JO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



LIMESTONE 



The stone classified under the heading of limestone consists for 

 the most part of the common grades of limestone and dolomite such 

 as are characterized by a compact granular or finely crystalline 

 texture and are lacking in ornamental qualities. 



A smaller part is represented by crystalline limestone and by the 

 waste products of marble quarrying which is sometimes employed 

 for crushed stone, lime making or flux. Limestone used for the 

 manufacture of portland and natural cement is, however, excluded 

 from the tabulations so as to avoid any duplications of the statistics. 



Limestones have a wide distribution in the State, the only region 

 which is not well supplied being the southern part where the pre- 

 vailing formations are sandstones of Devonic age. The mono- 

 crystalline varieties occur in regular stratified order in the Cambric, 

 Lower Siluric, Upper Siluric and Devonic systems. In most sec- 

 tions they occupy considerable belts and have been little disturbed 

 from their original horizontal position. On the borders of the 

 Adirondacks and in the metamorphosed Hudson River region, how- 

 ever, they have been more or less broken up by faulting and erosion 

 and in places have a very patchy distribution. 



The Cambric limestones are found in isolated areas on the east, 

 south and west sides of the Adirondacks. They are usually impure, 

 representing a transition phase between the Potsdam sandstones 

 below and the high calcium limestones above. The lower beds of 

 •the Beekmantown formation as originally defined are now known 

 to belong to the Cambric system. The Little Falls dolomite is 

 perhaps the most prominent member of the Cambric limestones 

 and is extensively developed in the Mohawk valley with quarries 

 at Little Falls, Amsterdam, and other places. It is a rather heavily 

 bedded stone of grayish color, suitable more especially for building 

 purposes. In Saratoga county the Hoyt limestone is in part the 

 equivalent of the Little Falls dolomite ; it has been quarried for 

 building stone just west of Saratoga Springs. On the west side 

 of the Adirondacks the Theresa limestone is described by Cushing 

 as a sandy dolomite which may in part belong to the Cambric system. 

 It is comparatively thin and has no importance for quarry purposes. 



The Beekmantown limestone, which is now taken as including 

 the middle and upper beds of that series as earlier defined, is mostly 

 restricted to the Champlain valley. It occurs on the New York 

 shore in rather small areas, usually down-faulted blocks, that are 

 the remnants of a once continuous belt. It is also represented 



