Bishop — Geology of Erie County. 



339 



a high cliff some distance above the base. The cutting is made horizontally 

 into the rock, pillars being left to support the roof. The drills are run by 

 compressed air furnished by live pumps located near the mouth of the mine. 

 Blasting is done with black powder, trams convey the rock to the kilns, where 

 it is calcined and then ground by what is called the gradual reduction process. 

 The calcined rock is passed through four mills, being screened after each 

 grinding. The cement is then packed in bags and barrels for market. It is 

 largely used for sewers, the foundation for asphalt pavements, cellar-bottoms 

 and concrete work generally. This company furnished (500,000 barrels for a 

 single contract, the building of the new aqueduct for New York City. The 

 officers of the company are : President, Uriah Cummings; Vice-President, R. 

 P. Cummings ; Treasurer and Manager, P. Cummings ; Secretary, Homer S. 

 Cummings. 



The works of H. L. & W. C. Newman are located at Falkirk, where they 

 ow n 200 acres of cement rock. The stratum is here seven and one-half feet 

 thick. The rock is mined as at the Cummings works. For blasting, dyna- 

 mite is used instead of powder, and soft coal is used for calcining. They 

 make from 135,000 to 140,000 barrels yearly. 



The Akron Cement Works, at Akron, have 225 acres of land adjoining 

 that of the Newmans, with a cement stratum eight feet thick. The rock is 

 obtained by mining. One of the old workings is utilized for the growing of 

 mushrooms, the uniform low temperature and darkness furnishing the 

 necessary conditions for their growth. The officers of this company are : 

 President, Hon. D. N. Lockwood, Buffalo : Secretary and Treasurer, Frank 

 S. Coit. 



The Buffalo Cement Co. has its quarries on Main street, near the Belt- 

 line of the New York Central railroad. Blasting is done with black powder. 

 Since the city is rapidly extending in that direction, coke is used as fuel to 

 avoid objectionable smoke. The overlying rock is quarried and sold for build- 

 ing purposes and the refuse crushed for road-metal, thus minimizing the cost 

 of stripping. A section of the rock exposed by the stripping is given else- 

 where. This quarry is famous for the number and excellence of crustacean 

 remains found in it. These occur almost exclusively in the cement stratum, 

 and of course are obtained only w hen that is being worked. Mr. Fred K. 

 Mixer, director of the museum of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, has 

 prepared for me the following list of species found in the hydraulic limestones 

 near Buffalo, the greater number of which are from the Buffalo Cement Co.'s 

 quarry : 



