I. GEOLOGY. 



The opening of a line of railroad always affords now opportunity 

 for the study of local geology, by exposing to view the rock and drift 

 formations on the line of the road and opening the way for the discovery 



of new fossils, peculiar forms of rock structure, and valuable building 

 material. As the practical and economic value of local geology was 

 long- since demonstrated, it is evident that the opening of new roads 

 throughout the country subserves other ends than that of mere trans- 

 portation. Scientific investigation and careful study must follow such 

 openings to bring out the most valuable results. 



The .Syracuse and Chenango Valley ft. R. extending from Syracuse 

 to Earlville, Madison County, passes through a fertile and thriving 

 agricultural country, and one, not only diversified by beautiful scenery, 

 but also marked by its variety of geological formations. In its short 

 course of forty-three miles it passes over the formations from the 

 Salina group in the Silurian to the Genesee shale in Middle Devonian. 

 Leaving Syracuse 395 feet above tide-water the road passes with gradual 

 grade in an easterly direction to near Manlius Centre, through the valley 

 or lowland that crosses central and western New York ; then turning 

 southeast with increasing grade, it cuts through the rocks of the Salina 

 group a little north of Fayetteville. and successively crosses the water- 

 limestone of the Lower Ilelderberg and the Onondaga Limestone of 

 the Corniferous between that place and Oran; south of Oran it reaches 

 the Marcellus Shale which continues to the tunnel on the west side 

 of Cazenovia Lake. This tunnel is sixteen hundred feet long besides 

 the approaches and cuts through the rocks of the Marcellus Shale at its 

 western approach and through the true Hamilton beds in its eastern 

 portion. The Hamilton proper continues to underlie the road-bed to the 

 southern part of Madison County, yet few cuts are found as the drift 

 deposit is generally deep; the "black shales" of the Uenesee group 

 commence in Lebanon and continue to the terminus of the road. The 

 highest point of the road is near Georgetown, I630feet above the sea; 

 Earlville, the southern terminus, is 1077 feet. 



Following are the formations arranged in order of occurrence as 

 well as in order of time, for as we ride from Syracuse to Earlville 

 we pass up the geological scale from the older to the newer formations. 

 The rocks are all of sedimentary origin so that each successive line 

 of formation indicates the boundary line of the sea in the respective 

 geological periods represented. 



a. SALINA GROUP. 



1. The outcrops of the rocks of the Salina group are found between 

 Manlius Centre and Fayetteville. dust south of the railroad bridge 

 crossing the Erie Canal are three cuts 1140,550, and 750 feet long- 

 respectively, separated by interruptions of 90 feet each. The rocks in 

 the first are about (30 feet in thickness, and in the others from 15 to 20 

 feet. Another small bed occurs about twenty rods farther south, very 

 shallow, but this is probably due to the fad tliat the grade is ascending 

 and the road rises above the formation. Trending toward the east from 

 the canal bridge is a high ridge through which these cuts are made, 

 forming the southern boundary of the basin before alluded to which 

 crosses Onondaga and Madison counties from east to west ; on the west 

 side of the railroad this same ridge trends towards the south, forming 

 the eastern boundary of the basin of Limestone Creek. 



