DESCRIPTION OF MARBLE AND LIME8TONE QUARRIES 



445 



Union Springs, Cayuga County.— The Onondaga limestone is 

 opened in a group of quarries at Hamburg, one mile south of 

 Union Springs, and on Daniel Mosher's farm, east of the village. 

 A remarkable feature is the persistence of the quarry beds and 

 their uniformity in the several quarries. The glacial drift on the 

 limestone is from one to ten feet thick; the upper beds (or tiers, 

 as here known) are blue limestone, and from two to twenty-four 

 inches thick ; the lower beds are generally thick and of a gray, 

 sub crystalline stone. The thin beds answer for flagging ; the 

 heavier beds are worked into dimension blocks for building, canal 

 lock and bridge-pier construction. The markets are reached by 

 boats on line of Erie canal. 



The Hamburg quarries were opened more than sixty years 

 ago, and the old grist-mill, the Chase House and the Howland 

 House, show how well the stone has stood for that length of 

 time. 



Auburn, Cayuga County.— The Upper Helderberg limestone 

 ledges at Auburn have afforded a good building stone ; and a 

 comparatively large percentage of stone buildings in that city 

 are evidence of its enduring property. The Garrett Stone and 

 Coal Company,* L. S. Goodrich & Son, and John Bennett & Son 

 have quarries here. The first named was opened in 1810. The 

 blue limestone of the upper beds is used for rubble-work only. 

 The gray limestone occurring in "tiers" of from six inches to 

 two feet thick, is cut for house trimmings, platforms, curbing and 

 gutter-stones. It is dressed readily, and is of a light-gray color 

 when fine cut ; the rock face is dark colored. 



It has been used in six beautiful churches ; in the City 

 Hall ; in the Auburn Theological Seminary buildings ; in the 

 State arsenal and State prison, besides many stores and other 

 structures in the city. 



The principal outside markets have been Say re, Pa., Owego, 

 Elmira, Oswego, Geneva, Canandaigua, Newark Valley and 

 Palmyra. 



The Corniferous or Upper Helderberg group of limestone, 

 including as the upper part the Corniferous or Seneca limestone, 



* Quarry not now in operation. 



