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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



fine- tooled surfaces are light gray, resembling the gray granites 

 of Maine, and contrasting well with the rock-face stone which is 

 so much darker colored. It is a strong and durable stone, as is 

 proven in the old buildings in Syracuse and elsewhere. Specimens 

 of fine cut gray limestone, which have been exposed to the 

 weather forty-eight years in the old City Hall, exhibit no indication 

 of decay, and no alteration other than a fading in color. One 

 defect in the stone is the very thin, black, shaly seams which 

 sometimes give it the appearance of checking ; but there are no 

 clay seams as in some of our limestones. 



In quarrying it is not possible to get as thick beds as in the 

 granites and some of the sandstones, two feet being the average 

 thickness. 



A representative specimen from Hughes Bros., of Syracuse, 

 was found to contain 53.76 per cent of lime and 0.60 per cent of 

 magnesia, or 96 per cent of carbonate of lime and 1.26 per cent 

 of carbonate of magnesia. Matters insoluble in dilute acid were 

 1.52 per cent. The water absorbed was 0.14 per cent. The freez- 

 ing and thawing tests did not produce any apparent change. 

 Subjected to a temperature of 1200°-1400° F., the stone was 

 fully calcined. 



Split Rock Quarries. — This group is in the town of Onondaga, 

 five to seven miles west of Syracuse, and in the north-facing 

 escarpment of the Upper Helderberg rocks. The beds are thinly 

 covered by earth, and one or two beds, at most, are worked. In 

 this way a large area has been quarried over. A great deal of 

 stone for the Erie canal construction was obtained from these 

 quarries.* 



The Onondaga gray limestone has been the principal building 

 stone in Syracuse. Among the many fine structures in which it 

 has been used for walls and trimmings, may be noted the follow- 

 ing: United States Government building; new City Hall; Hall 

 of Languages ; Syracuse University ; Onondaga County Savings 

 Bank ; St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church ; St. Mary's 

 Roman Catholic Church, and the May Memorial Church. 



Oswego, Binghamton, Elmira and other cities and towns in the 

 central part of the State are markets for the stone. 



* One of the first railroads in Central New York was constructed from the Split Rock quarries 

 to the canal, one mile west of Syracuse. — H. W. Clarke. 



