148 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



East from Rochester and extending- through Wayne county, the 

 Medina outcrops as a narrow belt along the lake shore. The forma- 

 tion widens again before Oswego county is reached and quarries 

 have been opened in the red sandstone at Oswego and at the city 

 of Fulton. Along the lake shore, the gray Oswego sandstone out- 

 crops. This gray sandstone is usually considered a basal Medina. 

 It is quarried to some extent in the vicinity of Oswego and a con- 

 siderable amount was used in the construction of Fort Ontario. 



Typically, the Medina of western New York is a hard, fine 

 grained sandstone. The quarries usually have a rock face of from 

 20 to 30 feet, and the layers in the different quarries vary from thin 

 ones, suitable for flagging and curbing, to 4 or 5 feet in thickness. 

 In Niagara county, the principal stratum worked is white sandstone, 

 which is found at the base of the quarries. The white sandstone 

 is overlain by beds of red and variegated sandstone. The upper 

 sandstone layers are usually separated by thin layers of shale. In 

 passing east into Orleans county, the white sandstone becomes less 

 prominent and red and variegated stone constitutes a large pro- 

 portion of the rock quarried. Some of the quarries produce a pink 

 variety that is very suitable for building purposes. 

 , , The quarries in Orleans county are well equipped for producing 

 stone for all purposes for which this stone is used. For building 

 purposes, the Medina stone is well known and it has a very wide 

 market. Many of the large cities of the country and nearly all 

 the cities of the State contain buildings erected wholly or in part 

 of Medina sandstone. 



The use of the Medina sandstone for street work is very exten- 

 sive. For such use the stone is durable and possesses the advan- 

 tage of not becoming " turtle-backed ", but wears even and does 

 not become slippery when smoothed by abrasion. 



Shawangunk conglomerate. This formation extends through 

 Ulster and Sullivan counties, with an outlier in Orange county. 

 The rock is mostly a conglomerate at the base, but with some 

 layers of grit near the top. This formation has been but little 

 worked for building stone. The Erie Railroad Co. operates a 

 quarry in this formation at Otisville in Orange county. The 

 Ontario & Western Railroad and the Erie have used this rock to 

 some extent for abutment work at Cornwall in Orange county. 

 Other quarries have been operated to supply local demands. The 

 chief product of this formation is millstones under which title the 

 rock is described in more detail. 



