52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



extending behind it south and east for a mile or more, for which 

 it is probably responsible. 



Wind work. Sand dunes are common throughout much of the 

 quadrangle. Usually they are small, 3 to 10 feet high, and grassed 

 over. Three miles east of Canton, north of the Crary Mills road, 

 they constitute a drifting area. No such conspicuous dune areas 

 as those on the Potsdam quadrangle to the east have been found 

 on our sheet, the best bit seen being shown in plate 12, figure B. 



Recent ferruginous conglomerates. Along the right bank of 

 the Grass river below Morley, the rock exposures in the river 

 bed are coated with a firm conglomerate containing millions of 

 old iron nails cemented by their own rust. Rev. C. H. Fenton 

 states that an " ashery " was conducted at this point by his grand- 

 father. The deposit extends for many yards, has a thickness of 

 several inches, and successfully resists removal by the stream. 



A more extensive iron-conglomerate was found by Doctor Martin 

 in the river bed above the mills at Pyrites. This is an indurated 

 mass of talus or shingle, containing boulders up to half a ton in 

 weight, with a limonitic matrix derived probably from the tailings 

 of the old pyrite mine. It covers many square rods, often to a 

 depth of 2 or 3 feet, thus masking a part of the rock exposures. 



ECONOMIC RESOURCES 

 Sandstones and Limestones 



Active quarrying on the Canton quadrangle, except for road 

 metal is not going on today, though everywhere are the remains 

 of past workings and many sightly structures have arisen from their 

 output. The reason for this decadence is the expansion of the 

 Potsdam sandstone quarries at Hannawa just over the one border, 

 and of the marble at Gouverneur not far over the other. The red 

 Potsdam is not likely to be again exploited on our - quadrangle, 

 nor is the white (upper) sandstone favorable for building stone, 

 but that at the old south quarry of locality yj, near Canton vil- 

 lage, ought to be tested as an abrasive. 



The Theresa sandy dolomites are good road metal, fairly tough 

 and inclined to " bind," but deteriorate on weathering. The Heu- 

 velton, though too silicious and brittle for the roads, has been used 

 as a building stone at Morley (page 28). The middle limestones 

 in the Bucks Bridge, which have been quarried and used at Madrid 

 (locality 8) in the stone bridge and mills, are the most satisfactory 

 and enduring rock in the quadrangle. The Ogdensburg formation 



