170 
f ASSEMB LY 
sylvania and Virginia, linking them beautifully into one chain oi 
contemporaneous deposites, though now widely separated geogra- 
phically, and thrown by convulsions into various angles, elevations 
and depressions. 
We learn that a considerable alteration of position, and wearing 
away of the third fall of the Genesee, near Carthage, has taken 
place within a period of 30 years. At a future, though distant pe- 
riod, unless artificial means be resorted to for the purpose of pre- 
venting their retrocession, the second and third falls must ultimate- 
ly be lost by the disappearance of the rocks which support them, 
even whilst the great fall shall not be far removed from its present 
site. There will then be one cataract of extreme interest and 
beauty, equal in height to those of Niagara, and from its isolated 
character, more imposing in a high stage of the water than the for- 
mer. These falls afford a hydraulic power equal, as Gordon states, 
to "1,920 steam engines of 20 horse power each." So great a 
body of water cannot but exert a most powerful energy in the dis- 
integration of rocks, whose particles, united by argillaceous ce- 
ment, readily separate when exposed to the action of moisture and 
frost. 
Mineral character^ <^c. of the Red Sandstone, 
The sandstone layers of this formation are quarried in various 
places for the ordinary purposes of architecture, and some quarries 
yield a material adapted for hearth stones, and used for this pur- 
pose in the furnaces near Lake Ontario. That near Wolcott, Wayne 
county, is supplied with hearth stones from a quarry in the city of 
Oswego, where lower in the series the sandstone appears of a 
greenish and gray colour, is extensively quarried, and several large 
store-houses, mills and dwellings have been constructed of this 
greenish rock, which is of an agreeable colour, appears to be ea- 
sily dressed, and forms buildings of respectable appearance. At 
the falls of Oswego the red sandstone is abundant, of a coarse tex- 
ture, and does not appear to be much used at present. Lines of 
cleavage oblique to the plane of stratification, are here very obvi- 
ous. The upper layers consist of a coarse conglomerate or pud- 
ding stone. We cannot say much in favor of the durability of 
rocks of this formation, and therefore in the construction of bridg- 
es and aqueducts, where exposure to the action of frost and water 
is very great, no variety of it should ever be used, as the limestones 
are every way preferable. This has been amply tested by the di. 
