70 [Assembly 
abound in the "western parts of the State, although they are by no means 
confined to them. 
Calcareous tufa is deposited from the water of springs near White- 
hall, in Washington county, and it is also to be met with in the coun- 
ties of Franklin and St. Lawrence; as, for example, near the Chatea- 
guay Corners, and also about four miles from the village of Gouverneur. 
V In Schoharie county, tufa is found in great abundance on the sides of the 
mountains, from five to fifteen feet in depth, containing fine impressions 
of leaves, and covering gTasses and mosses with incrustations so delicate 
as to preserve distinctly every fibre. And here it is to be remarked, 
that old deposits are covered with vegetable loam, on which shrub j and 
trees are growing.* 
A very remarkable deposit of a similar kind is found near the head of 
the Otsquaga creek, in Herkimer county. It proceeds from the slate 
rocks, which are either the upper layers of greywacke or the calciferous 
slate. The calcareous tufa which proceeds from these rocks contains 
the impressions of numerous plants of the same species which are now 
growing in the vicinity. There is a single mass on the bank of the 
creek about three hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, and from ten to 
forty feet thick. It is very irregular in its form, and near the north end 
it is cavernous. Several rude apartments may be entered, which present 
curvilinear sides and irregular conical columns. At the south-western 
termination of this extensive deposit, about a mile south of the cavern, 
there are the tufa petrifactions of six logs, which stand obliquely against 
a side hill. They are still very perfect, (not having been often visited) 
retaining the forms of the shelly scales of the bark, the knots, &c.t 
Probably the most noted of the springs which are now under con- 
sideration, are those found in the vicinity of Chittenango, in Madison 
county. At the base of a hill, the rocky strata of which contain a 
large proportion of carbonate of lime, calcareous deposits and incrusta- 
tions of various kinds are to be found. These have been formed, and 
are probably daily in the act of formation, by the agency of the waters 
which continually percolate through this hill of porous limestone. From 
this locality, specimens may be obtained of leaves, moss, wood, &c, in 
all states, from that of the proper vegetable, to that of the hard calcare- 
ous substance in which scarcely a trace of vegetable matter can be de- 
tected. 
* See a paper on the Geology and Mineralogy of Schoharie County, by John Gebhard, Etq. 
Silliman's Journal, XXVIII. 172. 
f Canal Rocks, page 128. 
