186 F 2 . REPORT OF PROGRESS. E. W. CLAYPOLE. 



sandstone will form a ridge at every fold. The most south- 

 erly ridge has been removed b} r the erosion of the surface. 

 When the land stood at the level represented by the dotted 

 line the three ridges were present. When it shall have 

 been cut down to a lower level than at present the second 

 ridge will disappear, and at a later period the third ridge, 

 now the deepest, will have been removed. 



In this way it comes to pass that a wide extent of country 

 can be occupied by a bed of limestone seemingly or really 

 continuous though only 400 feet thick. This is the case on 

 Limestone and on Iron ridges and in several other places in 

 the county. For the most part erosion of the land by 

 weather has not proceeded far enough to cut out altogether 

 the ridges of sand rock, which may therefore be traced run- 

 ning side by side with the intervals given above. They 

 are not always continuous. One will stop and its place be 

 taken by another or by two, according to the number of 

 rolls in any cross section. 



In some places the Oriskany sandstone is a conglomerate of 

 small rounded quartz pebbles resembling in size and appear- 

 ance little white beans. These are mixed with a small pro- 

 portion of larger ones, but no very coarse material has been 

 noticed in Centre township. Usually this conglomerate is 

 hard, but at certain sjwts, such as the exposure nearest to 

 New Bloomh'eldon the south of the cemetery, it is soft and 

 crumbling, so that it is easily quarried and crushed and the 

 constituents separated. The pebbles were formerly used 

 for rough -casting the frame houses in the town. Little of 

 this is now done, weather-boarding having taken the place 

 of rough-casting or pebble-dashing. The sand from t his 

 bed, if line enough, as is often, perhaps usually, the case, 

 is used in making mortar. Sand for this purpose would 

 otherwise be difficult to obtain in the south of the township, 

 as there are no streams capable of making and accumulating 

 it. It is worthy of notice that the sand grains of which this 

 sandstone is composed are not sharp like those of a grit- 

 stone, but well rounded and smoothed, showing that they 

 have beeD ground down with the pebbles on an old beach 

 just as the same materials are now ground down on the 



