W. B. D WIGHT. 77 



embodied in a minute and valuable report made to the 

 ~New York Legislature in 1839. He calls the red con- 

 glomerate and grits above described the "millstone grit 

 of Eaton," which is equivalent to the Oneida conglom- 

 erate and Medina sandstone of our present system. He 

 shows that the same rock extends to and lies at the base 

 of Round Hill, composes a large part of Skunnemunk 

 Mountain, Bellvale Mountain, and many other localities 

 in this valley ; also, that Pine Hill, a three-mile ridge 

 near and parallel to Cold Hill, is of the same red rock, 

 which he says in many places cannot be distinguished 

 in appearance from the New Jersey red sandstone. He 

 remarks : "Its structure varies, in different layers, from 

 tine-grained, nearly compact, to that which is composed 

 of pebbles the size of lilberts. Most of the layers are 

 very hard, some are sandy, and others even slaty. Its 

 -colors are white gray, grayish and reddish white, and 

 brick red." (Horton's rep., 1839, pp. 152, 153.) 



He adds : "The hematite mine of Mr. Thomas Town- 

 send" (now H. Van Duser's) "is connected with this 

 rock two and one-half miles west of Canterbury." 

 There are no fossils, he says, in the red rock. 



In describing the other features of this locality, he con- 

 tinues : "A limestone containing an abundance of fossils 

 is found in the town of Cornwall, two and a half miles 

 west of the village of Canterbury, on the road to Salis- 

 bury Mills. Its apparent position is between the slate 

 and grit rock, or millstone grit of Professor Eaton. Its 

 dip is to the southeast at a high inclination. Mixed in 

 between the layers of this rock is the hematite or limon- 

 ite ore on the land of Mr. Thomas Townsend. Where 

 the ore exists the limestone is all more or less decom- 

 posed, some parts of the rock and its fossils retaining 

 their form, they but have become white or yellow, and 

 soft ; other parts, even the nodules of hornstone are so 

 far changed that they have fallen to fine powder mixed 



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