Report of the State Geologist. 



two miles southwest from Hammondsport, and bending again to the north on 

 the east side of the lake. The deep valley of Seneca lake carries it far to the 

 southward again, but the condition of the sandstones, which have become 

 generally thinner and schistose, makes it more difficult to trace. It crosses the 

 valley, however, somewhere in the vicinity of Millport. 



The wells of the Watkins Salt Co.. at Salt Point, two miles from the head 

 of Seneca lake which, at the present date, are the most southerly ones 

 operated for the production of salt, were begun in the lower part of the Port- 

 age group ; and the mouths of the wells of the Ithaca Salt Co.. at the head of 

 Cayuga lake, are nearly in the horizon of the base of the Portage. 



AYestward from Xaples, all parts of the group appear to increase in thick- 

 ness, the shales are generally softer, and the sandstones more compact and 

 heavier bedded. This is especially the case with the upper beds. They 

 are frequently exposed in the ravines on the sides of the valleys of 

 Honeoye and Canadice lakes. Spring water valley, and the valley south of 

 Conesus lake. 



In the Stony Brook glen, two miles south of Dansville, the sandstones 

 appear at the top of the banks at the railroad bridge. In a soft shale a few 

 feet below them. Cardiola retrostriata, GoniaMtes Pattt rsoni, and Aidopora 

 armectens are common. 



The high ridge west of the Dansville valley carries the line of their out- 

 crop northward to about a mile south < >f Union Corners, where it bends to the 

 south and follows the west side of the Numia valley to the south end, where it 

 is well exposed in Stone Quarry hill, three-quarters of a mile south of the village 

 of Xunda. Quarries have been operated here for many years in the layers of 

 compact samlstone, aggregating about forty feet, that are most accessible. 

 Apparently the full thickness of the formation is not exposed. The fossil 

 known as SpvrephyUm cavda-galM is common here. It does not occur in the 

 Naples section, but is very abundant in the sandy layers of the Portage in the 

 western part of the state, and is sometimes found in the middle portion of the 

 group. Fktcoides vertiealis occurs here sparingly. 



Underlying the heavy sandstones in the old quarry where the reservoir 

 of the Xunda w aterworks is now- located, there are rive feet of bluish, blocky 

 >hales in which are imbedded numerous small calcareous, and sometimes 

 pyritiferous concretions. Groniatiies Patterson! and other Portage fossils occur 

 in the shales, but are very rare. This peculiar deposit is found over a large 

 area. It increases in thickness rapidly to the western border <>f Wyoming 

 county where it is about seventy-rive feet thick 



