GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OP THE SCHOHARIE VALLEY 353 



Chapter 9 



THE SCHOHARIE REGION IN ITS RELATION TO MAN 



Economic g-eology 



The industrial development of the inhabitants of any given 

 region is in a very large degree influenced by the geologic con- 

 ditions of that region. This is particularly true of rural com- 

 munities, and is well expressed in the history of the settlement 

 of the Schoharie region. The flat valley bottom, rich in agricul- 

 tural possibilities, afforded a haven of refuge for the persecuted 

 Palatines who settled in the Schoharie valley in 1713. They built 

 seven villages or Dorfer, which extended from the mouth of the 

 Cobleskill to the mouth of the Little Schoharie near the present 

 village of Middleburg. The springs of pure water, so abundant 

 along all the contacts of impervious and pervious strata, the 

 easy mode of communication both by land and by the stream, 

 and the waterpower of the hill streams might well have been 

 additional sources of attraction to the early settlers, specially 

 as the Indians were ready to live on friendly terms with them.^ 



As in all isolated communities, agriculture was almost the 

 only pursuit of the early inhabitants, and it has remained so 

 to a large extent down to the present time, though manufacturing 

 is engaged in in all the larger towns along the railroads. 



The economic geologic deposits of the Schoharie region are 

 almost wholly confined to the Paleozoic rocks. The various lime- 

 stones are among the most important economic products of the 

 region, and they have been exploited to a considerable degree 

 though by no means to the extent we may look for in the future. 

 The lowest of these, the Cobleskill, has been quarried on a small 

 scale, for building purposes, a small church in the northeastern 

 portion of the town being built from stone quarried in place. 

 Brown's quarry, about a fourth of a mile east of Schoharie post- 



^For a concise account of the early history of this region see Prof. 

 Solomon Sias's admirable " Summary of Schoharie county." 



