180 F\ REPORT OF PROGRESS. E. W. CLAYPOLE. 



li comes to the surface at many places, especially along the 

 ridge, and usually shows a dark color when freshly broken, 

 changing under the influence of the weather to a lighter 

 tint, and is marked with very line lines on the exposed 

 edges, indicating the layers of original deposition. In many 

 places it is very bituminous, giving out the characteristic 

 smell when struck with the hammer. This smell is often 

 described as "sulphury" by the quarrymen. 



When burnt it yields a strong white hot or " fat" lime, 

 but is much valued in the district for building, where the 

 dolomitic or magnesian limestones yielding a cool or ''lean " 

 lime do not occur. For use on the land it is preferable to 

 the latter kind, yielding results more quickly and needing 

 less caution in its application. It has been very extensively 

 used for many years past, and with excellent results. In 

 most cases the farmers quarry and burn the stone them- 

 selves, lime-burning as a separate business having scarcely 

 yet developed itself in the township. (See Chapter Y.) 



The beds of this limestone contain very few fossils in 

 Centre township. They are mostly hard and smooth grained, 

 and are preferred for this reason to the overlying strata by 

 the lime-burner. In some places, however, they are crowded 

 with the little crustacean common in the water lime rocks 

 of New York, Leperditia alta. 



Where the rocks of this group come very near the sur- 

 face they are brought out by the plow in the form of thin. 

 flat slabs beveled at the edges, that ring under the hammer. 

 In many parts they lie so thickly on the limestone ground 

 that it seems as if nothing could grow between them. This 

 is not the case. Indeed, the limestone is seldom picked off 

 the land unless it is wanted, and even then in consequence 

 of l<»ng exposure it burns with such difficulty that farmers 

 prefer to quarry new stone. 



The outcrop of the Lewistovm limestone may be traced 

 on the map so easily that it would be tedious to describe 

 here its curious zigzag course in Centre township. One re- 

 mark, however, it is right t<> make. The limestone bed 

 with tin 1 over and underlying shales, being only 300-400 

 feel thick and lying for the most part nearly vertical, it is 



