is obtained. Gray, red and 

 mottled varieties occur in these openings. Formerly these quar- 

 ries furnished stone to outside buyers ; at present, they are 

 worked almost exclusively for local market 



Lewiston, Niagara County. — The same formation has af- 

 forded some building stone and some flagstone at this location. 



Hamilton and Portage Groups. 



Hudson River Bluestone. 



The term " Hudson Elver Bluestone " is used to designate the 



blue, fine grained, compact and even-blended sandstone, which is 



so largely employed for flagging and house trimmings in New 



York city, and to some extent in all of our middle Atlantic coast 



