84 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The Onondaga limestone, separated from the preceding by the 

 Oriskany sandstone, has a very wide distribution, outcropping al- 

 most continuously from Buffalo, Erie county, eastward to Oneida 

 county and then southeasterly into Albany county, where the belt 

 curves to the south and continues through Greene, Ulster and 

 Orange counties to the Delaware river. It is in most places a bluish 

 gray, massive limestone with layers and disseminated nodules of 

 chert. The chert is usually more abundant in the upper beds. The 

 limestone finds use as building stone and the less siliceous materials, 

 also, for lime-making. Quarries have been opened at Kingston, 

 Split Rock (near Syracuse), Auburn, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, 

 Le Roy, Buffalo and other places. 



The Tully is the uppermost of the important limestone formations 

 and likewise the most southerly one represented in the central part 

 of the State. Its line of outcrop extends from Ontario to Madison 

 county, intersecting most of the Finger lakes. Its thickness is not 

 over 10 feet, and on that account can not be worked to advantage 

 except under most favorable conditions of exposure. For building 

 stone it is quarried only locally and to a very limited extent. It 

 finds its principal use in portland cement manufacture, being em- 

 ployed for that purpose by the Cayuga Lake Cement Co. in its works 

 at Portland Point, Tompkins county. 



Marl is a useful substitute for the hard limestone for some pur- 

 poses and is rather extensively developed in the central and western 

 parts of the State. It is found particularly in swampy tracts and 

 old lake basins associated with clay and peat. In the Cowaselon 

 swamp near Canastota the marl underlies several -thousand acres and 

 is said to be 30 feet thick. The Montezuma marshes in Cayuga and 

 Seneca counties contain a large deposit which at Montezuma is 14 

 feet thick. In Steuben county the marls at iVrkport and Dansville 

 have been employed for lime-making. Until recently marls have 

 been used extensively for portland cement and plants were operated 

 at one time in the marl beds near Warner and Jordan, Onondaga 

 county; at Montezuma, Cayuga county; Wayland, Steuben county; 

 and Caledonia, Livingston county. Their principal use at present is 

 for agricultural and chemical purposes. 



Production. Limestone is by far the most important of the 

 quarry materials, accounting for more than one-half of the total 

 value returned by the quarries each year. Its importance depends 

 upon the varied uses which it serves as well as upon its wide distri- 

 bution. It is extensively employed as crushed stone for concrete 



