INTRODUCTION 



The area in New York in which are quarried the sandstones 

 of the Upper Devonian, as shown by the accompanying map, 

 is bounded on the east by a line roughly parallel to the Hudson 

 river and from 5 to 30 miles west of it, beginning in Albany 

 county and running south to West Hurley in Ulster county, 

 where it turns to the southwest, following Rondout creek. The 

 northern boundary of these formations is approximately in 

 an east and west line 15 to 20 miles south of the 

 Mohawk valley and stretching westward to the shore of 

 Lake Erie, which is the western limit. The whole 

 of the central and southern p^rt of New York state 

 is occupied by these sedimentary rocks, the formations 

 extending south into Pennsylvania. The sandstone is quar- 

 ried at different localities throughout the whole terri- 

 tory, the most productive region being the southeastern 

 part, where numerous quarries have been opened in the eastern 

 face of the Catskill mountains, in the low lying terraces 

 between the mountains and the Hudson river and in the hills 

 on both sides of the Delaware river. This district is favorably 

 situated for the transportation of the stone to the eastern 

 markets and is the chief producer of the commercial " blue- 

 stone " so extensively used for flagstone, street crossings and 

 house trimmings in the larger cities of the east. 



The beds occur from the Hamilton group to and including 

 the Catskill and are horizontal or dip at gentle angles. The 

 greatest difference in elevation between the workable beds 

 is shown in Ulster county, where a few of the mountain 

 quarries are 2500 feet above the quarries nearest the Hudson 

 river. The rocks are shales and sandstones. But there 

 is so great a range in composition and texture that there are 

 many varieties under each of these heads and an almost infinite 

 gradation from one to another, and no sharp line can be drawn. 

 The quarry stone is, as a rule, even bedded and compact and can 

 be split in planes parallel to the bedding. In texture the stone 



