THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY IQI2 93 
reddish brown and gray sandstones, of medium texture and hard- 
ness. The stone has been used for foundations and building in 
Utica and other places in the vicinity. 
Of the Devonic formations which cover about one-third the whole 
area of the State, the Hamilton, Portage, Chemung and Catskill 
contain important sandstone members serviceable for quarry opera- 
tions. These sandstones are popularly known as bluestone, a name 
first applied in Ulster county where they are distinguished by a 
bluish gray color. They are for the most part fine-grained, evenly 
bedded, bluish or gray sandstones, often showing a pronounced 
tendency to split 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 the eastern cities. Most 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 large cities. The Hudson River district includes 
Albany, Greene and Ulster counties, but the quarries are mainly 
situated in the area that includes southern Greene and northern 
Ulster, with Catskill, Saugerties and Kingston as the chief shipping 
points. The Delaware River district includes Sullivan, Delaware 
and Broome counties; the shipping stations are along the Erie and 
the Ontario & Western railroads. The sandstone of this section 
ranges from Hamilton to Catskill age. In the area to the west 
the quarries are confined to the Portage and Chemung groups, with 
the most important ones in the Portage. There are large, well- 
equipped quarries near Norwich, Chenango county, and Warsaw, 
Wyoming county, which produce building stone for the general 
market. Numerous small quarries are found in Otsego, Chemung, 
Tompkins, Tioga, Schuyler, Steuben, Yates, Allegany, Cattaraugus 
and Chautauqua counties. 
Production of sandstone. The quarrying of sandstone is carried 
on by a large number of individuals and firms, more in fact than 
is represented in any other branch of the quarry business. Most 
of these operate in the bluestone districts and specially in those 
where flagging and curbing are the principal products. The quarry- 
ing of these materials is practically a separate industry represented 
by several hundred more or less independent enterprises which are 
usually small, giving employment to two or three workmen each 
and having very little in the way of mechanical equipment. A statis- 
