REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 299 



The Shawangunk conglomerate is more widely known for its 

 use in millstones than for constructional purposes. It outcrops 

 along- the Shaw^angunk mountain ridge in Ulster county. The 

 quarries near Otisville have supplied considerable quantities of 

 stone for abutments and rough masonry. 



The Rensselaer grit is limited to a rather small belt in the so- 

 called Rensselaer plateau east of the Hudson river. The stone has 

 a close texture which may resemble that of a trap, and is used for 

 crushed stone. The largest quarries are near Brainard Station, 

 Rensselaer county. 



The sandstones in the Hamilton, Portage and Chemung forma- 

 tions of the Devonian are popularly known as bluestone, a name 

 first applied to those in Ulster county where in many places they 

 are distinguished by a bluish gray color. They are for the most 

 part fine-grained, evenly bedded, bluish gray, green or pinkish 

 sandstones, that often have a well-developed " reed " or capacity 

 for splitting along planes parallel to the bedding so as to yield 

 smooth, thin slabs. For that reason they are extensively used for 

 flag and curbstone, and a large industry is based on the quarrying 

 of these materials for sale in eastern cities. Most of the flagstone 

 is produced in the region along the Hudson and Delaware rivers, 

 where there are convenient shipping facilities to New York, Phila- 

 delphia and other places on the Atlantic coast. The Hudson River 

 district includes Albany, Greene and Ulster counties, but the quar- 

 ries are mainly situated in the area that includes southern Greene 

 and northern Ulster, with Saugerties and Kingston as the chief 

 shipping points. The Delaware River district embraces Sullivan, 

 Delaware and Broome counties ; the shipping stations are along the 

 Erie and Ontario & Western Railroads. Large quarries outside of 

 these districts are found near Norwich, Chenango county, and 

 W^arsaw, Wyoming county, which produce building stone chiefly, 

 for the general market. Numerous small quarries have been 

 operated at different times in Otsego, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, 

 Schuyler, Steuben, Yates, Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua 

 counties. 



The production of sandstone in 1916 showed a decline of about 

 2G per cent, marking a continuance of the downward trend in the 

 business that has been noted for several years past. The com- 

 bined value of the output was $714,558, whereas in 191 5 it amounted 

 to $890,411. The extent and rapidity of the decline in this branch 

 of the quarry industry may be appreciated from the figures reported 

 10 years ago: in 1907 the total was $1,998,417 and in earlier years 



