314 



Report of the State Geologist. 



of South Newstead. Haifa mile below Mill Grove, near a dam across Ellicott 

 creek, is a good exposure of the same rock, and other outcrops occur in the 

 bed of the same stream for three miles below and, again, near Wilhelm. The 

 limestone is found in Cayuga creek at Kieffer's quarry near the Transit road, 

 about a mile west of Lancaster, and in numerous places below, the last 

 exposure being at the end of Clinton street, where the creek unites with 

 Buffalo creek. The deep wells at the Snow Steam Pump Works near Bailey 

 avenue and Seneca street, at the Atlas Oil Hennery, and at the Buffalo Chemical 

 Works on Buffalo creek and Abbott road, all started on the Corniferous 

 limestone as bed-rock. It is found in the Ohio basin, near the lake, and was 

 found by the engineers w hen sinking piles for the Lehigh docks and trestles 

 near Lake Erie. 



The Stafford limestone of the Marcellus formation, is exposed at Wende 

 station on the Lehigh railroad, one and one-half miles south of Mill Grove. 

 As this stratum lies about twenty feet above the top of the Corniferous 

 limestone, the boundary between the latter and the Marcellus shales must be 

 at about half-way between Mill Grove and W ende. An outcrop supposed to 

 be of this Stafford limestone occurs on the farm of Martin Martin, one-half 

 mile east of Alden Center, and the drift in the bed of the most northerly 

 branch of Ellicott creek, near Alden, contains abundant fragments of black 

 shale as far east as the county line. 



At Lancaster, the contact lies between the lower bridge and Kieffer's 

 quarry. The Stafford limestone crops out in the bed of Buffalo creek, 

 opposite the end of the Winchester road, and the Corniferous appears at the 

 junction of the same stream with Cayuga creek, less than two miles away. 

 Dr. H. L. Williams informs me that a limestone scored with glacial scratches 

 was uncovered w hile grading the road-bed for the Buffalo, Rochester and 

 Pittsburg railroad, some years ago, at the point where it diverges from the 

 Western New York and Pennsylvania, and the Lake Shore railroads. 

 Although I did not find the exposure during either of two visits made for 

 the pin-pose, the excavations being tilled w ith w ater, I have no doubt that the 

 rock in question was the Stafford limestone. When the gas-well was sunk in 

 South park, less than a mile and one-half southeast, the drill passed through 

 "about thirty feet of shale below the drift, and then several feet of limestone 

 and shale mixed ; r conditions w hich confirm the view expressed. 



At Stony point, on Lake Erie, fragments of the jet black shale of the 

 lower beds of the Marcellus are numerous among the boulders which cover 

 the beach, showing that they were derived from rocks farther north.. The 



