THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I912 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- 



