94 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Mohawk valley from Ilion to Utica and beyond. It consists of red- 

 dish brown and gray sandstones, of medium texture and hardness. 

 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 bluestones, 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 

 Ontario and Western railroads. The sandstone of this section 

 ranges from Hamilton to Catskrll 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. Sandstone is the second most im- 

 portant quarry material in the State, the value of the annual product 

 being exceeded only by that of limestone. Its importance largely 

 depends upon its uses for street work — flagging, curbing and pav- 

 ing blocks — although some of the local sandstones find extensive 

 employment as building materials. 



The Devonic sandstones, which are collectively known as blue- 

 stone, are more widely quarried than the other kinds ; their produc- 

 tion is carried on throughout the southern part of the State by a 



