34 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Cayuga county 



The area covered by Salina rocks in the county varies from 14 

 to 20 miles in width and falls within the towns of Conquest, Catoi, 

 Montezuma, Mentz, Brutus, Throop, Sennett, Springport and Aure- 

 lius. The Cobleskill limestone which forms the southern boundary 

 of the area, immediately overlying the Salina, extends across the 

 county as follows : Beginning at a point near Skaneateles falls the 

 outcrop follows directly west to a point about a mile south of Sen- 

 nett, where it crosses the New York Central tracks, turns southwest 

 and crosses the northeastern corner of the city of Auburn, thence 

 southwesterly to Hills Branch, and then south to Howland point 

 and Frontenac island near Union Springs. 



The topography of the northern portion of the Salina pennits of 

 but few outcrops. The area bordering the Seneca river is low and 

 marshy while outcrops in other areas are completely obscured by a 

 heavy covering of glacial drift, usually taking the form of drum- 

 lins. On this account very little is known as to the gypsum deposits 

 in that portion of the county. About iVi miles north of Throops- 

 ville, along the river, pockets of gypsum were worked in 1837, the 

 owner being N. Marble of Port Byron. Other impure deposits have 

 been reported in the vicinity of Montezuma. 



Along the southern border of the Salina and immediiately under- 

 lying the Salina waterlime and Cobleskill are the important gypsum 

 beds of the county, in early times the most important in the State. 

 These beds are exposed at three locaHties : in the town of Spring- 

 port north of Union Springs ; at Cayuga Junction, ^ mile east of 

 Cross Roads station ; and on the boundary of the township i^A miles 

 north of Cross Roads. The gypsum in these localities varies from 

 10 to 40 feet in thickness, and is of a gray or bluish color, firm 

 and massive, with plates and veins of selenite coating some of the 

 blocks or mixed with the more impure material. In a few places 

 it is overlain by waterlime rock but usually has an immediate cover- 

 ing of glacial soil varying from a few feet to 25 feet in thickness. 

 The occurrence, as well as the character of the rock, is very similar 

 to that of Jamesville and Lyndon. The stratigraphy of the Union 

 Springs region has received the close attention oi many geologists 

 and much has been written concerning it. The points involved seem 

 to have no direct bearing, however, on the present treatise and will 

 not be discussed. 



In the early days many quarries were in operation in the Cayuga 

 Junction area, 2 miles nortli of Union Springs (then Springport) 



