70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



pronounced tendency to split along planes parallel to the bedding 

 so as to yield smooth thin slabs. For that reason they are exten- 

 sively used for flagging and curbing 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, Philadelphia and other large cities. The Hudson River 

 district includes Albany, Greene, and Ulster counties, with Catskill, 

 Saugerties, and Kingston as the chief shipping points. In the Dela- 

 ware River district are Sullivan, Delaware, and Broome counties 

 with a great number of shipping stations along the Erie and 

 Ontario & Western railroads. The Devonic sandstones are also 

 quarried in many of the counties to the west of these districts, but 

 principally around Norwich, Chenango county, and Warsaw, 

 Wyoming county, which produce large quantities of building stone. 

 The total production of sandstone in 1910 was valued at 

 $1,451,796. Compared with the value for the preceding year which 

 amounted to $1,839,798, this showed a decrease of $388,002 or a 

 little over 20 per cent. In 1908 the value of the output was 



$1,711,585- 



The large decrease reported for the past year may be ascribed to 

 the lessened activity in the Hudson River and Delaware River dis- 

 tricts which shipped a much smaller quantity of curbing and flagging 

 than usual. The value of the bluestone quarried was $1,037,637 

 against $1,301,959 in 1909. Of the total, curbing and flagging con- 

 stituted $385,825 as compared with $608,116 in the preceding year, 

 a decline of about 35 per cent. The value of the bluestone used for 

 building purposes, on the other hand, showed a slight advance from 

 $298,631 in 1909 to $351,603 last year. 



Sandstone, other than bluestone, constituted a value of $414,159 

 against $537,839 in the preceding year. The decrease was dis- 

 tributed practically among all the quarry districts. The Orleans 

 county quarries reported an output valued at $332,382 as compared 

 with $385,281 in 1909. 



