9. MADISON TOWNSHIP. F\ 251 



is made in the report on Saville township. It widens to- 

 wards its southwestern end in consequence of the gradual 

 narrowing of the long synclinal limestone tongue extending 

 westward to Blain. It is, like the preceding, composed of 

 the red variegated and gray shales under the limestone and 

 the soil is consequently good. 



t '< rdre mlley includes the best agricultural portion of 

 the township, consisting largely of land derived from the 

 decay and disintegration of the Lower Helderberg lime- 

 stone Xo. VII. This is brought up by a set of anticlines 

 which will be fonud described below and which close the 

 western end of the Buffalo mountain trough. Geologi- 

 cally the limestone is here in a number of slight folds with 

 moderate dip. the synclinal lines of which are indicated by 

 higher and the anticlinal by lower ground. 



• 4 . The valley between Chestnut ridge and Bower mount- 

 ain consists wholly of the shales of the Onondaga group. 

 These are exposed in many places along the banks of the 

 creek but in general this valley is little cultivated and thinly 

 settled. 



(5). S/iGffFer valley is, like the preceding, a valley con- 

 sisting altogether of the shales. It is narrow and rough, 

 much covered with timber and in its upper parts little fre- 

 quented. 



Five parallel anticlinal folds involve the rocks from the 

 red shale No. V to the Hamilton sandstone Xo. VIII, and 

 possibly some yet higher in the series. The thick beds of 

 the Hamilton and Chemung flatten as they rise westward 

 into the air. and then the underlying limestone is traversed 

 by these small rolls in the bottom of the great trough. 



The synclinal lines of limestone differ in length. The 

 most northerl}' extends out of Madison through Jackson 

 into Toboyne township, but the more southerly scarcely ex- 

 tends beyond Cedar run, in Madison township. 



The Hamilton sandstone is affected by the more northerly 

 of the<p axes near Sandy Hill, where a distinct syncline 

 occurs described in the report on Saville township. But 

 further sonth this massive sandstone seems to have been a 

 resistent bed and its undulations are slight. 



