GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE SCHOHARIE VALLEY 357 



all the quarries in these rocks are too far removed from the 

 Schoharie region to be here considered. 



Economic deposits other than limestones or sandstones are not 

 found in the Schoharie region in paying quantities, though unsuc- 

 cessful exploitation of various mineral deposits has been carried 

 on. The most prominent of these are the strontium deposits in 

 the Rondout beds, the iron pyrites in the Brayman shales and the 

 bituminous shale or " coal " of the Marcellus. 



Strontium. The strontium deposits at one time bade fair to 

 become of considerable importance. In 1829 1 John Gebhard jr, 

 discovered a locality of acicular strontianite in the waterlime 

 strata not far above the Cobleskill limestone, in the cliff east of 

 Schoharie village, near where Mix & O'Reilly have opened up 

 their lower quarry. At first he regarded the mineral as calcareous 

 spar, but the discovery of another locality behind the courthouse, 

 where massive strontianite and heavy spar occurred, led to the 

 recognition of the acicular crystals as strontianite. Further ex- 

 ploration was carried on by tracing the waterlime bed, which 

 carried the strontianite along the hillsides, and several localities 

 along both sides of Fox kill were discovered. A locality on the 

 northeastern face of West hill, discovered some 15 years before, 

 and known as the " Marble quarry " was reexamined by Mr Geb- 

 hard and others, and the rock found to be the same as that carry- 

 ing the strontianite on East hill. This led to the recognition of 

 the white massive mineral in these ledges as strontianite, which 

 identification was confirmed by analysis. This is the only locality 

 which has been worked for the strontium minerals, mining opera 

 tions having been carried on formerly, on the steep hillside at 

 the base of the cliff, and the product lowered by buckets along 

 ;i wire cable. The locality is familiarly known as the "Stron- 

 tium mine." It may be approached by a steep zigzag path which 

 ascends the talus slope from a point about opposite where the 

 Schoharie makes a right-angled bend just before it is joined by the 

 Fox kill. A stream descends the liill here, but ils bed is hidden 



1 Gebhard, John. Am. Jour. Sci. 1835. 28:175. 



