ERIE COUNTY. 195 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 



The mineral staples of Erie county consist of — 



1st. Building Stone. — No portion of the State is more abundantly sup- 

 plied with excellent building materials than that immediately about 

 Sandusky. The Amherst sandstone, which is known, and I can almost 

 say used, all over the United States, reaches into Erie county, and, though 

 not yet quarried there to any considerable extent, may perhaps become 

 hereafter an important contributor to the wealth of the inhabitants. 



The Sandusky limestone is also highly prized as a building material, 

 and its capability of supplying suitable stone for large and handsome 

 structures is illustrated in the splendid high school building and vari- 

 ous other edifices at Sandusky, as well as churches, stores, and residences 

 at Toledo, Cleveland, etc. 



The quarries of the Corniferous at Marblehead and Kelly's Island 

 are in Ottawa county, but the strata worked there underlie all of Erie 

 county, and may be reached at various points with little trouble. The 

 same beds of the Corniferous furnish quick-lime not inferior in quality 

 to any manufactured in the State, so that lime may be specified as one 

 of the important mineral staples of the county. 



For certain purposes a carbonate of lime is required purer than that 

 furnished by the Corniferous limestone. This may be supplied in abun- 

 dance by the travertine from Castalia Springs, of which I give two 

 analyses made by my assistant in the School of Mines, Mr. G. L. Baxter : 



1. 2. 



Silica 0.075 .110 



Sulphate of baryta .356 



Alumina and iron .362 .102 



Carbonate of lime 97.726 92.410 



magnesia 1.481 2.853 



Water and loss 4.525 



Total 100.00 100.00 



2d. Oil Shales. — The carbonaceous matter contained in the Huron 

 shale is equivalent in heating power to that of a thick seam of coal, but 

 up to the present time we have not discovered any mode of making that 

 source of power available except by distilling oil or gas from it. Both 

 these useful substances are constantly being evolved from this great car- 

 bonaceous mass by spontaneous distillation, and it is possible that they 

 may be hereafter, when the supply of petroleum from wells has failed, 

 artificially generated from this source so cheaply as to pay a profit to the 

 manufacturer. It is also worth remembering that further east along the 

 Lake shore, as at Erie, Pennsylvania, and Fredonia, New York, the spon- 



