BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 453 



near Dillon for use in Butte, Deer Lodge County. So recently has the 

 Territory beeoine settled that there has as yet arisen but little demand 

 lor other materials than wood for building. The great scarcity of this 

 article in the most thickly settled portions of the Territory, together 

 with the abundance of easy-working, but in so dry a climate durable, 

 sandstone, will doubtless bring about a radical change within a very 

 few years. 



New Jersey. — The largest and most extensively worked quarries of 

 stone of any kind in this State are in the Triassic belt of red or brown 

 sandstone which extends from the "New York line in a general south- 

 westerly direction across the State to the Delaware River. The principal 

 quarries are in various towns in Passaic, Essex, Hunterdon, and Mer- 

 cer Counties. The stone, like that of Connecticut and other Triassic 

 areas described, is a granitic sandstone, cemented by iron oxides, silica, 

 and carbonate of lime; the colors varying from light brownish gray to 

 reddish brown. As shown in the Museum collections, the stone is as a 

 rule of finer texture than that of Connecticut, and less distinctly lami- 

 nated, consequently scaling less readily when exposed to atmospheric 

 agencies. According to Professor Cook,* this stone has been used from 

 an early date in Bergen, Passaic, and Essex Counties for building pur- 

 poses and for monuments and gravestones, where it has shown good 

 proof of its durability. It has also been very extensively used in New 

 York and neighboring cities. At the quarries, as is usually the case, 

 the surface stone is found more or less broken up and blocks of small 

 size only can be obtained, but the beds become more solid as they are 

 followed downward. At some of the Belleville qua rries blocks contain- 

 ing 1,000 cubic feet have been broken out. In one of these quarries over 

 2 acres have been excavated to an average depth of 60 feet. Some 

 of the quarries, as at Passaic, produce stone of several varieties of color, 

 as light brown, dark brown, and light gray; the fine-grained dark brown 

 is usually considered the best and is the most sought. In several of 

 the quarries trap-rock (diabase) also occurs.- 



New Mexico. — From the vicinity of Las Yegas Hot Springs have been 

 received samiiles of light gray, brown, and pink sandstone, of fine text- 

 ure and apparently excellent quality. They are not as yet much used, 

 owing simply to lack of demand for stone of any kind. A soft, very 

 light gray volcanic tuff occurs at Santa Fe, which may prove of value 

 for building purposes in a dry climate, or one where the temperature 

 does not often fall below the freezing point. 



Nevada. — A coarse, gray, friable stone is quarried at Carson, in this 

 State, but it is unfit for any sort of fine work or foundation, owing to 

 its softness and porosity. 



New York. — The principal sandstones now quarried in this State may 

 be divided into three groups, belonging to three distinct geological 

 horizons, each group possessing characteristics peculiar to itself and 



# Annual report State Geologists, 1881, p. 43. 



